Something isn’t right, thought the Seventh Elder.
Noticing the Seventh Elder’s tense expression, the man’s lips curled into a smirk.
“Wondering who I might be?”
The man spoke while slowly advancing toward the Seventh Elder. Though his voice was casual, it carried an unnaturally oppressive weight and authority.
His eyes, dominated by black pupils, held no trace of human emotion. They were cold and utterly devoid of mercy.
“No need to wonder. Now that you’re here, knowing won’t change your fate.”
Magic Power began concentrating around the man. The waves of Magic Power flowing through the air were overwhelming. Those waves were instantly drawn into the man’s body.
The Seventh Elder gritted his teeth while drawing his Magic Power to its absolute limit. His eyes, refusing to yield, gleamed with determination.
Cold energy erupted from the Seventh Elder’s entire body. Particles of cold light began to sparkle as they swirled around him.
Thousands of tiny ice crystals floated upward, each emitting a gentle glow.
In that instant, the black-haired man lunged at the Seventh Elder.
As he entered the space filled with light particles, the Blood Mage’s clothes began to freeze. While the cold would normally be enough to restrict movement, it couldn’t constrain his superhuman physical abilities.
The Seventh Elder clenched his fist as he watched the man close in right before his eyes.
“Heup!”
With his shout, the light particles surrounding them expanded and ice spikes shot out in all directions.
Thousands of ice spikes wove together densely, enveloping the space and the Blood Mage within.
Kang-
However, the ice spikes couldn’t penetrate the man’s body. They shattered instantly upon contact.
In that brief moment, the Blood Mage reached the Seventh Elder and swung his hand.
The magic circle glowing on the Seventh Elder’s Robe formed a barrier, but it proved insufficient.
The red Magic Power surrounding the Blood Mage’s hand shattered the Seventh Elder’s barrier instantly and made contact with his body.
Kwajik-
The Seventh Elder’s body transformed into ice fragments and shattered in that moment.
It had been merely a decoy.
“Ha.”
The Blood Mage’s lips twisted into a smile. His clothes had long since been completely frozen.
With an unhurried motion, he shook his body and the ice fragments fell away with a clatter.
“Just a rat scurrying away?” “You’re mistaken if you thought I’d foolishly confront you directly…”
The Blood Mage remained composed at the spot where the Seventh Elder’s ice fragments lay. He could already sense that the Seventh Elder was concealed nearby, preparing more powerful magic.
The Seventh Elder revealed himself from a shadowy spot behind the Blood Mage.
The Blood Mage casually turned his head to look at the Seventh Elder and spoke.
“What will happen to your companions if you unleash grand magic here?” “…”
Instead of responding, the Seventh Elder pressed his lips together firmly and gathered more Magic Power.
Meanwhile, the grand magic the Seventh Elder had prepared, the Cold Ice Storm Formation, manifested.
An overwhelming cold spread in all directions.
The altar was connected to several passages, and the walls and corridors, including the one the Seventh Elder had flown through, instantly froze solid. Then a fierce wind of glacial cold swept through.
But the Blood Mage showed no particular concern. Red Magic Power merely surged around him, repelling the cold.
The Seventh Elder, biting his lip, thrust his palm forward.
“Die!”
It wasn’t an incantation, but a cry filled with pure rage.
Cold that seemed capable of freezing anything it touched engulfed the Blood Mage along with the storm.
Only then did the Blood Mage bring his palms together. The red Magic Power that had only been deflecting the cold began to surge and take physical form.
The Magic Power transformed into blood flowed down around him, and a pool of blood gradually formed.
And from that pool of blood, a dark red magic circle blazed to life. The energy emanating from the magic circle was an ominous power mixing death and blood.
From within it, a massive being that seemed formed of blood slowly began to emerge.
It rose writhing like an evil spirit that had consumed hundreds of souls, and seeing its appearance, the Seventh Elder’s expression hardened slightly.
Black Magic?
It was Magic Power that merged Blood Magic and Black Magic.
That being, which had grown far taller than the Blood Mage, swung its grotesquely shaped fist.
The fist collided with the storm.
Kwang-
The impact began to spread and the entire cave violently shuddered.
“Kuk…!”
The Seventh Elder swallowed the blood that surged up from the magical recoil while enduring as best he could. The Blood Mage’s Magic Power was overwhelmingly superior.
“Consider it an honor to die by my hand. This death will be eternal.”
The Seventh Elder began to be pushed back by that force. His Magic Power was insignificant compared to the Blood Mage’s.
At that moment, something unusual occurred.
As the Magic Power was disrupted by the intense impact, various magic circles embedded in the base began activating indiscriminately after being stimulated.
Magic circles carved into the walls and ground flickered mercilessly.
As the ground’s vibrations intensified, the Seventh Elder grew alarmed. This wasn’t an anomaly that would work in his favor.
And then suddenly, the floor gave way. The passage floor had abruptly collapsed.
This wasn’t mere structural failure from the impact. It was another magical manipulation entirely.
He realized this because his feet, attempting to use levitation magic, wouldn’t leave the ground. Just as he was about to be pulled into the darkness along with the collapsing floor.
Someone grabbed the Seventh Elder by the scruff of his neck.
It was Leon, who had been perched on Kito’s head. Around him was a defensive barrier created by Kito resisting the Seventh Elder’s cold.
Leon pulled the Seventh Elder up onto Kito’s head by his collar.
“You…” “There’s no time for explanations.”
The Seventh Elder wore a bewildered expression, not having expected Leon’s appearance. He was someone so completely unexpected that questions arose before gratitude.
“Hmm…”
Kito frowned, seemingly displeased with the Seventh Elder sitting on her head, but remained silent. Instead, green Magic Power began spreading around her body.
The Blood Mage, who had been floating in the air with a composed expression, hardened his face upon seeing Kito.
“A Beast?”
Kito’s green Magic Power transformed into poisonous mist and spread outward.
The Blood Mage descended into the darkness with a hardened expression to avoid the mist.
“We must pursue him.”
Kito followed him down at Leon’s words.
The darkness cleared, revealing the scene below.
As soon as they reached it, Leon instinctively covered his mouth.
“Ugh…”
It was a horrific sight. The vast space was filled with human corpses, leaving no room to step.
The walls were covered in drawings like murals, seemingly depicting the order of religious ceremonies.
And another altar surrounded by corpses came into view.
That altar had unique patterns carved into it. A pattern of three triangular vertices meeting in a circle. And in the center of that circle was embedded a single character.
A rune character meaning resurrection.
Leon could understand its meaning from his studies of rune characters.
After confirming that much, Leon’s brow furrowed deeply.
An even fouler stench than the thick odor he thought he’d grown accustomed to. It felt as though his lungs would rot just from breathing it in.
And above it all, the Blood Mage floating proudly.
Three pools of blood formed around him, and from each emerged a monster.
The three monsters stretched out from the blood pools and instantly surrounded Kito, but they melted as soon as they touched the poisonous mist around her.
It was powerful poison that could even dissolve blood.
Seeing this, the Blood Mage lightly waved his hand as if he had anticipated it.
Then the blood pools began to spread, staining the entire space crimson.
Blood seeped between the corpses, and the entire wall was painted with blood.
Now everything had become a nightmarish realm awash in red.
“Red Spirit Heaven Curse.”
The Blood Mage smiled with satisfaction, knowing this space had come under his control.
“…”
Green light blazed in the eyes of Kito, who had taken on a monstrous form. As her mouth slowly opened, powerful Magic Power began to concentrate within.
Realizing she was about to use Breath, the Blood Mage raised his index and middle fingers.
Responding to his command, thousands of thin, sharp blood needles rose from all directions. They rushed toward Kito at blinding speed.
Their velocity was so great that they reached Kito’s barrier before the poison mist could dissolve the blood needles.
Thousands of thin blood needles struck Kito’s barrier and quickly dissolved in the poison.
However, new needles materialized and continued the assault relentlessly.
Kito’s barrier gradually began to waver under the pressure, and she momentarily frowned while preparing her Breath.
As the barrage continued, it became increasingly difficult to fully release the Breath.
Though Kito remained silent, Leon already understood.
Kito couldn’t exert her full power while protecting him.
Even when facing the Witch, she had explained that for her to face a high Insight-grade Mage, Leon needed to be able to withstand the aftermath.
Leon, protected inside the barrier, suddenly had an idea. He immediately levitated his Wooden Sword and sent it outside Kito’s barrier.
The Wooden Sword neither dissolved in the poisonous mist nor was pierced by the blood needles.
Leon deflected the blood needles carefully with the Wooden Sword before calling it back. Then he wiped the blood from the sword with his finger.
“Be dyed.”
As he activated the curse of Black Night, the blood slowly began transforming into murky darkness.
“Hmm?”
The Blood Mage tilted his head slightly, feeling a faint sting.
It was barely noticeable pain.
Due to the vast difference in power between Leon and the Blood Mage, the pain was minimal.
It would take an enormous amount of time for this pain to transform into extreme agony and finally into the curse of erasure.
Leon gripped the Magic Orb he had concealed against his chest.
And then Leon vanished from that spot.
Both the Blood Mage who had been casually observing the scene, and the Seventh Elder watching from behind, were left puzzled.
“Hmm… Running away?”