Chapter 133 – 5th Tier
The first journey is always difficult for anyone.
Unfamiliar scenery, the unease of not being sure whether the direction one is heading is correct, confusion, and fear.
Not knowing when one will reach the destination, and the unknown of what awaits there.
Some collapse along the way and sit down, those without conviction hesitate, and those unprepared turn back in abandonment.
Such is a road that one has never walked before.
Even taking a single step requires great courage and time. Only those who endure such a process can grow.
But what of those who have already walked that road?
Even if only for a brief moment, what if they had already reached the destination?
And if they were someone who had endured hardships and ordeals beyond what that process demanded, someone perfectly, completely prepared?
There is no reason for fear, no need to summon courage.
They simply move.
For the life they have lived until now will naturally guide their path.
────Swiish!
A green sphere brushed past his side.
The Robe of the Wanderer, its edge corroded and frayed. If it had struck his body directly, it would have meant instant death, or the severing of that part.
Verden instantly launched evasive maneuvers, channeling magic power into the Oculus.
Formidable dark magic and curses shot from behind him.
Dodging the chains that extended toward his head, Verden instead charged straight at the Elder Lich.
< Earth Crack >
Triple Casting through the Evil Eye.
Enormous fragments of rock flew from three directions at once, crashing down upon the Elder Lich.
As always, the creature blocked the spell with < Veil of the Undead >, but Verden's earth magic carried the reinforced power of the magic tome.
Crrrk.
A hairline crack appeared in the barrier, which was like a fortress wall.
Verden clenched his fist. Countless scattered fragments in the air transformed into sharp spikes, striking the veil again.
'While maintaining the veil, the Elder Lich cannot use other magic.'
Seizing that clear opening, Verden drew near.
The Oculus swung with full power.
The shockwave struck the veil directly, and a sound rang out as cracks began branching into hundreds.
What was needed now was penetration.
He imbued a massive spear of stone with flame, then detonated compressed air at its rear to maximize the force.
Kkaaaang!
The Veil of the Undead could not endure and shattered apart.
Not only that, but Verden's magic tore away two ribs from the Elder Lich's left side.
The Elder Lich's vital spot was none other than the red core hidden within its chest.
The impact that grazed close to that vital spot staggered the Elder Lich, the violet flame within its skull quivering violently.
[Ahhh… Aaaaahhhhhh…!]
In rage, the Elder Lich's hand flared with the Orb of the Undead.
< Unholy Explosion >
Kwooooom!
The profane blast engulfed Verden. Too fast and too wide to evade. For an instant, the concussion was so great that his vision swayed.
Krrrkkkk.
Hurled far back, Verden jammed the Oculus into the ground to brake himself.
Breathing out, enduring the shock, only one thought remained in his mind.
'Just a little more.'
He dramatically shortened casting speed and synthesized spells.
Pain flared from the Evil Eye, but he had strength to spare.
Compared to when he faced the Fangs of Gluttony, Rupel, this was hardly a burden.
< Molten Lance >
A blazing lance of magma shot toward the Elder Lich's torso.
The Elder Lich waved a hand.
Black mist descended all around, and the lance of magma engulfed within it vanished without trace.
Moments later, the synthesized magic emerged from the mist, aimed back at Verden.
'Could it be spatial magic?'
…No, looking closely, it was not.
It was merely a trick to confuse the magic power inherent in the spell, forcibly altering its trajectory.
Difficult in itself, but far inferior to the highest-level spatial magic of the high attributes.
Verden poured full power into the counterfeit Ring of Permafrost, hurling a freezing lightning strike.
Steam thickened around them.
Their forces canceled one another out precisely, shattering apart and dissipating.
Then, Skeletons surged up around Verden.
The earth, cursed by the dark mage Kunel.
The Elder Lich had turned the ground into an Undead Domain, rendering Terrain Manipulation impossible.
Dozens of undead rose from the sand heaps, jawbones clattering as they charged together.
< Crimson Thunder >
Verden drove down a scarlet bolt of lightning.
The lesser undead could not withstand even a moment, crumbling to ashes.
But the Elder Lich did not simply watch.
< Flames of the Undying >
Dusky crimson fire coiled around the Skeleton horde.
For a time, they gained immunity to flame, once more blocking his path.
Even in such a situation, Verden silently expanded his magic, exhaling lightly.
'Just a little more.'
He imbued the Oculus with fire, sweeping the battlefield with elemental magic.
The magic battle escalated into a full clash. The Elder Lich's dark spells ignored the safety of its own undead, relentlessly targeting openings, yet the more it pressed, the more exhilarated Verden became.
Thump.
Blood flow accelerated, his heart pounding.
Even after expending vast magic power, his circuits pulsed with overflowing mana.
The essence of an elemental mage was destruction.
At some point, stray thoughts vanished, narrowed into that single resolve.
That sensation he had once experienced became clearer than ever.
The once-blurred wall was visible, and he was already nearing beyond it.
[…]
The Elder Lich, usually consumed with murderous hatred, faltered.
The undead, abnormal species born of death, know death better than anyone, and thus fear it most.
Sensing threat in Verden's form, the Elder Lich instinctively raised a shield.
It expended a massive amount of its own mana and that stored in the Orb of the Undead.
The Elder Lich's gaze fixed upon Verden.
At that instant, Verden froze. The Elder Lich had marked him.
For a moment, their magic collided.
In the mental realm that followed, only two beings remained.
Here, the caster Elder Lich was master. Towering dozens of times larger than Verden, it reached out a hand.
The bony grip seized Verden with crushing force, the Elder Lich casting a curse.
< Mind Break >
Crkkk-kkk.
The sound of a soul being crushed came from within its hand.
Those who suffered this curse met a death of the spirit.
One of the most perilous dark curses, impossible even for an Elder Lich to cast without the Orb of the Undead.
The Elder Lich's fist twitched.
He could feel the shredded remnants of soul. The undead instinct, craving the death of the living, was pleasurably stirred.
And then—
[…]
In the mental realm, a gaze was felt.
When the Elder Lich slowly turned its head, there existed an endless sea, a blue darkness so deep its depth could not even be guessed.
Soon, a tidal wave of the abyss engulfed the Elder Lich.
And within it, he faced it.
A magic power beyond humanity, no, a power that should not exist in this world.
In that moment.
Fwaaahhh!
The Elder Lich was expelled from the mental realm. Returned to the cavern, now a complete ruin, a great crack split across its skull.
The curse it had invoked had failed and rebounded upon the caster.
[Aaaaaarrrrggghhh...!]
The immense agony spread even to its soul.
The Elder Lich clutched its head, staggering, its gaze shifting forward.
There, stood the mage, who should have been nothing more than a mental corpse.
At last, a voice was heard.
"You've finally surpassed it."
Blue eyes shining quietly in the darkness.
A gaze that carried the abyssal sea was fixed upon the Elder Lich.
***
By Defying the Heavens, from 1st Tier to 2nd Tier.
With the aid of the mana circuit booster and a magic battle, from 2nd Tier to 3rd Tier.
By drinking the potion brewed through magic by Harkan, from 3rd Tier to 4th Tier.
And through unending effort, and this present ordeal, from 4th Tier at last to the 5th Tier.
328 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes, and 19 seconds after leaving the Bohemirn Magic Tower.
Verden, without question, had reached the 5th Tier at a growth rate unprecedented in both past and present.
'It's a sensation I haven't felt in a long time.'
The 5th Tier he had once forced his body into, breaking himself apart to withstand the magic of the power source.
The sensation was similar, but in truth, it was altogether different.
Verden observed himself.
His body now bore the level of the 5th Tier wholly, without strain.
The amount of magic power, once far beyond his grasp, now deeper and more immense, flooded his entire being with fullness.
Yet, there was something he could not understand.
'This is...'
His heart, where the source of magic resided.
Within it, he could feel an unknown magic slumbering. A truth even Verden himself had never realized.
This… yes, it was almost the same feeling as when facing the power source of a magic tower.
'Was there some change when I achieved Defying the Heavens?'
For now, it was unknowable.
Yet, if it had originated from Defying the Heavens... then it could be said that as his tier grew, the magic sealed within his heart was being released.
Only the amount of magic Verden could endure at a given time.
'If that is true, then this abnormal quantity of magic power, which I never anticipated, makes sense....'
Even Verden, who had originated the theory of Defying the Heavens, could not fathom the cause.
Well, in any case.
That was something to uncover later.
'First, recover the Orb of the Undead.'
The Elder Lich was not in a normal state now.
For Verden as he was now, subjugating it would not be difficult.
Thanks to this, he had reached the 5th Tier far sooner than planned...
'It would be best to send it off in one strike.'
Verden stirred his magic power.
In response, the Elder Lich once more attempted to conjure magic through the Orb of the Undead, but it was nothing more than futile thrashing.
Magic power converted into attributes.
Around the Oculus, a ring of magical flame formed. Even its residual waves melted the ground nearby.
'3rd Tier magic forms the foundation of a branch, and 4th Tier magic has diversity.'
And 5th Tier magic was clear.
Though not flashy or expansive in appearance, it was more specialized, revealing purely the essence of its branch.
The essence of elemental magic was destruction.
The magic Verden was shaping was precisely to annihilate a single entity.
< Prominence >
< Blaze >
< Spiral >
Three magics in harmony.
Though he had never before handled even a 5th Tier magic, let alone a 5th Tier synthetic magic, Verden's mana did not waver at all.
For the theory had long since been perfected.
The ring of flame moved.
As if alive, the spiral spread apart, then gathered again, forming a crimson orb the size of a fist.
It seemed smaller than a normal fireball, but the magic contained within was incomparably greater.
The Elder Lich desperately unleashed spells.
But unlike before, they were not powerful.
No matter if it was undead, after sustaining critical damage to its spirit, there was no way it could cast proper spells.
Moreover, Verden's magic was already complete.
Of all elemental spells he could currently manifest, it was the one with the narrowest range, but also the most destructive.
Boom!
The recoil drove Verden's body backward as the crimson orb was discharged.
A spell that erased the freezing barrier blocking its path in an instant.
Its speed surpassed the sound barrier, far beyond what a sluggish undead could avoid.
The Elder Lich threw up a mana barrier, but of course it could not withstand it.
Crack.
In a straight line, it pierced the mana barrier and struck the Elder Lich.
The spell struck directly at the creature's vital core, the crimson nucleus. Then—crkkk──── with a shattering sound, red light leaked out.
The 5th Tier synthetic magic.
< Red Radiance >
The explosion bursting from within devoured only the Elder Lich.