Chapter 169. Grim Reaper (2)
Nosa, with his abilities as a Mage sealed, could not sense magic power.
Yet even to him, a whirlpool of high-density magic power was visible, swirling violently around the gray-haired Mage.
Judging by memory, the output was at least 5th tier or higher.
And with that earlier lightning spell, plus the youthful appearance just past his early twenties, and the name Asher that Calia had called—
'So this is the Mage said to be working under Calia.'
Nosa immediately saw through his identity.
According to the rumors, he was said to be 4th tier… had he been hiding his true realm on purpose?
'To be 5th tier at that age, such extraordinary talent.'
Still, Nosa's reaction was relatively calm.
For he already knew well that in this vast world existed monsters who far transcended human common sense.
After all, when even Transcendents openly reigned supreme in the world, this much was surprising, but hardly shocking.
And whether 4th tier or 5th tier, it mattered little.
To the high-ranking Undead he had contracted with—the Grim Reaper—they were the same. No different from livestock waiting to die.
But one question remained.
The passage where that gray-haired Mage had appeared was clearly guarded by Viola.
That deranged woman would never let him pass, bewitched by a handsome face. Unless she had stabbed him cleanly in the vitals, flayed his skeleton, and preserved his skin as a trophy.
Which meant…
Huh?
'Viola was defeated?'
Nosa, startled, quickly lifted his head—just as a massive stone spear came flying.
The Grim Reaper blurred its form, concealing its substance.
Because of that, the defenseless Nosa was struck head-on by the spell.
His torso was torn apart.
Blood and flesh scattered across the ritual ground. For a human, it would have been instant death. Then the corpse turned to smoke, and returned to its original body.
Nosa asked Verden,
"You, where is Viola?"
Kwaaang!
This time a fireball flew in and exploded.
Flames wrapped his entire body.
Flesh and muscle burned, blood boiled.
'An elder asks a question, and you answer with a spell? How rude.'
Nosa once again restored his body.
His face was stained only with displeasure, but his expression barely changed. As long as the contract was maintained, Nosa was immortal, and he felt no pain.
Soon, Nosa cast his gaze upon Verden.
A robe torn in many places.
Marks familiar to the eye, sliced by something sharp.
'He must have fought a magic battle with Viola… but I don't quite understand.'
Viola was a murderer well-versed in killing.
Her deadly magic,
Against a warrior, she kept her distance and shot white bones, against a Mage, she induced close combat.
And that power shone brightest in enclosed spaces.
Forming webs of bone above while darting about below—her style of combat. Even Nosa himself would have found survival difficult.
Yet to kill Viola without a major wound, and descend…
That left two possibilities.
Either he had neutralized Viola with a rare magical item or artifact, or he had purely overpowered her in a duel of magic.
From experience, only the former seemed plausible.
'No matter how talented, Viola's actual realm was higher.'
Moreover, with a difference in years lived, their experience in magical combat could not even be compared.
All the more so as Viola was a Magus.
That such a woman would be defeated in skill by a Mage, was less convincing than that she was caught off-guard by some special means.
'Tsk, I told her not to live carelessly.'
Nosa clicked his tongue, lamenting Viola's foolishness.
But regardless of what means were used, the result did not change.
The Grim Reaper, using incorporeality, was nearly invincible, and its power was greater than Viola and Nosa combined.
There was no variable.
Nosa commanded,
"Grim Reaper, harvest that Mage's soul."
***
Verden, through the light spells he had cast, observed Nosa.
A shattered body turned to smoke, revived through the Grim Reaper.
'Not regeneration. More like a type of clone, if I must classify it.'
The true body was the Grim Reaper… more precisely, the Orb of the Undead seemed to be the source.
Each time his body became smoke, from the rags surrounding the Grim Reaper, within the darkness, the faint light of the Orb of the Undead flickered.
In other words, the one applying immortality was the Grim Reaper.
Thus, even if one killed the black Mage known as Nosa, that Undead would likely remain. For now, it was so.
'Killing the black Mage seems meaningless.'
Nosa had been helpless against Verden's spells.
Not as if he believed in immortality, but as if he simply could not respond at all. Perhaps, when summoning the Grim Reaper, he had sacrificed his own power.
Therefore, the important one was the Grim Reaper.
Defeating it would lead directly to conclusion. Verden was certain.
Then, Nosa's voice rang out.
"Grim Reaper, harvest that Mage's soul."
The Grim Reaper raised its scythe high.
On its blade, an ominous aura gathered. When it swung down, dozens of blades of death surged forth.
A dark-violet curtain shielded Verden.
The shroud that deflected over a dozen blades bore not a single scratch.
"Hooh, gravity magic. To wield two high-tier attributes, lightning and gravity, what astounding talent."
But what about this, then?
When the blades of death were rendered useless, the Grim Reaper began to move.
Like a shadow stretching in the sunlight, the Grim Reaper slid forward, gripping its scythe, and swung wide.
Saaahhh!
The air split, a sharp sound grazing his ears.
'Too tricky to block head-on.'
Kwaang!
Verden kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.
But it was not mere flight. Below the Grim Reaper that had cleaved the air, magic surged from the earth.
Kwa-ja-ja-jak!
Spikes of earth pierced into the Grim Reaper's body.
Just as Calia had said, it seemed unable to use incorporeality while attacking.
Verden fixed his gaze on the Grim Reaper.
Then the creature swung its scythe, shattering the earthen spikes. With 3rd-tier earth magic, even a direct hit inflicted no meaningful damage.
Nosa clapped his hands.
"Impressive, to counterattack in that fleeting gap. A moment's delay and your body would've been cleaved in two, yet you dared it with such nerve."
But—
"How long do you think you can keep dodging?"
At those words, the Grim Reaper chased Verden.
A massive scythe, three meters long, swept down, blades of death targeting his life.
Verden evaded with acrobatic movements.
Then, in an instant, he reversed direction, charging straight at the Grim Reaper. The blade narrowly grazed over his head.
Verden released his magic power.
A surge of fire engulfed the Grim Reaper.
Then, with Triple Casting, he unleashed ice, lightning, and gravity magic, striking at its manifested form. Slipping out of range, Verden watched the creature intently.
[…]
Naturally, such spells would not erase the Grim Reaper.
But—
'There's a reaction.'
Physical force was not particularly effective.
Yet the areas struck by flame and lightning grew faint for a moment, then restored themselves.
'So heat is its weakness, after all.'
Not much different from the basic traits of Undead.
The only problem—its resistance threshold was far beyond that of an Elder Lich.
Yes, he could wait for it to manifest and strike its weakness, but Verden had no intention of dragging the fight out.
'And Nosa must feel the same.'
Surely he couldn't be handling such an Undead without cost.
Verden stole a glance at Nosa's face.
The man wore a look of leisure, yet his eyes were fixed restlessly upon the Grim Reaper, as though anxious.
By now, Verden had roughly grasped the creature's abilities.
With that last reaction, his plan to subjugate it was complete.
All that remained was the opportunity.
And that opportunity would not be made by Verden, but by Nosa himself.
***
The foundation of a Mage was to keep distance.
Few had ever experienced blades slashing right before their eyes. Thus, the untrained reflexes and clumsy countermeasures of most Mages had clear limits.
But this one was strange.
That uncanny movement, slipping past the Grim Reaper's strikes by a hair.
That persistence, striking back with spells every time it manifested.
And not even flinching before the Grim Reaper's
Whether it was deliberate, or simply desperate thrashing, he could not tell.
Nor did he see any sign of the means used to disable Viola. Perhaps he could no longer employ them.
Either way, it was more than enough to twist Nosa's mood.
'How dare you and your petty tricks…!'
By all rights, this should have been over long ago.
Though he concealed his emotions, as Verden predicted, Nosa was growing restless.
Each time he wielded the Grim Reaper's power, it seized another soul.
He would not die suddenly, the contract was still young, but even so, the consumption was severe.
'What should I do?'
Draw out more power, or wait for that Mage's mana to run dry?
He could not know which was more efficient.
As his thoughts grew heavy, Verden landed upon the ground.
His eyes fixed on Nosa.
Within them, a strange ease.
Nosa bit the inside of his cheek.
'No choice, then.'
If he delayed, the losses would only mount.
Who knew how many more souls the Grim Reaper would consume… it had to be endured.
Decision made, Nosa addressed Verden.
"…Quite the flying skills. It's like watching a rat scurrying through the sky."
"Didn't you just call me brave?"
"Silence! Enough of your dull antics, your arrogant stalling ends here!"
The Grim Reaper slowly descended.
Exhaling once, Nosa whispered,
"Grim Reaper, still his mind and body."
In that instant, blue flames blazed within the creature's shroud.
The eyes of the Reaper of Death.
To meet them was to paralyze the mind.
Around Verden, space warped as he faced the blue fire.
"…!"
For a moment, his body shuddered.
The Grim Reaper's scythe glimmered with death's power. Yet, though death loomed before him, Verden did not so much as flinch.
Nosa sneered.
"Should have used this from the start."
The moment his words ended, the scythe swept down.
A colossal strike of death.
This should have sealed his fate.
Should have—
"What…?"
Around Verden, magic power rose.
Denser, vaster than anything witnessed so far.
Nosa's eyes widened.
"How, when both mind and body are paralyzed, can you wield magic… No, to possess such magic at all…!"
It made no sense.
And stranger still—
'A magic circle, in his eye…?'
In Verden's right eye, the magic circle of Defying the Heavens emerged.
The Mystic Eye activated, and gray mana traced constellations within his hand.
A dark sphere adorned with countless tiny lights.
Nosa felt foreboding.
"G-Grim Reaper! Use
He shouted in haste.
But—
"It's already too late."
Comet, Rarenia.
Magic power surged.
The torrent of the Milky Way tore the scythe's strike to shreds.