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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
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Chapter 70
No, but honestly, anyone would misunderstand in a situation like this.
What kind of crazy woman would show up at a grand banquet, where countless people have gathered, looking like that, and suddenly scream, "That bastard is evil!" before getting dragged away?
Even Luna, who thinks money can solve everything, or Melissa, who is a pragmatist to her core, wouldn't do something so reckless.
I decided to admit my mistake gracefully.
"I'm sorry."
I mean, how was I supposed to know that was her normal state?
"…Isna."
"Yes, Grandfather?"
"Do you now understand why I always tell you to restrain yourself?"
"What did I even do? Hmph."
She pouted her lips and grumbled, then glared at me.
"I'm sorry, Lady."
"It's fine. I just want to be alone."
I felt a pang of guilt and looked at Osberg with an apologetic expression, but he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but Isna is actually the sane one. The one exposed to mental attacks is someone else."
If an important figure of Mielephon had been exposed to Kraken’s mental attack...
Well, either way, what does it matter?
The fact remains that someone has been affected by the mental attack.
"You have no intention of backing down, do you?"
"That’s right."
"Then you might as well join the subjugation force. It would be safer that way."
"I'm sorry, but I plan to attack it in my own way, Elder."
One might wonder why it even matters which approach is taken.
But since cultists are involved, it was best to move separately.
"And why do you think that?"
"Normally, it wouldn’t matter much, but with cultists in the mix, it’s better if one side operates in secrecy."
The cultists were influencing the Kraken in some way.
Whatever their goal was, they were undoubtedly keeping a watchful eye on everything happening around them at this very moment.
"Has anything been identified regarding their objective?"
"We found a magic circle… but the structure is too bizarre for our mages to analyze."
Bizarre, huh…
"Can I take a look?"
"The intricacy of the magic circle is beyond words."
"Don't worry. I may not look it, but I’m an expert."
"Follow me."
He rose from his seat and led us to a cave on the outskirts of a nearby fishing village.
There, several mages were already stationed, analyzing the magic circle.
If they didn’t figure out what this was, it could cause serious problems for the Kraken subjugation.
"Ah."
"Ah."
The moment Luna and I saw the magic circle, we both let out short exclamations.
"You two?"
Luna and I exchanged glances and confirmed our thoughts.
"It's a mind-control magic circle."
"It's a berserk magic circle."
…
For a moment, we just stared at each other.
"Mind-control."
"Berserk."
…
She struck first.
"Leon, are your eyes just for decoration? How could this be a mind-control magic circle?"
"What do you know about necromancy? Don't act like you do. This is definitely a mind-control magic circle."
Both of us scoffed at each other.
"Ridiculous. That pattern could never be a mind-control magic circle. That makes it a berserk magic circle. Do you really think necromancers can use mind control? They just made the Kraken go berserk."
"Stop talking nonsense. If this were a berserk magic circle, the secondary array of the heating formula wouldn’t work in this configuration. And considering they made the Kraken cause a tidal wave, it’s clearly mind control, not berserk."
The argument escalated quickly.
"Leon, you really are an idiot. Just a strong idiot. And yet, you always call me dumb."
"Since we're on the topic, let me ask: Is that way of talking a gimmick?"
"Hah! I'm just not used to conversations yet!"
Even the mages analyzing the magic circle stopped and looked at us in disbelief.
They hadn’t been in the village when the tidal wave hit.
"Um, Elder. Those two are…?"
"Oh, don’t mind them. That’s my future grandson-in-law and his friend."
"Ah… I see."
As Luna and I continued to glare at each other in silence, the argument ended with her ultimate move.
"It's a berserk magic circle."
"It's mind control."
"Berserk magic circle."
She reached into her pocket.
At the same time, she pulled out a brilliantly shining gemstone.
"Uh, mind control…"
"Berserk magic circle!!"
"Oh, great angel, may your will be done."
I reverently accepted the gem she handed me.
Wow, with this, I won’t have to worry about money for my hobbies for a while.
Anything I receive when Melissa isn’t around becomes my secret stash.
If I touch any other money, Melissa will tear my hair out.
"You two…"
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
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Osberg Mielephon’s expression was priceless, as if he couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.
"So, do you know what this actually is? We haven't been able to fully analyze its structure, so we can’t recklessly attempt to deactivate it."
"Well, I’ll need to take a closer look, but from the surface, it does seem to be a mind-cont— I mean, a berserk magic circle."
I glanced at Luna’s expression and sighed before stepping forward.
After all, seeing it firsthand and analyzing its internal structure were two different things.
For cultists, this was quite an elaborate magic circle, but I had encountered far more intricate and complex ones before.
"Please step back. It could be dangerous."
The mages blocked our approach, perhaps because they had witnessed our disagreement and had completely lost trust in us.
However, at Osberg's signal, they soon stepped aside.
Still, their expressions remained filled with a strange sense of distrust.
"Alright... let's turn this thing over."
I placed my hand on the large magic circle spread on the ground and drew upon my necromantic mana.
At the same time—
A chilling aura wrapped around my entire body.
Huh?
A terribly eerie yet strangely familiar aura.
I searched my memories.
The Hall of Swords, the Hall of Nothingness, the Hall of Sages, the Hall of Necromancy.
I couldn’t recall everything perfectly, but since most of my memories had been restored, I could retrieve them given enough time.
As I remained silent, deep in thought, the mages gave each other looks that said, See?
I told you so.
"Senior, what is he doing?"
"No idea. Probably trying to act important like some noble family's young master."
"He doesn’t look like he knows a damn thing about magic, though."
"Just leave him be. He’ll give up soon enough. Damn it, we’re busy as hell, and here he is messing around..."
"Shh, shh. If the elder hears you, you’ll be in trouble."
"What does it matter? We’re just dispatched mages anyway."
They whispered among themselves, but their voices weren’t exactly quiet enough to escape my ears.
Of course, I had more pressing concerns than their chatter—I needed to figure out why this aura felt so familiar.
After digging through my memories for a while, I finally realized it.
"Oh. So that's how it is."
I let out a hollow laugh and slipped on my black gloves.
"Leon?"
Luna, noticing my actions, asked cautiously.
"Did you find something?"
"You and I saw things differently for a reason."
"What do you mean?"
Osberg followed up with a question, and I explained what I had discovered.
"This is a type of magic that requires sacrificing lives. The magic circle is covered with spells that obscure its true purpose, creating a false perception of its contents."
I had encountered this kind of magic before and had been fooled by it more than once in battle.
I couldn't cast magic, but I had to learn how to recognize it in order to fight against it.
However, my explanation was met with immediate resistance from the mages.
"Young master, stop meddling and step back. We don’t know what might happen with a magic circle like this."
"There are no traces of magic at all—what nonsense are you talking about?"
"Exactly. Leave it to us professionals. It’s dangerous for an amateur to—"
As I ignored their words and continued my examination, their expressions darkened.
"Dammit, this little brat who doesn’t know the first thing about magic is going to get us all in trouble."
A mage muttered under his breath, but his words cut off the moment my fist struck.
Crackle...! Zzzzzzzt!!
The Hand of Fury, a relic of the angels, possessed the power of distortion.
Hadn't it even twisted the divine flames of the sacred beast Barva, flames capable of burning through space itself?
Although this magic was intricately designed, it focused more on deception than defense.
As a result, breaking it was a simple matter.
The telltale blue flames that marked the destruction of magic flickered and scattered, revealing a completely different magic circle beneath.
"Huh?"
"It really was magic?"
"Unbelievable..."
The mages murmured in shock, but I remained silent, staring at the magic circle.
Then, I let out a short exclamation.
"Oh."
"Oh."
Luna echoed my reaction at the same time.
"What's wrong?"
Sensing our unease, Osberg asked another question.
"This... seems to be a summoning circle."
"Yep. A summoning circle."
For once, Luna and I were in full agreement.
It wasn’t necromantic magic.
But I had seen magic circles like this plenty of times before.
"This looks like... summoning magic. I specialize in necromancy, so I can’t say for sure. Luna?"
"I'm useful."
Understanding my implication, she straightened her back proudly and stepped forward.
Now that I thought about it, she knew far more about magic than I had expected for someone supposedly divine.
"Wait, are you actually a mage?"
Considering the chains that had restrained Barva and her healing abilities, it wouldn’t be too strange if she had some knowledge of magic.
However, she denied it.
"Nope."
"Then how do you know this stuff?"
"I just saw it before."
Yeah, sure.
Real convincing.
She then began to analyze the magic circle.
I wasn’t sure if she could properly deactivate it, but she wouldn’t be touching it if she wasn’t confident...
At least, that’s what I thought.
"Oh. I messed up."
FWOOOOOOSH!!!
CRACKLE! SNAP!
"I was a fool to trust you."
"I'm useless..."
She slumped dejectedly as the magic circle split apart, revealing something crawling up from within.
"Prepare for battle!"
The knights and mages hurriedly took up combat stances.
But—
As the entity emerged from the cracked ground, everyone but me fell silent in shock.
"...We’re screwed."
Cursing under my breath, I grabbed the sword given to me by Mielephon’s head, Catsey Mielephon.
-Aahhh... it hurts... it hurts.
-Save me...
A grotesque, patchwork monstrosity made from dozens, maybe hundreds, of human bodies.
Human heads were fused into its flesh, their mouths whispering incoherent pleas.
Its supposed “eyes” were clusters of human arms protruding in a writhing mass.
And its gaping mouth—filled not with teeth, but with the heads of the dead, arranged like a nightmarish mosaic.
Simply looking at it was enough to trigger a deep, primal horror.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
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