------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
------------------
Chapter 178: Reach
[TL/N: One of the best chaps of Crazy Mage till date…]
Samael's song bloomed from six circles.
Like pouring oil onto a blazing fire, the rich waves of mana intensified, invigorating the bodies of both the Black Magic and White Magic factions.
A wind of change blew.
It was also a wind of determination blooming within their hearts.
Fwwoooosh—!
I, too, moved forward.
The higher I climbed, the stronger the gale became.
Raindrops lashed against my face.
I trudged on, trampling over the blood-soaked corpses of monsters.
Past a man wielding a worn sword, surrounded by monsters, I finally reached the top of the plateau.
When the torrential rain completely drenched my face, blurring my vision, I brushed back my wet hair.
Through the pouring rain, I saw him staring at me.
A gray mask concealed the upper half of his face.
A demon, identical to a human except for the emanating demonic energy and blackened fangs.
I briefly closed and opened my eyes.
Whiiir—
The sound resonated from within.
My body was reaching its limit from constantly maintaining the six unstable circles and manifesting the incantation.
But I couldn't stop here.
"I shall Advance!"
"Advance!"
Voices of encouragement continued to rise from below.
The demon pointed a finger at me.
The moment our eyes met, I charged towards him.
As I tried to reverse the direction of the rotating circles, black blood spurted from my mouth again.
Perhaps I had pushed myself too hard while manifesting the Dark Heavenly Thunder.
But there was no time for despair.
Whiiir—!
Maintaining the incantation, I conjured another image in my mind.
"Ugh."
My heart felt as if it would burst.
As I felt the mana rapidly draining away, I instinctively clutched the bracelet on my wrist.
'Broken Joy.'
Like pouring ice water over a body about to melt under the scorching sun, abundant mana surged in like a waterfall, if only for a moment.
I focused on the image of Azka's incantation, the one that ignited flames on his missing right arm.
"The burning rage contained within the cold flame."
Flames blossomed on my right arm, forming a fire sword.
I aimed the blazing blade at the demon's heart.
Samael's song, enveloping the plateau, supported me from behind.
Fwooosh—!
The demon charged towards me.
The moment we crossed paths, I thrust the fire sword towards his heart.
Simultaneously, demonic energy exploded outwards.
Boooom—!
At an unexpected moment, a powerful demonic storm erupted from the ground.
The fire sword dissipated.
With a floating sensation, the demon's figure receded into the distance.
His words pierced through the air and lodged themselves in my ears.
"How bothersome."
Even as I was being flung backward, a strange thought occurred to me.
There was no incongruity in his voice.
There were cases where demons used human language, but...
Was there ever a demon who sounded so perfectly human?
Bang—!
"Ugh."
A shockwave jolted my insides.
After flying a considerable distance and crashing into the slope, an agonizing pain surged through my body.
The rotation of the circles stopped... and so did the incantation.
No matter how hard I tried to forcibly open the circle in my heart, it wouldn't budge.
Nothing was going my way.
Even moving a finger was difficult.
Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!
Suddenly, a series of powerful explosions echoed from various parts of the plateau.
Demonic storms erupted from all directions.
Screams, which had been subsiding, now resonated in unison.
Ah.
"Advance!"
"Fuck. Advance!"
The incantation had clearly ended.
Yet, the voices of those fools continued.
I wanted to glare at them and hurl insults, but even lifting my head was a struggle.
Sigh.
I simply lay there, staring at the rain-soaked sky.
Fwwoooosh—!
The pouring rain gushed into my eyes, nose, and mouth, threatening to suffocate me.
A metallic scent filled the air.
Water gradually rose over my face.
The frenzied downpour completely submerged me.
I closed my eyes.
Perhaps it was because I was underwater.
The sound of the pouring rain, the screams, the shouts of those fools – all faded away.
Blink.
The moment I opened my eyes, the rainwater suddenly looked like blood.
Fwoosh—
I lifted my face from the water and exhaled.
I looked around.
Still, no sound reached me.
Looking up, I saw a rain of blood.
My vision, once tinged with red, instantly turned black.
Simultaneously, the ground exploded right before my eyes, and a demonic storm surged forward.
* * *
Crazy Mage.
I didn’t like that nickname from the start.
I wasn’t insane enough to take pride in some wretched craziness.
Perhaps it all began that day.
The day my vision was stained red for the first time during the expedition.
The day I opened the 4th Circle of Reversal and unleashed my dark amplification.
"You’re starting to lose it, Ruin."
I remember what Pelleer said to me.
At the time, I didn’t quite understand what he meant.
The day Azeta bit into his lightning-wreathed ring finger and forced his mana circles into overdrive.
The day he saved me.
The first day my blood-red vision turned black.
The day I reached the 6th Circle of Reversal.
"You’re going insane, Ruin. Honestly, the Black Magic faction suits you better."
That was the first time I stood against Pelleer.
I thought he was insulting me—a deliberate slight from someone who rarely spoke carelessly.
The mana of yin dimension inevitably brought madness with it.
The stronger I became, the narrower my focus grew when the madness flared.
As the episodes of insanity grew shorter in interval and my memory lapses worsened, people started calling me the “Crazy Mage.”
I thought it was a disgusting moniker.
It wasn’t just because it lacked the strength or grandeur of names like Sword Saint, Guardian Saint, Archmage, or Dragon Knight.
Nor was it because I denied my craziness.
What bothered me most was that those words were spoken so casually by people who knew nothing.
None of them understood the wretched madness.
And that was the most disgusting part of all.
It took me a long time to change how I felt.
Pelleer may have been the one who gave me that nickname, but it was Azka who first explained its meaning.
In the depths of a canyon.
The day we wiped out a wave of demons after being trapped in a deadly ambush.
I was perched on a boulder, gasping for air, the aftereffects of my madness taking their toll.
Azka approached me, bloodied and battered, and sat beside me.
"You really are the Crazy Mage, kid."
"I told you to stop calling me that."
"If I can be honest, I kind of wish I could go crazy too."
For a moment, anger surged within me.
"Don’t spout nonsense, you bastard of a commander."
Then, suddenly, Azka let out a laugh.
"You still don’t get it, do you, Ruin?"
"Get what?"
"Going crazy doesn’t only mean losing your mind."
"If you’re going to spout cryptic nonsense, save it for someone else. I’m not in the mood."
"You have to go crazy to achieve the impossible."
"What?"
Azka’s gaze turned serious as he looked me in the eye.
"To go crazy means to transcend. You must go crazy to reach new heights, go crazy to break through, go crazy to touch the untouchable. Only craziness allows you to achieve craziness."
"……"
"Ruin, you’ve already reached your own heights."
Azka smiled at me as he spoke.
"That's why you're the Crazy Mage, and that's why we're the Crazy Mage Squad."
"..."
"A gathering of men who want to go mad."
I couldn't say anything.
Even then, I didn't quite understand what he meant.
It was only later, after seeing Azka, that I understood.
Azka fought like a madman to achieve madness.
I had never seen him hesitate.
I never knew what he wanted to be mad about.
Perhaps he wanted to reach the 8th Circle, beyond the 7th.
Perhaps he yearned for the belief that he could return.
What was certain was that he was a man worthy of madness.
That day was the same.
Azka's footsteps towards the Demon Marquess, Vassago, were unwavering.
Footsteps advancing while chanting the incantation.
Only when the whole world in my vision was painted in earthy hues could I follow in his footsteps.
I saw Azka kneeling on the top of the plateau.
Replacing his missing right arm was a fire sword.
It seemed he managed to manifest the incantation despite his circles being deciphered.
I crushed the Demon Marquess's head right after Azka collapsed.
Even in death, Azka's eyes were wide open.
I realized what incantation Azka had originally intended to manifest.
His incantation didn't reach the Demon Marquess, but...
His incantation has now reached me.
"..."
My body moved on its own.
I didn't know why I was back here.
What was certain was that this wasn't a dream.
I could tell without needing to slap myself.
It was agonizingly vivid.
There was no need to hesitate.
My vision narrowed.
I looked up at a single point.
Immediately, a concentrated spot in the air exploded, and black lightning struck down.
Dark Heavenly Thunder.
I ran towards a single target.
The distance closed rapidly.
I bestowed Dark Explosion upon the heads of all the monsters that blocked my path.
My vision darkened even further.
Not even high-ranking demons, but mere lowly monsters.
Suddenly, something obstructed my vision.
As soon as I extended my fingertip to unleash Dark Explosion, it was split in half with a single blow.
Blocking Dark Explosion?
...It's not a monster. It's someone I seem to remember.
Was it the Sword Saint?
Anyway, it doesn't matter.
I passed the Sword Saint and stood before Vassago.
At that moment, a pathetic demonic storm erupted from the ground.
Just as I was about to wrap my hand in Dark Explosion and strike down the storm...
Sword Saint approached and swung his sword first.
The demonic storm, layered dozens of times over, was sliced through with a single stroke.
I looked back at Vassago.
His face was trembling.
I rubbed my eyes.
For some reason…
Azka, who I was sure was dead, was standing next to Vassago, staring intently at me.
I raised my right hand.
"The rage that blooms in frozen flames. Imbued with a burning will..."
I recited the incantation that Azka had tried to manifest.
"The blue blade blooms here..."
6th Circle, Frozen Blaze.
A blue flame bloomed like a teardrop in my vision, filled only with black and white.
Blue flames engulfed and blazed on my right arm.
I pierced Vassago's heart with the fire sword, ablaze with deep blue flames on my right arm.
Thud—
Thump—
At the same time, I started to hear the sound of raindrops.
Suddenly, as if my eyes were opening, multiple colors began to overlap in my vision.
I stood there for a moment, blankly looking around.
Sword Saint, who had approached at some point, looked at me and asked,
"Who are you?"
"..."
Looking closely, it wasn't Sword Saint.
He looked similar, but younger.
It was the very man who had been wielding a dark sword, surrounded by monsters.
Only then did a sense of incongruity wash over me.
"..."
I turned my head again and looked down at the corpse of the demon, its heart pierced with a large hole, burning in blue flames.
"...This isn't Vassago."
Fwwoooosh— Thump— Thump— Thump.
The sound of rain gradually subsided.
"Commander!"
I heard the Crazy Mage Squad and White Horse Knights running towards me.
I looked up at the sky.
A large red sun rose, and with a cracking sound, the sky split in half.
Revealed through the gap was another ash-gray sky.
The outside of the demon realm.
"Ha."
Simultaneously, numerous voices reached my ears.
White Magic Tower's magic scholars, vassal clan knights, and numerous mages from the Magic Tower Alliance had entered the barrier and surrounded the demon realm.
Hector was there too.
"..."
Amidst the scenery of the demon realm, gradually fading into an illusion...
I turned my head again and looked down at a single spot.
Azka.
Azka, who had been staring at me with wide eyes until just a moment ago, was also disappearing.
Before the illusion completely vanished, I approached him and closed his eyelids.
—Just like the Crazy Mage. Youngest.
I smiled at Azka, too.
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
