Chapter 388

Words : 2497 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

“That looks a bit dangerous.” Limrei pointed his staff at Rudger. -Whoosh! And a blue magic bullet was fired. The magic bullet tried to swallow Rudger while blocking his escape route but at that moment, the golden light changed into something. It took the form of a person, with countless golden hands behind it. Those hands moved and blocked Limrei’s magic bullet. The hands disappeared one after another as they couldn’t block the magic bullet at once, but there were so many of them, eventually, the magic bullet lost its power and disappeared before it could reach Rudger. “That’s a magic I’ve never seen before. It’s neither spirit nor magic. It’s truly something outside the normal category of magic.” “It’s my original magic.” “Did you create it yourself?” “It’s just a humble product of following the wisdom of my ancestors.” “Now I understand how you were able to analyze and use my Book Selection in one go.” Limrei said that and started forming a spell formula. Rudger rushed towards him to prevent giving him an opening, pushing off from his position. The Buddha statue behind his back emitted a brilliant light. Limrei wasn’t disturbed by that dazzling light but continued composing the spell formula calmly, without stopping until he felt something grab his ankle. Looking down, he saw that a shadow extending from Rudger’s body had risen like a vine and bound his ankle. It was thanks to the shadow lengthening from the strong light behind him. ‘So that light was just a means for this.’ Limrei wrapped his leg in magic power and lightly broke it off. His powerful magic power easily broke such bindings, meanwhile, Rudger took out several vials from inside his shadow cloak. The vials were wrapped in shadows and then disappeared from their spot like magic. The vials reappeared on the ceiling of the wide hall above Limrei’s head. Rudger cleverly transported them quite far to minimize the coordinate distortion error caused by Limrei’s magic power. Even if not directly above his head, dropping them from the high ceiling made little difference. “Hmph. Such childish tricks.” Limrei snorted and waved his staff as a gentle wind blew and wrapped around the vials Rudger had thrown, sending them back towards Rudger. -Snap. When Limrei snapped his fingers, lines of magic power were drawn and shattered the vials. The contents spilled on Rudger’s body, but he ignored it and rushed forward. ‘It wasn’t a potion?’ Limrei clicked his tongue and put up a magic barrier in front of Rudger. Soon, the charging Rudger collided with the barrier. The pitch-black cloak wrapped around Rudger’s back split left and right. It transformed into a giant beast’s hands and dug into the center of the barrier, tearing it apart. The fact that this was possible despite it not being an ordinary barrier was surely because the shadow itself had space-distorting power imbued in it. ‘That shadow, no, is it the characteristic of his familiar.’ Come to think of it, Rudger always used shadows as a medium when crossing space. After tearing the barrier apart left and right, Rudger scattered the cloak that had turned into arms in all directions. Like a fully bloomed flower scattering petals in the wind, the black pieces floating in the air like sparks eventually transformed into the forms of evil spirits and surrounded Limrei. The First Book of Solomon’s Lesser Key. The Art of Demons. Ars Goetia. Limrei gripped his staff with both hands and struck the ground. -Zwish! Simultaneously, threads of magic power shot out like arrows in all directions, piercing through all 72 evil spirits. “Quite interesting. They resemble demons but aren’t demons, and it’s closer to manifestation than summoning.” The tightly drawn threads tangled with each other and eventually bound all 72 evil spirits in one place. The evil spirits struggled, but the threads were stronger. At that moment, the Buddha statue that appeared behind Rudger reached its arm toward Limrei. The quickly thrust hand aimed for Limrei’s head but was caught by another giant hand that appeared in mid-air. Behind Limrei, a large figure raised its upper body. “That’s......” “It’s not that I can’t do summoning.” Limrei’s familiar was a Giant God Soldier (Kyoshinhei) with a massive upper body. The pure white-skinned Giant God Soldier raised both arms to catch the thrusting golden hands. -Crack! As the Buddha statue and Giant God Soldier entered a test of strength, sparks made of magic power repeatedly flew around them. In the midst of that collision, Limrei and Rudger stared at each other from close range. Rudger thrust his sword stick, and Limrei blocked it with his staff. Limrei spun his staff to deflect the sword stick and aimed for Rudger’s temple. The staff techniques were familiar and natural. Despite being a magician, Limrei had abundant close combat experience. Ducking his head to barely avoid the staff, Rudger stretched out his left hand. -Swish. A blade hidden below his wrist sprang out and aimed for Limrei’s brow. It was the hidden blade installed in the armband that Seridan had made. However, Limrei had anticipated something would come when Rudger extended his hand. Limrei held up his recovered staff in front of his brow. -Clang! The hidden blade was blocked by the staff. At that moment, a hidden wire shot out and wrapped around the staff with a whirring sound. Rudger pulled his left arm, and Limrei had to use force to prevent losing his staff. In that momentary test of strength, Limrei said: “You’ve been hiding all sorts of interesting weapons.” “Isn’t that the same for you?” At Rudger’s words, Limrei smiled at the corner of his mouth. As if to prove this, the bracelet worn on Limrei’s left arm shone and the light struck and broke Rudger’s wire in the middle. At that timing, Rudger thrust his sword stick, but Limrei’s thin thread had already wrapped around the blade. It was Limrei’s specialty, threads of magic power. Limrei gathered magic power at the tip of his staff to make it like a spear blade and thrust it toward Rudger’s heart. However, the staff couldn’t reach Rudger’s body. Similarly, meaningful threads were wrapped around the staff. Shining silver in the light, it was different from the magic power threads he used. “Silver thread?” “I can use similar things too.” Rudger said while pulling the thread made of [Flowing Silver]. “Besides, mine is better.” Right after, the form of the silver thread changed and countless thorns sprouted on top of the staff. Even Limrei had no choice but to let go of his staff-holding hand as this was beyond his ability to handle. After snatching the staff, Rudger threw it far away. “You’ve lost your weapon, what will you do now?” “What else?” Limrei muttered that and then took a stance. Lowering his body and stretching his arms back, that stance resembled something about to be swung. Magic power gathered in the empty air, and eventually turned into a huge bastard sword. “What.” The great sword with a blade over 2 meters long was imbued with such chilling magic power that just looking at it sent shivers down one’s spine. Limrei powerfully swung the great sword made of ice with one hand. Following its trajectory, countless ice awls scattered and frost settled in the air. In the cold that stung the skin, Rudger raised shadows to block the great sword. -Crash! The cold chill was felt beyond the shadows, but it wasn’t particularly dangerous. At that moment, Limrei rushed toward Rudger. He struck the ice great sword on the ground to raise ice awls from the ground, while simultaneously stretching out his other hand to raise magic power. -Crackle! It was a sword of lightning that sent painful electric currents in all directions. The curved sword with its blade curved like a crescent moon boasted power equal to, no, greater than the ice great sword. The shadow barrier easily crumbled. Rudger infused magic power into his sword stick to block the lightning curved sword. -Boom! As the magic powers collided, a huge shockwave burst forth. The mansion floor cracked like a spider web around the two people. “What do you think I’ve been doing as a one-man school? Did you think you were done just because you took my weapon?” “It’s magic from the Southern Fatima Kingdom. The technique of manifesting highly pure elements as weapons. Was close combat your specialty?” “I was quite famous back in the day.” -Clang clang clang clang! Swords repeatedly collided in mid-air. Limrei’s movements were so nimble it was hard to believe he had an aged body. Even with magic enhancement, such movement shouldn’t be possible at that age. It must be possible because he trained consistently even in normal times. Rudger also faced him without backing down. He melted the ground’s ice awls using fire arrows, while continuing attacks that struck at openings in between using source code. Limrei also either avoided those attacks while swinging his sword or blocked them by spreading magic barriers in local areas. At that moment, Limrei stretched his hand not holding the lightning sword toward Rudger. The bracelet worn on his wrist could be seen making a buzzing sound. ‘Artifact.’ The moment he recognized this, the back of his head tingled and Rudger ducked his head without even checking. Right after, the staff he had thrown far away brushed past above his head. -Catch. Limrei caught the flying staff in his hand and wrapped it in flames. With a lightning sword in his left hand and a flame spear in his right hand, his appearance wrapped in tremendous magic power was truly no different from a warrior living for combat. “You had such functions added to the staff as well?” “You’re not one to talk.” Limrei said that but then frowned. His vision blurred slightly and his body felt heavy. “Poison?” Limrei saw the light in the crow mask’s eyes curve like a crescent moon. ‘When did he...?’ “...I see. The potion you sprayed just now.” Limrei realized that what had happened to him was because of the vial Rudger had dropped above his head. He had returned it to Rudger, and Rudger had been completely doused in its contents. He thought it was just a deception seeing how fine he was, but that wasn’t it? ‘To think just inhaling it as it vaporizes and disperses in the air has this much power.’ Not only withstanding tremendous magic power doping, but being fine even with that poison, he must have a constitution immune to poison. Since that couldn’t have been naturally given, he must have gone through something to achieve it. “You’ve lived quite an eventful life as well.” Limrei converted some of the magic power wrapped around his body into a spell formula. The formula began expelling the toxins settled in his body through absorption through Limrei’s skin. Limrei’s quickened breathing returned to normal in an instant. During that time Rudger attacked several times, but he couldn’t land proper hits due to the lightning and fire Limrei wielded. “You can use detoxification magic as well?” “Have you forgotten? To come to this secret mansion, one must cross a dangerous forest. That forest is full of plant groups containing all sorts of dangerous toxins. This was preparation for that.” -Fizzle. As if running out of energy, Limrei withdrew the lightning curved sword. Instead, he gripped the burning staff with both hands and the force of the flames wrapping the staff grew stronger. The scattered embers didn’t disappear and continued to encroach on the surrounding space like an inextinguishable fire. Rudger found that flame quite impressive and at the same time familiar. “You manifested emotion in magic power.” “Yes. These flames are the manifestation of my anger. They won’t extinguish unless you break my will.” “Is this why you did all this? For revenge against the Truth School?” “Revenge is just a process to achieve what I want.” By now the space around Limrei flickered with flames but a cold gaze opposite to that heat was staring at Rudger. Limrei wasn’t showing even a bit of carelessness. He fought, treating Rudger as an equally strong opponent. “Then what are you fighting for?” “Did you think I would answer that honestly if you asked? You who act in secret while hiding your identity.” “I won’t deny that.” “Still, I’ll give you a word as a parting gift. There is only one reason I fight.” Limrei greatly swung the flaming staff to spew flames. It struck the golden Buddha statue still locked in a power struggle and pushed it back. “Salvation.” The Giant God Soldier with both arms now fine raised both hands toward the sky. -Crack. -Crackle. An ice great sword and lightning curved sword were gripped in each of the Giant God Soldier’s hands. Each weapon encroached on the surrounding space while showing off its element. The space around Limrei was overflowing with cold bitter winter, hot heat, and sharp electric currents. Now it was beyond being called hell, truly an impossible field. As if intimidated by this, Aether Nocturnus’ shadow greatly flickered. ‘Even though it wasn’t scared when fighting Casey Selmore.’ But he understands. That’s how intense Limrei’s force was, and moreover his power was outstanding. “Rudger Chelici. Let me ask one thing as well.” Limrei didn’t use terms like ‘you bastard’ or ‘youngster’ to address him. He just calmly called his name. However, what that action meant was very significant. “What exactly are you fighting for?” Why ask such a thing now? It’s not like he’ll spare him even if he answers. “I fight to live.” “That is just a superficial reason.” Limrei didn’t fully accept Rudger’s answer. Having lived many years, he saw that Rudger’s words weren’t the complete truth. “If it was to live, you didn’t need to come to this dangerous place. Yet you came. That action is ultimately a contradiction.” “That’s true.” Rudger smiled slightly. By now Limrei’s elemental field had started encroaching around Rudger. “Yes. I’ll ask again. What are you fighting for?” “My reason for fighting is nothing special.” “Nothing special?” “Yes. Because it’s an extremely personal reason.” Limrei realized those words were true. To think he would be this desperate fighting for personal reasons. -Heh. “I see. Because it’s personal, that’s how you can fight like this. It’s the same for me.” “Yes.” “Right. Let’s end this soon. Show me everything you have.” “I was planning to anyway.” Rudger gathered the blue magic mist scattered around and used magic. Solomon’s Lesser Key. “The Art of the Altar” Ars Almadel Salomonis.

Chapter 388

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