Have Magic - Chapter 119
Only Noblemtl
Embrace the Magic (119)
There were three inns in the village, all three of which had collapsed.
The Crowd party and Rodin’s party decided to rest outside the village. The smell of blood was strong, but there was nothing they could do for now.
When traveling uphill, don’t just speed up or slow down. When you arrive at a town or city, adjust your speed so that the sun is setting.
The top of the crowd also adjusted its speed. Because of that, by the time they arrived at the village of Bangst, the sun had already set.
“Scattered.”
“We just collect information and then reassemble again.”
“yes.”
Daniel and his mercenaries fanned out into the village to gather information. It wasn’t long before they discovered why this had happened.
“It seems like that was the work of the monster that screamed.”
“Wow, that monster did this to a village.”
Daniel Sang-dang sighed at the report from Derek, the leader of the mercenaries.
It’s not that they didn’t know that the monster could cause trouble. Everyone turned a blind eye, but everyone thought to themselves, ‘Someone’s going to die.’
But I didn’t expect that the monster would attack the village on its upper path. I also didn’t expect that I would witness the enormous damage with my own eyes.
‘Should I have caught that guy even if it meant forcing myself to do so?’
Rodin recalled the time he saw the monster through Zito’s eyes.
He was a strong guy. Even with two master inspectors and a 6th circle magician himself, it was difficult to guarantee victory.
‘Whew. This is frustrating.’
Because Zito was so fast, the distance between him and the monster was quite far. If you include the time it took to go back and forth, as well as the time it took to fight, it would have taken five or six hours.
Considering the time and the odds, it was the right choice not to come forward. If he made a mistake, not only he, but Larry and Bianca would also become lonely again.
“What about that monster?”
“Fortunately, I heard that he is coming from the kingdom.”
“How on earth did such a monster appear? It’s like the Demon King from a thousand years ago has returned.”
It wasn’t the Demon King. The Demon King was a monster that had dyed half the continent in blood, and he was the very embodiment of evil. The Minotaur, despite its size, was lacking in many ways compared to the Demon King.
“What if it comes from the kingdom? Will the regular knights be dispatched?”
“I heard they’ve requested the Royal Guard Knights. Until they arrive, the knights of the estate are stalling.”
The nature of the Central Continent is such that it does not seek help from the royal palace for most matters. It is common for territories to solve their own problems, and if that fails, to ask for help from other territories with which they have a friendly relationship.
But this time, the giant Minotaur incident was different.
This monster was not a problem for any one territory. It moved around as it pleased, destroying and killing indiscriminately, and eating anything it could get its hands on.
“Is the damage significant?”
“Yes. They say there are more than 10 villages that have collapsed like Bangst.”
“The damage must be enormous.”
“Fortunately, this guy doesn’t hunt down and kill people who are hiding. He only attacks things he sees.”
To begin with, this monster wasn’t wandering around with the intention of killing humans. It was just wandering around without any reason or purpose.
Then, when I was hungry, I ate anything I saw. If there was anything that bothered me, I broke it and killed it.
“The important thing is where he is. Do you know anything about it?”
“It seems like they went west for now.”
“Surely it’s not Asir?”
Asir was a transit point at the top of the Crowd, but Rodin was also a place that had to pass through.
The city of Asir was founded near the border with the kingdom of Thebia.
In the past, when relations with the Thebian Kingdom were not good, it was a military city, but now that relations have improved, it has transformed into a commercial city with developed trade.
“He’s wandering around aimlessly. He’s headed west for now, but no one knows which city he’ll end up in.”
“I don’t know if this is a good thing or not.”
“Wouldn’t it be awkward if you suddenly came towards us?”
Derek, the leader of the mercenary corps, looked at Rodin with a question. Daniel, the top lord, was also looking at Rodin.
It was a look that seemed to ask if he could notice when he approached.
“I think you guys are thinking too hard.”
“yes?”
“It’s over 20 meters tall. It weighs a ton. When it walks, you can feel the vibrations from kilometers away.”
It is more than ten times the height of a human being. If the length is ten times, the width becomes 100 times, and the volume increases 1,000 times.
When the materials are the same, if the volume is 1,000 times larger, the weight is also 1,000 times larger.
Assuming that a 2-meter-tall human weighs 100 kg, that thing weighs a whopping 100,000 kg. It made no sense that I couldn’t feel its movements.
“Oh! I see. I didn’t think of that.”
“The village is…….”
“Because the village can’t move. We can move.”
“okay.”
“Just in case. I’ll send a bird out.”
Rodin intended to use Familiar magic, not Zito. It was a magic that shared senses with living beings, and it was a 5th circle magic.
“Thank you, Wizard Rodin.”
“But this time, isn’t Matap not involved?”
“The Thracian Tower is too far away.”
Rodin wasn’t thinking about the Thracian Tower when he brought it up.
The Thracian Tower is a tower located in the eastern part of the central continent. It is too far from the Kingdom of Lennox, which is located in the western part of the central continent.
“Isn’t there a Cedria Tower? There should be a Cedria Tower within a day’s drive from Asir.”
“Well, Cedria’s Tower doesn’t usually get involved in things that could cause a lot of damage.”
“Hmm, okay.”
There was no law that said that Matap had to do something dangerous. No one could force him to do it.
After a brief meeting, Rodin emerged from Daniel’s carriage. It was already completely dark around him.
Following Rodin, the wizard Betner also came out. He looked like he had something to ask.
“Master Rodin.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“This. It must have something to do with that monster, right?”
The object that Bettner took out was a black stone magic stone. He had been handling it so much that its surface had become shiny.
“I can’t be sure, but I think there is a connection.”
“This… seems to be artificially made. Was it made recently? Or was it made in the past?”
The word “recent” meant that someone must have spread it on purpose. If they find out who it is, they will have to pay the price.
On the other hand, if it’s the past, it means a certain era in ancient times. Whether it was a tectonic shift or someone’s mistake, the site was opened, and there was a high probability that there was something inside that influenced the demons.
“I don’t know about that.”
“What do you think, Wizard Rodin?”
“I really don’t know. But if I had to give my opinion, I’d say it was made in the past. Some time in ancient times.”
Rodin put the magic stone he had taken out back into his pocket. It would not be good for others to see this ominous stone.
Bettner also put it in his pocket so that others would not see it.
“Is there a reason?”
“It’s a time-related reason. This magic stone is a stone that absorbs natural mana, converts it into magic power, and stores it. If you absorb 1 or 2 years of mana, you won’t be able to convert the magic power contained in this magic stone. You need to absorb mana for at least 100 years to gather this much magic power.”
“ah!”
Bettner had no choice but to agree.
The stone was not a person. It could not artificially absorb mana, but could only convert naturally absorbed mana into magic stones.
Of course, it was impossible to gather this much magical power in such a short period of time.
Rodin had said 100 years, but it was likely much longer. He had been absorbing mana for hundreds or even thousands of years.
‘There is one more reason, though.’
There was another reason why Rodin thought it was an ancient object.
If it was made recently, it would not be an exaggeration to say that its creators were the worst criminal group in the Central Continent.
The number of dead people was already in the four digits, and it was certain that it would soon reach the five digits. It would not be strange for a crime of this magnitude to be recorded in history books.
‘Not recently, I guess.’
The technical level was not right.
The magic of converting mana into magic power was something that could be learned naturally while studying magic stones. Some magicians who have studied magic stones for a long time would naturally know about it.
However, the problem was that it involved a process of absorbing mana. It was magic that could not be implemented at the current level of magic.
‘I can, but.’
Of course, Rodin could have created the magic stone right away.
Rodin had already created and used a mana accumulation magic circle when he was 12 years old. Even now, the carriage had a mana direct magic circle engraved in combination with the conversion magic circle required for training.
Mana accumulation and mana absorption were similar in that they worked just the same. With just a slight modification, mana accumulation could be changed into mana absorption.
“Thank you for the advice.”
“No. I don’t think it helped.”
After sending Betner away, Rodin was lost in thought.
The monster crisis was growing in scale beyond imagination.
It wasn’t just the Kingdom of Lennox’s problem. As they were moving towards the border, it was difficult to see the Kingdom of Tebia as safe either.
* * *
We stayed overnight on the outskirts of the town, which looked like a funeral parlor, and left early in the morning. Today, we decided to eat beef jerky and dried food instead of breakfast.
After leaving the village, a couple of hours later, the group formed a natural line. The terrain was such that they could not drive the carriage.
Derek, the leader of the mercenaries, stepped forward and checked the terrain.
“It looks like that monster’s footprints.”
“Footprints?”
People rushed to look in front of the carriage. They could see an elongated, oval-shaped footprint shaped like a horseshoe. It was nearly three meters long.
“Wow! Looking at it like this, I can see how big it is.”
“If I get stepped on, it’s over.”
“It’s scary.”
“But the ground is completely hardened. It’s been more than a day since I passed by here.”
Everyone was relieved to hear that they were far from the monster. Even Rodin secretly hoped he would never meet the guy.
“Brother Rodin, there are no monsters?”
“I don’t think there are any around here.”
The bastard had grown huge because of the magic stone. If he had been nearby, Rodin would have noticed it with his keen senses.
Mercenaries were mobilized to fill in the footprints he left behind. With 30 mercenaries mobilized, the footprints were filled in in an instant.
As we filled in the footprints and started moving again, rain began to fall lightly. With the moisture everywhere, Undaine was talking about how nice it was.
-Hehehe.
‘Stop laughing.’
-Hehehe.
The raindrops grew heavier and heavier, and before we knew it, they were pouring down like a water bomb. The stream flowing down from the mountain had become a torrential stream, and the area near the cliff had become a situation where we had to be careful of landslides.
Even in the meantime, the upward movement continued. Rodin had no intention of stopping and resting.
The climb stopped only after the sun had completely set. It was a wide open area good for camping.
“Daniel, did you know there was a place like this?”
“I come and go here every year.”
That was the reason why the upward movement continued without stopping. In order to arrive at the desired location at the scheduled time, breaks had to be planned as well.
“The location is good. It’s high up so you don’t have to worry about being swept away by water.”
“Still, it’s raining so hard. I don’t know if the bonfire will last.”
Not only was it raining heavily, but the wind was also blowing quite strongly. It seemed that we had entered the typhoon’s sphere of influence.
“What do you do when the campfire goes out?”
“I guess I’m shivering from the cold.”
It wasn’t winter yet, but it wasn’t summer either. It was the perfect time to catch a cold if you got wet in the rain.
“The mercenaries will have a hard time.”
“The duty of the night watchman includes keeping watch over the campfire.”
“I’ll help you dry some firewood.”
“No, Bettner said he would do that.”
The campsite is ready. Five mercenaries are resting in each tent, and a campfire is lit in front of each tent.
It was an unusually difficult night to fall asleep. The wind blew so hard that it pierced the ears of the sleeping people, and the strong wind shook the tent like crazy.
The mercenaries had to do everything they could to keep the fire going, adding firewood from time to time and placing large objects around the fire to block the wind.
The bonfire kept growing bigger and smaller. When it seemed like it couldn’t last much longer, Rodin got out of the carriage.
“Are you out?”
“Yeah. You’re having a hard time.”
“no.”
Charis and Jenna, who didn’t need sleep, greeted Rodin. I felt sorry for the two of them struggling in the heavy rain and wind.
The stable had a short roof, but it wasn’t enough to block all the rain blowing in the wind. Their clothes were soaking wet, as if they had just come out of the water.
‘This won’t work.’
Rodin circled around the camp, estimating its size. He visualized a dome-shaped shield surrounding the entire camp.
It was a magic I had never done before. I even came up with the method spontaneously after waking up from sleep.
‘Let’s try.’
Although it was my first time doing it, I had some confidence.
The four great towers are said to know about 10,000 runes, but Rodin now knows twice that many. He also learned how to combine runes while attending the Proval Welcome class.
Above all, Rodin could manipulate mana.
Magic using mana takes longer to start than magic power. However, once activated, it is possible to make it maintain itself by absorbing surrounding mana.
“I’ll scrape it off, I’ll scrap …
Rodin recited the runes and stimulated Mana first. Those guys won’t move unless you stimulate them first.
Even the first activation of an artifact using mana consumes a lot of mana stones. This is because the process of inducing the mana to move requires a lot of energy.
‘Okay.’
I stimulated the mana enough. I also arranged the mana that had warmed up around me through the rune combination.
“The power to protect the world. Dome Shield.”
Magic emerged from Rodin’s mouth. The mana stirred by the runes, and soon a large curtain was created that surrounded the camp.