The image he envisioned was one of dozens of bolts of lightning filling the night sky.
A tremendous natural phenomenon proclaiming the majesty of nature amid a raging storm.
CRACKLE—
A tiny spark appeared at his fingertips.
The Mana Pattern Jun had created began taking shape around it.
His meticulously constructed mental image was layered over the completed pattern, while Mana became the driving force that manifested that image in reality.
The phenomenon that had begun as a minuscule spark gradually swelled, gathering at the tips of Jun’s fingers.
[Lightning Whip]
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
The atmosphere changed in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, a whip of lightning erupted from Jun’s hand and crashed into the goblins with a deafening roar.
SKREEEEEECH——!!
The goblins at the front instinctively raised their crude shields, but they were far too late.
The moment the strands of the lightning whip touched them, the goblins at the forefront began convulsing.
The lightning did not stop there.
It leapt toward the goblins behind them as though spreading from one body to another.
The destructive power weakened considerably with each jump, leaving it unable to inflict fatal damage, but it was more than enough to paralyze their entire bodies.
“…….”
A single spell had incapacitated dozens of goblins at the front.
Jun stared briefly at the result of his magic before clicking his tongue.
‘I only learned it recently, so the mental image didn’t take properly. The Mana Pattern was too simplistic too. I’ll need to improve it.’
With the seal on his Choker still intact, expecting any greater destructive power would have been unreasonable in the first place.
Even so, Jun was already searching for ways to improve the spell further.
Meanwhile, apparently interpreting his tongue click differently, one of the veteran soldiers was the first to recover from his astonishment and shout.
“What are you doing?! Get them!!”
The soldiers jolted back to their senses at the harsh command.
From their perspective, it was only natural to be stunned after watching dozens of monsters become incapacitated in the blink of an eye.
Of course, the goblins were in even worse shape.
As monsters that lived in the wild, they had been startled by the deafening crack of lightning, and dozens of their kin had screamed grotesquely before collapsing right before their eyes.
The goblins who should have been the first to charge stood frozen in fear.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Kill them!”
“Don’t go too deep! Maintain your spacing!”
The presence of the Goblin Lord behind them prevented the goblins from fleeing, but fear left them unable to act properly.
Taking advantage of that, several veteran soldiers killed the goblins as brutally as possible.
They aimed exclusively for vital points and deliberately tore open places where major blood vessels ran, spilling blood across the ground.
As the smell of their kin’s blood filled the surroundings, the goblins began inching backward despite their overwhelming numerical superiority.
Naturally, the Goblin Lord did not simply stand there and watch.
Dakar tu Danaka Saru Petaha——
“Huh……?”
The moment the Goblin Lord began chanting its sorcery, Jun narrowed his eyes.
He had already been focusing on the Goblin Lord with [Keen Eyes], but incomprehensible knowledge suddenly surfaced in his mind of its own accord.
Before he could even understand what was happening, Jun instinctively shouted.
“Fall back!! Defend yourselves!”
“The Mage gave an order! Fall back! Retreat!”
“Raise your shields!”
“Spread the formation out!!”
The soldiers withdrew as far as they had advanced.
At the same time, a crimson haze began gathering around the Goblin Lord.
“[Blood Frenzy]……?”
[Blood Frenzy].
One of the Goblin Shaman’s signature sorceries.
As its name plainly suggested, it was an ability that inflicted Frenzy upon its allies.
‘It doesn’t make them completely lose their minds like when a Plant Undead affects an Outer Wolf.’
Even so, it erased their fear and prevented them from feeling pain, allowing the goblins’ natural viciousness to emerge in full.
That was far more dangerous than it sounded.
On a battlefield, tension inevitably caused the body to stiffen.
This sorcery removed all of those restraints.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Sure enough, the goblins affected by [Blood Frenzy] charged forward in a frenzy, their eyes glowing red.
Wooden clubs slammed down against the soldiers’ shields.
There was no trace of the rigid fear they had shown before the lightning whip.
They unleashed all the savagery of monsters without restraint.
“Urgh!”
“Grip your shields tightly!”
“Maintain your spacing!!”
The veteran soldiers at the front reinforced their bodies with Mana, while the ordinary soldiers supported them from either side.
Under normal circumstances, even ordinary soldiers could have endured attacks like these.
But weakened by the Goblin Lord’s Aura Effect, even that had become difficult.
If there was one fortunate aspect to the situation, it was that [Blood Frenzy] did not last very long.
Just as now—
After pounding relentlessly against the shields for around ten seconds, the goblins’ movements began visibly slowing.
They had drawn out strength beyond their natural limits.
The skin of the hands gripping their clubs had torn apart completely, blood running freely down their fingers.
After a little more time passed, some even began dropping their weapons.
The soldiers were just about to launch another counterattack when—
“It’s coming again! Don’t relax!”
Jun’s warning cracked across the battlefield like thunder.
The Goblin Lord’s chant once again echoed through the area.
Dakar tu Danaka Saru Petaha——
‘Why can I understand that thing’s sorcery?’
Jun was bewildered by the phenomenon he had never experienced before.
But this time, the Goblin Lord was not the only one to move.
Several swift goblins drove something into the ground.
They were Totems made from the heads of young goblins.
At the same moment, crimson light began gathering around the Totems, expanding the range of the Goblin Lord’s sorcery.
SKREEEEEEEECH——!!
Twice as many goblins as before were exposed to [Blood Frenzy] and began a maddened charge.
‘Damn it. Are you getting desperate too?’
Kill the commander on this side before the forces at the front could return to the rear.
That was the Goblin Lord’s objective.
It was running out of time as well.
Its willingness to expend the goblins gathered here as disposable pieces was obvious.
As a result, the soldiers attempting to stop them were driven significantly backward.
There were dozens of goblins who felt no pain and were drawing out strength beyond their limits.
Shields alone were not enough to stop them.
‘I don’t know why I can interpret its sorcery…… but this isn’t the time to think about that. I need to deal with the situation first. But I can’t use area-of-effect magic right now.’
Unlike before, allies and enemies were now completely entangled.
In a situation like this, rather than using magic that directly struck the enemy, supporting those fighting at the front was the correct choice.
‘Rapid-Cast Magic.’
Jun rapidly surveyed the battlefield with [Keen Eyes] and used the information he gathered to deploy support magic.
[Wind Cutter]
It was practically the signature spell of a Low-Rank Mage.
There was no need to construct an especially detailed mental image for it.
The goblins under [Blood Frenzy] would not have the composure to defend against Jun’s magic anyway.
Even without reinforcing the spell, the blades of wind would easily penetrate the goblins’ soft flesh and tear through their organs.
‘How did Aiden move again?’
But Jun did not simply fire spells indiscriminately.
Aiden.
He shaped his use of magic around the way Aiden moved.
Aiden was considerate by nature, and that disposition carried directly into the way he fought.
Unlike Jun, who viewed the entire battlefield from afar, Aiden constantly moved toward whichever position needed him at that particular moment, creating small advantages throughout the battle.
Jun incorporated Aiden’s movements—and the nature behind them—into the way he operated his magic.
[Detecting Target]
He ignored the goblins at the front who were swinging their clubs most threateningly.
The enemy was overwhelming them through numbers.
Under circumstances like these, the greatest burden on the soldiers was not necessarily the goblins directly in front of them.
It was the reserve force behind them, always ready to move.
Even when a soldier killed the enemy before him, another goblin that had been waiting immediately stepped forward and swung its weapon.
‘All I need to do is give the soldiers a moment to breathe.’
That was why Jun targeted the goblins waiting behind the front line rather than the ones directly engaged with the soldiers.
Any goblin that lost patience and tried circling around the flank also became his prey.
WHOOSH— SKREECH!
Like a conductor leading an orchestra, every sweep of Jun’s hand sent another [Wind Cutter] flying, carving a moment of breathing room into the battlefield.
‘This is exactly what Aiden does so well.’
From what Jun had observed, perhaps because Aiden still lacked experience, he rarely dominated the battlefield personally.
Instead, he usually supported others just as Jun was doing now.
Even the continuous sequence of spells Jun was currently using had been improvised on the spot based on Aiden’s movements.
‘It won’t have the same destructive power that guy can produce.’
But as ranged attacks, Jun’s spells could influence a far wider portion of the battlefield.
‘That’s the advantage of magic.’
As long as one learned the necessary spells, magic offered enough versatility to overturn an unfavorable battlefield.
Perhaps thanks to that—
Although the soldiers were weakened by the Goblin Lord’s Aura Effect, they continued successfully holding back the goblin assault.
Their ability truly befitted troops belonging to the Imperial Family.
“The Mage is behind us!”
“We only have to stop the ones in front!”
As the number of fallen goblins increased, the soldiers’ morale grew increasingly firm.
Eventually, when the battlefield ground to a stalemate, the Goblin Lord was the first to move.
Taruuracha!
The Goblin Lord advanced with heavy steps.
It had apparently concluded that Frenzy sorcery alone would not allow it to drive back the soldiers quickly enough.
If it wanted to use sorcery that directly attacked the soldiers, it had no choice but to move forward.
And the moment it stepped out and began chanting—
TAP!
Aiden, who had remained hidden until then, moved.
His position was directly above the Goblin Lord’s head.
The strength of magic lay in its versatility.
That was a lesson Jun had learned painfully back when he was still ‘Lee Jeong-jun,’ while playing a Mage who had invested everything into firepower.
‘If you only care about damage, nothing beats a Warrior.’
Until a Mage learned truly high-powered magic later on, their role was surprisingly simple.
Use their wide variety of Utility Magic to assist their teammates.
That was why, during the two years he had spent waiting for the release of the <Blackout> remake, Lee Jeong-jun had devised countless strategies that could be accomplished through magic.
And during that time, he had come to reassess the Mage class entirely.
“Once the conditions are right, this class is absurdly powerful. I can’t believe it can raise party synergy this much.”
One of those strategies was precisely the kind of ambush they were attempting now.
[Fog of Silence (Fog of silence)]
It was a spell that reduced one’s presence.
Aiden, who had concealed himself beneath a cloak covered in branches and leaves in addition to the spell, dropped from the tree.
His target was the Goblin Lord’s head.
But the Goblin Lord was no ordinary Goblin Shaman.
An Irregular.
Having surpassed the limits of its species, it sensed the faint disturbance and retreated.
The decisive ambush failed.
The Goblin Lord’s lips twisted upward.
The price of a failed ambush was death.
The Goblin Fighters guarding it were already raising their long spears to target Aiden when—
The creature saw it.
The same composure it wore on its own face was reflected on Aiden’s.
“……!!”
Aiden had never been the only one attempting an ambush.
RUSTLE—
Leaves stirred in the wind from a tree directly beside it.
KRAH?!
The Goblin Lord turned.
What it saw was Jinovan swinging his sword with a grave expression—
And the blue Aura enveloping his blade.
KARTU——!
Death had arrived before its eyes.
The instant it realized that, the Goblin Lord’s mind raced.
Having witnessed its own death in that fleeting moment, the soul of an Irregular that had transcended the limits of its species screamed.
It could not simply die here in silence.
At the very end, its malice revealed itself.
Even if it had to die, it would not die alone.
Tanaha——!!
At the very last moment, it drew out every drop of the sorcerous power(呪力) it had possessed from birth.
Then it went even further and offered up its own soul.
Within that instant, scarcely long enough to be called a moment, the creature felt its soul leaving its body and gave a faint smile.
At the end of its gaze stood Aiden.
Had he ever concentrated this intensely before?
The instant Aiden and Jinovan leapt from the trees, Jun witnessed a strange phenomenon within himself.
Fragments of incomprehensible memories sliced sharply through his mind.
It felt as though his brain were screaming because he had committed some forbidden act.
-I can’t gi…… ……up like th……!
It was a basement.
The damp space looked as though no one had cleaned it in years.
Someone dressed in shabby rags was doing something atop a desk.
‘What is this……?’
But the fragment of memory passed in an instant.
Once again, at the end of Jun’s gaze stood the Goblin Lord, filled with malice as it chanted its sorcery.
He could see the sorcery.
Not merely the crimson mist formed from concentrated sorcerous power.
He could see the flow of power woven through the sorcery.
The vicious intent contained within it.
And the result it would produce.
‘[Soul Chain]……?’
A sorcery that sacrificed the caster’s own soul to share its pain with another person.
It possessed no physical force, but if things went badly, the victim could die from shock caused by the pain.
The victim’s brain would experience that agony as something entirely real.
In fact, back when he had still been ‘Lee Jeong-jun,’ one of the members of his party had died exactly that way.
“……!”
It was not the cold reason of a Mage that moved Jun’s Mana.
It was something closer to instinct.
[Detecting Target]
Mana gathered into a targeting point.
But no spell was fired through it.
There was no time.
Instead, one tiny portion of his talent—his skill, [Mana Incarnate]—responded.
At the point toward which the targeting marker was directed, Jun moved not the Mana absorbed within his own body, but the Mana outside it.
Even the ambient Mana surrounding the distant Goblin Lord attempted to answer Jun’s call.
At once, the Choker reacted on its own and crushed his talent back down.
A crushing sense of helplessness dominated his entire body.
Even so—
Jun clenched his teeth and continued resisting.
TWITCH—
Only a minuscule amount of Mana responded to his will.
But that was enough.
The Mana slipped into the sorcery being cast by the Goblin Lord.
Jun could not cancel the sorcery itself.
Sorcerous power was fundamentally different from Mana.
Magic twisted reality through the Mana that permeated nature.
But was sorcery truly different?
‘Is it really?’
Only for an instant, the sorcery that had somehow been interpreted for him flashed through his mind.
Amid this desperate situation, Jun once again felt a certainty founded not on the perspective of a Mage, but on pure intuition.
A minuscule amount of Mana from the surrounding environment entered the Goblin Lord’s sorcery according to Jun’s will.
At the same time, countless spells surfaced in his mind only to be discarded, while a new possibility began taking shape.
Like electricity seeping into a circuit board, his Mana infiltrated the sorcery and spread through its structure.
Mana that ordinarily should have possessed no physical force gained substance.
Then, like Jun’s tightly clenched fist, the Mana permeating the sorcery seized hold of it for the briefest instant.
KIRR—?!
The moment lasted less than a heartbeat, but [Keen Eyes] caught the emotion that flashed across the creature’s face.
Perhaps it was bewilderment.
Or despair.
Maybe even betrayal.
The sorcery it had fashioned from its own sacrificed soul and filled with pure malice had been seized by something and refused to move.
And that was the Goblin Lord’s final expression.
SLASH—! THUD.
Jinovan’s sword finally brought the creature to its end.