Blocking a single charge had drained a massive amount of Mana.
The backlash struck his body at the same time, but [Steadfast Will] kept his mind conscious.
‘Damn it.’
When Jun looked down at his hand, blue light was rippling along his veins.
It was ‘Overheat.’
It was a phenomenon that occurred when a mage handled more Mana than their body was capable of controlling.
It was also one of the reasons Jun had been forced to partially seal his skill, [Mana Incarnate].
Even so, he could not stop.
The golem was still standing.
Mana once again coursed through his veins.
THUMP- THUMP- THUMP- THUMP-
His heart screamed in alarm at the enormous volume of Mana surging toward it like a vast lake, but Jun did not stop reciting his spell.
‘Just once. If I can get even one chance to land an effective blow……!’
That would undoubtedly give them an opportunity to turn the tables.
But the golem had no intention of simply standing there and taking it.
Having quickly recovered from [Groggy(Stun)], it moved again.
It raised its enormous fist and hammered the [Shield].
Each blow tore away a massive amount of Mana, accelerating the Overheat even further.
“Urgh……!”
The blue glow steadily deepened as his Mana Circuits grew scorching hot.
Unlike his overflowing reserves of Mana, Jun’s Mana Circuits had not yet developed enough to handle Mana on such an enormous scale.
As a result, no matter how much Mana he poured into it, the spell pattern of the [Shield] gradually began to collapse.
‘Damn it……!’
Two seconds.
If he had been given only two more seconds, he could have manifested the spell he had prepared.
With no other choice, Jun was about to disperse the Mana he had gathered and evade when—
“HAAAAAAH!!”
Aiden appeared behind the golem with a fierce battle cry.
His body was plainly in tatters, and he was forcing it to move through sheer willpower. Crimson Mana shimmered around him like a heat haze.
Jun’s eyes trembled when he saw that Mana, but only for a moment.
Aiden leapt an unbelievable distance for a human and thrust his sword forward.
Under ordinary circumstances, the strike would not have left so much as a scratch.
Yet with a harsh grinding sound, Aiden’s sword burrowed into the crown of the golem’s head.
SKREEEEEEEECH——!!
The golem screamed and thrashed like a malfunctioning machine.
At the same time, a tremendous shock wave erupted from its body and hurled Aiden through the air.
Three seconds had passed in total.
It was more than enough time for Jun to resume the casting he had briefly interrupted and complete the spell he had already begun constructing.
[Mental-Type: Marionette Line(Marionette line)]
Black threads manifested through the spell and shot from Jun’s fingertips toward the golem.
They traveled along the sword Aiden had embedded in it and entered the golem’s interior.
‘I was originally planning to use an impact spell first.’
To inflict meaningful damage on a golem with Magic Resistance, he would have needed to expend an equally enormous amount of Mana.
Aiden’s unexpected contribution had greatly reduced that burden.
If Jun had actually used a spell powerful enough to damage the golem in his current condition, he would probably have spent the next several months bedridden.
‘But…… I ended up showing that guy far too much.’
There were several reasons Jun had remained a Low-Rank Mage all this time. His lack of magical knowledge was partly responsible, but more importantly, he lived in circumstances where he could not afford to draw attention to himself.
‘What am I supposed to do with him……?’
As he considered the problem, the thread that had entered the golem caught on something.
‘First, this.’
Jun could feel the sensation of whatever the black thread touched as clearly as though it were his own hand.
A round sphere glowing red-hot.
The Golem Core.
‘Good. It’s in decent condition.’
Some of Aiden’s Mana appeared to have penetrated it, but the damage was minor enough.
More importantly, this particular Golem Core was special.
Considering its value, this crisis might ultimately bring Jun far greater profit in the future.
[Entering System Magic Pattern. Connecting…… Mental entity detected.]
There was a reason Jun had used Mental-Type magic on an inanimate golem.
A spirit resided within its core.
Like someone hacking into a system, Jun’s magic infiltrated the spirit’s mind.
At the same moment, the rampaging golem came to a stop.
Faced with Jun’s overwhelming quantity of Mana, the spirit submitted, allowing Jun to seize control of the golem.
‘Maybe it’s because it’s only a Lowest-Grade Spirit. That was easier than I expected.’
After taking control of the core, Jun immediately ordered the golem to dismantle its own body.
Unfortunately, he had not completely dominated the core, so a simple command like this was the best he could manage.
At last, the golem’s massive body collapsed.
The long battle had finally come to an end.
“Haa…….”
The veins that had burned blue from the Overheat gradually returned to their normal color.
“Damn it. I’m going to need several days of rest.”
Already feeling the backlash setting in, Jun hurriedly pulled a potion from his clothes and drank it.
“Compared to what this mission paid, I’ve taken an enormous loss.”
After that brief complaint, Jun’s gaze shifted beyond the remains of the golem.
Aiden lay there after being hurled to the ground by the final shock wave the golem had released in its death throes.
Had he already lost consciousness?
He did not move at all.
Jun approached him, dropped to one knee, and looked down.
“…….”
Aiden’s chest rose and fell faintly, proving that he was still alive.
In stark contrast, wounds covered nearly every part of his body.
They plainly revealed just how much he had put into this battle.
As Jun stared at Aiden, a faint murderous intent entered his eyes.
Jun considered it for a moment, but eventually let out a sigh.
“Phew…… Lucky bastard.”
He had shown Aiden far too much.
On the other hand, Aiden had revealed quite a lot to Jun as well.
There was probably no need to silence him through death immediately.
‘How did I end up becoming like this?’
Back when he had been Lee Jeong-jun, he had never even thrown a punch at another person.
Now, he could calmly consider whether he should kill someone.
The past year had changed many parts of him.
‘And if my guess is right, this guy is probably…….’
Jun stopped the thought there, pulled out a potion, and slowly poured it into Aiden’s mouth.
“Mm…….”
Aiden opened his eyes exactly one day later.
Before his blurred vision cleared, his other senses were stimulated by the savory scent of food drifting past his nose and the warmth heating his body.
“You’re awake.”
“……? Ah!”
The memories from immediately before he lost consciousness came rushing back, and Aiden instinctively reached for his waist.
But he could not feel the familiar hilt of his sword.
“Calm down. The battle’s over.”
“Senior……? The golem…….”
“Over there.”
The sword that had been embedded in the golem had been completely destroyed when the creature’s body collapsed.
“Ah…….”
“Sorry, but I don’t think you’ll be using that sword anymore. On the bright side, we’re safe now. The golem’s roar spread throughout the entire forest.”
To the monsters of the Black Forest, a golem was an unbeatable monster.
Even with the scent of blood in the air, none of them would dare come near.
“……Thank you, Senior. You saved my life again.”
“Well, you helped me quite a bit too. Especially at the end.”
“……Yes.”
Silence settled between them for a moment.
CRACKLE.
The sound of burning firewood broke it.
Aiden spoke first.
“Your magical ability…… Have you been deliberately hiding it all this time?”
“Yeah. It would have attracted too much attention.”
“I once heard that human hearts occasionally appear at auctions on the black market.”
“…….”
“And apparently, most of them belonged to people who were born with an excessive amount of Mana within their bodies.”
There was no need to go as far as [Mana Incarnate].
Even the hearts of those who possessed lesser skills of the same lineage were considered precious magical materials in this world.
“……Phew.”
For the first time in ages, Jun desperately craved the cigarettes he had quit long ago.
At the same time, a memory he wished to forget—but could never allow himself to forget—rose to the surface.
The memory that haunted his dreams every night.
“What a goddamn miserable world.”
“Did you experience something similar?”
“Yeah. The only difference is that they almost cut mine out while I was still alive.”
“…….”
Only then did Aiden understand Jun’s behavior up to this point.
Why he had continued living as a Low-Rank Mage despite possessing such ability.
Ironically, it was precisely because of his extraordinary talent.
Sometimes, simply possessing a priceless treasure could itself become a crime.
Aiden quietly studied Jun for a moment before speaking with a resolved expression.
“Senior. I will never tell anyone outside about what I saw.”
“I don’t believe in promises.”
“……The truth is, I have a secret as well. I don’t know whether you’ll believe me, but…….”
“You’re from the Imperial Family?”
“……So you already knew.”
Jun recalled the blow Aiden had landed on the golem.
The reason that attack had worked was the crimson Mana shimmering around his body.
And in this world, there was only one bloodline capable of producing Mana like that.
The Imperial Family.
‘I always thought his mannerisms seemed old-fashioned, so I assumed he came from a fallen noble family.’
But he was actually of imperial blood.
In the world of <Blackout>, the name of the Imperial Family carried tremendous weight.
They were the rulers of the only empire ever to unite humanity.
“Born out of wedlock?”
“Yes.”
The Emperor of the Empire was fundamentally permitted to have multiple wives, but there was one absolute rule.
Any child had to be born after a formal marriage ceremony.
Aiden, however, had been born outside that rule.
“It’s a miracle you survived.”
“……I was told to live as quietly as a dead mouse. But you don’t seem very surprised.”
“No, I’m quite surprised.”
He had merely guessed to some extent after seeing the crimson Mana.
But there was something far more important.
Jun’s brow furrowed slightly.
“A member of the Imperial Family who could never truly be part of it. So that was you.”
Adrian Rune Wybon Arsio.
Aiden, for short.
He was the protagonist of this world—the world of <Blackout>.
Back when he had been Lee Jeong-jun, Jun had been a veteran player who spent a great deal of time on <Blackout>, but he had never been particularly interested in the game’s story.
At the time, he had been preparing for the college entrance exam, so the amount of time he could spend gaming each day was limited.
Most of that time had to be invested in strengthening his characters.
Fortunately, <Blackout> offered an enormous degree of freedom, so there was nothing preventing players from progressing even if they ignored the Main Scenario.
That did not mean Jun knew absolutely nothing about <Blackout>’s story.
Players could progress without completing the Main Scenario, but the world still changed according to what happened within it.
For example, if an important character died, the world itself could undergo major changes.
Taxes might suddenly rise dramatically, or certain organizations that had never appeared before might begin ambushing the player.
Because Jun had been forced to respond to those changes while playing, he had learned the rough outline of the story.
And Aiden—the abandoned imperial descendant, Adrian—stood at the center of that story.
‘Aiden…… So that’s why I didn’t recognize him. He was using an alias at this point in his life.’
Adrian would not properly appear in the game’s story until several years from now.
‘Come to think of it, Adrian hated goblins quite intensely.’
According to the original story, Jun should never have been here.
Which meant this reality had never existed in the game’s original storyline either.
At this point in the original timeline, Adrian’s grudge against goblins had probably grown even deeper.
Jun’s presence had changed that.
‘So from now on, I’ve started affecting the story.’
Even Jun could not predict what direction that would take events.
But was he frightened because things were diverging from the scenario he knew?
‘I never expected to rely on that in the first place.’
<Blackout> had been a multiple-ending game to begin with, and Jun had never fully understood its story.
He had never planned on forcing events toward an ending he happened to know.
If he was only going to interfere halfheartedly, he would rather leave things alone.
‘Things will work themselves out somehow.’
There was no need to worry in advance about things that had not even happened yet.
‘The real question is how I can make use of this.’
He could think about that carefully from now on.
“This turned into a heavier conversation than I expected.”
“I-I’m sorry. I ended up learning your secret…… You can pretend you never heard mine.”
In truth, what benefit was there in knowing that an abandoned member of the Imperial Family existed?
If anything, it only increased the possibility of becoming entangled in troublesome affairs.
Aiden belatedly realized that and looked uncertain about what to do.
Jun, however, did not particularly care.
He had no desire to waste time denying something that had already happened.
Jun deliberately changed the subject.
“For now, how does your body feel?”
“My right arm still isn’t in good condition…… but I feel strangely energetic. Did you do something, Senior?”
“I suppose an Intermediate-Grade Recovery Potion really is effective. Your bone is knitting faster than I expected.”
“An Intermediate-Grade…… Potion?!”
Aiden sucked in a sharp breath.
That was only one rank below a High-Grade Recovery Potion, an item so valuable that sellers could practically name their own price.
Intermediate-Grade potions were at least available on the market, but their prices certainly did not make them accessible.
“I’m fairly good at Potion Crafting.”
It was thanks to [Herbalism] and [Potion Crafting], skills he had originally chosen to build up his Reputation among companion NPCs.
“Incredible…… To possess that level of magical ability and Potion Crafting as well…….”
“Anything you learn eventually finds a use. Anyway, thanks to the golem, we should be able to stay here for about a day. Recover as much as you can before then.”
“Understood. By the way…….”
GRRRRUMBLE-
Aiden gave an embarrassed smile as his stomach growled.
“I suppose we should find something to eat first.”
The meal they hurriedly prepared from whatever food they could gather nearby was surprisingly delicious.
The two spent the day resting, then prepared to leave the following morning.
After all manner of complications, Jun and Aiden managed to return safely to the fortress.
They had not encountered any more monsters after meeting the golem.
“Hmm…… The White Whale Mercenary Company? And your captain’s name was Galaves?”
“The captain was killed during the operation.”
“I heard the goblin subjugation in the Black Forest failed. I suppose you came from there.”
The guard nodded as though he understood the situation.
Indeed, Jun and Aiden looked dreadful enough to make the circumstances obvious.
“Your mercenary badges are valid too. Go on in.”
“Thank you.”
Once they entered the fortress, Aiden finally seemed to relax and let out a quiet sigh.
“Haa…… We made it back alive.”
“Phew. Somehow, we did.”
“Yes. But Senior, what do you intend to do now?”
“Hmm? About what?”
“Your plans from here on……?”
“You want to keep traveling with me?”
“Ah.”
The mercenary company that had effectively formed the bond between them was now as good as disbanded, so Jun’s question was perfectly reasonable.
Still, they had grown close during the journey back.
Just as Aiden began to feel strangely disappointed—
“I’d feel a lot safer if you stayed with me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You saved my life this time.”
“But weren’t you the one who came up with the entire plan, Senior? And you were also the one who finished the battle…….”
“Well, if that’s how you see it, I won’t complain. Anyway, we can’t exactly walk around looking like this. Let’s get cleaned up. Meet me in front of the ‘Hungry Wolf’ later.”
Aiden immediately seemed to remember the shabby tavern and nodded before heading toward his lodging.
Watching him leave, Jun stretched.
“Haa. Somehow, I really did survive.”
After all the trouble he had gone through, it would have been only natural to receive some reward.
This time, however, he had suffered nothing but losses.
“Tsk. At least I got this.”
Jun looked down at the Golem Core in his hand.
As a material required to make Artifacts, it could fetch a respectable price, but—
“It would be a waste just to sell it. I should visit that guy later. If things go well, I might be able to use it for something else.”
Thinking of a certain person who never stopped talking about money, Jun soon left as well.