“Arrows!”
Startled by Ian’s shout, James hurriedly refilled the quiver. The empty quiver grew heavy once more.
However, Ian could not fire.
‘Where did he go?’
The Dark Mage had disappeared.
Even while intercepting the black spheres, Ian had kept track of the Dark Mage’s position.
He had clearly been standing in the same place and chanting until moments ago.
Ian had even seen Marie hastily rise from the ground and prepare to swing her sword. Yet the Dark Mage had vanished before he knew it.
Furthermore, he appeared to have finished his spell in that brief interval. Black currents gathered around Marie and Mael, forming dozens of skeletons.
Necromancy.
The instant Ian realized what it was, he sensed a presence behind him along with a fluctuation of mana.
He turned his head and glanced sideways to see the Dark Mage appearing.
HUMMM!
A mass of purple energy wrapped around the Dark Mage’s staff, emitting an ominous sound.
Ian immediately kicked James, who was standing to his right.
“Urgh!”
His posture was awkward, so he could not put his full strength into the kick, but it did not matter.
Once someone learned to wield mana, their physical abilities could no longer be compared to those of an ordinary person.
James flew backward with a pained groan and collided with the man who had been ringing the bell.
The two of them would probably tumble from the palisade together.
The moment Ian lowered his raised leg, he crouched.
The Dark Mage swung his staff diagonally, and a massive purple radiance scattered along its path.
RUMBLE!
It sounded like a cascading waterfall.
Ian glanced up at the purple radiance passing just above his head.
Had he reacted even slightly later, the light would undoubtedly have engulfed him and ground his entire body into pieces.
‘How horrifying.’
A chill ran through him as he turned to the left.
Through the section of the palisade that had been obliterated, he caught sight of Mael and Marie.
He had worried that they might have been caught in the attack, but it seemed his concern had been unnecessary.
Ian spun once in place and rose to his feet.
“Damn it!”
The Dark Mage frowned, apparently not expecting Ian to evade the attack that way.
Ian considered his weapons.
He held a bow in his left hand and an arrow in his right. He also had the dagger Marie had given him at his waist.
Should he discard the arrow and draw the dagger?
Or should he strike the Dark Mage with the bow?
‘No.’
He made his decision quickly.
It would be troublesome if the bow broke, and he would not discard the arrow. Nor would he use the dagger.
Since ancient times, humans had used their own bodies as weapons in unexpected situations.
A properly trained body could sometimes be better than most weapons.
Ian kicked the Dark Mage with all his strength.
BANG!
Before his foot could touch the Dark Mage’s body, however, the earring on the man’s left ear emitted a faint light.
A translucent barrier appeared and blocked the kick.
Ian’s shin tingled, but fortunately, the barrier did not seem especially sturdy.
CRACK!
A single blow covered it in fractures, and it shattered like glass.
Through the scattering fragments of mana, Ian saw the Dark Mage’s eyes widen.
“What!?”
He was flustered.
Apparently, the barrier had not been something that should have broken so easily.
He had no time to chant, and there was little time for him to pull back the staff he had just swung.
Dark Mages trained their bodies almost as thoroughly as knights, yet this one moved strangely sluggishly.
His posture was awkward as well, as though he were injured somewhere.
If so, this was an opportunity.
THUD!
“Gah!?”
The Dark Mage flew over the outside of the palisade and crashed into the ground.
‘Good.’
It had connected cleanly.
The impact Ian felt through the top of his foot was on an entirely different level from when he had kicked James.
He had even faintly heard bones breaking, so the Dark Mage could not possibly be unharmed.
Ian hurried to the edge of the palisade and looked down.
The instant he spotted the Dark Mage, he raised his bow.
The arrow was already in his hand, so there was no need to draw one.
With the bare minimum of movement, he was ready to fire.
TWANG!
As Ian released the bowstring, the arrow cut sharply through the air like a hawk diving toward its prey.
The Dark Mage staggered to his feet and tried to knock it aside with his staff.
However, the kick had clearly broken his arm, and he could not raise it properly.
Rather than merely failing to lift it, the arm hung limply at his side.
It was astonishing that he could still hold the staff in that state.
The Dark Mage leaned backward and narrowly avoided the arrow, but he lost his balance and fell onto his backside.
WHOOSH!
The arrow flew past him and struck the ground, where scorching flames surged upward and engulfed the surrounding area.
The heat was intense enough to cause burns merely by standing nearby, but the Dark Mage was far enough away that it had little effect on him.
However, that was not Ian’s only arrow.
More than twenty arrows remained in the quiver, and Ian still had plenty of mana.
He fired relentlessly, pressing the Dark Mage without pause.
“Wait!”
The Dark Mage shouted urgently, but Ian ignored him.
There were several things he wanted to know, but there was no reason to give his opponent time by engaging him in conversation.
Arrows with glowing red tips streaked through the air one after another, leaving vivid trails behind them.
GRIND!
The Dark Mage, Jan Etodi, ground his teeth and released mana in front of him, forming a barrier.
He had not even chanted a proper spell, but it should be enough to block several arrows.
Only then did Jan finally gain a moment to breathe.
He felt relieved, but his relief quickly turned to irritation.
‘Damn it! To think I would be reduced to this…!’
He was a Level 5 Dark Mage, yet his life was being threatened by a mere brat who did not even appear to have reached Level 3.
It was an unbearably humiliating situation.
Had any of his companions witnessed him like this, they would not only have been dumbfounded but would have laughed and applauded loudly.
‘…….’
They would undoubtedly have called him an idiot as well.
But that would never happen.
They were all dead.
One had to be alive to mock or insult someone.
The dead could do nothing.
‘If it had not been for that woman!’
A Champion was someone chosen by a Lord, a being said to act as an agent of a god.
Jan had been unfortunate enough to encounter one of them, and every companion traveling with him had been killed.
By sheer luck, Jan had managed to escape with only severe injuries.
The deaths of his companions could not be helped.
The greater problem was that the wound inflicted by the Champion refused to heal.
Depending on how it was used, Divine Power could be either benevolent or hostile.
In the latter case, it was no different from a dreadful poison to those who served the gods of the Outer Sea.
As a Dark Mage, Jan was no exception.
The Divine Power that had seeped into him through the wound was eating away at his body.
He was barely suppressing it by constantly expending an enormous amount of mana, but the injury showed no sign of healing.
To treat it, he had no choice but to rely on the power of an Outer God.
However, he was not an Apostle, merely a follower. There was no possibility that an Outer God would grant him its protection without demanding anything in return.
He therefore had to offer a sacrifice.
Blood and souls.
Chaos and terror.
To present the things an Outer God favored most, Jan had exhausted everything he possessed to induce an Outer Gate.
Yet even that had failed when a Red Spear Knight happened to pass through the area.
However, while observing from afar, he had thought that the situation might actually have worked in his favor.
The knights were indeed Red Spear Knights, but they did not appear particularly powerful.
Unfortunately, Jan’s condition was far worse than he had realized.
His lack of mana severely limited the spells he could use, while the persistent pain from the wound in his side made it difficult to concentrate.
As a result, none of his spells displayed their proper power.
Under normal circumstances, he would not even have paid attention to approaching arrows.
Even his barrier was now in danger of collapsing.
‘Already?’
Before Jan could fully register his shock, an arrow tore through the barrier and lodged itself in his thigh.
“!”
For an instant, he recalled how the revived Hyullang had burst into flames like torches after being struck by arrows with glowing red tips.
His heart seemed to stop.
Fortunately, the arrow appeared to have exhausted its power while piercing the barrier, and no flames emerged.
However, the situation remained utterly hopeless.
Even so, it was too soon to surrender.
He could not simply allow himself to die without resistance.
Jan gathered what little mana he had left and activated a spell.
[Shadow Blade]
There was no need to speak the activation phrase.
If he concentrated his mind, he could even omit the incantation.
The most important element in executing magic was one’s will.
‘Die!’
Jan glared furiously at Ian.
At the same moment, Ian felt an inexplicable chill.
“?”
He instinctively turned to the left.
His shadow was moving.
It swelled and writhed before transforming into a sharp spike in the blink of an eye and thrusting toward him.
SNAP!
Ian hurriedly moved aside, but the bow in his hand was struck instead.
It was not made of steel. Rather than enduring the impact for even an instant, it broke the moment it was hit.
‘I will have to discard it.’
It would be a lie to say that he did not regret losing it, but once broken, it was useless.
Moreover, the swollen shadow did not stop after producing a single spike.
Its area spread like flowing water, and even more spikes erupted from it.
Ian threw away the bow and retreated to the side, but there was too little room to continue evading the attacks.
The instant he realized that, he jumped from the palisade without hesitation.
As soon as he landed on the ground, he charged toward the Dark Mage and infused the arrow in his right hand with mana.
Then he threw it like a dagger.
It would not be as powerful as an arrow fired from a bow, but it should still be enough to keep the Dark Mage in check.
Sure enough, the Dark Mage flinched and extended his hand, creating a barrier to block it.
WHOOSH!
The arrow struck the barrier, and flames erupted from its tip before spreading across its surface.
Both sides lost sight of each other.
Ian drew the dagger at his waist in a reverse grip.
There was no need to swing it forcefully.
He merely pulled back the left hand holding the dagger and covered it with his right to add more strength.
At the same time, he used the momentum of his charge to hurl himself into the barrier.
CRASH!
The barrier resisted the dagger’s blade for a moment before shattering like glass.
“Gasp!”
Beyond the barrier, which broke into tiny pieces and dissolved into the air, stood the Dark Mage.
His face was frozen in shock.
The distance was too short, and there was too little time for him to do anything.
The dagger plunged directly into the defenseless Dark Mage.
Its tip pierced his heart, and Ian fell with him.
“Ugh!”
It did not hurt much.
They had merely fallen together.
However, Ian had lost his grip on the dagger, so he quickly rose and checked his opponent.
“…….”
The Dark Mage lay motionless with his eyes wide open.
No matter how much power he had received from a deity of the Outer Sea, it was impossible to escape death after suffering a fatal wound.
Ian exhaled and silently looked down at the corpse.
“Young Master!”
Ian turned at the sound of the voice and saw Mael and Marie running toward him.
They reached his side in moments.
“Are you unharmed?”
“As you can see. What about the two of you?”
Mael spoke sheepishly.
“It may sound like an excuse, but perhaps my training was insufficient. I was struck rather badly. Despite their appearance, the skeletons’ movements were anything but ordinary. My armor ended up in this condition because of them.”
In truth, it was merely scratched.
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“Then it is fine. Armor exists to protect the body.”
“You are correct, but I still cannot help feeling troubled. Had my skills been sufficient, this would not have happened.”
“You should probably consider yourself fortunate that this was all that happened.”
“Pardon?”
“This man was not in a normal condition.”
Ian gestured toward the Dark Mage with his chin.
Mael nodded awkwardly.
“Had he been normal, he would not have become a Dark Mage.”
“No. That is not what I meant. His physical condition was abnormal. I do not know what level he was, but if he had been able to display his full strength, this would not have ended so easily.”
“…Hmm. If that is truly the case, then we were fortunate.”
“I am not saying if it is the case. It truly was. Ah, forget it.”
There was no point in saying anything further now that everything was over.
Excessive humility was no different from arrogance.
Ian searched through the dead Dark Mage’s clothes.
He wanted to see whether the man carried anything that could identify him, both to determine his identity and to report the matter to his family.
If he was truly fortunate, the Dark Mage might also possess something useful.