Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 132

Chapter 132: Hedilund (5)

TL: Potato-tan

Proofreader: Asianpotato

 

From the first moment Russell laid eyes upon the young wizard Deckers, he kept a watchful eye on him. And from the very first moment he had seen him, he had kept a close eye on Deckers’s body, which seemed to shimmer slightly, and the swirl of magic that seemed to surround him.

 

Wizards, as they were commonly called, were known as preparers. It was not for nothing that the saying went, “Even a grand wizard should be wary if a wizard with ample time and resources were to corner him in a dungeon or workshop.”

 

So.

 

Russell’s eyes quickly scanned the space around him. His gaze soon fell upon the lord of the manor, who was seated in the center of the audience chamber.

 

His eyes widened.

 

The servant who had opened the door showed them to a couch in the audience chamber. Lord Gellerd did not rise from his seat, but he watched them take their places.

 

He had the same blond hair as Farrells, but his hair had faded significantly, becoming almost brown. His eyes were also blue, but his face, which was turned towards the sunlight streaming in through the window behind him, was relatively shaded, so that they appeared merely dark.

 

The Lord spoke.

 

“So, Farrells. Five years. You look older than the last time I saw you. Though you’re still young.”

 

“. . .You have aged much more, brother. What has happened?”

 

“What’s happened? As you are aware, our father owned a well-located city, but he did not engage in active trade with other cities. The conservatism of his grandfather and the grandfather before him played a significant role.

 

“Yes. I know. Even as a child, you said that when you became lord, you would immediately open the gates and communicate with the other cities.”

 

The Lord nodded.

 

“There was a river right next to the city, but he didn’t think to use it. He just excavated the ruins and sold the antiques he found there. We can’t keep relying on ruins forever. When the limited resources are all used up, the mercenaries and adventurers will leave. I have used all the resources I can to develop the city.”

 

“Well done. I would not have been able to do so.”

 

The lord smiled briefly at Farrells. Then he looked at Russell’s group and said,

 

“Who are these people?”

 

“Ah, from here. . .”

 

“I have business with that wizard over there.”

 

Russell interrupted Farrells and said, Russell glanced at Deckers, ignoring the bewildered Farrells and the lord, who was surprisingly expressionless.

 

“This ring. Did you imprint the circuit on it?”

 

Deckers twisted one side of his mouth as he looked at the ring Russell had taken from his bosom.

 

“So what?”

 

“The man wearing this ring is a despicable individual who hunts humans. I met him on the way here and on the way back. And he said something strange. He said there was a magic tower where he delivered the humans he hunted. He intended to use them for either experimentation or slavery.

 

“. . . . . . . “

 

“Hedilund is the only city nearby, and there is only one magic tower here. Decisively, the nature of the magic power I feel here is the same as yours. Can you explain?”

 

Deckers, who had been listening quietly, said it with a sneer.

 

“Why should I explain that? And why would a complete stranger care about such a thing? Was one of those people an acquaintance of yours?”

 

“You’re not making sense. Stop talking nonsense.”

 

“What?”

 

Deckers’s eyebrows twitched. Russell didn’t care, and he stood up from his seat. As he stood up, Irrucil and Aellasis, who had been sitting, also stood up and entered a confrontation with the Lord and Deckers.

 

Farrells, with a pale face, grabbed Russell’s arm.

 

“What? What are you doing? Russell?”

 

“Come to your senses, Farrells. This is not an audience chamber.”

 

“Yes?”

 

Immediately after speaking, magic power surged out of Russell’s body. Deckers then hardened his face and exuded magic power.

 

Clang, clang, clang!

 

Russell’s magic power and Deckers’ magic power collided in the center of the reception room’s audience chamber, emitting a terrible noise. The reception room was instantly turned into a shambles as the two men engaged in a fierce struggle for magical supremacy to impose their will on each other.

 

Tables and chairs flew around, and the paintings on the walls, the chandeliers on the ceiling, the cupboards, and the sofas rolled around. But even in the midst of such a commotion, the lord remained seated in his chair.

 

Deckers, who had stretched his hands forward next to the lord, said it with a hard face.

 

“How did you know? This space was not haphazardly created.”

 

“My eyes are a little better than I look.”

 

Russell, who replied casually , increased his magic power output a little more. The two men’s magic powers clashed, and their hair fluttered wildly in the wind.

 

At that moment, Irrucil’s magic power, which had been shaped into an iron chain, pierced through the audience chamber. As a result, Deckers’s magic power shook greatly, and his momentum also weakened.

 

“Oh, dear.”

 

Deckers mumbled. At a glance, it was obvious that the spell he had been maintaining was breaking. Farrells, who had been taken aback, also noticed the anomaly in the reception room.

 

“W, What is this?”

 

“A magic-created space. The golem sitting there, mimicking the Lord, forms the core of the space. See.”

 

“What?!”

 

At Russell’s gesture, Farrells turned his gaze towards the Lord. The lord’s appearance was different from before. Gellerd, who had been sitting calmly even as Russell and Deckers radiated their magic at each other, had a mineral-like appearance, his skin peeling off to reveal a metallic sheen underneath.

 

It wasn’t that all of it was peeled off, but the patchy peeling made it even more grotesque. Farrells mumbled, unable to believe it.

 

“No, that’s. It was clearly my brother. . .?”

 

“That isn’t your brother. It’s a creature imitating a human, wearing skin. It was also made to look much older than its actual age to prevent the inner body from being exposed.”

 

Deckers, who was stretching out his hands, spoke in a voice filled with disbelief at Russell’s words.

 

“No, how did you even know that? What kind of guy are you?”

 

Russell had recognized the flow of the alien magic as soon as he entered the room. And he didn’t just recognize it; he realized that the entire reception room was a single virtual space, made up of multiple spells.

 

In fact, it was so meticulously crafted that even he wouldn’t have noticed if his magic perception hadn’t become sharper. The virtual space had a single purpose.

 

The room’s purpose is to seal the magic of those who enter, suppress the activation of magical tools, induce unconsciousness, and even take control of their bodies. A truly meticulous and malicious space.

 

On top of that, the golem mimicking the human, which formed the core of the virtual space, was able to use language and behave almost like a real human.

 

It seemed that it had limitations in maintaining this space, as it could only move its upper body and couldn’t stand up or perform other actions while sitting.

 

“This isn’t something that can be handled with just magic projection.”

 

An incantation flowed from Deckers’s mouth, and his hands began to form a hand sign. Then, magic swirled around him, and heat surged instantly.

 

As a massive heat wave settled in the space where Deckers was, the outer shell of the golem, mimicking Lord Gellerd, melted away. What was revealed was a rough-looking humanoid golem with a metallic black sheen. A large green magic stone was embedded in its chest, and the magic flowing from it was maintaining this virtual space and assisting Deckers’s spell.

 

“If you want to taste the heat, then I’ll give it to you!”

 

The heat wave, flickering like flames, swirled around and engulfed everything. Yet, the reception room remained intact, with no signs of scorching or burning. It was only swaying continuously due to the collision of powerful magic.

 

“Aella.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Aellasis stepped forward in the face of the approaching heat wave. As she stomped her foot down hard, a white chill spread out from that spot. The chill spread, freezing the floor and everything else white, and when it met Deckers’s heat wave, steam erupted with tremendous force.

 

From both sides, the thick steam dissipated in different ways.

 

Thanks to Aellasis, who was still emitting a chill, the condensed steam turned into ice pellets and rolled on the floor on Russell’s side, while all the steam evaporated on Deckers’s side, creating a haze.

 

The sight of a dragon, even if it was just a hatchling, immediately sent a chill down Deckers’ spine. It was all thanks to this bizarrely constructed virtual space and the golem, which continued to function as the core without breaking.

 

Russell pulled Nahilnir out of his coat. As the massive sword naturally emerged from the coat where it had no business being, Deckers let out a dry laugh.

 

“You’re even more of a monster than I am.”

 

Irrucil sensed that Russell was preparing a blow, so she created more chains and held them in her hands. Russell said,

 

“Sister. Shoot the chains to where I point.”

 

“Got it. Signal me.”

 

The chains flew through Deckers’s magic and were connected to Irrucil, lodging themselves in various places in the space that had been the reception room. Deckers’s complexion was now so hardened that it looked like an inanimate object, a rock.

 

This was because, coincidentally, the places where Irrucil’s chains were lodged were where the spells that made up this virtual space were located, at the crossroads where the flow of mana circled once, stopped, and then spread out again.

 

Clack, clack, clack, clack!

 

With a chilling sound, Irrucil’s white iron chains wrapped around the entire space and applied force. The magic that had been depicting the reception room broke under the force, creating cracks.

 

“. . .You! You little bastard!”

 

“Let’s see your real face. Wizard.”

 

Russell, holding the greatsword, raised Nahilnir in a reverse grip. The magic flowing along the blade suddenly emitted a blue light.

 

Bang!

 

He slammed Nahilnir, held in a reverse grip, onto the floor, and a transparent ripple emanated from him. The magic flowing from Russell’s hand, through the blade, and onto the floor caused the hidden spells, letters, symbols, and patterns to rise up in a line.

 

“T, This is. . . . .!”

 

As cracks appeared in the void and the floor and ceiling collapsed, Deckers’s expression, which had been trying to repair and add to it with magic, finally turned pale.

 

The spells he had inscribed in the room began to appear, emitting a green light, and at the same time, the green light disappeared, and purple magic took its place.

 

In a situation where it was clear that Deckers’s magic was being devoured by Russell’s magic, Deckers’s distorted face glared at Russell. The green light in his eyes blazed.

 

“You dare interfere with my plans. . . You’ll pay dearly for this!”

 

Wooooooong!

 

Simultaneously with Russell’s words, the light of the spells that had filled the reception room completely reversed. Deckers was no longer the master of this space.

 

“Break.”

 

That one word was enough to shatter the space. The magic imbued with Russell’s will shattered the spells, and at the same time, the sound of glass shattering echoed from all directions, and the field of vision was filled with bright light.

 

“. . .Huh?”

 

Farrells opened his eyes, which he had closed. They were still in the reception room they had first entered. The only difference was that all the objects in the room were old and broken.

 

The wallpaper was all torn, revealing the rough grayish-white wall underneath, and the table that had been there was overturned with all its legs broken. The other furniture was in the same condition.

 

Russell blinked at the group behind him and walked steadily toward the center of the room. Deckers was nowhere to be seen. The golem, sitting in a chair, its head drooping, was all that remained.

 

The green magic stone that had been attached to its chest had lost its glow and turned black, just like the ring he had taken from Shadelloc.

 

Drrrrrr!

 

At that moment, a shock shook the reception room, and the entire castle engulfed them. Irrucil approached the window and flung it open.

 

“. . .Farrells.”

 

“Y, Yes?”

 

“Is there a ruin in the center of the city?”

 

“Ah, yes. I think so. Originally, a ruin existed, and the city developed around it. Why?”

 

Aellasis stood beside Irrucil, supported the window with her arm, and then rose into the air. In an instant, her blue eyes and her pupils elongated vertically.

 

“Something ancient is about to awaken.”

 

“Something ancient?”

 

“Yes. It’s in that ruin.”

 

Meanwhile, Farrells approached the golem, which was still sitting in the center of the room, mimicking the lord’s appearance. He knelt on one knee and lifted the golem’s head, which was drooping.

 

Farrells carefully peeled off the outer skin of the golem’s face, which had glued-on skin forming its features, and rubbed it with his fingers.

 

“. . .It seems to be real human skin.”

 

“The guy used people as test subjects, so peeling off the outer skin was no big deal.”

 

“. . .Is my brother. . . dead?”

 

“Let’s find out.”

 

Farrell looked up at Russell with a dazed expression. Russell was looking in a different direction. Outside this room, he could sense countless presences.

 

They were all strange things, devoid of any goodwill or even signs of life.

 

“We may have come to this city at a crucial moment. Seeing a golem that imitates your brother’s appearance, it’s possible that the ruler of this city has been replaced for quite some time. But I don’t think a golem can imitate a person exactly in such a short time. It probably needed the original to imitate the original’s speech and actions.”

 

“That means. . .!”

 

Russell nodded as he looked at Farrells, who seemed to have a glimmer of hope.

 

“He might still be alive. First, let’s deal with those guys outside, and then search this castle.”

 

Bang!

 

As soon as he finished speaking, the door burst open, and golems poured in. In front of them, Russell raised his dark greatsword, Nahilnir, with force.

 

The blade’s runes sparkled, emitting light.

 

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