Chapter 21

“I’m a Dark Mage.”

…Fuck.

Fuck Fuck Fuck!

Why the fuck is a fucking Dark Mage here!?

Hands trembling and cold sweat dripping down my face, I tried to talk while calming down my breathing. The Dark Mage was still behind me, and my eyes were still fixed on Luna standing a few paces from me.

“A Dark Mage?... Then, the reason why you kidnap slum kids is…”

“That’s right, boy. It’s to use them as sacrifices.”

“…You felt like someone who already made a contract with a demon. Why do you need to make another sacrifice?”

“Huhuhu, you sure have a lot of questions to ask, boy. But it’s fine, I will indulge you.”

Huhuhu.

The sound of his giggling sent chills down my spine. Gritting my teeth and clenching my fist was all I could do to keep myself from panicking.

I really want to run away, but I need to make an opening first so I can grab Luna and get the hell out of here.

“You see, boy. You’re right that I’ve already made a contract with a demon, but there are several things you don’t know about Dark Mages. Perhaps because you’re still an Apprentice Mage, your mentor did not tell you yet.”

Huhuhu.

“To make a contract with a Demon, sacrifices are not enough. The Mage’s personal skill as a mage is also important. A weak mage can only make a contract with a weak Demon. To make a contract with a stronger Demon, the Mage needs to be strong, or else their body cannot handle the strain of the Demon’s power and breaks down.”

Ring.

“Another thing you don’t know is that the contract can be… Let’s say… renewed.”

Ring.

“Once a Dark Mage has grown stronger, we can offer up more sacrifices to make another contract with a stronger Demon, as long as the stronger Demon is from the same clan.”

“Do you know why, boy?”

“…Why?”

“Because the goal of the Demons is to invade our world, and the only ones among them who can open a breach in the space between our worlds are the Seven Kings of Hell, also known as the Seven Demon Kings.”

Ring.

“If a Dark Mage keeps getting stronger and renews their contract with a stronger Demon over and over again, they will eventually make a contract with one of the Demon Kings. Then, after their lifespan ends, the Demon King they made a contract with can take over their body, open a breach in the space separating our worlds, and begin their invasion.”

I could feel my hand turning cold, and my breathing grew faster.

“You know what the Demons want and still decided to be a Dark Mage? You think you will be safe if their plan succeeds?”

“Huhu, most likely not.”

Ring.

“Then why? Why are you sacrificing innocent human lives to make a contract with them?”

He kept quiet. The only thing I could hear from him was his humming.

“Why, huh? Because of power, boy.”

“Power?”

“Yes. Even the weakest Demon is stronger than Beginner Mages, after all. It’s a shortcut to power. The chances of anyone making a contract with a Demon King were very low, if not straight-up impossible. I have not heard or read any documents of anyone making a contract with a Demon King even in the last one thousand years.”

None? This guy… he didn’t know about Edmund, huh?

“Well, that’s quite nice of you, taking your time to explain the details about Dark Mages to me. Will you be so kind as to let me and the girl go now?”

Ring.

Huhuhu.

The temperature dropped along with his eerie laugh and the chime of a bell.

“That, I can’t do. You already know a Dark Mage is here. Even though you never turned around to see my face, I’d rather not take any chances. I’m a coward, you see. I don’t want to be hunted down by the Association. Besides…”

“I still need that little girl as a sacrifice.”

Ring.

Gulp.

“Is that so? Then there’s no other choice.”

“Hm? What are you going to do, boy?”

Turning my head slightly over my shoulder to see what he looked like, I said to him,

“Mist.”

Fwooooossshh.

A thick cloud of mist blanketed the area once again. I activated Skate and Enhancement to strengthen my body at once, skated towards Luna, and quickly grabbed her and carried her in my arms as I made our escape through the forest.

“Kyaaaaah!!”

“Quiet, Luna! You’ll bite your tongue!”

I need to quickly get back to the tower! Where the hell is the reinforcement anyway? Did Aaron mess up and fail to get to the Tower to get help? I swear I’m going to hang him upside down from the Church’s bell tower if I manage to get back alive.

A prickling sensation of killing intent came from behind me, telling me that an attack was coming.

Swish Swish Swish.

I could hear the sound of something sliding around the trees in the forest, making its way toward us. Glancing back, I could see something long and black getting closer.

It’s fast. At this rate, it will catch up to us.

I glanced at Luna, who was currently covering her mouth with both of her hands.

There’s no other choice.

“Luna, listen to me. At this rate, both of us will get caught, so one of us needs to stay and hold back that creepy guy while the other one escapes. I will hold him back here, so I need you to run as fast as you can back to the city and go straight to the Magic Tower and explain the situation. Tell them that we got attacked by a Dark Mage and that I stayed here to hold him back so they can send reinforcements quickly.”

“If everything goes according to plan, your brother should be at the Tower too. I sent him there to ask for reinforcements before I tracked where you were brought to and made my way to that shack. I don’t know why there’s no reinforcement coming even after a while, but there’s probably some problem going on.”

“Do you understand?”

Her violet eyes trembled for a bit, but she quickly nodded. She knew that there was no other way for both of us to survive besides taking this gamble.

“Atta girl. Then I will put you down, and I need you to immediately run.”

She nodded.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Stopping and putting her down in one swift motion, I turned on my heels, turning my back to her.

“Run!!”

Luna quickly made her escape as I prepared myself to hold this Dark Mage back from chasing after Luna.

“Barrier!”

Fwung Fwung Fwung!

Three transparent barriers appeared in front of me, and almost immediately, something black and long struck all three barriers and shattered them.

Shatter! Shatter! Shatter!

Immediately, I slid back on the ground with the Skate Magic to dodge.

Shit, I can’t even block those things with Barrier. What the hell are those creepy, wriggling long things anyway?

Sliding between the trees, I repositioned myself while making my presence and location as obvious as I could to bait him away from Luna. I slid between the trees, dodging the creepy, wriggling things, then leapt up the trees to see where those things came from so I could get the general location of the Dark Mage, and made my way to where he was while using Search Magic as I made my way to him.

Looking at the sky, the full moon had risen above, lighting up the darkness of the night. The night sky was clear, but because this was a forest, the moonlight was blocked by the trees, so it was still dark here. It was so dark that I needed to keep using Search Magic because my eyes could barely see anything.

Ring.

‘Shit!’

I hurriedly jumped to the side, spinning my body to dodge an incoming attack from behind me before landing on the ground. Focusing my sight and Search Magic on where the attack came from, I looked in the direction where I heard that damn chime of a bell.

“Huhuhu. Not bad, boy. Not bad at all.”

Ring. Ring. Ring.

A man wearing a black mage robe and cape walked out from the darkness. I couldn’t make out his appearance clearly, thanks to the lush forest blocking the moonlight, but I could see that he was tall, his skin was pale, and his black hair was slicked back. He was holding a large staff with bell ornaments tied to it. At his feet, there was an unnatural darkness, with black tendrils coming out of it.

“You’re much more skilled than normal Beginner Mages. You must have started learning magic from a very young age and have a very skilled mentor in magic combat. The spell you’re using to slide around the ground is very interesting too. How does that work?”

“Who knows? And I’ve only learned magic for eight months, for your information.”

“Eight months? If you want to lie, you should make it believable. Eight months is just enough time for someone to finish their first coating.”

“Well, it’s up to you to believe it or not.”

Stretching both of my arms to aim at him, I started my counterattack.

“Fireball!”

KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!

Three balls of fire flew toward him and exploded right away. Dust and smoke covered the area around him, and just like in my training with Master Elara, I used that chance to reposition myself and press my attack on him.

‘Using Fireball in the middle of the forest like this will definitely risk starting a forest fire, but at this point, a forest fire will help me hold him back here.’

“Rock Bullet!”

Shooting the modified Rock Bullet I used on Master Elara before, the Exploding Rock Bullet, where I put a Fireball spell inside the cone-shaped Rock Bullet and spin it at high speed to increase its penetration and breach his defense, I could see him stagger for a bit.

‘It’s working. If I can keep this up, then it will be possible to injure him just enough so I can make my escape.’

The glimmer of hope came back to my eyes as I saw the possibility of surviving this.

‘I can do this. Just a little bit more!’

He wrapped himself with the tendrils to defend against my attacks, and suddenly, one of those tendrils quickly moved toward me.

Stab!

“Heuk!”

Heat and pain could be felt from my left shoulder. One of those black tendrils pierced all the way through!

“Ghaakkk!!”

The Dark Mage pulled it back as I knelt while holding my left shoulder. I glared at him while holding back the pain, and I saw him licking my blood that was still on the black tendril he had used to stab my shoulder.

“Hmmm…Exquisite.”