The Great Mage Returns after 4000 Years – Chapter 224 – Decisive Battle (5)
Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Yahiko
There was a chance for him to win. If he didn’t believe that he had a chance, he wouldn’t have let Lucifer die so easily.
After all, the more variables present in a battle where the outcome was not guaranteed, the better.
Nevertheless, the fact that his odds of winning remained abysmal was unchanged.
Clang!
Following a heavy sound, Frey’s body was pushed backward. It felt as though a hammer as heavy as a mountain had struck his body.
The shock from this blow was so powerful that it shook his very transcendent bones.
Lord was still standing in the air, and a pale glow shone around his body. As Lucifer had noticed before, this was a sign that he was about to attack.
Frey seemed to understand the true nature of this glow.
‘It’s a visible representation of his divine power.’
The reason why it was barely visible was because the space couldn’t properly digest his divine power. This was nothing to scoff at as it meant that Lord’s power had reached a stage that surpassed the limits of their dimension.
Clang! Clang!
The heavy sounds continued one after the other. Lord’s attack had no shape, and it had already become unnecessary for him to move.
It was possible for him to deal with his opponents using only his thoughts.
This also meant that his attacks couldn’t be anticipated. Invisible attacks repeatedly struck Frey’s body from every direction.
Of course, he wasn’t unprotected. His divine magic power wrapped around his entire body like solid armor.
Nevertheless, this didn’t mean that he was completely unscathed. His divine magic power was being whittled away, bit by bit, with each subsequent attack.
He couldn’t continue like this. He had no hope of winning this battle unless he turned his defensive into an offensive.
But there was one thing that he’d become convinced of after a series of blows.
‘Lord doesn’t want to kill me.’
He was trying to capture Frey alive. And the reason was quite obvious.
It was in order to completely absorb the divine power that Frey had. After Frey died, there was no guarantee that he would leave behind a crystal like the Demigods did.
‘The only way to win would be to make use of that point.’
He didn’t think it was cowardly. Rather, he thought that it was an opportunity.
Those who wanted the kill and those who wanted to capture. The difference in mindset was by no means trivial.
Moreover, in a fight like this one, the fight between Frey and Lord, could be seen as a clash of wills.
It was the same as when he’d defeated Milled, Indra, and Riki in the mental world. In the end, it would become a question of whose will was stronger.
And Lord’s ‘capture’ mindset would surely work against him at a crucial moment.
‘In addition.’
Clang!
Lord’s attacks were steadily becoming faster. He was as expressionless as usual, but Frey could feel the faint impatience in his attacks.
This was inevitable.
Kaltud was dead. This meant that Nozdog was either hibernating or severely weakened. Moreover, Nozdog was currently in Hitume Ikar. Frey’s teammates and Dro were there as well.
All of them were hostile towards Nozdog, and it wouldn’t be hard for either party to find and kill a defenseless Demigod.
Lord said that he didn’t care about Nozdog’s death, but he would definitely want to obtain the crystal he left behind.
‘Did he realise that he wouldn’t be able to subdue me with this kind of attack?’
Lord had become too strong. It was possible that he didn’t know his own strength, which was why he wasn’t putting all of his strength into his attacks.
Therefore, he was gradually increasing the strength with each subsequent attack. But Frey’s defenses were also gradually becoming stronger.
The strength and weakness of their respective powers didn’t matter. What mattered was that Frey was becoming used to his attacks.
He would not be able to overpower Frey if he continued to attack in this way.
Did he feel that?
Lord’s attacks, which seemed unrelenting, stopped for a moment. It seemed that he intended to change his attack method.
Frey’s eyes shined.
This was the moment he was waiting for.
“Spear of light, pierce through the enemy.”
Frey muttered softly.
“Magic Missile.”
[…?]
Lord paused.
It was unintentional, but his pause created a small opening. Then, the magic missile that Frey created shot towards him.
It wasn’t fast. The size was also ordinary.
Lord had some degree of understanding towards magic. No, it could be said that he had more knowledge and understanding than most Wizards.
That was why he could tell. The Magic Missile that was flying towards him was a basic spell with no special properties.
[…!]
Lord, who was quietly observing the magic missile, twisted his body slightly, and with a sharp sound, the magic missile flew past his cheek.
After flying for a bit longer, the magic missile disappeared.
That was it. It was a basic spell that would disappear after flying a few dozen meters.
Nevertheless, he could not allow this attack to touch him. This was because the energy that the Magic Missile constructed was not from mana but from divine magic power.
However, this was only the beginning of Frey’s attack.
“Balls of flame soaring through the air. Fireball.”
Fwoosh!
A ball of fire as large as a fist suddenly appeared in the air. But this time, Lord did not sit still.
He immediately used his power of space to extinguish the flames.
Frey continued to chant without hesitation.
“Bind their voices. Chain Lightning.”
“The Ruler of Earth devours you. Earthquake.”
“My enemies will forever dance in fields of flames. Flame Ball.”
Frey cast one spell after another. And Lord responded to each spell immediately.
Destroying them, blocking them, or avoiding them. He did not allow any of the spells to hit him directly.
Lord thought.
They were threatening. They were definitely a threat to him. However… they were sloppy.
As he extinguished a Flame Ball, he spoke.
[Spells. This is probably the weapon you are most familiar with. But the idea of going back to basics is quaint. It’s sloppy. Did you think that fighting in the way you are most comfortable with would help?]
“…”
[Your attacks are nothing now that you’ve lost the element of surprise. By the time your first attack missed, my guard was raised. So now, any of the tricks you might have hidden in these spells has lost their meaning.]
Lord’s voice was filled with disgust. He even felt that Frey was just giving up.
It was impossible for him to defeat him with such clumsy spells.
Frey muttered in a soft voice.
“The screams of ice tear the eardrums. Frost Scream.”
Whoosh-
Then he looked at the storm of ice while thinking.
The weapon he was most familiar with. Calling them that was not wrong, but that wasn’t really the case.
Frey’s recent focus had not been on his magic but on his divine magic power. During his 800 years in the mental world, he’d devoted all of his attention to learning to control divine magic power.
Jijijik!
The ice storm was ripped apart. This was also caused by Lord’s power.
“The condensed lava roars. Lava Blast.”
Boom boom boom!
This spell was quite intimidating. And it was very fast.
It was much more powerful than a normal Lava Blast.
But Lord didn’t panic, easily avoiding the attack. The power of the spells was gradually increasing, but that wasn’t very surprising.
In all honesty, it was natural. After all, the spells that Frey was using were gradually increasing in level.
[…]
It was at that moment when Lord felt uncomfortable.
The levels were increasing?
Right. They were.
The spells that Frey used were increasing in levels, one after the other.
From the 1 star spell Magic Missile to the 2 star spell Fireball, 3 star, 4 star, 5 star, 6 star… and now the 7 star Lava Blast.
Lord turned to look at Frey.
That meant that this time…
“At a gesture of my hand, the frozen era breathes a deep sigh. Ice Age.”
Crack crack!
Frost spread from the tips of Frey’s toes to cover the surrounding area. It was as though the cold hand of an ice god had touched the ground.
Lord flew into the air without responding to the spell. (TL: when did he land?)
‘Why is he wasting so much of his willpower?’
Once one became a transcendent being, the energy that had to be treasured was not mana, nor stamina, but willpower. That was the power that formed the basis of every other power.
So if it was wasted unnecessarily, it was the same as setting oneself up for an inevitable defeat. Of course, he didn’t find it strange that Frey, who was weaker than him, was doing all he could right from the beginning.
If he hadn’t been playing around with spells up to this point, Lord would have thought so. But in his eyes, Frey’s spells weren’t very efficient.
Instead of wasting his willpower to create these spells, it would have been much stronger and more efficient to directly make use of his divine magic power.
“Did you know, Lord? 9 star spells don’t exist.”
Frey’s quiet but cold voice suddenly resounded.
Lord looked down at him without responding.
When a Wizard reached 9 stars, he gained the ability to use Absolute Field. This couldn’t be called a spell. It was a simple power.
The Absolute Beam that Frey used was derived from this power.
“…in general, the complexity of the formula is what determines the rank of a spell.”
2 star spells were more complicated than 1 star spells, and 3 star spells were more complicated and difficult to cast than 2 star spells.
If a 7 star spell were to be written down, the magic formula would easily be able to fill ten sheets of paper.
That was why everyone who met Frey was amazed. Frey’s ability to swiftly break down and create magic formulas exceeded common sense.
Of course, no matter how powerful Frey was, this would have been impossible if he hadn’t spent over 4,000 years in the Abyss.
“I created a 9 star spell, Lord.”
[You can’t defeat me with a spell.]
“I agree. However, this one will be a bit different.”
[…show it to me. Let me take a look at it.]
Frey laughed at Lord’s words.
“It seems you still haven’t noticed. I already used it.”
[…what are you talking about?]
Frey tapped his chin.
“I showed you every spell from 1 star to 8 stars. I even added the chants to make them appear perfect. Thanks to that, half of my divine magic power disappeared.”
[…]
“Did you think my attack was over? No. It’s only just beginning.”
Paht!
Lord felt heat on his back and dodged without turning around.
Whoosh!
A fireball flew past him in an instant.
Lord’s expression stiffened.
Did he secretly cast a spell?
No. It wasn’t so simple.
Crack crack!
This time, it was an Ice Spear. Then a Magic Missile flew over at that same time.
These spells also didn’t come from Frey’s direction.
He avoided and blocked, but the onslaught continued.
Instead, the number of spells flying towards him steadily increased as though it was just beginning.
[…this.]
“These spells have already been cast. So they won’t go away even if you block them or avoid them. In time, they will simply appear again. And they will keep getting faster and faster. As long as my willpower supports it, this magic bombardment will never end.”
Frey fell silent for a moment before adding.
“Since all of these processes were calculated at the same time, it created a formula that was incomparable to that of an 8 star spell. It’s a complicated and esoteric formula that would truly turn anyone’s brain to dust. So I decided to call it the 9 star spell Infinite Field.”
The surrounding area had already been filled with Frey’s divine magic power. Even with Lord’s power of space, he could not easily disperse it.
Especially since he would be focused on defense from now on.
Frey did not say anything else.
This was because he didn’t have the time to. From now on, he had to focus most of his attention on calculating formulas.
Boom, boom, boom!
Lord’s body was covered with dozens of spells. It didn’t matter whether it was a 1 star or 8 star spell. What mattered was that they were all made of divine magic power.
So he had to avoid them. Or he had to block them.
Frey no longer had to control the spells he’d cast. He just had to keep adding spells one after the other and wait for Lord to reveal a fatal opening.
‘…but I can’t kill Lord with just this.’
Frey’s eyes sank.
At first glance, it seemed like he had the upper hand, but that didn’t mean he could let down his guard.
He also didn’t think that this was enough to actually defeat Lord.
So Frey was preparing a spell of the next level. The step above 9 stars, which was known as the peak of Magical Science, and the legend the very existence of which was still unclear.
A 10 star spell.