Chapter 193 – The Horned Woman and the Half-Elf

He raised the quarter staff above his head, deliberately revealing a gap. Without missing that gap, the figure of the ghoul mage disappeared. With a crackling noise, I moved somewhere in space. But it was obvious that she would appear around me anyway.

“It’s Naryeotagon, fuck-!!”

The moment I felt the presence of people around me, I rolled on the ground with all my might. It was at that moment that the ghoul mage, who appeared from behind, performed a bongjutsu. A quarter staff with heavy power passed over my head. When the wind pressure from the swing hit my face, it was so thrilling that my 5 limbs tingled.

Naryotagon (懶驢打滾), the secret escape machine!! It is a technique to avoid the enemy’s attack ugly by rolling on the floor. His whole body was covered in dust and hectic, but he managed to avoid the attack anyway.

“Haaaaa-!!”

The ghoul mage rushed in like lightning and swung her baton at me as I rolled.
I think I’m going to mess with it before I wake up, but I’m not the one who’s being put on hold!

“Water!”

He quickly summoned a drop of water and threw it into the face of the ghoul mage. Plump-sized drops of water hit his rotten face and he lost sight for a moment. I didn’t miss the opportunity, jumped up from my seat and stabbed with my staff.

Tadak! However, the stab of conversion that I flew miserably missed. The ghoul mage jumped up into the air, did somersaults, and opened up some distance with me. Perhaps because he has mastered martial arts, even his evasion moves are spectacular.

With this, each other’s attacks were nullified. However, despite the distance, the ghoul mage did not surprise me by using teleportation. He just stands still with his quarterstaff in his hand.

Just a moment ago, not knowing when to use teleportation, I would have wasted my attention needlessly. But now it was different. I realized that conditions are absolutely necessary to use space magic.

“Why are you stopping? Quickly fly over and hit it with your staff!”

While screaming, I tried provoking with my middle finger. As if raising the middle finger was an insult even 500 years ago, the ghoul mage immediately let out a roar.

“Krrrr-!!”

To use the teleportation spell, preparation was necessary. I deliberately provoked him to verify my guess, but it worked right away. Mage, who will burn my muttered words to himself, began to copy without an inch of error.

“From now on, you smash things around you randomly with your staff.”

Again, the predictions were correct. The ghoul mage smashed the floor of the labyrinth at random like an angry monkey. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Every time he hit the ground with his cane, brick fragments flew in all directions.

It seems like an act of wasting stamina needlessly, but it’s not.
That’s an action to accumulate ‘impact energy’ in the quarter staff.

The ancient magic of Rune Mage is activated with a unique mechanism. It is a mechanism that converts the amount of impact transmitted to the staff into energy, stores it, and uses it when casting a spell.

Until now, I thought of impact energy as a bonus concept. Even without accumulating energy, [Quick Freeze] And [Blizzard] Were properly activated. However, shock energy was more closely related to ancient magic than I thought.

‘If you don’t collect shock energy, that ghoul’s ancient magic won’t activate. It’s a limitation imposed by space magic. Its dependence on impact energy is high enough to be called essential.’

A ghoul mage must hit something hard to use teleportation. As expected, the ghoul mage who smashed the floor of the labyrinth to its heart’s content immediately cast a spell. Chijijik-. He disappeared and appeared right in front of my nose.

The first time he meets her face, she is taken aback, but this time she is not taken aback. As I calmly stepped back, I applied the baton technique in the same way as the ghoul mage’s attack.

Widely! Widely! Whiik-!

I did not rush to counterattack and focused on defense and evasion as much as possible. Impact energy doesn’t just build up when it hits a target! Even if I blow the counter and hit the staff, the impact energy accumulates as well. Of course, suppressing the counterattack will reduce the accumulation of impact energy!

“Krrrr-!”

Thanks to the realization of countermeasures, the frequency of the ghoul mage’s use of teleportation spells has decreased significantly. I stepped back as far as I could and splashed water on the bottom of the labyrinth.

Chaaaaagh-!!

He used a water spell to the extent that water pooled at the bottom of the vast labyrinth. Thanks to the blizzard written down, the floor was covered with a lot of slippery snow. A large amount of water was poured on it, and the surrounding area was instantly filled with moisture.
For a water magician like me, the best stage was born.

“Waterwork!”

He walked effortlessly over the damp ground by casting a water walking spell. However, even after using all sorts of methods to increase the distance, the ghoul mage’s pursuit speed was fierce. It has a great sense of balance and does not stumble at all even on slippery snow.

“Kuk.”

Eventually I was cornered. As I continued to retreat, I was blocked by the wall of the labyrinth and could no longer retreat. At that moment, the ghoul mage was about to deliver the final blow.

“Thurisaz-!!”

The ghoul mage who used the space movement disappeared from sight. In an instant, it appeared from the ceiling of the labyrinth and crashed with terrifying acceleration. He swung the bar vertically and tried to break my head.

“Liquid!”

Now is the time to see the match. I manipulated the water flowing on the floor and sent it towards the ghoul mage floating in the air. I push my senses to the limit so I can feel how much water I am manipulating. This is a large amount of water that can fill a 10-ton water tank!

Shoot aaaaa!

A large amount of water hit the ghoul mage that was falling from the sky. The ghoul mage tried to break through the physical bondage by putting her weight on it. However, the advantage of the water magician is that the shape of the fluid can be freely transformed.

“It’s a water prison!”

I turned the water that hit the ghoul mage into a giant sphere. A giant sphere of water trapped the ghoul mage in midair. Like a fish trapped in a fishbowl, the ghoul mage was floating around.

I imprisoned the mage to be burned with a paint jade. In water, there is nothing to break, so you can’t accumulate impact energy. At this moment, the ghoul mage’s spatial movement was sealed.

Gurgling-!!

The ghoul mage tried to approach me even if it was a slow swim. But I raised my quarterstaff faster than he could swim. I thrust my staff at the water orb that created above my head.

“Hagalaz! Freeze!”

The sphere of water affected by [Quick Freeze] Was instantly covered with ice. The sphere that started to freeze from the surface was frozen to the inside in an instant.
The ghoul mage, who was swimming, slowed down and stopped before he knew it. A frozen ghoul was born in the ice sphere I created. The moment I froze him, I quickly threw myself forward.

Coo-! A heavy ball of ice crashed to the ground. It weighed about 10 tons, so the ground shook. I fell limp on the floor and couldn’t move for a while.

“Cool! Cool!”

My head was dizzy and my nose was dripping with blood. It is a phenomenon of exhaustion experienced by wizards who have used mana to the limit. During the battle with the ghoul mage, for the first time in his life, he completely emptied his mana container.

“Huh…! I almost turned around.”

I was in a bad physical condition, but I managed to keep my spirits up. Standing up with staff in hand, I approached the ghoul trapped in the ice sphere. It’s a monstrous ghoul with vitality, so you have to make sure you kill it properly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! I waved my staff restlessly and shattered the ice sphere. It wasn’t until the body of the ghoul mage became a ghoul that was divided into 5 equal parts that he stopped his hand.

After that, I checked where Bella was.

“Sister? You’re not dead, are you?”

I see Bella lying on the floor with her wings folded and only the skeleton remaining. Bella, who lost her energy after firing all her feathers earlier, fell to the ground. She was worried that she might be seriously hurt, but Bella’s answer came back.

“I’m alive… Don’t treat my sister as a virgin ghost…”
“Looking at how well he can joke, he looks pretty good. The ghoul mage was defeated by this reliable younger brother. He used a grab attack to trick him.”
“Whoop-. Luke-san’s physical condition is no joke to say it’s a joke. I can see everything.”

I approached Bella and checked her condition. Except for a small bruise on her body, she was not particularly injured. If you join Kate and get a healing spell, you’ll be completely healed.

It was truly a miracle that I was able to survive here. If we hadn’t uncovered the limitations of the space magic, the two of us would have enjoyed a ghoul meal together. I have a crush on Bella, who believed in me until the end and gave me her healing potion.

‘He’s a loyal person.’

Honestly, I thought you would run away without looking back. When I’m wasting time against a ghoul mage. Running away when it’s important is something that’s unique to high-ranking people. Those who stand out by wrapping up sacrificing people below them, calling it a noble sacrifice.

They say that a person’s true nature is revealed when faced with a crisis.
Bella made the choice to stay with me.

After a while and the nosebleed stopped, I had a conversation with Bella.

“…Why didn’t you run away earlier? If I was beaten by the ghoul mage, my sister would be doomed too.”
“I told you. A person who will become a guild master cannot abandon an adventurer. Besides, we cannot lose the only wizard in our guild, Mr. Luke.”
“Then it would have been the same even if you were with other adventurers. Sister, are all adventurers belonging to the guild equally precious? Is she risking her life like she is now?”

Intrigued, he asked Bella her question. Of course, I knew the answer would come back that it was equally precious. There’s no way a woman who will become a guild master will tell you that she favors someone.

“…”

However, Bella did not answer my question for a while.
She was just silent as she lay on the floor. Does silence mean affirmation? I nodded and made my own conclusion.

“It must be equally precious. I asked something useless.”
“…No. You can’t think of everyone the same. There is only one person I cherish the most.”
“Who is that? A gold tier adventurer?”

It was when I asked who it was without much thought.
Bella’s face turned bright red. With her stammering voice, Bella taught me who it was.

“You… Luke is the most important to me.”

It was an expression full of shame. The moment I met her eyes, her heart started pounding too.

Who? Me? I wanted to shout, but I’m speechless and can’t open my mouth.
I didn’t know you would name me so suddenly.

With a puzzled look on my face, I just said thank you.

“Thank you for choosing me, sister.”

Bella, too, seemed to be taken aback, and uttered the words in her heart.

“That, right? Can’t you stand it because you’re so grateful? You treated me with precious healing potions and supported me by my side. The atmosphere was perfect, so it’s time to reveal the truth. Now Mr. Luke has an obligation to forgive me- .”
“What is the duty to forgive? Why do I have to forgive my sister? Even though I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Actually… I’ve lied to Mr. Luke for a while. Don’t be surprised to hear.”

Bella shouted, closing her eyes tightly.
She said as she lifted her empty little finger.

“My sister has no fiancée! Actually, I’ve been single ever since I was born! Mr. Pon Whatsigi, who said he was engaged, is actually a fictional character I created. It was so amazing to be Mr. Pon? It’s all a lie!”

A shocking confession!
Bella’s sister’s fiancé was a fictional character!

“Wow.”

The moment I realized my unimaginable identity, I bent both arms with a giyeokja.
However, unlike my reaction, my expression was as dry as a plaster cast.

“It’s amazing.”

What a surprise
I was noticing everything, you clumsy person.

It’s so cute I want to bite it!