I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 39
Pachichik!
An electrical explosion erupted in front of Yuren.
A blue barrier shimmered before him.
Magic Shield, a 4th-circle spell.
Thanks to his reflexive response, he remained uninjured, but he struggled to steady his racing heart.
‘Was that just now… Elemental Bolt?’
Elemental Bolt, a 3rd-circle spell.
It possessed greater power than a Mana Shot and was a fundamental spell whose effects varied depending on the element imbued.
‘The element imbued was lightning, so it must have been Lightning Bolt.’
Lightning is a magic specialized in speed, designed to catch an enemy off guard.
When applied to an Elemental Bolt, it grants exceptional velocity, making it on average three times faster than other elements.
‘It felt as if an arrow from a divine bow was flying at me.’
Had he not reacted instantly, he surely would have lost a limb.
‘That man is a 3rd-circle mage?’
Ferda was indeed a mage who had reached the 3rd circle, but Yuren had not underestimated him.
He was the possessor of a Red Circle, and Red Circle holders always wielded formidable power within their specialized attributes.
It was already a well-known fact that he had defeated Thessalos Walcher while still at the 1st circle.
Thus, Yuren had regarded him as being at the highest possible tier among mages of the same level.
‘I thought he might even be comparable to a 4th-circle mage.’
But even that was an underestimation.
He was wielding magic with power that far exceeded imagination.
‘What trick did he use?’
Yuren’s eyes scanned Ferda.
He wondered if the man was receiving some form of hidden assistance.
But that was impossible.
No one would have been allowed to carry weapons before entering this Sealed Storage.
‘To achieve that kind of casting speed purely with his own mind, without even a Wand or staff to assist the calculations?’
The only answer to increasing casting speed was repetition and mastery.
And that repetition and mastery wasn’t something achieved simply by mindless practice like a student scribbling notes.
It was only possible when drawing the paths of mana became as natural as breathing—to the point where one could cast magic even while asleep.
Such a feat was impossible for Yuren.
Ferda’s genius was bordering on awe-inspiring.
“You seem curious about what spell that was,” Ferda provoked Yuren in a relaxed voice. “For your information, it was an Elemental Bolt.”
“You arrogant little brat.”
Yuren’s face flushed bright red.
Regardless of his high status, as a mage, Ferda was nothing more than a fledgling at the 3rd circle.
A magic circle formed in Yuren’s hand.
“Go ahead, keep acting high and mighty!”
In a duel where lives were on the line, titles and ranks no longer mattered.
The magic circle completed in Yuren’s hand did not vanish but instead floated in the air.
‘A continuous concentration-type magic circle.’
A typical consumable magic circle converts the mana within it into the form of a spell upon use.
In contrast, a continuous concentration-type magic circle does not consume its own mana; instead, while the circle is maintained, the mage continuously injects mana to fire spells.
It was a technique that a 5th-circle mage could naturally perform.
‘The magic circle is the same as mine, Elemental Bolt.’
Ferda deduced this from its shape and the inscribed runes, and just as he thought, pure white ice shards formed within the circle.
It was Ice Bolt.
“Try dodging this!”
Furthermore, it wasn’t a single shot, but a rapid-fire barrage.
Ferda threw himself behind a display stand to evade the attack.
The ice crashed against the white stone cabinet and shattered.
It was frozen so hard that the display stand began to crumble under the relentless bombardment.
‘As expected, continuous concentration types are troublesome.’
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t at a disadvantage.
In that momentary lapse of the heart, a sinister voice came crawling toward Ferda.
—Do you need my power?
It was the temptation of demons.
Things that sought an outrageous price in exchange for a contract when a person was driven into a corner.
‘They’ve caught a glimpse of my talent.’
Demons had eyes; they didn’t tempt just anyone.
Of course, Ferda was not swayed by the voice in the slightest.
For now, he focused on the battle.
‘Mana is not infinite.’
Neither his opponent’s mana nor his own was limitless.
Before the stone display stand could be completely destroyed, the barrage of Ice Bolts ceased. Ferda stood up quickly and looked up at the magic circle.
The way to destroy a continuous concentration-type magic circle was—
‘To disrupt the opponent’s concentration.’
The moment Yuren attempted to resume the bombardment, Ferda extended his prepared magic circle toward him.
“Lightning Bolt.”
A bolt of lightning flew in a straight line.
Its speed was superb, but its path was as honest as it was fast.
Reading the orientation of the magic circle, Yuren manifested a blue barrier in front of him.
Pachichik!
Ferda’s Lightning Bolt vanished upon contact with the Magic Shield.
While fast, the spell itself had low destructive power.
‘If only I could combine two attributes, I would have broken through.’
Combining darkness, which had the highest destructive power, with lightning, the strongest in speed.
For him, currently only at the 3rd circle, it was still an impossible feat.
‘In that case….’
Ferda turned his gaze toward the magic circle.
Although his opponent had stopped injecting mana, three Ice Bolts were already flying toward Ferda.
‘Magic Intercept.’
Using the technique to hijack an opponent’s spell, he attempted to intercept the three ice shards with threads made of mana.
Ferda had once been an 8th-circle archmage, but now he was a 3rd-circle mage.
It was impossible to claim all three rapidly approaching shards as his own.
If he gave up on one, he could take two.
‘I’ll give up on the one furthest from my vitals.’
A rational and swift decision.
The abandoned Ice Bolt tore a deep gash into Ferda’s thigh.
Flesh ripped, blood gushed out, and pain surged up through his veins.
But it didn’t matter.
The two ice shards Yuren had created now bared their fangs at their master.
“I’ll return these to you.”
A magic circle was drawn in Ferda’s hand.
The same Lightning Bolt.
However, that Lightning Bolt was launched from behind the Ice Bolts.
“Lightning Bolt.”
Phyushung!
The Ice Bolts shot forward, imbued with lightning speed.
They pierced through the blue barrier Yuren had created.
Pachang!
As the Ice Bolts shattered, the blue barrier broke.
Yuren’s eyes widened.
‘My shield was broken?’
The combination of the Ice Bolt’s solidity and the Lightning Bolt’s speed created an impact the barrier could not withstand.
Amidst his shock, Yuren felt the premonition of death.
There was still one Ice Bolt left.
“Lightning Bolt.”
This time, the ice shard flew toward the space between Yuren’s eyebrows.
“Aaaah!”
Yuren broke his concentration and threw himself out of the way.
The continuous concentration-type magic circle scattered and vanished.
Yuren stood up, feeling the adrenaline surging through his brain.
“Whew…. You caught me off guard. Are you truly just a 3rd-circle mage?”
Ferda replied, “Are you such a pathetic mage that you need to hear it directly from me?”
“It’s because everything you do suggests otherwise. Even that old man, the Royal Archmage, wouldn’t be able to respond like you do at the 3rd circle.”
“That old man is at least among the wisest in this Imperial Palace.”
“You speak as if you know him. Even though you’ve never even seen him.”
Never seen him?
That old man was the one Ferda had faced off against until the Emperor bowed his head.
While Ferda was thinking that, Yuren pulled something from his robe.
A magical tool—a wooden rod with a rounded crystal embedded at the top.
A Wand.
By simply channeling mana into it, the magic circle inscribed inside would react and launch a spell.
His act of drawing that item held great significance.
“Are you admitting defeat in skill?”
“Sneer all you want. As long as I eliminate you, that’s all that matters!”
He injected mana, and a magic circle revealed itself.
Ferda quickly read the form of the circle.
‘From the look of it, a 4th-tier spell is inscribed.’
As he expected, the magic circle was for a 4th-tier spell.
The mana of the circle gathered, emitting a pure white chill as it was honed into a sharp point.
Its shape was similar to the Ice Bolts he had been firing.
However, it didn’t feel like a simple Ice Bolt.
The insight dwelling in Ferda’s eyes began to shine.
‘It’s holding an excessive amount of cold inside.’
It was a Frost Bomb disguised as an Ice Bolt.
The moment it touched something or broke, the cold inside would erupt.
If he tried to dodge it half-heartedly, defend against it, or intercept it, he would be the one to suffer.
‘Therefore, I must shoot it down.’
Ferda flicked a sphere of mana he had been holding at his fingertip, making it collide with the Frost Bomb.
Phyushuuuuk!
A steam-like chill erupted, freezing everything in the vicinity.
Ferda’s mana sphere also froze solid and rolled across the floor.
It was a destructive spell, powerful enough to freeze mana itself.
‘You saw through my Frost Bomb.’
Yuren wasn’t surprised.
A mage with the skill to perform a Magic Intercept wouldn’t be fooled by such a trick.
In the meantime, Yuren chanted another spell.
“Shield of the Empire!”
A magic circle drawn with highly concentrated mana took shape and became a shield.
The 5th-tier defensive magic, Aegis.
Named after a Hero called Aegis from the past, it boasted an ironclad defense.
That shield would move automatically, sensing magic without needing Yuren’s direct command.
‘A troublesome fellow.’
To someone seeing it for the first time, there was no spell more annoying than this.
‘…Or so one might easily think.’
But Ferda knew it well.
The more troublesome something was, the more clearly he remembered it.
Thus, Ferda waited.
For the moment the man became overconfident in his own magic.
‘Now.’
It was the very moment Yuren was using the Wand to manifest the Frost Bomb.
Simultaneously, two spheres appeared in Ferda’s hands.
One was a normal Mana Shot, and the other was a Mana Bomb created by clumping together an even greater amount of mana.
‘Wait….’
The moment he saw the Mana Bomb, Yuren’s intuition struck his mind.
He tried to deny the ominous thought.
It was impossible.
Could a mage who was only at the 3rd circle possibly know how to dismantle a 5th-tier spell?
Despite his denial, Ferda’s spheres flew toward Yuren.
The first sphere to strike was the Mana Bomb.
The Aegis shield detected the Mana Bomb and moved to block it.
Peopeong!
The area was shrouded in a thick haze of mana.
At that same moment, the shield’s movements began to stutter unnaturally.
Yuren’s eyes widened.
‘He knows the countermeasure for Aegis?’
A battle between mages is about revealing one’s hand.
Often, spells are cast on the assumption that the opponent will not know what that hand is.
No, that assumption was essentially a necessity.
If one chose their moves by preparing for every single variable and outlier situation, they wouldn’t be able to use any magic at all.
Yuren was now facing an outlier.
‘Then the second sphere is…!’
It would target the Frost Bomb.
A spell, once cast, can be extinguished by the mage’s will.
However, there was no way to stop something being created from a Wand or staff mid-process.
Ferda would wait for the moment the Frost Bomb was completed, make contact with it, and detonate it right there.
‘I won’t let you!’
Yuren quickly cast Magic Shield.
A blue barrier covered his front.
It was a defensive spell that a single Lightning Bolt could not pierce.
The mana sphere would not be able to touch the Frost Bomb.
He could simply throw the completed Frost Bomb elsewhere.
However, contrary to his thoughts, the magic Ferda cast was—
‘Lightning Bolt?’
It was the same lightning arrow.
Yuren couldn’t understand.
‘It won’t be able to break through, so why make that choice?’
Even if its speed was excellent, it lacked the power to pierce his barrier.
Just as Yuren tried to find the answer, something finally began to come into view.
Something even darker, buried within the dark background, was attached to Ferda’s back.
It looked like an arm he had been hiding, and it was making a throwing motion from low on the floor.
“Ah.”
What entered his vision was the frozen mana sphere.
It was incredibly hard, having been frozen by the aftereffects of the Frost Bomb.
Hard enough to be used as a substitute for a metal bullet.
He had retrieved that sphere from his blind spot.
“Lightning Bolt.”
The moment it entered his path, the lightning was fired.
The Lightning Bolt flew forward, carrying the solid chunk of ice.
Pachang!
The Magic Shield shattered.
Yuren’s body shook violently.
Still, Yuren was an experienced mage.
He did not close his eyes in front of an enemy.
In his vision, he saw the mana sphere Ferda had been saving flying toward him.
‘I have to find a way…!’
But by then, the mana sphere had already touched the Frost Bomb.
Phyushuuuuk!
Pure white steam exploded, turning the area into a field of frost.
The steam showed no signs of clearing.
‘He must be dead.’
Judging by the power, it wouldn’t be strange if Yuren had died.
His defenses were neutralized, and even if he had resistance to magic, no one could survive a direct hit from a frost bomb.
And yet, Ferda did not let down his guard.
This was the Sealed Storage, and the will to live was a human trait.
‘And demons sometimes realize that will.’
His concern became reality.
Peoseok—
The form of the ice mage, Yuren, covered in frost, began to move.
His frozen clothes and Wand shattered into ice fragments, but he remained unbroken.
And before long, a book was held in his hand.
“Khee-hee-hee…!”
A laugh steeped in madness cried out in ecstasy.
“Ah… so this is what it’s like to gain the power of a demon.”
It was the typical utterance of those infatuated with demonic power.
What he held in his hand was the Glacier Magic of Marbas.
‘Marbas, the demon of bitter cold and ruin.’
One of the seven Great Demons and the Archduke of the Frozen Hell.
He was a demon perfectly suited for an ice mage like Yuren.
‘It seems he made a contract with Marbas just before the explosion and survived.’
If one sold their soul to Marbas, they were granted the grace to survive extreme cold.
Ferda watched this and slumped to the ground.
He had lost too much blood, and his thigh could no longer support his weight.
His superhuman concentration was also reaching its limit.
“My… where did that confident Regent-nim go? Come, we must fight again, shouldn’t we?”
Yuren mocked Ferda.
Everything was turning against Ferda.
At that moment, the malice filling the room began to move once more.
All the demonic books in the Sealed Storage rattled and stirred.
—Offer your soul. Then I shall give you the power to kill that trivial thing.
—I will give you the power to burn that man who insults you! Offer your soul to me!
—I shall give you strength. They say this world is better than the next, even if you’re rolling in a field of dung, do they not?
The whispers of demons swirled around Ferda.
It was a sensation as if they were pulling him this way and that to claim his body.
It was proof that Ferda’s body was pushed to the very edge of a cliff.
Ferda, who had only been panting, opened his mouth.
“They say that right before you die….”
A smile played on Ferda’s lips.
It was different in nature from the few smiles he had shown before.
It was a smile that welled up from genuine emotion.
“The face of the person you love is the first thing you see.”
Yuren frowned as he watched Ferda suddenly spout nonsense.
“And do you know what I see right now? It’s you. Do you know what that means?”
“What kind of bullshit is this? You’re not going to say you love me, are you?”
Ferda’s blue eyes stared at Yuren.
They were shining as he used magic.
That light, which refused to die, was pride. Those two eyes made Yuren feel pathetic.
“It means it’s not my time to die yet.”
At that moment, Yuren’s intuition flared once more.
‘I can’t… win against this man?’
Even though he had contracted with the demon Marbas, his gut told him he could not defeat this man.
‘That’s impossible.’
If that were true, then what did that make him, who had sold himself to a demon?
If he couldn’t defeat a 3rd-circle mage even after throwing everything away at the moment of death, then what on earth did that make him?
Just as he tried to pull himself together, Ferda asked, “Do you know what the unwritten rule of mages is?”
The unwritten rule of mages.
One never reveals their final trump card until the moment of death.
In other words, it refers to the wildcard that can overturn everything.
“Are you saying you’re going to use your final spell? You shouldn’t have that much mana left.”
It was exactly as Yuren said.
The mana remaining in Ferda was barely enough to use an Elemental Bolt once.
He hadn’t even staunched the blood flowing from his thigh, and he no longer had any strength in it.
It was clearly Ferda, not Yuren, who was cornered.
Ferda smiled deeply and said, “Don’t jump to conclusions. When did I ever say it was magic?”
Not magic?
At that moment, Yuren felt a presence behind his back.
“It seems I’m not too late.”
The voice that suddenly rang out was a man’s.
Yuren turned his head.
Standing there was a brown-haired man dressed in a guard’s uniform.
‘There’s no way… he’s a guard.’
No mere guard could enter a high-security area like this.
He was an obvious intruder.
Furthermore, an intruder with considerable skill to have broken into this Sealed Storage.
The man was the first to move.
He closed the distance with agile steps.
‘I must respond.’
Yuren drew a magic circle.
In that instant, the man’s ordinary eyes turned blood-red and glowed.
‘What? Why is the mana…?’
At the spot where that light gazed, the mana gathering in the magic circle was forcibly dispersed.
‘Could it be…!’
A race he thought had vanished into history flashed through his mind.
“Are you a member of the Red Eye Tribe?!”
In other words, a Mage Killer.
The dagger held in the man’s hand pierced through Yuren’s throat.
“Keok, keo-eok!”
It accurately penetrated the windpipe and artery.
All he could emit was the sound of escaping air.
Ferda, who had been watching from behind, spoke to the man familiarly.
“Be careful. He’s a guy who sold himself to a demon.”
“I know.”
The man gripped the dagger with both hands and took a stance.
“I happen to have a deep connection with demons myself.”
He pulled out the embedded dagger and swung it in a wide arc.
Yuren’s vision flipped as he flew through the air.
In his fading consciousness, he saw Ferda.
Ferda was casting a Lightning Bolt toward his head.
“Farewell. You pride-less beast.”
