Ch. 302
With the sound of wind, Rai—transformed into a shield—blocked the attack by twisting my entire body around.
It was such a perfect defense that it almost felt easy.
Wind Arrow was one of the fastest attacks, but there seemed to be a slight delay because he had to teleport first, then aim.
The strange part was that my wrist didn’t hurt at all from this one.
Even though the shield was still centered on my left hand.
“Phhht!”
Instead, the gust was so wide it completely tore my hood off.
The moment my blond hair—tucked under the hood—flew up into the air, I realized Theatrazen’s goal might not have been the attack at all. It might’ve been this from the start.
“Show your face! Intruder!”
“Agh…!”
I reflexively lifted a hand to cover my face, but the hood was already gone.
I was thrown off for an instant by Theatrazen’s sudden move, but I quickly faced the wind head-on.
Slowly lowering the hand that had covered my eyes, I gave him a thoroughly arrogant smile.
“Fine. I’ll show you.”
‘Since you were so curious, take a good look, Theatrazen!’
“……What?”
“Mwahahaha!”
[Master, you didn’t pull this out for a moment like this, did you?]
‘I knew it would come in handy somewhere!’
I was still wearing the black half-mask I’d used at the Black Market.
Back then, I’d wanted to change my hair color with the Polymorph Earring I bought, but Ash had run off, apparently unwilling to pierce my ears. I hadn’t expected to get caught like this, so I’d only put on the mask.
Honestly, I wore it less as a precaution and more because I wanted the vibe.
‘I just wanted to feel like a phantom thief, that’s all.’
“A young… woman…? And those ears—you’re definitely human!”
“So what? First time seeing a human?”
“I was certain you couldn’t possibly be human!”
“Oh my, thank you for the compliment. I apologize for calling you an old geezer.”
‘He’s a decent old man. He knows how to judge people.’
My Spirit Magic really was on a superhuman level.
If he mistook me for another race—like an elf—after seeing that, I couldn’t say it felt bad.
“Then you mean to tell me that even as a human, you dared to be so insolent to me! Even knowing my reputation! You… wretched!”
“Ah, so you thought I was an elf not because of my Spirit Magic, but because of my attitude toward you?”
“That’s right!”
“Then you really are an unpleasant old geezer, aren’t you?”
[How did your respect not even last five seconds?]
‘What can I do when he’s the one being unpleasant?’
He was full of himself, stubborn, and he hadn’t accepted Master Yael as his disciple.
At this rate, exchanging spirit magic circles, building a friendship, and laughing together was out of the question.
I’d even pretend to be friendly if it meant getting the Space Spirit’s spirit magic circle, but unless that old geezer went senile, it seemed hopeless.
Besides, I had far more Non-attribute Spirit Formations.
He had one. I had four… no, three, I guess.
The Electric Spirit Stone he’d been desperately searching for was destroyed when Ador was summoned.
Watching Theatrazen, who seemed incapable of speaking without shouting, I casually raised both hands.
Comfortably, as if to say I was on his side.
“Come to think of it, you might know. Won’t you tell me where it is?”
“What are you scheming!”
“You were curious why I infiltrated this royal castle, weren’t you?”
“I’ll find that out on my own after I capture and torture you……”
“The ninth Non-attribute Spirit Formation is hidden in this royal castle, isn’t it? I came to find it.”
It was a bold-faced lie.
But Theatrazen visibly wavered for a moment, then minutely shook his head.
“……W-what? What did you just say? It’s here? That can’t be……!”
“It’s a classic case of not seeing what’s right under your nose. You didn’t know?”
“Who! Do you think I would fall for such a lie!”
“It’s true. You don’t trust my information network, which found the Electricity Spirit, the Ice Spirit, and even the Protection Spirit? Then why else would I come here? Did I bring Endairon along for a picnic?”
“……”
“Oh dear, you really didn’t know? Then you must not know what kind of spirit your last Non-attribute spirit is, either, right? How pitiful. Should I tell you?”
I wasn’t sure whether my smiling eyes showed beyond the mask.
I poured out a stream of words meant to hook Theatrazen—words that would’ve tempted even me if I heard them.
For someone who’d devoted a large part of his life to Non-attribute spirits, he couldn’t help reacting like a fish starved for days.
“The last spirit is……”
Feeling his gaze lock onto my lips, I slowly approached.
I parted my lips slightly, pressed a fingertip to them like I was sharing a secret, then finally whispered.
“Gotcha.”
[I caught him!]
The moment Theatrazen realized Undaine had captured him, he tried to teleport—but my index finger pressing into his wrinkled forehead was faster.
I forcibly poured Mana into his body through my fingertip, and it clearly interfered with his teleportation.
My guess hadn’t been wrong—just like other teleportation magic, it could be disrupted by external interference.
First, physical contact with another person’s body created a small obstacle.
Second, the Mana I was forcibly injecting created a major one.
Fire and water couldn’t exist before space, but Mana was an essence that existed as one with space.
“You can’t teleport, can you?”
When I asked with a proud smile, Theatrazen coughed up blood, his face twisted with resentment.
I could feel the Mana inside his body churning unnaturally, like he’d tried to force the teleportation through.
“Don’t overdo it. You worked so hard to make me drop my guard with all that chatter just to buy time, didn’t you? Because teleporting consecutively is very, very hard.”
“……Shut up!”
“Can you usually do it once a day? Twice? Have you ever teleported this many times in a row? Your internal injuries are severe… You’re going to die at this rate, grandpa.”
[Pretending to worry is even more annoying, isn’t it, Master?]
I teased him because I wanted to make it clear who was stronger.
Water tendrils flowing from the Shield had wrapped around Theatrazen’s ankles, wrists, and neck, restraining his entire body, so all I had to do was keep a light touch on him.
“Cough!”
Normally, another person’s Mana would leak out the moment it entered the body.
It shouldn’t have any effect at all.
But it was different for someone with internal injuries like Theatrazen—especially when someone like me intentionally forced a large amount of Mana inside.
The already chaotic, tangled Mana began repelling the foreign Mana, causing pain no different from a potent poison.
“How……”
“Hm?”
“How can you endure it so well……? It’s impossible! For a human, the Mana…… Keuk.”
Kiiik!
As Sillaphe—swallowed by the water—was crushed by the pressure and could no longer endure, it was unsummoned, and blood began to flow not only from Theatrazen’s mouth but also from his nose and ears.
I felt sorry for Sillaphe, but I couldn’t go easy on it just because it was cute. If I sent it back gently, he could just summon it again.
Stripping away his spirits one by one was like cutting off Theatrazen’s arms and legs.
He could summon Silairon again—the one he’d dismissed himself—but even if his life depended on it, he didn’t have the breathing room. At best, he might manage Sillaphe?
Now Theatrazen looked like he could barely keep his head up.
“Don’t pay attention to me. It’s burdensome, you know? Besides, is teleportation all the Space Spirit can do? Is there nothing more to show me? Huh? I was kind of looking forward to it.”
[In that state, he couldn’t do anything else even if he wanted to.]
“What a shame.”
[And that one. It can create a subspace, too. You can store things in there.]
Rai was still on standby in shield form. He’d shrunk to about the size of two palms so I could move easily, but he was ready to expand at any moment.
[That’s like a magic bag function, huh? What else? It feels like it should have something even more useful.]
[That one isn’t really for attacking either… It’s a much higher-level skill than teleportation, but I do know what its ultimate skill is.]
[Ultimate skill…? What is it?]
My eyes sharpened, and my focus surged.
[It creates an Absolute Space. Inside that space, the summoner becomes no different from a god. Not even a Spirit King can interfere within it.]
[What the…! Another overpowered skill!]
[It’s hard for a human to master, though. Just look at Theatrazen—he’s in that state after only a few teleports.]
At this point, I suspected Rai might know more about the Space Spirit than Theatrazen did.
[Ugh, I want it… The Space Spirit…]
[Is there anything you don’t want?]
[Nope. It’s all mine.]
I wanted it so badly my mouth practically watered.
[If you want the Space Spirit, can’t you just shake down that old human? The answer’s right in front of you—so what’s the problem?]
[You think he’d tell me?]
[Hmm… If he doesn’t want to die, wouldn’t he talk?]
[Our relationship is already at its worst… I think he’d rather die than tell me.]
Theatrazen must’ve been wondering why I was staring at him with narrowed eyes, my mouth shut, while I talked with Rai.
[Honestly, Master! You should’ve teased him in moderation!]
[I couldn’t help it…]
I’d half-killed him because he was being so obnoxious, but what could I do? That was my personality.
Slowly, I slid the finger pressed to Theatrazen’s forehead downward.
I didn’t lift my fingertip—skin contact was necessary to keep pouring Mana in and prevent him from teleporting.
Past his cheek and chin, I finally wrapped both hands around Theatrazen’s neck.
“Keuk—are you trying to kill me!”
As if. If I were going to kill him, I wouldn’t pick the hassle of strangling him with my own hands.
This was just to read Theatrazen’s thoughts by increasing the area of skin contact.
A light touch with one fingertip wasn’t enough to read what was inside his head.
I believed the Tears of Truth would tell me the truth.