Chapter 36
Magic was a miracle brought into the world through the power known as mana.
Unlike modern mages...
Or rather...
Unlike magical technicians...
The magic of a true mage was not something fixed.
It was imagination itself.
"Those who have remained still for countless years..."
Jake raised the wand.
"Move!"
Brilliant light exploded from the Ego Wand.
The pursuers raised their swords in alarm.
But when the light disappeared...
Nothing seemed to have changed.
"What..."
"What was that?!"
Most of the hunters looked confused.
Their captain did not.
Richard immediately gestured backward.
"Everyone, fall back!"
"Get out of the canyon first!"
The others looked around in surprise.
Only then did they realize...
They had advanced deep inside the narrow passage.
They immediately tried to retreat.
RUMBLE...
The entire rocky mountain began shaking.
The sound of grinding stone filled the canyon.
"Don't stop!"
Richard's face changed.
"Get outside!"
Unfortunately...
It was already too late.
CRACK!
Both rock walls split apart.
Hands made from stone burst out of the canyon walls.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Monsters!"
Even while shocked...
The knights struck the stone arms with their swords.
They shattered them.
But more arms emerged than they could destroy.
Stone hands reached from both sides.
They grabbed the knights.
The captured men screamed as the grip crushed their arms and legs.
Only the final knight managed to avoid the grasping hands.
He desperately ran toward the canyon exit.
Then...
A massive humanoid figure made from stone stepped into his path.
The knight stared at it in shock.
That brief hesitation was enough.
The stone giant's fist slammed into the side of his head.
THUD!
The knight hurriedly raised his sword to block.
But the impact knocked the blade aside.
The stone fist crushed into his skull.
"Aaaagh!"
"Save me!"
"My arm!"
"My arm is hardening!"
"No!"
"I'm being dragged inside!"
While the knight at the rear died to the stone giant...
The other hunters experienced hell inside the canyon.
Any limb caught by a stone hand was immediately broken or crushed.
Those strong enough to resist...
Felt the captured part of their body gradually harden like rock.
Worse...
Knights standing close to the walls were grabbed...
And slowly dragged inside the stone itself.
"You bastard!"
"What have you done?!"
Richard shattered a hand reaching toward him.
Then he charged at Jake.
He had fought alongside and against many mages throughout his life.
But he had never seen magic like this.
It looked like something from a childhood storybook.
A demon's curse.
But before Richard could reach Jake...
Someone blocked his way.
Louis.
The boy stood holding a shield so badly crushed...
Its original shape could barely be recognized.
"Move!"
Richard roared.
He swung his mana-covered sword down at Louis's shield.
CLANG!
CLANG!
But this time...
His blade did not bite into the metal.
It bounced away.
"Damn you!"
"You're not the one I need to fight!"
Richard's eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
He hammered the shield again and again like a madman.
Yet the shield refused to break.
Neither he nor Louis had enough attention to notice it...
But a faint light now covered the shield.
"Ugh..."
Jake gritted his teeth.
"Jessica!"
"Finish them!"
"I'm reaching my limit!"
He had created a miracle with the mana he had accumulated.
But miracles had limits.
The light from the Ego Wand was gradually fading.
Cold sweat poured down Jake's neck.
The moment he called her...
Jessica shot forward.
She had been stunned by Jake's magic too.
But she knew what mattered more.
She needed to finish things before Jake exhausted himself completely.
Jessica leaped over Louis and Richard...
Then began running across the cliff wall.
The canyon looked like a scene from a nightmare.
Knights half-buried inside the stone walls.
Others screaming while clutching shattered limbs.
And some frozen in place as though their entire bodies had become rock.
Jessica took a deep breath.
Then swung her dagger.
She had become a mercenary because she dreamed of being an adventurer.
But mercenary work had never been purely bright or romantic.
There were times when people killed one another over treasure.
Times when friendly mercenaries became enemies.
Jessica had killed people more than once.
She should have grown accustomed to it.
But she never truly did.
Every death weighed on her.
Still...
Her companions always came first.
When she traveled with Conrad...
She had killed to protect his back.
Now...
She would cut anyone down to protect Jake.
Jessica sprinted along the canyon walls.
Every time her dagger moved...
Another knight died.
The hunters were too busy fighting stone hands...
Or screaming in pain...
To defend against her.
Half of them had still been alive when Jessica began moving.
By the time she reached the far end of the canyon...
Only one remained.
Richard.
Still fighting Louis.
At that moment...
Jake's spell ended.
The stone arms protruding from the walls froze in place.
The hunters whose bodies had been hardened by the realistic illusion collapsed to the ground.
The stone giant blocking the canyon exit crumbled into a mound of rock.
Jake dropped to the floor in exhaustion.
-Hehehe...
Fatima giggled inside his head.
-That was incredible magic.
-Master...
-You're amazing!
Jake frowned.
What's wrong with you?
-Hehe...
-I'm just happy.
-It's been so long since I was filled with this much mana!
-Master is the best!
Jake realized what had happened.
The enormous amount of mana stored inside the wand...
Had somehow made Fatima drunk.
Ancient mages did not usually store mana inside their own bodies.
So to cast large-scale magic...
They needed objects capable of holding accumulated mana.
Those objects eventually developed into magic items.
At first...
Magic items were created simply as containers for mana.
Later...
Magic circles were engraved into them so that the items could activate spells by themselves.
Eventually...
The greatest form of magic item appeared.
Ego Items.
Naturally...
An Ego Wand was one of the best possible tools for storing mana.
Jake simply had not expected the Ego itself to become half-delirious from being filled with too much mana.
