Chapter 278
Chapter 278
It was an irritating magic that Kaichen didn’t want to sense.
“Saveli, in theory, can you create that magic circle?”
“It’s possible.”
“That’s disturbing.”
“Well, it is black magic.”
Jirata shuddered and brushed his arm as if trying to rid himself of something.
Ignoring the conversation behind them, Kaichen casually focused on the time magic enveloping Turbeau.
Since he had no issue with mana utilization, dismantling the magic itself wasn’t too tricky. However, he hesitated because he knew it wouldn’t end with just this.
But with no other way out, he channeled his mana. The air around him quivered. He could feel Jirata and Saveli’s gazes from behind. He never anticipated having to draw his wand in a place with people around, so Kaichen was cautious not to make any mistakes.
With a gentle breeze, a golden light emanated from the air, and rose petals began to flutter.
“Crazy… what is that?”
“…looks like a wand.”
Ignoring the bewildered voices of the two, Kaichen briefly allowed his gaze to linger on the fluttering rose petals before closing his eyes.
He could sense mana flowing from his hands toward the castle walls. He then enveloped Turbeau with mana.
He didn’t understand why Princess Exchetra had chosen ‘Turbeau’ as the target for the third time magic.
But if it was intended to disturb Julius’s mind, then half of that objective had already been achieved. Some of the people in Turbeau held significant meaning for Julius.
Furrows appeared on his brow. The mana encircling the domain didn’t dissipate quickly. His magic, once cast, was detected immediately, and its speed was akin to when he was in Acrab, making him feel even worse.
“Darn it.”
Time magic had a distinct flow of time inside and outside. The greater the difference in the flow of time, the longer it took to dismantle the magic.
Inside Acrab, a century had passed, so it had taken a day to dismantle the magic. Thinking about how he had slept for almost three days due to mana exhaustion, this speed was concerning.
Kaichen opened his eyes and gazed at Turbeau. The thick, golden mana covering the domain was slower than it had been in Acrab.
Why was his foreboding feeling not subsiding at all?
Kaichen gritted his teeth and expelled mana more forcefully. As he did so, the rose petals fluttered intensely.
“Crazy… that’s a monster.”
“Amazing. Such pure mana… Ah, it’s beautiful.”
“…There’s a crazy person here.”
The two fell silent.
They didn’t want to disturb Kaichen, who was enveloping Turbeau with an enormous amount of mana. Expelling a tremendous amount of mana while with dealing time magic required meticulous attention.
Jirata thought sincerely that it was crazy, just like Saveli said. He knew better than anyone how difficult it was to control raw mana with precision.
He also understood that there was only one person in this world who could break forbidden time magic.
‘If we could enter the time magic and find a medium, it would be easier than this… Hmmm.’ Jirata narrowed his eyes.
In that case, how did they stop time magic in the North, where they said magic couldn’t be used at all?
Jirata didn’t ponder this question for long. He recalled the image of a mysterious woman he had glimpsed in the Magic tower, with dark hair and even darker eyes.
‘Could it be that she served as the conduit for time magic and thus remained unaffected? Instead of wasting our efforts on studying these wretched corpses, perhaps it would be more effective to investigate Kaichen’s apprentice.’
Time magic was considered a forbidden art, but it was a subject of fascination worth pursuing for a mage, even at the risk of their own life. The human psyche often craved what was forbidden.
However, Jirata quickly abandoned these thoughts. As long as Kaichen, the formidable and unyielding fortress, remained intact, it was impossible to use “Dalia Alshine” as a subject for magical research.
Jirata was not one to become entangled in impossible tasks, and he quickly gave up on such endeavors.
‘Now it seems there are only two individuals in the world capable of bypassing time magic.’
The fact that those two were Kaichen and his apprentice, Dalia, struck Jirata as somewhat ironic. For Momalhaut, as long as someone existed who could break it, all their efforts to cast time magic were in vain.
Yet, this was already the third occurrence of time magic, even though they knew it would eventually unravel.
‘What could be the reason?’
Kaichen had been concentrating on Turbeau for an entire day. Despite continually expending magical energy, he showed no signs of fatigue as he continued to envelop the city with his mana.
What had initially seemed like an easy task was turning out to be quite time-consuming. Jirata couldn’t help but realize that bypassing time magic was a demanding endeavor.
Sitting a short distance from Kaichen, Jirata pondered deeply, then turned to the other mage who had accompanied him.
“Saveli, why do they continue to use time magic?”
Saveli retrieved a piece of parchment and diligently scribbled something with her quill pen before tilting her head slightly. “For amusement?”
“With all the complexities involved, such as using a human sacrifice as a conduit for time magic, employing a mage to cast the spell, and selecting an area with potentially severe consequences… does doing it for amusement make sense?”