Chapter 285

Chapter 285

At my stunned silence, Exchetra smiled. “Oh, you poor thing…”

“…”

“I feel bad for you, so I’ll share something quite interesting.”

I wanted to say I didn’t want to hear it, but my lips only shook, and no words came out. I wished I could cover my ears, but I couldn’t move a single finger.

My body was still in shock, as if I already knew what she was going to say.

“Kaichen Tenebre won’t be there at the end of this story.”

Suddenly, I saw a disturbing vision of Kaichen, consumed by flames.

***

From a young age, Kaichen never really paid much attention to what Jirata said.

His ramblings about being beloved by mana and being a chosen one sounded a bit ridiculous.

Mana was a pure substance given by a god to this land, without any special preference.

Jirata’s words made it sound like mana had chosen him and loved him, which seemed absurd to Kaichen.

But the first time he began to believe that mana chose him was when he protected Julius and cast a barrier spell.

He held on until his master, Hamal, arrived, without checking how many days had passed.

Yet the vast pool of mana never seemed to run out.

Kaichen was aware that he had more mana than an average person,  but there was little price for being honest and determined to die of magic depletion

“Blessed child, isn’t this mana begging you to use it already?”

For the first time, Kaichen found himself at a loss for words when Jirata spoke. As usual, he brushed aside that statement with a nonchalant response, but the mana continued to pour forth generously whenever he needed it.

At one point, he wondered if having an overflowing well was what Jirata meant.

That’s why the current situation was far from pleasant.

“Are you out of your mind? You’ve been like this for three days. Can’t you ask for help? Don’t you have a mouth? Or are you just ignoring us?!”

He had a mouth, but he didn’t want to speak. Kaichen pretended not to hear Michelle’s irritated scolding.

Nevertheless, Michelle’s nervous nagging grated on his nerves.

She took out her cane and extended her arm toward him, even as she spoke more of these irritating words. At the same time, Nene and Olganos, who had the same expression as her, took out their canes.

His body twitched slightly as sweat trickled down. It was the result of three days of expelling magic to ward off black magic.

For the first time in his life, he was experiencing the limit of his magical power.

It sent shivers down his spine. Just as an ever-flowing well eventually runs dry, he thought about how if this continued, he might exhaust his magic and suffocate. So he summoned Saveli, who had created the barrier.

Irritated, but in desperate need of magic, he needed to stand and borrow magic from other mages.

Naturally, the only people in the world who could do that were Hamal, Julius, and the four “Tenebres.”

Ultimately, after receiving more than half of Michelle, Nene, and Olganos’ magic, who had stayed in the tower to study, he was finally able to completely ward off the magic.

Clang!

He knelt with a wet body, gripping his knees with both hands after hearing the cracking sound for the second time.

He wanted to sit down immediately, but he couldn’t.

“Three days ago, Jirata found a black mage and chased after him, but he hasn’t returned yet.”

Michelle’s eyes widened in surprise at Saveli’s words, but Kaichen simply nodded silently.

It was a fact he was already aware of. When Jirata left and discovered that a barrier had been placed around him, it raised his suspicions.

Although it was unexpected that Jirata had not returned even after three days, Kaichen wasn’t overly concerned.

“Jirata should be fine. He’s probably tracking quietly. He must be more cautious if the enemy is moving without teleportation magic.”

“Is this unrelated to Momalhaut? I thought there might be several black mages involved due to the time magic… but that’s not the case, is it?”

In response to Saveli’s astute question, Kaichen wiped away the sweat running down his chin in a distracted manner.

This time, experiencing the dispelling of time magic twice was somewhat different from what he had encountered before.

‘Acrab took a day. Dalia said she spent a hundred years there. The stronger the host’s mind, the longer they can endure it. But… is there anyone with such mental strength?’

He didn’t believe anyone else could withstand it besides Dalia. Dalia was in a unique situation because she had been poisoned by a special drug, the ohapdok poison.

She called herself crazy, but he wasn’t sure.

Because she learned magic from it, he thought that could be a positive factor in enduring it.

One thing was certain, though. He had no doubt that there wouldn’t be anyone else in this world who could endure time magic with a sound mind.

‘In that case…’

He let out a brief sigh and turned his gaze to Turbeau.

While he wanted to answer Saveli’s question, it was currently more important to inspect the inside than to explain the situation to them.

“I’ll explain everything clearly after this is over. Let’s go inside.”

Except for Saveli, who looked concerned about Jirata, the other three wore somewhat excited expressions, curious about the new host they could study.

Kaichen received a message from Julius, who had been frantically trying to contact him since he began dispelling the magic.

[Ha! Are you crazy? Why haven’t you communicated at all? Weren’t you supposed to go dispel the time magic? It’s been three days—]

“There’s a problem…,” he interrupted Julius. “Time magic has emerged in Turbeau.”