[659] Recruiting Mercenaries (3)
When a huge blaze shot out beyond the Silvering headquarters building, the people on the street flattened themselves to the ground.
"Damn! What's going on?"
Those struck by falling brick fragments grimaced and rolled away.
If the blast had gone off somewhere else it would have been chaos, but since this was the guild district the commotion was less than expected.
Skirmishes between factions sometimes turned violent, so people were used to ducking and running rather than taking special measures.
Inside the guild, however, it was a mess.
The smell of burning wood and stone filled the air as guild members crawled out from under tables one by one to check the aftermath.
"Wh-what the…!"
Hellfire's overwhelming power had shoved every object within a ten-meter radius outward, and Rian had already hurled himself into a corner.
When the fire passed, only Shirone remained standing.
No one had seen the moment of the explosion, so there was no way to tell whether he had dodged it or stopped it.
"Did he use the principles of light?"
Arkmann recalled the reports he had read in preparation for meeting Shirone.
No one could guess how he did it, but rumors said he had even deceived the two-thousandth graduation exam by manipulating time.
"A gift from the gods?"
As an unlicensed Grade-4 mage, Arkmann was confident he wouldn't collapse against any opponent, but the resentment of having his talent and life compared to a licensed mage still burned.
"That was dangerous. Did you have to go that far?"
Judging by Hellfire's force, it had been cast with intent to kill.
"A rookie's way of thinking. This isn't a school. Every test the guild runs is practical."
"Why are you testing me?"
Arkmann stopped hiding his thoughts.
"Because I don't accept it. Probably the others feel the same."
He produced a crimson crystal orb that held a trapped flame.
"Not giving up means you must have something the guild needs. If you refuse certification and the Master position, prove your skill. Then I'll give you what you want."
Shirone's expression finally turned serious.
As Arkmann's offensive Spirit Zone stabbed like dozens of spears, Shirone teleported.
Teleporting through the building's twisted interior was extremely risky, but at their level it was no longer a concern.
"Not bad."
Shirone's movement was certainly excellent, but Arkmann's experience couldn't be dismissed.
"Shall we begin in earnest?"
Arkmann lifted his feet and backed away as if baiting Shirone; the rear door's hinge ripped off and it flew open.
When Shirone landed in the vacant lot behind the building, Arkmann waited in combat stance.
"The Flame Robe and the Prison of Fire."
Arkmann explained the magical implements as he held out the crystal orb.
"The Flame Robe raises fire magic power by two hundred percent. And this crystal—"
A vortex of flame swirled around Arkmann, and a four-meter-long serpent of fire, its tongue flicking, looked down at Shirone—its heat measuring a thousand degrees Celsius.
"It traps the fire-spirit in a form."
Arkmann's Fire Snake surged at Shirone and inflated.
The flame swelled to more than four times its normal size and crashed over Shirone; second- and third-order flames coiled and poured in, encircling where he stood.
By the time the twelve serpents, guided by the crystal's function, began chasing Shirone, every guild member had gathered in the lot to watch.
It wasn't an elaborate battleground, but the firepower from a Fire Strike produced by an unlicensed Grade-4's psyche was terrifying. Even with a magical implement, the ability to control twelve flames at will was unquestionably formidable.
"This is an unlicensed Grade-4's skill."
In raw numbers he exceeded Plu, who fought with a similar style. In experience as well, Arkmann clearly had the edge over Shirone.
"The function itself is simple. But it's fast and precise."
If backed by power and speed, there was no more effective magic for burning someone to ash.
As Shirone was forced onto the defensive, the guild members cheered as if they'd been waiting for this.
"As expected of the Master! All that Ivory Tower talk—he's floundering!"
"Exterminating bandits? The Master could do that in his sleep!"
Like Arkmann, the guild members were clearly insecure, and since there was some truth in their taunts, Rian stayed silent.
"A mage who relies on a single technique. If he can't find a special solution, he won't handle a bandit group."
Con shouted at Rian as if he'd already won.
"Hey! Shouldn't you stop this? Your friend might end up roasted."
Rian scoffed.
He respected Arkmann as a fine mage, but remembering the impotence Shirone had shown in the graduation exam left a nagging doubt.
"This is definitely different from school. Tough, Shirone."
Con, not understanding Rian's true intent, burst into laughter.
"You only realize that now? Even now—"
"Because it's not the two-thousandth."
"Huh?"
Rian turned to Con.
"I'm looking for a way to win without killing him."
It sounded absurd to those listening, but Arkmann felt Rian's words keenly.
"Why isn't he attacking?"
Five minutes had passed since the fight began, and Shirone still hadn't cast any offensive spells.
"This is annoying."
Shirone had considered countless strategies, but none of his available spells could avoid delivering a crippling blow. He couldn't subdue this opponent with auxiliary magics like Shining Impact or Shining Chain either.
"He won't tire of this so easily."
If stalling had no meaning, then Arkmann would simply overwhelm him with firepower.
"Decided!"
Shirone kept his intent hidden, but Arkmann's experience sensed a change.
"Is it starting? Come on then."
Just before the twelve serpents completely sealed his exit, Shirone shot through the flames.
"That again."
Sibulsangpokmae expanded one second of past and future into reality; it wasn't a flawless evasion because it couldn't control events faster than that past second or beyond the next second.
"We need to finish this now."
Clearing extraneous thoughts, Shirone leapt into the air and cast Photon Cannon.
The hollowed-out depression where Arkmann had dodged testified to the cannon's power.
"It won't matter if he misses."
While manipulating the Fire Snakes and using excellent evasion, Arkmann had won countless battles with this tactic; a single burst attack wouldn't beat him.
"Then…"
Gritting his teeth, Shirone fired Photon Cannon in rapid succession.
"Can he dodge this too?"
As beams of light sliced the air, Arkmann wriggled like an eel and made a wide detour across the lot.
Meanwhile, the Fire Strikes rose into the sky and relentlessly harried Shirone.
"Is that all?"
Arkmann's pride recovered at finding the mage no different from those he'd faced so far.
"No, he's definitely a good specimen. That's why…"
The Ivory Tower was nothing but prestige, he told himself.
"I am the strong one!"
With his eyes flashing, Arkmann had the twelve serpents close in on Shirone at once.
Quantum Superposition—300 stacks.
The number of flashing lights poured out until even the Spirit Zone's synesthetic perception couldn't count them.
"What—!"
The thunderous roar shook the ground; people squeezed their eyes shut as vibrations like an earthquake rolled through the earth.
Only Rian watched with one eye closed against the streaks of light.
"A show of force is the solution."
Though his power had been restrained, the thought of three hundred Shirone Photon Cannons alone was terrifying.
"Ma-Master…"
In the clear reality, Photon Cannon after Photon Cannon hammered the ground, kicking up dust that covered Arkmann.
"Can he avoid this?"
He was pouring magic without restraint, but Elysion had locked onto Arkmann's position precisely.
A physical impact would have been fatal; not a single Photon Cannon touched Arkmann's body.
"Break his mind!"
As the relentless barrage accelerated, the guild members' shouts were drowned out.
Those who had been stomping their feet in despair began to notice a change when the number of Fire Snakes started to drop.
Seven. Six.
To see the serpents fading one by one, hovering in the void as if losing sight, meant Arkmann's mind was being consumed by fear.
"Ughhhh!"
Crouched in the choking dust so thick he couldn't see an inch ahead, Arkmann could only endure.
The noise at close range threatened to burst his eardrums, the shaking of the ground traveled through his bones. His nerves knotted so badly he couldn't tell whether he was being buried or whether his body was already smashed.
He felt like a bug trapped in a can someone violently rattled.
"They're disappearing."
Rian counted the Fire Snakes.
Three. Two. At last, the final serpent blurred and vanished.
The Spirit Zone had been shattered by the mental shock.
Shirone stopped the barrage, but it took the guild members—still ringing in their ears—a long time to realize what had happened.
A huge cloud of dust swept by like coagulated blood, floating and coating the other buildings.
"What the… is that?"
Nobody could help but tremble at the appalling sight.
A pit so deep its bottom couldn't be seen gaped in the lot's center, and Arkmann crouched on a narrow column of earth like a lone pillar.
Shirone landed twenty meters away and caught his breath.
"I'm pretty tired."
He could have created a scene worthy of an angel's punishment in an instant, but this time he had to impose constraints on himself and fight accordingly.
"Master! Are you okay?"
Manager Mikella shouted, but Arkmann, with his hearing numbed, still didn't move.
As an unlicensed Grade-4 mage, his mental recovery was nonetheless fast, and when the tremors subsided he slowly lifted his head.
A strange sadness crept over Arkmann's face as he stared at the wreckage.
"So that's it. Stars are…"
This wasn't a contest of superiority at the human level.
"You can't even compare them."
It wasn't a matter of who was faster or stronger, but a different dimension entirely—whether someone had three arms, five eyes, or wings.
"I lost."
The candidate for the Ivory Tower was Shirone, not him.
"You said you wanted something from the guild. I'll cooperate unconditionally."
Out of pride, Arkmann still cast Fly despite his trembling legs and leaped over the pit.
"There is one thing I want to request from the guild."
He was about to get to the point—since he hadn't even begun carrying out Rupist's orders—when applause sounded from the building.
"Hohoho! What a splendid duel. I feel ten years of bad blood draining away."
The expressions of the guild members who turned to the back gate immediately soured.
"Why did those obnoxious people come here?"
Two masters from the kingdom's three great mage guilds—the War Chariot and Bloodrose—stood there sneering.