Chapter 234: The Battlemage

Through a rift in the floor of the palace, the girl leapt down into the pitch-black corridor of the underground dungeon below. As she fell, she gulped down a Supersensory Elixir, which she had been saving for an opportune moment.

The unstable, vibrating liquid sublimated on contact with her tongue as it dispersed in a mist-like cloud, enveloping her body entirely.

The Supersensory Elixir, which manifested mental energy in physical reality, was designed specifically for spellcasters. It greatly enhanced their mental energy and mental acuity.

Upon ingesting the potion, the user's mental energy would be able to interact with the material world—telekinesis in all but name.

At the same time, the elixir's essence would flow through every nerve and muscle, supplanting the body's own neural network. This allowed even the frail physique of a magician to keep pace with the hypersensitivity of the magician's heightened perception, ensuring equally swift magical and physical response.

Thwack!

A faint glow shimmered in her pupils. Avia activated two overlapping techniques—Mana Lens and Seeker's Gaze—using magic and wizardry simultaneously. Both spells layered over her vision.

The world transformed. All things now appeared as silhouettes of magical flow and void resonance.

Wizardry: Starlight of Gloom.

With a gentle snap of Avia's fingers, a star radiating with dark light—black, yet somehow luminous—bloomed over Avia's head. Darkness poured from it and spread out in all directions.

Void energy warped reality, stripping all light from any space touched by the star's radiance. Where it shone, utter blackness reigned.

But to Avia, whose world had been already rendered into mana streams and void currents, this darkness was no different from light.

The void energy clinging to surfaces outlined every form in precise clarity. In her vision, the pitch-black dungeon corridor might as well have been bathed in moonlight.

The clamor of footsteps rang out. Greaves clattered against stone within the web of her awareness.

"I'll have to neutralize them—they're dungeon guards, but somehow showing no signs of life... It's likely an automated defense protocol. They must be puppets."

Her powerful mental tendrils reached out, capturing every detail of the approaching figures. These were armed soldiers clad in armor, with the strength of intermediate knights.

And yet, curiously, there was no trace of mental energy from them. They were nothing more than empty shells—bodies endowed with the strength of knights, but devoid of true minds.

A narrow rift tore open in space. From within, the girl drew a short-handled wand. Her lips moved swiftly as she chanted an incantation. Void energy, bridged by her spirit, coiled around her wand hand as she channeled a spell.

Hybrid Spell: Crown of Crimson Light.

Just as the guards rounded a corner, they were met with a blazing orb flying toward them—not especially fast, but glaringly bright, its heat visibly distorting the air. As it passed, the walls of the corridor on either side glowed red-hot and began to melt.

Though stiff in bearing, the puppet-like knights responded quickly. They retreated, clearly sensing the spell's lethality.

But Avia's spellcasting range was now well over thirty meters thanks to the potion she had consumed.

The moment the knights retreated, a wall of metallic stone abruptly sprang up behind them, perfectly aligned with the walls and completely sealing them in.

One of the knights drew his longsword and struck the wall with a flash of sparks. Yet even with an intermediate knight's strength, the sword strike only carved two deep gashes in the wall. The wall itself was over a meter and a half thick, and fortified with metal. Breaching it quickly was impossible.

Realizing there was no way out, the knights shifted formation. Three advanced to intercept the encroaching orb. Fighting spirit surged within them as they activated their potentials.

Chains of void materialized, converging on the orb from all directions and slowing its momentum.

Specks of light began to fall, clinging to the orb's surface and sapping its power. The orb's shocking heat began to subside under this layered suppression.

The last of the three knights raised a hardened barrier, walling off the corridor ahead of the orb. Being trapped in place, the squad had no choice but to defend against the spell head-on.

But even now, they had yet to locate the caster: the young woman veiled in the void, her presence completely masked.

The orb, weakened by the suppression of two potentials, closed in on the defensive barrier—until the young woman calmly monitoring the battlefield snapped her fingers once more.

A spatial rift opened before the orb and devoured it. It vanished before the puppet-knights' eyes.

A moment later, another rift split open—this time behind the knight maintaining the defensive barrier. The orb re-emerged and dropped squarely into the center of their formation.

The orb brimming with flame and sustained with a thin membrane of void energy unleashed its true form: the Crown of Crimson Light.

Fiery serpents burst from the heart of the orb, surging outward in the form of concentrated torrents of burning energy.

The surrounding stone melted before even being touched. It was reduced to molten slag.

The eight knights were caught in the blast. In the narrow corridor, the force of the explosion compounded the destruction. The closest knight, the one who was maintaining the barrier, was flung bodily through the air.

A stream of focused fire pierced his armor, entering from his back, exploding out his chest, and leaving behind a charred, gaping wound.

The others moved to dodge and defend, but the space was too confined. Few escaped unscathed.

Their barriers of fighting spirit were largely ineffective. The torrential flame melted through them almost instantly. Their armor was seared away; blackened wounds blossomed across their bodies. The squad's formation collapsed into chaos.

Meanwhile, the young woman had ample time to prepare her next spell.

Dark spheres, encircled by violet lightning, hovered around her free hand. Her pupils flashed as she detected the fire mana fade—her cue to act.

She hurled the dozens of pitch-black spheres forward.

Hybrid Spell: Chaotic Crush.

The black orbs, which almost seemed to possess rudimentary intelligence, weaved through the blazing remnants of Crown of Crimson Light and homed in on the staggered knights.

These void-forged spheres were infused with gravity magic. Their trajectories were being guided by Avia's mental tendrils in real time. Her elevated mental state had enhanced her perception beyond belief.

The orbs struck.

In an instant, devastating force radiated from the point of impact, dragging all nearby matter inward and causing it to implode.

Armor twisted and buckled. Against the distortion of the void and the pull of gravity, even enchanted steel crumpled like parchment—ripped open and shattered, shards drawn into the spheres and crushed to dust.

Then came flesh.

The knights couldn't cope with the magical bombardment. Caught between Chaotic Crush and lingering tongues of fire, they were powerless. Attempts to break free were answered by jets of fire that skewered them.

Those who dodged the flames instead found themselves caught by the orbs, their bodies ripped apart by unfathomable force. Gaping, charred cavities split them open, their bones bending and snapping under pressure.

Then came the final blow.

From above, the ceiling of the corridor cracked. Under Avia's will, rogue earth mana had flooded the rock and corroded it from within.

Fractures spread. Vibrations grew. And then, in one massive collapse, the ceiling gave way. A deluge of earth and stone buried the knights.

Perhaps the falling rubble alone wouldn't take down those formidable knights, but the Crown of Crimson Light and Chaotic Crush working in tandem would surely suffice to claim their lives.

"They were just robotic puppets—this can't be the bulk of the defenses. Wang Yu's... a few levels below. The stairs will be too slow. I'm going straight down."

Light flickered in the young woman's pupils. Her expression steeled. Mana surged in her hand as earth gathered from the air. A cube of brown stone formed on the ground before her.

More earth converged. The cube grew larger. Reality warped in the grip of void magic and gravitational sorcery, altering the cube's mass.

Cracks spidered across the floor under the unimaginable weight. Then, in a single instant, the pressure surpassed what the stone could bear. The cube burst through the floor, dragging Avia with it as it plummeted into the lower levels of the dungeon.

Gaining momentum as it fell, the cube—now impossibly dense—smashed through floor after floor, carving a violent path downward.

"!"

Suddenly, her tendrils of mental energy brushed against something. Her pupils contracted sharply. The hourglass atop her head began to spin, slowing time to one-eighth its normal rate—just enough to react to a lightning-fast ambush.

A spear hurtled toward her from a side corridor, its shaft etched with countless runes.

In that brief instant, she discerned its destructive enchantments: piercing, shattering, disintegration, and anti-magic seals. It was crafted solely to kill.

One enchantment froze the surrounding space, locking down the area and making teleportation impossible. The spear shot toward her chest, already far too close to her liking.

She exhaled, calming her mind. She loosened every muscle, letting her body flow with the slowed time without tearing itself apart. The Chronostasis Hourglass's remaining twenty minutes could be put to use however she liked. She now pushed that power to its limit.

Time slowed down again and again—to 1/32 of its usual rate, the utmost limit of her endurance.

The world crawled. The fatal moment stretched into a space where she could think.

She would cast as fast as she could. Will of Stone, altered. Earthen Ward. Wind's Blessing. Diminished Rhythm. Charging Fury...

Spell after spell poured from her hands, over a dozen in mere seconds. They were all buffs that strengthened her speed, power, and defenses.

Her mana circuits began to overload. In most cases, these overlapping enchantments would collapse the moment they clashed.

But Avia micro-managed her casting. She accelerated herself—but not the spells on her skin.

Thus, at thirty-two times the normal speed, she was able to absorb the full benefit of every enhancement, just in time, before they could cancel each other out.

In that instant, her physical strength rivaled—perhaps even surpassed—an advanced knight.

She swung her staff. Enhanced beyond the imagination of most mages, she ended the time-slow effect and brought it crashing down on the spear.

The enchanted spear shattered, twisting and breaking into shards of metal. Her own staff, forged from a blend of rare ores and mana-conductive alloys, emerged entirely unharmed.

Her body staggered slightly from the backlash. The stacked buffs shattered in a violent cascade. Blood trickled from her nose. Her eyes reddened, blood vessels straining.

This was the price of forcing her body to such extremes.

"Avia Dovan, isn't it?" came a voice from the corridor, laced with a wry smirk. "Who would've thought... You crashed through the palace using Sieg's draconic form just for a chance to rescue him. Tsk... I'm almost envious of that bond of yours.

"That anti-magic spear was crafted specifically to kill magicians, and yet you survived. It seems like both you and the man trapped here are rather unique, hmm? I'd love to study you both—but perhaps another time. I can already imagine how furious the royals will be. My task is to kill or capture you."

Rudolf's voice drifted lazily from the end of the corridor.

"..."

Avia didn't reply. She surveyed her surroundings—yes, this had to be where Wang Yu was located.

"A mage... This will be difficult, but I have to succeed. Fifteen minutes left on the hourglass—that's the only thing that will let me close the gap. I'm going to save Wang Yu at any cost!" Avia mentally took stock of her situation.

Wary and focused, her mind sensed Rudolf's magical presence. A brief probe was enough to reveal that he was a mage, at the very least.

By contrast, she was merely an advanced magician. Between those ranks was a wide chasm, one that could take an ordinary magician decades to cross. One step in theory; an unbridgeable gap in reality.

Before she could finish her thoughts, Rudolf struck. The space beside her tore open as a giant stone fist lunged through, aimed directly at her.

The wind howled. Avia leapt aside just in time, dodging the devastating punch that smashed the wall beside her to rubble.

Then the stone fist exploded. Hidden within it, Rudolf's true spell was unleashed—fire concealed within earth. A searing blaze engulfed her silhouette, the shockwave shaking the dungeon.

Fire roared through the corridor, spreading across the floor. Then, a figure burst forth through the flames, racing straight toward Rudolf, wind trailing behind her as she picked up speed.

"You've lost your mind," Rudolf murmured. "If you were able to block that last spell, then you should understand that charging a mage head-on is suicide."

The charging figure halted in mid-air, stopped cold by an invisible force. An invisible net of solidified gas had formed—strings of condensed air wove a trap that caught her mid-flight.

Spears of stone laced with green liquid erupted from the walls of the corridor, impaling the young woman's body in dozens of places. A moment later, the body shattered, vanishing in a burst of void energy.

"Oh? A void avatar? Quite convincing. Your skill in wizardry is impressive," Rudolf said, still calm and unhurried.

The real Avia appeared from within a storm barrier that blasted away the flames. Her staff now glowed with a piercing azure light. Mana surged.

She had completed a powerful attack spell under the hourglass's eightfold acceleration.

Fifth-Tier Non-Elemental Spell: Alice's Radiant Cannon.

Though simple to cast compared to other fifth-tier spells, the cannon's power was overwhelming. It shot out a torrent of pure mana, capable of reducing both spell and steel to dust. Though it ordinarily required a long charge, she had cast it nearly instantaneously.

The brilliant blue beam erupted from her staff, aimed directly at Rudolf.

"You're strong. An advanced magician casting a fifth-tier spell that quickly? I underestimated you... or did you borrow something? Ah, yes—that casting speed. That must be Marquis Engel's strategic-class curio, now mysteriously missing...

"It looks like you know more than I thought. All the better. Killing you and reclaiming the curio should be enough to earn me royal permission to dissect Wang Yu. That man's body is most unusual... I'm curious to see what secrets it holds."

Rudolf stood calmly as the devastating beam surged toward him, trying to provoke Avia into making a mistake.

He waved his staff. In midair, magic circuits drew themselves together. That was a mage's strength—mages could shape raw mana into functioning arrays without a vessel, without physical structure.

Deflect, redirect—these were simple circuits, but their effect was profound when powered by a mage.

The glowing cannon split the moment it touched the arrays, scattering into multiple beams that pulverized the walls, ceiling, and floor. Not a single ray touched Rudolf.

This was the distinction that separated mage from magician.

"Oh? Spatial magic? The Gate of Phases? Impressive—its priority even outranks my space-locking spell. But your weakness is obvious. The one you're trying to save... will be the reason you die."

The surge of mana faded. Rudolf's senses, briefly disrupted by the light, spread once more across the corridor. But Avia was gone. He chuckled softly, then vanished into a spatial rift.

At that moment, Avia was closing in on the precise location where Wang Yu was held captive, which she had learned of from Edward's informant within the palace.

She had not found Wang Yu by directly sensing him. In truth, she couldn't sense him at all. But there was a wendigo stationed directly opposite Wang Yu's cell. By locating the wendigo, she had been able to determine Wang Yu's position.

Two reversed The Star tarot cards were now tucked between her fingers. A tremor of excitement stirred in her chest. If she could reach Wang Yu, if she could trigger the card's magic—"Looking for him, hm?" a voice, laced with amusement, whispered from behind her. Avia whirled around, eyes narrowing sharply.

There stood Rudolf. In his grasp was a figure—gaunt, battered, his flesh torn and rotting, one arm entirely gone. His eyes were shut tight, and a dried trail of blood ran crimson from one socket down to his jaw. His body hung limp like a mangled dog's. It was Wang Yu.

"..."

Avia's gaze locked onto Rudolf, unblinking. Her staff trembled ever so slightly in her clenched hands. The one she had come to rescue was now her greatest vulnerability.

"Now, now. Don't do anything rash," Rudolf said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "One wrong move, and I'll kill him. Though to be fair, he's already finished. His fighting spirit has been completely drained, and without it, his body has collapsed. Even if you save him, he'd just be a broken husk."

Rudolf looked at the tense young woman, finding the situation rather amusing.

"Or here's a thought—kill yourself. If you do, I'll let him go. I'll admit, you're a difficult opponent. With the Chronostasis Hourglass and those Gates of Phases, catching you is no easy task. It's truly troublesome. He's important to you, isn't he? So, what do you say? A trade: your life for his? Though I won't guarantee that I'm not lying."

Rudolf spoke with cruel ease. He had seized the lynchpin of Avia's plan to breach the royal palace. Now, she had no recourse, no path forward.

She could flee and watch Wang Yu die, or wager her life, hoping Rudolf might keep his word after she was gone.

As for trying to wrest a hostage from the grip of a mage standing mere feet away—that was delusion, nothing more. Every path was sealed. Every road, a dead end.

Suddenly, Rudolf sensed something amiss. His collar twisted against his neck, as if tugged by an invisible force. The fabric of his robe, a finely enchanted weave, was being manipulated by a power utterly beyond his perception. It closed in, strangling him with sudden, crushing pressure.

Pain bloomed across Rudolf's throat as the force bore down on him.

"What is this? An attack? Nothing—I didn't detect anything!"

Terror flashed through his mind. He had been monitoring the young woman closely, even keeping a watch on the barely-living Wang Yu with his mental energy.

Yet this force had come with no warning, utterly undetectable—and now it was crushing his neck.

"I have to get out—now!"

He reached for the instant-teleport spell etched into his staff. But the moment his mental energy touched the staff, he froze.

The staff had already been destroyed, shattered into useless fragments. He hadn't even noticed. Some unseen force had twisted its structure apart, reducing both the staff and the mana crystal within to nothing more than debris.

In that fleeting moment of shock, the Chronostasis Hourglass above Avia's head spun into overdrive. She experienced time at sixty-four times its usual rate, far beyond the limits of human endurance. Her very soul teetered on collapse.

No matter the cost, she would save Wang Yu.

In that accelerated world, time unfolded like glass before her soul. In a single instant, the young woman accomplished what would otherwise have taken long seconds.

She activated The Gate of Phases, pulling Wang Yu from Rudolf's grasp.

Her mind swept over his body, detecting the magical traps Rudolf had planted on him.

She unleashed a wave of magic to dismantle every last trap.

Then, channeling her latent ability, she flooded Wang Yu's body with raw void energy.

The acceleration ended.

A searing pain exploded in her head. Her soul, overstrained, was torn by the burden she had born. Blood streamed from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Her body crumpled, frail and helpless—until a hand caught her.

"...It's all thanks to you."

A calm voice whispered beside her ear. Under Rudolf's stunned, uncomprehending gaze, Wang Yu stood—alive.

Avia's latent ability had brought him back, not merely breathing but fully restored.

And around him, pulsing like a living storm, was the power of his potential—the Chariot. It was the Chariot that had crushed Rudolf's staff and choked him with invisible might.

"Together."

Avia steadied herself, just barely. Standing behind Wang Yu, she faced Rudolf.

He had locked down space, and Charles' long-range teleportation would not work. They only had one option left—to kill him.