Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent

Chapter 175:

Chapter 175

Do you still think of yourself as a princess?

The girl vampire’s neck began to boil.

It was not a pleasant sight to see the headless torso wriggling and regenerating.

“…”

Flan silently gathered his energy.

He also drew Hera’s energy and started to design in his mind.

He estimated how many times he had to repeat a certain task to cut off the enemy’s breath.

Soon, the formula was completed.

However, there was a restriction on the activation of the high-difficulty magic.

The girl vampire had to manifest her magic first for this magic circle to take effect.

It was a kind of counterattack magic. It was easy to think of it that way.

“How simple. Is this all? Human.”

The girl vampire sneered at the corner of her mouth and glared.

Blood droplets began to flow in the air.

It was a characteristic of black magic that used life force as a medium.

“It’s a simple attack.”

Flan nodded.

It was true that it was simple, but simple was not a disadvantage.

He also understood how to suppress such arrogant vampires. He had known that since the previous world.

“You made my blood flow backwards before, right? It was fun. I think you should try it too this time…. How about it?”

Whooosh─!

The vampire’s blood ignited and the magic circle appeared.

Thanks to that, Flan’s magic also met the activation condition.

The ground where the girl vampire was standing emitted a blue light in a hexagram.

No one could perceive the start of it. It was too fast.

Flan didn’t have to intervene.

The counterattack magic circle manifested exactly as the design.

For a moment, it felt like the world had stopped, and the blue pillar rose endlessly to the sky.

Kwaahaaah─!

The vampire’s body floated in the air and was cut.

There were countless magic blades inside the blue pillar.

One of them cut her neck again. It didn’t stop there and split her body’s center vertically in half.

Once, twice, three times.

The same method repeated with precise cuts.

It sliced her abdomen horizontally and separated her upper and lower body, and even cut her organs like ingredients.

Wrist, ankle, finger…. It even cut the end of the joints in detail. The cutting speed was far ahead of the speed of recognizing something.

“What did you say….”

The girl vampire muttered with her severed head.

She was powerless inside the endless pillar, and her body was being torn apart endlessly.

Kwaduk─!

But Flan didn’t even allow observation.

The magic blade smashed the girl’s brain and burst her eyes.

Flan opened his mouth around then.

“I’m sure I mentioned it.”

He had given a simple hint, and he had never lied.

“I’ll cut off your breath.”

The girl vampire tried to manifest 「Regeneration」, but then Flan’s magic also manifested.

The blue pillar rose again and cut the girl vampire countless times.

The elves who hadn’t completely left their seats yet, stared at the sight and lost their minds.

◈

Aurora was still suffering from a sense of alienation.

Even though the situation seemed to gradually turn in their favor.

The court magicians and the royal magicians were not incompetent.

They quickly devised a solid defense and dealt with the vampires, and protected Aurora well.

It was a part where they could feel that the royal people had not trained in vain.

If they hadn’t, they would have given their necks to the vampires by now.

Of course, they still couldn’t relax.

They couldn’t be sure of their safety until they got out of this crimson barrier.

Aurora sighed habitually.

“Hoo….”

It was strange.

The monster called ‘Vampire Hound’ was especially so.

A being that shaped the invisible fear.

It was a monster that was shaped by an abstract sense, so it was impossible to observe the future of the Vampire Hound.

And of course, that gave Aurora a sense of alienation.

Leisure and confidence came from ‘knowing’.

Information is, in other words, ‘power’.

The data collected by observation and measurement naturally raises the position of the one who possesses it.

It tends to make the situation favorable.

But Aurora couldn’t exert that power now.

Even though the situation seemed to be favorable, Aurora couldn’t help but feel anxious.

It was because the answer sheet had disappeared from the life that he had always lived by comparing with the answer.

“…”

Aurora compulsively looked at the faces of each and every one of them.

The future is visible.

It’s not visible.

It’s visible.

It’s not visible…. It was driving her crazy.

Humans were tied to Flan and couldn’t observe the future, and they couldn’t observe the future of the vampires who didn’t follow common sense.

Except for the royal bloodline, she had nothing left.

Aurora, who was sweating coldly, sensed her embarrassment, and the escort knight Ban opened his mouth cautiously.

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

His voice was not small, so the voices of the soldiers, as well as the court magicians, reached Aurora.

Everyone’s interest was how Aurora felt.

They were lives that had to follow the princess’s orders anyway.

Aurora calmly took a deep breath.

If she showed a weak appearance, the confusion would double. And she would be looked down upon.

She couldn’t lose her dignity even in extreme situations.

“…Are you asking me something obvious?”

Of course, even after hearing such an answer, everyone cautiously looked at Aurora’s appearance.

She didn’t look all right at all, sweating profusely unlike usual.

But no one could dare to ask out loud. If Aurora said so, they had to accept it.

The escort knight Ban opened his mouth.

“It seems that the surroundings have been cleared. The barrier is being deciphered, and you can order something else if you want.”

Aurora fell into a moment of thought.

The crimson barrier was only the size of the academy’s arena, and it trapped only the royal people.

There was nothing else to order, and everyone looked exhausted, so it didn’t seem efficient to order anything.

Finally, Aurora nodded.

“Rest. We’ll move again when the barrier is lifted.”

I chose the safest option.

I had a headache that wouldn’t go away, and to be honest, I wanted to rest a bit.

A sigh of relief mixed with exhaustion erupted from everywhere.

The Vampire Hounds were monstrous creatures that defied common sense.

No matter how royal they were, they would run out of breath if they faced the countless numbers of them.

Everyone started to focus on resting.

“Cough…!”

I heard someone’s breath stop.

I didn’t pay much attention to the sound. It must have been someone who was very tired and choked on water.

Crack-!

But the next sound I heard was something I couldn’t ignore.

It was a cold sensation that rang the alarm in my instinct, the sound of flesh being cut off by a blade.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the source of the sound.

And for a moment, they looked dumbfounded.

“…”

A sturdy knight with bangs covering his eyes.

My escort knight, Ban, had cut off the neck of a soldier. I had to blink several times at the surreal sight.

Drip- Drip-

Blood drops fell from the tip of the sword that Ban held.

“Ban?”

I narrowed my eyes and called his name.

There was no one among the soldiers here who hadn’t trained with Ban.

That’s why the shock was immense. He was the one who showed more loyalty to me than anyone else.

“…”

Ban quietly adjusted his sword.

His eyes were no longer human.

It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who felt an unknown chill.

A court mage shouted urgently.

“Attack him! Right now!”

But despite his shout, many people were still frozen.

The court mage quickly created a magic bullet and shot it.

But Ban dodged it with just his movement. His sword danced like water and cut down the mage.

And at the same time, everyone felt a sense of incongruity.

“…!”

As he swung his sword, a red afterimage followed. It was clearly the aftermath of the ‘life force’ that the Vampires possessed.

Why did Ban have a life force afterimage, I wondered as it crossed my mind. His body and sword moved swiftly several times.

“Ugh, cough!”

“Aaah!”

The soldiers who were hit in their vital spots fell like rags. What unfolded before my eyes was a cruel and one-sided massacre.

“Counterattack!”

The court mages who had formed a formation quickly shot magic to deal with him.

The magic bullets that were refined with mana were like rays of light.

But Ban destroyed them.

As he swung his sword, the court mages’ wrists were separated from their bodies at once.

The blood and flesh splashed around was a matter of a beat later.

“Sa, save me…!”

“Kuh!”

Similar screams repeated as the royal figures fell one by one.

There was no hesitation or guilt on Ban’s face as he killed his comrades.

He was calm as if he was cutting a training dummy.

Finally, when only Ban and I were left.

I asked him with a bewildered face.

“Ban… what are you doing…?”

I didn’t need much time to get out of breath. I couldn’t see Ban’s future, but I felt an immense sense of dread.

“What are you doing? You were supposed to…”

“You were supposed to.”

Ban snorted and laughed.

“Humans love that phrase. You were supposed to, you were supposed to… That’s what you say when you mistake that you know the other person.”

The escort knight’s gaze turned to me.

“Vam… pire…?”

A shiver ran down my spine.

I had never seen such a thing in the future I had seen.

I didn’t know who to trust anymore.

Ban took a step towards me.

I stepped back.

We repeated that, and at some point, my back touched the crimson barrier. I had nowhere to run.

I muttered.

“Ban… don’t come near me.”

“Second princess, Aurora.”

The escort knight flattened his palm and swept his face from left to right. Then Ban’s face disappeared and a masked Vampire remained.

“Do you still see me as your escort knight?”

A future I had never confirmed, a reality I couldn’t accept, was unfolding before my eyes.

I heard a laugh from behind the mask.

“Also, do you still think of yourself as a princess?”