Chapter 242

A Splendid Return

Night over a city sunk in silence.

Elric was gliding unhurriedly across the night sky.

『So this is where that so‑called king of the beastkin I mentioned last time used to live?』

“Yeah. That’s what they say.”

Biern City had once been hailed as the greatest city in the eastern region for a very simple reason.

Some 400 years ago, the ruler of the beastkin—who had risen to dominate the northern continent—had planned to make it his second capital.

A great deal of infrastructure had been laid down in those days.

Naturally, the population had concentrated here as well.

But after the beastkin, for reasons unknown, withdrew again to the Black Snowfields, the Empire took it as a national disgrace and deliberately stifled Biern’s development.

So now it had become a place remembered by only a scant few.

Having heard from the King of Velenche about King Yulho’s safehouse, Elric understood well how important this place was.

『But the beastkin withdrew ages ago. Why would a safehouse still be left intact?』

Mephisto tilted his head, baffled.

If humans regarded the beastkin’s rule as a humiliation, there was no way they would have left anything of theirs alone.

“Why wouldn’t a safehouse be safe?”

『…?』

Mephisto still looked unconvinced—but then he saw where Elric was arriving and let out a dry chuckle.

『All right, that actually makes sense!』

Elric had arrived at city hall.

The office where the Empire’s appointed mayor conducted business.

But now, after the Red Lion Corps seized it, only for the Star Host to seize it from them again, it had been left hollow and empty.

You couldn’t find a soul inside; only a bleak, desolate air lingered.

A beastkin who loathed the Empire set up a safehouse in an Imperial building?

Not noticing that would be the normal reaction.

‘King Yulho really was a peculiar one. How did he come up with such a perverse idea?’

The King Yulho Elric had met in Anbae had certainly been an oddball cut from a different cloth.

Which, perhaps, was part of why Elric had been drawn to him all the more.

“Let’s see… the fountain with the eagle statue… there!”

Recalling the city hall blueprints he’d secretly asked Ate to procure, Elric quickly reached the large fountain set in the center of the complex.

From the beak of the eagle statue—poised as if it might take wing any moment—water poured down like a waterfall.

“【Seek】.”

Elric spread a wide mana scan.

From here on, he hadn’t been told the precise location of the entrance or the internal layout of the safehouse.

One thing did give him pause.

‘Because the man who set this up was him… I’m a little uneasy….’

Even in the journal of King Yulho that the King of Velenche had given him, the safehouse was described only like this:

—Whoever ends up coming, I’ve set it up so it’ll be a surprise party. Hahaha. A shame I won’t be there to see it.

…Which meant he’d made thorough preparations to give anyone and everyone a proper headache.

‘When he built this, he would’ve been getting on in years… You’d think he’d have grown up some by then.’

Or maybe not growing up was precisely what made him King Yulho.

In any case.

Elric could only hope he’d get inside without too much trouble.

‘It’ll work out.’

Truth be told, Elric was confident in his own way.

Even now, Dragonblood was pumping strength through his body, and his magic went without saying.

If push came to shove, he could even attempt possession; whatever tricks King Yulho had wired into the safehouse, Elric was sure he could get through without much trouble.

‘Here?’

Then Elric realized that beneath the section of the fountain’s rear where the water didn’t fall, there was a hollow space.

He moved over and tapped it with his hand.

There was, ever so faintly, an off sound.

『There?』

“Yeah. But this…”

『What about it? It feels like it’ll just open. If you do this… whoa!』

Mephisto ran his hands over the spot Elric had touched and, channeling power into it, pushed hard.

Having absorbed Azazel’s strength, he could apply a certain degree of physical force now; when the brick slid inward, he grinned in satisfaction.

But when the brick kept sinking and sinking without end, Mephisto lost his balance and pitched straight down.

“I was about to say it looks like there’s nothing beneath us, so we should go down carefully.”

Elric stared at him in disbelief, then casually hopped into the hole himself.

He had to fall a long way.

“【Slow your fall】. 【Shine】.”

In the past, his incantations could only project a simple, fragmentary intent. Now he could give “specific” instructions.

Air resistance surged around him, drastically reducing his descent.

The darkness was chased away by a pure white orb of light that blossomed into being and poured illumination over everything.

‘Deeper than I thought.’

The shaft leading down to the underground safehouse ran vertically for a very long way.

It was high enough that without magic or exceptional martial skill, a person might plummet to their death.

And that wasn’t the only problem.

Grrrk, clack!

Fffft fffft fffft—

Suddenly, mechanisms whirred along the walls, and iron bolts came whipping toward Elric one after another.

You’d doubt this place had lain dormant for centuries—the angles and timing were that sharp.

“【Enshroud】.”

Elric poured power into the Sigil of Winter and flicked his hands through the air.

Frost condensed thick in the air, layering a few sheets of icy blue barrier.

Clangclangclang!

Tatatatangg—

Countless iron bolts pinged off harmlessly. The barriers shattered several times and reformed again and again.

“This guy… Was he planning to turn anyone who came in the wrong way into a hedgehog?”

For a regular person—or even someone with a decent amount of training—just the fall would leave them reeling.

To hang multiple lethal devices on top of that… This wasn’t something you could pass off as a “prank.”

Tap!

Muttering in disbelief, Elric at last touched down.

But he still couldn’t relax.

The air suddenly grew heavy, and an invisible weight pressed hard down on his shoulders.

“…Kh!”

At the same time, he heard something locking into place all around him.

Clack—

「This is…!」

「Magic is being locked…!」

Elric snapped his head up, eyes widening.

The mana coursing through him began to seal, as if it had all been a lie.

Nahatram and the Six Chapters of Winter seemed to shout something, but their voices soon faded and sank away.

A curse.

And one of formidable difficulty.

“【Fall away】!”

Sensing danger on instinct, Elric flooded the sigil with will and mana, pushing it to the limit.

If he stayed like this, all his magic would be sealed. He had to wash the curse off somehow.

Fwooom!

‘It’s canceling the activation…?!’

Light began to form at his fingertips—then shattered to dust.

Even the mana field tried to coalesce and then unraveled again like threads, its weave scattering in every direction.

Clank!

And then his mana sealed completely.

“【Be dispelled】!”

“【Be washed away】…”

“【Shatter and scatter】!”

Elric tried several more times to shake the curse.

Thunk, thunkthunkthunk!

Each time, the spell began to form and broke apart. His mana still wouldn’t budge.

Total mana restraint.

Something absurd had happened.

“…What is this.”

『Hey. Mind getting off already?』

While Elric reeled, Mephisto’s voice floated up from beneath his feet.

With his magic sealed, even his senses had dulled; looking around for Mephisto, Elric suddenly burst out laughing.

Because Mephisto was pinned under his foot.

“What are you doing down there?”

『It’s your foot on my head! Get off already!』

Elric hopped down to the floor.

Mephisto, face haggard, slowly pushed himself upright.

He looked a sight.

Like a straw doll, his body was bristling with iron bolts, and an imprint of Elric’s boot marred his face.

The bluster he’d been putting on just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

You’d doubt he was the same Great Demon King who’d radiated such crushing pressure against Azazel in the unconscious world.

With his mana restrained, he’d reverted to an ordinary state.

『Damn it! I should’ve stayed in the room…! I tag along because I’m bored, and this is what I get.』

Grumbling irritably, Mephisto scowled and asked,

『That beastkin king—what in the world is he?』

“What do you mean?”

『You said he’s been dead for centuries, right? Then how can he have left behind a will this strong?』

Elric followed his gaze upward.

Grrrk—

From the ceiling, the walls, the floor… he could still hear machinery meshing and turning behind the brickwork.

Which meant traps still lay everywhere.

With his mana sealed, he suddenly felt at a loss as to how he was going to get through it all.

He grasped what Mephisto was implying.

“You’re saying the complete restraint on mana and magic is because of the will King Yulho left behind?”

『Exactly. After this much time, you’d expect the lingering will to have faded somewhat, but there’s no sign of that. If anything… it feels stronger with age.』

A deep furrow formed between Mephisto’s brows.

『There’s a term we use for this.』

“The Imaginal World….”

『Right. He realized the picture in his mind into reality. To pull something like that off, by your standards he’d have to be well beyond the ranks of mere superhumans.』

Manifesting imagination physically was no simple task. It meant bending every law within a certain domain to your own taste.

And to maintain it semi‑permanently… you had to surpass even the superhuman tier.

Such people are commonly called this:

A demigod.

One who has set half a foot into the realm of the divine….

‘Was King Yulho really that incredible?’

Looked at closely, it wasn’t impossible.

Even the King Yulho Elric had met in Anbae had possessed remarkable skill at a young age.

If he’d never stopped honing himself and perfected his body‑fortifying arts, it wasn’t out of the question.

‘But why build something like this…!’

The reason he’d constructed an Imaginal World like this still made no sense.

But Elric had no time to think it through.

『…Something else is starting.』

Elric turned to where Mephisto pointed—and blanched.

Far ahead.

The ceiling seemed to rotate, and molten steel began to pour down to the floor like a boiling waterfall.

The Mage Who Devoured Talents

Chapter 242 — 화려한 귀환