Mightiest Melee Magician

Mightiest Melee Magician

“That broken skull drawn on his neck…… He’s a Wicked Mage.”

“Wicked Mage?”

“Yeah. I don’t know much more though. The one thing I do know…… is that they’re magicians of the Magic Tower who, officially, only do clean jobs, but what they really do are dirty jobs that they don’t want to be public.”

“Considering that they’re covered by a veil, they do some pretty ugly things.”

“I agree.”

The words ‘Wicked Mage’ was hard for commoners to even hear, but between mages, their name was at least known.

The majority of the high scorers in our academy graduates were scouted into a group called the Wicked Mages.

However, other than the information about their tattoos and their group name…

What exactly they did, how strong their magicians were, or who their captain was…

The specifics weren’t very known.

However, with the impression I got from my first encounter with them, I was sure of one thing about going against these Wicked Mages.

“It’s doable.”

They were far below Doom Prime.

No.

Rather, I could be sure that the other 30 student representatives I met at the Grand Festival were stronger than them.

In a sense, this may have been obvious.

They may still be students, but the student representatives of the Grand Festivals were from 4th-Class Masters to 5th-Class Masters.

They were geniuses that exceeded the average adult magician.

Of course, there were always exceptions.

“We still haven’t been able to check the skills of one of them.”

“Yeah.”

Just as Straang said, we still haven’t been able to confirm the strength of their ‘leader’.

The man who looked like their leader.

It was because, as soon as he finished talking, he used teleportation magic to instantly escape.

I thought back to the sound of his unpleasant laughter.

“That man. He wasn’t thinking of fighting me from the beginning. He just appeared in front of me to satisfy his curiosity.”

“So, what are you thinking of doing now?”

“……”

Yeah.

The guys probably wouldn’t appear in front of me again like they did today.

They would continue to keep their distance and observe quietly from a safe place behind me.

If I approached them, they would probably run away using the same methods.

Because that man’s mission… was to watch.

On top of that, they knew what my destination was.

So, all in all, it wasn’t a good idea to waste time in Tercian like this.

There was only one way to catch a magician that had their escape plans set.

“I’ll need to make it so that they appear in front of me.”

* * *

The next day, I went to the stable from before again.

“Is the horse ready?”

“Oh! Sir Magician! I was waiting for you!”

The stableman clapped his hands when he saw me and he brought a horse with a yellowish-brown mane from the stable.

“I acquired it in a hurry, but this one’s a smart lad. It’s a horse that was ridden by a guard captain from a nearby town…… but since it’s a warhorse, it’ll be easy to tame.”

“Alright, thank you.”

I wasn’t too familiar with riding horses, but I knew the basics.

This was because I had experience from a very young age, back when my feet wouldn’t even touch the stirrup.

I checked the horse’s horseshoes, pulled a saddle over its back, and got on, grabbing its reins.

Neigh—!

The horse lifted its front legs in excitement at being able to run for the first time in a while.

I looked westward from Tercian.

Destination: Sky Mountain Summit.

It was a long way to go.

* * *

I rode West from Tercian for three days.

At least, until the second day, there were a few towns on the way toward the summit, but from the third day on, there was nothing.

Forget towns. There weren’t even bases where I could let my horse rest for a bit.

It was truly a wasteland.

I rode relentlessly in this barren land devoid of all life.

← Sky Mountain

– Ogre Appearances

– Approach Restricted

→ Tercian

“……”

At the end of this path was a road sign that was used a hundred years ago to dictate the direction of Sky Mountain.

If this didn’t exist, I may have questioned if I rode in the right direction.

Over three days had passed, but I wasn’t getting any closer to the Sky Mountain erected on the horizon.

However, on the dawn of the fourth day since leaving Tercian…

“……We’re nearly here.”

I could instinctively feel that I was getting closer to my destination.

Just like how Straang, the Incarnation of Strength, reacted to Strength…

Bam bam bam bam!

My force circle was shaking rapidly.

Yeah.

I could feel it.

Rather than mana, there was a great reverberation of strength that filled the nearby area.

It was responding so strongly that I might have mistaken the strengths for ones calling for me.

However, in contrast to the great strengths that called for me, I couldn’t approach any closer to the Sky Mountain.

“So this is it. The barrier……”

A transparent barrier was blocking my way.

Ting ting.

When I got off the horse and lightly tapped on the barrier, Straang spoke.

“The beginning of Sky Mountain starts from here. Up there is the land of the Sky Summit tribe, Sky Mountain Summit.”

“The place where you and Draka stayed?”

“Yeah.”

“……”

I lightly put my palm on the barrier and tried to put in some strength.

However…

“Huah! It really isn’t budging.”

There was absolutely no change in the barrier.

It was a boundary one couldn’t ever physically cross.

* * *

* * *

This was the place that no one could pry the secrets from, the place known as the ogre’s sanctuary.

“How do we get in……?”

Finding the secret to this barrier was the reason I came here.

I gave up on just destroying it with my strength and tried to find a different method.

I thought back to the advice Straang gave me before.

To lose the mindset of humans.

That, if I could find a method humans couldn’t think of, I’d be able to reach the ogre’s sanctuary.

However, just what was that mindset that wasn’t like a human's?

“Hmm……”

Boof!

I sat on the ground while resting my chin on my palm.

“From a human’s point of view, I would definitely try to break this boundary, right?”

“Probably.”

“However, they couldn’t break it. This means that this barrier isn’t something a human could break in the first place.”

Ok, then let’s flip our thinking.

“If I wasn’t a human, but an ogre, what would I do?”

Not as a human, but as an ogre.

“Wouldn’t I call out to the ogre inside the barrier? To open the door?”

Like I was visiting a friend’s house, I would call out.

Not using the language of humans, but the language of ogres.

Hearing this, Straang became amused.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“……”

Honestly, I was half-joking when I said it.

Hmm.

Now that I really think about it, it does make a little sense.

“……I’m able to talk to ogres.”

“Yeah. You’re the only human that’s capable of talking with ogres.”

“Wait. If it’s like that…… If there is a living ogre in there, could they hear what I’m saying?”

“Naturally.”

“But didn’t they say that all the ogres on Sky Mountain Summit went extinct?”

“That is also just a theory that humans made up.”

“……”

Yeah.

The fact that all the ogres living in Sky Mountain Summit died was also made up by humans.

There was no solid proof.

“Don’t be blocked by weird bias. Always remember that your strength isn’t there to adapt to the bias, but to break it.”

“……”

Rather, wasn’t I feeling it instinctively?

“…There are ogres in there.”

The great strengths which were completely filling up the air around Sky Mountain.

If those weren’t from ogres, there would be no way to explain these powers.

I quickly stood from my spot.

My heart was pounding.

Even though I could still feel the blatant gazes from the Wicked Mages observing me from behind, I ignored them and approached the barrier once more.

This may become a net to catch those pesky flies.

Looking forward to it, I touched the barrier with my hand and spoke out loud.

“Can you… hear me?”

Naturally, there wasn’t any sort of response from inside the barrier.

But this was still going as planned.

I pulled out Kunkhan’s Tooth, which I had stored in my bag, and lifted it in my hand.

Then, I spoke again.

“Here. I brought the tooth of your chieftain, Kunkhan, so if you can hear me, open the door.”

“……”

This… was the key.

And simultaneously, the unmoving barrier started to shift.

* * *

Nearly four days from Tercian to Sky Mountain Summit.

The Magician of Screams, who tracked Ruin Ardell through day and night, was watching this scene unfold from a distance away.

Since he was stationed a bit away to not enter Ruin’s attack range, he couldn’t hear anything Ruin was saying.

He saw Ruin tap and push the barrier, and felt relieved when nothing happened.

‘Does he expect those methods to work?’

And when he saw Ruin finally collapse on the ground and stare at the barrier, he snorted a bit too.

The mission would be a failure.

The mission that no scholar or magician could solve for so long…

How could a 16-year-old ever complete it?

It was without a doubt a failure.

He only had to observe Ruin’s defeat here and report back at Ravirdyne.

However…

“……?”

The thing that happened after that was so shocking that the Magician of Screams’ eyes nearly sprung out of his head.

The barrier that wouldn’t ever even budge suddenly melted away.

“……H-he entered?”

And Ruin Ardell had gone inside.

How could this happen?

If his subordinates that were taken down by Ruin back at Tercian were here with him, he would’ve asked if he saw it wrong, but unfortunately, he was by himself.

He rubbed his eyes to see if it was an illusion.

‘I-it’s real.’

It was undoubtedly real.

His mission was to observe Ruin Ardell.

The mission was absolute, and to continue it, he had to follow behind into the barrier.

Gulp.

The Magician of Screams gulped out of shock from this unimaginable situation and carefully approached the barrier.

And, just like how Ruin entered, he took a slow step to try and enter the barrier in the same way.

However,

Bang!

The barrier was closed, just like before.

“Wh-what?”

Bang bang bang.

No matter how hard he knocked, the barrier didn’t open, and he tried to find another entrance, wandering around the barrier.

Then…

Boom!

“……Uck.”

A fist from out of nowhere flew toward the chin of the Magician of Screams, and he got launched back, unable to resist.

The owner of that fist…

Was Ruin Ardell.

Ruin muttered with a sinister smile on his face,

“Got you. You’re it.”

——