Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.30 The Lair of the Ancient Magician (7)

“Haa, haa…”

He had almost died.

Leon struggled to calm his ragged breathing due to the tension.

His heart wouldn’t settle easily.

The danger hadn’t yet disappeared.

Leon sat cross-legged, trying to steady his breath while deep in thought.

Currently, Leon had 369 hours of Orb time.

Even if he spent all that time inside the Orb, only six hours would pass in reality.

‘Six hours… would that woman have disappeared by then…?’

He didn’t think she would just stand there idly, but he couldn’t be overly optimistic.

‘Recharge the Golden Wings and the Invisibility Cloak…’

He needed to spend at least a day here.

The artifact’s cooldown time was also recharged inside the Orb.

Assuming a day, it was the same whether he held it in reality or inside the Orb.

If he used it once and threw it into the Orb, he could use it again after 24 minutes.

While it didn’t have zero cooldown time, it was still an incredible advantage.

‘One day feels too short… let’s stay here for 10 days.’

Leon ran simulations in his head, just like he did during his first battle with Forn.

‘I can’t just sit idly during that time.’

Could he find a way to escape from the witch in 10 days?

‘Learning the Thousand Leaves right now is impossible, and the Arcane Magic of Glory of Thunder is also out of reach for now.’

It was a spell that required a slow, gradual approach over three months.

Even if he used all his Orb time, it wouldn’t be enough.

Learning it wouldn’t change the situation much.

Then, the image of the red-haired dark mage flashed through his mind.

The Shadow Assimilation technique he had used.

A magic that allowed one to disappear through their own shadow and reappear through another’s.

However, it was impossible to move through another ‘person’s’ shadow.

Among the spells he could learn in 10 days, this seemed like the one that could introduce the most variables.

‘It might not work against an Insight level magician, but… having an extra escape method isn’t a bad idea.’

Leon didn’t need to create an artificial core in his heart, nor did he need to use another magician’s core.

The very idea of black magic was repulsive, but he wasn’t in a position to be picky when his life was in immediate danger.

‘Mana interference… that’s truly terrifying.’

Leon’s heart raced just thinking about the moment his teleportation scroll failed to work.

But even a high-level Insight magician wouldn’t be able to interfere with every spell Leon used.

‘At most, they could block a single stream of my magic.’

Controlling a single stream of mana in combat could be a tremendous advantage, but Leon had no intention of confronting that woman.

All he needed to do was activate the teleportation scroll.

After spending 10 days mastering the Shadow Assimilation technique and preparing everything, Leon was ready.

He assumed that the woman was still outside.

As soon as he emerged from the Orb, he blocked the front with the wooden sword and infused mana into all the scrolls he was holding.

And then he saw her.

The woman, standing there in the same position as before.

‘Is she really waiting?’

Leon had prepared for the worst, but his heart still sank.

It had been 4 hours.

The persistence, almost to the point of obsession, made him break out in a cold sweat.

‘Still, among all these scrolls, I should be able to find the teleportation scroll…’

Unfortunately, the woman far exceeded Leon’s expectations.

She controlled the mana directed towards the teleportation magic among the numerous scrolls Leon was holding.

Leon immediately switched to Plan B, holding only the controlled teleportation scroll and infusing the last remaining Blink scroll with mana.

In an instant, Leon and everything he touched appeared in a different location.

And once again, Leon was startled.

A black fireball was already flying towards that spot.

‘Did she predict it through the flow of mana?’

The fireball instantly neutralized all the magic created through the other scrolls, but it was blocked by the wooden sword in front of Leon’s body.

Boom—

The sturdy wooden sword didn’t get a scratch from the attack.

However, the impact was too much for Leon’s basic telekinesis to handle.

Leon was thrown backward along with the wooden sword.

The woman’s eyes widened as she watched.

She hadn’t expected the magic to be blocked.

The woman, who had appeared at Leon’s position in an instant, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and forcibly lifted him up.

Leon didn’t even have a chance to use the Shadow Assimilation technique.

“How did you do it?”

Leon bit his lip at her question.

He had a strong feeling that he would die if he did anything foolish.

“…”

“I’ll kill you if you don’t talk.”

Her words, spoken without any change in expression, made Leon point to the wooden sword with his finger.

The woman shook her head slightly.

“Not that. The method you used to disappear without a trace.”

Her words were disjointed, as if she hadn’t had a proper conversation in a long time.

“That’s… because I’ve learned a special magic.”

“I couldn’t feel any flow of mana.”

Excuses wouldn’t work.

In fact, from the moment he revealed part of the Orb’s mysterious secret to the opponent, the outcome was inevitable.

There was no way to prevent the opponent from becoming interested in it.

Leon hesitated to speak.

The Orb was a secret he couldn’t share with anyone, but that wasn’t the reason he couldn’t speak.

It was because it was the only way to escape from this woman.

Whether he spoke or not, he would die anyway.

‘But still, if I can just buy some time…’

At that moment, the cave shook violently.

It wasn’t just this corridor that was shaking; it felt like the entire cave was trembling.

The woman quickly lifted her head.

Then, still holding Leon by the scruff of his neck, she floated into the air and flew in one direction.

Leon, being dragged helplessly, used basic telekinesis to pull the wooden sword towards him.

Seeing that the woman didn’t care, Leon tucked the teleportation scroll and the wooden sword into his robe.

Soon, the plaza Leon had passed through earlier appeared.

The woman, seemingly confident in her direction, didn’t hesitate at the numerous staircases and chose one to descend again.

They descended endlessly.

Whenever another passage appeared, she would destroy the armored golems blocking the doors with a single blow and continue flying.

Even the gargoyle golems and armored golems filling one passage were all shattered with a single spell.

They kept descending like that.

Leon abandoned any thoughts of doing something foolish.

Although she wasn’t looking at him, he could feel part of her attention was on him.

After descending for a long time, they arrived at a plaza identical to the one they had seen from above.

The difference was that a massive magic circle was inscribed in the center of the plaza floor, and the inside was obscured by a gray barrier rising from the edges of the magic circle.

Around it, numerous magicians were waiting.

The magicians were gathered in their respective groups around the magic circle, discussing something.

Among them, Leon saw a familiar face.

It was Berford and his group from the Widia School.

When the magicians from each school noticed the new arrival in the plaza, their eyes widened in shock.

“The Witch of Destruction?”

“Why is she here…?”

Their faces, which had been whispering among themselves, eventually turned to expressions of despair.

The witch paid them no mind.

As she raised one hand, one of the magicians, startled, approached her.

He was a high-level Mystic magician, but he trembled before the witch.

“If you use powerful magic here, the cave will collapse!”

At his words, the witch’s hand paused.

“We… we were trying to dismantle the magic circle and must have triggered something. It’s very unstable. So please, withdraw your magic…”

“…”

Though the witch’s expression didn’t change, the magician seemed to sense something and quickly spoke again.

“We will withdraw. We hope you get what you want…”

The magician, having retreated, said something to his group, and they quickly began to gather their equipment.

Boom—

But then, the cave shook once more.

The ground trembled violently, and unseen magic circles began to appear all over the plaza.

The magic circles glowed brightly.

Magicians caught in the magic circles began to disappear in clusters.

As the witch, floating in the air, raised her hand, a black barrier enveloped her.

‘Another teleportation magic circle…?’

Leon, watching from within the black barrier, clicked his tongue.

Even high-level Mystic magicians were helplessly swept away by the light and transported somewhere, yet the witch blocked it with just a black barrier.

How many times did the light flicker?

In the end, only the witch and Leon remained in that place.

The gray barrier that had been rising in the center of the plaza had disappeared.

The true form of the magic circle was revealed.

It was intricately and elaborately inscribed, even at a glance.

Just by observing the spell, Leon gained a slight understanding.

‘Is this the essence of the teleportation magic circle…?’

However, the magic circle glowed unstably, as if it could unleash its power at any moment.

Still holding Leon by the scruff of his neck, the witch approached the magic circle.

Leon hurriedly stored the wooden sword in his subspace.

As the witch stood at the very center of the magic circle, it emitted a powerful light, as if squeezing out its last bit of strength.

The light was so bright it was blinding. Then, darkness.

When his vision, which had been engulfed in darkness, brightened again, Leon realized they had been transported to a new space.

It was a space far larger and higher than the plaza in the cave.

There were no signs of other people.

Only the witch and Leon were in that space.

Soon, Leon discovered something and gaped in astonishment.

A single golem, towering to a height that would take quite some time to reach even with levitation magic.

Its body was humanoid and had ivory-colored skin.

Red stripes, like veins, protruded from its skin in various places, pulsing as if they were alive.

Hundreds of tubes were embedded in those red stripes that resembled blood vessels.

Especially around the heart area, even though there were no blood vessels, dozens of tubes were inserted.

The long tubes extended from the golem’s back, disappearing into the darkness where they couldn’t be seen clearly.

Leon had to lift his head high to see its face, which also resembled a human’s.

However, where its eyes should have been, a single red line flickered.

It had no hair, and its ivory-colored lips were tightly shut.

“This is Gigantes…”

The witch’s small murmur reached Leon’s ears.

She seemed to know about this golem.

As she spoke, the flickering light in the giant golem’s eyes fully illuminated.

Rumble—

As the giant moved, the entire cave shook.

The movement didn’t stop with just one tremor; it grew increasingly intense.

The tubes began to snap off one by one.

Without hesitation, the witch extended her hand towards it.

A fireball, much larger than the one Leon had seen before, formed in the air and struck the giant directly.

Although the giant’s body didn’t sustain any visible damage, the black flames that clung to its body continued to burn around its shoulder area.

The giant raised its hand and struck the spot where the witch had been.

The witch, still holding Leon by the scruff of his neck, glanced at him before throwing him to the side.

Leon, thrown to one side, stabilized himself with levitation magic before hitting the ground.

Now free, Leon looked at the witch with a bewildered expression.

‘Should I use the teleportation scroll right now?’

But that thought quickly dissipated.

Although the witch’s attention was no longer on him, it was clear that any attempt to use teleportation would be intercepted.

Otherwise, there would have been no reason to bring him here.

‘The magic circle must have been unstable, so she had no choice.’

Leon floated in the air with an innocent expression, staying out of the range of the ongoing battle between the giant and the witch.

If he attempted to escape recklessly and got caught, he would face even tighter scrutiny afterward.

‘I need to stay put and wait for the right opportunity.’

The exchange of attacks between the two continued dozens of times.

The giant threw punches, and the witch dodged them while continuously casting spells.

Each time, the cave shook as if it would collapse at any moment.

Indeed, stones began to fall from the ceiling.

It was a sign that the cave was collapsing.

The witch’s spells struck the giant’s body several times, but they couldn’t inflict significant damage.

However, the flames persisted, continuing to burn.

As time went on, the giant’s skin began to soften and melt.

Feeling a sense of crisis, the giant momentarily recoiled.

The pulsation of the red stripes protruding from its skin quickened.

Moments later, the giant stretched its body and swung its fist at the witch with incredible speed.

The speed was incomparable to before.

It was physically incomprehensible how such a large body could move so fast.

The fist struck the black barrier surrounding the witch.

The barrier didn’t break, but the witch was flung away, disappearing into the darkness.

Boom—

The sound of her hitting the wall echoed through the cave.

Not long after, a fireball flew out from the darkness again.

The giant deflected the fireball with the edge of its hand.

Boom—

The ground shook as the floor where the fireball landed collapsed.

Neither of them paid any attention to it.

Instead, their attacks grew even fiercer.

It meant they were fully focused on the battle.

Dozens of black flames rose from the ground around the giant, wrapping around its limbs like whips.

Whether it contained physical force or not, the giant’s body momentarily halted.

The flames that wrapped around its limbs spread to its skin.

The giant didn’t try to remove the whips and instead opened its mouth.

A massive magic circle formed in front of its mouth, and a white beam shot out from the circle.

It was aimed in the direction of the witch.

Boom—

The cave wall on one side couldn’t withstand the impact any longer and completely collapsed.

The collapse spread like a domino effect.

The ceiling caved in, and rocks began to rain down like a storm.

One by one, the light orbs went out, and the darkness deepened.

But the giant didn’t stop and created dozens more magic circles around its mouth.

The beams didn’t shoot out immediately.

It seemed to require some preparation time.

By then, the giant’s body had already melted significantly.

The skin around its heart had melted away, revealing a red core hidden within.

The massive core was intricately engraved with complex patterns.

Leon’s eyes sparkled as he dodged the falling rocks.

At that moment, he sensed a powerful flow of mana from the witch’s direction.

It contained a force of a different magnitude than before.

She was undoubtedly using grand magic.

Grand magic was stronger than Arcane Magics and had the destructive power of a natural disaster.

Even an Insight level magician needed time to cast it.

The opportunity Leon had been waiting for had arrived.

Leon, who had stealthily descended to the nearby ground, hurriedly used the Shadow Assimilation technique to disappear into his own shadow and reappear from the giant’s shadow.

At the moment when the white beam shot out from around the giant’s mouth, Leon simultaneously touched the giant’s leg and the Orb.

The flames that had been burning fiercely on the giant’s leg instantly transferred to one of Leon’s arms, but when he used water magic through the Orb, the flames quickly extinguished.

The flames lost their power as the witch’s mana was cut off.

Nevertheless, Leon’s arm was left with severe burns.

Without time to feel the pain, Leon immediately thrust the wooden sword into the now softened leg of the giant.

Thud—

The giant’s body shuddered and knelt on the dirt floor.

There was no time to watch its entire body collapse.

‘No time to delay.’

Confirming that it was effective was enough.

Leon immediately emerged from the Orb.

The time it took for Leon to disappear and reappear was less than a second in reality.

It was the moment when dozens of beams and the massive meteor summoned by the witch collided.

At the same time, Leon used the triple acceleration of the Golden Wings to distance himself as much as possible from the witch while infusing mana into the teleportation scroll.

The brief moment it took for the scroll to fill with mana felt as slow as decades passing.

Boom—

When the two spells clashed, a powerful wave of mana spread outwards.

But that wave never reached Leon.

As Leon vanished into thin air, the cave completely collapsed simultaneously.

The collapse, which started from the lower levels, accelerated as it moved to the upper levels.

The sound of rocks and boulders crashing down and the clattering of collapsing debris created a deafening roar.

After what felt like an eternity, the storm of dust settled.

The witch with black hair, Lin, emerged from the rubble, pouting as she looked at the spot where the giant and the boy had disappeared.

“…I will find you.”