The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 318

“…so you lost contact since then? For five days?”

“Right.”

“Hmm.”

The worry on Hoffman’s face was evident. Although his bad temper was apparent, his loyalty to Snow was undoubtable.

“…I don’t think there was anything wrong with what you said. It doesn’t seem like you’re lying, but there is one thing I don’t quite understand.”

“What is it?”

“The fact that you were taking the test to join the Swordnaz.”

Hoffman’s eyelids twitched slightly.

“Of course, Lady Snow’s thoughts and intentions are not something that a blockhead like me could understand. Nevertheless, it should be enough to trust my eyes, right? From what I see, you’re not good enough to become one of us.”

“…”

“Just asking, but are you a Swordsman?”

As he said that, his gaze drifted to the sword hanging from Lukas’ waist.

Lukas didn’t respond. Swordsman… Could he be considered a Swordsman now?

Hoffman snorted at Lukas’ silence.

“You’re not. I can tell that much just from looking at you. Because the body of a person who is used to holding a sword carries certain traces. At best, you have probably been training with the sword for less than a month.”

“…”

“Then is that sword just for self defense… or are you a Wizard?”

“No.”

It was Yuriah, not Lukas, who responded to this question.

“That man is not a Wizard.”

Lukas never thought there would be a day when someone denied him being a Wizard, but it was an unavoidable truth.

He had no choice but to gently accept it. In the past, this might have caused him to feel a bit gloomy, but he’d received a great shock not so long ago, so it was only able to cause a small amount of damage. (TL: Emotional damage)

“Then… What’s so special about you?”

Hoffman asked in a reluctant tone.

Like the first time they met, he wasn’t being intentionally malicious. It seemed that he simply wanted to know why Snow acknowledged Lukas.

Of course, although Lukas also wanted to meet their expectations…

Most of the mana in this area that had been mixed in the atmosphere disappeared because of the fierce flames that burned everything away.

Even if he drew his sword and swung it…

…

…

As expected, he could not use magic in such an environment.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

With a soft mutter, Lukas returned his sword to its sheath.

The degree of doubt in Hoffman’s eyes became stronger.

Yuriah no longer showed any interest in him. Now that she’d received all the information about Snow, it felt like she no longer cared about his existence.

“Ah. You there. Do you want to just stay here?”

“Why?”

“Compared to where we’re about to go, isn’t this place safer?”

Although it was a bit stiff, it seemed that she was being considerate in her own way.

Or perhaps she was just looking down on him.

“We’re going to reunite with Eric and the rest first. It’s highly likely that we will encounter the Monster Queen, and eventually fight the threat that Lady Snow is currently facing.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Don’t you know that you might die?”

“I don’t care.”

“…”

“Hey, just leave him be. He probably wouldn’t understand even if you kept explaining it to him.”

After Hoffman said this, Yuriah didn’t say anything more.

“The Queen might be nearby. There might also be other threats lurking in the forest, so it’s better to keep a close eye on our surroundings and follow them at as cautious a speed as possible.”

“What? Wouldn’t Eric die then?”

“No matter how upset he is, he wouldn’t try to fight with only three people.”

“Bullshit. You’re only saying that because you didn’t see the look in his eyes as he left.”

Hoffman and Yuriah soon began to bicker. The atmosphere of their back and forth was quite fierce. In fact, it felt so harsh that they didn’t appear like teammates at all.

It felt like they had a bad relationship from the start.

Perhaps Eric was the one who usually mediated between the two.

—But it soon became impossible for them to hurry like Hoffman initially wanted them to. Of course, this wasn’t because he’d finally agreed with Yuriah’s opinion or anything of the sort.

“…what… is this?”

Hoffman poked at the air in front of him with a smile. His thick fingers seemed to be blocked by something invisible.

It wasn’t the air. It wasn’t visible, but it seemed like there was a wall in front of them.

“What’s this?”

Hoffman muttered again.

Yuriah, who was wearing a conical hat, stepped forward.

“…a barrier.”

“What did you say? A barrier? Then break it.”

“I can’t.”

“What?”

“I’ve never seen such a solid barrier before. Its structure makes it impossible to break from the outside. The person who created this is a much stronger Wizard than I am.”

Yuriah bit her lip.

She probably had a lot of pride in reaching such a level.

“Hmm.”

Hoffman lifted the sword that was hanging from his shoulder. It was a sword large enough to be mistaken for a small tree, and it seemed to weigh quite a lot, but Hoffman was able to lift it easily with one hand.

Then he took a stance.

“Hup!”

Then he swung it.

It sounded like the air was torn apart.

Bang!

Then, the sound of an explosion rippled through the area as sparks were sent flying. Hoffman grit his teeth and pushed down on the sword with all his strength, but there wasn’t even a scratch on the barrier. He kept going till his face became red and his blood vessels looked like they were about to pop.

“…kuah!”

Shortly after, Hoffman raised the white flag.

Panting, he stabbed his sword into the ground.

“Holy shit. It’s so hard. Son of a bitch. I’m sure Eric is in there…”

“Probably.”

“Did they put that much effort into separating us? Or was this just a coincidence?”

“I’m not sure.”

Lukas ignored their conversation and approached the barrier.

“…”

Then, he rubbed his hand across it.

Yuriah’s judgement hadn’t been wrong.

This barrier had been formed by someone above her level. It was very sturdy, and he couldn’t find any openings.

…8 stars? Or 7 stars with a talent for barrier magic.

Lukas narrowed his eyes. It was difficult to determine the strength of that person with just this spell.

“Then what will we do now? We can’t just wait here till they die, can we?”

“It’ll take some time, but I’ll try to find an opening.”????????????????ℯ????????. ????૦ｍ

“What can I do to… Hey, what are you doing?”

It was only then that Hoffman noticed Lukas’ actions.

“Analysing.”

“That’s a high level barrier. It’s not something that someone who doesn’t understand magic can analyse.”

Ignoring him, Lukas drew his sword.

“Hey. Don’t do anything weird. Put your sword away. If you swing it incorrectly, you might injure your wrist…”

He ignored those words too.

He needed all of his concentration at that moment.

…This was different from Peran’s barrier last time.

Because this time, instead of modifying the barrier and digging into the cracks, he had to destroy it completely.

He wasn’t sure if it’d work, but it was worth testing.

The joints that connected mana. In terms of size, these gaps were thinner than hairs, but that didn’t matter. In fact, it was pretty easy for him to find them.

After all, barriers were fixed spells.

The realm that Lukas was aiming for was to be able to break down spells that were flying towards him at incredible speeds before they could reach him.

In other words, fixed spells like barriers were fairly easy to break.

‘Found it.’

An opening.

Without hesitation, Lukas stabbed his sword into the small crack that only he could see.

Well, it couldn’t be considered stabbing.

This was because his sword entered gently, like a paper knife into a cake.

Crack.

The sound of something being pierced caused Yuriah’s eyes to widen.

“Uh…?”

Subsequently, a black crack appeared in the air.

It was a crack that stemmed from Lukas’ sword.

Crack crack!

Like cracked glass, the cracks quickly began to spread.

Its momentum was as terrifying as a charging herd of bulls.

Crash!

Soon after, the invisible barrier shattered completely. The falling barrier fragments were harmless. After retrieving his sword from the falling fragments, Lukas briefly reported his success.

“I broke it.”

When he said that…

“…whaa-?”

For the first time, Yuriah’s expressionless image was shattered as she asked back foolishly.