The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 326

That day, Nix should not have been away.

“…”

Black ashes covered the ground.

She knew what these ashes used to look like.

“Ah… ahhh…”

Her hoarse voice pierced the silence.

Nix collapsed on the spot.

Then she slowly began rubbing the ashes with her palms.

Trickle.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

The moment she touched those ashes, she knew that the possibility she wanted to deny was an unavoidable reality.

“…why?”

Nix was clearly aware.

Even though they were called Phoenixes, that didn’t mean that they were actually immortal. (TL: Phoenix and Immortal are homonyms.)

“…why?”

She murmured again, but no one was there to answer.

But she wasn’t even asking herself.

Nix’s murmur was nothing more than meaningless whining.

“Ah… uh… ah…”

Her head throbbed.

She had a splitting headache. It felt like someone was driving a nail into her skull.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

That was the moment when the headache that would torment her for years first arrived.

With a wince, Nix got to her feet.

“…”

Her hair fluttered gently even though the wind was not blowing.

“…”

The dead Phoenixes only left ashes behind.

She knew what that fact meant.

…Phoenix feathers.

As a material wanted by many fields, phoenix feathers were considered treasures with infinite value. However, they transformed into simple feathers when the phoenix died.

But the expedition party didn’t care about that, after all, they had the solution.

All you needed to do was pluck the feathers when the Phoenix was alive. Then, the feathers would continue to burn with unquenchable flames

It wasn’t just the feathers.

The beak, eyes, tongue, and even the claws. She was certain that they had taken every part that was of any use.

She could also imagine how frightening it must have been. How painful it must have been… And how much they must have hated them.

The Phoenixes that were on the mountain had been brought there by none other than Nix herself.

She’d gathered all of those who had been living on their own around the continent.

That’s why Nix felt that it was her responsibility and duty to protect them.

But she’d failed to uphold it.

She shambled to the top of the mountain.

She could feel the heat now.

Humans…

The ones who trampled upon her territory with their muddy feet were holding a banquet with happy expressions on their faces.

It was at that moment that she realised.

The fact that annihilating Nix’s people was nothing more than a war achievement for them.

They were dancing around a bonfire, clashing wine cups together, and hugging each other around the shoulders.

“…haha.”

A soft chuckle escaped her lips.

…The urge to vomit surged up.

“Stop! Who are you?”

A sentry shouted in a cautious tone.

Instead of answering, Nix simply waved her hand.

Flames sprouted from the tips of her fingers and swallowed the sentry whole.

“…!”

The fire didn’t even give him the chance to scream. His entire body was burned in an instant and his ashes fell to the ground.

“Wh-, what’s going on?!”

“Enemy!”

The subjugation force quickly readied themselves for battle.

Each of them drew their weapons and surrounded Nix.

“You all… What the hell did you do?”

She muttered in a soft voice, but no one heard it except her.

“N-, Nick is dead!”

“It’s an unidentified enemy! Wizards to the rear!”

“4th and 5th Knight Divisions, subdue the enemy!”

Nix grabbed her head and screamed.

“Why the hell did you do that!?”

Fwoosh!

Flames rushed from her body.

The ones in the frontline who were looking directly at her felt their eyes burn before their bodies went up in flames soon afterward in a scene reminiscent of Nick.

In truth, they could still be considered lucky.

The Knights were the ones who suffered the most. The heavy armour they were wearing was engraved with high grade temperature resistance runes. But in this case, it was their greatest misfortune. The runes on the armour had a greater effect on the wearer than on the equipment itself. This prevented the Knights’ bodies from being turned to ash, and instead, allowed them to gain the experience of dying by having their armour melt into their flesh.

Crash, crash…

The 4th and 5th Knight Divisions, the B rank Mercenaries, the C rank Mercenaries, 200 infantry units, and ten Battle Mages.

Those were the ones that had been killed by Nix’s first eruption.

“Ah… uh…”

The Knight Commander and 6 star Wizards, those who could be said to have steel like wills, couldn’t help but take a few steps back as they felt genuine fear for the first time in their lives.

Nevertheless, Nix didn’t intend to let them off.

Not a single human there would be able to escape with their lives.

She would never allow them.

Nix hated humans.

‘…hate?’

That word made her feel strange.

Did she like humans in the first place?

Right. It seemed that she did like them at first.

When she remembered that, an indescribable warmth flowed into her heart.

At that moment, the memory of her sitting in the cool shade of a tree as someone stroked her hair filled her with the warmth like the sun.

[…stop!]

She heard a faint voice.

Nevertheless, she didn’t feel panicked or surprised. It was a voice she heard from time to time.

It was nothing but an ordinary auditory hallucination.

“Shut up.”

She spoke in a low voice.

Ignoring her splitting headache, Nix spread her wings.

She was going to kill all of the annoying humans.

Nix looked at the man standing in front of her.

He had white hair, a thin body, and seemed to have a weak looking arm and leg.

Weak.

Even among the humans, he was particularly weak.

Nevertheless, the impression he left on her was greater than any human she’d ever encountered before.

…Those eyes.

They felt familiar.

Flash-

“U-, urg…”

Suddenly, her head began to hurt so much she felt like screaming.

She’d never felt such intense pain before in her life.

That wasn’t all. Her heart began to ache.

Looking at this human made her heart ache.

“I hate it.”

She hated feeling more pain.

“…I don’t know anyone like you.”

Nix took a deep breath before exhaling harshly like she was about to faint.

“So don’t recklessly call me by my name.”

“…”

Once again, his expectations had been trampled upon.

He didn’t know.

He didn’t know that having your existence denied over and over could be so hard to bear. In the end, the conversation with Nix did nothing other than dig further into his wounds.

Lukas looked at Nix.

She had changed. She had changed so much. Compared to her, Iris and Ivan’s changes were not that significant.

She was like a completely different person now.

…Lukas knew her secret.

Torkunta. The ego of the thousand year old Drake King lived on inside her. Then what if the person in front of him now wasn’t Nix, but Torkunta instead?

‘No.’

That wasn’t true.

This was Nix.

Lukas was certain that this was the young Phoenix that he’d saved in the Ispania Mountains.

“…Nix.”

What the hell happened to her?

Just as Lukas was about to ask.

Pak!

Someone suddenly came running up to him and grabbed him with their thick palm.

It was Hoffman.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“…”

“Dammit. Why the hell do you think that monster would talk to you? Thousands of people have been burned at the hands of the Monster Queen!”

Lukas turned to look at him.

“…why does she hate humans?”

(TL: Sometimes I wish the author would make the transition between past and present more clear.)