Chapter 202 |
Sara Dunphy kept watching the forest.
She came down to the ground after confirming Martin Ruska and the heroes had completely left.
Seeing Sara Dunphy approaching, Choi Hyun-seok bowed his head.
“Thank you for coming.”
For some reason, Sara Dunphy wore a bitter expression.
“It’s nothing. I merely fulfilled my promise to you. If anything, I’m sorry I was too late.”
After briefly exchanging greetings,
She immediately examined Park Hyun-a.
“Fortunately, her life doesn’t seem to be in immediate danger. You treated her well.”
It was thanks to generously using expensive potions and Rachel giving her best effort in treatment.
“Ungh…”
At that moment, Park Hyun-a groaned and opened her eyes.
“Older sister, are you conscious!?”
“You’re so noisy… I’ve been conscious for a while now, you fool.”
In fact, Park Hyun-a had only briefly lost consciousness before quickly regaining it.
She had watched everything, including Sara Dunphy’s confrontation with Martin Ruska.
She just remained still because she didn’t have the strength to move or speak.
“You idiot. How could you pour the potion so recklessly? I almost died from choking.”
“I’m sorry.”
Choi Hyun-seok scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
It seems he went a bit overboard with pouring the potion in his urgency.
“How did you get here?”
Park Hyun-a asked while looking at Sara Dunphy.
“I had previously given Choi Hyun-seok demonic energy with the property of returning.”
The orb that Sara Dunphy had given him.
Inside it was demonic energy that had been specially magically treated.
It quickly returns to the user with the location information of that place.
“So you traced it back.”
“That’s right.”
Sara Dunphy was able to come here based on that demonic energy’s information.
There was a barrier preventing spatial movement nearby, so it took time to come from a bit further away.
“By the way, I didn’t know you were the type to put on such a show.”
Suddenly Park Hyun-a raised the corner of her mouth and grinned.
“Indeed, I couldn’t fool your eyes.”
Sara Dunphy smiled back.
Choi Hyun-seok’s head tilted at their conversation whose context he couldn’t understand.
“What do you mean by putting on a show?”
“That magic. It’s fake.”
Park Hyun-a gestured with her eyes toward the sky.
Looking up, black clouds made of demonic energy could be seen.
Dark clouds fill the sky.
The writhing clouds that looked like they could pour something down at any moment gave an intimidating feeling just by looking at them.
“That’s fake?”
Just the demonic energy emanating from the clouds was enough to make one’s flesh tremble.
Yet that magic was fake?
Sara Dunphy provided the answer to the question.
“It’s like an animal puffing up its body. It looks like it will do something when seen from the outside, but it’s not actually threatening.”
“Ah…”
“While most magicians wouldn’t notice, it was still a gamble for me as well.”
The reason Sara Dunphy used such deception was simple.
It was because she couldn’t guarantee how things would unfold when actually confronting the enemy.
“Their coordinated magic is very threatening.”
Sara Dunphy had fought the heroes before.
Although she achieved victory without much difficulty then, that was against 200 enemies.
This time it was 2,000, ten times that number.
Even if their strength had been reduced from fighting Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-a, the overwhelming numbers remained the same.
“Dolls moving mechanically without any emotions. Not only do they have no fear, but their coordinated magic is perfect without even a millimeter of error. At the same time, their individual combat abilities are also excellent.”
Sara Dunphy let out a light breath.
“To be honest, I couldn’t guarantee victory either.”
Honestly, she thinks she wouldn’t have actually lost.
Liam was here too, and the enemy was tired from battle.
“But Park Hyun-a here would have certainly died. Perhaps you too, Choi Hyun-seok.”
“…”
“So I tried a simple trick, and fortunately it worked well.”
Sara Dunphy smiled brightly.
Choi Hyun-seok felt her smile somehow looked cooler than usual.
‘That must be what experience and wisdom are.’
Simply fighting and winning isn’t everything.
While Sara Dunphy possessed power stronger than anyone, she achieved everything she wanted without fighting.
A clearer victory than what could be gained through combat.
Choi Hyun-seok felt there was much to learn from her.
“By the way…”
Sara Dunphy took one step closer to Park Hyun-a.
“You let your magical power run wild. Moreover, for some reason, your magical power has increased beyond what you can handle.”
“I had no choice. There was no other way.”
“Hmm, the damaged circuits will heal naturally but… The vessel is the problem.”
Sara Dunphy’s expression became serious.
“At this rate, the vessel containing your magical power will break.”
“What happens then?”
“One of two things. Either you’ll permanently lose the ability to use magic, or you’ll lose your life.”
It was the same as what Rachel had said earlier.
Choi Hyun-seok hurriedly opened the hero shop.
“Should we use more potions? Or healing magic?”
He thought the injury wasn’t healing because the treatment was insufficient.
Sara Dunphy shook her head.
“This isn’t something that can be resolved by treating external wounds. In fact, most of the external wounds have already healed.”
“Then…”
“As I said, the biggest problem is that you’ve acquired magical power beyond your limits.”
Choi Hyun-seok’s brow furrowed.
Magical power beyond limits.
He had a feeling it would be problematic, but he couldn’t understand specifically how it would cause problems.
At that moment, Sara Dunphy spoke.
“It’s simple if you think about a water pouch.”
“Water pouch…?”
Suddenly being told to think about a water pouch.
Choi Hyun-seok didn’t understand, but rather than asking questions, he quietly waited for the next explanation.
“What happens when you keep adding water to an already full water pouch?”
“Wouldn’t it burst? Or tear… Or get holes.”
“Correct.”
Sara Dunphy nodded and looked at Park Hyun-a with a serious expression.
“Here, the pouch is the vessel containing magical power, and the water is magical power.”
“Then…”
“Tearing or getting holes would be fortunate. It would stop at a level where you just can’t contain magical power anymore.”
Choi Hyun-seok swallowed and asked.
“If the water pouch bursts… Does that mean death?”
“Yes.”
“Is there no way to solve this?”
“The simplest solution is to break the vessel containing magical power beforehand.”
“What?”
Choi Hyun-seok blinked.
After saying that breaking the vessel means death, now she’s saying to break it.
However, this was Choi Hyun-seok’s misunderstanding.
“It means creating a wound before it bursts at its limit. As I said, it’s like tearing the pouch containing water. Then you won’t be able to use magic anymore, but your life won’t be in danger.”
Before it exceeds the critical point and explodes.
It meant creating a wound beforehand to let the magical power leak out.
“Can it be recovered later?”
“The established theory is that once a vessel is broken, it can never be recovered.”
“Hmm…”
In other words, she can never use magical power again.
Without magical power, not only can’t she use fighting techniques and magic, but even simple body enhancement becomes impossible.
Not that Park Hyun-a’s monstrous physical abilities would disappear though.
But she would be unable to exert even a quarter of her original power.
‘It’s better than dying but…’
Choi Hyun-seok’s expression darkened.
Is there really no other way?
Life and magical power.
A way to protect both.
“Don’t make such a gloomy face. I was prepared for this anyway.”
Park Hyun-a said while closing her eyes.
“I was getting tired of fighting anyway, so I might as well use my saved money to live like a rich person in some tourist city.”
“How can you leave me behind to struggle alone!?”
“Shut up. I’ve been working for years…”
“Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt your conversation.”
Suddenly Sara Dunphy cut in between them.
“While it’s the established theory that the vessel can’t be recovered, I know a method that others don’t.”
***
Pope Orban IV burst into laughter.
“Ha ha, failed again… I really didn’t expect it to fail this time too.”
The Hound Captain personally led all the members.
Not trusting that alone, they even mobilized the hero unit led by Martin Ruska.
Yet they say it failed again.
“And the damage is considerable too.”
It wasn’t just that the plan failed.
More than half of the Hounds died, and 154 heroes were disposed of.
Though it might seem insignificant compared to the total scale, it’s enough force to devastate an average kingdom.
Even for the Holy Empire of Gatren being a great power, such accumulated damage can only be fatal.
Then the reporting man continued his explanation.
“Fortunately, Park Hyun-a is likely beyond recovery now.”
“‘Likely’ means it’s not certain.”
“… I’m sorry.”
The Pope shook his head.
“What do you have to be sorry for? You’re merely reporting what happened.”
The man before him was just a messenger.
The Pope wasn’t foolish enough to lose his rationality in anger and take it out on the man before him.
“What happened to Ultimoon Fes?”
At the words, Ultimoon Fes, the man’s expression brightened.
This matter had definitely succeeded.
“Ultimoon Fes was completely annihilated. Leader Kerbe Cowell was beheaded and all major executives were killed.”
“What about our losses?”
“Other than soldiers and knights dying, there was no significant damage.”
The Pope smiled slightly.
Finally, some satisfactory content emerged.
Then the reporter carefully opened his mouth.
“Your Holiness. What shall we do with the informant?”
The informant.
This referred to one of Ultimoon Fes’s executives.
He had been acting as a spy for Gatren for a long time, which was something he chose himself rather than being ordered.
He came voluntarily offering to be a spy, asking for guaranteed wealth and status in the empire in return.
Gatren accepted his proposal but merely received regular information without taking any action.
They kept it in reserve until the appropriate time.
“You say he was one of their executives?”
“Yes. A hero from the Kingdom of Hegel. Though not reaching legendary status, he’s among the top tier of heroes.”
“Dispose of him. Someone who has betrayed once may betray again at any time.”
“Understood.”
He probably did this dreaming of success, but the Pope had no intention of treating him well.
Gatren is not so weak as to need to join hands with such a bat-like person.
So once his usefulness is gone, they simply dispose of him.
“And… Martin Ruska’s report contains information about the person who interfered with this matter.”
“Oh, I’d like to hear about that in detail.”
“Based on circumstances, they appear to be the same necromancer who used demonic energy in the Kingdom of Mariette.”
Curiosity appeared on the Pope’s face.
He had been searching for information about this newly emerged person of interest without success.
“Female who uses demonic energy but doesn’t appear to be a demon race, and identified herself as Sara Dunphy.”
“Sara Dunphy… Sara Dunphy…”
“Currently no one knows that name, so we’ve tasked the intelligence department with it.”
Suddenly the Pope’s eyes lit up as he stroked his chin.
“Look through the historical records of nations that disappeared in the past. Perhaps the name Sara Dunphy might be there.”
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