The crimson light shines brightly like a pillar reaching to the sky. It painted the dark purple sky with reddish glow.
The surrounding mana became restless as if it feared something.
Wind was blowing strongly from the light. It was as if it was running away from something.
The air became heavy making breathing so hard. The ground were shaking uncontrollably.
Black miasma appeared all over the place as if it was welcoming something.
Near the center, Mayleen stood still. Her hands were sweating and trembling slightly.
"What did you just do?"
She asked Krugl.
Krugl kept silent. He ignored Mayleen and was kneeling instead.
"I said what the hell did you just do!?"
Mayleen shouted and pointed her staff at him.
However, Krugl was still ignoring her.
"Bastard!!"
Her staff shined with bright light.
"Disintegー"
Just as she was about to cast her spell, the mana gathering on her staff suddenly dispersed.
"Whaー"
She opened her eyes wide in surprise.
The light on her staff grew faint slowly until it finally faded completely.
It was a mana break out. It usually happened to apprentice magician who was still training to cast a spell. It happened when the caster emotions affected their concentration which led to the mana became unstable and dispersed.
It also happened when the caster's concentration were disturbed. This is why a magician needs to be at the back rows and protected when casting spell. Because a slight disturbance could disturb the casting.
A skilled magician could still cast a spell even when under attack. It's not only for a magician, a skilled warrior or archer could still utilize mana while being attacked, running, dodging or even when they were attacking.
It was something that could be learned through experiences with time.
However, there was no way a high-level magician like her would let emotions get in the way of her casting or lost her concentration.
There was another cause for mana break out to happen. It was when the surrounding mana became unstable due to a disturbance. It happened a lot when someone were trying to cast a spell inside a special domain.
The most common example was a dragon's domain. A dragon could freely control mana inside their domain or even changed the terrain.
This is why defeating a dragon is hard to near impossible task. It was basically trying to defeat a powerful creature while not being able to control mana properly. This was proven by the numbers of people who became a dragon slayer in history which could be counted with one hand.
Something terrifying was affecting the surrounding mana.
Soon, the deep red light stopped shining. In return, a crack was created in the air above the magic circle.
"Ah, what a nostalgic air"
A voice was heard from behind the crack.
It was deep and hoarse. Just by hearing it could make one's hair stood up.
Mayleen gulped down her saliva. Her danger sense told her to run away as far as possible. However, her body won't listen to it. Her heartbeat became faster. Sweats were dripping on her face. Her mind felt heavy as if something was suppresing it.
Fear.
An emotion she already long forgotten through time.
It was something familiar to her when she was weak, but she forgot about it once she became stronger.
Something was coming out from the crack.
A tall silhouette took a step forward and finally came out.
It's figure was being covered with shadow. The moment it appeared, the atmosphere became heavy instantly.
Mayleen was breathing heavily. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Krugl was trembling as well. However, different from Mayleen, he was trembling in joy.
Krugl, who was kneeling bowed his head an gave his greeting.
"Welcome, my lord! We've have been waiting for your arrival"
The figure ignored him and kept looking around. He saw Mayleen's figure and walked towards her.
Tap, tap.
He was moving one step at a time.
There were only 10 meters between them. Usually, the distance could be closed in a blink of an eye.
However, everytime he took a step was like an eternity for Mayleen.
Closer and closer.
Her heartbeat became faster everytime that figure took a step forward. On the contrary, her mind became heavier and heavier to the point it slowed down her perception of time.
10 seconds. That was all it took for the man to reached her.
And yet, that 10 seconds felt like eternity for her.
"A human, huh? It's been a long time since I last meet one. Little one, tell me your name"
Mayleen was panting heavily. She was hoping to faint to escape this situation. However, her mental was stronger than most people. It was incredible for her to stay sane and not screaming in front of this being.
"Why are you not speaking? Don't you know it's rude to ignore people talking to you?"
"Kikikiki"
Krugl let out a weird laugh when he saw her condition.
"My lord, she was scared and clearly disrespecting you. You should've killed for not bowing to a great being like you!"
He said with a crazed look on his face.
Demon worshippers were the only people who would get excited from meeting a high-level demon. They were truly a bunch of lunatic.
"Noisy"
The demon pointed his finger at Krugl. A small black light was shot.
Krugl who didn't expect the lord he summoned would suddenly attacked him. However, before he could react the light was already pierced his head. A small hole was made on his forehead and Krugl fell lifelessly.
"I hate it when people distrurbed me"
After saying so, the figure turned his gaze back at Mayleen.
"I guess my presence is too much for you to handle. It can't be helped"
The shadow around him began to dispersed. Along with it, the surrounding atmosphere became lighter.
The miasma also disappeared along with the shadow. After that, the mana circulation turned back to normal.
A tall man with around 2 meters height on his 20s with grey hair and golden eyes appeared. A pair of black horn grew on his head. On his back there were 4 black wings along with a tail behind him.
"Now you should be able to answer my question. Who are you little one?"
The man was smiling. However, it looked sinister from Mayleen's point of view.
∆ ∆ ∆
"Amazing"
I commended Mayleen's skill.
She was battling the white-haired man in the air. Casting magic while also flying using "Levitation"was a hard thing to do. In the first place not every high-level magicians could use this spell.
"Levitation"was a high-level earth element magic that works by manipulating the gravity. It was a skill that could be learned at level 65. Back in the game,"Levitation"gave the caster flight status which makes them couldn't be targeted by melee attack. It also raised evasion rate by 30%.
It's a complicated spell that even in the protagonist party only the elf princess could use it.
It must be nice flying in the sky freely. It's ironic that wind element doesn't have skill to let the caster fly even though wind was supposed to be free.
At first, Mayleen was throwing wind element magic. However, she soon changed her strategy by using light element magic. She shot laser beams at the white-haired man. He tried to block it by putting a shield, but it was pierced.
They continued to fight with spells back and forth. In the end, Mayleen managed to get close blown his chest.
Soon, the white haired man fell into the ground with Mayleen following behind.
"Seems like it's over"
Irina muttered softly.
"Yeah"
As I thought, this event doesn't have anything to do with the main story because of Mayleen.
However, just as I was about to feel relieved, bright red light shot out into the sky like a pillar.
The atmosphere became heavy at once.
"What the hell is that?"
The deep red light gave out a dreadful feeling. The sinister light combined with the rioting mana and strong gust were something familiar to me.
A scary image flashed in my mind.
"No way..."
It calmed down after a while. However, instead of being relieved, I wanted to run as far as possible and hide, however I decided to stay and see whether my conjecture was right.
My body felt uncomfrotable I feel like throwing up. I took a glance and saw both Irina and Claudia complexion were deadly pale. I couldn't saw Rosetta's face but more or less she should be the same.
In the distance, I saw Mayleen flew high into the sky. Her body was covered with light aura. She waved her staff and casted multiple spells at once.
"Light Burst""Disintegration""Holy Smite"
She casted three light element magic at once.
I could feel her magic was far stronger than before even from a distance.
A huge explosion occured. However, she didn't stop and soon casted an AOE spell.
A force field was formed around her.
Just from the color of the aura I knew what skill she used.
"Gravity Field"
An AOE spell that reduced the enemy AGI by 25% and reduced their action speed.
It was a skill that Mayleen could use in overburst mode. She could control gravity more freely when she entered overburst mode.
Back in the game, overburst mode was something that could be accessed once the characters finished their awakening quest. It bring out their potential to the limit and enchant their power.
Overburst last for 3 turns. Once it ended, they will fall into weakness debuff where their defense was reduced by 200% and their atk reduced by 70%. The debuff could not be removed and will automatically gone after 3 turns. Overburst could only be used once per battle.
It was unexpected for her to use overburst considering the story was still at early stage.
A figure of a man could be seen was flying with his wings so casually even under the"Gravity Field". It's as if the field didn't the affect the man at all.
My mind went blank when I saw his figure. I have considered a high-level demon would appear the moment I saw the red light shot out into the sky.
However, I never thought a demon at his level would came out. A being that made me feel despair.
"Why is he here? It's still the early stage goddammit!"
I screamed internally.
Gran de Kaizer. The strongest demon among the four heavenly demons. Also, the younger brother of the demon lord.
A level 90 late game boss came out to the newbie map. What kind of shitty joke is this!?
"Haaaa. Human nowadays are lacking manners. I'm asking your name but you hit me with magic instead of answering my question"
Gran shook his head and sighed.
"Well, I don't mind accompanying you play for a bit"
After saying so, Gran waved his right hand and dark spears made out of mana appeared and shot at Mayleen.
"Guardian Veil!"
Mayleen casted a barrier to block his attack. The barrier cracked when it collided with the spears. Although she managed to stop it, half of the spears body pierced through the barrier.
"Who are you!?"
"Shouldn't you told me your name first?"
Gran shrugged his shoulders.
Mayleen gritted her teeth and casted another magic.
"Demon, die! Gravity Sphere!"
A concentrated gravity ball was shot at Gran. The surrounding mana along the path was pulled into it as it traveled.
Gran extended his right hand and caught the gravity ball.
He could feel his hand were being pulled, suppressed and twisted around.
"Interesting"
He murmured.
"Blast!"
Mayleen shouted.
The gravity ball in Gran's hand exploded at Mayleen's command.
The explosion wasn't big, however the damage was much higher.
"Hoo"
Gran exclaimed. He didn't expect Mayleen would explode it when he was trying to figure out it's magic component.
Mayleen was hoping it could destroy his arm, however to her disappointment, Gran was completely fine.
"You're interesting. Come and show me more of your power"
Gran laughed.
Seeing that her attack was ineffective. Mayleen narrowed her gaze.
"Fine. I will show you my power. If you could survive this, it's your win"
Mayleen closed her eyes and started chanting.
Mana began to surge around her. The ground was shaking because of the sudden rise of the mana level.
Light shined and pierced the sky.
After a while, Mayleen opened her eyes and raised her hands.
"Arcane Blast!"
A massive light came down from the sky and targeted Gran.
It was like a laser beam was being shot by some space battleship.
Gran looked upward. The bright light was blinding his eyes. He waved his hand and a black veil appeared around him like a shield.
BANG!
A loud sound was heard as the light hit him. He was pushed back into the ground. His shield was instantly destroyed.
A massive crate was created as the after effect.
Mayleen was panting and lost her ability to maintain"Levitation". It seemed like she exhausted her magic.
She fell into the ground with a thud sound. She turned her head around with difficulty and looked at Gran's direction.
There was some light bruises on Gran's body. However, other than that he was completely fine.
"What a monster"
Mayleen muttered with despaired look.
"Amazing. It's been years since a human managed to hurt me"
Gran said.
"As a reward for entertaining me, I won't kill you. However, it would be bad if news about me visiting this place were to spread around"
Gran raised his right hand when saying so.
"And so, I will alter the memories of everyone here. Consider this as my mercy"
A massive amount of mana was being generated in the sky.
Soon, a massive crack appeared. It was as if the space was cut by a sword.
The crack continued to expand until it finally opened.
I looked up into the crack and suddenly have a bad feeling.
"No way"
I murmured softly. My knees was shaking nonstop. I forced my mind to stay sane and use my hand to took out a magic scroll. I began to channel mana into it completely ignoring everything else.
A huge eye appeared from the crack. It was as if a god was peeking at the mortal world.
"I hope the next we meet, you can amuse me even more"
Grand looked at Mayleen.
"Memoir!"
The huge eye began to shine and flashed a dazzling light. The light soon spreaded through the entire Wisteria.
A moment before the light flashed out, time began to move very slowly in my perception.
In that instant moment, I unsealed the magic scroll. Light burst out from the scroll at the same time the huge eye flashed it's light.
The moment it flashed, I could feel my memories was starting to change. The light from my scroll was resisting it's effect and restored my memories.
I felt a sharp pain in my mind as my memories were being altered and restored over and over again.
After 3 seconds, I couldn't hold on any longer and lost my consciouseness.