Chapter 104: Iris

“Iris…?”

“Long time no see, Yoschua Verdiol. Though I can’t get used to that look.”

At my words, Iris grinned and spoke.

It was a voice and a smile I hadn’t heard or seen in quite a while.

The last time I saw her… was when I came out of End Cave and saved Jihyeok.

That was three years ago.

But despite the passage of time, Iris’s appearance hadn’t changed at all.

“I heard you were sealed. How?”

“Thanks to you.”

Saying that, Iris’s gaze turned toward the Demon God.

“While you were keeping the Demon God’s attention, I barely managed to break free.”

“Is that so…”

“But what’s with that look? I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“There are… circumstances here.”

Even though my appearance had changed drastically from before, Iris seemed to recognize me.

That was probably thanks to the ability she possessed.

Iris has the power to sense mana. That power had brought us together.

When we first met, Iris said she’d never seen anyone with as much mana as me.

To the point that she said she suffered from headaches and high fever until she got used to it.

“I’ll save you now.”

Iris reached her hand out toward me. Then, with a comfortable feeling, my body floated and moved right to her side.

The Demon God could have blocked that action with spell cancellation, but he deliberately didn’t. For some reason, I thought I understood why.

“Looks like I got too excited. Well, doesn’t matter.”

The Demon God said, laughing as if he were enjoying himself.

“I’ll take you both on at once.”

He must be confident he can win even with the two of us joining forces.

That bastard only sees this fight as entertainment.

‘…Is that the only thing to exploit?’

In other words, he’s letting his guard down.

Thinking that he was letting his guard down against me was a bit irritating, but I had to admit what I had to admit.

True to his name as the Demon God, that bastard is strong.

And so, he’s arrogant.

There’s only one way for us to beat him.

Exploit that arrogance.

“Can you fight?”

Iris asked me.

“What about you? How long has it been since you were unsealed?”

She must have been trapped here for a considerable amount of time, yet it was almost amazing to see her standing and moving around fine.

“I’m fine. Just don’t you die on me, Verdiol.”

Iris said with a snicker.

“…Of course.”

Our gazes turned to the Demon God at the same time.

Right after.

As if we’d made a pact, Iris and I moved simultaneously.

Running toward the Demon God, I immediately cast a spell.

Five magic circles formed. I fired spells, each with a different attribute, at the Demon God.

Meanwhile, Iris chanted a rapid incantation from behind.

Soon, a platinum-gold magic circle formed before her.

Iris’s magic attribute was metal.

The objects she shaped rose into the air and launched toward the Demon God.

The Demon God didn’t stay still either. He fired the meteor-level fireball he’d shown me earlier indiscriminately toward the ground.

“Verdiol!”

Iris shouted my name as she created a massive metallic magic circle.

I ran to her side while pouring spells at the Demon God.

*KWAANG!*

A shower of meteors. But the meteor shower the Demon God created couldn’t break through Iris’s metallic magic circle.

Her magic contained the power to nullify all attributes of magic.

And it seemed even the Demon God couldn’t do anything about that power.

“Still got it, huh.”

I marveled at Iris, who was freely displaying her magic as if being sealed was nothing.

“But my power doesn’t work on the Demon God.”

Just as Iris said, the metallic magic she shaped and fired couldn’t wound the Demon God.

The moment they touched it, they just passed through.

Since neither could harm the other, the two of them had been trapped in End Cave all this time.

“Then what do we do?”

“What do you mean, what do we do? You’re the one who has to take it down!”

“Ah.”

“Your reactions got really cute? Is it because your appearance changed?”

“…Just, a lot of stuff happened.”

“You seem better now than back then.”

“My looks?”

“No.”

Iris let out a playful snicker.

“Overall?”

“Is that so.”

“Verdiol.”

“Yeah.”

“Can you do it?”

Iris’s gaze turned upward toward the sky.

There, a magic circle so vast it felt distant even to me was spread out.

Asking if I could handle that.

“Of course I can.”

I wasn’t the type to give up.

“Then go. While we were talking, I injected my mana into you.”

Iris’s mana.

The power I’d coveted so much three years ago.

Because even I, called the Great Mage Hunter, had never been able to replicate or imitate her magic.

“Are you sure about this?”

On top of that, Iris had always hated how I coveted her magic. I never expected her to just hand over her power to me like this.

“Maybe not back then, but now it feels fine. And besides, we have to take that bastard down, don’t we? That way we can save the friends you brought along too.”

“Thanks.”

“You were never the type to say things like that.”

“I’ll be different from now on.”

“Yeah, well then—”

Before Iris even finished speaking, I leaped out of the magic circle she had created.

“Come back safe, Verdiol.”

* * *

Blazing heat.

A downpour of meteors.

I squeezed through the gaps and soared into the sky.

“You’ve gotten your hands on an annoying ability, Verdiol!”

The Demon God’s shout rang out from afar.

“But that makes it more fun! Fighting only you is more entertaining than having an outsider interfere!”

“Is that so.”

To the Demon God, who was firing meteors with a voice full of ecstasy, I answered in a calm tone.

I had obtained Iris’s power.

*Kuuwoong—!*

A meteor came flying.

I reached out my hand toward it.

What unfolded was a brilliant golden magic circle.

Iris’s magic, which gave off such a distant feeling that even I found it hard to comprehend, was something I’d always coveted.

So much so that every time I got greedy, Iris would freak out.

The fact that Iris had given me this power…

‘She must mean for me to win for sure.’

I clenched my fist. At that moment.

*CRUNCH!*

The magic circle exploded, and the hundreds of meteors fired at me compressed as if being crushed in a fist, then vanished.

“Don’t regret it.”

The moment I gained the power, I boldly declared war on the Demon God.

“I’ve been going easy on you until now.”

The Demon God had clearly been holding back against me.

The bastard, who had lived in boredom for so long, said that the only joy in its life was fighting me.

Even though it was holding back. That’s how much it liked me—even now, it wasn’t showing its full strength.

The reason for that…

Was because it wanted to fight me for as long as possible.

“Kuhahaha! Breaking that arrogant attitude of yours will be plenty enjoyable too, Verdiol!”

Wearing my face, the Demon God stretched out its hand with a wicked grin.

A violet magic circle formed above its palm.

It was different from everything before.

Light of annihilation.

A non-attribute ultimate magic.

An explosion spell even I, who can handle multiple high-level magics, couldn’t replicate.

But even that wasn’t its full power.

‘Going all out now would bruise its pride.’

So it was a provocation.

“Can you withstand this, Verdiol?”

The light shot forth and fell toward me.

I reached out my hand against it.

A metallic magic circle spread wide in front of my palm.

At that moment.

—Senior.

—Ms. Verdi!

—Miss Verdi.

—Do well, Verdiol.

Everything that had happened so far flashed before my eyes like a lantern reel.

There wasn’t a single bad scene in it.

It felt strange.

Before, if I let my mind wander for a moment, all I heard were voices condemning me as a murderer.

Not anymore.

‘…Give me strength.’

My comrades.

I chanted the spell, thinking of them.

Then, from the wide-spreading metallic magic circle, a tiny construct formed, out of proportion to its size.

It took the shape of a sword.

I grasped that sword without hesitation.

The moment I held it, the magic circle shrank little by little until it was just large enough to envelop my body.

Light wrapped around me.

A rising surge of exhilaration.

I felt like I could do it now.

And.

“……!”

I poured all my mana into the sword in my hand and swung it.

The blade of light created by the sword shot toward the light of annihilation.

The moment the two different lights collided.

—KWA-A-A-A-ANG!

A massive explosion of light erupted across the entire space, and the world was dyed pure white.

* * *

End Cave.

While Verdiol had vanished with the Demon God, the other Hunters were locked in battle with the S-Rank Demon Beasts the Demon God had summoned.

In the midst of that.

“…Senior?”

Jihyeok, who had been struggling against a Demon Beast, felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine.

He wasn’t the only one.

“Did you feel that too?”

“Seems I wasn’t the only one.”

Deneb and Marcel felt the same thing.

“…No way.”

At that moment, Jihyeok realized.

That something had happened to Verdi.

It was the very moment Jihyeok glared at the Demon Beast, desperate to save her as quickly as possible.

“Wha, what?”

“The Demon Beasts…!”

“They’re gone!”

Baffled shouts rang out from all around.

Just as they cried out, the forms of the Demon Beasts the Hunters had been fighting grew hazy, then vanished without a trace.

The Demon Beast that had been pressuring Jihyeok and his party just moments ago was also gone.

“What the hell happened?”

The moment Jihyeok muttered that.

Everyone connected to Verdi, including Jihyeok, realized it on their own.

“She did… it.”

That Verdi had finally defeated the Demon God.