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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 162
If he possessed such skill, the Tower of Magic would have been in an uproar.
Why had they not heard of such a thing?
The two were unaware that the Tower had deliberately withheld information to keep the Association in check.
Regardless, if this boy, Leon, could truly control this massive disaster, then his significance would be far greater than they had initially thought.
However, logically speaking, it was impossible.
How many mages had tried to overcome this mana catastrophe before?
Understanding the principles and being able to control them were two entirely different matters.
Even now, the mana flow in the tunnel was becoming disturbingly turbulent.
It felt like handling a bomb that could explode if cut the wrong way.
At that moment, the younger sibling shuddered as if sensing something.
"B... Brother, something feels strange..."
"You two."
Leon's quiet voice reached their ears as he continued drawing a magic circle.
"You both seem to be skilled in different fields. You’re good at barrier magic, right?"
Without turning his head, Leon continued.
"You can cast a mana-blocking barrier, can't you?"
"We... We can, but..."
"I'll give you an opportunity. Try to withstand it. Since you two are responsible for making the collapse accelerate, you should at least do that much."
The moment he said that, Raida, the older brother, widened his eyes and urgently gathered his mana.
"B-Brother?! If you use magic here—?!"
"Shut up and assist me!"
At his shout, Ravena instinctively supported his magic, shaping the spell.
A protective field formed around them, and within seconds, a dense fog-like substance began to build up, signaling an overwhelming concentration of mana.
Something was wrong!
This was the phenomenon that occurred just before an unstable mana rift erupted!
In a situation like this, a mere mana-blocking barrier wouldn’t be enough.
Just like wearing fireproof clothing wouldn't stop a massive explosion.
"Hey! Can't you see what's happening?! This isn't the time for this! We need to get out of here first!"
Raida, forgetting to use formal speech, shouted at Leon.
Controlling a mana catastrophe was impossible after all.
But Leon remained silent.
Raida finally decided to forcibly drag him out if necessary.
The two of them were barely holding on with their barrier magic against the raging torrent of mana, yet Leon stood there without any protection, taking it all in.
A normal person would have bled out and died instantly from exposure to such dense mana.
"Damn it! Ravena! Sync with me! We’re getting out of here first! Then we’ll evacuate everyone in this area—urk?!"
The mana density was so intense that the siblings could no longer move; they had to focus entirely on maintaining their magic.
The pressure was far worse than they had expected, and both of them were now drenched in cold sweat, desperately holding on.
A mere 5th Circle wasn’t enough.
Even if they somehow pushed past their limits and became more accustomed to their level, it wouldn't solve the fundamental problem.
At best, all they could do was endure—and the longer they stayed, the worse things got.
“Ugh…”
Ravena, who had been assisting with the spell, suddenly clutched her stomach, her face pale.
Seeing this, Raida hurriedly pulled her into his arms for support.
“Stay with me! If you lose consciousness here, we’re done for!”
“Urgh… My stomach… It feels so bad… Ugh…”
He tried to snap her out of it, but he was in the same condition.
His sister, being more sensitive, simply showed symptoms first.
Soon, her hearing seemed to fail, and she screamed in pain without responding to his voice.
Mana catastrophes warped more than just magic.
First, hearing was lost.
Raida soon realized he could hear nothing but his own voice.
Then, smell.
Next would be sight.
When a person’s senses started shutting down, panic was inevitable.
Genius or not, experienced mage or not, neither of them had ever encountered this outside of theory.
Ravena was already on the verge of passing out, and their magic was beginning to destabilize.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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At that point, Raida’s instincts took over—protecting his twin sister was all that mattered.
He was desperate.
In this extreme situation, as a mere 5th Circle mage, all he could do was sacrifice his own body to shield her.
Even though he could barely hear, he kept shouting.
He had often been frustrated with his younger sister, annoyed by her lack of composure.
But in this moment of crisis, all he could think about was keeping her safe.
This won’t do.
Another approach is needed.
He pushed his brain to its limits, constructing a spell formula.
Even as his consciousness wavered, he remained desperate.
Though his organs began to malfunction and his muscles lost strength, he instinctively clung to his younger sibling and activated his magic.
Was it due to his desperate struggle?
Or was it the superhuman power that humans unleash when pushed to the extreme?
A small change began to manifest in his spell formula.
The wall that had remained stagnant for years was on the verge of opening.
But something was missing.
At this rate…
“Do you not know how to control the speed of mana circulation?”
Why was that?
Even though his hearing was clearly impaired, he could hear someone’s voice.
The tone carried a hint of mockery.
“Are you too scared to do anything? Ah, perhaps you only know two speeds—either too fast or unbearably slow?”
Acting on reflex, he applied a brake to his naturally flowing mana and gradually adjusted the speed.
The result was completely different from before.
Simply modifying the speed while maintaining a certain condition produced an effect of this magnitude.
Raida desperately clung to his consciousness and focused.
“Hah, you really don’t know how to handle mana, do you? Have you ever learned about the concept of mana density?”
The ridicule continued.
The mocking tone grated on his nerves, yet Raida’s magic grew more precise.
Despite the voice’s irritating manner, it pinpointed his flaws with uncanny accuracy.
And every time he corrected them, the stability of his magic improved dramatically.
Ah.
It was only then that Raida realized who the voice belonged to.
Unlike the two struggling desperately, a single figure sat there, handling mana with absolute composure—Leon.
Had his vision returned?
No, why was it suddenly much easier to endure?
It wasn’t just that his magic had improved.
Something had begun to envelop the entire area.
Not a complex spell, but an extraordinarily delicate manipulation of mana.
That alone was gradually securing their safety.
How could someone perform such a refined and colossal operation while remaining so unaffected in the midst of this overwhelmingly dense mana turbulence?
Ah.
It wasn’t that the situation didn’t faze him—he was simply a mage of such a high caliber that he never lost his composure in the first place.
How ridiculous must he and his younger sibling have seemed from that perspective?
Wuuuuung…
The magic circles that had been swirling chaotically around them all contracted simultaneously, converging at a single point.
Like a star collapsing before an explosion, they shrank at an immense speed.
Raida fixed his newly restored sight upon the spectacle, knowing he might never witness something like this again.
A massive magic circle that transcended a mere plane, filling every direction—above, below, left, and right.
The pinnacle of magic circle construction.
For the twin siblings who had devoted their lives to studying magic circles, simply witnessing it was an invaluable opportunity.
Even the advice Leon had given them amid this turbulent mana density had already led them to a tremendous breakthrough.
This isn’t a dream, is it?
Raida gathered mana into his palm, shaping it into an orb, and let out a breathless exhale.
Something that had eluded him no matter how much he practiced—now it formed effortlessly in his grasp.
As if entranced, still holding his younger sibling, Raida asked,
“What… just happened?”
“I stabilized it. Once the mana pillars are installed, the magic circle will sustain itself indefinitely, even without me.”
Leon gestured toward the magic circle now spreading throughout the space.
Could it be reverse-engineered and dismantled?
To be honest, Raida wasn’t confident.
Even if they managed to analyze its structure, undoing it seemed nearly impossible.
And considering the existence of the mana pillars, this magic circle was clearly just the beginning.
At this point, he had no choice but to trust it.
The mana that had been violently surging throughout the mine, on the verge of erupting at any moment, was now flowing in a singular direction.
Stabilizing a mana turbulence required an immense amount of energy.
But Leon had redirected the very energy of the chaotic mana flow to sustain the spell itself.
As if creating a massive self-sustaining engine.
Controlling the influx of external mana currents and using the resulting energy to perpetuate the magic circle…
Anyone could conceive of the idea, but executing it had always been considered impossible.
And yet, it was unfolding before their very eyes.
All Raida could do was stare in awe at the sheer beauty of the magic circle.
‘Who was truly the frog in the well?’
At first, he had thought Leon was nothing more than a spoiled noble blinded by self-interest.
But perhaps it was Raida himself who had been the naive one.
From Leon’s perspective, how laughable must they have been?
Yet, for that very reason, he had to ask.
“Leon Cascadia.”
At Raida’s call, Leon’s sky-blue eyes turned to him.
“This world is filled with mana catastrophes like this.”
“…”
Leon didn’t respond, but Raida continued.
“Please, won’t you join us? With your abilities, we wouldn’t have to evacuate people, nor suffer immense losses of supplies. If it’s compensation you desire—wealth, honor, special authority—we can offer it all…”
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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