The Book Eating Magician

Fortunately, this Time Stop wasn’t complete. Theodore was facing the ‘wall’ of the 9th circle, but if this were a complete ultimate magic, his mind would’ve already stopped working.

Theodore put his strength into moving his finger but soon changed his mind. Unlike his mind, the nervous system of his body had completely stopped. It was impossible and had nothing to do with his effort.

‘I need to make the breakthrough with my magic.’

In order to overcome this situation, he had to break the transcendent’s Time Stop with his magic. A non-transcendent was trying to break the ultimate magic...?

Any magician would answer that it was impossible to succeed. It was the same for Theodore. Even if this Time Stop was incomplete, it was still the ultimate magic. Randolph was already neutralized, while Titania and Aquilo were outside the sphere of influence and couldn’t intervene.

Time magic was defined as the ultimate magic for a reason.

“□□□□...! □□□...!” The voice of the transcendent, who had been crying out like a madman, became thinner. His shaking body was gradually calming down.

‘Damn, there is no time.’ The transcendent would kill Theodore the moment this magic stopped. There was an illusion that Theodore’s hair was bristling as he accelerated his thinking desperately.

Neither one minute nor one second could be wasted. He gave up on all meaningless hypotheses and concentrated on breaking the ultimate magic.

Elemental magic was removed from the options, along with summoning magic. He couldn’t summon anything in a space where time was stopped, and he would be interrupted before he could chant a few words. His priority was to get out of the area of Time Stop.

Pajijik.

At this moment, a very small light appeared inside Theodore’s skull. It was a faint and weak electric current that he wouldn’t have been able to feel if it wasn’t for this situation. One second later, his super sensitivity screamed.

―It was coming!

Theodore didn’t know what it was, but he pulled out the three defense spells he had kept in reserve.

Block of Space.

Force Decline.

Shield - Impenetrable Wall.

They consisted of an 8th circle magic, Seimei’s shamanism, and a single wall of defense. These were enough to stop even a dragon’s breath. Then suddenly, a terrifying shockwave ripped through Theodore’s barrier.

―――――――――――!!

The world was cut off.

‘Time, acceleration, space compression...? They’ve all been inflated at once!’

It was concentrated on the area within one meter around Theodore, and the shockwave caused him to fly kilometers back into the swamp. The word ‘destruction’ was insufficient to describe the devastation. The surface was cut, the trees were slashed, and the air had evaporated.

Theodore returned a few beats later and looked at the destructive power of this blow. He couldn’t block it twice. If he hadn’t realized that Time Stop was being released, he wouldn’t be alive right now. Moreover, if he hadn’t prepared magic in advance or if he didn’t have his super sensitivity... Just lacking one of these elements would’ve killed him. Theodore analyzed the situation with cold eyes.

Fortunately, he had survived. Then what about Randolph?

“Theo! I’m fine!”

Theodore discovered Randolph dozens of meters away and sighed with relief. ‘Phew, the emergency escape magic circle seems to have worked properly.’

The escape magic circle was inscribed on Randolph’s sword just in case of an unknown situation. It was a magic circle that performed a Teleport to a random space when there was enough power to instantly kill the person. Unlike Theodore, Randolph didn’t have a means to stop the shockwave.

The problem was what came next. It was fortunate that Time Stop was released just before the attack―

“Hmm?”

No, that was wrong. Theodore looked back and his guess changed. It was a guess based on what the transcendent showed so far.

“Time Stop can’t be used in conjunction with attack magic...?”

The spark in his head just before the shockwave arrived had obviously been him sensing his lightning. Accelerating his thoughts with magic and Memorize had saved him. He hadn’t noticed it when he had been desperately using the spell, but he could see it now in hindsight.

“□□□! □□, □□!” The transcendent pointed the staff at him crazily and screamed out a strange grief. It wasn’t magical or meaningful. The wisdom that remained in the old body and traces of the soul had become tangled up and unclear.

Looking at the transcendent grimly, Theodore organized his thoughts. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but he envisioned a method to cope with Time Stop.

“Randolph! Stand as far as possible with the other two!”

“What? But...”

There was no time to explain. The transcendent was in an unstable state and could use Time Stop at any moment. After Time Stop, aside from Theodore, all of his colleagues would become helpless. With Theodore looking at him silently, Randolph processed the instructions with tight lips, “Tch, understood! Be careful!”

However, Randolph could tell that there had been an unrecognized attack and then he had appeared in a place that was dozens of meters away. He would’ve died if it hadn’t been for Theodore’s magic circle. His help would just be a burden to Theodore. So, Randolph moved away, and Theodore was finally left in a one-on-one situation.

‘It looks like the transcendent has set me as the priority. It is fortunate.’

It would be an unpredictable melee if the transcendent chased Randolph as it wasn’t possible for Theodore to protect his three colleagues, who were defenseless after the variable called Time Stop appeared. Nevertheless, Theodore’s chances weren’t high.

An imperfect transcendent and a mortal close to it... The difference wasn’t something that could be jumped beyond with luck.

“If you can win, fight. If you can’t win, don’t fight.”

It was a foolish way of living life. Clearly, he hadn’t committed to a modest way of life after passing through Seimei’s test. Theodore’s eyes glowed as he prepared to win. “Come, I will end your pain!” The transcendent pointed out with his staff as if in response to Theodore’s provocation.

Kiiiiing!

Once again, the world became black and white. It was Time Stop targeted at both the transcendent and Theodore. Theodore wasn’t a transcendent and was fine mentally, while the transcendent’s reaction speed was slowed. However, Theodore had already experienced this deadlock.

Memorize.

Then he triggered a magic one beat late.

Forced Harmonization.

Astral Plane Walker.

It was his first attempt to harmonize with shadow magic!

Sususuk.

The shadow rising from his foot spread throughout his whole body. He was wrapped entirely in black, not allowing a single ray of light to reach him. It was a shadow in a human shape that didn’t feel three-dimensional. This was the moment that a senior magician overcame physical limits by harmonizing with shadow magic.

“...Success?” Theodore realized that his mouth moved and knew that his hypothesis was correct.

The negative dimension connected to the imaginary world wasn’t influenced by time stopping. Of course, if it were just a shadow, then it would be stopped since the light didn’t move. However, Theodore mixed with the shadow could move at will.

He wasn’t helpless like before.

“□□□□....?” The transcendent muttered in confusion as it struggled with the phenomenon he couldn’t understand. However, Theodore was different. The shadow body moved according to his will.

Peeok! He smashed against the transcendent, who had yet to grasp what happened.

‘I can’t use magic in this state, but it doesn’t matter!’

It was different from when he used shadow magic. Theodore assimilated with the negative dimension and lost the right to use the mana of the material world for a short time. Since he belonged to a separate time and space, it was no longer possible to use magic normally.

Theodore put these thoughts aside and kept moving.

“□□! □□!? □□? □□□···!” The transcendent’s face was hit several times and quickly became bloody. In the few seconds that the transcendent took to grasp the situation, his body was hit by Theodore’s fists several times. However, after a while of this overwhelming superiority, the transcendent wielded his staff with a groan of pain.

“Eh?”

Time Stop was released. Theodore looked at the transcendent, who had moved far away, and took in deep breaths. In his shadow state, magic couldn’t be used. In other words, there was no way to attack the enemy floating in the air.

‘Tch, I couldn’t break his windpipe. Still, I have a way to cope with Time Stop...’

The trancendent’s one-sided advantage was gone. Theodore tried to predict the next development.

“Fool,” a voice was heard saying clearly, despite the distance. “You are busy shoveling with that miracle force.”

It was Simon Magus, a magician at the peak of the Age of Mythology and a transcendent who challenged the trial of the 10th circle. He looked down at Theodore with a contemptuous attitude while casting his Dimensional Banish magic. Theodore felt uncomfortable despite his feelings of awe toward Simon and was about to refute the words.

“Kuaaaak!” However, it was then that his assimilation with the shadow was lifted, and Theodore’s five senses raged. He struggled as thousands of colors and lights pierced his eyes, and scents pierced his nostrils. His eardrums burst from all types of noises and blood that flowed, while his stomach felt like he had eaten rotten meat.

It was a critical side effect that was completely unexpected.

“No living being can assimilate to the negative dimension. What happens if the coin is turned around again? It is more pathetic than you using garden scissors to cut the dimension,” the mocking words with some advice still flowed into Theodore’s ears as he struggled with the crazy sensations. “Listen carefully, fool. You already have the means to overcome your limitations. You just haven’t realized it. How can you be stupid enough not to realize?”

[Simon Magus’ advice has consumed 5,000 achievement points.]

“You don’t even know what ‘Gnosticism’ is and used the Abraxas. You almost completed it and don’t even know its value. If you were my disciple, I would’ve killed you a hundred times. Don’t worry about the shadows. If you have the strength to do that trick, hatch your own egg.”

[Simon Magus’ advice has consumed 11,500 achievement points.]

“Time Stop is a useful trick for mortals like you, but the bastard who relies on such a trick is nothing. If you lose despite my teachings, I will tear your soul in thousands of pieces.”

A system message followed every time the grim voice was heard. 5,000 points, 11,500 points... This abuse consumed achievement points? Theodore gritted his teeth as he struggled against the pain. He wanted to answer Simon.

‘Dammit, move it! Don’t talk anymore!’

His body trembled. Theodore looked in Simon Magus’ direction and barely opened his mouth, only to close it. It was because he remembered what he heard a few seconds ago.

‘What the hell did that crazy person say?’ Theodore desperately rolled his head. ‘Abraxas, egg, hatch? Am I a chicken?’

That’s right.

‘...Eh?’

He was a chicken.

Great magic Abraxas (ΑΒΡΑΞΑΣ)

The selflessness that came with enlightenment led to its own mana. Yes, mana of all attributes gathered and struck each other as if they were attracted. It was also pulled into the eight circles engraved on Theodore’s heart.

‘A magician’s body is its own world. If I want to go beyond the limit, I have to destroy that world.’

He could see it. The teachings mixed in with Simon Magus’ words and raised the spirit of Theodore, who was injured, to a higher level. Abraxas, which appeared in Gnosticism, was an angel of God with the head of a rooster, the body of a human, and the legs of a snake. Unlike humans, chickens and snakes were born in eggs.

If Theodore wanted to go beyond a human, he had to break his egg.

Forced Harmonization.

The power mixed into Theodore’s body, and the great magic Abraxas was turned on Theodore himself.

He spoke in a trance, “ABRACADABRA (It will be done as you say).”

It was the beginning and the end. The moment that Theodore’s eight circles were shattered, the last transcendent of this material world was born.