The Book Eating Magician

The first attack was from Theodore. The lightning in his hand collided with Jerem’s shield.

Kwarurung!

The lightning spear was pushed down and exploded the ground around it. If this were a desert, then the phenomenon, ‘glassing’, would occur. Dust clouds rose from the explosion and covered the whole area. Nonetheless, Theodore did not hesitate to advance. His eyes weren’t covered by the dust, and he felt like this was the last chance. Super sensitivity—it was the intuition that appeared again after being silent in Nídhöggur’s presence.

‘Jerem’s magic power isn’t infinite. The level of the undead has fallen, and my side has a chance to win.’

The burden on Jerem couldn’t be compared to before after Nídhöggur started moving in earnest. Moreover, Jerem’s power had declined, while Theodore was still hiding a few trump cards. For example, what about the magic scrolls he had gotten a while ago?

“Gluttony, release number 112 to 119 from the inventory!”

-Understood.

At Theodore’s words, eight magic scrolls popped out from his left hand. It was part of the rewards he got from Paragranum after going to Paracelsus’ laboratory a while ago. There were 12 scrolls of 7th circle magic, and he chose eight that were useful for combat. He invoked all of them without any errors.

Wuooooong!

Overwhelming magic power shone from the scrolls.

‘Someone else might think this is a waste of money!’

The 7th circle scrolls could buy a small territory, and now eight of them were being used at once. The scrolls floated in midair and fired the 7th circle magic.

A heavy storm emerged from a scroll.

Tongues of fire emerged from another scroll.

There was a scroll that shot out lightning bolts.

There was also a scroll that froze a certain amount of space.

Additionally, there were several other attack spells that hit Jerem.

There was a loud explosion, and the earth shook.

If used properly, this was a chain of attack power that could kill a sword master in one go. However, Theodore plunged into the storm he created without much expectation. It was powerful but not enough to destroy the wall of darkness or Jerem’s immortality.

‘It is enough to stop him for a moment.’

Unsurprisingly, a being stood in front of Theodore after he entered the storm. The eyes of the death knight, an undead strong enough to survive the 7th circle attack magic, glowed brightly. However, its body wasn’t in a perfect state. Theodore blocked the sword aiming at his throat and stabbed the death knight with Soul Calibre a few times. The death knight’s immortality was completely destroyed, and it crumbled. The death knight hadn’t been at a level to completely endure the power of the 7th circle magic scrolls, but it couldn’t avoid the spells due to the presence of its master behind it.

“...Being used as a shield? It was a vain end.”

However, Jerem’s thoughts were a little different. Beyond the dust, his white jawbones moved as he spoke, “A servant should be satisfied about protecting its master. Everybody has a place and role. Its role was to sacrifice itself for me.”

“Ha, is that so?” Theodore laughed without questioning it. “Then isn’t the role of the evil warlock to fall before me?”

“Let’s see?” A red light flashed in Jerem’s eye sockets, and he raised thin finger bones. Then he pointed to Theodore and declared in a loud voice, “True evil doesn’t disappear.”

With those words, the conversation ended. There was nothing more to be said. Jerem chanted a short spell before Theodore could act. Then translucent evil spirits rose from the ground, grabbing at Theodore’s ankles and body. He was caught in their terrible grip, and his vitality sucked out.

This was Drain Specter, which took away the vitality of a living being through contact.

[Huhu, how ridiculous!]

This was insignificant to the old heroes.

Kiiing-

Soul Calibre flashed a few times, cutting the necks of the evil spirits that tried to approach Theodore. Even the spirits under the ground were destroyed.

“Indeed, that sword is a special magic that kills the soul. I now understand why the Four Horsemen couldn’t go against you.” Jerem black magic moved in an ominous manner as he talked. “It isn’t effective against physical defenses and can’t be used if you aren’t close. It is impossible to use unless it is by a variant like you.”

“What, variant?”

“A magician who is able to use a hodgepodge of things. No, isn’t it because of Gluttony? Hahaha, you are really lucky to eat everything...” Jerem spoke with a blank expression and raised his finger, setting up a barrier of bones around him. He looked similar to the reaper beckoning from across the river of death. “Come, my last adversary.”

Simultaneously, Theodore’s body became a flash of blue.

Kwarurung!

He rushed lightly with his lightning body. The distance between them was 30 meters. Before Theodore arrived, Jerem used four black magic spells in the blink of an eye.

Call of the Living Dead.

The undead appeared without any precursors and blocked Theodore’s way, while three curses tangled around their bodies. They were curses for the living but powerful blessings for the undead. The undead reached master level in a few minutes and roared loudly, Kuoooooooh!

‘Tch, annoying.’ Theodore stopped and stared at them. ‘These undead have excellent physical abilities and are hard to defeat with Soul Calibre. I will take a few minutes penetrating through them in an ordinary way.’

However, Theodore had Gluttony. He had no problem communicating with Gluttony in this accelerated state. The speed of his consciousness was faster than lightning.

‘Gluttony. Number 238!’

-You are going big.

A scroll popped out from his left hand, and he threw it forward. There were five magic scrolls with 8th circle magic. The scrolls that hadn’t been able to be used so far due to lacking power now saw the light.

“Open, Basilisk’s Eye!”

The special 8th circle magic shot out petrification rays and hit the lumbering bodies of the undead. The muscles, skin, and bones of the undead were just good prey for the petrification rays. The undead physically strengthened by Jerem couldn’t resist! They were relatively resistant to magic, but the undead couldn’t hold on for long and soon turned into stone.

Theodore ran past the stone bodies. It might seem good, but the basilisk’s petrification caused by the scroll wouldn’t last longer than five minutes. This meant it would be a mess if he didn’t finish the fight in that time. It had to be a short and decisive battle.

Lightning shot out from Theodore’s left hand and struck the defensive wall made of several layers of bone. The air froze. Then the power of the two strong men collided, and silence fell as the space was torn apart by the power. Theodore extracted a tremendous amount of magic power from the dragon heart and increased the size of Soul Calibre to nearly 3 meters. He was prepared to cut Jerem’s body at any time.

“Jereeeeem!”

“Theodoreeeee!”

The heavy silence was broken, and strong magic that no one else in this age could reproduce sprang from the hands of both of them.

Fire, lightning, storm, darkness, light, and space...

The attack magic tore the air apart, and the heat fell to the ground, changing wet soil to lava. Two minutes hadn’t even passed, but the fight was several times more violent than what had come before it.

Theodore’s Soul Calibre cut off Jerem’s left arm. Jerem’s Arrow of Corruption struck Theodore’s stomach. A shadow blade emerged from the ground and shattered Jerem’s feet. Ancient magic interfered with the blood flow in Theodore’s arteries.

These attacks kept continuing and repeating. Theodore’s living body became a mess, while Jerem’s immortal body received several penalties from the continuous magic. The durability of the undead was their strongest power in combat. It was clear that Theodore wouldn’t be able to finish this in five minutes.

...That was only if Jerem hadn’t made a mistake.

“Grudge of the Afterlife, curse him!” Jerem had Theodore’s memories and knew most of Gluttony’s functions, but he didn’t know about what had happened after he’d acquired them.

Hall of Fame was a special ability that allowed the user to borrow the power of registered magicians and receive their teachings. A few minutes ago, Theodore asked for help from a great man. It was Abe no Seimei’s Curse Protection, a fraudulent help that blocked all curses at the 8th circle and below.

‘Now!’ Theodore’s body moved the moment the curse was used. He accepted the curse without trying to avoid or block it and plunged toward Jerem’s body without hesitation.

It was checkmate through a foul!

“―What?!”

As Theodore raised his right arm, the shocked Jerem canceled the spell he was casting and his jawbones moved. It wasn’t too late to use an Order. Although it might not have as much power as before, it would be sufficient to stop Theodore for a moment.

「Закройте (Shut up)! 」 Theodore’s Dragon Words were spoken first, and Jerem’s jawbones snapped shut. Theodore put to good use the moment Jerem tried to use an Order. A magician who couldn’t cast lost half his power. Then the sword of the soul fell like a guillotine toward Jerem’s head.

Kiiiiing!

Vertical and horizontal—the sword sliced at Jerem’s body from all directions.

“Urgent Order!”

The spell Theodore learned from Seimei completely suppressed all the pieces of Jerem’s body. If he missed one piece, Jerem might be able to resurrect since the power of a god was needed to completely destroy a monster like Jerem. Just like with Mitra, only the power of a perfect god could destroy the immortality that came from another dimension.

In any case, it was only a matter of time now. This battle was already decided.

“...Ku, huhu...kuhuhu...hu...” Caught in the air, Jerem’s fragmented jaw moved. Theodore frowned despite being certain of Jerem’s defeat. His super sensitivity didn’t perceive any threat.

“What, are you going to complain?”

“Huhuhu… This great... body… frustrated by an enemy like you... Isn’t it... funny...?” Jerem’s words weren’t entirely wrong.

Jerem was a warlock who had reached the 9th circle and contracted with an evil dragon from another dimension. Even if he was weakened, he was still superior compared to Theodore. Yet he had lost, and Theodore had won. That fact didn’t change, no matter what Jerem claimed.

Jerem started to cry out in a desperate voice as fearsome screams emerged, “Nastrond’s demon king! The snake that kills the world tree! Take this body and make it your food! I offer you this body!”

Theodore didn’t have a chance to do anything as purple magic power wrapped around Jerem’s crumbling body.

“To those who block me, I place an eternal curse on this world―!” Jerem’s skull completely collapsed after this threat.

Only a pile of ashes showed that the warlock, Jerem, had been here. It was a chilling cry, but Theodore didn’t sense anything different. He stared at the pile of ashes at his feet with a bewildered expression. “What the hell...?”

At that moment...

-Theodore! Are you listening? Alucard’s voice was passed through Ratatoskr. Alucard’s urgent tone made Theodore realize there was an emergency.

Theodore quickly replied through the neural network, ‘What is it? What’s going on?’

-Look up at the sky!

‘The sky?’

Theodore’s eyes widened at the words and raised his head. After Hraesvelgr and Nídhöggur soared into the sky, he had been concentrating on his fight with Jerem without thinking about them. That had been because he realized that a mortal couldn’t intervene in the struggle between transcendents. Therefore, he was shocked when he looked up.

“...What is it this time?”

The sky was tearing apart.