Infinite Mage

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Ryuu

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INFINITE MAGE

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Gardrock found the desired location not far away.

The canyon had sunk, creating a fissure. It was a narrow gap, just wide enough for one person to pass through, and a single beam of light was shining through it.

“Look here.”

Gardrock pointed to the center of the beam of light. Only there was the light clustered together. It looked fluffy like snowflakes, but upon closer inspection, you could see particles of light swirling around.

Shirone peered at it and scratched his head. How could he explain this? Naturally, light particles clumping together like this was impossible.

The Nor didn’t think differently either.

Gardrock, emphasizing the peculiarity of the phenomenon, cupped the light particles with both hands and said, “Do you see how the light gathers here?”

“Yes, but how is this possible?”

“This place is imbued with the essence of light.”

“So, this essence is gathering the light?”

“No, it’s the light that stayed for so long that the essence settled. Essence can inhabit anything—wind, water, even thoughts—as long as those thoughts remain unchanged for a very long time.”

Shirone thought it was similar to the concept of mana stones.

When a certain quality accumulates over a long period, the essence of that quality materializes.

“When essence accumulates for a long time, it becomes a spirit. A spirit is essentially an active form of essence. Moreover, humans can make contracts with spirits. If you contract with a light spirit, you can draw on the power of light anytime, anywhere. But finding one is like plucking a star from the sky.”

Shirone pointed at the essence and said, “So, this light will become a spirit eventually?”

“Haha, yes, maybe in a thousand years, as long as it doesn’t dissipate in the meantime.”

A thousand years was far longer than the time given to humans. The period for an essence to become a spirit would be similar. It made sense why finding spirits was so difficult.

“Anyway, we can use this place to reach Nor’s Haven. Gather here, everyone.”

“The space is tight. Shouldn’t some of us move to the other side?”

“It’s fine. By the way, the magic of the land of the earth doesn’t have a wide range. With the essence of light, we can expand the scale as much as we want. Like this.”

Gardrock grasped the cluster of light. His fist glowed golden, and the light spread up his arm to his shoulder.

Soon, it seemed the light would cover his entire body.

Nature’s power was limitless, so humans borrowing that power could expand their scale indefinitely.

However, it took quite a bit of time.

Even after a while, the light didn’t go past his shoulder, and a look of doubt crossed Gardrock’s eyes.

“Strange. Why is it taking so long? It usually takes about five minutes.”

“Master, could it be that the essence of light has weakened?”

“Impossible. It worked fine three days ago. For the essence’s energy to change, it would take at least hundreds of years. Or something could be weakening the essence’s energy.”

“But that can’t be. This place only has one law. That’s why we use it as an intermediate base.”

From Clove’s words, Gardrock realized. It might be a delusion, but looking for other factors while ignoring the only correct answer was an even bigger delusion.

“Could it be...? But why?”

The essence of light began to waver. The ground, and finally the entire canyon, shook as if an earthquake was happening.

“What’s wrong? What’s the problem?”

“Get out of here quickly! It’s the Vortex Serpent! The essence is destabilizing!”

If the cliff collapsed, they’d be crushed, so Shirone’s group hurried out of the canyon fissure.

Looking from outside, the entire area was shaking. Something significant had to be nearby.

But they couldn’t see anything snake-like around.

“Damn! Where is it? Where’s it coming from?”

Rian drew his greatsword and stood in front of Shirone.

The mages formed a formation and prepared for battle.

Tess focused her senses, searching the surroundings. The tremors on the left and right were different. The creature was rounding the corner on the right.

The ground shook so much that it was hard to stand. Tess realized something was wrong. Her senses and reality didn’t match. With such tremors, it should have already appeared before them.

“There! Over there!”

Shirone pointed in surprise.

A tiny, white creature, no larger than three meters, was crouched on a rock on all fours.

But could this really be called a creature?

It had no eyes, nose, or mouth. It resembled a salamander, but its surface was smooth like polished jade.

He had never seen such a white creature in his life.

“What is that? Is that the Vortex Serpent?”

“It’s not that one!”

At Gardrock’s shout, Shirone instinctively stepped back. As his view opened, he finally saw it.

A shadow of the Vortex Serpent was cast over the canyon. Unbelievably, it was a shadow large enough to fill the entire cliff.

Shirone turned his gaze back to the rock. The salamander-like creature was glowing intensely.

The light from its body was casting the shadow.

By the time Shirone realized this, the shadow had already split its massive jaws and was lunging at them.

A curtain of darkness blocked their view. The sheer size defied common sense, making it hard to believe they were under attack.

As Shirone’s group was engulfed in the darkness, Gardrock, watching from the canyon fissure, shouted.

“Danger!”

Shirone’s Photon Cannon exploded.

The moment the light spread, they realized how close the sharp shadow claws had come. Just a bit later, and they would have been torn apart.

“Kiiaaaah!”

The Vortex Serpent screamed as the Photon Cannon ripped through it.

It was likely similar to the mechanism of the Harvester. A creature without a mouth couldn’t possibly have a sound organ.

When they regained their senses, they saw the shadow of the Vortex Serpent retreating like storm clouds.

It was fortunate they blocked the first attack.

Most prey lost their lives to the Vortex Serpent’s first strike. Trapped in darkness, they couldn’t even see the attack coming.

Amy wiped the cold sweat from her brow and asked.

“What is that? Is it a creature or not? Is that salamander controlling it?”

Gardrock emerged from the canyon fissure and explained.

“No, the true form of the Vortex Serpent is the shadow. There is no main body. The thing on the rock is just an 'avatar' created by the Vortex Serpent’s shadow.”

“How can that be? There must be a body for there to be a shadow!”

“I don’t know. We call this a ‘reversal of law.’ That’s an outsider. I don’t know where it came from, but it’s definitely not from any world we can imagine.”

The Vortex Serpent hesitated to approach. Among the humans it had killed, none had emitted light before, so it was naturally cautious.

As the avatar’s body glowed, the shadow grew larger. It was similar to a wild beast displaying itself before its enemy.

Shirone realized something. This might not be his grave after all.

“It’s like a wild animal. It probably wasn’t a common predator in its original world. Maybe like a cat or a mouse. If it were the top predator, it wouldn’t react so defensively.”

“A cat? A mouse? Are you joking?”

Kanya voiced what everyone else was thinking. However, one more person understood what Shirone meant.

It was Canis.

He watched the Vortex Serpent’s every move with wonder.

“It really existed, a world where darkness rules over light.”

Reversal of law. What was written on Arcane’s note was true.

“Shirone is right. If it’s a world where rules are reversed, all creatures would exist as shadows. The Vortex Serpent wouldn’t be particularly strong. Of course, things are different here.”

Gardrock examined the canyon fissure.

As expected, the Vortex Serpent’s law had weakened the essence of light.

Escape was impossible in this state.

But it wasn’t time to give up. Shirone’s Photon Cannon had been strong enough to repel the Vortex Serpent.

“Hey, we’ve passed the crisis, but stay alert. Its weakness is light. That’s why it doesn’t act during the day. I don’t know why the law is broken, but using light magic gives us a chance.”

Shirone recalled his battle with the Harvester. From that fight, he learned that shock wasn’t important to darkness. The key was the total amount of energy.

Shirone cast Photon Cannon, and eight photons appeared in irregular positions on the left and right.

The eight beams of light struck the Vortex Serpent. A terrible scream echoed.

Amy unleashed Fireballs. Fire contained light, so it should be effective.

The Vortex Serpent’s shadow caught fire.

But it was like an ant biting an elephant’s skin. The shadow was so enormous it felt like cheating.

Canis couldn’t even attempt his magic. Attacking with darkness only made the Serpent stronger.

The outcome between identical attributes was determined by power.

If you couldn’t control a darkness greater than the Vortex Serpent, you’d be devoured.

Shirone left his friends. If the creature’s shroud enveloped them again, it would be truly dangerous.

The Vortex Serpent moved in wide circles, true to its name. When Shirone hit its side with the Photon Cannon, it writhed in pain and pursued him.

As the Vortex Serpent abruptly changed direction, its massive tail swung towards Amy’s group.

Clove clutched his head and screamed.

“Aaah! It’s coming!”

Amy deployed Fire Mist. The fire’s smoke protected everyone, but it wasn’t enough to burn the tail.

Just as the tail was about to sweep them away like a broom, Amy cast Fire Wall for extra protection.

The tail caught fire, but its trajectory didn’t change.

Amy bit her lip and increased the power. She was determined to hold her ground, even if it cost her life.

Just as the tail was about to hit Amy, it suddenly diverted, grazing her face. The Vortex Serpent couldn’t bear the fire’s pain and pulled back.

“Shirone!”

Amy shouted, not even pausing to catch her breath.

The Vortex Serpent snapped its jaws and engulfed Shirone. Simultaneously, the Photon Cannon exploded, blowing the Serpent’s head apart.

The Photon Cannon fired in rapid succession.

Amy estimated it fired about 200 rounds per minute. For Shirone, who held the school’s speed record, this was possible.

The firing speed increased, and then it became a continuous beam that pushed the shadow to the opposite wall.

Shirone had excluded mass from the photons.

With zero impact force, the beam couldn’t tear the shadow, but it slowly ate into the Serpent’s body.

“What kind of magic is that? It’s ridiculous! That can’t be possible!”

While it was good for their side to be winning, Clove couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Kanya and Rena were equally shocked.

Unlike the Mecha, the Nor could exert great power alone. But they had never seen anything like this in Heaven.

Seeing someone single-handedly fight the feared Vortex Serpent was awe-inspiring.

More so, they were winning. Seeing the Serpent thrashing against the wall sent chills down their spines.

Shirone’s beam turned red.

From the Photon Cannon’s photon output, it further compressed the energy to a single-wavelength laser.

The Vortex Serpent tried to recover its shadow realm and push back the laser, but it only resulted in chain explosions.

“Kiiaaaah!”

The fierce roar echoed.

The Vortex Serpent was terrified.

In its original world, it was a lower-tier predator. It had crossed into Heaven through a strange tunnel ten thousand years ago.

Unable to evolve without predators, it had lived comfortably here.

But now, that comfort was breaking. By a mere human it used to tear apart for fun.

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