CHAPTER 15
Forbidden Sorcery (3)
“Who the hell are you?!”
Irnatorl shouted as he raised a magical shield. He quickly used a seeing spell to look through the wall.
“You’re that twin boy!”
He was shocked to see the weaker-looking twin, the one with no strength, behind the wall.
“How dare you!”
Furious, Irnatorl shot out a black smoke attack. Ernolf quickly threw up a shield. The smoke hit it and split into many parts, surrounding him.
The smoke began to burn through Ernolf’s shield. Irnatorl’s magic was much stronger than Ernolf’s.
“Ugh!”
The black smoke touched Ernolf’s skin and caused extreme pain. He gritted his teeth and burned it off with fire magic, but his skin turned black and rotted where it touched. He didn’t even have time to treat the wound before the next attack hit.
Boom!
A blinding light burst through the wall. One of the priests, the one Ernolf stabbed earlier, had attacked.
The wall between Ernolf and the priests collapsed.
‘Fire Bolt!’
Ernolf responded with fire magic. Fire magic wasn’t as powerful as holy magic but worked well against dark magic.
While Ernolf fought the other priest, Irnatorl picked up the young heir and held him. Another priest stood in front to protect them.
“So you’re working with those mercenaries too?”
Irnatorl accused Ernolf while attacking again.
Ernolf fought back. Even though he could only use basic spells because of his weak mana core, he actually had the soul of a powerful mage. That’s why he could cast spells faster than anyone else in the room.
He used rapid fireballs and made the ground ripple with earth magic. The moving floor made the priest panic, and Ernolf took that chance.
Smack.
Ernolf grabbed the priest’s chest. His hand turned red-hot. Blood boiled and the priest’s heart exploded.
“Gah!”
The priest coughed blood and collapsed.
This attack was a special move Ernolf used that caused serious damage with little mana. But it was dangerous because he had to touch the enemy directly.
Irnatorl frowned when he saw his priest dying.
“Not bad…”
It was rare for a young mage to be able to use back-to-back spells so quickly, and each one was strong and precise.
“I guess someone good had to be sent to kill me.”
Unlike the panicked priests, Irnatorl remained calm.
“Tell me who sent you!” he shouted.
Holding the noble’s son, he glared.
“Guess who?” Ernolf replied.
“What?”
“You did. Your sins sent me.”
“What nonsense is that?!”
Ernolf didn’t care if Irnatorl understood or not—he had come to kill him.
‘Fire Lance!’
A fiery spear shot at Irnatorl.
“Watch out, sir!”
A priest blocked it and struck back with blue lightning.
Ernolf covered himself in earth armor and used a basic water spell:
‘Aqua.’
He pulled moisture from the air and used it to absorb the lightning, then shot it back.
“Argh!”
The priest was burned black and fell.
Irnatorl’s eyes twitched. Ernolf had just used two different types of magic almost at the same time—something only advanced mages could do.
‘Who is this kid? Only experts can double cast magic like that…’
Even though Ernolf was using low-level spells, he was clearly very gifted. It meant he had natural talent but hadn’t been trained long.
‘And someone powerful must be guiding him…’
Irnatorl thought of a secret group: the Cult.
‘So they’ve found me after all.’
The heart of the Beast King, a legendary artifact, wasn’t originally Irnatorl’s. He hid in this remote place because he had too many secrets.
“I’m the savior of humanity! I’ll give perfect bodies and eternal life!”
Ernolf couldn’t believe this monster who played God was the one behind the Chimera surgery.
“When you transplant monster parts into a person, it mutates their body and makes them lose their mind. They become monsters.”
Time was running out. Ernolf thought of those he’d had to kill, then gathered the last of his mana.
“You made monsters, not miracles. You’re not a savior. You’re humanity’s enemy!”
He prepared a powerful fire spell that would melt everything around him.
It would use up all his strength and leave him unable to fight afterward, but it might be enough to stop Irnatorl.
“Ha! Did you see the failures at the farm?”
Irnatorl kept mocking him.
“Failure is part of progress! Sacrifices must be made!”
“No one asked to be sacrificed! They wanted healing, not to become monsters! You used and lied to them!”
Ernolf’s spell was complete.
‘Inferno!’
A wave of fire exploded out of him. The heat melted the stone floor, walls, and ceiling.
“You can cast Inferno at that age? Impressive—but useless!”
Irnatorl opened his chest. A dark red gem was stuck in his flesh.
Ernolf’s body shook when he saw it—it was probably the Heart of the Beast King.
“Come out, Flame Eater!”
A huge monster made of smoke burst out of the gem. It opened its mouth and sucked in Ernolf’s Inferno like it was nothing.
“No!”
Ernolf tried to cast another spell—but nothing happened.
“My mana… it’s gone…”
His vision blurred and his head spun. He had used all his mana. He was completely powerless.
Meanwhile…
Outside the cave, the goblins were banging spears and shields together and shouting.
“Win! Win! Win!”
For years, they had lived in fear of cannibals who hunted and ate them. Now, a young human was fighting back for them.
Humans had hunted goblins too, but the cannibals were worse.
“Hit its side!”
“Kick him—yes!”
The young boy kicked a cannibal so hard it smashed into a tree.
“Kill him!” shouted the goblins.
The boy stabbed one in the neck. The goblins cheered like crazy.
But another cannibal jumped at him.
“Kill! Kill!” shouted the goblins again.
The one he stabbed stood up like nothing happened.
The goblins panicked. “Smash its head! No, stab the heart! Cut off the limbs!”
They shouted all kinds of advice.
“Shut up, you’re so noisy,” grumbled the boy.
This boy was Khazar, Ernolf’s twin. He didn’t like being the goblins’ entertainment.
“Haha! They think you’re a hero, huh?” laughed one of the cannibals.
There were three of them fighting Khazar. Even though they hadn’t beaten him yet, they were still confident.
“Idiots,” Khazar thought. He had a reason.
“There were monsters like you 11 years from now too. They also had monster parts inside them.”
“What are you talking about?” one asked.
“Is your brain broken?”
“Whatever, it’s funny.”
Khazar didn’t care if they believed him. They were going to die anyway.
“You killed the lord and took over Talisa. You know what happened after that?”
“What?”
“They all died. Mutant freaks like you spread a disease.”
He had seen it himself 11 years in the future. Everyone infected died horribly with rotting skin and organs.
“All I could do was burn everything to stop it.”
“What’s he saying?”
“He means you’re all gonna die, idiots.”
Khazar still wondered how the Blue Vine Temple, which had such advanced medical magic, had become useless 11 years later. Something must have gone terribly wrong.
“Playtime’s over. My brother messed something up again.”
A pale light shimmered around Khazar. It flowed into his knife and turned it into a glowing longsword.
“What is that?!” the cannibals asked.
“Never seen an Aura Blade?” Khazar replied.
Most people took years to learn this skill, but Khazar mastered it in a few days. He knew how to use it from his past life, but his body hadn’t caught up until now.
‘It’s not very strong yet… but it’s enough.’
Khazar stabbed one cannibal in the chest, bursting its heart. It dropped without a scream.
“Win! Win! Win!” screamed the goblins, cheering like crazy.
