I Can Hear the Saint’s Inner Thoughts

82 – The Harmless Magician (1)

* * *

Glaktarr smiled, watching Astal wreathed in the hellfires of the underworld. This was, after all, the fighting style he himself had recommended.

Burning pain, said to be the hardest of all pains a living being can endure. There were few opponents against whom one would dare to fight while cloaked in hellfire that would never extinguish once ignited.

Even if the Forsaken Hollow was a place where one couldn’t die no matter what, few would choose to live alongside a fire that wouldn’t go out, whether you poured water on it or cut off its oxygen with sand.

But,

“You surely know that my Frenzy turns pain into power!! Astaal─!!”

Astal’s opponent was Glaktarr, known as a madman even in the arena, and the very person who had conceived of this fighting style together.

Glaktarr, through countless battles in the arena, had become a man whose body wouldn’t lose consciousness or become unable to fight from the usual pain or wounds.

A life lived only for the sake of avenging his deceased lover.

It was the result of his struggle to win in this arena someday, and completely pulverize that b*stard Dullahan up there.

“You’re still too green! If you wanted to defeat me, you should have brought a different kind of magic!! Didn’t I tell you to try harder, to think more about killing your opponent!”

Glaktarr shouted, unable to understand why Astal had used hellfire magic of all things.

His warrior’s pride wouldn’t allow it if he were pitying him and deliberately trying to lose.

He surely knew about the Frenzy, having sparred with him, and he should have been familiar with the characteristics of the hard-to-kill Forsaken Hollow.

Why, then, use magic that could be somewhat countered with Frenzy?

I’d rather he’d just frozen my body whole and hacked me to pieces.

*Thwack!*

With a dull thud, the searing flames parted and Graktaar’s fist slammed into Astar’s face. He could see Astar staggering back, nose gushing blood.

Was he getting cocky after using Hellfire magic?

In a fight that would have been more advantageous if he’d burned his opponent’s eyes out first, Astar was just meaninglessly throwing punches and kicks.

“If you’re thinking of saving me and dying instead! You better not!”

Truth was, Graktaar wanted to save Astar too.

That’s why he’d made damn sure to mention that freezing someone solid and shattering them, or dragging them into the swamp where they could never escape, would mean immediate disqualification.

Seeing Astar deliberately holding back, Graktaar bit down hard, fighting back the tears.

“This is an arena where you live only by killing each other! At least let me give you a fight you won’t regret!!”

He’d said just moments ago he wouldn’t show a fight with regrets, but Graktaar intuitively sensed he was scheming to save him.

*Whoosh!* *Crash!*

Graktaar instantly grabbed Astar’s staggering form by the waist and hurled him towards the far wall. Dust billowed, completely obscuring vision, and he couldn’t even imagine the force of the impact.

“Uwaaah─!!”

“N-no way─!! Graktaar throws Astar, engulfed in flames, into the wall!! A simple and brutal method, but effective against a fire that won’t go out once it’s lit!”

Everyone watching the match had been holding their breath,

before erupting in cheers and predicting Graktaar’s victory.

Unlike the hopeful commentary of Siren, Graktaar’s clothes and skin were still burning, charring, pus seeping out, showing just how severe his burns were.

‘Eventually, even Hellfire magic ends when the caster dies. You must know that, Astar…’

Graktaar clenched his teeth, enduring the pain consuming his entire body. He’d definitely told his opponent to come at him with everything he had, so there wouldn’t be any talk later about him holding back.

If he’d ignited the flames and soared into the sky, or chosen another stalling tactic, the victory would have tilted to Astal, his opponent.

“Kuhahaha!! In the end, even the mage of the hero’s party is only this much─!! To try and fight me head-on, you’ve got some nerve!”

Now, Graktar was deliberately making a loud noise, pretending to incite the crowd. By not fighting head-on like this, but instead guiding him towards a war of attrition, he was giving his opponent a hint on how to win.

So that Astal could defeat him,

So that Graktar could end this hellish arena fight and reunite with his lover, he secretly hoped.

“…Who said I was fighting you head-on?”

As if responding to Graktar’s expectations, Astal, rising from afar, was creating a large magic circle in his hand.

A colossal, thread-like magic circle that seemed like it would swallow the entire arena.

Seeing it, Graktar immediately realized that Astal had been aiming for this from the start.

Mana in the air endlessly compressed, heat gathering between the magic circles entangled like threads.

“Endlessly compressing mana, creating a burning star and dropping it…Supernova. This should turn even you to ash. Took me a while to cast, though…”

Originally, he thought using the magic circle wrapped like thread would be most effective on a person’s body, he never dreamed of using it like this.

“…Yeah, this is the Astal I know.”

Watching him recreate the magic that Heoryong once used, using the unravelled threads of the magic circle, Graktar offered a hollow smile.

Boom! KWAHaaa─!!

A massive explosion and heat that filled his entire vision.

He figured no living thing could survive after taking this head-on.

* * *

The title of “Harmless Mage” was the ideal I aspired to.

After losing everyone in my village in the past due to my arrogance, it was filled with the conviction that I would never let anyone die before my eyes again.

‘The moment timing is off by even a fraction, Glaktar truly becomes ash, burning to death.’

I replayed the title in my head, focusing on the parts of my meticulously planned scheme that needed the most care.

A title filled with an absurdly foolish ideal.

But that’s exactly why, bringing that ideal to reality is more captivating than anything.

Hellfire magic was already burning his body, and if I followed through with the supernova finishing blow, no spectator would dare object.

Because the hellfire, which would never normally extinguish, and the supernova explosion capable of obliterating the entire arena, were not mere illusions.

‘But, with the talent I possess, I can do it….’

By unraveling the magic circle like thread, I had the advantage of being able to produce magic or effects that would normally be impossible.

Even the half-dragon, overflowing with more mana than a human, would struggle, and just the fact that I could recreate the supernova – magic so powerful that it could be swept away by the shockwave – proved it.

I reached out towards Glaktar within the explosion.

I canceled the pre-cast Hellfire magic, calming the flames that were burning his body.

With this level of injury, simple potions or healing magic would surely be enough to fix it later. That’s also why I deliberately avoided targeting vital spots like the eyes.

As if already aware of his impending death, Glaktar’s figure appeared within the explosion, his eyes tightly closed and his weapon lowered.

I didn’t use any magic to protect myself from the explosion, only casting time acceleration magic on myself to save Glaktar, who had trusted in me.

And while layering him with the thread containing pre-prepared protection magic, I used the exact same method I used to cross dimensions to go to the Holy Kingdom last time.

This way, the spectators, overwhelmed by the sudden massive explosion, would think that Glaktar’s existence itself had been erased. The only thing they could find would be ashes, the remnants of his burned clothes.

‘…Thunder Lord.’

I clapped my hands, transforming my entire body once again into living lightning, and moved Glaktar at incredible speed.

And then,

I moved him near Wilhelm in the Holy Kingdom, and then pulled off the feat of secretly returning to the arena, unnoticed.

My original epithet was the Harmless Mage.

I couldn’t let a bit of hardship make a mockery of the name given to me for never hurting anyone.

* * *

“…Only one person remains in the arena! C-Could it be…!! We’re receiving reports that Glaktar’s condition is unconfirmed!!”

As the shockwave and light from the Supernova I cast subsided, Siren’s voice trembled, unable to hide her shock at seeing me standing alone in the arena.

“T-Then…the w-winner is─!! The Mad Mage, Astal Kaisaros!”

Watching the demons and demonkin still talking about me that way, I smirked wryly and raised my fist to the sky.

“Astal! Astal! Astal!!”

With this, Durahan might think I killed even a close friend to avenge my parents, and he might be inwardly screaming with delight.

“…That’s not it, I’m the Harmless Mage.”

The reality was nothing like that.

I won’t kill comrades to survive, or become the same as that crazy b*stard who gave up being a hero.