Charles arrived inside the demon skull and found the stone slab embedded with magic stones. Patry had already left—presumably to reunite with the other reincarnated elves. Charles picked up the grimoire Patry had placed in front of the slab. It was the grimoire of World Tree Magic, once belonging to Vangeance. Patry had abandoned it here as a sign of his resolve.
Charles stepped forward and carefully removed each magic stone from the slab, storing them away. The body of the First Magic Emperor had long since turned to stone, entirely sustained by magic. His time of activity would be limited, so he would have to wait for the Shadow Palace to open before awakening him.
Lifting his head, Charles gazed into the distance—the direction of the Forbidden Magic Zone. From this point on, all he could do was wait for the Shadow Palace to appear, and then defeat the devil.
…
Time rewinds to when the Royal Knights arrived at the floating dungeon.
With Mereoleona's typical style, the strategy was simple and direct: the Royal Knights split into five teams and stormed the dungeon head-on.
Mereoleona took Asta and the previously unaffiliated Black Bull member, Zora. Her target, of course, was the strongest magic signature—Rhya.
Rhya had no choice but to dodge Mereoleona's relentless attacks using a variety of spells. His goal was to buy time, which frustrated Mereoleona to no end—but even she couldn't finish him off.
As the Royal Knights infiltrated the dungeon, each team encountered members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. However, before any of the battles reached a conclusion, the reincarnation magic suddenly activated.
The Knights were shocked to see their enemies rapidly decay and crumble into ashes with agonized screams.
Just as they were baffled, glowing magical light appeared on some of the Knights' bodies. Their ears grew pointed, patterns spread across their faces, and soon only a few remained unchanged.
How should one put this… The good news was that the enemy self-destructed. The bad news? Their teammates had become even stronger foes.
Bathed in radiant magic and now even stronger, Rhya faced the three before him and warned, "Just a friendly tip—you should leave now."
Mereoleona assumed Rhya had been biding his time just to gain this power. She didn't understand what had happened, but her fighting spirit ignited even more.
"Idiot! How could we leave at a time like this?!"
Rhya scratched his head, exasperated. "This is bad… because—"
Boom! The wall exploded. Other reincarnated elves, similarly glowing with magical light, entered the room.
"My comrades aren't as easygoing as I am!"
…
In the end, Asta and Zora had to carry a severely wounded Mereoleona and escape. Even she couldn't withstand the combined assault of four elves.
What puzzled Asta was that Rhya didn't pursue them—instead, he used Spatial Magic to send them away.
The good news was that although Yuno also showed signs of transformation, he remained in control. Thanks to his help, the remaining few who hadn't turned into elves managed to escape.
Among them was Nozel, captain of the Silver Eagles. Through the captain-exclusive communication device in his possession, the group learned that not only the Royal Knights but even many nearby Magic Knights on other missions had also transformed into elves.
The most terrifying development was that the Golden Dawn members in the capital had experienced the same transformation—and were now attacking the three royal family castles.
With so many elves gathered at the floating dungeon, the few survivors stood no chance of turning the tide. Meanwhile, the capital was under siege. Nozel made the call: their priority was to return to the capital and provide reinforcements.
…
Elsewhere, Rhya activated his telepathy magic to contact all the reincarnated elves.
This spell, which allowed communication with those marked by his magic, was something Rhya had gone out of his way to seek out and mimic.
Only in a kingdom like Clover, full of strange and unique magics, could such a spell be found.
The original caster could only contact three people at a time—but with Rhya's immense magical power, he could reach all the reincarnated elves simultaneously.
As for the markings—Rhya had spent the past month traveling across the kingdom to tag every one of his comrades in preparation.
"Ahem! Ahem! Can you hear me? This is Rhya."
The newly awakened elves had almost begun to act on the malice amplified by the forbidden spell, but Rhya's voice calmed them down.
"First of all—congratulations on your successful reincarnation. However, Licht needs your help right now. So could everyone please gather here?"
A Golden Dawn elf said, "As much as I'd like to slaughter those detestable humans, Licht is more important."
Beside him, an elf in a Crimson Lion robe added, "Exactly! Licht is worth a thousand—no, ten thousand humans!"
Another elf laughed and said, "Can't believe lazy old Rhya is the one calling us!"
"He didn't slack off?!"
"How strange."
"Well, it's for Licht. Makes sense!"
The elves chatted and laughed as they flew toward the moving floating dungeon.
…
In the deepest chamber of the dungeon, Licht hovered in the air, lifeless like a puppet.
Elves arrived one after another, soon filling the entire space. Though their souls had been sent to this time by the devil and not truly slumbering for centuries, the experience of death made their return feel like a reunion after an eternity.
They greeted one another warmly, even embracing, overwhelmed by emotions.
Rhya stepped up to a high ledge and said, "Ahem, sorry to interrupt this long-awaited reunion—but we have work to do."
When the others quieted down, he continued, "As you can see, Licht has not awakened due to the toll of using forbidden magic.
But I came prepared. Please channel your magic into this magical device. With all our power combined, we should be able to break the seal on Licht."
Rhya placed a metal device etched with various magical runes in front of them.
The fake Rhya had lied to his comrades. This device was not meant to break Licht's soul seal. Its true purpose was to store the massive amount of magic required to activate the resurrection spell.
To be precise, the spell merely fused souls with matching bodies—so the procedure itself was not difficult. What was difficult was gathering enough magic to activate it.
The inventor of this magical device was, of course, the Eye's magic scholar, Sally. Rhya had simply nudged her in the right direction, and she had developed it in no time.
Gathering all the elves' mana not only made activation fast—it also prevented the reincarnated elves from being overtaken by the side effects of the corrupted emotions embedded in the spell.
Rhya had originally wanted to reveal the truth after the reincarnations—but Charles had stopped him.
That's because the devil's vessel had to be hiding within one of the reincarnated elves. If they revealed the truth too soon, the devil might alter its plans.
So Rhya could only shoulder the guilt of lying to his comrades—blaming everything on that cursed devil.
Looking up at Licht, Rhya became more serious than he'd ever been.
"Licht… the burden you carry—I'll share it with you. And the one who caused all this tragedy… I'll be the one to destroy them for you!"
_________________________________________
From May 26 to June 3, I'm offering a 33% discount on all Patreon tiers.
Just use this code when you sign up: 83AA7
If you'd like to support the project and get early access to chapters, now's the perfect time to join or upgrade.
This limited-time offer lasts only for these 9 days!
Thank you for your support ❤️
[w w w . p @ t r e o n . c o m / M u t t e r]