Chapter 344

For a moment I thought that the sky had darkened, and then I realized that I had been trapped in darkness.
In fact, the entire area around me had become dark.

“I can’t see anything. And I can’t hear anything… No, I can hear my own voice.”

It was only the surrounding sounds that had gone. Perhaps they were being absorbed by the darkness.

I could hear my own voice, and there were faint sounds whenever I took a step.
It was probably like being in a strongly sound-proofed room.

“Still, this is bad. I was too slow to escape.”

Bulei and the others are probably gone now.
If this is what was going to happen, I should have run away with them.

There was no doubt in my mind that Melvis had been the one to create this darkness.
I doubted residents of the Celestial World would do something like this.

I didn’t know what kind of effect it would have, but for a while now, the darkness seemed to be prickling my skin.
When I moved my arms, it seemed to follow and cling to them.

As if numerous pieces of silk were being dangled around them.
I tried strengthening my body, but that sensation did not change. It was eerie.

I didn’t like it at all. And so I wanted to move away from Melvis.
However, that would be difficult. As I was in complete darkness, I had lost any sense of direction.

I spun around frantically.
I had no idea which way I was looking.

“It’s no use. Perhaps if I run my fastest in one direction, I’ll come out the other side.”
It would be suicide to stay in a place where I would die if hit by a magic bullet.

As I couldn’t hear the sounds, I had no idea where the fighting was occurring.
It would have made it so much easier to get away.

There was no way that Melvis would let them escape, so they must be fighting somewhere.
I was so angry that I couldn’t tell.

In any case, I decided to run in a direction that I felt was likely.
The darkness continued to cling to me, but I ignored it.

I prayed that I was getting farther away from Melvis, and continued to run.

“…Wait a minute, it’s eating away at…”
I just noticed it.
I had less mana than before. My body was losing mana.

This darkness must be similar to whatever it was that was eating away at the barrier.

It seemed like the darkness that clung to my skin was eating the mana. But the two were annihilating each other. And so new darkness would cover me again. In other words, the cycle would continue until I had no mana left.

I understood now how dangerous it was to be here.
That being said, would running blindly really get me out? I was getting worried.

And so I stopped running and inspected what was happening to me. Why was it covering my body?
Perhaps I could do something about it if I understood the reason.

“…I see. So there is mana inside of the darkness?”

It was a similar principle to magic.
This was darkness that had been materialized through mana.

Instead of attack magic, it was erosion magic.

Amazing. I had no idea that magic could be used like this.
However, it was magic… In other words, if it was brought about through mana, there must be a way…

—Mana Absorption.

It wasn’t as efficient as when absorbing it from someone directly, but with my special ability, I could absorb even magic.

Previously, when I had been hit by Tralzard’s magic, I had not acquired the technique. And so I almost died.
But I’d have no problem using it now.

I just needed to concentrate and try to absorb the mana around me.

And then, I felt that my body had become lighter.
That feeling of something latching onto me had faded.

At the same time, I was regaining the mana that I had lost.

The mana absorption had been activated all over my body, so all I had to do was wait.
“…Good. It’s working just fine.”

It was absorbing the mana well, and there was no problem as far as my body was concerned.
So I was able to buy some time.

Now I could walk slowly and search for an exit.
That is what I thought. But I was wrong.

“…Are you serious!?”
I sensed that something was approaching.

Something immense.
There was no doubt about it. It was Melvis.

“Did he decide I was an enemy and come in to finish the job!?”
If that was the case, there would be no running away.

The immense presence came right up to me, and then said,

“…King Yamato.”
“No, I’m not!”

The darkness was driven away.
And in front of me, stood Melvis.

What the hell was happening?

Melvis was staring at me. And then he asked with a puzzled expression,
“You seem to be one of my subordinates. But what are you doing here? More importantly, why are you able to use King Yamato’s ability?”

Ah, so he had noticed my mana absorption.

So that meant the darkness was connected to Melvis, and he was aware of what happened inside of it.

It had been so dark that I would not have been able to see someone if they were in front of me. So it would be rather pointless if the person who unleashed the magic had no way of knowing what was happening within.
So it was really no surprise when I thought about it.

“My name is Golan. I’m General Farneze’s…”
“Golan? I’ve heard the name. Yes, I’ve seen you before.”

So he remembered.
Someone had used the same technique as Yamato on the battlefield. But when he came to look, it was someone completely different.

Even Melvis would be confused.
He had been annihilating the residents of the Celestial World only a moment ago. But he now ignored them to come over to where I stood.

“Uh, the celestials!”
“They’re already dead.”

He declared flatly.
I suppose it was a result of knowing about everything that happened in the darkness.

Now, if I asked him, ‘Ah, so you’ve finally returned to yourself,’ he would probably kill me.
I had no idea what his triggers were, so I had to choose my words carefully.

“So, Golan. Why are you here?”
“I’ve come to meet you, King Melvis. And to escort you…back to your country.”

“You came to meet me? Now that I think about it, I did tell you to investigate these chains.”

Yes, it had been a direct order from Melvis.
A royal order.

Melvis had entered my dream…well, he had entered the orb of my soul and we had met.
And I had become very interested in the chains that were coming out of his chest.

These chains could be seen by no one else.

After I had awakened from my comatose state, General Farneze had called for me and I had an audience with Melvis.

He wanted to know if I could see the chains in the real world as well.

That meant I had met Melvis once in a dream and once in real life.
But nevermind that.
The important thing now was that Melvis was willing to listen to what I had to say.

“Yes. I wanted to talk to you about the chains…as well as other things concerning King Yamato. And so I came here to see you.”

“Nevermind the chains. Did you say King Yamato…?”
“Yes. I have met him.”

“What!?”

The mana in the area turned wild like a hurricane. I almost thought that the sky had fallen.
My body was strengthened with mana, and yet I felt as if I was going to be torn apart by the shock waves.

“Tell me. In detail.”
“Yes. I will tell you everything.”

And so I began to relate what had happened… Still, I wished that he would stop intimidating me with his mana.

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Makai Hongi