Mainue Kingdom.

Mamil rubbed his parched face and rolled his bloodshot eyes. He hadn’t slept properly in days. A combination of naps and dozing off just enough to keep him from passing out, and scooping up and drinking every potion he could find.

At first, he was a little overzealous, thinking that draining his mana would be enough to stop it. The large-scale summoning circles were filling up the borderline grotesquely, but nothing they couldn’t stop with their power. However, the summoning circles that the magicians disarmed with all their might regenerated as soon as the day turned.

The summoning circles regenerated every day, and the source of their mana could not be determined. The magicians grew tired of the extreme fatigue and the mana that was draining from them like an underlying poison.

And today, the 13th day of the summoning circle outbreak. More than half of the magicians had collapsed, succumbing to mana depletion. Mamil was the only one who stood firm, simply because of the sheer amount of mana he had. He didn’t need any tricks or talents as a magician in this long fight.

“Mr. Mamil, a large army of Red Men has been summoned from outside, we need your assistance!”

As soon as Mamil left the tent, a gaunt knight rushed toward him. Mamil scanned the knight with a blank stare, then shifted his gaze to look beyond. A battlefield filled with smoke, explosions, and screams was right in front of him.

“Mr. Mamil!”

The knight called his name again as Mamil stood still, unresponsive. The situation was dire. The knights were as exhausted as the magicians, and the healers’ help was limited. It was times like these when a more talented combatant was needed.

“……Even a demon will bleed to death if you squeeze them this hard.”

“Yes……?”

“Quit your whining and lead me to the commander of the damned Knight Order. He’s going to use this poor old man’s mana vessel until it dries up, so give him his wish.”

Mamil’s pace was swift as he followed the leading knight, but his face showed a weariness he could not hide. He wondered how much longer he could hold out. The kingdom was sending out a massive call for reinforcements, and the magicians would arrive before he collapsed and died. The question was whether the stubborn allies would hand over any useful manpower…….

Mamil clicked his tongue in annoyance as he envisioned the arrival of a large army of useless magicians. Outside the garrison, he saw a newly formed summoning circle and an army of Red Men burrowing through the ranks like red ants.

“Admon, what kind of mess is this? If you’ve reduced the number of summoning circles, shouldn’t you be able to handle the monsters?!”

“What do you mean, reduce the number?! If you have presbyopia, at least be careful what you say!”

Admon Kito, the commander of the Blue Blood Knight Order, responded to Mamil’s annoyance by sending a blast of sword energy into the center of the enemy camp. He still had the vigor and venom of the commander of the Knight Order representing the Mainue Kingdom, but Mamil could recognize it. That he, too, was nearing his limit.

“So I told you. Let’s propose to His Majesty that we establish a new Knight Order. If that doesn’t work, let’s grow our numbers like the Guardian Knight Order. If that doesn’t work, let’s steal someone like Lumen Dominic from……..”

“If you’re going to do a mental attack, do it on the enemy!”

“You can’t even clean up your own cheap sh*t and nag me this much?”

He looked annoyed and grumpy. Admon shook himself off as if he’d had enough of Mamil. It was Mamil’s fault that Admon, who had once admired magicians, now shuddered at the mere mention of the ‘ma’ word.

He couldn’t even sew Mamil’s mouth shut. To have to listen to such insane nagging on the battlefield, nothing could have been more miserable.

So, while Admon braved the storm, Mamil breathed mana into the air to create the formula.

“Did any telegrams arrive while I was passed out? I’d like to know the caliber of the magicians coming to our aid.”

“Shouldn’t we be grateful that they came at all, regardless of their skill?”

“Instead of playing house with those useless brats, it would be better to join hands and go to hell together.”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t been stabbed on the battlefield for saying such stupid things.”

Mamil continued to complete the formula in spite of Admon’s horrified voice, and in front of him, several red magic circles the size of a grown man’s palm began to rise.

The largest one absorbed Mamil’s mana in the center, followed by several others that dispersed the mana around it.

“Don’t worry. It won’t be just those useless people coming.”

“I didn’t ask you to tell me what you hoped for. Learn to give proper answers instead of just talking nonsense.”

“Damn it! I’m not getting old like that, am I? No matter what happens, I won’t grow old like you!”

“Don’t make me say the same thing over and over again, Admon. I asked you if you knew the skill of the magicians.”

Mamil, who had been so skillfully undermining his ally’s composure, was finishing the last of his rituals. Admon, overwhelmed by the barrage of criticism, cried out.

“I hope your disciple hasn’t inherited your temper!”

* * *

“Aiya, so it’s Master after all.”

Raising his hand to block the sunlight, Cadel spat out an exclamation across the space. What he saw was a pillar of fire rising, covering a vast expanse. The flames were an odd mix of blues, purples, and reds.

The colors and heat were clear even at such a distance, and the concentration of mana within it was palpable. Magic that utilized nothing but refined flame mana stirred feelings of envy in Cadel, a multi-attribute mage.

“So you can tell who the caster is just by looking at the magic spell?”

Garuel asked, watching the pillar of fire beside him, and Cadel spoke with a tone of pride, as if asking the obvious.

“I know because it’s my master’s magic, and I don’t know anyone else who can use that much concentrated mana so cleanly.”

“Well, yes, but it’s the magic of the archmage Mamil Kipa, and lesser magicians can’t even begin to imitate it.”

No matter how talented he was, he borrowed the body of a human, drew upon the power of Kunra, and used the protagonist’s perks as he saw fit. But Mamil had the dignity that only the protagonist’s teacher could have.

After a few moments of marveling at Mamil’s unrelenting magic, Cadel lowered his hand from the sunlight and called to his subordinates.

“Let’s hurry. If my reluctant master is using that kind of magic, things are pretty serious.”

The Mamil Cadel knew would not expend mana on frivolous matters, even in the midst of war. As an archmage, there were only a few times when he had to step up to the front. When the magicians who supported him had fallen, or when they could not push back the enemy without borrowing Mamil’s strength. The Mainue Kingdom had already requested a large number of magicians, so the burden on Mamil would be significant.

And as Cadel crossed the traveling gateway into the allied garrison, he realized that his prediction had been correct.

“……This is one hell of a place, Commander.”

Van was right. The scene before them was not a battlefield in the heat of battle. It looked more like a prison cell, with patients too exhausted and emaciated to lay down anywhere.

The wounded were strewn in and out of the tents, and knights and magicians leaning over everywhere panted as they slurped down potions as they caught them. They looked more like tortured men than fighters.

“The battle is right up ahead. I think the summoning circle has pushed through to the front of the garrison.”

Yozen, sensing the movement, relayed the allies’ position. Apparently, the Blue Blood Knight Order and Mamil were holding a tight defense at the garrison’s perimeter.

“This is worse than I expected. Garuel, you stay here and prepare your healing technique. Lumen, I want you to help Garuel find the patients who need medical attention. The rest of you will join me on the battlefield.”

With a quick division of manpower, Cadel headed straight for Mamil. True to Yozen’s word that there was a fight going on right in front of them, they didn’t have to walk far to find the summoning circle.

The battlefield was a blaze of heat and unquenchable flames. Legions of Red Men crawled on the ground, their muscles shriveled, and the knights stared at the monsters with half-dazed eyes. They were already in a battle of wills.

A strange battlefield of lethargy and desperate survival. Cadel spotted a familiar figure behind them and called out.

“Mr. Mamil!”

The platinum hair still hung unkempt, and the angle of his shoulders showed a hint of weariness. Cadel rushed over, certain of his identity, and as soon as he saw the familiar face looking back at him, he let out a new gasp.

“Are, are you still alive?”

Maybe he was already dead.

Mamil’s center shook violently with the dry reply. The one who supported him before the surprised Cadel was the commander of the Blue Blood Knight Order, Admon Kito.

“You came just in time. Just now, one of the Mainue Kingdom’s talented individuals almost died.”

“From now on, the Scarlet Scales Knight Order will manage the summoning circle. Please make sure my master gets enough rest, Sir Admon.”

“Understood.”

Admon ordered his men to escort Mamil back to the garrison. Mamil, supported by the knight, patted Cadel on the shoulder a couple times before being carried away. Cadel watched his figure recede into the distance and rubbed his face with a serious frown.

‘He’s always had a tired complexion, but I’ve never seen him look that tired before.’

Pale to the point of exhaustion, with dark circles under his eyes, a dull glow, and burst blood vessels here and there. Mamil’s condition was grave enough that Cadel reflexively checked him for signs of life, a small indication of what he had been through.

‘I guess it’s times like this that I have to act my part as his disciple.’

He owed Mamil so much. He was one of the few people in this world that Cadel could fully trust and rely on, and he couldn’t let him fall to the ground like a dirty rag in the middle of a battlefield.

“We’re not quite done with the monsters, but we’ve gotten a handle on them, and if we can break the summoning circle quickly, we should be able to avoid the battle for half a day. The rest of the reinforcements will be late, so I’d like you to work on that first. I’ll take care of any monsters summoned during the disarming.”

Admon relayed the situation meticulously, even though he looked like he should be in bed right now. As the Scarlet Scales Knight Order was the first reinforcements to arrive, progress seemed to be slow, and when it came time to mention the number of summoning circles they hadn’t been able to reduce in the slightest, despite days of painstaking work, he looked like he was about to have a seizure.

Cadel soothed him and glanced at the disgustingly large number of summoning circles.

‘Magicians aren’t exactly common, and even if they request them in large numbers, it will be difficult to secure proper manpower. The Osma Empire is a special case.’

The reinforcements that would arrive were likely to be of relatively low rank. At best, they would be 4-star magicians, and there would be no chance of any magicians of Mamil’s or his own caliber arriving.

Normally, the Empire would not have chosen to surrender its elite Knight Order. All countries were subject to enemy raids, and it was essential to always have the best forces available for defense.

Nevertheless, Derek Osma was willing to offer the Scarlet Scales Knight Order as reinforcements for a reason. Mamil Kipa. His very presence was at stake.

‘Well, thanks to that, I get to see my master for the first time in a long time, which is nice.’

Cadel, who had counted the number of summoning circles by eye, looked back at Admon and said.

“There is no need to wait for other reinforcements. We will handle it on our own.”