Return of The 8th Class Mage

Chapter 230

Return of the 8th Class Mage 168 Coming to a Close (1)

“...Aha!”

Fran Page had felt some surprise at Ian’s antics, but he scoffed after discovering the draught. He did not avoid it or tear himself away. Fran was just looking down on him.

“Yes, you have spoken among yourselves that you’ll overtake me to make me swallow that potion. You’re going to enter my mind world. All right, that’s a great plan. However, will that be possible? Do you think I’ll open my mouth?”

Fran was in perfect condition rather than being unable to battle, and it would be impossible to force him to swallow the potion.

“Ian, I do not know how you came back, but resistance is futile. You will know that better than anyone else.”

“Well...”

However, Ian did not step back even a little and even seemed to have found confidence in Fran’s words. His faint smile was evidence.

“Do you know that I’m more than what you have made of me? I have too much burden to live as one of your metaphysical forms. While that had not been my intentions, things happened that way.”

His ego as Ian Page had become much stronger than Fran Page’s form. Fran also had noticed that fact, since their faint connection had been completely severed.

“I know that.”

“Also.”

Ian let go of Fran’s collar and uncorked the vial.

“Oh, you’re going to feed it to me?”

“No.”

Ian’s next act was unexpected as he turned the vial upside down, so the liquid fell.

“You’re going to announce your surrender?”

“That was a lie.”

The drops stopped in mid-air, and they were sprayed over Fran in an instant. However fast Fran was, he could not avoid all of the drops.

“What are you doing?”

The back of Fran’s hand was wet with the draught, and he asked in an annoyed tone.

“I told you that it was a lie. This draught is not for drinking.”

“What?”

“If I must categorize this...”

A sudden change was happening to Fran as Ian began to talk.

“It’s more of an ointment.”

As he had said, grotesque bubbles burst out of the potion on Fran’s hand.

“What did you...!”

“From now,”

The bubbles spread all over Fran’s body, and the speed astonished even Fran.

“I’ll take away your immortality.”

Like that announcement, Ian’s own metaphysical form in the vial entered Fran’s mind world. There were tens of thousands of Fran Pages locked in pink membranes in his mind world, and the environment was similar to what Ian had seen in his own mind world. Actually, except for the number of souls trapped here, they were the same.

‘It’s beyond imagination.’

Fran Page had overused his power over time to fragmentize that many dimensions and used them as extra lives.

‘This madness ends now.’

Ian’s metaphysical form began to collect mana in Fran Page’s mind world, and while not as much as his original self, he could use a substantial amount of magic.

“Spirit Cutter.”

Spirit Cutter was a spell that cut down spirits literally. As Ian activated the spell, gray magic blades appeared in his right hand. It was high-class black magic he had learned when destroying the Immortal Troops of the Eastern Plains.

With a grunt, Ian swung the long blade widely, and the training he received from Oliver now saw the light. Loud booms rang where the Spirit Cutter swept, and they were cries Fran Page’s souls made as they disappeared. Since hundreds of souls disappeared with a slice, the sound had to be loud.

“Please rest, souls poisoned with madness that have fallen to become expendables!”

Ian cut, cut and cut Fran Page’s souls again, and shouts rang everywhere.

[Please let me live! Please!]

[I did not do anything wrong!]

[We were only consumables!]

Fran Page’s souls cried at the injustice they suffered, but Ian did not stop.

[Stop! Stop right now!]

[You bastard who does not know your benefactor!]

[You damn..]

The reason was simple. A mind world was the heart of a soul that possessed the body, and these souls have been left alone for a long time in such a space. They had to have been affected negatively, and they were Fran’s souls, to begin with. There was a high possibility that they had fallen at the moment the dimension had been fragmented.

Ian let out rough breaths as he could not count how many souls he had cut. Ian’s speed decreased, and he looked worn out.

“I have to end this as fast as possible...”

His opponent was Fran Page, who was the greatest magician and the source of all evil. He would find a new countermeasure, and he had to remove all souls before Fran could do so.

“Stop.”

While there were thousands left, Ian could already hear Fran’s voice. Not only that, but a human form came in from the innermost corner of the pink mind world, as Fran’s mind also entered.

“I was light on you since you’re of my blood. I gave you special treatment, but you’ve gone too far.”

Fran mumbled gloomily as he spat out each word.

“I’ll send you off without any pain, and your other form goes first!”

Fran showed his true colors, and he did not move like a mage. He closed the distance between him and Ian with low and fast footsteps like a well-trained knight, and not unlike Oliver. He took out a magic blade like a knight would unsheathe a sword.

That blade went through Ian’s abdomen. Even as he did not feel pain or bleed since he was a metaphysical form, his body now became faint as it would disappear at any moment.

However, as a metaphysical form was made of one’s soul and memories, Ian could feel a hollow pain.

“Please wait outside since I will kill you myself. Do you understand?”

Fran almost held victory in his hands, and he spoke with confidence. However, Ian’s response had been unexpected, as he raised his lips in a smile.

“You’ve hit the button.” His words were full of nuances.

“Let’s see the end. Fran Page.”

“......?”

(Spirit Explosion.)

Cracks appeared in Ian Page’s stabbed form, and the faint body looked like it would explode at any moment.

‘Self-explosion?’

Fran immediately understood the situation. Ian had a way he could attack all souls in Fran’s mind world with one sweep. However, he had not done so at the beginning since he wanted to lure the soul in control of Fran’s body to the mind world to hold him off for a while.

As the explosion shook the axis of the mind world, Ian’s original self, who had received his form’s memories, moved on to the next step.

‘The timing is now.’

In front of Ian, Fran Page’s body had covered himself with an impregnable ice shield, which could not be penetrated easily even by the dragons. They would need at least a few minutes, and it had been to earn time to solve the problem occurring in the mind world.

‘There isn’t much time.’

If all stored souls were gone with the explosion, the chance was now. It was the perfect opportunity to cut off Fran’s last soul, who had entered the mind world to protect his immortality.

‘I only erased his immortality, and his power is the same. If I don’t finish now, the situation will change.”

Fran was not immortal now, but his power remained, which meant Ian had to end things now.

‘I must.’

Ian did not want to imagine what would happen if he did not manage to end things now. What would a Fran that had lost his immortality and was cornered do? The situation would become worse.

(Ice Spear.)

An ice block appeared on Ian’s palm with the power of language. It was sharp and cold enough to cut through everything more than usual.

‘A near-perfect shield.’

Ian also felt that Fran’s ice shields were impenetrable since it was hard enough to last near an hour even while dragons attacked it.

‘However.’

Ian was different from the dragons in that he knew the essence of the shield. Ian was at the level of knowing the spell the shield was made with, the amount and concentration of the mana, the fundamental temperature and grain size, and supplementary spells by just looking and feeling.

‘I can get through this.’

The Ice Spear, with the power of language, was not a simple weapon since it was made of the same structure as Fran Page’s temporary ice shields. Ian’s Ice Spear did not penetrate but infiltrated Fran’s ice shields.

“A little bit...!”

The reason was simple, as the two ice spells thought of each other as the ‘same’ kind of magic.

“A little bit more...!”

The Ice Spear went in the shields like a trick, and the tip touched Fran Page’s skin, just where it would penetrate his heart.

With a soft noise, Ian’s Ice Spear touched Fran’s chest and went in directly deep in his heart. There was no hesitation, and the movements were slow and firm. The sound of flesh stabbed rang, and red blood wet the ice. The spear came behind Fran’s back, and exactly three seconds passed.

Fran, who had entered his mind world to protect his souls, came back with a scream. The ice shields also fell down, and the plan had worked.

“All!”

Ian flew in the air and shouted after showing the results to the survivors of the dragons who surrounded him and Fran.

“Attack!”

Ian was only an ally and had no right to command since he was not the leader. He was only a human, but at that moment, all dragons did not hesitate.

[We will follow the ally’s request!]

[Destroy Fran Page!]

[For us and our ally!]

No one even hesitated at the command, and everyone from the youngest to Reseesee Radenju all encouraged the attack. They began to bombard Fran Page.

‘Right. This much...’

Ian also lent a hand at the sight. Since the strongest beings made the attack, and even Fran Page would not stay whole after losing his immortality.

All attacks stopped, and the scale of the siege was enough to destroy an entire human culture. If it had happened in the outside world, the entire world would have turned into a land of death.

It was not only Ian who let out rough breaths, all dragons stabilized their breathing because they had used almost all of their powers.

“Is he...?”

Everyone looked at the same spot, where the explosions stopped, and Fran Page had stood. It was at that moment mad black tentacles came out of the dusty air made by explosions. It was not one, and tens of tentacles spread everywhere through the smoke.

[Uh...?]

[What...?!]

The black tentacles shackled the dragons, and even their powers could not resist them.

“He’s still...alive?”

As Ian’s whisper ended, the tentacles that were wrapped around the dragons were again swallowed up in dust. The dragons fell down to the ground, and not only that but a grotesque voice that Ian did not want to hear again and believed would never sound again also fell.

“How dare...”

A voice came out of the smoke that still burned with madness. It was the voice of Fran Page, the protector of people now turned mad.

“The lizards who are less than beasts that had stabbed me in the back with the power I gave them...and my copy of my own seed...you two traitors suit each other well.”

All smoke and dust died down, and Fran Page looked nearly destroyed. Most of his body and head were gone. If he were a normal creature, he would have died a long time ago. However, Fran was still alive even if he looked as if he shouldn’t be able to even talk, let alone stand.

“That you could play a trick at that moment...it was a close call. My heart shuddered, and I managed to protect one last soul. Thanks to that...”

Fran had looked like it was difficult for him to stand but now became his usual self again. It was his last ‘power of immortality’ using the last soul that he had managed to protect from the explosion in his mind world.

“I now will be careful again. I seem to have come to my senses.”

The tens of dragons who had dropped by the tentacles were now destroyed with only bones left. While he was not immortal now, he was still the strongest and the worst of all.

“For you...who are stupid and weak enough not to be able to hold a goal until you die...”

Black light swarmed in Fran’s eyes, and his voice turned back to normal. Not only that, but his demonic aura did not flail wildly like it had before he lost his immortality. It was harder and more organized as it surrounded Fran.

“I now think that I should use anything I can.”

Fran whispered like someone who had understood, and he opened a gate in the air and walked inside. Ian understood, at the same time what Fran was aiming to do.