Birth of the Legendary Battle Mage

Chapter 21

Julius had a thought in his mind as he popped through the gate. How was this woman able to survive in the harsh environments of the underworld? He is unaffected, but that is because he is using his artefact to block out the surrounding mana and negative properties of the surrounding. After Julius finished thinking, he decided to try out his level of strength, if he could resist the negative environmental effects. Surprisingly, after deactivating his artefact, he could be considered fine. Normally, when a human or any living thing on earth comes in contact with demonic energy/mana it causes a variety of terrible effects to their bodies and mental health due to its chaotic nature. Some people might become demonized, some enter a state similar to severe illness, there are even cases where people died shortly after coming in contact with demonic mana. Over all, nothing positive comes from it. So the fact that she is still ok and not notacibly affected by it was really interesting to Julius.

“Alright, first of all, how are you able to withstand the chaotic nature of this environment that has been drenched in demonic mana since its creation? Not to talk of the mana around itself.”

“What makes you think I’ll cooperate and just spill information like that? Go to hell. If you are going to kill me, you better do so. You won’t get anything out of me.” The woman responded quite fiercely.

“Oh? Is that so? Then what is your name?”

“E.. E... Em. Emilia Jaktar” ‘What’s wrong with me? I can’t seem to control my mouth! No matter how much I try!’ “What kind of magic is this?!”

“How old are you?” He asked with a subtle smile, with a gesture as if he was teasing her.

“I.. am.. si.... six...”

“Six?”

“Sixty three.”

“What? Sixty three?... Show me your face.”

As it is known, it is a very big deal for an assassin to show their face, revealing their identity. Even among themselves, many don’t know what their brothers look like. So for Julius to ask an assassins organisation leader to take off her mask no less by controlling her to do so, it is more than dishonourable. She resisted for a while before finally falling prey to Julius’ magic spell and doing as he says.

Although Julius remained calm and unmoved, the woman took off her mask to reveal an exceptionally beautiful face under the mask. Her beauty was enough to make nations go to war and mighty men to fall. Truely, this was not the face of a sixty something year old woman, she looked more lf like she was in her mid twenties, with a good fitted bosom and well behind, and a shape like an angel, she wasn’t too big nor too small, just perfect. Too bad she was an evil doer of the highest order.

“Hmm. You are an exceptional beauty, even more beautiful than Ashia, not bad. Unfortunately, you are an assassin. Well, that aside, I have a few questions, will you answer them?” She could feel that the spell cast on her had been lifted, and that she now had free will of her own speech. But that wasn’t all good. “If you lie, heh. In fact don’t even think of lying. If you do, the consequences will be unbearable.”   With that, the questioning started. But just before she responded, she heard something that caught her completely off guard. “Before that, my name is Julius.”

“Julius? If you are this strong, do you mean...?”

“Yes that Julius. The dead hero of Esnoch.”

 ....

“Miss Ashia, what about your brother? Has he gone?” The village chief Zarks asked as he walked up to Ashia who was sitting on a bench near some stream. He went along and sat with her. It was very clear that this wasn’t the same Ashia he saw just a couple of days ago. He was sure of her strength, but right now it’s a little difficult for him to even breath as he got close to her, and she isn’t even trying to release any pressure.

“Village chief. Yes, he’s left.” She didn’t seem to be in a mood to want to talk.

“Uhmm, [scratches his throat] miss Ashia, I can see you are not in the mood to talk. But please. Can you. Calm down a bit? The pressure is overwhelming.” At this point, Zarks a;ready had a few cold sweet.

“Sorry about that village chief.” “I’ll take a stroll for a bit. I’ll be back. When I return then we can talk.”

“Ahh... It’s ok. Take your time.”

Ashia left for the stroll, which ended up taking quite a while before she returned. She blamed herself partially for what happened to her brother. And the fact that she showed all that resentment towards him back when they were still in the capital pained her deeply. With all that, after finally reuniting with him, he has to leave again, and it’s unknown when he’ll return. Ashia cried a lot during her walk, with nobody to comfort her, she could only remain strong until Julius returns.

A few days after that, Ashia and Zarks were taking a walk while discussing some important matters, when they heard a sudden scream. Almost immediately, a guard came running to them, sprinting like his life depended on it.

“Village chief! Sir! [huff huff]. There are [huff], there are beasts pouring out of the forest heading towards the village at full speed! [huff, huff, huff] we, we tried to stop them, but they are too strong!” Just before he finished his report, he tripped and fell to the ground.

“Wha...!” Before Zarks could complete his words and as the guard who fell raised his head, Ashia who was beside him dashed forward and over the guard just as his head left the ground. In a few seconds she was gone. Must have been a magic to make her run that fast, Zarks thought, as the speed she had just now surprised him. “Get up! Let’s rush back to help.” Zarks said as he pulled the guard up.

On the other side, Just as a beast was about to bite off the head of one of the guards that fell, it’s feet froze, following through up to its head in an instance, then the ice shattered leaving behind small chunks of ice on the ground. The same thing happened to all the beasts that could be seen in the area. The guards immediately turned back to see who the one who cast the spell was. Ashia appeared in mid-air before she landed, with cold air like dew escaping through her mouth as she let out a deep exhale. Following this wave of beasts, two more waves appeared and were easily defeated with the help of Ashia.

At first, they thought the beasts were demonic beasts, but it appeared they were just mana beasts. Having the same look as wild animals, mana beasts who have been affected by mana by staying in a mana rich zone for too long might evolve into a mana beast. When a normal animal is born with a mana concentrated zone and grows there, it is more likely for them to become mana beasts, since their young bodies start absorbing and adapting to mana from an early stage in life, making them turn into stronger mana beasts than their counter parts who get exposed to concentrated mana at a later point in life. Also, in addition to those that evolve into mana beasts, there are other species that are born mana beasts like Dragons, wyverns, griffins, and others. Demonic beasts are also of two types, mana beasts or normal beasts that are exposed to demonic mana will get corrupted and turn into demonic beast. Then in very rare occurrences, a gate opens that connects the earth to the underworld where demons and demonic creatures live. A beast from the underworld can slip through the gate into earth. Just like original mana beasts that have weird features and looks, demonic beasts from the underworld look nothing like normal wild animals that have been affected with mana or demonic mana.

Luckily, the beasts that came from the forest were only weak mana beasts, nothing troublesome for one as Ashia. Not too long after, a team of adventurers emerged from the forest, looking mostly angry and a little pained. “So this is what became of the beasts huh? AArrrrrgg! This is useless!” One of the men said.

“Who are those people?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen them before either.”

“You fools, they are adventurers. You can tell from a glance.”

“Yeah you’re right, they are the only ones who use such dressing.”

“Ahh, yes. That’s true.” The guards whispered amongst themselves.

“Who are you people?! And what are you looking for here?!” Ashia said from a distance.

A slender man who was standing at the back of the group moved forward slowly. The surrounding of the village where they were on right now was filled with fine and cleanly levelled grass before the shrubs and trees of the forest, creating a beautiful environment. The man got in front of the group before he spoke. “Ah.. Nice to meet you too, miss. We are a small adventuring group that came out hunting. We mean no harm. Although, it seems like the beasts have been taken care of already. Hehh...”

‘He’s not trying to put the blame on us right? They aren’t particularly strong either. If I go by the strength levels, he should be the leader.’ “It’s ok, sorry about your beasts, they were attacking, so we had no choice.” Ashia said.

“Yeah, I figured. You magic is cruel, everything turned to complete blocks of ice. We can’t even take any left overs.” Another member said from behind.

Just at that moment, Zarks arrived. Surprised at the scene before him, he could only imagine what kind of magic caused the deaths of the beasts. “Miss. Ashia! It looks like I came late.” ‘Just how many beasts were there?’ The situation was explained to Zarks, as the village chief.

“So that’s how it is? Why don’t we head inside the village for now.”