21st Century Archmage

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!

The Blessed Spears thrown by the Skyknights of the Imperial Guard struck and downed three of the Eastern Corps’ wyverns. In the very next instant, the 50 Skyknights in attack formation counterattacked in unison with their own volley of spears. The distance was now around 1.5 km. At such a distance, with missile guidance, 80 out of 100 spears would hit their target. Both the attacking Skyknights and the Imperial Skyknights knew that the result was decided.

But just then, with a great gust of wind, the fierce onslaught of the spears appeared to crash into something in midair, resulting in a cacophonous explosion as they bounced off in every direction.

“…!!!”

Everyone’s eyes instantly turned wide. Who could have imagined this? Who would have thought that wind would blow out of nowhere and turn aside all the spears?

Whoooooooosh.

“S-Spirit!”

“It’s a High Spirit!”

But the reason soon became clear—an enormous semblance of transparent but shimmying wind, made visible by the light of the sun, appeared before them. Because everyone here had received education on spirits, they were able to identify it.

“Uhahahahahahahahahaha!”

And in the midst of their surprise, they all clearly heard laughter that was at the peak of arrogance.

Scwhip scwhip scwhip scwhip.

When they turned their heads, the Skyknights saw a few lines of light.

Babababam.

Kuaaaaaaaaaaaak!Kiaaaaaaak!

The agonized screams of wyverns rang out. The unexpected combatants were a considerable distance away, but their Blessed Spears cut through the distance in mere moments, plunging into the armor and flesh of the wyverns. They were filled with such powerful mana that the spears buried themselves all the way up to the ends of their hilts, deep into the wyvern torsos.

“E-Enemy appearance!”

“Execute evasive maneuvers!”

“Counterattack!”

Various screams burst out of the helmets of the Eastern Corps Skyknights. The new enemies could be counted on one hand, but the mere fact that a High Summoner was among them meant they were a huge threat.

As expected of formal corps wyverns enlisted by the empire, not just by random lords, they swiftly fell into defensive formation with a flurry of wingbeats.

Schwiiiiiiip.

Babababam.

“Guaaaaaaak!”

But they had momentarily forgotten about the Imperial Skyknights. Taking full advantage of the unknown assistant’s appearance to attack, the Imperial Skyknights flying at close combat distance did not even bother to guide their spears and simply hurled them in quick succession.

“F-Fly!”

Sch-sch-sch-sch-schwhip.

Like on the ground, attacks from the flank and rear were the most difficult to deal with in the air. The terrifying volley of spears unleashed by just six individuals caused multiple Skyknights to lose their mounts, forcing them to use Fly to preserve their lives.

And that wasn’t all.

“Wind Tornado!”

“Spiral Tornado!”

“Lightning Blade!”

“Rune Flare!”

“Wind Field!”

The five Skyknights sitting astride Gold Wyverns had drawn closer in no time. They proceeded to fire 5th Circle spells, as if all five of them were mages.

Schwiaaaaaang.Whoooooooosh!Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! 

BOOOOOOOM! CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

“AAAAAAGHH!”

“Guagh!”

Kiaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!

A violent gale swept through the sky. Within the colorful magic lights, magic burst like fireworks amongst the clumped up wyverns, and pandemonium soon broke out as chaos ensued. There were wyverns whose tails were set on fire by the fire magic, wyverns whose unprotected wings were cut to tatters by wind magic, wyverns who were struck by lightning along with their Skyknights and were enveloped by blue sparks high in the sky, and wyverns whose wings were struck by powerful wind and were forced to land. The closely positioned Bajran Empire Eastern Corps Skyknights had a taste of true hardship.

“Sic’ em, Djinn! Use Bite!”

In the midst of the madness, there was a certain man yelling wildly and treating his high spirit like a hunting dog.

Cruuuunch.

At his command, the high spirit opened its huge mouth and really did swallow up a wyvern’s head.

“Not the head, bite the wings! If the quality of the goods goes down, I’ll never summon you again!”

The crazy man’s mana-charged voice boomed out like thunder. A person who could summon a high spirit could instantly be elevated to counthood in any empire, but this man threatened his spirit to never summon it again.

Cruuuunch.

KUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!

But that ridiculous threat was apparently taken to heart, because the high spirit tore into wyvern wings without mercy.

Flap, flap, flap flap flap flap.

The wyverns bitten on one wing flapped desperately to avoid death, crashing to the ground. And then, the Eastern Corps wyverns and Skyknights who had confidently attacked the Imperial Skyknights scattered like ants swept by a broom. For them, a corps used to formation flight, this sudden attack was like an apocalypse. After receiving the full brunt of spears and spells, there weren’t many among them who could hold onto their senses in that place full of exploding magic.

Swooooooooosh.

Eight Black Wyverns charged through the broken net.

“Hahaha, go relay this to your tyrant emperor! If you’ve got any complaints, come find the master of Nerman, Kyre, at any time! Hahahahahaha!”

The man’s vitriol was filled with a massive amount of mana. Every Skyknight busy settling their fleeing or rampaging wyverns heard it loud and clear.

They heard the name of Kyre, master of Nerman.

* * *

He came.

Like a gust of wind, that man came to save her, someone on the brink of crossing the river of death. Riding that familiar Black Wyvern with golden stripes, that man confidently declared war on the emperor.

‘Kyre…’

Princess Igis felt as if her chest was filled with surging emotions instead of air. With eyes opened as wide as could be, she filled her chest with his appearance.

Kyre. He was now the savior who saved her life.

* * *

Just moments ago, she was prepared for death, but now, Countess Irene let out a snort.

He was so eccentric. From the first time she saw him, he had guts she doubted she’d ever see anywhere else. That man went and declared war on the emperor of the Great Bajran Empire.

“So cool.”

She uttered that praise so quietly no one could hear. This was why she liked that man. No matter who he faced, he was someone who could stand straight and say what he wanted to say.

He was a true man.

A cool man with the magical ability to mercilessly steal Irene’s heart away for the first time in her life.

* * *

‘Aaagh! To think I have to leave all that loot behind!’

The sight of the wyverns and Skyknights dropping out of the sky made my insides sting. If not for the flock of wyverns flying towards us from afar, I would whisk all the loot away, but time and fate did not permit such indulgence.

‘Fine, today’s not the day anyway. There’s tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that!’ 

Only I wanted to let loose and go wild. Originally, I planned on peeling their faces off, so I didn’t have a wink of desire to be courteous.

‘Dammit… I’m all out of mana.’

The high spirit Djinn had used my mana to go bonkers, as if savoring the taste of the air in the Middle Realm for the first time in a while. As soon as I could see the backs of the empire’s Skyknights, I cancelled the summoning. I couldn’t reveal the fact that my mana was running out.

“Let’s go back, Bebeto!”

Guooooooooooooo!

Nothing good would come out of staying on someone else’s land. After repelling the enemies who had harried my guests with the ease of someone scattering a flock of sparrows, we turned towards my land.

‘Igis, the kiddo… and Irene.’

Of the guests flying towards Nerman, I could distinguish those three from their airplates and wyverns alone.

‘But why does that one keep staring at me?’

Despite the rush, one of the female Imperial Skyknights kept sneaking glances at me.

‘My popularity is just…’

I felt great. I couldn’t collect the free wyverns, but it was still one fruitful day.

* * *

Crash!Boooooom!

A sturdy blackwood desk was destroyed by a mana-charged fist.

“S-Say that again? What did you say? The Lord of Nerman, Kyre, appeared and took the Prince and Princess?”

“S-So it says, sir. According to the report of Count Harpisce of the Eastern Corps, the Lord of Nerman, Kyre, and his mage Skyknights appeared and took everyone away. Also, 37 corps wyverns died, 28 were injured, and another 13 Skyknights were killed.”

“Kuaaghh! Who said I wanted to hear a report like that?! What I wanted to hear was that the prince was killed, not a pathetic report of defeat like that!”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Unable to extinguish his rage, Duke Ormere took his anger out on the remains of the destroyed desk with his foot.

“Urghh… Kyre, you piece of shit…”

Bloodthirst glowed blue in his eyes. Duke Ormere clenched his teeth as he balled his fists.

“I do not know how I should report this to His Majesty. If he finds out that the bastard harshly insulted His Majesty, he won’t stand for it…”

“You fool! Do you think we can really report that to His Majesty right now?! The coronation will take place as soon as the funeral is complete. Until you get my permission, none of you may report to His Majesty!”

“U-Understood, Your Excellency.”

Ormere also knew how volatile Poltviran was. If Poltviran found out that he was insulted by a mere Lord of Nerman, he would definitely jump right into war, forgoing the all-important coronation.

‘Kyre, just you wait. Soon, I will help you strip your hide from your back.’

Prince Razcion and Princess Igis had to be eliminated at the roots in order to prevent future trouble, and Kyre, the Lord of Nerman, was a definite threat to the empire.

Ormere stored his rage deep in his heart. That bastard was now an archenemy who could not exist under the same sky as the empire…