A Returner's Magic Should Be Special Chapter 269

In the center of Pittsburgh, the traces of a fierce battle were fully visible. The intense heat still had not cooled down, and the ground was flowing like lava. It was difficult to believe that this place was where the Royal Palace once stood.
There was a group of five people heading towards that area: Desir, Adjest, Pram, Romantica, and Raphaello.
Adjest created a safe path by freezing the lava with an ice spell, and Raphello protected the group from the heat by deploying his remaining aura into a hemispherical shape.
Among them, there was not a single person who was unscathed. Everyone was covered head to toe in wounds.
However, their expressions were bright. Desir's attention was drawn to something while walking and looking around. There was something that was not melting in the flowing lava.
“… ”
It was shrapnel from the Beast of Revelation's body.
Desir recalled a memory from his past life while looking at it.
The tremendous amount of sacrifice that followed in order to attack the Beast of Revelation.
It was a monster that was successfully killed after all the military forces, everything that humankind was able to gather, fought desperately; tens of thousands of people died as a result.
'We managed to defeat it.'
They had succeeded in defeating the Beast of Revelation with small scale military forces, a situation incomparably different to his previous life. Moreover, the casualties were only in the hundreds. It certainly was not a small number, but considering the result of the scale of casualties when attacking the Beast of Revelation in his previous life, this was a tremendous achievement.
“… … Impressive, powerful magic.”
Raphaello, who was staring at a blazing, red flame, suddenly spoke to Desir.
“I cannot imagine how we would have killed it if you weren't here. We're all safe and sound, thanks to you. You did a great job, Desir.”
“It was only possible because everyone cooperated. I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself.”
It was not idle flattery, he was utterly sincere.
Even though it was a draconic spell, it was not an easy task to take down the Beast of Revelation. It was only because the others successfully executed Desir's orders that he was able to attack uninhibited.
Immediately after their return, when the victory that Desir struggled for finally arrived, he was thrilled. Still, now was not the time to celebrate.
Even though they had crossed over the big gate called the Beast of Revelation, their battle was not over yet.
'We still have to deal with Skull Mask, along with the power source.'
Their mission was not to kill the Beast of Revelation, but to destroy the towers' power source.
As long as the power source existed, Skull Mask would be able to threaten the continent again in ways they could not even begin to imagine.
After walking for a while, Adjest suddenly stopped.
“I think it's here, Desir.”
The place they stopped at was the spot that led Desir and Adjest to the Shadow World, the place they originally saw the Beast of Revelation.
They were at the entrance to the underground passage, located within the bed chambers. Although the surroundings had been demolished, the stairway was preserved underneath a pile of rubble.
They began their descent.
Skull Mask had installed a variety of traps, but they were all useless. Desir was able to disarm magical ones, and physical ones were easily dealt with by either Pram or Raphaello. In the end, they bought Skull Mask some time, but traps would never stop them.
The passage was seemingly endless, as if built to emotionally prepare its travellers for a grand reveal of a colossal facility. Only after half an hour of walking deep underground were they able to finally leave the stairs behind them.
A large, open space with a cylindrical structure set up in the center revealed itself.
“I think we're here.”
The cylindrical structure connected to the deep, underground place was made in the same structure as the towers that were set up all over Divide.
Desir immediately realized that it was the power source, the core facility that powered all of the towers.
“Adjest, ready the spear.”
Adjest nodded and followed Desir's order.
When she reached out her hand, a spear began to form from her dimensional pocket.
It was the Spear of Longinus, an S-Tier artifact that the Imperial Family of the Hebrion Empire had kept under strict lock and key.
Adjest bit her ring finger and dropped her blood on the spearhead, which was leaking a red hue of chaotic energy.
At that moment, the Spear of Longinus, having absorbed the blood of a Hebrion Imperial Family Member, began emitting incomparably stronger, incredible energy.
*Thuddddd*
Adjest jabbed the Spear of Longinus, which began releasing its power in earnest, into the power source.
*Crrrack*
The silver light coating the surface of the power source was penetrated by the spear, and began disappearing, instead replaced by transparent ice.
The ability to transform any object struck by the spear into a medium that the user desires. That was the power of the Spear of Longinus.
Adjest used that power to turn the power source into ice. Now it was impossible to reactivate this facility.
Desir prepared this in order to completely destroy the power source, the core of the plan that Skull Mask devised.
'There is no longer an escape route for Skull Mask.'
Every means that Skull Mask had at his disposal had now been disabled. Everything from the Beast of Revelation to the power source which formed the core of his plan. There were no other means that Skull Mask could draw upon.
Checkmate.
A smile crossed Desir's lips.
'With this, we stopped the Shadow Labyrinth from occurring.'
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The Shadow Labyrinth.
With the new facts at hand, it must have been an artificial Shadow World that was created through Skull Mask's plan.
From the day he returned until this very day, Desir's efforts and the fruits of his labor were all for clearing the Shadow Labyrinth.
As Skull Mask's plan was now demolished, the Shadow Labyrinth would not occur. His goal had been achieved.
'We don't have to experience that hell again.'
Knowing this, Desir felt his heart swell with pride.
At that very moment.
*Thud*
The facility shook, along with the sound of an explosion. It was a tremendous shock coming from deeper underground.
That must surely be where Skull Mask had holed himself up. If so, there was a fair chance that the shock was caused by him.
Adjest pulled the Spear of Longinus out from the source just in time.
There was no longer chaotic energy flowing out from the spearhead. All of the energy contained in the spear had been exhausted, which meant that it was fully inoperable now.
Despite the fact that there was nothing to worry about, the sound of the explosion from deeper underground was disquieting.
“Let's pick up the pace.”
They began moving faster than before.
A cold and serious atmosphere took over the momentary, positive feelings. Before long they were once again all agitated, filled with impatience.
*T-Tap*
*Tap*
Only the sound of the footsteps of five people dashing in this silent place echoed.
They went inside a completely frozen cylindrical tower, before descending further down. Step by step, foot by foot.
They finally reached the end of the basement.
It was a place thousands of feet below the surface. There was a vast facility that was now frozen due to the Spear of Longinus.
The party got into formation, reduced their speed, and began walking inside the facility. They were ready to respond to whatever Skull Mask would throw at them.
At that moment, Romantica discovered something and shouted.
“Desir, over there!”
There were spots of blood at the area that she pointed at with her fingertip.
As they traced back the long trail of blood, there was a man lying on the floor.
Desir's pupils dilated.
A man in a black robe with an irritatingly familiar mask.
“… … Skull Mask.”
Desir was baffled at the fact that Skull Mask, the main culprit of all these events, was dead. Having died on his own and not at Desir's hands.
Did he commit suicide after being driven into a corner?
He had to check.
Because there is a possibility that this could be a trap, he told the others to keep their guard up and approached him.
When he lifted the man's mask, there was a man dead with his eyes left wide open. His face was slightly different from what Desir remembered, but he was certainly Skull Mask.
Desir was disconcerted for a moment and began checking the condition of the corpse.
'He was murdered. And with a single blow, due to an ambush.'
The work of a highly-skilled assassin.
A skillful person who could assassinate Skull Mask in one blow within the Outsider's most secure facility.
Desir thought of one person immediately.
'Pierrot Mask.'
The answer was simple, but he wasn't able to understand.
Didn't Pierrot Mask block them so that Skull Mask's plan could proceed safely until the end?
'But for what reason did he betray Skull Mask all of a sudden?'
Resentment at the failure of the plan?
No, it could not have been for such a trivial reason. Though he was definitely crazy, Pierrot Mask operated with a sense of psychotic reason. Rather than kill Skull Mask, he would have helped him escape, and helped him rebuild to try again. Perhaps he would have acted as a distraction, to allow Skull Mask to escape.
There must be a grave reason for this.
Desir, who had been contemplating for a long time, remembered something peculiar.
'What was the source of that explosion a while ago?'
Skull Mask was killed in a clean strike, likely in an ambush. This clearly did not match up with the sound of an explosion, which he had originally written off as part of the battle.
Desir checked the facility. It was not a difficult task to locate the source of an explosion.
“This… … ”
There was an enormous hole in the power source's casing.
Before all of the power source had been turned into ice, Pierrot Mask had done something.
Desir looked inside it. It was empty. There was nothing there.
Pierrot Mask had betrayed Skull Mask in order to siphon something from within the power source.
'So he wasn't just being used?'
He thought Pierrot Mask was merely Skull Mask's subordinate, but that must have been wrong. Pierrot Mask might have just been waiting for this kind of situation from the beginning.
“Contact the outside world immediately.”
It had not been long since the sound of an explosion had been heard. No matter how quick he was, Pierrot Mask could not have left Pittsburgh yet.
Des1r activated a communication spell in a hurry.
“We must cut off all the routes that he could take to leave Pittsburgh. Hurry!”
—-

Chapter end