Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 77 - 76: The Mana Eater

’The Fuck!!’

I cursed again and landed on the plaza, which looked normal except for the fact that the ground under the fountain, which was in the middle of the plaza, was slightly glowing.

It was so slight that you wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t know what to look for.

’It was just as I thought.’, my body trembled as I approached the plaza, ’The mana isn’t being dispersed.’

And for it to be glowing, its mana capacity must be full!

’Just how much mana has been gathered here? What will happen if it explodes?’

Just the thought terrified me.

-Slap...!!

Suddenly, I slapped my face and took a deep breath.

This wasn’t the time to be terrified. I have to do something – I told myself.

And then I moved, digging my sword into the fountain’s rim as I casted my spell, [Enchantment Reading].

My mana drained rapidly, the spell had to cover a lot of ground, so of course, it took a lot more mana than usual, but it still was much more than I expected.

-Gulp

Instantly, I took out a high-grade mana potion from my bracelet and gulped it down, restoring my mana to its peak before the spell drained me out, while also activating the active skill of [Sukan’s Spiritual Ring], increasing my spiritual strength by 1.9x for next 15 minutes.

It took more time and mana than I expected, but eventually, the runes became visible around the fountain.

Hundreds of thousands of runes, of different shapes, different sizes, and different meanings. Some of them, I knew; some of them I could guess; but the rest, they were still a mystery to me.

And if that wasn’t enough, there was still the fact that the number of runes was too much for me to understand.

I could stand here for days reading the runes and matching their meaning, before understanding the whole thing, not to mention I didn’t know half of the runes, or I didn’t even have hours, much less days…

’The dispersion system would explode, due to mana overloading, in a matter of minutes...’, I deduced.

But the dispersion array of the system was too complex for me to simply erase some runes and replace them with new ones. There were so many things a single rune did, for me to balance out everything.

In the first place, the technique was only supposed to work on simple arrays, and this definitely wasn’t a simple array.

So, I used a different approach.

The approach that I used in Ellsworth Estate.

Even at that time, I didn’t fully understand that barrier, it was a barrier made by a Magus, how the hell could I fully understand it?

But still, I hacked it, controlled it, and I used it. And I had to do the same here...just this time, without the permission of the owner.

I injected a minuscule amount of my mana into the array through my sword, attaching it to a random string of runes before making it flow in the direction opposite to the regular mana flow. It’s one end connected with my sword like a string, while it dug deeper into the array.

Since the amount of mana was minuscule, I could easily hide its presence under the heavy flow of residual mana. It also helped that the array didn’t check for a foreign mana signature at every instant. Instead, there were checkpoints made of separate runery that checked the major points through which the mana flowed.

This made the task easier as I could just avoid those checkpoints, but it also meant that I had to make the mana string longer, straining my mental power. After all, I had to control a mana string as thin as a hair, for tens of meters because of the twists and turns in the mana flow.

It took a while, a while that made me super nervous with how the glow of the ground below me intensified.

I was still sure that I won’t die, but if I took the explosion head-on...losing an arm or two wasn’t impossible.

Just as I was getting more and more stretched for time, just as I was getting desperate, just as I despairing, a ray of hope shined through the dark.

My mana string finally reached the place where I wanted it to, the control centre of the array!

Unlike simple arrays, complex arrays like this one, tend to have one as they were too big and needed a central system to control their operations and make them more accessible. And since the control centre controls the whole array, I just had to traverse back in the direction mana came from to find it, though it took a while.

’Now, I just have to hack it!’, I silently cheered.

Using the normal way, or even using my attribute to cheat my way through it would have taken a while, so I did something else.

I used the normal way while cheating my way through.

I never counted on myself to hack a district-wide array.

I wasn’t a genius, nor did I mistake myself as one.

The array was made by at least a gold-ranked runesmith, I couldn’t just hack it on a whim or by some miracle...

There was no such convenient plot armour for me.

So, instead of hoping for a miracle, I used the only thing I had in abundance.

Money.

Taking out a dozen mana-disrupting talismans from my bracelet, one of the most expensive talismans in the market that could dispel any spell of the same rank, I charged them up with mana while controlling my mana strings to connect to the most important-looking runery in the control array.

I didn’t actually know which was the most important runery, so I was going to use all talismans to increase my chances.

A huge loss of money, considering one such talisman was priced at 10,000,000 Coles.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

I split my already thin mana string in twelve, straining my mental power reserves even more as they depleted rapidly.

And then as soon as my mana string connected with the twelve of them, I used the talismans without hesitation.

Using my mana strings as a path, I carried the effect of the talismans, which normally shouldn’t have affected the array, directly to its deepest part, all thanks to my attribute that made it possible.

And then-

-Buzz

There was a slight buzzing of mana as the flow of residual mana stopped altogether, along with the array guiding it.

’…chance!’

I exclaimed, as my mana strings quickly swelled up in size, erasing all the complex runery making up of the command array, as I replaced it with simple ones.

Yes, I couldn’t balance out the runes of the whole array, but if it’s only a piece of runery, then with the help of [Split Second] I could manage…

And that’s exactly what I did, I erased, I created, I balanced and I edited for what felt like hours...I knew that it was just a few short seconds, as the talisman’s effect would wear off after that, but my brain felt otherwise.

I just kept doing it until there was nothing left, until I balanced it all.

My brain was exhausted and I was exhausted.

All my mana and mental power were drained, but a smile of satisfaction hung on my lips as I plopped down on the ground after completing my task.

’Maybe money can really solve all the problems.’, I mused.

And that’s where I was wrong.

I believed it too early; I was celebrating too early…

-Buzz buzz buzz…!!

A series of buzzes rang from below me as a shockwave of mana suddenly erupted from underground!

-BOOM!

The pavement, the concrete, the fountain, everything including me was blown away.

"…!"

My mind was blank.

I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t know why it was happening.

’Didn’t I just make it so that the mana wouldn’t explode!? So, wtf is happening now?’

I was genuinely denying the reality.

But as the pain of crashing into the edge of the plaza settled in, as I felt the prick of super dense mana in the air, and as I saw the humongous amount of mana gathering above the array, I had to believe it...I had failed.

I didn’t know what had gone wrong, I didn’t know which part I messed up, I didn’t know what to do now, as I blankly looked at the destructive sphere of mana.

I just knew one thing – I messed up.

-BUZZ...!!!

The mana buzzed again, a second shockwave exploding from it, as more of its surroundings were destroyed.

And it was thanks to that, that I noticed it – a part of the array that didn’t fit in, like it was crafted over it.

A ring of runes around the array, that now controlled the mana sphere.

’The one behind this had completely relocated the control centre of the array!’, I gravely came to a realization, that was a little too late...just a few seconds, that were too precious to ignore.

But that was not all. Under my watchful eyes, the sphere rapidly changed its form. From a sphere to an arrow, an arrow facing upward.

A chill went down my spine as I looked up instinctively and realized what the actual target was.

’The upper city!!’

No, no, no!!

If the upper city gets attacked then all my plans will fail, not to mention the loss of life that will happen in both cities as all the rubble will fall down!

Everything will descend into chaos!

’No! I can’t let this happen.’, I clenched my sword as two potions appeared in my left hand.

A Mana recovery potion and a Mental Power recovery potion.

Gulping down the mental power recovery potion first, I blasted my way into the air, drinking the mana recovery potion on the way, while also calculating the trajectory of the attack.

With the trajectory calculated, I placed myself between the upper city and the arrow as I channelled all my mana into the most powerful barrier artefact I had.

And then-

-BOOOOOOM!!

With an explosion louder than any other, that blew away the whole plaza, the huge mana arrow was launched.

It was slow. The attack was slow, but it didn’t matter as its target was stationary, the only thing that mattered was whether it was coming or not… and yes, it was definitely coming.

-Bathump, bathump

I could feel its massive power, I could feel that I wasn’t its match, and I could feel my own heart beating madly in my chest for it was one of the most dangerous things I had done in this life.

I wasn’t under the protection of a Magus; I wasn’t playing at my home. I was on my own – the fact hit me harder than ever now.

But none of that mattered too, as it had to be done.

It was then when I had resolved myself, that I felt a hand gently squeezing my shoulder.

A sudden and unexpected gesture, made me realize two things, I wasn’t alone and I couldn’t move my body. That hand had somehow locked my body in place!

But before I could think of the new intruder as an enemy, I heard him speak, "You did well kid. I was watching you, and I must say, I am impressed.", He spoke casual words as if the arrow made up of the humongous amount of mana wasn’t there, "Anyways, let me handle this one. It is way above your paygrade. Just watch how it’s done."

The figure said as he released my shoulder and slowly flew in front of me.

Seeing his back, I already knew who he was, a short body, shiny head, and that pot-bellied stomach.

I knew it all, at least on paper…now though, I was seeing something else.

With the mana arrow right in front of him, the figure raised his palm and stated in a deep yet casual voice, "Mana Drain."

"…!"

The air distorted, the mana distorted, and even the arrow distorted with those words.

A green vortex emerged before the figure’s hand as it sucked everything into it.

The whole mana arrow that seemed so mighty before, did seem like that anymore, as with slight resistance it too was sucked in the vortex, its might never seeing the light of the day.

-Burp

And the perpetrator of all this just burped slightly, looking all the same except for the fact that his belly looked slightly bigger than before?

"Not bad, right kid?", the figure said, finally showing me his face and confirming my suspicions.

The Baron of Lueurre, the only B-ranked magic user in the city, Marek Lekin Dena, aka, the Mana Eater, had just saved me and half of the city.