When A Mage Revolts

After the black smoke had dissipated and his vision had been restored, Benjamin saw that the mages had kept him within protection. With the bone staff raised up high, everyone was being covered by the circle of white light.

He did not even have time to react.

"It… is that simple?"

He tried to move his four limbs and speak, experiencing the feeling of coming back into the world. Having been mysteriously set in place for more than ten hours, although there was not the least bit of exhaustion in his body, his mental state was in extreme fatigue.

"It's not that simple, director. Do you know how much effort we've put in to get this result from the research?" A mage nearby said, pointing at the bone staff.

Hearing that, Benjamin scratched his head, still perplexed about the situation.

"What… Did you guys do?"

"It's a bit troublesome to explain it all, but, this is something we've created from the remains of those three intelligent revenants." The mage spoke quickly, "We've extracted the energy that can destroy elements and realized that this energy can be stored in their bone staffs, receiving the most direct instructions through spiritual energy."

Hearing this, Benjamin still felt utter disbelief. He looked out of the circle of light. The bone dragon was there, keeping guard. Its cold glare fell upon him, as though it was about to gobble him up at any time.

He was unable to imagine that the tiny bit of energy they had refined from the liches' corpses was enough to block such a boss level revenant.

Another mage added, "We really wanted to use this sort of energy against the revenants. Inspired by healing magic, we added in all sorts of magical ingredients that possess strong healing effects, as well as huge amounts of light and dark elements. Finally, we succeeded in reversing that sort of energy."

"Reverse?"

"That's right. Although we're not clear what's going on as well, but the energy of the revenant has been turned into another completely unknown thing by us." The mage explained excitedly, "This sort of energy repels and is repelled by the entire netherworld. Once it is released, it will form an entirely new domain within three meters. No revenant will dare come near."

Hearing this, Benjamin had on a curious expression.

They had reversed energy?

He carefully sensed the white light emitted by the bone staff, but the strange thing was that he did not feel anything special from it. The white light was extremely ordinary. A somewhat irregular feeling of familiarity crept up in his heart.

This was...

"They have opened up a world for 'living beings' in the netherworld," The System suddenly appeared, clicking its tongue in astonishment, "Quite interesting… A mere handful of mages, cheating the laws of the worlds just like that."

"What are you saying?"

"Do you really think that this beam of white light is able to stop the bone dragon?" The System explained impatiently, "In truth, it can totally rush over and withstand that tiny bit of backlash, before finishing off the lot of you completely."

"Then why hasn't it struck?"

"Because it's a stubborn fool. The inside of the white light has been disguised as the world of the living. It's like how revenants rarely appear in the world over at the abyss. The laws do not allow it. As an undead, it would definitely not dare to step over the perimeters."

Benjamin was hit by a sudden realization.

So… Was this considered a cover-up?

Using the energy from the liches to create a world of the living within their own perimeters, not only have they cheated the bone dragon, but also the entire netherworld. Even Benjamin, who had been inhibited by the laws of the netherworld and fixed here, immovable, had been successfully rescued by them using a similar trick.

It was actually a very simple logic: The living could not enter the netherworld, and even more so, were not allowed to make a huge fuss here. Benjamin, having broken the laws in such a high profile manner, had thus been punished. However, Benjamin had now 'left' the netherworld, so the laws of the netherworld were unable to affect him.

Thinking about how the soul of bones had rambled on about the emphasis of adhering to the laws, but could only look at them from the outside now, Benjamin felt somewhat amused.

"Why have you suddenly gone dumb?"

He spoke through his spiritual energy, trying to communicate with it. Nevertheless, he immediately discovered that he seemed to have lost contact with the soul of bones, and his words were unable to pass through.

"Its spiritual energy has not even been extended here, how could you speak with it?" The System said, almost speechless.

"...Alright."

Benjamin was somewhat resentful. These undead creatures were rigid beyond imagination. It was such a pity, because he had intended to mock the bone dragon a bit more.

However, it was dead, after all. How could it not be rigid?

At that moment, the mages had already held up the circle of light and begun moving, bringing Benjamin with them. The circle of white light moved under the dark skies of the netherworld, looking extremely eye-catching, like a kiwi hidden amongst a row of eggs. The bone dragon stubbornly followed the circle of light.

Although they were unable to communicate and Benjamin did not know what the soul of bones was thinking, Benjamin could see the pair of flames within the eye sockets, and seemed to feel a teeth-gnashing resentment.

It was feeling really hateful!

"Right… It should be possible for such an energy to be used up, yes?" Benjamin could not help but feel a bit uneasy, being glared at in such a manner, so he suddenly asked.

"Yes." Lara nodded, saying, "But we've extracted and refined a lot of it, so it should be enough to support us until we get back to the world of the living."

"That's good."

Benjamin gave a sigh. After some though, he asked again, "How about Miles? How is he?"

"He has not yet awakened. Mage Thomson has brought him back to the academy first, and since we were worried about your situation, we came to rescue you after our research produced a result."

Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. "Thank you all, so much…"

Thinking back to the beginning, when the mages had been doing their research while trying to escape, he had had many doubts in his heart. Otherwise, he would not have decided to split up and run, using himself to lure the monster away.

These were mages that had been following him since a long time ago, and had gone through upheavals of nations as well as the establishment of the academy with him. It was as though… They had presented an extremely astonishing growth.

Benjamin was slightly touched; not only because he had been saved by them in the midst of trouble, but also because he felt a strange comfort.

Thus, this row of people hid within the circle of light, flying at high speed for about five or six hours before finally reaching the borders of the netherworld. The bone dragon continued to trail them. At first, its glare caused them to feel somewhat panicky, but after slowly getting used to it, they even felt as though this legendary revenant was their pet, following after them. It could not be more obedient.

The moment they reached the Spirit Abyss, Benjamin even turned around to wave at the bone dragon with a smile on his face.

If the bone dragon could speak to them then, it was very probable that many dirty cuss words would have emerged from its jaws. However… Even if it could raise itself higher, Benjamin would not be able to hear it regardless.

With hearts full of joy, they flew across the Spirit Abyss, returning to the world of the living.