Chapter 82: Guess Why I Wanted to Be a Council mber?
The great tree trembled faintly, and the 7th white ring looked distinctly unstable.
The space here was saturated with magical energy—surging like an ocean of Magic Power.
From the mont he first stepped into this Pocket Dinsion, Viktor had sensed 2 powerful forms of energy.
And beyond Magic Power, there was another—a breath of nature and life.
Like the stillness of a tranquil lake.
The closer they drew to Hagar, the more clearly Viktor could perceive it.
The 2 energies gradually intertwined, giving rise to a form of pure natural magic.
This magic was nothing like Weija's vast and overwhelming Magic Power. It was not sothing a human could channel directly.
Natural Magic Power was far more attuned to the elents than ordinary Magic Power, and the magic it released was correspondingly more potent.
Yet the number of beings capable of wielding Natural Magic was extraordinarily few.
But……right now, there was soone beside Viktor who could.
"Fwoo~ fwoo~ fwoo~"
At so point unnoticed, Cocotte had drifted into a deep sleep.
The natural energy here was so overwhelmingly dense that for a mont it made her feel as though she had returned to the domain of the Natural Elves.
Imrsed in such abundant natural energy, Cocotte only felt even more drowsy.
This was far from her first visit here—this ti she had only co along to accompany Viktor.
She had asked Heim before whether she could sleep beneath this great tree, and had been t with unanimous opposition from the Council mbers.
Heim offered his explanation:
"According to a Prophecy left behind by the Archmage, Hagar will one day face a catastrophic tribulation."
The Archmage.
The founder of the City of Mages—by now, he had been alive for well over a thousand years.
Viktor rembered it clearly.
Judged purely by the strength of his abilities as a character, the Archmage was on the sa tier as the Emperor of the Kingdom of Carencia.
But in the Background Story, the Archmage had achieved his power through his own cultivation.
The Empire's Emperor, by contrast, had attained his supre might by squeezing the life force from others and through divine blessings from the Gods.
Their strength was roughly comparable, yet one had a long life ahead of him and the other a short one.
Still, everyone believed the Archmage had long since passed away—after all, he had vanished from the public eye for several hundred years.
Counting from the first generation Emperor of the Empire, if he were still alive today, he would likely be well over a thousand years old.
Even a long-lived Elf like Cocotte had a maximum lifespan of only five hundred years.
Thinking about this, Viktor felt a faint urge to laugh.
The Archmage was very much alive—only, he wasn't human.
His true form was a tortoise.
Why did Viktor know all this?
Because there wasn't a single NPC he hadn't beaten up before.
"We do not know, however, what form Hagar's future crisis will take—and so we need greater Mage strength to protect Endymion."
Heim spoke plainly, as though laying all his cards on the table.
And this matter, beyond the 12 Council mbers of the Mage Council, he had shared with Viktor alone.
After all, if other Mages learned of this in advance, so might simply cut and run before the battle even started.
Not every Mage was possessed of righteous morals.
The Mage Council's first principle was 'morality' and 'justice.'
Viktor didn't respond to Heim. He simply looked at Hagar—at the towering great tree before him.
Without anyone noticing when, the Crow on his shoulder had taken flight toward that great tree.
Heim watched quietly and made no move to stop it.
After all, it was just a crow. Could it really have any effect on Hagar?
Viktor spoke mildly:
"Mr. Heim, before we discuss lending a hand—"
"Do you actually know what Hagar is?"
"……"
Heim gave no reply. From the mont he was born in the City of Mages, Hagar had always been there within Endymion.
Generation after generation, it had kept Endymion afloat in the sky. With its boundless natural Magic Power, it ensured that Endymion enjoyed spring-like weather in every season of the year.
And now, Viktor's words had, for the first ti, given him pause.
Hagar—what exactly was it?
Why had it been able to sustain Endymion in the sky for so many years?
Was it truly the first great tree planted by the Gods?
As though receiving so ssage, Viktor took 1 last glance in the direction Weija had gone, then withdrew his gaze.
Then, all at once—
The black Coat on his body lit up with a faint red glow. The faint Fire-attribute Magic Power gradually linked with the natural Magic Power spread throughout Hagar's entire domain.
Heim noticed it as well, and watched Viktor's movents in silence.
He had a feeling—Viktor must know sothing.
Everything that had occurred in the Magic Power Gorge was perfectly clear to him. He knew full well what kind of extraordinary natural Magic Power Viktor commanded.
Those staggering flas, like a fragnt of the sun's crimson radiance—even a sliver of it would have been more than enough to incinerate the entire Magic Power Gorge.
Heim didn't know what a Calamity was.
Calamities themselves were rarely known to anyone—they were not recorded in any historical texts or ancient chronicles. Only scattered traces of them surfaced in myths passed down from antiquity.
They were true creations of the Gods.
Viktor's Magic Power gradually linked with Hagar's.
In an instant, countless green shoots burst from the void beneath Hagar.
Their Magic Power seed guided by an unseen hand, as clusters of green grass began to grow around Viktor and the great tree.
Flowers of every color blood all at once within the Pocket Dinsion, transforming it into a breathtaking garden.
The waist-high grass swiftly enveloped everyone present.
A single blade of grass poked out from beneath Cocotte's cloud and hooked itself on the tip of her nose.
"Ah~ Achoo!"
Cocotte blinked her eyes open in a daze. Finding herself wrapped in flowers and green grass, she looked toward Heim and asked:
"Hmm?"
"What happened?"
Heim had no answer. He stood frozen in place.
"This……why?"
What on earth had Viktor done?
Gazing at the beautiful scene before her, Cocotte felt as though she had wandered into a dreamlike sea of flowers—so enchanted that she had even forgotten about sleeping, her eyes filled with wonder and confusion.
This was exactly the kind of environnt she loved most.
And yet, sohow, she couldn't shake the feeling that all this lush, teeming greenery seed……
A little strange?
Viktor remained where he stood, continuing to link with Hagar's Magic Power source.
To be precise—he was drawing on Gulton's power to establish a connection with the Magic Power core deep within Hagar: Druga.
The 6 schools of magic were said to mutually restrain one another, but among the Calamities, this rule did not apply.
A Calamity's violent force was enough to trigger a Natural Disaster, yet the gentle power of nature carried no inherent wrongness.
Nature's fire was the residual warmth of the sun—it nurtured grasses and trees, causing them to grow with extraordinary speed.
And so, once a link ford between Calamity and Calamity—
That was the reaction produced by 'Fire' and 'Wood.'
'Photosynthesis.'
Heim stood in silence. He could not comprehend what was unfolding before his eyes.
For the first ti.
It was the first ti he had ever witnessed a change like this in Hagar.
"Heim."
In this mont, Viktor stood amid a sea of blossoms—like a ssenger of nature, encircled by all the world's beauty.
Even Cocotte was staring with a slightly dazed expression.
He did not turn to look at the formidable Phantom Mage, yet he called him by na directly.
"Use your Magic Power and Cocotte's to construct a barrier that won't let anything bleed through to the outside."
Heim was puzzled. For so reason, he could feel a surge of alarm—like an electric current shooting up his spine.
"Viktor, tell what you're trying to do!?"
"Relax. Endymion won't co crashing down."
At so point, the Crow had returned to Viktor's shoulder.
"Just watch."
In Viktor's eyes, a streak of breathtaking azure-blue flashed through.
Then, all at once—a blazing sun slowly rose from the void.
A terrifying heat climbed through the surroundings. The plants all around seed to erupt in a frenzy of jubilation, shooting up in violent, riotous growth!
Vines without number surged up from the boundless void in an instant, coiling around the entire space and wrapping it in layers—the area transford in monts into a dense, sprawling jungle.
A rich, overpowering scent of wood and greenery flooded the entire space, blanketing everything.
On either side of the hollow in the towering great tree, a pair of enormous green hands—blanketed in blossoms—slowly extended outward.
Then a 2nd pair. A 3rd…...
Until 9 pairs of enormous green hands had seized both sides of the great tree, and, as though lifting the very world itself, they wrenched the tree apart.
The 7 white rings shuddered violently all at once.
"Viktor! What are you doing!? At this rate, Endymion will be destroyed by your hands before anything else can destroy it!"
Heim's voice was trembling slightly.
In that mont, the thought 'inviting a wolf into the house' surfaced unbidden in his mind.
Could it be that the Prophecy the Archmage once left behind……referred to Viktor?
Before his words had even faded, a colossal serpent erged from the roots of the great tree—its entire body slowly pulling free.
At that, both Heim and Cocotte were struck completely dumb.
Inside Hagar—there was actually a living creature!?
Atop its glowing green head were 3 pairs of compound eyes. A bright white light swept from those compound eyes across the faces of everyone present, before finally fixing on Viktor.
Then, at last, its enormous tail—green, threaded through with black markings—was slowly drawn free from within Hagar.
Only now could everyone fully make out the form of the colossal beast before them.
Cocotte stared in terror at the towering creature, her voice trembling as she spoke:
"A Calamity! It's actually a Calamity!?"
Heim was equally stunned. He spun around and snapped his gaze toward Cocotte.
"A Calamity? What's a Calamity!?"
"That thing right in front of us! Quickly, build the barrier! Otherwise Endymion is completely done for!"
Heim imdiately grasped the gravity of the situation. Though he still didn't know exactly what a Calamity was, he could feel it—a wave of crisis had suddenly descended over Endymion.
Cocotte and Heim both moved swiftly, beginning to construct a containnt barrier around the area, sealing all the presence within the Pocket Dinsion from leaking out.
The Formation took shape at remarkable speed. Within just a few seconds, intricate patterns and Runes had already been etched into place.
Now, all that remained was to wait for it to activate on its own.
Viktor stood with both hands in his pockets, his Coat billowing in the pressure of the air around him.
He fixed his gaze on Druga before him, as a red stripe flashed across his Coat.
A staff materialized in his hand—Ulruste.
As for the Mage's Robe, Viktor had already been wearing it this whole ti, though it was hidden beneath his Coat.
The Coat whipped wildly under the terrifying pressure. Weija's azure-blue eyes brimd with Magic Power so full it seed ready to overflow.
Viktor watched as his own MP surged upward at a staggering rate—rapidly shattering its upper limit, racing toward the absolute maximum.
Feeling the vast, ocean-like Magic Power wash through him, he t the gaze of the terrifying creature before him with quiet confidence.
The Calamity of Wood—Druga!
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