Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 13: Hypothesis Proven

Chapter 13: Hypothesis Proven

The mirror twins’ curse—mirror-image magical interference.

That night in camp, when Noiche first confessed her trouble to me, I had already figured out the solution.

I held back from suggesting it only because I thought it would be too hard.

After all, the shape and nature of the magical power she had spent more than ten years learning to control would be completely reversed. There was no way she could handle it the same as always.

She would just make more mistakes, and right now “the same as always” was the best either of them could manage.

Yet she did it.

A flash of light twisted in a spiral—vivid rose and deep night black. It streaked across the sky in an instant and vanished just as quickly.

But that instant was enough. The beam that tore the heavens punched straight through the ice dragon’s armored throat as if it were paper.

It pierced the toughest dragon scales, gouged the flesh, and struck every vital blood vessel and airway in one perfect shot.

The ice dragon’s body arched backward, huge wings flapping wildly as it staggered in a drunken retreat.

“Genius…”

In just a few minutes—no, in the blink of an eye—she had succeeded.

I had assumed that once Noiche’s power flipped, it would turn into the same “dawn-sky” affinity Zaria has. But no, it kept its night-sky nature.

That means the Levi family’s affinity for the night sky isn’t tied to the three-dimensional structure of their magical power.

Proof obtained, right here, right now.

Magical energy has physical shape.

Yet it also possesses non-physical properties that shape alone cannot explain.

A very interesting result.

For me, that was the biggest harvest of the day.

Setting those thoughts aside, the ice dragon spread its wings wide.

Blood poured from the hole in its neck as it kicked unsteadily off the ground, trying to flee.
But—

“Bounce Seal: Pinball.”

I had no intention of letting it go.

I stomped the magic circle at my feet and shot forward like a bullet. In seconds I reached the low-flying dragon and planted a foot on its back.

A gaping hole in its neck.

Dragon blood gushing out.

Even for a species famous for regeneration, that wound wouldn’t close easily.

I poured ink straight into the cracks of the ice armor it was frantically trying to repair.

The ink slipped inside the flesh.

Then I gave the order.

“Chain Crown: Chainsaw.”

The ink went berserk.

Inside the dragon’s throat it became a spinning blade. With an ear-splitting high-pitched whine, it shredded meat.

“────!!??”

The dragon screamed.

But no sound came out.

Carotid artery, windpipe—everything turned to pulp inside a blender. Of course it couldn’t roar.

Clinging to the thrashing dragon’s back, I finally felt the moment life left it.

The bone-chilling cold that had frozen my fingertips suddenly vanished.

The wings that had been beating wildly went limp, and the huge body began to fall.

“Haro! Over here!”

“Yeah.”

I slid out of the neck hole, gathered the ink, and kicked off the dragon’s back.

Zaria looked up at me, one hand pressed to her pierced left shoulder, eyes narrowed in a pained but happy smile.

Noiche silently held out both arms and caught me—pon!—lightly and safely.

Ice dragon—defeated.

*

Right there on the spot, the first thing we did was treat Zaria.

“Ow ow ow! Wait—just a little gentler—ow ow ow ow ow!?”

“Hold still.”

Luce crushed and pulled out the ice spike lodged in her left shoulder, stitched the wound, then applied healing magic.

Heal, Cure, Clean—general-purpose spells that don’t rely on elemental affinity. They boost regeneration and disinfect. Most battlefield mages learn them first. Naturally I can’t use them myself.

“We’ll treat the rest later. Retreat first.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, the dragon corpse too! Let’s take it with us!”

“You’ve got energy to spare, huh…”

Even while writhing from the pain of fresh stitches, Zaria hadn’t lost her head.
A dragon corpse is a mountain of money—scales, fangs, blood, magic stone—everything is valuable.

“Haro, can we leave the carrying to you? We’re pretty much out of magic.”

“Got it.”

Both Noiche and Zaria were exhausted.

The pouch can’t swallow something that big, so I quickly used the ink to butcher the ice dragon.

I took only the most valuable parts: the especially tough back scales, enough blood to fill several glass bottles, and the jewel-like magic stone buried in the heart.

“I wonder if the mountain’s troubles are finally over,” Noiche muttered, tilting her head.

“Yeah—the mountain’s troubles are,” I answered slowly.

Leaving Zaria and Noiche puzzled, I kept thinking.

The ice dragon’s scattered magic had withered the plants and starved the beasts. That part made sense.

But why were the Levi sisters attacked at their camp? Why could the beasts see through Noiche’s stealth magic?

After seeing Noiche’s genius up close, that inconsistency felt even bigger.

Still, I already had a rough picture in my mind.

It had been strange from the beginning.

The sisters had heard this whole area was safe, so they traveled with only minimal guards to visit the Moscaneira family.

Yet contrary to reports, the monsters were in a panic.

Stealth magic failed, and they were ambushed.

And the most capable guard—the head butler—was the first to fall.

“—In the middle of the night, something suddenly appeared from the darkness. The strongest butler was blown away first, then the panicked maids scattered. By the time we finished off the monsters, no one was left.”

The whole sequence felt… staged.

That’s why, when I heard a rustle in the distant bushes, I dashed forward.

Behind the unguarded sisters.

Bam!—a small crack like a bursting balloon.

Several bolts of lightning shot into the air.

“Eh…?”

“Whoa, what!?”

The sisters spun around at the sound.

Too late. I handled it.

The clumps of electricity rising into the sky were magic bullets.

Magic bullets—the foundation of magical attack. Compressed magical power turned into projectiles of various elements.

The number a mage can float and control at once shows their skill.

About thirty bullets were aimed at the sisters—more than enough to call the caster skilled.

“Swirl back.”

Lightning—have to avoid conduction.

I floated the ink a little away from my palm; it spread like a spider web, spun, caught every bullet, crushed them, then coiled back into its original shape.

Finally showing yourself.

The real enemy who had been toying with the Levi sisters this whole time.

“Lightning magic bullets…!?”

“Haro, what’s going on? Who is it? Who’s after us?”

Zaria froze. Noiche desperately tried to understand.

I answered her question honestly.

“I don’t know his name. But you two do.”

“…Huh?”

“You’ve known him a long time… right?”

My words were for Noiche—and for the man holding his breath in the bushes.

Realizing he’d been found, the man stepped out with a resigned sigh.

He had dark eyes.

A formal suit caked with mud and leaves, glasses, disheveled blond hair slicked back, the beginnings of a beard—everything about him still carried the faint elegance of someone once well-groomed.

“Good grief, you ladies just refuse to die, don’t you…” he said with an exhausted sigh.

Noiche and Zaria stared in shock and shouted.

“Why are you…”

“What the hell is this—why are you alive, Kujack!?”

So that’s it—Kujack.

The name of the Levi family’s head butler.