Dark Mage - Volume 1 - Chapter 19

Usually the teleportation magic consumes a staggering amount of mana. A normal magician wouldn’t even dare to attempt it.

However, the amount of mana needed to cast dimensional shift could not even be compared to teleportation magic. Therefore even the archmages, who proclaim that they had overcome the limit of magic, shake their head in advance when they are asked about dimensional shift. This very same dimensional shift was succeeded by Acrofont…..

“According to his logic, dimensional shift can sufficiently overcome space. In other words, one could go to a chosen destination and come back from there. However, there is an essential requisite element. One needs a source that’ll provide vast amount of mana. According to Acrofont’s notes, the mana needed to return from the other dimension is 10 times the amount needed to get there. Our Research Bureau suspects that he wasn’t able to come back, because he lacked mana.”

“Isn’t there an infinite amount of dimensions? Isn’t the probability of him moving to the place Crossen Magnus lived very low?”

Serge smiled as if to say not to worry.

“Acrofont had already finished the research dealing with this subject. If you follow his work on dimensional shift, one just needs an item that originated from that dimension to move there.
To say it again, we just need to obtain a personal item that belonged to Crossen Magnus then this problem may work out. We have already secretly solved this problem.”

After Serge finished speaking, he clapped his hands. One knight stepped forward and put down a box. As soon as the lid of the box was opened, the monarch’s gazes were focused on the box’s interior.

“This is Crossen Mangus’ person effects. He brought these from the dimension he lived in. Our Intelligence department had to suffer a lot to acquire this. However, the problem doesn’t end there. ”

After ordering the knight to shut the lid of the box, Serge turned around.

“If we are to succeed in the dimensional shift then we need numerous high tier magician over the 6th circle and a dragon heart. The dragon heart is the only item that can supply the mana needed for the dimensional shift.”

After hearing his words, all the monarch’s faces turned stiff.
Dragon heart. Literally, the dragon heart is an item that contains an unfathomable amount of mana. It was a brilliant gem of five cardinal colors, and it was priceless.
It was a great reagent in magic training, and it’s value exceeded that of diamonds. It stands to follow that no matter if you were a monarch of a developed country one would only have one, because it was rare. It was something that a less developed small countries would never get a chance to even view……
Each kingdom, who had a dragon heart, kept it as a tight secret.
However, every monarch here knew that one of the kingdom’s monarch that was present here had multiple dragon hearts.

“Then, then(TLN:he stutters and repeats it twice) You want us to hand over all our dragon hearts?”

After all the monarch’s gazes were fixed on him, the targeted monarch opened his mouth with a stutter. It was the monarch of the wealthy mercantile nation of Tranbell. He was fanatical in his love for gems, and it was rumored that his collection of gems would be enough to buy a nation. The incredible amount of tax that was collected by the wealthy Tranbell was used to support his hobby. It was a forgone conclusion that he would want a dragon heart. Occasionally, very occasionally, if he heard a rumor about a baby dragon being hunted down then he didn’t hesitate to use his gold to acquire the dragon heart.
This resulted in the monarch of Tranbell acquiring several dragon hearts. If it ended there then it wouldn’t have been a problem, but the monarch of Tranbell was a strong exhibitionist.
Normally every chance he had, he would boast to the other monarchs about the dragon hearts. Now it was the source of his trouble. (TLN: came back to bite him in the ass)

“How, however.” (TLN: another stutter)

He gave various excuses as to not give up the dragon hearts. This caused Rosengart IV’s eyes to suddenly turn cold.

“If we don’t overcome the current crisis then Tranbell’s wealth will cease to exist. If all the human countries fall then do you think a dragon heart will retain its value as a treasure? I will turn over the dragon heart I have without holding anything back. If I think of it as the fate of humans being on the line, then I would give up even more valuable treasures.”

Each kingdom’s monarchs were speechless, so they kept silent. Acquiring dragon hearts were a problem, but it wasn’t an easy task to acquire mages over the 6th circle.
If one was at the 6th circle, then the person would be an expert that would be able to become a palace magician in any kingdom. Therefore the monarchs were a bit hesitant to offer them up. However, the immediate reality was too urgent so eventually the Tranbell’s monarch, while crying, gave up the dragon hearts.
The plan to invite a person from a different dimension to overcome the crisis was formed.
Shrekheimer did not oppose the plan, but he offered up a suggestion.

“I would like to be included in one of the delegations.”

The monarchs assented to the suggestion without complaining. If one was to consider the holy magic he wielded, Shrekeimer was at the very least better than a 6th circle magician. They were quick to make a decision since losing even one magician was a loss.
Afterwards, Serge explained the last problem.

“Acrofont’s method of dimensional shift has a problem where time isn’t applicable. To say it again, we are able to pinpoint the location in space, but we can only rely on luck to arrive at the right time period. If we are lucky then we will arrive at the time period where Crossen Magnus existed. We will try to rope in the top expert from the time period he lived in. However, we have to prepare for failure. To say it again, we have to make at most 5 parties to send as a delegation.”

They had a total of 5 personal effect that belonged to Crossen Magnus. Each magicians selected by the kingdoms were formed into 5 parties, and each were given a dragon heart. The decision to travel to a different dimension was made.

“Please pick your magicians with haste. We have to pass down the dimensional shift magic so it would be best if you could hurry it up. Also I will send my special personal knights with Tranbel and Estell. So please let them hold on to the dragon hearts you possess.”

“I, I understand.”

After Rosengart IV finished speaking, he took a peek at Shrekheimer.

“We’ll put you, Archbishop, with our Ikarot kingdom’s palace magician Benitez. So please carry out the mission without any errors.”

“I understand.”

The gathering of monarchs ended this way. Each monarchs stood up to prepare their chosen magicians, and treasures.

After Shrekheimer explained all the procedures, he gave Dokgosong a melancholy gaze.

“These were the events that led us to traveling to Zhongyuan.”

“So that is what happened.”

Dok-gosong gave out a long sigh after finishing his words. At that moment, Dokgosong finally understood the whole situation. Their attempts were completely irreproachable.
They went to a different dimension and they were going to ask for help from the strongest human.
However, at the end, they picked the wrong person so they make an enormous mistake.
Dok-gosong wanted to help them, but he didn’t have enough power. Currently, he was just a middle-aged man without any strength. He erased the sad thoughts, and he bluntly spat out the next words.

“Why did you decide to bring me to this place?”

“That is.”

Shrekheimer gave a detailed account of what happened after he arrived at Zhongyuan.

“The dimensional shift happened in an instant. A mysterious light surrounded us and at the same time, we were instantly transported to another place. In preparation for the teleportation, we had prepared a spell called Aviation, but it wasn’t necessary. Unlike teleportation, the dimensional shift was exact in swapping the space above the magic formation with the other dimension. After the instantaneous swap, the delegation was somewhat surprised, but everyone was fine.”

Shrekheimer continued speaking while watching Dok-gosong.

“As soon as we arrived, we broadly scanned the distribution of mana. We did it to find a strong expert. As a result, we were able to find a location that had a surprising number of masters. It was too easy. We thought we were blessed by Belhazel-nim, so we held no suspicion. We were beside ourselves with joy so we headed toward that location.”

The people, who found Shrekheimer, at that time was the Sa-hwang sect’s hunting party.
This was when Sa-joonhwan mobilized most of the experts to track down Dok-gosong, who had escaped from the headquarters.
After hearing the description of the warriors’ attire, Dok-gosong was able to deduce that they were the Bae-sect’s hunting party.

“We were very surprised at that time. We had never seen that many masters before.”

“Then you are able to sense experts from a long distance.”

“That is correct. The magic we use is called Seek Mana Force. It can sense the quantity of mana in a master’s body so it wasn’t too hard to find them.”

However, our task did not proceed as planned. After finding them, Shrekheimer sent five magicians to initiate a conversation. The magician unraveled their concealment magic and approached them. Of course the opposing warriors were very guarded. The magicians casted a translation magic so they would be able to communicate. However, that was their critical mistake…..

“When the magicians started casting magic, the opposing warrior’s faces became rough. Before we could even finish our spell, they attacked us first. Surprisingly, they threw short swords and daggers from distance, and two magicians were killed on the spot.”

Dok-gosong thought internally.

‘They threw hidden weapons. If you look at it from the Bae-sect warriors’ perspective, it would be a critical mistake to let your opponent finish a spell.’

“One surprised magician spread a shield, but the power of the dagger was overpowering. The thrown dagger easily pierced through the shield and it gave the magician a fatal wound. The remaining two magicians were able to cast concealment magic, and fortunately, they were fine.
When they approached the fallen magician, we still hadn’t thrown away our hope to communicate with them. However, we were fundamentally mistaken.

Shrekhemier’s voice was filled with some form of regret.

“They seemed to ask the magician a question, but he probably couldn’t have answered back. The translation magic takes a while to cast, and he had sustained a major injury. They couldn’t understand each other but they….”

Shrekheimer momentarily paused at that part.

“The magician’s head was ruthlessly cut off. There wasn’t any hesitation.”

“It’s possible. Those bastards are capable of doing something like that.”

Shrekheimer’s eyes became round.

“Really? Then you know who those people were?”

“Yes. Originally, they were my underlings…. That bastard Sa-joonhwan instigated a rebellion and took over my seat. If that wasn’t enough, he persistently hunted me down to kill me.”

Shrekheimer finally found out why Dok-gosong was chased endlessly. However, there were parts he couldn’t understand….

“Then…then your und…underling rebelled against you? They wanted to usurp your position?”

“Yes. That bastard was despicable enough to turn many underlings against me. It was something I couldn’t have imagined, so I lost badly.”

“Oh. God.”

Shrekheimer forgot what to say. He was a figure from Truvania that had his mind filled with chivalry. Therefore, he couldn’t understand the concept of stealing a monarch’s seat through rebellion. Even though he had engaged in each monarch’s affairs, he didn’t even dare think about rebelling against them. In this place, loyalty to the monarch was seen as a virtue.

“How can that happen….. I’m having a hard time believing it.”

“It’s not surprising. Strength is the law in the world I lived in……”

“Th..then these kind of event happens regularly?”

“Yes. Countless amount of times…..”

Shrekheimer kept silent for a while. If one looked at it from another view, he might have made a mistake in picking him. The existence of someone with this kind of ideology was a very huge risk…..
However, Shrekhimer had no choice after he thought about the dangerous situation the Truvania continent was in.