Schlacht's Prophecy

Nearly a hundred Killing True Magic were activated simultaneously.

Fern's breathing quickened involuntarily.

If they continue to defend, even if they manage to withstand this round of attacks, their Mana will be severely depleted. However, if they actively withdraw their defenses, any of these attacks could be fatal.

"That's not right, Fern."

Suddenly, Frieren spoke up.

"We've completely fallen into their rhythm; this shouldn't be happening."

Fern stared at the attack spells that surrounded him from all sides. If what Lord Lorenzo said was true, then Lady Frieren's intention should be...

Turn defense into offense, and strike straight at the heart of the enemy!

Have they given up on defense?

Seeing that Fern had voluntarily withdrawn her defenses, Qual smiled mockingly. This human girl had probably realized the vast difference in Mana between the two sides and was preparing for a pointless final counterattack.

But just as the defensive barrier disappeared, a white light shone from the tip of Fern's staff, and the Ordinary Attack True Magic was launched almost instantly upon the spell's appearance, shooting straight towards Qual's chest.

"It's useless."

Faced with the True Magic it had created, Qual did not dodge. A semi-transparent hexagonal barrier quickly unfolded in front of it, blocking Fern's attack.

"This True Magic isn't complicated; I understand it completely."

Qual looked at the barrier in front of him, a faint smile appearing on his face.

But as soon as it finished speaking, several silver longswords suddenly pierced through its chest from behind.

"Fern's forte has never been defense."

Frieren shook her head and said to it.

Qual looked down at the silver blade protruding from its chest, and the smile on its face froze. Only then did it notice a thin stream of silver liquid running along the ground from Fern's feet all the way to behind it.

"Hidden attack..."

Qual quickly understood what had just happened, and then it tried to turn around and pull out the swords that were piercing its body.

But the Volumen Hydrargyrum didn't give it that chance. The silver blade rapidly split inside the wound, turning into several slender spikes that extended along the direction where the Mana within Qual's body was most concentrated.

Just thinking about it is incredibly painful; it feels like this thing could be used as a form of torture to torment Demons.

As the creator of the Volumen Hydrargyrum, Lorenzo could naturally see what Fern had done with it.

At this moment, the nearly one hundred unactivated Killing True Magic surrounding the three of them suddenly began to flash violently.

It could no longer maintain those complex spells; all attacks collapsed at the same time, turning into a large number of black light spots and dissipating in the air.

Qual's body gradually turned to ashes, starting from his chest.

"It's over... So that's what Schlacht meant... That's why I hate guys who always spout riddles..."

As the last wisp of black Mana dissipated in the wind, the Corrupt Sage Qual, who had once changed the entire human True Magic system, vanished completely within minutes of awakening.

However, the name it mentioned before it died was something that Lorenzo found very interesting.

"Schlacht make a prophecy about it?"

He naturally knew who Schlacht was: the Demon King's confidant and the most powerful precognitive True Magic among the Demons, said to be able to see a thousand years into the future.

This must be the Clairvoyance EX form, and if I remember correctly, it didn't make any prophecies for Qual in the original storyline.

"Qual just said that Schlacht wasn't wrong."

Fern looked at the black dust that was gradually dissipating beside him.

"Did Schlacht foresee that it would die here?"

"It should be."

Frieren crouched down, examining the remaining traces of Mana on the ground.

"Judging from Qual's final reaction, Schlacht probably said something to it before he died that was related to today, but the content was probably too vague, and Qual only finally understood it at the moment of his death."

Lorenzo agreed with what Qual said before he died: Riddlers are the most annoying people. If you're going to spoil something, just tell us directly. If you're not going to spoil it, then don't leak anything at all. What kind of nonsense is this half-hearted talk? It's obviously just someone deliberately trying to annoy people.

"Did Schlacht and Qual not have a good relationship before his death?"

Lorenzo asked Frieren.

"I'm not sure, why are you asking?"

"Because I feel it's specifically designed to mock Qual."

Imagine someone with precognitive abilities knows how someone they dislike dies, so they travel a long way to say some mysterious and sarcastic things. Although that person doesn't understand at all on the spot, they have to consider the prophetic ability and have to rack their brains for days to figure out what those words mean, until death comes and they finally understand what the sarcastic words really meant.

Anyone who imagines this scene would probably hum a little.

"Why not just tell Qual how it died?"

Fern asked Frieren.

"Because the more something is known by the prophet, the more likely the future is to change."

If Schlacht were to tell Qual directly that it would die eighty years later from a silver blade wielded by a purple-haired girl, then Qual would inevitably prioritize guarding against Fern and the Volumen Hydrargyrum after awakening.

The originally foreseen future will therefore lose its foundation.

"Therefore, Schlacht could only leave behind words that would be memorable for Qual, but not words that Guval could understand beforehand."

Frieren continued.

"Only when the prophecy actually comes true will Qual discover the meaning of those words."

"So, Schlacht did this to ensure that Qual died here as prophesied?"

Lorenzo asked.

"Possibly."

"Wouldn't that be even worse?"

Knowing in advance that the other person is going to die, yet offering neither help nor explanation, leaving only a single sentence for the dying person to realize that everything had already been seen.

Judging from the results, it seems there wasn't much difference between this and coming specifically to mock them.

"Who knows? People with prophetic abilities always do this."

Frieren seemed to remember someone, but didn't elaborate, which felt like a precursor to the Riddler.

"Alright, let's get the immediate tasks done first, like telling the villagers that Qual is dead, and rebuilding the statue of Himmel."

Frieren stood up and dusted off her hands.

The three of them returned to the village along the same route.

When they returned to the village entrance, the elderly and villagers had already gathered near the statue of Himmel, eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Upon seeing them, the old man, leaning on his cane, quickly approached.

"Lady Frieren, how is Qual?"

"He's dead."

"Frieren said."

The old man stood there, stunned.

For the villagers here, the seal of Qual has existed for eighty years. From the time they were born, their elders have repeatedly warned them not to go near the depths of the forest, and every now and then they must send someone to check if there are any abnormalities in the seal.

They had long been accustomed to living with fear, but now Frieren told them with just one sentence that it was all over.

Is it really... over?

"There's one more thing."

Frieren looked up and gazed again at the statue of Himmel.

"We need to restore this stone statue."