Reincarnated as a Genius Mage

A land cursed by a god huh.

"Does anyone heading to the Axis Battlefield have to pass through this place?" I ask Laran. My voice's low, my stance even lower as I grip my Chakram handle tightly.

"No. We're supposed to go around it." He replies. His eyes are still locked in on the broken valley ahead as the wagon inches closer and closer into the valley.

"Then why?" I ask.

"Why? Because it's faster this way. By the way, you should prepare. The monsters that roam in the Broken Valley are at least S-rank." He says.

My eyes widen, "at least S-rank? Is there a rank above S-rank?" I ask.

He chuckles, "yes. The null rank."

The sun is covered with a thick fog of darkness.

The wind grows more violent and aggressive as we enter the broken valley.

"Shit! We're entering!" Lali yells from inside the wagon.

The dark streaks of lightning fall randomly around the valley. Our wagon keeps shaking as the wheels roll on the rocks on the ground. Some big, some small.

I can't see clearly in this darkness. In fact, I can't see at all.

No, I can see.

I turn on my mana sight.

No mana. No, there's mana. It's just, this thing isn't mana, it's darkness. Pure strings of darkness.

My mind recalls this type of darkness. It's the same one that was revolving around me when I first gained mana sight. It's the same one that was slithering around the affinity detection crystal along with my four affinities in the Flameworths mansion.

"It's just darkness." I mutter.

Laran coughs, "Hubolt took his light away from this part of the land. He was angered by those great men that are now extinct. The anomalies before the first anomaly; The Ancient Elementless Ma–"

Shriek~!!

Screech~!!

What are those sounds? Like bats or something.

The wind threatens to push me away from the top of the wagon. But I hold steady.

"Don't lose your ground, Blank." Laran says as he shields his eyes with both arms, and his grip never loosens from his spear.

"Any moment now." He mutters, loud enough for me to hear.

Cough! Cough!

I clear my throat.

"Spade! Now!" Gislow yells from the spot where he's riding the horse.

I forgot.. Spade's actually here with us.

The wind moves, twirling with great velocity toward one spot.

With my mana sight, I see the wind gathering at the spot high above Gislow like a mini tornado. As the wind sucks toward the spot, it turns green.

Inside the swirling wind, green light shines, and I squint my eyes. The green light is revolving with great speed. The source; Spade's four rings.

It's like he's sucking the wind.

Now I can stand well. The wind doesn't shake me much.

Is he flying?

"Go now, Master! I can't hold it much longer!" Spade's deep voice echoes.

Screech~!!

Okay, that sound was close. Way too close. My eyes snap, searching left and right frantically.

Laran twirls his spear around his fingers, and he rotates it, bringing it to the back of his waist as he enters a weird stance.

"They're here, Blank. The phantoms of the broken valley." He says. "We don't have to fight these things. Just push them off, and Gislow will ride us out of here. The moment we leave here, we've arrived at Axis Battlefield." He adds.

I nod, and raise my Chakram to my face level. I release my flame mana, and I coat the bladed edges of my Chakram with it.

"Ho? Force? No, flame force?" Laran speaks with a curious tone.

My flame mana lights up the partial darkness.

Screech~!!

An unidentifiable entity wrapped with black wisps and clothed with mist— from nowhere— pounces on Laran.

What the hell is that??!

"I've been expecting you." Laran mutters as his six cores start revolving around him with untamed speed.

He cuts through the entity with a feral slash of his spear, but his attack moves through the entity like it was nothing.

"Ah, I forgot. You only receive damage when hit by an attack that carries mana." He says as the entity leaps backwards. It's framed like a panther. But it's larger, far larger than a panther.

It has these wisps of darkness flowing around it, and as I stare at it with my mana sight, I see the large core floating atop it's head. It's larger than a basketball, and it's colorless. Not like the normal crimson colored cores of monsters. It's not pure mana too.

It's just like that monster I saw back in the beast terrains..

It disappears.

"Hmph!" Laran coats his spear with pure mana; Force. His spear glows with a warm, silvery hue as he leaps.

He slashes the air above above him. He cut nothing.

Ah. Not quite..

The black wisps dissolve in the air where his spear slashed. He predicted where the phantom would appear.

Boom!

The wagon shakes slightly as he lands on the roof. "Hurry up, Gislow!" Laran yells.

"We're almost there!" Gislow replies.

Fwoosh!

The air around me ripples as the entity appears before me.

I stare at its eyes. Its beautiful multi-colored eyes.

I grit my teeth, and grip my Chakram tighter, and I slash it.

It disappears just before it cuts.

Huh?

My chest..

It feels like my heart is about to burst. Like it's being squeezed.

"Argh!" I yell out as I clutch my chest with my left hand.

"Blank!" Laran yells, running toward me.

I drop on my knees.

My heart is being burnt. It's being squeezed and burnt.

Shit, I know this feeling.

Huff Huff.

The Flame of Eternity?

My right hand grips the handle of my Chakram harder.

The flame mana being transferred to my Chakram suddenly ceases.

Laran shakes me aggressively to snap out of it as I clutch my chest with my left hand.

"Arghh!" I groan.

The furious red flame mana coats the blade again.

Wait. No, it's not flame mana.

The wooden handle of the chakram melts.

The Flame of Eternity?

Spade lands softly next to Laran, gripping his ribs as he draws large breaths. "Huff… What's wrong with him?" He asks.

"I don't know." Laran replies, still shaking me to snap out of it.

"Snap out if it, boy! We're out of the broken valley. We're now in the Axis territory!" He yells.

"Leave him be." K's voice rings out from behind.

Laran wastes no time and immediately leaves me, and Spade moves away from us, limping with his hand holding his ribs; walking toward Gislow, to ride the horse with him.

K outstretches his hand toward me, and pure mana warps out, covering my body like a blanket.

With the Flame of Eternity coating my Chakram and my heart, and my hands clutching my chest— I pass out.