A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special - Chapter 1

It had once been a lively city . Yet, its ruins were now strewn before him,shattered to the point of no return . Prehenople, which had once been known as“the most beautiful city” for three generations, was now nothing more than a dismal shell of its former self . Desir took a deep breath and shifted his gaze towards the gargantuan figure in front of him .

Meteor Rank, the Dragon of Destruction – Boromir Napolitan .

4

5 The massive Hellfire magic above Desir blazed like the sun . The dragon,Boromir Napolitan, glared menacingly at the 100 humans gathered before him .
“Mere humans would DARE to stand against ME?” The dragon’s deep voice bellowed toward them, capable of overwhelming others through its sheer power . Even then, not a single one of the people present lost their resolve . Desir spoke, his voice determined, “This is the end, Napolitan . ”This place was the end of Hell, the end of his suffering within the Shadow Labyrinth . The Shadow World had presented humanity with this final labyrinth . Inside the labyrinth, Desir Arman had witnessed countless deaths,losing friends and loved ones, all in the hope of reaching this point . Friends with whom he had spent his school days, a classmate he’d had a crush on, and juniors who had tried their very best to follow him . While Desir was not familiar with every person in the Shadow Labyrinth, he was at the very least acquainted with them . The battlefield had claimed each and every one of their lives . Night after night,the Shadow Army poured forth endlessly . Day after day, untold scores of people died . Amidst the neverending slaughter, those lucky enough to survive would recite the names of the dead, and continue their struggle for survival . After 10 years of repeating this cycle of carnage, there were only 100 survivors remaining . A single cry echoed from the group, renewing the fighting spirit of these few survivors . “We will slay you, here and now!” the lone voice roared . “Finally, we will put an end to this Hell!”

6 Boromir Napolitan’s [Fire Breath], which had once annihilated an entire civilization, marked the beginning of their final tribulation . It was a battle of epic proportions; truly an event which rivaled any previous legends of old . Hundreds of Draconic spells rained down upon them as the survivors fought back desperately . Prehenople was once the jewel of this desert . Now, its remnants were ravaged further by the dragon’s ceaseless

barrage, returning the city to the sands from whence it came . The Earth was split asunder as the Heavens were torn apart . Defensive spellswhich had been boasted of as impenetrable, shattered like glass, and preciousone-of-a-kind artifacts were destroyed as if they were no more than a child’stoy . Even those who had overcome innumerable life-or-death situationssuccumbed to the dragon’s overwhelming strength . As their battle dragged on, the survivors found themselves at an even greaterdisadvantage . Despite this bleak reality, no one wavered, no one gave up . Theyremained steadfast through sheer determination . They all knew that this was it,
there was nowhere to fall back to if they failed here . If they could not slay thedragon before them, the world would come to an end . Therefore, they readily gave everything they had to defeat this powerful foe . Fueled by their sense of duty, they would fight to the last man . Perhaps it wasthis unyielding spirit which called forth a miracle . In the heat of battle, Desir yelled out to his allies, “The analysis of the firstspell, [Absolute Zero], is complete . Attempting to block it using the IloneSystem . ” Desir shifted his weight to his left leg and dashed towards safety . “I’llbe able to seal it in 8 minutes!”

7One of the frontliners let out a hope-filled cry, “The bone armor is completelydestroyed! Focus on attacking its back!”
“You maggots!” The dragon used its strongest spell, a spell powerful enough tobe considered its final trump card . With the release of its spell, an enormous explosion blasted the surroundings . The burst of magic crashed down upon the ground, waves of energy billowingout like a tsunami . However, the force of the attack was significantly weakerthan before . Finally, the once impregnable dragon had slowly been weakened . It was time—
Desir knew it was now or never .
“The analysis of the thirteenth spell is complete,” Desir’s voice rang out . “[SolarStorm] is completely sealed!”
“Incoming breath attack from the front! Mages!” Zod commanded, “Try yourbest to disperse it! Frontliners, retreat to a blind spot or to the side!”
Like that, the dragon’s attacks were effectively blocked . At the same time, Desiranalyzed the Dragonic magic patterns by the tens of thousands . One by one, all of the dragon’s powerful spells were sealed as the magesdevised a defensive formula to stop any remaining attacks . Slowly but surely, the dragon’s offensive abilities declined . Horrified, thedragon gave an anguished wail, “H-How could I lose to mere humans!?”
“The analysis of the final magic pattern is complete!” Desir yelled hastily . “Allof the Draconic spells are now sealed!”

With a triumphant shout, Raphaello gave the command they’d all beenyearning for . “Attackers to the front, slay the dragon!”
“No!” Napolitan cried . “This can’t be happening!” He had looked down on thehumans . Compared to him, they were dust to be blown away by a mere flap ofhis wings . Yet, against all odds, their spells had brought him to this helplessstate . Finally— after so much sacrifice and loss, after a world’s worth of blood hadbeen spilled— humanity stood on the cusp of victory . It took but a few moments longer . And then there it was: miserably, the Dragon of Destruction collapsed to theground, defeated at last . With that, everything was over . Or so they thought . . .

***

As they realized they had won, relief washed over the survivors . Though they

had emerged victorious, only six of them had survived the battle . With glee-
filled expressions, they gawked at the dragon’s corpse sprawled out in front of

them . They could barely believe it . Memories of the past decade flashed through their minds . They had lived, dayto day, with one foot in the grave at all times . They had overcome thousands oflife-or-death situations and watched their close friends die one by one . Yet, through it all, they had managed to stay alive .

9Indeed, disbelief and shock tainted them all . “Are we finally able to leave thisgodforsaken place?” one of them asked in a daze . Around them, the landscape lay decimated with debris strewn about . Everyonecollapsed (like puppets whose strings had been cut), their bodies landing on thewreckage at their feet . Exhaustion overwhelmed them .
“Good work, everyone,” The Knight of Light, Raphaello, praised . “We actuallydid it; we’ve saved the world . ”
Donaif, a warrior of the northern savages, was covered from head to toe in goldjewelry . With halting speech, as he wasn’t familiar with the official language,
he spoke, “But why isn’t there a pop-up? . . . . The clear message . . . . Was it not? . . . . This Shadow World’s objective . . . . . to slay the dragon . ”
“Hm, I’m not sure either,” Raphaello said . “It’s usually the case that once themission is cleared, we’re able to return to our own world immediately . But thisplace doesn’t seem to follow the normal rules of the Shadow World, so it’sdifficult to say what could happen . ” He considered for a moment . “ I think it’sbest that we wait a bit . ”
The Great Sage Zod, wearing a blue hood and holding a staff, contemplated

drearily . “Only six out of 150 million people survived . That’s a survival rate ofabout 0 . 000004 percent . What terrible odds . ”
Hearing that, anger surged in the Pure White Saint Priscilla’s chest . “Stop doinguseless calculations . They won’t bring back the dead . ”
Zod began to justify his previous statement, “After any incident, especially onelike this,” his voice droned condescendingly . “It’s always important to organizethings . Particularly, if over 99% of all mages on the entire continent are dead . ”

10Desir Arman, who had been watching the Sage and the Saint bicker, decided tomake it end . Interrupting the two, he said, “In any case, it doesn’t change thefact that we saved the world . ”
Just then, the reality of the situation slowly dawned on them . The survivors feltthe muscles in their bodies loosen, their hearts relax . With that, they started todiscuss the battle with each other . Amongst the discussion, the Spellsword of the Dawn, Ajest, sat away from therest . She didn’t say a word but simply listened to their stories .
“It would have been really hard if you weren’t here for us, Raphaello,” Priscillasaid . Raphaello waved his hands in modesty . “No, no . As a Paladin, I just fulfilled myduty to protect everyone . Sir Desir played a bigger role than me . ”
Desir, who had been staring at the ground this entire time, looked up . As theireyes met, Raphaello smiled .
“Right . . . ” Donaif said . “This would have been impossible to clear . . . Without you,
Desir . ”
Naturally, Donaif agreed; he had received help from Desir twice during theirtime in the Shadow World . Zod, ever gloomy, spoke . “To be honest, I thought you would have been longdead by now . ” He cast his gaze onto Desir, “Even if you had received help fromartifacts, it’s difficult for me to believe that a 3rd circle mage could analyzeDraconic magic and seal it . Even I, as a 7th circle mage, cannot succeed in thereverse analysis of Draconic magic like that . How come you’re only a 3rd circle

11mage with so much talent?” He narrowed his eyes . “ Is there any specialreason?”
Everyone stared at Desir, silence expanded between them . Finally, Desir spoke . “As a commoner, I never received a proper education . TheAcademy drew a line between nobles and commoners . Because of that, itbecame impossible for any of us to become stronger . We could have savedcountless . Without such plain bigotry, we could have won long ago . With a lotless sacrifice . ”
“ . . . That’s too bad,” Zod said . “If only we’d had more people like you in theTower of Magic, then your talent wouldn’t have been wasted for so long . ”
“Let’s stop talking about the boring past,” Raphaello said . With one hand, hecovered his face from the sunlight and surveyed the survivors . “We’re theheroes who saved the world . When we return, we’ll certainly receive a grandwelcome home . But after all of that, what will everyone do after we get back?”
Donaif, who was now sitting across from Raphaello, spoke first . “I’m going tostop by . . . The homes of my fallen comrades . . . And return . . . Their belongings . . . To remember their honorable deaths . . . Forever . ”
The barbarian had hundreds of pieces of jewelry . Each piece had a differentinitial engraved on it, in remembrance of his fallen brethren from the North . While Desir was lost in thought, Priscilla spoke up . “I’ll be returning to theWestern Kingdom to comfort the families of the deceased soldiers . I must takeresponsibility for their livelihood . For everyone that lost their lives here, I’llbuild a memorial tower or a shrine in their honor . I’m sure it’ll make themhappy . ”

12
“I’ll just continue my research, but I’ll shift my field of study to the ShadowWorld,” Zod said . “If another Shadow Labyrinth of this scale were to appearagain, it would definitely be the end of the world . We don’t have the troops, theresources, nor the time to prepare again, so I’ll do my best to preventrecurrence of a Shadow Labyrinth . ”
As soon as Zod finished speaking, Raphaello looked at Ajest, who still hadn’tsaid a single word .
“What will you be doing Lady Ajest?” He asked . Silence followed Raphaello’s question . With a blank expression, Ajest stared at Raphaello for some time and turnedaway . With an awkward smile, Raphaello’s gaze landed on Desir . “What about you, SirDesir? I’m certain that you’ll be welcomed anywhere you go! You can go to theWestern Kingdom, or our Kingdom, or even Sir Zod’s Tower of Magic . Ormaybe you’re planning to return to Hebrion Academy?”
Taking a moment to mull over the question, Desir began to speak . “I—”
Without warning, a powerful surge of mana roared forth, setting the previouslycarefree survivors on edge .
“Did we miss something!?” Zod exclaimed .
“W-Wait a minute!” Priscilla screamed . “Didn’t we clear this ShadowLabyrinth? I thought the objective was to slay the dragon!”
Shocked, Donaif said, “Did we not . . . Completely kill . . . The dragon?”

13

“That’s not possible!” Zod yelled . “I definitely confirmed its death!”
Their cries of disbelief melded together into a swirling storm of confusion . While everyone continued to panic, Zod spoke up again in an unexpectedly lowvoice .