The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

“Kuh, huu. Do you… know who I am?”

“Yeah. I don’t know you, but I know quite a bit about you. The royal mage of the Dragnity Empire.”

“Yes. So you know that much…”

The specter silently stared at me, and I, too, stopped speaking and glared back at the specter.

Tick tock, tick tock.

The sound of a clock’s second hand turning seemed unusually loud from somewhere.

In the silence-filled space, only the sound of that second hand proved that time had not stopped here.

Finally, it felt like there were so many things I wanted to say to the mastermind behind all this, or maybe there was nothing to say at all.

But in the end, neither the specter nor I exchanged a single word beyond that.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Tick… tock.

At some point, the clock seemed to have broken, as the sound of the second hand became misaligned.

Taking that as a signal, both the specter and I poured out our full power simultaneously.

“Die, huh!”

“How cliché. As old as the Ancient Empire itself!”

In an instant, countless spells materialized in the air.

Firebolts, ice spears, and sharp rock spikes piercing through the palace floor.

Even without seeing him chant, dozens of spells were launched at us with just a wave of his hand.

But we weren’t about to sit still and take it.

“For the grudge of Tyrving!”

“For the Resistance, we will definitely see this through!”

“I will never forgive you, of all people!”

Mari’s arrows, Karina’s hand axe, Serena’s fire arrows.

Arisa’s dagger, Liche’s magic, Daria’s magic disruption.

They clashed in mid-air to neutralize the specter’s spells.

And as the spells were intercepted, the rest of the party, including me, rushed toward the specter.

The spells that weren’t intercepted poured down on the charging members.

The specter’s magic, being at the pinnacle of the Ancient Empire’s mages, was powerful enough to kill an ordinary adventurer with a single shot, but I, as a Transcendent, was no ordinary adventurer.

I shattered the firebolts and spears with a swing. I bent my body to dodge an ice spear aimed at my heart by a hair’s breadth. I stomped down on the spikes rising from the floor with my aura-covered foot.

Such spells couldn’t stop me.

But even with the full support of my party, we couldn’t intercept all of the specter’s spells, and inevitably, I had to stop in place to block them.

In the end, only Shail and I managed to reach the specter.

My blue aura and Shail’s purple aura crossed as we attacked the specter’s vital points.

Clang!

Of course, our strikes were blocked by the barrier the specter had erected.

But though the attack was blocked, the specter’s barrier was visibly weakened.

Blocking a Transcendent’s strike three times was indeed impressive, but that was all.

The strength of the barrier the specter had around him was by no means absolute.

“If we keep up the pressure, we can destroy it soon.”

“Do you really think I’ll let that happen?”

The specter, knowing this, used magic to create distance while Shail and I pounded on the barrier. And then, another relentless barrage of spells.

Boom!

Crash!

Kaboom!

The spells that clashed in mid-air and those that missed turned the emperor’s quarters into a mess, but none of us paid any attention to it.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Karina, Kirsh, and I continued to chase the fleeing specter, pounding on his barrier, while Daria, gradually getting used to his attacks, began to dispel his spells bit by bit.

Eventually, Mari’s arrow, imbued with Serena’s magic, succeeded in breaking the specter’s barrier.

But the specter, with a single gesture, summoned a storm to create distance and re-erected his barrier.

“Indeed, you have the skill to guard the gate alone without any escorts. To fight so fiercely against so many. But that doesn’t mean you’re unbeatable.”

“Kuh, huu. Talk all you want. You can only do so for now.”

The specter, who could create dozens of spells without any incantation or preparation, was undoubtedly powerful.

More so than any mage I had ever seen.

But not to the point of being unbeatable.

Certainly, the specter’s prowess as a mage was exceptional.

A mage several steps ahead of even Liche, a wizard several steps ahead of ordinary mages.

And with the experience to skillfully adjust timing, spell placement, and combinations to avoid showing any openings.

But at the same time, the longer the battle went on, the more his weaknesses became apparent.

Certainly, the specter’s abilities were formidable, but he was wasting a significant portion of his magical power to support his overly frail body.

Not just the barrier, but even his movements relied on magic.

Moreover, he was pouring a considerable amount of his magical power into maintaining his body outside of combat.

Just by rough estimation, it seemed like a third of his magical power was being used to support his activities.

“That body. It’s not normal. You’re forcing a heart that should have stopped long ago to beat with magic. Is that artifact embedded in your chest your life support device?”

“Even so, this is enough to kill you all.”

That meant my guess was correct.

If he could pour all his magical power into combat, if he could fully unleash his prime strength, the odds might have been slim.

But the specter’s current state was barely clinging to life through magic. Even so, putting up such a fight was impressive.

Embedded in the specter’s chest was a wooden artifact, with multiple overlapping dials in the center, some of which were broken like his body, their needles unmoving.

Then, was the artifact in his chest his weakness?

But that information was of little significance.

If we could destroy the artifact in his chest, we could just as easily target his heart.

Tick tock, tick tock.

The specter had survived since the Ancient Empire solely because of the artifact he had stolen, which had the ability to stop the flow of time.

Thanks to the artifact that allowed him to escape the flow of time, he had survived from the Ancient Empire to the present era.

But after awakening from the artifact’s power?

How much time had passed since he opened his eyes?

Even if we only consider the period when the Spine Empire began to flourish, the specter had been active in the present era for at least a hundred years.

Judging by the state of the old notebook I found in the hut, it might have been several hundred years.

Of course, he would have used the power of the Spine Empire to extend his lifespan as much as possible.

But even so, was it really easy to endure several hundred years with the inherently flawed body of a wizard?

Even the wizards who lived in the ancient ruins where I met Shul had to conduct human experiments with living demon specimens to barely succeed in transcending the wizard’s body after several generations. Even then, they became dragon-like creatures with no trace of human form due to side effects.

No matter how much the specter had controlled the Spine Empire, it would have been impossible to overcome the wizard’s innate physical limitations and extend his lifespan by several hundred years.

The specter’s half-corpse state was the price of forcing a body that should have died long ago to move.

But that’s exactly why I couldn’t let my guard down.

If the specter were just that, the Resistance wouldn’t have been wiped out.

There was definitely something more.

He still hadn’t used the unidentified magic that had turned them into specimens.

Tick tock, tick tock.

As I shattered, dodged, and countered the specter’s spells, I thought about the card he was hiding.

What was his trump card?

Was he conserving his strength?

Or was it something he couldn’t use because the conditions weren’t met?

Was it an ability he couldn’t use consecutively?

…I was missing something.

Something…

Tick tock, tick tock.

Amid the fierce battle, only the sound of the clock’s hands clearly scratched at my ears.

The realization came suddenly.

“Could it be…?”

What means had he used to extend his life?

The wooden life-support device embedded in the specter’s chest.

The artifact that stopped time, written about in the old notebook.

The sound of the clock’s second hand.

The stopped dial. No, the clock.

The name of that artifact.

Sephiroth’s Wooden Clock.

I opened my eyes wide and looked at the wooden artifact embedded in the specter’s chest.

The needle on the dial was continuously moving in one direction.

Like a clock.

57.

58.

The specter smiled.

Coincidentally, the party’s formation was such that everyone was facing the specter.

No, we had been led to that position.

“Danger! Everyone, get away from the specter!”

There was no time to think deeply.

59.

I immediately swung my spear, toppling a pillar in the emperor’s quarters.

The pillar began to fall in a direction that would block the line of sight between the specter and the party.

If it fell as it was, the debris from the pillar would be enough to separate the specter and the party.

But it was too slow.

Tick.

60.

The clock reached the top of the hour.

At the same time, a flash of light burst from the specter’s chest.

And time stopped.

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