Chapter 150 The Price of Acceleration and Its Countermeasures
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Through Ashraf’s introduction, I visited the [Silent Library] in the demon realm and met Alucardus, the “Time Demon” who dwelled there.
He was a researcher of time-related magic. An existence whose built-up knowledge spanned a thousand years.
”If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask.”
Taking him up on his kind offer, I intended to seek his guidance freely from here on. What’s more, I’d also gotten permission to browse the library’s collection at will. Encouraged by his words, I went upstairs right away to pursue knowledge.
As I stepped onto the second floor, the air grew colder and the silence deepened.
Time seemed to flow even more slowly in this archive.
The scent of dust and dried ink tickled my nose. Only the sound of my footsteps echoed through the space where old books slumbered. The floorboards showed their age, creaking faintly with every step.
I reached for a shelf of sorcery texts on time and pulled out one volume.
Its cover was bound in leather, fastened with metal clasps. Pale violet light streamed through the window, settling quietly across the reading desk. In that light, I opened the book.
The parchment had yellowed, and the ink was worn thin in places. The text was written in archaic language. Deciphering it was hard work, yet somehow the content sank in effortlessly.
It felt as though mana was mediating the knowledge, speaking directly into my brain. Various theories of time magic were recorded here.
Mastering all of it was impossible. I narrowed my focus to the magic I actually wanted.
What I sought was magic to speed up my own movements.
Among the options, two spells stood out as immediately usable.
One was magic that slowed the world’s time, [Time-Stop Magic]. The other was magic that sped up my personal time, [Acceleration Magic].
[Time-Stop Magic] slows the flow of time around you but leaves your own thoughts unaffected. The world grows heavy, like a thick liquid. The air clings like syrup. Moving your body is possible, but it takes more force than usual, and the backlash is severe. The strain on muscles and joints presses down as if gravity itself had gotten stronger.
Meanwhile, [Acceleration Magic] separates your personal time from the world’s, speeding up only you. With this, you can move through slow-motion reality using ordinary strength. While the world moves sluggishly, you alone can act at normal speed.
But-
The line that followed made me frown.
”The moment the spell is released, the built-up backlash from all accelerated movement strikes the body at once.”
In other words, the body would try to catch up to the sped-up time. That risked self-destruction. Bones would grind, muscle fibers would tear, internal organs would burst under pressure the instant Acceleration Magic was dismissed.
The magic’s blessing came at the cost of cutting away one’s own life. For all its power, the physical toll was huge.
To reduce that, combining it with other spells would be needed.
My exclusive weapon-
[Chronos Weiss] – was joined with four magical materials.
In this world, research on magical materials lagged behind. The precise effects of rarer materials remained unclear. Still, through user intuition and experience, general tendencies could be guessed.
[Moonlight Grass]
[Rainbow Moss]
[Voice of the Forest]
[Stardust Drop]
I ran their names through my mind.
Each carried a magical feel. Materials expected to have healing or barrier-related effects. And all of them showed good compatibility with time-related magic.
(I’ll need to learn defensive barriers or recovery magic at the very least.)
I finished reading and stretched, folding my arms and leaning back.
I hadn’t read the entire volume.
I’d selected only what I needed and focused on those passages. Even so, I must have lost myself in the pursuit of knowledge. Considerable time had passed.
My stiff body loosened slightly. I tilted my neck, and a satisfying crack sounded.
I closed the book.
A dry pat echoed through the silence, then faded as if absorbed by the library’s atmosphere.
Carefully returning the volume to its place, I headed down the stairs to the first floor. I’d call it a day here.
As I set foot on the final step, Alucardus, still reading in the same spot on the first floor, spoke without looking up.
”Did you find the book you were looking for?” asked Alucardus, his voice carrying that same measured tone.
”Yeah,” I replied, turning toward him. “It was fascinating. Very informative.” I paused, then added, “Actually, I have a question. Do you know of any magic that could reduce the backlash damage from time acceleration?”
Alucardus finally lifted his gaze from his book, fixing me with eyes behind his monocle as though looking into me. “An excellent question. Noticing that point straight away, just as one would expect from Ashraf’s master, Xenos-sama.”
His stare was calm, yet carried a hint of assessment. I didn’t care much for flattery. Compliments from those above my station never quite sat right with me. Same as when Ashraf praised me. The suspicion of whether it was real always came first.
Whether he sensed my wariness or not, Alucardus continued, his voice steady and professorial. “If reducing damage through time-manipulation magic, the most reliable approach would be to stop your own time entirely. That would make you immune to outside influence. However, naturally, you’d be completely unable to move. It’s perfect as a defense, but the drawback is huge. Realistically, the most practical path would be to develop your own damage-reduction magic based on existing defensive spells.”
I see.
Time-stop certainly was a perfect defense. It could cut damage to zero.
But being immobile defeated the purpose.
(If I can’t move, I’m just a wall. The only combat value would be having my teammates swing me around as a blunt object. That’s not what I’m looking for. Completely off the table.)
Damage-reduction magic existed in the human world too.
The most common was [Protection], a spell that cut damage by ten percent.
It was simple but capable.
Yet few people learned it. After all, ninety percent of damage still got through. The effect was hard to notice. And trying to push the reduction rate above ten percent caused mana use to spike. The cost-performance was really bad.
Complete damage nullification was considered impossible. Even high-level mages pouring in their full mana could barely manage a fifty-percent cut at best.
(With my mana reserves, it’s not unusable. But if I kept fighting in that state, I’d run dry fast.)
(I also have the [Substitution Sorcery Formula], but if I were always taking acceleration backlash, around twenty goblins’ worth of substitute lives would burn through in no time. Besides, burning through insurance meant for emergencies during every fight isn’t the smartest move.)
(After all, I’ll have to refine [Protection] myself.)
Having reached that conclusion, I turned to Alucardus and inclined my head. “Thank you for your insight. I think I’ll take my leave for now.”
”Please, feel free to come anytime,” Alucardus replied, his tone carrying that polished, scholarly warmth. “This library welcomes you.”
Special treatment from a high-ranking demon.
I knew there had to be an agenda behind it.
But to gain strength that beat their plans, I had no choice but to use everything at my disposal.
With Alucardus’s farewell words at my back, I quietly left the library and returned to the manor.
—
Summary:
Xenos visits the Silent Library in the demon realm and studies time-acceleration magic, discovering its severe backlash damage potential. Alucardus suggests stopping time entirely as a defense, but Xenos dismisses this due to immobility constraints. He concludes he must refine the Protection spell himself rather than rely on existing solutions.
—
Trivia:
The Silent Library is located in the demon realm and is maintained by Alucardus, a “Time Demon” with a thousand years of accumulated knowledge.
Xenos’s exclusive weapon Chronos Weiss contains four magical materials: Moonlight Grass, Rainbow Moss, Voice of the Forest, and Stardust Drop.
Time-Stop Magic slows external time but leaves the user’s thoughts unaffected, while requiring immense physical exertion to move.
Acceleration Magic decouples the user’s personal time from world time, allowing normal movement through slow-motion reality.
The backlash from Acceleration Magic strikes the body all at once upon release, risking bone fracture, muscle tearing, and organ rupture.
Protection reduces damage by only 10% and becomes cost-prohibitive at higher reduction rates, with full nullification considered impossible.
Xenos calculates that twenty goblins’ worth of substitute lives would burn through if he faced constant acceleration backlash.
The Substitution Sorcery Formula serves as an emergency insurance system that Xenos avoids using in normal combat.
Xenos remains suspicious of special treatment from high-ranking demons like Alucardus, viewing it as having an underlying agenda.
Notes:
• Alucardus – The “Time Demon” who resides in the Silent Library. A researcher of time-related magic with a thousand years of accumulated knowledge. Speaks with measured elegance and professorial authority. Views Xenos with professional curiosity and subtle assessment. Wears a monocle and exudes the refined detachment of a scholar.
• Ashraf – A Teleportation Demon who serves as the guardian of Xenos’s mansion, protecting it against potential attacks. They possess presence-concealing magic, which the protagonist copies and uses to infiltrate the tea party.
• Chronos Weiss – Xenos’s exclusive weapon—an artifact integrated with four magical materials. The name is Germanic-coded and functions as both a proper noun and a conceptual anchor for the protagonist’s magical arsenal. It is treated as an extension of the self.
• Xenos – Job: Heir to a high-ranking noble house; Relationship: Owner of Lilia; Has romantic connections with Elenor, Cecilia, and Lizel; Item/Magic: Summoning magic, [Substitution Collars]; Note: Was caught up in a Royal Palace explosion and missed three days of school. Pragmatic and calculating personality. Job: Noble of Grimlock family, protagonist; Relationship: Manipulator of Princess Liliana, pursuing Serena; Item/Magic: [Ring of Transformation]; Note: Reincarnated villain with game knowledge, calculating and arrogant. Job: Theater Owner and noble of Grimlock family; Relationship: Fiancé to Cecilia; Item/Magic: Game knowledge/metaknowledge; Note: Reincarnated villain protagonist who knows the original game script.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply