While My Mage Wife Grinds, I Power Up Idly

Ashu returned to the cave.

As it happened, Sion had just arrived as well.

During the days Ashu had spent orchestrating the death of the Grand Swordmaster, Sion had been fully engaged in gathering intel on the other three Bounty Hunters.

It was now early afternoon.

Sion cautiously made his way to the cave entrance, but before he could say a word—

Anna suddenly said to Ashu from within the cave, "Careful. You’ve been tailed."

Ashu didn’t possess any talent for spiritual perception. Even when he immediately looked behind Sion, he saw nothing unusual.

But he trusted Anna completely—without question—so he immediately tensed up, fully alert.

Sion hadn’t realized how serious the situation was yet. As soon as he stepped up to Ashu, he quickly knelt and reported, "Your Grace, Bishop—I’ve obtained full intel on the three. The oldest one is a Grand Archmage, a specialist in fire-type Magic. The second is a middle-aged Dawn Archer—his strength is roughly equal to the Grand Archmage’s, though rumor has it his long-range archery is absurdly powerful. The last one is a young Shadowkill Master. His assassinations have never failed—until he accepted a contract to kill Grand Swordmaster Alonso Tiersha. That’s the only time he lost."

Hearing this,

Ashu still didn’t look at Sion. He kept his gaze fixed on the distance, carefully scanning for any movement.

He replied calmly, "The Grand Swordmaster is already dead."

Anna followed up, "I’m afraid the one tailing you... is that Shadowkill Master."

Anna’s Twelfth Stage of Spiritual Perception was practically cheating. Even if the opponent’s raw strength outclassed her by two tiers—and they were the assassin type, skilled in stealth and silent killing—she could still detect their every move with pinpoint accuracy.

At her words, Sion’s face instantly went pale. He dropped into a kowtow, trembling. "Your Grace, Bishop—I deserve death! I slipped up! I brought something unclean back with me! Please, offer me as a live sacrifice!"

Sion’s remorse was sincere. But this wasn’t really his fault—his combat ability was leagues below that of the Bounty Hunters. The fact that he made it back alive at all was a testament to his extreme caution.

"It’s fine, Sion. Your current task is to relay this to Greenfur: all four Bounty Hunters have been eliminated. Focus everything on expanding the Church of Cidi. If the devotees of the God of Deceit try to stop you—swallow them whole."

"Huh?"

Sion froze for a moment. There were still three Bounty Hunters alive, and one of them had even tracked him back here—how did that count as ’eliminated’?

Still, he chose to obey Ashu’s orders. Whatever Ashu said, that was reality—no matter the actual situation.

"Yes, Your Grace, Bishop!"

Having said that, Sion quickly fled in another direction.

Meanwhile, Ashu, with Anna’s assistance, had already locked onto the Shadowkill Master tailing Sion.

The two of them used their practiced Magical Essence hand-guided targeting technique.

Ashu looked toward the indicated spot with his naked eye. All he saw was a patch of clear air—nothing visibly out of the ordinary.

He was still in "Reaper’s Resolve" mode. None of his other abilities were usable in this state—and he didn’t dare exit it either. Without "Reaper’s Resolve," he was just a mid-tier Archmage. Against a Shadowkill Master who had come knocking on his door, he had no confidence he’d survive.

Especially not with Anna to protect behind him.

Suddenly, Anna delivered another wave of bad news. She said, "Magic fluctuations detected from an Archmage at eleven o’clock. At twelve o’clock—fluctuations from a Dawn Archer."

"They’re moving as a group now?"

The moment those words left his mouth—

A glimmering cold star flashed across the sky.

Ashu knew very well—at this hour, there shouldn’t be any stars visible in the sky.

He immediately swung his chain-bound scythe, forming a barrier.

Almost in the very next instant, that cold star slammed into the barrier formed by the giant scythe.

Boom—

As the power within that cold star erupted, it became clear: it wasn’t a star at all—it was an arrow.

The force it carried blasted the ground apart, lifting the soil in all directions.

If not for the scythe acting as a shield, the earth beneath their feet would have crumbled entirely.

And of course, long before that, Anna might’ve lost her life.

Ashu’s gaze turned icy. "Ymir, go harass the Dawn Archer. Once I’m done with these two, I’ll come support you!"

Ymir’s current strength was still far below Ashu’s.

But to harass a Dawn Archer—she was more than capable.

And besides, she still had one death immunity left.

Without a word, Ymir hefted her giant scythe and dashed out like lightning.

Unlike Ashu, she had a gift for spiritual perception.

And she’d been raised by a member of the Witch’s Guild—

So she could instantly use the arrow’s trajectory to backtrack and pinpoint the archer’s location.

Meanwhile, Ashu had already chosen his first prey.

He couldn’t see them, but he knew exactly what to do.

Anna’s Magical Essence-guided targeting was still locked onto the stealthed Shadowkill Master.

All Ashu had to do—was aim for that one fixed point.

This Shadowkill Master had nerves of steel.

Even with the Dawn Archer already launching the opening salvo, the assassin was still slowly and steadily creeping forward, revealing not a single flaw.

But that didn’t mean Ashu had no way of dealing with him.

If Ashu could send the Grand Swordmaster to the Netherrealm—

He could send this guy there the exact same way.

So—

Ashu advanced directly toward the Shadowkill Master.

In "Reaper’s Resolve" mode, his base strength was that of a standard Grand Archmage.

But now, after refining his power, he’d pushed just slightly beyond that threshold.

His speed, naturally, was also that of a Grand Archmage.

The Shadowkill Master might’ve been a little faster—

But as long as the distance was right, there was no dodging Reaper’s Embrace.

That wasn’t some second-rate flashy spell.

It was a skill that summoned the power of Death itself—

A true conduit into the Netherrealm.

Ashu charged forward, eyes fixed on the empty air ahead.

As soon as he crossed into the optimal range—he unleashed a surge of dense death energy.

The stealthed Shadowkill Master’s eyes widened.

He instantly tried to retreat.

Too late.

Before the wraithlike hand of Death, unless he could teleport a thousand miles in an instant, there was no escape.

Whoosh—

Death’s withered hand reached out and grabbed the air,

dragging the hidden Shadowkill Master violently into view.

And there he was.

A young man, wearing a plain, unmarked black mask.

Thin, slight of build—no more than one-sixty in height, tops.

"What!?"

Only when he was seized by the Reaper’s hand did the young Shadowkill Master finally see Death’s face.

Terror surged through his Restless Soul.

No amount of blood-soaked training could compare to staring Death in the face.

It wasn’t about gore.

It wasn’t about shock.

It was pure, unfiltered fear of death.

For the first time in his life, the Shadowkill Master felt just how close Death could really be.

Instinctively, he erupted with a desperate will to survive, attempting to activate his signature escape technique.

But—

As the Reaper’s hand gave a single sweep, the entire world went black.

He could feel himself plunging downward at terrifying speed.

By the time he came to his senses, the world around him had changed—

A vast crimson wasteland stretched out before him, wrapped in a dense, almost impenetrable fog.

"Bloody hell! What the fuck is this place?!"

"Did I really just... die?"

"How? He looked like he was just around my level—how the hell did he one-shot me?!"

...

Back in the mortal realm—

Ashu had temporarily banished the Shadowkill Assassin into the Netherrealm, creating a short-term balance in power between both sides.

He wasn’t some hot-headed fool.

There was no way he’d charge headlong into a straight fight against all three Bounty Hunters.

That would be a guaranteed loss.

Even if he somehow pulled off a win, it’d be by the thinnest margin—and more than likely, Anna or Ymir would be lost in the process.

By isolating the Shadowkill Master, their side now only faced two threats.

Now Ashu could afford to go one-for-one, and finally had a chance to disengage from Reaper’s Resolve mode—

Returning to his standard state so he could summon a Holy Shield Knight.

The last Holy Shield Knight hadn’t made it out of the Netherrealm.

It had exhausted its energy after helping kill the Grand Swordmaster and had dissipated on the spot.

Now it was time to summon a new one.

For an ordinary mage, a full day of this level of Magical Essence expenditure would’ve left them dry, broken, and burned out.

Fortunately, Ashu had long since acquired two healing spells.

One was passive regeneration.

The other—Nature’s Absorption Technique—allowed him to actively absorb ambient Magical Essence to restore himself.

As he began summoning a new Holy Shield Knight—

The long-hidden Grand Archmage finally completed his incantation and released a terrifying spell.

In an instant—

Half the sky turned blood-red, as a storm of fire rained down like meteors at the end of the world.

Each fireball was wrapped in molten lava, glowing red like orbs of blood—

Burning hot like miniature suns crashing toward the ground.

"Oh? That’s Meteorfire Rain. A very versatile spell," Anna analyzed calmly.

"No wonder the old bastard took so long to prep it."

"Meteorfire Rain?" Ashu echoed.

"It’s a composite magic. Barrier, offense, defense, teleportation, burning, roasting—

All in one. When this spell lands, the caster’s odds of victory increase by at least thirty percent."

"Zero times thirty percent is still zero," Ashu replied flatly.

But despite his words, inwardly he sighed—

If only that Grand Archmage wasn’t a crusty old man...

If only he were a high-quality beauty—he would’ve bound her to the system in a heartbeat.

This large-scale fire magic, in terms of sheer spectacle,

actually surpassed even his own "Thundering Surge" after system enhancements.

If the system could generate a copy of "Meteorfire Rain",

Ashu couldn’t help but wonder—what kind of gloriously flashy spell would it return?

Looks like... it would all depend on Anna.

If she recognized it, that meant she could also cast it.

Once she reached the appropriate realm and level, she’d be able to "relearn" it.

"Thundering Surge" had been refined by the system—

That meant not only overwhelming offensive power, but also ultra-detailed knowledge breakdowns.

It was that granular, deconstructed understanding that allowed Ashu to cast it without chanting.

When the system eventually returned an enhanced version of Meteorfire Rain,

he imagined it would completely eliminate the need for incantation—

Cast instantly, turning a once-blue sky into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye.

Just the psychological pressure of that kind of move on his enemies...

Ashu was already grinning inside at the thought. freewebnσvel.cѳm

But for now, he needed to deal with that crusty old man first.