Chapter 280 - Acting Guild Master George
"Those over eighty years old and cats cannot leave!"
Several lines of text composed of runic symbols appeared in the air in front of the guild's gate.
"It's Fried's doing."
Makarov also reached out to touch it, but was blocked by the spell barrier.
"This is troublesome."
"Indeed, a bit troublesome."
George had heard from Levy that in Fairy Tail, she was not the most skilled mage in runes; the one who excelled most at runes was actually Fried of the Thunder God Tribe.
Fried was proficient in rune magic and dark scripts, his strength extremely close to S-class; in other guilds outside, he might even be stronger than the average S-class mage.
The characteristic of rune magic is that it takes time to set up and must be arranged in advance, but its effects are extremely powerful.
Given Fried's strength, the intensity of the runic barrier he set up was such that even the Saint Wizard Makarov could not forcibly break through it, and this was one of the reasons Laxus dared to challenge the entire guild with just four people.
"Hahaha, in that case, let me, Natsu, go deal with Laxus! I've been wanting to settle things with him for a long time!"
Seeing this, Natsu charged out towards the guild entrance.
"Bang!"
With a loud bang, Natsu was bounced back by the spell barrier.
"Why is this happening?"
Natsu rubbed his head, looking confused.
Everyone else was equally confused. Erza and the others tried, and they could all go out.
Finally, it was discovered that only Makarov, George, Happy, Natsu, and Gajeel couldn't leave.
"How strange. Normally, a spell barrier strictly follows the established conditions. What's going on with Natsu and Gajeel?"
George, who had set up rune barriers at school, understood the principle well.
Natsu and Gajeel were definitely not cats, which could only mean that both were over eighty years old — but that couldn't be. Gajeel aside, Natsu had grown up under the guild's watchful eyes.
"Forget it, now's not the time to think about this."
George reached out and used a transfiguration spell to create a large mirror. After casting mirror-space magic onto it, he handed it to Erza:
"Erza, you can fly. Take this mirror and absorb all the magic crystals floating in the sky into the mirror space, so that Thunder Palace won't harm the town's residents. Once we break the spell, we'll go find Laxus."
"Leave it to me!"
Erza re-equipped into her Black Wing Armor, hugged the mirror, and swiftly flew toward the three hundred magic crystals floating in the air.
Meanwhile, George called Levy over to help start breaking Fried's rune barrier.
The other Fairy Tail mages, under Makarov's orders, did not act recklessly. Among the remaining mages, apart from Gray and Juvia, even if they found Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe, they would only be cannon fodder.
"This rune barrier Fried designed is very complex. It won't be easy to crack."
Levy examined the rune barrier and scratched her head in difficulty:
"I'll need to go to the library and find some references."
"No need. I've memorized all the rune-related books in the library. Whatever information you need, you can ask me directly."
George gestured along the barrier:
"This barrier should be using the Gilwen Script, performing two transformations. If the two of us work together, we should be able to break it."
Regarding rune barriers, he was only slightly better than a beginner, and there was still a considerable gap between him and Levy, let alone Fried.
A barrier like Fried's that could trap even a Saint Wizard was beyond his ability to set up.
However, breaking a spell and setting one are different. As long as you understand the rules of the spell, find its loopholes, and make certain adjustments, it can be broken.
Spell barriers are highly effective against mages who don't understand runes, but for mages who do — even beginners — as long as they have enough information and time, they can eventually break them.
Therefore, rune barriers were not mainstream magic in this world; they were typically a supplementary skill studied by mages who practiced script magic.
And he had read all the rune magic books in the library, memorized all the spell rules and related information, and could operate six brains simultaneously to focus on cracking.
Even without Levy's help, he could break the barrier himself in a dozen minutes.
Normally, his main body and clones were studying and practicing different types of magic across various worlds, so this wasn't usually evident.
For example, his clone in the Harry Potter world was studying alchemy, his clone in the Mage Apprentice world was studying sealing arts, his clone in Academy City was studying Kabbalah magic, and his clone in Middle Earth was studying Elven magic.
Only the clone in the main world didn't have its own world's magic to learn and instead helped the clones in other worlds whenever they faced difficulty.
However, when any clone encountered a special need, George could control all his bodies to temporarily pause their current studies and collectively focus on solving the problem in that world.
Now, to crack Fried's spell barrier, not only was the brain of his Fairy Tail clone analyzing and calculating the rune spell at high speed, but the other five brains were also working together simultaneously.
With six brains operating at full speed, and with Levy's cooperation, Fried's spell structure was gradually being deciphered. It was estimated that in at most five minutes, they would be able to break the barrier.
"It's broken!"
Five minutes later, Levy shouted excitedly under everyone's expectant gaze.
"George, I didn't expect you to have such a gift for runes. Reaching this level in such a short time is amazing."
Breaking the rune in five minutes was mainly due to George's high-speed analysis of Fried's spell, which allowed her to quickly grasp the entire structure.
"I just read more books and am stronger in theory. You're the one better at actual operation."
George smiled and stepped aside to let Levy work.
Indeed, he excelled in theory and simultaneous use of six brains, but his hands-on operation was far inferior to Levy's.
Even though they had completely deciphered Fried's spell and had a plan to rewrite it, if he did it, it would take at least ten minutes, while Levy could complete it in less than a minute and disable the spell barrier.
"I'm getting old. Maybe it's time to find a successor for my position."
Makarov, who had witnessed everything, thought to himself as he looked at George.
George had not been in the guild for long, but he had contributed immensely. His strength was sufficient, and his character extremely steady, earning the recognition and respect of nearly all the mages in the guild.
Even though George was a cat, it didn't matter — Fairy Tail had never cared about such things.
At this moment, Makarov had already decided that before George left to undertake the 100-year quest, he would teach him Fairy Law, the ultimate super magic, so that George could at least find Gildarts and ensure his safe return.
Once George returned, Makarov would step down and formally appoint George as the next Guild Master of Fairy Tail.
On the other hand, since Laxus was his grandson, and his grandson had caused such trouble, Makarov felt an undeniable responsibility and guilt for continuing as guild master.
If it weren't for George heading off on the 100-year quest, he would have handed over the guild leadership to George right after the Fantasia Parade ended.
(End of Chapter)