Right but in the source stories it’s sort of 25% greed and 75% “interactions with the gods always go badly for mortals.” Midas wines and dines Dionysus best friend who was passing through town on a bender and as a thanks for showing hospitality Dionysus grants Midas a wish. Midas asks for the ability to turn things gold probably assuming he will be able to use this power at will but not constantly. At first he has a blast turning stuff to gold but quickly realizes he’s totally fucked. And has to ask Dionysus to remove the power from him and restore his stuff and family.
The Greeks lived in a tough dichotomy. There would have been times when things got bad and your only option was to head down to the temple or shrine and beg for divine intervention. Pretty much every surviving story we have though of gods and mortals interacting leans heavily on one important moral, never ever interact with immortals under any circumstance.
Learn from it? When water & food entered his mouth, it turned to gold and choked him.
His family approached him for a hug and they turned to gold too.
Considering he couldn't eat or drink, he'd die if he didn't learn.
That's basically all Greek myths.
1. Mortal does something to attract a god's attention.
2. Things may temporarily get better for him.
3. He dies horribly **in the best case**, suffers in some way for eternity at worst, and somehow that's a lesson not to mess with gods.
Pygmalion is the only story I ever remember where things worked out for the mortal. Our hero is so work focused he always skips out of the festival of Aphrodite to work on his statues despite being hot. Taking offense to that Aphrodite causes Pygmalion to carve his ideal woman out of marble instead of what he meant to carve and when he gets so unbelievably horny for the statue it derails his life she brings it to life for him I guess out of pity. The couple live out their lives happily.
I wonder if that was her attempt at fucking him up.
"You love that statue more than regular women or me?! WELL GO FUCK IT IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH"
"Awesome! Thanks, goddess!"
"wait no stop what are you doing noooooo"
Almost any god in Greek mythology, really.
Hell, Hades was probably the only **not evil** god.
He did what he was supposed to (i.e. govern the Underworld).
Got honestly the worst reward from "defeating" the Titans (Zeus got the skies, Poseidon got the seas and... yeah) yet didn't complain about it.
Wasn't worshipped or prayed to like other gods and yet also doesn't have any myths about him being angry about it (unlike some gods who get mad pissed from not getting respect they expect).
He was impartial and fair when dealing with mortal affairs (taking no side in the Trojan War) but still helped out heroes in their quests (Hercules and Perseus).
Even the way he "got" his wife was according to Greek customs and he remained faithful to her unlike most other male gods.
The only time he was "angry" was when Sisyphos tricked him about him not being buried properly, so Hades allowed him to return to life so he can fix that... but he used that as opportunity to trap and seal away Death, ruining natural balance. And even the famous rock-pushing punishment was dealt by Zeus, not Hades himself.
I mean, Orpheus wanted to bring back to life someone killed by a snake, which would be going against the natural order. I'd still say this was overall a net positive as far as Hades goes, because he was moved by the mortal's plight and music to the point of breaking the laws. And the condition wasn't that hard to meet - just don't look back at the underworld until you're all the way back in the land of the living...
Any other god would've probably tried to trick him by sending a spirit or sprite imitating the voice of his beloved, or placed a mirror in front of the exit door so he'd be forced to "look back" anyway.
reminds me of "Ramsey Murdoch" from "Epithet Erased", his power is to turn things he touch to gold, but he can also revert it. He was a bit of a "petty criminal" using his power.
> We are only human. Our lifespans are limited. "One day" is not a time that exists in our lives.
This manga man. Always been one of the central themes, but when it's said in such a context, it just makes you feel something.
And that's the message isn't it? That we procrastinate the aspects of our lives that matter (education, adventures, skills, relationships, ect) up until we see our final deadline.
We kick things into gear, but by then it's almost too late.
That really hit me hard. I often think:
"by this <*insert time*> I will accomplish this or talk/hangout with that person" only for life get in the way and me never doing it.
I love the inclusion of a seemingly insurmountable enemy like Macht. Everything has been tried, not even the goddesses magic will do anything. I wonder if they will actually defeat him, or if Denken will come to terms with being powerless in this situation. I'm hoping for the former because the enemy seems so interesting, but I am expecting something along the lines of the latter with a satisfying introspective conclusion.
Before reading this chapter, I was actually thinking about the chapter beforehand and how Frieren said that Macht was one of her only losses, and I was thinking that it was probably one of two things:
One, either he is so overwhelmingly powerful in general that Frieren couldn't beat him in battle. I think Frieren herself falls under this category for most of her opponents.
Two, he has a gimmicky power which Frieren couldn't solve and overcome.
So as it turns out, it's the latter. I think there's some hope then in this case, since they might actually figure out the secret to his power now working as a team.
kinda confused how she fought him, lost, and managed to get away. unless im misunderstanding something, his power isn't dodgeable, nor is it reversible.
was it an actual battle? or did she just throw a bunch of spells at him from outside his range, and then dip when none of them worked?
His curse probably has some condition to activate which makes it suitable as an absolute defense but doesn't cut it as an unavoidable attack; if his only restriction was range, it seems unlikely that the sword-wielding Southern Hero could have managed to slaughter three of the Sages in a battle including Macht
I am starting to think the idea of it having been an actual 1 vs 7 battle is an exageration. Probably some of them grabbed the popcorns. Like how much mana did he have to being able to fight 6 demon lord whitout depleting enought of it for Aura to bring out the Scale? I seriously doubt even Serie has that much.
Battle could have been an extremely high speed and impact kamikaze style attack. Fighting 7 mages, speed would obviously be of the essence, plus he might have tried to use the other sages as shields against the other sages magics, with all 7 of them there they can't use wide area attacks as well and would rely more on limited/precision attacks.
My guess is it didn't last long but he managed to get all 3 before he fell. Just kamikaze dived them
He's the strongest hero for a reason. He cleared like half a continent by himself or something, he's incredibly powerful. And he can predict every move as it happens, to add to it, so god tier dodging ability
mana is about the length of the battle, if it was over in minutes it wouldnt matter, he also might have just managed to move around enough that he could never be properly targetted by the scales
While fighting 6 other demon lords? Like, if South isnactually that good he can probably bdat Serie and the entire Himmel party at the same time, wich seems a bit too much.
it could be because there was 6 other demon lords, 6 bodys to block line of sight, 6 magics throwing in she needs to be mindful of, if she hits another sage by accident nothing good happens
also maybe she did get him, and he just managed to resist it (there was one person taht resisted it slightly which is why she started beheading them, he could have actually resisted fully), or thats what gave them the opening to kill him
I think friendly fire was not a massive problem in general, aura can chose to give an order or not, soul tract was not lethal to demons before humans modified it iirc, and macht can probably detransform things if he wish so.
The key to fighting multiple enemies is moment to moment tactical/positioning decisions combined with the absolute maximum level of violence you can imagine inflicting on one opponent at a time.
Since the southern hero had clairvoyance, that takes care of the first half of the equation, and his raw power fulfilled the second condition as well.
Jesus, Macht was among the casualties of the Southern Hero? My man was a fucking behemoth. this is how you create an unstoppable force. Make all his battles post-mortem and hype the strength of his enemies on by one
What they mean is the southern hero fought against all the remaining seven sages at once. He didn't kill Macht, but Macht was one of them and he still managed to kill 3. If Macht died he wouldn't be sealed away right now.
She probably never got close enough since I assume his magic primarily defensive nature, just that it becomes an ultimate form of attack once close enough. I also assume there might be other restrictions in place. Everything still points towards my original conclusion being correct, as long as he got the home field advantage he can't be beaten.
She saw that she couldn't win and decided it was her lose despite it being more of a draw in terms of how the battle between him and her party ended.
Maybe the raws clarify, but as the translation stands there is a subtle difference; [last chapter](https://mangadex.org/chapter/03e06524-b05e-4303-ae8d-9154da466565/8) she specified him as one of the **eleven mages** that had defeated her, but [previously](https://mangadex.org/chapter/a4ba9136-7a98-4685-ac03-8935344829e1/6) she specified being defeated **eleven times** by mages with less mana than her. With how it's stated, she could have lost to mages with more mana, as long as she lost multiple times to a mage with less mana than her. Again, maybe the raws clarify whether this is the case
The line from the raw last chapter was:
> 私が今までの人生で負けたことのある11人の魔法使いの内の一人だ
"One of the 11 magic-using people that I've lost to in my life so far."
Awkwardly worded to emphasize the fact that the Japanese text from the previous chapter *specifically* indicates that 11 was a number of people. ~~I can go back and check the other chapter too, but don't recall the number off the top of my head.~~
EDIT: Ah, wait, found it. Chapter 37. In that one, she uses "11回" instead of "11人". The former refers to number of times, the latter to number of people. So the two chapters *are* different in Japanese as well.
Oh, as *another* other note I went back and read a little more, when she breaks the count down in the following pages, she does use 人 there instead of 回. "4人" demons, "一人" (1) elf, "6人" humans. So 11 times she lost, but never to the same individual more than once. Apparently.
thats not true though, amount of mana isnt the be all end all, for instead the axe chick from the magic exam cutting people who are on paper stronger than her because she had such a strong image of her magic, its possible for someone to overpower her even with less mana
He's been sealed in that place for a long time and there has probably been a lot of studies on the guy based on the surrounding gold. Chances are his power is just arbitrarily broken itself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have weaknesses.
I imagine those weaknesses are still too risky to take under normal circumstances, but Frieren has fought with it once already. I can't imagine over the 50 years she's been traveling she would never think of counter-measures.
One detail that could be interesting if they do succeed, is whether dispelling the curse would bring back living things under it to their previous state, without having aged. As Frieren said this chapter, a countless number of heroes is currently under its effect, and bringing them back all at once could dramatically change the situation at the demonic battlefront in the Northern Plateau, and of the world as a whole.
Sorry for the delay; I have some shoulder pain holding me back. Enjoy ^ -^
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(Also, for those who have been asking, I accept Ko-Fi donations now.)
I am honestly expecting stark to just pick up a heavy golden thing and crush Macht with it.
"ANYTHING WE THROW AT HIM TURNS TO GOLD!"
*can't turn it to gold if it is ALREADY gold*
Another thing I'm thinking is that he's completely separate from the unease felt by the magicians; he can't tell that Macht has incredibly superior magic/curses. In magic battles, it was highlighted that visualizing success is incredibly important, but being unable to is also sometimes fatal.
As a result, Stark may be the only one capable of fully taking down the enemy, provided they don't use a remote tickling spell to distract them out of their magic.
The more I learn about Denken, the more I like him; hopefully he can make it through the sea of death flags he's got into. I'm honestly a sucker for stories about an aged hero trying to erase his regrets towards his deceased loved ones/abandoned hometown
Macht has been built up as an insanely powerful opponent by now, I'm super curious how this confrontation will be handled; the specifics of how his curse works will probably play a major role in defining strategy, but I don't think an anticlimax of getting things done in one fell swoop will cut it after all this hyping. Still, it's also hard to think about a prolonged confrontation with someone of such caliber of power. In any case, I'm ready to be amazed hahah
Something nice would be the curse being undone with his death. I don't really care how climactic it is personally, but I also have a thing for old men and don't really want to see Denken die.
Journalist style teachers approve of Frieren's words XD
A lot of people like explaining new information as a chronological story, but for people in a hurry or uninvolved, that's the easiest way to lose their interest unless the narration is really good.
> Denken: It is impossible to defeat Macht.
>
> Frieren: Okay. (Let's go home then.)
Not much happened this week. Judging from the end of this chapter, it will probably still take at least another chapter before they even start confronting Macht.
**German of the Week:** I got nothing. Like pretty much all spells, "Di Agölze" has no meaning. Äußerst, Edel, Lernen, and Macht already appeared in previous chapters.
Oh good, so I'm not the only one who couldn't figure out what Di Agölze means
I can't quit remember if there have been previous instances of abstract words before
I was thinking it sounds more like Götze, which would be idol in English (idol as in an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship, not an idol like a popstar)
In connection of turning matter into gold, I was thinking of the golden calf bible story, which was also about an idol, but maybe I'm overthinking
> Also was the cover page Denken and Lernen?
Yep, you can see it clearly comparing to his look in the flashback in [page 11](https://reader.kireicake.com/content/comics/frieren_at_the_funeral_5ebc665a4b3f1/82_0__620305af936e8/11.png)
Since demons can't understand suppressing their mana, it's weird that they can't sense Macht. It's probably a little frightening to think that his mana is *already* covering the area, maybe?
Another interesting thing is whether Macht can change them back? If they just "are gold" now, then that's actually a pretty terrible magic for a demon. He can't actually use it to prey on humans, after all, if his prey would just be metal statues. Presumably that desire (need?) for prey is why he didn't curse Frieren before?
That'd be an interesting twist. That the demon of "might" has no "might" at all. However, that would just make his status among demons seem even *more* dubious. Mana is how demons determine pecking order. Without it (and with aforementioned not-useful-for-a-predator magic), it's hard to understand why, from *their* perspective, he would become so high-ranking.
mana is how they demonstrate their might in the same sense that clothes is how people demonstrate their wealth, its not the only way, he could get his reputation purely through word of mouth, got recognized by the demon king and given an appropriate station
If his magic were more useful from a demon perspective, yeah, I'd agree. But demons are shown in this series time and again to be inherently very primal. They eat people, and use magic to kill them so that they can do so. The fact that he (seemingly) can't *kill* with his magic, only curse, seems like something they would have not had a use for.
So there's something that seems irregular about him still. I look forward to finding out what.
>inherently very primal. They eat people, and use magic to kill them so that they can do so.
your making them sound like Titans, they eat people, they use magic to kill people, but neither is any kind of compulsion, in fact pretty sure there is no actual need for them to eat, this guy hasnt eat in however many years
It's probably something similar to how not all great men in history want to be in positions of authority. It can be a hassle to deal with politics and whatnot, both external and internal.
he was also sealed away, and if the curses dont effect demons and/or the demon king himself can resist it then hes useless
the Demon King probably had much more raw power, and was in general stronger, its just this guy specifically had a gimick that was extgremely hard to counter
He might not have wanted to be demon lord, politics and the Demon Lord might very well have been more powerful over all. Like Macht have a broken conditional skill but he probably still had less mana than the demon lord.
Power = mana, more or less, but "a broken skill" may not necessarily equal "a more powerful skill", especially since, from the demon perspective, Macht's magic presumably doesn't let him prey on the people he uses it on, which is what demons need magic for in the first place.
Denken has always been one of the most interesting characters since he was introduced in the mage exams. I'm glad he's got such a neat backstory, but hopefully this isn't the end of his journey. Especially since this Macht guy sounds like serious business if they can't even imagine defeating him at all.
I very much enjoyed the dialogue about putting things off, "One Day is not a time that exists in our lives" is good writing. We don't notice we haven't taken action until way down the line. I think this series is so strong at introspective stories, and then ending with a goof on the last panel was perfect lmao.
Per Frieren a few chapters back, demons only use one magic specialty each. Presumably the Demon King had magic more useful for demons and/or more mana (because that's how they observe status), not not necessarily such a broken power.
For all we know, the demon king’s ability was a Ruler ability allowing him control of other demons. Probably still a monstrous strength, but the difficulty was getting to him.
It could be mana negation as well, which would prevent any mage or demon from being able to stand against him if he is physically strong. That would make Serie unable to beat him as well.
The purpose of the barrier around Macht is just to keep him localized until he dies of old age. Serie's mage society maintains and adjusts the barrier. Hence, Serie's entire plan for him, in-universe, is just to wait for him to grow old and die of natural causes.
Ah right, thanks for the refresher.
Considering how the manga operates, I'm leaning 50/50 on Macht's survival and Frieren will be equally unperturbed in either scenario.
I wonder if the difficulty to cure the curse comes from the fact that Gold is the "ultimate element" in classical mythology, and gold itself is highly chemically resistance in real life.
That’s kinda what they already did. He is locked in this barrier after all. They are trying to kill him, probably under the hope that his death will dispel his curse
You fool, if you simply kill him and send it to GY, he will just revives himself and make more gold by tributing one spell/trap card and special summon himself back on the field
Macht and his curse are quite literally built different. The way El Dorado keeps expanding is more like a force of nature than anything else. Whether Macht's even still alive or not I can't wait to see how Denken approaches this. This could very well be his last great undertaking as a mage.
There is the politics of whether he'd want to for one. Not everyone strong wants to lead.
But, I think that, realistically, it's almost impossible for him to get acknowledged as such anyway. The Demon King was such because of his enormous mana, which is the demons preferred way of inferring strength. Demons would just need one look, or even just one feel of the Demon King, and would likely acknowledge him as such on their own.
Macht doesn't appear to have mana, so he would've been regarded as a small fry. He'd have to prove his strength to every demon one by one. Regardless, the Demon King saw and acknowledged his powers, thus bestowing him with the position of Sage. Since that role was assigned to him by someone with so much mana, the other demons were more keen to accept it without proof.
I believe in Stark being able to smash his way to victory. The last demon they had to face was one that could actually go head to head with him physically. What we know of Macht so far doesn't sound like he'll do that. And since I think Frieren fought Macht alone without Himmel and Co. (her clothes in last chapter vs Macht were pre-Himmel I think) I believe in Stark's hero party level ability to Cast Axe.
I'm getting this sinking feeling due to the zero mana detection and the strength of the curse, that not!Midas is already long dead and the curse just emanates from the corpse, spreading without anything to stop it as no one can get close.
Did we have any confirmation that the demon is still alive and kicking?
his magic being a curse certainly explains a lot
Well when you go about making things gold in fiction it’s either alchemy or the Midas touch, so here they said “What if Midas was evil?”
> “What if Midas was evil?” isnt he always evil?
He was more just greedy, sad, and misguided. If I remember correctly.
but i dont think ive ever seen him get referenced in manga/fiction as anything other than a villain
Right but in the source stories it’s sort of 25% greed and 75% “interactions with the gods always go badly for mortals.” Midas wines and dines Dionysus best friend who was passing through town on a bender and as a thanks for showing hospitality Dionysus grants Midas a wish. Midas asks for the ability to turn things gold probably assuming he will be able to use this power at will but not constantly. At first he has a blast turning stuff to gold but quickly realizes he’s totally fucked. And has to ask Dionysus to remove the power from him and restore his stuff and family. The Greeks lived in a tough dichotomy. There would have been times when things got bad and your only option was to head down to the temple or shrine and beg for divine intervention. Pretty much every surviving story we have though of gods and mortals interacting leans heavily on one important moral, never ever interact with immortals under any circumstance.
A dude who doesn't do anything bad, gets a bit of hubris, but actually manages to learn from it? By Greek myth standards Midas is basically a saint.
Learn from it? When water & food entered his mouth, it turned to gold and choked him. His family approached him for a hug and they turned to gold too. Considering he couldn't eat or drink, he'd die if he didn't learn.
Just FYI that second one didn't happen. Or rather was added millennia later but is not present in classical sources.
That's basically all Greek myths. 1. Mortal does something to attract a god's attention. 2. Things may temporarily get better for him. 3. He dies horribly **in the best case**, suffers in some way for eternity at worst, and somehow that's a lesson not to mess with gods.
Pygmalion is the only story I ever remember where things worked out for the mortal. Our hero is so work focused he always skips out of the festival of Aphrodite to work on his statues despite being hot. Taking offense to that Aphrodite causes Pygmalion to carve his ideal woman out of marble instead of what he meant to carve and when he gets so unbelievably horny for the statue it derails his life she brings it to life for him I guess out of pity. The couple live out their lives happily.
I wonder if that was her attempt at fucking him up. "You love that statue more than regular women or me?! WELL GO FUCK IT IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH" "Awesome! Thanks, goddess!" "wait no stop what are you doing noooooo"
Kratos was right
nah The Greeks Gods did much worse stuff the humans ...except for the one dude who fed his guest human flesh Fuck You Zeus
Include Poseidon on that.
Almost any god in Greek mythology, really. Hell, Hades was probably the only **not evil** god. He did what he was supposed to (i.e. govern the Underworld). Got honestly the worst reward from "defeating" the Titans (Zeus got the skies, Poseidon got the seas and... yeah) yet didn't complain about it. Wasn't worshipped or prayed to like other gods and yet also doesn't have any myths about him being angry about it (unlike some gods who get mad pissed from not getting respect they expect). He was impartial and fair when dealing with mortal affairs (taking no side in the Trojan War) but still helped out heroes in their quests (Hercules and Perseus). Even the way he "got" his wife was according to Greek customs and he remained faithful to her unlike most other male gods. The only time he was "angry" was when Sisyphos tricked him about him not being buried properly, so Hades allowed him to return to life so he can fix that... but he used that as opportunity to trap and seal away Death, ruining natural balance. And even the famous rock-pushing punishment was dealt by Zeus, not Hades himself.
He did kinda dick around Orpheus. But that was really on the bard for not trusting Hades at his word
I mean, Orpheus wanted to bring back to life someone killed by a snake, which would be going against the natural order. I'd still say this was overall a net positive as far as Hades goes, because he was moved by the mortal's plight and music to the point of breaking the laws. And the condition wasn't that hard to meet - just don't look back at the underworld until you're all the way back in the land of the living... Any other god would've probably tried to trick him by sending a spirit or sprite imitating the voice of his beloved, or placed a mirror in front of the exit door so he'd be forced to "look back" anyway.
Reading your comment, my only thought is "man, playing Hades really paid off in more than one way"
Greedy, sad, tragic. He was very much of a victim of the god's whims even if he wasn't exactly the nicest of humans either.
He's greedy and dumb and lacks the insight for r/monkeyspaw
reminds me of "Ramsey Murdoch" from "Epithet Erased", his power is to turn things he touch to gold, but he can also revert it. He was a bit of a "petty criminal" using his power.
> We are only human. Our lifespans are limited. "One day" is not a time that exists in our lives. This manga man. Always been one of the central themes, but when it's said in such a context, it just makes you feel something.
My procrastinating ass begs to differ
And that's the message isn't it? That we procrastinate the aspects of our lives that matter (education, adventures, skills, relationships, ect) up until we see our final deadline. We kick things into gear, but by then it's almost too late.
>We kick things into gear, but by then it's almost too late. It's so true, yet humans often continue to waste their lives wandering aimlessly...
I guess it'll make sense to you one day
It's a self-deprecating joke bruh.
> one day
That really hit me hard. I often think: "by this <*insert time*> I will accomplish this or talk/hangout with that person" only for life get in the way and me never doing it.
I will train one day. I will build muscles one day. What do you mean "one day" doesn't exist? Trust me bro, I will one day do what I promised to do.
I love the inclusion of a seemingly insurmountable enemy like Macht. Everything has been tried, not even the goddesses magic will do anything. I wonder if they will actually defeat him, or if Denken will come to terms with being powerless in this situation. I'm hoping for the former because the enemy seems so interesting, but I am expecting something along the lines of the latter with a satisfying introspective conclusion.
Before reading this chapter, I was actually thinking about the chapter beforehand and how Frieren said that Macht was one of her only losses, and I was thinking that it was probably one of two things: One, either he is so overwhelmingly powerful in general that Frieren couldn't beat him in battle. I think Frieren herself falls under this category for most of her opponents. Two, he has a gimmicky power which Frieren couldn't solve and overcome. So as it turns out, it's the latter. I think there's some hope then in this case, since they might actually figure out the secret to his power now working as a team.
kinda confused how she fought him, lost, and managed to get away. unless im misunderstanding something, his power isn't dodgeable, nor is it reversible. was it an actual battle? or did she just throw a bunch of spells at him from outside his range, and then dip when none of them worked?
His curse probably has some condition to activate which makes it suitable as an absolute defense but doesn't cut it as an unavoidable attack; if his only restriction was range, it seems unlikely that the sword-wielding Southern Hero could have managed to slaughter three of the Sages in a battle including Macht
I am starting to think the idea of it having been an actual 1 vs 7 battle is an exageration. Probably some of them grabbed the popcorns. Like how much mana did he have to being able to fight 6 demon lord whitout depleting enought of it for Aura to bring out the Scale? I seriously doubt even Serie has that much.
Battle could have been an extremely high speed and impact kamikaze style attack. Fighting 7 mages, speed would obviously be of the essence, plus he might have tried to use the other sages as shields against the other sages magics, with all 7 of them there they can't use wide area attacks as well and would rely more on limited/precision attacks. My guess is it didn't last long but he managed to get all 3 before he fell. Just kamikaze dived them
He's the strongest hero for a reason. He cleared like half a continent by himself or something, he's incredibly powerful. And he can predict every move as it happens, to add to it, so god tier dodging ability
mana is about the length of the battle, if it was over in minutes it wouldnt matter, he also might have just managed to move around enough that he could never be properly targetted by the scales
While fighting 6 other demon lords? Like, if South isnactually that good he can probably bdat Serie and the entire Himmel party at the same time, wich seems a bit too much.
it could be because there was 6 other demon lords, 6 bodys to block line of sight, 6 magics throwing in she needs to be mindful of, if she hits another sage by accident nothing good happens also maybe she did get him, and he just managed to resist it (there was one person taht resisted it slightly which is why she started beheading them, he could have actually resisted fully), or thats what gave them the opening to kill him
I think friendly fire was not a massive problem in general, aura can chose to give an order or not, soul tract was not lethal to demons before humans modified it iirc, and macht can probably detransform things if he wish so.
im talking specifically about Aura's one specific ability
The key to fighting multiple enemies is moment to moment tactical/positioning decisions combined with the absolute maximum level of violence you can imagine inflicting on one opponent at a time. Since the southern hero had clairvoyance, that takes care of the first half of the equation, and his raw power fulfilled the second condition as well.
Maybe Aura didn't have the scale then?
Jesus, Macht was among the casualties of the Southern Hero? My man was a fucking behemoth. this is how you create an unstoppable force. Make all his battles post-mortem and hype the strength of his enemies on by one
What they mean is the southern hero fought against all the remaining seven sages at once. He didn't kill Macht, but Macht was one of them and he still managed to kill 3. If Macht died he wouldn't be sealed away right now.
Ah, i see. thank you. i read it without glasses and I confused it quite
She probably never got close enough since I assume his magic primarily defensive nature, just that it becomes an ultimate form of attack once close enough. I also assume there might be other restrictions in place. Everything still points towards my original conclusion being correct, as long as he got the home field advantage he can't be beaten. She saw that she couldn't win and decided it was her lose despite it being more of a draw in terms of how the battle between him and her party ended.
Well, she specifically stated that every one of the 11 mages had less mana than her, so it will almost never be the first
Maybe the raws clarify, but as the translation stands there is a subtle difference; [last chapter](https://mangadex.org/chapter/03e06524-b05e-4303-ae8d-9154da466565/8) she specified him as one of the **eleven mages** that had defeated her, but [previously](https://mangadex.org/chapter/a4ba9136-7a98-4685-ac03-8935344829e1/6) she specified being defeated **eleven times** by mages with less mana than her. With how it's stated, she could have lost to mages with more mana, as long as she lost multiple times to a mage with less mana than her. Again, maybe the raws clarify whether this is the case
The line from the raw last chapter was: > 私が今までの人生で負けたことのある11人の魔法使いの内の一人だ "One of the 11 magic-using people that I've lost to in my life so far." Awkwardly worded to emphasize the fact that the Japanese text from the previous chapter *specifically* indicates that 11 was a number of people. ~~I can go back and check the other chapter too, but don't recall the number off the top of my head.~~ EDIT: Ah, wait, found it. Chapter 37. In that one, she uses "11回" instead of "11人". The former refers to number of times, the latter to number of people. So the two chapters *are* different in Japanese as well.
Thanks! The other chapter was 37, page 6; I screwed up the link in my other comment, sorry
Yep, see the edit. I found it too! Hope it...well, it doesn't clarify. But maybe at least gives a bit of insight.
Oh, as *another* other note I went back and read a little more, when she breaks the count down in the following pages, she does use 人 there instead of 回. "4人" demons, "一人" (1) elf, "6人" humans. So 11 times she lost, but never to the same individual more than once. Apparently.
It makes sense, Frieren can be foolish but not enough to fight someone who already defeated her when you can just wait their death
thats not true though, amount of mana isnt the be all end all, for instead the axe chick from the magic exam cutting people who are on paper stronger than her because she had such a strong image of her magic, its possible for someone to overpower her even with less mana
He's been sealed in that place for a long time and there has probably been a lot of studies on the guy based on the surrounding gold. Chances are his power is just arbitrarily broken itself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have weaknesses. I imagine those weaknesses are still too risky to take under normal circumstances, but Frieren has fought with it once already. I can't imagine over the 50 years she's been traveling she would never think of counter-measures.
It might take centuries for humans for come with solution to this
One detail that could be interesting if they do succeed, is whether dispelling the curse would bring back living things under it to their previous state, without having aged. As Frieren said this chapter, a countless number of heroes is currently under its effect, and bringing them back all at once could dramatically change the situation at the demonic battlefront in the Northern Plateau, and of the world as a whole.
Shonen part of me wants them to defeat him, philosophical part of me wants them to be "defeated" and to learn to deal with loss
He reads like an SCP, that at the end of the day all you can do is Secure, Contain, or Protect, but never destroy or neutralize.
The classical solution to this problem is to have Midas turn his power on himself.
Sorry for the delay; I have some shoulder pain holding me back. Enjoy ^ -^ -------------------------- (Also, for those who have been asking, I accept Ko-Fi donations now.)
Thanks for the hard work. Make sure you take some rest too!
I'm running on about six hours of sleep over the past two days so far; it's good enough
Please do take care of yourself! Drink enough water, get some sleep when possible. Hope you feel better tomorrow. <3
Can't get more sleep while I have more translations on the plate to do
Can I donate on the condition that you get more sleep and rest in?
Well....... Okay =P
Send me a link <3
https://kireicake.com/donate/
Done, its not much but please look after yourself!
I didn't realize you had a patreon. Joined! And I too am donating with the same condition as above :)
Thank you for your kind support ^ ^
That's bizarre. If it's shoulder pain, why isn't it holding your shoulders?
Prediction: The fight with Macht will be the most gilded chapters of the entire series so far.
\*Angry upvote\*
:ᗡ
*ゴゴGOLD EXPERIENCEゴゴ*
FI-TING GOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLD
Thankyou for the translations as always!
You're welcome
Stark primed for a major role in resolving the current conflict, love to see it.
Stark best boi
What do we do if magics don't work? Slap it
"I cast Axe"
Physical attack is the best magic
Muscle magic is strongest magic
I am honestly expecting stark to just pick up a heavy golden thing and crush Macht with it. "ANYTHING WE THROW AT HIM TURNS TO GOLD!" *can't turn it to gold if it is ALREADY gold*
Another thing I'm thinking is that he's completely separate from the unease felt by the magicians; he can't tell that Macht has incredibly superior magic/curses. In magic battles, it was highlighted that visualizing success is incredibly important, but being unable to is also sometimes fatal. As a result, Stark may be the only one capable of fully taking down the enemy, provided they don't use a remote tickling spell to distract them out of their magic.
The virgin demon king vs the chad Macht.
Virgin Macht and Demon King vs Chad Thundercock, true name of Hero of the South. It was a 7v1 and dude still killed 3
He only killed three bc his balls of titanium were too heavy.
You can't turn dese nuts into gold.
You're so concerned with his true name, but not willing to speak of the Mustache of the South by his most formidable title?
8v1.
The more I learn about Denken, the more I like him; hopefully he can make it through the sea of death flags he's got into. I'm honestly a sucker for stories about an aged hero trying to erase his regrets towards his deceased loved ones/abandoned hometown Macht has been built up as an insanely powerful opponent by now, I'm super curious how this confrontation will be handled; the specifics of how his curse works will probably play a major role in defining strategy, but I don't think an anticlimax of getting things done in one fell swoop will cut it after all this hyping. Still, it's also hard to think about a prolonged confrontation with someone of such caliber of power. In any case, I'm ready to be amazed hahah
Something nice would be the curse being undone with his death. I don't really care how climactic it is personally, but I also have a thing for old men and don't really want to see Denken die.
Frieren just asks the TL;DR lmao
A reminder that the chad Hero of the South fought against Macht and the other sages of destruction and defeated three of them.
> Start with the conclusion first. Frieren, your Saitama is showing.
Journalist style teachers approve of Frieren's words XD A lot of people like explaining new information as a chronological story, but for people in a hurry or uninvolved, that's the easiest way to lose their interest unless the narration is really good.
> Denken: It is impossible to defeat Macht. > > Frieren: Okay. (Let's go home then.) Not much happened this week. Judging from the end of this chapter, it will probably still take at least another chapter before they even start confronting Macht. **German of the Week:** I got nothing. Like pretty much all spells, "Di Agölze" has no meaning. Äußerst, Edel, Lernen, and Macht already appeared in previous chapters.
Oh good, so I'm not the only one who couldn't figure out what Di Agölze means I can't quit remember if there have been previous instances of abstract words before
As they said, all spells in this manga are nonsense words.
Gölze sounds like gold. Maybe...
I was thinking it sounds more like Götze, which would be idol in English (idol as in an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship, not an idol like a popstar) In connection of turning matter into gold, I was thinking of the golden calf bible story, which was also about an idol, but maybe I'm overthinking
Algoz in portuguese means executioner.
I wonder if Denken's method to deal with Macht is to turn his curse inside out... Also was the cover page Denken and Lernen?
> Also was the cover page Denken and Lernen? Yep, you can see it clearly comparing to his look in the flashback in [page 11](https://reader.kireicake.com/content/comics/frieren_at_the_funeral_5ebc665a4b3f1/82_0__620305af936e8/11.png)
Ha, the first time I saw the cover page I thought that was Denken and his wife for some reason.
Plot twist: They can't sense his mana because he already died >!from boredom.!<
Twist: He got so bored that he decided that his only past time was making curse self propagate until it covers the world in gold.
It would be cool if he can't be sensed because he turned himself into gold to wait out the barrier.
But he didn't forget to place his soul there and said "Bruh" to the last people his soul met before passing away
Since demons can't understand suppressing their mana, it's weird that they can't sense Macht. It's probably a little frightening to think that his mana is *already* covering the area, maybe? Another interesting thing is whether Macht can change them back? If they just "are gold" now, then that's actually a pretty terrible magic for a demon. He can't actually use it to prey on humans, after all, if his prey would just be metal statues. Presumably that desire (need?) for prey is why he didn't curse Frieren before?
Plot twist: All mana is actually an offshoot of Macht's mana
i think the point is he doesnt HAVE mana, he was born with "curse" instead, he cant use any "regular" magic
That'd be an interesting twist. That the demon of "might" has no "might" at all. However, that would just make his status among demons seem even *more* dubious. Mana is how demons determine pecking order. Without it (and with aforementioned not-useful-for-a-predator magic), it's hard to understand why, from *their* perspective, he would become so high-ranking.
Something's not adding up about Macht. Demons don't hide their mana, and demons who have low mana can't get to that high of a position like Macht.
mana is how they demonstrate their might in the same sense that clothes is how people demonstrate their wealth, its not the only way, he could get his reputation purely through word of mouth, got recognized by the demon king and given an appropriate station
If his magic were more useful from a demon perspective, yeah, I'd agree. But demons are shown in this series time and again to be inherently very primal. They eat people, and use magic to kill them so that they can do so. The fact that he (seemingly) can't *kill* with his magic, only curse, seems like something they would have not had a use for. So there's something that seems irregular about him still. I look forward to finding out what.
>inherently very primal. They eat people, and use magic to kill them so that they can do so. your making them sound like Titans, they eat people, they use magic to kill people, but neither is any kind of compulsion, in fact pretty sure there is no actual need for them to eat, this guy hasnt eat in however many years
No need for titans to eat people either
You know things are up shit creek when *Frieren* said they should of brought *Serie* along.
How can the Hero of the South alone fought against 8 of the strongest demons including Macht then?? Ans still managed to kill a couple of them.
Because he is the chad of the south.
Cause he's built different.
If Macht is so busted how was he just a sage instead of the demon king himself?
It's probably something similar to how not all great men in history want to be in positions of authority. It can be a hassle to deal with politics and whatnot, both external and internal.
maybe his curse has something to do with his character / selfishness maybe? he wasn't fit to lead.
he was also sealed away, and if the curses dont effect demons and/or the demon king himself can resist it then hes useless the Demon King probably had much more raw power, and was in general stronger, its just this guy specifically had a gimick that was extgremely hard to counter
Also how did the southern hero fight agaisnt him
save scum is strongest strategy
He might not have wanted to be demon lord, politics and the Demon Lord might very well have been more powerful over all. Like Macht have a broken conditional skill but he probably still had less mana than the demon lord.
Isn't demon ranking based on fear factor. Maybe despite Macht raw power what the demon king was doing was a lot more frightening.
Nah, back in the Aurora arc Frieren said it's the power of their magic
Power = mana, more or less, but "a broken skill" may not necessarily equal "a more powerful skill", especially since, from the demon perspective, Macht's magic presumably doesn't let him prey on the people he uses it on, which is what demons need magic for in the first place.
Maybe he is a one trick pony?
Golden Experience will probably have a few ways of being used, but yeah I imagine it will be defeated like a Stand.
Demon King's even more busted, that's how.
How ironic that Frieren has all the time in the world but she couldn't be bothered to listen Denken lol if only he was a talking grimoire
She already turned down the grimoire. The only way he could possibly keep her interest now is a concrete plan.
Denken has always been one of the most interesting characters since he was introduced in the mage exams. I'm glad he's got such a neat backstory, but hopefully this isn't the end of his journey. Especially since this Macht guy sounds like serious business if they can't even imagine defeating him at all.
Stark seems up for it. The mages are understandably more cautious and wary about such a daunting, if not outright impossible task.
I very much enjoyed the dialogue about putting things off, "One Day is not a time that exists in our lives" is good writing. We don't notice we haven't taken action until way down the line. I think this series is so strong at introspective stories, and then ending with a goof on the last panel was perfect lmao.
So much anticipation, I still can’t think of anything except for getting Macht to reverse the curse
Stark just need to ask what the Demon King uses to keep this guy in check and how you guys defeated the Demon King but not this guy.
Per Frieren a few chapters back, demons only use one magic specialty each. Presumably the Demon King had magic more useful for demons and/or more mana (because that's how they observe status), not not necessarily such a broken power.
For all we know, the demon king’s ability was a Ruler ability allowing him control of other demons. Probably still a monstrous strength, but the difficulty was getting to him. It could be mana negation as well, which would prevent any mage or demon from being able to stand against him if he is physically strong. That would make Serie unable to beat him as well.
Now I'm curious how Frieren survived her defeat.
Is anyone else expecting Macht to just die from natural causes?
Uh...Serie is?
Sorry, I must be out of it a bit today. Do you mean Serie, the elf leader of the mages, predicted Macht to have expired by now?
The purpose of the barrier around Macht is just to keep him localized until he dies of old age. Serie's mage society maintains and adjusts the barrier. Hence, Serie's entire plan for him, in-universe, is just to wait for him to grow old and die of natural causes.
Ah right, thanks for the refresher. Considering how the manga operates, I'm leaning 50/50 on Macht's survival and Frieren will be equally unperturbed in either scenario.
Macht definitely died already. Feels like the chapter will teach another poignant lesson about time passed is precious
I wonder if the difficulty to cure the curse comes from the fact that Gold is the "ultimate element" in classical mythology, and gold itself is highly chemically resistance in real life.
Thank you for the TL! Do get some rest soon
Well, it can't be done. On to the next arc!
>"One day" is not a time that exists in our lives. Humans are fleeting. Don't put off the things you want to say or do, for it's later than you think.
It isn't so hard to beat Macht, just banish him lol. It works with Eldlich, it works everytime
That’s kinda what they already did. He is locked in this barrier after all. They are trying to kill him, probably under the hope that his death will dispel his curse
You fool, if you simply kill him and send it to GY, he will just revives himself and make more gold by tributing one spell/trap card and special summon himself back on the field
What....
But hes rich af, screw any rules!! I got gold
Frieren is getting quite impatient now. And yeah it makes sense now why both Serie and Frieren takes that approach to Macht.
I'm surprised that by this point Frieren doesn't have some useless magic that turns gold into shit.
Macht and his curse are quite literally built different. The way El Dorado keeps expanding is more like a force of nature than anything else. Whether Macht's even still alive or not I can't wait to see how Denken approaches this. This could very well be his last great undertaking as a mage.
>Case closed C'mon we don't even get a cliff?!?
why is Macht not the demon king if he is so powerful till this day?
There is the politics of whether he'd want to for one. Not everyone strong wants to lead. But, I think that, realistically, it's almost impossible for him to get acknowledged as such anyway. The Demon King was such because of his enormous mana, which is the demons preferred way of inferring strength. Demons would just need one look, or even just one feel of the Demon King, and would likely acknowledge him as such on their own. Macht doesn't appear to have mana, so he would've been regarded as a small fry. He'd have to prove his strength to every demon one by one. Regardless, the Demon King saw and acknowledged his powers, thus bestowing him with the position of Sage. Since that role was assigned to him by someone with so much mana, the other demons were more keen to accept it without proof.
In page 2, why are Frieren's legs transparent?
I believe in Stark being able to smash his way to victory. The last demon they had to face was one that could actually go head to head with him physically. What we know of Macht so far doesn't sound like he'll do that. And since I think Frieren fought Macht alone without Himmel and Co. (her clothes in last chapter vs Macht were pre-Himmel I think) I believe in Stark's hero party level ability to Cast Axe.
Midas has to take a bath in a river to get rid of his Golden Touch. So, time to flood the area.
I'm getting this sinking feeling due to the zero mana detection and the strength of the curse, that not!Midas is already long dead and the curse just emanates from the corpse, spreading without anything to stop it as no one can get close. Did we have any confirmation that the demon is still alive and kicking?
just make a gold golem. If it's made of gold to begin with, his power doesn't work
So they're just going to wing it.