Sousou no Frieren - Ch. 128 - The Special Forces of Magic

[Ignore]

this kind of stuff that i don't like in battle type manga, suddenly there's a big organization that have much stronger members than the previously supposed to be the cream of the crop mages

I doubt they're stronger. It's more likely they fought dirty/smart by leading the First Class mages into a kill zone with prepared buildings. The male 'blinding' mage acts like he controls the buildings to lure targets into attacking at close range, while the female 'telekinetic' mage hides.

 

[NhifanHafizh]

Now I think it's clear that a mage isn't necessary need to be a member of CMA. Because in the end, the CMA is only an organization where its member could take request and get job. If you already employed by a nation as their soldier, it wouldn't matter much.

So, it's also true that all 1st class mages are strong, but not every strong mages is a 1st class mage.

and tbh it isn't powercreep, they just have a bad match-up. Ubel's magic is strong but only has 5 meters of range, a strong mage that could throw shits could bested her.

and Land, we never even see his fight move. His clone never individually goes in different way or speak at the same time. So, it got me thinking that maybe he could only control one clone at one time not like kage bunshin.

 

[aceclover95]

I'm going to call anyone who uses "powercreep" and other battle-shonen jargons as tourists. go away, tourists.

so my actual impression of the chapter. first, the Land who has been with Ubel since the beginning of the chapter turned out to be a clone all along. That's why he didn't die when he was crushed by the building. and knowing his cautious personality and how he always makes at least 2 clones like during the first mage exam, I think it is possible that while his real body is with Ubel to protect her, his other clone is going back to Serie to deliver the retrieved document/information. There is also a possibility that one clone is already with Serie to act as comm device, since Land can relay information between clones in real time. I simply don't believe that he only has that one clone prepared.

second, Ubel is a beast for being able to fight while her vision and mana detection being impaired. and seems like her magic doesn't depend on her vision, but her belief/visualization (because while blinded, she's able to cut through stones but not the iron street lights). so maybe her homeland has a stone quarry but not iron grinder, that's why she can't visualize cutting iron. and because the enemy messed with her mind by saying that the rope is made of iron, I think she's already lost/can't make herself believe otherwise even though by feel alone she should have known that it's made of normal rope.

third, Land has a history/connection with the Special Forces. in his flashback, he was hiding and his grandma faced the Special Forces. since Kanone is the vice/deputy, maybe the one in his flashback is the captain/leader of the forces. and since he said his grandma died of old age, that means the confrontation in his flashback ended peacefully. but that means his grandma negotiated with the Special Forces to let them go.

fourth, as I said before, it seems it will still take a while until Ubel can empathize with Land. as long as she treats her own life and others' life lightly, she wouldn't be able to empathize with Land. and their relationship has deepened in this chapter too. usually it was only Ubel who's asking questions, but now Land also showed interest in her life story: why is she treating her own life lightly?

five, if my theory about Land's clone is right, Serie would already have the information that Land and Ubel are captured, and help will be on the way. OR it's prison break time for Land and Ubel.

 

[Ignore]

But first class mages are objectively not the cream of the crop, they're mages that only Serie believes are the cream of the crop. And would it not make sense for the Empire to have the strongest mages in the land? How else would they be able to exert their influence over their subjects and quell rebellions as needed (as the chapter mentioned)?

This didn't happen overnight.

Serie is supposedly always correct about potential - including about Frieren, who never became powerful enough to beat the demon king in a straight fight (she needed to rely on teamwork). The Special Forces are probably weaker than First Clase mages individually, but better at tactics like, say, leading people into kill zones with prepared buildings or having the mage with a short range blinding power pretend to be the telekinetic one to fool enemies into trying to fight at close quarters.

 

[K_Takuya]

so now I wonder who is actually the strongest mage in this universe

Serie, no doubt. 2nd strongest, however, is open to debate.

 

[R2D2TS]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[Ignore]

The power level of the humans living in this frieren universe seems to keep expending. It sure make you wonder why it takes thousand of years to kill the demon lord and demons with all these OP secret army that supposedly can kill the powerhouse like Serrie, frieren etc. And since Flamme is basically the one that introduce magic to the empire and the empire is the one that made magic a norm to humans, that means they are very strong army now. And if the direction they go is to have a lot of mage killer secret army that means they should be able to kill the Demon lord long ago considering the demons are mages focused build. And you telling me after all these secret mage killer army etc and they still can't kill the DL? Ngl the power creep does make the earlier writing seems questionable. You can't just suddenly have all these secret army that can kill the strongest people like Serrie and Frieren and not explained why and how they still unable to defeat the DL themselves. It was proven with the old shadow dude from previous chapter it is possible for a single shadow unit to kill Frieren. So their claim to be able kill Serrie and Frieren definitely is grounded.

Earlier Macht, in a situation where he had no reason to bother lying, noted people who overspecialize in fighting people were not threats to demons, since demons are, despite appearances, very different physically (not to mention psychologically). He thought the combined might of the Special Forces of Magic would be able to put up a fight against him, which means all of them put together pose a far lesser threat in his mind than Serie alone. Serie clearly hates demons with a passion, but wasn't willing to tangle with the Demon King. Frieren is established as weaker than both Macht and the Demon King; she views the Special Forces of magic as an extreme threat. So the power scaling and matchups are mostly consistent.

 

[Ignore]

Serie, no doubt. 2nd strongest, however, is open to debate.

Currently, yes, but if everyone seen or referenced is included in the rankings, the Hero of the South with his combat oriented precognition magic. Serie didn't want to risk a solo with the Demon King; the Demon King considered the Hero of the South an existential threat to all demons.

 

[Konrad2]

Thanks for the scanlation.

 

[nubychuriz]

Just make a spinoff about them. Sousou no ubel

Ubel at the funeral would go hard

 

[nubychuriz]

There are so many charismatic characters in this manga that they could have already released a whole series of spin-offs and made it something of a full-fledged franchise. Moreover, in a variety of genres, ranging from RPG-like fantasy adventures to buddy movie-like comedy with bromance gag humor.

A story about Sein or Wirbel would go hard

 

[slyss]

The power level of the humans living in this frieren universe seems to keep expending. It sure make you wonder why it takes thousand of years to kill the demon lord and demons with all these OP secret army that supposedly can kill the powerhouse like Serrie, frieren etc.

It's easy to see all these super-secret armies, seemingly powerful, in modern times, but it's important to remember that Humans have grown powerful because they've been able to focus on doing so during times of peace.

But how could they achieve the same in times of war, when people die young, and you have Demons like Qual outright eradicate the majority of mages in entire regions with a spell that ignored any magic defense they had at the time?

It took many heroes to push back against the Demon's Army, including Himmel's Hero party, which was full of geniuses, and actual monsters like The Hero of the South.

That's why the power of Humans is now expanding. Humanity could finally sit down and do things like analyze Zoltrak, develop better magic defenses, and devise more efficient ways of using magic. (Notice how this battle was very "modern," utilizing the surrounding elements rather than creating magic out of nowhere, which is an older style.)

And then we have The Sages of Destruction.

Aura outright countered humans in lifespan mana alone, while Macht is such a monster that it took Frieren a century just to De-Diagoldze her arm +another 100 years of memories she got from Edel to finally counter the curse, for example. (And remember, Macht was already roaming around killing humans more than 600 years ago, when Frieren first encountered him)

So, in short, Humans finally got a chance to focus on themselves, which they couldn't under times of war, which was so one-sided that the Demon Lord reduced mankind's sphere of influence by a third.

 

[SuperOniichan]

A story about Sein or Wirbel would go hard

About anyone, they already have the potential for at least 2-3 different prequels.

 

[DanJADO]

Its so funny reading the old fans, which are theorizing and connecting dialogue dots; in contrast with I suppose are newer fans, focusing on powerscaling and fights.

Frieren is a slice of life, drama, adventure fantasy.

For me, It will be an amazing manga as long as is interesting, which it is to me.

I would love to see kaft return, since they are showcasing how effective the empire is againts mages, and he is an monk.

In that reunion with Frieren, he could teach something to Stark to make his body strong, since the assasin showed how open Is Stark to surprise attacks.

 

[SuperOniichan]

Its so funny reading the old fans, which are theorizing and connecting dialogue dots; in contrast with I suppose are newer fans, focusing on powerscaling and fights.

Frieren is a slice of life, drama, adventure fantasy.

For me, It will be an amazing manga as long as is interesting, which it is to me.

I would love to see kaft return, since they are showcasing how effective the empire is againts mages, and he is an monk.

In that reunion with Frieren, he could teach something to Stark to make his body strong, since the assasin showed how open Is Stark to surprise attacks.

I never thought of Frieren as a SoL. The idea of an exciting adventure where characters encounter unusual things and people is in itself contrary to the concept of SoL.

 

[Redice]

Serie didn't want to risk a solo with the Demon King; the Demon King considered the Hero of the South an existential threat to all demons.

Pretty sure Serie not fighting the demon king is not a power level thing, she just didn't want the age of conflict to end.

 

[comedyxtragedy]

Questionable writing... I felt that way about the generic tournament arc of the 1st class mage test. Hopefully if this goes the way of generic power creep, the mangaka can bounce back from it like after the tournament arc.

well, they did mention that magic ability is akin to rock, scissors, paper. while their opponents seems to be very gifted at combat, they seem to have weakness in different area.

 

[Al_Azif]

What did the FBI man mean by counting three of them? Was he referring to the clone?

 

[Sheratan]

Pretty sure Serie not fighting the demon king is not a power level thing, she just didn't want the age of conflict to end.

I see this as; Serie sees magic as a tool. So if the conflict ended, mages will learn all kind of magic that only benefit to daily life. Such as magic to create shaved ice, magic to create dancing golem, etc.

That "useless" kind of magic, according to Serie.

 

[rexmundi]

How I met your mother, Empire edition.