The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 118

Dozens of gray mana bullets filled the sky, positioned to encircle Kyle.

‘Dangerous.’

This was the secret magic of the Shinbi family, Moon attribute magic.

A fusion of light and darkness, each the other’s only weakness. They complemented each other, creating a special magic with an indescribable synergistic effect, leaving no weakness.

Two energies that should not mix had combined, making its power among the top five magic spells in the world.

Even Kyle’s Wind God, which boasted excellent defense capable of nullifying most 4th circle magic, couldn’t block these mana bullets.

‘I’ll dodge them all.’

But it wasn’t like there was no way. The Shinbi family’s magic was powerful, called invincible, but it wasn’t without weaknesses.

The weakness of Moon attribute magic was speed. Its power was strong, but its speed wasn’t that fast.

‘I can dodge dozens, even hundreds, of those small mana bullets.’

Kyle lowered his stance, a confident expression on his face.

‘I’ll dodge about half of the Moonlight Bullets, then exploit an opening for a counterattack.’

He didn’t know how Adela perfectly dodged his sword, but she couldn’t perfectly dodge a counterattack.

‘I’ll seize the opportunity to counter and finish her off with a Gentle Breeze.’

Kyle’s ultimate move. A technique so powerful that even Shin Hayul was surprised. Gentle Breeze.

It consumed an enormous amount of mana and mental power, so if it missed, there was no future, but now wasn’t the time to hold back.

‘My gut is telling me. This battle shouldn’t be prolonged.’

For some unknown reason, he had to avoid a prolonged battle against the current Adela Steart. The longer the battle, the higher the chance that he would be at a disadvantage.

He had a premonition. It was just a feeling, but in these kinds of battles, Kyle’s intuition was so accurate that it could be called precognition.

Kyle reaffirmed his decision to use Gentle Breeze again.

Whir, whir, whir, whir!

At that moment, Adela completed all preparations. The Moonlight Bullets that had spread in all directions shone brightly, as if resonating. The flickering appearance was quite unsettling.

“Here I go.”

Adela’s eyes glowed with a vivid golden light. Even in the moment of attack, she couldn’t miss Kyle’s movements, the flow of his mana, for even a single moment. No, because it was an attack, she couldn’t afford to be careless.

Adela focused all her attention on her Mind’s Eye and moved the Moonlight Bullets.

Whoosh!

All 32 Moonlight Bullets, loaded in the air, were fired simultaneously.

Kyle’s eyes widened at the sight.

‘It’s much faster than I expected!’

The speed of the Moonlight Bullets was about 1.3 times faster than he had anticipated. With this, speed was no longer a weakness.

Of course, that didn’t mean it had become a strength. Average. Neither a strength nor a weakness, just average. The slow speed had simply changed to an average speed.

But the fact that it had become ‘average’ was important.

‘Dangerous!’

Kyle threw himself away with a horrified expression. He erased the thought of counterattacking from his mind for now. He would focus on dodging for now. Kyle’s mind was filled with only that thought.

However, Kyle’s thoughts did not translate into action.

‘This is…’

Whoosh! Thud!

Nearly thirty Moonlight Bullets moved as if to surround Kyle. Their movements were like blocking all escape routes. A scene was created where thirty artificial satellites seemed to be orbiting around the planet called Kyle.

“I won’t let you escape.”

Perfect encirclement. There was no way to escape through the orbital circulation of those Moonlight Bullets now.

“…It’s the first time I’ve seen Moonlight Bullets used like this.”

Kyle returned the gale he had focused on his sword to his body. He decided to give up attacking to some extent and focus on defense.

“It’s only natural that it’s the first time you’ve seen it. Because I’m the first to use it like this.”

“The first time… Does that mean you’ve modified the magic formula of the Moonlight Bullets?”

Kyle’s eyes sharpened as he looked at the Moonlight Bullets still circulating around him. Moonlight Bullets were a typical power-focused mana bullet that had high power but the disadvantage of not being able to be controlled in detail. It was possible to design the trajectory diagonally, but it was impossible to modify the trajectory in the middle. Of course, it was also impossible to make it orbit infinitely like this.

That such a feat was possible meant that Adela, or someone, had modified the magic formula of the Moonlight Bullets to create a new effect.

“No. The magic formula is the same.”

“…The same?”

“Yes.”

However, Kyle’s deduction was completely denied by Adela’s following answer.

“Then what kind of trickery is this?”

“It’s a technique that uses the repulsive and attractive forces of light and darkness.”

“…Repulsive and attractive forces? Of light and darkness?”

The property of light that repels everything is called repulsive force. The property of darkness that absorbs everything is called attractive force.

“Yes. By distributing the light and dark attributes in a certain ratio to each Moonlight Bullet, I adjusted the mana so that the 32 Moonlight Bullets are attracted to each other and circulate in an infinite orbit.”

“…What?”

In short, it meant that she created a magic that made 32 ball-shaped magnets with N and S poles distributed appropriately, and made them rotate infinitely in the same orbit through repulsive and attractive forces.

“There’s no way such a ridiculous thing is possible…”

Kyle’s pupils trembled as he trailed off, as if he couldn’t believe it. Infinite orbit using repulsive and attractive forces. It was easy to say, but it was as difficult as a camel passing through the eye of a needle. It was impossible to even conceive of such magic, and even if you did, it was impossible to realize it without pixel-level control ability.

“Yes. It’s ridiculous. I think so too.”

Adela took two steps forward.

“I’m even a little scared of Hayul for conceiving such magic.”

“Hayul… created this magic?”

Kyle’s eyes widened as much as they could.

“Yes. Hayul did all the ratio adjustments of dark and light mana. It’s a micro-adjustment magic that perfectly adjusts even to 0.001% units.”

Three steps, four steps. Adela slowly approached Kyle.

“I just applied and used the magic that Hayul conceived. That’s all I did. It’s not a big deal.”

“…”

Kyle let out a hollow laugh.

‘Hayul, who conceived the magic in 0.001% units, is one thing, but to execute it without a 0.001% error and say it’s not a big deal?’

It was a hollow laugh that came out because Adela’s words were absurd. Was she thinking that she was an ordinary person in front of a monster who was even more of a monster?

“So I’m a little sorry. I, who should never have been able to beat you even if the world turned upside down, am barely winning by borrowing Hayul’s power.”

“…Are you already sure you’ve won?”

“Yes. The moment this situation happened, victory was decided.”

Adela reached out her hand. Golden light emanated from her eyes. Then, the Moonlight Bullets that had been orbiting infinitely around Kyle began to narrow their orbits.

‘It’s amazing just to maintain that state, but to narrow the orbit while readjusting the repulsive and attractive forces…’

If this continued, all the Moonlight Bullets would hit Kyle at the same time. Even the Wind God wouldn’t be able to withstand that. Kyle would lose.

But.

“Don’t underestimate me too much, do you?”

That’s only if he got hit by all the Moonlight Bullets at the same time. If the orbit hadn’t narrowed completely yet, it was enough to break through one side to overcome it.

‘Of course, I’ll have to take some damage…!’

As a result of checking the intersection where the orbits of the Moonlight Bullets passed, he had to endure at least 6 Moonlight Bullets with his body. If that happened, some damage was unavoidable. If he took damage and got caught in this magic again, then it was really over. That’s when defeat was decided.

Therefore.

‘Give up flesh and take bone. No…’

Through this evasion, he’d land a counter on Adela.

‘Give up bone and organs and take life!’

That was the only way to overcome this situation. Kyle lightly gripped his sword.

“Hoo…”

Quickly calming his breath. That breath mingled with the wind.

‘I’m going.’

It soon became a quiet gale.

‘Wind God Sword Form 3.’

‘Gentle Breeze.’

A flash of speed. A fatal blow that invested everything in the attack rushed towards Adela’s neck.

Clang! Bang!

Because he invested everything in the attack, he couldn’t block the Moonlight Bullets. Kyle, moving forward while taking the Moonlight Bullets head-on. Even though his whole body was scorched from being hit directly by the Moonlight Bullets, the tip of his sword did not waver even a little.

‘I won.’

Kyle was certain of that when he saw that his sword had reached right in front of Adela’s neck. Now that the sword had come this far, Adela could not avoid this sword no matter what she did. In this situation, it was impossible for even a 6th circle mage to avoid Gentle Breeze. Adela, who was pouring everything into the Moonlight Bullet prison, could never block or avoid it. Therefore, his victory was decided.

Kyle smiled triumphantly and swung his sword. At the point where the sword was 5cm away from touching Adela’s neck.

Adela’s expression became vivid. A look of joy, as if admiring something. With that expression, Adela pulled up her mana. And at that moment.

‘Now.’

Adela’s body was pulled back. It wasn’t that Adela stepped back with her own feet. It was as if someone had forcibly pulled Adela from behind. A scene where an unknown force seemed to move Adela away from the trajectory of Gentle Breeze.

‘Telekinesis? No. This is…’

Adela quickly moving away from the attack trajectory of Gentle Breeze. Kyle’s eyes sharpened as he watched that scene.

‘The repulsive and attractive forces of light and darkness!’

Adela was now flying backward due to the action of attractive and repulsive forces.

Swoosh-!

Adela moving back at a speed similar to Kyle’s sword. That speed was similar to Gentle Breeze, so by the time Kyle’s sword reached its destination, Adela’s neck was already out of the trajectory.

Whoooosh-!

The aftershock from the sword strike swept past Adela’s skin and hair. Golden hair fluttering like silk. It was as if a typhoon had swept through her body. The amount of wind was unbelievable for the aftershock of a sword strike.

“I won.”

Adela quietly murmured, looking at Kyle, who was taking the follow-up stance of Gentle Breeze, amidst the fluttering wind.

“…”

Kyle did not answer. He just slumped down as if his strength had given out, kneeling on the floor.

“…How did you avoid it?”

Defeat was not important. This battle was a valuable experience beyond defeat. The important thing was how he lost. In what way did he lose?

“I predicted that if you were trapped in the Moonlight Bullet prison, you would use Gentle Breeze to counterattack.”

Adela answered, recovering her mana and mental strength.

“So I prepared dark mana with extremely high attractive force behind me in advance.”

Adela slightly moved her body to the side. A dark sphere was swirling behind Adela.

“So that’s why you walked forward like that.”

That dark mass must have pulled Adela’s body.

“And a little while ago, when I narrowed the orbit of the Moonlight Bullets. I also prepared light mana with the maximum repulsive force in front of me.”

Kyle recalled the moment when Adela raised her hand a little while ago. Certainly, light was flickering from her fingertips. That must have been the mana of repulsive force. She pushed from the front and pulled from the back, thus escaping from the attack trajectory of Gentle Breeze.

“…I see. I was completely played by you. So that’s it.”

Kyle laughed loudly, making a ‘haha’ sound. Well, he lost so cleanly that he had nothing to say. Kyle lay down on his back as if he had no more strength to hold on.

—Match over! Winner! Korea Obelisk Academy! Adela Steart!

Cheers erupted along with the commentator’s declaration of the end of the match.

“No. You weren’t played by me.”

Adela said nonchalantly, listening to the cheers with one ear and letting them flow out the other.

“Huh?”

“You lost not to me, but to Hayul.”

Analyzing Kyle’s preceding actions based on his mana flow in the previous battle. Constructing a magic formula that adjusts the repulsive and attractive forces of the Moonlight Bullets. After that, predicting that Gentle Breeze would come, and then perfectly preparing a way to evade it through repulsive and attractive forces.

The script for this battle, from beginning to end, was all composed by Shin Hayul. Adela herself only executed the given operation. Therefore, Kyle did not lose to Adela. He lost to Shin Hayul.

“…Is that so?”

Kyle smiled as if he found it interesting.

“Then I lost to you guys.”

Shin Hayul, who wrote the scenario, and Adela, the actress who played it. Kyle lost to both of them.

“This is really frustrating. Like an onion of a man. No matter how much you peel, something keeps coming out.”

Kyle smiled brightly as he thought of Shin Hayul. He thought that his life would become much, much more interesting from now on, and laughed as if he was in the best mood in the world.