The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 248

The Doctor stretched languidly, observing the corrupted mana slowly spread. It was the kind of relaxed demeanor someone confident of victory would display, but in truth, he was far from at ease.

‘…It’s going to be difficult to move in this condition.’

The Doctor was currently suffering from severe muscle pain due to the backlash of his forced return.

‘Shadow uses this ability so casually.’

The Doctor had used a hidden trump card for his rapid return.

That trump card was none other than a fragment of Shadow’s power.

The Doctor had used an inferior copy of ‘Umbra’s Shadow’ to travel here through shadow manipulation.

‘To think it’s this bad even with just a 10% inferior copy.’

His interest in Shadow, who used such an extraordinary ability with his bare body, surged once again.

‘I should have asked the Black Magic King to let me use Shadow as an experimental subject.’

The Doctor recalled the time 23 years ago when he first researched the mythical relics.

A study using a medium of ‘Umbra’s Shadow’ that he had obtained by chance.

As it was his first experiment, it naturally didn’t go well.

The mythical relic went berserk, completely incinerating the laboratory, the test subject, and even the research materials.

That was the end of the Doctor’s first experiment.

He regretted it even now.

Why did he have to do it that way?

The Doctor frowned, replaying his past failure.

‘To make up for that failure, I need to research Shadow again.’

The problem was that he couldn’t.

Since the Black Magic King doted on Shadow, it was impossible to kidnap him secretly.

‘How can I make Shadow an experimental subject?’

The Doctor stroked his chin, pondering.

‘What if I make Shadow attack me first? A traitor can be used as an experimental subject without any problems.’

Currently, Shadow had completely forgotten the memories of when he was experimented on in the past.

Whether it was because it happened when he was too young, or if there was another reason, he didn’t remember the Doctor’s face or anything about the experiments.

That’s why he had no reaction even when his enemy was right in front of him.

‘Then the solution is simple. I just need to remind Shadow of his memories. Then he’ll 100% attack me.’

The next step was simple.

He would brand Shadow, who attacked a fellow executive, as a traitor and use him as an experimental subject.

No one would object to using a traitor as an experimental subject.

‘Perfect.’

The Doctor’s lips twisted into a sinister smile.

‘Now, what could remind him of his memories? If he’s forgotten the past due to a mental defense mechanism… how about stimulating his trauma?’

He was licking his lips, thinking about the future, when it happened.

‘Oh. I’ve been thinking for too long.’

The Doctor forcibly shook off his thoughts.

Now was not the time to be leisurely lost in thought.

‘I can think after I deal with that rat.’

A poor rat surrounded by a predator, with no way to escape.

He had almost forgotten about him for a moment because he was so unresponsive.

‘About 30 seconds left, I guess.’

In 30 seconds, the mana range would reach him.

He just had to wait until then.

’29, 28, 27.’

Just as the Doctor was leisurely counting down, it happened.

Thud!

Shin Hayul suddenly kicked off the ground and started running somewhere.

Twitch!

The Doctor’s body momentarily flinched.

It was a reflexive reaction to the enemy’s sudden action.

“Hmm.”

But that was only for a moment.

The Doctor quickly regained his composure.

‘No matter what he does, he can’t escape from here. There’s no reason to react.’

There was no reason to react to whatever he was doing.

After all, all the passages leading outside were covered with the Doctor’s mana.

What he was doing now was just a futile struggle.

There was no need to respond.

Besides, his body was in no condition to move properly due to muscle pain.

“You don’t seem to have any intention of moving.”

At that moment, Shin Hayul, who had safely reached his destination, spoke to the Doctor.

“Of course, there’s no reason to move… Puhaha!”

At that moment, the Doctor burst out laughing.

“I wondered what you were aiming for. And the best you could come up with was going deeper inside?”

The Doctor laughed heartily, as if he found it truly ridiculous.

He laughed so hard that tears welled up in his eyes.

“I won’t say anything bad. Just stop that.”

The Doctor warned, forcing himself to stop laughing.

“What’s inside is a divine artifact containing the primordial fire. It’s not a flame that someone like you can withstand.”

The Doctor gave genuine advice.

“Since you’re going to die anyway, shouldn’t you die a little more comfortably? I think it’s better to die peacefully with my magic than to be burned alive.”

It was a lie.

Ignis’s flames were so powerful that the target would die without even feeling pain.

On the other hand, the Doctor’s magic, ‘Authority of Annihilation,’ could kill the target as painfully as possible.

He could inflict unimaginable pain by slowly annihilating the body parts, starting from the fingers and toes.

Not only the pain, but also the despair and fear of watching their own body gradually disappear.

He had to see that.

“It’s my last act of mercy. Die peacefully…”

“Nonsense.”

Shin Hayul scoffed.

“It was a short meeting, but I’ve clearly grasped what kind of person you are. You’re not someone who would show mercy to others.”

Then he took a step back.

He stepped back in sync with the Doctor’s mana that was slowly approaching.

“You’re just in trouble if I go inside. That’s why you’re trying to stop me.”

Another step.

And another step.

He slowly moved his feet towards the passage.

“Am I wrong?”

“Tsk.”

The Doctor clicked his tongue.

He was speechless at the guy’s grand misjudgment.

“If that’s what you think, then go ahead and enter.”

Whether he went in or not, the result was still death.

The only difference was whether he died painfully or peacefully.

“That’s what I intend to do.”

Shin Hayul turned around and ran into the passage.

The Doctor stood still, watching him.

‘Tsk. If my body was in good condition, I would have stopped him. What a shame.’

The Doctor’s abilities were not limited to ‘Authority of Annihilation.’

He was also quite skilled in moving his body.

His excellent physical abilities and the ‘Authority of Annihilation’ that erased enemies without question made the Doctor the strongest executive of the Black Magic Tower.

Of course, that was irrelevant to the current Doctor, who was suffering from full-body muscle pain as a result of using Umbra’s Shadow.

‘This is the end, but… I don’t like the ending.’

It was a rather anticlimactic finish.

The Doctor clicked his tongue with a deflated expression.

Then he slowly began to gather the contaminated mana.

And at that very moment.

Whoosh-!

Flames from Ignis erupted from the passage leading to the center of the laboratory.

‘This heat and explosive power… Ignis has started to go berserk?’

It wasn’t just the amount of flames that would burn an intruder.

It was the rough, surging flames that he had seen many times before, just before a berserk state.

“How…”

Ignis’s medium was like a small sun, constantly emitting heat that even the Doctor couldn’t approach.

Since he couldn’t approach it, it was impossible to stimulate Ignis in any way.

And yet, a mere swordsman was stimulating Ignis?

A dimwit who could only swing a sword nearby?

Absolutely impossible.

‘There’s no way that rat’s power could stimulate Ignis, so how the hell!’

The fate of anyone who stepped inside was death.

That’s why he didn’t care when the guy said he was going inside. But the result was a berserk state.

The Doctor bit his lip and shouted inwardly.

His mind became complicated in an instant.

Whoosh, whoosh-!

But there was no time to think.

He had to escape first.

Otherwise, he would be burned to death by Ignis’s flames.

‘I have to escape to the director’s office before it completely explodes!’

The director’s office was built to be sturdy enough to withstand Ignis’s explosion. It was safe there.

The Doctor suppressed his aching body and ran towards the director’s office.

“Ugh!”

The Doctor barely suppressed a groan as he moved his feet.

He used mana to strengthen his body and ran at full speed.

If he could use telekinesis magic, he would, but the Doctor couldn’t use telekinesis.

Not only telekinesis.

He had lost all magical occupancy to the Authority of Annihilation, so he couldn’t use any other magic.

‘Just a little more…!’

The Doctor’s body screamed.

As the pain grew, the sound of Ignis’s flames exploding grew louder.

If it exploded one more time, the entire laboratory would be engulfed in flames.

‘Don’t be late!’

With three steps left, the Doctor threw himself into the director’s office.

And immediately closed the door.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-!

At that moment, the flames exploded.

A deafening roar that he had never heard before.

It was a level of berserk that even the Doctor, who had researched Ignis for years, had never seen before.

‘That rat… what the hell did he do?’

Even if he wanted to ask, the guy would already be dead, so he couldn’t ask.

‘It took me over a year just to make Ignis react. How the hell…!’

Just as the Doctor was suppressing his muscle pain and grinding his teeth, it happened.

Whoosh….

The flames slowly began to subside.

‘Is the berserk state already over?’

Perhaps because it was such a powerful explosion, the berserk time was shorter than usual.

The Doctor peeked outside and, after confirming that the flames had subsided, left the director’s office.

Indeed, perhaps because it was an unprecedented explosion.

The laboratory was in ruins.

“….”

The Doctor’s already frowning face became even more twisted with annoyance.

It reminded him of the laboratory that had been completely incinerated while researching Umbra’s Shadow in the past, which made him even more annoyed.

‘…Wait a minute.’

At that moment, the Doctor’s eyes widened.

A situation similar to the first laboratory.

That gave him a hint.

‘This berserk state. It’s similar to when I transplanted Umbra’s Shadow into Shadow during the first experiment in the past.’

There was such a violent berserk state back then too.

That meant.

‘That guy. Could he be the same constitution as Shadow… a suitable person for mythical relics?’

Could it be that the rat was suitable for Ignis?

‘If that’s the case, then this incomprehensible level of berserk state can be explained.’

The Doctor quickly ran to the observation room where he could observe Ignis’s storage.

If this hypothesis was correct, it was an opportunity.

It was a golden opportunity to get one step closer to the ultimate goal of researching not only this research but also the mythical relics themselves.

The Doctor suppressed the pain in his body and quickly moved his feet.

Bang!

The Doctor roughly opened the door to the observation room and turned his gaze to the special glass wall that looked towards Ignis’s storage.

And the moment he checked Ignis’s condition.

“….”

He was speechless.

He was stunned by the unexpected sight.

“It’s gone…?”

It wasn’t that the intruder had disappeared.

What had disappeared now was something that shouldn’t have disappeared.

“Ignis… how? Why?”

Ignis had disappeared.

Along with the intruder, it had completely vanished as if it had never been there.

“Could it be…”

The Doctor’s expression immediately turned to anger.

“That rat! He was planning this from the start…!”