The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 316

About five minutes had passed since the Black Magic King declared he would show them despair.

‘…This is absurd.’

Sophia Anscheff was in despair.

‘What… is this…’

The Black Magic King’s words were not an empty boast.

The Black Magic King’s power was despairingly strong.

So much so that even the 40-strong archmage corps led by Sophia had no way to fight back.

‘I thought… he wasn’t fully in control of his power yet…’

They had thought the Black Magic King was currently catching his breath.

Right after reaching the 10th Circle [the highest level of magic].

They thought he was focusing on stabilizing his power because he couldn’t fully control his overwhelming strength.

That was why he wasn’t making any moves, even in this situation.

That’s what they thought.

‘I was wrong.’

But it wasn’t so.

The Black Magic King wasn’t having trouble controlling his power.

The Black Magic King wasn’t focusing on stabilization or anything like that.

‘He’s… already complete.’

The Black Magic King was already perfect.

He was perfectly wielding the power of the 10th Circle.

‘In America… he was just playing around.’

What seemed like a rampage in America was just a prank to tease Sophia.

The reason he didn’t kill Sophia was simply because he was confident he could kill her anytime.

‘It’s over. Everything is.’

Sophia’s despair grew deeper.

The current alliance had gathered more than 80% of the world’s top forces.

In other words, the mages in this place were practically the representatives of the world.

But what was the current situation?

They were being overwhelmed.

No, it wasn’t even at the level of being overwhelmed.

They were being toyed with by the Black Magic King as if they were mere toys.

It was natural for Sophia to be in a daze.

‘Black Magic King!!’

The Red Magic Tower Master charged at the Black Magic King with a determined look.

With the spirit of burning away the rest of his life, he unleashed the Hellfire Inferno with all his might.

The birth of a Hellfire Inferno with firepower that could be described as unprecedented.

A huge blue flame falling from above the Black Magic King.

It was as if a blue sun was falling to the earth.

Truly, the Red Magic Tower Master’s greatest magic of his life.

His will surpassed the 8th Circle and approached the level of the 9th Circle.

No matter how powerful the Black Magic King was, he wouldn’t be unscathed if he took this magic head-on.

The Red Magic Tower Master was certain of that.

However.

‘Who said it was okay for anyone to stand above me?’

That was just the Red Magic Tower Master’s delusion.

‘Come down. You trash.’

The Red Magic Tower Master’s greatest magic of his life.

The Hellfire Inferno that had surpassed its limits.

A half-baked 8.5 Circle magic that hadn’t even reached the full 9th Circle.

To the Black Magic King, who had reached the 10th Circle, it was nothing more than a kitten’s pawing.

‘Crawl on the ground, look up at me, and scream. That’s the only freedom allowed to trash like you.’

The Black Magic King simply moved his index finger.

From top to bottom.

Lightly, with just a slight movement of his wrist.

Then.

‘Cough!’

The Red Magic Tower Master’s body began to be crushed by gravity.

A force he couldn’t possibly withstand.

The Red Magic Tower Master’s body fell straight to the ground.

‘James!’

The Green Magic Tower Master used magic to create a wind cushion under the falling Red Magic Tower Master.

A perfect cushion, worthy of Min Ga-yeon, who could even control atmospheric friction.

A cushion safer than anything in this world completely caught the Red Magic Tower Master’s body.

KWA-A-A-A-A-ANG-!

A roar like a cannon exploding echoed.

Even Min Ga-yeon’s wind magic couldn’t completely absorb the impact of the fall.

‘How can his telekinesis be so strong!’

Min Ga-yeon bit her lip.

Every single magic he used lightly was lethal.

‘James. Can you get up?’

‘…Of course.’

James, who had been slammed into the ground, trembled as he got up.

His body staggered, as if he hadn’t fully recovered from the impact.

‘I’ll heal you right away!’

A mage approached James and used light magic.

Healing magic using light.

The light imbued with healing power healed James’s body.

But the effect wasn’t very good.

Partly because healing magic wasn’t very efficient in the first place.

But the problem was that the mage using healing magic was only at the 7th Circle.

‘…Damn it. The absence of the White Magic Tower Master is painful.’

A specialist in healing magic.

Losing the White Magic Tower Master from the start was painful.

If she had been alive, this kind of injury would have been healed in an instant.

‘You monster…’

James looked up at the Black Magic King as he absorbed the healing light.

The Black Magic King, who had effortlessly received James’s desperate Hellfire Inferno, was playing with it as if it were a ball, tossing it up and down.

At that sight, the will he had desperately held onto seemed to break.

‘Now you have decent looks in your eyes.’

The Black Magic King scanned the mages of the alliance and smiled faintly, as if he was pleased.

‘If you had been so docile from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to waste each other’s energy like this.’

The Black Magic King threw away the blue flame he had been playing with, with a moderate force.

The Hellfire Inferno, floating about 5 meters in the air.

The Black Magic King clenched his fist as he looked at the Hellfire Inferno.

Then, the Hellfire Inferno vanished in an instant without leaving a trace.

James’s full power couldn’t even touch the Black Magic King’s hair and simply disappeared.

‘Why…’

Looking at the Black Magic King, Sophia slowly opened her mouth.

She bit her lip with a resentful expression.

Blood trickled down her lip, she had bitten it so hard.

‘Why aren’t you killing anyone?’

As mentioned, the Black Magic King’s power was overwhelming.

If the Black Magic King had wanted to, at least half of the mages in this place would have lost their lives by now.

No, not half, everyone would have died.

‘You could easily kill us like squashing ants if you wanted to, so why…’

If the Black Magic King used his magic with all his might, instead of playing around like he was now.

Everyone in this place would face death in an instant.

‘Hmm. Indeed. I can kill you guys anytime.’

At that moment, the Black Magic King’s aura changed.

The playful atmosphere from before disappeared without a trace.

The determination to kill the enemy in front of him filled the space instead.

‘I can burn you to death in an instant.’

The Black Magic King’s hair fluttered upwards.

Then the world burst into flames.

Magma erupted from the earth, and fiery rain poured down from the sky.

Everything, from the earth to the air, was dyed in flames, centered around the Black Magic King.

‘I can freeze you to death.’

And the next moment.

The world was completely frozen.

The magma and fiery rain froze as they were, and an ice age came to the world.

‘I can give you death in ways you can’t even imagine.’

A huge object began to fall from the sky.

A huge rock falling while burning.

‘No… way…’

Meteorites.

There were dozens of them falling at the same time.

The sight of dozens of meteorites, each with the power to destroy a decent city, falling simultaneously was beyond despair, it was a spectacle.

‘But.’

However, those meteorites, at the same time as the Black Magic King slightly raised his hand.

Vanished in an instant.

As if they had never existed in the first place.

It was like dreaming.

They couldn’t believe what they had just seen.

‘I didn’t do it on purpose. I was keeping you alive out of my mercy.’

‘…’

The Black Magic King looked down at the astonished mages and smiled with a rather merciful expression.

‘I’ll make a proposal here.’

‘…What proposal?’

Sophia barely managed to open her mouth.

The shock didn’t subside.

‘Half.’

The Black Magic King looked down on everyone as if he was looking down on them and muttered.

‘I’ll spare half of you.’

Sophia’s brow furrowed.

‘…What are you thinking?’

She couldn’t grasp the Black Magic King’s intentions.

‘What. I’m just trying to show mercy as a king, to commend the achievements of your alliance, which has achieved the feat of invading my castle, surpassing my expectations.’

‘…Mercy.’

For the Black Magic King, who could kill everyone in this place at any time.

To spare half of them was mercy, if you looked at it that way.

‘Is my life not enough as a price?’

Sophia asked with a determined expression.

The person responsible was none other than Sophia herself.

‘Impossible. Your life is an exception in the first place.’

The Black Magic King had no intention of killing Sophia at all.

Therefore, Sophia’s life could not be a bargaining chip.

‘Give up half of your lives, excluding you. Then, I’ll spare the other half.’

A cruel and ruthless declaration.

Sophia bit her lip again.

‘Why…’

Sophia glared at the Black Magic King with a resentful expression.

‘Why are you doing this to me…’

The Black Magic King could have killed Sophia anytime he wanted.

The reason Sophia was still alive was simply because the Black Magic King had no intention of killing her.

‘That’s something you don’t need to know.’

The Black Magic King replied with a firm look.

‘Rather than that, answer me. Half. Who will give up their lives?’

The Black Magic King put his hands in his pockets and scattered mana.

The surrounding scenery slowly began to change.

The Black Magic King’s mana soon turned into a structure.

‘If it’s hard to decide, you can fight each other to settle it.’

A colosseum.

The colosseum where gladiators fought bloody battles in ancient Rome was recreated on this land.

‘If you don’t want to fight each other…’

The Black Magic King gathered the mana he had scattered.

The mana that had turned into a colosseum became ordinary mana again and gathered to the Black Magic King.

‘I can kill half of you arbitrarily.’

And soon, the mana became ‘death.’

Just like how he had erased the White Magic Tower Master from this world earlier.

Mana condensed with the nature of death itself flew towards the Red Magic Tower Master.

A magic activation speed that even Sophia couldn’t react to.

Just like the White Magic Tower Master, the Red Magic Tower Master was about to be engulfed in darkness and disappear, but at that moment.

‘James!’

Min Ga-yeon moved.

As a mage who wielded wind magic, she was sensitive to speed.

Min Ga-yeon’s sharp senses succeeded in detecting the Black Magic King’s magic activation.

Min Ga-yeon drew her sword and swung it.

With the intent to cut through the black mana that the Black Magic King had shot.

She showed off a deadly sword that squeezed out everything and even cut through mana.

‘If it’s this…!’

Min Ga-yeon cut through the black mana.

And the next moment.

‘Hmm. I was only going to kill one, but two died.’

Min Ga-yeon and James had disappeared from this world.

Min Ga-yeon’s sword failed to cut through the Black Magic King’s mana.

The Green Magic Tower Master disappeared from this world along with the Red Magic Tower Master.

‘Black Magic King…!’

Sophia exploded in anger.

‘Why are you so angry? I was just being considerate since you didn’t choose.’

The Black Magic King sneered as he looked at Sophia.

‘Ah, is that so? Even though they’re all trash to me, your values were different.’

The Black Magic King made a fuss with an exaggerated look.

‘The existence of a Magic Tower Master is more valuable among you. If you think about it in terms of level or status… yes. Roughly, the death of two Magic Tower Masters is similar to that of ten other mages.’

‘There is no value in life!’

Unfazed by Sophia’s anger, the Black Magic King calmly stroked his chin.

‘Okay. I admit my mistake. I’ll admit my mistake and make a new proposal.’

The Black Magic King looked at five mages among the remaining mages of the alliance one by one and smiled grotesquely.

‘Give up the lives of all the Magic Tower Masters remaining in this place. Then I’ll spare all the other 40.’

At the Black Magic King’s words, agitation began to spread like an epidemic among the people of the alliance.

They could be included in the half that would die.

That’s why they couldn’t easily be happy with that proposal.

But what about now?

Not half, but five.

And he was specifically designating the Magic Tower Masters to give up their lives.

As humans with survival instincts, it was inevitable that they would be psychologically shaken.

‘Now. Choose. Half of your lives. Or the lives of the remaining Magic Tower Masters.’

The 41 mages simultaneously looked at the Magic Tower Masters.

The Black Magic King’s smile deepened at the sight.

They were indeed lowly trash.

They said their comrades were important, but when their own lives were in danger, they could throw away their comrades’ lives like old shoes.

The Black Magic King’s smile grew deeper and deeper.

‘Hmm. It seems like the 41 have already made up their minds.’

Just as the Black Magic King was about to agitate the remaining mages a little more and play with them like toys.

Crack-!

Along with the sound of something breaking.

SWISH-!

The sound of something being cut off echoed loudly.

‘You arrived earlier than I thought.’

Something was approaching quickly.

The Black Magic King smiled and reached his hand upwards.

KA-A-A-A-A-ANG-!

A sword fell on top of it.

A roar echoed as the sword and hand collided.

‘But…’

The Black Magic King twisted his lips as he looked at the owner of the sword.

‘You’ve brought an unwelcome guest.’

Sein Vinoche.

She met the Black Magic King’s eyes and her eyes shone.