The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 144

Outside the arena.

The Olympiad operations headquarters was in complete chaos.

“It’s still down.”

“There’s no way to move the security wall!”

“It seems the only way to enter the arena is to directly drill through the cave from the outside.”

Due to the sudden power outage, the system managing the artificial cave’s interior had completely shut down.

Not only were the internal CCTVs down, but it was also impossible to move the protective walls.

“Do you think it’s possible to break through the outer wall?”

“It’s possible, but it will take some time.”

“How much time?”

“At least two hours….”

Bang!

The chairman of the organizing committee slammed the table and stood up.

“Are you making fun of me?”

Two hours in this urgent situation? That was clearly an insult. Or they were just too stupid to grasp the situation.

“I, I’m sorry.”

“……Tsk.”

And this employee seemed to be the latter. A moron who couldn’t even grasp the situation.

“Anyone else? Any other ideas?”

“…….”

“…….”

Silence filled the room.

No one could come up with a suitable alternative.

“……Tsk.”

The chairman clicked his tongue, clearly displeased with the situation.

‘Useless bunch.’

Of course, the chairman himself couldn’t come up with an alternative either.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was no answer.

Breaking the protective wall was impossible.

Breaking the outer wall was also impossible due to time constraints.

Since there was no way to enter, sending help was also impossible.

‘And I can’t even request external support.’

The problem wasn’t just here at the open raid arena.

In about 20 states near the Olympiad arena, an inexplicable monster rampage had occurred.

Naturally, all available personnel had been deployed to those sites.

‘No, even if we called in external personnel, it wouldn’t make a difference.’

The Olympiad escort team was by no means inferior to any external elite escort team.

The reason they couldn’t enter the arena wasn’t because there was no way to break through, but because forcibly entering through the magical circuits installed in the arena would likely cause the entire arena to explode.

The same went for the security walls.

Therefore, calling for external support would be pointless.

‘Unless a mage of the Magic Tower Lord’s level steps in….’

Archmages of the 8th Circle or higher.

They might be able to safely break through the arena’s outer wall and enter even in this situation.

Especially the Red Magic Tower Lord, who was an authority on such magical devices, might be able to do something.

‘But, I can’t even reach them.’

The problem was that they couldn’t contact the Red Magic Tower Lord.

Even after informing them of the danger to his disciple, Dahlia Salentia, there was no response.

‘The Green Magic Tower Lord and Shin In-hyuk are also unreachable.’

All three 8th Circle mages that the chairman could immediately ask for help were out of contact.

None of them were responding, even though their successors were in danger.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

The chairman grabbed his head and bit his lip.

He didn’t know what to do in this situation.

“Chairman!”

“What is it!”

The chairman snapped irritably. His head was already throbbing, and his subordinate’s loud voice only made it worse.

“If it’s not important….”

If he had called him for something trivial, he wouldn’t forgive him.

That’s what he was thinking when.

“T, the Blue Magic Tower Lord has arrived!”

“……W, what?”

The chairman’s eyes widened.

“I apologize, but we don’t have the luxury to wait. I’ll be rude and come right in.”

At the same time, the door to the control room opened, and Kim Kang-in appeared.

He was covered in bandages, leaning on Jung Soo-ah for support.

“Blue Magic Tower Lord! A, are you alright?”

Only a very few people knew about the Blue Magic Tower Lord’s injury.

And the chairman of the organizing committee was among that select few.

“I’m not alright. But I don’t think I can just sit still because I’m not alright.”

The Blue Magic Tower Lord replied with a serious expression.

“Are you… aware of the current situation?”

“Yes. I am. Though I can’t explain it to you.”

The Blue Magic Tower Lord knew much better than the chairman how the current situation was unfolding.

‘The appearance of the Black Magic King caused a massive monster rampage. And that rampage caused the control spells and restraints on the monsters in the arena to be released.’

The restraints and control spells on the monsters were released simultaneously, causing all the spells within the arena to collapse.

The system went into a fuse state and completely shut down.

That was the full picture of what had happened at the Olympiad open raid arena.

‘I’m the only one who can save the students trapped in this arena.’

Sophia Anecheff was responding to the appearance of the Black Magic King, but the situation was far from good.

Sophia, who had something to protect, was at a significant disadvantage.

Because of that, James, Min Ga-yeon, and Shin In-hyuk were all tied up there.

Other forces were moving to stop the rampaging monsters.

Kim Kang-in was the only one who could solve the problem here.

“Please guide me to the security wall. I will personally break the security code with my own eyes and create an entrance to get inside.”

“……Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yes.”

His physical condition was far from good.

If he pushed himself to use the Eye of the Ruby at maximum output here to break the mana code of the security wall, he would definitely suffer from aftereffects.

“I’m fine.”

But it didn’t matter.

If he could save the numerous juniors trapped inside with his own body, it was something he would gladly do.

As someone who walked ahead, he had a duty to lead those who followed behind.

“I understand. If you say so….”

The chairman, sensing Kim Kang-in’s strong will, stood up from his seat with a serious expression.

“I will guide you right away.”

* * *

Inside the open raid arena.

In the passage connecting the upper boss room to the last boss room, a total of 10 people were gathered in a circle, finalizing their strategy.

“That’s all. Anyone have any questions or anything they don’t understand?”

Shin Ha-yul explained the entire plan and asked, making eye contact with each of the other nine people in turn.

No one asked any questions. It was a plan that had already been explained once before, so there wasn’t anything particularly unclear.

“Then I’ll assume there are no questions.”

“Just one from me.”

At that moment, Dahlia raised her hand.

“It’s a question unrelated to the plan. But are ten of us really enough?”

Dahlia’s expression looked rather uneasy.

“I don’t understand why you told the other team members to wait in the mid-boss zone. It seems like we should gather everyone and have them come support us.”

After completing the situation assessment, Shin Ha-yul immediately selected only the elite members.

The members selected were the ten people currently present.

Shin Ha-yul and the six elite members of the Korean team, along with Dahlia, Sarah, Kyle, and Maia.

All other individuals were sent back to the mid-boss zone.

With instructions to spread out and tell the other teams to wait in the mid-boss zone.

“Why?”

Dahlia couldn’t understand the reason. Why would Shin Ha-yul choose to reduce their forces?

“As you all know, the Tricolor Tiger is a special monster where the red, green, and blue tigers are considered one entity.”

The reason it’s called the Tricolor Tiger isn’t because its fur has three mixed colors.

The Tricolor Tiger is a kind of triplet monster where three entities are classified as one.

“As a special monster where one is the whole and the whole is one, it has a special ability that makes it impossible to kill unless all three monsters are defeated simultaneously.”

This is why the Tricolor Tiger is classified as one monster despite being three.

The Tricolor Tiger cannot be killed unless all three entities are defeated at the same time.

If even one of the three entities is alive, the other two will revive.

Like an amoeba splitting, three entities will form again around one entity.

“When dealing with such a monster, numbers are actually a disadvantage.”

Given the tricky condition that all three must be defeated simultaneously, uncontrolled forces would only be a hindrance.

“Honestly, not everyone here is skilled enough to fight the Tricolor Tiger.”

The Tricolor Tiger has immense power, separate from its unique characteristics.

Each of the three entities is considered to be at the top of A-rank.

When dealing with such monsters, the other players would only be obstacles.

“How about that? Does that explain it a bit?”

“……Yeah. I understand.”

Dahlia nodded with a serious expression.

After hearing the explanation, Shin Ha-yul’s decision was the best course of action.

“Anyone else have any questions?”

“Then I have one….”

Adela quietly raised her hand.

“If you use the Divine Eye, can’t you forcibly open the security wall at the arena entrance?”

Adela knew about Shin Ha-yul’s interference and disruption abilities.

With that power, wouldn’t it be possible to break the magic formula of the security wall and forcibly twist it open?

That was the question she had in mind.

“No. Unfortunately, I can’t.”

“……Why?”

“Why do you think? It’s because my eyes aren’t omnipotent.”

The limits of interference and disruption were clear.

Interfering with high-level mana codes like the security wall was impossible for Shin Ha-yul in his current state.

“Is it completely impossible?”

“Hmm. It wouldn’t be 100% impossible. If I pushed myself… maybe about 50/50?”

Of course, seeing how he broke the iron door blocking Horus’s room on the fifth trial page, it might be possible somehow.

“But we can’t risk our lives on a 50% chance, right? That’s why I gave up on breaking the security wall.”

But that was just an uncertain hypothesis that might be possible. They couldn’t risk everything on a plan that might or might not work.

“I understand.”

Adela nodded as if she understood.

“……It’s more surprising that you can break through that solid protective wall with even a 50% chance.”

Dahlia chuckled in disbelief.

To be able to break through a security wall of that level, even if it was a long shot.

Just how much of a monster was he?

“Hmm. He’s definitely my rival.”

Kyle nodded repeatedly with a ‘that’s how it is’ expression.

Once this battle was over, he would definitely have a showdown with Shin Ha-yul.

The determination in his eyes was palpable.

“Then, anyone else have any questions?”

Shin Ha-yul asked again.

This time, everyone was silent.

“Alright. Then let’s go right now.”

Shin Ha-yul, certain that no one had any more questions, said they should go inside immediately.

“……Go? Where? Aren’t we waiting here for the Tricolor Tiger to come out?”

Sarah, who had been quiet all along, asked with a puzzled expression.

“We have to go in. There’s no need to wait for the Tricolor Tiger to fully recover.”

The reason the Tricolor Tiger was quiet now was because it was recovering its strength.

There was no reason to wait for the Tricolor Tiger to recover all its strength and come out.

“I know that, but….”

Sarah quietly turned her head and looked at the iron door of the last boss room.

It was originally a security wall that would open in response to a terminal, but now it had completely stopped functioning.

“How are you going to break through that?”

It was impossible to break through this security wall and go inside.

That’s why Sarah thought they were just waiting here for the Tricolor Tiger to come out.

“How else? Adela said it earlier. I’m going to use the Divine Eye.”

Shin Ha-yul slowly walked towards the security wall and placed his hand on it.

“……You’re going to force it open?”

“Yeah.”

“You said you could open it with a 50% chance, and that you would have to push yourself quite a bit.”

“That was when we were talking about breaking the main security wall of the arena.”

The security wall at the arena entrance was different from the one here.

He could break through this level of security wall without pushing himself.

“Well, you’ll see if you watch.”

Shin Ha-yul activated the Divine Eye and read the magic formula of the security wall.

A magic formula that was incomparably simpler than the one he had seen at Darkness’s Shelter.

It wasn’t a complex, variable structure like the one at the arena entrance, so it was easy to analyze.

“I’ll break through.”

At Shin Ha-yul’s declaration, the entire iron door glowed brightly.

And immediately after that.

Clang!

With the sound of the magic formula collapsing, the iron door lost its sturdiness.

“Now this wall can be broken with a light wind spell….”

Just as he was about to cut through the security wall, which had been reduced to simple iron, with a wind spell.

“……! Everyone, step back!”

Shin Ha-yul shouted.

At the same time, the ten people jumped back.

At that moment.

Kwaaaaaaaang-!

The huge iron door was completely shattered, and three monsters appeared from within.

Giant, elephant-sized tigers with red, blue, and green fur.

Grrrrr….

Three yet one.

All yet one.

One yet all.

A special monster with a unique trait in the world.

Kwoaaaaaaang-!

The Tricolor Tiger roared fiercely.