The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 293

Levi’s ability was Metamorphosis, a body transformation magic.

Someone who didn’t know better might say, ‘Oh, just body transformation magic?’

But it wasn’t just that.

Metamorphosis was not a magic that deserved to be called ‘just’.

‘Annoying.’

Shin Inhyuk blocked Levi’s arm, which had transformed into a whip, and simultaneously launched a counterattack.

Lightning and Water dual-attribute complex magic.

The faint yellow and clear water colors, proof of the two attributes, mixed like paint.

The resulting dual-attribute magic bullet stretched out and flew towards Levi’s defenseless right arm.

If it were a normal Metamorphosis user, it would have ended there.

The lightning-attribute mana, enhanced by water, would have traveled along the whip-like arm to the main body, stopping the heart.

However.

“You think that’ll work on me?”

The opponent was not a normal Metamorphosis user.

An 8th circle Metamorphosis user [an extremely powerful mage].

A black magician who, in terms of Metamorphosis magic, was arguably the strongest in the current era.

Levi’s body, which had been stretched out like a whip, instantly returned to its original form.

The whip, which had stretched out over 20 meters, returned to its original form in less than 0.1 seconds.

“Using the increased hit area to damage the main body. Not a bad method, but it won’t work on me.”

Levi’s body restoration speed easily exceeded the speed of sound.

The wide hit range, a weakness of body transformation users, was irrelevant to Levi.

Shin Inhyuk frowned, as if annoyed.

He couldn’t get used to that absurd transformation speed.

‘The only good thing is that the transformation speed only applies when returning the body to its original state.’

If he could transform his body at that speed when attacking, there would be no chance of victory.

How could anyone react if something transformed into a blade at the speed of sound, no matter where they were?

“You said you’d show me the difference in our levels. Were you trying to show me that your level is significantly lower?”

Levi twisted one corner of his mouth and sneered.

Shin Inhyuk, the head of the Mado family.

He was rumored to be quite skilled, so Levi had been a little nervous.

It seems he was nervous for nothing.

At this level, there was no chance of losing, even if it was one in a million.

“Is constantly chattering like that a common trait among all black magicians?”

Shin Inhyuk replied expressionlessly.

“Then I guess having only a mouth is a common trait too.”

“……”

Levi’s brow twitched for a moment.

“It seems like you’re the one with only a mouth. Your skill at talking is superb.”

Watching Levi’s expression, Shin Inhyuk slowly took a breath.

“No. I am different from you guys.”

Mana quickly gathering.

A perfectly organized mana circle.

“I don’t discuss magic with my mouth.”

Some mana seeped into the ground, and some became one with the atmosphere.

“Behold.”

The blue and red mana rose around him.

The four elements began to swirl around Shin Inhyuk.

“This is real magic.”

And the next moment.

The four scattered mana merged into one.

‘All Elemental.’

‘8th circle, four-element fusion magic.’

It suddenly vanished.

As if the magic hadn’t been activated.

As if there was a problem during the magic activation.

The magic and mana disappeared without leaving a trace in this world.

‘……A misfire?’

At that moment, when Levi’s guard was slightly lowered.

Shin Inhyuk reached out his right hand towards Levi.

And slowly, as if twisting Levi’s heart in his fist, he clenched his fist.

‘Black Core.’

At that moment.

A small sphere appeared around Levi’s body.

A black sphere born from the perfect mixture of four attributes.

An alien magic where things that could not be intertwined were imperfectly united.

Black Core.

As soon as it settled right next to Levi’s heart.

“……!”

Fiiiiiiiiing-!

It exploded with a roar as if dozens of flashbangs had gone off simultaneously.

The Black Core, which had been the size of a fingernail, quickly grew into a sphere with a diameter of 2 meters, easily swallowing a person.

And exactly one second passed.

The Black Core completely disappeared from this world.

Appearance and disappearance.

Both happened so quickly that it felt like a daydream.

If the floor of the terrain where Levi was standing hadn’t been carved into a sphere shape, he would have thought he had dreamed it.

Thud-!

Levi’s right arm fell onto the vanished sphere.

Normally, it should have disappeared without a trace.

Seeing that his right arm remained, it seemed he had reacted momentarily.

He had reflexively jumped upwards, causing his body to disappear. Only his right arm, which had escaped the range of the Black Core, fell to the ground.

That must be it.

Roll-

Levi’s right arm rolled on the floor and stopped.

Blood dripped from the severed part.

It was a sight that clearly showed he was dead.

However.

“……”

Shin Inhyuk did not relax his guard.

Shin Inhyuk’s eyes, looking at Levi’s arm, still held the color of vigilance.

Shin Inhyuk was convinced that Levi was not dead.

“They say that a body transformation master who has reached the extreme can restore their body from a single cell.”

Body transformation users can do anything in terms of body manipulation.

Not only can they change the shape of their body, but they can also freely restore a destroyed body to its original state.

Even if the brain is shattered, the heart melts, and the limbs are crushed.

If there is even one intact part of the body, Levi will not die.

Levi’s magic, Metamorphosis, is that kind of magic.

“Get up. Pretending to be dead won’t work…”

“Father!”

At that moment, Shin Hayul’s urgent voice was heard from behind.

“Behind you!”

An urgent voice warning of a surprise attack.

Shin Inhyuk turned his body and half-turned around.

At the same time, he raised his mana to prepare for the attack.

Mana quickly gathered.

In that state, just as he was about to counterattack.

Shin Hayul’s figure came into Shin Inhyuk’s sight.

He was standing with a calm expression, holding a huge staff on the ground.

It was strange.

How could someone who had just shouted urgently be standing there with such a calm expression?

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

According to Shin Hayul’s warning, there should be something behind him.

But Shin Inhyuk’s back was clear.

There was not even an ant, let alone an attacker.

What on earth was going on?

“Idiot!”

At that moment, Shin Hayul’s voice rang out loudly again.

The voice was not coming from Shin Hayul’s mouth, but from the ground somewhere between Shin Hayul and Shin Inhyuk.

Looking closely, there was a mouth attached to the ground.

A grotesque form consisting only of a mouth and vocal cords, without any skin or anything else.

“Die!”

With those words, the mouth changed its shape.

It was abnormally long, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out what it was.

A human finger.

Specifically, an index finger.

‘Did he stretch the finger that was buried in the ground all the way over there?’

At that moment, the index finger that had been buried in the ground slowly began to pierce through the ground.

Like a wire buried in the ground being pulled and revealing itself in the air.

The index finger, which had been stretched out like a string, was connected to Levi’s right arm, which was lying far away.

And the next moment.

The body, which had been stretched out like a rubber band, focused on one point, forming Levi’s shape.

Levi, who had instantly gotten behind Shin Inhyuk.

He stabbed his right hand, which had transformed into a sword, into Shin Inhyuk’s defenseless back.

‘I won!’

This was an attack that could not be physically blocked.

If he had prepared in advance, he could have blocked it, but in a state where he was distracted and negligent in defending his back, he could not block it.

‘The magic I hastily prepared can’t block my attack.’

He had perfectly exploited the gap.

He had completely dominated the battle of wits.

Levi was inwardly certain of victory.

However.

“I expected it.”

Shin Inhyuk was also certain of victory.

Kaaaaaang-!

A barrier that had appeared unexpectedly perfectly blocked Levi’s attack.

‘He blocked it? How…!’

It wasn’t a haphazard block.

Shin Inhyuk had perfectly blocked Levi’s attack.

As if he had known in advance that such an attack would come.

As if he had expected that he would try to stab his heart from behind.

He had prepared a perfect barrier.

“Cough!”

‘A, a counterattack too?’

On top of that, he had even prepared a means of counterattack.

A triple-attribute complex magic directly hit Levi’s body.

About 70% of Levi’s body was destroyed, and he flew into the sky.

But the injury was only temporary.

By the time Levi’s body reached the ground, it had already returned to its original form.

He had used Metamorphosis to restore his body in an instant.

Levi looked at Shin Inhyuk, his hand on the ground.

“…How did you notice?”

Shin Inhyuk looked at Levi and calmly took a breath.

“I said I expected it. Your clumsy tricks. I’ve known about them for a long time.”

If it were the usual Shin Inhyuk, he would have launched an additional attack without giving the opponent a chance to speak.

But the current Shin Inhyuk didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that.

As if giving Levi a chance, he calmly waited for his opponent to recover.

“You expected that I would use Shin Hayul’s voice as a feint?”

“Yes.”

“Nonsense. There’s no way you could have expected this…”

In reality, it was right to give him a chance.

Shin Inhyuk was deliberately giving Levi time.

He was giving him time to think.

“You’re more foolish than I thought. Why do you think I came alone?”

Shin Inhyuk smiled arrogantly.

“It’s because I was wary of you using Metamorphosis to hide among our allies. Because I knew you would try to create confusion by using the voices of our allies.”

The free body transformation of Metamorphosis is specialized in disrupting team coordination.

It can create fatal gaps by using the voices of allies at the right time.

It can also transform into the appearance of an ally and stab them in the back.

There are countless other ways to divide a team.

When facing Levi, numbers are of no help.

That’s why Shin Inhyuk was waiting alone.

“I know everything about you. You can never defeat me.”

“…Indeed.”

Levi’s eyes shone sharply.

He wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but it didn’t seem like mere nonsense.

‘Shadow must have been on their side.’

He must have heard everything about him from Shadow.

‘That means that the tactics I usually use are likely to be completely ineffective.’

Anything Shadow would know would not work on Shin Inhyuk.

In other words, most of Levi’s means were as good as sealed.

‘But I can’t break through with a frontal assault either.’

He didn’t want to admit it, but he couldn’t win with a frontal assault.

‘The destructive power of All Elemental and my Metamorphosis are not compatible.’

Their compatibility was quite poor.

In the first place, the infinite versatility of Metamorphosis is meaningful because it has a vast ‘versatility’.

With all the means to show that versatility eliminated, there was no chance of victory.

‘Then the remaining method is…’

There were only two remaining methods.

Either somehow find an opportunity to escape…

‘Or use my trump card that even Shadow and Hermes don’t know about.’

It would probably be impossible to break through this barrier while ignoring Shin Inhyuk’s interference, so escape was virtually impossible.

Then, by process of elimination, there was only one method left.

‘It’s not complete yet, but I have no choice.’

He would use his trump card.

That was the only way.

‘Now, where and how should I use this to maximize its effect?’

Levi changed a part of his body into an eye, so that Shin Inhyuk wouldn’t notice, and looked at Shin Hayul, who was waiting far away.

Shin Hayul, who was holding a staff larger than his body, had been quietly standing still.

Judging from the flow of mana around him, it was clear that he was doing something.

But he couldn’t figure out exactly what he was doing.

‘Is he stabilizing the barrier?’

Shin Inhyuk said he brought Shin Hayul as an observer, but that was probably a fake.

He wouldn’t have brought his son to such a dangerous place for such a trivial reason.

Shin Hayul was clearly performing the task of stabilizing this barrier from the inside.

‘Then I have my answer.’

A plan to turn this situation upside down came to mind.

‘Use Shin Hayul to create an opening in Shin Inhyuk.’

A strange light flowed from Levi’s eyes.

‘……’

And Shin Inhyuk and Shin Hayul, looking at Levi, were also shining their eyes.