The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 360

Florence, located southeast of Milan in Italy, was one of the strongholds of the Mafia, which had spread throughout Italy.

In a magnificent high-rise building in the large city of Florence, three men were raising their glasses on the top floor.

“Kuhahahaha! Come on, drink it all in one go! If you don’t drink on a day like today, when else will you?”

A muscular giant, Destroyer, befitting his massive size, downed the whiskey in a glass larger than his head in one gulp.

“…Does it even taste like anything when you drink it like that?”

A man with a zombie-like complexion and a dark aura, Lofer, the leader of the Anti-Magia Alliance, frowned.

He didn’t like how Destroyer was drinking alcohol like water next to him. To drink such expensive alcohol without any emotion was an insult to alcohol.

“Of course! I can feel it! It’s whiskey, isn’t it?”

Destroyer laughed heartily and filled his empty glass with alcohol. A quick glance at the label revealed the mark of celestial certification. A luxury item worth billions, with less than 10 bottles left in the world.

“Kuh! Good stuff.”

He was gulping down such alcohol as if it were beer. It was only natural that Lofer, a lover of alcohol, would frown.

“Well, everyone has their own way of drinking. Let’s enjoy it in our own way.”

A man who was the head of the Mafia’s hardliners and now the de facto owner of the Mafia, Marco, raised his glass.

“Hahaha. That makes sense.”

Destroyer quickly finished his drink and took out another bottle of alcohol that was prepared next to him. This time it was wine. Destroyer lightly popped the cork using magic and drank the wine straight from the bottle.

“Kuh. Good stuff.”

He didn’t particularly like wine, but it tasted quite good, perhaps because it was expensive.

“To drink that wine like that……”

Lofer’s expression crumpled as much as it could. As an alcohol lover and a wine enthusiast, he couldn’t bear to see the wine being drunk like that.

“Come on, Lofer. Calm down. Anyway, we can get our hands on that kind of alcohol whenever we want now.”

Marco calmed Lofer down. He gestured for him to calm down, shaking his palm up and down.

“…Good alcohol is limited in quantity. It’s not something you can get indefinitely.”

The creation of good alcohol requires ‘time.’ Getting that kind of alcohol is as difficult as picking a star from the sky.

“Don’t worry. The world is in our hands anyway. If we search the entire world, we can get hundreds, thousands of those kinds of drinks.”

Marco was right. The world was already in their hands. They could get that kind of alcohol anytime.

“Even so, I can’t stand the insult to that kind of alcohol.”

Regardless of what they could get, Destroyer’s atrocities were unbearable to watch. That was an insult to alcohol.

“I told you to calm down.”

Marco got up from his seat and tried to stop Lofer. A rather flustered expression. ‘I thought Lofer would cause trouble.’ He was sure that if there was a problem, it would be on Destroyer’s side. He never expected Lofer to pick a fight first.

‘…No. Is alcohol just an excuse?’ He didn’t seem that angry for someone who said he couldn’t stand it. That expression was one of someone with an ulterior motive.

‘I guess so. He’s using alcohol as an excuse to suppress Destroyer. Is that it?’ Alcohol was just an excuse. The real purpose was to keep Destroyer in check. By picking a fight with Destroyer and starting a fight, it seemed like a scheme to put himself above Destroyer.

‘I’m worried about the future… It’s already like this.’ Marco sighed inwardly and was about to speak to Lofer again when it happened.

Grrrrrr…

A dragon’s growl was heard from behind. The three men stopped their actions at the same time at the sound.

“It seems like it’s already done digesting.”

Lofer’s expression, which had been disheveled until just now, instantly regained its composure.

“Hmm. A monster is a monster. To digest that many magic stones already.”

Destroyer’s expression was no different from Lofer’s. The smile completely disappeared from his face. He had a cold expression as if he had never been drunk.

“Does this mean it can move again?”

The dragon restoration technology that Marco had completed through chimera research was not perfect. If the conditions were met, it could reproduce the power of a mythical dragon to a level close to 100%. But if the conditions were not met, it couldn’t even move properly.

“Yeah. It’s not in perfect condition yet because there aren’t enough magic stones. But it’s no problem for it to move.”

The condition was none other than magic stones. A vast amount of magic stones to maintain the dragon’s power. Since it was a monster created using souls, it didn’t have an organ to create mana like other monsters, so replenishing magic stones was essential.

“Oh, but before that, the two of you need to do the final setting.”

However, it wasn’t enough to just feed it magic stones. It was necessary to ‘convert’ the magic stones into the dragon’s energy source.

“Lofer. I’m counting on you.”

And only Lofer could do that conversion.

“Yes. I’ll be back.”

Perhaps because he always had Anti-Magia [Anti-Magic] on his body, he had the power to freely transform mana. If he didn’t convert the magic stones inside the dragon to match the dragon’s nature, the dragon wouldn’t be able to move.

Lofer placed his hand on the dragon’s abdomen, where the digested magic stones were located, and moved his mana. Magic stones of different properties were concentrated into one mana under Lofer’s control.

“It’s done.”

The time it took for Lofer to convert the mana was only one minute. Considering the amount of mana, which was enough for about 20 S-rank monsters, it was an unbelievable speed.

“Hmm. I’m always envious when I see that.”

Destroyer’s eyes gleamed. He was always envious of that mana control ability.

“If I had that ability, I could have taken over the world without that lizard.”

Destroyer licked his lips and got up from his seat.

“They say that other people’s rice cakes always look bigger [a Korean saying meaning that what others have always looks better].”

Lofer, who had returned to his seat, made eye contact with Destroyer and said nonchalantly.

“From my perspective, I’m much more envious of your mana.”

“Hehe. Well, it’s only natural that you’d be envious of my mana.”

Destroyer chuckled. He had an expression that said, ‘Why are you saying something so obvious?’

Koo-ooo-ooo-!

At that moment, the dragon roared again. A roar filled with murderous intent, unlike the previous growl that sounded like mumbling. It was a ferocious cry that sounded like it would attack at any moment.

“Destroyer.”

Marco glared at Destroyer with a sharp expression.

“Don’t nag. I’ll take care of it.”

Destroyer swung his shoulders and slowly began to walk towards the dragon.

“The amount of mana has definitely decreased a lot. It’s like heaven and earth compared to four hours ago.”

The eyelids were trembling as if they were about to open at any moment. Destroyer placed his hand between the dragon’s eyelids, on its forehead.

“At this rate, it won’t even take 30 seconds.”

The mana flowing from Destroyer’s right hand began to flow into the dragon’s body. Destroyer, a ferocious mana befitting the name of destruction, began to shatter the mana in the dragon’s brain.

Krrr…

Then, the dragon’s roar gradually began to diminish. Not only the murderous intent in the roar, but also the trembling of the eyelids completely stopped. It was as if a doll that had begun to regain its emotions was losing its emotions again for some reason and returning to being a doll.

“Destruction complete.”

Destroyer took his hand away from the dragon and turned around with a hearty laugh.

“Just like before, I only removed the mana in the area you mentioned. How is it?”

“Perfect.”

Marco checked the tablet next to him and clapped his hands.

“The numbers are perfect from one to ten. It’s beautiful.”

The dragon’s status display on the tablet screen showed that it was in a perfectly stable state. This was a number that could never have been achieved unless Destroyer had completely destroyed the mana that was affecting the dragon’s self-awareness using the mana of ‘destruction.’

“Don’t praise me for something obvious. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been perfect. Umhaha!”

Destroyer raised his head and laughed loudly. He looked very happy.

“Anyway.”

Destroyer, who had been laughing for a while, stopped laughing and turned his gaze to the dragon.

“With this, it’s reloaded again.”

He crossed his arms and licked his lips.

“Okay. Where are we going to erase this time?”

“Well.”

Marco grinned.

“I haven’t decided yet. There are so many guys who are resisting us.”

“Are there still places that haven’t come to their senses after seeing France?”

“There are many.”

There was no way they would give up so easily. There were still countless countries baring their teeth.

“Hmm. Which country should we erase to make people tuck their tails and bow their heads?”

Marco’s smile deepened.

“Considering the impact, it would be good to choose either the United States or Korea.”

* * *

In the conference room inside the Magic God’s mansion, we were holding a countermeasures meeting.

“The Red Dragon is under the control of the Mafia……”

“…Damn it. This sucks.”

Kim Kang-in and Commander Charles, who had just arrived in Korea, expressed their feelings in turn. Both of them had serious injuries from confronting the Red Dragon in Milan, and they were wrapped in bandages all over their bodies.

“Those damn bastards. How did they tame the dragon? No. How did they even create the dragon?”

Commander Charles grumbled with an expression that said he couldn’t believe it.

“The research results obtained from the Rid furniture factory stated that it was virtually impossible to reproduce, right?”

“Yes. That’s what it said.”

“But how……! Ugh……”

Commander Charles stopped shouting and grabbed his side. The bandages he was wearing were stained red. It seemed like his wound had opened because he was too agitated.

“Hound. Calm down. Getting angry won’t solve anything.”

My father, who had been quietly lost in thought, opened his mouth for the first time. Normally, he would have looked at the emotional Commander Charles with a pathetic expression, but today, he was full of worry.

“How can I not be angry? That monster is now the property of those damn bastards. Damn it, seriously!”

Commander Charles kept cursing.

“If I had moved a little faster, I might have been able to stop it……”

He must be frustrated. As the person who was in charge of investigating the Anti-Magia, Destroyer, and the Mafia from the beginning, he must be feeling responsible for not being able to prevent today’s tragedy.

“It’s not your fault, Commander. You did everything you could.”

“No. I didn’t do everything. If I hadn’t just waited there to see how things would go……”

Commander Charles clenched his fist tightly and slammed it hard on the table. No, he was about to slam it.

“I told you to calm down.”

If my father hadn’t stopped Commander Charles’s hand, that would have happened. After my father caught Commander Charles’s hand with his palm, he shook his hand off as if to brush it away. Commander Charles’s hand quickly flew to his knee.

“I told you! How can I not be angry in this situation! If you were in my situation……”

My father frowned as if he didn’t want to hear it and moved his mana.

“You’re preventing the discussion from progressing. Be quiet for a bit.”

Silence. Commander Charles’s voice completely disappeared. Commander Charles, with an expression of anger to the top of his head, tried to move his mana to undo the silence.

“And. The current situation is not as bad as you think.”

Commander Charles’s movement stopped.

“…A country has been destroyed. And you’re saying it’s not that bad?”

Perhaps he meant that he could still easily undo light magic in his current state. Commander Charles released the silence and muttered with a cold expression.

“Yes.”

My father turned his gaze to me. It was a look that meant, ‘It’s your turn to speak.’

“I’ll continue the explanation.”

I immediately continued speaking.

“My father was talking about the current situation where the Red Dragon is under the control of the Mafia.”

“…You’re saying that the current situation where that monster has become the property of villains is not that bad?”

“Yes.”

“The switch to a nuclear bomb is in the hands of the villains, and you’re saying it’s not that bad? Why?”

“It’s a simple reason.”

Everyone’s attention was focused on me.

“The fact that the Red Dragon is under their control means that the Red Dragon is likely in an incomplete state.”

I slowly began to explain the hypotheses I had established based on the information I had obtained by analyzing this situation.