The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 457

Lightning poured down like rain, and spirit flames swirled like a typhoon. This spectacle unfolded naturally as Shin Hayul’s Ignis and the nine-tailed fox’s spirit flames pressured the End God.

“Hmm. You’re holding out quite well.”

The End God casually blocked the lightning and spirit flames, surveying his surroundings. Two of the seven monsters created with Monster Create were already dead.

“Even if it was a life-risking spell, to take down a Shadow Dragon in one blow… Not bad. You’re quite skilled.”

Among the two fallen monsters was a Shadow Dragon. The creature with the most divine power and the strongest force, the ultimate monster, had been annihilated by a single spell.

“But, that mage’s mana… It feels similar to yours.”

The End God asked, looking at Shin Inhyuk, who was lying far away.

“Could he be a relative of yours?”

“……”

Shin Hayul didn’t answer. She only glared at the End God with cold eyes.

“I see. Your father, then.”

The End God grinned. That expression and silence were clear signs of affirmation.

“You lost your father before your eyes? How unfortunate. My condolences.”

His expression and tone were clearly sarcastic.

“…Shut up.”

Shin Hayul’s voice was extremely cold.

“Now that’s a much better expression. I like it.”

At that moment, lightning poured down like a torrential rain. It was much more powerful and intense than the lightning from before.

“Don’t be so angry. Your father died after fulfilling his role. He opened the future at the cost of his life.”

The End God moved the corrupted mana that had belonged to Veil Stole, deflecting the lightning. It was a type of 9th Circle black magic, a defensive spell with the property of deflecting mana.

“Your kin’s death was a valuable one. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

“…Shut your mouth.”

The deflected lightning flew towards Shin Hayul. Shin Hayul reached out her hand towards the lightning. Mana flowed from Shin Hayul’s palm. The moment that mana touched the lightning, it stopped. By removing the Black Magic King’s corrupted mana that was infused in the lightning, she regained control of it.

“Be honest. You’re secretly pleased, aren’t you? That the Shadow Dragon disappeared so easily.”

From Shin Hayul’s perspective, the Shadow Dragon was like a queen putting her in checkmate [a situation in chess where the king is under immediate attack and there is no way to remove it from attack]. There was no way to block it, and no way to deal with the queen. A decisive blow that was impossible to counter. That dragon had disappeared. Even if the price was the death of her kin, she must be secretly happy.

“Didn’t you hear me say shut up?”

“You’re not denying it.”

The End God laughed. It was an evil laugh.

“That’s human nature. Whether your kin dies or not, you feel greater joy for the gains you’ve made.”

Humans are fickle beings. Fickle and disgusting beings.

“That’s why I despise you.”

Humans are selfish and fickle. There is no logic or reason for any of their actions, they just act as they please. They are too flawed for beings created by a god. Humans are nothing but defective products.

“I despise the gods who created such defective products as you.”

And he despised the gods who created such defective products. He hated all living things that were living with a straight face after giving birth to such incongruous beings.

“You must be purified. You need to break free from your current defective state and be reborn as true masterpieces.”

It was a fallacy. A complete fallacy without logic or justice.

“A piece of trash who just doesn’t want to build a new castle on someone else’s sandcastle… Don’t try to justify your actions with fancy logic.”

The End God was just a brat. A naive child who had gained power that didn’t suit him. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Hmm. I’m personally reciting the truth, yet you cannot understand? How unfortunate.”

The End God said, chuckling. He looked like he was enjoying the situation.

“Is Cain Beneche the only one who can understand my heart?”

The reason the End God was so infatuated with the Black Magic King was because he was his only understanding companion. Cain Beneche understood the statement that humans were defective products. He didn’t just pretend to understand, he truly understood and accepted it. That’s why he wanted to make him his apostle [a person sent on a mission]. The Black Magic King was the only man who could be considered normal in this broken world.

“Perhaps it’s because of his values as a defective product that he refused my grace until the end, but that can’t be helped. Such is his fate.”

Shin Hayul frowned. She didn’t understand what the End God was saying at all.

“Right. His thought process itself is outside the realm of normal.”

They were speaking the same language, but that was it. The End God’s thoughts were so alien that they couldn’t be considered of this world. Perception, sensibility, emotion. And so on. Everything was different.

“So, let’s stop this.”

The day she would understand the End God’s thoughts would never come. Whether the End God had his own firm values or not, it didn’t matter. Values that could not be understood were just illogical. Dialogue was meaningless.

“Hmm. How disappointing. I thought you might understand my heart.”

The End God smiled faintly. He said he was disappointed, but he didn’t look disappointed at all. Rather, he looked like he already knew this would happen.

“Then, it can’t be helped. Let’s end the conversation here…”

The End God once again scattered corrupted mana. It was an enormous amount of mana. The corrupted mana he had released so far was already quite dense, but the mana he released this time was on a different level.

“Shall we finish this soon?”

The reason the End God had been talking to Shin Hayul was all to buy time. The magic he was about to use was a great magic that consumed a considerable amount of mana. It wasn’t an amount of mana that could be accumulated while continuously responding to lightning and spirit flames. That’s why he deliberately talked to buy time. Starting with provocation, he brought up topics that would interest his opponent, forcibly buying time to gather mana.

“First, let’s get rid of these annoying spirit flames.”

The corrupted mana that filled the surroundings became even denser. It continued to expand, like dough rising as it matured.

“Disappear, you beast of souls.”

And then, a moment later. It began to shrink, like a deflated balloon.

‘…Did it fail?’

For a moment, it seemed like the magic had failed to activate.

‘No. It didn’t fail.’

But no. This magic was like this from the start. It had not failed at all.

Shin Hayul activated her Divine Eye at maximum output, examining the surrounding mana. And soon, she realized the End God’s purpose.

‘The mana structure is similar to spirit flames. He plans to make the corrupted mana parasitize the spirit flames.’

Like a parasite taking over a snail’s body. He planned to make the spirit flames his own by attaching the corrupted mana to them.

‘Do you think I’ll let that happen?’

Shin Hayul immediately moved her mana.

‘You weren’t the only one buying time to use great magic.’

She had noticed a long time ago that the End God was talking to buy time. She had just continued to engage in the conversation.

“Hoo…”

Because she also had something to prepare. And she needed time to concentrate for that preparation. That’s why she had been humoring the End God’s fallacies.

Thump-!

Her heart beat fiercely. As if she had run until she was about to collapse. Her heart was pounding roughly.

Thump, thump!

That beating sound soon extended into mana. The beating sound of mana echoed roughly.

‘Rampage to your heart’s content.’

That beat resembled a wild horse.

‘A symbol of destruction.’

The incantation was already complete. Having reached the 9th Circle, there was no need to recite the incantation out loud. She had prepared all the incantations during the conversation just now. Now, all that was left was to recite the final activation word.

“Dissolutio!”

The wild horse roared. And.

“Trample all the corrupted mana.”

With the momentum to destroy everything in the world, it charged forward.

Kwaaaaaaaang-!

Piiiiiiing-!

Dissolutio and the End God’s mana collided, and the atmosphere and mana began to tremble violently. And the mana and atmosphere that had begun to tremble, and Dissolutio and the corrupted mana, gradually mixed together, forming a thick energy barrier.

* * *

Having dramatically escaped from the red snake’s mouth, Charles and her unit were engaged in a fierce battle without a moment to relax. The monster was a monster, moving calmly even with a gaping hole in its maw. It had already recovered as if it had never had a hole in its maw.

‘Damn it. Its recovery is unnecessarily good…’

Fortunately, it was weaker than a dragon, so it seemed like they could somehow defeat it, but the problem wasn’t this red snake.

‘Just die already! I need to deal with the other snakes too!’

The problem was the blue and green snakes that had started moving at the same time as this red snake. The two snakes were joining forces with different monsters, and the other front lines were collapsing rapidly. If they didn’t deal with this one as quickly as possible, all the front lines would collapse, starting with the other ones.

“Quickly… Just die already! You son of a bitch!!”

Charles shouted, creating a giant axe with telekinesis. There was nothing visible on the outside. Telekinesis was not a visible force in the first place, so it couldn’t be seen.

Swish-!

The invisible telekinetic axe cut through the red snake’s body. However, it failed to sever its neck. Charles’s telekinetic axe only managed to cut halfway through the snake’s neck.

“Agh!”

The snake seemed to sense danger and moved backward. If it hadn’t moved, its neck would have been severed. Too bad.

“Commander Charles!”

At that moment, one of the unit members called out to Charles.

“What is it!? If it’s not urgent, tell me later!”

Charles shouted, launching additional attacks with telekinesis.

“It’s urgent!”

“What is it!”

“Over there…!”

Charles turned her gaze in the direction the unit member was pointing.

“…What is that?”

There was a black sphere floating in the air. A huge mass of mana was spreading out, centered around the place where Shin Hayul and the End God were fighting.

“Is it a barrier? No, it doesn’t seem like it.”

It didn’t have the completed feel of a barrier. That incomplete feeling was closer to a mana disaster caused by a clash of mana than a barrier.

‘…What kind of fight are those two having?’

For a mana disaster to occur just because magic collided. Shin Hayul and the End God, neither of them seemed normal. How strong did they have to be for such a phenomenon to occur? It was unimaginable.

“But why is that!”

Commander Charles glared at the unit member. She understood that it was an unusual phenomenon. But that was it. What was important now was dealing with the monsters, not the outcome of Shin Hayul and the End God’s battle. They could leave that to them.

“That’s not it! Look below!”

“Below?”

Charles lowered her gaze, looking below the black sphere.

“That is…”

There was a black egg located there. A very suspicious-looking egg.

“A monster’s egg?”

If you asked 100 people, all 100 would say it was a monster’s egg. An egg with such an appearance was floating on the sea.

“What is that…”

Were there not just seven monsters?

“The eighth entity?”

If an eighth entity joined in this situation, it would be the end. The front lines that were barely holding on would collapse.

“Contact Kim Kangin! Sacrifice or not, send a bait that can stop him…”

Just as Commander Charles was thinking of the best response and was about to issue new orders.

Crack, crack-!

The egg cracked open, and a monster emerged from within. A monster with an alligator-like appearance. It had a fragile appearance, as it had just hatched from its egg.

‘A juvenile?’

The sudden appearance of the juvenile made her feel uneasy. Why was this monster the only one in juvenile form when all the other monsters were summoned in adult form? She felt uneasy. Too uneasy.

“Sorry, but I’ll leave this to you! I’m going to that one…!”

She didn’t know why, but she had to stop that monster first. Just as Charles was preparing magic to go to the alligator-type monster.

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!

A noise, like that from a broken radio, echoed from the young alligator’s mouth. A sound like a dolphin emitting ultrasonic waves.

‘A resonance? An ultrasonic wave? Why all of a sudden?’

Charles narrowed her eyes at the sudden sound.

‘…Huh?’

Stagger.

Her body staggered, and her head began to spin. She felt nauseous, and her eyelids were heavy.

‘This… Could it be…’

Charles was soon able to understand the identity of the sensation she was feeling.

‘By shaking the mana in the atmosphere with a special wavelength… Directly striking the mana circle… A mana pulse?’

It was a wavelength that would inevitably incapacitate anyone with mana. In fact, the fact that mages were collapsing all at once was proof of that. All the mages were incapacitated by that alligator’s roar.

‘It’s dangerous…’

Charles’s mind was fading. As her mana circle was damaged, her flight magic was naturally canceled, and she slowly began to fall into the sea.

Kieeeeeeeek-!

As if having waited for that moment, the red snake flew towards Charles. It rushed in, its maw wide open, as if it was going to swallow her properly this time.

‘Damn… it.’

Charles muttered a curse for the last time, seeing the rapidly growing figure of the red snake beyond her blurred vision. She realized that it was over.

‘Damn it… really.’

Just as Charles gave up on everything and closed her eyes.

Thud.

She felt a warm sensation on her back. A sensation as if someone had hugged her from behind.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

A voice was heard from behind. A familiar female voice.

“I just finished my mission and returned.”

“Adel…la?”

Charles desperately lifted her heavy eyelids and opened her eyes.

“Ah…”

Beyond her blurred vision, a fully bloomed red flower came into view. She stared blankly at the flowers that had suddenly bloomed.

‘Ah.’

Looking closely, they weren’t flowers.

‘Blood.’

What filled the surroundings was blood. The scattered red blood looked like flowers because it was blurred in her vision.

“Adela Sterrett and two others.”

Beyond the scattered fountain of blood, she saw the red snake’s head, completely separated and falling into the sea. And in front of it, she saw a red-haired woman wielding a sword and a black-haired man casting magic behind her.

‘Those bastards… They came so late.’

Charles smiled faintly.

“From now on, we will move to eliminate the enemies.”

Adela Sterrett. Stella Vinoche. And Ji Soonchan. The three who had set out on a mission four days ago to help Mimir had rejoined the battlefield.

And.

“…What is that barrier? How annoying.”

A woman appeared behind the three of them. Her vision was blurry, so she couldn’t see well, but it wasn’t difficult to recognize who it was. Her distinctive green hair.

“Sorry, but I need to focus on breaking through that barrier, so I don’t think I can help.”

Mimir. She appeared on the battlefield. “I’ll leave the monsters to you.” Not as a blurry hologram, but with a real body.