The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 47

The rain of flames was right in front of me.

I lowered my stance and simultaneously erected a water barrier at the point of impact.

‘Water Shield!’

The Water Shield, empowered by the resonance, now had an output equivalent to a 4-circle spell.

Even considering the elemental disadvantage, a 4-circle spell shouldn’t be able to block a 5-circle spell under normal circumstances.

But Fire Rain was a different story.

‘Since it’s a wide-area annihilation magic covering the entire arena, its power is weaker for a 5-circle spell.’

The wider the range, the weaker the power.

If it’s just about protecting myself, a 4-circle spell is enough.

The rain of flames collided with my Water Shield and vanished without a trace.

“…A 4-circle spell?”

Beyond the rising steam, I heard Joo Han-wook’s voice, sounding somewhat bewildered.

Seeing the output that easily blocked Fire Rain, he seemed to have realized that my magic was at the 4-circle level.

‘But it’s too late.’

But he was too late to realize it.

My victory was already decided.

Fshhhhh-!

The Fire Rain was rapidly losing its power.

The steam was gradually expanding its reach.

The steam soon enveloped the entire arena.

As if a smoke bomb had gone off, all visibility was lost.

‘I’m going.’

I darted through the steam.

My position was hidden.

Due to the aftereffects of the wide-area annihilation magic, even mana couldn’t be properly sensed, so a normal person wouldn’t even be able to locate their opponent.

But that didn’t apply to me.

This was nothing compared to the sealing of the five senses.

‘Divine Eye, open.’

My sixth sense awakened.

Things that were invisible became visible.

Mana was trembling.

It was shaking as if terrified by the clash between Fire Rain and Water Shield.

Amidst that, a particularly clear mana was visible.

A mass of mana.

It was obvious that it was the mana from the mana circle circulating in Joo Han-wook’s heart.

I moved quickly and stealthily towards it.

I lowered my posture as much as possible to avoid disturbing the steam as I moved.

Having approached in an instant, I cast a spell from behind Joo Han-wook, who was still clueless.

‘4-circle lightning attribute magic.’

‘Lightning Lance.’

Zzzzzap-!

Lightning flashed in the space filled with steam.

“When did you get here…?!”

The already noisy lightning attribute magic was amplified by the steam, creating an even louder sound.

Joo Han-wook was startled and turned his body.

And immediately prepared a spell to block the Lightning Lance.

‘Normally, he would have used Absolute Shield to block it, but…’

Joo Han-wook couldn’t use Absolute Shield right now.

Joo Han-wook was curious, but he also had an analytical nature.

Having been defeated by my Absolute Shield a little while ago, he would refrain from using it.

‘The appropriate magic for him to use now is Earth Shield or Water Shield.’

He would either use Earth Shield to channel the current into the ground, or use Water Shield to redirect the current.

My actions would be determined by which magic he used.

‘Yellow color.’

At that moment, I saw the color of the earth.

Joo Han-wook seemed to have chosen Earth Shield.

The Earth Shield was rapidly forming.

At that moment, my actions were decided.

‘Earth Shield has a fatal flaw of blocking one’s own vision.’

I used the area where the Earth Shield was being created to hide myself.

And immediately rotated my body to get behind Joo Han-wook.

‘4-circle fire attribute magic.’

‘Blast Impact.’

The concentrated flames on my fist flickered.

A 4-circle magic, an upgraded version of the Burning Impact used by Baek Sa-hyuk in the past.

It flew towards the empty space behind Joo Han-wook along with my fist.

Zzzzzzzap-!

At the same time, the Lightning Lance collided with the Earth Shield, causing a loud explosion.

“Kuh!”

Even though he missed me for a moment, he didn’t miss the mana of the Blast Impact used from behind.

Another magic unfolded behind Joo Han-wook’s back.

‘5-circle water attribute magic.’

‘Water Laser.’

A water laser using water pressure.

It flew towards me, but…

‘Once the trajectory of the Water Laser is set, it cannot be modified.’

To me, with the Divine Eye open, there were no gaps.

I immediately stopped swinging my fist and moved out of the Water Laser’s range.

Fwoosh!

The Water Laser grazed my cheek.

I felt the cold sensation and swung my fist again.

“Th-this… !”

Joo Han-wook, as if startled, unfolded another new magic.

This time it was Water Shield.

He seemed to have given up on counterattacking me for now, and used a second shield to block my Blast Impact.

I didn’t care and swung my fist as it was.

Fshhhhh!

The Water Shield was rapidly evaporating.

Naturally, my Blast Impact couldn’t penetrate the Water Shield of a 5-circle mage.

But.

“Kuh!”

It didn’t really matter.

My goal wasn’t to break through it, but to spread the steam again.

Zzzzzap-!

The Lightning Lance, which was being channeled into the ground using the Earth Shield as a lightning rod, shone again due to the explosion of steam.

‘Dense steam adds variables to the trajectory of the Lightning Lance.’

And in this chaotic situation, it detonates the Lightning Lance.

The secondary attribute application that is possible with the Bytenar method [a unique magic technique].

‘Detonate.’

According to my will, the Lightning Lance exploded.

Zzzzzzzzzap-!

The 4-circle level electric shock spread in all directions.

‘Lightning becomes even more powerful when it meets steam.’

The lightning, exploding and pressuring Joo Han-wook’s Earth Shield.

“Kuh!”

Joo Han-wook’s groan became a little clearer.

He seemed very displeased with the current situation.

‘And in this situation, return to the rear again and cast a 4-circle spell.’

Zzzzzap-!

Another 4-circle lightning attribute magic unfolded.

Lightning Lance.

There was no way Joo Han-wook couldn’t hear that noisy sound.

“Enough… !”

Finally, Joo Han-wook’s patience snapped.

“Stop!!”

The mana residing in his heart surged violently.

As if he couldn’t just watch my one-sided offensive any longer.

He was preparing a counterattack.

‘It’s coming.’

At that moment, my brain rotated again at an unimaginable speed.

‘Joo Han-wook must be very displeased with this chaotic battle.’

‘From his perspective, he would want to reset the situation somehow.’

‘To do that, the first priority would be to completely distance himself from me and blow away the steam filling the arena.’

‘Then, there are at most two options he can choose.’

In this situation, there were at most two of Joo Han-wook’s signature spells that he could use.

‘Inferno or Expanding Flames.’

And in such a chaotic battle, one usually uses the magic they are most confident in.

‘Red mana reminiscent of hell.’

The light of Inferno.

It illuminated the area around Joo Han-wook.

Fwoooooosh-!

Inferno.

The flames of hell that burn sinners exploded.

The steam scattered and disappeared in all directions in an instant.

The lightning disappeared at the same time as the collision.

Inferno was spreading with the momentum to crush everything with overwhelming output and power.

Clear vision.

Beyond the flames of hell, Joo Han-wook’s face was visible.

He was smiling as if confident of his victory.

He must be sure that I would soon be devoured by Inferno and defeated.

“The moment you are sure of victory is the most dangerous moment.”

I muttered softly, looking at Joo Han-wook.

“I won, senior.”

The words of my master, conveyed through Elena, flashed through my mind like a panorama.

‘See through the essence of magic with the Divine Eye. Listen to the sound of mana. Capture the gaps in magic.’

My Divine Eye was clearly capturing the gaps in Inferno.

‘If you do that, from that moment on. Magic will no longer be magic.’

I reached out my hand towards that gap.

‘Destruction.’

Clang!

A sound of something breaking was heard.

The sound of a delicate mechanical device being shattered.

‘The sound of a magic formula breaking.’

Not perfect, but a magic formula close to perfection.

The sound of it breaking was truly beautiful.

With the collapse of the magic formula, Inferno lost its form.

It lost its attribute, its essence, and even its structure.

Inferno was just transformed into remnants of mana and scattered.

The remnants of mana scattered like sleet.

Amidst that, Joo Han-wook’s bewildered face was visible.

He had an expression that he couldn’t understand why Inferno had disappeared.

I cast the final magic towards him.

‘4-circle wind attribute magic.’

‘Tempest Circus.’

The acrobatics of the storm.

It swirled around Joo Han-wook, surrounding him.

Joo Han-wook immediately tried to prepare a counterattack, but.

He had already exhausted everything.

He had no means of counterattack now.

Whoooooooosh-!

The wind blew.

A fierce and ruthless wind.

It swirled around Joo Han-wook.

As if influenced by the whirlwind, the remnants of Inferno soared high into the sky.

“…I lost. I lost.”

In the center of it, Joo Han-wook said that as his last words.

—Match Over! Winner Shin Ha-yul!

With Jung Soo-ah announcing my victory, the match ended.

* * *

After that.

The match was completely concluded only after Joo Han-wook was moved to the infirmary.

“You did a great job!”

The first to greet me as I returned to the waiting room was Kim Kang-in.

He seemed excited after watching my match, and he approached me with a flushed face.

“It was a truly amazing match! I don’t know how shocked I was the whole time I was watching! Haha!”

He grabbed my hands and shook them vigorously, smiling with the happiest expression.

“I was also wondering why you were doing those actions in between, but to think that all those actions were preparations for that final magic nullification… It felt like watching a well-designed chessboard. It’s still giving me goosebumps even when I think about it again. Can you see this? I have goosebumps.”

Kim Kang-in showed his right arm. He really had goosebumps.

“What was that last magic? How did you destroy Inferno’s magic formula?”

Normally, he wouldn’t even have known that I had interfered with the magic formula.

As expected, Kim Kang-in’s ruby eyes couldn’t be fooled.

“And what’s with the 4-circle magic? Did you succeed in completely erasing the weakness of Memorize with modification magic?”

Memorize.

A magic that is now obsolete, which allows you to instantly cast spells that are 3 circles lower than your own level by memorizing them in advance.

I had covered it up with this packaging of Memorize and modification magic to hide the Bytenar method.

So far, there had been no problem with keeping this packaging.

Because neither Memorize nor modification magic were impossible magics.

“If I say that I improved Memorize through modification magic… would you believe it?”

“No. I probably wouldn’t believe it.”

But not now.

“I could still understand up to 3-circle magic. It’s questionable, but it’s still an improvement of Memorize’s weaknesses.”

The packaging of Memorize and modification magic might have been able to hide the seed of the Bytenar method that had just begun to sprout.

“But the story is different from 4-circle magic. This goes beyond improving the weaknesses of Memorize, it’s an act of eliminating the weaknesses. You know how difficult it is to erase the weaknesses of existing magic formulas, right, Ha-yul?”

It was impossible to hide the sprout of the Bytenar method that had begun to grow.

A hidden talent.

The specialness of the Bytenar method tore apart the packaging of Memorize and modification magic.

“What is Ha-yul’s magic? A magic activation speed close to instant casting. Free magic that completely broke the existing framework. And even nullifying the opponent’s magic. What kind of magic do you use to make such absurd things possible?”

The excitement and anticipation in Kim Kang-in’s expression had completely disappeared.

What was visible now was only the cold, analytical curiosity of a researcher and a mage.

“That is…”

I opened my mouth, looking straight into Kim Kang-in’s eyes.