The Return Of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 82

“Long time no see, friend. It’s been exactly 183 hours, 47 minutes, and 34 seconds.”

Kyle Bentia greeted me with a bright smile.

“…I’m not sure about the exact time, but it has been a while.”

It’s been about 7 or 8 days, so I guess it’s about right.

“It’s accurate. Since I met you, I haven’t forgotten you for a single day.”

Kyle’s eyes shone even more intensely as he looked at me.

They were radiant eyes, burning with fighting spirit and competitiveness.

“You’re not still holding a grudge because I refused the match, are you?”

“Well… that’s not entirely untrue.”

Kyle laughed heartily and admitted it honestly. They say honesty is a knight’s virtue.

He seems to have a very honest personality, befitting those words.

“Is that enough for greetings?”

Kyle slowly drew his sword from his waist and took a stance.

A speed-focused rapier.

He presented a sword befitting the name ‘Knight of the Gale’ to me.

“I can’t hold back anymore. Let’s fight.”

Kyle Bentia.

A battle maniac who loves sparring with the strong more than anything else.

He wore an intense smile.

Whoooosh-!

At the same time, the wind blew.

The wind wrapped around Kyle’s body. It condensed as if coating Kyle’s entire body and sword.

True to his moniker, the knight looked as if he was wearing a gale as armor.

‘That’s the Wind God, huh.’

Wind God.

Literally, the god of wind.

It’s a secret, direct-lineage magic passed down in the Green Magic Tower, and currently, only Min Gaeun and Kyle Bentia can use this magic.

The effect is acceleration through a wind coating.

Using this magic to confuse opponents with speed is Kyle Bentia’s main fighting style.

“Let me feel the wall of the 6th circle.”

Kyle lowered his stance with an expression that couldn’t be more joyful.

A stance that looked like he would pounce on me at any moment.

I immediately rotated the Infinity Circle and prepared for a counterattack.

“…”

A momentary eye contact.

“Here I come.”

In the silent world, only Kyle’s voice was heard clearly.

The gale surrounding Kyle’s body condensed to an even higher density.

‘He’s coming.’

Right after I realized and thought that.

“… !”

Kyle was already swinging his sword right in front of my nose.

Too fast.

I immediately used a shield to block Kyle’s sword.

Claaang-!

A tremendous roar echoed.

The shield didn’t break because it was at full power, but the impact remained, shaking my shield.

“You’re the first one to block that so cleanly on the first try.”

Kyle, who had returned to his original position, looked at me with shining eyes, as if he was genuinely impressed.

“Is that the famous Gale Strike?”

“That’s right. You know about it, as expected.”

Gale God Sword (風神劍) First Form.

Gale Strike.

A sword technique that greatly increases the power and speed of a sword strike by concentrating the gale on the sword.

I heard that it was created by the previous generation of the Green Magic Tower Lord.

‘Anyway, that attack just now… I couldn’t see it properly.’

I completely missed Kyle’s movements just now.

Kyle’s Gale Strike was faster and sharper than I had imagined.

‘As expected, the data analysis of Kyle Bentia that I prepared beforehand doesn’t seem to be very useful.’

The information on Kyle Bentia was collected based on data from three months ago.

As expected of a genius, he seems to have evolved considerably in three months.

‘Well, that’s why I came up with the strategy of marking Kyle 1:1.’

Currently, I’m the only one on our team who can mark Kyle.

“I’m going to attack continuously this time!”

Claaang-!

Kyle lunged again.

It was a swift slash at the same speed as before, but this time I didn’t miss the trajectory of the sword strike and Kyle’s movements.

Anything that contains mana cannot escape my eyes.

‘Divine Eye.’

My vision changed.

My sixth sense was activated, and I began to see things that I couldn’t see with just my eyes.

The flow of mana is visible.

It was as if mana was telling me its destination.

‘Neck, right arm, right thigh, abdomen, and back.’

Just as a sword cannot cut water.

My body moved as smoothly as water, completely avoiding Kyle’s sword.

Kwaaaang-!

After finishing the fifth slash, I lightly gifted a flare ball to Kyle, who had become somewhat defenseless.

The flare ball hit Kyle perfectly.

However.

“Wow. You dodged all of that? You’re really amazing!”

Kyle was unharmed.

The flare ball couldn’t penetrate the gale armor, the Wind God, that Kyle was wearing.

A 3rd circle magic is not enough to damage Kyle.

“But… isn’t a flare ball underestimating me too much?”

Kyle frowned, as if his pride was somewhat hurt.

He looked very displeased that I used a magic of the flare ball level despite having a chance to counterattack.

“Well, I’ve never underestimated you even once.”

I shrugged my shoulders casually and joked.

If I had underestimated Kyle, I wouldn’t have moved myself like this.

“Then, attack with all your might. Like you did against the Italian team. With overwhelming power!”

Kyle roared with laughter.

It was a laugh befitting a true battle maniac. Honestly, it was a little scary.

“Well, is there a need to do that?”

“You don’t need to go all out against me? Is that what you’re saying?”

A beast whose pride had been wounded growled. A fierce aura surged as if he would tear me apart at any moment.

“No. That’s not what I mean.”

During the evasive maneuver a moment ago, I put the fallen in-ear back into my ear.

“This match isn’t a 1:1, but a 5:5 siege battle. There’s no need to defeat you. It’ll be over if we just take down their main force.”

This is a siege battle.

The victory condition is to occupy the opponent’s base, not to defeat the opponent.

There’s no need to waste energy trying to defeat Kyle, a huge power.

“…Do you think you can take down our guys that easily?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

A voice came from the crackling in-ear.

—We’ve successfully lured three of the enemy to the designated location!

Soonchan’s bright voice.

It was a cheer of joy at the success of the operation.

“I don’t know about 3:3, but if it’s 3:4, no, 3:5, we’ll definitely win.”

“3:5…?”

I smiled broadly as I watched Kyle squint, as if he couldn’t understand my words.

—48-77! 33-123!

At that moment, Soonchan’s voice came from the in-ear. Operation instructions.

The tactic we used when we fought the seniors in the past.

‘Long-range magic support through magic fixation.’

That tactic was unfolded once again in the distant land of America.

“…What?”

Kyle Bentia put his hand on his in-ear and widened his eyes.

He probably heard information about my magic from someone over the in-ear.

Looking at the members of the British team, it’s most likely Maia’s radio transmission.

“Shin Hayul is clearly in front of me…”

If I had to guess, it would be something like, ‘Kyle! Are you keeping Shin Hayul properly tied up!? Shin Hayul’s magic is here…!’

“…What are you doing right now?”

Kyle glared at me.

I looked at Kyle and smiled even more deeply.

“Something fun.”

Kyle’s expression crumpled even more.

* * *

In the VVIP spectator seats.

The Green Magic Tower Lord, Min Gaeun, was currently speechless, her nose blocked and her mind blown.

“…What is that?”

First of all, to state the conclusion, the match ended with the British team’s defeat.

All the team members except Kyle were eliminated, and they ended up having their base occupied.

It was an overwhelming defeat.

Kyle didn’t even get to use his full power once.

It was such a one-sided match that it wasn’t even disappointing or frustrating.

The reason why Min Gaeun is currently dumbfounded is not because the British team lost.

“Kangin, what kind of magic is he using right now? How is he shooting magic from that position all the way over there?”

The magic that Shin Hayul used was so absurd.

To use magic so accurately to provide support from a position 2km away.

How is that even possible?

“…I don’t know either.”

Kim Kangin was just as surprised. Kim Kangin had never seen Shin Hayul use magic in such a way before.

How exactly did Shin Hayul use magic from such a long distance?

“I think I’ll have to analyze the video later to find out.”

If he had seen the scene directly with his crimson eyes, he might have been able to figure something out, but unfortunately, this time he watched the match through a monitor.

There is no way to know what Shin Hayul did right now.

“You don’t know either…”

Min Gaeun stroked her chin and thought for a moment.

“Red Magic Tower Lord. Did you notice anything?”

Min Gaeun asked the Red Magic Tower Lord for advice, just in case.

“Of course not.”

The Red Magic Tower Lord answered with a refreshing smile that he didn’t know.

Min Gaeun shook her head with an expression that said, ‘I knew it.’

“I don’t know about magic. But I know that Shin Hayul has thousands of snakes in his stomach.”

And they’re thousand-year-old snakes.

The Red Magic Tower Lord added, gesturing with his hands to depict a snake.

“Using the performance and the first match against the Italian team to make the opposing team suspect that Shin Hayul is a 6th circle user. And through that suspicion, luring Kyle to a somewhat distant location. After drawing the opposing team’s maximum power out of their base, Shin Hayul himself supports the base through ultra-long-range magic. Is this really a strategy that came from the head of an 18-year-old, and an operation that was realized by an 18-year-old kid?”

James let out a hollow laugh as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“He even completely hid the truth that he’s not a real 6th circle user by not fighting Kyle properly.”

If Shin Hayul had fought Kyle seriously, Kyle would have immediately noticed that Shin Hayul was not a 6th circle user.

Shin Hayul seemed to have paid attention to even such trivial things, constantly showing Kyle the nuance of ‘I’m fighting casually.’

The result is this situation.

The British team gained nothing from the defeat.

To the British team, Shin Hayul is still a 6th circle user and an immeasurable threat.

“…This is going to be very dangerous for Dahlia too.”

James groaned and rubbed his forehead.

“I know. Since your Sarah has a very similar disposition to our Maia, they would have come up with the same plan as us. I wonder what they’ll do.”

Min Gaeun said to James with an expression that was half annoyed and half gloating.

The annoyance was due to the feeling of defeat from Shin Hayul.

The gloating was because she thought James would suffer the same fate.

“Since they’re our kids, they’ll come up with a suitable strategy…”

The current situation is too bad. All the weight of victory is leaning towards Korea.

“James. Like I said, what I said today is confidential.”

“I know! Do you think I’d break my oath to mana? I won’t tell Dahlia.”

James sighed deeply.

He was so frustrated that he couldn’t teach his disciple even though he knew all the truth.

“Sigh. I just have to hope that our kids will somehow manage…”

James looked at the American team, who had appeared to play the last match of the quarterfinals, with a sullen expression.

* * *

That night.

We decided to rest in our respective rooms to recover from the three rounds of exhaustion today.

Everyone is probably sleeping in their rooms or receiving care from a professional condition manager.

“Well, to summarize, it’s going smoothly. Right?”

“Yeah. It’s going as smoothly as it could be so far.”

I’m also reading a book from Mimir’s Library to adjust my condition.

Normally, it’s forbidden to do such tiring things before an important match, but that doesn’t apply to me.

Because I have the ‘Robe of Ley Bell Vaitener,’ which has a fraudulent effect of maintaining the best condition at all times.

Long live Master’s robe.

“The problem is that facing Kyle seems more difficult than I thought.”

“Is that battle-crazed psycho that strong?”

“Well, he’s strong because he’s a 5th circle.”

“But isn’t he no match for the current successor? A 4th circle master should be able to easily produce the output of a 5th circle.”

Fusion, which is the level of a 4th circle master, also doesn’t have a dramatic effect like the Ring of Expansion.

It only has a passive effect of increasing the overall stats by integrating all the rings.

Due to this effect, my current magic output is equivalent to the 5th circle.

This is why I can use magic with a strange power that is somewhere between the 5th and 6th circles when I use Resonance.

“The compatibility is bad.”

“Compatibility?”

“Yeah. Kyle is a speed-focused close-combat type. And he’s wearing a constantly maintained barrier called the Wind God.”

Speed-focused.

Close-combat type.

And on top of that, a solid armor.

He’s arguably the worst opponent for me, who specializes in magic battles through free magic.

“But if you use Resonance, wouldn’t you overwhelm him?”

“If I use Resonance, I’ll win.”

If I use Resonance, I’ll win.

That’s for sure.

“The problem is that the opponent isn’t just Kyle.”

“Ah. There’s Dahlia Salentia too.”

But Resonance is not omnipotent.

If I have to face Dahlia and Kyle in succession, I’ll have to fight without Resonance when facing one of them.

I’d still be at an advantage, but if possible, I want to eliminate even this slight variable.

“In short, you’ve got that perfect preparation syndrome again~, huh.”

Mimir clicked her tongue and shook her head.

“Perfect preparation syndrome?”

“Yeah. A disease where you get thorns in your mouth if you don’t prepare thoroughly for everything. It’s a disease that generally occurs in a person named Shin Hayul.”

Mimir smiled playfully.

It seems like there’s a hidden meaning in her words, but it must be my imagination.

“Well, okay. It’s good to be proactive in everything.”

Mimir chuckled and got up from her seat.

Then, she took a suitable book from the nearby bookshelf and handed it to me.

“You’ve finished reading it, right? Here. Here’s the next book.”

She had seen that there weren’t many pages left in the book I was currently reading and had brought out a new book in advance.

“Thanks.”

Mimir’s consideration seems to be getting better day by day.

I closed the book I had finished reading.

“How is it? Do you understand it a little?”

“Yeah. A little.”