Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 101. Aheta’s Treasure Vault
Han Shin’s lips curved upward in a silent smile.
Heavenly Fortune was unquestionably walking beside him.
The old saying held true: no one could defeat those whom fortune favored.
Ordinarily, Han Shin placed little stock in luck, but today he found himself believing in it whether he wished to or not.
《Valhalla’s Blessing settles across the entire domain of the Second Night, and the stamina of participants bearing the “Witnessed Legend” title recovers partially.》
《The Doppelgänger swarm begins to weaken.》
Messages bloomed before his eyes.
Words of recovery for those who had earned the title.
And simultaneously, the Doppelgängers grew weaker as well.
“……I don’t know who you are, but I’m truly grateful.”
Han Shin bowed his head.
Toward whoever had completed the Legendary Quest.
It certainly wasn’t that Mage who had done this to him.
That wretch had merely blocked the path; there had been no sign of him progressing through a Legendary Quest.
…Who could it be?
Surely not that same Mage who had monopolized Adora’s attention.
No. It couldn’t be.
Such a coincidence couldn’t possibly exist in this world.
Han Shin offered his sincere gratitude toward this unknown benefactor.
In that instant.
《You have acquired the “Witnessed Legend” title.》
《Valhalla’s Blessing settles upon you, and your stamina recovers partially!》
Light washed across Han Shin’s body, and a flicker of vitality returned.
With it came a measure of stamina and Mana restored.
The Blessing’s power was enough to pull him back from death’s threshold, at least for now.
“Why must it be now……!!”
Kim Byeong-han, who had believed his prey already secured, bit down hard on his lip.
The timing was infuriating.
No—perhaps his cautious approach had been the mistake.
The duplication was complete, and in one hour Han Shin would die of his own accord.
So he had intended to simply wait and bear witness to that death.
He had hoped to see Han Shin wailing in despair, pleading for his life.
……But of all moments, the Legendary Quest had been completed, triggering a recovery effect for all participants.
Fortune had abandoned him.
Never had it abandoned him so thoroughly.
Hsh!
Han Shin bared his teeth in a grin.
An expression that sat grotesquely at odds with his blood-soaked form.
‘This will do.’
Barely enough to move, but sufficient.
If he could only bite down.
Even in death, he would harbor no regrets.
“…A little stamina back won’t let you face both of us. Why not just accept your death quietly?”
Kim Byeong-han had regained his composure.
Han Shin’s physical state remained dire.
Walking itself was clearly agony for him.
To face both the Doppelgänger and himself in such a condition?
‘Impossible.’
Had it been possible, he could never have duplicated him in the first place.
Those whose power vastly exceeded the original could not be duplicated.
Successful duplication meant the gap was not so wide.
Victory was already his.
There was no need to hesitate now.
Shink!
Kim Byeong-han drew his blade.
Had Han Shin only pretended not to recognize him, he would have treated him with maximum goodwill.
He had meant to spare him, to make him an ally.
It was Han Shin who had rejected his offer of brotherhood.
Having come this far, the river had been crossed; there was no turning back.
Snap! Snap!
In that instant, Han Shin flicked his fingers.
Come at me, the gesture seemed to say.
‘This bastard…….’
Had he lost his mind?
Did he really think a little recovery in stamina would let him win?
That arrogant expression and bearing were more than enough to ignite Kim Byeong-han’s fury.
“Fine. You’re so eager to die you can’t wait—I’ll cut off your limbs and feed them to the dogs!”
* * *
“Hah, haaagh……!”
Trembling—trembling, trembling, trembling.
Kim Byeong-han’s body shook like an aspen leaf.
His face had gone deathly pale, and his legs gave out beneath him as he collapsed to the ground.
He couldn’t believe it.
He’d been certain of absolute victory.
Han Shin fought as though indifferent to his own wounds, focused solely on killing his opponent.
Trading bone for bone.
As if he felt no pain at all.
Watching Han Shin butcher the Doppelgänger with such pitiless, indiscriminate savagery, Kim Byeong-han was seized by terror.
It should have been a perfect copy.
The Doppelgänger, which had become a being completely superior to Han Shin, couldn’t properly counter his swordsmanship.
The absence of experience.
The gap in skill was simply catastrophic.
In the end, it had lost without ever truly fighting.
The real problem came after.
After the battle ended. After the Doppelgänger fell.
“Ma, madman……!”
Kim Byeong-han lost control of his bladder.
He couldn’t tell if what he was witnessing was real.
Beyond violent, beyond cruel—it was inhuman.
Yes. He was no human.
Tear—tear, tear!
……No human would tear a living Doppelgänger apart and consume it raw.
He couldn’t bear to watch.
Kim Byeong-han forced himself to look away.
But the sounds still reached him.
He wanted to cover his ears, but his fingers wouldn’t obey.
‘Move. Just move!’
He wished he could flee, but it was beyond him.
Confronted with behavior that transcended all reason, Kim Byeong-han was utterly drained.
He’d touched something he should never have touched.
A monster more monstrous than any monster.
For all the creatures he’d encountered in the Abyss, nothing terrified him like Han Shin.
How much time had passed?
Drop.
Han Shin’s grotesque display came to an end.
Whoosh.
The Doppelgänger dissolved into dust.
He’d kept it alive as long as possible while consuming it, but at last the creature’s life had run out.
“Ah. So this is what it feels like.”
A twisted smile crossed Han Shin’s face.
And he looked up at the sky.
Because it was his first time.
His first time experiencing this sensation.
“So this is what it means to die and come back to life.”
Now, Han Shin had crossed the threshold of death.
By consuming the Doppelgänger that bore his image, he had absorbed its Innate Mana.
Ordinarily, such a thing would be impossible.
There could never exist a life form capable of such a feat.
Yet Han Shin could.
His instincts had awakened it.
A mad, all-consuming obsession with life and the madness that came with it.
And for the first time in his existence, a pure, crystalline hatred.
Perhaps that was why.
One of Han Shin’s pupils bloomed crimson, deep as blood.
His Demonic Eye had transformed.
The left remained as before—reading mana’s currents—but the right eye had crossed the boundary between death and life, awakening an entirely different power.
More precisely, the transformation had resulted from absorbing the Doppelgänger’s Innate Mana.
‘I see death itself.’
The spirits of the fallen revealed themselves before him.
Spirits, the patterns of their Innate Mana—all laid bare.
That was why he had been able to absorb the Doppelgänger’s Innate Mana in the first place.
The Death Spirit Eye.
With the ability to read mana’s flow and perceive the very patterns of Innate Mana, he no longer feared even the Mage who had driven him into this corner.
‘I have become the Mage’s natural predator.’
And that was only the beginning.
The Doppelgänger Han Shin had consumed was no ordinary specimen.
It was an individual destined to become a Lord.
By consuming it, Han Shin had seized the Lord’s position for himself.
《Your qualification as ‘King of Night’ has been elevated to ‘Night Lord’.》
《The qualification itself now converts into a Class!》
《Absorb the remaining Doppelgängers during the time left, and ascend the true path of the Lord.》
He had nearly lost everything, yet in that loss, he had gained it all.
What else could one call this but Heavenly Fortune?
‘Legendary Quest achiever. If we meet again, perhaps I’ll grant you mercy.’
Han Shin reclaimed his composure.
The composure of a true master.
Completing a Legendary Quest meant possessing the qualifications to match—but Han Shin was certain he would grow far beyond even that.
Never again would he endure such suffering.
He would ascend to a realm no one else could follow.
“Are you watching, Aheta?”
Aheta’s gaze remained fixed upon him.
The plan to duplicate him as a Doppelgänger and forge him into a Lord had failed.
Instead, Han Shin himself had become a Lord.
He survived, grew stronger, and became irreplaceable.
Even Aheta would have to acknowledge it.
The plan had met with great failure after all.
To recover from this, Aheta would have no choice but to need him all the more.
Then—it happened.
Craaaash!
Aheta’s pupils dilated sharply.
Eyes wide with alarm, as if something had gone terribly wrong.
At that same instant.
BOOM—a deafening explosion tore through the air!
Light erupted in the distance.
Han Shin closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them again—
‘……A goddess?’
A goddess of light stood revealed before him.
But it was not the end.
Ding!
《Someone has achieved a Unique Achievement.》
《All participants receive an additional 1,000 Contribution Points.》
《This is grace from the ‘Unique Achievement achiever.’ Participants who bow their heads in gratitude can earn additional Contribution Points.》
《Furthermore, the ‘Unique Achievement achiever’ also earns an additional 1,000 Contribution Points for each participant who bows in thanks.》
《However, these additional Contribution Points are not affected by bonus multipliers such as qualifications or guidance.》
“A Unique Achievement?”
He had never heard the name before, yet he understood what it was.
It referred to the ‘singular achievement’ that Aheta had established when creating the Second Night.
The Moon’s Lord was a Creator who bestowed ‘night’ upon countless races.
Surely he had executed countless “Second Night” events.
And to this day, a “Unique Achievement” that no one had ever attained—something that was practically impossible to achieve—had remained unbroken.
Until it shattered.
Right now. In this very moment.
‘Could it be… a Legendary Quest achiever…?’
Han Shin’s expression hardened.
He too had lost his composure.
Because.
‘One million participants. Perhaps eight hundred thousand survived.’
If all eight hundred thousand were to express their gratitude.
How many points would that be?
Han Shin’s face twitched as he finished the rapid calculation.
‘Eight hundred million points…!’
…Was such a score even possible?
It was far too many points for any individual to accumulate.
And if Han Shin was shocked to this degree, what of Aheta?
Those dilated pupils were evidence of Aheta’s astonishment.
Honestly, he couldn’t fathom why such a Unique Achievement had ever been set up in the first place.
Thanks to it, an astronomical amount of Contribution Points was now concentrated in a single person’s hands.
‘Eight hundred million points… I can’t even imagine what rewards they’ll receive.’
It was only natural that higher Contribution Points meant better rewards.
This wasn’t the collective accumulating eight hundred million points—it was an individual. There was no way to predict what treasures Aheta might lose.
The vault was about to be thoroughly emptied.
Han Shin deliberated.
An astronomical amount of Contribution Points.
“…Thank you.”
Han Shin bowed once more.
Expressing gratitude even once more here wouldn’t change much.
But more than that, it was a small form of revenge against Aheta.
Ding!
《You have conveyed gratitude to the achiever of the “Unique Achievement.”》
《1,000 Contribution Points have been added to both parties.》
Han Shin looked up at the sky.
And in doing so, his eyes met Aheta’s once again.
Those pupils seemed to reproach him, as if asking what he thought he was doing.
Han Shin did not avert Aheta’s gaze.
Instead, he met it with a defiant stare.
‘Let’s use each other thoroughly. We’ve always been that kind of relationship.’
* * *
An hour later.
Park Chan-woo dusted off his hands.
He had done his utmost to accumulate Contribution Points during the remaining time.
He had completed as many hidden quests as possible.
Thanks to that, he had been able to raise his Contribution Points quite generously.
Ding!
《Time has expired.》
《The “Second Night” comes to an end.》
《Predicted survival rate: ‘11.1%’》
《Actual survival rate: ‘86.7%’!!!》
《Remarkable. The result vastly exceeds the predicted survival rate!》
《A spectacular outcome. This will be recorded and remembered as an unprecedented “Second Night.”》
《Twenty-one Creators who placed heavy bets against the survival rate have been bankrupted.》
《All participants receive a ‘Platinum Box.’》
《Beginning Contribution Point settlement.》
《Total Contribution Points: 2,500,100,000.》
《Searching for rewards corresponding to Contribution Points.》
《…No reward matching this Contribution Point total exists in ‘Aheta’s Treasure Vault.’》
《In accordance with the rules, ‘Aheta’s Hidden Treasure Vault’ is forcibly opened.》

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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