Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 11

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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 11. The Dragon Divine General
‘An Easter Egg……!’
Park Chan-woo shuddered faintly at the message that materialized before him.
The ‘Easter Egg’ was one of the rare keywords that pierced through the Abyss.
It referred to a ‘mystery’ that could not be achieved, could never be achieved, existing beyond all theory and common sense.
‘I’ve heard that the Easter Egg is the clear key left behind by the god of the Abyss.’
People had said it.
If a ‘Creator’ fashioned individual Abysses for their own enjoyment, and thereby toyed with humanity.
Then surely there must be a ‘god’ who created the vast Abyss in which all such ‘Creators’ dwell.
In the past, humanity had obtained an ‘Easter Egg’ exactly twice.
Yet the ‘Creators’ had no idea what an ‘Easter Egg’ actually was.
Not even the Nine Great Lords knew.
That was why people had been certain.
This was it!
The Easter Egg was the key left by the god of the Abyss—the key to clearing every Abyss!
‘It makes no sense that a Creator wouldn’t know what exists in their own Abyss.’
A Creator designs everything in their Abyss.
They place every consumable item directly, hide secret quests, craft impossible challenges—nothing in the Abyss escapes their hand.
They know everything that exists there.
Yet even they wondered what the ‘Easter Egg’ was, why such a thing even existed in their domain.
They never noticed who had placed the ‘Easter Egg’ in their Abyss in the first place.
‘There is a true god who oversees the Abyss. The Nine Great Lords are not the real masters of the Abyss.’
Of course, it was only speculation.
The Great Lords called themselves the masters and gods of the Abyss.
But in Park Chan-woo’s view, they were not gods.
He was certain there existed a true god who encompassed the entire Abyss.
He believed this god was deeply playful and left traces of himself in secret.
Exactly as had just happened.
Now, the assassination of a ‘Game Master’ that even a first-day Awakener could not kill after dying a hundred, a thousand times over.
Park Chan-woo had achieved it.
Slaying the high demon Andariel was harder than killing the ‘Twelve Divine Generals,’ the final objective of the ‘First Night Abyss’!
‘A high demon is strong enough to kill alone even if all twelve Divine Generals came at once.’
It was only because she was a Game Master that she possessed merely the minimum abilities required as a ‘guide.’
Had she used her original power in full, the newly awakened humanity would have suffocated and died the moment she drew near.
Therefore.
‘An achievement exceeding the final objective. A reward for killing what should be impossible to kill.’
The Easter Egg was the reward for that.
Park Chan-woo gazed at the white egg floating in midair before him.
The number 001 was inscribed in the center of the egg.
Slowly, he reached out and took the Easter Egg.
Then a description emerged before his eyes.
Name: Easter Egg (001)
Level: None
Grade: Normal
Description: An egg of mysterious origin. Said to be given as a gift to those who achieve special objectives. Might you be blessed with fortune by keeping it?
Equip Slot: None; possession effect
Unique Option (001): While possessing this item, fortune visits you every time you level up. After obtaining the ‘Easter Egg (001)’, every twenty levels your holder gains, the ‘Easter Egg’s’ grade increases, and with each grade elevation, ‘greater fortune’ will visit you.
Should you attain the final grade, something extraordinary is said to occur.
Your level at the point of possession is –98. (To achieve the next grade promotion, you must reach –78 Lv.)
He nodded after reading the description.
‘A growth-type luck reward.’
Truly, the ability itself was as unique as the Easter Egg’s reputation.
‘The final grade must refer to Zero Grade. Since equipment grades are divided into eight tiers total, that’s a level humanity could never achieve.’
Yet there was something that puzzled him.
If the grade increased every twenty levels, reaching the final grade of ‘Zero’ would require a total of one hundred forty levels.
Level fourteen—wasn’t that a realm even the mightiest ancient dragons never attained?
Without being one of the Twelve Lords, such a dream would be absurd even to contemplate.
Above all, the level limit humans could reach was 99.
Not a single person had ever surpassed that threshold.
‘……Truly, this is a god’s plaything of an egg.’
Even the explanation sounds absurd.
An object obtained by overcoming a trial that no one else could achieve.
To witness the final reward of that object, one would have to step into a realm where no one has ever ventured—and that fact alone was staggering.
Only Park Chan-woo could reach the final tier of the Easter Egg; aside from him, who had begun at -99 level, there was simply no one else capable of it.
‘Only I can do this.’
…Wasn’t that darkly amusing?
He’d thought he’d sold his future and reaped the worst possible beginning.
Yet returning to -99 level had become an extraordinary advantage instead.
Killing Andariel, seizing the ‘possibility’ of drawing closer to the final reward of what was called the Easter Egg—a clear item—all of it was thanks to starting at -99 level.
“…What am I supposed to do now?”
Lee Hyeok-soo’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
‘He’s strong.’
Park Chan-woo hadn’t been standing idle with his hands clasped behind his back for nothing.
Now it was crystal clear why he’d said it would be over too easily if he stepped in.
He’d summoned the Grim Reaper, slaughtered the game master who toyed with death as if it were a game.
Eyes unwavering, not a hint of tension in his bearing.
Lee Hyeok-soo had never encountered anyone like this before.
‘There’s someone even less human than me.’
And that fascinated him.
For the first time in his life, Lee Hyeok-soo was overwhelmed by another human being.
It was the first time since his procedure had dulled his emotions that he’d felt anything like this.
And he wasn’t alone in that gaze.
Everyone present stared at Park Chan-woo, speechless.
‘What… what did I just see?’
‘Is he even human?’
‘A monster. That’s a monster!’
Questions piled up, layer upon layer.
No one dared voice them aloud.
Instead, their eyes betrayed fear.
A kind of reverence for something that transcended all reason.
“What you’re supposed to do?”
Park Chan-woo turned his gaze to Lee Hyeok-soo.
Lee Hyeok-soo stood quietly, greatsword in hand, waiting for his orders.
True to his name as the future Sword King, he regained his composure far faster than the others.
He spoke with deliberate ease, shrugging slightly.
“Obviously, we make a booking.”
The game master was dead, that was all.
The Death Booking hadn’t ended yet.
This game was created by a being incomparably superior to any mere high-ranking demon.
The owner of the ‘moon’ suspended in that sky.
Operating on a different plane than ordinary Creators, even if Park Chan-woo exhausted every effort, he couldn’t bankrupt the ‘owner of the moon.’
But.
‘It would sting a little.’
Surely they wouldn’t mind?
Here in the First Night Abyss, they’d opened their vault wide.
Park Chan-woo’s eyes gleamed.
Beyond the curtain lay treasures so dazzling they practically blinded the eye.
So close he could almost reach out and grasp them.
Park Chan-woo opened his mouth slowly.
“Made.”
《The 43rd Death Booking has been ‘made.’》
《With Consecutive Win Points at +20%, victory will grant ‘396 (330+66) points.’》
《Total Booking Points upon victory: 8,414.》
Already factored in were the 4,444 points gained from killing Andariel.
It wasn’t just the Consecutive Win Points.
A 20% discount had also been applied to every treasure purchasable with Booking Points.
It was unthinkable that the owner of the moon would have created such a mechanism themselves.
The one who crafted the Easter Egg had made it possible.
A being of such stature that they could shatter even the rules laid down by the ‘owner of the moon’ who reigned above all Creators.
‘I’ll see this through to the end.’
Park Chan-woo had made his decision.
He’d already accumulated enough points to buy the Mage’s Stone and still have plenty left over, but it wasn’t enough.
He meant to see this through before the night ended.
“Made.”
《Your 50th Death Booking has been set to “Made.”》
《Total Booking Points upon victory: 11,512》
He was determined to see it all the way through.
“Made.”
《Your 55th Booking “Made” has been confirmed.》
《Total Booking Points upon victory: 15,455》
With each successive battle, his smile only deepened.
“Made.”
《Your 60th Booking “Made” has been confirmed.》
《Total Booking Points upon victory: 20,000》
Because tonight felt like it would be the greatest night of his life.
* * *
《The Tiger Divine General has been defeated.》
《Confirmation received: the Eleventh Divine General among the Twelve Divine Generals has fallen.》
《Upon removal of the last Dragon Divine General, the First Night Abyss will conclude.》
《A warp gate leading to the Dragon Divine General will be generated before all challengers.》
《Remaining challengers: 1,848,194》
《Time remaining: 1 hour 17 minutes 19 seconds》
《If the Dragon Divine General is not defeated before time expires, all challengers ranked below 20,000 in Contribution will perish.》
The hunt for the Twelve Divine Generals had gone smoothly.
They had succeeded in eliminating eleven of the twelve Divine Generals.
“Plenty of time left?”
“An hour is more than enough.”
“Let’s finish this and get out!”
Excited crowds poured through the warp gate in a surge toward Seoul.
Their numbers alone exceeded a hundred thousand.
And in the place where the 63 Building should have stood.
There stood the Dragon Divine General.
“Is this Korea?”
“But why does he look so unharmed?”
“Those cowardly Korean bastards—they didn’t even try to challenge him?”
“Heh heh. What could those pathetic weaklings do anyway?”
The foreign challengers who warped into Seoul exchanged puzzled glances.
The Dragon Divine General looked far too pristine.
As though no one had challenged him at all—not a single scratch marred his form.
Standing motionless with arms crossed, the creature towered nearly two meters tall, its face that of a teal dragon.
Like the other Divine Generals, its body was humanoid in shape, save for the face.
“Aheta, did you truly think you could bind me to this place?”
The Dragon Divine General murmured, gazing up at the moon.
The humans swarming into existence around him were utterly beneath his notice.
“This is the last one!”
“Kill it!”
Already feverish with excitement, they rushed forward in a frenzy.
Every Divine General they had faced thus far had crumbled before their overwhelming numbers, as the saying went—no match for the crowd.
This final beast would surely fall the same way before the gathered might of humanity.
But.
“I will carve you to pieces.”
The Dragon Divine General uncrossed his arms.
In that same instant, twelve additional hands materialized, each wielding a Crescent Blade.
Whisper-whisper-whisper!
As twelve arms moved with a speed that defied sight.
All the people within a radius of dozens of meters who had rushed forward in senseless abandon.
Split—
Cleaved!
……fell cleanly in half.
Their entire bodies severed in a single, perfectly straight line, like vegetables neatly diced on a cutting board.
A scene utterly devoid of reality.
Hiss!
The corpse vanished at once, dissolved into nothing.
“What, what is this?”
“How… how did this happen? Where did everyone go?”
Hundreds of people evaporated in a single instant.
Those who had followed could only stand frozen in their tracks.
Then, at last, they understood.
‘No wounds at all, then…’
‘He’s on a different level than the other Divine Generals!’
No wounds, no sound of movement nearby—it all meant the same thing.
Simply that the Dragon Divine General was overwhelmingly strong.
Every single one who had challenged him was already dead.
Yet even that realization could not take hold.
“Slicing them down without mercy, again and again.”
Slash!
They couldn’t even draw near.
“How are we supposed to defeat a monster like that!”
“Move! Get out of the way!”
“Please, have mercy!”
Those who had rushed forward turned and fled for their lives.
The gap between them was absolute.
Death was the only choice left to them.

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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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