Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 110

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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 110. Creating an Abyss
The Creative Abyss was the exclusive domain of Creators.
Only an Abyss Lord could fashion such a Trial.
It was a privilege granted to neither the Twelve Races nor even their sovereigns.
But what if.
What if a human—not an Abyss Lord—intervened in the creation of a Creative Abyss?
‘The Abysses of demons are skewed.’
Most existed merely to mock and belittle humanity.
Few Creators possessed the ability to design something genuinely thrilling—a true arena of wager where the outcome hung genuinely in balance.
The problem was that Creators themselves were demons, after all.
Demons derived immense pleasure from tormenting their prey.
And Creators were the worst of them—Abyss Lords themselves.
Kings who wielded absolute dominion within their own territories.
Creatures born stronger than all others, monsters who had clawed their way to power by crushing the weak beneath their feet.
As such, they had never tasted defeat.
They scarcely understood what weakness meant.
They could never fathom the despair of the powerless.
Naturally, they grasped nothing of humans who began at Level 1.
They simply churned out Creative Abysses like a factory, following what was written somewhere, doing what they had always done.
Which meant.
Earth had yet to see a properly crafted Creative Abyss.
One where human and Creator could truly clash as equals.
One that would make even the Creators who had wagered on it clench their fists in white-knuckled tension as they watched.
Such a blood-soaked Creative Abyss did not exist.
This was inevitable.
For the Abyss had only touched Earth two months ago—not even that long.
How could demons, who already despised humanity, have come to understand mankind in so brief a span?
In the past, decent Creative Abysses only began to appear once humanity’s average Level exceeded 50.
The average Level reaching 50 happened only after 95 percent of humanity had been annihilated.
Only the strong survived, their elimination of the weak driving the average Level to extremes.
And only then did true competition begin.
‘A well-crafted Creative Abyss stimulates both Creator and humanity.’
Creators were all formidable beings.
Naturally, they held little interest in the petty conflicts of the feeble.
So many simply followed their guidelines and carelessly connected Creative Abysses.
But who had said it?
‘Creators don’t realize that watching the weak battle each other is the most entertaining thing of all.’
The struggle of the powerless was the finest content imaginable.
A genuine gamble where no one knew who would emerge victorious.
Park Chan-woo intended to create such an Abyss, draw the Creators’ attention, and set up a proper game.
He believed the investment could be recouped through that alone.
“Shall we create a Creative Abyss together?”
Adora blinked, as though he’d uttered complete nonsense.
The reaction was understandable.
The fact that he proposed investing in the creation of a Creative Abyss was already extraordinary; to then suggest they do it “together” was stark madness.
It was natural that she would wonder how someone ignorant of the Abyss could possibly create a Creative Abyss.
He knew exactly what she worried about.
He knew, but he intended to push forward regardless, like a rhino’s horn cutting through all resistance.
“Don’t worry—”
“Let’s do it.”
“…?”
“Let’s create the Creative Abyss together.”
“…Are you certain?”
The consent came so easily that Park Chan-woo found himself stunned into silence.
She’d even asked again whether he was sure.
This was a matter of life and death for her.
Failure meant complete ruin.
Ruin was death.
Adora could not possibly be ignorant of this.
Yet she had agreed to walk into that peril at his side.
‘Were we really that close to each other?’
…He couldn’t say.
True, they’d endured harsh trials together in the Tower of Arrogance, but the time he’d actually spent with Adora wasn’t all that long.
Besides, he was fundamentally suspicious by nature and slow to trust others—he could never surrender everything to someone else.
If he’d been in Adora’s position and heard such a proposal to create a Creative Abyss together, he likely would have brushed it off as nonsense.
The ease of her consent felt suspicious, as if there might be some hidden agenda behind it.
“Thanks to you, I was able to become a Creator. So the authority of this ‘Creator’ belongs to you as much as it does to me.”
…Was that so?
Wasn’t Adora perhaps being far too naive about the world?
It wasn’t wrong, exactly, but thinking that way wouldn’t help her survive in the treacherous Abyss.
Yes, she’d used the Black Witch’s Pinky Finger that he’d obtained to become a Creator, but it was Adora herself who wielded that authority.
Therefore, all the power couldn’t belong to Park Chan-woo.
‘How complacent,’ he thought.
To survive the Abyss, a certain degree of selfishness was essential.
The soft-hearted, the weak—they were all dead.
One had to know how to claim one’s own rights, one’s own interests.
Yet watching Adora’s naive attitude, his chest grew tight for reasons he couldn’t quite name.
He would never have spoken such words himself.
Words that created her own vulnerability.
And there was even a hint of concession in them.
Either she had some hidden motive, or she was simply far too complacent.
‘Concession is a luxury.’
As Park Chan-woo entered the final days of the century, he’d grown clearer about claiming ‘his own.’
Even if something that fell into his hands hadn’t come from his own effort, the moment it was in his grasp, he lived with the mindset that it was ‘his.’
By that logic, there was no reason not to accept a split of seven-three or even eight-two instead of six-four.
…Wait a moment.
If it was possible to raise the ratio, there was no reason not to.
It was a path to acquiring more Coins and growing stronger quickly.
If he succeeded, he might even strike it rich.
After all, the territory was his, and his investment capital far exceeded Adora’s.
Adjusting the ratio didn’t seem like a bad idea at all.
‘…Hmm.’
Park Chan-woo, having gathered his thoughts, opened his mouth.
“I had originally intended to proceed with me taking six and you taking four, but I’ve changed my mind.”
“Yes. This land is your territory. If you’re willing to invest as well, adjusting the ratio is only natural.”
Adora nodded.
She thought six-four was already generous.
What claim could she make—she who borrowed the land and had only some fifty Coins at most?
Park Chan-woo likewise consented.
But his thinking was slightly different from Adora’s.
“How about fifty-fifty?”
“…Not sixty-forty?”
“On reflection, I think fifty-fifty is most appropriate. I have the land and Coins, yet I cannot create a Creative Abyss by myself. Of course, you’ll have to handle all the maintenance and management.”
She was making the impossible possible.
That alone was reason enough to deserve half the profits.
In fact, receiving an even higher percentage would have been unremarkable.
Considering such labor, the fifty-fifty split was his offering.
Park Chan-woo was even willing to concede as much as seventy percent.
Creating a Creative Abyss wasn’t something that ended once it was made.
Adora would have to manage all of it.
How difficult that was, how much it demanded—one needed only look at the Second Night to understand.
Even Aheta of all people had been unable to do anything against all the interference.
The arrival of the intruder, the Black Dragon Ataraxia, had been a stroke of heavenly fortune.
Thanks to that creature openly drawing aggression, he’d been able to move freely.
Had Ataraxia not appeared, Park Chan-woo would never have reached Khan’s Palace so quickly.
For a moment, Adora’s expression softened slightly.
Her face remained as cold as ever, yet there seemed to be a faint warmth threaded through it.
“Understood. It shall be as you say.”
Adora replied.
Her answer was still refreshingly direct.
Yet the moment her answer ended, Adora’s face regained its customary chill.
‘Had I misread her?’
Or perhaps it was his own delusion.
Look at her.
That expression, cold beyond compare.
Ask a hundred people on the street, and all hundred would say nothing but “as cold as December frost.”
After a slight cough, he spoke.
“…I’m thinking of investing around 100 Coins.”
“100 Coins?”
“I’d need at least 150 to establish a proper foundation. If more is needed, I’m prepared to invest further.”
“…Will that be all right?”
It was humanity’s first attempt.
He would be the first human to intervene in the Creative Abyss.
The Creative Abyss where his influence ran deep.
This investment was hardly a waste.
If all went according to plan, he’d gain far more Coins in return.
Adora, too, needed Coins to make a name for herself in the Abyss.
She could expand her territory and create more Creative Abysses.
In short.
“Win-win.”
“Win-win?”
“It means our interests and benefits align.”
Park Chan-woo alone couldn’t do it, but with Adora, he could.
They needed each other.
Of course, he had confidence.
Park Chan-woo.
In his past, he’d been among the strongest, achieving Level 99 for the fifth time.
He’d started late but climbed the fastest.
Why wouldn’t he?
‘My completion rate of the Abyss—no one could match it.’
Of all humanity, he’d experienced the most Creative Abysses.
He’d wandered nothing but Creative Abysses, day and night, unbound by anything else.
That’s where his confidence came from.
Confidence in victory.
Confidence in success.
‘I’ll make it properly. You may hold great expectations, Creators.’
Park Chan-woo curved one corner of his mouth upward.
* * *
A week had already passed since the Second Night ended.
The world was quieter than expected.
After the Second Night concluded, no major Abyss incidents had occurred.
Moreover, the number of Abysses themselves had decreased.
No one knew why, but for those who’d been bleeding dry day by day, it was welcome news.
―Aheta was defeated.
―Lost territory.
―To humans.
―To mere humans, no less!
It was that shocking to the Creators.
Aheta, the Lord of the Moon, lost in the Second Night.
And not merely a loss.
A complete defeat.
It was unprecedented.
Because of this, the Creators who’d invested in Aheta suffered massive losses.
―Humans must possess something we don’t know about.
―It’s been a long time since a race has cornered Aheta like this.
―I hear rumors that quite a few treasure vaults were lost?
―Tsk. A disgraceful wretch.
The Creator Community was ablaze.
All of it focused on voicing disappointment in Aheta.
But at the center of it all was ‘humanity.’
Humans.
How could such an inferior, fragile race have defeated the Lord of the Moon?
Until they understood that, they couldn’t simply connect a Creative Abyss to Earth.
It was the reason why the number of Creative Abysses spawning on Earth had dwindled.
Yet though the Creative Abysses had decreased, their amusement continued unabated.
Through Betting, precisely.
Ironically, as Creative Abysses grew scarcer, the number of Creators placing Bets only multiplied.
There was no pleasure quite like searching for a more thrilling, more entertaining Creative Abyss to Bet on and win.
And by Betting on Earth’s Abyss, they could also understand humans—a win-win.
So while the Creators spent considerable time hunting through the remaining Creative Abysses on Earth,
―…This appears to be a novel type of Abyss.
―Did you find an interesting Abyss?
―Yes, you should place a Bet too. It’s quite entertaining to watch, I assure you.
―How am I supposed to Bet if you don’t tell me what kind of Abyss it is?
―It’s the Abyss numbered ‘666’ created on Earth.
―Oh, there’s still someone on Earth creating new Abysses?
A few Creators turned their attention toward it.
Currently, no new Abysses were being created on Earth.
Not until they understood why Aheta had suffered Complete Defeat could they venture to invest.
The Creator who had been answering their questions—
or rather, Adora—had posted on the Creator Community.
―’♠Heroes the Abyss♠’
―$$ First Come, First Serve—1 Coin per Bet $$
―Wager Coins to Win Coins! ☜☜
―★The First Spectator-Type Creative Abyss!★
―♥Royal Viewing Seats Granted to Special Guests!♥
―♬ Why wait around for results anymore? Now witness every moment unfold before your eyes!
―@@@ Open Rain or Shine @@@
―☎ Betting Location: Earth – Abyss 666 ☎
―Place Your Bet Now!

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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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