Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 128

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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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Chapter 128. Annihilation
……A passerby?
Han Min-oh studied the man’s appearance slowly.
A heavy voice. An expressionless face.
He wore nothing but a plain grey t-shirt and grey sweatpants, as if he’d simply stepped out for a walk.
There was nothing particularly distinctive about him at all.
‘He subdued five men in an instant.’
In the blink of an eye, he’d overpowered the five kidnappers who’d taken Han Min-oh.
Clear evidence that he far surpassed their level.
He was no ordinary person.
Swish. Swish.
Park Chan-woo slowly untied the ropes binding Han Min-oh and asked a question.
“Do you recognize who I am?”
Han Min-oh, now free, stared at the fallen men with a gloomy expression.
“…They’re my security detail. So they were Avatars.”
“Unfortunate.”
“May I ask your name? Ah, I’m Han Min-oh.”
“Park Chan-woo.”
“Park Chan-woo. Thank you so much for saving me. I won’t forget this debt. Then…….”
Han Min-oh bowed deeply and turned to leave.
‘Unexpected.’
Even in this situation, he recovered his composure quickly.
Most people would be crying and begging for help.
‘I hadn’t planned to get involved…….’
The kidnappers had genuinely meant to kill Han Min-oh.
So he’d had no choice but to step in.
He’d meant to observe Han Min-oh from a distance, playing the role of a bystander entirely, but now circumstances forced him to change his plan.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to return to my security detail.”
“Even though there might be more of them?”
“…If I don’t go back, over a thousand people will die.”
Han Min-oh’s voice was resolute.
He’d heard it.
The fact that if he didn’t die, the Avatars would slaughter everyone outside.
Park Chan-woo watched Han Min-oh, who had stopped in his tracks.
‘Is it genuine, or an act?’
On the surface, it didn’t seem like a lie.
But he could be a hypocrite like Han Shin.
Perhaps this was a scheme to move another’s heart and compel their help.
Tap. Tap.
“What about these kidnappers?”
Park Chan-woo tapped the unconscious kidnappers’ bodies with his foot.
“There’s no point in killing them. They’re not the end anyway.”
From the conversation he’d overheard, there were more Avatars.
They were weighing Han Min-oh’s death against a thousand lives.
If he tried to hide to the bitter end, the Avatars might massacre that thousand.
No—they would, without question.
Wasn’t that a future he had to prevent?
“If you go, you’ll die.”
“A thousand deaths is worse than mine. Anyway… if I survive this, I’ll absolutely repay this debt. Park Chan-woo.”
Han Min-oh bowed once more and climbed the stairs without hesitation.
Park Chan-woo watched his receding figure in silence.
‘Was it not an act?’
Wasn’t he hoping to move his heart and make him help?
That unhesitating gait was genuine.
The resolve to overcome this situation, even if it meant his own death.
‘Fool.’
Yet Han Min-oh was wrong about one thing.
He didn’t know that one life—his own—was worth more than a thousand.
No, a Divine Beast Contractor’s value surpassed tens of millions of lives.
Thud!
Whoosh!
Park Chan-woo finished cleaning up without ceremony.
Soon the five Avatars crumbled to dust and evaporated.
“Hmm.”
Watching the swirling dust, Park Chan-woo swallowed hard.
‘The Contractor’s life was in danger, yet the Divine Beast never appeared.’
That was strange.
Even as the Contractor teetered on the edge of death, the Divine Beast had not revealed itself.
Had they not made a contract?
Yet there was no way so many Creators could have been mistaken.
If not that, then there was only one conclusion.
‘It seems Han Min-oh doesn’t even realize he has a Divine Beast contract.’
Han Min-oh was unaware of the fact that he’d contracted with a Divine Beast at all.
A Divine Beast’s power could only be used after awakening through awareness and recognition.
Now that he thought about it, something had felt off from the start.
The way Han Min-oh had been kidnapped so easily, nearly losing his life—it didn’t add up.
‘What’s certain is that the Divine Beast itself is asleep.’
But why?
Even if Han Min-oh wasn’t aware, there should have been some trace of presence—anything.
To contract with a Divine Beast meant the Beast had acknowledged it.
Naturally, the Divine Beast itself should be awake.
At minimum, there should be some sign of its existence.
‘Both the Magical Wavelength and Magical Pattern are identical to those of an ordinary human.’
When he released Han Min-oh and probed the wavelength, nothing had changed.
Yet contracting with any other being in the Abyss—whether Avatar, summoned creature, or Divine Beast—always produced a shift in one’s wavelength.
Without exception.
But Han Min-oh’s Magical Wavelength was remarkably calm.
Impossibly calm—as though he’d never contracted with a vast, tsunami-like entity at all.
Park Chan-woo rubbed his chin.
The Divine Beast was asleep.
Han Min-oh remained unaware.
What did that mean?
There were two possibilities.
Either the Creators had misunderstood.
Or—
‘…Was it brooding an egg?’
The Divine Beast could be incubating an egg, perhaps.
There was a chance it was sleeping with all its might to nurture its offspring, to hatch its egg.
That would explain why the Magical Wavelength was so subdued.
To incubate and hatch an egg, one had to remain as quiet as possible.
The Divine Beast itself would be deliberately keeping a low profile.
Which meant—
‘Was it using Han Min-oh as a nest?’
Han Min-oh might not be a true Divine Beast Contractor at all—he could be serving as a Nest instead.
Park Chan-woo furrowed his brow deeply.
A variable.
Han Min-oh wasn’t a Divine Beast Contractor.
If he was merely a Nest—
And if his reasoning was correct…
‘…This situation is far graver than I thought.’
A Nest for a Divine Beast to incubate had to be as vast and stable as possible.
In other words, Han Min-oh’s potential was beyond imagination.
His vessel was extraordinary—suitable for a Divine Beast to use as its Nest.
A supreme vessel capable of reaching Level 99 and even beyond.
Truly worthy of being Han Shin’s younger brother.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
A far graver issue remained.
‘The egg will hatch.’
And when that egg hatches—
‘…Han Min-oh will die.’
Without question.
* * *
‘Damn it all.’
Kim Chan-min shifted his weight from foot to foot.
He’d never imagined that someone else might kidnap Han Min-oh before they got the chance.
They’d searched everywhere, but Han Min-oh was nowhere to be found.
He’d lost the one decisive card he held.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
The traitors’ intentions were transparent enough.
They meant to expose that every bodyguard except themselves was an Avatar.
Then they’d move to claim the Divine Beast that Han Min-oh possessed for themselves.
“Still haven’t found him?”
“No, sir. He’s nowhere to be seen.”
Morning had come.
Twenty-four hours had passed.
If another forty-eight hours slipped away like this, there would be no way out.
‘It’s time to make a decision.’
Only one path remained.
The people gathered there.
“Mom, I’m hungry.”
“Just hold on for two more days.”
“Here, have some water at least.”
“Thank you!”
Nearly a thousand people huddled together, supporting one another.
Though the nights were cold and food was scarce.
They endured, sustained by the hope that in three days they could leave.
Fortunately, the blessing of Awakening had descended upon all of humanity.
Without distinction of age or gender.
And so, survival was a little easier than before.
……Within forty-eight hours, he would have to annihilate them all.
If he didn’t decide now, there might not be enough time.
To hunt them down in one sweep, leaving not a single one alive.
“Time to begin…….”
“W-we found him!”
That was when it happened.
One of the bodyguards rushed forward, shouting.
Following their gaze, Kim Chan-min saw Han Min-oh walking toward them at an unhurried pace.
‘…Wasn’t he kidnapped?’
He looked far too intact for someone who’d been abducted.
Could he have killed all his captors and returned on his own?
It was possible.
Han Min-oh was a Divine Beast Contractor, after all.
Though he’d never displayed the strength befitting a Divine Beast Contractor until now, he might have been concealing his power.
“Thank heaven, young master.”
Kim Chan-min rushed to meet him, exhaling with relief.
Han Min-oh’s response was cold.
“Team Leader Kim. Are you an Avatar?”
“I… what do you mean by that?”
Kim Chan-min’s composure cracked in an instant.
He’d singled him out, calling him an Avatar directly.
“Among the five who took me, two of them were bodyguards who’ve given me Coins before. The coincidence seems too unlikely to ignore.”
“…It’s merely a coincidence. A misunderstanding.”
“They told me everything.”
“That’s a lie. You trust the word of Avatars?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’m innocent.”
“Fine. I’ll believe you. But.”
Han Min-oh stepped back, creating distance between himself and the bodyguards.
“I’ll stay with those people. You don’t move from this spot.”
“My lord, sir. What manner of nonsense is this? It cannot be. We are bound by the Chairman’s orders to protect you.”
“No. Stay where you are. If anyone attempts to leave this place, I will treat them as an Avatar.”
Han Min-oh spoke with cold precision as he stepped into the gap between the gathered men.
The bodyguards froze.
“Team leader. You’re not actually listening to him, are you?”
“Idiots. Why did you half-ass the abduction in the first place?”
“But sir, we can’t move at all from here.”
Team leader Kim Chan-min let out a bitter laugh.
Han Min-oh.
‘The boy’s sharper than I gave him credit for.’
He hadn’t expected this countermove.
Mix himself among a thousand people and make any action impossible.
There was no way to do this unless he knew for certain that an Avatar was among them.
Those who’d kidnapped Han Min-oh must have said something.
‘This won’t work. We can’t extract him now.’
The possibility of spiriting him away had evaporated entirely.
How could anything be done in secret while evading the eyes of a thousand witnesses?
Even if they slaughtered all thousand, Han Min-oh would inevitably know.
“Team leader.”
“Time is passing.”
“If we go on like this…”
He knew.
But not yet.
Move now and everything crumbles to ash.
Kim Chan-min’s eyes sank into shadow.
Then he tilted his gaze upward to the sky.
“…Tonight.”
Not dawn. Evening.
When the moon hung high overhead.
That dead hour when all were asleep.
“Kill them all.”
Every last one. Massacre.

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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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