Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 130

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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 130. Just a Passerby
“Huff……!”
Han Min-o’s brow furrowed.
He’d barely escaped a fatal blow and fled.
Whizz!
Splat!
An arrow streaked down from afar, grazing his cheek as it passed.
The Avatars were serious.
They meant to kill him, in all earnestness.
‘I had a hunch about this……!’
At least he’d been somewhat prepared. That much was a mercy.
He’d already suspected there might be Avatars beyond just the bodyguards.
And something had felt off when the two men suggested moving separately.
Choosing such a desolate place to travel through hadn’t sat right either.
Thanks to his heightened vigilance, he’d avoided instant death.
‘Kim Chan-min, Team Leader. You were an Avatar after all!’
The Avatars converged moments later.
He recognized them at once.
They’d dropped their disguises, clearly convinced Han Min-o was finished—but in that fleeting instant, he’d caught their faces.
Not one or two.
The number of Avatars gathered exceeded all imagination.
‘Every last bodyguard is an Avatar.’
Easily over forty in count.
That was just the number of Avatars who’d converged under Team Leader Kim Chan-min’s leadership.
Mixed among the civilians, there were likely far more.
Thud!
After sprinting for some time, Han Min-o came to an abrupt halt.
He’d run in panic, but was this truly the right choice?
‘I saw their faces. They’ll try to kill me no matter what.’
Just another kilometer or so and he could rejoin the group.
If he called for help, begged for his life, they would fight back with everything they had.
But the cost was inevitable: countless innocents would perish.
Was there any meaning in saving his own skin by sacrificing the guiltless?
‘If I rejoin them, people die. At minimum, hundreds will die.’
They’d accepted him even knowing he was the one who’d opened the Abyss.
Their leader, that Avatar, had opposed it—yet they’d shown mercy out of compassion.
Without their acceptance, he’d already be dead.
“Fuuuu……”
He drew a long, deep breath.
The wounds didn’t ache.
His anxiety was gradually unwinding.
Shing!
Han Min-o unsheathed his sword.
After all, they were hunting him alone.
Once he fell, the Abyss would close and everyone could return to peaceful, ordinary lives.
But.
‘I have no intention of simply lying down and dying.’
He’d stood still and taken stones many times before.
Each time, Han Min-o had endured it quietly.
There was no point dodging—only larger stones would follow.
He’d essentially given up long ago.
Yet now, even once, he wanted to fight back.
Before death came, he wanted to scream at the world that had tormented him so relentlessly.
“Have you given up on living?”
Whoosh!
The Avatars closed in instantly.
They ringed him swiftly.
Through their ranks stepped Team Leader Kim Chan-min.
“You really are unlucky. If you’d just kept your mouth shut and looked the other way, none of this would’ve happened.”
“Go choke on shit, you bastards.”
“So the quiet young master has a sharp side after all.”
Kim Chan-min chuckled softly.
He’d glimpsed a facet of Han Min-o he’d never seen before.
He hadn’t actually planned to kill Han Min-o.
If the boy died, the Divine Beast’s contract would terminate, allowing it to flee.
To capture the Divine Beast with certainty, Han Min-o had to remain alive.
Yet the Creators’ thinking had begun to shift.
【He’s faced death countless times, but there’s no trace of the Divine Beast.】
【It seems he never contracted with one at all.】
【Then we’ve been mistaken?】
【But the Destroyer Signus definitely appeared.】
【It felt like we just grazed past it.】
【Besides, a Divine Beast wouldn’t contract with a mere human.】
It wasn’t simply a lack of awareness.
Not a whisper of the Divine Beast’s presence—not the faintest trace of its Mana.
Even when Han Min-o had faced death in the Abyss.
And now, even still.
【Kill him.】
【He’s worthless.】
At last, the Creators’ patience had worn thin.
Had they sensed even the slightest hint of the Divine Beast, they would have restrained the Avatars.
They would have forced obedience, no matter what the Avatars protested.
But Han Min-o bore too many suspicious marks for a Divine Beast contractor.
Defective goods.
Or simply a worthless human.
“Your eldest brother Han Shin is dead, and now you, the second. Once you fall, the Han Yeon Group will finally be worth watching.”
“…”
“Aren’t you curious about Han Shin’s true nature?”
It was a provocation.
Han Min-o said nothing.
Kim Chan-min then shrugged and spoke.
“Han Shin is an Avatar. Just like us.”
“That’s bullshit—!”
But this claim alone was too much to let pass in silence.
Han Shin. His brother was an Avatar?
Even if he possessed talents like a demon, he was no demon himself.
He’d simply grown bored from being too exceptional.
He showed no particular interest in things of lesser worth than himself.
Han Shin was incomparable to these Avatars.
If Han Shin possessed everything, why would he need to become an Avatar and obey a Creator’s commands?
From the start, Han Shin was never the type to take orders from anyone.
“You really didn’t know. But at least you’ll die informed—Han Shin was an Avatar. One who contracted with an exceptionally powerful Creator, a monster among monsters.”
It was a well-known story among Avatars.
Han Shin’s impossible strength.
Equipment that talent alone could never acquire.
Without a Creator’s arrangement—without the aid of something far more powerful—there was no way to reach such heights.
If that wasn’t evidence of being an Avatar, what was?
“Why do you think Han Shin is dead?”
“…He’s not.”
“Ha! What’s this? I thought you hated your brother?”
Kim Chan-min burst into laughter.
He’d already known the two brothers weren’t on good terms.
But to refuse to believe in his brother’s death—that was unexpected.
Kim Chan-min pressed on.
“Han Shin died in the Second Night, killed by a Mage. A very powerful one at that.”
“…What?”
“A Mage who exists while not existing, they said.”
Han Min-o’s pupils flickered for a moment.
Han Shin—his brother—killed by a Mage?
And a Mage who exists while not existing, no less.
I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Kim Chan-min rubbed his chin.
“Or was she? A Mage so powerful she shouldn’t have existed? I hear she wielded magic freely through the Shadowless Magic. In any case, it’s not a lie. I have no reason to lie in this situation. It’s just—”
Grin!
“I wanted you to know that you’re no different from us.”
“…!”
“I really hate the rich. They pretend to be good and spout sanctimonious nonsense. But behind closed doors, they commit every sort of filthy deed without hesitation.”
He was a mercenary.
He’d traveled the world and dealt with all manner of people.
He’d learned more than he wanted to know about how cruel the wealthy could be.
…If they’d just made the smallest concession, wars would never have broken out.
Look.
Even the legendary Han Shin turned out to be an Avatar.
Despite pretending otherwise at first, playing the good man, wearing every possible mask.
Han Min-o was no different.
The Han Yeon Group would soon belong to the Avatars.
More precisely, it would become a puppet of the Awakened Coalition.
“Now go to where your brother is.”
Kim Chan-min pronounced a death sentence on Han Min-o.
* * *
…He knew it.
That he couldn’t win.
But Han Min-o resisted with everything he had.
Not because he wanted to live, but because he felt far too wronged to die quietly.
He refused to accept his Fate.
Yet he always found himself forced to submit.
‘Why am I so weak?’
He lacked the strength to overcome his Fate.
To withstand a raging tide with bare hands—it was impossible.
He could only be swept away, again and again.
‘I want to be strong.’
He wanted to grow strong enough to stand against Fate itself.
If Fate truly existed, he wanted nothing more than to drive his fist straight through it.
‘I want to be strong.’
That was all there was to it.
A hero?
A dream of becoming a savior, standing at the same height as Yi Hyeok-soo?
More than any of that, he simply wanted to be strong.
There is no dream so miserable as that of the powerless.
It was the first time.
He had never craved strength so intensely.
…It was the first time.
That he resisted his Fate of his own accord.
When he’d faced the demon merchant in the Abyss, all he’d done was cry out for salvation.
He’d never even considered fighting back against the demon merchant.
But this time was different.
Slash!
Even as his skin split open, even as a blade pierced deep into his flesh.
Han Min-o didn’t cry out.
He didn’t beg for his life.
‘Just a little more, just a little more!’
He did nothing but resist.
Against accursed Fate itself.
Because if he didn’t fight back here, now, he felt he would regret it even in death.
‘Push harder!’
Every muscle screamed.
Every cell burned as if on fire.
‘Move!’
His arms no longer responded to his will.
‘Move, damn it!’
He’d lost too much blood.
“Disgusting bastard!”
“What’s with this tenacity?”
Han Min-o was dying.
But he wouldn’t yield.
With venom burning in both eyes, he howled at the world.
In that instant.
Crack—
Something shattered inside Han Min-o, a sound like breaking glass.
A signal that he’d triumphed over cursed fate?
Either way, it didn’t matter.
“Am I laughing?”
“I must’ve lost my mind as death came for me.”
Han Min-o laughed.
Yes. He’d won.
Even if he died here, that was enough—victory.
Han Min-o knelt and closed his eyes.
He had no strength left to stand, no strength left to open them.
Whissssh—
A blade cut through the air, hurtling toward him.
It would sever his neck cleanly. Death would come instantly.
That was the moment.
Crash!
Screeeech!
“Ugh!”
“Who—who is it!”
“What—blocked it—!”
Chaos erupted among the security detail.
The commotion swelled beyond control within seconds.
“Gack!”
“Aah—!”
“What the hell is this thing!”
“A—a monster!”
Had a monster from the Abyss emerged?
He couldn’t tell.
He couldn’t open his eyes.
With blood crusted over them, even if he forced them open, he’d see nothing.
Only this—
The commotion didn’t last long.
Soon the world fell silent.
Like stepping backward into the primordial void, quiet reigned absolute.
If it was a monster, surely it would devour him now.
And yet—
Thump.
He sensed a presence approaching.
Han Min-o, half-collapsed where he knelt, raised his head and spoke.
“Who… are you?”
Whoever had slaughtered over forty security personnel alone.
Those formidable Avatars—annihilated in an instant.
Who could it be?
Who possessed the strength to perform such a Miracle?
The figure who appeared then answered him.
In a voice deeply, unmistakably familiar.
“Just someone passing by.”

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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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