Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 143

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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 143. Perfect Scenario
The desolate sky of the Abyss.
High above the sprawling horizon, Cygnus drifted lazily, gazing down at the world below.
‘This Abyss has no Creator.’
He soared through the sky without restraint, and no one watched him.
The Fox Den was masterless.
Even if the Burning Boundary Creator—its true master—had been present, it would have mattered little.
‘Non-Existence. Father’s absolute magic flows through me as well.’
Cygnus shared soul and life with Park Chan-woo.
In turn, Park Chan-woo’s Status Abnormalities had transferred to him in kind.
Non-Existence was one of them.
So long as Cygnus did not reveal himself, an absolute magic ensured that no one could perceive his flight.
But that was not the only affliction that had passed between them.
‘Limited Lifespan? What is this?’
Even the traits of the Great Sanctuary and his mother’s knowledge could not illuminate it.
All else was transparent at a glance, yet only Limited Lifespan remained unreadable.
But the mystery did not linger.
‘It is Father’s trait. It must be a blessing.’
His father, Park Chan-woo, was an absolute being to Cygnus.
Though he had inherited the Sanctuary’s nature, the Sanctuary was less a biological father than a kind of principle.
Or more precisely, the ‘qualification of rightful succession’.
Since divine beasts were not ordinary living things, Cygnus recognized Park Chan-woo alone as his father.
‘Still.’
Gulp.
‘Appetizing.’
One thing was certain: this Abyss was Cygnus’s sustenance.
A masterless Creative Abyss—how easily it might be consumed.
Yet it could not be devoured immediately.
Certain conditions were required to feast upon a Creative Abyss.
One was clearing the Creative Abyss itself.
Once Park Chan-woo reached the end of the Fox Den and vanquished Aurum, Cygnus could forcibly consume this place.
How sweet it would be.
Saliva pooled in his mouth at the mere thought.
“Father. Just slightly to the right diagonal from there. Yes. That’s the one.”
Shreeee!
Thunk!
Semi-transparent specters drifting through the sky pierced through one after another.
Park Chan-woo had already crossed more than half the cloud bridge at the Cliff.
Now only Park Chan-woo remained on the bridge.
As if writing myth itself, he solved everything alone.
Of course, no one suspected that Cygnus hovered above him.
That a divine beast—one capable of surveying the entire Abyss, free to soar through its sky—existed at all.
* * *
‘Not a single wasted shot? Every one hit?’
‘That’s impossible for us.’
‘How can he even strike specters he can’t see properly?’
‘What on earth is he?’
The Holy Sword users.
Even the formidable nine-tailed foxes could only gape in shock.
The cloud bridge spanning the Cliff had been completed.
Yet watching it unfold, they could not believe their eyes.
That distant sky.
The pitch-black expanse of the Abyss’s dome, invisible to the naked eye.
Striking a specter hidden somewhere in that void in a single shot—even for seasoned foxes, it was a feat beyond measure.
And it was no less impossible for the nine-tailed fox Yu Jin-seo.
‘……There is a time limit to vanquishing the specters. If the cloud bridge is not completed within that time, the Challenger must be offered as sacrifice to construct it.’
The first Trial was rooted in the Challenger’s own faith.
So long as one never looked back and pressed forward, survival was assured.
But the second Trial was rooted in ‘distrust’.
As time passes, the specters vanish, and the cloud bridge remains ‘incomplete’.
There was only one way to cross the incomplete cloud bridge.
‘Select ten Challengers and push them over the Cliff.’
Then one section of the incomplete cloud bridge would materialize.
The total number of Specters drifting through the sky was fifty.
A hell designed to kill up to five hundred Challengers and turn them against one another.
A place of absolute horrors—where one selected the sacrificial and pushed them from behind, crossing the bridge by way of the deaths they themselves had chosen.
This place: the Sky of Specters.
‘…I’ve never seen the cloud bridge completed before.’
It was a first.
Since the Fox Den was created, no Challenger had ever built a perfect cloud bridge and crossed the Cliff.
Not because they lacked the will, but because it was impossible.
Archery skill alone was never enough.
Yu Jin-seo’s eyes flickered with sudden uncertainty.
‘Only if one could see beyond the sky of this Abyss—the Creator’s space itself.’
All Creators forbade the beings of the Creative Abyss from seeing beyond the sky.
That realm belonged to the Creators alone.
What they could perceive was only the ‘false sky’ the Creator permitted them to see.
The Specters hovered above that false sky.
And so, even if one wished to see, sight was impossible.
Without knowing their position, no amount of archery skill could strike true.
Yet they were hit.
Every shot, without a single miss.
To be honest, she had wanted to complete this Trial herself.
Even if Park Chan-woo were the final piece of the Hidden Piece, she doubted the Burning Boundary Creator would allow him to covet her domain.
‘The Burning Boundary Creator…has surrendered even the authority to perceive beyond the sky?’
An entity that had never yielded anything.
One who had spent eternity using and mocking the foxes.
She had never been granted even a single glimpse of the true sky.
Ding!
《The Demon race ‘Cheon-ryeong’ appears at the end of the ‘Sky of Specters’!》
《The Demon ‘Cheon-ryeong’ is a wind-wielding creature. Escorted by powerful ‘Phantom Knights’, it severs the cloud bridges one by one.》
《Defend the cloud bridges!》
《’Cheon-ryeong’ and the ‘Phantom Knights’ can only be cut by the ‘Holy Sword’.》
In the distance.
At the far end of the cloud bridge, beyond sight, Cheon-ryeong and the Phantom Knights appeared.
This was the second reason the Sky of Specters was so merciless.
‘Alone, it will be difficult to manage.’
The problem was that the moment one retreated, Cheon-ryeong erased the cloud bridges one by one.
Rebuilding required pushing ten Challengers over the Cliff.
The original scenario called for a strategic retreat to halfway, then defeating Cheon-ryeong.
Typically, more than half the Challengers perished on this Bridge of Specters.
…But what of Park Chan-woo?
‘Can he write a new scenario?’
* * *
Phantom Knights drifting across the sky.
Cloaked in tattered mantles and gripping long scythes, they resembled the very image of the Grim Reaper.
‘These are all spirits too.’
Park Chan-woo stroked his chin.
It was certain they were spirits summoned by Aurum.
But there were quite a number of them, and each was a high-level entity.
‘Intermediate spirits, perhaps?’
With knowledge of the future, he understood well how absurd this was.
Contracts with multiple spirits were not recommended.
Summoning them consumed double the Mana, and as their numbers increased, the conditions of the contract grew ever more stringent.
Spirit summoners typically maintained a contract with only one powerful spirit.
When seeking to contract with a higher-ranking spirit, they would sever their previous contracts first.
But Aurum seemed to be different.
Given the number of spirits under contract, it appeared so.
‘Aurum must possess an ability specialized in spirit summoning.’
Or perhaps the fox itself was inherently connected to spirits.
—Screeeeeee!
—Ahhhhhhh!
Their tattered cloaks billowed as the Phantom Knights drew near.
Cheon-ryeong was nowhere to be seen.
Where could he be?
“Father. Cheon-ryeong is at my side,” Cygnus said.
It seemed the summon had manifested near Cygnus after all.
Park Chan-woo paused to think.
Every single Phantom Knight, Cheon-ryeong included, could only be cut down with the Holy Sword.
‘Just ten strikes, then. That’s manageable.’
The conditions for vanquishing demons were straightforward.
Strike them exactly ten times with the Holy Sword, and it was done.
When he’d eliminated Hwa-ryeong, he’d slaughtered the zombies in one sweep and then landed nine more cuts.
After a moment’s deliberation, Park Chan-woo hurled the Holy Sword skyward like a spear.
Whoooooosh!
He flung it upward from below, high into the air.
And Cygnus caught it perfectly—in his mouth.
Park Chan-woo smiled.
‘Ten strikes. That’s all you need, Cygnus.’
* * *
“What—what is this?”
“He threw the Holy Sword?”
“Is he out of his mind?”
The foxes stood transfixed, watching something they’d never witnessed before.
Though he’d “thrown” the Holy Sword, it might as well have been abandoned.
Was he about to flee?
“But why hasn’t it fallen?”
“How far did it go?”
Questions arose unbidden.
The Holy Sword hurled skyward had still not descended.
None of them could fathom where it had been thrown or where it had gone.
They could not see the Abyss’s true sky.
‘……What is he plotting?’
Yu Jin-seo felt equally unsettled.
She’d only just elevated him to protagonist status, and now he’d thrown away the Holy Sword.
The sheer unexpectedness of it made her hands tremble.
‘Aurum must have already noticed the protagonist has changed.’
He hadn’t moved yet, but it was inconceivable he hadn’t seen through it.
Before Aurum acted, Park Chan-woo had to gather as many people as possible to his cause as the new protagonist.
Only then could he stand against Aurum.
But if he kept throwing away the Holy Sword like that, who would believe in him and follow?
She swallowed a sigh that threatened to escape.
Time passed.
How much, she couldn’t say.
Ding!
《’Cheon-ryeong’ has been vanquished!》
《Someone has completed the ‘Perfect Scenario’!》
《Five ‘Black Stars’ have been awarded to the scenario’s achiever.》
《’Sky of Specters’ has been completed.》
《Please cross the bridge and prepare for the ‘Third Trial’.》
The words materialized without warning.
In the same moment, the Phantom Knights shrieked and vanished.
Everyone froze.
The foxes’ shock was beyond measure.
“……What?”
“A Perfect Scenario?”
“……Such a thing existed?”
These words were appearing for the first time before them.
A Perfect Scenario?
They’d never even heard of such a thing.
From the start, they never had a choice that could save everyone.
…And now, before their very eyes, a new scenario was being written.
‘……This is a Hidden Piece?’
Yu Jin-seo’s pupils dilated sharply.
She couldn’t believe it.
No—she didn’t want to believe it.
……All the work she had done her entire life.
The fate of a holy maiden, leading Challengers into the Abyss.
All of it…….
Being denied, refuted, erased entirely.

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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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