Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 29

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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 29. Han Shin’s Wrath
…I thought I’d misread.
Something had occurred that should never happen outside of hallucination, optical illusion, or a dream.
The only possibility would be if Han Shin—standing on this very ground—had been poisoned by curses and toxins so prevalent they clouded his mind.
But the surroundings held nothing but lush green grass, no poison whatsoever.
Moreover, if something had scrambled his senses, he would have detected it beforehand.
His body, mind, and soul existed in a state of perfect unity that even Creators would marvel at. This meant he never mistook his own condition.
He possessed the talent to grasp a hundred truths from understanding one, and knew himself with equal clarity.
He had achieved complete objectivity about his own being.
Han Shin had reached the state of Perfect Unity even as a child—a talent so coveted that demons themselves yearned for it. There was no way he could be confused.
‘…Soo Shin is dead?’
…If that were true, then the message he was seeing now had to be real.
Han Shin’s expression crumpled involuntarily.
At this point in time, there was no human or faction capable of hunting Soo Shin.
None except himself.
Yet even he would need to search the Abyss for the items necessary to hunt Soo Shin.
If they clashed head-to-head right now, his odds of killing Soo Shin were exactly fifty-fifty.
With Yi Hyuk Su’s aid, perhaps sixty percent.
If he lured Soo Shin to advantageous terrain and used Yi Hyuk Su’s death as a shield, the win rate would climb to seventy percent—but when he thought ahead, losing Yi Hyuk Su would be a clear loss.
‘Who could it be?’
Had his calculations gone wrong?
Could there be another Irregular like himself?
The world was vast, humanity countless; it wasn’t strange that exceptional talents existed.
Yet his contracted Creator had told him something.
【Among all humans, you are the greatest.】
By Han Shin’s own reckoning, that was true.
He had competed against the world’s finest athletes and shattered world records with casual regularity.
From disciplines that demanded physical prowess—sprinting, swimming, long-jumping—to those requiring specialized technique, he had mastered them all.
True, most were unofficial or conducted alone, but the gap was so overwhelming, not merely a difference but complete domination, that it was far from simple self-consolation.
Therefore, no human surpassed him.
He was one with the true talent of a War God.
That was Han Shin.
Han Shin cast his gaze toward Yi Hyuk Su.
‘From what I’ve heard, it was this bastard Yi Hyuk Su who killed Yong Shin Jang.’
It was said he’d killed Yong Shin Jang in a single blow.
Even with some exaggeration mixed in, for Yi Hyuk Su it wasn’t entirely impossible.
He might possess a hidden trump card skill.
More than that—the man wore the Lion King’s Equipment as a complete set.
He’d grasped it through the all-seeing Heart Eye skill, so it was certain.
If he hadn’t obtained it through a contract with a top-tier Creator, then he’d acquired it through pure ability.
Any human capable of obtaining equipment of that caliber purely through their own strength would be capable of killing Yong Shin Jang.
Therefore, Han Shin was convinced that Yi Hyuk Su possessed a ‘special trait’ or ‘skill’ just as he did.
Yet now, someone other than these two here had hunted Soo Shin.
‘Lightning definitely struck.’
Lightning fell where Soo Shin was, and it was over in a single stroke.
If he hadn’t misread, then someone wielding Lightning Magic was there.
And not mere lightning magic, either.
It was unmistakably top-tier Lightning Magic—so powerful that his ears ached, so brilliant that the entire Abyss blazed with light.
‘Unless a god of lightning itself had appeared…’
What was that destructive power?
The message itself contained only one line: ‘Soo Shin has died.’
Which made it all the more strange.
There should have been more details to follow, yet that single line was all.
“It seems there’s someone else capable of hunting Soo Shin besides us.”
Yi Hyuk Su spoke.
Han Shin had asserted that hunting Soo Shin was impossible without the two of them, yet someone had just succeeded.
Moreover, since Soo Shin’s death itself had been the goal from the start, unlike Han Shin, Yi Hyuk Su’s face bore an almost leisurely expression.
That was the moment.
‘…There’s an additional message.’
A new message materialized before his eyes.
Han Shin didn’t know why there was a time delay, but he focused intently on reading the message that had appeared.
《The ‘Soo Shin Abyss’ has been cleared.》
《The expected clear rate for ‘Soo Shin Abyss’ was 0.1%.》
《All challengers currently inside ‘Soo Shin Abyss’ receive a Gold Box.》
《South Korea gains an additional 1,000 points.》
《South Korea’s total score is now 2,200 points.》
《22 hours have passed since the ‘Dungeon Abyss’ began.》
《76 hours remain until the ‘Dungeon Abyss’ ends.》
《If 5,000 points are not achieved within the remaining time, an ‘Invasion Abyss’ will begin across all of South Korea.》
《All must prepare.》
《The ‘Soo Shin Abyss’ will close in 30 minutes.》
《When the dungeon closes, all personnel within ‘Soo Shin Abyss’ will be forcibly moved to their original entry point.》
《Parties formed within ‘Soo Shin Abyss’ are automatically disbanded.》
“…….”
Wedge-driving messages.
So it really had been cleared by an ordinary human.
Moreover, a Gold Box had been distributed.
If simply being inside the dungeon was enough to earn it, then something exceptionally special had occurred.
But there was no luxury for continued thought.
“I need to go somewhere for a moment.”
As Han Shin spoke, Yi Hyuk Su nodded.
“Just as well. I have somewhere to be too.”
“We’ll see each other outside.”
“We will.”
The moment they agreed, Han Shin and Yi Hyuk Su moved in opposite directions.
Han Shin headed toward the Poison Fog Swamp, while Yi Hyuk Su made for the vast lake where Soo Shin would be.
Yi Hyuk Su considered it.
‘It’s him.’
The one who had just killed Soo Shin.
As far as Yi Hyuk Su knew, there was only one monster capable of wielding such devastating lightning and erasing something in a single strike.
‘The Seer is there.’
Yi Hyuk Su quickened his pace.
* * *
“…Damn it.”
The Poison Fog Swamp.
Upon reaching the altar, Han Shin exhaled a curse.
Beyond Soo Shin having been hunted, something incomprehensible had occurred.
The venomous zombies that should have been prowling the swamp were nowhere to be seen, the barrier had vanished entirely, and the Lich Necromancer who should have been guarding it was gone.
That wasn’t all.
The altar itself lay in ruins.
‘The box is open.’
……The treasure chest lay wide open.
He couldn’t make sense of it at all.
It had already seemed strange that the life force contained in the Life Vessel had vanished.
But he’d never imagined the treasure chest itself would be opened.
‘How did they discover the magical pattern sealing the box?’
One could obliterate the barrier with overwhelming force, even kill the Lich.
But opening the treasure chest itself was impossible.
Only he and the Lich knew the pattern.
How anyone could have learned it and opened it was beyond comprehension.
Because of this, the designated reward that should have been given to Han Shin had disappeared.
Stolen completely.
Han Shin looked up at the sky.
“If you have a voice, speak. How in the world did this happen……!”
He spoke toward the Creator he had contracted with, his words heavy with rage.
Such a thing should not occur in the ordinary relationship between an Awakened Being and a Creator.
But no answer came.
The conditions of their original contract were clear on this point.
That he was unlike other Creators. That he could offer greater potential, yet could only provide lesser intervention.
【I am a being who never needed an Awakened Being. I was merely drawn to your talent. Be grateful for our contract.】
So he had to keep the fact that he’d made a contract thoroughly hidden.
Even if his status as an Awakened Being were exposed, the Creator’s identity was not to be mentioned—such were the terms of their pact.
Whether the Creator felt ashamed of being discovered to have contracted with a human, he couldn’t say, but the result was that proper conversation remained difficult.
Of course, he didn’t need any Designated Reward.
Han Shin was strong in his own right.
Even without such Rewards, he was confident he could stand at the summit.
It was purely rage—the rage of having something that was his stolen away.
‘How dare someone take what’s mine?’
Han Shin was the taker, not the taken from.
In all his years, he had never once had something of his own stolen.
Whatever he set his mind to, he achieved. He had brought despair to others countless times, but the pain of being robbed—that, he could say with certainty, he had never known.
Yet it had happened.
He’d been plundered.
‘Could it be?’
Han Shin turned his gaze toward where Soo Shin would be.
The one who killed Soo Shin.
Could that bastard be the one who looted his Designated Reward?
More than that—there was a good chance they’d stripped all the other Designated Rewards at once.
‘An Awakened Being?’
The locations of Designated Rewards were shared among all Awakened Beings.
A map of the entire Soo Shin Abyss had been distributed to everyone.
Under an unspoken agreement not to touch each other’s property.
Unless one wanted catastrophe, there was no reason to tamper with another Awakened Being’s Reward.
Yet there was an Awakened Being who broke that rule.
And that Awakened Being could very well be the same person who killed Soo Shin.
‘A Creator wouldn’t undertake such risk for an Awakened Being…’
The problem was that if discovered, he’d be making enemies of other Creators.
Whether any Awakened Being and Creator would actually attempt such a thing seemed unlikely.
Would a Creator really stake their honor and existence simply to raise an Awakened Being, for the sake of cultivating one?
Then perhaps it wasn’t an Awakened Being at all?
An ordinary human had looted the Rewards and killed Soo Shin?
That made even less sense.
Crunch!
Han Shin ground his teeth for the first time.
Never in his life had he been this angry.
He was so furious he could grind his enemy to dust and swallow them.
《The Soo Shin Abyss will close in 3 minutes.》
《When the dungeon closes, all personnel within the Soo Shin Abyss will be forcibly relocated to their initial entry point.》
Just before the Soo Shin Abyss shut down.
Han Shin’s eyes fixed on that last message.
‘Forcibly relocated.’
In other words.
They would be moved to the exterior of the Soo Shin Abyss, to the area surrounding the Admiral Yi Sun-sin Monument.
If so, the culprit would be among those relocated.
The entry condition for the dungeon required being ‘in proximity’.
One had to be in a place where the entrance was visible within line of sight.
‘They’ll be near the Admiral Yi Sun-sin Monument.’
He would see them all.
Anyone capable of killing Soo Shin would be instantly recognizable to him.
He was not merely superior in body, but his eyes too—his gaze was precise.
‘With the Heart Eye, there is nothing I cannot discern.’
His ability to read and assess an opponent was already exceptional.
He had awakened several abilities immediately upon his Awakening, and his mastery had been such that he’d acquired the Heart Eye skill among them.
His Heart Eye could read not only the equipment worn by an opponent, but even portions of their status window.
Whoever had looted the Rewards and killed Soo Shin would stand out distinctly from everyone else.
《The Soo Shin Abyss is now closing.》
Whiiiing!
A warp opened beneath his feet.
The warp forcibly displaced Han Shin.
And at that same moment.
“We—we made it out!”
“God, I thought we were done for!”
Everyone who had entered the Soo Shin Abyss emerged from it.
Most were gathered before the Admiral Yi Sun-sin Monument, with the rest scattered in the surrounding area.
Han Shin’s eyes gleamed as he swept his gaze across them, accounting for each face.
Then.
‘……Where is he?’
His eyes narrowed, fixing on the space where Park Chan Woo should have been.

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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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