Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 38

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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 38. The Name of Anubis
Radiant Anubis.
A being that emerged from the ‘Black Box’ containing a devastating curse!
Originally summoned as one who would scatter death, but the fortune of the ‘Easter Egg’ made Anubis radiant instead.
The Anubis that Park Chan-woo knew was a guardian who protected the temple of death and a monster that had haunted everyone’s nightmares.
Yet this Anubis, adorned with epithets he had never witnessed before, stood far removed from such terrors.
It was nothing more than a tiny, adorable creature that looked like a tuft of fur.
“You… why…?”
That was precisely why he couldn’t comprehend it.
Only Park Chan-woo himself could offer Sacrifices to the God of Offerings.
Never once had anyone else offered a Sacrifice in his place.
Naturally, it was even more impossible for Radiant Anubis to offer itself.
…If, however, such a thing were possible.
‘Deep Bond.’
The description inscribed upon the Golden Aura.
It meant that only beings connected by a Deep Bond could share the ‘Golden Aura.’
In other words, Park Chan-woo had already formed a Deep Bond with Radiant Anubis.
But what, then, was a Deep Bond?
In that brief span of time, he had run forward without looking back. They had exchanged neither gesture nor feeling—of that much, he was certain.
“What have you done…!”
Park Chan-woo was bewildered.
The shock was so profound that words scarcely formed in his throat.
Self-sacrifice.
Radiant Anubis had thrown itself into harm’s way to aid him.
Without hesitation, it had cast aside its body to drive back the darkness that descended upon him and to ward off the curse.
Had the situation been reversed, Park Chan-woo would never have sacrificed himself for Anubis.
He had made a point of withholding any affection from it.
Affection is a luxury in the world that lies ahead.
If you wish to move forward without looking back, you must not turn around.
The reason he had given it no name until now was precisely this.
A life that could crumble to dust at any moment without surprise.
He and Anubis both stood upon a blade’s edge.
Should one of them fall and vanish, the other could press on without regret.
That was why he had held himself apart, kept the bond as distant as possible.
And yet.
《’Radiant Anubis’ conveys its final request.》
《’Radiant Anubis’ wishes that you would give it a name.》
…Only now.
What use was there in giving it a name after it had become a Sacrifice?
Besides, this was something Park Chan-woo himself would have to bear.
The Time Limit Status Abnormality had shortened because he had not offered Sacrifices in sufficient measure.
To strip away everything he possessed in hopes of buying time was futile—the end would not change. Every tool and equipment he had painfully obtained thus far was merely a ‘possibility’ for the future.
Exchange possibility for time?
No.
Even at the cost of time, possibility must be preserved.
So he resolved to endure and accept what was coming.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
The small body of Radiant Anubis lifted into the empty air.
At once, messages materialized before his eyes.
《You have offered ‘Radiant Anubis’ as a Sacrifice to the God of Offerings.》
《’Radiant Anubis’ is a Legendary-rank Pet.》
《The shortened Time Limit caused by the ‘Chalice of the Sealing Demon God’ returns to normal.》
《Once the Time Limit has been completely restored to normal, ‘Radiant Anubis’ will disappear as a Sacrifice.》
Once you offer a Sacrifice to the God of Offerings, that is the end.
What has been given cannot be withdrawn, cannot be undone.
Knowing this truth, Park Chan-woo’s pupils could not help but tremble deeply.
“Is this all because of a name? Because I never gave you one?”
Kyuuu…
Radiant Anubis shook its head.
His mind went blank.
Then why? Why would it sacrifice itself to save me?
Yet for the radiant Anubis, such sacrifice was inevitable.
To the radiant Anubis, Park Chan-woo was no different from a parent. The first being it had ever encountered upon entering this world was Park Chan-woo himself.
Trapped in a curse so vicious and suffocating.
It was Park Chan-woo who had offered it the light of hope.
From the very beginning, Anubis’s world had always been Park Chan-woo.
It did not wish for him to die.
Nor did it wish for his death to come any sooner.
Moreover, Anubis understood Park Chan-woo’s suffering intimately.
Because it felt the same emotions he felt.
Lonely and cold, deep within the Cave.
That was the world in which Park Chan-woo lived.
It had sensed that he did not force affection upon himself. Sorrowful as that was, it only made Anubis burrow deeper into his embrace.
What Anubis truly desired was not a name.
It was for him to escape the Cave.
And so it hoped he would become radiant, just as it would.
“…Bokshil.”
Park Chan-woo forced the word from his lips.
Upon seeing the radiant Anubis in its transformed state, he had thought to himself that it looked supremely fluffy—bokshil bokshil, in every sense of the word.
With fur so white and abundant, “fluffy” was scarcely an adequate description.
And so.
“Your name is Bokshil.”
He finalized Anubis’s name once he had gathered his thoughts.
In that instant.
《The name of ‘the radiant Anubis’ has been set to ‘Bokshil’.》
《’Bokshil’ is overjoyed.》
《Intimacy has increased significantly.》》
Kyuuuuu!!
Bokshil cried out with unbridled delight at receiving a name.
To give a name is to remember.
He would surely never forget this.
‘I should have given it a name long ago.’
Had he known it would be this happy, he would have named it from the start.
But it was far too late now.
Thanks to Bokshil’s sacrifice, the darkness that had consumed him was beginning to dissipate.
Once this darkness faded completely, he would never again see the radiant Anubis—Bokshil—alive.
Whoooooosh!
Simultaneously, pure white light began erupting from Bokshil’s entire form.
He wondered if this was a measure to break the curse and repel the darkness.
But he quickly realized it was something else.
Above Bokshil’s head, a flower of incomparable size bloomed into existence.
《The ‘Deep Bond’ has reached its maximum.》
《’Sacred Essence’ overflows the surroundings.》
《All Sacred Essence is being absorbed.》
《The ‘Flower of Life’ blooms in full splendor!》
It came suddenly.
Upon naming it, the Flower of Life had bloomed in full and evolved.
The Flower of Life was absorbing every trace of the ‘Sacred Essence’ that overflowed the surroundings.
‘It’s absorbing all the Sacred Essence remaining in the Combination Zone.’
The Combination Zone had appeared the moment he received numerous rewards at once.
When he placed countless ‘Boxes’ within it, holy light erupted and expelled a 7-Star Gold Box.
But what he obtained was far from all.
He had gained three entire levels and forcibly broken through the level limit.
Such overwhelmingly potent force.
It had absorbed all the remaining residue and the Sacred Essence dwelling within the ‘Combination Zone’.
‘This is… truly it.’
Certainly, ‘Arhat’s Golden Mystery’ was an outstanding piece of equipment.
A transcendent artifact that held the possibility of ascending even to the ‘Zero Grade’—something he could never realistically obtain otherwise.
But the true treasure was this.

Sanctity born from the combination of all things!
A miracle brought forth by countless strokes of fortune.
What the current Park Chan-woo could not handle, Anubis was devouring entirely.
Screeeeeech!
《’Radiant Anubis’ ascends to an even more exalted existence.》
《’Radiant Anubis’ rank has been elevated from ‘Legendary’ to ‘Eternal’.》
《’Anubis’ has been perfected as ‘Eternally Radiant Anubis’!》
Anubis’s form remained unchanged.
Yet everything else transformed.
Dazzlingly so.
A being reborn into something far more sacred.
Ah.
Soon, all darkness faded away.
《The time limit on ‘Time Limit’ has been restored to normal.》
《The specifications of the offering ‘Anubis’ have exceeded the requirements.》
《The offering is being adjusted to fit the new specifications.》
《Not ‘existence itself’, but half of ‘Anubis’s’ lifespan shall be sacrificed.》
《More offerings are needed to resurrect the ‘God of Offerings’.》
Chirp!
Anubis, who had settled onto the ground, suddenly began hopping about excitedly.
She expressed her joy with her entire being.
Park Chan-woo bent at the waist and extended his palm toward Anubis.
Anubis then climbed onto his open hand.
As though nothing had happened at all.
Despite having sacrificed half her lifespan, though she lived on.
After witnessing this, Park Chan-woo spoke with genuine sincerity.
“Thank you, Anubis.”
Chirrup!
* * *
After the situation had calmed.
Park Chan-woo could not help but ponder gravely.
‘When I tried to dispel the status abnormality, the Chalice of the Sealing Demon God suddenly attempted to accelerate the time limit.’
The Fruit of the World Tree dispels adverse status abnormalities.
It had tried to strip away that function entirely, and moreover, to reduce what little time remained.
Because he had attempted to forcibly dispel the status abnormality.
A backlash had sprung forth like a coiled spring.
‘I mustn’t touch it.’
It seemed he would have to live with the status abnormality.
Having only invited resistance by trying to force the issue.
Yet something had been gained.
‘If I offer sacrifices to resurrect the God of Offerings, I’ll finally understand what’s truly inside the Chalice of the Sealing Demon God.’
For now, everything remained speculation.
But once the God of Offerings was resurrected, it would become clear.
He did not know how many offerings would be required, but this was something he had to do.
Park Chan-woo steadied his breathing.
‘Status Window.’
He opened the ‘Status Window’ to check for changes.
He needed to carefully assess what had transformed and what had not.
And then.
“Huh······!”
The status window he saw was nothing short of shocking.
* * *
‘Unbelievable.’
Dagon, the demonic merchant.
As he recalled the human he had contracted with, his body trembled slightly.
Sephiro. To think he’d made a contract with an existence that even the lords of the Abyss recoiled from!
Naturally, he had not believed it straightforwardly.
He had continued to harbor doubts.
Those doubts had now been proven baseless.
Because.
‘It has to be Sephiro. That absolute mastery of Magic······!’
He’d watched Sephiro sweep through countless dungeons, laying waste to boss after boss.
Magic deployed—and they were gone in a single strike.
True, it was possible if one’s stats were overwhelmingly superior. But his rank, or rather his Total Ability Score, was far below Dagon’s own when compared directly.
Yet this creature hunted bosses that seemed impossible to bring down, one after another. Magic flowed from him as naturally as breath, without pause or strain.
‘Spells of that caliber, wielded with those base stats—he should burn out after one, maybe two castings. Overload and collapse should follow.’
What was Magic, truly?
It was borrowed from the Dragonkin, the progenitor race.
Standardized formulas, nothing more.
Other races could not grasp Magic’s true nature, could not fathom its essence; they could only follow the prescribed incantations exactly as written.
The mana required to manifest each spell, the calculations, the conditions for its manifestation—all of it was fixed.
Only Dragonkin could reshape and repurpose it at will.
Consuming a Dragon Heart granted limited flexibility, though nothing approaching true Dragonkin capability.
Yet this being, inhabiting human flesh, achieved transformations beyond even Dragonkin.
He had mastered Magic itself.
Any normal mind and body would have shattered under such strain.
‘He commands raw mana. That transcends Talent.’
Mana was the source itself.
Demons did not call the ability to perceive and command the source a ‘Talent.’
They called it a ‘monster.’
And beyond all else.
‘He wielded the Absolute Magic of Concealment.’
The dungeon bosses hadn’t detected him—but neither had the Creators themselves, it seemed.
As far as Dagon knew, only one being could accomplish such a thing.
Sephiro.
The progenitor of Magic, and its absolute apex.
Only he had transcended the ultimate.
Only Sephiro could manifest Absolute Magic, the power beyond transcendence itself.
Which meant······
This wasn’t Sephiro wearing human skin as a disguise.
‘That thing IS Sephiro.’
This human was Sephiro incarnate.
“Dagon. You’re dead last in sales. What, have you given up?”
It was then.
A demon laughed mockingly at Dagon as he entered the Demon Merchant Association hall.
“Fool. You squandered an opportunity like that.”
The ‘opportunity’ the demon spoke of meant conducting transactions with humans while touring the dungeons.
A chance to meet humans wasn’t easy to come by.
Especially rare were occasions when the Creators themselves set the stage like this.
They called such events the Banquet.
And at this honey-sweet gathering, Dagon had achieved dead last among all demon merchants.
The surrounding demon merchants began muttering remarks as they looked at Dagon.
“Idiot. Bringing shame to your father’s name.”
“After all the convenience we granted you, and you still finish last? I’d never show my face again.”
“Ha! He was already flunking out before he even became a merchant.”
“It’s embarrassing just standing near him.”
Dagon paid no mind to the other demon merchants’ words.
“······.”
If they learned about his Exclusive Contract, their mockery would only intensify; silence was wiser.
He was certain that before long—in the near future—every ounce of their contempt would flip completely on its head.
With each insult from the demon merchants, Dagon’s eyes grew brighter.
‘Mock me all you like. I’ve seized an opportunity that will never come again.’

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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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