Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 47

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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 47. Reverence
A vessel radiating violet light.
Kankun’s pupils trembled faintly at the sight of the Sacred Object in Park Chan-woo’s grip.
It was not something weak humans could have retrieved.
‘How?’
Kankun knew that Mid-tier Sacred Objects were hidden where Layer Guardians dwelt.
But a Layer Guardian was a monster that could never be defeated without Kankun’s aid.
Could he truly have faced that creature and brought back the Sacred Object?
‘…It can’t be.’
Impossible.
It was a monster so fearsome that humans surviving even one second against it would be called miraculous.
The Magical Power radiating from the Layer Guardian was intense enough for Kankun to sense from a distance.
Even now, that searing Magical Power threatened him where he stood.
Yet there was no room for doubt.
What Park Chan-woo held in his hand was unmistakably a Sacred Object suffused with Mid-tier Magical Power.
The very Sacred Object the Layer Guardian had been guarding directly.
‘He didn’t just bring back the Sacred Object.’
And there was something equally unbelievable.
‘……They all returned alive.’
Though many looked gaunt, not a single one had been left behind.
All fifty humans had returned safely.
And at the center of it all stood Park Chan-woo.
“You managed to overcome Death Magic, then?”
Park Chan-woo now stood directly before Kankun.
His eyes and expression held not a trace of fear in the face of Kankun—one might even call it arrogant.
Yet he had kept his promise, and proved his worth.
“……How did you manage it?”
“It was tough.”
Park Chan-woo shrugged.
He had familiarized himself well enough with strategies for clearing the Tower of Arrogance.
Given that the tower had been the subject of so much discussion and incident, records of those who had reached the eighth floor were preserved in considerable detail.
Kankun spoke with skeptical eyes.
“It must have been filled with countless barriers and traps…….”
“I almost died a few times.”
His tone suggested it was nothing of note.
Yet in truth, he had come close to death roughly three times.
Twice among those, the situation had been dire enough that total annihilation would have been unsurprising.
‘Evading the Layer Guardian’s perception proved trickier than expected.’
The Magical Power-infused beasts that inhabited the first floor.
If one flayed their hides and wore them inside-out, the Layer Guardian would not approach—one could evade its perception as long as you didn’t draw too close.
And if you could evade the Layer Guardian’s perception, crossing its barriers became possible.
The true difficulty lay in the traps set along the path to the Sacred Object.
Make too much noise, and the Layer Guardian would notice; the moment it did, their annihilation was all but certain.
This was why Park Chan-woo had brought the Seoul Alliance members.
Disarming or circumventing the traps took time.
A trial that could only be overcome by many working together.
Moreover, his resolve to retrieve the Mid-tier Sacred Object at the cost of his life stemmed from more than just a wager with Kankun.
‘The moment Kankun hunts the Layer Guardian, the Mid-tier Sacred Object vanishes.’
Normally, Mid-tier Sacred Objects could only be found on the fifth floor and above.
Though a Mid-tier Sacred Object did exist on the first floor, it remained valid only while the Layer Guardian lived.
In the past, he had not known this condition.
So people could do nothing but watch as the Sacred Object evaporated before their eyes.
Park Chan-woo gazed at Kankun’s chest and clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“But Kankun… it seems you couldn’t overcome it.”
The region around Kankun’s heart had turned pitch black.
A sign that life was fading.
In the end, Kankun had failed to overcome Death Magic on his own.
It was as expected.
Had he been capable of it, he would have done so long ago.
…….
Kankun closed his mouth.
Even if he had ten mouths, there was nothing left to say.
No matter how desperately he struggled, the Death Magic held firm.
Lodged in his heart, it was killing him by degrees.
But the humans—Park Chan-woo especially—what of them?
‘Was it all just bluster?’
That promise to make him win.
He’d dismissed it as pure fantasy.
So naturally he’d assumed there was no way to save him.
In truth, he’d never even imagined such a scenario.
Yet Park Chan-woo had overcome the impossible.
He’d proven himself exactly as he’d boasted.
But Kankun was not him.
Park Chan-woo held up a Sacred Object toward Kankun.
“If you place this Sacred Object in the Display Case, the Death Magic will vanish, won’t it? Is that what you want?”
It was precisely as he said.
A single Mid-tier Sacred Object held the value of dozens of the lowest-grade ones.
The moment it was placed in the Display Case, the Death Magic would disappear without a trace.
If he wanted to live, he would have to beg to place it there.
“…Never place it there.”
Yet Kankun shook his head.
He could not bring himself to do it.
His pride as a warrior would not allow it.
Better to die than receive pity from humans.
Kankun set his expression hard and spoke.
“And the promised time has not yet run out.”
Of the twenty-three hours, roughly twenty-one had passed.
That left only about two hours remaining.
But Kankun burned with one last will to endure.
He could not accept defeat so pathetically.
* * *
Shortly after Kankun entered his meditation.
They rested at a safe distance from him.
“Ugh… my whole body aches.”
“It feels like a miracle we all made it back alive.”
“I couldn’t move another inch even if you beat me to death!”
Most of them lay sprawled flat on the ground.
Some had already fallen asleep where they lay.
The aftermath of the forced march.
It was only natural when body and mind had been driven to their limits.
A single small mistake could have killed them all—it had been an unending series of such moments.
Coming back alive was a miracle.
……
Im Chang-yeol watched Park Chan-woo with a peculiar glint in his eyes.
‘Park Chan-woo… he’s acted as if he knew everything from the start.’
The whole affair felt like a game Park Chan-woo had orchestrated.
From beginning to end, everything had unfolded exactly as he wished.
He’d provoked Kankun into a wager, moved Im Chang-yeol and the Seoul Alliance, and secured the Mid-tier Sacred Object.
And the very process of obtaining the Sacred Object had been anything but ordinary.
‘Bold thinking, bold execution. Where does a man like this even come from?’
The very idea of skinning a beast from the first layer and wearing its hide was remarkable.
It’s a hunter’s tactic to confuse prey, yes—but is a Layer Guardian ordinary prey?
What’s more, Park Chan-woo had personally set the example.
He’d crossed the barrier where a Layer Guardian dwelt alone and convinced them.
The sheer audacity with which he translated thought into action without hesitation was worthy of admiration.
It was something not everyone could do.
How many people can move without faltering in an unknown situation where their life hangs in the balance?
If it had been himself—could he have done it?
‘No.’
Im Chang-yeol shook his head within his heart.
At least he knew his own life was worth preserving.
But Park Chan-woo was not such a man.
He acted as though tomorrow would never come.
Everything had flowed smoothly by sheer miracle, each piece falling into place, but one misstep and he would be crossing into the underworld in that very instant.
No matter how Im Chang-yeol thought about it, Park Chan-woo was not the type to live long.
…And yet.
If—against all odds—he should survive for any length of time at all.
‘He would become a great man. One who leaves his mark on history.’
Perhaps he would become someone whose name would endure in the historical record.
If such a thing as greatness existed, it would surely be of this sort.
Of course, that was only if he survived.
In all his years, Im Chang-yeol had never encountered anyone with such reckless abandon who actually lived long enough to matter.
“…What happens if Kankun dies like this?”
Kim Byung-han suddenly spoke, his face ashen.
If Kankun could not overcome Death Magic?
If the Mid-tier Sacred Object refused to be displayed in the Display Case, then all their suffering to obtain it would be meaningless.
Park Chan-woo answered in an offhand tone.
“The Tower of Arrogance will end and we’ll all be forced to withdraw.”
“After all this misery?”
“He’ll overcome it.”
Kim Byung-han furrowed his brow.
He couldn’t fathom where such confidence came from, yet Park Chan-woo had never been wrong before.
“…Fine. Let’s see how this plays out.”
Kim Byung-han sprawled out on the ground with the air of someone resigned to fate.
He too was utterly exhausted from the relentless forced march.
If Park Chan-woo was wrong, there would be time enough for recriminations later.
For now, rest came first.
‘If he doesn’t change, he won’t overcome this.’
But contrary to what Park Chan-woo had said aloud, his true thoughts ran in the opposite direction entirely.
Kankun fears magic.
He was avoiding the Death Witch.
There was no chance he could conquer that terror in such a short span of time.
He might never conquer it at all.
In the face of death itself, his only recourse would be to rely upon the Mid-tier Sacred Object.
But that, too, was not the ending Park Chan-woo desired.
If Kankun could not rise to his feet on his own, then no matter how high they climbed the tower, they would ultimately suffer defeat.
‘Magic is not something to fear and loathe, Kankun.’
* * *
…I cannot lose.
Not to mere humans.
Not to magic!
‘I am Kankun, the great Orc Master.’
A being whom all revere and worship.
An absolute who has never tasted defeat.
There is nothing in this world that I cannot overcome.
‘A warrior who yields to magic is no warrior at all?’
That human.
Park Chan-woo had said it.
If he surrendered now, he would be admitting by his own hand that he was no warrior, just as the man claimed.
‘I am a warrior. A warrior greater than any other!’
Kankun clenched his teeth and gathered strength into his heart.
He strained with all his might to overcome the magic, but each time he did, the phantom of the Death Witch Adora wavered before his eyes.
The magic Adora wielded was truly wondrous.
A kind of magic and power he had never before experienced.
In an instant, Adora had shattered his blade and seized control of his heart.
‘Magic is… loathsome and ominous.’
Yet blade and magic cannot coexist.
Especially orcs—they could not wield magic at all.
Magic had always been regarded by them as an ominous force.
Kankun was no exception.
He had received the same teachings from birth, after all.
If anything, his disdain for magic ran deeper than that of most orcs.
“What do you think magic is?”
That was when it happened.
Without warning, Park Chan-woo appeared.
“……I told you not to disturb me.”
Kankun’s brow furrowed.
It had been barely an hour since he’d warned everyone away from his presence.
Regardless, Park Chan-woo simply said what he’d come to say.
“Is magic the manifestation of complex formulas through Magical Power? Or is it merely a phenomenon difficult to understand? Or perhaps something worse — a sinister force used only by sinister beings?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You use magic too.”
“Nonsense! I use no such thing.”
“Isn’t the Sword Energy you wield a form of magic?”
“Sword Energy is the ultimate art and pinnacle technique, wielded only by warriors who have reached enlightenment.”
“No, that’s magic too.”
Park Chan-woo shook his head.
Everything that arises from and employs Magical Power is magic.
Sword Energy was nothing more than the Magical Power dwelling in the blade manifested in tangible form.
The difficulty lies only in infusing and shaping Magical Power into matter without prescribed formulas.
Warriors who have reached enlightenment accomplish this instinctively through long experience.
“Ha. If what you say is true, then everything in the world would be magic.”
Kankun let out a scoff.
It wasn’t worth listening to further.
If Park Chan-woo had been an ordinary human, he would have crushed his skull long ago.
“Kankun, great warrior. Magic is nothing remarkable.”
Park Chan-woo nodded as he spoke.
Having witnessed the dragon-kin, having experienced the dragon god Sephiro, he had come to an understanding.
That magic, truly, was nothing remarkable.
Everything that exists in this world is magic.
Therefore.
“Do not strain yourself, do not be afraid. Magic can only be erased by magic, so simply strike it down as naturally as you wield Sword Energy.”
Magic is perception.
It is the power of words, the domain of belief.
One cannot erase magic by denying it.
Only one who wields magic can oppose magic.
Of course, this was easier said than done — extraordinarily difficult, in fact.
Especially for Kankun, it would be even more bewildering.
Without a revelation profound enough to shift one’s perception, without an opportunity to trigger that shift, nothing would ever change.
“That’s strange. You’re not a mage, are you?”
Kankun spoke.
As he sensed it, this human was no mage.
Park Chan-woo neither confirmed nor denied it.
“It’s something the orc priest Yan told me.”
He simply added a small lie to it.
At the mention of his kin, Kankun’s expression softened just slightly.
“……A mad orc, indeed.”
“Even as a Lich, Yan guarded the altar and the souls of warriors.”
“Even as a Lich……?”
“He overcame death in that way. Isn’t he a truly great warrior?”
Becoming a Lich meant using dark magic.
It meant an orc had wielded magic.
Of course, Yan had been forced to become a Lich.
He had taken on the role of gatekeeper to guard the disposition of Han-sin.
But even if seasoning had been added to the tale, Yan’s will was genuine.
And such a story was bound to shake someone deeply.
Of course, had an ordinary human spoken these words, Kankun would have dismissed them or scoffed.
Park Chan-woo was no ordinary human.
He was one who, without fear, had wagered against an orc master and made the impossible possible — a man accompanied by the souls of countless orcs.
“A great warrior, an orc wielding magic…….”
Shiver!
In that instant, Kankun’s body trembled.
A tiny shift in perception, yet vaster than any he’d known before.
Kankun closed his eyes.
‘I too am wielding magic.’
What was magic, after all?
Had he been overthinking it, shackled by the prejudice that orcs could not cast spells?
If Sword Energy was magic, then he was both warrior and mage.
If the orc priest Yan could command Death Magic and transcend it, there was no reason Kankun, an orc master, could not.
‘Magic can be erased by magic.’
Kankun summoned his Magical Power.
In that moment, Sword Energy crystallized within his body.
‘I will cut through the heart with Sword Energy…….’
An idea he would never have dared entertain in any other state of mind.
Yet now, Kankun stood within the realm of enlightenment.
A place where all things were magic, and that fact alone rendered them natural.
Then Adora’s Death Magic would be no different — no more fearsome than anything else.
‘This is not Sword Energy. It is magic. It is my faith, my will.’
Do not strain. Do not fear.
In his heart, Kankun drew his blade.
And slowly, deliberately, he severed his heart.
‘Ahhh!’
Crash!
The wall crumbled.
The Death Magic that Adora had woven was sheared away by Kankun’s will.
Yet it was not enough.
Death bearing down at his very threshold could not be cut through in a single stroke.
‘How regrettable…….’
He had attained enlightenment, but far too late.
Had he only been granted a moment more.
Had he only awakened an instant sooner!
‘And yet… I am no longer afraid.’
Kankun accepted death.
For now the magic held no terror for him, nor did the Death Witch Adora.
…Then came that moment.
Brilliant light blazed forth!
Into his darkening world, radiance poured.
As his eyes opened, Park Chan-woo’s hand blazed with incandescent fire.
And then the Flower of Life bloomed, consuming the death that had been rushing toward him.
‘This power…… a power that devours death……!’
…Could this be a dream?
This was a power no mortal could possess.
A Divine Authority forbidden to those bound by mortality.
How could a mere human wield a force that even Kankun had never dared imagine?
Kankun’s consciousness faded there.
In the dimming haze, Kankun gazed upon Park Chan-woo.
There was no escaping it now.
He had been defeated.
Yet what burned in Kankun’s eyes was far more than mere acknowledgment of loss.
In his gaze fixed upon Park Chan-woo lay an unmistakable awe.

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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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