Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 50

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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 50. Monopoly
If the archmagus of magic is the dragon race, then the archmagus of Black Magic is the witch.
An entity that moves against truth, summoning rifts and causing “inexplicable phenomena.”
Though their numbers were few and their nature reclusive, barring them from inclusion among the Twelve Archmages, a witch’s power was easily comparable to theirs.
‘There have been occasions in the past when witches have appeared.’
Witches, by nature, never venture beyond their own domains.
Yet occasionally, some did slip beyond those boundaries.
It was almost always one of two things.
Either they had been caught in a rift, or they had committed a crime and been forcibly expelled by the Black Witch.
Park Chan-woo believed Adora fell into the latter category.
‘In the witch’s world, the gravest sin is to harbor emotion.’
Witches were already scarce.
The Black Witch rarely cast anyone out over trivial matters.
Much less a witch bearing the name of “Death,” one who possessed such tremendous potential—it was unthinkable she would be thrown into the Tower of Arrogance as punishment.
The greatest transgression.
She must have been punished for harboring emotion.
Yet he had no proof.
It remained mere speculation.
Only after claiming Death Magic from Kankun did that suspicion harden into certainty.
Because he felt emotion.
‘Adora felt something for Kankun. Whether it was love or hatred, I couldn’t be sure.’
It was a gamble.
Surely it had to be one or the other.
Seeing how urgently Adora climbed the tower, he’d guessed it was more likely love than hate.
If she harbored hatred, she would have rushed to fortify herself with Sacred Relics before ascending.
Yet, even voicing it aloud, doubt lingered.
‘…A witch in love.’
Was there any pairing more absurd in all the world?
《Death Curse surges forth.》
《Bucsil negates the Death Curse.》
As if startled.
The curse’s reach widened.
His direct question must have struck a nerve.
Yet Death Curse had no effect on him.
‘The power of death and Bucsil are natural opposites.’
Radiant Anubis, Bucsil!
An entity that summoned death, consumed death, and guided death clung steadfastly to his form.
As long as Bucsil remained bound to him, even formidable death magic could not touch him.
He was perfectly countered to a witch of death.
“It seems you don’t fear my power.”
The witch Adora regarded Park Chan-woo with an air of surprise, parting her lips to speak.
The “Death” she wielded reigned supreme over all living things.
Yet on the human before her, Death Curse proved utterly ineffectual.
Indeed, it was not merely Death Curse.
She knew it instinctively.
All the death she possessed would be powerless against this man.
Of course, she could still crush him using other Black Magic, but for Adora, this was profoundly unsettling.
Her power was something even witches shunned.
Yet here came this human, barging uninvited into her domain, claiming he could “solve the problem.”
What’s more, it seemed he had already encountered Kankun in another realm.
“I asked if you loved Kankun.”
Park Chan-woo pressed the question again.
Adora turned the thought over in her mind.
…Such a brazen creature, truly.
No living thing had ever carried itself with such boldness in her presence.
All cowered and prostrated themselves before her.
“I harbor no such emotion.”
“Then you wish to kill him?”
“I saw Death Magic carved into his heart.”
“That was your own way of expressing it. Had you wished him dead, he would be dead already.”
Park Chan-woo spoke with conviction.
Now, facing the Death Witch, he understood it clearly.
How he had chosen to spare Kankun.
The Orc Master Kankun was undoubtedly an extraordinary being, but the Death Witch transcended that category entirely.
If Kankun possessed the potential to surpass the 10th Tier,
then Adora was already a powerhouse of the 10th Tier.
Kankun’s Level was 83.
He stood with one foot in the 9th Tier.
But Adora’s Level was 90 or higher.
That suffocating mana—there was no mistaking it.
She had already crossed into the 10th Tier.
Yet unlike Kankun, Adora’s status window refused to appear before him.
‘Witches cannot be observed. Proper discernment is impossible.’
Witches were the progenitors of Black Magic, which defied the natural order.
Measuring them by conventional means was an arduous task.
He could only make rough estimates from the faint mana he sensed.
Even that was possible only because Park Chan-woo had once reached Level 99.
“…I was simply curious.”
For the first time, Adora spoke the truth aloud.
Yet to call it mere curiosity—
“Curious about what, exactly?”
“I have…watched Kankun for a very long time.”
Then Adora unveiled her secret past.
* * *
In the deepest reaches of the Abyss.
The world where witches dwelled.
Adora, born in that place, possessed a talent so exceptional that even the Black Witch herself had tutored her directly.
Yet that very talent sometimes spiraled beyond control, birthing Rifts.
Young Adora had been caught in these Rifts more than once, and occasionally tumbled into worlds beyond the Abyss.
And it was in one such accident that she met Kankun.
Though their time together was brief, that encounter left an indelible mark upon her memory.
—An ill-fated power, you say? Yet no true warrior slays a child.
When the orcs moved to execute Adora,
Kankun appeared and saved her.
Afterward, the Black Witch sent Adora back into the Abyss, but as she grew, she learned to wield the Witch’s Orb, and through that lens she began to watch over Kankun in secret.
She observed his journey—uniting the orc tribes, becoming their lord.
In his fearless, valiant bearing, something unnamed stirred to life within her.
The problem was that the Black Witch discovered what she was feeling.
—Adora. For harboring what no witch should possess, I banish you from this Abyss, forever.
Exiled, Adora fell into Kankun’s Territory.
And the slaughter began.
The Death that Adora wielded annihilated the orcs wholesale.
Kankun emerged and attacked her, the Death Witch who had come to butcher his people, and in that clash, Adora was forced to etch Death upon his very heart.
“Do you regret it?”
Park Chan-woo asked, having heard the tragedy.
Adora answered him.
“The having of emotion, you mean?”
“No—whether you regret meeting Kankun.”
“…I don’t know.”
The world beyond the Abyss was nothing but unknowns.
Yet the absence of denial itself was a kind of answer.
‘So that’s why the Death aura weakened.’
Adora was a monster.
Had the Death aura she wielded remained intact, everyone who chose her faction to climb the Tower would have perished long ago.
Her mere appearance had slaughtered an entire orc tribe.
Now, however, her domain of Death extended only to a radius of some five hundred meters.
Weakened—that was the cause.
The Tower of Arrogance, then, must wish for Adora to reclaim her strength.
Yet no Sacred Relic could fortify the Death aura itself.
Because Adora herself had grown disillusioned with her own power, tormented by regret.
“…you’re saying you can solve this problem?”
She was the one who had annihilated Kankun’s entire tribe.
Intent mattered little—the result did not change.
He had every right to hate her, to curse her name.
Unless he could bring the orcs back to life, who else could possibly solve this?
…It was impossible to solve.
In that moment of resignation.
Park Chan-woo nodded and extended his hand.
“I’ll resolve it.”
“…Why are you offering your hand?”
“It means I’m asking for your cooperation going forward.”
“No one who has touched me has lived.”
Even other witches avoided contact with Adora.
Everything that brushed against her was destined to perish.
Physical contact bore an absolute power that transcended mere curse.
“It’s fine.”
Park Chan-woo spoke with certainty.
As long as Bucsil existed, he would never be consumed by death.
“…Don’t regret this.”
Click.
The witch Adora grasped the hand Park Chan-woo offered.
At the same moment.
《Death Authority spreads forth.》
《Bucsil has neutralized the Death Authority.》
《The Death Authority has veered off, but the backlash brings overwhelming exhaustion.》
Shudder—shudder—shudder!
‘Gasp!’
Convulsing across his entire frame, Park Chan-woo lost consciousness.
* * *
“Who’s that standing next to Adora?”
“Is that a zombie?”
“No. I’ve never seen this person before…”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
The third floor of the Tower of Arrogance.
Climbing this far, no one had ever witnessed another living soul beside Adora—only the monsters she had resurrected.
Yet the figure beside her was unmistakably alive.
And for good reason.
“…She’s conversing with Adora.”
“What do you mean?”
“Who is that?”
Zombies possessed no autonomous will.
They did not converse with Adora.
But this man was different.
Standing directly beside her, he spoke to her as an equal.
And that sight—
‘What is this?’
Han Shin noticed it as well.
On the way back after securing an Intermediate Sacred Relic.
A man stood beside Adora.
Dressed in a manner he had never seen before.
Han Shin immediately invoked the Divine Eye, but—
“…Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue softly.
Within Adora’s overwhelming domain of death, nothing could be perceived, neither seen nor sensed.
Naturally, he could discern nothing of what they were discussing.
At first, he had assumed the man was a summon of Adora’s.
But the longer he observed—
‘He’s human.’
Conviction grew that this peculiar figure, dressed in the garb of a sorcerer, was indeed human.
Yet how could a mortal withstand the Death Curse and stand at Adora’s very side?
That was something Han Shin couldn’t do either.
He might hold out for a little while, but if he forced his way forward, death was certain.
‘I’ve never seen this person once while climbing the tower.’
Where on earth had he come from?
This stranger was now acting like Adora’s most trusted confidant.
Even Han Shin, who displayed six Sacred Relics and sought to add one more, was kept at a distance by Adora.
That wasn’t all.
《’Intermediate Stamina Sacred Relic’ has been replaced with ‘Lower Grade Arrogance Sacred Relic’.》
《Sacred Relics bearing the name ‘Arrogance’ hold the highest value.》
《’Arrogance Sacred Relics’ displayed in the case can only be replaced by ‘Arrogance Sacred Relics’ of higher grade.》
《’Lower Grade Courage Sacred Relic’ has been replaced with ‘Intermediate Mana Sacred Relic’.》
“…What?”
Han Shin’s brow furrowed without his knowing it.
Because Adora was yielding the Sacred Relics she had hunted and obtained
……all of them to that wretched mage.
And that sorcerer, impossibly, was selecting only the Sacred Relics that Han Shin had displayed and swapping them out.

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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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