Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 55

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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 55. First Experience
……Shake hands with me?
Dagon paused to consider it.
Could he possibly mean to forge a friendly bond, or forge an alliance?
But what business could a demon merchant like Dagon have with a witch?
It’s not as though he was being asked to cook together.
“You’re saying I should join forces with that witch?”
“Exactly. Just shake her hand.”
“……A handshake?”
The request was utterly nonsensical.
Yet demons and witches were enemies by nature.
Demons regarded witches as little more than parasites infesting the Abyss.
They lurked in the deepest reaches of the Abyss where no demon’s hand could reach, corrupting it like a cancer from within.
To ask him to shake hands with such a creature—what on earth could that mean?
No matter how many Coins hung in the balance, there were some lines one did not cross.
“I have no intention of getting along with a witch…….”
“No need to get along. Just one handshake, that’s all.”
Dagon tilted his head.
He couldn’t fathom Park Chan-woo’s intention.
Witches were a cursed race, wielding incomprehensible Dark Magic.
Yet witch curses rarely took hold against demons.
That was why witches hid in the Abyss’s deepest layers.
“You’re truly saying just a handshake will suffice?”
“Have you lived your whole life being deceived?”
“Suspicion is a merchant’s cardinal virtue.”
“I stake my name on it.”
“If you speak with such conviction…….”
Dagon acquiesced.
Sephiro—sovereign of all magic, apex of dragonkind.
The weight carried by that name was equivalent to an entire world.
“But would the witch even consent to shake hands with me? Demons hate witches, but witches despise demons equally.”
“Hmm.”
A fair point.
He would need the consent of both parties first.
Park Chan-woo turned and approached Adora.
“Would you shake hands with Dagon?”
“…If that’s what you wish.”
“Does my will matter?”
“I have no desire to soil myself by touching a demon’s filthy hand of my own volition.”
Even though it was I who summoned him.
Park Chan-woo let out a small sigh.
Fortunately, Adora seemed to regard Dagon as separate from him.
Yet her resolve was unshakable.
Just as Dagon despised witches, Adora despised demons.
“Give it a try, would you?”
“……Isn’t that demon your summoning?”
“More or less.”
“This could go badly.”
“Just don’t kill him.”
Park Chan-woo shrugged.
A demon and a witch.
Though they dwelt in the same Abyss, each regarded the other as vermin.
Two beings bound by extremes of revulsion would now join hands.
If Dagon survived this without dying, it would suggest Adora had gained some measure of control over death itself.
It was a slim chance, but the gamble had reason behind it.
‘I will save both Cankun and Adora.’
He meant it.
He had sworn he would not let the Tower of Arrogance’s scenario unfold as intended.
If the tower meant to let only one of them survive, to crown whichever one remained as a false ‘Creator’—
Then he would destroy that design.
In the end, it was cut from the same cloth as the Creator.
This place was no different from the Abyss that Arrogance had forged.
And Park Chan-woo’s objective was to bankrupt Arrogance.
The surest way to bankrupt a Creator was to move in direct opposition to its intentions.
Park Chan-woo was known as the Creator’s Natural Enemy, and he was utterly committed to bringing them to ruin.
‘Arrogance is no different from any other Creator.’
Before he’d learned its true purpose, he’d believed as much.
It had, after all, served as fertile ground for humanity’s growth.
It had granted the strength to resist the Abyss and its Creators.
But if Arrogance’s goal was to create new Creators, then everything changed.
It was more dangerous than the Creators themselves.
‘I’ll bring you down.’
He placed Arrogance on the same level as the Creators.
Whatever proposal it offered, he had no intention of accepting it.
Every such offer was a poisoned chalice.
By any means, by whatever method necessary, he would make it so that Adora could master death.
If Dagon fell, the loss would be severe, but if he succeeded, he could surely save Cankun.
From that moment, destroying the Tower of Arrogance became Park Chan-woo’s true objective.
“…….”
“…….”
Adora and Dagon.
The witch and the demon faced each other.
Adora’s expression was colder than ever.
She had no desire for this, and would have liked nothing more than to kill him on the spot.
‘A mage who’d made a pact with a demon.’
The demon Park Chan-woo had summoned.
He was a mage, so doubtless he’d entered into a contract with this demon.
Had she known this from the beginning, she would never have kept him at her side.
The relationship between witches and demons was far worse than others imagined.
Moreover, Adora had been taught directly by the Black Witch, whose contempt for demons was of a depth beyond measure.
―This Abyss was originally ours, we witches.
―Demons are invaders who stole our territory.
―They are vermin that must be exterminated.
―Wipe them all out. Crush every last one beneath your heel.
She had heard such words every day of her life.
Naturally, Adora had come to despise demons.
The only reason she’d refrained from killing Dagon was Park Chan-woo.
After ascending to the 5th Floor of the Tower, he’d begun to deliberate.
Whether to leave the Tower, or remain.
She’d intuited it instinctively, yet had no grounds to stop him.
He had, after all, sacrificed himself for her sake until now.
And yet he’d stayed, summoning this abhorrent demon to press his will forward regardless.
‘Those bound by contract with a demon suffer grievously when that demon dies.’
Everyone she’d joined hands with, save Park Chan-woo, had perished.
And still, knowing this, he asked her to clasp hands with the summoned demon.
When the demon fell, the mage bound to it would endure terrible harm as well.
Adora realized she no longer wanted to see Park Chan-woo die.
“……I’ll take your hand, witch.”
“Very well.”
Dagon extended his hand slowly, his face tense and deeply furrowed, as though he couldn’t bear to look.
He turned his head away entirely, unable to watch.
Soon Adora and Dagon shook hands.
Palm met palm.
Bzzzzt!
Both their skins vibrated faintly.
It was undeniably an appalling sensation.
But the tranquil moment lasted only that long.
“Gack?!”
Dagon cried out as though his breath were being choked off.
He tried urgently to wrench his hand away, but Adora did not let go.
“Screeeee! Krrrrrrrrrrr-!”
Dagon’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
He emitted sounds like a wild beast, his eyes rolling in all directions at once.
Adora shut her eyes entirely.
She concentrated all her will, commanding death itself.
She strained with everything she had to keep from killing Dagon.
How much time had passed? She couldn’t say.
“…It’s done.”
Park Chan-woo smiled.
Adora had conquered death completely.
It wasn’t merely that Dagon had survived.
Even after releasing Dagon’s hand, Adora kept her eyes closed.
Then the Domain of Death that roiled around her began spreading its radius rapidly outward.
The difference from before was this:
Not everything that touched the domain died.
Rather.
《All monsters on the 5th Floor of the Tower of Arrogance have been annihilated.》
《You obtain all Sacred Objects that exist on the 5th Floor of the Tower of Arrogance.》
《All Sacred Objects in the display cases will be automatically rearranged.》
《Griffon, the Layer Guardian of the 5th Floor of the Tower of Arrogance, has suffocated in the Death Aura that Adora scattered.》
《The path leading to the 6th Floor of the Tower of Arrogance opens.》
《Rewards are distributed to all of Adora’s supporters.》
《You are Adora’s sole inner circle and a powerful supporter.》
《You have arranged 10 Sacred Objects in the display cases.》
《As a reward, you receive 15 Coins and 30 Boxes of Arrogance.》
《From the 6th Floor of the Tower of Arrogance onward, only those acknowledged by Adora may ascend with her.》
The monsters of the 5th Floor of the Tower of Arrogance—those hostile to Adora—were wiped out entirely.
The Layer Guardian had suffocated from mere wisps of her aura.
‘Truly extraordinary.’
The power was devastating indeed.
A creature of the tenth rank, as expected.
Having succeeded in mastering and commanding death, Adora had become far more formidable than before.
Park Chan-woo observed her for a long while.
Then, slowly, Adora opened her eyes.
And looking toward Park Chan-woo, she said,
“…Thank you, Park Chan-woo.”
“….”
Park Chan-woo found himself unable to speak.
Mere moments, though they felt like an eternity.
It might have been a trick of the light—
‘Can the witch smile?’
But Adora had smiled. He was certain of it.
Still, no one would believe him if he said he’d seen the witch smile.
How could they? Everyone knew the witch never smiled.
Dagon bolted upright.
“Oh, beautiful one!”
“…?”
“I fell for you at first sight! But do you happen to know who I am?”
Dagon had suddenly gotten to his feet and started spouting nonsense before collapsing again.
* * *
“…Hmm.”
Han Shin gazed quietly at the stairs leading to the 6th Floor.
This was the place where the Layer Guardian Griffon had dwelt.
Griffon was a creature of the highest order, a holy beast.
A being fundamentally opposed to Adora, who commanded death.
Yet even Griffon could not withstand the aura Adora had unleashed, and had perished.
It was a testament to just how powerful Adora had become.
And that was not all.
Every monster on the 5th Floor was destroyed in a single instant.
Afterward, Adora vanished.
He must have climbed the tower.
Han Shin moved slowly toward the staircase.
《Only those who have received ‘Adora’s Choice’ may proceed to the 6th Floor.》
《You have not received ‘Adora’s Choice’.》
“…….”
Unable to ascend because he hadn’t received Adora’s Choice.
At this point, it went beyond mere bewilderment—it had bred genuine irritation.
He’d done everything to strengthen Adora.
Secured Sacred Objects for her, won her favor multiple times over.
He’d recognized at once that Adora was the crucial key to ascending this tower.
And yet.
Adora had not chosen him.
She hadn’t even spared him a glance.
He’d never been dismissed with such indifference before.
Despite all his efforts.
“You… what are you, Mage?”
Crack-crack!
Han Shin’s jaw tightened.
Some Mage had monopolized Adora’s attention entirely.
How could this be?
Even the Creators were desperate to contract with him.
Every being he encountered—regardless of gender, age, or species—found themselves unable to look away.
That was what he was.
A man who shone without effort.
The figure who commanded every gaze, standing as the ideal that all desired!
And yet.
‘…It’s been taken from me.’
Even when some unknown wretch had stolen his position, the irritation hadn’t blazed like this.
But the thought that Adora’s attention had been stolen from him ignited a fury that threatened to consume him.
The fact that he was not chosen.
The reality that he couldn’t even climb these stairs!
The Sacred Objects he’d painstakingly obtained had been replaced entirely, reducing all his efforts to nothing.
Han Shin burned with rage over it all.
The problem was having no outlet for that rage.
Because.
……there was no way to even know who he was.
Adora had concealed that man completely.
Blocked Han Shin’s Eye of the Heart, and more than that.
Even obscured him from the Creators’ sight.
As though she meant to keep him entirely to herself.
Hidden completely away.
Of course, within the Tower of Arrogance, the Creators couldn’t fully exert their power, so it was unavoidable.
‘This is a feeling I’ve never known before.’
This emotion was entirely new.
Bewilderment and irritation, yes—but the overwhelming wave that crashed through him was something else entirely.
“…Ah. So this is what wretchedness feels like.”
It was wretchedness itself.
No being had ever stirred such a feeling in him before.
What was to be done?
How could he rid himself of this sensation?
Han Shin reached a conclusion.
“My Contractor. I shall participate in the Second Night, so we must prepare thoroughly this time.”
Han Shin had not participated in the First Night.
The reason was that Aheta, the Creator contracted with Han Shin, had been confident in his failure.
Yet there, Yi Hyuk-soo had defeated the Dragon God.
The expectation had crumbled, and Aheta’s reputation as a Creator had been tarnished.
Perhaps for that reason.
―Expect it, then.
Aheta, who rarely spoke, had answered after a long silence.
As though resolving to make the Second Night succeed properly.
‘You’ll participate too, won’t you. Mage.’
Han Shin was certain of it.
That Mage would undoubtedly take part in the Second Night.
Until then, Han Shin intended to prepare with full force, as he hadn’t done in ages.
And.
‘I will find you.’
Find that Mage in the Second Night.
……And destroy you.
Because he could not allow someone who drew more attention than himself, someone who shone brighter than him, to exist in this world.

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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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