Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 59

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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 59. One Who Is Death Itself
The dragons spoke of it.
‘Wish’ was the ideal realm they sought to reach.
Hope. A dream.
Called the Master of Magic, or sovereign—those who wielded high-grade magic freely by virtue of birth alone still found ‘Wish’ an unreachable boundary they dared not approach.
Not every being who ascended to the eleventh tier and gained the standing of a Transcendent One could wield ‘Wish’.
Park Chan-woo had glimpsed a user of ‘Wish’ exactly once—just before his final clash with the Dragon God Sephiro.
—I will hold the line. You go on to the Dragon God Temple, Park Chan-woo.
The monster blocking the path to the Dragon God Temple.
Humanity’s last Final Corps faced a Mad Dragon, and champions like Sword King Yi Hyeok-su threw away their lives to buy Park Chan-woo mere moments to ascend.
The frenzy of that mad dragon he witnessed then surpassed shock—it bordered on the miraculous.
‘Wish’ operated as naturally as breath itself, countless spells cascading in simultaneous chain reactions.
That alone was not all.
‘Wish’ read the thoughts of every Final Corps member and countered each with perfect precision.
There was no path to victory.
Humanity’s defeat was sealed before Park Chan-woo ever reached the temple.
And yet.
—That mad dragon’s ‘Wish’ cannot read your thoughts alone. That is why you must go. Only you can face the Dragon God Sephiro, Park Chan-woo.
Sword King Yi Hyeok-su had revised his assessment of Park Chan-woo.
When their blades first crossed, he’d been disappointed; later, he’d dismissed him as merely eccentric. But in the moment he witnessed the Mad Dragon wielding ‘Wish’, he understood.
Humans could not stand against miracles.
If the Mad Dragon was this formidable, what of the Dragon God Sephiro?
Yet Park Chan-woo was the exception.
Strange as it was, ‘Wish’ could not perceive Park Chan-woo’s thoughts or his very existence.
This was because his magic operated on an entirely different framework than the magic wielded by the Dragon Race.
Rather than high-grade magic, he had pushed Basic Magic to its absolute limit. His foundational magical value was so low that even the Mad Dragon’s ‘Wish’ failed to register him.
Yi Hyeok-su had no way of knowing this truth, yet he grasped it instinctively nonetheless.
That Park Chan-woo alone could contend with a Wish user.
That was how extraordinary ‘Wish’ truly was.
A weapon so formidable it could kill every Final Corps member without effort—powerful enough that even Sword King Yi Hyeok-su surrendered before truly fighting.
‘Yi Hyeok-su. Wish does not overlook me. Dragon Pride simply excludes me.’
But Park Chan-woo knew.
The exact reason why ‘Wish’ could not perceive him.
The arrogance and vanity of the Master of Magic.
That Park Chan-woo, who wielded nothing but Basic Magic, would ever catch their eye was unthinkable.
Even the Dragon God Sephiro had not been vigilant.
He had simply not bothered to notice.
To the Dragon Race, Park Chan-woo was less than a worm crawling in the dirt.
Lower than the Final Corps held him.
So ‘Wish’ excluded him as well.
‘I want to reach it.’
So.
Park Chan-woo desired to reach it.
Their ideal realm.
To crush the arrogant pride of the Dragon Race beneath his heel and stand above them as the ‘Grand Mage’.
And so to stand at the pinnacle of magic was Park Chan-woo’s dream.
When Adora wielded ‘Wish’, he had gazed at her spellbound—a hunger for magic, a naked desire, nothing more.
Of course, the yearning for what one does not possess, what one cannot possess, is only natural.
All the more so when that thing surpassed even mythical artifacts and treasures beyond price.
How vast could such a desire grow?
‘I want it. I want it enough to die for it!’
Death itself was worthy of such hunger.
If he could possess it in death, he would gladly perish.
Park Chan-woo’s thirst for magic operated on a different plane entirely.
Wish, Absolute Magic alike.
He would become a Grand Mage who wielded countless ultra-high-grade spells with perfect freedom.
……But was such a thing even possible in reality?
He was dying.
Standing at death’s threshold, facing an inescapable end.
【Do you want it?】
Someone spoke from beyond the threshold.
“I want to have it.”
Park Chan-woo answered without hesitation.
【Do you wish to touch it?】
“I wish to touch it.”
Then, from beyond the threshold, a laugh—somehow familiar—began to echo.
【Very well. Have it all, touch it all. But in return, you must surpass something.】
Surpass whom?
The being beyond death’s threshold spoke once more.
【Me.】
* * *
An incomprehensible phenomenon began to unfold across Park Chan-woo’s entire body.
“Death itself…!”
The Death Domain that Adora had unleashed.
Yet something far more intense and powerful—a “death aura” of another dimension entirely—was now flowing forth through Park Chan-woo’s flesh.
It was utterly incomprehensible.
How could a human warrior emit a death aura denser than that of Adora, she who was called the Death Witch herself?
“…….”
Adora was equally bewildered.
She had clearly offered Wish as a sacrifice, intending to pull Park Chan-woo back from death’s threshold.
She had judged Wish capable of this, and so it had settled within Park Chan-woo’s body.
But then—
It began to flow forth.
The “death” that dwelled within Park Chan-woo, hidden deep in the abyss of his being.
Had such an immense death truly existed within him, she should have sensed it long ago.
Yet she had not.
Which meant—
It had been sealed.
Something sealed away with utmost secrecy.
And Wish had caused even a fraction of it to leak forth.
It was something that transcended Adora’s comprehension.
She could not even begin to measure it.
‘Even the Black Witch would struggle with this…!’
The strongest being she had ever witnessed—the Black Witch herself—was surpassed by what flowed from within Park Chan-woo.
What could it be?
What manner of thing could emit such overwhelming pressure?
And that was merely a fraction.
Only the tiniest sliver of what lay sealed within had begun to seep out.
Yet even that infinitesimal amount surpassed the Black Witch.
It was utterly incomprehensible.
If such a thing could exist—
“One Who Is Death Itself……”
An existence far beyond those who merely bring death or consume it.
Truly, such a being could only be called “One Who Is Death Itself.”
The problem was that the leaking death aura was crushing Park Chan-woo.
The Wish she had offered alone was insufficient.
Only then did she understand.
Why Park Chan-woo had been so free from his own death.
‘It was not because of the Transcendent Power he possessed. From the beginning, my death could never have killed him.’
With such an abyssal death dwelling within him, how could Adora’s aura ever suffice?
It would have seemed laughable to him.
No more than the play of an infant.
Yet one thing was now clear to her.
‘This must not break free now.’
If left unchecked, Park Chan-woo would perish.
He could not yet wield this “death” freely.
There was only one solution.
An offering.
‘If I sacrifice something greater than Wish, there is a possibility.’
But there was only one thing of greater value than Wish.
Adora. Himself.
“Did the warrior awaken emotion in you, Witch?”
It was then.
Kankun opened his mouth to ask.
…….
Though he said nothing, his silence was an answer.
At the same moment, Kankun could not help but marvel.
……So it’s true. I’ve heard the Witch was a monster without feeling.”
This man had not merely granted him enlightenment.
He had stirred emotion in the Witch, awakened her to the preciousness of life.
He was no mere warrior.
A great warrior, and beyond that…….
‘A Seer.’
Ah.
Park Chan-woo was undoubtedly a Seer.
That was the moment.
Ssshhh.
With the aura of death, a Heart Sword rose from Park Chan-woo’s body.
It was the sword of the heart that Kankun had plunged into Park Chan-woo’s chest.
Kankun reached out and grasped the Heart Sword once more.
And then.
‘Memories flood in.’
Memories poured into Kankun’s mind like a torrent.
Adora’s memories, Park Chan-woo’s memories.
The hearts of both.
All of it swept through his consciousness.
“……So it was. So that’s how it was.”
In the same breath, he understood.
The annihilation of the tribe had not been Adora’s intention.
She had been confused, not knowing what to do.
What befell the orcs was nothing more than a natural calamity.
And yet.
If Adora had truly willed it, he would have perished long ago.
But the cause of all this—it was not Adora.
“Witch. Can you kill the Black Witch?”
…….
“It was the Black Witch who cast you into my homeland, who built this tower.”
…….
“The Black Witch means to create a Lord of Pride and set him against the Abyss. Now I see it clearly. My true enemy is not you, Adora—it is the Black Witch.”
As he accepted the Heart Sword, everything surfaced.
He could sense who had orchestrated this entire game.
Adora and Kankun had been nothing but puppets on a board the Black Witch had built.
Thump!
In an instant.
Kankun raised his hand and plunged it into his own chest.
And then.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
He tore out his own heart.
Immediately after, he passed it to Adora, and Kankun spoke.
“You were only a small child then. How well you’ve grown.”
……!
Adora’s eyes trembled.
Kankun had succeeded in recalling the image of the young Adora he had once saved.
But it was too late.
Too late for a joyful reunion.
Kankun turned his gaze to the warrior.
“Offer my heart as a sacrifice to this warrior. And together, kill the Black Witch. I entrust our tribe’s vengeance to you both.”
“……Why?”
A question of why he would sacrifice himself.
Kankun smiled softly.
“Witch, it is only natural that a defeated warrior perishes.”
Thud.
The Heart of Kankun settled into Adora’s palm.
Adora’s eyes swirled with emotions beyond description.
Yet there was no time for hesitation.
This moment alone was her chance to save Park Chan-woo.
She bit her lip and pressed the Heart of Kankun against Park Chan-woo’s chest.
* * *
《You have died.》
《The ‘death’ of Awakened One Park Chan-woo has been confirmed.》
《THE END.》
Death. Finality. Ending.
The conclusion of all things.
He had experienced it once before, yet he could never grow accustomed to it.
Yet this death was distinctly different from the first.
There was no Seal Demon God, no Seal Demon God’s Chalice, no body of Sephiro to offer as sacrifice.
‘Is this the Afterlife beyond death’s threshold?’
He had glimpsed the threshold of death.
If he crossed it, perhaps it would truly be the end.
Park Chan-woo stared vacantly at the words “THE END” before him.
…Then it happened.
《THE EN》
The window in front of him.
A single letter suddenly vanished from it.
At first, he thought he had misread it.
《THE E》
《THE》
······And so it began.
All the letters erased.
In their place, new text began to fill the void.
《You have offered ‘Heart of Kankun, the Great Warrior’ as a sacrifice to the God of Sacrifice.》
《You have offered ‘Wish’ as a sacrifice to the God of Sacrifice.》
《The ‘God of Sacrifice’ responds for the first time.》
《You have acquired the Hidden Trait: Eternal Sword, Eternal Annihilation Magic.》
《Your class evolves!》

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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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