Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 68

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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 68. Magic of Eternal Destruction
The future he remembered had changed.
Moreover, the Doppelganger was a superior creature.
It was no mere trifle that would appear in the Second Night—far too consequential for that.
As Adora had said, he needed to move with the utmost caution.
‘Non-Existence is active.’
Park Chan-woo checked his own condition first.
After making contact with people several times, he became certain that Non-Existence was functioning.
Even the Doppelgangers could not easily perceive him.
Yet Non-Existence only concealed Park Chan-woo’s existence itself—nothing more.
‘Even mighty Non-Existence cannot prevent me from appearing as a red dot on the map, it seems.’
Every fugitive appears as a red dot on the pursuer’s map.
Even the legendary Non-Existence could not prevent him from being marked there.
As a result, the pursuers could confirm Park Chan-woo’s location by the red dot, yet could not lay eyes on him with their own vision.
‘I’ve become a ghost.’
It felt as though he had turned into a phantom.
The pursuers would check the map and cry out in alarm—the red dots overlapped, yet Park Chan-woo’s form was nowhere to be seen.
‘Remaining hidden like this might be another strategy altogether.’
The rules of the fugitive.
The longer you survive, the stronger you become.
Evasion yields additional Contribution Points.
These rules applied to him equally.
《You have evaded capture for 30 minutes.》
《All stats increase by 5%.》
《You have acquired 10 Contribution Points.》
When thirty minutes had passed, these messages appeared.
Similar notifications followed at thirty-minute intervals.
《You have evaded capture for 1 hour.》
《All stats increase by 10%.》
《You have acquired 20 Contribution Points.》
The gains were even steeper than before.
The longer he stayed free, the more his stats and Contribution Points would skyrocket.
Simply waiting until dawn would grant him overwhelming Contribution Points to meet any qualification.
After all, with Non-Existence active, no pursuer would be able to catch him.
But remaining still and passive did not suit his nature.
More than anything else—
‘Left unchecked, a Doppelganger becomes impossibly strong.’
The threat posed by Doppelgangers was beyond measure.
They were voracious creatures.
They endlessly copied their opponents, growing infinitely stronger with each iteration.
They could continue rising in rank until they became a Doppelganger Lord.
Should a Doppelganger Lord actually emerge, humanity would face catastrophe on an unimaginable scale.
Eleven percent survival rate?
No—to survive with even one percent odds would be a miracle.
The moment a Doppelganger Lord is born, every human who entered the Second Night would be annihilated.
And if, against all odds, the Doppelganger Lord were to escape Night’s Abyss and be summoned to Earth…
‘Abominable.’
The mere thought of it was horrifying.
In his past, Park Chan-woo had once faced a Doppelganger Lord.
It was a monstrosity that wielded the combined power of the top hundred beings it had copied simultaneously.
But its most terrifying weapon was that it understood humanity.
It exploited human emotion, controlled human information, and sought to dominate humanity itself.
Humanity fractured.
No small number sided with the Doppelganger Lord.
He could not allow such a catastrophe to unfold again.
Never. No matter what.
“Strong… winning. Power… overflowing.”
The Doppelganger standing before Park Chan-woo smiled.
The source of power that surged the moment it began copying.
It was incomparable to the human it had absorbed mere moments before.
‘···laughing?’
Park Chan-woo wondered if his eyes had deceived him for a moment.
The Night had only begun, and barely an hour had passed.
It had absorbed scarcely more than a single person, yet it had learned human expressions in an instant.
It seemed to have grasped even the emotion of joy.
Fast.
Far too fast.
The speed of evolution displayed by this Doppelganger transcended anything Park Chan-woo knew of their kind.
At this rate, a Doppelganger Lord might truly be born before the Night ended.
‘It’s aware of me now.’
Moreover, the moment he killed Shin Jin-chul, the Doppelganger immediately became aware of Park Chan-woo’s presence.
It had sensed his existence and recognized him.
Yet a Doppelganger cannot replicate another Doppelganger.
The fact that it tried regardless only proved one thing—that Park Chan-woo was not a Doppelganger.
‘I must destroy the Mark.’
With Shin Jin-chul dead, the Mark had returned to the Doppelganger.
Originally, he’d planned to eliminate Shin Jin-chul first, then seize and destroy the Mark.
Keeping a Doppelganger as a prisoner meant, in other words, that the person it had replicated was dead.
Death was common enough in the Abyss, but there was a hundred percent chance Shin Jin-chul had been involved, so Park Chan-woo had shown no hesitation in erasing him.
‘Avatars who profit from human lives.’
Park Chan-woo harbored no mercy for creatures like that.
The problem was the Doppelganger.
He hadn’t anticipated that the Mark would pass so quickly, or that it would recognize him this rapidly.
Park Chan-woo immediately drew forth the World Tree Staff.
He had to annihilate the Doppelganger before it completed its Copy.
And yet.
“Wh—wh—?”
Suddenly the Doppelganger’s eyes flickered in confusion.
Shudder-shudder-shudder!
Then its body began convulsing violently.
“My, my ‘magic’—why······?”
······An anomaly had occurred.
The Doppelganger’s body was beginning to swell.
Its flesh was expanding with frenzied intensity.
Park Chan-woo had witnessed such a phenomenon before.
‘Magical Runaway!’
When he had triggered Magical Runaway through the heart of the Dragon God Sephiro.
Sephiro had been unable to maintain human form and had ballooned like this.
It was identical to that moment.
The Doppelganger’s magic was spiraling out of control.
Yet this was far from a typical runaway.
“How did you—how did you trigger the Fundamental Magic······!”
The Doppelganger could not believe what was happening.
This transcended mere Copy failure.
Copy was the very identity of the Doppelganger itself.
Forcing its Fundamental Magic into runaway was something that should never occur.
Was it even possible to corrupt and destroy the very source—the Fundamental Magic inherent to a species?
The Doppelganger pondered.
What humans called this sensation dwelling in their hearts.
‘Mon, ster······!’
Fear.
An overwhelming, irresistible dread.
Humans called the Doppelganger a monster, but from the Doppelganger’s perspective, it was Park Chan-woo—this human—who was the true monster.
Terrifying.
Terrifying.
Terrifying!
This monster was obliterating life itself, the soul, the very essence.
It was erasing the Doppelganger’s identity.
Yet the Doppelganger’s thoughts could go no further.
Sploooort!
His body, swollen grotesquely from the magical runaway, had simply burst apart.
Crack!
The Mark shattered along with it.
Then another message appeared before Park Chan-woo’s eyes.
《The Hidden Trait ‘Magic of Eternal Destruction’ has destroyed the Doppelganger’s Fundamental Magic ‘Copy’.》
So the Hidden Trait had manifested after all.
In particular, ‘Magic of Eternal Destruction’ was one of two Hidden Traits he’d acquired while ascending the Tower of Hubris.
‘I never imagined it could destroy a Fundamental Magic.’
Certain species were occasionally born with special magics woven into their very essence.
The Doppelganger’s Copy, the Vampire’s life drain, the Fox-folk’s enchantment, the Werewolf’s transformation—these were the classic examples.
But while such things could be negated, they could never be destroyed.
They were called Fundamental Magic, traits as immutable as a creature’s own nature. How could they possibly be unmade?
Yet it had been destroyed.
The Hidden Trait, Magic of Eternal Destruction!
Perhaps it was called ‘Eternal Destruction’ because it obliterated magic that existed forever.
One thing was certain: it defied all conventional understanding.
It happened in that moment.
Ding!
《You have completed the Secret Quest ‘Betrayer’ for the first time!》
《Your Qualification has evolved into ‘Secret Betrayer’.》
《’Secret Betrayer’ cannot earn Contribution Points by rescuing fugitives. However, you gain an additional 400 Contribution Points each time you destroy a fugitive’s Mark.》
《If your act of destroying Marks is discovered by another ‘Fugitive’ or ‘Hunter’, however, everyone will learn of the ‘Secret Betrayer’s’ existence.》
《Furthermore, a ‘Secret Betrayer’ cannot become a Prisoner.》
《Should you become a ‘Prisoner’, your Mark will be destroyed and you will die.》
《Tip: Special shops will now appear on your map.》
《Purchase useful tools and equipment from these shops to survive the ‘Night’.》
* * *
“T-take it! Take everything! Please, just let me live!”
Han Sin regarded the man with an expressionless stare.
This was the man who had been hunting people with ruthless abandon, commanding Doppelgangers in his wake.
He had attacked Han Sin confidently the moment he spotted him.
‘What kind of monster is this bastard?’
The man could not comprehend what was happening.
He had six Doppelgangers under his command.
Seven people total—including himself—had attacked Han Sin.
Han Sin commanded Doppelgangers as well, yet he had faced all seven alone.
And he had subdued every last one with devastating power.
Not a single hair on his head had been disturbed.
‘How does something like this even exist?’
It was almost inconceivable that this creature could be human at all.
But that was not the only inexplicable part.
‘Why couldn’t the Doppelganger copy him?’
When the battle first began, the Doppelganger had been unable to replicate Han Sin.
It had reverted to its original form, having failed the Copy.
Either Han Sin was not human, or he was something so overwhelmingly powerful that even a Doppelganger could not replicate him.
He should have fled then.
But regret came too late.
A soft sound.
The moment Han Sin extended his hand, the man surrendered all his Marks, weeping despite himself.
Then.
《You have made ten Fugitives into Prisoners.》
《You have completed the Hidden Quest ‘Prisoner Legion’ for the first time!》
《Your Qualification has evolved into ‘Night’s King’.》
《’Night’s King’ grows stronger as the number of ‘Prisoners’ increases. Additionally, you gain an extra 200 Contribution Points each time you increase your Prisoner count.》
《Complete your ‘Royal Legion’ with mighty Prisoners!》
Han Sin nodded as he read the message that had appeared.
He had obtained exactly what he sought—the most powerful Qualification in the Second Night’s Abyss.
“S-so you’re letting me live now?”
The man, having surrendered all his Marks, asked with eyes full of desperate hope.
Han Sin opened his mouth quietly.
“Live, you fool.”
“Ah! Th-thank you! Really! I won’t come at you again—!”
“Copy him.”
“—!!!”
The man’s pupils dilated sharply.
Moments later, a Doppelganger replicated the man.
《You have been ‘Copied’ by ‘Prisoner Doppelganger (10)’.》
《Within one hour, you must destroy the Mark of the Doppelganger that has copied you.》
《If your current condition persists for one hour, you will die.》
Insane.
He hadn’t expected Han Sin could trigger Copy even after surrendering the symbols.
The man’s brow darkened as he stared at Han Sin.
“You’re going to fight?”
“……”
There was no way he could.
This was a monster who had faced everything alone.
Engaging him would only shorten his remaining time.
Han Sin turned and left the place alongside the Doppelgangers.
Thump!
“Ah… no… this can’t…”
Behind him, the man’s voice cracked with despair, but Han Sin paid no mind.
His focus had shifted entirely elsewhere.
‘The Mage. You’re here too.’
That Mage who had humiliated him at the Tower of Hubris.
The one who alone received the favor of the death witch Adora, who monopolized her attention—he surely must have entered the Second Night as well.
Han Sin was searching for that Mage.
And on this night alone, he had no intention of losing to him.
Every attention, every glory.
‘All of it is mine.’
It all had to belong to Han Sin, and Han Sin alone.

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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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