Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 80

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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 80. Misunderstanding
Ataraxia was no ordinary dragon.
She stood among the highest echelons of the Dragon Race itself—a member of the bloodline known as “Despair.”
The Dragon Race, hailed as the mightiest of all species.
And she was among the chosen ones.
Moreover, Ataraxia was currently plotting to spark another war between the Abyss and all the Twelve Races, to cement the Dragon Race’s supremacy.
She would do so by borrowing the power of the Black Witch—mistress of chaos itself.
And at present, Ataraxia had been entrusted with an important task by the Black Witch.
—Adora has awakened “Wish.” Retrieve it for me. Along with the Star of Arrogance.
Wish, and the Star of Arrogance!
Both were names that even the lords of the Twelve Races and the Abyss dared not dismiss lightly.
Particularly the “Wish” that Adora had awakened—it was something akin to the very source of magic itself, and Ataraxia held a keen interest in it as well.
A witch, not the Dragon Race who were the masters of sorcery, had awakened “Wish.”
Adora, the Witch of Death.
She never knew her talent was this remarkable.
‘So that’s why the Black Witch tried to make Adora the Lord of Arrogance?’
Ataraxia knew of Adora’s existence.
However, unlike other witches, Adora had grown up in isolation.
It seemed all the witches shunned her because she dealt in “Death” alone, teaching her separately.
‘…No. It was intentional from the start. Hiding Adora’s talent.’
That was not it.
The Black Witch had deliberately concealed Adora’s existence.
Most likely, Adora had been groomed from the beginning to become the Lord of Arrogance.
The Black Witch was devoting all her efforts to resurrecting the Lord of Arrogance.
The Lord of Arrogance—the king of all false things.
If that phantom monster were resurrected, the very map of the Abyss could shift.
Even the Great Nine Lords might need to tread carefully.
But the Black Witch’s plan had failed.
Adora had awakened Wish and brought down the Tower of Arrogance by her own hand.
‘Adora had an accomplice. The one who destroyed the tower. Likely a human.’
Still, she could not have done it alone.
The Black Witch’s schemes were intricate as a spider’s web.
Often one progressed without even realizing they’d been woven into it.
There had to be an accomplice.
Since the tower manifested on Earth had crumbled and vanished, the accomplice was surely human.
Only a human challenger present on Earth could have destroyed the tower there.
‘I couldn’t trace Adora’s whereabouts. But I could follow the human’s trail.’
The problem was that no matter how hard she searched, Adora’s location remained hidden.
If Wish had been awakened, a dragon like Ataraxia should not have missed its traces.
Most likely, the Black Witch’s Pinky Finger had been used to erase all evidence completely.
Ataraxia abandoned her search for Adora and threw all her effort into pursuing the accomplice.
She judged that the accomplice possessed the century’s greatest treasure—the Star of Arrogance.
‘Both Wish and the Star of Arrogance would be in the accomplice’s hands.’
The accomplice surely knew Adora’s location.
So if she found the accomplice, she could recover both.
Thus, Ataraxia entered the Second Night without hesitation.
She was certain the human accomplice was there.
And if the human accomplice was there, they would surely make a conspicuous move.
‘…Found them.’
Her prediction was correct.
The human accomplice was indeed here.
Their presence stood in stark contrast to all the other humans.
The human whom Aheta was opposing with her doppelgängers—that one was undoubtedly the accomplice.
Aheta was pulling out all the stops to hinder this human who dared seize her territory.
Was it not remarkable?
A human triggering a Legendary Quest in the mere Second Night!
Every human Ataraxia had encountered thus far had been pathetic.
Insects destined to vanish like dew in the coming Race War.
And yet, there was an exception.
A human who found paths no one else would walk, and accomplished feats no one else could manage.
At this point, he should be capable of conquering the Tower of Arrogance.
Of course, Ataraxia hadn’t determined him to be a “helper” based on his movements alone.
There was another reason Ataraxia believed this human was a helper.
‘A human who bears both the aura of Leo King and the blessing of a goddess.’
His backing was far more powerful than expected.
Presences of monsters most Creators wouldn’t dare dream of resided in him simultaneously.
And they were beings with entirely opposing, contradictory powers—yet they’d all lent him their names together.
That wasn’t all.
‘…I sense traces of Wish.’
Faintly, the aura of Wish was perceptible.
Not the aura of Wish itself, but something like its lingering resonance—yet….
This human helper must have been nearby when Adora awakened Wish.
That’s why the trace still remained.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
At Ataraxia’s demand, Yi Hyeok-su’s brow furrowed immediately.
Neither the Star of Arrogance nor Wish were names he’d heard before.
For some stranger to suddenly appear and demand he hand over both was absurd beyond measure.
“Still feigning ignorance, are you? Helper of Adora.”
Ataraxia laughed mockingly.
She was convinced Yi Hyeok-su was lying.
Yet his demeanor seemed entirely genuine.
“…Is this person insane?”
Adora, he thought.
If she meant Adora, the Witch of Death who’d dwelt in the Tower of Arrogance, then this creature had gotten badly confused.
After all, Yi Hyeok-su had never even set foot on the Tower of Arrogance.
This being was either mad or in the grip of delirium.
“If you won’t hand them over, I’ll simply take them.”
Ataraxia, meanwhile, remained composed.
Having entered in human form and transformed into human shape, there were restrictions on the power she could wield, but even so she was of the Dragon Race.
With equal magical power, the methods of channeling it and its efficiency were entirely different.
Now that she was certain this human was a helper, she had to recover both the Star of Arrogance and Wish.
“Wind, rage forth in fury.”
Whiiiiissshhhh!
In that instant.
A violent gale surged forward, rushing toward Yi Hyeok-su.
In her true form, she would wield the Countless Forms and Silent Chant to manifest her magic, but the abilities Ataraxia could display here were limited to the level of these humans.
Anything beyond that would catch Aheta’s attention.
If she transformed into her true body, the lords of the Abyss would lodge protest, and Ataraxia would be buried from Dragon Race society at once—but….
‘This is sufficient.’
This much was enough.
More than enough.
Splinter!
Shreddddd!
His body continued to be carved open by the wind.
The wind was precisely modulated according to Ataraxia’s magical power.
Trapped within the blades of wind, Yi Hyeok-su could scarcely move.
Instead, Shadow Suffocation extended from Leo King’s Great Sword.
Roooaaarrr!
Shadow Suffocation was unaffected by the wind.
A black current and the skull-shape within it surged toward Ataraxia with wild ferocity.
‘Magic with a Composite Effect. Has she inherited Leo King’s power?’
He knew well of Leo King.
One of the ancient beings that had once threatened the lords of the Abyss long ago.
A survivor of extinct races, not among the Twelve Races.
All his magic bore the mark of Composite Effect.
And the way to counter a Composite Effect was to deploy magic with a Composite Effect in turn.
“Earth, rise forth. Fire, settle within.”
Ataraxia wove two magics together.
She caused the earth to rise, forming a barrier, and layered fire upon it.
The wall then blocked the suffocating skull, and the flames consumed and obliterated the shadow.
‘I still don’t know how to properly wield the Leo King’s power…….’
If I had mastered it, magic of this caliber couldn’t stop me.
So Ataraxia concluded that Yi Hyeok-su was still inexperienced.
Crack!
But that was only an instant.
A sudden, searing pain made Ataraxia’s brow furrow.
His flank had been pierced through.
Silently. Subtly.
‘…He came mixed within the shadows?’
He thought he’d blocked it.
He thought he’d burned it away.
But that wasn’t all there was.
Within the shadows themselves, Yi Hyeok-su had been hiding.
He’d adapted the Leo King’s magic.
After his awakening, Yi Hyeok-su had naturally come to master the art of concealing himself within shadow.
Whoosh!
Ataraxia’s black magical energy, surging up like wings, enveloped his body.
Yi Hyeok-su had no choice but to retreat hastily.
He instinctively understood that if that power caught hold of him, there would be no escape.
‘Impressive.’
Ataraxia was genuinely surprised.
This auxiliary human seemed to possess considerable sensitivity to magical force.
But that was all.
Once is enough.
There won’t be a second time.
“Darkened lightning, thou of despair—sweep down upon him.”
He was of the line of Despair.
The moment he wove that name into his incantation, the destructive power doubled.
It became despair itself.
Since this human had already drawn so close, there was no escaping it.
Ataraxia’s black magical energy surged skyward.
That vastly amplified power now descended with the name of despair, heralding annihilation.
‘…There’s no escape.’
Yi Hyeok-su’s brow creased tightly.
An opponent of a type he’d never faced.
He’d never encountered an enemy who wielded magic with such fluid freedom, and he had no strategy to counter it.
No escape.
That magic was real.
Just like the Seer’s magic.
Rumble.
Crash!
Black lightning came crashing down from the heavens.
Soon the black lightning concentrated upon the spot where Yi Hyeok-su stood.
“……What?”
……Ataraxia tilted his head.
The magic infused with the name of despair had been neutralized.
Even with his power restricted, this should not have been possible.
The Dragon Race were the originators of magic.
Magic wielded by other races could never, absolutely never, counter it.
Yet it had been countered.
It had been nullified by the same magic.
“Heavenly Punishment?”
It was unmistakably the lightning magic of Heavenly Punishment.
Someone had invoked Heavenly Punishment using the Silent Chant, dispersing Ataraxia’s magic entirely.
But who, exactly?
‘……There is another.’
Only then did it dawn on him.
No—the instant his magic was neutralized, he understood it naturally.
That someone was near at hand.
Watching quietly, never revealing themselves.
He hadn’t noticed.
He’d had no idea at all.
An existence that could conceal its presence so perfectly, slipping past his very eyes!
Park Chan-woo.
He had finally revealed himself.
‘Wait…….’
Ataraxia turned his gaze toward the newly emerged figure.
“……!”
In the same moment, he gasped.
The equipment this newcomer wore was far from ordinary.
Some of the pieces—the staff especially—were of a caliber that could rightfully be called among the world’s finest.
Yet that was not why he recoiled.
‘Adora’s ally…….’
The resonance of Wish had intensified the instant this figure appeared.
It meant this man was Adora’s ally.
He had been hiding while wielding the magic of the Leo King through this human vessel.
But even that, too.
……was not the reason for Ataraxia’s shock.
The true reason Ataraxia was stunned.
The cause lay elsewhere.
…It was unbelievable.
He simply could not believe it.
And for good reason.
This man was…….
“……Sephiro……?”

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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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