The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 215

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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 215
215
5.
Throughout Wooden Drum Village and the Dark Forest as a whole, the oppressive darkness that had blanketed the surroundings began to thin, bit by bit.
The Dark Lord’s power, which had been woven into the Forest for countless ages, was being reclaimed.
A full ten hours.
After absorbing every trace of darkness from the Forest over those ten hours, the Dark Lord despaired at the realization that he had recovered barely half of his former strength.
To think he had deteriorated so thoroughly.
It was because his essence had been consumed.
-It’s fine.
There is still a path to recovery.
That accursed brat and the intruder who wields power equal to theirs.
If I absorb that creature, I can restore my essence.
Or perhaps I might even gain power beyond merely recovering my essence.
With such unwavering conviction,
the Dark Lord unleashed his power.
The thick darkness that had pervaded the entire Forest coalesced into the Dark Lord’s form.
The pure force that could be called true darkness had long since been lost.
Yet with only the remaining essence, the power of a being worthy of the title “Lord” manifested throughout the Dark Forest.
The vast trees of the Forest bowed their heads as darkness radiated outward, gathering into a singular form.
A person? No—viewed from a certain angle, it resembled a lizard.
Yet it also bore a striking resemblance to human form.
A creature of darkness bearing a lizard’s tail, walking upright like a human, writhed and advanced slowly.
Thoom.
Whoooosh——
With each step forward,
darkness itself spread across the surroundings, staining everything in its shadow.
Within that blackened path of darkness,
the Dark Lord walked with unhurried grace, his gaze fixed upon a single destination.
That hateful brat, Helena, and Wooden Drum Village, which she had protected until the very end.
He turned his steps toward that place.
And in that moment,
a peculiar sensation grated against the Dark Lord’s awareness.
-…?
Darkness?
No, something far denser than that.
Entities that seemed to exist somewhere between the living and the dead.
The undead crawled slowly up from beneath the earth.
-How pathetic…?
The Dark Lord, about to dismiss them as contemptible, found his jaw dropping as he registered their sheer numbers.
Not just one or two.
Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?
No, it was far more than that.
Tens of thousands of undead crawled up from beneath the earth, gesturing toward the darkness.
Already dead, they cared nothing for death itself as they surged forward—undead radiating darkness and teal energy, hurling themselves at the Dark Lord, who was darkness incarnate.
Tens of thousands of legions without fear or reason.
It was a sight that should have conjured unspeakable revulsion and terror.
Yet the Dark Lord merely stretched out his hand and raised his arm with contemptuous ease.
Roooaaarrr——!!!
Darkness pooled across the ground, then surged upward like a rising wall, spawning countless thorned barriers that swept across the surroundings.
Hundreds of undead were swept away.
But to the tens of thousands that remained, it was barely a scratch.
-…Damn it.
Had I possessed my original power, I could have obliterated this undead horde with a mere gesture.
The loss of my source meant I could not wield a true lord’s strength—a grievous handicap.
But there was no help for it.
This was my current state.
I had to make do with what I had.
The Dark Lord spread both hands, extending the darkness that coiled around his body to assault the undead legion.
Craaash———!!!
Thud!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh———!!!
Slice slice slice———!!!
At times, darkness became a wave, sweeping across everything.
At times, it became thorns, piercing through all.
At times, it became a blade, cleaving through everything.
Yet the writhing Death Legion showed no sign of diminishing.
Revulsion threatened to overwhelm me.
-So that’s the power of that brat.
A strength that transcends death itself.
And.
The Dark Lord shook his head, briefly recalling the past.
Their numbers were considerable, certainly.
But they were nothing but undead rabble.
Insignificant existences that could not inflict the slightest wound upon me.
Presumptuous as they were, that brat—Helena’s power transcended all common sense.
To inherit such tremendous strength and yet wield it so poorly.
My victory was assured.
As the Dark Lord gazed upon the tens of thousands surrounding him and began to draw upon his true power, something felt wrong.
His eyes snapped open.
A sickly green mist seeped from the undead legions.
Poison?
I am darkness itself, a sovereign lord.
What could mere poison possibly accomplish against me?
The moment I was about to scoff at such futility—
I glimpsed sparks igniting and erupting from the undead masses, and understanding crystallized.
The poisonous fog had never been merely for dispersing toxins.
-This… this cannot be…!!!
KABOOOOOM————!!!
The instant the sparks ignited.
A violent explosion engulfed all the undead legions.
The ferocious blast spawned a tremendous thermal wind, and as the heat surged from the epicenter, the surrounding air was first driven inward before the pressure reversed it, sucking everything back toward the core. Black smoke billowed upward, forming an ominous mushroom-shaped cloud.
The earth fractured beneath the shockwave; nearby trees were incinerated to ash by the thermal winds, and even those standing at considerable distance were snapped and toppled by the force of the blast alone.
The devastation was unmistakable even at a distance from the epicenter.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble———!!!
As the ground trembled finely in delayed succession, the vibrations rippling outward for leagues—
I could finally grasp the true magnitude of that power.
The epicenter had been carved into a crater as though a meteor had fallen.
And from that crater-like center, darkness writhed and surged upward.
Even darkness itself had been unable to withstand such an explosion.
My condition was far from favorable.
-Cough.
The Dark Lord spat blood.
The damage from the colossal explosion was catastrophic.
I had defended with darkness in that fleeting instant, but it could never have negated everything.
My form was ravaged, darkness torn to shreds.
My core had already been wounded, preventing complete recovery.
And now, from that final impact, half of the darkness I had painstakingly gathered scattered into nothingness.
Only half remained.
Could I eliminate this intruder who had inherited Helena’s power with what little I had left?
As that anxiety crept upon me—
The Dark Lord reasoned.
-For that creature to unleash such an attack… it too must be far from whole.
There is no way it could remain unscathed after expending such power.
It must have exhausted most of its strength.
Clinging to that belief, I forced myself to rise.
I would tear apart that accursed Wooden Drum Village, no matter what.
With only that singular resolve driving me forward, I began to move—
When something incomprehensible occurred.
Several presences materialized, encircling me.
-Fiora!!!
Even from the sky, she had appeared to monitor the Dark Lord.
Moreover, each and every one of them possessed formidable power.
The Dark Lord could not comprehend what he was witnessing.
A strength that had never manifested in the Helena he had known in the past.
Or rather, one of the powers that had not yet awakened because she was still young.
As the Minions revealed themselves.
The Dark Lord’s expression twisted grotesquely.
He himself commanded countless Minions.
Yet the original master of this power had absorbed every single one of his Minions.
Was it not Helena?
-Minions, you say….
Each and every one of them is a formidable warrior.
However, in other words, each of them is not worth comparing to me.
The Dark Lord opened his eyes wide and unleashed his power.
Darkness surged and blanketed the area around the Dark Lord, and with a single gesture, he generated countless projectiles of darkness and fired them forth.
The bullets of darkness were launched toward the Minions gathered nearby.
But Fiora, who had appeared first, transformed her two hands into a shield and expanded it greatly, blocking all the darkness.
Clang clang clang clang clang!!!
The sound of metal being struck intensely echoed as the bullets of darkness hammered against the shield.
Yet Fiora’s two arms remained unharmed.
And once all the darkness bullets vanished, her two arms immediately returned to their original form before transforming into two spears.
Witnessing the instantaneous transformation of her body, the Dark Lord cried out in astonishment.
-A Sha, Shapeshifter?
A Royal race born from darkness, called the king of all doppelgangers.
Surely all races born from darkness—in other words, darkness itself, which is to say the Dark Lord himself—should naturally be followed.
Yet this Shapeshifter too had become a servant of that one?
Because he had been stripped of the source of darkness?
He had not even lost the lord itself.
For such a thing to occur.
The Dark Lord cried out in disbelief.
-I shall reclaim my rightful power!!!
As Fiora stretched out her two hands toward the Dark Lord who cried out in indignation, a blue spear surged forth and flew toward him.
But the Dark Lord merely swatted away the blue spear with a single gesture before unfurling darkness.
The darkness transformed according to his will and became a formidable blade that swept across the surroundings.
Whoooosh whoooosh whoooosh———!!!
A blade of darkness wielded with the momentum to sever all things around it.
Yet charging forward upon seeing that blade was one aged demon.
Rather than seeking self-destruction, a resolute will and the formidable aura blooming within it stained the blade of the elderly demon Dracanoss crimson red.
At the same time, Dracanoss drew his blade and swung it toward the blade of darkness.
Slice.
The blade of darkness cut through without any resistance whatsoever.
-What, what is this?!
His own blade of darkness, which he had poured his heart and soul into creating.
Cut down so effortlessly?
Apart from the Shapeshifter, how did he manage to contract with a demon possessing such power?
An incomprehensible phenomenon.
In that instant, the Dark Lord’s consciousness accelerated to a staggering degree.
Or perhaps it was an illusion—the world slowing down, that sluggish air pressing against him.
The Dark Lord could sense it.
A massive bolt of lightning descending from above his head.
-‘Damn it.’
There was no escape.
Even in this sluggish world, the lightning fell with terrifying speed, as if announcing his doom—and the Dark Lord had no way to evade it.
Teleporting through the darkness was equally impossible.
The timing was perfect for striking him just before he could complete the transfer.
Had he noticed the Thunderbird soaring overhead from the start and prepared accordingly, perhaps—but it was too late.
There was no choice. He had to block it.
The Dark Lord summoned darkness and unfurled a barrier to intercept the lightning.
The bolt descended with impeccable timing directly onto it.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle——!!!
The lightning that tore through the atmosphere dispersed harmlessly into the air, its force dissipated by the wall of darkness.
And the moment the Dark Lord, having barely withstood the assault, began to unleash darkness toward his Minions again—
Something else descended upon his head.
It was the Red Moon that had been hovering in the sky all along.
Because he had focused only on the Thunderbird, he had failed to notice the Red Moon—and thus could not avoid it.
The Red Moon blazed with its full power and fired a crimson beam directly at the Dark Lord.
Roooooaaaar——!!!
A devastating crimson beam that would incinerate everything in its path.
Yet the Dark Lord could only stare helplessly.
He had just switched from defense to offense, unfurling darkness to attack.
Blocking again would be difficult.
The Red Moon’s beam descended upon him without mercy.
The Dark Lord felt the searing heat and ground his teeth in fury.
Each movement was precise, mechanical—they attacked him with the coordination of finely-tuned machinery.
Cursed wretches.
I’ll tear them apart one by one.
As he prepared to move with that thought—
“Hello there, darkness Uncle?”
-You, who are you?!
Helena approached the Dark Lord in her youthful form, offering a greeting.
And in that instant.
Eyes that had lurked dormant in the distant abyss opened, meeting the Dark Lord’s gaze.

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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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