The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 224

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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 224
224
Senior Knight Kalis stared at Yoo Sung-hyun with an expression of utter disbelief.
What in the world was he saying?
He’d already completed the mission and returned?
Of course, I could understand the words themselves.
But I couldn’t believe them.
Rugalnias, the Blade Wolf.
A mission confirmed to require at least five or more knights from the Equinox Knights just to handle.
And this newcomer went alone and dealt with it?
No matter how much he ranked first in the knight examination, this made no sense.
“Hand it over!!!”
With that cry, Senior Knight Kalis snatched the mission paper from Yoo Sung-hyun’s grasp.
If it were real, it would be processed by magic, so there should be a completion mark on the paper after the mission was finished.
As he seized it and examined the mission paper.
The completion mark was genuinely there.
Upon seeing it, Senior Knight Kalis looked at Yoo Sung-hyun with a vacant expression.
So it was real.
That meant this foreign newcomer possessed strength equal to five senior knights?
As this thought struck Kalis, he gazed at Yoo Sung-hyun with eyes filled with shock.
Yoo Sung-hyun asked as if the matter were settled.
“It’s confirmed now, isn’t it?”
“…Y-yes. That’s right. It is.”
“Thank you. I’ll go handle more missions then.”
“…What?”
He’d just returned from a mission.
And now he was going to handle more?
How was this possible?
Normally, after completing one mission, knights rested for at least a month.
In other knight orders, that is.
Even in the grueling Equinox Knights, the standard was to rest for at least a week.
Yet he’d just slain Rugalnias, the Blade Wolf, on the same day and was now heading out for more missions?
This was abnormal.
‘What on earth is he?!’
Senior Knight Kalis watched Yoo Sung-hyun with his mind reeling in astonishment.
He’d thought of him merely as the top-ranked among the younger knights.
But he was truly a genuine master.
As Senior Knight Kalis watched Yoo Sung-hyun heading toward the Quest counter again for his next mission.
He thought to himself.
‘I… I need to report this to the Commander.’
With that thought, Senior Knight Kalis swallowed hard and made his way toward the Commander’s Office where Ragna Ecrion awaited.
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded with satisfaction as he watched Kalis move into action.
That took care of making an impression.
I’d completed the Quest and could raise my level by a full three levels.
Though the pace had slowed considerably as my level climbed higher.
[『Apostle of Blood』 has submitted experience.]
[You have acquired experience.]
I smiled contentedly as I watched the steady stream of experience notifications.
Thanks to the Quest and Imbris, the Apostle of Blood, I’d already reached level 173.
Though there was still quite a distance to go.
In any case.
Right now, Quests mattered more than levels.
『Commander of the Equinox Knights』
→Catch the attention of Ragna Ecrion, Commander of the Equinox Knights.
A Quest that could be called either easy or difficult, depending on perspective.
If I kept succeeding at missions like this, I’d eventually catch his eye.
I’d even finished the last assignment ranked first.
As long as I kept completing missions diligently, it should work out.
With that confidence, I arrived at the Quest board for a new mission.
There were far more missions available than I’d expected.
‘Hmm, what should I tackle this time?’
The last mission’s Rugalnias, the Blade Wolf, had turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining raid boss.
If I could find something similar, it would be fun.
It wasn’t quite a hidden raid boss.
But it was certainly incomparably stronger than ordinary raid bosses.
I’d say it was just below hidden raid boss tier.
In any case, I’d been able to defeat it alone without needing other minions.
And I’d gained considerable adaptation to the power of the Dark Lord in the process.
‘So what should the next mission be?’
There were various options available, but this time I scanned through the bounty notices and selected something appropriate.
This mission also required five senior knights.
In some ways, bounty missions could be more complex than simply going to where a raid boss was and defeating it.
Which was precisely why I thought it would be more entertaining.
Games should be fun, after all.
With that thought, I accepted the mission and headed out.
Of course, there was still the Quest to catch Commander Ragna Ecrion’s attention.
But the experience from these missions was surprisingly worthwhile.
5.
Around the time Yoo Sung-hyun selected another mission and was leaving the Knight Barracks.
Senior Knight Kalis had arrived at the Commander’s Office and was knocking on the door.
Knock, knock.
The sound of knuckles rapping against wood echoed through the air.
Senior Knight Kalis stared at the door, his eyes trembling slightly.
The Commander’s Office had been silent until now.
Waiting through that suffocating stillness.
“Come in.”
A voice called from within, and Senior Knight Kalis, breathing a small sigh of relief, carefully opened the door and stepped inside.
There sat Ragna Ecrion, attending to his duties.
The three premier Knight Orders, as they could be called.
And Ragna Ecrion, known to be the strongest among the commanders of those three Orders—yet in Senior Knight Kalis’s eyes, fear burned far brighter than respect.
Thinking he mustn’t displease him even slightly, he lowered his head and opened his mouth.
“I’ve come to report on the new recruits.”
“….”
Ragna Ecrion offered no response to Senior Knight Kalis’s words.
But seeing him sitting in silence, Senior Knight Kalis understood it as a signal to continue, and he nodded.
“Yes, sir. One of our new recruits, Yoo Sung-hyun, who ranked first in the entrance exams, has solo-cleared a five-person mission.”
“…Hmm.”
Ragna Ecrion, who had shown little reaction until now, responded with apparent interest.
He ceased his work, set down his pen, and lifted his gaze toward Senior Knight Kalis.
As if inviting him to elaborate.
Senior Knight Kalis swallowed hard at the sight.
Then he recounted everything he had verified.
Of course, he omitted the fact that he had deliberately chosen that mission to humble the recruit.
“Since he is a foreigner, I sent him to gauge his abilities, but he completed the Rugalnias subjugation mission in mere hours. And now he has gone to select another task. By this point, he may have already chosen a new mission and departed.”
“Hmm.”
Uncertain what that reaction meant, Senior Knight Kalis fidgeted nervously.
Yet after hearing the report, Ragna Ecrion simply responded thus:
“I see. Continue observing him, and report immediately if there is anything else of note.”
“Yes, sir!!!”
“You may go.”
“Thank you, sir!!!”
Senior Knight Kalis departed, his bearing rigid with military discipline.
Left alone in the Commander’s Office, Ragna Ecrion rose from his seat and gazed out the window.
And there, just then departing the barracks, he caught sight of Yoo Sung-hyun’s retreating figure.
What a delectable morsel.
If I were to absorb him.
‘Everything might finally be fulfilled.’
I had thought there would be something left even after consuming Yoo Sung-hyun.
But perhaps it could come sooner than expected.
The day when I rule this city.
And.
‘The time of war may arrive sooner than I anticipated.’
With that thought, a sinister aura rippled around Ragna Ecrion’s bitter smile before dissipating.
It is not yet time.
When things have ripened further.
I must wait until then.
Though the waiting is arduous.
Not much longer remains.
‘I should summon them soon.’
6.
Bounty target missions were certainly more difficult than simply defeating raid bosses.
Or rather, it was less difficult than it was troublesome.
The process of locating, tracking, and capturing the bounty target was far from simple.
The pure combat difficulty was simpler than Rugalnias the Blade Wolf, though.
Regardless, I managed to capture the bounty target.
Doing it alone certainly.
Was not easy.
‘It’s harder than I thought, trying to catch them without my minions.’
If I had even Nocturnium with me, I would have caught them far more easily.
Still, there was an unexpected satisfaction in capturing them alone, so I could be content.
The experience gained was also more generous than expected.
Thanks to that, I managed to level up once more, reaching 174.
As Yoo Sung-hyun turned to leave with that thought.
He suddenly recalled the minions in the Underworld.
Especially the Knight Class minions.
‘They said they were training with Dracanoss, right?’
Silvanor had recently gained a physical body, and when Dracanoss said things were going well, he mentioned needing all three, so I sent them.
Since I met Leon, I didn’t particularly need Silvanor anymore.
So I sent them like that.
But seeing Silvanor’s expression when he left—it was truly grim.
It seems the training is harder than I expected.
Still, it’s better than not training at all.
As Yoo Sung-hyun headed back to the Knight Barracks with that thought.
In the Underworld, training was in full swing.
The training led by Dracanoss was.
“Wow, it never gets old no matter how many times I see it.”
Even Helena couldn’t help but marvel.
And for good reason—he was lifting a boulder nearly the size of a mountain and, supporting it with nothing but a single rod, was moving as if wielding a sword.
There were three such swaying boulder mountains.
Beneath them, Leonik, Baltar, and Silvanor were pinned down, desperately trying to lift the boulder mountains.
Baltar and Silvanor, who possessed physical forms, felt it in that instant.
Their muscle fibers ruptured, and blood erupted explosively between the torn tissues.
Yet they could not stop their swords.
As for Leonik, who lacked muscles entirely.
His bones twisted and cracked with a sickening sound, fractures spreading through the skeletal structure.
In truth, it would have been a mercy if they had simply broken or shattered.
“Oh, how pitiful.”
Helena watched and, moved by compassion, healed them with celestial power.
-Krraaaaaahhhhh!!!
-Uuuugggghhhhh!!!
“Ggghhhhkkkk!!!”
Once healed and able to resume training.
All three felt hot liquid—whether tears of joy or something else—streaming from their eyes.
And Dracanoss, witnessing this, cried out something.
-Muttering and grumbling.
His voice was so low and indistinct that one might easily miss it.
Yet to their ears, it came through with crystalline clarity.
If mere cracks form in the body from such trivial effort, you must train harder.
That was the meaning.
Upon hearing this, Leonik and Baltar felt genuine regret.
They had harbored hope that when Silvanor came into being, perhaps training time would decrease somewhat.
Instead, the three of them would conduct joint training.
If only Yoo Sung-hyun had said one or two were necessary.
But as fortune would have it, all the minions had become unnecessary at precisely this moment.
Thus the joint training came to pass.
-‘J-just a little rest, please.’
-‘Why… w-why only us.’
‘W-we must endure.’
All three became of one mind, and their bond.
Grew steadfast and unbreakable in that moment.
Then they sensed something amiss.
As they endured the grueling training and glanced at one another.
‘D-doesn’t it feel a bit heavier?’
-‘I-isn’t it just your imagination?’
-‘…No, look at your feet.’
A dark abyss had manifested beneath their feet without warning.
And there was no mistaking whose power it was.
All three looked up blankly toward where Helena stood.
Helena spoke.
“Oh my? I thought you had enough composure to let your minds wander, so I increased the gravity a bit.”
The three fell into contemplation at Helena’s words.
And watching them, Dracanoss chimed in.
-Murmur, murmur, murmur.
He thanked Helena, saying she was excellent, then told the three they needed to increase the intensity of their training.
The three were astounded at the sight.
They could actually increase the training intensity beyond what it already was.
It was absolutely ridiculous.
With tears welling in their eyes, training continued.
Helena asked Dracanoss a question.
“Will our Sung-hyun train like that too?”
-Murmur, murmur.
But Dracanoss shook his head and replied.
He said that for the master, all he needed was a bit of sword instruction.
These fellows needed to push their bodies to grow, which was why he did this.
If the three had heard it, they would have felt even more aggrieved.
Unfortunately, they could hear nothing at all, crushed beneath the intensified gravity.

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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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