The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 243

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 243
243
Yoo-na retreated backward, lightly evading Scarlet’s charge and skill activation.
Her expressionless face remained unchanged, as if nothing had happened.
Yet as Scarlet charged at me again, I found myself thinking.
In the chat window, they were saying one thing.
But I meant every word I said.
The collision just now hadn’t lasted long.
I should have pushed at least one of them to the brink of retirement.
‘This is troublesome.’
Scarlet, a knight-class warrior.
Lee Kang-hun, a spear wielder at mid-range.
Mau, swift with threatening archery.
And finally Noctis, a mage capable of applying multiple debuffs.
The combination of these four was far better than I’d anticipated.
If I’d managed to eliminate even one during the initial ambush, I would have gained the advantage.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
At least there’s the small mercy that they have no healer.
Though they likely have countermeasures prepared.
I have those too, of course.
With an expressionless face, I watched them and adjusted my grip on my sword.
In stark contrast to my impassive demeanor, the four single-ranked rankers’ faces were twisted with frustration.
“….”
“…Hmm.”
“…Huh.”
“Tsk.”
From that brief exchange, they all understood.
In terms of pure control, defeating me would not be easy.
Had they faced me alone, would any of these four have lasted long?
They were the closest to the summit among all players.
Yet compared to me, climbing from below, they were like fireflies before the sun.
There are many geniuses, but only one peak.
Among those gathered here, the one closest to that peak was none other than me.
And everyone present felt it.
It was something they’d known before, but facing me directly made it undeniable.
A tense standoff filled with anticipation.
The viewers watching swallowed hard, their palms growing damp.
-But why are they fighting?
-I always thought they resented Yoo-na, but they’re teaming up against her.
-Didn’t Yoo-na initiate this?
-Looking at it, they prepared for a coordinated attack first lol.
-They planned a coordinated attack from the start? That’s pathetic…
-lol but honestly, it makes sense to coordinate against Yoo-na. She’s seriously overpowered.
As the tension stretched taut to its breaking point, Yoo-na was the first to move.
Mau, who had already nocked an arrow, was the first to react to Yoo-na’s low, rapid dash across the ground.
The arrow released by Mau’s skill shot downward, trailing a brilliant azure aura through the sky like liquid sapphire.
It moved with such speed and sharpness that even the sound of cutting air was absent.
As the arrow flew toward Yoo-na, the blue energy compressed as if condensing itself, then propelled backward, using that recoil to accelerate further.
The moment the accelerated arrowhead wrapped in azure energy reached Yoo-na.
Yoo-na’s pupils locked precisely on the arrowhead as she gripped her sword and released her energy.
The blade, wrapped in brilliant golden-orange light, moved with deliberate slowness, yet its trajectory remained vividly etched in the air as it swung.
The slow-moving blade aimed at a point the arrow hadn’t yet reached, and as if drawn in, the arrow met the sword at that exact spot.
Crack——!!!!
Shatter———!!!!
Everyone thought the blade’s sluggish speed couldn’t possibly intercept an arrow moving at such tremendous velocity.
Yet the arrow, drawn to meet the blade, froze in mid-air, and in that instant, countless cracks etched themselves across it.
Simultaneously, the azure energy enveloping the arrow shattered into fragments.
The arrow crumbled to dust under the slow, deliberate slash, scattering in all directions and dispersing the blue energy into the void.
As the fragments scattered like jewels through the air.
It conjured the image of a galaxy itself.
Yet despite the beauty of the sight, Mau bit his lip hard and nocked another arrow.
Seizing that moment of chaos.
A magic circle completed before the staffs of Noctis, the mage wielding two staffs.
Boom——!
Crack————!!!!
From one staff, vast magical power erupted like an energy cannon, releasing brilliant light, while the other staff channeled lightning through that radiance.
A magical blast wrapped in electricity.
Its speed itself was incomparable to Mau’s arrow.
Yet in terms of sheer power, it far surpassed Mau’s arrow.
An attack closer to a finishing move than a feint.
Noctis, having unleashed the chained skills, wore a confident smile.
No matter how strong Yoo-na was, she couldn’t avoid taking damage from this.
That was his conviction.
Yoo-na too seemed quite troubled as she watched the energy cannon.
Yet contrary to her expression, her feet moved faster than anyone’s, dancing with urgency.
Given the blast’s range, escape was barely possible.
But Noctis’s specialty was control.
‘If I dodge, it’ll chase me.’
The probability of it being a homing attack was highest.
In a split second, Yoo-na made a judgment closer to instinct than calculation, her eyes flashing with resolve.
The means to neutralize that mana cannon in this current situation.
Yoo-na stood firm in place, defying momentum itself.
She wrapped her blade in an orange aura and, unlike before, gripped the sword with fierce intensity, twisting her waist, shoulders, and entire body to their absolute limits.
The moment her eyes gleamed with light.
Yoo-na’s twisted body suddenly unwound, and her blade was already swinging through the air.
And there bloomed a massive orange sword aura.
The orange aura that materialized in the void clung to that space as if parasitizing the very air itself, and only then did the mana cannon fire through it.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaa———!!!
Screeeeeech———!!!
The mana cannon that struck above split into two streams before Yoo-na and shot backward.
And standing proudly in the gap between the two split streams was Yoo-na.
Lee Kang-hun stepped forward, clicking his tongue at the sight of Yoo-na, whose breathing remained perfectly steady despite cleaving through such a tremendous mana cannon.
They were both Korean.
Yet Yoo-na had always received more attention than he did.
Watching her, Lee Kang-hun’s expression naturally twisted with displeasure.
It was inferiority.
He was not unaware of it.
But as the gap between himself and Yoo-na gradually narrowed, he felt anxious and had no choice but to join in here.
He had to become Korea’s greatest.
With that singular resolve, as Lee Kang-hun adjusted his grip on his spear, the form of a dragon descended upon it.
The fierce dragon’s form became one with the spear, creating the appearance of a dragon charging forward.
And through that, an arrow imbued with a blue energy that tore through space joined the assault, rushing toward Yoo-na alongside it.
‘This won’t be avoidable.’
Thinking so, Lee Kang-hun charged forward in a coordinated attack with Mau’s arrow, and the dragon’s form opened its massive maw to swallow Yoo-na whole.
If she blocked, she couldn’t stop the incoming arrow.
If she dodged, the arrow would chase her down just as quickly.
Trapped between two impossible choices.
Though it should have been dire, Yoo-na surveyed her surroundings with an emotionless expression.
‘Hmm.’
Then, swiftly recalling the means available to her in this situation, she swung her blade.
As Yoo-na swung her sword with even greater ferocity and speed, it appeared sluggish at times, yet its form was scarcely visible when swift. An orange aura like a willful tempest spread in all directions, and the dragon’s maw that had opened to devour Yoo-na whole was shredded and torn apart. Furthermore, the blue-tinged arrow that followed could not withstand the onslaught and scattered into fragments.
At the two attacks being repelled in a single stroke, Lee Kang-hun and Mau’s eyes widened in shock, and the tempest soon subsided.
Yet through that brief opening, a single knight pierced through toward Yoo-na.
Scarlet charged forward, wrapping her entire body in a crimson aura.
And Yoo-na, watching the crimson meteor-like Scarlet hurtling toward her, raised her blade to defend.
Because of skill cooldown, she couldn’t use skills in this brief window.
Scarlet’s incoming skill had to be endured by Yoo-na alone.
‘…Tsk.’
A faint crack appeared in Yoo-na’s previously emotionless expression as she clicked her tongue.
She clicked her tongue as a faint crack appeared in Yoo-na’s previously expressionless face.
Even for Yoo-na, the situation was dire.
Yet she refused to yield, her eyes blazing with determination as she shifted her sword from one hand to both.
A grip as precise as that of a master swordsman.
Scarlet’s eyebrows twitched at the sight.
Everyone present knew that Yoo-na had won the World Kendo Championship.
Which was precisely why that stance irritated Scarlet so deeply.
But it mattered not.
She had unleashed her skill, and Yoo-na could not use hers in this state.
She harbored no illusions of victory with this single strike.
Yet she believed—without a shadow of doubt—that she could seize even a marginal advantage, and with that conviction, Scarlet surged forward.
And Yoo-na, witnessing Scarlet’s assault, remained unmoved.
KUAAAAAAAA———!!!
As Scarlet descended like a meteor—no, a comet trailing a long tail of crimson aura—her blade swept through the air, and the world itself seemed to groan under crushing pressure.
Gravity multiplied many times over.
Within that oppressive world, Yoo-na’s eyes hardened with intensity as she drew her concentration to even greater heights.
The pressure bore down so heavily that even breathing became a struggle.
In that moment, Yoo-na unknowingly exhaled every last breath, channeling her every attribute to its absolute limit.
“Huuuuu.”
Her concentration, elevated to the extreme while even forgetting to breathe, revealed everything to Yoo-na’s eyes.
No—not merely her eyes.
Every sensation against her skin, every sound reaching her ears, every scent brushing her nostrils—all of it drew Yoo-na to her absolute limit, and she extended her blade toward the comet-like Scarlet descending upon her.
A strike neither swift nor slow.
It differed entirely from Yoo-na’s previous swordwork.
Unlike her earlier technique—where she modulated strength and weakness, sometimes moving slowly but with devastating power, sometimes lightly but with blinding speed—this blade moved with singular purpose, and when it met Scarlet’s strike, a rebound force rippled through it, sending her blade flying back.
Scarlet’s aura possessed the momentum to repel all things, to cleave through everything.
Yet Yoo-na did not resist that rebounding force; instead, she embraced it.
Simultaneously, she drew her blade back as if reclaiming it, spinning her body in a graceful rotation to collide once more with Scarlet’s incoming aura, then angled the rebound force to flow diagonally, amplifying her rotational momentum even further.
“…!!!”
Scarlet glided diagonally past.
Or more precisely, Yoo-na had perfectly exploited Scarlet’s own force, flowing past her like water while simultaneously gaining an intense rotational velocity.
In a world where time itself seemed to freeze for an instant.
Even Scarlet, who had been descending at meteoric speed, now appeared suspended, and in this stillness, she could feel it vividly.
Every sense crystalline and sharp.
Had her concentration ever been maintained with such clarity?
The moment that thought arose, within that acute awareness, she felt a piercing aura materializing behind her back.
And then came the sound.
Or rather, no sound came at all.
It was something faster than sound itself.
Yet it was unmistakably audible.
“Ssshhhhh.”
A sharp intake of breath.
And then.
Crack, crack.
Yoo-na’s muscles, swollen to their absolute limit from oxygen saturation, twisted and moved with considerable speed even within this slowed world—her orange blade strike.
That brilliant slash, radiant as the sun itself, surged toward Scarlet.
And as Scarlet felt the sword energy erupting from behind, she understood.
Roooaaarrrrr———!!!
Crash! Boom! Crash! Crash!
Scarlet, driven into the ground and skipping like a stone across the floor, carved a long furrow before finally slamming into the wall, experiencing excruciating pain.
“Cough.”
The equipment on Scarlet’s back had become tatters, blood gushing from her mouth, while Yoo-na gripped her sword once more and charged forward.
And though I saw other rankers blocking her path.
Scarlet understood.
‘…I’ve… lost….’
The outcome seemed already decided by that single strike.
2.
Upon entering the Temple of Apopis, the first place one arrives is the waiting room.
A space where one waits in a pure white chamber until others arrive.
Naturally, for Yoo Sung-hyun, who had entered faster than even single rankers, it was quite a tedious space.
Perhaps because of this.
Yoo Sung-hyun, who normally didn’t read chat even when streaming, was engaging in conversation.
-How are you getting along with your guild members?
Upon seeing that message, Yoo Sung-hyun paused to consider.
“Hmm, I do interact with the guild master and a few others… I’d say we’re getting along well enough.”
Since I’d never actually visited the guild headquarters.
That was all I could say.
Then, at that moment.
-Wow Yoo-na won!
-She actually won this;;;;;
-Demon Lord!!! Yoo-na won!!!
Upon seeing those messages, Yoo Sung-hyun smiled with considerable interest.
So the single rankers fought each other.
Looks like she won after all.
As expected of her?
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded upon hearing the news and spoke.
“Looks like my sister won.”
-Sister?
-????Sister?
-Whoa!? What’s the relationship between the Demon Lord and Yoo-na?
-Calling her sister means they’re close, huh?
-There’s definitely something going on between them, right? lol.
-They’re both incredibly skilled, and they’re both attractive!
-lol Are they dating?
While everyone was chattering away with such gossip.
Yoo Sung-hyun frowned slightly as he read through several of the chat messages, clearly displeased.
How could they pair my sister with someone?
Perhaps that’s why.
The usually composed and unflappable Yoo Sung-hyun seemed to have vanished somewhere.
Without thinking, he responded.
“She’s my real sister.”
-???????
-??????????
-Huh?
-They’re actual siblings??????
The chat window became flooded with question marks at his sudden statement.
And seeing that, Yoo Sung-hyun muttered as if he’d just realized something.
“Oh, was I not supposed to say that?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————