The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 323
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 323
323
0.
After spending time with friends for the first time in a while.
Though I hadn’t drunk alcohol, my entire body felt heavy and sluggish.
“Sigh…”
Yoo Sung-hyun steadied his breathing and stretched.
He had arranged to meet Barbaros early this morning.
So he woke early and completed his morning routine.
After a light run and a shower, he emerged refreshed.
As expected, Mother Lee Na-kyung had prepared breakfast early in the morning.
When Yoo Sung-hyun sat down at the table.
Looking at the soup bowl, he could feel his mother’s love.
Though he hadn’t drunk yesterday.
Mother must have thought he’d been drinking with friends, for she’d made a hearty clam soup—perfect for hangovers.
‘This will be refreshing.’
Yoo Sung-hyun thought so and waited.
Before long, Father Yoo Kwang-jin and his sister Yoo Mi-na came out and sat at the table.
“Everyone, please enjoy your meal~”
“Thank you for the food.”
“I’ll dig in, dear.”
Speaking thus, they each took a spoonful of soup first and drank it.
The refreshing warmth made him feel as though his hangover was lifting, even though he hadn’t drunk at all.
Father Yoo Kwang-jin also seemed quite satisfied as he ate.
Then his sister Yoo Mi-na suddenly asked him a question.
“Still in the Library?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, still on a Quest.”
“How far have you cleared?”
“Almighty Grade now.”
“Oh, you’re making good progress?”
Just as the conversation was about to fade.
Something suddenly occurred to Yoo Sung-hyun.
Information he’d heard in the past from the Riescan Kingdom within the Scenario Book.
One of those details was Badia City.
Since it was likewise one of the Seventh Cities.
Yoo Sung-hyun looked at his sister Yoo Mi-na and asked.
“Sister, do you happen to know about Badia?”
“Badia? Oh, the War City?”
“Yeah.”
Upon hearing Yoo Sung-hyun’s words, Yoo Mi-na pondered whether she’d heard something about it before.
I tilted my head in confusion.
“Other than the place where the Riescan Kingdom and the Valion Empire wage endless war… I’m not really sure?”
“Ah, I see.”
“Yeah, I don’t know anything beyond what I’ve searched up?”
If my sister said as much, it truly meant there was nothing well-known about it.
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded in understanding and resumed eating.
I’d have to investigate once this Necromancer Lord story arc concluded.
There was no information to be gained by going there directly.
‘But if the Riescan Kingdom is still actively used, that changes things.’
From what I’d learned, since the era when Helena existed, the Riescan Kingdom and the Valion Empire had been known as a war city locked in perpetual conflict.
A place to showcase each nation’s military might, one might say.
That was the lore.
For players, it was merely a war-themed city.
But there could be something else hidden there as well.
Yoo Sung-hyun organized the information separately and set it aside for now.
Badia City wasn’t somewhere I needed to visit right now.
For now, I simply needed to—
‘Focus on the Necromancer Lord Quest.’
1.
Fifteen minutes before the appointed time.
Barbaros logged in and, seeing that Yoo Sung-hyun hadn’t arrived yet, grinned widely.
He’d arrived first again today.
Then Barbaros began examining the books around him, selecting titles to read.
This was what Barbaros made a point of doing by arriving before Yoo Sung-hyun.
He organized the locations and titles of books, trying to read at least the titles.
After about ten minutes of this,
Yoo Sung-hyun arrived at the Legendary-tier Library.
“Ah! You’ve arrived!”
“You’re early again today.”
“Hehe, I just prefer arriving early.”
“I see.”
I gave a casual response to Barbaros’s words.
Then I spoke.
“Shall we head straight to the Almighty Grade Library then?”
“Yes! That sounds good!”
“I have a feeling this will take quite a while again.”
Since it was quite an epic tale,
That’s what I thought.
Especially since even the Legendary-tier had consumed more time than expected.
Would this one be any different?
As I was thinking such thoughts.
Barbaros nodded in agreement as well.
“Probably. If it’s Almighty Grade, wouldn’t it take about three days?”
“Hmm.”
Today being Friday.
If I included today, would it be finished by Sunday?
The company dinner was on Monday.
It would be perfect if it ended exactly like that.
Thinking so, Yoo Sung-hyun nodded.
“Let’s try to break through without unnecessary delays. If it takes longer, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Actually, I find it fun even if it takes longer, hehe. It’s fine.”
“Shall we go then?”
“Yes!”
Having become the protagonist of this story with Yoo Sung-hyun.
Barbaros’s mood naturally lifted.
He didn’t particularly concern himself with anything else.
Finally, Yoo Sung-hyun and Barbaros headed toward the Almighty Grade Library.
Barbaros offered a brief explanation.
“The libraries beyond Almighty Grade—I’ve only heard about them, but it seems they’re not necessarily more difficult than Almighty Grade itself.”
“Then…?”
“Probably special dungeons or something like that. Still, the fact that they come after Almighty Grade means there are much better rewards, right?”
“Oho.”
After this Necromancer Lord Quest, I was thinking of going to Badia to verify it myself and then returning.
Well, if there’s a level requirement, that would be a bit disappointing.
Anyway.
After committing it to memory, Yoo Sung-hyun and Barbaros were able to arrive at the Almighty Grade Library.
Then, just as with every other grade, a message visible only to Yoo Sung-hyun appeared.
[The final traces of the 『Necromancer Lord』 remain.]
[Find the Almighty Grade tale, 『War with the Demon Realm』.]
“!?”
Upon seeing the book’s title, Yoo Sung-hyun couldn’t help but be startled.
War with the Demon Realm?
I had thought Will Baghdad alone would struggle with that.
How on earth did this happen?
As Yoo Sung-hyun was thinking such thoughts while standing there.
Barbaros looked at Yoo Sung-hyun and asked back.
“What’s wrong? Did you see the next book’s title?!”
Since Yoo Sung-hyun had mentioned it was a related Quest before.
Barbaros also knew that Yoo Sung-hyun obtained clues.
So he asked.
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded and answered.
“I’ve discovered the title of the next book.”
“Oh!? What’s this title!?”
At Barbaros’s question, Yoo Sung-hyun told him.
“War with the Demon Realm.”
“Gasp!?”
Beyond the Demon Race, now Will wages war against the Demon Realm itself?
And naturally.
“Can Will handle it alone? It seems difficult for Will by himself…”
“Since he said he’d find Helena at the end, wouldn’t Helena be the one waging war?”
As Yoo Sung-hyun made this conjecture and spoke, Barbaros nodded in agreement.
Barbaros also nodded his head.
That was certainly the most reasonable conclusion.
From this point onward, Barbaros was also visiting for the first time.
“Then shall we split up and search?”
“Yes! Sounds good!”
As Yoo Sung-hyun spoke thus and Barbaros accepted, they began their search.
It was while they were scattered about, examining the book titles.
That Helena herself made her appearance.
-…Yeah, that’s right. The reason I said I was busy was because of the war.
How on earth did I end up at war with the Demon Race?
Yoo Sung-hyun continued searching for books while trying to listen to Helena’s words.
‘What happened?’
-The Demon Realm Archduke who holds hands with both the current Sword Saint and Giordan, the Sword Saint of my era, is the same being. And the one I waged war against is also the same one.
‘Ah? Then….’
-Yeah, he probably thought he could dispose of me and came at me.
As I continued listening to the story.
I could understand it vividly.
After all, she had appeared herself to tell the tale.
Thanks to that, Yoo Sung-hyun was able to learn the detailed circumstances.
It was a time in the past that Yoo Sung-hyun had also experienced.
It was after Helena had cast Dark Castle Noctrineum into the Underworld, much like creating the Canyon of Despair.
There was an entity that picked a fight with Helena, who was dwelling in a separate dimensional Underworld and enjoying a leisurely time.
It seemed that when she was in the middle realm, it didn’t matter much.
But in Helena’s Underworld, which could connect to anywhere, connections to the Demon Realm and Hell were easy, and thanks to that, one Demon Realm Archduke came to pick a fight with Helena.
For thousands of years, the throne of the Demon Realm had been vacant, and the Demon Race’s struggle to become the Demon King continued.
There were three Demon Realm Archdukes who could be called candidates for the Demon King.
And the most promising among them apparently disliked that Helena, who was being called the Demon King in the middle realm, and came to pick a fight.
-Turns out the reason the position of Demon King was vacant wasn’t because there was no being worthy of it, but because there needed to be a narrative—like how I’m now inheriting the Necromancer Lord.
‘So the Archduke joined hands with the Riescan Kingdom and gave you the title of Demon King?’
—So you wanted to kill me and take the position of Demon Lord for yourself.
But as everyone knows, the Archduke’s plan ended in failure.
And that incident was precisely this 『War with the Demon Realm』.
The war Will Baghdad participated in.
And it was also the final turning point for inheriting the Necromancer Lord.
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded, sensing the weight of it all.
For that reason, the Archduke had tried to kill Helena.
And the Riescan Kingdom and the Sword Saints were doing so because they found Helena and Overpalace disagreeable.
Should I call it selfish?
Should I call it too greedy?
I understand it’s all part of the game.
But Yoo Sung-hyun shook his head, as if he’d grown weary of such all-too-human tendencies above all else.
Then.
I found it.
『War with the Demon Realm』
When Yoo Sung-hyun discovered the book, he cried out.
“Oh!? I found it!”
“Yes!? I-I’m coming!”
Barbaros came rushing over in a panic.
The moment they saw the book, both wore delighted expressions and opened it without a shred of hesitation.
Then, a message appeared.
[The scenario 『War with the Demon Realm』 is beginning.]
The instant the scenario commenced.
They found themselves entering a world of ash-gray stillness, as if time itself had frozen.
And before the two of them, a story unfolded like a projected image.
Will Baghdad, wandering far and wide across the world in search of Helena.
And as the Necromancer Lord, displaying his authority, the name Will Baghdad itself had earned considerable renown.
Will Baghdad came to know such renowned Dark Mages.
And at the same time, he was summoned to this place.
After that, not images but text appeared.
[You are currently positioned among Helena’s followers, summoned by the summons order.]
[Most are Dark Mages, but not all are Dark Mages.]
[All are those who respect Helena and Dark Mages, and each has obtained a clue to transcendence.]
[The Necromancer Lord Will Baghdad is no exception.]
[These individuals gathered because Helena requested aid, and her disciples stepped forward to assemble the renowned, resulting in the current situation.]
[You too have been summoned alongside them for war, and are now preparing for the War with the Demon Realm to aid Helena.]
[The first conference is about to commence.]
[Please adapt to the situation and participate in the conference.]
[The objective will be revealed in the conference, so please focus on that.]
As Yoo Sung-hyun and Barbaros read through the lengthy message, they both nodded.
As time flowed once more, the ashen world returned to its original state.
Yet as if time itself had frozen, no one exchanged a single word.
Though preparations for war were underway, it seemed they still knew little of one another.
Yoo Sung-hyun was caught in the midst of such curiosity.
When someone cried out.
-Helena’s foremost disciple and holder of the First Seat among the Seven Heroes, Black Star, has arrived!!!
At those words, Yoo Sung-hyun’s eyes widened in shock.
Black Star was appearing here?
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————