The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 350

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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 350
350
2.
Yoo Sung-hyun, Helena, Belladrina, Serpina, and Fiora had been here for quite some time.
Yet the reason they hadn’t made any progress was simple.
Before the Intelligence Knight Order could even enter.
A peculiar system message appeared before Yoo Sung-hyun, who had arrived first at the tomb.
[The Masked Lord’s Tomb operates as team-based trials.]
[The trial begins once three or more teams of five members each have gathered.]
“Ah.”
Because there was a personnel limit, not for any other reason.
Even arriving early meant there was nothing to do.
Though that restriction had finally ended now.
[A new team enters the tomb.]
[Current personnel inside the tomb: 30 members]
[Six teams have entered in total.]
[The trial begins.]
The space where Yoo Sung-hyun and the four women stood began to shift gradually.
The ground moved downward as if it were an elevator descending.
Crrrunch.
The sound of walls scraping against friction echoed through the chamber.
Yet none of them showed concern or anxiety.
Fiora trembled slightly, though it was merely a display rather than genuine fear.
‘Is that right?’
Yoo Sung-hyun had a fleeting thought.
But he simply let it pass.
How long had they waited?
The heavy floor grinding beneath them finally came to a halt.
Click.
With the sound of something locking into place, the surroundings transformed, and they arrived in a vast chamber filled with masks bearing the visage of a jester.
Judging from the jester’s appearance.
There was something unsettling about it, though none of them reacted noticeably—except for Fiora.
Then, at that moment.
A section of the wall began to open, and something wearing a mask emerged.
It was not a living creature.
Its joints felt artificial, like a wooden puppet, and though the material wasn’t wood, it conveyed a similar sensation.
The mask worn by this puppet-like entity bore the same jester design that covered the walls.
“Keeeek keek keek.”
The creature moved, emitting an eerie sound.
A sword had appeared in its hand at some point, and Yoo Sung-hyun and his companions all prepared to move.
Based on the sword in hand,
it appears to be a close-range combatant.
The moment Yoo Sung-hyun thought to draw his own blade,
Helena reacted first, smiled enigmatically, and yielded her turn to Belladrina.
-Your Majesty, it is not a sword!
At that cry, Yoo Sung-hyun responded instantly.
The aura I sensed was one of bitter cold.
The moment I felt it, Yoo Sung-hyun drew upon the power of Inferno Road.
Simultaneously, the jester-masked figure swung the blade.
Where Yoo Sung-hyun extended his hand, violet flames erupted and formed a wall, while the blade wielded by the masked figure brought not a sword strike but a fierce gale accompanied by freezing cold. In the next instant, spears of ice materialized and flew toward the violet flame barrier.
Whoooosh———!!!
Yet the hellfire that consumed all things melted every ice spear, providing ample defense.
And in that moment, Belladrina’s eyes gleamed black as she raised her hand toward the sky.
Then emerged a black sun.
The black sun unfurling from Belladrina’s palm manifested brilliantly despite the indoor setting, burning with black flames that spread throughout the space.
Simultaneously, at her gesture, black flames bloomed and flew toward the jester-masked figure, who swung the blade once more.
Then light suddenly erupted.
It illuminated the black flames and erased them all.
-A more formidable opponent than expected. However, if you grant me the opportunity, I shall attempt to subdue it.
At Belladrina’s earnest words, Yoo Sung-hyun pondered briefly before nodding.
He had wanted to witness Belladrina’s true strength anyway.
Though she had displayed tremendous prowess in intelligence operations and information warfare thus far,
I had not yet seen combat ability befitting her epithet as the Master of the Black Sun.
As Yoo Sung-hyun nodded in assent,
Serpina and Fiora withdrew to the rear.
Serpina showed some disappointment at not being able to participate,
while Fiora smiled brightly and murmured with excitement.
-Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve gotten to watch Belladrina in combat!
“Indeed. This should be entertaining, wouldn’t you say?”
Helena smiled in response to Fiora’s comment,
and Yoo Sung-hyun, now equally curious, observed their confrontation unfold.
For now,
‘What is that jester-masked figure’s power?’
The way it was used seemed contradictory to its appearance, which struck me as peculiar.
Even now, that remained true.
I had expected Belladrina’s summoned black flames to be cut down or blocked by magic,
yet when the blade swung, the black flames vanished as if by sleight of hand.
Given the jester’s appearance,
was it creating an illusion of magic?
Such was my thought,
I didn’t rush to conclusions.
For now, I would observe.
In that moment, the jester mask that had consumed Belladrina’s black flames began to move.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh.
The jester mask moved with blinding speed.
Yet Belladrina’s velocity was equally formidable.
She drew black flames from the black sun she had summoned earlier, manifesting countless sharp, thorn-like black lines that she unleashed toward the creature.
However, the jester mask’s movement surpassed Belladrina’s speed.
As the jester mask evaded every attack and closed the distance to within inches of Belladrina’s face,
it transformed into a black staff clutched in its hand.
Belladrina, seeing this with obvious displeasure, gestured, and a barrier of black flames materialized. As the jester mask swung the staff toward that barrier,
Belladrina reacted instantly, snapping her fingers despite the barrier already being in place.
Yet simultaneously, a sharp aura erupted from the staff, cleaving through the barrier without resistance.
Screech—!
For a moment, I thought the barrier had been completely severed, along with Belladrina herself.
But the form of the slashed Belladrina transformed amid intense heat, erupting into a massive explosion around her.
Boom—!!!
Fierce black flames engulfed the surroundings, and the explosion swept across the area with violent tremors, yet
no one was startled by it.
Everyone remained focused on the battle, and soon Belladrina reappeared, creating a sphere of black flames like a miniature sun, which she hurled into the center of the explosion.
Naturally, the jester mask escaped from there.
It emerged from the impact without a single scratch, then retreated backward.
Belladrina, observing the jester mask, murmured as though she had understood something.
—Hmm, so it was as I thought.
A remark that suggested she had discerned the creature’s true nature in an instant.
Yet no one present was ignorant of it.
—The Mask of Deception, then.
“Kee-hee-hee-hee.”
In response to Belladrina’s words, the creature’s neck twisted at a grotesque angle, emitting an eerie sound.
But Belladrina paid it no mind, launching attacks toward the jester mask, and Yoo Sung-hyun watched in admiration.
I was genuinely impressed by Belladrina’s strategy and intellect.
The creature wearing that jester-painted mask was indeed the Mask of Deception, as Belladrina had said.
In other words, it manifests the complete opposite of what appears.
It continuously employs deception.
It was doing so now as well.
As Belladrina attacked, it wielded a short sword, slashing through empty air.
Suddenly, Belladrina’s attack halted as if blocked by something invisible, exploding in mid-air.
‘The short sword is a shield.’
I immediately grasped it as well.
And naturally, if that jester mask truly is the Mask of Deception, then
It was predictable.
Belladrina, knowing who he was, summoned black flames around herself and unleashed them toward the Mask of Deception.
Just as she attempted to swiftly escape the area—
Belladrina’s eyes gleamed as she launched an attack at the black shadow that remained where the Mask of Deception had evaded.
Then.
Crack, crack, crack.
With the sound of something shattering, the jester masks that had filled the wall began to fracture and crumble one by one.
As expected, even those jester masks before us were not the true form.
Belladrina, having quickly discerned this, attacked the shadow—and succeeded.
-I have eliminated the enemy blocking Your Majesty’s path.
Yoo Sung-hyun nodded at Belladrina’s loyal salute.
She was certainly excellent.
‘The Mask of Deception proved stronger than I anticipated, yet she disposed of it swiftly.’
The gimmick was somewhat predictable, but that didn’t make finding the true form any easier.
It was a shadow so faint it was nearly imperceptible, and Belladrina’s ability to recognize it instantly and strike was remarkable.
In any case, we had captured it.
Wasn’t that what mattered?
As I entertained such thoughts—
A system message appeared before Yoo Sung-hyun.
[You have defeated the ‘Mask of Deception’ in the Trial of Masks.]
[You have obtained the ‘Mask of Deception’.]
With that message, the Mask of Deception materialized in Yoo Sung-hyun’s hand.
Did I need to collect these masks by passing trials?
I didn’t yet understand the full picture.
‘I’ll figure it out as I go.’
Yoo Sung-hyun thought calmly and responded to the next system message that appeared.
[Will you challenge the next trial?]
[Yes / No]
[If you end the trial now, you may exit with all rewards obtained thus far.]
It seemed somewhat tempting.
But it didn’t work on Yoo Sung-hyun.
There was no way I would end the trial after coming this far.
“I will challenge the trial.”
As Yoo Sung-hyun spoke thus—
The ground beneath him began to descend slowly like an elevator, and soon I arrived at another chamber adorned with different masks.
What kind of mask would it be this time?
The wall that revealed itself was filled with masks bearing melting, formless faces.
And from the opening wall emerged a figure wearing a mask with a similarly melting, dissolving visage.
-Um, um, would it be alright if I… if I tried this time?
At that moment, Fiora spoke hesitantly.
Yoo Sung-hyun wanted to fight as well, but this wasn’t a boss battle.
“Fine, go ahead.”
The moment Yoo Sung-hyun gave his permission, the other two—excluding Helena—wore expressions of mild disappointment.
Yet they harbored no intention of interfering with Fiora, so when she stepped forward, they returned to Yoo Sung-hyun’s side.
What manner of mask could that melting one possibly be?
While I observed with considerable anticipation,
the team from the Intelligence Knight Order without a vice-captain lay sprawled across the ground, coughing blood.
Knights bearing not a single unblemished spot among them.
Four of the five had already perished.
The sole survivor, grievously wounded, gazed upon the puppets that encircled him.
The puppet wearing the mask—one that seemed to depict multiple overlapping masks layered atop one another—was not alone.
Even now.
Whoosh.
“Ah, still multiplying… Aaaaagh!”
With those final words, the last remaining knight fell to the swarm of mask-wearing puppets descending upon him.
And in that instant, a system message materialized before everyone.
[Current personnel within the tomb: 25]
[Teams currently undergoing the trial: 5]
The trial was still ongoing.

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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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