The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 42

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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 42
Episode 42
Kallak and Uz appeared abruptly.
Even someone oblivious to atmosphere could sense they hadn’t come with benevolent intentions.
The crimson mark hovering above their heads and their names themselves testified to how many users they’d slain within this dungeon already.
There was no way not to know.
I’d encountered a notorious user in the Labyrinth Dungeon.
What to do in such circumstances was obvious.
The atmosphere stretched taut as a drawn bowstring.
It was a situation on the razor’s edge of eruption.
Kallak and Uz exchanged glances, observing Sung-hyun and Kim Che-gun.
At a glance, one could tell they were different from the rabble clamoring at the entrance.
Uz especially felt that aura keenly, licking her lips.
So they’d flee?
‘Not a chance!’
Rather, it was welcome.
I felt the thrill that had grown stale from facing only weaklings reignite within me.
Though unspoken, Kallak felt the same.
Despite his massive frame, his gaze transcended sharpness—it was like a blade honed to lethal perfection.
Had a warrior’s blood begun to boil?
“….”
Still silent, Kallak lowered his stance, prepared to charge at any moment.
A posture ready to launch an attack the instant a signal came.
It wasn’t just those two.
Kim Che-gun was also a swordmaster.
Her blood too seemed to surge as she placed her hand upon her blade, ready to burst forth at any second.
‘I saw them outside too, but they’re quite capable.’
Kim Che-gun seemed to relish this situation, a long smile drawn across her lips hidden beneath the wide hat.
Just how formidable were they, truly?
The anticipation was exquisite.
Thus was created this taut, drawn-tight situation.
One signal, and it would immediately escalate into combat.
In such circumstances, Sung-hyun gave it no further thought and immediately invoked Legion of the Dead.
Why waste time?
The cyan-hued heart was grasped in Sung-hyun’s palm, and as its pulse echoed through the surroundings,
naturally, the corpse of the lesser demon Kaisak convulsed, darkness draping over his already pallid skin as cyan auras began blooming throughout.
Yet that was merely the beginning.
The undead that rose were not one, but two.
Two undead of identical appearance emerged.
Undead distinctly different from ordinary ones—a far superior form.
Upon witnessing Sung-hyun’s undead, Uz, Kallak, and even Kim Che-gun—their own party member—felt their eyes trembling violently.
“R-Rapid’s rookie!?”
“…!!”
“W-we knew you were a Dark Mage, but to think you were Rapid Guild’s rookie…”
All three were astonished, yet Sung-hyun, with an indifferent expression, casually consigned the soulless lesser demon Kaisak—born from Ed Moore—into the Underworld.
It would certainly bolster our combat strength if kept active.
But I had no desire to witness the soulless death soldier Kaisak in action.
However, that action twisted the temperament of both Kallak and Uz.
Veins bulged across Kallak’s forehead as he glared at Sung-hyun, while Uz’s forehead and face flushed crimson, her lips trembling as if consumed by humiliation.
“…How presumptuous.”
“Ha! Do we look so easy to dismiss?”
Even the taciturn Kallak was indignant enough to speak excitedly.
It was a natural reaction.
There was no way to interpret it except as contempt toward them.
I had merely been curious about how effectively Kaisak would perform with his soul intact.
But who could possibly understand that?
Not even Kim Che-gun, their fellow party member.
‘Hmm, quite skilled at provocation, I see.’
Wasn’t it commonly called the art of psychological warfare?
In Kim Che-gun’s eyes, Sung-hyun was a figure whose psychological tactics could not be dismissed lightly.
Yet Sung-hyun, observing the two of them, tilted his head in incomprehension.
Why were they so angry?
He couldn’t understand.
Shouldn’t they be pleased that adding one more would make combat easier?
In any case, the psychology of those who attacked players remained a mystery.
Sung-hyun swallowed his thoughts and asked instead.
“Hmm. Weren’t you planning to attack?”
Unlike Sung-hyun, who asked out of genuine curiosity,
Kallak’s fists now trembled violently, and Uz’s face quivered with rage.
Their patience had reached its absolute limit.
Rapid Guild’s rookie?
They had refrained from recklessly engaging, knowing well the overwhelming display of undead numbers from that video, but now…
‘Putting one away wasn’t merely for provocation.’
The petite woman, Uz, burned with fury yet analyzed calmly.
The only undead visible now was a mere single one.
And even that one had been put away.
Struggling to maintain even one?
Such a judgment could be made, but hadn’t that goblin-like undead been controlling twenty of them?
Was there a difference?
The skills of Eternal World grew increasingly complex in their effects as they ascended in grade.
For instance, what if the fewer undead he controlled, the more powerful they became?
‘An effect worth considering seriously.’
Uz, her heart burning hot, cooled her mind with calculation and spoke to Kallak.
[Uz-It seems like summoning just that one creature is what makes it the strongest.]
[Kallak-Understood.]
From just that brief exchange, Kallak grasped the directive perfectly.
The moment he received the order, Kallak moved first, and his target was none other than Yoo Sung-hyun.
Ignoring Kim Che-gun, who specialized in close combat, he swiftly aimed for Yoo Sung-hyun.
A truly wise stratagem.
At Kallak’s action, Kim Che-gun also moved.
Or rather, he tried to move.
Before he could even see the flaming arrows hurtling toward him.
Whoooosh!
As the arrows traced flames through the air and shot forward, cutting off Kim Che-gun’s path, he too furrowed his brow and swatted the flaming arrows away.
Unless it was magic that exerted physical force, he could only block it by using a skill, so Kim Che-gun had no choice but to channel a skill into his blade.
If he was delayed like this, he’d have no choice but to watch Kallak rush at Yoo Sung-hyun.
He didn’t know how long that undead would last.
‘I need to finish this as quickly as possible and get out.’
I need to deal with Uz as quickly as possible and leave.
But.
“Is it that easy?”
Uz, laughing with an air of playfulness, floated into the air, rolling her eyes as she prepared to unleash her skills.
The sight looked rather grotesque, causing Kim Che-gun’s expression to darken.
If what she showed at the entrance wasn’t all she had.
This would definitely take a while.
Kim Che-gun, with such thoughts in mind, stroked his chin as if grooming a beard he didn’t have, gripped his sword, and muttered.
“Hmph, underestimate the greatest swordsman and you’ll pay dearly.”
At Kim Che-gun’s words, Uz muttered as if she truly couldn’t understand.
“Greatest swordsman? What’s that?”
“Unforgivable!!”
As Kim Che-gun suddenly accelerated forward, Uz prepared herself and quickly deployed magic to intercept her charge, taking a purely defensive stance.
Uz was also a mage.
To last long against Kim Che-gun, who specialized in close combat, she had no choice but to play defensively.
As long as Kallak captured that single undead and joined in, everything would be fine.
But.
Splurch!
At the sound of flesh being pierced, heard not far from where Uz and Kim Che-gun were fighting, both of them turned their heads.
And the sight that greeted them was gruesome.
[Critical Hit!]
[The effect of 『One Strike』 activates!]
-Keke! Kekekekeke!
“Ugh.”
Kaisak’s undead, cackling with unbridled laughter, drove its tail through Kallak’s shoulder as he swallowed hard and hastily retreated backward.
Despite Kallak’s body being superior to most armor.
Uz couldn’t help but feel bewildered watching it.
How did it pierce through in a single strike?
Conversely, Kim Che-gun harbored similar thoughts.
‘It’s stronger than before it became undead…!’
After all, Kim Che-gun had already fought Kaisak before.
Because of that, he could vividly sense the enhanced state.
Unlike the two who marveled, Yoo Sung-hyun observed Kallak and Kaisak with an ordinary expression.
Seeing Yoo Sung-hyun’s expression, Kallak could only grit his teeth.
Did his current state look ridiculous?
Or was it that he wasn’t worth paying attention to?
He couldn’t know, but that’s what he suspected.
However, it was far different from Kallak’s assumption.
‘So that keke wasn’t just laughing—it was actually laughing.’
Only Yoo Sung-hyun could understand what the death soldier possessed by a specter was saying, so he wondered what it was saying.
But it was just laughing.
Though it was somewhat anticlimactic.
‘Certainly strong.’
Markedly stronger than the other goblin death soldiers or the mercenary company skeletons.
Even now, that was the case.
Even without Yoo Sung-hyun issuing separate orders, it moved the same as other death soldiers.
But the sense of it was on a different dimension, so to speak.
As the tail lashed out in a piercing thrust, Kallak raised both arms and crossed them, deploying a defensive skill.
However, in that instant, the trajectory of the lashing tail twisted, aiming instead at the ground before Kallak.
Thunk!
Using the tail embedded firmly in the ground, the body itself shot forward with tremendous speed.
As time passed, the defensive skill crumbled, and over those shattered arms, Kaisak’s short legs struck with force.
Boom!
Screech!
The kick, delivered with full momentum behind it, was a considerable impact that pushed Kallak back, and though he gritted his teeth and tried to endure, his legs scraped across the ground as he was driven backward.
The moment Kallak was pushed back, Kaisak lashed out with its tail again.
Kallak had already experienced firsthand that the sharply honed tail could pierce through anything, but this time he had no choice.
Kallak spread his hand, extending it toward the tail’s tip.
Squelch! Crack!
The sound of skin and flesh tearing echoed, and the sound of bone twisting and breaking followed.
Yet in that moment, Kallak twisted the trajectory of Kaisak’s lashing tail with his hand and barely managed to exert force into his moving grip, seizing the tail.
-Kek?
Kaisak forgot he was even smiling, staring blankly at the sight before him.
Kallak bared his teeth savagely and spoke.
“…Finally caught you.”
With those words, Kallak yanked Kaisak toward him.
Kaisak was dragged through the air like a radish being pulled from the ground.
Though his tail possessed piercing power and tremendous force, his physical body itself was weak—he had no way to resist.
As he was dragged into the void, he tried to thrash by pouring strength into his tail.
The moment Kaisak poured strength into his tail to struggle, Kallak’s body swayed slightly—but that was all.
Without his feet touching the ground, he was decidedly at a disadvantage against Kallak.
-Ki, Kir? (Th, This!)
Along with Kaisak’s bewildered cry, a crimson aura flowed from Kallak’s unpierced right fist, striking precisely into Kaisak’s face.
Unsatisfied with that alone, Kallak extended the fist embedded in Kaisak’s face and hammered it into the ground alongside his head.
Kwaaaaaang!
The impact—nearly an explosion—was so powerful that the surrounding area trembled as the fist drove into the floor.
Yet the ground remained intact, preserved by magic; what was not intact was Kaisak’s head.
Kaisak’s head burst like a watermelon.
He had held out quite well against Kallak, a considerably powerful user, but unfortunately, this was where it ended.
Yet Sung-hyun’s expression was satisfied.
Though Kaisak had lost, he had performed admirably.
But it wasn’t over.
[Critical Hit!]
“Cough.”
Just before the final blow.
Kaisak had performed a final feat—coiling the tail gripped in Kallak’s fist deeper, driving it straight through to Kallak’s heart.
Kallak’s heart region was pierced clean through.
Yet the creature was tough enough that he rose to his feet in that state.
Having dealt with Kaisak, he apparently judged that only Sung-hyun remained.
“…That creature was your strongest undead and, it seems, your only undead. Now I shall kill you.”
Kallak spoke at unusual length.
Sung-hyun asked with a puzzled expression.
“Hmm, only?”
“…?”
Kallak, sensing something amiss, did not understand.
Sung-hyun, observing Kallak, lightly raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Then cyan portals appeared in the empty air.
From them emerged twenty goblin undead and twenty skeleton mercenaries.
Finally, a single wraith wrapped in darkness, making the surrounding air several times heavier.
It was enough to freeze this entire corridor in an instant.
Of course, that was not the end.
Sssssss.
As the cyan heartbeat echoed once more, Kaisak’s head—which had burst like a watermelon—began to reconstruct itself.
He returned to his original form.
The creature I had barely captured at the cost of mutual destruction was alive again.
At that nightmarish sight, Kallak’s pupils trembled violently.
It wasn’t just Kallak.
“Th-that’s… what!? It w-wasn’t a skill that g-grows stronger with each one defeated!?!?”
Uz, shrieking in desperation, and Kim Che-gun, who had been fighting her, could only pause and witness the scene unfold.
The cyan aura pouring from all directions and the energy emanating from that spirit made the temperature in the Corridor plummet by five degrees in an instant.
Could prey standing before a predator feel anything else?
Even Kim Che-gun, his ally, felt his pupils quivering.
“Hah.”
Not a shred of competitive spirit remained.
All that lingered here was one thing alone.
Fear.
Yoo Sung-hyun, who had spread that fear, opened his mouth gently as he gazed upon them.
“Come.”
At those words, Kallak’s body trembled with dread.
Uz’s prediction had been wrong.

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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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