The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 75

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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 75
Episode 75
Double casting utilizing the self within darkness.
I unleashed a torrential storm of blood alongside the spirits of the departed.
The crimson tempest erupted instantly where Crescentra stood, obscuring her vision.
In that moment of blindness, a teal-hued spear pierced through.
Though both abilities triggered simultaneously, the perfectly timed convergence created a successful strike.
‘I thought it might not work against Phase 2, but… it did.’
I had doubted whether it would affect someone as formidable as Crescentra.
Yet it worked.
Three seconds.
An extraordinarily brief window.
Time that Yoo Sung-hyun had carved out.
Baltar and Fiora’s eyes blazed with fervent intensity as they seized that precious moment.
From Baltar emanated a deep crimson glow.
From Fiora radiated a dark azure luminescence.
Two distinct lights intertwined and crossed, converging toward Crescentra.
But then.
Crescentra, whose every sense should have been severed, moved.
Rather, she attempted to move.
Her arm rising in a posture suggesting some action.
And I recognized it immediately.
‘A skill?’
Her senses were blocked, but her skills remained unsealed.
I realized this too and swiftly raised my index finger to my lips.
Then the skill, Lord’s Silencing Decree, unfurled.
Crescentra, bereft of all sensation, could not perceive it.
But a colossal witch materialized behind her, cackling with glee as her enormous arm stitched Crescentra’s mouth shut with teal-hued needles.
The gargantuan witch, holding the needle at her lips just as I did, extended her index finger and brought it to her mouth before—
—shushing.
She spoke in a voice like a dirge, then vanished.
[You are sealed from using skills for 5 seconds by Lord’s Silencing Decree.]
[Hidden Raid Boss, ‘Ancient Kingdom Guardian Golem, Crescentra’ partially resists.]
[Duration reduced to 2 seconds.]
I had carved out another two seconds.
I wiped away cold sweat and observed the battle’s progression.
—Whoooosh!
Baltar, his feet churning rapidly as he shot forward in a low stance barely grazing the ground, inhaled sharply and gripped his crimson-hued greatsword with crushing force.
Unlike usual, he lowered the blade held in both hands toward the lower arc.
Clang-clang-clang-clang——!
As I swept across the crystal floor mid-stride, a long line etched itself into the surface.
Simultaneously, the blood-red greatsword blazed brighter than ever, and crimson sword energy swirled like a violent tempest, enveloping the blade.
Baltar’s ultimate technique unfurled upon this realm.
Conversely, Fiora, who clashed with Baltar mid-flight while radiating teal energy, merged another arm with the one that had transformed into an axe.
It resembled Crescentra’s form with one arm melted away, yet the other arm had grown far more massive.
The axe-arm, now large enough to bisect Crescentra’s torso, was drawn back and launched forward faster than ever before.
Whoooooosh——!
As the teal energy wrapped entirely around the axe-arm.
The desolate blade grew ever sharper, gleaming with an icy sheen.
Even standing still, the aura shimmered like heat haze, distorting the surrounding space.
I swung the axe-arm, wreathed in that formidable power, toward Crescentra.
Baltar’s crimson storm of sword energy and Fiora’s axe-arm infused with teal aura were unleashed simultaneously upon Crescentra.
Red and blue energies interlocked, striking Crescentra’s torso directly, followed by the spirit’s breath carrying the tempest of ashes and mournful wails, crashing down upon Crescentra once more.
Craaaaaaash——!
Booooom——!
Whoooosh——!
Kyaaaaa——!
Shrieeeeek——!
This combination technique was far from finished.
With each violent barrage, countless arms strangling Crescentra’s neck multiplied endlessly.
At least dozens of arms.
All the arms that had attacked until now wove together as one.
Behind Crescentra’s back, the Grim Reaper, embodying death itself, appeared once more.
The Reaper, betraying no emotion, grasped the dozens of arms, which intertwined into a colossal scythe.
A scythe so immense it dwarfed even Crescentra’s massive frame.
Like a guillotine descending for execution, the scythe severed his neck.
The scythe, swung as if harvesting crops, did not strike merely once.
Slice!
Slice—!
Slice——!
Slice———!
Slice————!
Slice—————!
Six times the scythe descended.
The Reaper, having completed its task, released the scythe, which sank into the ground as if drawn by darkness, and the Reaper itself dissolved into shadow and vanished.
As the Reaper’s assault concluded.
The Crystal Palace trembled violently as if on the verge of collapse.
Fissures spread across the floor in countless places, and those cracks soon climbed the walls and extended to the ceiling.
As successive explosions and violent impacts continued relentlessly.
Even the steadfast crystals began to reach their limits one by one.
Yet Crescentra’s body had not crumbled.
As if embodying the Crystal Palace itself, her entire form was riddled with fissures that creaked and groaned, and as she finally regained mobility, crystalline shards tumbled from between the cracks with a soft cascading sound.
A state beyond words.
At first glance, she appeared as though she might collapse at any moment.
Yet Baltar and Fiora, along with Barphor, Kalisha, and even Anemor, felt every hair on their bodies stand on end.
Yoo Sung-hyun, observing from a distance, sensed it too.
‘This is insane.’
A level 70s Raid boss?
Absolutely not.
Anemor was said to be the strongest among the level 60s raids, but it hadn’t truly resonated with me.
However, if Crescentra were stronger than any level 70s raid boss—
I could accept that without hesitation.
Truly, I could.
The fact that I’d only lost one arm despite taking the initial corpse explosion and the cascading poison chain was absurd in itself.
Yet now, after withstanding the combined assault of Baltar and Fiora—my strongest summons—she still radiated such overwhelming presence.
She was stronger than any monster I’d ever faced.
Because of that, I prepared myself.
‘I cannot win like this.’
I possessed the legion buff skill, Encroaching Darkness.
But unfortunately, using it would be meaningless.
Encroaching Darkness was a buff skill that only held value when facing a massive army of enemies.
Recognizing the need for simple buffs, I retrieved the potions Plinky had given me and drank them all at once.
[You have consumed Plinky’s Special Mana Potion.]
[Mana recovers by a total of +15%.]
[You have consumed Plinky’s Special Dark Magic Enhancement Potion.]
[Dark Magic-type skills are enhanced by +5% for 10 minutes.]
[You have consumed Plinky’s Special Undead Enhancement Potion.]
[All stats of directly summoned undead increase by +10% for 10 minutes.]
[You have consumed Plinky’s Special Resistance Enhancement Potion.]
[All resistances increase by +5% for 10 minutes.]
[You have consumed Plinky’s Special Mana Enhancement Potion.]
[Maximum mana increases by +10% for 10 minutes.]
Even that wasn’t enough.
I brought the whistle hanging around my neck to my lips and blew.
Wheeeee——!
Wheeeee——!
Wheeeee——!
[You blow the Tricolor Whistle.]
[Mana recovers by a total of +30%.]
Combined with the potions, my mana recovered by a total of 45%, and my reserves were full once more.
I hadn’t drunk the potion beforehand because I was worried it might take too long.
Roughly six minutes had passed just to reach the second phase.
And that was despite unleashing an absolutely devastating barrage of attacks.
If this were Anemor, it would have died long ago with that level of power.
I still couldn’t believe we were only at the second phase.
Crescentra’s eyes blazed with pristine white light as she spoke.
-An… unbelievable… foe.
She had moved beyond merely acknowledging my strength—now she recognized me as a genuinely formidable threat.
That’s why Crescentra activated her skill.
Baltar and Fiora rushed in, having anticipated this beforehand.
But they were startled by the sudden surge of scorching heat radiating outward.
The intense heat emanating from Crescentra’s blazing form expanded the surrounding air, transforming into a shockwave that violently repelled both Baltar and Fiora.
Boom——!
She had sent them flying back with nothing but the expansion of air itself.
Just how hot could it possibly be?
As I entertained that thought.
An unimaginable wave of heat seemed to sweep across the entire Raid Field, reaching us here.
In an instant, the space had transformed into a blazing furnace of heat.
So this was the skill Baltar and Fiora had been planning to use when they activated their fusion technique earlier.
Crescentra’s crystal glowed a fierce, burning red.
Unlike Crescentra’s reddened crystal, the entire Crystal Palace began melting away bit by bit.
If not for the heat from the explosion I’d used earlier, it wouldn’t have melted so easily—but since it was already half-melted from that blast, it had no way to withstand Crescentra’s heat.
Drip.
Plop.
The molten crystal flowed down from all directions like rain.
From the ceiling to the pillars, walls, and floor—everything was melting.
The ground transformed into a swamp-like surface, hot and viscous from the heat.
Everyone except Kalisha and Anemor, who were flying through the air, were taking damage.
Kalisha and Anemor also darted about frantically, dodging the crystal rain falling from above.
Feeling the scorching ground, the spirit-form Fiora and Barphor took flight into the air, Anemor carried me, and Kalisha carried Baltar.
There was no way to continue fighting while touching the ground.
This place had become a lava field.
Fighting while taking continuous damage was proving to be exceptionally troublesome.
Crescentra watched them with a delighted laugh and spoke.
-Flying opponents, how unfortunate.
Perhaps she was laughing in disappointment that her carefully constructed field had become meaningless.
But that wasn’t how I saw it.
She seemed to be laughing simply because she was enjoying this battle.
Normally, this would have been the perfect moment to launch an attack.
Even though the ground had melted, it was still solid enough to stand on, and now we had taken to the air.
Using it as a summoned creature to fight was acceptable.
The other summoned creatures thought the same, but they took to the air and waited according to Yoo Sung-hyun’s command.
Yoo Sung-hyun knew that creature’s techniques well.
‘I need to evade.’
The moment Yoo Sung-hyun made that judgment and took flight.
As expected, Crescentra’s crystal, which had turned a burning red, changed color.
This time to a biting, icy blue.
Whoooosh——!
Crack!
Snap!
Crackle crackle!
The melted crystals froze solid in an instant.
The hardened floor, ceiling, and walls alike.
Yet Crescentra’s body, riddled with fissures, remained unchanged.
This skill had not been cast with recovery in mind.
Had I ignored the melting crystals and charged in to fight, when buried in the crystals like quicksand, Crescentra would have frozen the crystals to seal my movements.
I might have suffered considerable damage.
Perhaps one of us would have died.
That was why all the summoned creatures held Yoo Sung-hyun in high regard.
‘The Lord had grasped even this…!’
‘Y-yes, truly the Lord is m-magnificent.’
‘Th-this is our master…!’
‘Caaaw!(Gr-great strategy!)’
‘Squeeeak!(Terrifyingly brilliant tactics!)’
As the crystals froze, the summoned creatures descended to the ground again.
Crescentra also rushed forward, grasping the crystal longsword once more, and Baltar and Fiora moved to intercept.
Thus dozens of exchanges.
Crescentra had grown even more formidable in phase two.
Yet she could not break through five of Yoo Sung-hyun’s powerful summoned creatures.
And whenever the slightest opening appeared, Yoo Sung-hyun’s attack skills came raining down.
Though that mighty explosion could not be unleashed, each individual attack was far from negligible.
Especially that cyan spear—it had to be avoided at all costs.
In trying to evade all of Yoo Sung-hyun’s attacks.
I inevitably had to take hits from the summoned creatures’ assaults.
When the attacks connected several times, the Reaper appeared midway and slashed through Crescentra’s body.
It happened again this time.
How many exchanges had there been?
As considerable time passed, the Reaper appeared once more, and Crescentra’s body was cut.
-Kugh.
Crescentra knelt on one knee, feeling the pain of her soul being severed.
But that composure was short-lived—I quickly adjusted my stance.
Then, after deflecting Baltar’s charge with my crystal greatsword, I swept away Fiora, who had been attempting to press her attack through the maelstrom of wind.
Spirit Barfur tried desperately to intercept me.
But alone, he was insufficient.
That’s why Kalisha and Anemor rushed at me simultaneously.
Individually, each fell far short compared to Baltar and Fiora, but with the three of them together, they managed to hold their own against me.
However, Crescentra’s eyes began to glow with radiance.
Just as luminescence engulfed my crystal greatsword, Crescentra’s entire body blazed with light.
-Kaaaagh?! (What is this?!)
-Piiieee?! (No, I have to stop it!)
-Master! Please evade!
Spirit Barfur cried out upon sensing the anomaly.
But rather than flee, I opened the gate to the Underworld instead.
As if I’d known all along—I pulled in Baltar, Fiora, Barfur, Kalisha, and Anemor.
All five of them, and in exchange, I summoned twenty soulless Null Ghouls before activating Pestilence.
Crescentra, aware of my explosive power, trembled involuntarily.
Yet Crescentra cried out at me nonetheless.
-You’re attempting self-destruction? But it’s too late!!!
She was faster.
Even while battling my five strongest summons, Crescentra had conserved her final strength—her body flashed brilliantly as she materialized before my eyes.
Crystal Flash.
It was Crescentra’s trump card technique.
Simultaneously, wrapped in the radiance of her crystal greatsword, she sought to cleave me in two.
For one who wielded Dark Magic like me, this strike would be unstoppable.
As Crescentra’s crystal greatsword descended from above to bisect me.
I, too, drew my blade.
A mere Dark Mage’s sword would shatter beneath her strike.
That’s what Crescentra believed.
Kwaaang——!
Clang clang clang clang!
The impact was so tremendous that the crystal floor beneath my feet fractured and caved inward.
Yet my blade held firm against Crescentra’s crystal greatsword.
-How… how is this possible…?!
An incomprehensible phenomenon.
But I looked at Crescentra and smiled wickedly as I spoke.
“Gotcha.”
The Null Ghouls infused with Pestilence ignited with brilliant green light.
-You… you’ll die too…?!
And in that instant, I was engulfed in shadow and sank into the floor.
Crescentra’s blade carved through empty air where I had been, gouging the ground beneath.
Whoosh!
Crescentra turned her head to search for Yoo Sung-hyun, who had vanished from sight.
I could see him far in the distance, having reached the edge of this Raid Field.
But even so, escaping the explosion would be difficult, wouldn’t it?
Crescentra watched him with incomprehension, but the moment she saw Yoo Sung-hyun unfurl a barrier woven from blood, the explosion erupted.
Kwaaaaaaaa————!
The explosion spread its scorching heat and consumed everything in its path.
Crescentra was engulfed instantly, and even Yoo Sung-hyun, distant as he was, remained within the blast radius.
[Shadow Transition has been activated.]
[You enter an invincible state for 1 second.]
[Blood Veil unfolds.]
One second of invincibility granted by Shadow Transition.
I used it, but a single second was far too brief to withstand this blow.
The shockwave shattered the crystal floor into countless fragments, and the searing heat that followed vaporized every crystalline shard in its wake.
The Blood Veil had long since dissipated.
As my invincible state ended, I grimaced, feeling a burning agony spreading from my fingertips.
‘Is this still not enough?’
Then, gradually, the pain spread from my torso to my face.
My entire body was engulfed in the scorching heat, my flesh burning away as if I were dissolving.
I could no longer see what had become of Crescentra.
In fact, I myself had been consumed.
Yet my consciousness remained clearer than ever.
[Severe damage sustained!]
[Health reduced to 0.]
[The effect of 『Unchained』 activates.]
[You are resurrected at 50% of maximum health.]
[Upon resurrection, you enter an invincible state for 5 seconds.]
I had bought more time.
Five seconds.
And as those five eternal seconds drew to a close,
the explosion’s heat subsided, my vision returned, and simultaneously—
[Hidden Raid Boss, 『Ancient Kingdom Guardian Golem, Crescentra』 has been defeated.]
….
(End of excerpt)
‘I won!’

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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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