The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 87

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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 87
Episode 87
I was momentarily flustered by the blocked attack.
But I quickly regained my composure.
Even with my senses severed, I could still use skills themselves.
Sharp blade strikes could never pierce through that barrier, and Hindel was forced to stumble back three full steps from the powerful rotating blow.
With my senses cut off, it would have been natural to fall.
How much experience and training must one endure for their muscles to remember and resist collapse on their own?
It was an absurd sight.
But I was no longer surprised.
Rather, it would be troubling if he couldn’t manage even this much.
“Haaah.”
My senses were still partially severed.
I didn’t miss this opportunity.
The barrier formed by blade energy still existed.
Then.
I activated one of the effects attached to the Anemor Slayer.
Simultaneously taking flight, I unleashed a tempestuous whirlwind.
Behind Hindel, where the blade energy barrier could not reach, a violent vortex erupted.
At first, the wind was gentle and light.
But it quickly transformed into a raging storm that consumed Hindel entirely.
Whiiiiiiii——!
Razor-sharp winds swirled and tore countless wounds across Hindel, yet none were fatal individually.
Multiple hits landed, but whether the attack counted as a single strike.
Only one mark of death appeared on Hindel.
One hand born from the vengeful spirits of the dead before, and one from the tempestuous whirlwind.
Two spectral hands stretched forth, gripping both of Hindel’s arms.
But with his senses not yet restored, Hindel was lifted skyward by the storm. I flew after him with eyes wide open and slashed at his back with my blade.
Swish! Slash!
Striking in mid-air, the blow wasn’t particularly strong.
Yet darkness bloomed in the void, and from within it, two new hands emerged to seize Hindel’s legs.
Both arms and legs now bound by chains of shadowy hands.
Confirming the expansion of the Mark of Death, I quickly unleashed bone arrows as well.
As the bone arrows flew toward the back of Hindel’s neck.
Flash!
All of Hindel’s senses returned, and his eyes snapped open brilliantly.
Radiating pure white light, the moment his senses returned, Hindel spun rapidly in mid-air and swung his blade in all directions, deflecting the bone arrows away.
Two seconds had already passed.
I moved as quickly as possible.
But unfortunately, I failed to shatter the Mark of Death.
But it’s fine.
‘You can’t be satisfied on the first bite.’
Yoo Sung-hyun made his judgment with composure.
Unlike Yoo Sung-hyun, Hindel landed on the ground with a disturbing sensation, visibly flustered.
‘…Extraordinary.’
Using an unblockable attack from the start to cut off sensation and seize the opportunity.
Looking at his own diminished stamina, it seemed he’d taken quite a powerful blow.
And on top of that.
The hands of darkness grasping both his arms and legs, showing no intention of letting go.
Each one cannot be ignored.
‘My movements have slowed.’
It must be because of these hands.
I cannot approach this sparring match thinking it’s at a moderate level.
Hindel had already felt it before with Fiora, but he seemed to be instinctively holding back his strength.
To still be holding back against such a powerful opponent.
‘This isn’t mercy or compassion—it’s arrogance and insolence.’
I reflected inwardly.
To reserve strength before a powerful opponent like Yoo Sung-hyun.
With that in mind, as a form of atonement.
I resolved to give my all.
Returning to the matter at hand, my movements had slowed because of the hands of darkness.
But it’s fine.
I just need to accelerate as much as I’ve slowed.
“My apologies. I too shall engage seriously.”
Hindel stepped forward with his right foot, emphasizing the word “seriously” with force.
Merely the movement of extending a front foot.
Yet it was different.
Whoooosh!
It was felt even in the air.
The flow of the atmosphere had changed.
Normally, the air would grow heavy or create a sense of pressure.
Hindel was different.
The air had become lighter?
No, it’s different.
The space around Hindel appeared to distort.
The atmosphere itself, not space, seemed to surge and undulate.
The atmospheric pressure had changed.
More precisely, the atmospheric pressure and gravity around Hindel had all become lighter.
Freed from the shackles of gravity, Hindel’s feet sprang up lightly.
Whoosh!
Yoo Sung-hyun flew toward Hindel with deceptive lightness.
With gravity and air pressure weakened.
His speed was beyond description.
It was barely the speed Hindel could react to.
I thought I’d reduced my speed considerably with four Death Seals.
‘He’s gotten faster.’
With eyes sharpened, I watched Hindel approach at a terrifying velocity and activated two skills simultaneously.
One was the Wind Shield—a set option skill usable twice daily for body defense.
And I activated the other.
A violet liquid materialized above my head.
The ominous, purple-smoke-emitting liquid couldn’t overcome gravity above my head and fell without hesitation.
Splurt, ssssshhh!
The violet liquid cascading down my body seeped in with an ominous sound.
[You have used 『Poison: Tactile Numbness』.]
[For 1 minute, you feel no pain.]
[While unable to feel pain, your concentration improves.]
A buff skill that allows continuous skill activation without losing focus even if pain is felt.
I’d used the Wind Shield but felt uneasy, so I activated this as well.
As I deployed both skills against Hindel.
Hindel had already reached my face and drew his sword back.
Flash——!
Crack———!
Light flashed.
Something pierced through the Wind Shield.
Before I could even hear the Wind Shield shatter.
As light flashed, I twisted my body, and Hindel’s blade swept past where I’d been standing.
Had I tried to block with a Blood Curtain, I wouldn’t have dodged and would’ve been skewered on that blade.
After the Wind Shield broke, cracks spread across the entire barrier and the defense collapsed.
I tried to retreat backward through flight in that collapsing gap.
But Hindel was equally wary of distance being created.
Whoooosh!
Fwoom—!
Yoo Sung-hyun merely flying, and Hindel freed from gravity’s constraints.
It was obvious whose speed was superior.
Hindel clung relentlessly and unleashed attacks toward me.
Not with the skill that pierced the Wind Shield, but with sharp sword technique effects.
Not as formidable as that piercing thrust, but each strike was nonetheless a threatening attack.
‘I can’t take a hit.’
Yet I watched and used the knockback skill embedded in the Wind Ring, pushing myself back or knocking Hindel’s body away to evade each time.
‘So this is Yoo Sung-hyun.’
I had already burned through two uses of a skill I could only deploy three times a day.
Yoo Sung-hyun barely managed to slip past Hindel’s blade again and again.
Those watching from the ground couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
Not just once or twice—he was evading repeatedly.
“He’s… he’s actually dodging that!? Y-you really do deserve the title of Master Yoo Sung-hyun, don’t you?”
“…I think this is the first time I’ve seen Master Hindel’s Radiant Flash miss. And while it’s rare to see him dodge Master Hindel’s swordplay in general, I’ve never witnessed evasion on this level before. This is entirely new to me.”
“…This is my first time too.”
Flang, Adeline, and Lyaden all watched the duel—or rather, what could barely be called a duel anymore—with wide, startled eyes.
They wondered if they should intervene.
But was there anyone among them capable of stopping a clash of this magnitude?
No. There wasn’t.
All they could do was watch and hope it would end without disaster.
From the state of the battle, Yoo Sung-hyun was dodging everything.
Yet it was impossible not to see that he was being pushed into a defensive position.
Hindel, too, drew a sharp breath to solidify his stance, his eyes snapping wide open.
“Hsshhh!”
As he inhaled, Hindel’s gaze transformed.
The brilliant, golden radiance that had filled his eyes shifted into something ethereal—a gaze that held the mystery of a starlit night sky.
Like eyes cradling the very Milky Way itself.
From Hindel’s blade emerged a sword aura that mirrored his eyes—a galaxy of luminescence.
But seizing that moment, Yoo Sung-hyun’s eyes blazed with teal light, radiating an intense glow.
Simultaneously, he activated his skill.
With his free hand, he clenched the empty air.
A spear woven from teal light materialized.
Without hesitation, he hurled it forward.
Hindel’s movements and attack speed were faster.
But the delay in completing Yoo Sung-hyun’s skill was overwhelmingly shorter.
Whoooosh!
Hindel watched the incoming spear and calculated the timing.
If he continued casting his skill as planned?
He would have no choice but to take the hit.
Even if his skill completed before impact, dodging that spear would come too late.
He had many defensive skills at his disposal.
But he had already experienced them before, and Hindel knew the truth.
That spear ignored all defenses.
And so, gritting his teeth, he had no choice but to cancel the skill he was casting.
If he completed it, he would lose consciousness again.
He canceled the skill and evaded.
One skill flew past, but he dodged it, so that was a gain…?
Or so he was about to think.
Hindel could see a single droplet of blood floating before his eyes.
‘…This!’
The moment he saw that drop of blood, he sensed something was amiss and tried to evade, but it was already too late.
Freed from gravity’s constraints and offering no resistance, a violent blood storm erupted centered on Hindel.
Kwagagagagaga——!
In a state where his senses were severed, Hindel nearly lost consciousness from the blood tempest—a force incomparably greater than the direct impact of the whirlwind he’d endured before.
But he grasped hold of his consciousness and began radiating his power.
From eyes that held the cosmos itself, brilliant light erupted forth.
Like an ancient star accepting its death.
An explosion erupted, scattering countless rays of light.
As the star’s explosion occurred within the blood storm.
Puerrrrr————!
The blood storm, unable to withstand it, shattered into countless fragments that scattered in all directions, staining everything crimson.
The initial damage was considerable, but I hadn’t taken the full brunt of the assault.
Had I attempted to defend within that tempest, I would have been torn asunder and suffered further damage.
That’s why I had no choice but to use the explosion to neutralize the storm and escape.
But in that moment, Yoo Sung-hyun had vanished without a trace, and as I examined the crimson-stained surroundings I’d mistaken for scattered blood from the dissipating storm.
They were not fragments of a blood storm, but rather over a hundred blood blades arranged in formation.
“This is no simple matter. However…???”
Amidst the countless blood blades, I began to speak and cast a skill, when I suddenly sensed something wrong.
The world had become far too quiet.
In a world so silent it seemed time itself had stopped.
Only I appeared to be moving.
No.
‘I… cannot move.’
I couldn’t move either.
And it was precisely then that I noticed the abnormality.
Since when had this been happening?
I was aware of the hands of darkness gripping both my arms and legs.
But another hand of darkness, appearing at some unknown moment, was reaching toward my throat.
I couldn’t turn my head to look behind me.
Yet I felt it unmistakably.
The hand of darkness approaching.
And the hands of darkness that had been restraining my arms and legs slowly crept across my body, gradually moving toward my neck.
Goosebumps erupted across my entire body, and a chill ran down my spine.
But what terrified me even more was.
‘…There is… something.’
Beyond the hands of darkness.
Something.
An irresistible, transcendent presence stood behind me.
Even when I had faced Fiora, my spine had grown damp with cold sweat—but this was an entirely different dimension of terror.
My spine wasn’t merely dampening; rather, all warmth drained away, leaving only a chilling numbness.
Soon, all the hands tightened around Hindel’s throat.
As his neck constricted in agony, the presence behind him stirred to life.
He moved with such leisurely grace, grasping the five elongated hands of darkness that stretched before him.
“Ugh!”
The pain intensified, and then—
The hands of darkness wove together into a single form, transforming into the shape of a cold, razor-sharp scythe.
Hindel forgot his very identity as a hero, desperate only to escape this place.
No—he tried to escape.
But trapped by a force that wouldn’t budge even a single finger, he could only accept his fate like a condemned prisoner with neck bared upon the executioner’s block.
He felt the scythe’s edge slowly kiss his throat, slicing through skin.
Szzzt.
That sound.
He had to hear it and feel it.
Along with the sensation of being slowly severed.
It echoed in an instant.
Shhrraaack—!
His head was severed.
“Gaaahhhhh!”
Spewing blood as though struck by Death’s own scythe, Hindel tore himself away from the attack and immediately activated recovery and mental fortification skills as he expelled the blood.
Starlight rained down to bless Hindel and strengthen his mind, yet—
That vivid sensation remained beyond healing.
In the universe contained within his eyes, fear was slowly rising like floodwater.
“Hah… hah… hah…”
But before Hindel, the blood swords still remained.
Hindel raised his blade as he gazed upon the hundreds of blood swords.
Unlike before, he couldn’t steady the trembling tip of his sword.

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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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