The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 88

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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 88
Episode 88
No amount of mental fortification could overcome the terror of death.
More precisely, my mind was already in a strengthened state.
Yet death’s terror loomed far greater still.
This was a first.
I had never experienced such an inescapable death before.
There was no resistance possible.
I felt the true horror of death—something that could only be accepted, never fought.
Since birth, I had received divine revelation and been raised as a hero.
Heroes were taught to harbor no fear, to exist only as vessels of sacrifice.
That was why this raw, unvarnished terror of death was entirely new to me.
Death is something to be accepted.
The more one struggles and fights against it, the more vividly death approaches.
Thrashing about changes nothing—there is no escape.
In the end, everyone meets death.
“Haaah…”
I drew a deep breath and steadied my mind.
Yet it refused to calm.
But if I remained still, I would be struck down.
Yoo Sung-hyun had noticed my irregularity.
No—not knowing was harder still.
‘What is this?’
The moment the Grim Reaper’s seal erupted, he deployed healing and enhancement buffs.
Yet I remained unsettled.
It wasn’t a terribly long moment, but I had blanked out for a time.
From the look of it…
It didn’t seem to be a deception.
Had I exhausted myself?
No. My outward momentum was still formidable.
Though I couldn’t be certain.
‘An opening.’
For me, any irregularity in Hindel was an opportunity.
Yoo Sung-hyun, who knew him so well, moved.
Though fear consumed me.
I moved.
That is what a hero must do.
That is how I was taught.
‘He charges forward.’
The time spent confronting the Grim Reaper and returning was not long.
It must have been something happening within her inner world.
And so, the blood blades began to descend toward Hindel.
Whoosh! Whish! Shshshshshsh!
Dozens of crimson blood blades, the color of blood itself, fell toward the ground.
It created the illusion of a rain of blood falling from the heavens.
Yet Hindel exerted every ounce of strength to conceal the trembling of his blade.
A mystical light burst forth from eyes that held the Milky Way within them.
It enveloped his entire body.
His body, already freed from gravity and lightened, became even more weightless.
As his form, carrying the galaxy within, moved.
Snap!
He left multiple afterimages as if carrying a starry sky, gliding through the air.
As Hindel moved, effortlessly evading the descending blood blades, even the rain of blades could not catch his trail, shimmering as he scattered the Milky Way around him.
Hindel, having gracefully eluded the blood blades, moved forward.
He soared through the heavens with a long tail resembling a comet.
Hindel came flying with a mystical light that mimicked a comet’s tail.
His speed was tremendous, and he truly seemed to have become a star itself.
The sight appeared quite beautiful, but Yoo Sung-hyun was not one to remain idle.
For Hindel’s reckless charge, inscribing the Milky Way across empty space, was fiercer than anything else.
Beauty has thorns, as they say.
And the same held true for Yoo Sung-hyun.
Whoooosh!
The blood blades moved in perfect unison at Yoo Sung-hyun’s gesture.
In mere moments, dozens of blood blades converged into one, blocking Hindel’s path.
Boom!
With a violent explosion like a fierce tempest, shockwaves and impact scattered in all directions.
Fragments of power capable of tearing through everything dispersed in every direction.
Yet Yoo Sung-hyun and Hindel paid no heed to such things.
Having blocked that valiant and fierce charge of the Milky Way.
The blood blades, which had served as a shield, remained intact as they thrust their blades forward, attacking Hindel.
But in an instant, the galaxy glimmered in Hindel’s eyes, and the Milky Way spread around him, enveloping his body.
Clang! Cling! Ching!
He blocked all the blood blades’ attacks.
A remarkably solid defense.
Yet Yoo Sung-hyun could sense something amiss.
The blood blades’ attacks themselves were not particularly high in damage.
Hindel must have realized this too.
So there was no need to use such a mana-intensive defensive skill.
It was incomprehensible.
‘…He’s expending his strength unusually fast?’
As if exercising extreme caution.
Hindel too bit his lips until they bled, realizing his mistake.
‘I didn’t need to deploy the Veil of Stars….’
That blood sword, at first glance, possessed no particular strength in its singular attack.
Yet despite knowing this intellectually, I had unfurled it instinctively.
There was only one reason.
If I took five attacks, I would have to face that existence again.
I knew it, but I couldn’t easily brush it aside.
‘…Get a grip.’
Unfortunately, after deploying the Veil of Stars, Hindel fell into contemplation for a moment.
Could I prevent Yoo Sung-hyun from landing five attacks before the sparring match ended?
I didn’t know.
But I desperately wanted to.
If that were the case, there wasn’t no way.
‘Win before then.’
The usual Hindel wouldn’t have even entertained such a thought, let alone made such an assumption.
I already knew well enough how formidable Yoo Sung-hyun was.
Even hastily defeating him was absurd.
Yet to swiftly defeat such a Yoo Sung-hyun?
It wasn’t a thought befitting Hindel.
But the terror of death bred urgency in my heart.
And Hindel gradually became stained by that urgency.
“Haaaah.”
Until the very end of the Veil of Stars, the blood swords attempted to pierce through it, but to no avail.
Hindel recalled his strategy once more.
And began to move.
The first skill Hindel employed was a buff.
Drawing power from eyes that held galaxies, starlight cascaded down from the heavens.
The sight resembled countless stars descending, as if witnessing the Milky Way itself.
As the power of the galaxy filled my body completely.
Shhhhhhh—!
Hindel exhaled.
“Haaaah.”
Whether starlight was woven into that very breath.
A shimmering exhalation flowed forth, and when Hindel opened his eyes again, they had become pupils brimming with stars.
Yoo Sung-hyun created a teal spear once more and hurled it toward Hindel.
Of course, he didn’t simply throw it.
Dozens of blood swords were unleashed alongside it, the spear concealed among the crimson blades.
Yet as Hindel moved, now enveloped in the abundant power of galaxies, he vanished from that very spot.
It wasn’t a matter of moving quickly.
The moment Yoo Sung-hyun grasped the situation, he cast a skill, and in his place, Hindel appeared wielding a sword wrapped in the black night sky.
Yoo Sung-hyun immediately materialized on the ground instead of in the air, and Hindel too teleported once more to appear before him, swinging a blade darkened to pitch black.
Screeeeeech——!
That formidable blade instantly distorted everything around it, generating a powerful gravitational pull.
A sword infused with concentrated gravity.
The moment Yoo Sung-hyun realized that blade was not something he could evade.
Hindel’s sword was swung.
A devastating attack that could easily claim his life.
A technique that should never be unleashed during a sparring match.
Yet Hindel judged that this blade would not kill Yoo Sung-hyun, and swung it anyway.
No—he was certain he could not kill him.
That being which had appeared behind his back earlier came to mind, and such a judgment followed.
A vortex of gravitational force like a tempest unfurled from the blade, and the pull erupting from it concentrated along the arc of the swing, warping space itself for a fleeting moment.
Everything in the vicinity was sucked into that line, swallowing all without exception.
The entire surrounding area lay vacant, as though crushed beneath an invisible colossal sphere.
Yet within that empty space, Yoo Sung-hyun stood with ease, gazing down at Hindel as though utterly unaffected.
“This… cannot be.”
It had been a strike approaching his full power.
Yet he stood unharmed after taking it.
It was unbelievable.
No—even witnessing it, I could not believe it.
Yet internally, Yoo Sung-hyun was breaking into a cold sweat.
[Shadow Transfer has been activated.]
[You enter an invulnerable state for 1 second.]
‘I nearly died.’
Sensing Hindel’s desperation as he unleashed a powerful skill, I reflexively activated Shadow Transfer.
The timing could not have been better.
As all attacks were blocked by invulnerability.
Hindel shuddered with frustration.
Yet even in such circumstances, I did not forget what it meant to be a hero and strove to fulfill my duty.
I still had strength remaining.
Though I had unleashed a strike approaching my full power.
I still had more.
“Haaaaaah!!!”
Pouring all my might into my eyes, I gathered the power of the galaxy to its absolute limit.
Witnessing the hero’s form, Yoo Sung-hyun too felt the urgency of the moment.
The resurrection effect that had activated against Crescentra earlier today had already been expended and could not be used again.
If I took another hit in this state, I would truly be forced to retire.
Hindel was preparing to unleash his ultimate skill in that state.
Everything seemed to distort around Hindel as he gripped his sword, and a power brimming with violet starlight surged forth, dominating the surroundings.
And then.
Crack! Crackle, crackle!
A deep, rumbling growl echoed forth——!
Starting from where Hindel’s feet touched the ground, fissures began to spread like an earthquake.
Witnessing the devastating power that seemed capable of shattering everything, Yoo Sung-hyun activated two skills.
One was Death’s Aura.
As Death’s Aura took effect, a massive heart constructed of teal light materialized behind him, pulsing rhythmically while exhaling a teal-hued mist into the surrounding area.
And as he activated the other one.
Green mist rose up from various points across the ground.
Yet Hindel paid no heed to such things and attempted to unleash his own absolute technique—Galaxy Collapse.
It was not a skill he wielded often.
But he judged it to be the best option available in this situation.
‘If it’s this… it will work.’
No, it had to work.
Gripped by terror and having lost half his reason, Hindel failed to notice.
That a considerable mass of something, wreathed in green mist, was rising from the fractured earth caused by his own power.
His narrowed vision prevented him from seeing it.
Hindel’s constricted sight was fixed solely upon Yoo Sung-hyun.
As he touched the teal mist pouring forth from the teal heart that had materialized behind him, he felt damage course through his body.
Faint though it was, a shadowy hand materialized and bound his arm.
But it was fine.
Galaxy Collapse would activate soon.
Just as he was about to compress his power to its absolute limit and unleash a devastating force to obliterate this entire region.
He saw Yoo Sung-hyun extend his index finger and bring it to his lips.
And just as when the Grim Reaper had appeared.
Something manifested behind him.
‘…This, what is this!?’
That being?
No, the aura is different.
Unlike the Grim Reaper, who seemed consumed by ennui, merely going about its work.
This presence was saturated with malice.
‘What… on earth…?’
Hindel instinctively turned his head without thinking.
There stood an enormous Witch with a torn mouth and eyes hollow and vacant as an abyss.
Her laughter dripping with malevolence.
Giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle!
Grasping a thin needle fashioned from teal light, she gently extended her hand and began stitching Hindel’s mouth closed.
The massive teal needle pierced through his lips with a squelch! and teal thread hissed past through the punctured wound.
Stitch by stitch. One after another.
Squelch! Hisssss.
Puff! Ssssh.
Puff! Ssssh.
The Witch, having meticulously stitched my lips together, giggled and raised her index finger holding the needle to her own lips, speaking.
-Shhhh.
‘Ah, ahhh.’
[You are silenced by the Lord’s Seal of Silence for 5 seconds, unable to use skills.]
[『Hindel』 resists partially.]
[The duration is reduced to 2 seconds.]
Just before the Galaxy Collapse could activate.
That power vanished completely.
The blessing of the galaxy that had maintained all of Hindel’s strength until moments ago, along with all manner of other buffs, disappeared in an instant.
All that remained to me was my body and my sword.
Even with just those, the Hindel of old would have swung his blade and charged forward.
But as the darkness hands coiling around my arms and the black undead crawling from the ground seized my ankles.
A sickly green mist was corroding me.
Blood swords rained down upon Hindel.
More darkness hands multiplied.
It comes.
That presence comes again.
And Hindel could see it.
Death approaching with footsteps dripping with ennui.
The undead gripping my ankles, and the flickering lights blinking through that sickly green mist.
Kwaaaaaaa—————!
Kugugugugu——!
Hwaaaaaaa——!
A catastrophic explosion followed by violent tremors shaking the earth and tremendous heat melted everything around it.
Yoo Sung-hyun, unable to escape the range of the heat, used both Extreme Flame and Extreme Limit around himself to block it while thinking.
“He’s not dead, right?”
It was quite the explosion, but.
Still, he’s the Hero, so he shouldn’t be dead?
If he dies, the Quest fails and I return to the beginning.
Since I haven’t returned yet, it seems he’s probably not dead.
As Yoo Sung-hyun thought this.
Over the vast desolate Battlefield where nothing remained from the explosion.
Hindel lay collapsed.
‘Is he alive?’
As if answering Yoo Sung-hyun’s thought.
A necklace with faint light in Hindel’s chest glowed and then dimmed.
I’m not entirely sure, but it seems to be an item that prevents death.
‘Thank goodness.’
As Yoo Sung-hyun exhaled in relief.
Welcome messages flooded his vision.
[You have achieved victory against the past 『Hindel』!]
[You gain experience from the sparring match!]
[Level Up!]
[You have reached Level 79.]
[You have been recognized by the 『Hero』!]
[You obtain the title, 『One Recognized by the Hero』.]
[For the first time in Eternal World history, you have defeated the Hero!]
[You have obtained the title, 『Most Vicious』!]
[As a reward for overwhelming victory, you obtain the Unique-grade item, 『Random Skill Book』.]
‘I barely won, honestly.’
If Hindel hadn’t acted so strangely, it would have been difficult.
I’m grateful it didn’t come to that.
Yoo Sung-hyun watched his party members rushing toward him from afar and began preparing to return.
Well, Hindel attacked me like he was trying to kill me first, so that counts as self-defense, right?
‘I’ll figure out the details later if it comes to that.’

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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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