The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 117

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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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Chapter 117.
Tokyo was a war zone.
Sirens wailed and explosions thundered relentlessly through the night sky.
Vehicles engulfed in flames.
Collapsed commercial buildings.
Yakuza in tactical gear sprinting frantically between them.
“Find him! Catch that crazy Korean bastard and kill him!”
“He fled toward Shinjuku!”
The aftermath of the chaos Park Ji-hoon had unleashed was far more massive than anticipated.
Nearly every soldier of the Inagawa-kai, the rulers of Tokyo’s underworld, had poured into the streets, creating absolute pandemonium.
The police had long since abandoned their efforts, and ordinary citizens cowered in terror.
‘Executing perfectly.’
I stifled a laugh, concealed in the thick darkness of the alley.
No bait could have been more flawless than this.
This chaos was more than sufficient to scatter the avatars’ attention.
I didn’t know exactly how many avatars had entered Japan.
But they weren’t my target.
Only the eight who drew the Eight-Pointed Star.
The masters of the summoning circle sacrificing Tokyo—I only needed to evade their gaze.
It was a race against time.
‘Before dawn breaks.’
I had to complete the Reverse Formation.
And before the episode began, I couldn’t let the Izanagi Mirror hidden in the Penthouse—the ‘core’ of the Reverse Formation—be discovered.
I had to run across all of Tokyo on my own two feet, connecting the lines.
Not a single millimeter of error, not the slightest deviation, could be tolerated.
Geometric calculations and magical control.
It was a maddening task demanding absolute concentration.
But.
‘It’s no problem for me.’
Rather, it was familiar.
In the past, when humanity teetered on the brink of extinction.
I had drawn alone a colossal national-scale transmutation circle covering the entire Earth—something incomparable to this Tokyo.
Compared to that hellish magic circle that had forged the Sage’s Stone.
A mere Reverse Formation covering a single city was something I could draw with my eyes closed.
I headed toward the first waypoint, the Shibuya Crossroads.
Click. Click.
Upon the deserted back alley asphalt.
I quietly traced the lines with blood-mixed Nectar smeared on my fingertips.
The work proceeded smoothly.
‘Overlaying the lines’ was what I’d said, but strictly speaking, I wasn’t painting directly over the conductive lines of Nectar they had drawn.
Then the two forces of magic would collide, triggering an immediate rejection response and sounding alarms across their avatars.
‘I need distance.’
I calculated a blind spot several meters away from their formation and drew parallel lines in alignment with each other.
On the surface, they appeared to be parallel lines.
But analyzing the flow of magical energy, these parallel lines were designed to eventually converge at a single vertex, completely ensnaring their aura and reversing its current.
Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno.
Moving between strongholds, I crawled ceaselessly across the ground and carved formations into walls.
As quietly as possible.
As swiftly as possible.
With a dark hoodie pulled low over my head, I was indistinguishable from any vagrant wandering Tokyo’s chaotic night streets or a terrified refugee.
Right now, I was not Rag, the ruler of the 61st Floor.
I was merely Kim Jung-seok—an ordinary, unremarkable human who drew no one’s attention.
Boom! Crash!
An explosion erupted in the adjacent block.
The shouts of Yakuza pursuing Park Ji-hoon assaulted my ears.
The vibration from the collapsing building nearly threw off the line I was drawing.
I concentrated magical energy to my fingertips.
I could not waver.
I shut out all the surrounding chaos completely, focusing only on the formation in my mind.
‘Fourth stronghold complete.’
I completed the line on the back wall of the old shrine in Asakusa.
Sweat from my forehead dripped down my chin in steady drops.
My breathing grew ragged, but there was no time to rest.
‘Fifth. Sixth.’
Time slipped away mercilessly.
The Eastern Sky showed faint signs of brightening.
Dawn was approaching.
Anxiety crept into my heart.
‘Seventh.’
Near Tokyo Tower.
As I drew closer to their central nexus point, the damp, malevolent magic hanging in the air pricked my skin like needles.
It was proof of how dense the curse the Heavenly Assembly had embedded truly was.
I headed toward the eighth and final stronghold—Meiji Shrine.
“Exhale.”
Deep within the shrine’s forest.
Where their Nectar conduits converged most thickly.
Holding my breath, I crouched between tree roots and continued drawing the final formation.
Scratch. Scratch.
At last, the final stroke was complete.
Zzzziiiiing.
A crimson reverse formation visible only to my eyes pulsed faintly, coiling across all of Tokyo.
It resonated perfectly with Izanagi’s mirror hidden in the Hotel Penthouse, anchoring itself firmly.
“…It’s done.”
My legs gave way beneath me, and I collapsed onto the ground.
I gasped for breath in ragged heaves.
Just before dawn.
I had barely made it in time.
Now, all that remained was—
‘Prayer alone.’
If my opponent was a Deity whose power surpassed my own, they would notice.
They would attempt to locate the ‘core’ before Episode 6 began.
Then it becomes a race against time.
Though I had concealed it, reverse-tracing the formation would not be difficult.
I could only pray that their strength fell short of mine.
Or else—
I could only pray they were arrogant and indolent, like the other Deities.
* * *
The master of the Heavenly Assembly.
The number upon the mask: Number One.
He gazed at the rising morning sun beyond the broad window.
The crimson dawn painting Tokyo.
Today, the long-awaited Episode 6.
The day the Second Great Calamity would begin.
“A beautiful morning, indeed.”
Number One murmured, twisting his lips into a smile.
For him, this episode was no mere game.
An opportunity to obtain a rare rune.
More than that—a perfect stage to solidify his position.
The Eight-Pointed Star to summon the Evil Deity.
That colossal altar, destined to claim tens of millions of lives, had long since been prepared.
He stood at the apex of the Biological Faction, having reached the pinnacle of curses as the Chief Deity.
“The feeble souls of this place will be unable to withstand it.”
The Evil Deity he sought to summon this time was a fragment of destruction scraped from the Abyss of another realm.
Known as the pus-dripping end of flesh, the primordial Evil Deity Zarabaz.
It would grotesquely mutate the flesh of all living creatures.
An Evil Deity possessed with the desire to merge those rotting masses of meat into one, creating a colossal mountain of flesh.
The plan was flawless.
All life in Tokyo would be dissolved into that pus and merged into one, then Zarabaz’s true form would descend upon this place.
When Episode 6 begins, it will trigger the great catastrophe; the Eight-Pointed Star will activate, and Zarabaz will descend perfectly, devouring Tokyo whole.
“And then, we of the Heavenly Assembly shall slay that calamitous beast.”
Tokyo, that massive city, would be erased in blood.
But it didn’t matter.
In fact, that very devastation would make them shine all the brighter.
The Heavenly Assembly would be etched into humanity’s consciousness as the ‘Great Heroes’ who vanquished that abominable Evil Deity.
The enormous rewards and the top position in the Hall of Fame would naturally fall to Number One—to myself.
“NONAME.”
Number One’s eyes flashed with icy coldness.
This time, I would drive that repugnant name into the ground.
But then.
“…Hm?”
Number One’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
Something felt wrong.
For just an instant, an ominous sensation scraped across my nerves and passed.
“What is it.”
I stepped back from the window and walked to the center of the room.
Was it because of that Korean Man who had been stirring up chaos in Tokyo for days?
Or was it because of those Inagawa-kai trash thrashing about trying to capture him?
Number One closed my eyes and spread my magical power wide.
I scanned the Eight-Gate Formation diagram I had laid across all of Tokyo from a distance.
Tokyo Tower. No abnormalities.
Meiji Shrine. No abnormalities.
The lines of Nectar connecting the eight nodes.
Not a single point was severed.
The flow of magical power still converged perfectly toward the center.
“…It must be my imagination.”
What could it be.
That chilling sense of discord from just moments ago.
It felt as though someone had pressed a cold blade against the back of my neck—a creeping dread.
But Number One soon let out a scoff and dismissed the suspicion.
“There’s no way any human on this Earth could withstand my curse.”
The probability that some half-baked Awakener could decipher the trajectory of this colossal Eight-Gate Formation was zero.
Even if it were an avatar of a Deity, dismantling this intricate and bizarre otherworldly diagram in such a short time was nearly impossible.
Number One regained my composure.
I sank deep into the sofa and leisurely awaited the moment the episode would begin.
Time passed.
At last, the chiming of a grandfather clock announcing noon echoed across Tokyo’s urban landscape.
And then.
Rummmmmble!
The earth itself cried out.
The sky tore open in crimson, and a System Message appeared before the eyes of Awakeners across the entire world.
[Episode 6, ‘The Second Calamity’ begins.]
[Catastrophic entities emerge across the world.]
[I wish you fortune.]
It had begun.
Number One shot to his feet.
He threw both arms skyward, his voice trembling with exultation.
“Now! Open the eight gates!”
The avatars of the Heavenly Assembly hidden throughout Tokyo unleashed their magical power in unison.
From eight strategic points—Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, and others—pillars of obsidian light erupted skyward.
The ley lines of Nectar spread across the entire region blazed crimson.
But that was not all.
Countless varieties of calamity descended.
“Descend! O pus-weeping end of flesh!”
I waited for the form of Evil Deity Zarabaz to coalesce in the empty space.
But.
“…?”
The manic smile twisting Number One’s lips froze.
“Hmm…?”
It was not gathering.
The life force was not converging toward the Central point.
That was not all.
The Nectar and cursed magical power he had poured forth were being repelled at the Central nexus point he had targeted.
“What is this…!”
Number One’s eyes widened until they seemed ready to split.
He witnessed an incomprehensible sight.
Instead of the black storm clouds that should have blanketed Tokyo’s sky.
A golden diagram was revealing itself, covering and erasing the trajectory of the Eight-Star Formation he had drawn and hidden beneath the ground.
“A Reverse Formation…?!”
The Reverse Formation was devouring his summoning circle with perfect precision.
Who could have done this?
In that moment of Number One’s shock.
“Krrrraaaaaaagh!”
“Help me! My body…!”
“No, this cannot be! How can divinity…!”
The death cries of the avatars stationed at the eight points began to echo.
The catastrophic concentration of curses gathered to summon Evil Deity Zarabaz.
Instead of flowing into Tokyo’s citizens, it had been completely reversed along the Reverse Formation’s trajectory, pouring directly into the eight avatars.
* * *
Returning to the Hotel, I brought my right hand to the Core.
Then.
Waaaaaahhhhh!
Golden melodies unfurled across all directions, and through the reversed formation, I began ravenously consuming the divine essence of the eight avatars that had entered.

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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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