The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 31

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 31.
There was no answer.
The Man in Black Armor remained silent.
But Choi Tae-min was certain.
That bastard was NONAME.
The one who had cemented first place in the Hall of Fame with an overwhelming point margin.
That arrogant son of a bitch who deliberately hid his name.
‘A Holy Sword user.’
Now it made sense.
How such a score was even possible.
A Holy Sword was the crystallization of divinity itself.
An ordinary avatar couldn’t even touch one.
They would burn up or be rejected the moment they made contact.
Yet this bastard wielded the Holy Sword with perfect freedom.
‘He’s consumed massive amounts of Nectar.’
He had forcibly mimicked his true form’s divine nature.
He’d draped himself in such thick divine power that the Holy Sword was deceived.
Sheer wasteful excess.
To invest this much sincerity into a game—it revealed how pathetically low his true form’s rank must be.
At best a lower-tier Deity, generously a mid-tier one.
Denied recognition in reality, he was desperate to play king in this false world.
“How pathetic.”
Choi Tae-min sneered.
He was different.
An upper-tier Deity.
If the gap between lower and mid-tier was heaven and earth, then the difference between mid and upper-tier was like the universe itself.
Comparison itself was an insult.
But complacency was dangerous.
This bastard’s momentum was extraordinary.
In his current state, he couldn’t guarantee certain victory.
Gulp.
He pulled another vial of Nectar from his pocket.
He drained it in one breath.
Ahhhhh!
His blood vessels expanded violently.
His heart thrashed as if it would burst.
His divine essence surged to its absolute limit.
Flames erupted from every pore of his body.
Whoosh!
In that instant, the Holy Sword came flying again.
A sword aura carved a brilliant trajectory as it surged forward.
But Choi Tae-min did not evade.
Rather, there was no need to.
Boom!
He swept his hand through the air.
An explosion erupted.
The sword aura shattered into fragments in the void.
The holy blade’s trajectory shifted.
The combat instincts of a superior Deity.
The experience accumulated over countless eons traversing battlefields remained unrusted, even trapped within the shell of an avatar.
“Is that all you have?”
I taunted.
The creature offered no response.
Instead, it closed the distance.
It was instantaneous.
A black afterimage rushed before my eyes.
It swept its left hand through empty space.
Whoooosh!
Space itself warped.
A gray-tinged tempest erupted.
A vicious calamity—flesh-searing frost mingled with blade-sharp winds that carved away tissue.
‘The Gale of Annihilation.’
Instinct screamed a warning.
Danger.
Even a glancing touch would be fatal.
A superior Deity’s primal nature shrieked in alarm.
Whoosh!
Choi Tae-min hurled himself aside.
It was a hair’s breadth.
The tempest swept past the spot where I had stood.
The remnants of the Collapsed Building crumbled to dust and vanished.
My spine ran cold.
If I had taken that head-on?
The avatar would have been obliterated without a trace.
“A Deity of Typhoons?”
Choi Tae-min muttered.
Natural Faction.
Among them, the most troublesome—wind attribute.
And that frigid aura.
This is no mere tempest.
A composite authority.
Quite novel, actually.
The matchup wasn’t favorable either.
Fire weakens against wind, and it’s vulnerable to frost as well.
But.
“If it doesn’t land, so be it.”
Choi Tae-min grinned wickedly.
The range was narrow.
Devastating in power, yet the attack radius remained limited.
There were plenty of gaps to slip through.
“I am the sovereign of flames.”
I was a Deity of both the Natural Faction and the Material Faction simultaneously.
Fire.
And explosion.
An apex predator standing at the pinnacle of all infernos.
A mere typhoon dared not encroach upon my domain.
Roooar!
I enveloped my entire body in flames.
Armor of fire.
A declaration that I would not shy from close combat.
He rushed at me again, holy sword in hand.
Fast.
But readable.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each footfall detonated the ground beneath me.
I gained thrust and altered my trajectory.
The holy sword cleaved through empty air.
His attack missed, and my flames scorched his armor.
“Slow!”
Choi Tae-min roared.
I drove my fist forward.
Oppressive heat slammed into his face.
The black helm shuddered.
I had seized victory.
All I needed was to press the advantage.
Azure flames.
The very pinnacle of fire itself.
No metal on Earth could withstand this temperature.
Weapons are unnecessary.
My fists are both divine instrument and calamity.
“Melt!”
Choi Tae-min unleashed another punch.
Space warped around the impact.
Heat scorched the very air itself.
I was certain his blade couldn’t withstand this.
Even a holy sword has its limits.
No amount of mediocre divine power could stop these azure flames.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted.
But my eyes widened.
He blocked it.
He had caught my fist with the blade itself.
No—he didn’t merely catch it.
The sword edge cleaved through the flames and drove deeper.
Screech.
A deep gash tore across my fist.
Deep enough to see bone.
“…Ugh!”
I staggered backward.
Shock overwhelmed the pain.
The wound wasn’t healing.
This avatar carried divine essence.
Its regeneration surpassed even a troll’s.
Yet the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
The wound site burned white-hot, rejecting all regeneration.
‘Pure.’
This was no mere holy relic.
The divine power radiating from that blade.
No lesser or intermediate Deity could ever possess such a thing.
‘What exactly is this?’
Questions cascaded through my mind.
But there was no time to ponder.
He pressed forward relentlessly.
The blade danced.
Not merely swinging—something far more refined.
The footwork was exquisite, each strike economical and precise.
No openings existed.
‘A warrior?’
His swordsmanship matched that of a sword demon who had trained for decades.
His form was impeccable.
Even when I burst forth flames to obscure my vision, he read my presence and thrust with perfect accuracy.
I’m being pushed back.
I had to admit it.
My firepower is superior.
But his weapons and technique are overwhelming me.
If this continues, I lose.
The avatar’s neck will fly.
‘Should I end it here?’
Amusement is merely amusement.
I could abandon the avatar and return to my true form.
I would simply create a new avatar and descend again.
But.
‘No.’
Venom crystallized in Choi Tae-min’s eyes.
My pride would not permit it.
I, a superior Deity, defeated and fleeing from some nameless rabble?
It would become a mockery spoken of forever.
More than anything, I was furious.
The fact that my flames were blocked by this mere sword.
“Fine. Let’s see what happens.”
I made my decision.
I would abandon this flesh.
It was disposable anyway.
I would wring out every last drop and take him with me.
‘Burn the heart.’
Choi Tae-min chanted the incantation.
It was forbidden.
Using the heart itself—the very lifeforce of the avatar—as fuel.
Triggering a rampage premised on self-destruction.
Thump-thump-thump!
Light seeped from my chest.
My heart pounded ferociously.
Blood boiled and evaporated.
Pure Nectar filled the void.
Choi Tae-min’s humanity was erased.
He was no longer in human form.
Whoooosh!
My entire body transformed into flames.
Divine Incarnation.
The form closest to the true essence of the Deity of Flames.
The flames he unleashed had transcended blue, approaching white-hot intensity.
Purifying fire.
Absolute heat that incinerated all impurity into nothingness.
“Kahahaha! I’ll burn it all away!”
Choi Tae-min—no, the Flame Deity—roared.
He extended his hand.
White flames crashed down like a tidal wave.
There was no escape.
No defense could withstand it.
Even a holy sword would melt before such heat.
The tide of battle had turned.
NONAME faltered.
The black armor grew scorching hot, flushing crimson.
It was overwhelming.
This was the true power of a superior Deity.
This was the price of pouring out Nectar.
“Become ash!”
Victory was assured.
I would incinerate his avatar and burn his very soul.
In that instant of certainty.
Uuuuuung!
An alien aura bloomed from his hand.
The Holy Sword Abriel.
The blade that had shone pure white now stained blood-red.
A murky, viscous energy.
‘Hellfire?’
Choi Tae-min’s thoughts froze.
He doubted his own eyes.
That bastard had wielded wind moments ago.
Summoning typhoons, exhaling frigid air.
I was certain it was wind attribute from the Natural Faction.
But fire?
And hellfire infused with earth energy at that?
“Impossible.”
They were opposing forces.
Wind and fire could not coexist.
For a single being to wield two contradictory powers simultaneously, and with such masterful proficiency, was nearly inconceivable.
“Multiple calamities…?”
In his shock.
He swung his blade.
Celestial Demon Divine Art infused with hellfire.
A blood-red slash cleaved through the white flames.
A sickening sound.
There was no sensation.
Pain arrived a beat too late.
Something fell from my field of vision.
It was my wrist, engulfed in infernal fire.
“Kugh…!”
Choi Tae-min clenched his teeth.
The severed edge burned away.
It wouldn’t regenerate.
No—even the will to regenerate had been consumed by the hellfire.
‘Hellfire?’
There was no doubt.
This was no ordinary flame.
A power that existed above fire itself—less a calamity than a catastrophe.
The flames of ruin that only the Mad Deity, bereft of reason, could wield.
Yet that creature was controlling it.
With exquisite precision, no less.
‘Infused into a holy blade?’
It was madness.
Holy blades are pure.
Hellfire is corrupted.
The two forces could not mix, like water and oil.
Forcing them together should shatter the weapon or destroy its wielder.
Yet his blade remained intact.
Instead, the two forces achieved a bizarre equilibrium, amplifying their destructive power.
‘Perfect control.’
Even most high-ranking Deities would not dare attempt such precise calibration.
There was no need to, and one misstep would damage their divine essence.
Yet a mere avatar had accomplished it.
I thought he was simply obsessed with games.
“Are you the Mad Deity?”
He was surely a mad god.
The law was to seal all Mad Deities that appeared.
There was no answer.
But.
‘I’m losing ground.’
I had to admit it.
Had my true body’s divine essence been present, I would have easily suppressed those flames.
But now, I was merely an avatar.
No matter how much Nectar I poured into this vessel, its limitations were undeniable.
The white flames were being overwhelmed, smothered beneath the crimson hellfire.
Defeat.
The word flashed through my mind.
Yet venom crystallized in Choi Tae-min’s eyes.
The pride of a superior Deity would not permit surrender.
Even in death, I would not fall alone.
That was the last dignity the God of Flames possessed.
“Very well.”
Choi Tae-min laughed.
I raised my remaining hand.
I compressed the flames.
Not a release.
An implosion from within.
‘Detonation.’
I am a Deity of both the Natural Faction and the Material Faction.
I command fire, and simultaneously govern explosions.
I will use this flesh as a detonator.
A cataclysmic blast that will obliterate several kilometers in radius.
Hellfire means nothing—at this distance, when it detonates, you won’t escape unscathed either.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku!
Choi Tae-min’s body swelled like a balloon.
Light leaked from every seam.
The critical threshold had been breached.
There was no stopping now.
I die, and you die with me.
“Let us depart together!”
A shriek born of madness.
The flash of detonation was about to erupt.
Thud.
Something pressed against my chest.
It was him.
He did not flee.
Instead, he plunged into the inferno itself, placing his right palm against my heart.
“…?”
What are you doing?
Trying to stop it?
Too late.
The trigger has already been pulled.
Even a Deity cannot stop this explosion.
Foolish creature.
Walking into your own grave with your own two feet.
That’s what I thought.
But the next moment.
Uuuuuung!
Golden characters spun across his palm.
And something impossible unfolded.
“Wh…?”
It didn’t detonate.
The energy meant to burst outward reversed its flow.
The explosive power that should have erupted outward was being sucked into his palm instead.
“Th-this is…!”
Panic seized me.
It wasn’t just the explosion.
My very divine essence was being drawn in.
“Kyaaaaaaagh!”
A scream tore from my throat.
Like a drink being sucked through a straw, my soul was being ripped away entirely.
I couldn’t stop it.
I couldn’t resist.
An overwhelming predatory force consumed Choi Tae-min.
A superior flame Deity was being devoured whole.
Only then did I understand.
“The God Hunter…!!!”
This creature was the God Hunter who had shaken The Tower recently.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————