The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 33

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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 33.
Humanity has discovered a total of thirty-three types of Runes while ascending the Tower.
Among them, the so-called “High Runes”—the most difficult to obtain and valuable—are counted among the finest.
Truly, these are items that drop only from the highest-tier dungeons at abysmal rates.
Naturally, now was not the time for them to appear.
Episode 3.
Still in its early stages.
A forbidden realm that humanity could never obtain during the “protection period” granted to them.
Because it was a Rune capable of collapsing balance depending on how it was used.
And yet.
“…It’s already appeared.”
A small stone fragment resting in my palm.
Crimson characters inscribed upon it.
‘Berl.’
There was no doubt.
I swallowed hard.
It was not merely rare.
It was because of the ability this Rune possessed.
A Rune grants its owner a special buff simply by being held.
Later, if one carves a slot into equipment and embeds it, one can create “Runed Equipment” that cannot be obtained through ordinary means.
Among them, the Berl Rune’s effect is unparalleled.
[Name: Berl]
[Passive Effect: Advanced Lifesteal 7%]
[A Rune suffused with mystical energy. Restores health and mana upon striking.]
‘Advanced Lifesteal!’
I clenched the Rune tightly.
A shiver ran through me.
Advanced Lifesteal.
Each time I strike an opponent, I recover health and mana proportional to a fixed percentage of the damage dealt.
The figure was merely seven percent.
Looking at the numbers alone, it might seem insignificant.
But reality is different.
Consider the damage I inflict.
Seven percent of the damage from my Divine Authority strikes.
With each swing, the more enemies present, the faster my mana recovers.
‘My combat sustainability will increase dramatically.’
The corners of my mouth lifted.
The implication was unmistakable.
‘Infinite power.’
I recalled the battle from moments before.
‘The Primordial Flame, Eternal and Alive’.
The power of Origin-grade was overwhelming.
It had erased the Great Calamity in a mere second.
But the price was steep.
Every ounce of my mana evaporated in just one second.
Exhaustion.
I nearly lost consciousness.
Powerful, yes—but the risk was far too great.
Continuous use was impossible.
But if I had the Ber Rune?
‘That would solve things considerably.’
I would recover simultaneously with each attack.
As my mana drained away, it would replenish itself.
In theory, I could unleash my powers endlessly without tiring.
It was revolutionary.
The final puzzle piece that would perfectly compensate for my greatest weakness—’sustainability’.
And beyond that.
‘Its value as a material is insane.’
The Ber Rune was far more than mere jewelry.
A final weapon.
An essential core material for crafting graduation-tier rune equipment.
‘Infinite.’
‘Immortal.’
‘Destruction.’
Equipment whose very names stirred the soul.
To forge them, the Ber Rune was absolutely necessary.
Even veterans had run dungeons hundreds, thousands of times just to obtain this single rune.
Even divine avatars would have done the same.
Wars between nations had erupted over it; guilds had dissolved because of it—a cursed stone of legend.
And I was obtaining it from Episode 3.
“Haha.”
Laughter escaped me unbidden.
Calling it luck seemed insufficient.
I placed the Ber Rune into my inventory.
Merely possessing it filled me with confidence.
I held a trump card that could reverse any situation at a moment’s notice.
I shifted my gaze.
There were still rewards remaining.
‘Twenty fragments of the Shattered Golden Ratio.’
This too was an extraordinary windfall.
One million Nectar per fragment.
In other words, I had obtained twenty million Nectar.
The cost to raise Floor 2 to A-grade was barely over one million.
Twenty times that amount.
With this money, I could not only renovate Floor 2 but purchase an entirely new layer and still have surplus.
‘War funds secured.’
The coming war with Cryos.
War inherently favored the defender, and if this conflict devolved into a Nectar-based struggle, that was excellent news for me.
I could simply purchase monsters and traps with reckless abandon.
And finally.
The reward I anticipated most.
‘An Ancient-grade equipment chest.’
I gazed at the ornate chest suspended in the air.
Ancient.
The pinnacle of what humanity could forge, a grade that bordered on the relics of the Deities themselves.
Most importantly, it was a ‘chest’.
Not a random draw.
A chest meant I was given a choice.
‘Five items.’
When I opened the chest, five items would be presented at random.
I could select one myself.
I could choose what suited my needs, what I required most in this moment.
Gulp.
I swallowed hard.
Anticipation coursed through me.
The Heavenly Demon’s armor and boots, the holy sword Abriel, the Heart of Eternal Frost.
My equipment was already overflowing.
Yet human greed knows no bounds.
If I could grow stronger, there was no reason to refuse.
‘Open it.’
I extended my hand.
I grasped the chest’s lid.
Creak.
The chest opened with a heavy sound.
Brilliant light erupted.
Dazzling radiance filled the entire room.
Five silhouettes materialized within the luminescence.
Items arrayed in the air like holograms.
Each one emanated an extraordinary aura.
I narrowed my eyes and scanned through the list.
First, let me start with the first one.
[Gauntlets Imbued with the Strength of Giants]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Strength + 300]
[Unstoppable Effect]
Not bad at all.
It boosts my strength by a full 300 points.
The unstoppable effect means exactly what it sounds like—when I charge, no one can stop me.
As a warrior facing a mage who’s completed all their battle preparations, this was one of the essential options I had to equip.
Second.
[Robe Containing the Wisdom of the Sage]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Intelligence + 200]
[Magic Casting Speed + 30%]
Any mage would go mad for these stats.
Casting speed directly correlates with the speed of manifesting divine powers.
Moreover, intelligence was intimately connected to mana recovery, skill proficiency, and comprehension.
Third.
[Cloak of the Shadow Lord]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Special Effect (1): Enhanced Stealth Ability]
[Special Effect (2): Shadow Teleportation]
This one’s for assassins.
Of course, shadow teleportation has broad utility and could function like a teleport spell.
Fourth.
[Dainslief, the Blood-Drinking Blade]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Special Effect (1): Health Recovery on Attack (+10%)]
[Special Effect (2): Amplifies Attack Power by Draining User’s Lifeforce (Maximum 99%)]
It overlaps with the Ber Rune’s options.
However, the Ber Rune possessed a superior vampiric effect that even recovered mana.
Dainslief, on the other hand, only recovers health.
The “Berserker” effect that amplifies my attack power as my health depletes is certainly tempting, but…
‘The last one.’
I examined the fifth item.
And my eyes stopped.
“…This is.”
My heart races.
It was different from the previous four.
It was neither a weapon nor armor.
A small, crude necklace, yet one that emanated an otherworldly aura of power.
[Guardian Barrier of the Ancient Deity]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Special Effect (1): Advanced Crisis Detection]
[Special Effect (2): Unique Domain ‘Guardian Barrier’ — capable of automatically defending against attacks from High-Tier Deities. However, once the Guardian Barrier is deployed, movement and attacks are impossible from within.]
“…!”
I found it.
The option I had yearned for again and again.
It creates a unique domain.
Within it, absolute safety is guaranteed.
Yes, there existed the fatal penalty of immobility and inability to attack, but it mattered not.
It could even withstand the assault of a High-Tier Deity.
This was nothing short of absolute defense.
‘I can protect my true body.’
I harbored a critical weakness.
When I logged into Asgard, Kim Jung-seok’s physical body on Earth became defenseless.
Unlike Rag’s body, which was guarded by Seria and the elves.
If someone invaded my studio apartment and slit my throat while I slept, it would be over.
But with this necklace?
I would simply deploy the Guardian Barrier before logging in.
No one—not even a Deity’s avatar—would be able to touch my sleeping form.
The most perfect bunker.
Moreover, its applications were boundless.
‘The war with Cryos.’
It would prove invaluable in the conflict soon to unfold.
Honestly, I had been torn.
All four pieces of equipment above possessed exceptional qualities.
I had coveted the intelligence-boosting robe and the berserker sword as well.
But nothing surpassed survival.
I reached out my hand.
“I choose this one.”
Ding!
[You have selected your reward.]
[You have obtained ‘Guardian Barrier of the Ancient Deity’.]
The cool touch of metal settled against my skin.
It felt reassuring.
Now I could sleep without worry, and log in without hesitation.
I lifted my gaze, staring into the void.
There remained one more thing to verify.
The Hall of Fame.
I scrolled down.
[1st Place: NONAME (1,000 points)]
[2nd Place: Yamamoto (950 points)]
[3rd Place: Aritolte (800 points)]
…
My eyes narrowed.
‘Yamamoto and Aritolte.’
Their scores were far too high.
Completely different from before the regression.
Yamamoto was strong back then, but not to this degree.
The same applied to Aritolte.
Yet now they were chasing me down to the wire.
If I hadn’t achieved a perfect score, the rankings might have been reversed.
‘Could it be coincidence?’
Or perhaps.
‘Are they both really avatars?’
Choi Tae-min was a possession.
Kim In-soo was an avatar.
Then what about those two?
The Battle Emperor and the Sword Emperor.
Did the shadow of a Deity loom over the true forms of those once called humanity’s strongest?
I needed to verify this.
But not now.
For now, it was time to strengthen my foundation.
I placed the necklace around my neck.
Whoooosh.
A transparent veil enveloped me.
* * *
Tokyo, the ruins of Shinjuku.
Yamamoto shook the blood from his katana.
The corpse of a colossal demonic beast lay sprawled beneath his feet.
‘The Black Greed Demonic Beast’.
The same entity that had appeared in Seoul.
Yet Yamamoto’s expression was far from bright.
He gazed up at the ranking board floating in the air.
[2nd Place: Yamamoto (950 points)]
“…Second place again.”
His brow furrowed.
He could not comprehend it.
It should have been impossible.
He had made thorough preparations for this Episode.
The War Deity—his true form—had supplied him with vast quantities of Nectar.
He had injected Nectar into the avatar’s veins until they were on the verge of rupturing.
The result.
Just two strikes.
With merely two slashes, he had felled a calamity-class beast.
Overwhelming force.
A flawless conquest.
And yet, he had lost.
950 points out of a perfect 1,000.
Was the deduction for time, or for the number of hits?
Then what of NONAME, who ranked first?
“Did he finish it in a single strike?”
Yamamoto muttered to himself.
It made no sense.
It meant NONAME had unleashed greater firepower than he had.
For that, NONAME would need to feed his avatar more Nectar than Yamamoto had.
But that was impossible.
‘The body cannot withstand it.’
An avatar was merely a vessel.
Level 10.
That was the limit of the tutorial period.
Any more divine power would shatter the vessel.
To accommodate more Nectar, one required ‘Awakening’.
One had to advance to the next stage and expand the vessel’s capacity.
And Awakening was only possible through Quests.
Ding!
A message materialized before Yamamoto’s eyes.
[You have reached Level 10.]
[Awakening Quest has begun.]
[Awakening Quest conditions not met.]
[Required Honor Points: 15,000]
[Current Honor Points: 8,000]
Honor.
Points accumulated through titles, Achievements, Hall of Fame rankings, and more.
Yamamoto had run like a madman.
Slaughtering, conquering, maintaining second place.
And still, he had only 8,000 points.
Yet NONAME had surpassed 15,000?
“Impossible.”
I stated it with absolute certainty.
Even if he had claimed first place across Episodes 1, 2, and 3, the numbers were physically impossible.
Even sweeping every hidden piece wouldn’t suffice.
Then he hadn’t awakened yet.
An avatar at Level 10 or below.
But how had he unleashed firepower greater than mine?
How had his body not collapsed under such force?
“…Who are you?”
A strange light flickered in Yamamoto’s eyes.
An existence that defied the common sense of the War Deity himself.
A primal curiosity about that unknown strength.
“NONAME.”
A monster without a name.
I began to feel genuine wonder.
What exactly lay hidden beneath that shell?

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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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