The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 52

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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 52.
My fists trembled uncontrollably.
The paper nearly crumpled in my grip.
Blood surged backward through my veins.
I wanted nothing more than to ascend to Asgard immediately and seize that bastard by the throat.
But.
Cold reason doused the flames of my fury with ice water.
‘Something doesn’t add up.’
The puzzle pieces don’t fit.
I suppressed my anger and reconstructed the situation.
There existed one fatal contradiction that refused to resolve.
‘He descended directly?’
Heimdall’s true body?
Hovering above Earth’s sky?
It made no sense.
Until the Tower of Gods fully manifests in this world, a Deity’s direct descent is impossible.
This is a law of the universe and a rule of the System.
Even Heimdall, the ruler of all things, cannot freely project his true body into the material world without constraint.
‘It shouldn’t be possible for another ten months.’
The Tower of Gods still had ten months before it would open.
But when did the passenger airplane crash occur?
Before Episode 1 even began.
It happened during an era when Earth was completely at peace.
‘I naturally assumed it was a remote projection.’
I thought he’d grasped a staff and targeted Earth’s coordinates from a crystal within the Tower of Gods, unleashing disaster from afar.
That much would be possible.
If it were an indirect calamity channeled through divine power.
But Park Ha-yan had clearly stated she witnessed it.
A ‘man’ suspended in the sky.
Not a remote projection.
His true body, or something bearing a perfect form equivalent to it, had crossed into Earth before Episode 1 began.
And furthermore.
‘No monsters appeared.’
Only the passenger airplane was obliterated before he vanished.
He slaughtered hundreds and then evaporated without spawning a single beast born of calamity.
It differed entirely from how the Avatars of the Gods amused themselves.
They trigger disasters to summon beasts, hunt them for sport, or excavate runes.
He committed this impossible act merely to destroy a single passenger airplane?
I couldn’t comprehend it.
It contradicted everything I knew.
A situation that directly shatters my understanding of the Tower and the System.
Then had Park Ha-yan lied to me?
‘No.’
I shook my head.
There was no reason for her to deceive me.
Moreover, she didn’t know Heimdall.
There was no way an ordinary awakened one who had never even set foot in Asgard could have conjured up these distinct, unmistakable features of a top-tier deity through imagination alone.
She had seen him directly.
Then.
‘There’s something.’
Something I don’t know about—something that could twist the rules of the System.
Or perhaps a massive secret that Heimdall was concealing.
“….”
I pressed my forehead.
I was confused.
But my thoughts couldn’t linger long.
Park Ha-yan’s trembling voice cut through my contemplation.
“Those people….”
She parted her lips slightly.
With both hands clenched tightly on her knees, she looked up at me with eyes glistening with tears.
“They held my hand until the very end.”
Her voice grew thick with emotion.
“Don’t be afraid, they said. It will be over soon, they said.”
Another tear rolled down Park Ha-yan’s cheek.
“Kim Jung-seok….”
She called my name.
“The name they called in that final moment… it was Jung-seok.”
I froze.
My heart ached.
“You’re a spirited one, so you’ll live well, they said. Whose son are you, they said with a smile.”
My parents’ final moment.
…I wasn’t there.
I had to weep while clutching an empty coffin with not even bone dust remaining.
But she was there.
In my place, she carried the memory of my parents’ final warmth.
“That’s why….”
Park Ha-yan sobbed.
“That’s why I couldn’t die.”
She gripped her chest.
“This bond, this miracle… was too precious. The warmth of those who saved me, and the hand you extended to me, Kim Jung-seok….”
She bowed her head and wept aloud.
I gazed down at her with an expressionless face.
My heart grew heavy, but I showed no sign of it on the surface.
Simply.
The fact that my parents had smiled brightly until the very end, holding another’s hand.
…seemed to warm a corner of my chest that had grown cold.
The parents who existed in my memory were such people.
Fools who knew nothing but their son.
They knew how to care for others, and were always overflowing with laughter.
“….”
Silence fell.
It was then that the atmosphere grew increasingly heavy.
“Hueoreoong….”
Suddenly, a strange sound came from behind.
The sound of someone sniffling and groaning.
“Kkeup… Kkeup….”
I turned my head.
Park Ji-hoon.
The man called the Demon King.
The heir to the Underworld.
That massive man.
Was crouched in the corner of the sofa, his face covered by both hands, sobbing uncontrollably.
“…What are you doing?”
I asked in bewilderment, and Park Ji-hoon looked at me with reddened eyes.
“B-Brother…!”
He sniffled and drew in a sharp breath.
“It’s so sad! Really so damn sad, waaah!”
He wept without even wiping his tears.
“Father, Mother… waaah, even as you left like that, you comforted others… and thought of Brother… uheheung!”
The Demon King’s qualifications could freeze to death.
This bastard, why is he so emotionally sensitive.
“My dad too… waaah, he said he cried every night when he was lying there… I guess all parents’ hearts are the same!”
Park Ji-hoon poured out tears, sobbing.
Even Park Ha-yan was taken aback, stopping her tears and staring blankly at him.
She must have wondered if that was really the monster who had drawn his blade and radiated killing intent moments ago.
“Stop crying already.”
I rebuked him.
“S-Sorry, Brother! I normally have no tears… kkeup, but I couldn’t hold this back!”
Park Ji-hoon wiped his tears away roughly with his sleeve.
But he was still sniffling.
The atmosphere shifted subtly.
The heavy, oppressive air that had settled over us lifted somewhat, thanks to Park Ji-hoon’s foolish tears.
I looked back down at the paper.
Heimdall’s face.
‘The reason for his direct descent.’
A blind spot in the System.
The hidden card he was concealing.
I had to uncover it.
I wanted to expose the truth.
Before the invasion began, had only Heimdall interfered with Earth?
Or were other supreme-tier Deities also involved in this abominable spectacle?
‘I have no choice but to move on my own.’
I had to visit the crime scene and trace the evidence.
Not only as a God Hunter, but as a mage pursuing truth, I had to excavate the errors within this System.
Only then could I forge the perfect noose to seize their throats.
‘But not now.’
I cooled the boiling murderous intent.
The saying goes: the more urgent, the more you must take the long way around.
This was not the time to show my hand to Heimdall.
He was the ruler of all things.
The apex of the Natural Faction, a monster who had granted me the Abyss authority called ‘Creeping Chaos’.
A reckless attack would leave nothing but bones.
But now I was certain—he was deeply involved in my parents’ deaths.
‘I’ll use him far more thoroughly.’
I would demonstrate my value more decisively.
I would make him see me as an irreplaceable apostle deity.
I would use him as a shield protecting my territory, as a wallet funding my growth.
And when I reached the highest place.
I would strip him of everything he possessed.
Above all else.
There was an immediate problem I faced.
‘Episode 4.’
Only I knew the exact timing of this catastrophe.
And the coming Episode 4 would unfold in a completely different manner from all previous episodes.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons.
Such physical disasters would not occur.
Yet it would be a turning point just as critical—or even more so—for humanity’s survival as the episodes before it.
I turned my gaze to the two of them.
Park Ji-hoon was still sniffling, while Park Ha-yan wiped her reddened eyes with the back of her hand.
“You two.”
At my call, both of them lifted their heads simultaneously.
They straightened their posture and fixed their gaze upon me.
“By 11 a.m. tomorrow.”
I commanded with unwavering resolve.
“Come here.”
“Brother, is something happening tomorrow?”
Park Ji-hoon asked cautiously.
I nodded.
“There’s something I need your help with.”
At my words, Park Ha-yan’s eyes gleamed.
She seemed genuinely delighted at the prospect of repaying her debt.
“Yes, I’ll arrive on time!”
She answered with spirited conviction.
Park Ji-hoon also sprang to his feet and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
“I’ll pitch a tent right outside the door and wait from now on!”
“Don’t waste time on nonsense. Go wash up and get some sleep. Make sure you’re in peak condition.”
I waved my hand, ushering them out.
The door closed, and silence returned to my semi-basement room.
‘Party.’
The core keyword of Episode 4.
I could not accomplish everything alone.
Neither the dungeon’s mechanics nor the system’s rules were so forgiving.
I needed trustworthy allies.
Park Ha-yan and Park Ji-hoon.
One was a prodigy destined to awaken the seeds of a Demon Lord, the other a transcendent who would grow into a Spirit Sovereign.
With these two at my side, I could overcome virtually any variable that arose.
I closed my eyes.
I entered meditation to prepare for tomorrow.
* * *
The next day.
10:50 a.m.
The iron door opened and two figures entered.
Park Ha-yan wore comfortable athletic attire, while Park Ji-hoon remained in formal wear but had a longsword strapped firmly across his back.
Both bore unmistakable signs of tension.
“Brother, we’re here.”
“Jung-seok, what is this task you mentioned….”
I leaned against the wall and nodded.
“Sit and wait. It will begin soon.”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
“The next episode.”
At my words, both their faces hardened.
Did this mean that terrible calamity was about to unfold once more?
Park Ji-hoon’s hand moved toward the sword at his back, while spirits began swirling frantically around Park Ha-yan.
Time passed.
And then.
It happened just past midday.
Uuuuuung!
The air vibrated.
An unsettling ringing, as if Earth itself were screaming.
Ding!
A blood-red message window forcibly popped up before the eyes of every person on the planet.
At the same moment, gasps of shock burst from Park Ha-yan and Park Ji-hoon’s lips.
[Episode 4, ‘The Abyss’s Invitation’ begins.]
The message’s content was simple.
But the meaning it carried was far from light.
[The dimensional barrier crumbles, and the ‘Demon Realm’ opens.]
[Form a Party. (Maximum 12 members)]
[The ‘Honor’ stat is unlocked in your status window.]
“The Demon Realm…?”
Park Ha-yan murmured in a trembling voice.
This was a proclamation that the true land of demons—fundamentally different from the demonic beasts that had erupted until now—was opening.
It wasn’t a disaster occurring in the real world.
This was an event where we had to walk directly into the gaping maw of that Hell ourselves.
Ding!
Messages continued to appear.
[The person with the highest Honor stat becomes the Party Leader.]
[Depending on the Party Leader’s Honor stat, the ‘difficulty level’ of the Demon Realm you can enter is determined.]
[The higher the difficulty, the steeper the rewards upon clearing.]
“W-what’s this Honor stat?”
Park Ji-hoon hastily waved his hand through the air and opened his status window.
“Hyung! My Honor stat is 520!”
Then he shouted with considerable pride.
Park Ha-yan spoke carefully.
“I have… 3,100 points.”
Had she been running dungeons frantically and slaughtering monsters?
For an ordinary Awakened, surpassing 100 points would have been a challenge at this stage.
But.
This was merely the standard for humans.
Avatars of the Gods were different.
‘The highest tier had over 8,000 points, if I recall correctly.’
Right after Episode 3, the strongest of the elite were holding over 8,000 Honor Points.
Most of them were likely Avatars of the Gods.
They had orchestrated disasters and then played the hero cleaning them up, sweeping in enormous Honor Points in the process.
With that much, one could enter the highest ‘Hell’ difficulty and obtain Mythic-grade equipment.
“…What’s your score?”
Park Ha-yan gazed at me with curious eyes.
I was just about to open my status window to check.
Ding!
[Your current Honor Points as ‘Kim Jung-seok (NONAME)’ are ‘1,357,790’.]
[Due to your exceptionally high Honor Points, no accessible difficulty levels exist.]
[Searching for an accessible difficulty level.]
[Searching for an accessible difficulty level.]
[Searching for an accessible difficulty level.]
….
The same message continued to appear for quite some time.
Several minutes must have passed.
Ding!
[No accessible difficulty level could be found.]
[This is an unprecedented situation.]
[A ‘hidden piece’ has been discovered.]
[The ‘Incomprehensible’ difficulty has been unlocked!]

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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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