The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 218
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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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The Natural Enemy of Mages Has Been Reincarnated – Episode 218
【Main Quest: Die to yourself.】
└Die to yourself.
└Die to yourself.
【Conditions】
└Dying to yourself
【Rewards】
└None
Zeke McLafflin was more bewildered than ever before.
‘What kind of Quest is this? Die to myself?’
Die to oneself—what did that even mean?
And where exactly was this “self” he was supposed to die to?
‘Is it philosophical? What on earth is this?’
Even after reading the Quest, he couldn’t comprehend it.
It felt like a nonsensical riddle.
And on top of that, there was no reward.
As his mind grew clouded with confusion,
a voice pierced through his thoughts.
[You’ve read the Quest. Haven’t you?]
The word “Quest” snapped him back to attention.
When he turned his gaze, Beelzebub was staring at him.
[That look of shock is priceless.]
“How do you know about the Quest….”
[You got an absurd Quest, didn’t you? One telling you to die to yourself.]
How could he possibly know that?
Could Beelzebub see the Quest window?
No, that couldn’t be right.
Until now, no one had ever known about the system’s existence.
Not even Hebriel, the King of the Celestial Realm.
‘Could it be…?’
[That’s right.]
Beelzebub smiled wickedly, as if reading his thoughts.
[I’m the one who gave you that Quest.]
It was a shocking revelation.
He had suspected there was a divine entity issuing Quests all along, but to learn it was none other than the Demon Lord himself—
Yet this was hardly the most startling part.
Not compared to what the Demon Lord said next.
[You’re wondering what it means to die to yourself, aren’t you? It’s literal. Die to me, Zeke McLafflin.]
“Die to you? What do you….”
[I am you.]
My mind spun into confusion in an instant.
The Demon King was suddenly spouting nonsense.
[The target you are currently observing is speaking the ‘truth’.]
‘Damn it. Even the system is acting up.’
The situation was confusing enough to make me curse.
As if to clear my confusion, the Demon King spoke.
[It seems I’ll need to show you my true form for you to believe me.]
Soon after, the Demon King’s appearance began to change.
Like shedding a shell, his form transformed from head to toe, shifting away from his Demon appearance.
Into the form of a human, no less.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Anyone can mimic my appearance….’
My pupils dilated sharply as I denied what I was seeing.
The Demon King’s transformation wasn’t into my current form.
It was Choi Kang-jun—my original appearance before reincarnation.
[How is it? How does it feel to face the appearance of Earth after so long?]
“….”
“Ah, let me drop this Demon-like voice too.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the man who appeared to be Beelzebub—no, Choi Kang-jun.
He looked identical to my Earth self, as if I were staring into a mirror.
‘This… this doesn’t make sense. How could he know my previous form….’
He could mimic my current appearance as Zeke, but my original form as Choi Kang-jun was impossible.
Unless he had glimpsed my Earth self directly.
‘Is this really the god who gave me Quests?’
“Yes. Strictly speaking, I’m human, but you could say I’m a god in the sense you understand it. I’m the one who reincarnated you here, and I’m the one who’s been giving you all these Quests.”
He answered thoughts I hadn’t even spoken aloud.
He was clearly reading my mind.
It irritated me, but I had no time to protest.
I was too busy being shocked.
“Ha… A self-proclaimed god mimicking my appearance? That’s twisted.”
“I’m not mimicking. This is my true form.”
“You’re me?”
“Yes. I am Choi Kang-jun. You could say I’m you from the future.”
Me from the future?
‘Cut the bullshit. Does that even make sense?’
I denied it, but the future Choi Kang-jun seemed desperate to be believed.
The way he settled back into the throne and began his explanation made that clear.
“You don’t seem to believe me. I suppose I’ll have to tell you my story. It will be long, but listen carefully.”
With those words, the future Choi Kang-jun began speaking calmly.
“The Earth where I lived was the same place where you lived.”
A world tangled with dungeons, monsters, and Hunters who had awakened their abilities.
He was born with the name Choi Kang-jun in such a place.
Even growing up as an orphan was identical.
But there was one crucial difference.
It was his awakened skill.
Unlike the current Choi Kang-jun who possessed [Mana Absorption], the future Choi Kang-jun had awakened a skill called [Ability Absorption].
It was a truly broken skill—one that granted him the power to absorb abilities from those he killed.
Unlike Zeke with his second and third awakening skills, he had nothing of the sort.
All he was given was a single [Ability Absorption] skill.
“But the influence of that skill was formidable.”
With no limit to the abilities he could absorb, he could plunder any power simply by taking a life.
In theory, if he abandoned his conscience, he could grow infinitely stronger.
“But perhaps recognizing the danger of such power, the System banished me to another dimension.”
At the moment of death, Choi Kang-jun was suddenly reincarnated on the Pangaea Continent, and he felt utterly wronged.
He had been abandoned alone in a desolate world without ever having the chance to use his power.
“It was absurd. The System gave me a dangerous ability and then cast me away to this place.”
Choi Kang-jun lived under the name Zeke McLafflin, but he yearned to return home.
He desperately wanted to find a way back to Earth.
“So I decided to kill indiscriminately. I thought that if I slaughtered enough of this world’s humans, perhaps I’d gain an ability related to dimensional travel.”
Fortunately, the awakening system remained intact, allowing me to accumulate abilities by killing the humans of Pangea.
I killed innocent citizens and criminals alike.
Commoners, nobles, the elderly, children—I spared none, absorbing their powers with each death.
I even slew a dragon and claimed the strength of draconic power.
As I grew infinitely stronger, I learned something by chance.
The Twelve Forerunners were preparing for the Heavenly Demon War.
“They had the Demons as their patrons. Since I’d never killed a Demon before, I couldn’t help but anticipate—perhaps this time I’d finally gain the dimensional travel ability.”
After learning from the Forerunners how to summon Demons, I sacrificed five maidens as offerings.
When I killed the Demon that answered my call, I finally obtained it.
The [Dimensional Travel] ability.
“But this ability had a limitation—I could only travel to the dimension of those I killed.”
The future Choi Kang-jun killed a Demon and traveled to the Demon Realm.
There, I slew seventy-two high-ranking Demons and absorbed all their abilities.
In one fell swoop, I claimed the seat of the strongest.
“After killing even Beelzebub, I grew curious about slaying Celestials. I wondered if killing them might grant me an ability to help me return to Earth.”
Unable to abandon his attachment to Earth, Choi Kang-jun decided to conquer the Celestial Realm next.
But there was no way to reach it.
There were no Celestials in the Demon Realm to use as sacrificial offerings.
“So the method I devised was the Heavenly Demon War itself.”
If Celestials and Demons gathered during the Heavenly Demon War and descended to the Human Realm, I could use the Celestials as sacrifices to travel to the Celestial Realm.
“From that point on, I changed my appearance and pretended to be Beelzebub here in the Demon Realm.”
While masquerading as Beelzebub and guiding the Heavenly Demon War to proceed smoothly, Choi Kang-jun encountered problems nonetheless.
“I had already grown too powerful to be stopped. To manifest in the Human Realm, I needed an enormous quantity of human souls.”
Thus, I devised a single method.
I scattered six volumes of a grimoire called the Demon’s Resurrection Scripture throughout the Human Realm, orchestrating my own descent.
“Fortunately, the Lich Dragon Council dutifully gathered human souls into the tome and summoned me to the Pangaea Continent. They intended to win the Heavenly Demon War.”
But I cared nothing for victory or defeat. I simply used the Celestials as sacrifices and ascended to the Celestial Realm.
“Once there, I unleashed a massacre without hesitation. From sixth-rank to first-rank Combat Angels. I slaughtered them all and devoured their abilities.”
It took merely a single day to annihilate every Combat Angel in the Celestial Realm and reach the Heavenly King himself.
“When I finally sought to kill Hebriel, the Heavenly King, he trembled and confessed. He revealed he was not Celestial but Divine—and that he knew the existence of the Creator God who built the system.”
The Creator God who designed the system.
Upon learning this, I desperately wanted to meet them.
I had to ask why they granted me such a broken ability—power absorption itself.
So I used the Heavenly King as a sacrifice and journeyed to the Divine Realm.
“I slew countless Divine beings and obtained an energy called ‘Terra.’ At first, I had no idea what it was or how to use it. I assumed the system was explaining it to me.”
As I accumulated abilities and Terra, laying waste to the Divine Realm itself, I finally encountered them.
El—the Creator God who built the system.
“I demanded answers immediately. Why had they brought me here? Why create such a broken ability as power absorption? Why had they made me into a murderer? And do you know what they said in response?”
The answer was absurd.
“They asked who I was.”
The Creator God didn’t even know who I was.
All they had done was create the system and apply it to Earth.
“The reason for applying it to Earth was simple. Humans were weak.”
To strengthen humanity against the monsters that would invade Earth—beings far too fragile to resist—they introduced the Awakening system.
“They told me that in their haste to set it up, they accidentally created this broken ability called power absorption.”
Even the Creator God hadn’t initially recognized it as a broken ability.
It was a case where they only identified the problem after implementing it.
“They never intended to create such an ability with any particular purpose. They simply didn’t foresee the consequences it would bring.”
Only later did the Creator God recognize it would cause catastrophic balance collapse, and they attempted to fix it.
But modifying an already-applied system proved difficult, so they hastily added a condition instead.
When an Awakener deemed incompatible faced death, they would be reincarnated into a fantasy world under the guise of a system error.
“At that time, I hadn’t yet committed murder. I had no abilities whatsoever, so I was perfect prey for the monsters.”
This was why my future self suddenly found myself reincarnated into a fantasy world.
“My questions were answered, but it left me hollow. I was furious at this wretched god.”
After that, I asked them one thing.
Could they send me back to Earth?
The Creator God gave a negative answer.
It was impossible.
After that, what I did was simple.
I killed the god.
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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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