The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 224

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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 224
‘Return? To Earth?’
I had long since abandoned any hope of returning to Earth.
Since I had made Pangea my home, there was no reason to.
But now the situation was different.
‘No one remains in Pangea.’
With no blood relatives or acquaintances left, I could depart without hesitation.
To Earth, my homeland.
‘Was this the gift the god mentioned back then?’
Recalling the Creator God’s words that I would understand someday, Zeke steeled himself.
‘I will return. To Earth.’
The moment I decided, the [Y] button illuminated.
Thus, after 1,234 years since my reincarnation, I could finally return.
To Earth, my homeland.

* * *
The process of return differed little from teleportation.
The surroundings transformed in an instant.
Modern architecture with towering skyscrapers—unmistakably different from Pangea.
Zeke appeared in an alley between those buildings.
Or rather, Choi Kang-jun.
‘I’m back.’
Everything remained unchanged, as if time had frozen.
Exactly as it was before the Dragon Army’s annihilation.
Thus, the first thing Choi Kang-jun’s eyes caught was none other than the Dragon Army’s claw.
Ting!
A strike that should have pierced through the heart produced a clear, metallic ring as if striking solid steel.
“Grrr!?”
The monster seemed bewildered as its own claw shattered instead.
‘Right, I was dragged away while fighting this thing.’
“Kraaaaaaah-!”
The pride-wounded monster raised its claws again and charged.
Ting! Ping! Ping!
But an invisible barrier formed before its body made contact, deflecting every claw strike.
“Tch, die.”
With a single gesture from the now-irritated Choi Kang-jun.
Splurch!
The Dragon Army’s head split open like a watermelon.
A monster that even A-rank Hunters barely managed to fight had been killed by a single gesture.
A combat prowess that would astound anyone who witnessed it.
However, Choi Kang-jun’s true adversary was far more formidable than these mere piranhas.
‘First, I need to take down the head.’
As Choi Kang-jun lifted his gaze, a dragon the size of a building soared across the sky.

* * *
Ten days prior.
United States, China, Japan, South Korea—and beyond.
Simultaneous dungeon breaks erupted across the entire globe.
The world teetered on the precipice of annihilation.
Hunters who had once competed against each other in slaying monsters now united with singular purpose to defend Earth.
Against the Dragon Army.
“This way! Evacuate in this direction!”
“Hurry! Move!”
The hunters herded civilians into makeshift shelters, then faced the Dragon Army head-on.
“Damn it, where did all these S-rank monsters come from…?”
“Why did the dungeon break happen without any warning?”
A dungeon break occurs when monsters inside a dungeon become overloaded and burst outward.
Yet such phenomena were extraordinarily rare.
Hunters had consistently culled the monster population, growing stronger by consuming the runes they dropped.
But a break of this magnitude, without any discernible cause, had never occurred in hunter history.
“I don’t know, damn it! We have to stop them if we want to live!”
“Please, let us survive. Please…”
Ten grueling days of bloodshed against the Dragon Army.
The hunters desperately prayed that the outcome would not be humanity’s extinction.
And so they fought the Dragon Army before them with relentless ferocity.
Crash! Bang!
Screech—!
“Shriek!”
Splurt!
“Argh!”
Six Dragon Army creatures, claws extended and charging forward, clashed with ten hunters—a mix of S-rank and A-rank combatants.
Fortunately, the battle concluded in the hunters’ victory.
“Huff… huff… Thank goodness.”
“We… we won.”
Yet there was no time for relief.
“ROOOOOOOOOOOAR—!”
A deafening cry shattered the air, and the hunters’ eyes snapped skyward.
“Damn it…”
“There’s no way we can defeat that monster…”
A colossal dragon, so immense that mere sight of it drew curses, dominated the sky like a sovereign lord.
How in the world are we supposed to capture that thing?
A monster that obliterates entire cities with a single breath attack.
“Even if we died and came back to life, we couldn’t take it down.”
“Even if every SSS-rank Hunter in the world stepped forward, it would be futile….”
“Look at that massive frame and hardened hide. I doubt it would even get a scratch.”
Faced with the boss’s overwhelming presence that drained all will to fight, the Hunters turned away.
For now, dealing with the Dragon Army forces right in front of them was the priority.
They were still destroying buildings everywhere and hunting humans.
That was when it happened.
“L-look over there!”
One of the Hunters pointed at the sky in horror.
“That insane bastard!”
“It’s preparing another breath attack!”
The boss dragon was drawing in a deep breath, gathering energy.
It was the same preparatory motion we’d seen before.
That breath attack that had reduced an entire city to rubble.
“B-but the direction….”
“It seems to be aimed this way….”
It wasn’t a seeming—it was unmistakable.
The boss’s maw was pointing directly at where the Hunters stood.
“D-dammit…!”
“W-we’re done for.”
The Hunters watched helplessly as the breath energy gathered in the dragon’s jaws.
It was hopeless.
The citizens watching from the shelters closed their eyes and offered desperate prayers.
Please! Please let us survive.
Help me and my family overcome this crisis.
“Oh God….”
Someone murmured a prayer to God, but the people understood implicitly.
There was no God in this world.
If God existed, He would never have allowed Earth to fall into such ruin.
Krrrrrrgh!
As all the massive energy converged, the dragon’s breathing suddenly stopped.
Now it would unleash that deadly energy in a wide-ranging blast, and the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of citizens here would not survive the attack.
The moment everyone fell into despair.
“Krrrraaaaaaaaagh!”
The boss dragon’s cry reached the people’s ears.
“…?”
It was something other than the sound of releasing a breath attack.
It was almost like a desperate wail.
I opened my eyes and lifted my head, only to witness an unbelievable sight unfolding before me.
“L-look over there!”
“The, the boss dragon is…!”
“It’s disappearing…?”
The boss was literally disintegrating.
Its skin fractured into countless fragments, and its entire body crumbled like ash.
The hunters who witnessed this spectacle stood frozen, their mouths agape.
“Wh-what’s happening?”
“Why is it like that?”
As the colossal dragon that had blotted out the sky vanished, sunlight reclaimed the world.
With rays of sunlight now streaming down to the earth below.
The hunters encountered yet another miracle they could scarcely believe.
“Gaaaahhh!”
“Krrrrgh!”
“Gahhh!”
The Dragon Army creatures suddenly clutched at their throats and extended their tongues grotesquely.
“Th-they’re dead?”
“All of them at once?”
Every visible Dragon Army creature collapsed with its tongue hanging out.
All together, as if choreographed, in perfect synchronization.
“What in the world is happening…?”
The hunters could only stare at the Dragon Army corpses with bewildered expressions.

* * *
‘Is that all of them? One boss dragon and 3,879,432 members of the Dragon Army.’
Choi Kang-jun had slain every Dragon Army member on Earth.
He’d reduced the boss dragon to ash with a single flame spell, and annihilated the Dragon Army soldiers all at once using telekinesis, confirming each one through his hunter’s senses.
He hadn’t even needed to use Limit Release.
Tens of thousands of skills had transformed him into a transcendent being.
‘It’s finally over.’
He had saved Earth.
From the brink of annihilation.
Now there was only one thing left for Choi Kang-jun to do.
‘Live quietly in hiding.’
He would conceal himself among the masses and watch over Earth’s reconstruction.
‘A life back in my homeland wouldn’t be so bad.’
Choi Kang-jun disappeared between the buildings.
Just like any other ordinary human.
【Epilogue】
“Have you heard the rumor?”
“What rumor?”
“About the transcendent-rank hunter.”
A strange rumor had spread throughout the hunter industry.
That a transcendent-rank hunter, surpassing even SSS-rank, was protecting the world.
“Come on, don’t talk nonsense. Where would such a hunter exist? Does he have nothing better to do than protect the world?”
“No, they definitely exist. The statistics prove it. Since the Dragon Emperor died, there hasn’t been a single dungeon break. Even when they do occur, all the monsters are found as mysterious corpses.”
The Dragon Emperor referred to the colossal dragon that could obliterate a city with a single breath.
A catastrophe-class monster of such immense scale that it would never appear again in monster history.
Ever since that monster mysteriously vanished, there hadn’t been a single casualty from dungeon breaks.
Not even now, 300 years later.
At the mention of statistics, hunter Lee Kang-jun let out a hollow laugh.
“That’s probably just an anomaly that occurs during dungeon breaks.”
“What kind of anomaly results in multiple monster corpses being discovered? And if it happens repeatedly, isn’t that more than coincidence?”
“Even after hundreds of years, we can’t claim to fully understand dungeons. We still haven’t figured out why the global Dragon Army dungeon break occurred 300 years ago.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“And what? A transcendent-rank hunter protecting the world? Does he not age? Acting as a dungeon break solver for 300 years?”
“He could have awakened an ability that prevents aging.”
“Even so, does it make sense that he appears like lightning whenever a dungeon break occurs, handles it, and disappears? It happens worldwide, not just in South Korea. You’re saying he detects all of them and moves preemptively?”
There was no rebuttal.
Even he knew it sounded absurd.
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s enter the dungeon. It’s our turn now.”
“Yeah, okay.”
When their turn came, Lee Kang-jun and the other B-rank hunters entered the dungeon.
The dungeon I entered was a B-rank Mantis Dungeon—not particularly difficult.
As long as hunters entered dungeons appropriate to their rank, there was little danger.
‘The notion that hunting is perilous has become ancient history.’
Through accumulated experience, data, and analysis of monsters, hunters could now hunt systematically and safely.
As hunter survival rates climbed, their market value skyrocketed accordingly.
The mana stones and byproducts monsters dropped became astronomical sums of money, and the rune stats they yielded made hunters exponentially stronger.
On top of that, the government was supporting hunters materially and financially….
Being a hunter could be called a lottery that only the chosen few could access.
The B-rank hunters here were no exception.
Screeeech!
“Kyaaaah!”
“Okay! We’re done with this side.”
“This side too.”
“All clear. Let’s head out.”
The hunters who had cleared the dungeon were about to exit.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Kang-jun?”
“Well, we’ve eliminated all the monsters, but the clear message isn’t appearing.”
“What? You’re right? Why is this happening?”
Just as they were puzzled.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!
The dungeon began shaking violently.
“Wh-what’s happening here?”
“An earthquake?”
“No, this is….”
“A dungeon break?”
It was a precursor to a dungeon break.
“Why would a dungeon break happen!?”
Dungeon breaks only occurred in dungeons where monsters had accumulated heavily.
There was no reason for one to happen after they’d just slaughtered all the mantises.
Except for one possibility.
“Could it be….”
“A dungeon collapse phenomenon?”
When a dungeon had aged and reached the end of its lifespan.
A dungeon break could occur regardless of whether monsters remained.
That was precisely a dungeon collapse phenomenon.
Since measuring a dungeon’s lifespan was difficult, it was effectively a natural disaster, but it was an extremely rare occurrence.
“Why would such a phenomenon happen in our dungeon of all places!?”
“Damn it! Is there no way to stop this!?”
“There isn’t!”
“W-well, isn’t that still okay? We’ve defeated all the monsters inside the dungeon, haven’t we?”
“You idiot! Don’t you know a dungeon is a corridor connecting the monsters’ dimension? Even if the dungeon is empty, when a dungeon break occurs, monsters will pour out!”
Typically, five times the number of monsters that inhabit the dungeon appear, or so it’s said.
In other words, a massive swarm of monsters that these hunters cannot possibly contain will emerge very soon.
“Damn it… Prepare for combat, now!”
“Lee Kang-jun! Have you lost your mind? You’re going to fight hundreds of them right now?”
“What choice do we have? We can’t even escape! If we don’t stop them here, monsters will pour out beyond the dungeon. Have you thought about how many casualties there would be then?”
“Of course I have! If we fight like this, we’ll just die pointlessly. Let’s dodge for now, and when the dungeon breaks, we can escape with the monsters and the reinforcements waiting outside will—”
“Reinforcements? They detect this sudden anomaly and deploy reinforcements in advance? That makes no sense! And by then, it’ll already be too late!”
Lee Kang-jun spoke with eyes resigned to death, grinding his teeth.
“We have to fight. We need to reduce their numbers, even if only slightly…”
“Sigh…”
“Damn it…”
The hunters wore grim expressions as they gripped their weapons tightly.
To prevent an even greater catastrophe, they had no choice but to hold the line themselves from within the dungeon.
“They’re coming! Everyone, prepare!”
As they readied themselves for monsters to pour from the Corridor—
“Kang-jun, wait.”
“What now?”
“There’s a person over there…”
“What?”
Lee Kang-jun saw it.
A man standing in the middle of the Corridor.
“What? When did that person enter?”
“There’s someone else who came in besides us?”
“Is he a hunter?”
“Hey! Move! You can’t be there!”
“Monsters will pour out from that direction soon!”
They shouted at the top of their lungs, but the man didn’t even pretend to hear them.
“You’ll die doing that!”
Yet the man stood firm before the Corridor, and moments later, the monsters rushed in.
“Kyaaaaa!”
“Gyaaaaa!”
A Mantis Dungeon army that appeared to number in the hundreds at first glance.
Just as the hunters, who had been shuddering at the sight, were about to tighten their grip on their weapons—
Whoosh—
The man extended his palm toward the Corridor.
That was all.
Crunch—crunch—crunch!
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch!
In an instant, the mantises’ necks tore away with a deafening screech.
The Mantis Dungeon army, still in their charging posture, collapsed and became a heap of corpses in a single moment.
Startled by the sight, Lee Kang-jun and the hunters immediately whipped their heads around.
‘Wait, he’s gone?’
The man who had been there just moments before vanished like a mirage in the blink of an eye.
‘What just… how did that…’
Before they could even comprehend what had happened, the dungeon closed.
The hunters who emerged squinted against the blazing sunlight pouring down.
But only Lee Kang-jun forced his eyes open, desperately searching for the man.
The man presumed to be the legendary transcendent-rank hunter.
‘He really was there. That transcendent-rank hunter who prevented the dungeon break.’
Though he looked around repeatedly, all his eyes could see were the bewildered hunters and hundreds of mantis corpses scattered about.
-Complete-
【Author’s Note】
Hello, dear readers!
And so, another work has come to its end.
This series concluded earlier than my previous works.
I believe you all understand why.
(Compared to previous works, the results were not that good. ㅠㅠ)
Initially, I conceived the story with the idea that it would be entertaining to slaughter mages in a world where mages held dominant status.
But when I actually began writing, it turned out quite differently from what I had envisioned.
So there were moments where I lost interest and wrote without enthusiasm.
Of course, the primary culprit for the commercial failure was undoubtedly the [Quest] system.
No readers would want to see a protagonist dragged around by quests, yet I introduced it because my abilities were insufficient.
I simply lacked confidence in filling the narrative without the Quest system.
And my inexperience and limited knowledge with medieval fantasy, which was my first attempt at the genre.
The simplistic combat patterns where blocking mana alone guaranteed easy victories.
I believe these factors combined to contribute to the decline in performance.
Despite all this, I managed to bring the story to a close somehow.
Though it didn’t achieve great popularity, it was a valuable and meaningful experience for me.
Above all, I am deeply grateful to all of you readers who climbed this mountain alongside me and offered your encouragement.
I will strive to become a writer who develops and improves, using this work as a foundation.
Regarding future plans, [The Natural Enemy of Mages Has Been Reincarnated] ends here with no spinoffs planned.
For now, I plan to serialize the epilogue of [The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return], which I conceived as a commemoration of the webtoon adaptation, while preparing my next work.
I’ve already decided on the next project—it will be a hunter series set in the familiar modern era.
(Fantasy is somehow difficult for me.)
Well then, to all of you readers who stayed until the very end.
I wish you all a happy day as I take my leave.
Thank you always!

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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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