The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 131

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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 Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 131
Korea had become a land of opportunity for countless seekers.
Raoul too harbored the Korean Dream.
‘If I eliminate him, the EX-Rank awakening will be mine.’
No matter how I considered it, that was the logical conclusion.
At the forefront of the Tower civilization era, Spain deserved to claim it.
Both historically and pragmatically.
‘I’ve already secured his location.’
Real Madrid’s intelligence network ranked first globally. Through Incheon, they had gathered extensive information.
The intelligence he possessed was a meticulous dossier on Choi Kang-mok, the EX-Rank awakener.
‘A secret residence with an unusual structure surrounded by a pocket dimension. Called a secret hideout, but in reality, a blatantly off-grid sanctuary.’
He reviewed the information on Choi Kang-mok once more.
‘Originally noted only for long-range interception ability, but in reality, there is no gap in defensive capability based on distance.’
Both are exceptional. Poison resistance confirmed.
Through Silver Line, he had even ascertained proficiency with pocket dimensions.
For this reason, Raoul felt even more confident.
‘A weakness common to high-level rankers.’
Rankers increasingly showed a tendency to rely excessively on pocket dimensions.
What happens when a pocket dimension suddenly becomes neutralized?
Like a modern person robbed of their smartphone, they become utterly helpless.
He checked the item in his possession once more.
[The Corrupted King’s Quill]
A rotted feather pen.
Its tip bore a deep brown hue as though drenched in blood, and black mist intermittently billowed from the nib.
───────
The legacy of one who had once proclaimed himself the ‘King of Pocket Dimensions.’
Using rotted blood instead of ink, it inscribes characters that neutralize pocket dimensions.
Application time: 7 seconds
───────
The constraint of using rotted blood was acceptable.
His job class was ‘Corruption Sorcerer,’ after all.
[Activating skill ‘Putrid Liquid.’]
His body began to dissolve.
It became a viscous, blackish liquid, then transformed into transparent mucus.
Black ooze that absorbed light. The color vanished, but the stench remained.
‘There’s no time to mask the smell.’
In liquid form, Raoul crept along the shadowed wall.
Flowing, seeping, leaving not even a trace of presence.
‘His eavesdropping detection ability is exceptionally keen.’
For that reason, he had not attempted surveillance.
If I eavesdropped carelessly, it would only deepen their wariness.
‘…Something feels like it’s pushing back.’
I instinctively sensed ‘Friend-or-Foe Identification.’
‘With my original abilities, I never could have pierced through it.’
But the situation was different now.
I had consumed the ‘Pearl of the Dead’—created by expending Silver Line’s life force.
‘If he’s EX-Rank, then I’m in that vicinity too.’
Of course, it’s only temporary.
Even for a brief moment, our ‘ranks’ should be comparable now.
After that comes experience and level.
‘Both. I overwhelmingly surpass him.’
The EX-Rank Awakener had only been growing since his awakening—less than a year.
In contrast, Raoul was a veteran assassin with over a decade of active service.
I continued my search.
In one room, a man presumed to be an EX-Rank Awakener was sleeping.

* * *
A few minutes earlier.
Mayo was quite astonished.
-My Friend-or-Foe Identification is likely to be neutralized. 🙂
-It’s receiving exceptional corrections through a rather special method.
-By standard-rank criteria… someone exceeding level 250 has entered.
Choi Kang-mok was also somewhat impressed.
Regardless of the ‘standard-rank’ designation, the appearance of someone capable of piercing through a level 250 barrier was noteworthy.
-But there’s a peculiar
our
scent to them.
“Our scent?”
-The aura of one who was not originally unified, but later became one.
-Ah, the assassin we encountered before… traces of that linger here.
True to Mayo’s genuine nature regarding ‘our,’ they deciphered it instantly.
Choi Kang-mok could also infer the principle to some degree.
‘They deliberately expended the initial operative and deployed the real assassin?’
The previous assassin (Silver Line) had been quite formidable.
They used someone of that caliber as expendable?
‘It’s definitely Western Europe.’
There’s a Spanish feel to it.
But I can’t pinpoint it exactly.
“The Friend-or-Foe Identification is definitely being pierced through, right?”
-Yes, I’m reading their movements, but I cannot stop them.
“You’re quite skilled, I must say.
Though for us,
you’re hardly worth coveting.”
Choi Kang-mok sensed the approach of ‘hostility’ drawing near.
Thanks to Mayo’s warning, he could roughly pinpoint its location.
‘It’s closing in.’
Mayo detected it with far greater precision.
“This is filthy. The very concept of purity is being… completely stripped away.”
“A grave discourtesy has occurred within Mayo’s immaculate domain.”
Ever since ‘Cleaning’ had been activated, Mayo had begun exhibiting signs of obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
“Grime, viscous contamination, traces of decay… truly, it’s abhorrent.”
“It’s crawling toward us.
Filth
is approaching our sanctuary.”
*Crackle—crackle—*
For the first time in ages, Mayo began to rampage.
It clearly despised this intensely.
“I shall scrub, organize, erase, and sort everything.”
“Shall I commence the cleaning, Master?”
“Please, by all means—clean.”
Choi Kang-mok tilted his head in bewilderment.
Would that actually accomplish anything by cleaning?
‘…Wait? It actually works?’

* * *
Raoul’s plan was flawless.
Entry angle: thirty-seven degrees. The path aligned perfectly along the seams between ceiling molding and wallpaper.
Moreover, the target was asleep.
Flawless.
‘What is this?’
Something massive was approaching.
A sensation like an enormous mop—white, pristine, and disturbingly sterile—drawing near.
Instinct screamed a warning.
‘At this rate, I’ll be erased.’
A pocket dimension that obliterated existence itself.
A pocket dimension clothed in the form of annihilation.
Truly befitting an EX-rank ability user.
Rather than offer a greeting, he drew forth an item.
[Using the Corrupt King’s Writing Implement.]
He drove the quill deep into his forearm.
Squelch! Flesh tore and blood vessels ruptured.
Rotten blood reeking of decay sprayed forth in viscous torrents.
Black, oil-like blood rippled through the air before seeping into the quill’s nib.
Using that blood as ink, he began inscribing symbols into the void.
■■■.
Not letters, but corrupted glyphs.
The symbols etched into empty space lingered briefly before swelling like rotting flesh and crumbling.
The outer edges of the symbols receded, and dark crimson dripped downward like water droplets.
And then.
Patter. Pitter-patter.
The decayed letters fell in fragments.
-This is most unpleasant. 🙁
Mayo’s pocket dimension, which pursued cleanliness, began to tremble.
Purity and corruption. A collision of two worldviews.
Rotten mist bleeding from the quill’s nib infiltrated Mayo’s pocket dimension.
-Purity is becoming distorted. Oh, what a dreadfully awful sensation.
-To invite my beloved master into such a filthy, base, foul-smelling, and disgusting space?
-Ahahahahaha!
-Are you insane? Have you lost your mind? If you were sane, you couldn’t possibly do such a thing!
Choi Kang-mok rarely felt a sense of crisis.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve felt this.’
The world seemed to tilt, vertigo washing over me.
The sensation of being gradually consumed from my toes upward by someone’s grasp.
It resembled what I’d experienced early in my reawakening—slime poison.
It had been a long time since I faced a crisis caused by another.
‘Mayo’s pocket dimension is trembling too.’
As a ‘Pocket Dimension Destroyer’ who had shattered countless pocket dimensions, I could sense it precisely.
‘It’s becoming unstable.’
The countless
of us
already cause my sense of self to waver frequently.
Exposed to such alien contamination like this, there’s a high chance of a rampage.
“You’re panicked, EX-Awakened One.”
The opponent’s pocket dimension was temporarily neutralized.
Now, it’s my turn.
[Entering the pocket dimension, ‘World Beneath the Tomb.’]
If theirs was an existence-annihilation type pocket dimension, mine is an infiltration-devouring type.
A decaying space that swallows life itself.
Raoul’s body melted into liquid once more.
Black ichor dripped steadily, soon coalescing into a semi-liquid monstrosity.
He recited the incantation.
“The air crumbles.”
His unique ability that resonated with the pocket dimension.
Like the breath of an ancient cemetery, the air began to rot of its own accord.
Color drained away, temperature plummeted, and a space materialized where fungal spores drifted instead of oxygen.
“A black swamp of sediment—blood, oil, and ichor—descends.”
Black dots bloomed in the void.
They were no mere stains.
Corruption magic circles that tinted space itself.
The dots spread, and their place transformed into viscous bog.
Ceiling and floor alike began to be corroded by something.
The walls—their organ-like, wet surfaces dripped with ichor.
I felt it too, unmistakably.
‘…I’m becoming soaked.’
This entire space was a single swamp.
My shield diminished bit by bit.
‘The sensation of being slowly consumed.’
From my toes to my knees. My chest. My heart.
And even into the realm of thought—my very cognition felt damp and waterlogged.
I felt my thoughts sinking into the swamp.
Yet I felt no urge to struggle.
A strange impulse arose to simply surrender, to let my body sink deeper into this world.
Raoul trembled with a peculiar sense of conquest.
“That’s right. You won’t want to move. You won’t be able to think of anything. Because this is my world.”
But I was wrong.
What bloomed within me now was not fear or helplessness, but curiosity—an insatiable hunger for understanding.
A mage’s inquisitiveness, far greater than mere impulse, surged forth uncontrollably.
My body sank as though drowning in a swamp, yet my thoughts soared in the opposite direction.
In an instant, my muddled consciousness regained its crystalline clarity.
My mind organized itself, and the structure became visible.
This wasn’t some cannibalistic abomination—it was a thesis waiting to be written.
‘Exquisite.’
My eyes narrowed to slits.
The entire Pocket Dimension was composed of tens of thousands of invisible gears.
A space that drained life itself, constructed with near-perfect infiltration architecture.
Truly impressive.
‘In terms of technical mastery, this is the finest Pocket Dimension I’ve ever encountered.’
Simply observing such a Pocket Dimension was education enough.
It was a shame that my shield was crumbling.
It was equally wasteful that my thoughts were being submerged.
With a clearer mind, I could absorb far more.
‘I’ll save Invincibility for later.’
Invincibility was my trump card.
‘Should I destroy the Pocket Dimension itself?’
There were two methods: obliterate the Pocket Dimension directly, or eliminate its caster.
‘Destroying the caster would be easiest, but dismantling this Pocket Dimension that way would be far too anticlimactic.’
Instead of attempting either method, I quickly composed and sent a system message.
The recipients were the Seoul Lord and the Vice Lords.
And my hideout companions: Choi Kang-chul, Kang Hye, and Christine.
I sent them all a simple warning.
[Do not enter the house under any circumstances. Don’t even come near it.]
Then I prepared to use my Tower entrance ability.
Raoul grinned wickedly.
“Yes. I already knew you possessed that special Tower entrance ability.”
He withdrew a nail dripping with black liquid and drove it into his own forearm.
Crack! Black blood sprayed forth.
“The coordinates are fixed. You have no choice but to return to my world.”
Raoul chuckled softly.
Everything proceeded according to plan.
“Go well, my pitiful subject. I shall await you in my world.”
One cannot live in the Tower forever.
The exit route for EX-Awakeners is fixed to the World Beneath the Tomb.
Whenever that time comes, I will return here.
To this world where I am sovereign.

* * *
[Entering Tower (Seoul) Floor 4 (Reconstruction).]
-The user’s mood appears… quite excellent.
-Something exciting has happened, it seems. Even I, Mayo, feel the thrill.
-You have some beautiful plan to obliterate that which lacks purity… do you not?
Choi Kang-mok nodded.
“As it happens, I’ve been practicing something.”
-A meteorite transformation of dimension-severing caliber, if I understand correctly.
-Yes.
We
have confirmed it as well.
-Without question… it was beautiful magic.
I had practiced striking inside a stage from outside it.
Now for advanced study.
Could I not strike outside the Tower from within it?
I had finally gained the opportunity to experiment with this trivial curiosity.
“Conveniently, it maintains a faint connection with that Pocket Dimension.”
Transcending physical constraints, crossing space and topology—could I obliterate the Pocket Dimension itself?
I was curious as well.
“An energy field would serve better than a high-ranking spirit.”
A high-ranking spirit cannot maintain scope control.
There is danger it could obliterate the Pocket Dimension’s framework and shatter reality itself.
An energy field, by contrast, exerts tremendous magical influence within a confined range.
-‘Magical influence,’ quite an elegant expression.
–
More direct and more weighty physical retribution—in other words, hitting it hard
—would be the more accurate term, I cautiously offer my magical perspective.
-However, I wholeheartedly agree that purifying that which lacks purity is the objective. An energy field is truly the perfect cleaning tool.
For this, I had endured the filthy Pocket Dimension’s submersion in silence.
Structure analysis complete. Connection points confirmed.
Energy field—meteorite transformation deployment.
‘My magical research does not end here.’
This experiment of striking outside the Tower from within,
is merely an advanced iteration of the attack experiment from outside to inside.
The challenges of mage Choi Kang-mok do not end so easily.
‘What matters is what comes next.’
Now began the true main act of the plan.

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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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