The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 144

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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 144
Daily life
was becoming slightly unstable.
Why isn’t the Special Stage opening?
At this rate,
shouldn’t it
be opening regularly?
-Is calling the opening of a Special Stage
daily life
some kind of romantic notion?
Special Stages rarely open in the first place.
Their opening is the exception, not the rule.
-I see. So this is
our
of
daily life.
I see.
-The concept of daily life has been learned.
Bzzt— bzzzzt—
Mayo’s perception flickered.
-Special Stage opens = daily life
-Special Stage doesn’t open = abnormal
Choi Kang-mok tilted his head.
‘Will there be no more Special Stages after this?’
Or do Special Stages only appear after clearing through Skip?
I’ll need to conduct experiments to find out later.
For Choi Kang-mok, a relatively peaceful daily routine continued.
Five consecutive EX-Rank Tower clears.
First EX-Rank clear of the 50th Stage in the Korean Labyrinth.
Meanwhile, the world faced a monumental shift.
[The Tower Integration Vote has concluded.]
[National Towers are being designated.]
The city towers of numerous nations were consolidated into single National Towers.
And,
[Breaking News: Eastern African nation, Comoro Tower collapse, Monster Land transformation in progress…]
[Breaking News: Island Tower collapse…]
The result of city lords unwilling to relinquish their ambitions.
Far more nations than expected had failed the Tower integration.
[Monster Land transformation progressing across the globe…]
Those lands had all transformed into desolate wastelands where no human could survive.
What was peculiar was that Western Europe, the vanguard of Tower Civilization, had an unusually high failure rate in Tower integration.
[Breaking News: France’s Tower Collapsed, Transforming into Monster Land…]
[Breaking News: Portugal’s Tower Collapsed, Transforming into Monster Land…]
[Breaking News: Netherlands’ Tower Collapsed…]
Even Germany, where Bayern Munich Guild—one of the World’s Three Major Guilds—was located, barely managed to prevent the catastrophe.
Tower integration revealed an unexpected pattern: the more developed the nation, the higher the failure rate.
By this point, new voices began emerging across Western Europe.
“Isn’t Italy actually better off…?”
Italy had been the laughingstock of Europe.
An EX-Rank Awakener and fools who submitted to Korea.
Yet now, centered around Naples Tower, they were actually succeeding in reconstruction.
The improvement and revival of Naples Tower’s quality.
All the lords acknowledged the effectiveness of Giga Polis because of this.
“We mocked them from the outside…”
“But the people of Naples are thrilled.”
Mages. Miners. Low-level Awakeners.
Countless people were flocking to Naples.
Public sentiment and opinion were favorable.
Pride might be wounded, but pride doesn’t put food on the table.
Naples Tower puts food on the table. It offers dreams and hope too.
The so-called Korean Dream.
Spain was no different.
Spain, once called Europe’s traitor for kneeling to an EX-Rank Awakener.
Now, united around Barcelona, they were even recovering their economic growth rate.
[The results are too shocking;;;]
└Portugal’s one thing, but France actually collapsed
└It doesn’t feel real
└Europe had the most collapses
The City Guilds in each region were so formidable that it became their poison.
Cities with numerous rankers ultimately failed to unite.
[Isn’t Spain’s GDP actually rising?]
└Italy: Me too
England: Haha lol you guys are colonies lol we’re strategic partners hehehehe
England, a strategic partner with the EX-Rank Awakener.
And Italy and Spain, technically lower in rank but still maintaining a surface-level cooperative relationship.
Centered around these three, favorable public opinion toward the EX-Rank Awakener began slowly blossoming.
[Pride doesn’t even put food on the table, and now it’s bringing destruction too]
└Sell your pride and live. Practicality is everything.
But the disasters caused by “Monster Land transformation” were far from over.
[Breaking News: Massive Monster Legion Crossing Borders…]
[Breaking News: Africa and Europe in Panic….]
Africa had always been fragmented by countless borders.
Now, a merciless ‘Monster Wave’ had begun its assault on the continent.
As one nation collapsed, the devastation rippled to the next, then the next—spreading like a tidal wave.
[Isn’t it normal for monsters not to cross borders?]
└Damn it, who cares about normal at a time like this?
└Are you some kind of unawakened fool?
A global emergency.
The seas offered no sanctuary either.
[Breaking News: England Organizing a Suicide Squad….]
[Ireland to England—shortest distance, merely 20 kilometers….]
[Breaking News: Mass Appearance of Carnivorous Merfolk Confirmed]
These were different from the carnivorous merfolk visible on the 45th Floor.
Black ichor dripped relentlessly from every inch of their bodies.
[Breaking News: Carnivorous Merfolk Swimming at Nearly 100 km/h in the Seas….]
[Breaking News: Carnivorous Merfolk Landing on English Coastlines]
They had crawled onto land.
Their forms twisted serpentine, their viscous bodies coalescing into a semi-solid, gelatinous state.
[Breaking News: Carnivorous Merfolk Beginning Inland Invasion….]
Now neither sea nor land remained safe for humanity.

* * *
A Monster Land of global proportions.
This was a catastrophe of an entirely different magnitude from the occasional Monster Land incidents previously observed.
[Breaking News: Humans Transforming into Monsters Within Monster Land….]
[Breaking News: Monster Land—A Forbidden Zone Denied to Mankind.]
Originally, Monster Land had been uninhabitable because there were simply too many monsters.
But this time was different.
The very realm itself rejected ‘humanity.’
[People are turning into monsters?]└Damn, footage is up
└They turned into black liquid first, then into monsters
└Humans becoming monsters?
All citizens who failed to evacuate in time transformed into monsters.
In the face of this horrific catastrophe, casualties were estimated in the hundreds of millions.
As the entire world descended into chaos,
Emily continued her research with unwavering resolve.
“Stabilization fragments refined from an indestructible stone.”
She was certain this was the key to quelling the current turmoil.
‘I’ve stabilized Kowalski’s boundary. And Mayo’s boundary as well.’
It possessed remarkable efficacy in pacifying boundaries.
And borders, in the end, are merely boundary lines.
‘If I create something based on this, I can stabilize the borders!’
Only a few tests remain.
Border sealing. Entirely possible.
‘I can save a nation—we can save a nation!’
If I accomplish this, perhaps I can become a more fitting companion to an EX-Rank Awakener.
I can emerge as a more confident researcher before Choi Kang-mok.
In some respects, I might even surpass Choi Kang-mok.
‘Let me complete this quickly!’
Massive hordes of monsters pouring across borders were inflicting catastrophic damage upon nations worldwide.
Yet even this paled in comparison to the monsters of Monster Land’s heartland.
To be precise, these were monsters expelled and cast out from Monster Land itself, driven toward the borders.
Dregs, one might say. Yet even these dregs threatened humanity’s very survival.
As the world teetered on the brink of upheaval.
Al Hirab, Crown Prince and sovereign of Saudi Arabia, boarded his private aircraft and journeyed directly to Korea.
[A private plane? Really? Why not simply traverse the EX Layer instead?]
Why choose such an inconvenient method?
The reason soon became apparent.
[Al Hirab: “To express respect toward an EX-Rank Awakener.”]
With the advancement of Tower Civilization, aviation technology had flourished as well.
Far swifter than before, Al Hirab’s private aircraft touched down at Incheon International Airport.
[Al Hirab: “This path is slow and inconvenient. Yet respect is precisely that. The moment one begins calculating speed and convenience, courtesy vanishes.”]
Al Hirab publicly expressed his reverence for the EX-Rank Awakener before meeting with Choi Kang-mok.
He bowed respectfully.
“I am Al Hirab.”
“I am Choi Kang-mok.”
After exchanging brief greetings, Al Hirab spoke.
“I understand the EX-Rank Awakener is researching solutions for the world alongside the craftsman of London.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“We do not believe your power is merely limited to stabilization.”
Unwavering trust gleamed in Al Hirab’s eyes.
“Iraq has fallen.”
More precisely, it has become Monster Land.
Monster legions advance southward from Iraq, which shares our northern border.
A full-scale collision with Saudi Arabia is inevitable.
“Our Saudi warriors have infiltrated Monster Land and obtained invaluable intelligence.”
“…Monster Land?”
Choi Kang-mok’s expression hardened.
Entering Monster Land meant…
“They are specially trained soldiers who have voluntarily devoted themselves to their homeland.”
After that final transmission, contact with most of them ceased.
The occasional responses that came through contained only piercing shrieks—inhuman wails.
They had all transformed into monsters.
“Saudi Arabia must not let their sacrifice go to waste.”
It was a noble sacrifice.
That sacrifice had to mean something.
Al Hirab continued with a solemn expression.
“That is why I have come to you, my friend.”
“….”
“Within Monster Land exist special origin points that spawn monsters.”
Monsters don’t generate indiscriminately.
It was small but precious information.
“Much like the respawn points within the Tower.”
Choi Kang-mok nodded in acknowledgment.
I had cleared the 45th Floor that way, and recently conquered the Labyrinth the same manner.
Mayo offered his thoughts.
-Perhaps this was advance learning all along?
Advance learning.
Learning content you would encounter later, studied beforehand.
The Labyrinth had certainly mentioned ‘advance learning.’
“By any chance, did the monster spawn origin points within Monster Land appear visually like dots?”
“How did you… know….”
“In principle, they should be unattackable.”
“…Yes.”
Al Hirab couldn’t hide his astonishment.
An EX-Rank Awakener already knows everything.
“You truly did know.”
“Heavy weapons don’t work on them either.”
We even unleashed missiles at the origin points, but it was futile.
“I say again—we believe the power of an EX-Rank Awakener extends far beyond mere stabilization.”
Through noble sacrifice, we identified the locations of the origin points.
Al Hirab bit his lip.
He had to resolve this crisis.
For the warriors who had become monsters, if nothing else.
“We—and the world—know of an Awakener who possesses the power to destroy what cannot, in principle, be attacked.”
Al Hirab’s eyes never left Choi Kang-mok.
Unwavering conviction. And beyond it, profound respect.
“That Awakener is the supreme mage who can snipe from 1,000 kilometers away.”
With those words, Al Hirab knelt and performed the traditional Islamic prostration.
It was a deep and reverent bow, his lips touching the ground.
Choi Kang-mok also hurriedly prostrated himself.
“No, what… to this extent…”
“To an old friend whom I have long revered, I earnestly beseech you. Please, I implore you to take pity on Saudi Arabia.”
“…”
“By your mercy, obliterate Monster Land with bombardment.
The mage’s purification shall incinerate the accursed land to ash.”
”
For a moment, his tone seemed strangely altered, but… in any case, Al Hirab was sincere.
And the words “the mage’s purification” stirred something within Choi Kang-mok’s heart.
Al Hirab’s plea was no longer directed at an “EX-Rank Awakener.”
He was beseeching a mage capable of purifying desolate lands—appealing to the “mage’s mercy.”
“We have already secured the coordinates. Our soldiers are willing to make the sacrifice and are transmitting the precise locations.”
“Precision is unnecessary.”
“…Pardon?”
Choi Kang-mok does not favor meaningless sacrifice.
“A general sense of the location will suffice.”
“However, your magic is based on precision strikes…”
“Today, we’ll conduct a bombardment instead.”
A mage
cannot manage even that.

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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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