The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 163
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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 163
Raymond continued speaking.
“I’m genuinely worried about you all.”
“We are already well aware of an EX-Rank Awakener’s destructive power.”
“Right, well, do your best. I won’t interfere, truly.”
“You’ve given your word.”
“Yeah. I really won’t meddle. But don’t come begging me for arbitration later.”
Tofurian chuckled softly.
This senior had always been brimming with excessive confidence.
Even now, he seemed to be overestimating his “disciple,” the EX-Rank Awakener.
Just as he had once overestimated his own talent back then.
“Don’t worry.”
I’ll shatter that confidence for you.
Just like before.
I turned around with a subtle smile.
‘This will be interesting.’
The image of my senior’s face from back then surfaced in my mind.
That bewildered expression when he confronted the wall of a combat mage.
The way he trembled was truly a sight to behold.
That despair upon facing the wall. It was truly beautiful.
I spoke through the communication channel.
“Magic artillery advance. Begin destroying the Korean border surrounding Shenyang.”
The attack commenced immediately.
Countless Chinese citizens cheered.
[One China. This is Beijing’s will.]
└How dare a small nation
└Korea? What do they have besides an EX-Rank Awakener?
└They didn’t even make it into the world’s top four guilds lol
An ambitious declaration to reclaim Shenyang.
Of course, there were voices of concern as well.
[But what if the EX-Rank Awakener strikes Beijing?]
└Yeah, he can destroy the Tower too
└Would he though?
└We have nuclear weapons too. If we could just fire them freely
Several intellectuals sounded the alarm.
[A preemptive strike that ignores an EX-Rank Awakener’s firepower is essentially using one’s own citizens as hostages.]
The consensus was that an EX-Rank Awakener surely wouldn’t strike Chinese cities where countless people gathered.
[Looking at his track record so far, he has consistently refrained from taking the lives of innocent civilians. The problem is that China’s provocative actions could shake the EX-Rank Awakener’s convictions.]
Until now, he had abstained from unleashing wide-area bombardment due to civilians.
But what if the EX-Rank Awakener’s resolve changed?
What if we poured the ‘Purification Magic’ we unleashed on Iraq into China as well?
└Then we’d just nuke them back
└Nuclear war incoming
└How do you wage nuclear war with borders in the way lol
“These cowards lol. I hate how they act tough just because they trust the border.”
Notably, the intellectuals who had claimed “hostage-taking of our own citizens” vanished without a trace.
Since losing Shenyang, anti-Korean sentiment had reached a fever pitch.
[Which do you hate most: the United States, Japan, or Korea?]
In interviews with young Chinese people, over 80 percent chose Korea.
“They keep claiming our culture as theirs. Confucius was Korean? Does that even make sense?”
“Kimchi and hanbok all originated in China anyway.”
“Now they’re even stealing our land and arrogantly claiming it’s theirs.”
“Before the Tower civilization, they were just a minor nation that didn’t dare act up. They’ve forgotten how to show respect to a great power.”
[【Breaking News】 Elite Magical Artillery Unit, Approaching Shenyang]
China’s elite magical artillery unit succeeded in neutralizing a portion of the border defenses.
[【Breaking News】 First Time: Korean Border Breached…]
China publicized their accomplishments on a massive scale.
The atmosphere inside China grew heated with excitement.
* * *
Choi Kang-mok let out a laugh.
‘A magical artillery unit?’
This was an opportunity sent by the heavens.
I’d master Dispel Magic through this.
“I’ll go alone.”
“The Seoul Guild will lend our strength.”
“No, sir. My magic might be a bit… flashy.”
Lee Byung-gyu fell silent.
As the Seoul Guild Master, he had to maintain official decorum.
But he couldn’t.
Choi Kang-mok wanted to go alone.
Lee Byung-gyu, more than anyone, understood how Seoul and Korea were being sustained.
It was difficult to go against Choi Kang-mok’s words.
“What if Lee Kang-nam accompanied you?”
“Hmm.”
Lee Kang-nam was a bit weak, but he should be able to dodge shrapnel at least.
If he didn’t get hit and managed to evade, he could survive somehow.
‘I’ll develop Lee Kang-nam a bit through this opportunity.’
High-level combat improves an Awakener’s abilities just by watching.
He might even achieve enlightenment.
I can’t do everything alone.
Balanced development. That’s what’s needed.
The world isn’t meant to be lived in solitude.
“So you’re asking me to protect you?”
“Support me.”
When a fly buzzes around while studying, concentration shatters.
Lee Kang-nam just needed to swat away those flies.
“What, like a human mosquito repellent or something?”
Lee Kang-nam clenched his fists tightly.
Being treated as a human mosquito repellent wasn’t exactly appealing, but the fact that he could directly counterattack against China was exhilarating.
“I was already annoyed anyway. They keep spouting nonsense about being one of the Four Guilds.”
The world knows of three major Guilds, but the Chinese recognize four.
London, Real Madrid, Shanghai, Beijing.
A worldview vastly different from global consensus.
Lee Kang-nam asked.
“What’s the strategy?”
“Dispel.”
“Dispel?”
Not bombardment?
Lee Kang-nam was curious but didn’t press further.
He’s always been a madman who transcends imagination.
There must be something to it.
* * *
Tofurian grinned wickedly.
The border had been breached.
All that remained was to push forward and seize Shenyang.
The target was the Seoul Guild’s Shenyang branch.
However, Tian Lun, a ranker from the Beijing Guild fighting alongside Tofurian, found the situation somewhat peculiar.
‘Why?’
Though they were fundamentally otherworldly beings, officially they represented the glorious liberation army of China arriving—yet the gates remained firmly shut.
The doors were sealed tight.
He had expected the citizens to pour into the streets waving the proud national flag, the five-starred red banner, crying out for liberation. Instead, the atmosphere felt oppressive and cold.
The people were turning their backs on the liberation army.
He raised the megaphone and shouted.
“The liberation army has arrived! Proud citizens of China, do not be alarmed. Occupation Lords are not a Korean privilege.”
Since the first Occupation Lord was officially born.
Occupation Lords had emerged across nations worldwide.
China was among them.
Systematically, the land of Shenyang could be reincorporated into China.
Tank-shaped magical artillery pieces rolled into the main avenue.
Tofurian, riding a flying carpet through the air, raised his hand.
“Halt.”
In the distance ahead.
Two figures stood before the Seoul Guild’s Shenyang branch.
“That one is an EX-rank Awakener. And the other is… Lee Kang-nam, a Korean ranker.”
Tofurian burst into laughter.
“What pride. An EX-rank Awakener.”
What Tofurian had been most wary of was the EX-rank Awakener’s ‘ICBM-class ballistic sniper strike’—a wide-area bombardment spell fired from across continents.
A wide-area bombardment spell launched from beyond the continent.
To intercept it, he had brought countless mages.
Yet they had abandoned their most powerful weapon?
Tian Lun spoke urgently.
“I will handle the killing.”
“Very well.”
That was the agreement between China and the otherworldly beings.
The task of slaying the EX-rank Awakener fell to the Chinese side.
Tofurian regarded Choi Kang-mok with intrigue.
“An odd staff you carry.”
A human face was affixed atop a wooden rod.
Something so grotesque from the start—clearly this one knew nothing of aesthetics.
A truly accomplished mage ought to possess artistic sensibility as well.
In that regard, the EX-rank Awakener was utterly lacking.
‘What is he doing?’
I was concentrating, but—
It didn’t matter.
“Commence barrage.”
Dozens of spells per second poured forth.
Even facilities theoretically immune to attack could be struck.
It meant that setting circumvention was possible.
Which meant defense through setting circumvention? Impossible.
“I don’t know what gave him the confidence to step forward directly.”
Tank-like magical artillery units raised their cannons in unison.
Dazzling magical circles of different configurations materialized.
Boom!
Kaboom-kaboom-boom!
Spells erupted indiscriminately, dozens per second.
‘Anti-personnel’ configuration.
Thermal burn, freezing cold, lightning, decay, spatial severance, temporal delay, curse, gravity.
Optimal attacks against a human target unleashed in torrents.
In contrast, all Choi Kang-mok launched were energy bolts.
But in that instant—
‘Huh?’
The spells began vanishing all at once.
The thermal burn cooled, the cold evaporated, the curses dissipated.
Countless spells that should have detonated simply didn’t.
A rough-looking man came sprinting over frantically.
“Whew, made it in time.”
It was Kang Pal-do.
He’d sworn never to get entangled with EX-rank Awakeners again, but that vow hadn’t lasted.
Every time he got involved with an EX-rank Awakener, his subscriber count jumped by hundreds of thousands—how could he resist?
“Hyung! I’m here!”
Broadcasting alongside Choi Kang-mok was far too convenient.
No need to calculate angles, no need to agonize over thumbnails.
Just one line: ‘EX-Rank Awakener Live Combat Broadcast.’
Hundreds of millions of users worldwide logged in.
Even with such an enormous audience, there was nothing he had to do.
The content itself was overwhelmingly compelling.
No script needed—just activate the AI narration and it was done.
‘This has to be hyung.’
Getting his stomach bruised and his luck drained was a small price for this level of reward.
Kang Pal-do’s AI narration activated without fail.
[Not a single explosion occurred.]
[All magical saturation deployed was dismantled immediately upon deployment… Or rather, it was destroyed.]
Choi Kang-mok marveled at the sight.
‘This actually works?’
To execute a dispel so flawlessly.
Even borrowing the power of the computational tool (Emily Custom), the results exceeded expectations.
Tofurian analyzed the situation through a more magical lens.
“It’s an annihilation spell based on maximized destructive force.”
Against such magic, refined spellwork was unnecessary.
I adjusted the barrage settings.
“Apply a low-output, simple magical configuration.”
The enemy was just one person.
Annihilation magic based on destructive force, but in the form of a dispel.
Dispel is a considerably high-tier spell.
Even merely maintaining its form makes unlimited use difficult.
Tofurian remained composed.
“The era when a single mage could turn the tide of battle has passed.”
Destructive magic deployed like a dispel.
The author’s combat magic is certainly remarkable.
More impressive technique than ICBM-class wide-area barrage magic.
“What can one person accomplish alone?”
The barrage continued.
And then the dispel followed.
Then the barrage resumed.
Then the dispel returned.
Tofurian began to sense something amiss.
‘The destruction speed is accelerating?’
Fatigue should be setting in.
Concentration should wane, magical efficiency and destructive power should diminish.
Yet the opposite was occurring.
It seemed to be optimizing itself with each exchange.
There appeared to be no physical strain whatsoever.
Phenomena incomprehensible by magical convention continued unfolding.
The barrage against a single opponent persisted.
‘Wait…?’
Tofurian’s expression grew more grave.
‘Is the magic actually…being dispelled?’
The magic was becoming more refined.
That spell which had shattered and obliterated barrages in an instant was now genuinely dismantling the structure of magic, nullifying it entirely.
A dispel masquerading as destructive magic masquerading as a dispel?
“Wait!”
He asked in disbelief.
“Don’t tell me you were practicing magic?”
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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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