The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 170

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 170
It was a familiar voice.
Jo Ju-won, the necromancer who had been one of the shadows of the Busan Guild.
His voice—the one currently registered as the boss of the hidden stage on Tower Floor 8.
-Ah, the voice of the inner sanctum mine.
-That very mine, from which we once extracted the inner sanctum of the human-faced tree lord, has revealed itself once more.
Mayo continued, his voice tinged with excitement.
-The Author’s Note is glowing in the inventory.
-From a magical perspective, detailed observation will be necessary.
Choi Kang-mok retrieved the Author’s Note.
At the same moment, a hologram materialized before my eyes.
It was a memo window where text was being written in real time.
───────
The lingering resentments of past adversaries resonate, forming a sense of dread that interferes with the awakened one’s psyche….
───────
In that instant, the strange whisper again.
“I’ll be waiting at your home.”
[Challenge: Eliminate Kim Yu-jun and Jo Ju-won in the space infused with lingering resentment]
[Kim Yu-jun 0/1]
[Jo Ju-won 0/1]
Choi Kang-mok looked up at the One-room Apartment Building.
Among the darkened windows, there was a single lit window. It was on the 2nd floor.
‘Where I used to live.’
Where the assassin Kim Yu-jun died.
“So this boss is a collaboration between Kim Yu-jun and Jo Ju-won.”
Mid-boss. The assassin Kim Yu-jun.
Final boss. The necromancer Jo Ju-won.
This floor was structured that way.
There was content from the open-source worldview about forming dread to interfere with the mind, but it wasn’t particularly frightening.
Was there really anyone who would fear something like this?
“So I need to go up to the 2nd floor.”
I paused to consider.
What if I just demolished the entire One-room Apartment Building?
‘No.’
It was possible.
But that approach no longer guaranteed an EX clear.
‘I’ve entered the open-source worldview.’
I obtained the qualification of an author and can check the note, but I can’t read everything.
These ‘authors’ exponentially raise the difficulty of the existing Tower.
Making it more complex, more challenging.
‘Mere destruction alone won’t yield a proper clear.’
Even if I were the author, I’d do the same.
Everyone would.
‘Let’s proceed by the book.’
A realm of uncharted territory that no one has ever reached.
Now was the time to adhere to fundamentals and orthodoxy.
‘When you stay true to the fundamentals, clear results inevitably follow.’
Just look at how I repelled that otherworldly invasion.
I could have simply destroyed everything, but I deliberately reinforced the magical foundations through Dispel.
And thanks to that, didn’t I achieve remarkable magical growth?
Everything works that way. Orthodoxy is the best shortcut of all.
‘First, let’s enter the building.’
Creeeeak— I pushed open the Iron Gate and stepped inside.
Passing through the dilapidated entrance, I entered the 1st Floor.
A narrow corridor and staircase came into view.
Slam!
The Iron Gate shut on its own.
Jo Ju-won’s voice echoed.
“Welcome to my domain.”
“My room is on the 2nd floor….”
In an instant, the surroundings transformed.
The staircase vanished and the space darkened.
A suffocating darkness so thick that I could barely see an inch ahead.
Whirrrrr—!
The sound of saw blades pierced the air.
Circular saw blades erupted from the walls in all directions.
I could barely make out their shapes.
“Miniature circular saw blades?”
The same appearance as the massive saw blades on the 3rd Floor.
Only drastically smaller in size.
Dozens, hundreds of saw blades spun and hurtled toward me.
A memo window automatically unfolded.
[These possess a strong affinity against shields created by Pocket Dimensions….]
After Floor 61, the difficulty had skyrocketed.
Even Mayo’s Shield(10) was devoured in an instant.
[Shield(10) : 88]
[Shield(10) : 81]
Mayo intercepted and shot down some of the circular saw blades, but there were limits to that.
The saw blades flew at bizarre angles, evading the interception and closing in on me.
[Shield(10) : 74]
[Shield(10): 69]
“So, you managed to come this far?”
I exhaled a shallow sigh.
This Tower had assessed my abilities and was implementing a difficulty level suited to match them.
It was becoming a Tower customized for me.
That’s what made it so intriguing.
“It’s certainly not science.”
If it wasn’t science, what else could it be?
That had to be
a circular saw blade manifested through magic.
‘If I hadn’t grown as a legitimate mage, I would have collapsed here.’
The space was cramped.
It was difficult to use offensive magic recklessly.
In fact, what was more dangerous than those circular saw blades were my own magical fragments.
I had certainly grown more adept at handling magical fragments freely, but I couldn’t spray them indiscriminately in such a confined space.
However, I was no mere combat mage.
I was now a proper, legitimate Dispel mage.
“Energy Bolt, Dispel.”
This was an expanded concept of Meteor Form—Energy Bolt.
By layering Energy Bolt onto Meteor Form, I achieved long-range interception.
This was the same principle.
By layering Dispel onto Energy Bolt, I implemented magical dissolution.
“Ah. So that’s why it’s Kim Yu-jun’s dissolution chamber?”
Countless circular saw blades that came into contact with the magical pressure of the Energy Bolt pixelated and vanished.
Not even fragments remained—they simply ceased to exist.
It was dissolution or cancellation, not destruction.
-If it’s not science, then it must be magic.
Mayo viewed the world in such a dichotomous manner.
Neither of us found anything strange about it.
-Magic can be dispelled.
“The problem is, I have no idea how to get to the 2nd Floor.”
There were no stairs.
Then, a small entrance door beside the corridor creaked open.
Someone walked out.
“Oh? Hello there.”
“….”
I couldn’t respond for a moment.
The figure that emerged from the doorway was already in a state of decay.
The eye sockets were darkened and sunken, and a putrid stench emanated from it.
‘A monster?’
Based on his general appearance and clothing, he bore a striking resemblance to the man who lived on the 1st Floor.
The corpse spoke again.
“Have you managed to resolve the non-awakened issue?”
“Ah.”
Choi Kang-mok shrugged his shoulders.
“Awakening Orbs have been dropping quite generously lately.”
“Right, right. Awakening Orbs existed, but I heard they were hard to find due to limited supply… It seems you managed to obtain them somehow.”
The corpse drew closer.
Choi Kang-mok examined the corpse carefully.
‘What could it be?’
First the circular saw blade, now a corpse monster.
Jo Ju-won’s voice was no longer audible.
I hesitated to dispose of it carelessly, wondering if it held a clue to ascending to the 2nd Floor.
“I obtained them directly, of course. By entering a Story Gate.”
“Ah, I see. You must have worked hard for that.”
“By the way, I’d like to head back to our place, but perhaps I’ve had too much to drink—I can’t seem to find the way. Which room number was I living in?”
“Well, you only ever came down from above. We never even exchanged names, haha!”
The corpse laughed awkwardly.
“How do I go back up?”
“Pardon? Well, by the stairs, of course….”
At that very moment, the stairs became visible to Choi Kang-mok’s eyes.
‘What?’
How anticlimactic.
The stairs reappeared after just a few words of conversation.
Something smelled distinctly off.
“Haha! Just joking. Well then, I’ll head home now. See you next time.”
“Yes, do that.”
The corpse closed the door and went back inside.
-You’re not going to use magical means to deal with that monster?
“It felt too much like it was blatantly urging me to kill it.”
Choi Kang-mok had already experienced Floor 60.
There, I had fallen victim to every conceivable form of deception.
The Tower never simply handed anything to Choi Kang-mok on a silver platter.
“If I kill that thing, what if it also blocks my exit from the Tower?”
Only then did the Story window activate.
[Story in Progress.]
───────
※Warning※
It has been proven multiple times that the corrupted ■■ on the 1st Floor must not be killed.
If ■■ is slain, the stairs cannot be found even after clearing the challenge.
Upon discovering this fact, the challengers fell into despair after their remote communication.
───────
A faint trace of ink rose in Choi Kang-mok’s pen.
“That’s right.”
It would be nice if the system showed me these things in advance.
But the system wouldn’t be that kind.
‘What is deception, what is real, and to discern that….’
Lin Zhiwei said she’d acquire a precious grimoire—I hope it’s a discernment spell.
-Truly, the intuition of a mage.
-Shall we head up to the 2nd Floor?
I ascended via the staircase.
“Unawakened. Unawakened. Unawakened.”
Someone’s forehead suddenly protruded from the wall.
Then, eyes, mouths, ears.
Dozens of faces swelled up irregularly.
Like corpses wrapped in plastic forcibly crammed into a space, grotesquely distorted faces began piercing through the walls.
“Unawakened. Unawakened. Unawakened.”
The mouths filling the corridor shrieked indiscriminately.
The voices overlapped.
-It appears to be a mental-attribute spell that inflicts severe psychological trauma and critically damages awakening abilities.
Choi Kang-mok’s expression tightened slightly.
It was grotesque, but it didn’t deal any particular damage.
Just… rather unsightly, I suppose?
‘Why is that?’
Rather than fear, curiosity bloomed within me.
Why did that mental-attribute
spell
have no effect on me whatsoever?
‘Is it because I’m a mage?’
High-tier mages are rarely affected by lower-tier magic.
Or could it be that I’ve unconsciously mastered mental-attribute defensive magic?
Could there be magic within me?
‘I should investigate this.’
I passed through the grotesque corridor—nothing more, nothing less—and entered the 2nd Floor.
[Room 202]
‘It feels new after so long.’
It seems I’ve grown accustomed to the An House.
I lived here far longer, yet it feels strangely unfamiliar now.
Suddenly, the surroundings turned pitch black.
Just like before.
‘Kim Yu-jun’s Dismantling Chamber’ had finally begun in earnest.
Somewhere in this place, the lingering resentment of the assassin Kim Yu-jun lay hidden.
“Dispel.”
A Pocket Dimension I’d already encountered before.
Understanding its structure was simple.
If this Pocket Dimension was an advanced form, my Dispel ability had risen several tiers as well.
The energy sphere coalesced in my palm stretched outward, shattering Kim Yu-jun’s Dismantling Chamber to pieces.
-Is this déjà vu?
-I recall you destroying it like this before.
-Back then it was simple destructive magic based on annihilation, but now it’s a Dispel refined with meticulous structural deconstruction.
[Kim Yu-jun has been eliminated]
[Kim Yu-jun 1/1]
‘Huh?’
A portion of the challenge had been completed.
‘I wasn’t trying to kill him?’
Then.
A voice echoed.
“And you still call that magic Dispel?”
Grotesque faces burst forth from the walls once more.
Countless mouths spoke in unison.
“Your magic is destruction. Your magic is destruction. Your magic is destruction.”
“Destroyer, destroyer, destroyer, destroyer.”
And the front door transformed into a gaping maw.
“You’re not a mage.”
The face of my favored ‘Science Staff’ turned to look at me.
Our eyes met.
The Science Staff, which had been wearing Raoul’s form until now, had changed shape.
The staff spoke.
“You’re just a destroyer.”
In the face of the necromancer Jo Ju-won.
For the first time, a crack appeared in my composed expression.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————