The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 194

—————
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 194
Choi Kang-mok’s growth showed no signs of stopping.
“Mere confinement is tedious.”
Kang Pal-do’s AI narration spoke.
[I wonder if it feels tedious from the perspective of the one being confined. That remains to be seen.]
In any case, Choi Kang-mok did not stop.
Beyond simple tedious confinement, he began absorbing the abilities of Black Mayo.
Black Mayo had demonstrated it.
The manipulation of spatial domains at will!
“I shall reduce the boundary.”
Just as the 70th Floor was doing.
Choi Kang-mok’s confinement magic began to compress the domain.
‘It works!’
Manipulating spatial domains was something I had practiced long ago.
Creating smaller energy barriers and applying them as defensive magic—the underlying structure was fundamentally similar.
As always, the knowledge I had accumulated over time intertwined complexly, achieving magical advancement.
His eyes grew serene.
“Which will shrink faster—the 70th Floor’s space, or that?”
The 70th Floor was visibly vast. The horizon stretched endlessly.
So expansive that it couldn’t be taken in at a glance.
The confinement magic? Now it was roughly the size of a basketball.
“I suspect that one will shrink faster, wouldn’t you say?”
There was no malice in his tone. Merely pure curiosity.
Kang Pal-do suddenly felt pity for the boss monster trapped within that confinement magic.
[So now, who is the boss monster?]
Suddenly, a rather incomprehensible notification echoed.
[The Spirit Entity abandons its possession.]
[Existence has been negated.]

* * *
The Spirit Entity possessed whatever suited its circumstances and purpose.
Then it wielded that power to its fullest extent.
Currently, it held dominion over the 70th Floor’s boss.
Possession. And guardianship of the 70th Floor. These two things were the Spirit Entity’s purpose.
Just as humans are born to eat, drink, sleep, and live their lives.
The Spirit Entity possessed and possessed again, protecting the 70th Floor.
That was the purpose of its existence.
‘Ah, another magnificent thing has appeared.’
The Spirit Entity sensed the ‘Confinement Magic’ enveloping its surroundings.
Its skin tingled with electricity.
‘This is what I have waited for my entire existence.’
If I could devour this Confinement Magic?
If this became me?
‘I would become the most perfect form imaginable.’
There could be no more perfect Confinement Magic than this.
Having consumed perfection, I would become even more perfect.
“Come now. Let us become one and—”
Thud!
A sound only the Spirit Entity could hear.
The Spirit Entity gazed upon its own body with the eye of consciousness.
In human terms, a hole had been pierced through its hand.
“Wh… at?”
Its hand had vanished.
A portion of its body had been erased from existence.
This host was resisting fiercely.
“Resistance is futile.”
I extended my other hand.
“Your defiance is meaningless. You will become me.”
Thud!
The other hand dissolved.
Two gaping voids opened in the Spirit Entity’s consciousness.
In human terms, my mental fortitude had been pierced.
The Spirit Entity’s entire form began to tremble.
The Spirit Entity’s reason for existence was to devour.
“I… cannot consume it?”
My purpose for being was being denied.
A despair I had never experienced before bloomed within me.
“Why must I… continue to exist?”
A contemplation of existence itself.
It engulfed the Spirit Entity.
“Why… have I… come to… this land?”
Once more.
Another consciousness reached out toward the binding spell with its hand.
The result was identical.
Thwack!
Another hole pierced through the consciousness.
“This can’t be happening.”
I denied it first.
No mage could maintain this ‘resistance spell’ eternally.
“Resistance consumes stamina.”
No!
I wasn’t resisting at all.
I was simply maintaining the ‘binding spell’.
“Even this fierce resistance must have an end. Time is on my side.”
Wrong!
Choi Kang-mok wasn’t growing tired.
When you’re doing something enjoyable and exhilarating, exhaustion comes slower.
Having created a new binding spell, Choi Kang-mok felt no fatigue whatsoever.
Moreover, I was currently facing a ‘boss monster’.
Thanks to the Mythic-grade staff Excalion, there was no mana consumption.
“It’s drawing closer… bit by bit.”
The Spirit Entity’s body trembled violently.
Its vigilance was diminishing.
The binding space was shrinking.
Since it had become a Spirit Entity transformed into ‘Spirit Entity-Bound’, it understood this principle better than anyone.
“You’re just like me.”
Did you learn from me?
For the Spirit Entity, this was catastrophic.
It had prepared what it thought was a finishing move, only to have its opponent copy it.
“….”
The Spirit Entity was left speechless.
Its mind was already tattered and worn.
Its will to resist had been broken.
In Choi Kang-mok’s inventory, words filled the ‘notepad’.
───────
Our plan
failed miserably.
It failed.
The Spirit Entity abandoned its own evolution as the gatekeeper of the 3rd Section.
───────
The moment the Writers’ plan crumbled to dust.
───────
[Supreme Scenario]
The Spirit Entity that devoured the anomalous mage entity’s ‘horrific binding spell’ would theoretically match a 4th Section boss monster. ▶
Failed
───────
───────
[High-Tier Scenario]
Even if the Spirit Entity failed to digest the anomalous mage entity’s ‘horrific binding spell,’ the Spirit Entity—which was confinement itself—would instead gain inspiration and evolve into at least a 3rd Section gatekeeper. ▶
Failed
───────
The supreme scenario.
The high-tier scenario. Both discarded.
The plan to plunge the Spirit Entity into crisis and rebirth it as a more formidable being had completely failed.
───────
[Cause of Failure]
The anomalous mage entity’s magic was far too powerful.
Dammit—where did something like that even come from?
───────
Their failure spawned a butterfly effect.
[The Spirit Entity abandons its spiritual form.]
[Its existence has been negated.]
A result even the Writers had not foreseen.
[!Special condition satisfied!]
[The Spirit Entity returns to the Void.]
A form of elimination entirely different from simple destruction.
It had induced its own annihilation.
───────
[Exceptional Situation Occurred]
When the Spirit Entity is pushed into ‘excessive crisis,’ it commits suicide.
Upon the Spirit Entity’s suicide, a ‘deletion phenomenon’ occurs.
Concern regarding significant upward adjustment of rewards for anomalous mage entity Choi Kang-mok.
───────
[‘Spirit Entity—Confinement’ has been deleted.]
Raymond also confirmed the notification.
“Deletion? I never thought I’d witness something that only appears in theoretical textbooks!”
The classroom made manifest.
As expected, I teach well.
“Some scholars even deny the [deletion] phenomenon, you know.”
But I confirmed it with my own eyes.
Deletion truly existed.
“How is deletion different from ordinary treatment?”
“Indeed. Deletion signifies the extinction of an entire species.”
The complete annihilation of a species.
Now Spirit Entities could not be found anywhere in the entire universe.
“The very existence of Spirit Entities has been erased. They now exist only in records, becoming nothing more than relics of the past.”
“Is that so?”
Choi Kang-mok laughed with a satisfied expression.
Though it was a concept I’d never heard before, seeing Raymond delighted made me happy as well.
It meant I’d accomplished something truly remarkable.
“I’m pleased if it has contributed to the Professor’s academic research.”
“Perhaps it could become an established method for defeating similar types of formidable entities. By making them deny their own reason for existence.”
Spirit Entities are individuals that manifest power by possessing living and non-living objects.
That is their reason for existence. I made them abandon it.
“It seems my disciple’s exquisite and astounding confinement magic skill must have intimidated them.”
No.
The damage was too severe.
“I’m stimulated.”
My confinement magic, that creature consumed it, yet my disciple’s confinement magic, it surrendered to?
Can the student surpass the master this quickly?
“Delightful. My teachings are indeed flawless… If you’re all thinking the same foolish thoughts, let’s hurry and find a way to escape. Fellow mages.”
Kang Pal-do’s words struck like a blade.
“This place isn’t cleared, you lunatics.”

* * *
I had undoubtedly etched into the annals of cosmic history a “flawless annihilation record” that would endure for ages.
However, the 70th Floor itself had not been cleared.
[Challenge: Defeat the ‘Spirit Entity-Confinement’ and succeed in your escape!]
The Spirit Entity’s defeat was complete.
But I still didn’t know how to escape.
Kang Pal-do’s face fell.
“Escape… how exactly do you do that?”
The ‘escape skill’ that so many people now possessed was completely useless.
After clearing the challenge, there was no notification asking, ‘Would you like to escape?’
And there was no physical exit either.
[The 70th Floor within this open-world dungeon where escape itself is a challenge. The Emperor and the Mage Master. And Lucky Mine—how will they overcome this predicament?]
Kang Pal-do turned off the AI narration.
“Insane bastard.”
The Emperor and the Mage Master were one thing.
Lucky Mine?
Treating a person like a mine—was he completely out of his mind?
‘I need to check on food and water first.’
It seemed I was the only “rational” human here, so I would have to devise a concrete survival plan and endure.
I had brought basic combat rations. Was there a space where I could find water?
Or could I create it with magic?
For now, there seemed to be no way.
Kang Pal-do thrust his belly toward Raymond.
“Want to mine my Lucky Ore?”
If I mined this, wouldn’t things work out somehow?
Choi Kang-mok accepted Kang Pal-do’s suggestion meaningfully.
“That’s a good idea.”
It would be better if I could mine directly, but I hadn’t yet developed that level of precision.
I wanted to try, but if I did carelessly, I might end up slicing open the belly of the goose that laid the golden egg.
“Professor, could you do some mining for us?”
“Of course.”
A pickaxe materialized in Raymond’s hand.
[KKKKKKKK So you’re really digging with a pickaxe?]
└Wait, is he really treating him like a mine?
Even Kang Pal-do himself seems to think of himself as a mine lol
└That’s illusion magic
└Illusion magic?
└Fantasy magic, you idiot
[A passing swordsman—why use illusion magic?]
└A passing mage here. Just passing through~
└With illusion magic, mana induction and circuit construction can be performed fantastically
└That’s just cool
In reality, ‘mining’ and ‘pickaxe’ have no correlation whatsoever.
Raymond’s mining is simply a method of thrusting his hand in and forcibly extracting luck.
Of course, there’s considerable magical subtlety embedded within it, but on the surface, that’s what it is.
Creating the pickaxe was more about a mage’s pride—not wanting to lose to his disciple.
In fact, Choi Kang-mok was greatly stimulated by it.
“Your illusion magic is always impressive, Professor.”
It’s inefficient.
That’s what makes it romantic.
Indeed, mining requires a pickaxe.
“Here you are.”
Raymond handed the gleaming luck to Choi Kang-mok.
An ore that shone with a more golden hue than before. At a glance, it looked far more valuable.
The Lucky Mine was evolving with each passing day.
“What are you planning to do?”
Raymond was curious.
What kind of ‘escape magic’ would this exceptional disciple create?

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