The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 246

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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 246
Boom!
A whip lashed out from nowhere.
Choi Kang-mok didn’t dodge—I activated Invincibility instead.
It was more advantageous to strike harder while taking the hit than to evade and counterattack.
The way of a combat mage.
‘I’d forgotten the true essence of combat.’
I was a combat mage now.
So I could fight like one without reservation.
Spatial liberation? Spatial magic? What did any of that matter?
Energy bolts were simply the most straightforward and effective.
Whether detonated inside the body or unleashed from without, they exploded all the same.
For combat alone, complex concepts like spatial liberation were unnecessary.
Simple. Direct.
‘Precision didn’t even matter.’
A grazing blow would suffice.
Even a graze was lethal.
‘This is it.’
This was the true garment of combat.
A faint exhilaration stirred within me.
‘Is this… an exchange?’
I hadn’t been particularly satisfied with the magical exchange among the Neroph Mages.
But this—this felt like a genuine exchange.
‘Then where is the real one?’
Leon, who had been laughing from within the beast’s maw, vanished.
“Indeed. Precisely so! This form has proven to be false!!”
Dozens of whips radiating from the beast’s body did not strike at Choi Kang-mok.
Thud!
They pierced its own flesh instead.
Black smoke billowed forth, and the colossal beast collapsed.
The creature’s corpse decomposed in a manner that defied magical explanation, leaving nothing behind.
‘I sense nothing at all.’
A voice echoed from empty air.
-Leon, leader of the assassination guild Trust. From this moment forward, I shall face you with genuine intent.
-I ask you: where am I?
Choi Kang-mok focused my consciousness.
The assassin’s turn had come.
From the moment I could no longer sense my opponent’s presence at all, I had already lost half the game.
A preemptive strike was impossible.
I would have to defend once, then counterattack…
‘Do I even need to read their location?’
This is the domain of assassination versus defense.
From an assassin’s perspective, it could be called the assassin’s turn, but from a defensive mage’s perspective, it could just as easily be interpreted as the mage’s turn.
‘I just need to defend.’
My turn.
Choi Kang-mok instantly began weaving ‘defensive spells’ throughout the empty space.
This was a boss fight.
Without straining my body, I deployed ‘defensive spells’ with energy bolt spheres woven across countless positions.
And like a true mage, I was certain.
‘I don’t even need to flush them out.’
Can’t sense their presence?
Then I’ll just defend this entire space.
Conviction bloomed within Choi Kang-mok’s mind.
‘It’s possible.’
From this moment on, this is the domain of a defensive mage.

* * *
Leon was delighted.
His Pocket Dimension, the ‘Hall of Eternal Prayer’, was a place of prayer.
Awaiting the day when ‘Trust’ would descend.
In other words, it was not a place for assassination.
‘The beast has vanished.’
This beast was both real and false.
It existed in the realm of ‘Trust’.
How the opponent who entered the Pocket Dimension perceived the beast.
How they defined this beast determined its form.
That definition required faith and conviction in oneself.
‘Weak faith cannot define the beast.’
Until now, no one had ever defined this beast by their own will.
But today, the mage defined it.
As ‘aggression’.
That faith became reality.
The beast destroyed itself and vanished.
‘Then, what comes next?’
The beast the assassin had summoned was gone, leaving only the assassin.
The assassin too was part of this Pocket Dimension.
The true form that had prayed and yearned for Trust.
“How shall you define me?”
Trust is the source from which miracles arise.
The mage’s command shall become truth.
‘A true mage.’
Leon was profoundly astonished.
‘Did not define me.’
Defensive magic unfurling across the space.
Leon, master of this Small World, felt it with absolute clarity.
A defensive spell vast enough to consume this entire realm was descending upon him.
This space would be utterly engulfed by the mage’s magic!
This was
the conviction of a true mage
incarnate!
“I have not granted magic passage here.”
He too believed.
That this Small World would nullify the opponent’s magic.
Ordinary mages’ mana froze, rendering their spells inert.
But this ‘mage’ was different.
Leon felt joy.
‘My conviction is… smaller than a seed.’
The Author’s faith towered like a mountain, transcending his own will by far.
I cannot stop the defensive magic.
Resplendent defensive magic engulfs my world.
“I have.”
Witnessed faith itself.
Then it is enough.
I have been answered.
‘I shall become a martyr.’
The coming age shall face ‘faith’.
I will be recorded as the prophet who awakened faith.
‘Seize all the rewards of this forced boss battle, my faith.’
A boss battle forced upon us.
The rewards far exceed those of ordinary encounters.
Today, that faith will have felt the magnitude of its own miracle.
It neutralized the beast and manifested magic where magic should not function.
It will come to understand what faith truly brings forth.
‘My role is complete….’
I deliberately threw myself into the defensive magic.
And I was struck again.
‘This is….’
The destructive force I feel is immense beyond measure.
Power capable of annihilating not only this Small World but Leon himself.
Yet I am not destroyed.
Why?
‘Because this is a defensive spell.’
The mage firmly believed it was ‘defense’.
Conviction that transcended destructive power was neutralizing that very power.
‘This is… faith!’
Leon shed tears.
There was no room for doubt anymore.
A mage is ‘faith’ itself.
How overjoyed my brothers would be if they learned this truth.
A voice rang out.
“Found you, assassin.”
Choi Kang-mok, the defensive mage who had successfully defended.
Indeed, after successfully defending for one turn, the assassin’s opening became visible.
“Energy Bolt—”
At that moment, the Pocket Dimension shattered as an uninvited guest forced their way in.
Choi Kang-mok’s concentration, which had been in an almost transcendent state, was broken.
The magic wavered and dissipated.
-Choi Kang-mok! I’ve come to rescue you!
It wasn’t actually Kang Pal-do, but a drone he was controlling.
Red Cat, who had been hiding in the shadows, flinched in surprise.
Come to think of it, when did that mine drone escape?

* * *
A few minutes earlier.
Kang Pal-do had been continuously filming and broadcasting Choi Kang-mok and Lin Zhiwei.
He should have realized it sooner.
“Wait, since when?”
When he came to his senses, the broadcast had cut out.
A broadcast accident.
“Aaah! What, what is this?”
When he came to his senses again, Kang Pal-do was cradling Lin Zhiwei in his arms.
Without thinking, Kang Pal-do hurled Lin Zhiwei to the ground.
Thud!
Lin Zhiwei, who had landed hard on her backside, came to her senses.
“You….”
“Why, why are you in my arms?!”
Suddenly, I recalled that this woman was a Chinese warlord.
I debated whether to add a title of respect, but decided against it.
So what if she’s a Chinese warlord—I’m a special-grade Lucky Mine!
Lin Zhiwei slowly rose to her feet.
“That’s precisely what I wish to ask you.”
She had been cradled in the arms of a strange man.
As one who dreamed of becoming an empress, it was deeply displeasing.
‘No, wait.’
Upon reflection, it wasn’t so displeasing after all.
He wasn’t a man but a mine, and not a mother either.
‘More importantly, the Emperor’s right hand.’
There was no harm in appearing unfavorably toward him. No, rather, I should appear favorably.
Lin Zhiwei offered a social smile.
“Did you perhaps rescue me?”
“Ah, yes. I did rescue you.”
I didn’t fully understand it, but either way, all’s well that ends well.
Lin Zhiwei offered her own analysis.
“It seems your survival-type fortune reacted to the dangerous situation.”
“I don’t know, but that’s right.”
Sometimes certain dangers are transmitted through broadcasts.
For example, when an EX-rank Awakened’s magic is broadcast on screen, it could inflict damage on numerous viewers.
Kang Pal-do’s ‘survival-type fortune’ operated similarly.
“It appears that the drone, sensing a grave danger, initiated its own retrieval, which affected me as well. One might call it a joint escape. In any case, I am grateful for your rescue, but…”
Lin Zhiwei’s expression hardened.
The survival-type mine executing such an emergency evacuation meant….
The Emperor was in danger, wasn’t he?
“Don’t worry.”
The drone that had been hastily recalled rose into the air of its own accord.
Then, in a flash!
It vanished along with a burst of light.
It had returned to the ‘scene’ where Choi Kang-mok was located.
Kang Pal-do hadn’t intended it, but it simply happened that way.
“Now that I’m here, you’re safe.”
Kang Pal-do came, so it’s safe → X
It’s safe because Kang Pal-do came → O
The causality was reversed, but the conclusion was ultimately correct.
Instinctive confidence surged through me!
He shouted through the microphone.
-Choi Kang-mok! I’ve come to save you!
At that same moment, another figure burst through a rift and revealed themselves.
It was Tiger, dressed in a neat suit and wearing sunglasses.
More precisely, a human in the form of a tiger.

* * *
The advantage of an open worldbuilding is that diverse people participate in it.
They boast an expansive world through boundless creativity.
Yet the disadvantage of an open worldbuilding is that diverse people participate in it.
Sometimes unified opinions fail to materialize, and settings or viewpoints clash.
The most recent hot topic—magical anomalous entities, colloquially called ‘mages’—was a prime example.
───────
Cowardly bastards, we’ll be cowardly too. Hey everyone, let’s summon anomalous entities ourselves.
───────
Several Heavy-tier Writers favorable to mages had appeared.
They displayed their presence in ‘blue text’ while aiding the mage.
Today was one such occasion.
───────
Tiger, you’re the one.
───────
Writers were not omniscient.
But they didn’t need to be omniscient.
Tiger was righteous.
An entity obsessed with protecting others.
He happened to serve as the guild master of the ‘Escort Guild’.
The NPC of that guild that had failed to protect Choi Kang-mok this time.
───────
We just need to give him information. ‘The mage you failed to protect might die at the hands of an assassin.’ Then Tiger will move.
───────
The moment Baek-ik fractured the Small World.
The moment Kang Pal-do’s fortune-laden drone collided with the Small World.
In that instant, a fissure opened.
Tiger, who had been waiting in that gap, entered.
A tiger-kin.
Though his form was largely humanoid, he bore far closer resemblance to a tiger as he unleashed a roar.
“I have come to extract my client.”
He positioned himself before Choi Kang-mok.
As a result: a magical anomaly.
The mage who had entered Phase 2.5 found their attack magic had failed.

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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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