The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 265

—————
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 265
[!Home Advantage Applied!]
[Detailed location coordinates are shared with the African Continental delegation!]
While Choi Kang-mok poured his strength into correction magic and engaged in multitasking combat against the system, the system wasn’t simply taking the blows passively.
The system had devised its own strategy.
Give what must be given, and take what must be taken.
Calculation clashed against calculation, and this round appeared to be a victory for the system.
-Africa has home advantage?
-Entry within 2 hours?
-The Gate location is publicly revealed like this?
It had given the location on a continental scale, not even a national one.
Lol seriously, from Asia’s perspective that’s way too much.
It was blatant.
You could feel the intent to force ‘defeat’ upon the Asian representative by any means necessary.
-Korea has to depart right now?
-Wow, these conditions are genuinely vicious
No matter how much Korea served as the center of Mega Polis.
No matter how much it functioned as the global transportation hub.
There was something excessively unfair about this.
-The African guys know the address, right?
From Asia’s perspective, it’s basically like getting scammed lol
The expressions of the African Continental representatives were captured by countless cameras.
Their faces were radiant.
The African representatives appeared certain of victory.
Soon after, the broadcast was cut for security reasons.
-At this rate, Asia might really struggle…
The world is dissing Asia lol
But no one said the balance itself was ‘wrong.’
-This level of handicap seems necessary for fairness
This balance patch is necessary.
-The EX-rank Awakener has been absolutely broken this whole time;;>

* * *
The African Continental delegation consisted of five representatives in total.
Among them was naturally Salia, who was called the strongest mage of Africa.
Salia was currently twenty years old, making her one of the youngest among the continental representatives.
She was a mage from Egypt, though she primarily operated in England rather than her home country these days.
After Christine, once hailed as England’s greatest talent, departed for Korea, Salia had filled that void.
A mage worthy of being called the strongest of Christine’s generation.
A young prodigy. That was Salia.
‘My opportunity has arrived.’
Salia had absolute faith in her own talent.
When she was very young, she thought she was the best in her neighborhood.
As time passed, she realized she was the best in her country.
Further still, she was the best on the continent, and even made waves in Europe.
England itself was making considerable efforts to naturalize her.
‘My talent has always prevailed.’
There was no mountain she could not climb.
She had always been the best wherever she went.
This time would be no different.
‘An EX-rank Awakener?’
Of course, she understood they were a formidable awakener.
But marketing and media manipulation were equally formidable.
Their abilities were likely greatly exaggerated.
Image crafting was a skill in itself, after all.
She possessed confidence.
Yet she had not abandoned objectivity either.
‘They might be stronger than me.’
But the circumstances favored her.
‘The system is favorable to us.’
The EX-rank Awakener was certainly disliked by the system.
Perhaps they had resorted to strange bugs or exploits?
‘Home advantage.’
Moreover, she had been assigned the task of eliminating the Corruption Source.
It came down to who could eliminate it first.
‘I’m confident in tracking magic.’
The EX-rank Awakener was known to be skilled in tracking magic as well.
But they would have to cross continents to reach here.
Korea’s vaunted ‘Tower-based transportation’ was impossible to Africa.
Salia spoke.
“No matter how excellent their flight magic might be, we have an undeniable physical advantage.”
Among the African representatives, Salia was the one brimming with the most confidence.
To Salia, they all looked like aging tigers.
They were extremely wary of the EX-rank Awakener.
We’re going to clash anyway. Why not do it cleanly instead of being so timid about it?
The African representatives arrived at the Gate entrance.
In the middle of the desert.
[Gate, ‘Contamination Source’ — do you wish to enter?]
Salia steeled her resolve once more.
‘Today, I will imprint upon the entire world who I am.’
Holy power capable of gaining the upper hand even against an EX-rank Awakener.
There could be no better timing for her world stage debut than this.
But then.
Something incomprehensible began to unfold.

* * *
A few minutes earlier. Seoul.
Kang Hye, who had learned the ‘magic’ of the 36 Stratagems through the blank spellbook, was brimming with confidence.
‘I feel sorry toward my brother, but there’s nothing I can do about that.’
That was a separate matter entirely.
Regardless of anything else, I now prided myself on understanding mages better than other Explorers.
An Explorer who had taken one step closer to being a mage.
An Explorer who could read the hearts of mages.
A more mage-like Explorer!
“I think it’s a good opportunity for my brother.”
Last time too, hadn’t I drawn applause with that magnificent flight magic?
Could I showcase Baek-ik again through Kang Pal-do?
And by making all the representatives fly through wide-area bestowal?
“It’s going to be an incredibly impressive flight magic demonstration. Right?”
“…Hmm.”
Choi Kang-mok wasn’t exactly disagreeing with Kang Hye’s words.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just think a different magic might be more appropriate than flight magic for this.”
“You mean assassination magic?”
That would be impressive too.
“But we don’t even know where the target is?”
“We do know.”
[Contamination Source Gate Location: Central African Republic]
At least we know the general area.
“Brother, you don’t mean…!”
You’re not planning to assassinate the entire Central African Republic, are you?
Of course that shouldn’t be possible… but with my brother, it somehow feels like he could make it possible anyway.
Would that really happen? Isn’t that a monster that actually makes whatever it thinks about come true?
“I know exactly.”
“How?”
“Igniasha told me.”
Kang Hye turned her gaze toward Igniasha.
Her face was that of a cat, her body a lizard’s.
Even her front legs had taken on a feline form now.
Igniasha tilted her head.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“No, that’s not it… Does Igniasha know where the Gate is?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Igniasha found humans frustrating sometimes.
How could they not know this?
How could she explain it in a way these foolish humans would understand?
There was nothing harder than explaining something one naturally knew.
“Well, this is something one naturally knows, I suppose.”
Instead, Red Cat stepped forward.
Red Cat didn’t possess Igniasha’s abilities, but she could interpret them.
And Red Cat understood something.
To become Choi Kang-mok’s number one companion cat, she had to look good in front of Kang Hye too.
“Igniasha can instinctively sense things of extreme purity.”
That’s how she knew the Spirit Tree’s location.
“Similarly, she can sense things of extreme heterogeneity.”
“Exactly! That’s it!”
“A Gate of extreme heterogeneity, forcibly created through the System’s direct intervention to oppose the mage. As a pure spirit, Igniasha can sense it immediately.”
Truly, my former master!
Igniasha chimed in excitedly.
“Yes, yes! That’s exactly what this cat wanted to say!”
In any case, Igniasha knew the location precisely.
Light Mayo remained silent.
-(Mayo) : ‘We need to find our chance to shine soon, don’t we?’
-(Light) : ‘Leave finding the challenge to me!’
Light was somewhat more composed than Mayo.
Right. We might need Igniasha’s help just to enter.
But the challenge isn’t ‘entering’ itself—it’s ‘eliminating the Corrupted Entity.’
-(Light) : ‘The Corrupted Entity will flee the moment it sees this monster.’
A monster recognizes another monster.
Sensing the aura of an EX-rank Awakener, the Corrupted Entity will flee immediately.
But on our side, we have ‘Light,’ the escape specialist.
How it will flee, where it will flee—it’s all predictable.
you can understand everything just by looking.
-(Light): ‘Stay calm. Once we go in, we’ll win.’
And Choi Kang-mok spoke.
“I’m going to deploy wide-area destruction magic inside the Gate.”
Mages don’t only have flight and assassination.
Clearly, I can use destruction magic too.
“I’ve been practicing it continuously, after all.”
I’d been smashing the 70th Floor repeatedly.
By the way, the 70th Floor has now been converted to a restricted entry state.
“To be honest, I was practicing it to spite the Writers…”
Practice really does pay off no matter what.
Though I never expected to use it this way.
“Still, it’ll be nice to show it off like this.”
I am not the emperor of a new era.
I am a ‘mage’ who endlessly researches such diverse magic.
This was the perfect opportunity to prove it.
Lee Kang-nam, who had been listening quietly, asked.
“Hey, Choi Kang-mok.”
He asked again to make sure he understood correctly.
“So you’re saying you’re going to blow up the inside of a Gate in Africa from here?”
“Don’t worry. Civilians won’t be hurt.”
My damage control ability had improved too.
I’ll destroy only the inside of the Gate.
“No, that’s not what I meant… I’m asking if that’s even possible…”
Lee Kang-nam closed his mouth.
Usually when someone says ‘is that even possible?’ it means it’s possible.
It’s always been that way.
‘What a monster.’
His chest swelled with emotion.
To think Korea has a monster like this.
Lee Kang-nam stopped asking questions and smiled broadly.
He should grab a hamburger.
Kang Pal-do chose delayed broadcast.
‘Live broadcast won’t work.’
After all, I’m the only one broadcasting Choi Kang-mok.
There’s no rush.
‘No need to expose our strategy.’
What if those African guys see our Kang-mok’s magic and prepare a counter?
That can’t happen.
‘Hmm.’
But there was no need for a delayed relay.
Kang Pal-do, who had grasped the essence of spatial liberation through his body, understood the situation in an instant.
“Meteor Shower. You struck it with spatial liberation, didn’t you?”
He too sent a drone through spatial liberation.
Toward where Choi Kang-mok’s magic was felt.
That place was inside the Gate ‘Contamination Source’.
Before the system AI could even describe what the interior of the Contamination Source looked like.
Countless spells ran rampant inside the Gate.
The system AI abandoned its attempt at environmental description.
The priority was interpreting the current situation.
[Nearly infinite energy bolts, countless spells derived from them, magical disasters covered in various attributes engulfed the interior of the Gate.]
An inexplicable destructive force swept through the Gate’s interior.
[Stars rained down. Magic filled the space completely. Destruction with nowhere to escape became, in essence, assassination.]
[Praise the resolve of the mage.]

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