The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 274

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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 274
Choi Kang-mok was the master of this Tower’s 100th Floor, and a challenger on Korea Tower’s Floor 90.
Challenges continued to pile before Choi Kang-mok.
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1) Define the worldview of this floor (Clear, Rank: EX)
2) Prevent the Tower’s collapse in this world! (Read-only) (Clear, Rank: EX++)
3) The 100th Floor challenger
that crazy bastard
Eliminate the ‘magical creature’!
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And this world’s Tower was exceptionally favorable to Choi Kang-mok.
[!100th Floor Boss Privilege!]
[The boss is granted 3 lives.]
In an instant.
I felt something pierce through my chest.
[You have died.]
It was the first time.
I experienced the sensation of death.
I hastily checked my mock battle record window.
Fortunately, it hadn’t registered as a loss.
[You will revive in 10 seconds.]
Choi Kang-mok clicked his tongue.
And I reflected.
‘If that had been real combat, I would truly be dead.’
I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
My opponent was a ‘madman’ acknowledged by the Tower itself.
The Tower hadn’t gone through the trouble of granting the boss three lives for nothing.
I had ten seconds of respite.
I hadn’t even properly configured the Boss Room yet.
‘A space I’m familiar with would be ideal.’
I set the map to the Stage Map commonly used in mock battles.
Five seconds remaining.
A voice echoed.
“Did you let me hit you on purpose?”
In the center of the Stage Map.
A man stood before me.
He wore a white mask.
“This is entertaining.”
Choi Kang-mok didn’t respond.
A sacred mage exchange match situation.
My opponent is an assassination mage even more formidable than Leon.
‘I need to time my invincibility perfectly.’
Choi Kang-mok didn’t respond and began manifesting physical force across multiple points.
Through the effect of the 2x multiplier talisman, two spells are generated from a single casting.
My opponent also read my spells.
“Energy Bolt… layered?”
[3]
[2]
[1]
“Is this some kind of defensive magic? A physical force specialization type, I see.”
Choi Kang-mok was revived.
Just like when I first entered the Tower, I felt a slight floating sensation and dizziness.
And….
[Congratulations!]
[‘Magic Creature’ has been defeated.]
[Damn it, I finally killed that bastard!]
The Challenger, unable to resist curiosity, reached out and touched the ‘defensive magic’.
The Tower continued to relay information.
[Do not let your guard down.]
[The Magic Creature is estimated to have 9 lives.]
Choi Kang-mok spoke.
“You knew it was dangerous, yet you touched it anyway.”
Amusing.
“A curious type, then.”
Unable to resist the curiosity of a mage, they ultimately reached out.
And lost one life in the process.
It was a realm I could fully understand as a mage.
Seeing new magic naturally makes one’s eyes light up.
Seconds later, the Magic Creature was revived.
Simultaneously, another ambush in the same manner followed.
But this time was different.
‘Invincibility.’
I didn’t take the hit defenseless.
I defended using invincibility.
‘There’s a slight sting to it, though.’
It’s not fatal.
Now that I’ve felt it firsthand, I understand clearly.
-(Mayo) : The destructive power is far below ours. However, it is dangerous.
The destructive power falls short of mine.
Yet a gun is sufficient to kill one person—there’s no need for a cannon.
Perhaps that’s more efficient.
-(Light) : That bastard’s running away!
To be precise, it wasn’t an escape.
It was closer to concealment using darkness-attribute magic.
‘Darkness, then.’
It had the ultimate disadvantage against light.
Choi Kang-mok unfurled Baek-ik and became the archer of light himself.
Light poured from Choi Kang-mok’s body, scattering in all directions.
‘I need to sense their presence.’
But I couldn’t.
Darkness and light were ultimate opposites.
Even the slightest difference in skill became glaringly apparent.
This was exactly that situation.
‘I can’t sense them.’
It meant my light magic proficiency fell short of their darkness magic.
‘They’re watching me.’
They were waiting for the perfect moment to ambush.
If not for the hundreds of defensive spells spread across the area—still being deployed—I would have been caught off guard long ago.
Choi Kang-mok gained further understanding of his opponent.
‘A rational strategist type.’
They didn’t charge recklessly.
A battle mage who deployed power precisely where needed, achieving maximum efficiency in results.
Of course, Light disagreed with this assessment.
-(Light) : Why would they touch the defensive magic if they’re curious…?
How could someone so insane—touching things despite knowing curiosity will kill them—be called a rational strategist?
From Light’s perspective, it was utterly incomprehensible.
A voice echoed from somewhere.
“How do you expect to win in combat with only defense?”
In that instant.
I felt a presence.
‘There!’
Eleven o’clock in the empty air.
Choi Kang-mok unleashed arrows of light toward that direction.
Wide-area bombardment engulfed the space in all directions.
“So you lacked real combat experience after all.”
The Challenger materialized right before Choi Kang-mok’s eyes.
He had deliberately spoken to create a ‘false presence.’
Luring the attack to create an opening, then closing in.
He swung a blade forged from mana.
‘Invincible.’
I retrieved the invincibility stored in Mayo and activated it.
The invincibility deflected the opponent’s attack.
‘It feels a bit different from before.’
It wasn’t quite an impact, but I definitely sensed a more solid resistance.
It meant they had increased their damage output.
The opponent had read through Choi Kang-mok’s magic.
“Your defensive pattern is quite simple.”
The pattern itself was indeed simple.
However, that defense was excessively perfect.
“Is this a defensive-type boss? It seems like the Tower deliberately created this monster.”
Choi Kang-mok immediately counterattacked.
‘Energy Bolt.’
The most concise and fastest magic.
After hurling it toward the opponent.
‘They’ll dodge.’
Just as the opponent had done, I predicted their movement.
Everywhere was a minefield.
The space to escape was limited.
‘Spatial Release. Meteor Form.’
Through Meteor Form, I instantly manifested new ‘physical force’ and positioned it along their escape routes.
Eight defensive spells unfolded in an instant.
The result of countless practice sessions. Magic honed through repetition completed in a heartbeat.
[Congratulations!]
[‘Magical Beast’ has been defeated.]
The Challenger’s second death.
-(Light) : Wow… that’s insane….
Light, who had faced such opponents their entire life, understood better than anyone.
Just how powerful they were.
This mage dispatched such an opponent with ease(?).
Yet Choi Kang-mok’s expression was not bright.
‘My patterns are being read.’
Though they died from being struck by my defensive magic, I could feel it clearly.
The opponent had resisted my defensive magic slightly more this time.
Last time, they died the moment they touched it.
This time, they lasted about a second.
It meant they were gradually learning how to counter it.
-(Mayo) : The opponent’s learning capacity is beyond imagination.
The Challenger revived once more.
And let out a sinister laugh.
Despite wearing a mask, the raw malice of that smile was palpable.
“I’m starting to get a feel for this.”
That statement was true.
Choi Kang-mok couldn’t pinpoint the Challenger’s location precisely.
The Challenger’s movements grew more subtle, and Choi Kang-mok defended using defensive magic and invulnerability.
On the surface, it appeared evenly matched.
[Congratulations!]
[The ‘magical creature’ has died.]
By now, the magical creature had met its fifth death.
In terms of results, Choi Kang-mok held a significant advantage.
Notifications tinged with jubilation appeared.
[Fighting a magical creature this well?]
[What an impressive mercenary!]
[Thank you, Tower (South Korea)!]
[At this rate, we can definitely kill that madman!]
But Choi Kang-mok’s thoughts diverged.
As time passed, as the battle progressed, it was his side that grew disadvantaged.
‘His magical prowess surpasses mine.’
Combat sense?
That advantage also belonged to the opponent.
‘Battle experience as well….’
Experience favored the other side.
‘The versatility of magic too.’
Proficiency in certain spells was several levels ahead on his end.
In other words, there was a considerable gap across multiple dimensions of ‘technique.’
‘I’ve never landed a proper attack.’
The opponent only dies because of the ‘physical force’ of defensive magic.
Even that cannot connect if the opponent doesn’t approach.
In other words, the current opponent was essentially allowing himself to die.
A notification different from the blue ones appeared.
[Can we finally eliminate him?]
Black text.
This was a message from the Tower (South Korea).
Originally it would appear briefly and vanish, but this time it was clearly visible.
It meant the Tower (South Korea) had gained some breathing room.
Red Cat, hiding in a corner of the Stage Map, let out a meow.
Her fur bristled upright.
“You made the madmen from each dimension clash against each other?”
Since they couldn’t resolve it among themselves, they made them fight each other.
It was a strategy that seemed underhanded yet, in a way, ingenious.
By now, the Challenger—who had experienced eight deaths—spoke.
“I’ve read all the patterns now.”
The surroundings were already blanketed with hundreds of defensive spells.
At this point, even Choi Kang-mok couldn’t move recklessly.
Those mines would detonate the opponent, but they’d obliterate me too.
We’d both become unable to move properly.
“The path to life has been completed.”
The Challenger hadn’t simply chosen death.
He’d created a kind of ‘route’.
He carved a path to reach the boss, then died.
And ultimately, he succeeded in approaching.
“If I attack at this timing.”
He barely dodged the invincibility window and warped time.
Through precise calculation, he timed it to the exact moment the invincibility window ended.
“Energy Bolt.”
He detonated an energy bolt from within Choi Kang-mok’s body.
Like what Choi Kang-mok did—it was magic infused with the essence of spatial liberation.
[You have died.]
Choi Kang-mok faced his second death.
Light trembled.
-(Light) : …Is this really okay?
Light was beginning to sense it too.
As time passed, the battle’s momentum flowed increasingly in the Challenger’s favor.
At first it seemed evenly matched, but not anymore.
The opponent was a true monster.
Two deaths were quite a fresh shock and experience for Choi Kang-mok.
And the opponent’s magical achievement and technical mastery far surpassed his own.
“There’s no helping it.”
A few seconds later, he revives again.
Now each of them had only one life remaining.
Then a voice echoed.
“You’re probably estimating I have nine lives left.”
He grinned wickedly.
“But is that really the case?”
And the revived Choi Kang-mok grinned wickedly too.
“Does that even matter?”
All experience grants magical inspiration.
The extraordinary experience of two deaths breathed a ‘new enlightenment’ into the mage.
“You have the technical advantage, I’ll admit it.”
If this were merely an exchange, it would be a perfect defeat.
Choi Kang-mok could acknowledge that.
But now? It’s a magical ‘battle’.
“I seem to have unconsciously thought of it as a magical exchange.”
This is why habits are terrifying.
This isn’t an exchange—it’s ‘combat’.
“The truth is.”
He recognized and acknowledged his own identity.
The true identity of the mage himself that he had denied all this time.
“I’m a one-trick damage dealer.”
To overcome that, I’ve made multifaceted efforts until now.
The defensive magic scattered everywhere is proof of that.
Certainly, he had developed and changed.
But the essence itself never changes.
‘That’s right. My essence was… a one-trick damage dealer.’
All growth begins with acceptance.
100th Floor Boss Mage.
‘Acceptance Phase’ initiated.

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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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