The Wizard Who Endured the World of Murim - Chapter 17

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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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Surviving in the Martial Realm as a Mage: Episode 17
The Assassination Squad leader of the Namgung Family.
Song Gwang-sik, the Bright Moon Swordsman, had been observing Ilhyang from a distance.
His reaction was swift.
‘I’ve caught Man Si-jong’s tail!’
This was an extraordinary achievement.
He immediately sent word to the Namgung Family.
Fortunately, the Namgung Family Branch was not far from this location.
“What should we do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Shouldn’t we intervene?”
“Just the two of us?”
“Those men will die.”
The deputy commander of the Assassination Squad.
Na Han-il couldn’t hide his regretful expression as he observed the fleeing Ronin from afar.
At that sight, Song Gwang-sik let out a dry chuckle.
A laugh that seemed utterly barren and parched.
“If they die, there’s nothing to be done about it.”
If they intervened now, there was a risk that the Man Si-jong bastards would abandon their plans entirely and flee.
‘That cannot be allowed.’
It was better for the Ronin to be captured and killed now.
That’s what I thought.
But the situation began to unfold in an unexpected way.
“Huh?”
Though I had neither expected nor desired it.
Those four Ronin fleeing over there.
Each possessed a respectable skill of their own.
The Ronin exhausted every resource they possessed.
And against all expectations.
They succeeded in escaping from the puppet of Man Si-jong.
“…What in the world?”
“Indeed, sir.”
Leaving the puppet burning behind them.
The Ronin gritted their teeth and fled.
And thus they entered the Official Road, finally shaking off their pursuers.
“…Aahhh… Siou, it hurts so much… Sister! Sister, where are you…!”
The wooden puppet, turning to charcoal, raised its severed arm and thrashed about.
The sight was grotesque beyond measure.
“…How long until the masters from the Branch arrive?”
“I sent word by carrier pigeon, so they should arrive in about two days, shouldn’t they?”
“Then it’s too late.”
Song Gwang-sik, the Bright Moon Swordsman, felt a deep sense of regret welling up inside.
Everything had gone wrong.
It might sound callous to say it outright.
The Ronin should have been captured by that peculiar puppet instead.
But now that they’ve managed to escape like this.
‘Those Man Si-jong bastards will slip away again.’
Then everything becomes pointless.
I had to prepare for the worst-case scenario even now.
Song Gwang-sik scratched the back of his head irritably with his hand.
With a somewhat deflated expression, he looked toward Na Han-il, the deputy commander.
“Is the escape route secured?”
“Yes. I’ve sent the men out.”
“…Given how things stand, if it comes to it, I’ll step in. Make sure they know in advance.”
“Understood.”
The situation had become considerably troublesome.
I hadn’t intended to participate directly.
I’d planned to delay until the very last moment.
‘Somehow, I need to at least catch them here.’
Should I scatter the Thousand-Mile Pursuit Incense now?
But relying on that alone, I’ve let them slip away more than once.
Yet if I intervene directly, the danger level multiplies several times over.
If I had to guess, the master-class expert from Man Si-jong present here would be at least at the commander level or higher.
Otherwise, why would they openly send forces back to a place already completely stripped bare by the Heavenly Blood Sect once before?
‘How many Blood Corpses have been deployed?’
I couldn’t gauge it.
At least that puppet burning before my eyes was at the peak master level, so it was manageable to face.
But if there were two or more Blood Corpses.
Strategy or not, fleeing was the right call.
‘No, wait. Should I flee even now?’
I’ve almost caught the tail—and I’m supposed to give up here?
Just abandon it like this?
Song Gwang-sik’s mind grew tangled.
Then, suddenly.
My thoughts turned to Ilhyang, the original surveillance target.
‘What in the world was that bastard thinking, coming back here?’
At first, I’d assumed Ilhyang was in league with Man Si-jong.
But what’s this?
The wretch had been willingly kidnapped by Man Si-jong’s underlings and dragged here.
From that point on, I sensed things were unfolding differently than expected.
‘This is a headache. I need to figure out whether that person is an ally or an enemy.’
If that person were an ally?
The matter might resolve itself easily.
But if they’re an enemy?
‘Even if all the Branch Family’s masters came, I couldn’t guarantee victory.’
Unless one of the clan elders showed up.
The plan was unraveling in the most unexpected of ways.
Then.
“Did you lot do this?”
“…!”
A woman’s voice, sudden and sharp.
In that instant, Song Gwang-sik felt his hair stand on end.
* * *
A magic circle.
What was called a magic circle in the Lower Dimension.
This was a kind of boundary demarcation.
When drawing a magic circle.
One clearly defined the boundary between inside and outside.
And using the world’s language—rune script—one intentionally twisted the world’s rules.
‘This is the most basic principle, after all.’
The higher one’s proficiency in magic became.
Or the deeper one’s understanding of rune script grew.
The form of the magic circle simplified rapidly, its size diminished, yet its power only grew stronger.
The method for gauging a mage’s skill in drawing magic circles was remarkably simple.
One evaluated a mage’s ability by how much power they could extract from a simplified form.
In the Lower Dimension, I had defined the entire process of magic circle simplification as “compression.”
By that measure, the magic circle before my eyes now was exceedingly crude and primitive.
‘But it’s a dangerous sort.’
The moment I carefully emerged into the Corridor with the children.
The first thing I saw was an enormous and intricate magic circle drawn outside the Stone Gate where they’d been imprisoned.
I’d sensed it even inside the Prison Chamber—the mana flow was unstable throughout, and the atmosphere felt wrong.
Now the reason became clear.
‘This is a form of brainwashing magic.’
The rune script was so primitive that I couldn’t interpret it precisely.
But I could read the flow of mana coursing through all the runes inscribed in the magic circle.
This was definitely magic that directly interfered with the mind.
Mental magic was strictly forbidden in the Lower Dimension where I originally came from.
It was dark magic of the sort the Demon Clan specialized in.
‘They intend to control the sacrifices’ minds and offer them directly to something.’
Though the magic circle’s effect seemed remarkably inadequate for that purpose.
There were still many specialized pharmaceuticals in this area that even I hadn’t fully catalogued yet.
If I borrowed the power of such drugs, mind control might have actually been possible.
‘But.’
Even if voluntary human sacrifice were feasible.
Unless the entity receiving the offering was something like a Demon King.
This form of human sacrifice would inevitably yield meager returns relative to the resources invested.
‘Or perhaps… human souls simply don’t hold much value in this realm?’
While I stood contemplating the magical circle for a moment.
The children lingered in the Corridor, hovering uncertainly around me.
Grrrrowl—
At the sudden sound of my stomach, I snapped back to attention and turned my head.
“Ahem, ahem—that’s beyond my control. Well, finish what you were doing.”
Since I’d been examining the symbols drawn on the Door with such a grave expression.
An Won-myeong awkwardly averted his gaze, looking embarrassed.
I was still drenched in blood.
And because of that, An Won-myeong still found me terrifying.
“No, Young Master. We should leave this place first.”
“Right?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
With those words, I took the lead.
I’d already found the target of the commission anyway.
Rather than confronting Man Si-jong directly, it seemed better to slip away from here.
As I moved toward the exit.
‘The place I escaped from before appears to be the Back Gate based on this building’s layout.’
After a moment’s deliberation, I glanced firmly toward the Front Gate.
In most cases, that direction would likely be bristling with all manner of traps.
‘I’ll head toward the Back Gate.’
This was actually an impromptu decision.
But as it turned out, my choice proved to be an excellent one.
‘…No obstruction at all?’
Honestly, I’d braced myself to encounter traps or guards at least once or twice.
Yet surprisingly, I encountered no resistance whatsoever as we slipped out through the Back Gate.
‘What’s this?’
All the children were terrified, expecting something to burst from the doors on either side of the Corridor and attack us at any moment. But there wasn’t even a hint of such a threat.
‘Fortune smiles on us.’
If I were escaping alone, I’d have confidence in getting away whether enemies were present or not.
But right now, I had roughly eighty children in tow as dead weight.
I’d wanted to avoid confronting enemies if possible, and it was fortunate things had worked out this way.
“Oh! We’re outside!”
“Yaaaaaay!”
Eighty children gasped in unison, drawing in the fresh mountain air.
Though the landscape consisted merely of barren rock and stone mountains.
An Won-myeong and the other children were simply overjoyed to be outside.
Ilhyang felt the same way.
‘Now I just need to slip away from here and— wait?’
A deep rumble echoed across the sky.
As Ilhyang guided the children through the valleys between the stone mountains.
He suddenly snapped his head around, sensing mana vibrations rippling outward in all directions.
‘What is this?’
His pupils dilated as blood surged rapidly through his veins.
There was no doubt.
This was magic.
Moreover, it was large-scale magic cast by a practitioner of at least intermediate rank or higher.
In that instant, Ilhyang’s eyes blazed with intense light.
‘This is a genuine one.’
In this world, they called them Celestial Watchers, or perhaps spell-casters?
The name hardly mattered.
Ilhyang sensed it quite clearly.
This eerie tremor that shook the very air made his head spin.
‘Dangerous.’
If I encountered that one, I’d probably die.
This level of fluctuation was at least fourth-circle magic.
Fourth-circle was precisely the threshold where mages were said to break free from their shells and forge their own path.
Yet curiosity burned within me like wildfire.
How did mages in this world perceive magic?
What kind of spell was that?
Was it truly worth the risk?
My deliberation was brief.
“Young master, if you follow that path over there, you’ll find a narrow trail used by herb gatherers. Follow it down the mountain.”
“Huh? What about you? Aren’t you coming?”
Ilhyang glanced at An Won-myeong, who was sniffling.
Then he fixed his gaze southward and replied.
He couldn’t be bothered with lengthy explanations.
So.
“There’s a pursuer over there.”
“What? Really? Where! Is it over there!”
Clear terror bloomed across An Won-myeong’s flustered face.
The children around him also looked about nervously, their faces pale with fear.
“The distance is still considerable, but someone will need to serve as bait here.”
“Then… what do you mean…”
Ilhyang made every effort to compose his expression into something grave as he spoke.
“Don’t worry about me, Young Master. Please escape at once.”
“You….”
An Won-myeong felt a sudden surge of emotion.
But he quickly nodded shamelessly with his characteristic pudgy face.
“Got it. Then I’m counting on you!”
An Won-myeong, with that rotund body of his, moved faster than anyone else.
He shoved the children blocking his path to the side and pressed forward.
“Out of the way! Move, all of you!”
He hurried along the dried-up streambed of the Valley that Ilhyang had described to him.
Some of the children lingered behind, hesitating as they watched Ilhyang volunteer himself as bait.
Boom― Craaaash―!
From far away.
When an enormous explosion that anyone could hear erupted, they all screamed and scrambled down the slope.
Once the nuisances had vanished, Ilhyang’s rigid expression melted into something softer, and he touched his lips.
“Ah, I really can’t help myself.”
Knowing full well that danger lurked over there.
This was something he couldn’t endure.
Ilhyang was a mage.
From the beginning, mages were.
A breed of creatures with something fundamentally broken in their heads.
“Ahahaha!”
As Ilhyang felt the mana raging wildly in the atmosphere, his heart pounded for the first time in ages.
How could he describe this feeling?
To the vivid scent of magic he experienced for the first time since arriving in this world.
Ilhyang’s expression had become that of a lovestruck adolescent seized by fever, intoxicated with rapture.
‘I’m drooling so much I’m going insane.’
Death?
Fear?
Such things meant nothing before new knowledge.
The closer he drew to the epicenter.
The more he felt the dramatic fluctuations in mana flow.
Such an unconventional method of magic application.
What kind of magic could this possibly be?
Ilhyang paid no mind to whatever danger awaited him.
He was completely oblivious to it.
He was simply half-crazed at the prospect of encountering a new form of magic.
If he could face new magic.
Then his life was utterly trivial to him.
And so one unhinged madman rushed toward death like a moth to flame.

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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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