Chapter 110

Evan’s brown hair scattered in the wind. His copper-colored eyes gazed up at the sky. Three suns shined brilliantly.

“Pan-Dalus staked his name on it?”

“Yes. It’s his fifth challenge. As always, it’s become a huge topic among mages. The Mage of Domestication, exiled from the upper floors, undertaking an adventure where he stakes his name in the lowest floors.”

A rough smile formed on Evan’s lips. He squeezed the coin he had been stroking until it nearly crumbled.

“Indeed. Pan-Dalus. Among the Three Hundred Magisters, he’s particularly irritating. Instead of cowering and looking after himself like other mages… he’s always been too diligent. There’s no greater sinner than a harmful person who’s also diligent.”

One of his subordinates, standing quietly behind Evan, carefully added,

“Isn’t it actually a good thing? I heard it’s a challenge with quite a high probability of failure… If he fails like this, it would be a mage destroying himself.”

Hmm-

Evan made a nasal sound and flicked the coin he had been holding. He didn’t seem particularly agreeable.

“Rain? What do you think?”

Evan cast his gaze at a man with dark blue-black hair. Rain, Evan’s first knight. He had been quiet but now answered,

“Pan-Dalus will succeed. Even if we interfere.”

Evan’s copper-colored eyes flashed like heated gold.

“Interesting? Why do you think so?”

Rain, with his head slightly bowed, calmly answered:

“In Pan-Dalus’s camp… there’s someone who cannot be taken lightly. He’ll offset any ordinary variables and then some.”

He answered firmly, recalling the white-haired boy he had witnessed in Lanciel City. And that terrifying spell he had used.

“Besides Refinement, there’s another such person?”

“Yes. I confirmed he’s called the Divine Mage. I’ve already suggested elevating his elimination priority above Refinement’s.”

Hearing this answer, Evan’s mouth split widely from side to side. He couldn’t hide his delight.

“Based on your answer, you think we should eliminate him before Pan-Dalus?”

“…Personally, I think so.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Ting!

Evan flipped the coin he was holding high into the air and caught it again.

“Good.”

Evan declared.

“We’ll completely revise the plan. Send only a small special detachment to Pan-Dalus’s expedition. Minimize our casualties. Tell them to hit and run.”

“What? This is a perfect opportunity to eliminate a mage…”

Evan cut off the knight’s interruption.

“Yes. And in exchange, we’d suffer devastating casualties too. We’d have to deal not just with mages but also the calamities that would swarm in.”

“But even so…”

“The situation has changed.”

Evan turned his water canteen upside down at his waist. The water didn’t fall to the ground but floated in the air. The knights around him groaned. An anomalous phenomenon that had been occurring occasionally for several months.

Evan glared at the water floating in the air as if he would devour it.

“Do you see? How these mages who deserve to be torn apart are ruining the world? We must condemn these great sinners as quickly as possible, as many as possible. We can’t end with just one Mage of Domestication. Thanks to Pan-Dalus, how many mages do you think are gathering on the 3rd floor right now? I’m greedy. I’ll kill them all, every last one.”

“Then…?”

“Yes. We’re going to make the stakes even higher. Make these greedy mages tear each other apart.”

Rain, who had been quiet, read Evan’s intentions and answered,

“We’ll use the method they used against us in Lanciel City.”

Evan snickered.

“That’s right. They imitated us, didn’t they? Then we’ll imitate them.”

Evan strung the coin he had been holding onto a cord and hung it around his neck. He tapped the coin hanging on his chest and said,

“And while we’re at it, let’s collect some points too. I think we’ll need more power than ever before.”

The golden coin occasionally glowed red like Evan’s eyes. Inside the coin was an embossed image of a person glaring at the sky and drawing a sword. The sword was half-drawn.

* * *

“Jun, Jun-woo, here it is.”

What Monggu handed me was a rusty coin. A coin worth no less than 10,000 Morning. Damn it!

It had completely lost its luster, with dull, faded colors and red rust stuck all over. In the center was an embossed image of a person staring at the sky, his hand reaching for his sword hilt as if about to draw it.

“Why are you giving this back?”

“Ah, since the battle is starting now. I was worried I might, you know, lose it.”

Indeed… if the battle got intense, that could happen. I immediately tossed the coin into my subspace storage with <Transportation>.

“So, did you learn anything?”

At my question, Monggu scratched his head.

“Ah, not yet. It seems to sync with the combat suit, but that’s as far as it goes. I can’t figure out what it’s for.”

“I see…”

I sighed.

10,000 Morning. A whole 10,000 Morning.

With that money, you could buy a C-grade barrier. With a C-grade barrier, you could create a crossroad in the wilderness.

In other words, 10,000 Morning was enough money to create a village that could ensure the safety of hundreds of people.

But… this coin I bought for a whole 10,000 Morning still had an unclear purpose.

It was clearly no ordinary coin.

It didn’t respond to <Browse> or even [Simulation].

This was the second time I’d heard the guidance voice within [Simulation]. The first was after simulating the rift that appeared on the 91st floor.

-Error. Information is locked. Loading is blocked.

Information locked in the Akashic Record… I’d never heard of such a thing before.

Looking at it another way, that meant it was an extraordinary coin. But what good was that? It might remain forever unusable in this state.

Neither the cube nor Ari knew its identity. Given this… I currently had no way to analyze it.

I had entrusted it to Monggu only because he said he felt something from it. That seemed like the best possibility. After all, it was supposedly an item belonging to Evan, the Doom Knight’s disciple.

If that was true, it might be better for Monggu, a knight rather than a mage, to examine it.

“Sigh…”

My chest felt tight at the thought of potentially wasting 10,000 Morning, but I tried to brush aside these distracting thoughts. Now was the time to focus on the opponent before my eyes.

“Monggu.”

“Y-yes?”

Monggu, whose birthday came before mine, had already turned 16. Was that why? The guy who used to be about my height had suddenly grown taller by about one and a half heads. Perhaps due to his arduous training, his muscles were also firm. Even most adults now looked smaller compared to Monggu.

Yet this same guy still scratched his head pathetically in front of me. But despite appearances, he had become a fairly recognized warrior now.

“Protect the princess well. Unless you want to get beaten by Lytol.”

“O-of course.”

Monggu’s role this time was to protect Erina, the Mage of Peace, Lytol’s love interest.

When this assignment was first decided, Lytol protested, asking why it wasn’t him. However, Monggu’s defensive capabilities, created with his 8th class combat suit and nine beam shields, were deemed superior to the defensive magic of most 4th Circle mages. Above all, Monggu’s exceptional endurance made him the shield for Erina, a core force. After all, this battle was expected to be a prolonged one.

I looked up at the sky. There, three suns were floating. Our march had already stopped. Everyone was beginning to take their positions.

Capturing the sun itself—a dense formation would be foolish.

A thousand mages spread out over an area with a radius of one kilometer, taking their positions. They set up magical arrays to lower the sun’s temperature and built barriers to deceive the attention of calamities. They also established defensive formations to counter any calamities that might intrude.

A loose but sturdy net to capture the sun.

At the center were Pan-Dalus, Oh Si-jin, Erina, and me. These four, along with eleven mages to protect us and the knight Monggu.

The one who started first was Erina.

With her hands tightly clasped, she ‘prayed’ toward the sun with eyes sparkling like stars.

“I wish for the three suns to descend to this earth!”

At that, the magical powers everywhere began to stir. Following that, the formless mana abundant in the atmosphere took shape on its own. It was magic… magic to draw the sun down to the ground.

Behind Erina with her tightly clasped hands, all sorts of never-before-seen magic rose like a halo.

‘What, a cheat Gift like that exists?’

I’d heard about it beforehand, but seeing it directly made it even more unbelievable.

Her Gift was [Wish].

Whatever she says comes true. Even if it doesn’t come true, conditions favorable for that wish are established.

In other words… it was a kind of powerful ‘word authority’ magic.

The 19-year-old Erina, who had reportedly just become a 4th Circle mage, was using word authority magic far stronger than what Pan-Dalus, a 6th Circle Mage of Domestication who had kept his word throughout his life, could use. Well… becoming a 4th Circle mage in the first place was already like cheating. With a Gift that makes whatever you say come true, how easy would it have been to gather magical power?

Anyway, the magic manifested through the Gift [Wish] was incredibly powerful and creative. That’s what’s scary. She could create magic that doesn’t exist in the world but is most appropriate, just by wishing.

Drip. Drip drip.

Of course, there was a price to pay.

“Mmm…”

As Erina collapsed, dripping blood from her nose and mouth, Monggu gently held her, laid her down, and gave her a vitality potion. And there was someone watching this scene.

“Goodness… Monggu’s going to get a hole burned through his face.”

With my sight enhanced by level 5 physical enhancement, I could see Lytol staring at Monggu from a kilometer away. He was even using a Wizard Eye spell to glare at Monggu. Well… considering that even when coughing up blood like that, Erina still looked as beautiful as an angel… it’s understandable that he was completely smitten.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Suddenly, I thought of Yuria. She was also a kilometer away. She had been assigned to the defensive team, preparing for any possible calamity intrusions.

‘Yuria, are you watching?’

I stretched my left hand straight toward the sky.

The three suns—Bird, Ruby, and Wolf—which had been flying steadily westward, showed confused movements when subjected to Erina’s [Wish]. They continued to move westward but seemed to lose their sense of direction, gradually lowering their altitude. The heat hitting my face grew increasingly intense. But… this wasn’t enough. If left like this, the suns would recover their altitude and fly away.

So now it was my turn.

Recently, Yuria had succeeded in manifesting <Saíl> by borrowing my name. And she had boasted that someday she would show magic no less impressive than <Saíl>. Well… perhaps she could, someday. I did think that.

‘But before that… you should know the true power of this spell, right?’

“Saíl.”

[S-aah-hiLL!!]

The pronunciation of my Circle had become subtly more accurate. This was thanks to my Ki-blood, which had been strengthened while wielding the divine hammer, also helping the movement of my Circle. It was similar to how having a larger body makes vocalization stronger.

A brilliant bow descended from the sky. I drew the bowstring. Last time, I pulled it to 17cm before releasing, right?

Crunch.

Iron Blood absorbed the recoil imposed on my body.

Whoosh!

Ari, the wind spirit, settled at my fingertips, helping me pull the bowstring. And then,

<Bolt!>

The toughened magical pulley slowly pulled the bowstring back.

Beyond 17cm to 20cm. And I still had enough strength left to shoot once more.

Around me, magical power and mana swirled in a spectacle; the entire world seemed to bend toward me.

-Ah, it’s real!

-Oh my…

-I think I remember!

-Kyaaaak!

Was it because I was truly shooting the sun?

The magical powers were raging more enthusiastically than ever before. Abandoning their usual haughtiness, they rushed toward me.

The other mages were the same.

Mages who had been subtly trying to test me,

Whether Refinement or Pan-Dalus, they all gaped at me with their mouths hanging open.

“Divine Mage…”

“Mage… Divine…”

Murmurs like sighs filled the kilometer radius.

Each time, my name inscribed in the Akashic Record resonated, becoming increasingly distinct.

Yes, that’s right, I am

the Divine Mage.

“I will bring down the sun.”

Ping-

A silver line cut the sun from the sky.