The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

Ugkas’ rage didn’t last very long.

This was because he realised Kran hadn’t run away completely but was instead hiding and waiting for another opportunity to strike.

“How interesting.”

Did he intend to hunt two of the Five Dukes?

Suddenly, Ugkas’ lips twisted into a sneer.

This was because Kran had stepped out of the ruins of a building and was slowly walking towards him at a calm pace.

“What are you up to now?”

He asked this question while tilting his head to the side.

“It would have been better for you to hide and wait for an opportunity. Haven’t you already realised that you can’t face me head-on?”

“…”

“Or… did you come to buy time for that little girl to run away? That would be an incredibly foolish decision. After all, you are the one we were after from the start…”

“The Five Dukes do talk a lot. Gullard was the same.”

Ugkas’ eyes narrowed slightly at those words.

Kran turned to look at Sipakna, who was slithering behind Ugkas, before saying.

“What’s wrong, Iron Duke? Are you not confident that you can defeat me on your own?”

“That’s such a disappointing attempt at provocation.”

Ugkas shook his head slowly.

It was only then when he had a vague sense of what Kran was thinking.

“You’ll fight on your own, so only one of us should fight you… Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“And if it is?”

“Kukuku.”

Ugkas chuckled.

“Naturally, I don’t think I could lose to you even if I were to fight you on my own. And it would even be a fun battle. However…”

Demonic energy erupted from his metal body as a sharp glint appeared in his eyes.

“My personal feelings will never take precedence over the Demon King’s orders. Sipakna.”

Paht!

As Sipakna slithered forward with its tentacles waving slightly, Ugkas once again took the opening stance of the Warrior King Fist.

Kran looked at these two Dukes in front of him, feeling an intense pressure that was incomparable to what he’d felt before. It felt like his entire body was being weighed down.

‘That brat is stronger than I thought.’

Sedi.

After releasing most of her demonic energy, she had become so weak that even standing was an issue, and yet, she had still been able to assist him.

But Kran realised that if he had been fighting these two Dukes from the start, he would have been overpowered in an instant, even if he used all of his power.

‘…subdue.’

In truth, Ugkas had a similar thought at that moment. However, there was a reason why Kran was not easy to deal with.

Kasajin had ordered that Kran was not to be killed. And the King’s orders were not something that could be ignored.

This meant that Ugkas had to subdue this hybrid as unscathed as possible.

Juk!

A large number of tentacles shot towards Kran. The momentum of this attack was much stronger than before. Perhaps Sipakna was also annoyed.

Click-

Kran took an item out of his pocket.

This was something that would never be used by Demons, but Ugkas was still able to identify what it was.

A grenade.

Kran pulled the pin of the grenade with his teeth before throwing it at the approaching tentacles.

“Be careful.”

Ugkas reminded Sipakna. After all, there was no way that he would throw a normal grenade at a Duke.

Sipakna must have had a similar thought as it withdrew its tentacles in an instant.

Boom!

But it was only after this when they realised their predictions had been wrong.

The item that Kran had thrown was just an ordinary grenade. It was a modern weapon with considerable lethality and firepower, but it was by no means strong enough to harm a high-ranking Demon.

Naturally, this meant that they didn’t even leave so much as a scratch on Sipakna’s tentacles.

But that didn’t matter as Kran was able to achieve his intentions.

Taht!

He kicked off from the ground and quickly closed the distance between them. Seeing this, Ugkas raised his defenses and prepared to take Kran’s attack, but Kran went right past him.

‘Is he aiming for Sipakna?’

Was it because he couldn’t get through his metal skin?

Ugkas suppressed a condescending chuckle that threatened to escape at this thought.

Because Kran’s wishes would still not come through.

Shung.

Kran drew a new weapon. This time, he brought out a Kukri, a short sword with a curved blade.

Slash!

The Kukri seemed to become a blur, and in an instant, dozens of tentacles fell to the ground almost at the same time.

Nevertheless, Kran’s momentum didn’t decrease in the slightest.

He continued to narrow the distance to Sipakna with explosive speed.

Spurt!

Suddenly, several of the tentacles that were surrounding him spat out their corrosive acid at the same time.

However, Kran still refused to stop. Instead, he simply lifted an arm to block the incoming liquid.

“What?”

Ugkas was shocked by this.

Was he not going to avoid it?

Tsss!

Immediately after coming into contact with the liquid, Kran’s left arm began to melt.

* * *

His demonized skin, which was many times stronger than even the best armor, was meaningless in the face of Sipakna’s acid.

‘Don’t tell me he’s trying to get himself killed—”

Just as this absurd thought appeared in Ugkas’ head…

Swish.

Kran swung the Kukri in his right hand.

And in the next instant, the Kukri cut through its target without any resistance. It was his own left arm.

Shuk.

His left arm was cut off once again. This was a first for Kran, who had been through all kinds of hardships throughout his life. He had never lost arms in such a short period before.

‘…and it was my left arm both times.’

Nevertheless, it was just a pointless thought. Especially in such a tense situation.

Shaking off his useless thoughts, Kran suddenly kicked his swiftly melting arm into the air.

The severed left arm soared up into the sky.

Taht.

And it was only then that Sedi, who had been waiting on the rooftop of a nearby building, made her appearance. She shot towards Kran’s left arm, which was quickly rising up to meet her, before lifting her staff and swinging it with all her might.

In volleyball terms, it was the perfect set that led to a powerful spike.

Paak!

The target of this severed left arm was none other than the face of a surprised Ugkas.

“K-, kuh!!!”

Ugkas stumbled backwards with a scream, covering his face. It was clear that his face was rapidly melting.

“It worked!”

Sedi couldn’t help but cry out in delight.

She couldn’t believe that Kran’s ridiculous plan had actually worked!

“I told you it was possible.”

Kran muttered with a calm voice, but in truth, he had also been unsure of whether his plan would work or not.

He had only remembered hearing before that metals were particularly weak to acid, so he assumed that they could use their opponents’ powers against them.

Sedi looked at Kran with an appraising expression.

‘This guy is tougher than I thought.’

She truly admired this blunt human.

Regardless of if they could regenerate or not, no one in their right mind would think about putting acid on their hand and cutting it off before throwing it at their enemy.

‘This isn’t the time to be thinking about this.’

Sedi charged towards Sipakna, shouting.

“I’ll hold this slug back, so go finish that guy off!”

Before she had even begun to shout, Kran had already made his preparations. From his bag, he retrieved a gun.

It was a rusty revolver, and from its design, it appeared to be an old model.

“What the hell is that?”

“My trump card.”

As he answered, Kran loaded the gun with bullets.

Not too quickly or too slowly, just one bullet at a time.

This scene caused Sedi to furrow her brows slightly.

“You… If you mess up this opportunity, we’re both gonna die, you know?”

“I know that already, so just shut up. You’re distracting me.”

“No matter how I look at it, I can’t imagine you piercing that guy’s skin with a gun.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew how much effort it took just to make a single bullet.”

Kran would never use this weapon if his opponent wasn’t one of the Five Dukes. It was simply not worth it.

Click.

After filling the chamber with bullets, he muttered.

“Burnout.”

Kooo-

Suddenly, white fog began to flow out of the revolver before taking the blurry shape. After a short moment, dozens of red eyes appeared.

[The… payment…?]

Kran answered in a low voice.

“Blood.”

[Under… stood…]

Crack.

The fog then engulfed Kran’s arm.

“Kuh…”

By the end of the day, he would probably have no arms left.

Kran couldn’t help but have this thought as he glared at Ugkas.