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

Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei

Lukas looked at the attack shooting towards him.

The range of the attack was so wide that he wouldn’t be able to avoid it even if he used Blink. It was also too powerful to block with a barrier.

‘I have no choice but to cancel it out.’

As he quickly came to this decision, Lukas roused his mana.

Woowoong-

And as a result, the black staff in his hand began to vibrate.

[Staff of the Distant Night Sky]

[A staff created by an eccentric but extremely skilled blacksmith. The tail of a mutated Dragonling was used as the main material while an artificial gem created by processing the heart of the same Dragonling was embedded into the top.

It can efficiently absorb and convert the ki of mother nature, but the required method is not something that ordinary people can learn.

Although it is in the shape of a staff, it is incomparably sturdy, and it won’t break even if the user were to swing it around recklessly.]

As he expected, Nekdu’s skills were reliable.

Although he knew that it was because he’d embedded the heart of the Dragonling into it, the part that caught Lukas’ attention the most was the fact that it could efficiently convert the ki of mother nature, or in other words, mana.

Thanks to that, even something as simple as the storm of ice and fire was able to sweep through the arena with much more power than it had originally.

‘…I have about a third of my mana left.’

Since he’d been continuously using his mana even before he arrived here, he couldn’t afford to use the rest recklessly.

Nevertheless, he decided to use all of his remaining mana in this spell. This is because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hurt Kangki with just any spell.

“Lava Blast.”

Rumble!

Lava that erupted from nowhere shot towards the breath attack like a tsunami.

In an instant, the temperature in the arena soared exponentially.

Starting from 7 star spells, all spells reached a level where they would affect the surrounding environment to some extent. In Lukas’ case, he was able to use his superb control to reduce the damage to an extent, but that didn’t mean that the power of his spell was reduced.

“…!”

Kangki couldn’t help but flinch in surprise when he saw this spell.

Lukas thought that Kangki would try to dodge the Lava Blast.

After all, the torrent of lava had already devoured most of the breath attack. Nevertheless, it didn’t seem satisfied, and continued to rush forward as though it was searching for its next victim.

But contrary to his expectations, Kangki instead took a big step forward.

“…!”

And the Lava Blast swallowed Kangki without hesitation.

Did he really take that attack head on?

A 7 star spell that contained all of Lukas’ remaining mana?

‘Why?’

He didn’t think Kangki had underestimated the strength of his Lava Blast.

And it also didn’t look like his scales were stronger than an Ancient Dragon’s.

In other words, this meant that he had something else to rely on.

Shuk!

“…!”

A huge fist popped out of the river of soaring flames.

He didn’t have time to react properly.

The fist hit Lukas’ body with a violent crash.

Crunch!

The arm and leg that he raised to block the attack were smashed in an instant.

The pain of so many bones breaking at the same time was so terrible that even the strongest willed men would scream in pain, but Lukas didn’t even frown.

If he hadn’t reduced some of the momentum by stacking several barriers, that attack might have actually killed him in one hit.

This was the way a Wizard’s fight always was.

A single mistake or moment of carelessness could lead to an irreversible situation.

Thud!

The force of the attack buried Lukas’ body into the ground of the arena.

After lying motionlessly for a while, he staggered to his feet. His forehead felt hot. Had his head been injured?

Wiping the blood out of his eyes with his good hand, he glared into the flames.

“This… is the power of wealth.”

A deep murmur broke the silence.

Kangki slowly stepped out of the Lava Blast.

Scratches and burn marks were certainly present on his red hot scales, but considering the power of the Lava Blast and the fact that he took it on directly, this damage was far from enough.

Nevertheless, he seemed a bit surprised.

“I never expected you to hurt me in this state… I see. Was that technique just now your secret weapon?”

Lukas ignored his question and asked.

“…what are you wearing?”

Kangki chuckled softly.

“[The Creed of Kamesh].”

Tsss-

The red hot scales cooled rapidly.

Clank, clank.

And a strange sound came from inside his body.

“As long as I am wearing this armor, no attacks can reach me.”

Armor.

But Lukas realised that it wasn’t the conventional use of the word.

“…I always thought that you were overwhelmingly large among Dragonmen. As if you were a different species altogether. Now I understand why.”

“Hoh? What’s the reason?”

“That huge body isn’t your real body, it’s a puppet. Your real body is hidden within it.”

To put it simply, it was a concept similar to the Golems from Lukas’ home universe.

But this puppet was more like a mechanical device that the user could attach or detach, rather than an artificial being that could move independently. (TL: So the Dragonmen invented gundams? Nice)

With that understanding, everything began to make more sense.

Why he was several times larger than other Dragonmen.

And why he could even let out breath attacks.

“Kuhahaha-!”

Kangki roared with laughter.

He then turned to look at Lukas’ staff with a sneer.

“That’s right… [The Creed of Kamesh] is a machine armor. You have a good eye. Or did she tell you?”

“She?”

“It seems that you also used her power to make that cane of yours, but your opponent was just a bad match for you. Even if it was made by the same ‘Hammer of Babylon’, my equipment works better against you.”

“…Hammer of Babylon?”

Lukas shook his head slowly.

“You’re mistaken. I asked Nekdu to make this staff for me.”

“Hmm.”

Kangki just tilted his head to the side when he heard Lukas’ rebuttal.

“You’re joking, right? Did you really ask her to make something for you without knowing her real identity?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Haha. I really didn’t expect this.”

Kangki shook his head as if he’d encountered something strange.

“But it doesn’t matter anyway. Quit yapping and accept your fate. We both know that attack was your last. You can’t launch anymore attacks.”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Lukas finally nodded.

“Right. You’re right.”

“Hoh.”

Kangki watched on with slight interest at Lukas’ sudden acceptance.

“I’ve already used up all of my mana, and it’s hard to stand with my arm and leg smashed. Even if I had more mana, I think it would be hard to break through your armor.”

“So…”

“By the way, Kangki. About the place beneath the city that you mentioned earlier, I’ve already been there.”

“…”

Kangki’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“There were a lot of skilled persons who were being enslaved by you and your men there. And among them were the refiners that I’d been looking for.”

“…you know about them? You’re really making it hard for me to let you live.”

Lukas ignored his words.

“Everyone there hates you. Initially, I wanted to strike a deal with them in exchange for rescuing them, but I didn’t have to. They fully cooperated with me… And helped me refine the heart of the Ancient Dragon.”

“The Heart of the Ancient Dragon?”

“Did you know? Taking the elixir doesn’t mean that it will go into effect immediately. Because of how much energy there is, it takes a long while to dissolve. It’s called the digestion process.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Lukas sneered slightly.

“The digestion process is accelerated the more you use your body and mana.”

“You…”

By the time Kangki had finally realised what he was trying to say, Lukas’ gaze lowered slightly.

He was looking at the status window that hadn’t disappeared since he’d taken the Ancient Dragon Heart elixir.

[Heart of the Ancient Dragon, current digestion rate 99.8%.]

[When the digestion is complete, some of the user’s skills will be unlocked.]

Then…

Beep!

[Digestion has reached 100%!]

[Some of the user’s skills have been unlocked.]

Boom!

An explosion of bright blue light erupted from Lukas body.

This was different from before.

This time, when the blue light appeared, the ground around him sank. This showed that Lukas’ mana was now interfering with the physical world.

Kangki couldn’t know.

Just what this eruption of blue light which shot into the sky like a beam really meant.

[Skill, Magic(Lv.7) → Magic(Lv.8)]

Only the mana of an 8 star Wizard could have such an effect.

Lukas slowly opened his eyes.

“Let’s continue, Kangki.”

The continuation of their battle.

Here in the arena.

“Let’s start the second round.”