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

Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei

“…”

He’d read it in several books before, but at that moment it really struck home.

—It wasn’t just large, it was the largest.

Death Island was the largest of the Seven Islands of the Heavenly Realm, surpassing even Untamed Island.

It was millions of square kilometers wide, and its population was so low that it would be difficult to find anyone to ask about Sedi’s whereabouts. (TL: For reference, Asia is 44,614,000 sq km)

In fact, it could even be said that more people were living in one of the major cities on Combat Island than in this vast land. Moreover, it was still unclear whether he’d be able to communicate or not if he did manage to encounter someone.

He’d been told that the Dragonmen who lived here were all barbaric and violent.

Even if they could communicate, the probability that they wouldn’t be hostile towards him was extremely low.

‘…it might be possible to track Sedi’s demonic energy.’

The environment on this island had already been heavily corroded by death energy and demonic energy.

These things wouldn’t affect Sedi, but for Lukas, who was looking for her, it made the situation many times more difficult. It was like searching for a beehive in a dark room filled with the scent of honey.

Of course, there were differences in the energy signatures of Sedi and the demonic energy in the environment, but she would need to be relatively close for him to tell them apart.

‘Moreover…’

Lukas looked down at his hands.

There was practically no mana on Death Island.

This was something that he’d expected to an extent.

It would be almost impossible to find the energy of nature in such a dead land. The coast, which bordered the ocean, was a bit better, but as he went deeper into the island, the mana in the air would gradually disappear.

In the end, his decision to not use flight magic to fly over from Akad was a wise one. From now on, he would have to save every single drop of mana. Because he had no way to replenish it.

It was truly fortunate that he’d managed to reach 8 stars before coming here.

‘It would be nice if I could quantify my remaining mana…’

Just as he had this thought,

[The participant’s request will be applied immediately.]

[MP(Mana Points) has been activated.]

[From now on, the participant will be able to check their remaining mana.]

[Current mana 10,000/10,000]

“…”

As he heard this voice, Lukas couldn’t help but wonder if the voice was truly automated, or if it had an ego of its own.

Shaking the thought from his head, Lukas injected mana into the ring Arid had gifted him.

Fwoosh!

Immediately, a faint ray of light flew out of the ring. The flying streak of light shot out in a certain direction.

This meant that Sedi was in that direction.

At best, it would only show him the specific direction, but in his current situation, even that alone was a great help.

Lukas unfolded his map as he looked at the direction the beam of light had pointed out.

The faintness of the beam meant that Sedi was far away. It was even possible that she was in the heart of the island.

‘The ray of light will get brighter the closer I get to Sedi.’

It was a bit basic, but he could still use it as a detector of sorts.

Humm-

This land was too large for him to just walk blindly, so he decided to use the Fly spell. This would inevitably consume his mana, but it had the advantage of being able to quickly cope with any unexpected or dangerous situations.

‘I should hurry.’

With that thought, Lukas threw himself into the black sky.

* * *

Three days passed.

Or at least, he believed it had been that long. The reason he was unsure was that there was no distinction between night and day in this land.

The demonic energy that rose from the ground and the poisonous energy that formed clouds in the air combined and dyed the sky black. Naturally, there was no sunshine either.

This made it difficult for him to estimate how much time had passed with just his body. (TL: Hard to imagine that a being with a transcendent mind can’t monitor the passage of time. This was something Schweiser could do in the first novel)

The further inland he went, the thicker the demonic energy in the environment became. Now, it has reached a point where ordinary animals would struggle to even breathe. Perhaps as proof of this, the land around him was so desolate that it was hard to find even a single blade of grass.

Except for the rocky mountain range that he was currently flying over, the scenery had not changed at all during his entire journey.

And it was in this place that Lukas encountered the first creature.

“…!”

Not far from him, a flying dragon flapped its wings.

No. This creature’s size was too abnormal for it to be a regular flying dragon.

Although it was incredibly thin, it was so large that it easily dwarfed normal flying dragons. Moreover, all kinds of dark and negative energies swirled in its dead eyes.

‘Ancient Dragon…!’

Suddenly, the ancient Dragon turned to look at Lukas.

Their eyes met.

Did it think he was prey?

Whoosh!

With a heavy flap of its wings, the Ancient Dragon flew towards him at an incredible speed. Since he was flying in the open, there was no place for Lukas to hide.

No. Hiding would be pointless. Lukas could tell just from looking at its eyes. The Ancient Dragon was staring at him with a demented gaze that one would only see in those who had already lost their minds to hunger.

Even if he tried to run away, it was clear that this beast would follow him even to the depths of hell.

And since a battle was inevitable, he had no choice but to handle it quickly.

Lukas gripped his staff tighter.

* * *

K-… uhhh… uh…

The Ancient Dragon let out a low moan. But that soon faded as its body stopped moving entirely.

Lukas looked down at it.

The battle itself hadn’t been difficult. The difficult part was trying to end the battle as quickly as possible while also conserving as much mana as possible.

‘…moreover…’

In the rich lands of the Heavenly Realm, his spells would be enhanced even if he used less mana, but it was different in this place. In this dead, desolate land, the same spells required twice as much mana. It went without saying that the power of the spells was also reduced.

‘This place is the worst for Wizards in many ways.’

On the other hand, the Ancient Dragon, which had adapted, survived, and evolved in this environment, was countless times stronger than the black dragon he’d fought before.

Nothing was more dangerous than a beast that was driven by hunger. Moreover, an Ancient Dragon was a being that could not be compared to a wild beast.

Lukas checked his remaining mana.

[Current mana 8,741/10,000]

‘I used about 1,300.’

Of course, it wasn’t like his mana didn’t refill at all.

However, in this dead land, the amount of mana he could obtain was about 100 points per day.

‘Ah.’

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

The Ancient Dragon’s heart.

It might not be possible to refine it here, but it should at least be possible for him to extract mana from it. With such hopes, Lukas used a spell to cut open the Ancient Dragon’s chest.

“Mm…”

But he couldn’t help but frown when he saw the mess that was revealed.

The Ancient Dragon’s heart was black. This wasn’t because it had decomposed after it died. After all, not that much time had passed.

Instead, Lukas was certain that it had been like that from the start.

This cursed land had even caused its heart to become twisted.

He couldn’t absorb it.

Instead of replenishing his mana, he would be lucky if he didn’t do any harm to his body.

“Huu.”

With a soft, dejected sigh, Lukas turned away and injected his mana into the black ring once again.

Fwoosh-

The beam of light shot in the direction he had to go, but the light was still dim.

(TL:I’ll be taking a break from the 20th to the 2nd. But if I ever feel bored during that time I might post a chapter or two. Just giving advance notice so you guys can prepare your hearts.)