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

Yang In-hyun was standing in front of a beautiful tree with his hands behind his back.

He was looking around at the surrounding vegetation while seemingly being lost in thought, and there was a faint hint of sadness in his expression.

…This wasn’t the time for him to be looking at Yang In-hyun. This time, before Pale could stop him, Lukas got to his feet. Then, he realised that his previous position had been a bit embarrassing.

“…”

Pale looked at Lukas with a strange expression, then, tapping her thighs, she got up as well.

“I guess we got caught up in something awesome?”

She also seemed rightly aware of the fact that they weren’t in the World of Void. Nevertheless, she didn’t appear that confused or surprised.

Instead, she seemed to find the situation interesting.

“…huhu.”

On the other hand, Yang In-hyun, who was a few steps away, let out a deep sigh. With just that, the feeling of sadness that had been surrounding him before disappeared as if it had been washed away.

Then his gaze turned over to them. Lukas could feel the irritation in Yang In-hyun’s expression and attitude.

“So, what situation are we in now?”

“…”

His skin felt numb.

Yang In-hyun’s voice was, at the same time, cold and filled with hostility. It wouldn’t be strange for him to suddenly draw his sword depending on his answer.

It seemed that Yang In-hyun was trying to make Lukas take responsibility for this situation, but Lukas was actually a victim as well. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel wronged because of this, but an emotional response would not get through to him. Instead, it would only make him angrier.

“…it was the Exile’s doing.”

“The Exile?”

“Right.”

At least, it was clear that Lukas knew more about the current situation than they did. So he continued to explain. But it didn’t last very long, because Lukas didn’t know that much either.

“Hng. I see.”

Pale giggled. Yang In-hyun’s expression wasn’t good. He stood still with no expression on his face before he abruptly said.

“Then we can go back.”

Naturally, a retort came from Lukas’ mouth.

“Go back? How?”

“You have the power of space. If you use that power, we should be able to go back.”

It was a farfetched conjecture, but that didn’t mean that it was completely unreasonable… However, he doubted it would be that easy.

Putting his doubts aside, he decided to try first.

“…mm.”

As expected, he only got a vague feeling. In order to move through space, the most important component was the coordinate value, but that value was now unreachable. It was like looking for a piece of fingernail while swimming in the open sea.

No. It was as if it didn’t exist in the vast sea in the first place.

Quitting his useless attempt, Lukas shook his head.

“I can’t.”

“Really?”

“Right.”

“…”

Yang In-hyun had a regretful expression. There was also a hint of suspicion in his gaze. Considering the circumstances, there was a high chance that this universe was related to Lukas, so he might be lying deliberately. It might be possible for them to return immediately, but he was hiding that fact.

…That was probably what he was thinking.

If that was the case, then Lukas wanted to point out that it was a complete misunderstanding.

In the first place, he was reluctant to come here, and he definitely didn’t want monsters like Pale and Yang In-hyun to be here.

If possible, he would have liked to return to the World of Void right away.

‘No.’

In the first place, where was this?

The surrounding area was a place that could be called a forest, but it wasn’t possible to confirm which of the two universes this place was in.

‘The coordinate values are strange too.’

With Lukas’ ability, it should have been possible for him to identify what universe he was in by identifying the individuality of the coordinate values. Each universe, whether it was his home universe or Earth, have their own values.

But now, they felt a bit strange. It felt like they’d been twisted.

Lukas couldn’t tell if it was a problem with himself or the universe. In any case, it was clear that it would be difficult for him to use spatial movement at that moment.

In the end, he concluded that he’d have to meet someone to find out where they were.

Looking at Yang In-hyun, who had a dismal expression, Lukas said.

“…there should be things like entrances to the World of Void.”

“Entrances?”

“Right. That’s how I first entered that world.”

In all honesty, kidnapped would have been a more appropriate word instead of enter.

“There might be something similar in this world.”

“…does that mean we would be able to go back to Flower Mountain if we secure one of these entrances?”

“At the very least, we’d get a clue.”

He couldn’t speak with certainty. This was because Lukas exactly wasn’t sure what the entrances were composed of.

Yang In-hyun sighed again, but it was clear that he was a bit calmer than before. He hadn’t been convinced by Lukas’ explanation. He was simply accepting the situation coldly.

In any case, it was fortunate that he was in the process of calming down. It was a small but big crisis.

Although the probability was low, if Yang In-hyun had just erupted, it would have been a universe class disaster. Lukas didn’t believe Pale, who was beside him, would try to calm him down, so it would be up to him to fulfil that role.

And regardless of the outcome, the aftermath of the fight between the two of them would be enough to smash this dimension to bits.

As he had this thought, Lukas checked within himself.

…While he could feel the presence of void, unfortunately, there was one problem.

‘There is no way to replenish void in the Three Thousand Worlds.’

In the first place, this was natural because void was a unique energy that only existed in the World of Void. In other words, if he used up all of the void in his body, Lukas would not be able to guarantee victory against powerful beings capable of entering the minimal time zone.

Of course, such powerful beings were incredibly rare, but he should still save as much void as possible just in case.

Nevertheless, this didn’t mean that Lukas was powerless. After all, it wasn’t like he didn’t have any fighting methods outside of void.

As mentioned before, this place was in the Three Thousand Worlds, which meant that it was possible to replenish mana without having to eat anything.

In other words, he could use as much magic as he wanted.

‘…then.’

His self analysis ended there, and he looked towards Yang In-hyun and Pale. Their accompaniment was a completely unexpected development.

This was probably arranged by the Exile.

But why?

He had many questions about his attitude and behaviour, but one thing was clear. As he’d said, he didn’t bear any hostility towards Lukas.

In other words, it was possible that these two had accompanied Lukas for his sake… But that didn’t make sense.

The threats in the two universes.

Firstly, Diablo, it wouldn’t be difficult at all for the current Lukas to kill him. He could probably grind him into bone powder in the same instant that they came face to face.

As for the Demon King. That guy… he would be a bit trickier than Diablo, but that was all. There wasn’t any overwhelming gap between them like he had with the Twelve Void Lords or four Knights in the past.

If the Exile had sent Pale and Yang In-hyun to help him kill them, then he had made a fatal error in his judgement.

In the first place, there was no way that Lukas would be able to control these two beings.

‘Lucid?’

If it was related to anything, it would be the existence of the Black Knight, Lucid.

That thought made the most sense. Of course, he couldn’t predict how Pale would react to Lucid.

…Clicking his tongue, Lukas spoke internally.

‘Lightning God, why did you disturb me?’

[Kuku.]

The Lightning God chuckled. But it wasn’t ridiculing.

In any case, he couldn’t understand his attitude.

‘Wasn’t your goal in the World of Void? I’m now in the Three Thousand Worlds. We’ve returned to a world that you find boring, is this what you wanted?’

[It’s a shame. However, I decided that this was better.]

‘What?’

[There were more changes than you think… on the outside.]

‘You, what are you talking about?’

The Lightning God laughed unpleasantly once more and didn’t answer.

Try to figure out the rest for yourself.

He was a guy who really didn’t care.

* * *

Fortunately, Pale and Yang In-hyun followed Lukas obediently.

These two beings were like bombs. This wasn’t a joke, they were both bombs capable of turning an entire universe to dust.

Even if they did as they pleased, Lukas wasn’t certain that he could stop them. In the case of Pale, she was clearly above him, and as for Yang In-hyun, he couldn’t be dismissed as being below him.

Moreover, unlike Yang In-hyun, who was following him with relative calmness, it was still difficult for him to read Pale’s intentions. She simply hummed in the same manner as when they were in the World of Void.

All four of the Knights were from the outside.

The White Knight, Agolet, who was from a race known as Perfect One. Lukas’ best friend, the Black Knight, Lucid.

Pale was probably the same.

He suddenly became curious. What kind of life had she lived and how had she come to the World of Void. He’d had similar questions before.

Now that he thought about it, his relationship with Pale was really mysterious.

She was the first person he encountered in the World of Void, but Lukas still knew almost nothing about her.

…Even if he thought about it deeply, he wouldn’t be able to come up with an answer for Pale.

It was a really thought provoking moment. As the surrounding vegetation disappeared, a steep cliff was revealed.

It was a place that allowed them to see the entire area at a glance. Beneath the scorching sun, they could see a wide open meadow and in the distance was the silhouette of a city.

“…hm.”

Seeing it, Yang In-hyun let out a sound.

There wasn’t a castle or castle wall.

Instead, the buildings in the city were very tall. Not just one, all of them.

Lukas knew that these buildings were called skyscrapers or high rise buildings.

And he realised what kind of universe this was.

One with a fairly advanced level of civilisation and technology.

Where humans fought against demons that crossed over to their dimension.

This was Earth.

* * *

Suddenly, the sunlight was blocked.

“Huh?”

Of course, it wasn’t that night had suddenly come. It wasn’t even a cloud. Instead, the shadows that were shown on the ground reflected the shapes of something moving in a hurry, and above all, they could hear loud noises coming from the sky.

Tilting her head back, Pale looked up at the sky.

And saw the beings that were covering the blue sky.

“Heh…”

Lukas realised that they were demons.

A huge army. There had to be at least tens of thousands of troops, as for their destination… it was probably the city in front of them.

He didn’t know how strong the city’s defences were, but he didn’t think it was enough to withstand a demon army that was large enough to cover the sky. Even if they successfully defended against them, the damage they would inflict would be tremendous.

Should he get rid of the demons?

One or two 8 star spells would probably be enough. But instead of acting right away, Lukas decided to observe them a bit more… Something felt strange.

“Uncle. Did you meet Agolet?”

Pale suddenly asked.

By Agolet, she was talking about the White Knight. Forcing his eyes away from the sky, Lukas nodded.

“…that’s right.”

“Aha. Then I don’t need to hide.”

Shrugging, Pale stretched out her hand. Crack crack, the Blue Knight’s pale sword appeared in the Three Thousand Worlds.

“Wait…”

It would be dangerous for Pale, one of the four Knights, to reveal her power.

The volume that Earth could withstand was ridiculously small. Of course, it was possible that the level of humans had risen in Lukas’ absence and the amount the universe could tolerate had risen, but would it be able to withstand Pale’s power?

“Ahaha!”

Bursting into laughter, Pale swung her sword.

Boom!

There was the sound of heaven and earth breaking. This wasn’t an exaggeration, this really was the case. Just the wind pressure from the swing was enough to smash the surroundings. Hundreds of trees were uprooted, and the cliff crumbled like a kicked sandcastle.

Then, the slash that had been released from her sword hit the army of demons. As if a hole had been cut into a dark cloud, a gap appeared in the dark sky.

The demons that were directly hit by the slash directly fell from the sky in a shower of flesh and blood, and those near them were all swept away.

“Barrier.”

Lukas hastily cast a spell. The demons were all different sizes, but most of them were several tens of metres tall.

Even if they were cut into pieces, if they were to fall from the sky, it would wreck the surrounding area. Actually, the surroundings were already a mess anyway.

The barrier took the shape of a deep bowl. This was because it had been created to catch the bodies instead of for defence.

[…!]

[…!?]

The advancing demons were shocked. This was natural since over half of their army had disappeared in the previous attack.

“Heh.”

Pale grinned as she looked at them. Then, the demons at the front of the group shook and hurriedly turned around. The rest of the demons didn’t hesitate to follow suit. As if they had received instructions from the leader of the flock, the demons that covered the sky disappeared in an instant.

“Huhng.”

Pale didn’t pay the disappearing demons and mind. She simply whistled as she approached the corpses. (TL: Whistle like a missile bomb bomb)

“I wonder what they taste like.”

It seems she had wielded her sword so she could eat the demons. As he stared at her grimly, Lukas suddenly realised something.

—Yang In-hyun had disappeared.

For a moment, his heart sank.

He wasn’t even these two troublemakers’ parent, but he was feeling anxious after one of them left his sight. Despite feeling it for the first time in his life, Lukas was already fed up with the sinking feeling, since the situation wasn’t funny even if the metaphor was.

Their existence was like bombs, nuclear bombs. Nuclear bombs that could erase the entire planet without leaving a trace.

Quickly spreading his senses, Lukas searched the surroundings and was, fortunately, able to find Yang In-hyun not too far away.

What surprised him was the fact that he wasn’t alone. Instead, he sensed the presence of a lot of people around him.

It was only then that he understood the situation. It seemed that Yang In-hyun had protected them from the falling demon corpses that hadn’t been caught in the barrier.

“O-, oh my God.”

“What the hell…”

“What just happened?”

The dozen or so people found it difficult to calm their frightened hearts.

A strange light flashed in Lukas’ eyes as he looked at them.

(TL: Papa Lukas has to deal with naughty nuke- I mean kids.)