The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

October 8th, before dawn.

With a rustle, Pale got out of bed.

“…”

Through her veil of messy hair, she could see the hotel room.

It was dark. It wasn’t just inside the room. The city that could be spotted through the window was still enveloped in darkness.

It was also quiet. Apart from the faint mechanical noises coming from the air purifier and thermostat, there was almost no sound.

A place that was neither hot nor cold.

A place where she could get food whenever she opened the refrigerator.

On the good side, it was peaceful, but on the bad side, she had been living an indolent life for a week.

“…”

Pale suddenly felt that she might be dreaming. And the fact that she had such a thought made her hesitate.

…Did this situation make her so happy? So much so that she could regard reality as a dream.

There was a slight shifting on the bed.

It was a red skinned girl, Butterfly. She was looking at Pale with half lidded eyes. When her eyes seemed to ask ‘what’s wrong?’, a smile naturally formed on Pale’s face.

She wasn’t sure if the reason for the smile was to conceal her inner feelings as usual or to reassure Butterfly.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?”

At that, Butterfly shook her head quietly before patting her stomach.

She’d woken up because she was hungry.

“You’re like me.”

When Pale said those words with a smile, Butterfly smiled as well.

“Wait here. I’ll go get something to eat.”

There was still some food in the refrigerator, but it was not enough to be breakfast for the two gluttons.

Pale got off the bed, took out her clothes, and put them on.

Recently, Lukas, Yang In-hyun and Dok Go-yun were always busy. They rarely stayed in the hotel, and even when they did stay here, they rarely came up to the room. Most of the time, they stayed in the lounge, where they had serious meetings with mountains of documents spread out.

Because of this, the two had no choice but to procure their food entirely on their own.

Butterfly also got up and grabbed her sleeve. But Pale shook her head as she put on her jacket.

“You can’t.”

They couldn’t go out together. Because in this human dominated city, a being with red skin was too foreign and noticeable.

“Gugaak.” (*: Butterfly ‘talking’)

Today, Butterfly clung to her without giving up easily. For Pale, the body temperature of Butterfly, who was leaning against her, made her ticklish.

‘…someone I have to protect.’

She’d thought that if there was ever such a being, it would be the [King] she would someday meet.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Guahuh.”

“Right. I’ll get you what you ate last time. Was it pizza?”

Butterfly was smart.

Although she couldn’t speak, she understood what Pale was trying to say. Even now, as soon as she heard the word pizza, she immediately let go of her hand and her eyes lit up.

“Ahoohuh.”

Then she bowed her head.

As if to say ‘go and come back’.

Pale finally let out a burst of laughter.

* * *

“…I was feeling that it was a nice morning.”

Pale muttered in a soft tone.

“I didn’t expect maggots to come squirming on a day like this.”

“…”

By maggot.

Was she referring to him? Gentleman’s expression stiffened for a moment, but he soon smiled and pointed towards his sleeve, which he was now used to being empty.

“Do you see this?”

“You don’t have an arm? Was it eaten?”

Gentleman wondered what that strange statement meant for a moment, but it felt like the dumb looking woman didn’t have any intelligence.

“Your companion cut off my arm.”

“Hmm.”

“I am a person who repays what I was given. Since you seem to not want to follow me obediently, I will give you an advanced warning. First, I’ll cut off one of your arms. Consider it a minor revenge.”

“Ah, okay.”

“…”

Both the answer and attitude were dismissive.

Gentleman no longer spoke. This unnecessary conversation would end here.

As he thought so, he gradually roused his aura.

‘I can’t underestimate her.’

The fact that she’d noticed his presence and her current relaxed attitude.

They caused him to be unwilling to think this uncomfortable woman was really a weak person. Even at that moment as she was filled with openings, he wouldn’t find it strange if she was actually concealing a hidden blade or two.

That was why Gentleman gave his all from the first move.

If there was a difference from the way he handled a real enemy, it would be that he was aiming to just take an arm instead of kill.

In other words,

Gentleman hadn’t let his guard down in the slightest.

Taht. He kicked off from the ground, closing the gap in an instant. His hand knife imbued with ki was no different from a famed sword. It probably wouldn’t even be smeared with blood.

Or at least, that would have been the case if he had cut off her arm.

Kwadang! In the next instant, even as his vision was reversed and his body crashed into the ground, Gentleman didn’t understand what had happened.

‘Huh?’

Most deaths were like that, but it was pointless to have such a thought in the face of death.

Crack, Gentleman’s face was crushed.

“Mm.”

The woman who had avoided Gentleman’s charge, stretched her foot out and tripped him, stepped on his face without hesitation.

“Although it’s a bit of a waste.”

She looked down at her right foot as if she’d stepped on ice cream that she’d dropped by accident before shaking her head.

“It’s fine since I have something more delicious now.”

Carrying the bundle in her arms, she recalled the face of the girl who was waiting for her.

Just as she was about to move away with light steps.

The smile on Pale’s face disappeared.

“—”

She looked up to the sky with an expressionless face.

Of course, what she saw wasn’t the clear blue sky. Instead, what she could see was a metallic surface, the bottom of the artificial island.

Something was about to happen.

* * *

Shortly before that, on the roof of a building not far from the Lake Hotel.

Lukas and Dok Go-yun stood beneath the sky coloured by the light of dawn.

“It’s strict.”

“It seems so.”

Dok Go-yun nodded at Lukas’ words.

He’d thought that the [Lake Hotel] would be a trap in itself.

Because, from a common sense point of view, it was not a good idea to place all the powerful people capable of devastating a planet in a matter of days in the same building.

But the moment Lukas inspected the hotel for himself, he realised that this place was not a trap.

Instead, the hotel was guarded more heavily than any other place in the city.

“It would be difficult to break in. It wouldn’t be hard to deal with the guards, but the surveillance cameras are annoying. There may also be micro cameras that we don’t know about.”

“…”

October 8th.

According to Bistrong’s report, the fake Lukas would be staying from tomorrow.

But Lukas felt that it wouldn’t be strange if the fake Lukas was already staying in the hotel.

The many presences he felt in the hotel seemed to support that belief.

That wasn’t all.

‘…they’re here.’

He could also clearly feel the presence of Diablo and the Demon King.

They didn’t try to hide their presence at all. The reason that he hadn’t sensed them until now… was probably because they were controlling the amount of energy that was radiating. Just enough so that it only covered the hotel.

In other words, those guys were declaring the [Lake Hotel] as their territory.

“What shall we do?”

It was impossible even for someone on Dok Go-yun’s level to sense it. At most, he would be able to sense the gloomy death energy that Diablo exuded.

The energy exuded by the Demon King was several levels higher than that. Even in this Great Universe, the number of beings capable of detecting his presence was extremely limited.

In other words.

‘—Yang In-hyun probably noticed their presence when he scouted most of the city before.’

His fists clenched unconsciously. And his throat became tight.

In the first place, the reason he planned to join the general review meeting was because the members of [VIP] would gather there. And the reason why he cared about VIP was because his targets Diablo and the Demon King were members.

And now, all of his targets had gathered in the Lake Hotel.

…Then what was the point of waiting till the general review meeting?

Wouldn’t it be more strategically advantageous to attack them here rather than in the uncertain variable known as the [Next Stage].

‘Those guys haven’t noticed my presence yet.’

Even if they knew, they would not have realised that they were on the verge of suffering a surprise attack. Moreover, Diablo and the Demon King didn’t know that Lukas was capable of using [void].

In other words, it wouldn’t be strange or reckless for him to carry out a surprise attack now.

However.

‘…Lucid.’

The presence of his old friend, the Black Knight, could also be felt in the hotel. Right, He would be protecting Diablo. After all, he was the King Candidate that Lucid chose. Lukas still felt that he needed to know why.

That wasn’t all.

In the Lake Hotel now, there were at least five powerful beings that even Lukas took notice of.

In all honesty, this surprised him.

It wasn’t that he had been looking down on VIP, he simply hadn’t expected them to have so many strong characters. Lukas thought the Demon King would be the strongest member of VIP, but that might not be the case.

‘If I were to attack the Lake Hotel now…?’

It would be no different from declaring war on every absolute level powerhouse staying in the hotel. That was the reason that Lukas was hesitating.

‘…it’s a shame about Yang In-hyun.’

Even if he dismissed Pale as someone he couldn’t control in the first place, if things had worked out, he might have been able to obtain Yang In-hyun’s cooperation.

Lukas felt even more bitter since he was the one who pushed the relationship to ruin, even if it wasn’t intentional.

“That…”

A cautious voice sounded.

It was Dok Go-yun, the Heavenly Demon’s proxy.

This man, of course, was a strong character who would find it difficult to find an opponent among mortals, but he would be useless if an all out war with the Lake Hotel were to begin.

Attack? Retreat?

Lukas’ indecision was probably deepened because of the fact that this was a golden opportunity.

Suddenly.

[Did you say VIP?]

The Lightning God revealed his voice after a long while.

Lukas was inwardly surprised.

The Lightning God had hardly said anything since they arrived in this city. He was silent as if he wasn’t there at all, and he didn’t respond even at the times when Lukas talked to him first, so he couldn’t help but wonder if he had really disappeared.

[I know who the founder is. Kuhaha… Be careful. He was the most powerful candidate.]

‘What?’

Lukas couldn’t help but ask back in surprise.

He knew from experience that he would never receive an answer from the Lightning God after asking again. As he expected, instead of answering, the Lightning God let out his distinctive laugh.

[You’re feeling conflicted. Let me ease your worries.]

Then, before Lukas could respond, he continued.

[Accept my power, Lukas Trowman. If my ‘Thunder’ is added to your magic, you can kill half of those absolutes with a surprise attack. Even the half that survive will suffer from extreme mental and physical paralysis for a few seconds. That means you’d gain an absolute advantage in the fight from the start…]

‘…’

[Why are you hesitating? Are you still worried about the Blue Knight? Are you afraid that her sword will be directed at you after you accept my power? I don’t understand.]

“…!”

Lukas shuddered for a moment.

He thought about from now on, the next, the future.

He had a desire to live longer, and lingering regrets.

…What did he regret?

“They’ll patrol this place soon. You should decide…”

Dok Go-yun stopped talking.

At that moment, the two men felt a chill at the same time as if cold air licked the back of their necks.

Something was coming.

Piht-

Lukas could not stop what was about to happen. No, his attempt to stop it failed.

The moment he stretched out his hand, a barrier was deployed.

Even though it was done hurriedly, the barrier was strong enough to stop even a meteor falling from the sky.

Crash!

The barrier shattered like glass.

And yet, the momentum of the projectile wasn’t reduced in the slightest and it instantly pierced its target.

“…ku-, uk.”

Dok Go-yun’s body slowly collapsed.

(TL:…well… that was a bit unexpected…)