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Chapter 4 — Lucky Day (4)
The chain-shaped lightning attack dispersed like a net in different directions and rushed toward JaeHyun.
The flow of such a fierce magic attack surpassed JaeHyun’s ability to overcome.
But for some reason, JaeHyun didn’t dodge it. He merely stared blankly at the 《Lightning Chain》 headed toward him.
Crash! Boom boom boom!
The strike reached JaeHyun. The lightning chain ripped his body over and over again.
Jeong WooMin’s attack was fierce and quick. JaeHyun gritted his teeth.
《 Lightning Chain 》 was skinning JaeHyun alive. He tried his best not to lose consciousness but fell to his knees in the end.
“Urghh!”
Vomiting blood, JaeHyun’s body swayed and rolled on the floor. The Lightning Chain filled with magic swallowed JaeHyun’s body with a domineering sound.
Szzzzzzzzzzzt!
“I really don’t understand. A father murders his wife and then his son.”
Jeong WooMin sneered as he tapped JaeHyun’s dying body with his foot.
“Isn’t it baffling? Don’t you think so too, hyung?”
Jeong WooMin slowly stepped on JaeHyun with an unchanging cold expression.
<A moment later>
When JaeHyun’s body finally became rigid and stopped moving, Jeong WooMin pulled back his magic and turned around.
Unless there was a miracle, it didn’t look as if JaeHyun would be able to move.
But at that moment.
Woo woo woo……
The ground shook and started to break apart.
Jeong WooMin furrowed his brow all of a sudden.
‘What is this magic? Min JaeHyun is probably already dead. Even—’
A flood of fierce magic was felt from behind. Jeong WooMin got goosebumps all over his body at that instant.
‘The magic is becoming more powerful.’
Jeong WooMin quickly stopped walking and took a fighting stance.
As he thought, the mana was flowing from JaeHyun’s body. Shining with a blue light, the life energy wrapped itself around his dying body.
Jeong WooMin’s face stiffened. JaeHyun’s body was wriggling.
“What is…… happening right now?”
Jeong WooMin shook his head and gathered his magic in his hands once again. He chanted the spell for 《 Lightning Chain 》.
This time, instead of casting silently, he chanted the spell out loud. He planned to end JaeHyun’s life in a single strike with a stronger attack.
‘I have to end it for sure this time.’
He didn’t know why, but he strongly felt this to be necessary. Jeong WooMin quickly finished casting and got ready to send the attack toward JaeHyun.
Whooooong…
Magic words that an ordinary person couldn’t read were written in the air and soon started gathering in Jeong WooMin’s hand.
<A moment later>
The words meshed with Jeong WooMin’s magic and turned into chains shining with a yellow light.
Swoosh!
“Please die for real this time.”
The lightning attack flew from Jeong WooMin’s hand to JaeHyun’s body.
However—
JaeHyun didn’t dodge this time either. He gazed blankly at the attack rushing toward him.
Then, seeing JaeHyun’s face, Jeong WooMin became puzzled.
‘A soon-to-be-dead person is… smiling?’
Words that he couldn’t understand flowed out of JaeHyun’s blood-filled mouth.
“……Equip — 《 Odin’s Lost Eye 》.”
一 The item 《 Odin’s Lost Eye 》 has been equipped.
一 The item has been bound to the user.
“I know. I can’t sell you anymore.”
一 The active skill 《 Universal Derivation 》 has been acquired through the equipping of 《 Odin’s Lost Eye 》.
Together with the system’s notification, Jeong WooMin’s attack reached JaeHyun’s body.
To be precise, it seemed like it would reach him.
Whooong……! Clink!
Jeong WooMin’s expression intensified. He yelled, unable to understand what had happened in front of his eyes.
“H-how could this happen?! The mana…… dispersed?!”
The 《 Lightning Chain 》 that had been rushing toward JaeHyun had been completely destroyed and dispersed like sand. The remnants of the magic floated around JaeHyun.
JaeHyun looked at Jeong WooMin’s terrified face and raised his right arm.
“Jeong WooMin.”
一 A new skill has been acquired.
一 Showing skill information.
[Active Skill]
Name: Universal Derivation
Rating: EX
Stat: —
Analyses and deconstructs a spell’s structure to understand and eradicate it.
1. Reverse engineers a spell to its base form and destroys it.
2. The mana consumed by destroying a spell with 《 Universal Derivation 》 changes based on rank.
“I’ll kill you as painfully as possible.”
JaeHyun’s left eye was imbued with a golden light in an instant.
一 The effect of 《 Odin’s Lost Eye 》 has been activated.
一 A blank card has been used.
一 Copying the skill 《 Lightning Chain 》.
He heard the clear sound of the notification. Soon, a yellow lightning attack started to form on the right arm JaeHyun had raised. It was a spell exactly the same as Jeong WooMin’s 《 Lightning Chain 》.
Jeong WooMin’s eyebrows creased fiercely.
‘How can a mere Warrior copy my 《 Lightning Chain 》!’
Jeong WooMin stared with confusion at JaeHyun who stood before him.
Giving off a different aura from a moment ago, he was overflowing with intense mana.
But the most surprising thing was that JaeHyun had Jeong WooMin’s spell 《 Lightning Chain 》 wrapped around his arm.
It was magic that took Jeong WooMin, someone considered a genius, several years to learn.
Moreover, JaeHyun was a combat raider.
So how was he able to use a high-level spell such as 《 Lightning Chain 》?
At the incomprehensible situation, Jeong WooMin bit his lips.
“I don’t know how you can use such a high-level spell… but do you think you can win against me with just that?”
Then, JaeHyun’s silence broke as he slowly opened his mouth to speak.
“I don’t know. If I can or cannot.”
JaeHyun smiled slightly.
“You decide for yourself.”
The 《 Lightning Chain 》 which had been expanding with fierce magic left JaeHyun’s hand and quickly rushed toward Jeong WooMin.
The attack was several times faster than the one Jeong WooMin had shot a few moments ago.
“Keuhuk!”
Jeong WooMin quickly gathered up his mana and opened a protective shield against JaeHyun’s attack.
‘Damn! This is……’
Crash! Bang!
Narrowly escaping the attack, Jeong WooMin glared at JaeHyun from across the chamber while breathing heavily.
‘It’s more powerful than my spell……!’
***
Boom! Boom! Crash!
JaeHyun’s attacks fell without a moment of rest. Jeong WooMin used his shield to parry the chains and looked for JaeHyun’s blindspot. But JaeHyun’s strikes were unbelievably fast.
JaeHyun was using up his life energy to attack. It was truly like the work of a devil.
Then at last—
JaeHyun’s chain was faster than Jeong WooMin’s shield and went through.
‘Damn! I can dodge thi—’
Swoosh!
Four chains flew toward Jeong WooMin. In such a perilous situation, he was unable to dodge JaeHyun’s attack in the end, and his body was pierced through by the chains.
Jeong WooMin became unable to move, and JaeHyun walked toward him.
“Keuk! Keuheuk!”
Jeong WooMin struggled against the chains, but JaeHyun—seemingly not wanting to listen to him any longer—lowered his raised arm.
Swoosh!
The sound of a chain was heard as it rushed through the air and pierced through Jeong WooMin’s chest.
“Keuheuk!”
A strike that accurately aimed for the heart.
After a short moment, Jeong WooMin’s body lost all strength.
“Everything…… is over.”
Although he won the fight, JaeHyun’s situation wasn’t all that good.
Having used up all of his mana to attack Jeong WooMin, he didn’t have even a single drop of mana left in his body. His stamina had also been used up, so he couldn’t move at all.
“I just got a Mythic item…… yet I’m about to die in vain like this.”
His luck did seem really good lately.
JaeHyun calmly accepted his fate and closed his eyes.
Death.
He had been forced to stare such a fearsome death in the eye numerous times while working as a raider.
But now that he was facing it for real,
‘It’s so cold.’
Under his hazy consciousness and the depths of the dungeon, JaeHyun closed his eyes.
一 A new operating system has been downloaded. Would you like to run it?
***
一 Once the new operating system is run, all injuries will be healed and time will be regressed to the period the user most desires.
A strange voice from an unknown source was heard just before he lost consciousness.
As his mind became hazy, JaeHyun could not tell if the sound he was hearing was real or a hallucination.
But he clearly understood one thing that the voice wanted to convey.
“You’re… saying you can…… save me?”
He had to make the decision before he lost his consciousness forever. JaeHyun squeezed out all the strength remaining in his body and mumbled at the voice ringing in his head.
‘Regress… was it? I don’t know what that means, but…’
“Okay. Run it.”
The moment the words fell from JaeHyun’s lips, his body simultaneously fell to the floor.
一 The new operating system 《 Nornir System 》 has been run.
一 From now on, you are the 《 Adversary 》 of the high-and-mighty Aesir.
一 Acquired the passive skill 《 Absolute Eye of God 》.
一 The Gods against the Aesir are watching you.
***
一 Reverted time to the period desired by the user.
一 The current date is November 15, 2020.
一 ……succeeded in recovering 20% of your body’s status. The restriction on non-combat activity has been removed.
一 New quest 《 Rest is the mother of success! 》 has been accepted automatically.
As he stopped feeling the tightening in his chest, JaeHyun opened his eyes.
“Huh?”
And in the next moment, he fell into deep confusion.
“What on earth… is this situation?”
JaeHyun sat up and looked around the bed he had been laying on.
A comfortable bed and pillow. A warm atmosphere and room arrangement and the faint scent of coffee in the air. A pair of old but still-wearable pajamas. The uniform he wore in middle school hung up on the wall.
It was strange. He was sure that a moment ago, he was dying after fighting against Jeong WooMin.
JaeHyun pressed his temples with his thumbs to ward off his headache as he mumbled.
“Ha… Am I dreaming right now? I’m sure this is the old house we used to live in……”
But the thing he found hardest to believe was the quest window in front of his eyes.
[Sub-Quest]
Rest is the mother of success!
You are a critical patient who miraculously survived. Get enough rest to fully recover.
一 Restore Vitality up to 80%.
Level: F
Vitality: 28/140
Reward: blank card ｘ 1
“It’s not enough that I returned over 10 years back, there’s also a quest window?”
‘There were originally no quest windows in the Aesir System.’
JaeHyun stared blankly at the status window floating in the air. He started to organize his thoughts to understand the situation he was facing.
‘Let’s start from the beginning. First, I didn’t die in the fight against Jeong WooMin. The reason is?
Surely, it’s because of the new system. Thanks to it, I’ve also returned to the past.’
Although it was hard to believe, JaeHyun accepted it right away.
It was a mentality trained beforehand from the appearance of Yggdrasil and monsters in 2011.
It wasn’t his first time experiencing such a weird situation, and if there was one thing JaeHyun had learned from going through circumstances like the current one—
It was the fact that quickly assimilating and making decisions was the most important.
‘If the information told by the system is correct, it is 11 years in the past. The time I was in 3rd-year middle school.’
一 Reverting of time to the period most desired by the user has succeeded.
一 The operating system has successfully changed to 《 Nornir System 》.
A notification rang once more.
“Nornir…… Is that the name of the new system? Honestly, I don’t know what the hell any of this means… However.”
JaeHyun thought again and again. What he was experiencing right now was a continuation of circumstances he couldn’t understand.
The betrayal by his father and Jeong WooMin. His mother’s death 5 years ago. A new operating system and returning to the past. Circumstances that didn’t readily connect together.
“One thing is certain.”
JaeHyun clenched his fists as he looked at the calendar on his desk. There, November 16 was encircled and a small reminder was written.
He did not have to read it. JaeHyun already knew what it said.
Application Day for Millaes Academy!
PS: Must become a Warrior!
For the past several years, JaeHyun had regretted the choice he had made that day.
The application day for Millaes Academy. The time he gave up being a Magician—which he had the talent for—and chose Warrior, a path he was ill-suited for.
JaeHyun’s mouth tilted up into a smile. He erased the bottom line written on the calendar with a pen as he spoke.
“I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
It was a priceless chance he gained again.
JaeHyun planned to be a Magician this time.
____