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chapter 49




‘What the hell is he?’
Lukes looked at Frey with a surprised gaze.
Even though he was a 7 star wizard, he couldn’t be older than thirty.
It was surprising, but it was not exactly impossible. He had seen a few people in the circle who had ridiculous talents.
The reason why Lukes was shocked was not because of Frey’s talent. Instead, it was the composure that he was displaying.
Hm…’
Lukes had seen a few geniuses before and felt that he knew more about them than other people.
Basically, they were arrogant.
They might not think so, but to Lukes who had a lot of experience, there was always a flaw that he could find.
Whether it was carelessness stemming from their hubris or from their lack of hands on experience, there were always flaws.
But Lukes couldn’t find any of that now.
Frey did not show any carelessness.
There wasn’t even space for him to insert a needle. It was ridiculous.
Furthermore, Frey was a child who didn’t even have wrinkles on his face. He was at an age where he couldn’t have much real life experience.
‘This…it’s like I’m dealing with an old Archmage!’
As long as he had the divine power, the fact that his opponent was a 7 star Archmage made no difference.
In fact, with the power of his lightning, even if three Archmages tried to face him, they would still not be enough. After all, he was once an Archmage before becoming the Demigod’s Apostle. (TL: *cough* slave *cough*)
Therefore he knew the strengths and weaknesses of wizards.
He knew dozens of ways that he could use that information to improve the war situation or to even pressure the opponent.
But Frey seemed to always be one step ahead of him.
‘Am I really losing this fight?’
Lukes had no choice but to admit it.
Otherwise, there was no reason to explain why he couldn’t take down a single Archmage, two Dark Elves and Floor Master.
Boom Boom Boom!
The Flame Balls crashed down once again.
The spell couldn’t break through the Lightning Barrier but Lukes couldn’t help but have a bad feeling inside.
He could tell just by listening to these sounds that the power of this magic had already surpassed that of a 7 star wizard.
Without the lightning barrier, he would have already been covered in blood.
Lukes kept an eye on Frey’s behavior and paid attention to his seemingly unending attacks.
‘He is deliberately using loud spells. Is he trying to hold my attention?’
So what was his real purpose?
Lukes turned his focus to Mikel’s team, who were moving in their formation.
They tried to hide it, but he was able to feel that the mana around them was shaking. It felt like wind attributed mana.
Lukes’ eyes flashed.
“These guys! They’re thinking of getting rid of the thunderclouds with wind spells!”
Bang!
At that moment the strength of the thunderstorm seemed to have doubled in strength.
Frey clicked his tongue.
‘He figured it out faster than I expected.’
Perhaps because he had been a former wizard, but it was difficult for them to completely conceal their intentions for long.
Frey didn’t think that he was in any position to conserve his mana anymore.
The most powerful spells he could use at the moment were from the fire and water attributes.
However, water attribute spells would have a disadvantage against the power of lightning.
Therefore there was only one option left.
Kooo.
Mana began soaring rapidly around Frey. Thousands of red threads seemed to be flying around him.
Lukes, who had been focusing on Mikel’s group, let out an involuntary shiver.
“Th-, that much mana! Newbie! Who the hell are you?”
Frey didn’t answer him.
The spell that he was preparing to use boasted the highest destructive power among all 7 star spells.
Frey wanted to maximize the damage caused by this spell as much as possible.
Lukes swung his hand.
Boom!
A thunderbolt struck down from the sky and spears made of lightning formed within the thunderstorm before flying toward him.
But just before the attacks hit, Frey opened his mouth.
“Lava Blast.”
Boom Boom Boom!
There was a huge explosion, followed by Lukes’ screams as he felt the horrific pain of his right hand getting burned.
“Kuaack!”
Pain?
Was he feeling pain right now?
This was the first time since he had become an Apostle. Lukes couldn’t even believe that his lightning barrier had been breached.
Lukes bit his lower lip so hard that it bled in an effort to forcibly keep control of his mind which felt like it would fly away because of the intense pain.
‘Lava Blast! This spell is dangerous!’
His right arm was already almost completely gone, but he could feel the heat spreading from that area.
At this rate, his body would soon be covered in horrific burns and he would lose his ability to control the lightning.
With a fierce look on his face, Lukes cut off the rest of his right hand with a thunderbolt.
“K-, kuh…you…through the lightning barrier.”
It was something that was so powerful, that it could never be breached with 7 star magic.
However, there was something that Lukes couldn’t know.
Frey’s fire magic had been boosted by several times by the consumption of the elixir, and his power had then been amplified by the Staff of the Great Sage.
Frey wasn’t in a good condition either. Instead, he felt incredibly dizzy at that moment.
Not only that.
‘My nervous system is overheating.’
He couldn’t use magic at the moment in his current condition.
It felt good to smash the lightning barrier and actually hit him, but now he wouldn’t be able to use magic for a few minutes.
However, that didn’t mean that his ability to continue fighting had completely disappeared.
Frey assumed the posture that he’d learned from the Magic Warrior King.
“You…!”
Lukes shook the one hand that he had left and lightning began arcing over his fingertips.
‘It’ll be too late even if he sees this attack coming and tries to avoid it.’
However, he didn’t know that Frey was paying attention to his fingers.
Papapat.
“…!”
As Frey avoided a series of successive lightning strikes, Lukes’ eyes widened.
The moves that he’d just displayed were so fast that he could not believe they were done by a wizard.
Lukes could not even begin to imagine the identity of the man in front of him.
A 7 star Archmage, with skills and composure that didn’t match his age and was skilled at magic martial arts?
“What the hell are you…!”
“I’m human.”
“You, are you really human like me?”
“Don’t misunderstand.”
“What?”
“You’re not human.”
Frey quickly narrowed the distance to Lukes.
The lightning barrier was still recovering, and as long as he was close enough, then it would be easy to attack through the gap.
Paak!
“Urk!”
Frey’s fist hit Lukes’ chin.
Crack.
The sensation of his jawbone becoming like powder was vividly felt.
If it was an ordinary person, then they would have long since lost consciousness from that one blow.
And they’d live the rest of their lives only able to eat porridge.
It was a truly sad life, but Frey would not feel any pity for the man in front of him.
Paak!
Paak!
Paak!
Frey’s attacks slowly hit Lukes. These were not light hits at all.
There was a lot of weight behind each blow.
Frey didn’t know how long this man had been an Apostle, but he knew that he would have lived most of his life as a wizard. So he wouldn’t have much experience when it came to close combat fighting.
As Frey expected, Lukes was unable to make any proper situational judgement because his brain had been shaken.
Of course, this positive situation didn’t last for long.
Crackle.
At that time, the lightning barrier recovered fully and a lightning bolt repelled Frey harshly.
Frey’s body flew dozens of meters away because of the tremendous shock before landing on the ground.
“Ugh…”
He hit his head hard on the ground.
He felt blood on his head and it seemed that he had been cut on his forehead.
Did he bite his tongue?
He could also taste both soil and blood in his mouth.
Frey looked at Lukes while spitting out the bloody mess.
His appearance was terrible enough that calling him a wreck didn’t seem to be enough, he was incredibly hideous to look at.
“I won’t…forgive…”
It was great that he could even say so much with his smashed jaw.
Although the pronunciation was a bit off and it was more raspy, it was not hard to understand what he said.
Frey inwardly praised Lukes for his mental power.
Every time his chin moved, he would definitely feel a horrific pain.
“It’s already too late.”
“What…?”
“We’ve won.”
Fwoosh.
At that moment a heavy torrent of air flew into the sky.
Frey’s eyes shined at the sight.
‘Howling Tempest.’
It held great power.
This was natural. Three people had been casting the spell together for a few minutes, it would instead be strange if it didn’t have at least this level of power.
The thunderclouds were swept away by the powerful winds and at the same time, the lightning barrier that had been protecting Lukes faded before disappearing completely.
Lukes fell to his knees with a blank look on his face.
“Th-, this. Th-, this doesn’t make any sense.”
The thunderstorm faded away and the sun’s rays once again reached the ground.
Frey did not take his eyes off of Lukes who had his head bowed in exhaustion.
“We won!”
Liamson shouted in delight. Camille simply let out a sigh of relief. And Mikel had mixed feelings.
“Honor Lukes…it didn’t have to be like this.”
Frey walked slowly to Honor Lukes, who was drooling with dazed eyes.
“I…an Apostle like me lost…”
“…Lukes, why did you betray us?”
Lukes glanced at Mikel before letting out a crazed laugh.
“H-, huhuhu. You don’t want to know. Anyone who sees them with their own eyes is bound to be discouraged. Circle? Inherited the wills of the heroes? So what? In the end, humans are only mortals.”
“So you chose to wag your tail? You chose to give up your pride as a wizard and your duty as a member of the Circle to become a dog?”
As Liamson looked at him in contempt, Lukes simply shook his head.
“You…you all don’t know anything!”
His mad eyes turned to Frey.
“Compared to them the powerful humans are nothing but bugs! But they don’t treat us like bugs! He promised me salvation! He said that he would evolve humans into a higher existence! D-, do you see?! You are the ones that are truly hindering the progress of mankind!”
“Maybe there’s a Demigod like that.”
Frey said these words coldly which caused Lukes to shiver involuntarily. Even the light of madness within his eyes seemed to be stalled by the anger he could feel.
“There might be a Demigod who thinks as you said, wants to develop and wants to protect humans. But do you really think it’s because of their love for humans? Do you think they reached out because they truly want to understand humans?”
“Th-, that’s right…!”
“You are the one who knows nothing.”
Crik.
Frey ground his teeth together.
“For the Demigods, this is all just a game. They just enjoy raising and developing humans as a form of entertainment. So what do you think will happen when the game has ended? What do you think will happen to that advanced civilization when they finally lose interest?”
“H-, hik…”
As Frey stepped forward, Lukes backed away. Nevertheless, Frey didn’t stop.
“They will overturn the game. It’s more accurate to say that they would reset it. The transcendental beings are the fences with promises of progress and the future. That sounds great.
But you have to think about what will happen once the Demigods grow tired of being the ‘Guardians’ of humanity or they become bored. What would happen to the race that obeys them?”
Frey had once tried to understand the Demigods before.
There was a time when he really believed that there might be good ones among them who were really looking out for the human race.
But there wasn’t.
For them, everything was entertainment.
How many civilizations and races had disappeared in their hands?
Even if you were bored enough to count, you would not be able to do so before you became dust.
The Demigod’s whispers were lies.
They probably don’t even know that they completely cheated the humans.
Crackle.
A flame appeared above Frey’s hand.
Mikel was startled and stopped him.
“Wh-, what are you doing?”
“We cannot leave him. We have to end it here.”
Capture was only possible when you could afford to do it.
Frey had no confidence in his ability to capture Lukes while dealing with his unknown divine power.
Of course, it would be more efficient to capture, torture and extract information from him, but the risk was too high.
Frey had no intention of gambling.
“You don’t have to do that , do you? He’s already lost his will to fight. You’re not making good judgements because you are angry.”
“Come now Floor Master Mikel. Who do you think is the one not properly judging the situation right now?”
“Wh-, what?”
Frey’s cold eyes turned to Mikel.
“You’re still looking at him as Lukes, the Deputy Tower Master. How many humans do you think he killed to become an Apostle? I’m sure you’ve forgotten the scene in Holbridge.”
“But…” (TL:…really dislike Mikel right now…he’s useless and stupid…)
It was then.
Lukes, who had been silent until now, grabbed a hold of Mikel’s wrist in an instant. (TL:…see…I called it…)
Mikel and Lukes had been so close, that Frey, who was paying attention to his movements, wasn’t able to react in time.
“Mr. Lukes?! This, what…”
“I will take you and you and you down with me!”
“Uh!”
“Damn. Get away!”
Frey grabbed the napes of both Liamson and Camille before activating his Typhoon Earrings.
Boooom!
A huge explosion sounded immediately after.
(Note: I saw the name ‘Lucques’ today and I felt like it would have been a much better choice, but it’s too late to change it, bummer.)