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

Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei

“Hah? You don’t know that?”

Hoffman put Lukas down a long way away from Nix. There were no signs that they were pursued.

Nix’s body was still being restrained by the Blizzard, and she looked like she was in even more pain than before.

“Apparently, all of her people were captured and killed by humans.”

“Her people…?”

“Right. So her eyes were blinded by revenge.”

Lukas wanted to ask him some more questions, but Hoffman didn’t have time for that.

“We can’t expect any more help from you, can we?”

Lukas nodded.

Yuriah had run out of mana, and Nix said she didn’t remember him.

…There was nothing else for Lukas to do in this fight.

“…”

“Unfortunately, our chances of winning aren’t very high.”

Hoffman left after saying those words. As he headed back to his teammates, his gaze turned to Eric.

Rumble-

A strange aura was rising up from his body.

It was Eric’s skill, Force Arrow.

Had it been 3 years since he’d last seen it in person?

“…he’s putting all of his energy into it.”

That bastard… He was intending to risk his life with this attack.

Hoffman’s thoughts were by no means an exaggeration.

The further Eric drew his bow back, the more his muscles trembled. Blood dripped from his bulging eyes, and the veins in his face bulged as though they were about to burst.

Nevertheless, he persevered.

In order to gather more power, even if it was only by a bit.

—Finally.

Twang.

A sharp sound rang out.

Swoosh!

Crack crack!

As the arrow flew, it tore the icy ground beneath it like paper. Shards of ice once again scattered in every direction before falling to the ground like snow. Everything in the arrow’s path was destroyed.

To put it simply, the power behind this single arrow was stronger than a normal 7-star spell.

The destination of the arrow, which was charging forward with the same momentum as a raging wave, was, naturally, the frozen Nix.

Boom!

—No one would think that was the sound of an arrow hitting its target. The nearby trees, which were hit by nothing but the shockwaves from the explosion, were all uprooted.

Lukas finally realised why Eric was the leader. It wasn’t just because of his gentle personality which helped him mediate between the members who had strong personalities.

Instead, he was clearly the strongest among the Swordnaz.

“Kyaaak!”

From the dust cloud created by the explosion came a roar that sounded like a mixture between a bird’s screech and a woman’s scream.

It was Nix’s scream.

“I think that was a good hit.”

Eric muttered in a weak voice. He blinked his tired eyes over and over.

“However, that is still not enough. Raven, Hoffman, it’ll be up to you to finish this…”

That was Eric’s last order. Afterward, he collapsed onto the ground and directly fainted.

Taht!

It was Raven who made the first move.

The developed vision of a werewolf was enough to find where Nix was struggling in the smoke.

He closed the distance in the blink of an eye and slashed at her with his claws that were sharper than most swords.

With this, he would cut off that pure white—

Fwoosh!

Raven’s thoughts were interrupted before they could go further.

Flames erupted from Nix’s body, causing a huge explosion. The force of the explosion was so great that Raven was sent flying back in the direction that he came from. Hoffman, who had appeared not long after Raven did, was also caught in the same situation.

They flew across the clearing their battle had created in the forest before crashing heavily into the treeline and falling heavily to the ground. Afterward, they remained on the ground because they had already lost consciousness.

Thud!

Sera once again slammed her shield into the ground and formed a barrier. But she wasn’t able to completely defend as she had before.

“…!”

As if they had physical force, the waves of flames smashed against the white barrier.

Jurk.

With each blow, it felt like her insides were being shaken.

“Urk…”

Sera couldn’t help but cough up a mouthful of blood.

This was dangerous. The Monster Queen had suddenly become several times more powerful than before.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t back down.

Sera grit her teeth heavily. Blood continued to spill for her lips and her consciousness felt like it was beginning to fade, but she didn’t care.

Unfortunately, her desperate defence didn’t last very long.

Crash!

Nix’s rage-filled flames shattered the shield barrier.

Just before the flames hit, Sera grabbed Yuriah and rolled across the ground.

Sera was afraid of fire. It was to the extent that she couldn’t even get close to a campfire. So, for Sera, these flames were no different from the flames of hell.

As soon as the flames hit her back, she didn’t even get a chance to scream before she passed out on the ground.

Lukas was not unharmed either.

Even though he was a fair distance away, he was still swept up in the aftermath. But this wasn’t too much of a surprise. Just the wind from Nix’s eruption was enough to uproot the trees around him, so it was natural that he was also caught up in it.

The windstorm that was formed sent him flying like a piece of garbage. He was bounced off of trees and rocks, covering him in bruises, and making his ankle, thigh, and shoulder throb. Worst of all, he could feel excruciating pain in his torso.

He was having trouble breathing, so it made him believe that he had broken a rib that was piercing one of his lungs.

“Cough…!”

Unable to bear it, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

An acrid smell filled the air.

Through the hazy smoke, he saw the five Swordnaz collapsed on the ground.

The five elites that Snow had nurtured had been rendered unconscious by Nix without being able to put up much of a fight.

“…Nix.”

Once again, he muttered the name he’d given to her.

Did she hear it?

Nix, who had been standing in the centre of the burning world, let out another scream.

“Kyaaak!”

The only thing that could be felt from that scream was indescribable pain.

Then, the staggering Nix turned to look at Lukas.

Her eyes shook slightly, and the flames surrounding her body flickered as if they would go out at any moment.

…She was weakened.

But it wasn’t because of Eric’s attack.

‘Transcendent body.’

Lukas understood. Nix was halfway to that point.

In general, it was a level that only those who had reached the peak of mortality could enter.

This was probably a miracle caused by a combination of her characteristics as a Phoenix, and Agni’s crystal, but it wasn’t necessarily a good thing for her.

This was because a strong mind was needed to control a transcendent body. Once someone reached this stage, it was possible to be resurrected dozens or hundreds of times as long as their mind remained intact. No attack would be truly fatal to them unless it threatened their ‘source of existence’.

But Nix’s mind was unstable. Her body had become transcendent, but the strength of her mind was not able to keep up. It was this deviation that made her situation so much more dangerous.

…The current Nix was weak.

Not physically, but mentally.

This was proven by her next course of action.

She let out a scream of anger and hatred before charging towards Lukas.

In other words, she simply rushed towards him with no semblance of technique or skill.

If Lukas swung the simple steel sword in his hand now, he would probably be able to kill her.

‘…I.’

He couldn’t die yet.

There were still many things that he needed to do.

That wasn’t all.

He also had the personal desire to not die without being remembered by anyone.

Nix was trying to kill Lukas.

Therefore, there was only one way for him to live.

‘Nix… I…’

Screech-

“…”

As Nix rushed towards Lukas, she began to return to her original shape as Phoenix.

—A faint memory surfaced in his mind.

In the past, a young Phoenix with an appearance identical to the one flying towards him now had saved him in the Ispania Mountains.

Just to save him, this young Phoenix had stood up to a thousand year old Drake King that was on a completely different level than her.

But.

Why was he thinking about that now?

“…Huht.”

A soft chuckle escaped his lips.

Lukas weakly stretched out his sword.

He was completely defenceless.

Nevertheless, Nix didn’t notice that.

Her broken mind and sight which was covered by a red haze made it impossible for her to make proper judgments.

‘…I can’t kill her with my own two hands.’

Right. It was an impossible task from the start.

A sad smile blossomed on Lukas’ lips.

And a moment later,

Paak—

Nix’s beak pierced Lukas.

(TL: The End… Again.)