Chapter 580. Eventually

‘So you’ve finally shown up.’

The culprit who caused the Dungeon Shock in this world seemed to be crawling up from that passage at the very bottom.

‘Sigh.’

The task this Grand Archmage had to perform from now on was obvious.

‘I really hate this!’

I was sick and tired of it. The mere thought of it made me shudder with annoyance. But perhaps the soul of a lifeform like me was fated this way from the very beginning.

‘I really hope this is the last time. Ah, of course, I don’t mean the end of my life.’

To think that a mage who crossed the galaxy just to become an unemployed slacker ultimately had to commit the atrocious act known as 『going to work』. To make matters worse, they say a thick layer of snow will fall on the nearby area today. As a rule, one feels even less like working when there is an abnormal weather event.

***

Woowoowoong.

Inside the space of light that emitted a hollow sound. A shadow emerged from within.

—Splat.

As if flaunting his cephalopod origins, the uninvited guest who tore through space boasted sticky footsteps. Furthermore, with just a few movements of his tentacles, his massive physique already dominated the surroundings.

—Crack, craaack.

The advent of the Ancient Mage. On the foot extended by that faceless thing, for some reason, rotten fabrics were wound around tightly, making noise. The alien, possessing a physique so massive it made a tall specter look like a joke, was even wearing an outer garment this time.

Consequently, his appearance strayed even further from the category of a living creature.

—Craaack!

The appearance of the Ancient Mage now merely looked like a massive amount of black oil bursting from the ground. Unlike the clean appearance he had shown on Alphauri, the creature—whose entire body had somehow become tattered—soon settled on the floor. He exhaled as he adapted to the gravity of the planet called Earth.

—Sshhhhhhh.

But the problem was that the sound of his breathing was weak, like a balloon with a hole in it.

—Huuu.

This side was already in a definite state near death. The power of [Gaia] that the Great Archmage had sent underground had taken full effect. If it had simply stayed holed up on the perishing ocean planet, this side might still have been able to extend its lifespan a bit more.

However, there is originally no great meaning in the act of merely maintaining a life without hope.

—Bubble, bubble.

The mana of [Gaia] had also clawed through the regions of his brain responsible for vocalization. Thus, the Ancient Mage could no longer even speak a single proper word, but even so, his mind was still actively racing.

His chest was now filled with uncontrollable questions.

Was it true that the Alphaurins collapsed on their own? Why are the Earthlings continuing their lives? Observing them all this time, the natives of Earth were no different in being overflowing with selfishness and greed. The Ancient Mage evaluated that the humanity of the blue star was simply living because they were lucky.

If this was the truth, he could not leave Earth as it was.

—Perhaps....

Perhaps. Because you too might end up in the same wretched state as us later.

Once they realized the world was perishing, hell arrived for animals from that moment on. The past three thousand years were truly a painful time. Therefore, uprooting civilization from this blue land might actually be a righteous deed. Because if things continued like this, their brothers in the distant universe would fall into the same grief. If he killed everyone now while nothing had happened yet, humanity would definitively find peace.

The thoughts that followed were deeply anti-natalist and, on the other hand, merely a miserable rationalization. In truth, the Ancient Mage had come here out of a purely evil and stubborn heart. He soon revealed a contradictory attitude. He wanted to draw out the true nature of the creatures here by inflicting wanton pain on strangers. If humans showed a repulsive side in the face of disaster...

And if they eventually became similar to the Alphaurians, then dying and disappearing along with the blue star would feel truly valuable.

A mage constantly moved the outer edges of his body.

A fresh S-rank body obtained by coaxing an entity like Brooklyn Morgan. And since there were numerous incomplete psychic corpses created by leaking the solution to the awakening phenomenon, creating a massive skin like the one he wore now was a simple task.

The magic master who had ruled a planet was in possession of a high-performance body on a level incomparable to general prototypes. In other words, the skin would not easily break even if he used high-level magic to some extent.

Therefore, you see.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.

The last magic master from the binary star system soon expressed his stubbornness in a mystical form. He duplicated all the new-type monsters he had intended to use during Earth’s second Dungeon Shock and sent them out through the gate. For the record, not much magical power was consumed in this process.

Alphauri was, ultimately, a civilization built upon the labor of [Golems]. And the greatest advantage of those dolls that had spent half a lifetime with mages was simple. These earthen subordinates could maintain their forms very easily as long as the materials were prepared in advance.

Beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep.

From somewhere, sounds like an alarm urging one to wake up erupted in succession.

“Whoa...”

The human who first perceived this sound spat out an exclamation without realizing it.

—Beep.

The view of a specific monitor detecting the appearance of monsters or gates suddenly changed shockingly.

“It's all red dots.”

“So it's confirmed they're S-ranks?”

“Looking at those dots moving makes me want to throw up.”

When a person gets goosebumps, the skin on their arms often becomes bumpy like a chicken's. And the screen they were currently staring at happened to look like that. On the large monitor of the Hunter Association, red dots indicating the locations of dangerous beasts poured out.

“Section Chief! Each dot has scattered at high speed; I think the monsters just used [Teleportation]!”

“In neighboring countries, including the sea, at least two dots have stopped, and in our country, one entity signal is in the capital. But the detailed coordinates are... above. In the air!”

Feeling a sudden sense of pressure from the signals filling the screen. Even so, the civil servants there maintained their composure as much as possible. Of course, the situation was the same for the news anchors at the broadcasting stations preparing for breaking news.

Because from now on, depending on a single word from those at the center of disaster management, damage to citizens could vary.

“I have reported the appearance locations to the S-rank hunters.”

The technology Earthlings had built up in the meantime was no less than magic. They grasped the locations of the appearing beasts in just one second and disseminated them via communication.

.

.

.

However, I didn't expect the form of the monster encountered at the scene to be like this.

“Uh...”

Soon, a specific hunter arrived at the scene in question.

—Boom!

“Aaaaah!”

“Ack!”

“Citizens, this way! Run!”

A few minutes later.

The once-quiet city center quickly turned into a war zone.

“Is that the monster they talked about on the news?”

“Ha, damn it. What crime did we commit by just protecting the hometown where we were born? Why do those beasts appear here every chance they get?”

A fluttering sound echoes from the sky. But the thing that appeared had far too many wings to be called a bird. Furthermore, a monster that seemed to have more eyeballs than necessary finally revealed its majesty. In fact, the form of the new monster was very massive…

“What on earth are those eyeball monsters? Do hunters live seeing things like that every day?”

…sphere.

Except for the eerie eyes covering the beast’s body and the numerous wings, it looked like a flying golf ball at first glance. In any case, the originators of the Dungeon system would have copied religious symbols at critical moments. To instill fear in humans, the Ancient Mage had inherited the biological traits of the Gisimche exactly as they were.

“Aaargh! The building, the building!”

“The [Telekinesis] psychics on site will block the debris. Don’t worry about it and run!”

By the way, wings are usually not used for that kind of role… Indeed, fitting for a fake hastily made through [Golem Creation] magic, something that looked like a living creature at a glance wildly swung parts of its own body irrationally.

—Thud!

The monster used its heavy wings like swords to haphazardly grind down the surrounding buildings.

Step.

However, around the time the monster was in the midst of its rampage. A new figure appeared among the collapsing building debris. The person, dressed neatly in a white coat, approached with quick steps and quietly raised one hand.

—Chzzzt.

This was the mental concentration activity unique to Earth’s mages. Though the gesture shown by the man was nothing but simple, the phenomenon that subsequently appeared in reality was too intense for human eyes to fully capture.

—Whooooosh!

Blue flames soon soared to the sky above the city. The blue fire created by a specific psychic wrapped around the enemy’s entire body as if it were alive, leaving the beast unable to move an inch. For the record, in the current Republic of Korea, there was only one psychic capable of such an act.

‘No new radio transmissions are coming from headquarters.’

The black-haired man rolled his eyes to survey the scene.

‘The monster production ended as a single event… Then, as expected, did things go well over ‘there’ according to Hunter Kim’s wishes?’

Jeong Haseong. This man was a psychic who sincerely respected the person who had scammed him several times. Thus, even now, he thought of his master first, but a magical beast with a terrifying form was exuding power right in front of him.

In other words, it was a situation where the beast’s presence could not possibly be ignored. Jeong Haseong regained his composure and took action.

“Hunter Seo!”

For now, blocking the monster’s advance was the priority. Still, the S-rank hunters of South Korea happened to have “unmanned attack means” useful for analyzing the enemy.

“Ye-yes. I’ve arrived too.”

“It’s been confirmed that it reacts to the flames, but as expected, this alone doesn’t deal much damage to that beast.”

“No. I don’t even have a clue where the weakness is… Should we try pouring in various other means during the initial phase?”

Rattle.

The psychic, holding a book in one hand, continued.

“Leave it to me. As long as I have enough stamina, the [Book of Annihilation] can be used up to two times without a hitch!”

“I will provide cover while the artifact is in use.”

It wouldn’t be strange if the artifact she was currently holding was treated as a national treasure like Justitia. The [Book of Annihilation] was of that precious Legendary rank.

‘Let’s see. Our Giryeo-ssi told me to save the number of uses until a serious crisis.’

However, no matter how good an item is, it has no meaning if the owner merely treasures it.

‘In my opinion, a situation where innocent citizens are dying in heaps on the street is a big enough crisis.’

Esther intended to use the Legendary-rank artifact as the signal flare for the start of the battle.