Record of a Thousand Lives-Chapter 141

On the14th day of the journey…

TheIgyrisStorm Triangle was a dangerous place where storms never ceased raging. The magiciansfloatedin midair, drenched inrain. They had just squeezed every single bit of their mana to defeat the Great Storm, Poonchas.

Kang Yoon-Soo had swung the Great Lightning’s Staff at the soul fragments hiding in the storm. Therain hadserved as a conductor to amplify and spread the lightning from the golden staff, and sixteen fragmentshad been destroyedin an instant.

On the22nd day of the journey…

They had marchedthrough a harshblizzard to massacre countless Yetisonthe Aquile Ice Mountain. The Great Ice, Coldhan, had used all sorts of powerful Ice magic. However,Kang Yoon-Soo had unleashed seventy-four corrupted salamandershe had caught ina volcano, and the ice mountain’s climate had changed.

Coldhanhad beenexhaustedbythe heat, and was easily hunted down in the end.As theice melted,the soulfragments appearedone by one, and the magicians had hurriedly castspellstocut thefragments’ tongues off. Thefragmentscould not cast any spells, and were thus easilydisposedof by the party of magicians.

That was how Kang Yoon-Soohaddestroyed seventeen more soul fragments.

Onthe 28th day of the journey…

Kang Yoon-Soo sippedsomealcohol while sitting aloneatopa rock. The magicians were resting in a ravine deep withinamountain range.

A few of the magicians huddled up and stole a glance toward Kang Yoon-Soo.

“What are you looking at?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Ah…Itis nothing…” the magicians replied as they shrank back.

Professor Railsen coughed and cleared his throat. He wasina secluded place away from the group, along with two other magicians.He lowered his voice and said in a whisper, “I am sure that both of you are aware of what I want to say right now.”

Professor Rehond and Timero nodded with seriousexpressions.

“Let us run away. We cannot live like this,” Professor Railsen said.

“The journey will end in two days, but who knows what that madman of a magician will end up doing?” Professor Rehondadded with a scowl.

Their respect toward the Archmage had disappeared after spending numerous days with him. In fact,ithadcompletelychanged into anger and hatred.

Timero said, hisvoice filled with concern, “I am quite the easy-going type, but I am skeptical as well now. That is not the Oblion-nim I knew.”

Professor Railsen and Professor Rehond both nodded in agreement. The main reason why the three magicians had decided to run away was not simply because the journey was arduous and exhausting, but alsobecauseOblion’spersonality was so different from how hehad previously been.

“He drinks too often these days, and it is also strange that his way of speech has become too blunt. That is not at a levelthat could be explained as his personality changing; rather, itis alreadytantamount tohis soul being swapped with another person’s,” Timero said.

“Ithas felt as ifwe were going around with a demon dressed as Archmage-nim,” Professor Rehond added.

Professor Railsen nodded in agreement beforeasking, “Are you all prepared?”

“Of course,” the other two magicians replied.

However, they were surrounded by other magicians that were almost asskilled as they were, if notmoreso.There was no waythey would tryto escape without any prior preparation.

The Centaur Timero took out a leather pouch and tooksome brightly shining dust out of it, sprinkling it around and saying,, “They will not be able tosenseour mana with this.”

Professor Railsen and Professor Rehond both drew a magic circle and chanted a spell.

“Mayothers’ eyes be blindedunder the brightly shining sun, and our presencebehidden within this barren wasteland.”

Then, the three magicians suddenly disappeared from sight. They had successfully cast an invisibility spell. It was well worth their efforts to pour out their mana and preparefor several days.

“Let us now separate.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Let us be free from the hands of that demon. See you alive soon!”

The three magicians scattered—no, it was right at the momentthat they were about to scatter that…

Shwoop!

A net suddenly sprung out from underneath their feet, and the three magicians were helplessly done in by the trap as the invisibilityspellthey cast was immediately dispelled.

“Eok!”

As the three wise magicians were all tangled up with each other within the net,theysaw a young man sitting on a rock acrossfrom them.Theyoung manleisurely blew intoa leaf flute as he walked up to them.

Professor Railsen looked at the man and shouted, “Haselit!”

“That is quite a sight, professor,” Haselit said. He set aside the leaf he was blowing beforegiving them acourteous bow,thenadded, “Archmage-nim asked me to set up a magic-dispelling net over here.”

“…”

“You will not be able to use invisibility magic anymore. I will set you free, so please come with me,” Haselit said.

“A demon! That guy is a demon!” Professor Rehond screamed in despair, pullinghis hair out.

The four magicians soon returned to the camp where the other magicians werestaying.

WhileEquinn was putting jam on her bread, she looked at the menand remarked with a smirk, “Omo, did you barbecue your faces? There is a pretty checkered pattern onthem.”

Professor Railsenreplied dejectedly in a weak voice, “These are marks from the net, Lady Equinn.”

“I know.I just wanted to tease you,” Equinn said with a smile.

Haselian looked at her younger brother with utterdisappointmenton her face, grumbling, “You are too mean, Haselit.”

“What is the matter, noonim?” Haselit asked.

“How could you go and blow a leaf flute without me?”Haseliangrumbled.

“Actually, I brought one for you as well,”Haselitreplied with a smile as he took out a long leaf from his pocket.Haselian smiled and took the leaf, thenblew a clear and soothing tune from it.

“This journey will be over by the day after tomorrow,” Hawelmon said while polishing his magic hammer. They all had different ways to express their joy for the coming salvation and freedom, but Hawelmon was different. He walked away from the other magicians, looking depressed.

Haselian asked, “Haselit, why does Hawelmon hate Oblion-nim so much?”

“That is because he lost the top spot at the Academy of Magic to Oblion-nim,” Haselit replied.

“Just because of that?”Haselianasked while tilting her head in confusion.

“Is resentment not a hard liquor that has been fermented with hatred for a long period of time?”Haselit replied ambiguously.

Hawelmon walked deep into the mountain. He stepped on branchesstrewn acrossthe ground and kicked stones away with his short, stubby legs.

Suddenly, however, henoticed something. Unable to hide his shock, he asked,“Since when have you been here…?”

“Since a while ago,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo, whohad beenleisurely sipping on his alcohol while sitting atop a rockjust moments before, was suddenly sitting on a tree stumpright beforeHawelmon’seyes.

Hawelmon seemed to be in disbelief as he said, “You really aren’ttheOblionI know. There’s no way that guy would ever waste mana on something as meaningless as this.”

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Sooreadily admitted.

Hawelmon let out a sigh andsatacross from him, asking, “Then what the hell are you?”

“A regressor,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Regressor…?” Hawelmon muttered in surprise.

“Someonewhohas regressed 999 times for 20 years at a time,” Kang Yoon-Sooexplained.

“That’s crazy…” Hawelmon said.

“It is crazy,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“But why are you in Oblion’s body?” Hawelmon asked.

“This is only a trial in a worldcreated by magic,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.

Hawelmon was silent for a while,deep in thought.Eventually,he nodded and responded like a true magician, “I understand the gist of it.”

Kang Yoon-Soo brought the bottle of alcohol to his lips, and Hawelmon said with a sigh, “Give me some too.”

“I don’t want to,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“…”

“You have a bottle with you right now,” Kang Yoon-Soo added.

Hawelmon licked his lips, thentook out a bottle of hard liquor and downed it. Then, he let out a sigh once againand asked, “If this is a world generated by magic, everything should be fake, right? Including me?”

“It does not affect my ‘reality’ in any way,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“This is a philosophical problem, then,” Hawelmon muttered.He was silent for a moment beforeasking, “Then what kind of world are you from?”

“From the Sylphia Continent 345 years from now,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“How do I meet my demise?” Hawelmon asked.

“While fighting,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What a grand way to die,” Hawelmon said, andstopped asking any further questions.

Kang Yoon-Soo silently drank his alcohol as the sun started to set, and its glowblanketed the mountain.

It was then that Hawelmon bitterly smiled and said, “Revenge seems meaningless at this point…”

***

On the29th day of the journey…

There was only a day left before the time limitwould be up.

The magicians looked at a large structure floating high above the mountain peak. It was the Azure Heaven Ruin.

The ruinfloating highup in the skywas familiar to Kang Yoon-Soo; itseemed to resembleanother place. He eventually thought,‘It looks like the Temple of the Angels.’

However, the Azure Heaven Ruin was much larger than the temple where Kang Yoon-Soo had met the angels. That was only natural, as the purpose of the Temple of the Angels was only to host feasts, but this ruin housed hundreds or even thousands of monsters within it.

‘There are forty-five soul fragments in that place,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

He wouldfinally complete the second trialwhenhe destroyedall of the remaining soul fragments.

Timeroasked while lookingup at the ruin, “How do we plan to reach that place when it is floatingso high up in the sky?”

As the magicianslookedtoKang Yoon-Soo, Equinn asked, “This must be the final battle, then. What do we have to do?”

“We won’t be fighting anyone,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Huh?” Equinn exclaimed, unable to hide the surprise on her face.Did he plan to give up after coming all the way here?

Kang Yoon-Soo silently took out threestavesfrom his dimensional bag. They were the stavesthat he had obtained after killing the Great Thunder, the Great Storm, and the Great Ice.He cast a spell.“Staff Break.”

Thestaves shonebrightly beforestartingto crack.

[You haveusedthree unique-ratedstavesas an offering.]

[You have absorbed the magic powerstoredwithin thestaves.]

[Your magic power will be amplified for a short while.]

A powerful rush ofmana suddenly flowed into Kang Yoon-Soo.

[Overwhelming mana!]

[Your spells are going to be greatly amplified.]

That was not the end of it.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at the magicians, and theycould not hide their nervousness as they slowly backed away from him.Heextended his hand and muttered, “Magic Drain.”

Magic shot out from his hand and enveloped the magicians; theydid not even have the time to react and cast a defensive spell, oreven to run away.All of the other magicians collapsed and fainted.

[You have absorbed the mana of 32 magicians.]

[The magic you cast will be at its pinnacle.]

[You may use lesser spellsatzeromana cost.]

The already powerful Archmage had his magic power amplifiedseveralfold.

Kang Yoon-Soothencast the final spell.“Life Break.”

[Aonce-in-a-lifetimespell has been activated!]

[You haveoffered yourselfas tribute!]

[The sacrifice of a great Archmage!]

[Aboundless amount of mana is being channeledthroughyour body.]

[You may useanyspell you wish to use even without casting it.]

[You are now capableof annihilatingan entire city without leaving a speck of dust behind.]

[You may even be able to kill a dragon in onestrike.]

[Time will freeze for ten seconds after you exhaust all of your mana, and you will die five minutes later.]

Badump! Badump!

His heartwas beatinglike crazy.

“Hooo…”Kang Yoon-Soo exhaled.Just then, the bark slowly started to peel off the trunk of a tree in front of him.

Kwachiiiik…!

The ground underneath Kang Yoon-Soo’s feet cracked,and the air around him trembled violently. The objects around him started to disintegrate just from his presence alone.

‘I have to kill all of the remaining soul fragments at once without engaging in battle,’he thought.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked up at the Azure Heaven Ruin, thenextended his hand toward it. He did not have to chant or cast anything at all.

Kwachiiiiiiiiiiiik!

The ruinbegan to becrushed just like Hawelmon’s magic hammerhad been; this time, however, it was a much larger object up high in the sky. As the intense force compacted it,the blood of the hundreds of monsters residing in it flowed out from the cracksforming across its surface.

[You have annihilated the monsters living within the Azure Heaven Ruin.]

[You have become the fastest personever on the continentto raidanentire ruin.]

[The boss of the Azure Heaven Ruin, the JewelWyvern, hasbeen crushed into pieces.]

[The treasure at the heart of the ruin has been destroyed…]

Kang Yoon-Soo’s wrist device kept showing message after message, and he checked the last message that popped up on his wrist device.

[You have destroyed the soul fragments of the Archmage, Oblion.]

[The soul fragments have returned to their owner.]

[Remaining Soul Fragments: 1]

The soul fragments hiding inside the ruinhad beendestroyed,and yetthere was still one fragment remaining.Kang Yoon-Soo looked around the ruin.

‘There you are,’he thought as he spottedthe finalfragmentfalling from the sky with his mana-enhanced vision. Hetook a step and instantly arrived where he wanted to be.

“Keuuuh…!”Thesoulfragment groanedas itshalf-crushedbody hit the ground.It was in such a state thatit would die ifitreceivedtheslightest hit from anything.

Kang Yoon-Soo walked toward thefragment,his face void of any expressionas usual,and extended his hand towarditto kill it.

“Keuuuh…!”The soul fragment waved its broken hand in a desperate attempt to survive, but itsjawwas soseverely damaged that it could not even chant a spell.

Kang Yoon-Soo stared down at the fragmentthat appearedidentical to him.

It was then…

“Ah…”Kang Yoon-Soogroaned.His head suddenly hurt, and his heart had started to beat even harder.Hethought in confusion, ‘What’s going on…?’

He still shouldhavehad some time left before hewoulddie from theside effectsof Life Break, but his body wasalready suffering fromextreme pain and spasms. His body was trembling so much that itwasdifficult for him to even breathe.It was as if he were experiencing apanic attack from remembering something traumatic, and heended up on his knees coughing and wheezing for air.

“Keeeuuuuuh…!”The soul fragmentfledwith all its might, dragging itshalf-beatenbody away as fast asitcould.

Kang Yoon-Soowoulddie if hedidnot chaseand kill the fragment.

‘I have to move. I have to move right now…’Kang Yoon-Soo thoughtdesperately.He pressed down on his wildly throbbing forehead. He could not use any magic becauseasplitting headache came back whenever he tried to.

Ziiiing!

His wrist device vibrated loudly.

[Ten secondsremain until death.]

There was no timeleft.

Kang Yoon-Soo raised his trembling hand and aimed it at the soul fragment that was desperately crawling away from him. However, he could not do anything, as his mana scattered whenever he tried to use a spell.

‘I can’t use magic… I don’t have time to focus,’he thought.Helimped toward the fragment, but his body would not listen to him.

[Five seconds remainuntil death.]

Kang Yoon-Soo finally caught up to the soul fragment. He thought, ‘I have to kill it without using magic, but how…?’

He had no weapon with himat the moment—not even a staff. He did not have the physical power or time to kill someone with his bare hands.There was no time for him to think;he rummaged through his pockets in search of anythinghe could use to kill the half-dead soul fragment in front of him.

[One second remainsuntil death.]

Kang Yoon-Soo took out the bottle of alcohol and smashed itagainstthe soul fragment’s head.

Kwachik!

[You have cleared the second trial!]

[You have received additional rewards for killing all 217 soul fragments.]

Reward: Purple Stone

Additional Reward: You may bring one item from your next trials back to reality.