The Game of the Greatest Black Mage-Chapter 172

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[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 172

A question bloomed in Sibren's mind as he began to struggle violently.

Anything to get away.

However, he could not escape the crimson moon above or the hands of the abyss below.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!!

A crimson flash rained down, pouring over Sibren's head like a baptism.

The hands of the abyss held the thrashing Sibren firmly, refusing to let go.

Facing the utterly unavoidable strike, Sibren felt his mind go blank.

He timed his escape for the very moment the abyssal hands began to recede into the depths and dodged out of the way.

As he moved, a thought solidified in Sibren's mind.

'I can escape.'

At first, he had wondered if it was even possible to flee from such overwhelming power.

But thinking about it now, the answer was simple.

'My enemies need to capture me alive.'

How did he breach the city's defenses?

How did he slip past their surveillance network?

To learn such things, they would need to capture and torture him.

If they were outsiders, they must have received a mission to obtain that information.

It was a logical conclusion.

Convinced of this, Sibren began to move with the sole purpose of escaping.

Trying to kill his enemies would be incredibly difficult.

The chances of breaking through their coordination to harm even one of them were remarkably low.

But escaping was a different story.

"Kiyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Sibren opened his maw wide, preparing to unleash another breath attack.

The witch who had sealed his mouth was gone, and the stitches had vanished.

Just as he was about to spew his wave of venom, Nocturnium, Serphina, and Helena walked out leisurely from deeper within the sewer.

Was this a display of their will, showing they would never let him escape?

Sibren narrowed his eyes at them, considered who to target, and then unleashed his wave of venom—not at the trio who had just appeared, but at Balthar.

Fiora wasn't there at the moment, and the other three had already proven they could block his poison wave.

Just as he could use a skill to unleash his venom again, they might have their own means to block it.

His aim was to take out Balthar, the annoying close-quarters fighter.

Chwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!!

The wave of venom spewed from Sibren's maw and rushed toward Balthar.

Just then, Fiora suddenly appeared in front of him, transforming into a turtle encased in a crystal shell to defend against the poison.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!

Balthar, in turn, grabbed the turtle-like Fiora and used her as a shield to block the venom. In that instant, Sibren’s eyes shot wide open.

Was it because they had defended against his attack?

Of course not.

Sibren's pupils narrowed into slits.

From the seams between his scales, a purple mist began to pour out.

Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii—!!!

The purple poison mist instantly enveloped the entire area around the sewer entrance.

The damage from the poison would be immense, so they would surely be forced to retreat.

He would use that chance to escape.

Serphina could probably blow the poison mist away with her wind, but Sibren would be able to escape in the meantime.

If their intention was to kill him, they could have simply filled the mist with attacks to stop him, but he judged the probability of that to be extremely low.

They needed to capture him, after all.

Ssssss—!

Within the poison mist, Sibren changed his body back to its original size and prepared to flee.

But in that moment...

Fwip.

The crisp sound of a page turning echoed.

Then, an unknown voice was heard.

“Hmm, this skill will do nicely.”

Sibren, who could see through his own poison mist, saw it.

He could see that their number, which had been only five, had now grown to six.

And the newly appeared man leisurely reached out his hand toward a book floating in the air.

And then...

A grand magic, long lost to the world, was about to be unleashed.

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Sibren thought.

'...Are they trying to kill me?'

Even for Sibren, whose emotions were so suppressed he could not feel fear, his body trembled uncontrollably at the sight of the Reaper-like figure before him.

He had to run.

But if he left the poison mist, the other five would surely get him. If he stayed here, this man who looked like the Reaper himself would get him.

Cornered on all sides.

He had to choose one.

Sibren decided to remain in the poison mist and face the Reaper-like man's attack.

They would never kill me.

He trusted his mind and his reasoning more than his instincts.

In that instant...

The grand magic that had been lost to the world manifested once again, unleashed by the hands of the Reaper-like man, Seonghyun.

Crack, crackle, craaaackle.

It was a freezing sound, the kind one might hear in the dead of a silent winter.

But this was no frigid winter landscape; it was a city where such cold could not exist.

A city that only ever knew the mild weather of a warm spring or summer day.

Could one truly hear the sound of something freezing in a place like this?

Puzzled by the noise, Sibren started to turn his head.

But.

Hwooooooooosh!!!

Swaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!!

A blizzard raged, bleaching the inside of the poison mist completely white.

No.

Tuk, tuduk, tuk.

The particles of the poison mist were freezing solid and falling to the ground.

Frozen and mixed in with the blizzard, the poison could no longer float.

What in the world was happening?

Sibren couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

He couldn't even comprehend what was happening to him.

His head was frozen stiff, unable to turn.

His skin, flesh, and even his muscles were frozen solid.

All the blood that should have been flowing through his body was ice, leaving him unable to move so much as a finger.

His eyelids, too, were frozen, making it impossible to even close his eyes.

But his mind remained vividly alive, forced to witness the entire spectacle.

He saw the man who looked like a white Reaper, watching it all as he breathed out a cloud of white vapor.

Seonghyun smiled at him.

In that moment, Sibren realized it: a grand magic of ruin, forbidden by the magic towers and lost to the world due to its horrific power and cruelty, had just been manifested once more by the hands of this man.

Absolute Zero.

There was no escape.

Yet, even in this situation, Sibren felt a sense of relief.

Thanks to his suppressed emotions, he could analyze the situation.

He was dead.

This Absolute Zero magic was an extremely fatal skill for him.

The damage would surely be far greater than normal.

What's more, he was in a weakened state, having just reverted from his enhanced form.

Therefore, they would never achieve what they wanted.

The great Basilica would eventually invade this Ninyaru and bring ruin upon them.

Believing this, he did not cling to his fading consciousness, but let it go.

And with that, the sound of Sibren's heartbeat stopped.

At the very moment of his death...

"Who dares to die in front of our Seonghyun without permission?"

A captivating voice was heard.

In his fading consciousness, Sibren tried to scoff at the voice.

But in that instant...

A heavenly light shone down from above. Sibren's consciousness, which had been drifting away, returned, and his frozen body began to melt.

Simultaneously, he felt an excruciating wave of pain.

He was sure he had died.

How was this possible!?

As he came back to life, it seemed his suppressed emotions had returned with him.

Before the utterly bewildered Sibren, the woman with the luscious red hair, Helena, spoke with a sweet smile.

"You can't just die in front of us as you please, you know."

Seeing her playful smile and hearing her voice, Sibren understood.

"Ah, ahhh..."

Death and life...

They were both just playthings in their hands.

Revived by Helena's skill, Sibren hung his head in despair. As his feelings returned, the first emotion he felt was singular.

Fear.

Seeing the trembling Sibren, Seonghyun let out a small chuckle and turned around.

And there, a black puma knight who had been watching the entire spectacle stood frozen, his pupils shaking violently.

7.

The Black Knights were the sworn protectors of the city of Ninyaru.

They were responsible for the city's defense and security, which was why they were so baffled by the recent series of kidnappings.

How could a spy from Basilica have slipped past their watch?

It was an utterly incomprehensible situation.

They were trying to catch the spy by any means necessary.

The trail had all but vanished, but thanks to a capable subordinate, they were somehow managing to stay on his tail.

And then, at that moment...

'An outsider.'

To think an outsider who had entered through the official gate would get involved.

Felix, the black puma and commander of the Black Knights, couldn't help but frown.

From what he had heard, the outsider was alone. He had subordinates, yes, but they were, at best, an outsider's familiars.

Because of this, he never thought the outsider could possibly defeat a spy from Basilica.

That was why he had to get to the spy's location even faster. If an innocent outsider came to harm, he would lose face as a knight sworn to protect the city.

Heeding the words of the young cat merchant named Beki, he had hurried.

"Over there."

One of the Black Knights shouted, having discovered the trail leading to the Old Sewer.

Just as they all finished their preparations and began to quickly follow the tracks toward the sewer...

Kugugugugu—!!!

A vibration shook the ground.

Even from a considerable distance, they could feel the tremor, which gave them an idea of how powerful the force behind it was.

'The battle has already begun?'

At this rate, the outsider was in danger.

Growing anxious, Felix yelled to his subordinates.

"I'm going on ahead! Get there as fast as you can!"

""Yes, Commander!!!"" freewebnσvel.cøm

Hearing the thunderous reply from the entire Black Knights, Felix broke into a sprint.

Leaving his subordinates behind, he ran so fast that he tore through the air, the surrounding scenery melting away as it flowed swiftly behind him.

It was a speed that was difficult to even fathom.

But Felix's expression was grim.

He had to go faster to stop the spy from Basilica and save the outsider.

With that thought, he pushed his speed even further and raced toward the Old Sewer.

By the time Felix arrived...

"Wh-what in the world..."

He could see the outsider's familiars locked in a fierce battle with the fiend.

It was at a level where he didn't even need to intervene.

No, he thought, they could probably kill the spy easily enough.

An outsider in the labyrinth should never have been able to handle a spy from Basilica alone.

As Felix stared blankly at the scene, he saw the fiend spew its poison mist and attempt to escape.

'No matter how powerful those familiars are, they won't be able to stop this. A spy from Basilica, fleeing with all their might, would be difficult to stop, even for that outsider!'

He had to be the one to catch the spy.

Thinking this, he was about to move.

But at that moment, he saw the man appear at the entrance of the Old Sewer and froze in his tracks.

This outsider was clearly weaker than him.

To borrow the users' expressions, he was a being of a significantly lower level and stats.

Felix was keenly aware of this.

So why was it?

Shaaaaaa...

The thought that he, too, could die if he got any closer rooted his feet to the spot.

And as he watched the grand magic of ruin, Absolute Zero—a spell that should have vanished long ago—unfold before him, he couldn't stop his pupils from trembling violently.

The spy was surely dead.

There was absolutely no way he could have survived.

It was a skill that even he would have to be prepared to suffer significant damage to withstand.

For a spy from Basilica, who is sensitive to temperature, it was a skill they could never endure.

'Ah, so he's dead.'

He had wanted to capture and interrogate him somehow.

The moment he thought that it was a shame, but couldn't be helped...

...the woman with the red hair stepped forward.

And the spy from Basilica, who had clearly been a corpse, came back to life.

How in the world?

Having witnessed the spectacle of the dead being brought back to life, Felix was utterly speechless.

Who in the world is this outsider?

As that thought crossed his mind, his eyes met Seonghyun's.

Staring into the eyes of the giant Reaper he saw behind the man, Felix couldn't stop himself from taking an involuntary step back.

8.

The giant being, who had been lying curled up atop a pile of treasure in the great castle, sensed a presence from afar and stirred, raising its body.

Kugugugugu—!!!

The mere act of it rising created the illusion that the entire castle was shaking for a moment.

No, it was a giant being with a mane like a white sun and two blazing, golden-yellow eyes. It stared off in one direction and muttered.

"Overlord."

The being's quiet murmur soon turned to interest.

A faint smile touched its lips.

An Overlord had come to its city.

Realizing this, the being shrank its massive form.

Becoming a white lion beastkin, it strode leisurely through the hall, pushed open the doors of the throne room, and declared.

Fwurl!

"I shall be going out. Make the preparations."

""Yes!!! We obey your command!!! Oh, King!!!"’

It was the first time the king had stepped outside the castle in decades.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

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