Chapter 686 – Crossing and Interlocking Paths (3) #PART1
‘I thought they’d go a bit easy on me, at least.’
No matter how harshly I treated them, wasn’t there some affection built over time? But once again, I was reminded—especially on the Arcana continent, you really have to watch out for how temperamental mages can be…!
Waves of surging mana. The fleeting touch of interference. Decisive combat magic raining down like a storm.
BOOOOOOM—!
Maybe this will make sense if I say the Magic Tower, which operates under different laws on each floor, is shaking from its very foundation. The decisive magic unleashed by dozens of senior mages carried power beyond measure.
Truly, I was lucky.
‘I’m glad I kept moving without pause.’
Had I neglected to recover the arrangements, I wouldn’t have even considered countering those magic. Just as I began to gather my mana, a familiar voice rang out.
“This is where you’ll be using Reversal Magic, isn’t it, Chief Mage?”
Senior of Ice Magic, Kotein Lavel.
“I anticipated this, precisely because I respect you!”
Crackle.
[『Absolute Zero』]
His ice magic froze the air itself as it surged toward me. So you’ve entered the realm of the anomaly too, Kotein Lavel?
While it’s not beyond comparison to my manifestation, that is certainly Absolute Zero. The range may be small, but the power behind it hasn’t diminished—I know that well.
‘So he intends to freeze my movements.’
More precisely, Kotein’s role is to prevent me from escaping danger with Reversal Magic. Even the surrounding flow of time begins to slow under Absolute Zero. Mana movement will slow too, which would render Reversal Magic—where speed is everything—useless.
“Not a bad idea.”
But… unfortunately for you.
Fwoooosh.
“F-Fire magic?!”
I had no intention of using Reversal Magic right now anyway. I converted all my mana into a raging inferno. My mana, on a different tier than even the Twilight class.
‘And yes, this takes into account the nature of magic itself.’
Flame Emperor, Bensch William.
‘But Bensch isn’t even in the tower right now.’
No matter how powerful my fire magic was, it couldn’t compete with Bensch’s signature magic. It made no sense for someone like me—who’d dug countless shallow wells—to produce more powerful fire magic than Bensch, who dug deeply in only one: fire.
‘The nature of fire magic is to grow when it rides a greater flame.’
This meant I could cast fire magic without worrying about its compatibility. Senior of Spirit Magic, Feiyan, tried to suppress my flames using the high-ranking spirit Fire Drake, but…
As I said, everything had been calculated.
Thud.
The Fire Drake’s tail sank.
“Meaningless, Feiyan.”
Then, from beyond the blazing flames, a voice rang out.
“I shall also give it my all, my Lord.”
Marcelo, huh?
Facing the true genius Marcelo—not a fake like me—was no easy task. More than anything, his unique style, backed by vast magical knowledge, clashed badly with mine.
‘I’m getting countered at every turn.’
Once, I could copy a magic just by seeing it once. But that brilliance of Grandfell was gone. Now, I was just Lee Hoyeol. However, thanks to what I witnessed in Mugan—the timeless prison—I remembered.
‘Marcelo, in the past, was definitely…’
Is this how regressors in novels feel?
Even Marcelo’s incompatible magics—I could somewhat fend them off. As the saying goes, a mage speaks through mana traces, and I was beginning to understand why everyone was so dead serious about this.
‘They’re trying to bind me by force, no matter what.’
Well, lately, I have been doing things people couldn’t understand. From Marcelo’s perspective, knowing I’d been to hell—
‘He probably thinks I ate something weird in hell.’
Suddenly conquering the Zero Mountains, dueling a Weapon Master through space-time, then breaking into Mugan without permission, and now saying I’ll teach Reversal Magic of all things…
‘Yeah, even I wouldn’t think I’m sane.’
But I could promise this:
‘I believe everything I’ve done is for the greater good.’
Of course, I didn’t say that out loud. Maybe if it were just the two of us. But with all these eyes on me, getting emotional would be embarrassing.
More importantly—
‘I can’t stall for time any longer.’
Because the aftershocks of Raymon Sean and the destroyed system were about to be revealed. Flaaash.
I swept away the flames like a curtain and muttered.
“It’s my turn now.”
“……!!!”
Now that I had blocked each of their top-tier magics, I finally cast Reversal Magic. It wasn’t aimed at any specific target.
Huuuuummm…
Soon, the faces of everyone—Marcelo included—began to pale.
“Gah, urk?!”
King of Magic.
Using my authority, I reversed the mana within their bodies. And as you can see, the results speak for themselves. Their bodies are rejecting the unfamiliar mana flow, like they’ve fallen into magical exhaustion. One by one, the senior mages begin to collapse.
‘This is a trick I can only use once.’
Why only once? Because our tower’s mages are all geniuses. Didn’t I say?
‘This is a special lecture, after all.’
Before you know it, everyone here will adapt to the reversed mana flow in a day or two. Once they’re accustomed to that cycle, they’ll naturally become familiar with casting Reversal Magic.
‘If they can just cast the process in reverse order…’
Even the senior mages will be able to use Reversal Magic. Some might say: If Marcelo and the other seniors learn it, doesn’t that erase Hoyeol’s advantage? Hmm, it’s not a wrong observation. The old Hoyeol—who knew nothing—might never have made this choice.
But the thing is—I know the future.
‘And that’s why this lecture was necessary.’
Thud.
I looked down at Marcelo, who had finally dropped to one knee.
His already pale face had gone ghost white. He looked at me with pained, almost pitiful eyes. There were many things I wanted to say, but I held my tongue.
And left him with just one final sentence—
“I truly hope you all can solve this ‘assignment.’”
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