The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)
chapter-272

A voice that she’d always relied on.

A face that always gave her strength when she thought about it during her hard times.

A hand that could make her mind and body relax just by resting on her head.

All of them were clear in her eyes at that moment.

And because of that, Min Ha-rin’s heart sank even further.

The gentle, kind expression her Master usually had was gone.

In its place was an expression she’d never seen before… No, it wasn’t that she hadn’t seen this expression. Min Ha-rin realised why she felt strange when Lukas had looked at her in this way.

It was the same way he looked at an enemy.

Lukas was now treating Min Ha-rin like an enemy.

“Ah, uh…”

The tip of her tongue became stiff and she found it hard to speak.

She was scared, terrified.

She’d never been so afraid in her entire life.

Did this fear come from the aura that the Absolute, ‘Lukas’, subconsciously exerted? Or was it from the sense of betrayal that she felt after hearing the words of her beloved Master?

She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t even want to think about it.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean…?!”

This shout came from Leo, who was not too far away.

He had seen everything. He’d seen it, but he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Lukas’ attitude, tone, and facial expression.

He thought that he’d seen wrong. That it was all an illusion.

But those idle thoughts disappeared as soon as Lukas turned to him and their gazes met.

“What does it mean?”

Hup. Leo couldn’t help but subconsciously suck in a breath of cold air. Only then did he understand the feelings of the trembling Min Ha-rin.

“Do you still not know? Why I am disappointed in you all?”

Crunch.

Lukas gritted his teeth. He looked around in a slow, almost mechanical, manner.

“Look around. Look at this mess. Dragon God Island has sunk, and most of its inhabitants are dead. But what about Nodiesop? Before I made that hole in his neck, did you guys manage to give him any meaningful injuries?… I also know that even the wound on his stomach was caused by the Priestess.”

Sedi, who was silent all this time, finally spoke up after biting her lip.

“He’s an Absolute, Father. Don’t you think you’re being too harsh? We-”

“Did your best, right? That’s what they always say. The enemy was too strong. The situation didn’t turn out as planned. They were unlucky… Those are just excuses, disgusting excuses. In the end, it became like this because you were too weak, had poor willpower, or lacked preparation.”

“…”

Sedi bit her lip again, unable to respond. This was because nothing he’d said was wrong. Or maybe it was because she thought it would be useless to say anything to Lukas now.

Lukas slowly lowered his head. Then, after a moment of silence, he spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

“…until now, I believed in you all, even if only a little bit. I thought that maybe you would be different, not like the other humans. I thought that you might be able to shape your own destiny even without my help, but in the end, I was wrong. You guys betrayed my expectations…. If I knew this would have happened, I wouldn’t have bothered to bring you here.”

Lukas’ gaze slowly turned to those standing around him.

Min Ha-rin, Leo, Sedi, and even Arid.

Without fail, those that met his gaze trembled involuntarily. They never imagined that they would ever be looked at in such a way by Lukas.

It was a cold and contemptuous gaze that they’d never received before.

“I’m truly disappointed that all of you are just like the other humans.”

“…”

“But the most pathetic among this group is you, Min Ha-rin.”

Lukas’ gaze once again turned to the girl in front of him.

He walked up to Min Ha-rin with slow, staggering steps before roughly picking her up by her collar. The power of his grip wasn’t much, and if Min Ha-rin wanted to, she could easily break free of his grasp. But at that moment, her body was frozen as if she had been paralysed.

Their eyes met.

When she looked into Lukas’ cold blue eyes, she desperately wanted to close her eyes, but he didn’t let her.

“Why did you become so pathetic? Did Lee Jong-hak’s death remind you of the past? Did you remember the faces of the parents you couldn’t protect? Did that stimulate your trauma and as a result, you were overwhelmed with guilt and shame?”

“Ah, uh…”

“If that really is the case, then you are the biggest idiot in the world.”

Lukas let go of her collar that he’d been holding tightly before. It was almost as if he was throwing her away.

Min Ha-rin helplessly collapsed to the ice.

“Look around you. Was Lee Jong-hak your only companion? Why don’t you pay more attention to the others? You have a lot more than you lost, but it seems that you can only think about those that are already gone… And this is the result. It was your narrow perspective that caused this situation.”

“Ah, ah…”

“…if you hold all your marbles tightly in your hand, there will come a day when one of them slips out of your fingers. If you flounder to catch the one you dropped, you might end up losing everything you were holding. Why the hell were you unable to realise such a simple fact?”

Lukas took a deep breath as he looked down at Min Ha-rin. Min Ha-rin pursed her lips slightly.

Then, with half dead eyes, she looked up at her Master.

No.

She looked up at the being she called Master.

“You’re… not Master…”

“—”

Lukas was silent. He was silent for a long time. He couldn’t see her expression well because of how much her head was lowered.

But even if her head wasn’t lowered, he would not have cared about Min Ha-rin’s expression.

“M-, Master… wouldn’t say things like that. He’s always kind and gentle…”

“…are you really still expecting that? How disgusting. Right, that’s enough.”

It felt like cold daggers had been stabbed into her lungs. Min Ha-rin looked up at Lukas with a trembling expression, but he’d already turned away.

He was looking at Nodiesop, who was still in his <Wizard’s World>.

But it wasn’t enough.

As mentioned before, the 9 star spell <Wizard’s World> lacked decisive power. At best, it would only be able to buy time.

Crack!

“Is it me? Or are you really desperate?”

“You’re thinking too much.”

“Don’t try to deceive me. Your body is crumbling like dried porcelain.”

“…!”

Leo, who was still reeling from Lukas’ previous words, turned to look at him in surprise.

Most of his body was covered in clothes, but there were still some parts that were visible.

His face and fingertips.

‘Why didn’t I notice before…?’

Lukas’ fingertips were split open. Just like Nodiesop’s analogy, it looked like cracked pottery.

What appeared to be powdered flesh slowly fell from his cracked fingers.

“…this is the price to pay for using a power that doesn’t fit the level of your body. All of the techniques you’ve used so far are things that go way beyond your current capabilities.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that I don’t understand.”

Nodiesop spoke in a doubtful tone.

“I hate you. In addition, I have nothing but disgust for your way of thinking. Nevertheless, I still acknowledge the path you took to become an Absolute… That’s why I will ask you now, Lukas Trowman. Why are you shaving away at your transcendent body?”

“What…?”

Sedi’s expression changed drastically when she heard those words.

She turned to look at Lukas with wide eyes, but Lukas’ gaze remained on Nodiesop as he responded in low tone.

“Enough of pointless conversation. Nodiesop, wasn’t it always your goal to get my head?”

“Do you want to die?”

“If you don’t come to me, I will go to you.”

“…I really can’t understand.”

Nodiesop sighed heavily.

Then, in the next moment.

Piht-

The figures of the two Absolutes disappeared.

Clang!

Two huge forces clashed in the sky. The resulting force alone was enough to create a large crater in the ice cap.

Bang! Clang!

The sky and sea seemed to tremble whenever the two clashed.

Lukas shot another beam of Absolute Power from his finger.

“How many times do you think that trick will work-!”

With a loud cry, Nodiesop raised both hands in front of him, creating a screen of water.

The Absolute Beam, which touched this screen of water, changed direction as if it had been refracted by a mirror. To Min Ha-rin, who was still motionless on the ice.

She sat there with a bewildered expression on her face as if she was in a trance. It seemed that she didn’t even notice the approach of an attack which would erase her entire body in an instant.

No. Nothing would have changed even if she did realise it.

“…”

Lukas bit his lip slightly.

Puht.

Then he used a blink spell, his figure disappeared in an instant. He reappeared in front of Min Ha-rin.

This was an Absolute Beam that he himself had fired, but once it was reflected by Nodiesop’s mirror, his external force had been injected into it. Because of this, it was impossible for Lukas to simply reabsorb the energy or force it to dissipate.

Left with no choice, he stretched his left hand out in front of him to block it.

Clang!

Intense shock.

The force of the collision caused blood to pour out of Lukas’ eyes, nose and mouth at the same time.

His body had already reached a stage where even calling it a ‘mess’ was not enough, but he sincerely hoped that it would be able to endure a bit longer.

Crack-

The palm of his hand began to crack, revealing his flesh, muscles, and eventually his bones.

Lukas grabbed his left wrist with his right hand before sending the attack back to Nodiesop again. Unlike Lukas, who struggled to overcome the attack, Nodiesop simply slapped the Absolute Beam that returned to him.

“..wh-, y?”

Min Ha-rin, who was behind him, called out in a broken voice. Lukas’ left hand had become nothing but white bone.

Lukas didn’t wipe off the sweat pouring down his face, nor did he respond to Min Ha-rin. Instead, he immediately started battling Nodiesop once again.

“…”

After spacing out for a bit longer, Min Ha-rin turned to look at Sedi.

“…Sedi, what does shaving away his transcendent body mean?”

“…”

“You know something, don’t you? What… what’s Master’s current situation?”

She once again called Lukas Master.

Sedi bit her lip so hard that blood trickled down her chin.

“…his very existence is disappearing.”

“What…?”

“He is using all of the achievements that allowed him to become an Absolute as fuel.”

“Then what will happen?”0

“Instead of dying, he will face an even more terrible end.”

In other words, Lukas’ very existence would disappear completely and he would become nothing.”

“…”

The Priestess stared at Lukas with a sunken gaze.