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

“Did you say this guy is the Heavenly Demon?”

“That’s… right.”

“Then who are you?”

Lukas’ gaze turned towards Dok Go-yun. As soon as his terrifyingly emotionless eyes stared at him, Dok Go-yun gulped drily. It felt like a scythe made of ice was hanging above the back of his head. Of course, Dok Go-yun couldn’t sense any energy from this dark blonde man, but that was the same for Yang In-hyun.

“I’m just the Heavenly Demon’s double…!”

He raised his head and shouted at the top of his lungs. He tried to make his voice as pitiful as possible. Pride? Give that to the dogs. You can’t have pride or anything if you’re dead. In order to survive, Dok Go-yun could even lick between the other’s toes.

Lukas’ gaze lingered on his face for a while. Then, the cold feeling that he had on the back of his neck spread to the rest of his body. Goosebumps rose on his arms.

This chill was different from what he felt when he faced Yang In-hyun.

Then, after a while, he felt the gaze leave him and turn towards the corpse in his hand.

“…”

A somewhat puzzled face.

What was he thinking about now? Why was he puzzled?

He needed to figure it out. He literally needed to figure it out for the sake of his life.

From now on, it would be a battle of wits. If he was able to figure out this guy’s thoughts by even the slightest amount, it would be enough to increase his chances of survival by several times.

Firstly.

‘These two are acquainted.’

He’d learned this from their conversation and attitudes.

Of course, it wasn’t clear to him which of them was stronger. But that didn’t matter. Dok Go-yun would probably be unable to estimate that.

All he needed to pay attention to was the fact that both of them were capable of taking his life.

‘Who is it?’

Of these two, who could he plead to to increase his chances of survival?

Dok Go-yun’s eyes rolled back and forth as his thoughts bounced around.

Then, as he realised that both of these men were emotionless as if they were made of iron, he became filled with despair.

This despair soon dissipated.

Clang!

He heard the sound of something colliding.

That sound came from very close by. In fact, Dok Go-yun realised the sound had come from behind him.

When he turned around, he saw Yang In-hyun standing only two steps away from him.

The sword.

The sword in his grasp trembled slightly. As if he had just swung it and it collided with something…

“…!”

It was only then that he realised the situation.

Yang In-hyun had just attacked him.

But he’d failed. Because someone else had interfered.

Who was it?

That was obvious.

It could only be the blonde man that arrived after.

“Why?”

Yang In-hyun spoke with an expressionless face. That was all, but Dok Go-yun felt like his heart sank.

“How many did you kill?”

Lukas ignored the question.

Then, without getting angry at the fact that his answer was ignored, Yang In-hyun answered.

“One hundred and twenty five.”

“You didn’t have to kill that many.”

“Is that a problem? In any case, they will either go to the afterlife or enter the cycle of reincarnation to be reincarnated later.”

“…”

The conversation unfolding before him was not at a level that Dok Go-yun could easily understand.

It felt as if he was eavesdropping on a secret conversation of Evil Gods that he shouldn’t hear.

“The concept of death is not something that should be taken so lightly. I’m sure you know that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you considering the ones they left behind?”

Without any change to his expressionless face, Yang In-hyun replied.

“That’s not a funny joke. They belong to a Demonic Cult. People who take the responsibility of regularly carrying out slaughters. I’m sure there are many people who would be happy they died.”

“…this place, is not the World of Void.”

When he heard those words, Yang In-hyun paused for the first time.

“What is it that you hate so much? What the hell is making you so upset?”

“…”

“Do you really hate the Murim world that much?”

Huk-

It felt as if thousands of candles had been blown out at the same time.

Yang In-hyun’s aura changed completely.

Lukas realised that the killing intent wasn’t directed at Dok Go-yun, but himself.

“…Lukas Trowman.”

A deep sigh.

“That remark crossed the line.”

After that, Lukas called upon void.

The reason for this was the faint intention that he could sense in Yang In-hyun’s voice.

In an instant, he entered the minimal time zone.

In that same moment, he saw the tip of a sword right in front of his nose. Lowering his head, he dodged it before spreading his palm towards Yang In-hyun who was now close to him. Void spread out in the form of magic.

It took the basic shape of beads that seemed to be shaped by gathering particles of light. They didn’t contain even a hint of killing intent or threat. They just looked like a few floating light bulbs.

But Yang In-hyun didn’t dare to take these beads lightly. He withdrew his outstretched sword and, in an instant, the beads of light surrounding his body were sliced apart.

Suddenly, Lukas’ chin shot up. As he was cutting the beads, Yang In-hyun moved forward a bit and took the chance to launch a kick from Lukas’ blind spot.

Despite the dizzying pain from his chin, Lukas didn’t lose his concentration. He clenched his outstretched hand.

Ssss-

It was at that very moment that Yang In-hyun had a strange feeling. The particles of the beads that he’d definitely scattered before, were gathering once more.

‘Did I not cut them?’

No, that wasn’t it.

Even if their forms were intangible, there was no reason why Yang In-hyun’s sword couldn’t cut them.

He could only speculate about the possibility of this situation.

‘From the start, every particle was a spell.’

In other words, Lukas Trowman had created thousands or maybe even tens of thousands of little spells and clumped them together to form the beads. The beads that had been sent to Yang In-hyun numbered at least in the dozens, and when he swung his sword, they’d simply matched the timing and separated.

This had caused Yang In-hyun to believe that he’d cut the spells with his sword.

‘…what the hell goes on in this guy’s head?’

Yang In-hyun couldn’t help but feel a bit startled by this. After all, this was not something he’d be able to do even if he had ten brains.

The particles gathered once again and wrapped around his right wrist. Passing the sword in his right hand to his left, Yang In-hyun cut the clump of light. This time, he clearly perceived ‘every particle’.

But at the same time, he felt a chill on his back.

He lowered his head almost instinctively. Together with the feeling of something brushing past his head came that of a few strands of hair being cut.

Immediately afterwards, he felt a cold pain in his back. Almost as if a giant ice hammer had slammed into his spine.

Yang In-hyun stopped his slightly leaning body. Supporting his weight on one toe, he turned around to face Lukas, but Lukas was no longer there.

‘…spatial movement.’

Yang In-hyun frowned. A troublesome ability. This was especially true when entering the minimal time zone.

Instead of looking at Lukas, Yang In-hyun slightly lowered his sword. This was a request to truce revealed through action instead of voice.

“…”

Lukas accepted the request.

Although there was a possibility of it being a trap, the man named Yang In-hyun was not a person who would resort to such cheap tactics.

The instant the two left the minimal time zone.

Kaboom!

A huge explosion sounded.

“Urk!?”

Dok Go-yun’s eyes went wide. There was a great tremor that shook his entire body.

This building? No. The scale was bigger than that.

‘The entire city of Luanoble was shaking.’

Dok Go-yun quietly trembled at this revelation.

Then, he saw a huge amount of energy be shot into the sky from between Lukas and Yang In-hyun.

The ceiling disappeared without a trace, but the momentum of the energy didn’t disappear as it continued to soar towards the sunset sky.

It was a pillar of light that could easily be seen from anywhere in the city, no, perhaps even from far away.

“…”

Dok Go-yun was speechless. He didn’t have the slightest understanding of what had just unfolded in front of him.

From his perspective, the two had simply vanished for an instant before reappearing in completely different locations.

Then, there was a huge explosion that shook the city, and a pillar of light which stretched up to space and made his body tremble just from looking at it.

“Uh…”

Sweat poured down Dok Go-yun’s body like a waterfall.

What was that? What just happened? Was he still alive? What the hell was that scene just now…

—He’d completely missed their movements. This wasn’t a theory.

Without a doubt, whatever had just unfolded far exceeded Dok Go-yun’s range of cognition. That fact brought untold horror to Dok Go-yun.

Lukas’ gaze shifted to the broken ceiling.

With the scarlet sky as the backdrop, the mass of energy that was still moving was like a shooting star. A star shining so brightly it could be seen even through the glow of sunset.

“You’re really thoughtful. Now that I think about it, you were called humanity’s saviour in the past.”

“…”

Yang In-hyun shot out in a sharp voice.

The mass of energy that had just disappeared into the sky was the aftermath of the short exchange between Lukas and Yang In-hyun. If it had been left as it was, the aftermath would have turned the surrounding area into powder.

So as soon as he left the minimal time zone, Lukas gathered the aftermath, compressed it, and fired it towards the sky. This was a technique that would have been impossible if he didn’t have some control over the power of space.

That was what Yang In-hyun was referring to.

He didn’t seem to understand why Lukas cared about Dok Go-yun and the residents in this city.

‘I didn’t want to consume void in a place like this.’

Lukas held back the desire to sigh. It couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t respond to Yang In-hyun without void.

“Why are you complicating things?”

Yang In-hyun’s voice was a bit calmer. Perhaps it was because he’d taken the time to think. Or perhaps it was because some of his anger had been relieved in the brief fight.

“Don’t stop me from killing him. Then I promise I won’t touch the other martial artists here.”

“You can’t.”

It was at this moment that Dok Go-yun was certain of which of these two men he needed to survive. Faster than the speed of light, he prostrated himself in front of Lukas.

“Great One, please spare me…!”

Paak-

Lukas hit the back of Dok Go-yun’s head hard, stopping him from talking.

“Urk…”

Still, since he was tough, he didn’t lose consciousness, but he did lose control of his body for a moment and collapsed on the ground.

‘Wh-, what was that?’

A strange energy seemed to circulate within his body. Because of that, it became difficult for him to even lift a finger.

A voice echoed from above Dok Go-yun’s head.

“Step aside.”

“…”

“It would be wise to make the right decision. Is protecting one man worth more than antagonising me?”

Of course it wasn’t worth it.

Lukas knew. Just how difficult and scary Yang In-hyun would be if he turned him into an enemy.

‘I know well.’

He’d learned by using his life as tuition.

“Then can you promise? That if you kill this man, you won’t kill other martial artists you meet in the future.”

“…”

Yang In-hyun didn’t answer.

This was just as Lukas expected.

“I can’t keep looking on. This isn’t about me having deep thoughts about this world, or respecting the lives or martial artists.”

“Then?”

“Your arbitrary actions will create variables. And those variables might interfere with my plans.”

This was an issue that needed to be clearly addressed now. If he let it pass here, then there was a chance that they would clash again in the future for the same reason.

So if they were going to clash, then it was better for it to be sooner rather than later. While the power Lukas possessed was still close to his full strength.

“…I see.”

Seemingly understanding that Lukas wouldn’t back down easily, Yang In-hyun raised his sword once more.

…He couldn’t deal with Yang In-hyun using ordinary magic.

In other words, the longer the fight went on for, the more void he would end up using.

This was not a good fact. Because Lukas had many enemies he needed to fight.

The Demon King, Diablo, Lucid.

And as this was the Three Thousand Worlds, the Rulers also had the ability to exert their influence.

‘It would be annoying if those guys sent Absolutes.’

Or, although the odds were slim, other ill-mannered enemies might appear.

So without delay-

[Kukuku.]

Just as he got ready to fight, the sound of laughter echoed in his head.

It had been quite a while.

Of course, he wasn’t the slightest bit welcoming of this.

[Didn’t you want to conserve your power? Lukas Trowman?]

‘I just want you to keep your mouth shut. Do you have a habit of only talking when it’s advantageous for you?’

The Lightning God burst into pleasant laughter. The rumbling sound echoing.

[That impression is wrong. If that was the case, I’d always be talking to you. I only talk when I feel like it…]

In other words, he was claiming that every moment was advantageous for him. This arrogance appeared naturally whenever he talked, this was why Lukas didn’t like the Lightning God.

‘So? Why are you suddenly talking in this urgent situation?’

[To make an attractive proposal. Lukas Trowman, aren’t you trying to conserve your strength? I have a way for you to do so.]

“…”

It seemed that this guy was well aware of his situation. He might have also figured out something about void.

The Lightning God continued in a whisper.

[I can lend you my power.]

‘What?’

[Even though it was in the imaginary world, you used ‘Thorn’ there… Kukuku. That’s not possible simply by experiencing it.]

‘…’

[That’s why I’m curious. If you have my full support, how well could you utilise my ‘Thunder’ in the Three Thousand Worlds?]

Full powered support.

This place wasn’t the World of Void, but the outside. Right. That might be possible.

‘Cut it out.’

But Lukas refused.

[Why? I have no intention of using my power to control you. I’m not trying to erase the debt.]

‘You expect me to believe that?’

[I’m certain you know. I do not lie.]

‘However, it is possible for you to hide your real intentions. Just like when you forced me to come here then closed your mouth and stayed silent.’

[—]

‘I will say this only once. I do not need to borrow your power. So you can quit it.’

[Kuku. Well if you ever change your mind…]

He focused on Yang In-hyun once more.

Now that even the possibility of the Lightning God interfering had been erased, there was no one who could stop the upcoming fight.

Creak-

…Except for one.

It was only then that Lukas noticed that there was a door there, but he couldn’t spend much time focusing on the fact that he hadn’t noticed it after so long.

“What are you two up to?”

With her head tilted, Pale appeared.

The collapsed Dok Go-yun couldn’t help but stare at this young woman with wide eyes. He’d never seen a woman with such a funny hair colour in the Demonic Cult.

In other words, she was an outsider, so how did she get to the top floor of the building?

But the thing that surprised him most was what happened next.

“…”

“…”

The two monsters who had been facing each other with killing intent changed really quickly.

Not only that, the gazes that they had been sending towards each other, as if they wanted to kill each other with them, were quickly hidden away.

“Huh? What’s going on? The atmosphere is so strange. Did something happen?”

“…no.”

“Nothing.”

Lukas and Yang In-hyun responded shortly.

Pale made a puzzled expression for a moment before chuckling as if it didn’t matter.

“Ay. I thought you were going to fight again.”

With a murmur, she walked up between the two before standing with her hands on her waist.

The light from the setting sun shining through the ceiling illuminated her face, and Dok Go-yun was able to witness this scene from the front.

‘A-, an Angel has descended…!’

An Angel had come down from heaven.

And she’d interceded in the fight between the two monsters with only a few words.

It truly was a miracle.

Just as Dok Go-yun was staring at Pale with eyes filled with emotion and fascination.

She opened her mouth, allowing him to catch sight of her exceptionally sharp teeth.

“By the way, can I eat that?”

At first, Dok Go-yun thought he’d heard wrong, or misunderstood where she was pointing. He also thought that the word ‘eat’ might be a code for something.

Because what she was pointing at was the Heavenly Demon’s corpse.

For a moment, Lukas’ expression soured.

“That’s not something to eat.”

“Ah. You’re saying that again. There is nothing in this world that can’t be eaten.”

“No. Seriously.”

“It’s fine. It’s fine.”

“Wait-”

Ignoring Lukas’ restraint, Pale grinned as she walked over to the Heavenly Demon.

Then, after flipping his body around a few times, she opened her mouth and…

Crack.

Ate him.

Crack crack.

To reiterate.

She ate him.

Crack, crack crack…

And blood splattered everywhere.

“…”

It wasn’t surprising that she was eating human flesh. Dok Go-yun was the man who led the Demonic Cult as the Heavenly Demon’s proxy.

He had seen countless scenes that were far more terrifying and cruel.

But the fact that the human flesh being consumed belonged to the Heavenly Demon, coupled with the fact that the person eating him was the woman he’d thought was an angel just a moment before, and all the accumulated physical and mental damage he’d suffered until now, made it all too much.

Thud.

Dok Go-yun fell unconscious.

(TL: Poor Dok Go-yun, his angel was hungry…)

(TL: Apologies for the long and unannounced break. I took some extra time to make a backlog of chapters for rainy days, so there will be one chapter released daily at/around 12-12:30am gmt-4 (4-4:30am gmt 0). ‘Around’ because there are times when I’m without power or internet. I’d schedule the release in advance, but, for now, free chapters need to be unlocked manually.

Note: The posting time is still under consideration, so it might change as we go forward depending on circumstances.)