The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Glass Moon.

The moon reflected in the wine glass.

When he heard those words, there was a scene that naturally came to mind.

In fact, the phrase ”came to mind” might not be entirely accurate. From the beginning, Yang In-hyun had never forgotten that scenery, not for a single moment.

A day with pleasant wind, a night when the delightful darkness stirred the heart. He remembered even the small shouts of children ringing in his ears... Beneath the sky embroidered with the Milky Way, the most beautiful woman and the color in her eyes were always vivid, whether he closed his eyes or not.

Srrr...

The extended sword flowed like it was sliding. The movement was cautious and restrained, as if carving a craftwork with the tip of the blade.

Just as one might guess the heart of an artist by capturing a painting in the eyes,

Or infer the speaker’s thoughts by reciting a line of poetry.

Yang In-hyun, by performing Glass Moon himself, could understand the emotions of the “Yang In-hyun” that Residue had witnessed. He could feel them directly.

Satisfaction.

A calm and quiet sense of satisfaction pervaded the entirety of this technique.

In other words.

“This [Yang In-hyun] has not met the Half King.”

There were two clear reasons to support this.

First, Glass Moon was an extremely powerful final technique of the Everlasting Plum Sword, but it was not strong enough to deal meaningful damage to the Half King. Of course, this was due to the abnormal strength of the Half King, not a flaw in the Glass Moon technique itself.

The second reason followed from the first: as has been said several times, what “this Yang In-hyun” imbued into Glass Moon was satisfaction.

But Yang In-hyun knew himself.

To have witnessed a being like the Half King, and to feel satisfaction when his pride had been shredded like rags.

That was no longer Yang In-hyun.

…Even so, it was not as though this technique had been completely useless. He had found a clue, and he felt as if he had vaguely seen the direction he should head in.

It was a strange feeling.

The countless paths that always spread out before him when he raised his head.

Only one of them had been excluded from his choices, and yet the vague feeling had almost completely vanished.

“I will.”

In the final technique of the Everlasting Plum Sword that he will now create,

He will not imbue it with anything.

***

He didn’t know exactly how much time had passed.

Perhaps it had not been too long nor too short.

Once he had decided on the general form and changes of the technique, as well as how to respond to each situation, Yang In-hyun quietly opened his eyes. ℟𝔞ɴ𝐎ВЕṨ

It was because he sensed someone nearby.

Without turning around, he spoke.

“What brings you here, Michael?”

“The plan has changed.”

“…?”

Yang In-hyun first felt a sense of puzzlement.

Because the voice he heard was unfamiliar. The presence was Michael’s, but the voice was not his.

When he turned around, a blond handsome young man was standing still, looking this way.

“What’s with that appearance?”

“I heard this look is pleasing to the eye.”

“Who said that?”

“Lukas Trowman.”

“…”

What an odd taste. But it wasn’t something worth meddling in.

Yang In-hyun let it slide and asked,

“What do you mean the plan has changed?”

“The execution of the Dragon has been decided. About three hours from now, once the minimum preparations are done, the execution will begin in the Top Universe.”

Yang In-hyun’s eyebrows twitched.

“Why was the schedule suddenly moved up?”

“I don’t know either… but I’m guessing the representatives of the Top Universe had some change of heart.”

“…”

A change of heart meant that there had been some event to prompt it, and Yang In-hyun knew who had caused the most recent incident in the Top Universe.

‘So it’s one of the changes Lukas has brought about.’

…Three hours.

After closing his eyes in thought for a moment, Yang In-hyun spoke again.

“What’s Lukas’s condition?”

“He’s not finished preparing yet. He’s already entered the state of selflessness, so he’s not in a condition to communicate. He’s in such deep immersion that if you carelessly interfere, he might lose consciousness permanently.”

“So in other words, there’s no way to wake him until he gets up on his own.”

“…What do you plan to do?”

“…”

Yang In-hyun.

Had come to the Underground City steeped in defeat.

When the sword he had honed over a lifetime couldn’t pierce even a single layer of the Half King’s skin, what was Yang In-hyun feeling? What did he sense, and what did he want to do?

He had to find a way to overcome it, no matter what.

He had to obtain a clue that would lead to the next realm.

But such thoughts hadn’t arisen only after encountering the Half King. They had always been with him.

When he first fell into this unfamiliar world,

When he defeated the former leader of the Flower Mountain Sect,

When he looked after the disciples of Flower Mountain,

When he quietly lifted a teacup in Cloud Pavilion.

-Thus, Yang In-hyun, in the end, was a martial artist.

“……”

Yang In-hyun’s lips twisted.

That’s right. In the end, I am a martial artist.

No matter how much he loathed it, how disgusting it was, how gut-wrenchingly revolting it felt.

The name Flower Mountain still followed him, and wherever he went, the sky of the martial world was visible.

“When Lukas wakes up.”

Yang In-hyun continued speaking as he sheathed his sword.

“Tell him I went ahead.”

“Where are you planning to go?”

“To the Top Universe.”

“……”

“I’ll try to stop the Red Knight on my own.”

Then, unexpectedly, Michael who seemed likely to object or suggest waiting a bit longer suddenly said,

“I’ll go with you.”

“Will you be alright? If something happens to you, the residents of the Underground City won’t be safe.”

“Thanks to the newly acquired power, I can now move them to a safe place. It means I have nothing holding me back anymore.”

“……”

Yang In-hyun instinctively tried to refuse, but after quietly examining Michael’s appearance, he nodded.

He could sense clearly that something had changed from before. There had probably been a turning point, and he seemed to have successfully digested it to some extent.

That didn’t mean he expected him to be of much help.

To be blunt, Michael wouldn’t be able to keep up with a battle between the Red Knight and Yang In-hyun.

“How will you leave word for Lukas?”

“I’ll write it on the ground.”

Michael added with a distant gaze.

“Because that seemed to be the method he preferred.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“There’s a passage I secured in advance. It’ll be safest to exit through there.”

Yang In-hyun nodded and followed behind Michael.

***

There wasn’t a single fish in the wide lake. Even after diving almost to the bottom, not a trace of fish could be seen.

Why? It was such a clear and beautiful lake.

“Come to think of it, didn’t someone say that fish can’t live in water that’s too clear?”

Luca muttered a piece of knowledge she had picked up somewhere while squatting and splashing the water. Either way, it didn’t seem like there would be any results from looking further, so she’d return to Amdal empty-handed.

Dripping water as she walked along the path, she suddenly turned around and took in the view of the fortress city.

Walls stretched white and high, so tall that even the veil of night couldn’t fully cover them. Looking at it, a natural question arose.

Why hadn’t Residue taken her with him?

Was it because she was still unreliable? Because he was afraid she might go berserk?

No. Luca thought there was another reason.

-This kid has other uses. I can’t afford to waste her power just to infiltrate a city.

She remembered Residue’s words.

…Other uses, can’t waste her power.

Trusting those ambiguous words, Luca had been conserving her strength as much as possible. Even when expelling the Absolute, she held back as much as she could.

She didn’t know exactly when the moment would come, but she felt it wasn’t far off.

Boom!

Just then, a heavy explosion rang out from the fortress city.

“Hm?”

Even as Luca voiced her confusion, the explosions didn’t stop. Her large eyes narrowed slightly.

“……”

Something had happened.

That much, she was sure of. Could it be Residue? As that thought crossed her mind, Luca instinctively almost sprinted toward the fortress city.

At that moment, a corner of her mind suddenly cooled. She realized, belatedly, that she shouldn’t move impulsively.

“Phew…”

With a deep breath, she cooled her heated mind and analyzed the situation as calmly as possible.

‘What should I do first?’

She thought briefly, and soon reached a conclusion.

Residue was not weak, nor was he the kind of man who would go down easily. So what Luca had to do right now was not to run to help him.

Luca quickly returned to Amdal.

The intergalactic prison Amdal, located quite a distance from the fortress city, had barely retained any of its original form due to the attack from the fortress city and the resulting crash.

The surviving crew members had used fragments of the ship to construct primitive shelters. Of course, they could only do this after the Absolute’s assault had ceased; before that, they had stayed in the relatively intact parts inside the crashed Amdal.

“……”

What Luca meant to say was that the crew members were now outside on the plains. Naturally, since there were quite a few of them, even from a distance, it was clearly bustling.

When Amdal came into view from afar, Luca felt a strange sense of unease.

The broken hull itself was no different from before she left. The artificial lights and campfires were the same.

And yet it was silent.

Crackle, tap…

By the time she arrived at Amdal, that silence had become unmistakably clear. Though the temporary campsite had campfires burning, there wasn’t a single person in sight. Not Bardrog, not even a single crew member.

“Bardrog?”

She called out the captain’s name in a quiet voice.

No answer came back.

For some reason, a chill crawled up her spine.

“Kiel.”

She called again, even more softly.

Thunk...

A sound like something striking metal echoed. Luca flinched and turned her head. It had come from inside the secondary Amdal hull.

“Kiel? Are you in there?”

Thunk...

Instead of a reply, the same sound returned once again.

In that moment, Luca’s instinct turned to certainty. Something had happened.

Could they have crossed paths with an Absolute from the fortress city? Or was it someone else’s attack? Perhaps a prisoner riot…

Thunk...

As if not allowing her thoughts to continue, the sound rang out again.

Swallowing dryly, Luca stepped toward the broken hull.

Inside, it was pitch-black. Severed wires writhed like dying worms, and from the dented air vents came long, elderly-like burps.

Due to the structure of the corridor, every step she took echoed loudly, forcing Luca’s movements to grow increasingly cautious.

Boom...

The mysterious sound was getting louder.

It was close now.

Just as she thought that, Luca came to a halt.

“……”

At the end of the corridor stood two figures.

It was so dark she couldn’t be certain, but both were unfamiliar faces. In other words, they were prisoners. Luca had memorized all the crew members’ faces.

But something seemed wrong about them.

Their faces were far too pale...

“Nice to meet you.”

A sudden voice rang out.

She thought it came from one of the prisoners with their eyes rolled back.

…At first.

But it hadn’t. The voice had come from slightly behind that prisoner, and more importantly, it was a woman’s voice.

Along with the sound of footsteps, the appearance of the two prisoners became fully visible. Though, in truth, there wasn’t much to see. There was nothing below their necks. Only severed spines, soaked in blood, dangled limply.

And there was a white hand gripping their hair.

Luca looked into the pale eyes beyond that hand.

“My name is Pale, and I’m killing every bastard that gets in my way.”

“……”

“So, just as I did with these, and with everyone I met before them, I’ll give you a warning too.”

Boom...

As the two heads dropped to the floor, a spark flew from the wires beneath, briefly lighting up the interior of the hull.

And in that moment, Luca realized the source of the sound.

-Behind the woman, the headless corpses of prisoners were piled up like a mountain.

“Don’t block my path.”

*****

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