Chapter 66 : Unexpected (1)

“Gamiii! I will punish you all!!”

The furious scream of the enraged mage echoed.

I couldn’t understand exactly what she said since it was Korean, but I could roughly tell she was incredibly angry.

“This doesn’t seem right. (I think things have gone terribly wrong.)”

Yun Pei, serving as the Shanghai branch manager of China’s top guild <Red Cliff>, was facing the greatest crisis of his life.

That ranker who suddenly flew in from the neighboring country had folded the guild building in half with just a single spell.

As someone from <Red Cliff>, which outwardly advocated for being pro-magic, pro-sorcery, and pro-faith to utilize mages, he had seen

mages fight countless times.

However, among the magic he knew, there was nothing like that.

If he had to name a spell with comparable destructive power, perhaps it would be the large-scale skills of named raid monsters.

‘Rank 3… the eccentric known as the Archmage, who achieved the highest rank among mages. I heard she had a hidden card as a rare race

user… Was the magic that destroyed the building that hidden card, the Dragon Word magic?’

The rare race Dragonian (Half-Dragon) possessed high mana stats but had the drawback of extremely weakened physical abilities.

No matter how high the mana stat, their abysmal physical ability, losing even to slimes let alone goblins at level 1, made the leveling difficulty

notoriously high.

The only advantage was ‘high mana stats’, but the penalty was so severe that despite being a rare race, no one cared about it.

Nor was its unlocking method easier compared to other rare races; it was far more advantageous and convenient to create characters like

Elves or Half-Demons, which had both ‘high mana stats’ and ‘physical vitality’.

Thus, despite the cool concept of inheriting half of a dragon’s blood, their numbers were extremely small, and the only ranker-level

Dragonian was the 3rd ranked woman.

Due to the absurd penalties and the existence of other races that seemed like clear upgrades, users speculated that ‘Half-Dragons must have a

hidden advantage’.

Indeed, the rank 3 position wasn’t something achievable with a purely trash-tier race.

Looking down at the building, Yun Pei instinctively felt the rumor was true.

He had never seen such magic or skill in his life.

As a veteran player who had enjoyed both PvP and PvE to the fullest, if he didn’t know the magic, there was only one possibility.

The Dragon Word magic, which had only been hinted at.

“Translating Chinese is too troublesome and difficult. (Is this the Dragon Word magic that was only rumored?)”

Dragon Word.

Magic whispered to be the true mystery , with only hints scattered throughout the world’s story lore and no concrete details revealed.

There was mention that only dragons could use it, leading to brief speculation that Dragonians might also be able to use it, but the idea was

quickly dismissed.

‘Is it gravity-manipulating magic? It seems similar in effect to the advanced magic ‘Gravitational Field’, but its scale and destructive power

rival large-scale magic jointly cast by Sage-level mages.’

Unbelievable destructive power from the magic.

Even if it was Dragon Word magic meant to offset the absurd physical penalty, wasn’t it too overpowered?

Yet, she wasn’t just a build focused solely on destructive power; she had perfectly blocked his subordinate’s attack just moments ago and

retaliated.

The man who charged first and was instantly subdued was a member of the Jeokpungdae , the assembly of combatants from the

Shanghai branch.

While the Jeokpungdae wasn’t exceptionally outstanding among <Red Cliff>‘s combat units, they were by no means weak.

She dealt with a member of such Jeokpungdae instantly and broke through the subsequent coordinated attacks of other members with a

single ice spell.

This meant she wasn’t a so-called ‘glass cannon’ mage, who focused solely on firepower to the detriment of everything else.

“Call someone who can speak Korean! (There are guild members who can speak Korean, right? We need to talk, so bring them here.)”

Judging that the Shanghai branch’s forces alone couldn’t easily defeat the woman, Yun Pei ordered a subordinate to select and bring Korean-

speaking guild members.

“Whad are you thaying. Thpeak Korean.”

-Crash!

The subordinate, about to leave to carry out the order, flew far away and got embedded in a wall.

His lower body, sticking out of the wall, showed no movement, seemingly having lost consciousness.

“Where are you trying to requetht backhup. You’re all dead meat here.”

“…Like a bird. (There’s no choice.)”

They were the ones who cut off the chance for dialogue.

Yun Pei sighed and drew his sword.

Since the opponent refused to talk, the only remaining option was a hard-line approach.

His judgment was that victory wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.

Unlike the Jeokpungdae, which was now half-decimated, the true elite unit, possessing generally superior skills, was currently hidden among

the debris of the broken building, concealing their presence.

The moment Zhang Wei gave the signal, the blades and spear tips of the Shanghai branch would rush the enemy and tear apart all of <Red

Cliff>‘s troubles.

“Prepare oyster bread. (Prepare the formation.)”

Since ancient times, humans have always been among the weak.

Humans were weaker than beasts in the mountains, weaker than natural disasters, and even weaker than fellow humans.

Therefore, ancestors devised various countermeasures to face beings stronger than themselves, and one of them was the formation (陳法).

Although its effect is minimal compared to the Baekpalnahanjin or Sibpalnahanjin formations of the <Shaolin> guild, where only bald

members using the same martial art can join, the power of a formation is not to be underestimated.

Users wielding various weapons like swords, spears, bows, as well as bare hands, gloves, whips, and assuming <Stances>, instantly emerged

from blind spots, surrounding the enemy.

And the enemy they targeted was me.

As the man who appeared to be the enemy leader lowered his raised hand, a rain of arrows filling the sky rained down.

Each arrow was powerful.

These were users of a much higher level than the ones I had just subdued.

“Bud even though, they’re just weakling.”

Three-pronged icicles that slowed enemy movement speed and bound their feet upon impact were launched in all directions.

Aiming for the opening created by the archers, I planted a <Polar Claw> into the faces of those approaching using <Sky Step> and then

flapped my wings violently to create distance.

‘Are all of them users capable of casually using Sky Step?’

Something was strange.

The users of <Red Cliff> were certainly ‘decent level’ by my judgment, but they weren’t this strong.

There were only about 30 users capable of freely using Sky Step and Sword Ki.

Even if all of them were gathered here, the number of people currently using both Sky Step and Sword Ki seemed to exceed 50.

Considering that Shanghai wasn’t the only area currently under <Red Cliff>‘s temporary effective control, meaning their forces should be

dispersed, there were more than a few suspicious points.

The martial artist in black robes wielding a sword at the very front accelerated rapidly.

Greenish light-like mana wrapped around his body.

It was a movement speed-related buff.

‘A mage? No, it’s a scroll.’

A roar louder than when the concrete chunk was blocked assaulted my ears.

The rebound force of the shield clashed with the man’s sword.

The man’s hood fluttered, revealing his face.

“You… when did you change clothes?”

Surprisingly, his identity was the leader of the guys who had been shouting at me in Chinese earlier.

He had discarded his flashy attire somewhere and disguised himself in shabby clothes to induce my carelessness.

Unlike the faint sword ki from before, the sword blade was enveloped in distinctly powerful and clear ki.

A swordsman capable of drawing out sword aura , this man must have easily surpassed level 100.

The Mana Shield shattered under the blow of a strong warrior, almost worthy of being called a quasi-ranker.

Although I succeeded in blocking the first attack with a loud crash, a large chunk of mana was depleted.

I could have reapplied the Mana Shield, but abusing it, with its mana consumption proportional to the impact, would quickly drain my mana,

even with the Dragon Heart.

Against attacks from such strong opponents, it was better in many ways to dodge or use specific defensive magic depending on the attack’s

intensity.

Just like now.

A dark mist obscuring light spread around, and distracting clumps of light reminiscent of Tinkerbell from fairy tales clouded judgment.

With his vision partially blocked, the man slashed the moving light clumps and then generated a sword wind to blow away the surrounding

mist.

The man’s movements, persistently sticking to me to deny casting time, faltered ever so slightly.

That was enough.

“Asator, grant me the power to punish my enemies.”

<Advanced Magic: Asator’s Lightning>

If the similar magic <Astrape> depicted the flashy and swift lightning of Zeus, <Asator’s Lightning> was magic created by modelling the

profound divine power of Thor from Norse mythology.

Just as Thor’s gesture split valleys into three and lifted Jormungandr, his lightning, though narrow in range, possessed the power to split the

earth and shatter rocks.

As soon as the casting finished, scorching heat erupted.

Where the lightning’s aftermath cleared, the silhouette of the man, unconscious and embedded in a high-rise building, was visible.

Just as I approached the hideously damaged building, with its steel frame exposed, to check if the man was alive or dead, the dust cloud

raised by the power of the advanced magic settled, and arrows flew in again.

The rain of arrows shot by the archers, who had nocked their bows again, covered the sky.

Unlike the black sky-covering arrow rain seen in typical historical dramas, these mana-infused arrows shone with a beautiful, meteor-like

blue light as they rained down.

“Tch, annoying…!”

I used <Blink> to change position and dodge the arrow rain.

The building behind me began to collapse after being hit by the arrows.

It was called an arrow rain, but arrows shot by users of that level boasted power closer to a meteor shower.

‘Anyway, even though I subdued their leader, they’re still attacking without fleeing. They might have stronger willpower than I thought…!!’

Instinctively, in a fraction of a second, I cast the maximum defensive magic I could deploy.

A flash.

Literally, a sword grazed my cheek with the speed of light.

The erected wall was instantly pierced, but it successfully altered the trajectory of the thrown sword.

If my reaction had been even slightly delayed, that sword wouldn’t have just grazed my cheek; it would have split my head in two.

A liquid, indistinguishable between blood and cold sweat, trickled down my pale cheek.

“You… what are you?”