Chapter 79: Calamity

Episode 79

On the northern tip of the island, a dilapidated, broken lighthouse stood tall.

[…Therefore, all remaining Seekers have secured their spot in the second preliminary round.]

The announcement from the main castle was loud enough to reach this remote location at the edge of the island.

“…What, what did you say?”

Pung Bitgaram, hiding there, widened his eyes as he listened to the announcement. If all the Seekers had secured their spot…

‘Then this is practically over, right?’

Pung Bitgaram’s eyes filled with joy. If the Seekers had all passed, there was no reason for either side to fight anymore. It would be foolish for the Seekers to risk their lives fighting the Thieves.

‘Even if I were a Seeker, I wouldn’t fight. It’s over!’

Pung Bitgaram flopped onto the ground, relieved. He looked up at the sky with a tired expression. It was still early in the morning.

‘Whew, thank goodness! I’m one of the two Thieves who miraculously survived.’

Pung Bitgaram felt like he had been blessed by fate. He had survived the encounter with the Quagmire, which possessed unbelievable abilities, in the underground. He had also managed to escape from the Seekers, even though he had betrayed Kim Jinsung and nearly been caught.

And until just before the final announcement, he had been hiding in fear.

‘I thought I was going crazy with all the announcements about the Thieves dying!’

Every ten minutes or so, he had heard the announcements about a Thief dying, slowly pushing him into a panic. If it hadn’t been for the announcement that the Seekers had all passed, he might have peed himself from fear.

‘Anyway, it’s over! I’m safe now. No one in their right mind would fight anymore now that everyone has passed…’

Just as he thought that.

A familiar, chilling sensation came from in front of him.

‘……!’

His cells screamed a warning of death, and Pung Bitgaram reacted instinctively. He transformed into smoke and flew to the side as fast as he could. Simultaneously,

**Boom!**

A massive explosion erupted where he had been standing.

‘Hiss…!’

Pung Bitgaram was horrified by the giant cloud of flames. If he hadn’t reacted instinctively, he would have been dead for sure.

“Whoa! You’re different, aren’t you?”

A strange voice reached Pung Bitgaram’s ears. He turned to see who it was and his heart sank.

‘Seol, Seol Daun!’

One of the most prominent stars from the first preliminary round, and the last person he wanted to encounter, was standing there, looking at him with an amused expression.

‘I need to escape!’

As soon as he saw Seol Daun, Pung Bitgaram’s instinct told him to run. Fighting wasn’t even an option in his mind.

Pung Bitgaram, still in smoke form, began to flee at high speed.

In the pitch-black darkness, it was almost impossible to see Pung Bitgaram fleeing as smoke. But,

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Seol Daun raised his hand, watching him.

**Bang!**

Another explosion echoed from the right edge. It was right in front of Pung Bitgaram, who had scattered into smoke.

If the explosion had been just a meter to the left, Pung Bitgaram would have been severely injured. Even in smoke form, he wasn’t invincible.

‘Huff…!’

Pung Bitgaram bit his lip and tried to escape in a different direction. But it was useless. Explosions kept going off right in front of him, one after another.

“Damn it!”

Finally, Pung Bitgaram gave up and shouted, reverting to his human form. Seol Daun smirked.

“Good choice. If you tried to escape one more time, I was going to kill you for real. Like this.”

Seol Daun extended his hand towards a large oak tree in the distance.

Then,

**Boom!**

A deafening explosion, larger than any before, erupted around the oak tree.

“!!”

Pung Bitgaram widened his eyes. He wasn’t surprised by the explosion’s range but by what came after.

After the explosion subsided, a giant firestorm was swirling around the oak tree, covering a vast area.

‘He can use that big a scale of a fire skill?!’

Pung Bitgaram looked at him in disbelief. Even if he were just a fire user, it was a terrifying level of power. But he could also change his mana into ice?

“Or like this?”

Seol Daun said, and the firestorm’s properties instantly changed. It went from red to blue, and the scorching heat that Pung Bitgaram could feel on his skin vanished in an instant. A chilling cold replaced it.

‘Could it be an ice storm…?’

Seeing the giant ice storm freezing the burning oak tree, Pung Bitgaram’s jaw dropped. Even just a fire user with that kind of power was terrifying, but to be able to change his mana into ice?

“This too!”

Seol Daun shouted again. Then,

**Boom!**

Lightning struck from the sky with a deafening roar. The oak tree, struck by lightning, was covered in static electricity.

**Rumble…!!**

The ground, shaking violently, began to split apart on both sides. Pung Bitgaram, eyes wide, watched as the oak tree fell endlessly into the chasm.

‘No, no…’

Pung Bitgaram, so shocked that he couldn’t close his mouth, heard Seol Daun’s voice.

“Alright, if you want to run again, choose. How will you meet your end?”

Seol Daun spoke calmly, as if using four powerful abilities in a row hadn’t fazed him. To Pung Bitgaram, he no longer looked human.

‘What kind of ability user is this guy?!’

Pung Bitgaram desperately wanted to scream and ask that question.

* * *

– Whoa

– ??????

– Crazy

– What did I just see?

– A human who can use fire, ice, lightning, and earth at once?

– That’s too overpowered!

[No…! Can you believe this?! Seol Daun used four different elemental attacks simultaneously!]

[Wow… Is this the kind of power one person can wield…?]

[Has anyone in the history of Colosseum Survival used such a variety of elemental attacks?]

[There have been some, but no one has used such powerful, wide-range skills in succession without any effort.]

[Ah, I see!]

“Wow!”

“He’s been hiding that ability all this time?”

“That’s right. Before, he only used explosion attacks against the participants?”

“Yes, that skill was enough to kill everyone.”

“This is dangerous for Kim Jinsung…”

The chat, the commentators, and the staff in the monitoring room were all in shock, expressing similar reactions. But Jang Seungwook and Baek Jun’s reactions were slightly different.

“…My prediction was wrong. It seems you were right, sir.”

Baek Jun smiled slightly at Jang Seungwook’s words. He thought to himself.

‘Now I’m sure. Seol Daun is a mana control user.’

He had a hunch when he saw Seol Daun explode his opponents without touching them. But he had hesitated to confirm it, as there were other abilities that could be used in similar ways. Seeing Seol Daun freely using elemental range attacks, Baek Jun was convinced of his prediction.

‘Only a mana control user could use such diverse elemental range attacks without any effort.’

There were other scenes that proved his ability to control mana.

His stealth ability, on par with ‘Fade,’ perhaps even better.

His incredible detection ability that allowed him to find hidden Thieves as soon as they were nearby.

And most importantly, the scene that had made the biggest impact, where he exploded his opponents’ limbs without touching them.

‘He must have detonated the mana within their bodies.’

Just as he was thinking that, Jang Seungwook asked.

“If he’s a mana control user, wouldn’t that be one of the top ten abilities in the history of the Colosseum?”

Baek Jun nodded.

“Definitely.”

“But why…?”

Jang Seungwook looked at him, his voice trailing off. Baek Jun understood his question.

“Seol Daun is just a guy with exceptional natural talent.”

“…I agree, but…”

Jang Seungwook recalled the fact that Seol Daun had never visited the training room.

“Even so, just his ability alone seems like a disaster for the other participants.”

At Jang Seungwook’s words, Baek Jun didn’t respond and just stared at the monitor.

* * *

“Why are you attacking me?”

Pung Bitgaram, giving up on escaping, looked at Seol Daun with resentment.

“Everyone, including you, has passed the preliminary round. There’s no need to hunt down the remaining Thieves anymore.”

Seol Daun, responding to Pung Bitgaram’s logical explanation, simply replied.

“It’s my choice.”

“……!”

“It doesn’t matter if they’ve passed or not. I want to keep hunting down the Thieves.”

Pung Bitgaram was speechless, looking at him with disbelief.

“You’re insane! You’re a murderer!”

“Haha! What are you saying, you ‘forced laborer’? Stop talking nonsense and come at me!”

Seol Daun gestured for Pung Bitgaram to come closer.

“Give me your best shot and entertain me! Hahaha.”

“This guy…!”

Pung Bitgaram was enraged by Seol Daun’s mocking provocation. But he was calm inside, trying to find a way out of the situation.

‘I’ll have to trap him in the smoke magic circle and escape. It’s the only way I can escape.’

It was impossible to escape using ordinary methods. And he couldn’t fight against this monster who could freely use elemental range attacks.

Making his decision, Pung Bitgaram gathered all his mana and activated the ‘Smoke Magic Circle’ skill. Smoke engulfed the surroundings, trapping Seol Daun in a giant cloud-like space.

“Ooh, a magic circle?”

Seol Daun, trapped inside, looked around with amusement.

Then,

**Boom!**

With a deafening roar, countless lightning bolts generated inside the magic circle struck Seol Daun’s body. Simultaneously, a small puff of smoke, about the size of an adult fist, flew out of the smoke magic circle at high speed.

Pung Bitgaram, after attacking Seol Daun with lightning, immediately fled without looking back. But…

‘…What? What’s happening?’

Pung Bitgaram was shocked by the immense suction force he felt from behind. The suction was so strong that even though he was flying in the opposite direction with all his might, he wasn’t getting further from Seol Daun; he was being pulled closer.

“Not bad, that ability. But…”

Seol Daun continued to speak, sucking all the surrounding smoke towards his palm. Despite being struck by countless lightning bolts, he was unscathed.

“The magic circle is ultimately made of mana, right? So it’s useless against me.”

By the time he finished speaking, all the surrounding smoke had been sucked into his palm, swirling around in a large gray sphere. Inside, Pung Bitgaram’s body, transformed into smoke, was trapped.

‘No! I can’t escape!’

Pung Bitgaram struggled to break free from Seol Daun’s palm, but it was useless.

Then,

**Boom!**

The gathered smoke sphere exploded with a deafening roar. Simultaneously,

“Kyaagh!!”

Pung Bitgaram, screaming, collapsed in front of Seol Daun, covered in blood. Seol Daun looked down at him with a bored expression, watching him writhe in pain as his body burned.

“I thought you were a big deal, but you’re nothing special. It’s boring.”

Seol Daun muttered, looking bored. He extended his hand towards Pung Bitgaram, ready to finish him off.

Just as he was about to use his mana explosion ability,

“…What?!”

Seol Daun suddenly looked to the left with a surprised expression.

Numerous black arrows were flying towards him from a distance.

The arrows flew past Seol Daun.

**Pfoo! Pfoo! Pfoo!**

The black arrows struck Pung Bitgaram, who was now covered in arrows like a hedgehog. He stood motionless.

But Seol Daun had already lost interest in him.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Kim Jinsung!”

He smirked and shouted at Kim Jinsung, who was slowly approaching from a distance.

—