episode_0711

“Are you a little excited?”

Should I have stayed a bit longer to help the party leader sort out the chaos?

Regret briefly crossed Lee Hoyeon’s mind before he shook his head.

With Irene, Alice, and the guild leader present, the internal chaos would be resolved quickly.

“I can’t miss out on this opportunity.”

Lee Hoyeon gazed out at the vast field.

Rumors had it that among several party leader candidates, this place was chosen, perhaps as part of a terrorist plot.

Kwoong! Quaaaang! Thud!

Hundreds, thousands of magical powers striking the barrier.

Unpleasant magical powers from the mines.

Where Lee Hoyeon stood now was inside the barrier.

He adjusted his coordinates slightly to avoid immediately going outside the barrier, which could be dangerous.

“A great place for a fight.”

Lee Hoyeon smiled as he looked at the many mines beyond the field.

Thump thump—

The excitement of battle he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Lee Hoyeon surrendered himself to the anticipation filling his entire body.

Annoying or not, Lee Hoyeon loved magic and had a combat-loving nature.

“I thought I wouldn’t have another large-scale battle like this….”

He thought the demon king was dead, and there would be no threats in this world.

Yet, here they were, gathering reluctantly. From Lee Hoyeon’s perspective, it was something to be grateful for.

“If it’s the last one, might as well enjoy it properly.”

Lee Hoyeon placed his hand on the barrier withstanding attacks.

The barrier, a collaboration between him and the Iris Guild, could easily withstand most attacks.

Even if Lee Hoyeon poured his own magical power into it, it wouldn’t break, but…

“Then I won’t have a chance to fight.”

Lee Hoyeon infused magical power into the runes inside the barrier.

After preparing to control the barrier at any moment, he opened a part of it and stepped outside.

“The target has appeared!”

“Prepare for an attack!”

Thousands of mines attacking the barrier in the field turned their attention to Lee Hoyeon.

Their malice and unpleasant emotions pressed down on Lee Hoyeon.

The atmosphere of the battlefield where lives were targeted.

Lee Hoyeon couldn’t help but feel a smile creeping up at the sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

“Nice to meet you, bastards.”

Lee Hoyeon walked forward, raising magical power.

—

“…What? Lee Hoyeon came out alone?”

“Yes.”

“That’s… Still, maintain combat readiness. Don’t let your guard down.”

A disgruntled-looking mine ordered their subordinate, responsible for communication with the EK Guild inside the party.

“Lee Hoyeon coming out of the party alone. Surely he doesn’t intend to stop us alone?”

“He might. The genius magician Lee Hoyeon is treated like a disaster-level monster.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Cranks. No matter how strong Lee Hoyeon is, does that make sense? Just one magician.”

Beside the mine, Vera, a woman, crossed her arms and squinted.

“They were stupidly ambushed. The situation now is different.”

“Hmm. I agree, but… Those who have actually met him highly regard Lee Hoyeon. Stay alert.”

Cranks, a rugged-looking man, observed the barrier while speaking.

In truth, he also concurred with her.

They would execute the operation seriously, but he didn’t think they would fail.

Their opponent was just one magician.

Thousands of lives cannot be taken alone.

“The problem is breaking the barrier before the reinforcement arrives.”

This operation hangs on the fate of the mines.

Once EK Guild regains power, the mines controlling the guild will be able to re-enter the human world.

After the downfall of the pandemic, it’s time for the mines to rise again.

At that moment, a part of the barrier opened, and a figure emerged.

Facing forward, Cranks raised his spear.

“The target has appeared. Prepare for battle.”

With his appearance, the flow of air on the battlefield changed.

Even Vera, who had been hesitant until now, was ready for combat.

“Nice to meet you, bastards.”

Looking at the mines in front of him, Lee Hoyeon smiled brightly.

Everyone seemed ready to fight.

This battlefield was Lee Hoyeon’s favorite place.

“Arcane Palace, deploy.”

Kwoong-!

Inside the entire field covered by the Arcane Palace, Lee Hoyeon released his magic in an instant.

Dozens of large magic circles rose behind Lee Hoyeon.

Each one was a deadly weapon threatening the mines.

“I expected that much!”

Beside Cranks, Vera signaled the mine wizards.

As the task required breaking the barrier, the reverse spells were thoroughly prepared.

“Monsters are monsters. To twist dozens of large magic circles… but it ends now!”

As hundreds of wizards simultaneously cast their spells, Lee Hoyeon’s magic circles began to counteract one by one.

Lee Hoyeon carefully examined the faces of the mines and then nodded.

“I wondered how many mines were hiding… pretending to be EK Guild members?”

He saw the faces of EK Guild members he had memorized from Iris Guild’s information.

It seemed like highly confidential information known only to the guild leader and a few others.

Lee Hoyeon imagined that other guilds he didn’t know were also harboring mines.

“Not bad, huh?”

Suppressing his excited heart, Lee Hoyeon chuckled and unleashed his magic.

“If they couldn’t handle this much, I would have been disappointed. They were quite interesting.”

“Well then, how about this?”

Lee Hoyeon placed his hand on the barrier.

The circuits he had prepared in advance shifted towards him, changing the core spells forming the barrier.

Swoosh-

Simultaneously, as the barrier disappeared, the magic forming the barrier was absorbed into Lee Hoyeon’s body.

Feeling the abundant magic, Lee Hoyeon took a deep breath and focused his energy.

“The, the barrier! The barrier suddenly disappeared!”

“What did that idiot do?! It’s our chance! Charge! Charge!”

Confirming the disappearance of the barrier, the mines immediately started charging.

Even Lee Hoyeon couldn’t instantly deploy such a large-scale barrier.

Regardless of what was being prepared, he couldn’t miss this opportunity.

“Yeah. If the barrier disappears, they’ll charge straight in.”

Watching the mines rush towards the party leader, Lee Hoyeon reached out his hand.

The large-scale barrier prepared by Iris Guild and outstanding wizards contained tremendous magic power.

Using the Arcane Palace to absorb all the magic, Lee Hoyeon could momentarily surpass his limits.

“Reverse Heaven.”

A magic that steps into the realm of gods.

It can only be cast after absorbing all the power of the gods in this world, but with such a huge amount of magic now, he could mimic it briefly.

As Reverse Heaven activated, all beings except Lee Hoyeon froze in place.

Or more precisely, Lee Hoyeon’s thoughts accelerated thousands of times.

“Arc Conjunction.”

Originally three, now hundreds of arcs of magic power circled above Lee Hoyeon’s head.

At that moment, it felt like he could truly do anything.

“Eclipse.”

And the magic representing Lee Hoyeon, Eclipse, covered the sky.

Each sentence is separated by a period to maintain the format.

A black sun capable of incinerating hundreds of mines floated thousands in the sky.

“Such a scale of magic without a magic circle…?”

After the acceleration of thought.

The steps of the mines who saw the black sun covering the sky stopped involuntarily.

In their situation, when they closed their eyes and opened them, the sun was descending upon them.

The mines instinctively felt the magic contained in the eclipse.

A powerful magic that could easily erase a whole country.

The moment it falls on the field, the entire area will disappear.

“Wizards! Reverse it! Quickly!”

“The structure of the magic itself is different from conventional magic! Reversing it is impossible!”

“Damn it…! Charge! There’s no use just standing here waiting for death!”

Watching the mines charging forward prepared for death, Lee Hoyeon nodded as if realizing something.

“Oh. I made a mistake. I decided to spare them all. Gotta follow the rules. Gotta do it properly.”

Thinking of it as the final battle, he got excited after a long time.

As Lee Hoyeon waved his hand, the black sun covering the entire field disappeared like melting snow.

As the sun above their heads vanished, the mines instinctively felt it.

Their lives depended on the hands of that monster.

“Rune Tracer.”

Roar-!

The fearful black sun disappeared, and the clouds in the sky began to move.

Suddenly appearing in the clear sky, the dark clouds covered the field, imbued with strong lightning.

“Don’t worry. I’ll control it enough so you won’t die.”

“Haha….”

Seeing the black clouds covering the sky, the wizard Vera laughed as if lost in thought.

The fate of the mines? That wasn’t important.

The mines had to flee.

They had to hide deeper to avoid ever encountering that monster again.

“If we knew it was that strong, we wouldn’t have messed with them. Those EK Guild bastards….”

Of course, now it was already too late to think about it.