Descent of the Legendary Archmage

Resonance.

The indicator that one has become a 2-circle master in the Bytenor style of magic.

[Magic is the tree and the infinity circle is the forest.]

[The circle of resonance strengthens trees, but the stage of resonance strengthens the forest.]

Achieving the stage of resonance casts the circle of resonance on my entire circle, therefore strengthening not only my magic but my circle itself.

[The Bytenor style of magic also calls this the transcendence of resonance.]

[Transcendence of the stage of resonance. Users who have entered this stage of resonance will transcend beyond their current circle.]

Transcendence of the stage of resonance.

3rd circle mages will be able to use 4-circle magic.

And 4th circle mages will be able to use 5-circle magic.

[It is a powerful effect, but it is not without its drawbacks.]

[The disadvantage of resonance is its short duration.]

[Since it accelerates circles that were weaved together with different properties, it puts a fair amount of strain on your mind and body.]

[Right now, as a 2-circle master, you'll be able to maintain resonance for about 3 minutes.]

[Once it ends, your circle will not move for around 12 hours, so please be careful.]

Taking into account that breaking down the boundaries of a circle is a powerful and unmatched effect, this penalty really isn't that bad.

Baek Sahyuk right now is a perfect example of this.

Berserker and the IL Chip.

Baek Sahyuk gave his life as collateral to transcend past his current circles.

So by comparison, a short duration and a 12-hour downtime on the use of mana can't even be considered a penalty.

[Of course, these shortcomings are something that will eventually be resolved as you ascend to the next stages.]

[Until then, always be careful when using resonance.]

And since he's even said that the penalty disappears, later on, there's no problem.

'Three minutes is plenty.'

I grinned and spun the mana around my body in the two separate, but one circle.

'Earth Needle.'

The mana infused with my will settled around Baek Sahyuk.

The 3-circle magic that Adella had used against me: Earth Needle.

It erupted from the ground at Baek Sahyuk's feet and rose.

“Th-third circle magic!?"

The symbol of 3-circle magic spells.

Designated space magic.

The Earth Needle is an indicator of the ability to use 3-circle magic.

"Hmph!"

Baek Sahyuk, who had felt Earth Needle's activation, hurriedly spurred off the ground.

However, he was unable to completely avoid the unexpected designated space magic.

A single needle penetrated Baaek Sahyuk's thigh.

Blood dripped from the deeply inflicted wound.

"How can garbage like you use 3-circle magic...!!"

Even though it was a serious wound, Baek Sahyuk didn't seem to feel any pain.

Numbness of feeling.

It meant that the berserker was slowly eating away and swallowing the body's functions.

"I wonder. How am I able to use it?"

"...You defective bastard."

There was the sound of something breaking from Baek Sahyuk's molars.

From the looks of it, he might've broken a tooth.

"Die! You trash!"

Baek Sahyuk fired a Flame Shotgun again at his surroundings.

Baek Sahyuk's magic had been so powerful that I had no choice but to dodge it.

''This is something that I've thought about for a while."

I smiled as I watched the magic approach.

"But I think you have even less talent for cursing than you do magic. Your cursing is so cliché.”

'Water Shield.'

A stream of water gushed up from the ground.

The upside-down waterfall collided with Baek Sahyuk's Flame Shotgun.

Pwshshsh-!

As before, an immense volume of steam spewed out.

“Hehe. Do defects also have the inability to learn? Someone who couldn't even block my Flame Ball dares to try and block my Flame Shotgun?"

Baek Sahyuk who had watched this same scene unfold before laughed out.

I couldn't see his expression because of the steam, but I bet he was certain of his victory.

"Well. Before discussing my learning abilities, I think we should take a look at your mana sensing abilities again.”

"What?"

“No, maybe it's not a problem with your mana-sensing ability but a problem with your brain? I'm curious about the structure of your brain. Even after seeing my Earth Needle, how could you think that this Water Shield is the same one as before?"

My water shield, which had transcended due to my resonance, easily blocked Baek Sahyuk's Flare Shotgun.

“As I am now, your magic can't even touch me.”

As I watched the Flame Shotgun start to extinguish, I formed a new spell with my other hand.

'Wind Cutter'.

Two wind cutters bent drastically like boomerangs and flew toward Baek Sahyuk's back.

Whoosh!

His Flame Shotgun was fully extinguished and at the same time, the steam started to slowly fade away.

Whoosh!

A light wind blew, restoring our field of view.

“Shin Hayul...!"

Baek Sahyuk's angry expression entered my vision once again.

And at that moment.

Two wind cutters slash through Baek Sahyuk's back.

Phwoooooosh!

The two wind cutters made a horrifying whistling sound as they flew past.

Despite taking the full brunt of my magic spell, Baek Sahyuk did not bat an eyelid. Though never taking one’s eyes off the opponent is something admirable, he didn’t do it with that intent.

"I see. You, you illegally doped. That's why your skills suddenly improved like that!"

He just didn't notice.

The wind cutter that had slashed through his back.

He didn't notice the blood flowing from the two huge cuts.

'His sense of touch has completely gone.'

One of Berserker's side effects is that it slows the senses, eventually completely destroying the sense of touch.

'It's over.'

Baek Sahyuk will no longer be able to call himself a mage after today.

Forget not being able to feel mana, he won't be able to move his body properly.

And since he used the IL chip as well, even his brain won't function normally anymore.

Best-case scenario, he'll only be put into a vegetative state, as a disabled person.

In the next 10 minutes, that’ll be his fate.

"I won't feel any sympathy. He did this to himself."

“What bullshit are you talking about again!”

Mind control magic isn't powerful to that extent.

It can only plant suggestions, prompt someone to do something or amplify emotions. That's the limit of the mind control magic that Len Smith can do.

"If you had any reluctance or had any hesitation of killing me, it would never have ended like this.”

Baek Sahyuk's intention to kill me is genuine.

He wasn't reluctant to kill me at all—Baek Sahyuk had become that pathetic of a person.

He had brought all this upon himself.

“This is the price you'll pay for not being able to graciously take your defeat five years ago while living your life with only resentment and regret.”

5 years ago.

An ordinary youth competition.

If only Baek Sahyuk had taken his loss to me as an opportunity and taken a step forward.

If only, like Adella, he had used his defeat to further motivate himself, this would have never happened.

“The last mercy I can show you is to let you rest as quickly as possible.”

“Again, again, agaaain!! Those eyes! Those eyes are as if you're the only one who knows everything about this world! Don't look at me with those eyes! You trash!"

Baek Sahyuk drew up all the mana he had.

As if he was trying to commit suicide, as if he had no concern over the consequences it would have on his body, he ran at me, gushing out an unreasonable amount of mana.

A stream of blood continued to leak from his pierced thigh.

"Only you... If only you weren't here! If only you hadn't been here my life would beeee!"

"I wonder. If I weren't here, you'd probably have been resenting Adella instead.”

I raised my right hand toward Baek Sahyuk, who was approaching me at high speed.

My entire body shook.

Mana swirled around me like a maelstrom.

The Circle of Deliberation and the Circle of Resonance.

The mana laughs as if in sync with my two infinity circles.

'Giggle.'

'It feels good here.'

'What are we going to do?'

'Will you play with us?'

The mana whined at me like an innocent child.

While feeling their will, I activated my magic.

'Darkness Blind.'

‘Earth Bind.'

'Air Bind.'

The three magic spells manifested at the same time.

The Darkness Blind first ate away at Baek Sahyuk's sight, and at the same time, the rope of the earth sprang from the ground.

In the air, a rope of mana tied itself around Baek Sahyuk's body.

'The speed of the magic processing is much better than I had imagined.'

I, a 2nd circle master who was feeling the power of the resonance, immediately spurred off the ground.

“This as well... Keuagh!"

Baek Sahyuk used all the magic around him to strengthen his body.

He struggled relentlessly against my blinding and binding magic as if he could break free with pure strength.

Well, with his strength right now, I'm sure he would have been able to break free from anything.

However,

“It’s too late.”

It was already too late.

Hup-

Having quickly gotten behind Baek Sahyuk's back, I immediately placed my hand at his nape, where the IL chip was planted.

“Besides the consequences to the body, do you know why else we shouldn't use illegally modified AI?”

"Y-you!"

I ignored the bewildered Baek Sahyuk and concentrated my mana on the IL chip on his nape.

“It’s because your stability drops significantly.”

"Keuak! You, you bastard! What are you doing!”

My mana seeped into Baek Sahyuk's IL chip.

“Chips and bodies that have been overclocked to beyond their limits will easily break down. Even if they get gently touched by anything from the outside.”

“Aghhhhhhh!”

Baek Sahyuk let out a ripping scream.

A pain that he felt through his numbed senses.

He must have felt as if someone was directly stabbing at his brain.

“If, like how you are right now, your chip itself were to overfuse, then even if I were to just spill some of my mana with the same frequency as yours..."

"Keuagh! St-Stoooop it!"

“Then this will happen.”

My palm, which was touching Baek Sahyuk's neck, felt an intense heat.

The already hot IL chip was getting even hotter.

There's not much left now.

“Oh right. This will be my final thanks to you.”

In order to stop the functions of the IL chip, I had to instil my mana into him one last time.

''Thanks to your madness, I think I'll be able to receive something from the Baek family again."

"...What?"

“This is a scandal that's incomparably bigger than the last one, so I'm thinking maybe 30%... no 40% of the mana stone mining rights will be mine."

"You...!"

“Thank you. You were a tree that generously gave me gifts until the very end.”

“Shin Hayuuul!!”

After Baek Sahyeok shrieked my name, his mind and body were torn apart.

The battle's over.

'Well, now I just need to deal with the aftermath.'

As I looked at Baek Sahyuk, who was limp and bound by my Earth Bind, I took out my phone from my pocket.

"Father. It's me, Hayul.”

And I immediately called my father.

"Mm, what’s happened for you to call at this hour?"

I gazed at the early morning night sky and said softly.

“You don’t have to feign ignorance. I know you saw everything."

* * *

— You don’t have to feign ignorance. I know you saw everything.

''Pfft."

As Shin Inhyuk heard what Shin Hayul had said through the other end of the receiver, he snorted as if it was amusing.

"What made you think that I was watching?"

— Though I’m at an empty park at dawn, despite there being such a massive incident, the police have not arrived yet.

Unless someone had been purposely blocking the mobilisation of the police, this cannot happen.

"So what you're saying is that someone blocked the mobilisation of the police. But that alone shouldn't be enough to conclude that I was the one who intervened."

— No. It has to be you.

Shin Hayul declared.

— There are many people who can suppress the police.

But among them, the only one who would stand by and watch until the end of the battle is you, father.

Had it been anyone else, they would have either helped or fought against me a while ago.

If it had been the Black Magic Tower or Shin Jihan who was the one who had controlled this situation, then they would have taken action the moment they saw Baek Sahyuk attack me.

— And in the first place, you're the only one who can keep an eye on me on my way home. Since my siblings won't be able to attach someone to trail me because of the 2 month's protection that you've given me.

Shin Inhyuk laughed.

“Yes, you're right. I put Seokhyun by your side today.”

Kim Seokhyun.

Shin Inhyuk's most cherished subordinate.

The children were planning to get together today, so he was attached to Shin Hayul just in case anything unexpected happened.

''I thought you didn't ask for help because you didn't notice, but it seems that it was the other way around."

Shin Inhyuk laughed as if the world was a fun place.

“You knew it all, but you didn’t ask for help. Because you wanted to show me your 3-circle magic.”

— Yes. You're right.

“I'm sure you haven't achieved anything extra within this short time. Were you hiding the fact that you could use 3-circle magic?"

It's hard to believe that my level of magic had risen by that much in this short period of time.

So in other words, the logical conclusion is that I, Shin Hayul, had been able to use 3-circle magic from the very start.

— Yes.

Shin Hayul confirmed it.

"Why did you hide it?"

— It's because I don't have enough strength yet.

"Hmm."

— Yes.

Shin Inhyuk's eyes twinkled.

— 3-circle magic and 2-circle magic are very different. If I had revealed that I could use 3-circle magic spells, my brothers would have not let me be.

“So you hid it?”

— Yes.

“So why did you show me your 3-circle magic that you kept so securely hidden?"

— I thought that this was a good opportunity to only show you my true achievements.

“You only wanted to show me?”

— Yes. I thought that this was a golden opportunity to show my worth to you, without being noticed by my competitors.

Shin Hayul grinned.

— What do you think? Are you starting to see my true worth?

"What? Kehaha!!"

Shin Inhyuk let out a hearty laugh.

“You have more confidence than anyone else on this planet! I'm dying to know how you've spent the past year!"

— So you didn't like it?

"No."

Shin Inhyuk chuckled.

“It's not bad.”

Confidence with no foundation is just arrogance.

However, confidence with a strong foundation is pride.

And pride is a virtue that's essential for the head of the Magic Shin Clan.

He couldn't help but like Shin Hayul's behaviour.

— I knew you'd say that.

Shin Hayul brightly grinned.