Chapter 14

The Returning Archmage Is a Max-Level Player Chapter 14

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Clang- Clang!

Jung Taeho’s sword collided with Park Dogyeom’s blade.

Sparks flew.

In the meantime, Seo Minjun’s shield blocked the charge of the villain following behind, and Han Sora seized the opening to unleash her magical power, but Park Dogyeom moved fluidly, slipping in from the side and interrupting her casting.

Since they had experience fighting villains before and also had one more person on their side, they did not collapse easily, but that did not mean the fight was going smoothly either.

They were exhausted from the continued fighting, so the situation could even be called unfavorable, but this was no time to complain.

‘Is that really how Awakened fight?’

It was on a completely different level from what he had experienced earlier.

The battle continued without pause.

‘It’s hard enough just to follow them with my eyes.’

The villain’s movements in particular seemed almost like teleportation.

He wondered how Kim Dohyun was even reacting to them.

So far, Kim Dohyun was holding out, but it was obvious he would not last much longer.

‘We have to help him.’

Having made his decision, Jung Taeho tried attacking once again, but Park Dogyeom persistently evaded him.

“You seem pretty desperate? But what can you do? I have no intention of settling things with you.”

Just as Jung Taeho was growing impatient, Park Dogyeom was also deliberately dragging out the fight.

“That mage. He does seem pretty strong, but in the end, he’s no match for Kang Cheolmin.”

“Kang Cheolmin...?”

Following Park Dogyeom, the villain standing beside him added.

“He’s officially registered as D+ rank by the Association. Three confirmed Awakened kills. He even killed someone else who was D+ rank.”

They were overflowing with confidence.

And understandably so, because judging by that history, the villain Kang Cheolmin was skilled in fighting and killing Awakened.

Kim Dohyun was strong.

But considering the unfavorable matchup and the history of Kang Cheolmin that the villains had described.

“Shut up! Things won’t go the way you think!”

He tried to erase the thought that had surfaced in his mind through forceful denial, but he could not hide even his trembling pupils, and Park Dogyeom did not miss it.

“Why don’t you stop doing pointless things, give up now, and run away? If you’re lucky, you might even save your life.”

A twisted smile spread across Park Dogyeom’s lips.

His intention was obvious.

He planned to attack from behind the moment their formation collapsed.

No, even if he truly intended to let them go, Jung Taeho had no intention of running away.

Kim Dohyun had saved his life, and he had sworn to repay that debt.

‘We’ll defeat the villains in front of us. Then go help Dohyun.’

It seemed Jung Taeho was not the only one to make that resolve, as the same light burned in Seo Minjun and Han Sora’s eyes.

“Let’s win.”

“Let’s take down the two in front of us as quickly as possible. Then let’s go help Dohyun.”

Seeing the determination of Jung Taeho’s party, Park Dogyeom snorted.

“Haha! You’re going to take us down and then go help him?”

Having personally witnessed Yoon Jaeseong, the former leader of Iron Claw who had been comparable to a D-rank Awakened, die helplessly, he could say it with certainty.

“I guarantee it. Kang Cheolmin will arrive here before you ever get the chance to go help.”

The corners of Park Dogyeom’s mouth rose.

“Five minutes. He’ll be here within that time.”

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What was a mage?

One who prepared and made contingencies.

That was how the concept of a ‘Domain’ came into being.

To a mage, a Domain meant absolute territory.

Because as beings who prepared in advance, they filled their Domains with countless preparations.

Magic circles, stored mana. Since it was a space where all such things were concentrated, a mage could display several times their usual strength within their own Domain.

A mage who had reached a certain level could even alter the very laws within the Domain.

But creating such a Domain required an enormous amount of time and resources.

It was impossible to build a Domain in advance when there was no telling when or where a fight might break out.

So Kim Dohyun changed the very concept itself.

‘Instead of creating a Domain in advance, carry the Domain itself around.’

Arcanum Cosmos.

The Archmage’s unique magic system, an independent mana structure that was itself a Domain.

By extracting the orbit contained within his body and declaring it outward, he could unfold a Domain.

It was the power to alter the laws themselves. A power capable of far surpassing the conventional.

Of course, since he had not yet completed the second ring, he lacked mana.

But that did not mean it was completely unusable.

If he had something that could substitute for the missing mana, he could use it in a limited fashion, and fortunately, Kim Dohyun possessed such an item.

‘Mana Cores.’

Crystals of condensed mana.

The mana inside his body alone was insufficient, so he had placed the Mana Cores he had gathered through hunting throughout the magic circle.

He was not accumulating and absorbing them into his body, but simply releasing their mana.

The efficiency was lower, but it was enough to make up for what he lacked.

As if proving that.

Wooooooong-!!

The orbit around Kim Dohyun’s heart surged.

The orbit that should have remained inside his body was pushed outward.

It was a privilege exclusive to Arcanum Cosmos, the unique magic created by the Archmage.

The orbit was extracted from his body and spread outward with Kim Dohyun at its center.

An invisible boundary was engraved upon the earth.

It meant this place was now Kim Dohyun’s Domain.

And the part Kim Dohyun valued most when constructing a Domain was.

‘Efficiency.’

He pushed magical efficiency to its absolute limit.

Though the expression was somewhat contradictory.

Magic itself was inherently efficient. By simply channeling mana and manifesting it, one could obtain the desired result.

But by the Archmage’s standards, it was chaotic.

‘The density is too low.’

The power scattered in every direction.

Inefficient.

And so.

He compressed it.

He focused the flow of mana in a single direction and eliminated every unnecessary waste.

As a result.

“Freeze.”

With a single short word, Kang Cheolmin’s legs froze.

The effect was undeniable.

But that was all.

Because the power had been concentrated, its strength increased, but from a broader perspective, it was nothing more than a single mass.

All he had done was gather mana into one place.

There was no further change.

To put it another way.

The correct arrangement of the casting stages. In other words, Sequence was required.

“Bind.”

The moment the second phrase was spoken.

It changed.

If Freeze merely froze the target in place.

Bind gave direction to the cold.

The ice crystals from the Freezes scattered throughout the battlefield.

The remnants of the Ice Arrows used during the battle.

Even the chill frozen within the atmosphere.

All of it began converging under a single will.

A vortex.

A whirlpool of ice surged in from all directions with Kang Cheolmin at its center, swallowing his body.

“Th-This... this is impossible!”

He could concede, however reluctantly, that Kim Dohyun had predicted the landing points of Blink.

But the amount of mana pouring out now was beyond comprehension.

‘This is magic?’

He had never even heard of magic like this.

He was bewildered.

But another emotion surged even more strongly.

Fear.

He could not resist this unknown power.

He could not run away either.

Even without his body freezing solid, his instincts were screaming.

‘I’m going to die.’

Crack-crack-crack-!

The gathered cold instantly spread past his waist and covered his chest.

Faced with the rapidly approaching terror called ‘death,’ Kang Cheolmin shouted desperately.

“S-Stop!”

He was pleading.

But the ice did not stop.

The ice had already reached his neck, tightening around even Kang Cheolmin’s final passage for breath.

Kim Dohyun had never intended to stop in the first place.

‘Leave no future trouble behind.’

It was one of the Archmage’s iron rules, and the wisest method.

Following Sequence and the spoken phrases, the final condition required to complete the magic.

Mental Image.

He formed the completed law he intended to manifest within his mind.

A law that encased the target in ice and shattered it from within.

The moment that image was perfectly assembled within Kim Dohyun’s consciousness.

“Shatter.”

Along with the cold declaration.

Craaaack-!

Cracks began spreading across the surface of the ice encasing Kang Cheolmin.

From the inside.

One became two, two became four, and the fractures spread like fine veins until they covered the entire mass of ice.

“N-No...! Please...!”

His final cry had not even finished.

KABOOOOM-!!

The ice exploded.

From inside to outside. Countless fragments erupted in every direction as cold and shockwaves shook the entire Domain.

“Ghk... -!”

A miserable sight, unable even to leave behind a proper scream of agony.

That was the end of Kang Cheolmin.

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Fwoooosh-

Snow crystals scattered in every direction.

Seen from far away, it might even have looked like a beautiful scene.

But the faces of those who knew the truth were filled with shock.

‘No way.’

Jung Taeho swallowed hard.

At the same time, he realized just how arrogant his earlier words had been.

‘Help him?’

How dare he.

Who had been worrying about whom?

It had never been a fight from the beginning.

‘Just how strong is he...?’

Questions continued to arise, but he could not reach an answer.

The environment itself, even the temperature, had changed.

Because he had never even heard of magic like this.

It was power beyond imagination.

And because of that, it was reassuring.

“This can’t be...!”

Park Dogyeom and the villains following him, however, were different.

Faced with such overwhelming power, their will to fight had completely broken.

But they could not even flee.

Because the snow crystals drifting through the air looked as though they might descend upon them at any moment.

In the end, unable to shake off their helplessness and fear, the villains raised both hands.

“P-Please... spare us.”

Naturally, the villains were not looking toward Jung Taeho, whom they had been fighting.

One person.

Their gazes were directed toward Kim Dohyun, who stood there silently.

“We lost!”

Unconditional surrender.

It was only natural.

Under the International Awakened Convention, an Awakened who killed a villain was exempt from criminal liability.

Of course, there was the condition that the villain had posed a threat to their safety, but there was no way to prove otherwise in court.

No. In the first place, no one even tried to make an issue of it.

Because there was no one willing to defend villains branded as criminals.

Having lived as a villain, Park Dogyeom knew that fact better than anyone and slammed his forehead against the ground.

“Please... please, just spare my life.”

He begged desperately, but instinctively felt that it was meaningless.

Cold eyes.

The pressure from that gaze tightened around the villains’ throats.

“F-Fuck!”

“Kill him!!”

Foreseeing the future that awaited them, the horrible ending to come, Park Dogyeom and the other villains desperately grabbed their weapons and charged at Kim Dohyun, but it was meaningless.

“If you tried to kill someone, you should have known you might die too.”

Along with the cold voice, the Ice Arrows floating in the air all shot forward at once.

“Ghk-!”

With brief screams, Park Dogyeom and the other villains collapsed.

Iron Claw. It was the moment the villain group that had preyed upon novice Awakened in the border region was destroyed.