Chapter 17

The Returning Archmage Is a Max-Level Player Chapter 17

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Destruction.

It was around the time he entered his twenty-fifth year of life on the Rodinia Continent.

The invasion of the demon race led by the being called the Demon King could only be described with that single word.

Half of the continent fell into the Demon King’s hands, and countless people died.

The shock was tremendous.

Doomsayers poured into the streets, and people who had completely lost their reason appeared one after another.

Some kings even went so far as to suggest abandoning the Rodinia Continent, the 1st World, and fleeing.

But he, Kim Dohyun, had been different.

For a mage, defending a position was the field in which they were most confident.

Prepare, make contingencies, and wait.

Because the more the enemy presses forward, the brighter those accumulated preparations shine.

Indeed, Kim Dohyun at the time had single-handedly swept away an army numbering nearly one million. Along with the Demon King who led them.

‘That was when they started calling me an Archmage.’

It was nothing more than an old story and a memory.

But now, it was also a source of confidence.

‘Only a few hundred.’

They were not even as strong as the demon race or the Demon King.

They were inferior even to magical beasts.

‘F-rank, Servant Insect swarm.’

As the name suggested, they were insect-type monsters. And rather than a single individual, an entire swarm was classified as one monster.

Naturally, the combat ability of each individual was not particularly impressive.

Their only means of attack was a needle-like pointed proboscis.

An adult man could easily handle a single swarm of Servant Insects.

But that was only when it was one swarm.

If an uncountable number like this descended upon someone, their flesh would be pierced through in an instant, leaving them in tatters.

But Kim Dohyun was not afraid.

No, there was another emotion that came before fear.

‘Ridiculous.’

In truth, since the base rewards had already been increased, there was no need to obsess over the rankings.

But if he looked at it from another perspective.

‘If I add the ranking rewards on top of the existing rewards.’

The reward would undoubtedly be enormous.

Of course, it would not be completely easy.

‘To enter the rankings, I’ll probably have to block them perfectly.’

Their bodies were extremely small, and they were fast as well.

If it had been a few days ago, blocking every single one would have been difficult.

But now.

“...”

He quietly closed his eyes and began calculating.

The number of Servant Insects filling the horizon, their approach speed, their flight patterns.

And the amount of mana he possessed, his magic items, even the range of his Domain.

The conclusion after substituting every variable came quickly.

“This should be easy.”

He had prepared thoroughly.

Moreover, this objective was defense.

Protecting a single position.

It was the kind of battle in which the Archmage was most confident.

Ding-!!

-3.

-2.

-1.

-Beginning.

-Good luck.

The moment the message window disappeared.

Hundreds of black dots surged forward, blanketing the land.

But Kim Dohyun did not move.

Holding his breath. Calmly. Coldly.

‘100 meters... 70 meters... 50 meters...’

Kim Dohyun, who had been measuring the distance to the Servant Insect swarm with his eyes alone, slowly opened his mouth.

“Water Ball.”

A sphere of water formed in the air.

And immediately shot toward the Servant Insects at the front.

Smack-!

The struck creature’s outer shell became thoroughly soaked.

Since it was a basic spell, its power was not great.

More precisely, its destructive power was weaker compared to the flames and lightning magic that another 2nd Circle mage could use.

In terms of raw power, it was inefficient.

In exchange, it had excellent mana efficiency, but there were still far too many aspects that could be called weaknesses.

However.

‘You just have to change your perspective.’

Because its original power was weak, it was not greatly affected by the ‘power reduction’ that could be called the drawback of the Belt of Transfer.

What remained was its advantage. Its outstanding mana efficiency.

That was exactly what mattered.

Splash-!

He could use it repeatedly without any burden whatsoever.

Of course, it was still not enough to soak all the Servant Insects filling the horizon.

‘Transfer.’

The Belt of Transfer wrapped around his waist glowed as though resonating.

At that moment.

The moisture clinging to the struck creature spread outward, soaking the nearby Servant Insects as well.

Drip. Drip-drip. Drip-drip-drip-.

Along with the soft sounds, the moisture spread throughout the entire swarm.

Before long, every Servant Insect covering the horizon was thoroughly soaked.

But the Servant Insects did not stop.

A slight reduction in speed.

That was truly all.

They had expected an attack, but since nothing more than droplets of water had come back, even their wariness had faded.

It was only natural.

But even at that moment, Kim Dohyun maintained his silence.

His eyes half closed. His breathing lowered.

He continued measuring only the distance.

Like a predator that tears out its prey’s throat with a single leap.

At the moment its prey comes closest.

‘30 meters... 20 meters... 10 meters...’

The instant the leading Servant Insects crossed the line he had set.

Kim Dohyun’s eyes slowly opened.

“Open.”

The two-layered rings were pushed outside his body.

The orbit around his heart surged.

His Domain unfolded. Laws were engraved upon the land with the crystal sphere at the center.

He did not miss that moment.

“Thunder.”

One word.

It happened in an instant.

Rrrrrumble-!

The atmosphere throughout the Domain unleashed a deafening roar.

The sky split apart.

No. More precisely, the Domain itself became the sky.

KABOOOOM-!

Hundreds of bolts of lightning struck down simultaneously onto the bodies of the soaked Servant Insects.

Every droplet of water clinging to their outer shells blossomed into a path for the lightning.

The soaked bodies of the Servant Insects were perfect conduits for lightning.

Not a single one could avoid it.

Along the lines. Along the trails of water.

The lightning spread mercilessly, piercing through every Servant Insect.

The weak power of Water Ball was compensated for by Thunder. And the limited range of Thunder was connected by the streams of water.

Two spells that were full of flaws when viewed separately.

The moment they were combined, they became a flawless grid of slaughter.

As a result.

Ding-!!

-User ‘Kim Dohyun’ has cleared the 2nd Floor (HARD).

-Converting progression speed and combat method into points and beginning settlement.

-Perfect elimination of the wave.

-Overwhelming combat performance.

-Monsters that contacted the crystal sphere: 0.

-An unprecedented achievement.

-...

“What?”

By now, System messages could be called familiar.

But this time was different.

The waiting period was abnormally long.

The message remained frozen like a computer that had encountered an error.

One minute... three minutes...

It remained stopped for a full five minutes.

“It’s not broken, is it?”

Just as a bewildered voice slipped out without him realizing it.

Another notification sounded in his ears.

Ding-!!

-Hard Mode Perfect Clear.

-The base rewards will be upgraded.

-The 10 ‘F+ rank Mana Cores’ that would have been awarded have been changed to 10 ‘D-rank Mana Cores.’

-All stats increase by 0.3!

-Highest-point clear! As an additional reward, the special stat ‘Dignity’ is unlocked and increases by +1.

The rewards were tremendous.

The stats that had previously increased by 0.2 each had now risen by 0.3.

Although it was only a difference of 0.1, converted into Mana Cores, it was worth at least several million won.

There was even a reward he had never seen before.

‘Dignity...?’

It was a stat he had never seen, but there was something he could instinctively feel.

‘Is it something like standing?’

He could make a guess, but he could not be certain.

No. In the first place, he did not have time to mull it over.

Because notifications were continuing to sound in his ears.

Ding-!!

-You will be listed in the Hard Mode Ranking.

Kim Dohyun tilted his head slightly.

‘Hard Mode Ranking?’

There had never been any official information saying that the rankings were separated.

No. The term Hard Mode Ranking itself was something he had never heard before.

That alone was enough to make him wonder, but that was not the only surprising part.

[Babel 2nd Floor (HARD) Ranking]

1st. Private (Earth, Human)

2nd. Elarion Estaren (Siladiel, Elf)

3rd. Dorn Ironforge (Hardan, Dwarf)

4th. Sylvania Runeweaver (Tirnaim, Elf)

5th. Grozgar (Bazkam, Orc)

Words he had never seen on the previous ranking board were also written there.

‘Elf. Dwarf. Orc.’

They were all races that did not exist on Earth.

And it was not only the names that deserved attention.

Kim Dohyun’s gaze stopped on first place.

Private. And the tag attached after it.

‘Earth, Human.’

It was not a simple nationality.

Affiliated dimension and race.

The Hard Mode Ranking was not a league solely for Earth’s Awakened.

Multiple dimensions. Multiple races competing together on the same stage.

The distinction between the strong and weak was clear as well.

‘The upper ranks are all other races.’

Earthlings. Humans did not appear at all, aside from Kim Dohyun himself, who had registered privately.

It was an almost unnatural imbalance.

But Kim Dohyun could estimate the cause without difficulty.

‘Racial limitations.’

Other races were different from humans from birth.

Elves possessed affinity with spirits. Dwarves possessed innate stamina and technical skill. Orcs possessed overwhelming physical ability.

Humans had likely been pushed aside by those racial characteristics.

Indeed.

-First human belonging to ‘Earth’ to be listed as 1st place in the Hard Mode Ranking.

-An unprecedented feat. The Babel System highly evaluates user ‘Kim Dohyun’s’ achievement.

-3 special rewards, ‘Tokens of Conquest,’ will be granted.

The System message closed.

First human.

It was a short phrase, but the meaning contained within it was anything but light.

But Kim Dohyun did not care.

Because his immediate attention was elsewhere.

“...What is this now?”

_____________

“This is insane! Completely insane!”

A shout tore through the air.

Before the echo had even faded, a heavy fist slammed down onto the glass table.

Bang-!

And.

Bang-!

Before that echo had even faded, a heavy fist slammed down onto the glass table.

It was strong enough to crumple most steel plates, but the table remained intact.

It was only natural.

This was none other than the guild building of Ironborne.

A guild famous enough to rank within the top ten in the United States, with numerous rankers among its members.

And even within it, this place was a private floor individually assigned only to affiliated rankers.

There was no way it could be destroyed easily.

But the person watching the scene looked somewhat bewildered.

“Would you calm down?”

A low voice came from across the table.

Her hair was silver. Her eyes were pale gray. A chilly atmosphere lingered around her body.

Noah Winston, a ranker affiliated with Ironborne.

She continued speaking calmly.

In the first place, Noah had almost no emotional fluctuations.

She spoke little. Her tone rarely changed. And the more intense the situation became, the calmer she tended to grow.

Naturally, she could not possibly welcome a noisy atmosphere like this.

“You’re being too loud. Please, let’s talk calmly.”

Noah tried to calm him down, but it did not work.

His voice only continued to rise.

“Calm down? You can look at this and still say that!?”

“Right. I shouldn’t have bothered.”

The man before her was Michael Howard.

One of the rankers known for his fiery passion.

In other words, he was a man far removed from composure, calmness, and cold rationality.

That much was obvious even now.

“This is huge! Absolutely huge!”

Michael’s gaze repeatedly swept over the holographic window floating in the air.

[Babel 2nd Floor (HARD) Ranking]

It was a Hard Mode ranking board that had only recently been made public.

“First place is Earth. A human!”