Chapter 99 – Again (１)

[The Man Who Calmed a Volcano!]

[Let’s Find Out About the Magic Swordsman!]

[A Mage? A Magic Swordsman? A Summoner?!]

[An Absurdly Overpowered Character Has Appeared!]

All day long, talk of Gijun’s battle at Margmo Great Volcano never stopped.

The spectacle he’d put on was nothing short of phenomenal.

The way he’d suddenly wielded a sword of unknown origin and smashed the Lava Golem to pieces — that was only the beginning.

The moment the mage set foot on the summit of Margmo Great Volcano, the scene that unfolded was a battle so fierce it rivaled any blockbuster film.

-What the hell is that insane summon creature?

-And what’s with that boss monster?

-Just how strong is he, exactly?

A colossal boss monster had revealed itself at the volcano’s peak.

Watching the mage’s summon go head-to-head with that boss felt like witnessing giant movie monsters clashing — pure exhilaration.

Recorded clips kept regenerating, spreading across communities and ViewTube.

In an instant, he’d risen to a fame within the Saint Guild that few could rival.

And then, that evening.

Another massive piece of news came through, sending everyone into a frenzy.

[You Can Now Enter Tartaros Even Without Manta’s Jewel!]

The news was that Tartaros was now accessible even without Manta’s Jewel.

Players were electrified by the announcement.

An enormous wave of players began pouring into Tartaros.

*

‘Tartaros is fully open now.’

Gijun sat on the living room sofa, checking game news on his smartphone.

He was fully prepared to fight the Lords now, but he couldn’t confront them right away.

Because some traffic management was needed first.

As mentioned, a massive crowd had flooded into Tartaros, and right now the place was in utter chaos.

If he showed up in that mess, he’d be swarmed by players and wouldn’t be able to move — let alone fight the Lords.

‘The Saint Guild agreed to help out this time too.’

So Hera stepped forward once more.

She simply left a public announcement.

“A raid on the Monarch of the Underworld will commence five days from now. We ask for your full cooperation.”

Five days.

An announcement that Gijun’s raid in Tartaros would begin.

‘Might as well keep it clean this way.’

Rather than launching a fight without warning, telling them ahead of time made traffic control far easier.

He’d given them five days to let the players experience Tartaros themselves.

Because once Gijun took down the Monarch, there was no telling what changes might ripple through that place.

‘Not that I could afford to give them much more time either.’

Change had already begun, slowly.

From the users’ perspective, they might want to explore and enjoy Tartaros longer.

But Gijun couldn’t just keep handing out unlimited time.

‘Anyway, at least that’s one worry off my mind.’

The Monarch still loomed like an unclimbed mountain, but practically speaking, all the preparations for fighting it were done.

In a way, those five days might be the last vacation Gijun would ever get.

‘He told me it gets much harder from here.’

The words of that silhouette of light inside the Heart Fragment came back to him.

‘He said I’d had an easy time of it so far, didn’t he?’

The sheer absurdity of it hit him when he thought about it.

That Gijun had had an easy path to where he stood now.

Calling that journey easy—when it had never been—could only mean one thing: the fights ahead were going to be far, far worse.

‘And…’

That figure had also known about the reality Gijun lived in.

The other Monarchs, including Libre, had no idea about the real world.

But he’d openly mentioned ‘Superhumans,’ hadn’t he?

‘It’s getting closer. That’s what it means.’

The worlds of Real Spirit and the Earth Gijun lived in were drawing nearer, without question.

When that day would come was anyone’s guess.

But a gut feeling told him it wasn’t far off.

“Haa…”

Gijun stared up at the ceiling of his home.

“This is driving me crazy.”

A bitter laugh escaped him at the same time.

“Everything’s changed.”

He had changed in reality too.

Not just in the game—his real body had changed as well.

‘Even my heart…’

Gijun’s heart.

That heart, with only one Circle formed, had also changed.

‘The Circle is completely gone.’

Literally.

Somewhere along the line, Gijun’s Circle had vanished without a trace.

In its place sat a Mana Heart.

A wall of Mana surrounding the heart.

That was what a Mana Heart truly was.

He could feel the wall of Mana wrapped around his heart.

‘This isn’t an ordinary Mana Heart.’

And that was the crucial point.

The Mana Heart Gijun had gained was no ordinary one.

‘…It’s over ten layers.’

A Mana Heart usually consisted of three to at most eight layers of Mana walls.

The more layers of Mana walls you formed, the greater your talent was considered.

Brad, the Guild Master of The Genesis.

Nine walls. The man had formed nine walls of mana.

A nine-layered Mana Heart — the only one in the entire world. His and his alone.

But right now, Gijun’s Mana Walls numbered twelve.

Ridiculous.

The same Gijun who’d only ever managed to form a single Mana Circle — now he possessed a twelve-layered Mana Heart.

Not like I can make a Circle anyway…

A Mana Heart and a Mana Circle simply couldn’t coexist. From the ground up, they were incompatible.

So forming a new Circle was out of the question. Pure fantasy.

But that didn’t matter.

Because Gijun knew the truth.

He no longer needed anything as paltry as a Mana Circle.

…Guess I’ll head to the guild first.

Gijun pushed himself to his feet.

It had been a while since he’d shown his face around there. Time to make an appearance.

*

The Guild Master’s not here either.

Woo Jimin was currently absent.

She’d moved to Siberia with her main raid team — a deployment for a Level-9 Dungeon.

She’s not the type to leave her post lightly.

That alone told him how important this event was.

And honestly, it made sense.

This was the first Level-9 Dungeon ever to appear in human history, wasn’t it?

So Gijun had simply exchanged greetings with the Vice Guild Master and made his way to the training grounds.

I should practice against a Magin.

He’d decided to train his combat skills against a Magin today.

The strongest he could currently summon was an Upper Magin.

An Upper Magin was, of course, leagues beyond a Middle Magin — incomparably stronger.

And even among Upper Magins, combat power was further divided, from lower-tier to upper-tier.

Some of the elite Upper Magins possessed strength so fearsome they were called Calamities.

I can think of this as preparation for my fight against the Lord.

He had no idea how powerful the Lord truly was.

But training against Upper Magins wouldn’t be a bad way to brace himself for that battle.

Just as Gijun was about to step onto the training grounds —

“…Huh?”

His eyes went wide.

Because he’d just spotted a familiar figure standing right in front of the training area.

“H-huh?”

It was Emily.

Emily’s eyes shot open too the moment she saw Gijun.

“Emily?”

“Gijun!”

They walked toward each other, both wearing expressions of bemused surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Gijun asked.

“Ah… my teacher went to Siberia. The Guild Master of Hwarang let me train here while he’s away.”

“Ah…”

It made sense, when he thought about it.

White Wood must be joining that Level-9 Dungeon Raid too.

But Emily couldn’t participate in a Level-9 raid, so she was staying behind in Korea.

“I see.”

Gijun was nodding when —

“Umm…”

Emily spoke up hesitantly.

“Could you… spar with me again?”

“A spar?”

“Yes. I’ve reached the 7th Circle since we last met.”

“…What?”

Gijun’s eyes flew wide at her words.

“The… 7th Circle?”

“Yes.”

“Hah…”

A disbelieving laugh escaped his lips.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes! I trained every single day and refined my Mana just to beat Gijun. Of course, my Master helped a lot too!”

“…Hahaha….”

It was a talent so absurd it left him speechless.

She’d reached the 7th Circle before she was even twenty?

How was that even possible?

Even Jiyun, who’d been called a genius, hadn’t broken through the 7th-Circle wall until her mid-twenties….

And yet this girl had attained the 7th-Circle realm a full ten years faster than Jiyun.

‘…She’s going to turn into a real monster later.’

At this rate,

barring any major problems, it was only a matter of time before she reached the 9th Circle.

On top of that, with a Master like White Wood guiding her, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrifying a mage she would grow into.

“You will spar with me… right?”

Emily was looking at Gijun with hopeful eyes.

“…Alright.”

In the end, Gijun agreed.

He was curious too.

Just how strong would Emily be now that she’d reached the 7th Circle?

And of course, how much stronger he himself had become in the meantime.

“Thank you, Gijun!”

A bright smile bloomed across Emily’s face at Gijun’s permission.

*

The two entered the training ground, finished equipping themselves, and faced each other.

“I’m not going to lose so easily this time!”

Emily’s crisp, clear voice rang in Gijun’s ears.

‘Looks like she came thoroughly prepared.’

The fact that Emily was speaking with such confidence clearly meant she’d made thorough preparations to face him.

After all, hadn’t she said ‘to beat Gijun’ just a moment ago?

‘I wonder what she’s prepared.’

He was honestly a little curious.

In their last spar, Emily had easily cast Ice Golem—one of the trickier 6th-Circle spells.

And now she had reached the 7th Circle.

That meant casting 6th-Circle spells would be far easier for her.

‘The higher your Circle goes, the simpler it becomes to cast lower-Circle spells.’

At her current level, Emily might finish casting an Ice Golem in ten seconds flat.

‘Well, I’ll find out soon enough by seeing it firsthand.’

Gijun had to admit he felt a little tense.

A 6th-Circle mage and a 7th-Circle mage were on entirely different Dimensions.

The gap between the 6th Circle and the 7th Circle was terrifyingly vast.

‘But then again, I’m just as ridiculous.’

Of course, the current Gijun was no ordinary mage either.

‘To be honest, I don’t think I’ll lose.’

No matter how talented Emily was,

and even if she was now a 7th-Circle mage, Gijun didn’t think he would lose to her.

‘If she were at the 8th Circle, it might be a different story.’

An 8th-Circle mage—

one who finally earned the Title of Archmage and wielded magic at a level that could be called a natural disaster—maybe he’d have to worry then.

As it stood, the probability of him losing to a 7th-Circle mage was effectively zero.

And now….

[Combat begins.]

The spar began.

Emily’s Mana stirred into motion alongside it.

To Gijun, every thread of her flow was laid bare.

That was what his transformed body bought him.

He blinked.

…She’s terrifyingly good.

Emily’s mastery over Mana was nothing short of breathtaking.

Fast, precise, and delicate all at once.

Calling it prodigal talent barely scraped the surface.

Huh?

Then Gijun’s eyes went wide again.

…Ha.

It was the spell Emily had just cast.

She prepared for this… thoroughly.

Emily had crafted exactly the right spell to face him.