“I am Diclo Shise.”

It was a sharp tone for an introduction. The fluctuating mana flow revealed his emotions even more clearly.

“Should I introduce myself too?”

Kim Songcheol said.

“No, just know this. The name of the mage who will kill you. And that the name of the female staff member you killed was Mariam Disen.”

“…No need for long words, then.”

What more could be said to nothingness?

It didn’t seem like they would be able to communicate.

Diclo raised a hand. The magic circle was completed in an instant.

Kim Songcheol immediately felt the mana flow and used Blink.

Boom!

A Pin Burst exploded where Kim Songcheol had just been, making a loud explosion sound.

‘…Fast.’

The casting speed was faster than expected. He had already sensed that Diclo was an extraordinary mage. But that last move gave him more definite information.

Kim Songcheol felt the passage of time in Diclo’s magic. It felt like it had been practiced for a long time and was completely ingrained in his body.

‘If I let my guard down for a moment, I’m done for, aren’t I?’

Again, he felt a mana flow right beside him.

Kim Songcheol dodged the Pin Burst with another Blink, and fired three Red Lightning Spears.

Rupture crackle crackle crackle!

Diclo did not use defensive magic. He continuously fired mana blades, shooting down the lightning spears, and the remaining blades rapidly closed in on Kim Songcheol.

It seemed as if even the time to defend was too precious.

Kim Songcheol cast defensive magic, and at the same time, struck Diclo with lightning from above his head.

Surprisingly, Diclo stretched his hand to the sky, absorbed Kim Songcheol’s electric shock, and then fired it back as a more powerful electric shock.

It was a technique that applied his own magic.

Suddenly, a huge number of magic circles formed around Kim Songcheol, creating hundreds of red light beams.

In front of them, the single electric shock fired by Diclo felt faded.

‘What is this guy…?’

Diclo hastily deployed defensive magic.

A wide-range barrier formed in layers, perfectly defending against the red light beams.

The battle between the two mages continued.

The battles of mages are different from those of martial artists. Martial artists can endure one or two attacks with their bodies, but if a mage is even grazed by magic, something will break and crack.

The tension of aiming for that small gap was still palpable.

And in that battle, Diclo was able to grasp Kim Songcheol’s true level.

It exceeded his expectations.

His casting speed was outstanding, and the accuracy of his magic was also tremendous. However, it didn’t seem like he had much experience in battles between mages. Diclo could feel that. But Kim Songcheol’s magic was so precise that it was difficult to exploit that gap.

‘If I let him use 2nd-tier magic, I’ll definitely lose…’

Diclo thought, striking with lightning several times.

As expected, his attack was blocked by the barrier, he dodged with Blink, and was even aiming for a counterattack right away.

‘That’s… damn it.’

Diclo bit his lip without realizing it. More than anything, the recovery speed after Blink was unbelievable.

The reason Diclo doesn’t use Blink is because there’s a mental delay after using it.

Blink seemed like an easy evasion magic, but it was anything but.

In high-level Mage battles, it’s an evasion technique almost like a desperate measure. That’s because the casting is fast. If magic flies in before the mental delay after Blink can be fully recovered, a situation where Blink must be used again often arises. One ends up exhausted from using Blink repeatedly.

But Kim Songcheol was different. As a human, there was a delay, but his recovery speed was significantly higher compared to Diclo.

“Don’t be so arrogant!”

Diclo shouted loudly and stretched his hands forward.

Surprisingly, a five-colored polyhedron was formed at the location Kim Songcheol was moving to with Blink, trapping Kim Songcheol like a birdcage.

He had predicted Kim Songcheol’s Blink movement pattern by understanding it. The prediction method was accumulated experience.

Diclo had killed that many Mages.

Kim Songcheol’s flustered face was clearly visible inside the polyhedron.

Blink was sealed.

Diclo was not one to miss such an opportunity.

Without time to spare, his finger snap made a ‘snap!’ sound.

And explosion magic continuously erupted inside the polyhedron.

Kwa-ga-ga-gang!

A powerful explosion burst forth, strong enough to shatter the polyhedron, devastating the surroundings.

‘Did he die…?’

Diclo’s eyes narrowed. It was to see through the dust cloud.

It was then.

Rupture crackle crackle crackle!

A red beam of light flew towards Diclo through the dust cloud. It was Arc Linear, a 5-circle attack magic.

‘He endured that…?’

Diclo immediately cast powerful defensive magic. That red electric shock magic showed strange power. If a red light was added to Arc Linear, it would be difficult to block with ordinary defensive magic.

Ka-ga-ga-ga-gak!

The light beam hit the defensive magic and split in all directions. The light beam fragmented into dozens, tearing up the ground, and flying off somewhere behind.

It was also then that Kim Songcheol surged through the dust cloud.

His face was smudged with black ash, and parts of his combat uniform were burned. He even had burns on his forearms and thighs.

The injured beast’s expression was chillingly cold.

A ruptured sphere was forming above Kim Songcheol’s hand. A three-dimensional magic circle. The symbol of 2nd-tier magic.

“In front of whom!!”

As soon as Diclo saw that, he shouted loudly and flung his arms wide.

At the same time a large magic circle appeared under his feet, the three-dimensional magic circle that was being drawn was stopped.

‘…He interfered?’

The moment Kim Songcheol looked down at the magic circle, it scattered as if a blue light had gone out.

It was magic he had never seen or heard of. He understood that it had interfered with 2nd-tier magic, but he couldn’t understand anything beyond that.

This magic isn’t even in the Points shop.

Because not all magic is registered.

The magic Diclo just used was, for example, ‘unique magic’.

It was magic someone developed but had not yet been commercialized.

“Ha…”

Kim Songcheol sighed and looked down at Diclo. Diclo’s eyes gleamed as if asking, ‘How was that?’, which was annoying.

“You just missed your chance to die in one hit. It’s bad for both of us.”

Magic formations continuously appeared in front of Kim Songcheol. Five streams of Arc Linear were fired with a split-second difference.

Diclo used defensive magic without even a chance to respond. Several colorful shields blocked the front.

Clang-clang-clang!

The Arc Linear advanced, breaking through the shields one by one.

Four were shattered, and only one stream remained.

Screech!

The Arc Linear suddenly bent 90 degrees, changing direction.

‘…!?’

Arc Linear is an electric shock magic centered on the speed of official position passage. From a magic formula interpretation, it absolutely could not change its path.

Diclo experienced a mental delay as if he had used Blink.

In the meantime, the Arc Linear changed direction once more and approached Diclo moment by moment.

‘…!’

Diclo instinctively used defensive magic. But as if mocking him, it bent its path two more times and shot towards his heart.

Diclo was startled and used Blink. Blink was activated just as a searing pain shot through his chest.

When he regained his senses, another Arc Linear was already flying towards him.

He didn’t even have time to look down at his chest. He could only surmise that he hadn’t suffered a fatal injury because his thoughts were still connected normally.

He hurriedly used Blink.

He knew it. At this rate, he would be the one to exhaust himself by only using Blink.

Diclo intentionally used Blink consecutively, then created a slight gap. Since using Blink twice in a row is difficult to anticipate, the opponent’s response would also be delayed by a beat.

As soon as Diclo regained his senses, he cast defensive magic in front of him. He had seen the incoming Arc Linear.

Clang-clang-clang!

The Arc Linear hit the shield and shattered. He thought he had bought a turn by defending the attack, but that was a misconception.

The surge of flame gathering right in front of him.

It was the all too familiar Pin Burst.

The casting speed was extremely fast.

At this rate, he would be caught in the explosion and his upper body would be blown away.

Blink again.

And when he came to, he found the polyhedron of spatial segmentation surrounding him.

“What…!?”

In that short time, his Blink destination had been read.

Diclo’s expression became the same as Kim Songcheol’s.

“Is this how you do it?”

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Diclo frantically unleashed magic. The moment the Spatial Segmentation’s Polyhedron shattered, he used Blink to escape the cage.

‘Why…?’

He felt something was off even as he used Blink.

It’s a natural progression to detonate magic inside after trapping someone. Hadn’t he already demonstrated that? But there was no follow-up attack.

As soon as Diclo regained his senses, he searched for Kim Songcheol. He saw him floating in the sky. A completed orb was already in his hand.

He had begun casting from the moment he was trapped.

Having shattered the Polyhedron, used Blink, and even experienced a mental delay, it was enough time for Kim Songcheol.

To cast 2nd-tier magic, that is.

Diclo’s eyes widened.

Rupture crackle crackle crackle crackle!

Red electric shocks discharged from Kim Songcheol’s entire body.

“Thinking it over again, I don’t have a hobby of killing slowly.”

Rupture crackle crackle crackle!

The greatly flashing red electric shock split into hundreds of strands, then began pouring down, targeting the entire tens of meters radius around Diclo.

It was truly an explosion of electric shock. At this point, Blink was meaningless.

“Damn it!”

He should have killed him when he had him trapped in the Polyhedron.

Despite the desperate situation, Diclo’s eyes shone brightly.

“I won’t die easily!”

He continuously created 6th Circle defensive magic, Dimension Prism, in front of him. It was the best he could do right now.

Then, the electric shocks that had scattered into hundreds of strands gathered back into one, becoming a gigantic red electric shock.

Boom!

The massive red electric shock flashed once. The red electric shock broke through all defensive magic and pierced Diclo’s chest.

Diclo, with a hole in his chest, smoked and collapsed.

If he had used ‘Rupture’ of Thunder Shock, it might have been different, but Diclo wouldn’t have given him the chance to use it.

‘Phew, I thought I was going to die.’

Kim Songcheol finally relaxed his expression. The burn wound, which appeared belatedly, throbbed.

Although he died, Diclo could be proud of his struggle. He was the first Mage to push Kim Songcheol this far.

Kim Songcheol surveyed the battlefield from above.

He saw the Celestial Spirit Maiden still in combat.

At first, he wondered if he should help. The injury on her left arm was noticeable. The flesh was gouged out, almost exposing the bone.

However, Kim Songcheol withdrew his hand. It seemed the Celestial Spirit Maiden had the upper hand for now.

Unless it was truly dangerous, he felt that if he interfered now, he might be resented later.

Sure enough, after a short while, the Celestial Spirit Maiden’s fist went into her opponent’s stomach and came out through their back.

“Gah!”

Even Kim Songcheol could hear the Martial Artist’s scream.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden threw the now dead Martial Artist onto the ground and rushed towards where Guho and Sipho were in a fierce battle.

Kim Songcheol, who had been watching, suddenly looked up. He realized that Setsu was nowhere to be seen.

“Wait a minute… where did she go?”