CH 275

The person with the X mark in front of Arch and his guild members was none other than Black Mage Ali.

He had been heading towards the Demon World’s Tower for the same reason as Black Dragon. Not too long ago, he became a candidate for the ‘Royal Class’, just like Black Dragon.

Black Mage Ali’s class was going to be transferred to the Royal Class ‘Great Mage Moldoron’s Descendant’. Moldoron was a person that was on par with Great Mage Arfield, and was known as the father and role model of all mages.

Based on what the people in front of him said, Ali could tell what they wanted to do and who they were targeting. He thought, ‘How dare you try to harm my friend…’ 

For Ali, Minhyuk was his benefactor. Minhyuk was the one that had helped him enter the Hall of Kings. Minhyuk was also the one who helped him overcome his limitations, which enabled him to further widen the gap with Alex, the world’s number one mage. He also liked Minhyuk’s friendly smile and pleasant attitude.

There was one fact that all of the players who stepped foot in the Demon World would know. This information was listed on Athenae’s official website. This was what was written…

[Due to the thick demonic energy in the Demon World, God Vades’ power, a power that punishes those who kill other people, does not have any influence in this area.]

Simply put, God Vades was the god of ‘Chaos’. The fact that his influence did not reach this realm meant that PK between players was allowed and would not result in a chaotic state.

That was why Ali knew that they came here for that reason.

‘The Demon World is a place where players can compete against each other.’ 

Most of the people that came to the Demon World’s entrance were usually representatives and top rankers of their own countries. There was usually only one thing the rankers of each country wanted to do…

‘I want to quickly compete with the rankers from all over the world. I hope the server consolidation finishes quickly! ‘

The content that will relieve the itch from the competitive players was none other than the ‘Demon World’.

“Look here. Get out of here if you don’t want to get hurt,” Arch growled at Ali, his expression wrinkling in annoyance.

Arch did not know who this mage was, but in a battle between a mage and a melee class player, the melee class player would generally be triumphant.

Mages and melees were both on different sides of the spectrum. Mages had extremely low AGI, STR and defense. When they exert their power, most of the time, they would showcase an AOE attack skill. Also, most of their magic skills had a cast time. Since mages had low AGI and took quite a long time before they could start, melee characters could easily deal with them.

For that reason, Arch believed that the mage in front of him that was garbed in a rugged black robe was an easy opponent. He could easily do a ‘3-second cut’ on him.

Then, the man said, “I will not forgive anyone who tries to harm my friend.”

“….What an otaku-like line,” Arch snorted, lips curling up in a disgusted smile after hearing the line. However, the smile on his face was soon erased.

When Ali swung his staff, a powerful force came from the staff and slammed into Arch.

Baaaaang―

“…!”

The melee tankers immediately dashed forward the moment they saw Arch being thrown back by the force of Ali’s attack. Their response speed was extremely fast.

Flash―

Ali was immediately covered with a black current as he disappeared from his original spot. Then, he reappeared next to the man that was reaching out for him. He said, “Magic Missile.”

“Bwahahahaha! What can you do with a Magic Missile…!”

However, before the guy could even finish his words…

Baaaaang―

…the man flew back with a loud explosion.

“Keoheok!”

[You have been hit with a Magic Missile.]

[You have been stunned for 3 seconds.]

Magic Missile was the most basic magic that a new mage player would have. This was a skill that would make the target fall into a stunned state after an attack. However, the mage’s magical attack had to be five times higher than their opponent to inflict a stun, and it would usually only last for one second.

But what’s with this situation?

The man who had been hit with Ali’s Magic Missile was stunned. Even his HP had fallen by 30%. Then, the other guild members tried to narrow the distance between them and Ali.

However, just as they were about to reach Ali, he stretched out his index finger. A white sphere of light appeared on the tip of his finger and flew towards the man he had hit before. The unfortunate man named Gerron was hit by the Magic Missile and fell into a stunned state once again.

Crackle―

“Keoheok!”

Then, the notifications rang for Gerron once more.

[You have been hit with a Magic Missile.]

[You have been stunned for 3 seconds.]

“Sh…shit…! I was stunned again!”

Although stun was already subjected to a five-fold magical attack power proportion, it was also entirely up to probability. Yet, Gerron got stunned again? When the guild members tried to narrow the distance again…

Baaaaaaang―

…Another Magic Missile formed at the tip of Ali’s finger and slammed into Gerron.

“Keuaaaack!”

The guild members faltered as they made eye contact with Gerron. In the end, they decided to abandon him. It seemed that Ali expected this outcome too.

Flash―

Black Mage Ali shot another Magic Missile at Gerron before disappearing in a black current.

Baaaaaaang―

[You have been hit with a Magic Missile.]

[You have been stunned for 3 seconds.]

[You have been forced to log out.]

Gerron was almost at Level 440. However, he had been killed by the most basic magic: Magic Missile.

This was mainly because his opponent was already at a horrific level. The moment Ali became a candidate for the Royal Class ‘Great Mage Moldoron’s Descendant’, he had received an effect that raised his stats, as well as his ‘Magic Combination’.

Ali’s Magic Missile had completely transformed and was no longer the regular Magic Missiles. Ali had combined his Magic Missile with Intangible Magic, a magic spell that ignored ones’ magical defense, giving the once simple and basic magic skill an immense amount of power. Of course, there were clear limitations to the skill, since he could only combine a set number of spells. However, everything would be different once he transferred to Royal Class.

The rest of the guild members rushed towards Ali.

[Cannon Bomb]

[Quickly drops off a powerful explosion akin to a dragon’s rampage.]

[Banging Snatch]

[You will move as fast as a ghost to grab the enemy. Once you grabbed a hold of them, you will be able to slam them to the ground causing 200% damage.]

They cast their skills and techniques to narrow the distance between them and Ali, but Ali just disappeared in a flash of black again.

Shwaaaaaaa―

When Ali next appeared, he was standing above them with dozens of Magic Missiles surrounding him.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang―

The dozens of Magic Missiles rained down on the players like bombs dropping from aircrafts.

[You have been hit with a Magic Missile.]

[You have been stunned for 3 seconds.]

[You have been hit with a Magic Missile.]

[You have been stunned for 3 seconds.]

[You have been hit with a Magic Missile.]

[You have been stunned for 3 seconds.]

“Th…this is crazy…!”

“What kind of ridiculous situation is this!!!”

“Keoheok!!!”

All they could do was stare in horror. Half of their numbers had fallen into a stunned state after they had been hit with the Magic Missiles. This showed the clear difference between Royal Class candidates and the non-Royal Class candidates.

Then, Ali’s staff moved.

“Shit…! Saved magic!”

With the movement of his staff, three gigantic firestorms appeared and engulfed the stunned guild members.

Crackleeee!

Crackle!

Crackleee!

“Keu…kueaaaaack!”

“Ugh…aaaaaaack!”

Black Mage Ali was a very strong player. Melee players usually looked down on mage players, after all, they could easily defeat these mages. However, Ali, with just his Blink and Magic Missile, was able to easily overcome this.

Blink was originally a magic skill that had a long cooldown. However, among Ali’s newly acquired skills, there was a skill that ‘significantly reduces the cooldown of a designated skill’. Through that ability, he was able to reduce the cooldown of his Blink to one-fifth of the original cooldown time.

In just an instant, more than ten of the guild members had died under his hands. Just as Ali was about to use magic again…

Craaaaaaaaaaaack―

…the sound of something breaking rang out loudly. Ali keenly felt the incoming danger so he quickly created shields.

“Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield!”

Shields formed one layer after the other around him! Then, he saw what was flying towards him. It was none other than Arch, the guild master of this guild, and a player in the fighter class.

[God of Fist’s Punch]

[Ignore 40% of the enemy’s defense while dealing 200% additional damage to your penetrating punches.]

Flash―

A bright light erupted when the fist collided with the shield.

Crack―

A crack appeared in Black Mage Ali’s shield, a skill that boasted tremendous amounts of defense, before shattering into pieces.

Baaaaaang―

Ali quickly used Blink and avoided the attack.

Flash―

Arch swung his fist at a tremendous speed.

Baaaaaang―

Ali quickly moved his staff, piling up one shield after another on top of his staff. The shields then collided with the incoming fist.

Crack―

“You bastard! You’re Black Mage Ali…!” Arch shouted, realizing who their enemy was.

Alex was recognized as the official number one in the Global Mage Rankings. However, from what he heard, there was a mage user who reached a higher level than Alex. Arch had heard that the mage played a huge role during the demon invasion in South Korea.

However, there were plenty of rankers who were only known in their own countries. Rarely do rankers from other countries know them. Arch could only guess Ali’s identity because he had heard before that ‘Alex was not the greatest mage in the world’.

Meanwhile, Ali only laughed, while holding his staff in his hand.

“Why the hell are you doing this to us!!!”

Ali answered him, “I’m not going to let you touch my friend.”

Shwaaaaaaaa!

Then, a huge spell suddenly appeared around Ali.

“…!”

Arch could not help but be shocked.

‘D…don’t tell me…!’

In the past, there was information posted on Athenae’s official website about the method on how mages could compensate for their ‘close combat disadvantage’. However, it also announced that only the best among the best could use this technique. This technique required the player to achieve the peak of the Eight Tier, as well as have a huge mana reserve pool. The ability to make up for their shortcomings was none other than…

‘Do…double casting…?!’

Casting other spells while secretly preparing for an AOE attack skill, which Ali was doing right now.

“Lightning Storm.”

Crack, crack, crack―

Bang, bang, bang, bang―

A huge lightning storm engulfed Arch who had just arrived in front of Ali.

“Keuaaaaaaaack!”

***

A small smile hung around Calauhel’s lips.

[You have achieved a new record on the 30th floor.]

[You have acquired additional clues about the Royal Class Maestro of Destruction.]

He was also one of the candidates for a Royal Class. The conditions for the Royal Class were different from player to player. In Calauhel’s case, he needed to achieve a new record on the 30th floor of the Demon World Tower.

Just like that, a clue was laid in front of him.

Flutter―

[Hunt Cerberus, the Demon World’s gatekeeper, on the 34th floor.]

Calauhel nodded. Now, he had two choices. Hunt Cerberus and move on to the Royal Class, or wait for another clue to emerge. However, there was one thing that he was sure of. He could feel it down to his very core. He would soon be a Royal Class.

‘Perhaps, the new Royal Class will be announced with a World Message.’

Just as he was about to move on…

[Bachur: Calauhel, this is Bachur. I’m the 1st Magic Commander of the Golden Staff Guild. Many of our guild members are receiving huge damage from an unknown dragon tamer now.]

“…?”

Calauhel’s face was filled with confusion.

‘A dragon tamer? Are you telling me that all members of Golden Staff are having a hard time?’

[Calauhel: What’s the situation?]

He received a reply only about five minutes later.

[Bachur: I was eventually forced to log out. There were about 30 guild members who were forced to log out by a mentally challenged boy and a dragon tamer.]

Calauhel was left speechless for a while. Just as he was about to send a whisper back…

[Casio: Calauhel, Black Mage Ali has suddenly launched an assault on us.]

“…!”

Calauhel had collected a lot of information about the rankers from all over the world. He knew who Black Mage Ali was. He was a very strong mage that Alex could not even compare to.

‘Why is he attacking the members of Blackstone?’

[Calauhel: Your situation…]

Calauhel could not even finish his whisper.

[Player ‘Anonymous’ has broken the record, and attained a new high score for the first floor.]

[There is a significant gap from the previous record.]

Calauhel’s eyes widened in shock. Someone broke the record that he was confident and proud of.