Volume 2 - Chapter 277
The Great Mage Returns after 4000 Years (Season 2) – Chapter 277
Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Yahiko
Where… was this?
Nodiesop couldn’t help but wonder as he looked around.
It seemed that he had been transported to a completely black space.
It was even darker than the place thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean where he’d been pushed to previously.
…It was like a space where nothing seemed to exist, not even light.
“Lukas Trowman…”
What the hell did he do to him?
He grit his teeth.
‘Darkness’ had suddenly surrounded his body without any warning.
When the darkness had first appeared, his first reaction was to cover his body in external force, but the darkness didn’t have any offensive power.
In this way, Nodiesop was consumed by the great wave of darkness.
And when he opened his eyes, he found himself in this place.
54055
“Was there a place like this in this [field].”
Tap, tap-
After an unknown amount of time, the sound of footsteps resounded in the dark space.
Lukas had finally made an appearance.
In this dark space, his face looked exceptionally pale.
No. It wasn’t just pale.
It was as though a subtle glow suffused his entire body.
That… didn’t seem to be mana.
“Where did you take me?”
“A place without water.”
“…”
Nodiesop couldn’t help but look around a bit when he heard those words.
There truly was no water in this place.
No, there wasn’t even any air there.
There was literally nothing.
It was an empty world where only two things existed,
Nodiesop and Lukas.
“Ha.”
Nodiesop couldn’t even laugh.
A last resort. Nothing but a last resort…
Did he intend to toss around until the very end? Was that why he brought him to a place without water?
“If this is your last resort, then I can’t help but be disappointed.”
“…”
“Did you think you’d be at an advantage just because there was no water here? Is this the method that you came up with?”
As he said this, Nodiesop waved his arm.
Swoosh-
And in an instant, his arm transformed into water.
“I am water. It seems that you have already forgotten. There are no longer any restrictions on me.”
“…”
“Open your eyes and take a good look. In front of you is the full strength and dignity of an Absolute. You should understand by now. The moment the Priestess’ attack didn’t kill me was the moment the ending in this fight was set in stone.”
“Your defeat is the only thing that has been set in stone, Nodiesop, the Spirit King who abandoned humanity.”
Nodiesop furrowed his eyebrows.
Even after reaching this point, his tongue was still wagging like before.
Now, he looked comical, ridiculous, and disgraceful.
“…You’re not even worth arguing with.”
Droplets of water slid down his liquefied arm before floating in front of him.
He shook his hand.
Swoosh-
The thousands of water droplets of water changed their shape, becoming sharp spears that were all aimed at Lukas.
Each of those spears contained enough power to destroy an entire planet.
Nodiesop raised his eyes to look at Lukas.
In his current state, it would be impossible for him to block or dodge this attack.
“Goodbye.”
With one last gesture, the spears shot towards Lukas’ body.
In an instant, they would turn him into a sieve before the ferocious spears of water completely destroyed his body without leaving even a single piece of skin or flesh remaining.
—Or at least, that should have been the case.
“.”
With that one word, the spears of water vanished in thin air.
“Huh?”
“.”
Thud!
“…!”
He immediately felt a sharp pain in his knees. Nodiesop’s eyes went wide.
He wasn’t sure what had just happened.
It was as though the things that had just occurred surpassed his cognitive ability.
“A-, uh..?”
It took him a while before he understood the situation.
The water that he’d created had disappeared as if it had evaporated, and he was now looking up at Lukas while on his knees.
His body couldn’t move. He couldn’t even blink his eyes.
It was as if he’d completely lost control of his own body.
‘Wh-, what the hell…’
“Endtongue.”
Lukas indifferently looked down at him.
“What’s wrong? Your face looked like that was what you wanted to ask, so I gave you an answer. That’s the name of the authority I used.” (TL: ‘Authority’ is the ‘power’ the Demigods had. But another word for ‘power’ is being used as well, I’ll just separate them…. Even though it’s a bit late.)
“Did… y-, you say… au-, thority…?”
“Right.”
“That’s… im-, possible…! Th-, there is no way…! With that body that’s close to being destroyed…! With your power restricted…! Even if you use your transcendent body as fuel, it’s not possible…!”
“I don’t need to worry about that. It seems you haven’t realised it yet. This is no longer the [field] that was created by the Rulers. This is a completely different world…”
“What did you say…?”
Another world?
Did he just say another world?
Nodiesop’s eyes went wide.
“Quit your bullshit! Are you trying to say that you, a bastard like you, has the power to create a personal space-!”
Water began to drip from his body.
The falling droplets came together once again to take the form of a water giant.
Giant of Annihilation.
It was needless to say that this technique, which was obviously inspired by the Sun Giant, was Nodiesop’ trump card.
The giant that he created had the power to destroy an entire universe with a single attack.
Nevertheless, Lukas’ expression remained calm.
“In this world, I can change the concepts as I wish. I can make fire freeze, earth soft, wind hard, and water…”
Fwoosh.
“Burn.”
“What? Guaah!”
Nodiesop screamed.
The Giant of Annihilation that he had created began to burn. Raging flames swept across its entire body before it soon began to consume Nodiesop’s body.
This… What the hell was this?
The water was burning his entire body.
How was something like this possible?
‘Change the concepts?’
That was impossible! There was no way that such a thing was possible!
“Y-, you… did you really create this world? Does that mean you really have the ‘authority of creation’ that only very few Absolutes have?!”
Nodiesop shouted in a broken voice.
Space creation. Personal Space.
Absolutes with this authority were incredibly rare.
No, even calling it rare was a severe under-exaggeration.
At the very least, Nodiesop had never met an Absolute who had that authority except for the Rulers.
Of course, there had been rumors that Lukas had this authority, but Nodiesop had never believed it.
‘It’s not my authority.’
Lukas muttered in a low voice.
“This power belonged to my greatest and worst enemy. The being who God loved the most. The being who was the closest to God. If he had headed in the right direction, and if he had enough time… He was a being that probably would have become another Ruler.”
Another name he had was ‘The One closest to God, Michael’.
Lukas had only realised after becoming an Absolute himself. No other Absolute had such a name. Even the four Rulers who stood at the very peak of existence were no exception to this fact.
There was only one being in the entire multiverse that had been given that name.
There was only one ‘Lord’.
“S-, s-, st-, stop talking nonsense-!”
As he shouted, Nodiesop tried to raise his external force. But it was strange.
His external force was escaping as if there were holes all over his body.
“A-, a-, ahhh…”
It… It was strange. It was the first time in his entire life that he’d experienced a situation that managed to disturb his mind.
This strange, unidentified space was slowly causing Nodiesop to fear the unknown.
…Fear?
‘I, an Absolute, am feeling fear?’
It felt like he had been punched in the gut.
Weakness, helplessness, fear.
He couldn’t stop his external force from leaking.
His body and mind… No.
It felt like his very existence was beginning to disappear.
His consciousness gradually began to fade.
“I didn’t tell you the name of this place yet, did I? This place and I had a pretty bad relationship for 4000 years, nevertheless… Welcome.”
Lukas’ whisper was the only thing he could hear.
“To the neverending hell. Welcome to the Abyss.”
* * *
“Ahhhhh!”
Nodiesop called upon his external force once again.
His body also began to gradually grow darker.
His condition became similar to the way Lukas was before. He was using his transcendent body to fuel his external force.
But it was pointless.
Crack.
The external force that flowed out was suddenly devoured by a set of jaws that appeared in the air.
Nodiesop couldn’t help but watch this scene with wide eyes. No, to be exact, he could only watch.
Lukas Trowman didn’t move. He only stood there like a statue, silently looking at Nodiesop. However, that only served to increase the fear Nodiesop was feeling at that moment.
He couldn’t find a way to break free from this predicament.
He couldn’t think of a way to win.
All of the dark space around him was his opponent’s territory.
Blegh!
He vomited up something like seawater.
This was the so-called essence that formed the very source of Nodiesop’s existence. And immediately afterwards, his body became soft like jelly.
He no longer had enough power to maintain the shape of his body.
“…what… the hell is wrong with you…”
A low murmur came from him.
His annihilation had already become a fact, and not even God would be able to stop it now.
“If you had a power like this, then why…”
Nodiesop didn’t get the chance to finish his question.
Gurgle-
His entire body melted like a candle in front of a raging flame.
And after a brief moment, only a soft and sticky liquid that used to be ‘Nodiesop’ floated in the black space. But it didn’t take very long before that too disappeared, vanishing in the air as if it had evaporated.
“…”
Nodiesop was dead.
The Absolute who had once driven him into a corner, threatened him and tormented him was dead.
Nevertheless, Lukas didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment.
“You want to know why I didn’t use this power all this time?”
Lukas continued the question Nodiesop hadn’t been able to finish.
The one that wanted the answer was dead, but he still felt the need to answer it.
“It’s because I’m not confident that I can completely control this power… For example, it’s impossible for me to leave this place on my own.”
In order to leave this world, he would need the coordinates for the outside world, a complete understanding of Lord’s power, a certain amount of external force, and a mind and body capable of withstanding the inter-universal movement.
Among that group of conditions, there was not a single one that Lukas was capable of satisfying.
That was the very reason why he chose this world to be his tomb.
“…”
Lukas quietly laid down in the darkness.
Psss—
His body slowly began to crumble. Although the form was different, it was the same ‘premonition of annihilation’ that Nodiesop had experienced.
‘This is my end.’
He calmly accepted this fact.
He’d already made up his mind about it.
The only thing he regretted was that he couldn’t keep his promise.
“…I hope you can understand.”
He closed his eyes while muttering those pathetic, selfish words.
The urge to sleep descended on his mind, and Lukas didn’t fight it.
Gradually, his consciousness began to fade.
The Abyss.
This empty world of darkness had become the perfect tomb for Lukas.
The first sweet rest he was allowing himself to have.
His mind and body gradually relaxed. And the Abyss would never tolerate such indolence.
The darkness began encroaching on his fingers and toes. And after a short while, his entire body became covered by it.
This wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it was warm as if he was being covered by a warm blanket.
Dang…
Then he heard a strange sound.
It was a clear sound, like a coin falling on the ground.
What was the sound? Where did it come from?
…He didn’t know. But he was no longer curious.
Lukas Trowman ignored the questions in his mind and fell into a deep sleep.