The Mad Wizard's Hideout

"Kang Hyun-jun, you bastard!"

Lee Si-yeon, the guild leader of Night Sky and a lower-rank S-Class Hunter, screamed the curse from the depths of her throat. Hyun-jun had clearly said the magic traps were disabled, and her subordinate had also been certain there were no traps left, but the moment they entered the boss room, what greeted her and the guild members were magic traps springing to life from every direction.

"Aaaaah!"

The B-Class Hunter they had brought along as a porter was the first to go down, his body splashed with blood as he collapsed.

"Shield!"

Si-yeon threw up high-tier defensive magic, but it could not withstand the firepower of the traps and shattered miserably. Lightning rained from above, wind blades flew in from the front, and cursed arrows shot out from both flanks. At the entrance, pillars of fire surged upward, cutting off any hope of escape.

"Aaaagh!"

"Ghk!"

The A-Class Hunters the guild had painstakingly recruited into its execution unit were being brought down helplessly, unable to put up even a proper resistance.

"T-this is an S-Class dungeon..."

She had never actually cleared an S-Class dungeon before. She had heard it was dangerous, but she had never imagined it would be like this. She felt pathetic for having come in expecting a fortune overnight.

"When the hell is this going to end!"

"G-Guild Leader!"

The guild members' screams and shrieks did not stop.

"Heal! Heal!"

The A-Class healing Hunter they had brought with them shouted heal without pause, but even he could not save the dead.

"Hurk!"

The healer did not last long either; he coughed up blood and collapsed. By the five-minute mark, most of them were dead, and only Si-yeon and one other A-Class combat Hunter remained. Si-yeon herself still looked relatively intact, but the other combat Hunter had lost his left arm and was covered in blood. Purple blotches had bloomed across his face, as if he had been poisoned.

"S-save me..."

The last remaining A-Class Hunter lasted only one more minute before falling. Si-yeon no longer had the strength to keep going. With the situation like this, all her resentment turned toward Hyun-jun. She would survive this hell if it killed her, and then she would kill Kang Hyun-jun. The moment she made that vow,

"Kyaaah!"

something slammed into her thigh. When she looked, it was an arrow.

"Poison...!"

She could feel venom spreading through her body. Paralytic poison. Si-yeon hurriedly drew up her mana, trying to slow the spread, but it was a fairly high-grade poison; her body was already going numb at a frightening rate.

"Ahh!"

With her body slowed by paralysis, one of the wind blades cut across her side. Blood sprayed. Before a minute had even passed since she was struck by the paralyzing poison arrow, her entire body was stained with blood.

"Haa, haa."

Her vision blurred and her limbs grew heavy. Even so, as befit an S-Class Hunter, she was enduring longer than expected in the field of traps that had annihilated the A-Class Hunters in an instant. Then, at some point, every trap stopped all at once. And then...

"Are you okay?"

She felt several presences approaching. When she turned, she saw the Wraith Guild members rushing over. And the instant she saw Hyun-jun at their head, Si-yeon was seized by a terror too vast to put into words.

Hyun-jun was smiling.

"Heal!"

So-jin used Heal, but Hyun-jun did not stop her. He had already confirmed while analyzing and dismantling the trap's formula a moment earlier that the poison carried by the arrows could not be cured by an ordinary Heal.

"No improvement. It doesn't look like healing magic can cure it. Mr. Lee Gyu-hwan, what about the monsters?"

Hyun-jun asked Gyu-hwan casually, laying the groundwork as he spoke. The traps had been dismantled, but this was still the boss room. It would not be strange if monsters burst out of the darkness at any moment.

"No movement yet."

"Still, we can't be sure. Everyone else, keep your guard up toward the front. I'll try to detoxify Ms. Si-yeon's poison."

Everyone nodded and moved to their positions. Jina, in particular, looked at Hyun-jun with deep trust in her eyes, since he had been the one to rescue her from mental corruption.

"N-no..."

Si-yeon despaired. When the healer who at least looked kind had used Heal, she had thought there might still be a chance to survive. But the moment she saw that demon approaching, she knew everything was over. She tried to lift her spear in resistance, but the paralytic poison would not let her body move as she wished.

"Don't worry, Ms. Si-yeon. I'll detoxify you."

It might have looked, at a glance, as if he were helping her, but to Si-yeon's eyes Hyun-jun looked like a demon. Right now, he was smiling with an expression of pure delight. He placed a hand over her abdomen and gathered his mana.

"W-what are you doing..."

"I stimulated the poison so it would spread through your body faster."

For Hyun-jun, who possessed the knowledge of the magician who had seen the truth, something like this was no difficult task.

"G-graah..."

"Your voice is starting to fail too, huh? The paralytic poison has spread everywhere."

"Uaaaah..."

Si-yeon rolled her eyes frantically, as if searching for someone to save her. Hyun-jun gave a cold smile and shook his head.

"There's no one coming to help you. Just die quietly."

The way he sent her off while mocking her final journey was devilish to the core.

"Graaah..."

With great effort, Si-yeon lifted an arm and grabbed Hyun-jun's coat, as though pleading for her life.

"Wh-why did it go wr-wrong..."

"You want to know where it all went wrong?"

His smile disappeared.

"The moment you tried to kill me, that was where it went wrong. Don't expect pity. I'm not stupid enough to show mercy to someone who tried to kill me."

Once he confirmed that Si-yeon's breathing had stopped, Hyun-jun rejoined the hunters of the assault team.

"How did it go?"

Gyu-hwan asked. Hyun-jun opened his mouth with a deliberately regretful expression.

"She's dead. The poison spread too quickly."

"It can't be helped. It wasn't the guild leader's fault."

Han-soo, who had been listening quietly, agreed as well.

"Hyung-nim. Should we launch a preemptive strike?"

Si-yeon's death was forgotten within three minutes. She had not been an ally to begin with, and she had been the one to brandish a blade at them, so it was only natural.

"There don't seem to be any more traps now, so let's move a little closer."

Hyun-jun stepped forward first. He had not had much mana left after dismantling so many traps with Gilles de Rais' protection during the entry.

As the distance closed, the view cleared and a young scholar seated on a metal chair came into sight. He wore a green robe and round spectacles.

Had there been about 100 meters left? The man who had been sitting still lifted his head. Hyun-jun and the hunters of the assault team all shifted into defensive stances at once, and seeing that, the boss opened his mouth with a cold smile.

"Welcome to my sanctuary, test subjects! I am the magician Rodosman!"

Although he looked human, the monster's fluent Korean was shocking. There had been plenty of talk in hunter communities and elsewhere that once you reached an S-Class dungeon, common sense no longer applied, but nobody had expected it to be this extreme.

"Don't panic! I'm going in!"

"I'll cover you!"

Hyun-jun kicked off the ground and closed the distance to Rodosman. Han-soo and Gyu-hwan followed, while Jina and Han-seok began casting spells.

"Meaningless!"

"Ghk!"

As Rodosman waved the hand that had gathered his mana, Han-seok coughed up blood and collapsed. Jina also staggered, looking somewhat shaken.

"Heal!"

So-jin cast Heal on the two of them. Han-seok struggled back to his feet, and Jina, who had been frowning from internal injuries, also looked better.

"You dare try to oppose me with magic? Foolish!"

According to the knowledge awakened through the resonance rate, the technique Rodosman had just used was Casting Disruption. He had activated a formula to forcibly break the casting. It was a technique generally only possible when one overwhelmingly dominated the opponent in every respect, but Rodosman's mana was not strong enough to "overwhelm" Jina.

There's an engraved formula somewhere around here.

Magicians were a sinister breed, and their hideouts or workshops often had dozens of formulas engraved into them. It was said that once you were in their space, you were better off abandoning any thought of fighting them head-on.

I need to find the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠formula.

If Hyun-jun had failed to detect it while removing the traps, then it had to be hidden with considerable cunning.

"Come! You maggots! I shall punish you in the name of the Great Truth!"

As Rodosman spread his arms, dozens of magic circles formed in midair. From the blue circles, dozens of bolts of lightning poured down.

"Kkgh!"

Han-soo groaned in pain and was driven backward. He had blocked the lightning with his shield, but he could not absorb the full impact. The storm of lightning that had forced Han-soo back now targeted Hyun-jun, but the moment it touched his body, the lightning strands melted away like candle wax.

"Impossible! Magic resistance strong enough to nullify high-tier magic?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

It was thanks to Jiokchammado's magic resistance increase option. Hyun-jun hurled himself toward the stunned Rodosman.

"Th-this!"

Flustered, Rodosman swept his mana-filled hand through the air, and another magical formula activated. Hyun-jun sensed the flow of mana and hurriedly retreated. A pillar of fire erupted where he had just been standing. Judging by the amount of mana involved, it was high-grade magic. If he had not moved back, he would have been burned alive.

Damn it. Do I have to use Gilles de Rais' protection one more time?

But if he used the protection again, he would no longer have enough mana left to maintain aura. In the midst of that desperate situation, he was still turning the problem over in his mind when...

-Heh heh. Running low on mana?

"What, can't you tell just by looking?"

Hyun-jun replied bluntly.

-I can convert blood into mana.

"Sorry, but getting close to that insane ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠magician isn't easy."

Having realized that high-tier magic was ineffective, Rodosman kept activating stored formulas carrying high-grade spells to block Hyun-jun's approach. The same was true for Han-soo and Gyu-hwan, while Seok-hyun and Han-seok were repeatedly checked at the spell-casting stage by specialized formulas.

-No need to use that bastard's blood... heh heh.

"Don't tell me..."

-Heh heh. That's exactly it. The master's blood can be converted into mana too.

"Take it. Just enough so I don't die."

There was no hesitation. At Hyun-jun's answer, Jiokchammado ravenously drank his blood.

"Ghk!"

A sharp, dizzying pain hit him, and his vision blurred for an instant before settling again. That lunatic chuunibyou bastard really had taken enough blood to bring him right to the edge of death.

-Mana.

A torrent of mana flowed in. Hyun-jun immediately used Gilles de Rais' protection.

The location of the formula engraved to disrupt casting came into view.

The formula shattered.

"You damned bastard!"

Rodosman spat out the curse.

"Ms. Jina! Mr. Han-seok!"

"Marking applied! Shackles of pain!"

"Lightning Storm!"

Jina and Han-seok's high-tier spells completed.

"Useless!"

The nullification formula Rodosman activated wiped out the Shackles of Pain and Lightning Storm. He did not appear to have taken any damage, but Rodosman still groaned and staggered. He had consumed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a great deal of mana forcing the nullification spell out so hastily. And that was exactly what Hyun-jun had been waiting for.

"Flying Swords!"

"Ghk!"

The Butcher's Dagger, fired like a bullet, buried itself in Rodosman's abdomen. Unfortunately for him, the pain did not end there. The Butcher's Dagger burrowed deeper into his belly.

"Kraaaagh!"

While he writhed in agony, Hyun-jun was already right in front of him.

"Goodbye."

With one sweep of Jiokchammado, Rodosman's head flew off. With his death, the warp gate leading outside activated, and at the same time the floor opened and a reward chest rose up. While Han-seok looted the magic stones, Hyun-jun opened the reward chest with So-jin.

"They're all magic stones?"

So-jin said in astonishment. The chest was packed full of magic stones that were obviously of high purity at a glance. Hyun-jun brought over a bag from the corpse of the dead porter and stuffed all the magic stones inside. The subspace pouch had its limits, so he had no choice but to use a bag.

"Hyun-jun. What's this?"

After he finished gathering the magic stones, a single old book was revealed on the floor.

"I don't feel any mana... maybe it's just a diary?"

Jina said. If no mana had been imbued into it, it would not count as equipment. But Hyun-jun felt a pull toward it, and he reached out to pick up the worn book. And at that very moment.

As the voices came one after another, a needle-sharp, unpleasant pain pierced straight through his brain.

"W-what..."