Chapter 305
Chapter 305
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 305
Chapter Title: Star Demon Battle (4)
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“Woooah!”
“Hey, please take your seats!”
“Everyone, show some etiquette! It’s not like I’m the only one who paid for this!”
The spectator stands were in absolute chaos.
Even though the arena was spacious by design, with everyone standing and craning their necks to get a better view...
‘Man, short people really have it rough.’
‘I want to see it live, not just on the screen.’
‘Joo Dong-hoon in the flesh!’
It was inevitable that some grumbling would break out.
And that was because...
The level of interest was on a whole different plane compared to the previous two matches.
If the earlier bouts had been appetizers, this one was the main course.
Freshly prepared, steaming hot, and utterly irresistible.
“Of course Kainaad’s going to win, right? Sure, the elders couldn’t use their full power, but he’s the Grand Elder. It’s hard to picture the Magic Tower’s number two losing.”
Someone spoke up, prompting a scowl from the spectator next to him.
“What nonsense. Do you even know Joo Dong-hoon? He’s rewriting history! Have you ever seen a legend from one of those great tales lose to anyone? This Star Demon Battle is just another episode in his saga!”
“Joo Dong-hoon’s amazing, I get that, but this is a magic duel.”
“Magic this, magic that! Joo Dong-hoon is the best, period! Don’t be so blind. Watch the news, do some research, you idiot.”
“What? Idiot? What’s your rank?”
As the atmosphere heated up...
Even the initially composed hunters began to get worked up.
But no one had eyes for such petty squabbles.
“Woooaaaah!”
“Waaaah! It’s Kainaad!”
With a whopping 200,000 people roaring in cheers.
Kainaad was already on stage, standing tall with his staff in hand.
Unshaken by the countless gazes, the mage composed his mana.
People talked about the Oxford Magic Tower as if Sophia were its master, but those in the know understood.
They knew who had truly led the Tower, who had elevated magic as an academic pursuit and advanced it so rapidly in such a short time.
That was why...
Many mages respected the Grand Elder even more than Sophia.
But soon, the crowd’s attention shifted to another hunter.
- Next up! Yes, the living legend himself! Leader of the rising stars, Star Heaven and Earth! The man who reached Hyper Ranker faster than anyone in the world! The emperor who commands special skeletons, and wields overwhelming power himself! World ranking number seven! The Skeleton Empoooooeror! Joooo Dong-hoooooon!
“Waaaaaah!”
“It’s the hero! The hero!”
“Joo Dong-hoon! Joo Dong-hoon! Joo Dong-hoon!”
The cheers erupted at least twice as loud as any before.
Even a Champions League final goal wouldn’t hit those decibels.
‘Crazy.’
‘They’ve lost it.’
‘Ow, my ears.’
A few spectators clutched their jaws with groans, but they too were buzzing with excitement from head to toe.
The reason Joo Dong-hoon’s cheers were even bigger was simple.
People always preferred twists over predictable outcomes, and Star Heaven and Earth had already delivered one.
When countless experts favored the Magic Tower, they shattered those expectations with ease.
And he was their leader.
“Show us!”
“We want to see it! Joo Dong-hoon’s magic!”
“Uwaaaah! Dae-han-miiiiiin-guk! Jja-ja-jak! Clap-clap!”
Clunk!
The waiting room door swung open, and a man strode out.
The cheers swelled even louder at the sight.
“Whoa.”
Kim Jin-ah watched Joo Dong-hoon with a gaze full of fresh emotion.
‘Talk about a new feeling.’
It was a strange sensation.
- Hello. How much could we possibly loan out here?
It felt like just yesterday he’d gone to the bank as an E-rank hunter to borrow money.
Now, he was the world’s most famous man, basking in the adulation of people everywhere.
Leading our group, Star Heaven and Earth, with unmatched reliability.
Heh.
Kim Jin-ah finally let out a delighted laugh.
She’d anticipated a day like this, but never dreamed it would come so soon.
In the past, she might have felt anxious.
‘Beating the Grand Elder with magic? What a load of crap.’
But...
Kim Jin-ah looked at Joo Dong-hoon again.
The guy who always pulled off the impossible.
The one common sense didn’t apply to.
‘Him losing...’
She shook her head.
She couldn’t imagine it.
Now, that seemed like the real impossibility.
‘Please win, Guild Master.’
I’ve bet big on you.
Beyond the money, I’ve bet my life.
‘If you do, I’ll make it worth it.’
With our growing assets.
I’ll expand Star Heaven and Earth so you can have all the glory and riches.
Kim Jin-ah quietly clasped her hands together.
* * *
“Hmm.”
Kainaad let out a low groan as he eyed his opponent, Joo Dong-hoon.
A Hyper Ranker through and through?
Just his presence was sharply intimidating.
- Grand Elder, don’t let your guard down. He’s unpredictable.
Remembering Tower Master Sophia’s warning, Kainaad nodded.
‘I won’t.’
Unlike the previous elders, he was different.
He approached magic with dogged focus on the fundamentals, and his personality was earnest in all things.
‘Joo Dong-hoon isn’t ordinary.’
No Ranker could be unaware of his exploits.
He was entangled in every major incident worldwide, resolving them all with ease.
He’d upended the stagnant Hyper Ranker rankings and sparked a global phenomenon.
For such a man to lose?
Impossible.
Whoooong!
Kainaad slowly drew up his mana.
Hummmm...
Unlike the elders before him, pure mana began enveloping the area.
“Pleased to meet you, Joo Dong-hoon.”
“Hm, this is our first proper greeting, right?”
“Indeed. We were too busy fighting during the Water Dragon incident...”
Gulp.
Kainaad swallowed dryly.
‘He was incredible.’
He’d witnessed Joo Dong-hoon’s performance against the dragon firsthand.
His mere arrival had flipped the hopeless situation 180 degrees.
And in the end...
He’d infiltrated the dragon’s body and finished it off himself.
A man who could rightly be called a monster.
And now...
He stood before Kainaad.
Thud.
Kainaad slowly planted his staff on the ground.
“I look forward to your instruction.”
“Come on, instruction? Honestly, I’m a step below you in magic.”
Whoosh!
Flames erupted, and a staff materialized in Joo Dong-hoon’s hand.
Kainaad nodded.
No more words were needed.
The crowd was waiting with bated breath, so now they’d let their magic do the talking.
‘I’ll just show him.’
The path I’ve forged.
My magic.
Fwoosh!
Kainaad’s first spell was Fireball.
A basic fire-attribute spell, perfect for probing.
It was worlds apart from what the elders had cast.
His mana responded instantly to his will, rising with exceptional speed.
“Oh?”
At that moment, Joo Dong-hoon smiled.
“Fireball, huh.”
Then he raised his own staff.
And simultaneously...
Fwooooooosh!
A massive fireball materialized before their eyes in an instant.
At least ten times larger than the one Kainaad had conjured.
‘What in the...?’
Kainaad’s eyes widened in shock.
It was definitely a Fireball.
He could tell from the mana flow.
Any mage would recognize it as textbook Fireball.
But its presence was anything but.
Crunch, crunch!
Flames writhed and twisted.
Packing themselves into the confined space, thick and viscous.
Like demons from the abyss.
‘Huh?’
And then the fireball hurtled toward him.
At tremendous speed.
‘W-Wait, this can’t be?’
He hastily flung his own Fireball in response.
Fizzle!
Small flames were always devoured by larger ones.
His innocent little spell vanished powerless.
‘D-Damn it?’
In the end, Kainaad had only one option.
Quickly erecting a defensive barrier around himself!
KABOOOOOM!
An enormous explosion rocked Kainaad’s body.
“......”
The arena, roaring with cheers moments ago, fell deathly silent.
“What was that just now?”
“Did Kainaad... explode? What the hell happened?”
“Commentary! Give us some commentary!”
Someone demanded an explanation, but...
- Uh, uh... Uhhh?!
Even veteran caster Spirit was stammering nothing but “uhs.”
The invited expert commentators just blinked in stunned silence.
- What happened?! What was that spell?!
Smoke billowed from the explosion, obscuring the view.
Everyone floated question marks above their heads, clueless.
And then...
Thud!
The sound of Kainaad dropping to one knee echoed.
“Oof.”
Standing before him...
“Did I go too hard right from the start...?”
Joo Dong-hoon scratched his head, captured on the screen.
* * *
The shock wasn’t limited to the crowd and commentators.
“Ehhh?”
“......!”
Do Ha-rang and Emily, watching from the stands, gaped in disbelief.
“W-Wh-Wh-What was that?!”
“Fireball! The incantation was definitely Fireball!”
“How is that a Fireball, sis? That was Hellfire!”
“Even Hellfire wouldn’t be that horrifying.”
It was utterly absurd.
Joo Dong-hoon, who seemed utterly unrelated to magic, had beaten the Magic Tower’s number two?
No, not just beaten—he’d demolished him with a single basic spell?
Who would believe it?
“......”
Only one person.
Arin nodded as if she’d expected as much.
‘He was famous even in the mage world.’
In the past she’d rewritten, she remembered her professor’s Fireball.
‘Even Professor Silvia had been dumbfounded, calling it impossible.’
And that wasn’t all.
In his duel with Andrew Patrick...
It was his basic magic that had chilled the spines of mage world elders with a single spell.
No matter how faithful Kainaad was to fundamentals...
He couldn’t withstand magic amplified by a god-slaying staff and essence effects.
“It’s really... really over in one shot? Against the Grand Elder?”
Do Ha-rang asked in lingering disbelief.
“No.”
Arin replied.
“Look over there.”
She pointed to the stage.
“He hasn’t given up yet.”
Arin’s eyes gleamed.
On stage, Kainaad—body scorched—struggled back to his feet with all his might.
* * *
“Guh... Guh...”
Barely clinging to consciousness, Kainaad used his staff to prop himself up.
A groan escaped his lips.
His muscles trembled, pain constantly assaulting his nerves.
Even with mana shielding his body, it was this bad.
A true monster!
- Ah, aaaaah! Kainaad! Kainaad isn’t done yet! But... is he okay? He doesn’t look good!
“......Time! Are you alright?”
A referee-like figure stepped forward to check on Kainaad.
‘Alright?’
Of course not.
But Kainaad was curious.
That curiosity overrode the pain, forcing him to rise.
‘It was definitely a Fireball incantation.’
Yet upon impact, it absolutely wasn’t.
You couldn’t call something like that a Fireball.
As a mage who lived for magic, he couldn’t accept it.
How could a non-mage wield such power?
He had to experience it more.
Draw out more magic from him somehow.
Feel it with his body, analyze it.
That was how progress happened.
“I’m fine......”
“Really?”
“Yes, *cough*! I can continue.”
Did the referee read the resolve in Kainaad’s eyes?
He reluctantly stepped back.
“Al... alright! But surrender immediately if things get worse!”
“Yes.”
Kainaad turned to face Joo Dong-hoon.
The man looking at him with faint concern.
It didn’t bruise his pride.
He deserved it.
Kainaad faced Joo Dong-hoon with a learner’s humility.
“Once more... May I ask for another round?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Bloodshot, Kainaad’s eyes burned.
“Yes. For real this time. No holding back.”
Yes.
This was a place of exchange, after all.
Beyond victory.
Kainaad sought true magical communion.