Chapter 254
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: Ghost Bride, Tessa Miriji.
Ghost Bride, Tessa Miriji.
The undead who had joined hands with the Transcendent of Evil and set off in search of the real Leyzon.
Leyzon heard about her through Phirsiran and fell silent.
Leyzon's gaze briefly swept over the undead.
Should he tell them this fact?
He pondered for just a moment before shaking his head.
Not yet.
Tessa's appearance could unsettle everyone.
Besides, the timing of her trail being discovered right now bothered him.
'The mausoleum is gone, and now this shows up.'
If it had been right after, maybe. But her trace appearing at this exact moment.
It might even be a trap set by Tessa.
He didn't want to suspect her, but her master was no longer Leyzon.
She served the real Leyzon now.
Tessa and the current Leyzon were enemies.
It was bitter, but there was no helping it.
"...Phirsiran, can you track her quietly?"
"It could be dangerous since she's linked to the Transcendent of Evil. Be careful."
He could trust Phirsiran with this.
"Let me know if you hear anything else."
Phirsiran quietly withdrew.
Leyzon looked up at the sky.
What was Tessa ultimately planning?
It would be nice if he could meet her once and talk.
"Leyzon, is something wrong?"
At that moment, Syria appeared, tilting her head.
She reigned as the Vampire Queen before the others, but in front of Leyzon, she was nothing but an adorably clingy daughter.
"I was just talking with Phirsiran for a bit. This sector's all done?"
"Yes, it's finished."
The Dragon Palace Beast territory was divided into five sectors total.
Sector 1 was now completely reduced to rubble.
Only four sectors left.
He planned to clear the rest quickly too.
"Guildmaster of Ambition, shall we move right away?"
"Yeah, I'll check with the other pioneers too."
Rastolpo agreed immediately, having done little beyond the initial barrage.
As he rounded up the pioneers, Leyzon took a short rest.
He'd applied poison to the Dragon Palace Beasts midway, so he'd pretty much claimed all the experience points.
"You're strong."
Then, someone approached Leyzon and spoke.
It was Crea, still sucking on a lollipop just like at the start.
"Are all necromancers that strong?"
Leyzon stared blankly at Crea.
For a brief moment, something flashed through his mind.
A deduction popping out based on the information he'd gathered so far.
"You're the Millennium Mage."
It was a truly out-of-the-blue statement.
Just a question based on Leyzon's intuition.
Crea's eyes slowly widened.
Leyzon's gaze sharpened in response to his intense reaction.
Crea covered his mouth in apparent shock.
"How did you know?"
A remarkably nonchalant reply came back.
A brazen response showing no issue even if his identity was revealed.
The Millennium Mage.
The most guarded figure in the world.
The one Leyzon had a shocking encounter with in the Resonance World.
And now he appeared out of nowhere.
Leyzon stared expressionlessly at Crea.
Meanwhile, his mind raced.
Honestly, he hadn't expected such a brazen admission.
Leyzon had deduced he was the Millennium Mage for a few reasons.
The story he'd heard recently from the gravekeeper Gorgodon.
He was said to be a hardcore magic herb smoker.
His behavior was typical of smokers,
Especially how smokers often suck on candy to hold back cravings.
Of course, that alone could apply to anyone.
But what Leyzon focused on was his reaction.
All mages had been stunned by the Fusion Magic Abyss.
Yet he just watched with interest.
No big reaction.
And approaching so brazenly like this.
Normal, sensible people wouldn't do that.
"If you even thought about hiding, at least pretend a little."
"I've done enough pretending as a skeleton already. Not my hobby."
The Millennium Mage flashed a sly grin.
"More importantly, you still haven't noticed the weirdness, huh."
His tone shifted.
Leyzon's body froze for a split second.
He belatedly scanned his surroundings.
They were eerily quiet.
Soon, Leyzon faced a absurd reality.
Everything there had stopped.
Leyzon's eyes widened hugely.
Hanok, the undead—everything stood frozen, unmoving.
A silent world without even the sound of wind.
Not even the air flowed here.
"...What did you do?"
Sizzle—
The sound of fire igniting echoed.
He'd already pulled out a magic herb from his pocket and lit it.
His appearance had changed too.
A helmet with blue plumes.
He shoved the herb through the helmet and took a long drag.
"Man, anything but holding back on magic herbs."
The Millennium Mage shook his head, calling it a severe addiction.
Stopping the world and casually smoking.
The act itself created massive dissonance.
"Gorgodon's stuck to you, huh."
Gravekeeper, Gorgodon.
Her name was mentioned.
He already knew that much?
What kind of intelligence network was this?
"That damn old hag can't stay put by nature."
"You two seem pretty close."
"We've got some familiarity."
Leyzon could feel the grin from behind the helmet.
Leyzon silently pointed around them.
"So, is this your transcendent magic?"
The Millennium Mage just took another long drag without answering.
But silence was the answer.
Nothing but transcendent magic could do this.
Not even the Transcendent's Revelation power.
"Abyss, just one question."
He tossed a question instead of replying.
"What does this world look like to you?"
What is this world?
An out-of-nowhere question.
"Don't get the meaning."
"Exactly as I said."
Stopping the world just to ask that?
Leyzon was dumbfounded.
The Millennium Mage stared at Leyzon for a moment, then chuckled lowly.
"Then, instead of questions, a warning to you who's living diligently."
The Millennium Mage slowly turned his head.
Then gazed off into the distance somewhere.
"If you value your life, leave beyond the empire."
Leave beyond the empire.
Cloudy nonsense again.
"Unfolding your ambitions in the empire will all be meaningless anyway."
What was the Millennium Mage seeing?
And heading toward?
Leyzon couldn't grasp it at all.
"But you must leave everything you possess behind. It belongs to the empire."
But hearing the next words, he could be certain.
"I'm not the type of person who's free of greed enough to let go of what I hold."
"Is that so?"
The Millennium Mage cracked his neck upon hearing that.
The motion was like loosening up before a fight.
"Then I'll just show you how foolish indulging in greed is."
The aura emanating from the Millennium Mage shifted.
The surging mana around him enveloped and squeezed Leyzon.
In that instant, Leyzon glimpsed a massive flow of power.
An overwhelming crushing force that would flatten anything daring to intrude.
That immense power flow blanketed the space.
"Sorry about this."
Leyzon apologized to the Millennium Mage instead.
"But I'm first."
Ting!
A black shard fragment flicked from Leyzon's grip.
"Eternal Rest."
⟨ Abyss Shard ⟩
With the spell name, the Abyss shard exploded outright.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
Leyzon soared up on his Bone Broom amid the blast.
The broom accelerated as layers of fusion magic piled on.
The world was stopped, but skills worked normally.
'Undead Fusion.'
The moment he tried to merge and switch tactics.
"I told you."
A voice rang in Leyzon's ears.
Chills!
The instant Leyzon whipped his head up.
The Millennium Mage hung upside down in the sky.
His clothes unaffected by gravity, unmoving.
"How foolish greed is."
The Bone Broom halted midair.
No matter how much power he poured in, it wouldn't budge.
No opening for Undead Fusion.
The moment Leyzon drew the Staff of Abundance and aimed.
The Millennium Mage was gone from the clear blue sky.
Cold sweat beaded on Leyzon's forehead.
"Abyss, you'd better remember my warning well."
His voice came from behind.
He'd somehow reached his back.
'No presence detected at all.'
This guy—no matter what, couldn't be tracked.
It felt like he was leaping through space-time.
At the same time, Leyzon realized one fact.
'My time was stopped and released too.'
The Millennium Mage's transcendent magic.
It affected even Leyzon the same way.
Stopping and releasing time at will.
How absurd a power that was—he felt it anew.
What could you do against the one who toys with time?
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
In that instant, an Abyss shard rolled from Leyzon's bosom and exploded.
Leyzon plummeted to the ground, swiftly summoning wind with Dragon Scales.
His body lifted into the air.
'What can you do against the one who toys with time?'
Nothing.
So give up?
Leyzon had no such intention.
He wouldn't just take this lying down without fighting to the end.
He transformed his shadow into a fortress and raised it.
The towering shadow fortress swallowed Leyzon whole.
Fusing poison throughout the fortress.
Simultaneously activating Undead Fusion.
The moment he moved to counter with his next move somehow.
Leyzon's eyes caught the Millennium Mage.
He crossed and clasped his hands.
Light spreading from his grip consumed everything.
Leyzon didn't know what it was.
But he struggled desperately to resist whatever it was.
"Don't come back to the empire."
And that was the end.
Leyzon, who had been fighting the Millennium Mage moments ago, suddenly vanished.
An empty, silent world.
There, the Millennium Mage alone took a long drag from his remaining magic herb.
Then he flicked the rest to the ground and vanished.
Thud—
A moment later, the world began moving again.
Rastolpo spoke to the pioneers, and the undead regrouped.
Finally.
"Leyzon?"
Syria scanned around, calling for Leyzon.
Syria's eyes slowly widened.
Gone.
Leyzon's presence was nowhere.
"Leyzon! Leyzon!"
Syria shouted and ran around the area.
The other undead gradually realized something was off.
Leyzon was truly nowhere.
"Leyzon!"
Syria's desperate cry echoed.
And at their feet.
Only the charred remains of a magic herb smoldered as the flames died out.