The Ultimate Magic

The smoke in his mind refused to clear.

Crunch.Crack.

Jo Giman chewed through bone and all, swallowing mechanically while trying to disperse the haze clouding his thoughts. The harder he struggled, the thicker the fog grew. His mind had become a jumbled mess where nothing connected properly.

The Seven-Headed Dragon said it was no big deal, so I suppose I have to trust it… but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it still feels like shit.

His scrambled thoughts were secondary. The real problem was the colossal entity the Blue Eye’s followers had summoned. A gargantuan monster so vast it blurred at the edges of memory, too immense to fit inside his vision. He wanted answers, yet the Seven-Headed Dragon continued radiating nothing but wildly unstable energy. No matter how desperately he called, it remained silent.

Only one thing came through clearly: an iron will hammering directly into his mind.

Kill the Blue Eye. You must kill the Blue Eye. Without fail.

That command flowed into him without pause. Through the messages, he had also learned why the Seven-Headed Dragon was so fixated on the Blue Eye’s destruction.

If I kill the Blue Eye… the Seven-Headed Dragon’s rank rises? There’s still room to climb?

This was the first time it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had ever shared such information. Jo Giman found it odd, but brushed the curiosity aside. For an existence like the Seven-Headed Dragon, ascending even one rank would be on an entirely different scale than an A-grade hunter advancing to S-grade.

Since his own goal was simply to increase the number of regressions he could trigger, a stronger Seven-Headed Dragon was welcome news. A higher-ranked contractor might even grant more than the single regression originally promised.

Erasing an entity on the level of the Blue Eye in exchange for only one regression? That’s hardly a fair trade.

If his calculations showed he could actually corner the Blue Eye, he would renegotiate the terms. Still, one question continued to nag at him.

Summoning both a Great Calamity and an entity capable of annihilating one… Does that mean the Blue Eye’s followers possessed that kind of power? Did I miss something in the parts of my memory that have gone blurry?

Judging from every previous round, such a thing should have been impossible. The Blue Eye was an evil god of terrifying might, yet the amount of power it could exert in this world through its followers had clear limits. In this realm, the Seven-Headed Dragon’s influence clinging to Jo Giman might actually be stronger.

This doesn’t add up… If they truly wanted to achieve something, they could have summoned one overwhelmingly powerful creature from the beginning instead of calling a Great Calamity.

Only one plausible explanation remained.

The Great Calamity probably wasn’t summoned by the Blue Eye… And for some unknown reason, they needed it dead, so they awakened a hidden power they had kept concealed.

The monster that appeared later had been convinced the Blue Eye was responsible, and judging by the hunters present at the scene, that scenario fit best. Come to think of it, the barrier master Geum Jae-hyeon’s unusually early defection had never occurred in any previous round either.

I have to treat this as starting from zero. Time to stop dwelling on past rounds.

Jo Giman decided he would organize his thoughts on the matter later. What truly mattered was that an opportunity had appeared to obtain a massive dose of the drug called regression—the only thing that could still excite him when ordinary stimulation had long since lost its flavor.

Killing the Blue Eye would be an enormous burden, of course. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But he had faced the creature, if only briefly, in the previous round.

That was the conclusion he had reached while reflecting on his encounter with the Blue Eye. The creature’s restraints loosened with every battle, causing its strength to surge explosively. Or, more accurately, its original power was being liberated.

The same was true for Jo Giman, the avatar of the Seven-Headed Dragon. Yet if they had to cross into the creature’s own world to fight, the advantage would lie with the Blue Eye. Which meant he had to stake everything on the very first strike.

A single, fatal blow delivered with absolute, life-or-death resolve.

That was why, in this round, Jo Giman had made certain preparations of his own.

"Arcana."

The ultimate magic that could only manifest after fusing five different attributes of the highest-tier spells. Common sense in the world of mages dictated that learning more than one highest-tier magic was impossible. Jo Giman, however, had completely broken free of that limitation through repeated regressions. He had mastered enough highest-tier spells to count them on both hands.

"No… I lost Meteor, so that leaves nine now… Damn it, how irritating."

Crack. Crunch.

He gnawed the bones more violently as he continued thinking. In any case, having already elevated more than five attribute magics to the highest level, only one thing remained.

"The ultimate water-attribute spell—Aqua Arcana… If I can just obtain that. But how?"

There were several things Jo Giman still had no grasp of, and this magic was one of them. Water was the origin of all life, a mysterious substance that could dissolve into any property and even merge multiple attributes together. No matter how many attributes he raised to the pinnacle—ten, a hundred, or more—without the fusion magic known as Aqua Arcana, everything would be meaningless.

The path of magic was normally a painstaking climb, step by step from the foundation. One had to temper basic skills while endlessly circulating higher-dimensional thoughts until reaching an enlightenment that pierced the very principles of existence. Only then could higher magics be awakened one by one. It took overcoming that process many times before one could even touch a single highest-tier spell.

Yet water-attribute magic was strangely easy to learn at lower grades while remaining incredibly stingy with its highest forms. And among those, Aqua Arcana was a mythical spell that no one in this world had ever successfully manifested. It existed only in ancient tomes, handed down as legend.

Jo Giman had discovered purely by chance, while devouring old texts, that this particular magic was absolutely essential for the ultimate spell.

"Ptui!"

The thought of losing one of his highest-tier spells suddenly caught in his throat again like a fishbone.

"Meteor… Ha—fuck. Fuck! It kills me just thinking about it! You bastard!"

Even though he didn’t want to remember, the suffering he had endured to acquire that magic flooded back. In his boiling rage, Jo Giman hurled curses at no one in particular.

"What the hell did I do while I was unconscious? How did I lose a spell on top of everything else? Goddamn it!"

Even if he wanted to walk the same path again, this message kept appearing, driving him deeper into despair.

"Ha…" It was an absurd penalty. On top of that, he seemed to have earned the animosity of entities whose rank rivaled the Seven-Headed Dragon itself. He had carefully cultivated and held onto those high-ranking beings within his mental world as insurance against any possible betrayal by the Seven-Headed Dragon… and now they were gone in the most unexpected way.

A chill ran across his entire body. His appetite vanished instantly. Perhaps this was the side effect of all the enlightenment he had piled up through loopholes across countless regressions.

"Damn it… Damn it all! I didn’t do anything wrong!"

He felt wronged, but there was no one he could confide in.

Ha—this is the absolute worst part. I’m itching for a regression, fuck.

With the Seven-Headed Dragon’s influence weakened and his mind growing impatient, the cheap speech patterns from before his awakening came spilling out. The situation made him want to throw everything away, yet Jo Giman possessed a stubborn tenacity all his own.

"Hoo… Anyway, I just need to find Aqua Arcana…"

He steadied his heart once more. As far as he knew, that spell could not be obtained through training alone. That was why, even while consuming the world’s most nutritious hunters and eliminating those who got in his way, he had tirelessly searched for a method to acquire it.

It had all been in vain. The only things he had gained were ancient, tattered books. The single piece of meaningful information he had recently unearthed was this:

Only those who follow the Water Goddess with utmost devotion shall obtain Aqua Arcana… It shall be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠connected to Lake Katarin…

Jo Giman mulled the words over quietly until his neck flushed bright red with rage.

"…I’ll follow, damn it! I’ll lick the dirt off her feet if that’s what it takes! Just tell me where this Katarin Lake even is!! You fucking piece of shit!"

Boom!

He hurled the leftover bones against the wall. Clear anxiety was written across his face.

Hoo—calm down. I need to retrace everything I’ve done so far.

Deciding that continuing this way was pointless, he concluded he needed time to review the path he had walked.

"Nando… Should I search that place one more time?"

Nando was an enormous S-rank dungeon so vast that even Jo Giman had never explored every corner. With Yun Han-gyeol gone, exploration would be even slower. Still, among all the water-related dungeons, it was the only place that raised any suspicion.

It was also the perfect time—the dungeon was growing unstable and all sorts of problems were erupting. An unexpected singularity might allow things to resolve more easily than anticipated. Since he could lower his rank several steps with Mimicry and enter without much trouble, it wasn’t particularly difficult for him.

"Good… I’ll focus on that for the time being."

His mind was now completely consumed with the task of eliminating the Blue Eye. There was no room left to think about trivial matters like the guild competition. That obsession was the will of the Seven-Headed Dragon as well.

Jo Giman sat in lotus position and muttered incantations for a long time.

"…Assist my clone for the time being."

The moment the words left his mouth, a doll identical to himself split away from his body.

Srrrk—

Perfect replication of appearance, features, speech, and even gait. A clone technique that could exert thirty percent of his power—truly worthy of the name.

"…Understood."

Jeong Ju-in had watched Jo Giman consume human flesh without batting an eye, yet seeing his master prepare to leave for an extended period while leaving a clone behind clearly rattled him.

"Regarding how the vice guild leader might notice—"

"Hmph. Even if that woman realizes it’s a clone, there’s nothing she can do. She’ll simply see it as a chance to expand her own forces and welcome the opportunity. Besides, after getting thoroughly beaten this time, she’ll probably hole herself up claiming to focus on training."

"Understood…"

With those words, Jo Giman vanished. Jeong Ju-in stared blankly at the remaining clone.

The clone met his gaze with a bored expression and spoke.

"…What are you looking at? Let’s get to work, Jo Giman’s loyal little dog—Jeong Ju-in."

"…Yes."

Jeong Ju-in’s brow furrowed at the insulting tone, but he gave a short reply and left the room.

***

The moment Yeonhee met Arin, she immediately poured out everything about being followed. Arin clutched her head, wearing an expression that screamed she was utterly sick of it.

You too, huh… I’m sick of it as well.

It hadn’t been that long since the tailing began, yet Yeonhee was already thinking she wanted nothing more to do with the Ilseom Guild.

Of course, Hyeon Jung-gil was the one exception.