Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Han Shin VS Ataraxia
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The typhoon seized every direction in an instant.
There wasn't even time to react.
The moment the incantation ended, the magic surged right before his eyes in the blink of an eye.
Han Shin's expression hardened.
'Not an ordinary mage.'
He had recognized that his opponent was a mage.
And one of a level he'd never encountered before.
The magic of those commonly called "mages" was, at best, conjuring flames to hurl.
He had never personally witnessed a mage of this caliber, one who could generate a typhoon and dominate the space itself.
Rumble!
Roooar!
Moreover, there was more than one typhoon.
They split endlessly, surging forward.
Soon, the ten divided typhoons shook the earth as they devoured the doppelgangers.
"Gaaah!"
"S-save me!"
The doppelgangers screamed in agony just like humans.
Their bodies were being torn apart like paper in the ferocious winds and chains of mana.
Whiiiish!
Unable to endure, the majority of doppelgangers soon dissolved into smoke and vanished.
This was always the form death took in the Abyss.
Until the number of doppelgangers vanishing into the typhoons exceeded two digits, reaching three.
"......"
Han Shin simply watched in silence.
There was no flicker of emotion.
No sorrow, no fear, no anger or resentment whatsoever.
He was merely observing the process of the doppelgangers being swept away.
Once his observation concluded, Han Shin nodded.
'The mana is guiding the wind. It's transforming the very nature of the mana itself.'
He had pierced the source of the mage's magic.
He had discerned a change in properties that no ordinary person could detect.
Han Shin slowly raised his right hand.
He felt a portion of the oncoming wind.
At the same time, certainty dawned on him.
'She altered the mana into wind attribute. There's a peculiar viscosity to it too. Strands of mana, thin as spider silk, cling to the wind, allowing her to control it directly......'
Han Shin read the mana.
He instantly grasped its attributes, properties, output, and more.
He even understood that the mana expended wasn't vast, and that the magic had been amplified solely by this mage's unique traits.
'This is beyond the realm of human magic.'
Sticky mana woven thin as spiderwebs guided the wind.
The issue was that these threads were so exceedingly fine that maintaining their form required superhuman focus and mastery over mana.
It was a skill no human possessed.
At least, none among current humans could wield mana with such finesse.
Han Shin was no exception.
Though, as he wasn't a mage who manipulated phenomena through mana, it was perhaps inevitable.
Shing!
As he gripped his sword, the "Tracker's Blade" resonated fiercely.
Having observed and assessed the deaths of nearly a hundred doppelgangers, all that remained was to pacify.
Han Shin assumed his stance.
Then, he swiftly swung his sword down toward the approaching typhoon.
Flash!
Sparks of mana flew as his blade clashed with the typhoon's barrier, like static electricity.
Instantly, the densely woven spiderweb-like mana began snapping strand by strand.
Whoooosh!
The bound winds scattered in all directions.
The traces of the typhoon vanished in a flash, and the magic of despair inflicted no significant damage on Han Shin.
"......Oh?"
Ataraxia's eyes gleamed.
A mere human had neatly dismantled her magic.
Even though it had been powerfully amplified with words of despair woven in.
Even with her mana restricted to human levels, a human shouldn't dare dismantle a dragonkin's magic.
"You possess the 'Magic Eye,' don't you?"
Magic Eye.
Eyes that could read mana itself.
Ataraxia had watched Han Shin observing the typhoon.
He had read every path, flow, and property of the mana, then precisely severed the central conduit where it flowed.
A feat impossible without the Magic Eye.
Yet, those with the talent for Magic Eye were exceedingly rare.
'Innate cases are virtually nonexistent, and even acquired awakenings are almost unheard of. But that human seems innately gifted.'
Even among dragonkin, those born with the Magic Eye could be counted on one hand.
And this human possessed it.
Innate, from birth.
A talent surpassing every standard of humans Ataraxia had encountered.
No—all races combined, it was exceptionally rare.
And that wasn't all.
'He instinctively stepped just one pace beyond the mana's path.'
Han Shin had always positioned himself beyond the flow of mana.
Exactly one step away.
Standing in the eye of the typhoon, where he wouldn't be struck, he watched the doppelgangers die.
However, this wasn't something achievable merely by possessing the Magic Eye.
The Magic Eye read mana that had already manifested.
Normally, it couldn't perceive unmanifested mana or its flows.
Yet this human had anticipated even the unmanifested mana.
Instinct.
His danger-sensing ability was beyond imagination.
'Outstanding. Exceptionally so.'
Comparing him to the humans he'd faced was futile.
Even doppelgangers replicating countless talents couldn't match this one human.
If such a human existed among them, he could rightfully be called a martial god in talent.
Flash!
Whoooosh!
Han Shin eradicated every typhoon.
By severing the mana conduits, he annihilated the typhoons themselves.
Yet something was off.
It was peculiar.
Even with talent and skill, his tool shouldn't have held up.
'Dedicated gear?'
Ataraxia eyed Han Shin's sword closely.
It was on a different level from standard Abyss weapons.
Dedicated gear was crafted for a specific user, tailored to their needs.
Naturally, even at the same grade, their performance differed vastly, like heaven and earth.
But at this stage, it was unlikely a human had obtained dedicated gear on their own.
'Did a contracted creator make it? Creating dedicated gear consumes a hefty amount of coins. Most creators wouldn't even attempt it.'
And it wasn't just coins.
Blacksmiths capable of forging dedicated gear were exceedingly rare even in the Abyss.
To hand one to an unproven human at this point?
......Who?
Which creator had already provided dedicated gear?
Ataraxia glanced up at the sky.
The heavens, now dyed red.
The massive moon hovering at its center.
'Aheta. Is it you?'
Aheta, lord of the moon.
He was a creator who could craft dedicated gear.
The only one who might equip a human not yet properly grown with dedicated gear on the mere 'second night.'
Aheta could produce as many as he desired if he willed it.
He rivaled prominent named creators.
Many dragonkin had perished in Aheta's created Abyss.
Thus, he was one of the few creators whose true nature the dragonkin hadn't grasped.
'It seems humans truly hide something extraordinary.'
Even Dragon God Sepiro had taken human form.
Going so far as to nurture and save one.
The Nonexistent One.
She'd dismissed it as Sepiro's usual eccentricity.
But if the moon's lord Aheta had already granted dedicated gear to this human.
Clearly, they recognized 'human potential' she hadn't yet grasped.
'In that case......'
Ataraxia smiled.
Having dispelled the magic, Han Shin was approaching her.
She still couldn't unseal her full power, but...
'Your opponent isn't favorable, human.'
Han Shin hadn't fully matured either.
He hadn't grasped the true essence of magic.
Dismantling a single spell was all.
"Fire, bloom like a thousand flowers."
"Earth, wail."
"Lightning, rage."
"Wind, gather."
"Arrow of despairing water, loose all thy shafts."
Ataraxia was a being at the pinnacle.
A mighty elder dragon renowned among her kin.
Even sealed, even limited to human strength, how could she be equated to a human?
She had experienced exceptional talents and instincts.
And surpassed those who possessed them.
Experience was an insurmountable gap.
Likewise, she easily diagnosed this human male... Han Shin's weakness.
Han Shin lacked experience.
He'd never truly faced an overwhelmingly superior foe.
'He probably lived believing himself the greatest all his life.'
His attitude revealed it.
Even mere doppelgangers treated him like a king, following devotedly.
Yet he hadn't flinched at their deaths.
It meant he took royal treatment for granted.
He deemed sacrifice for his sake as rightful.
Proof he'd lived that way his entire life.
Thus, he wasn't desperate.
A genius not driven to desperation couldn't match Ataraxia, even with equal stats.
He'd falter against variables, lack improvisation.
But magic birthed infinite variables—true miracles.
The true terror of magic lay in its limitless nature.
Could he even read a spell compounded from five intertwined elements?
Dismantle it as before?
"......"
Han Shin halted, his expression stiffening.
The approaching magic was on another level from the typhoon.
He knew it couldn't be dismantled just by looking.
'What is that magic?'
A form of magic he'd never experienced.
The mana felt wasn't overwhelmingly vast.
Perhaps the mage's level was even lower than his own.
Yet her method transcended level limits.
'What... are these mages......'
All of them like this?
Blocking his path?
......Analyzing would be too late.
The attack targeted him precisely, leaving no escape.
His instincts screamed.
Too late.
He couldn't dodge like this.
Only death awaited!
Soon.
KABOOOM!
The explosion erupted, and the magic swallowed Han Shin.