The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 380

“Huh. This person is also very injured.”

Lukas came to his senses at Pale’s sudden words. It was only then that he took a closer look at the woman’s condition. He’d thought that she was just unconscious, but as Pale mentioned, the woman’s brown robe was covered in blood.

This was not the time to remain idle.

Lukas went closer and knelt beside the woman who was lying on her face. It was then that he checked the severity of her wounds.

…It wasn’t good. Her wounds weren’t so serious that she wouldn’t be able to recover, but she had lost too much blood.

“Pale, do you have any of that jerky the miglings had used earlier?”

“Of course not.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

It was surprising how a seemingly emotionless face somehow appeared shameless.

He asked one more time.

“Can I trust you?”

“Would I lie?”

“…”

“…”

Their eyes met.

Pale had a proud look on her face. He didn’t know what she was thinking on the inside, but her expression didn’t change. A forced body search was… Well. It would not be a polite thing to do.

In the first place, even if Pale did have the jerky on her, he couldn’t force her to give it to him if she didn’t want to.

In any case, if she pretended that she didn’t have it, there was nothing he could do about it.

‘I should hunt a nearby monster.’

Just as he had this thought and was about to stop looking at Pale suspiciously.

She scratched her head before suddenly rummaging in one of her pockets and pulling something out. On her outstretched hand was a dusty piece of jerky.

“Here. But how did you know?”

“…thanks.”

Lukas didn’t say anything and instead, he simply thanked her. Then he carefully observed the jerky Pale had offered.

This jerky was a different colour from the one the miglings had. This meant it was probably made from different ingredients. In any case, it didn’t matter to him as long as it was effective.

Lukas dustred the piece of jerky off before putting it in the woman’s mouth.

By this point, he’d gained a rough understanding of what eating meant in this world.

It had been at least two days, or maybe even three or four years since he’d arrived in this place. But Lukas hadn’t taken a single sip of water. In fact, he’d only barely noticed this a short while ago.

It hadn’t been a long time, but he hadn’t been thirsty at all.

When Pale had offered him her food, he’d hadn’t been the slightest bit hungry either.

In other words, eating in this world wasn’t to replenish nutrients or satisfy hunger.

‘To maintain existence.’

Lukas remembered when his legs had started disappearing.

As soon as he’d eaten the mouse Pale gave to him, the phenomena had reversed.

Eating in this world was likely to supplement or maintain their own existence.

In the same vein, eating seemed to also be the way to treat injuries.

In many ways, it was a twisted world and a twisted rule, but since it was a rule of this place, they had to follow it.

As if she could barely hold herself back as she watched him feeding the jerky.

“She’s eaten enough. What will you do when she fully recovers and wakes up?”

Lukas looked down at the woman’s wounds.

There, he witnessed the unrealistic sight of her flesh returning to its original form. Rather than restoration or regeneration, it was more like watching time reverse.

The second thing he checked after the woman’s wounds was her face.

They shared a fundamental universe. At first glance, her face was covered in scabs, so he could not see her appearance. Lukas silently peeled them away. Fortunately, she did not seem to be someone he knew.

Since she was not an acquaintance, it didn’t really matter.

As he thought this, Lukas removed the dried blood from the woman’s clothes and hair. Her dark coloured hair was finally visible.

Pale bent over and pretended to look around. Like a captain looking for land, she had one hand on her waist and the other hand above her eyes.

“What do we do now?”

“Wait for her to gain consciousness.”

“And after that?”

“Take her to the underground city.”

Perhaps Michael would know who this woman was.

He wasn’t sure if it was the right expression, but maybe she was one of his companions.

“Wow. You’re a good person.”

Pale exclaimed. It wasn’t sarcasm, but genuine admiration.

Good. A good person… It was only then that Lukas realised he was doing a good deed.

“Then shall we go right now? You have the talent to be a guide, so you wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Right?”

“I have to cool my head down first. If I do it now, my brain will burn.”

It had been a long time since he’d felt a brain overload which was what Wizards experienced when they tried to forcibly use spells beyond their capabilities. It was actually a little pleasant for him to experience the stiff sensation again. At the very least, it was something that he hadn’t felt since pushing his calculative ability to the extreme in the abyss.

It was no joke, if he were to force himself in this state, it really would destroy his brain. He needed to cooldown for the time being.

“Then does that mean we won’t be able to move right away?”

“Right.”

“That might be a bit dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

Pale scratched her cheek when Lukas’ gaze turned to her.

“It feels like there is a territory nearby.”

Lukas didn’t respond.

Because just as she brought it up, he felt his senses tingling. (TL: Spidey sense)

It was a sign of imminent danger, an instinctive alarm. There was no time to think. He spread his hands out and released his magic.

A barrier formed around Lukas in an instant. Clang! And in almost the same instant, he felt a dull shockwave.

He narrowed his eyes. There hadn’t been any trace of them, but in the blink of an eye, five people wielding swords surrounded the barrier.

Four men and one woman.

‘These are not easy foes.’

All of them were highly skilled Swordsmen.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sword attacks poured in one after the other. Heavy impacts gradually shook the barrier. The damage continued to accumulate, but it wasn’t enough to destroy the barrier just yet.

“…!”

The Swordsmen all wore expressions of shock. It seemed that they were surprised by the durability of the barrier that was much harder than they ever would have expected.

Lukas didn’t miss the opportunity and immediately took the offensive.

Bang!

A loud sound rang out as the barrier shattered. But this wasn’t because of the Swordsmen’s attacks, Lukas had deliberately broken it.

The pieces of the shattered barrier became like shards of glass and shot towards the Swordsmen. Fast, sharp. The sound of the air being cut showed just how much of a threat each shard was.

The Swordsmen responded in a swift manner. They all immediately gather in one place as though they had trained as a unit for a long time.

Clang clang clang clang!

Loud sounds rang out as their blades slapped away most of the shards.

They managed to stop most, not all. They managed to perfectly protect their vital points, but as a consequence, they had to pay relatively less attention to the areas that weren’t vital points, like their forearms, thighs or cheeks.

There were two factors that made them incapable of perfectly defending the attack.

One was because the attacks were actually difficult to see due to the transparent nature of the barrier.

And the other was because Lukas attack didn’t end there.

Lukas’ body slowly rose into the air.

The eyes of the five Swordsmen filled with horror.

An apparent enemy had approached him with murderous intent. Naturally, Lukas would not show mercy.

Crackle-

After the brief sound of electricity, a flash of light erupted.

No, it wasn’t light, it was lightning.

The 7 star spell, Gigantic Thunder, struck down on the desert as if it wanted to pierce through it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The attack did not stop with just one. Without the slightest bit of error, a series of lightning bolts pierced the same spot one after the other.

Including the first attack, there were four strikes in total.

Nevertheless, he still had mana to spare. Since he couldn’t recover it naturally, he couldn’t use it all at once.

After his attack ended, Lukas looked down at the huge crater that had formed in the middle of the desert from the sky.

Squirm-

He detected movement in the crater. It seemed that they were still alive. As expected, they were not easy to deal with. Just as Lukas prepared to use another spell.

“Wa-, wait!”

An urgent shout sounded.

It was the voice of a young man.

“Wait, please wait a minute!”

There was a hint of fear in the voice, as though they were worried that another spell would fall.

Maybe they had lost some of their will to fight.

Lukas calmed his roiling mana and opened his mouth.

“What is it?”

The voice that came out of his mouth was freezing cold. Within the crater, there was a sign of flinching, but the voice shouted once again.

“We are not your enemies!”

“You attacked me first.”

“Th-, that… that was an accident. We beg your forgiveness. We’re sorry.”

“…”

He gave excuses and apologies in a heart-rending voice.

Lukas remained silent, unable to accurately guess the other’s intentions.

The owner of the voice probably thought this was an opportunity as, after coughing a few times, he quickly continued.

“Could you please give us a chance? We have no intention of fighting you. Please give us a chance to prove that.”

“…”

“Please.”

There was a sense of desperation in his voice. He could tell that much.

Lukas slowly descended to the ground. He wasn’t really accepting the man’s words. After all, he didn’t believe them, but he felt that he could still make a decision after hearing what the other had to say.

Tak.

When he landed, Pale, who had been squatting next to the unconscious woman and poking her face, stood up.

“Uncle, you really don’t hold back when you’re angry! Hihi. That’s my secret friend!”

Pale said in an excited voice.

She didn’t seem surprised by Lukas’ magic. Not to mention frightened. There was only admiration and excitement in her voice.

0

Lukas liked that too.

“Take care of her.”

“Yes Sir!”

Chak, Pale answered loudly with a salute.

Walking past Pale, Lukas headed to the crater he’d created. There, he saw the five shabby Swordsmen breathing heavily.

To his surprise, they were all relatively unharmed.

Of course, their entire bodies were covered in soot, and their clothes had numerous cuts and tears. But with the strength of the attack that Lukas had used against them, he wouldn’t have been surprised if they had turned to ashes.

Or cut into 4 pieces.

The bolt of lightning had pierced the very centre of their formation. Nevertheless, all of their limbs were intact and in good condition. They were still capable of swinging their swords and fighting.

As he got closer, the Swordsmen cupped their hands to him.

“I thank you for your mercy. This one is Kwak Do-san.”

Fist cupping.

That was enough to give Lukas an idea of what their universe was like. It was knowledge he’d gained as an Absolute.

“May I ask what you are called?”

A cautious voice called out, it was the man who had been earnestly shouting to Lukas just before.

“Lukas.”

Kwak Do-san nodded at his brief introduction.

“Great Sir Lu, I believe there is a misunderstanding between us.”

Who was Great Sir Lu? He almost furrowed his brow at that.

He felt like pointing it out, but in the end, he decided to put up with it. In any case, he had no intention of prolonging this conversation.

“A misunderstanding?”

“Exactly. But before that, there is something I’d like to ask.”

Kwak Do-san’s gaze went past Lukas’ shoulder.

“Is that woman your acquaintance?”

Coincidentally, there were only women behind him.

When Lukas looked back, Pale waved at him. Pale was someone who usually had a consistently uncaring attitude about everything, but now her expression appeared a bit innocent. In other words, Kwak Do-san was probably not talking about Pale.

This left only one person, the unconscious woman covered in blood.

In truth, considering the timing, it could have only been her that they were referring to.

Given that he had been attacked shortly after finding her.

“No.”

He didn’t think he knew her. She’d been unconscious since they’d encountered her.

Kwak Do-san’s expression brightened when he denied it so firmly.

“Huu. As expected. That’s a relief.”

“A relief?”

“…I would like to explain the situation, would that be alright?”

When Lukas nodded his head, Kwak Do-san swallowed once before opening his mouth.

“Not long ago, we received confirmation that a witch, who had appeared unannounced in the vicinity of Origin Mountain, was harming innocent people.”

Witch.

It was probably a different concept from the Witch that Lukas knew. However, he was still able to understand it in the context of the story.

“That woman is the Witch?”

“That’s right. Origin Mountain gathered as much manpower as possible to stop the Witch, but her power was too strong. It was only after sacrificing 30 disciples that we were able to drive her into a corner, but we couldn’t finish her off in the end.”

Kwak Do-san spoke bitterly.

“She is a very dangerous being. If we don’t kill her now while she’s unconscious, there is no telling how great the bloodbath will be when she awakens.”

“…”

“Do you not believe me?”

Of course he didn’t.

For Lukas, he was unable to properly judge the situation. The experience and knowledge that he had about the Imaginary World was still too lacking.

In fact, he was still filled with a strange feeling.

The Imaginary World.

A world shrouded in mystery that no one had been able to enter before.

That was why, when he’d first learned of this place, he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.

However, a few days after entering it for himself, he felt his unease waning. This world was not as threatening as he thought.

This situation was an example.

This man, Kwak Do-san, was a resident of the Imaginary World. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been here, but it was certainly longer than Lukas, who had only been here for less than a week. Kwak Do-san was intelligent. He could talk. On top of that, he had been frightened by the magic Lukas had used.

He asked himself. Could he be afraid of such a person? The answer came without him needing to think about it.

No. Not at all.

Even if Kwak Do-san was stronger than Lukas, at most he would have been surprised, not scared.

Because, at least, they could talk.

If the opponent was an intelligent being, and as long as their ability to understand each to some extent, then there would be no reason for him to be afraid, regardless of the power he possessed.

Of course, the secrets of the Imaginary World still took him by surprise. Especially when it came to parallel worlds.

However, was that really all?

Was that really all there was to this world that even Absolutes were afraid of and where Rulers could lose their status?

“…”

He couldn’t be quick to judge.

As mentioned before, Lukas hadn’t even been there for a week yet.

However, the impression of the Imaginary World that he’d been given so far was that it was dull and achromatic.

Lukas could easily name ten universes more dangerous than this one.

“Mm…”

Seeing as the other party hadn’t spoken for a long time, Kwak Do-san probably thought that they were seriously contemplating his words. He pondered for a while before finally speaking.

“Then how about this? There are still traces of her bloodshed in our territory. You can check them for yourself, and if you think she’s really a danger, you can hand her to us.”

“Your territory?”

“Exactly. It’s not very far from here.”

The pride on the face of Kwak Do-san could not be hidden.

“Flower Mountain.”