The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

“I think it would be better if you didn’t use a sword.”

Although it was said in a soft voice, the firm undertone could not be missed.

Lukas panted for a while, unable to answer. After a long time of trying to catch his breath, he finally opened his mouth.

“…really?”

“Of course, if you’re just doing this for physical training then there’s no need to stop…”

Instead, he would recommend that he did even more. After all, one of the shortcomings of being a Wizard like Lukas was lack of physical fitness.

“If that’s all I was doing it for…”

“Didn’t you already go to Kasajin before coming to me? I heard that you even learned the Warrior King Fist.”

Lukas had nothing to hide, so he nodded.

“To be honest, when it comes to training your body, the Warrior King Fist is much more effective than my Dridment.”

“I don’t want to be a musclebound pig like Kasajin.”

“Ah. So your goal is to get little muscles?”

They both looked at each other for a moment before laughing.

It was Lucid who dropped his smile first.

“…but before that, I heard that you also went to Iris and Schweiser to learn magic engineering, black magic, and Demon contracts.”

“That’s right.”

“Is it that you’re tired of magic?”

Lukas couldn’t help but let out a soft snort at that.

“No way.”

“Then…”

“I just need a change.”

He hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“Recently it feels like I’ve reached a wall. And since it’s my first time encountering such a feeling, I’m not sure what to do.”

“…”

Lucid narrowed his eyes.

When it came to magic, the talent of the blonde haired young man standing in front of him was historically unprecedented.

Of course, Lucid and the others also had the talent and tenacity to keep up with him in their own fields, but that wasn’t important right now.

“And the other reason?”

“To find any clues. After all, you already have the end of Swordsmanship in your sights, so I thought if I looked at your sword technique it might be able to help me somehow.”

“There is no end in Swordsmanship. I’m just fully aware of the path I intend to walk.”

“That in itself is already amazing.”

Lukas spoke in a serious tone before smiling bitterly.

“Still, the Warrior King Fist would definitely have some impact on my body, but if I picked up the sword instead, there wouldn’t be much change from the way I am now.”

“Swordsmanship and Martial Arts are completely different. I’d be sorely disappointed if you thought the only difference was the addition of a sword.”

Lukas couldn’t help but smile sheepishly when he saw Lucid’s offended expression.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to belittle you.”

“Of course, I know that.”

Lucid chuckled.

“Don’t be in such a rush. I don’t think you need any hints from the sword. If it’s you, I’m sure you’ll reach 9 stars someday.”

“…”

At first glance, it might seem like he was just comforting him, but Lukas knew this man named Lucid well.

Therefore it was easy for him to understand the exact meaning contained in that soft voice.

“Do you mean that?”

“…”

Lucid didn’t answer, instead, he just turned to look at a distant mountain.

Lukas smiled bitterly once again before looking down at the sword in his hand.

In any case, he felt that he wouldn’t use a sword again in the future.

* * *

Swoosh-

He could feel the daggers ripping through the night air.

Gripping the sword tightly in his palm, Lukas swung it forward.

Clang!

And once again, he hit a dagger.

His wrist tingled.

…I see.’

Instead of focusing his strength on his grip, it was also necessary to add enough strength to his wrists, hips, and back.

As it was, if the force of the dagger had been a bit stronger, his wrist bone would have already been sticking out.

‘I can see the movements.’

Although Lukas had lost all of his powers, he was still alive and he could still rely on his trained eyesight and experience.

Budilem had great confidence in his own attack method. In particular, if it was someone he’d never fought before, he could still utilise his experience to figure out the things they could not respond to.

This was indeed the case now as well.

‘It takes at least 10 years.’

He hid daggers in the darkness, in the wind, and in the terrain. He also used intentional gestures and a loud voice to mask their movement.

It would take a talented person about 10 years focusing on one field in order to reach the same level.

Nevertheless, Lukas didn’t think too much about it.

He realised that there were at least 40 knives hidden in Budlem’s pockets and at least ten different types. The bag tied to his waste also seemed to be filled with some kind of poison

Clang! Clang!

He hit the daggers away once again. This time, three daggers were thrown, two were hit away, and the other was dodged by a narrow margin.

Lukas tried to calculate whether his opponent would run out of daggers first, or if his wrist would break first.

‘I’m in more danger.’

His body was weak and his joints were weaker. He would have to retrain his body from scratch.

“…”

Budilem no longer had a relaxed expression on his face.

He’d already accepted that this man in front of him was not an easy opponent. At first, he thought everything would be fine as long as they avoided Peran Jun, but he didn’t expect such a difficult enemy to be hiding still.

‘His eyes are amazing.’

This man didn’t seem to have any special powers and also no ability. He could confirm at least that much.

Nevertheless, he effortlessly responded to his attacks as if he could read all of his intentions.

No, it wasn’t just his eyes.

Generally speaking, it should have been impossible for him to hit the daggers away with his weak body. In other words, this man was an expert at using his body and balancing his usage of power.

‘A retired Knight… or a mercenary?’

He looked too young for that. It usually took several decades to build up that kind of discipline.

…But now wasn’t the time to have such messy thoughts.

‘’If I keep delaying here, this job might become annoying.’

He knew that Peran was already gone, but it wouldn’t be strange for him to come back now that the commotion was becoming so big. He may have just temporarily left to do something. And Budilem knew just how annoying fighting a versatile and troublesome Wizard was.

That’s why Budilem set the maximum time for this attack at 30 minutes. About 20 minutes had passed since their attack began, so 10 minutes would be quite tight considering that they had to steal all of the cargo and clean up their traces.

The opponent’s weakness was obvious.

His mobility was particularly low. He also noticed that he seemed to have a crippled leg.

Unfortunately for him, his main specialty was hunting down prey like this whose movements were impaired.

If he had an extra 10 minutes, or even 5 minutes, he could have shown this annoying guy what hell was like.

But it was Budilem who was currently pressed for time.

“It’s time to stop messing around.”

Suppressing his anxiousness, Budilem pulled out more daggers with his fingers this time before throwing them. Unlike before, he threw eight at the same time.

This was no longer an attempted sneak attack, but an all out kill strike.

The force and speed of each dagger was noticeably less than the ones before, but that shortcoming was offset by the number of them.

Or at least that would have been the case if his opponent wasn’t Lukas. Instead, Lukas, who had been waiting for an opportunity to counterattack, saw this as an opportunity.

He took a big step forward.

Thud!

Then, with a slight twist of his wrist, he struck three of the daggers with the flat side of his sword at the same time.

Crack!

He blocked the attack. But because he swung his sword too harshly, the blade couldn’t withstand the force of the impact and broke. The pain he felt in his wrist was also much greater.

Nevertheless, Lukas didn’t throw away the broken sword.

Puk puk.

One dagger stabbed him in the left shoulder and the other in the abdomen.

Of the eight daggers, he’d avoided three, blocked three, and was hit by two.

Lukas ignored the burning pain.

Instead, he gripped the broken sword in his hand, flipped it over, and stabbed it behind him.

“Kuk.”

The sound of someone coughing up blood came from behind him.