The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 335

But that scream could only scatter into emptiness.

The wail of the dead echoed from the spectral hand, spreading in all directions, and instead of fleeing, the hand seemed to ask the knight:

Where to?

That horrific, soul-tearing shriek made everyone’s legs tremble.

No one could move away from it.

Then the colossal, mountain-like hand gently descended—no, dropped—onto the ground, and from a distance, it looked just like a meteor.

As if a mountain-sized meteor had fallen.

The knights stationed beneath it finally came to their senses and desperately tried to escape.

But no matter how hard they ran, like the saying “even the Buddha’s palm can’t be escaped,” few could clear a mountain in a single bound.

KUUWAAAAAAHHHH—!!!

As the Hand of Calamity struck the earth,

The ground rippled like waves on a once-still lake, sweeping everything away with it.

KWAHHHHHHH—!!!

With a shockwave that immense, the fate of those caught beneath it was obvious.

Their bodies were crushed to pulp, painting the earth crimson.

But even those not directly beneath the hand were swept away by the upheaval of the ground, wounded by the rippling terrain.

A single spell reduced the enemy camp to ashes, neutralizing them entirely.

Watching this from atop the wall, someone swallowed hard and whispered,

“Cra... crazy.”

“...N-no way.”

“What... what the hell am I looking at?”

“Th-that’s a hand?”

Whether players or NPCs, everyone was stunned into silence, gulping in shock.

The scale was enormous.

Seong, too, had ducked back upon seeing it, and as he watched, he thought to himself:

Used too much mana.

Well, considering he poured half his mana into that, it was no surprise it had such destructive power—no less than any lord-class skill.

Honestly, he could’ve summoned the entire army of the dead from the underworld with that much mana.

In any case, Seong was now well beyond his level bracket.

Despite the immense destruction—

Seong remained nonchalant.

Pretty good.

The battlefield had become a living hell.

But in the end, it was still just a game.

And since the enemies were knights of the Rieskan Kingdom,

He didn’t care much.

In fact, he immediately pulled all the corpses into the underworld.

Twenty thousand bodies.

A bit fewer than he’d hoped, which was disappointing—

But thanks to that, a pretty decent system message appeared:

[You have acquired a massive quantity of blood.]

So maybe this would trigger the Blood Lord’s awakening?

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be the case:

[You have not yet met the required conditions.]

He had obtained a vast amount of blood,

But not enough to fulfill the awakening requirement...

It was a bit disappointing, but unavoidable.

At any rate—

The war seemed to be over, as he could see the soldiers from Badia retreating into the inner wall.

Kinda anticlimactic.

Maybe he’d overdone it a little.

Who could’ve imagined a single spell would lead to a total wipe?

Regardless, Seong shrugged and left the wall.

And thus, a massive handprint was left between the city of Badia and the Weeron Territory.

Later, the people of Badia would come to call it a "Divine Punishment."

7.

Badia had lost the war in a single strike.

But Seong didn’t care much and logged out.

It was unprecedented in history, so both Badia and Weeron were buzzing with gossip—and the internet too.

But Seong didn’t concern himself with any of that.

After exiting the capsule, Seong sat in quiet thought for a while.

He hadn’t yet received the intel from the Serul Tower about the Badia region, so that would require some preparation.

Not a big deal.

The real reason for his thinking was a message he’d received just after logging out:

[Barbaros – Just in case you forgot! Let me know anytime if there’s a skill you want!]

It was from Barbaros.

Hmm. I already got the Lord of the Dead, so is there really anything I need to ask for?

Lately, even when he leveled up, he didn’t really check for new skills.

So his curiosity for new abilities had waned.

Scratching his head awkwardly, he still decided to respond:

[Seong – Nothing comes to mind yet. I’ll message you when I think of something!]

[Barbaros – Promise!!! Don’t just say “that was fun” and leave it at that, okay!?]

The sincerity in Barbaros’s message was obvious.

Reading it, Seong chuckled, remembering Barbaros’s behavior.

Though they seemed to be the same age, Barbaros had this little brother vibe.

Smiling to himself, Seong replied and left the room.

Today had been full of events.

The thing with Helena.

Experimenting with the Lord of the Dead.

His head was spinning.

Huuuuu.

As he exhaled and shook his head, his mom Lee Na-gyeong’s earlier words came to mind—“You’re on your own for dinner tonight, it’s Sunday.”

Hmm...

He considered going out to eat.

Then quickly shook his head.

The Rapid Guild’s team dinner was tomorrow.

Scheduled for lunchtime.

No need to exhaust himself beforehand.

As expected, his sister Yu Mina logged out of her capsule earlier than usual too.

“Hmm? You’re out too, Seong?”

“Yeah. Gotta prep early for tomorrow’s dinner.”

“Oho?”

Seong scowled at her mischievous smile.

She’d been acting like this a lot lately—it was really annoying.

He looked at her, thinking what now?

“I mean~ tomorrow’s gonna be so fun.”

“Ugh. I’m not sitting anywhere near you.”

Apparently, they’d reserved an entire restaurant.

He’d make sure to avoid her section.

Coming out into the living room—

“So should we just order something for dinner?”

“Hmm. Nah, I’ll cook.”

“Oooh!? You’re using the chef ghost’s memories, right???”

With their parents out, Mina asked outright.

Seong nodded.

“Basically, yeah.”

“Great. Make whatever.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Seong answered halfheartedly and got to work.

Mina, satisfied after ordering her brother around, just stared at her phone.

Typical sibling dynamics—Seong didn’t mind and focused on cooking.

A short while later, Mina suddenly gasped and turned to him.

“What the hell?! Did you do this?!”

“What?”

Busy at the stove, Seong turned his head.

She held up her phone, showing a picture of the battlefield—between Badia and Weeron, a giant handprint burned into the plains.

Seong casually answered while continuing to stir.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“You can cause destruction on that scale??? Is that from the lord-class line?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s insane.”

Just in terms of AoE alone, it was overwhelming.

Among single-rankers, who else could match that kind of range?

From what Mina knew, maybe second place at best.

Staring at her brother, Mina murmured in awe,

“Wow, this might be how you get it.”

“...Get what?”

He was slow to respond since he was cooking—but when she mentioned the “Blood Lord” earlier, he asked again.

Mina answered,

“I mean, the Eternal World team might send you a Free Access Pass soon.”

“A free what?”

What the hell was that?

Seong tilted his head.

Mina nodded, as if she’d expected his confusion.

Most people didn’t know about it.

It rarely appeared before level 300.

“It’s something they give to out-of-spec players—like a transit pass that lets you move freely to higher-level zones. You can even go back to low-level areas.”

“Oh?”

“I got one too. After level 300 it’s basically open world anyway, but they hand them out to balance things and help advanced players move up early. I bet you’ll get yours soon.”

Seong seemed interested now.

It did sound convenient.

Hmm, wonder when they'll send it.

The sooner, the better.

He already felt like he was stuck in a suit that didn’t fit.

Anyway, after finishing the food, Seong and Yu Mina enjoyed a delicious dinner.

0.

Sunday night, Incheon International Airport.

Normally, there weren’t many arrivals from overseas at this hour.

Few tourists flew into Korea at the end of the weekend.

But for some reason, several flights landed at once and a flood of foreigners entered.

Among them, one stood out—dressed casually and confidently, he removed his sunglasses and muttered,

“Hoo... So this is Seong-nim’s homeland... even the air feels different.”

His Korean was polite, crisp, and oddly fluent.

So fluent, in fact, that it had delayed his immigration screening.

The officer couldn’t believe how well this foreigner spoke Korean.

The man smiled brightly and murmured again,

“Hehehe, I’m so looking forward to this team dinner. A chance to meet my idol...!”

Then he pulled out some autograph sheets he’d been guarding preciously and grinned suspiciously.

Nearby foreigners gave him odd glances.

How could a Brit speak Korean so well?

He was obviously white—no one doubted that.

Soon, someone from the welcoming party spotted him and sighed as they asked,

“...Excuse me, are you—”

“Oh! Yes, that’s me. I’m Reaper. I’ve come to this glorious land of Korea to become Seong-nim’s loyal servant.”

There was no mistaking it—this white man was Reaper.

Where he’d learned such fluent Korean, no one knew.

Grinning ear to ear, he spoke with passion.

The Rapid Guild staff member closed his eyes tightly.

No wonder Guild Leader Rapid—aka An Yoo-jin—was offering huge bonuses for this.

He should’ve been more suspicious and turned it down.

But the bonus was hefty.

Forcing a smile, the staffer said to Reaper,

“Wow, your Korean is amazing.”

“Ahaha! Of course. One must have this level of fluency to serve Seong-nim properly.”

“...R-right.”

The staff member didn’t feel relieved not needing to speak English.

Quite the opposite.

Honestly... I’d rather he just spoke English.

Hearing those lines in Korean...

Was torture. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Anyway—

“There’s a hotel where the Rapid Guild members are staying. I’ll take you there.”

“Oh! Wonderful. Hehehe, I must prepare thoroughly to behold Seong-nim’s visage tomorrow. Thank you.”

“...Sure.”

The staff member’s replies grew more and more half-hearted.

But Reaper didn’t notice at all.

He just kept muttering,

“Hehehe, tomorrow is the dinner...!”

Who gets this excited about a team dinner?

The real problem?

There are three more foreigners like him.

The staffer was already dreading what might happen when they all gathered.

Still—he didn’t have to attend the dinner himself.

That alone gave him comfort.

With that, he led Reaper to the hotel.

“Hehehe! I can’t wait.”