Chapter 191
Abyss.
The deepest part of the Abyss, the very bottom.
A land of witches that no demon could easily approach.
The Abyss was always dark.
Not a single ray of light penetrated it, and there was no change of seasons.
A cursed Dark Wasteland where even ordinary creatures couldn’t survive.
Because every curse of the Abyss ultimately flowed down into this place.
Only witches could endure those hideous, grotesque curses.
If a non-witch lived here, they would first suffer physical transformation and mental confusion under countless curses.
Then they would lose their sight—then even their senses—until they died, suffering in the darkness.
The Abyss was that kind of place.
A lump of curses that all the demons of the Abyss shunned.
However—
“There’s light in the Abyss…?”
“What is that?”
“Stars… It’s stars.”
The witches looked up.
The sky of the Abyss opened, and pure white stars began to pour down.
But ordinary stars could not exist here.
The darkness of the Abyss swallowed all stars.
For the witches, it was the first time they had ever seen stars in the Abyss’s sky. All they could do was stare, stunned.
“…Magic.”
The Black Witch said.
Her gaze, too, was fixed on the sky.
Those shooting stars weren’t real.
It was powerful magic.
It was Transcendent Magic—so overwhelming it could scatter across the Abyss.
Only Dragon God Sephiro, or a very small number of Transcenders, could do such a thing.
But what kind of magic was it?
‘It’s magic that erases the roots of the curse.’
Its effect didn’t reach the Abyss itself—only the visible phenomenon remained.
Even that alone showed how absurd the magic was.
Judging by what she could tell, it was magic with extreme compatibility for witches.
But it couldn’t be just that.
Because the roots of the curse spread throughout the Abyss.
To erase those roots was, in other words—
‘Magic to become the master of the Abyss.’
It was synonymous with becoming the master of curses, the master of the Abyss.
…Who created something this insane?
I felt like I already knew.
It had to be the magic from the ancient book the Black Witch had entrusted to Ahetta—an ancient book that should have been in Ahetta’s Secret Laboratory.
“…The master of the ancient book, a Transcender of mana, has appeared.”
The ancient book was complete.
And the sealed Transcender had appeared.
The fact that the laboratory had become a Transcendent Abyss was proof.
Yet both Ahetta and the Black Witch had failed to complete the ancient book.
Which meant someone had achieved what even they couldn’t.
How?
The Mana Interference phenomenon around the ancient book was madness—mana boiling, burning everything.
Even if you managed to get close after countless twists and turns, completing the ancient book was still out of reach.
Unless your understanding of magic had reached its ultimate state…
‘Only Ahetta and I know there is a laboratory in the Eternal Land.’
I shook my head.
Thinking about it, there might have been two more.
‘Demon God Gremory. And the Archmage.’
The two who had decisively contributed to Ahetta’s bankruptcy.
It was possible the location of the Secret Laboratory had been given to them as compensation.
But Demon God Gremory wouldn’t be interested in Ahetta’s belongings.
‘…Archmage. That guy reached the laboratory before the witches.’
Everything clicked into place.
What if the Archmage bankrupted Ahetta, made him disappear, learned the location of the laboratory, and arrived first?
He would have taken away Ahetta’s authority as an administrator.
Crossing the entrance wouldn’t have been difficult.
The problem was what came after.
900 Golems.
The Golems that should have been broken by Mana Interference were operating normally.
It made no sense that they could ignore the ancient book’s influence just because they had self-awareness.
In other words—
‘He became the master of all the Golems using powerful blood. Blood with a dignity high enough to ignore the ancient book’s influence.’
I tried to remember.
The last scene shown by the witches’ orb.
The Golems fighting the witches, their bodies carved with countless bloodstains.
It must have been a boundary painted onto their cores—meant to escape the ancient book’s Mana Interference.
Once the blood covered the Mana Core, the Golems recognized him as their master.
Not only that—it made them ignore the ancient book’s influence.
All of that with blood alone.
‘…Blood is essence.’
The power of life itself, flowing from the heart.
Only beings equal to or greater than Transcenders could do that.
There wouldn’t be many, even across the entire Abyss.
“Archmage…”
In an instant, one name flashed through my mind.
The Black Witch’s expression hardened.
Both eyes were unmistakably filled with embarrassment.
“You…”
…There was only one being that fit every piece of this.
A name that should never be spoken.
The one who ruled all demons with terror.
The Black Witch barely managed to utter it.
“Sephiro…?”
—
As the witches lost their power, hundreds of Golems swiftly surrounded them.
It would have been easy to kill them as they were, but there was a reason the Golems didn’t attack recklessly.
-Dragon race?
-It’s dragon mana.
-Mana is moving again.
A man stood behind the witches, hands clasped behind his back.
Because the black dragon Ataraxia could wield his power again.
Because the Mana Interference phenomenon vanished when the ancient book disappeared.
At the same time, the confrontation continued, driven by the vast mana pouring from Ataraxia’s body.
Then—
“Kuhahahaha!”
Ataraxia burst into mad laughter.
Kuuuung-
Kuuuuung!
The dragon’s savage laughter shook the space.
He wasn’t an ordinary dragon, but an Ancient Dragon.
A leader of the clan.
“…Ataraxia. Don’t just laugh—help us escape.”
“If you do, we won’t forget your grace.”
“We will speak well of you to the Black Witch.”
The three witches pleaded desperately.
They had lost their power to the unknown light.
Both curses and epithets had vanished.
But with Ataraxia’s power, they could still escape.
Ataraxia glanced at the three witches.
Then he turned his head away.
Their request didn’t interest him in the slightest.
Instead, he looked toward the center of the laboratory, dropped to one knee, and spoke.
“Great Sephiro!!”
This supreme phenomenon—
It had been obvious from the start that it wasn’t ordinary magic.
It was clear that Dragon God Sephiro had taken what the Black Witch cherished most.
He had been recognized by the Transcender and had used the Transcender’s magic.
Ah, ah.
What a great being.
He always did things beyond expectation.
Even though he didn’t care at all about being recognized by a Transcender, and even though he had already placed his name at the top of the Hall of Fame, and all Transcenders already knew the name Sephiro—
…The Transcender had offered magic.
Which meant the Transcender had given everything to Sephiro.
Because there was only one Magic of the Transcendent.
Because each had only one magic… their Authority.
“Master of all dragons!”
In the end, the only being who would become the master of the Abyss was his master, Sephiro.
At the same time, horror spread across the three witches’ faces.
“Se… What?”
“Sephiro…?”
“Th, that can’t be…!”
The place where Ataraxia’s gaze was fixed—
It meant someone inside was Sephiro.
The same went for the master of the Golems.
The witches’ faces turned pale.
“Ataraxia! Was this your plan from the beginning?”
“You betrayed us!”
“How much the Black Witch cherished you…!”
The situation turned urgent.
Ataraxia showed no sign of helping them.
Instead, he smirked.
“All my actions and all my will are only for Sephiro. Betrayal? The Black Witch’s favor? Those things never had meaning to me in the first place.”
He didn’t care.
He only pitied the witches, shouting about things that meant nothing.
Ataraxia stepped back.
“Golems. I don’t care, but these witches are materials that will be helpful to our master. He occasionally dissects witches alive.”
-You seem to be the master’s henchman.
-Understood!
-We will capture them alive.
Despair filled the powerless witches’ eyes.
Because they realized resistance was meaningless.
And dissection—
Didn’t that mean stirring their bodies apart while they were still alive?
“…….”
Behind them—
Vrrr!
Dagon trembled all over, jaws clenched tight as he stared at Ataraxia and the witches.
—
At that moment, the Transcenders spoke.
―It is the magic of Transcender Lil.
―Could it be that she has completed it?
―It is not yet complete.
―Did she break the seal?
―How dare she…
―Traitor.
Their reactions were all the same.
They were hostile toward Transcender Lil.
But their anger soon subsided.
―It is just a futile dream anyway.
―It cannot be achieved.
―That magic is something that even Lil could not contain in her body.
―She was too greedy in completing the magic.
―I can feel it.
―She will soon disappear.
The magic covering the entire Abyss was impressive, but no one in the Abyss could fully contain it.
Lil had sacrificed herself to complete it.
They could feel her existence steadily weakening.
She would disappear soon.
And her threatening magic would vanish with her.
The Transcenders stopped caring.
As always.
They were interested only in themselves, and in completing their own magic.
—
Transcender Lil closed her eyes.
Her magic manifested from Park Chan-woo’s hand.
Of course, the power she had sealed within the ancient book was also being used.
Lil slowly opened her eyes.
―You are the master of magic.
She knew it was Park Chan-woo, not her, who was the master of magic.
She created the magic, yet she couldn’t fully handle it.
Now she was seeing that possibility with her own eyes.
―But you still do not properly understand the essence of magic. In the remaining time, would you like to learn magic from me?
It was the first time.
The first time she had thought of teaching someone magic.
She was a Transcender called the master of mana.
Among all Transcenders, she was the best at handling mana.
And when it came to magic, there was no one to compare—
Except for one person: Sephiro.
Dragon God Sephiro and Lil were rivals in magic.
Park Chan-woo smirked after hearing her words.
“Should I take you as my teacher?”