Chapter 407
Thus, the world of black frozen ice manifested.
A magic of negation, realized by balancing two opposing forces.
Its nature and power changed into something foreign, mingled with black.
It could no longer be called Zervand’s magic. Wirad swung his staff. He placed a white point in front of himself and created hundreds of black points.
“Let’s check the power first.”
Thousands of black lines poured out from the hundreds of black points. It was as if every attack so far had just been a joke, the number filling the entire space.
The black lines collided with the world of black ice.
Crackle crackle crackle!
The frozen world struck by the black lines did not retreat.
Exuding an unholy black chill, it advanced. Breaking through the black lines, it pressed toward Wirad.
Crackle!
However, as the black lines poured down endlessly, its momentum gradually waned. In the end, unable to withstand the force, the ice exploded.
Boom!
Fragments of black ice and black lines scattered across the world.
Wirad let out a hollow laugh.
“What monstrous power.”
Hundreds of black points were neutralized by a single world of ice. He had expected it to be stronger, but it was beyond his imagination.
Wirad once again created hundreds of black points.
Taesan activated the frozen world to counter.
Crackle crackle crackle!
The result was the same as before. Wirad calmly observed the clash of forces.
‘Is it an absolute advantage in attribute?’
The power of the frozen world itself hadn’t changed much.
But [black] was the power of the Old gods, existing beyond the law.
It had the property of polluting order and law.
Such a power mingled with Zervand’s magic.
As a result, their properties blended and a new force was born.
It was an absolute advantage in terms of attribute.
That was why it shattered the overwhelmingly powerful black lines and neutralized them.
The basis of his magic was pure mana condensation. There was no attribute that gave it an advantage. Even so, being pushed by attribute meant that black magic held an advantage over most powers in the world.
‘How did he make something like that?’
To blend [black] and magic, the powers of Old gods and gods, and fuse their properties together—he couldn’t even imagine it.
Taesan raised his arm. [Black] and mana opposed each other and formed a balance.
[You have activated Starlight Arrow [Negation].]
The starlight arrow materialized.
It was not the brilliant light as before, but a pitch-black arrow of darkness.
The arrow shot toward Wirad. Wirad welcomed it with a wild laugh.
“Very good!”
He shouted, shaking his beard.
“It’s the perfect force to test my authority! Come!”
Ziiiiing!
The white point collided with the pitch-black arrow.
Hundreds of black points were neutralized by the frozen world.
Of course, it was impossible to block the starlight arrow with just a single point.
But the white point was not pushed back.
Without the slightest tremor, it blocked the starlight arrow.
Taesan frowned at the white point.
He had felt it from the start, but that white point was strange.
Rather than overwhelming force, it felt more like something close to law itself.
Clang!
Unable to pierce the white point, the starlight arrow lost its power and disappeared.
Wirad swung his staff. Hundreds of black lines poured down at once.
Taesan dodged, using the frozen world.
After neutralizing the black lines, Taesan once again attacked Wirad with the frozen world.
Clack clack clack!
But the chill was blocked by a single white point and couldn’t reach Wirad.
Taesan, focusing on the white point, realized something.
‘Is it existing in a different dimension from this place?’
Wirad’s magic defined dimension through points, lines, and planes.
And when he summoned the white point, he had activated the authority of dimensional separation.
It seemed that he had created a point in a separate dimension by splitting dimensions.
Although he was wielding [black], its nature was mingled with magic and thus did not possess the same pure force as [black] alone. That’s why it couldn’t pierce the white point, which was close to law.
‘It was too simple.’
Wirad’s magic was certainly powerful, but there was nothing beyond that. For the authority of an immortal, it was all too ordinary.
This was Wirad’s true authority as an immortal.
Taesan calmly organized his thoughts.
The point certainly boasted absolute defense, but the area it could influence was very small. And seeing it disappear before long, its duration didn’t seem long either.
Then, this time, he would attack with a magic that lasted longer.
[You have activated Undying Firebird [Negation].]
The firebird arose. It was not blazing with flames, but scattered thick blackness, polluting everything.
Negation’s power kept scattering and pressing down on Wirad. As Taesan expected, Wirad could not freely use the white point, so he used black points to attack the firebird.
Rumble!
Defending against Taesan’s attack, Wirad swung his staff.
Several white points appeared around Taesan.
Taesan instinctively activated the three shields of the Guardian. The black-stained shields protected his body.
At the same time, the white points were linked by lines.
Taesan, standing between the points, was directly exposed to the line attack.
Clack clack clack clack!
The black shields shattered instantly. Taesan twisted his body to evade.
Wirad let out an exclamation.
“You managed to block it for a moment. That’s certainly interesting.”
Taesan, having narrowly dodged, frowned.
The black lines were fast, but not so fast as to be unavoidable.
But the lines created by connecting the white points were impossible to dodge.
It wasn’t just fast.
The points were connected with lines with no delay whatsoever.
Wirad unleashed his power again.
White points disappeared and reappeared around Taesan. Taesan instinctively twisted his body, escaping the trajectory between the points.
Zing—
Then, the points connected with lines.
With this attack, Taesan was certain.
‘The line connecting points.’
After creating a dimension he could control perfectly, Wirad was linking the white points together. Since it was a dimension entirely under Wirad’s control, there was no delay at all, making it impossible to see and dodge.
‘Powerful.’
Using separate dimensions, as if manipulating laws and rules themselves.
But it wasn’t impossible to win.
Dodging the swinging lines, Taesan’s mind raced.
‘There’s a clear limit.’
Neither the King of Machinery nor the Ruin’s authority, which Taesan had faced before, had shown this level of power. It was powerful, but it was still within the confines of law. Unlike Wirad, they didn’t manipulate the laws themselves.
Wirad was clearly handling a power beyond his own limits.
Whenever he created a white point, the power felt from Wirad visibly decreased.
Dimensional separation was an authority that surpassed Wirad’s power.
‘I don’t know how he’s handling such a force.’
But there was definitely a risk. So, that’s what he would target.
Making up his mind, Taesan activated his power.
He summoned the pitch-black phoenix, used Random Blink to switch attack directions, and once again activated Starlight Arrow.
Pitch-black magic rained down relentlessly.
And as time went on, Taesan’s burden grew.
By forcibly raising his mana control through partial world alteration, he managed to use negation magic.
But every time he cast a spell, it consumed a considerable amount of mental energy. He couldn’t even use supporting skills like magic stacking.
And then the [black] began to run wild, as if refusing to obey any longer.
“Stay still.”
Taesan used a word of command to forcefully suppress the rampaging [black].
[You have activated Earthquake [Negation].]
The ground surged. This was a space directly created by Zervand. It would not be destroyed, but the rippling waves washed over Wirad.
Wirad crushed the ground waves with a black plane.
Meanwhile, Taesan concealed himself in darkness.
[You have activated Invisibility [Negation].]
Taesan’s body was hidden in darkness. Even Wirad lost track of Taesan’s position for a moment.
Wirad quickly created hundreds of black points, scattering them in all directions. The points swallowed space itself, trying to locate Taesan.
At that moment, Taesan cast a shield spell, shattered the black lines, and charged forward.
Having located Taesan, Wirad immediately manipulated the white points to create a line.
Clack!
The shield around Taesan was shattered in an instant.
Taesan tried to twist his body and dodge, but couldn’t completely avoid it. Long, deep slashes appeared all over his body in an instant.
But Taesan endured.
He expanded his awareness and used sharp senses to evade the delayless line attacks.
And the moment he approached Wirad, he unleashed the power he had been concentrating.
The power, mixed with [black] to the limit, condensed to the brink of losing balance, was manifested in the world.
[You have activated Frozen World [Negation].]
[You have activated Starlight Arrow [Negation].]
Trickles of black energy spread across the world. The magic raged violently, targeting Wirad.
Wirad summoned a white point to shield himself.
Boom!
The white point shook violently as it collided with power.
Wirad’s expression stiffened.
The white point was shaking. The negation magic, maintaining balance with [black], certainly possessed the power to shake laws themselves.
“No chance!”
Ziiiiing!
The trembling white points connected with each other.
The resulting lines expanded and formed a white plane.
Negation magic, raging violently, was swallowed up by the white plane.
As if devoured by a separate dimension, the negation magics disappeared without any resistance.
“Ha, hahaha!”
Wirad laughed manically, his face pale.
The white plane, created by mobilizing all the power of the dimension he controlled, devoured the law-shaking negation magic without leaving a speck behind.
It was the first time he had manipulated the power of dimension on a plane level. A sense of fulfillment, as if he had reached a higher realm, filled his entire body.
And at that moment, Taesan stood before Wirad.
Wirad’s pupils widened.
As Wirad quickly tried to manipulate lines to block Taesan, Taesan’s hand moved.
[You have activated Forced Expulsion.]
Boom!
A powerful, intangible force engulfed Wirad. Wirad tried to endure by gathering all his mana, but his body was pushed back.
“Not yet!”
“No. It’s over.”
Wirad raised his staff, but Taesan lowered his hand.
“What do you mean, it’s over…?”
Not understanding Taesan’s words, Wirad tried to continue using magic, but hesitated.
Only then did he realize he had been pushed outside the circle.
“…Ha.”
Only then did he recall the conditions of the trial.
Taesan’s goal was not to defeat him, but to push him out of the circle.
He had been so focused on the battle that he had forgotten.
“…Unbelievable.”
Wirad gave a wry smile. Against Taesan, who was limited to using only magic, he not only fought with all his might, but even forgot his original objective.
In contrast, Taesan never forgot what he needed to do and calmly devised a strategy to push Wirad out.
It was a perfect defeat with no excuse.
“You win.”
With those calm words, a system window appeared.
[You have passed Zervand’s Trial. You will be rewarded according to Zervand’s evaluation.]
[Zervand’s area of influence has decreased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You have acquired intermediate magic [Mana Storm].]
[You have acquired intermediate magic [Brilliant Blue Barrier].]
[You have acquired special passive skill [Path of Magic].]
[You have acquired Blue Mana Earring.]
[You have acquired advanced magic [Great Collapse].]