The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR) Vol 1 Chapter 82

“Shit. This is why I told you to let me kill him!”

Ivan was clearly annoyed, but Frey ignored him as he observed the undead surrounding them.

His eyes then landed on Syax.

It seemed that she had finally grasped how horrible the current situation was.

Frey approached her while speaking.

“Leave this to us. You need to go explain this situation to the Queen.”

“Huh? Explain this situation…”

How was she supposed to explain something like this?

Syax's face suddenly darkened because she knew that she was the only one who could complete this task. Outsiders like Frey and Ivan would never be trusted enough.

Syax bit her lip before saying,

“I'll be back soon. I'll be sure to bring reinforcements, so please hold on until then.”

Syax left immediately.

Frey looked at the undead again.

They were stronger than the ones they'd encountered outside of the forest, but they weren't much of a threat.

“Stop hesitating so much! They're just a bunch of weak bastards!”

Ivan roared and swung his fist in all directions.

Knife Fist.

He unleashed the ranged attack that turned the undead into powder, but the effect he saw was not what he'd expected.

Ivan's expression froze a bit.

'These guys are tougher.'

If the undead that they'd met outside the Great Forest were sand, then the ones in front of them now were rocks.

Far from turning them into powder, his attacks hadn't even been able to destroy any of them completely.

When some of them tried to put themselves back together, Ivan roared with anger.

“Eat this, you boney bastards!”

Fwoosh.

Red air came out of Ivan's body, pushing back the skeletons that were trying to pick up their pieces.

Psss.

This time, the effect was much more obvious as numerous skeletons exploded into powder.

“Frost Scream.”

Bright light emerged from the tip of the Great Sage's staff as Frey unleashed one of the spells he'd stored.

A large piece of ice smashed many of the surrounding skeletons. However, Frey never took his eyes off of Oydin.

He was looking at him because he wondered when Oydin would be finished, but Oydin, who felt that he was checking because he was anxious, let out a loud laugh.

“It's too late!”

Woowoong.

He spat out a mouthful of blood onto the shining summoning circle.

The blood soaked into the ground, causing it to clump together and form various shapes. They were the lost souls of hell shedding bloody tears.

These souls simultaneously released a terrible scream.

Ahhhhh-

And Frey couldn't help but think that they were fortunate Syax had already left.

This was because anyone without a sufficiently strong will would go crazy simply from hearing that horrific scream.

Wooooh.

An ominous wind seemed to blow through the trees, causing the screams of the lost souls to stop.

A Demon slowly rose up from the summoning circle on the ground.

The first thing that appeared were two heads. Then, forearms thicker than trees began appearing one after the other.

The Demon had six such arms, each holding a different weapon.

Asura.

It was a moment when one of the six Archdukes of the Demon World once again appeared on the continent.

He was so large that one would feel suffocated just from looking at him.

Pak.

Ivan, who had just smashed a skeleton's head, spat on the ground before saying.

“This guy is way stronger than the high-ranking Demons I encountered before. Is he one of the Archdukes?”

“That's right. Although I wasn't able to summon him in perfect condition.”

Although Oydin said this, satisfaction was evident on his face.

It had only been three years since he'd learned of the summoning method, but being able to summon an Archduke was clear evidence of his talent.

His smile became even more relaxed.

“This is Asura…even though the summoning was not perfect, he is still strong enough to easily get rid of you two. What do you think? Don't you think he's a suitable replacement for the Wind Spirit King?”

Frey and Ivan didn't answer.

They must've been terrified.

Oydin let out another laugh as he spread his arms.

“Now…! Asura! Kill them!”

[…]

Asura didn't move immediately and instead inspected his surroundings.

He looked at the surrounding forest, the stream and Hruhiral that stretched high into the sky.

There was a bit of discomfort in his gaze.

[…is this the land of the Elves? To summon me to a place like this. You must be out of your mind.]

“Wh-, what did you say?”

[Your words are short. Be more polite, little Elf.]

“…huk!”

As he said this, Asura turned his eyes to glance at Oydin.

Oydin, who was just about to speak, felt an incredible pressure in his heart and was forced to take a few steps back.

[If it wasn't for your talent, I'd never have signed a contract with a youngling like you.]

Even though his words were insulting, Oydin didn't dare to refute them.

His back was wet with sweat.

[But it's been a while since I had a vacation, so it feels pretty good. It would have been better if it wasn't the land of the Elves though.]

He felt his appetite stirring.

Asura's different faces each turned to face Frey and Ivan respectively.

The moment he met his gaze, Ivan felt his heart flutter subconsciously, and immediately, his pride flared up.

'What are you afraid of, Ivan?!'

Frey was even more shocked by the familiar gaze.

[Anyway, a contract is a contract. Should I kill these two humans?]

“R-, right.”

Oydin responded with a pale face.

Frey approached Asura.

Then he looked up at its faces before saying,

“The Archduke of Demons and the ruler of the Slaughter Hell, Asura.”

[That's right, human Wizard. Do you intend to beg for your life?]

“Not exactly.”

[Hmm.]

Asura observed Frey closely.

Then, both of his heads tilted at the same time.

'That look in his eyes…I think I've seen it before.'

He couldn't remember it very well.

It was strange.

He would never forget such a unique human, and he didn't think he'd met the one in front of him before.

It couldn't be possible either.

The humans that he'd known before should've been nothing more than cold corpses by now.

Because they were only mortal.

“I want to ask you something.”

[Do you think I will give you an answer?]

[You should, Asura. Because you owe me.]

[…?]

Conductive Sound.

No. Was it Telepathy?

Using Telepathy on a Demon.

This was the first time…no.

This was not the first time.

There had been a guy who did the same thing a long time ago.

Asura frowned at the memories that he could not recall completely.

[Pardon my manners, Asura.]

[What?]

It was at that moment.

The landscape around Asura suddenly changed. It transformed from the lush forest to a desolate hell filled with endless screaming.

It was the Slaughter Hell, his own territory…

Asura realised that this was his Soul Space. And the man was still standing calmly in front of him.

His appearance was different from before, but Asura paid no attention to that.

[You're a pretty ridiculous guy. Do you understand what you've just done?]

Asura's body grew to dozens of times larger than he had been before. Almost as if he was trying to pierce the sky with his size.

The fierce aura that exuded from his body also became many times stronger.

This was natural.

The body that had been summoned in the Great Forest could only use a portion of his true power.

However, this was his true form.

The true essence of the Demon known as Asura, the true monarch of the Slaughter Hell in the Demon World.

“This is your Soul Space. With your power, it would not be difficult to erase my existence.”

It was exactly as Frey said.

He was currently in his soul form, which meant that Asura could snuff out his existence without much effort.

In a sense, he had placed his bare neck against the tiger's fangs.

No, it was much more dangerous than that.

[Why did you come here?]

“I wanted to talk quietly with you.”

[Just because of that?]

Asura let out a laugh.

[I'll admit, you are a very interesting human. However, that's all that you are. I have lied for thousands of years. Do you think I've never met anyone who also pretended to be as bold as you?]

Asura lifted one of his weapons.

It was a hammer.

When Asura had grown to the size of a mountain, his weapons had grown with him.

The hammer in his hand was a mountain in its own right.

[Begone, mortal. I have nothing more to say to you.]

Then the hammer fell slowly, creating tremendous wind pressure.

The screams of the souls in the surroundings became even louder, as though they were screaming for him to kill Frey.

It was safe to say that if the hammer hit his soul, Frey would cease to exist.

However, Frey still remained calm.

“I came here to receive the debt from a bet, Asura.”

[…]

The hammer stopped.

[Debt from a bet?]

“I made a bet with you, and won. You promised me three favors to use at any time.”

[…]

Asura had a strange expression on his face.

[Was it a contract?]

“It was.”

[There's only one person that I ever made such a contract with.]

It was about 4,000 years ago.

At that time, Asura hadn't yet become an Archduke, but he had power that was close to one. At least, he had the strength to defeat the Archduke who ruled over the Slaughter Hell at that time.

However, the Archduke of the Slaughter hell was not such a simple figure.

Therefore, Asura increased his power by signing contracts with mortals in the Middle Earth. (TL: the author used the exact same 'Middle Earth' as in LoTR, so expect to meet Frodo soon ㅋㅋㅋ)

Then he met a human.

A Wizard who was a friend of his contractor at that time, Iris.

He remembered him clearly because he was the one human who had the highest chance of crossing the transcendent boundary.

Lukas Trowman.

[Tell me what bet we made.]

Frey looked around.

“Is this scene the Slaughter Hell?”

[That's right.]

Frey, who was silent for a moment, finally spoke.

“…I made it possible for you to view this landscape from the highest point.”

[…]

Asura's eyes suddenly glowed a bloody red.

Frey realised that he was using one of the powers Archdukes gained upon reaching their level.

The Essence of Man, the ability to view the soul.

Asura looked at Frey for a long time before bursting into maniacal laughter.

[Hahahaha! Hahahah!]

His mad laughter shook the Soul Space violently.

Even Frey had no choice but to cover his ears because of how loud the laugh was.

The lost souls also began screaming as though they were sharing their master's joy.

[It's really you. Kukuku! How interesting. I heard you died during a fight against Lord. Did you come back?]

“That's what happened.”

[But…you're ridiculously weak now.]

“That's none of your business. More importantly, are you more willing to answer my questions now?”

[Of course. You deserve at least that much.]

The stronger the Demon, the more important the agreements, contracts or promised, and the weaker the Demon, the less likely they were to keep their promises.

There were even cases of them eating their contractors.

Asura had never been like that. This was one of the reasons that he was able to sit on the seat of Archduke.

For Demons, the only way for them to truly elevate themselves was by signing contracts.

Of course, they could still become stronger if they broke the contract or ate their contractor. It was not that hard.

This was why a majority of Demons could not resist the temptation and chose the easy way to become stronger.

“Iris Phisfounder. I was told that she is still alive. Is that true?”

[That's right.]

“…”

Frey wasn't sure how to feel.

Hruhiral and Asura. Two transcendent beings had confirmed her survival.

Iris Phisfounder was truly alive, just like he was, somewhere on the continent.

“I want to hear everything you know about Iris.”

[That's not difficult. But I find this really interesting.]

“Interesting?”

[Kuku…]

[At the moment, I am no longer contracted to Iris.]

“Did you end the contract?”

[No. She was the one who ended it.”]

“Why?”

[I guess she no longer had a need for my strength.]

He didn't understand.

Only

Frey narrowed his eyes.

“…you're saying that she wouldn't need the power of the Ruler of the Slaughter Hell and one of the Six Archdukes of the Demon World?”

[The power I can exert on the continent is limited anyway.]

When he heard the words that Asura said next, Frey felt his heart become heavy as though it was filled with lead.

[She must consider herself to be out of my league after spending thousands of years with the Demigods.]

(TL: I love the conjectures you guys make in the comments and on discord. It really makes me happy to see people so invested in the novel, and I love it even more when their assumptions are proven…of course, I also like when your expectations are completely and utterly destroyed just as much.

Fingers crossed ^-^ )

Chapter end