Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1744 One Last Pill (Part 1)

Chapter 1744  One Last Pill (Part 1)

Due to the specific way the item had been deployed, it became terrifyingly clear that Idore knew exactly where Raze was going to be. It wasn’t a matter of chance or prediction; it was a calculated certainty. It seemed that from the very beginning, Idore had orchestrated the entire scenario so that Raze would be ambushed, cornered, and attacked from all sides the moment he arrived.

If it hadn’t been pre-planned with such meticulous detail, the enemy mages would have never been ready in time. They wouldn’t have had their large, complex spells charged and waiting at the tips of their fingers. More importantly, without that foreknowledge, there would have been no way for them to prepare the countless layers of magic circles that were currently humming beneath his feet. These weren’t simple traps; they were high-level formations powered by an exorbitant amount of beast crystals, pulsing with a dangerous, unstable energy.

Raze looked down, his eyes scanning the intricate patterns glowing on the floor.

‘Crap,’ Raze thought, his mind racing as he analyzed the structure of the magic. ‘The formations that have been used here… I recognize the complexity. I can break them like I did back in Pagna, but that requires calculation and precision. It will take time—time that I simply do not have. If I stop to dismantle this trap, I’ll be torn apart by the barrage of attacks before I can even scratch the surface!’

He tried to summon his strength to push through, but the pressure was immense.

‘I can’t even force my way out,’ he realized with a grimace. ‘The density is too high. It’s because of the sheer amount of magic circles that have been placed on top of each other, layered like a cage. It’s almost as if he has set up the perfect trap specifically designed to hold me.’

There was no time for further contemplation.

Surrounding him were fifteen high-level mages. These were not novices; they were elites, standing at the eight-star level, a realm of power that commanded respect. In unison, they had ignited their spells. The air crackled and hissed as fifteen different sources of destruction were released simultaneously, all converging on a single point: Raze, standing in the center.

The spells crashed into the middle of the room. Fire, lightning, wind, and force collided, causing a cataclysmic explosion. The mana in the room spiked to suffocating levels, creating an overflowing chaotic storm of magic that threatened to vaporize everything within the blast radius.

However, the room did not crumble.

Thankfully, the location itself, along with a number of structural pillars, had been heavily reinforced with defensive runes. It seemed the design ensured that the facility wouldn’t take significant damage from internal conflicts. The chaotic magic, rather than blowing the walls out, was funneled upward by the enchantments, sending the excess power venting out from the top of the chamber like a geyser.

Furthermore, part of the magic circles on the ground—the very ones trapping Raze—were also set up to protect the floor. It was an odd, almost narcissistic choice. It seemed like Idore at least cared somewhat about the sanctuary he had built; he didn’t want it to be destroyed by the fighting, even if it meant giving his enemy a sturdy floor to stand on.

As the blinding light of the explosion began to fade, the mages stood panting, their hands still smoking from the exertion.

“Did we get him?!” one of the mages shouted over the ringing in their ears.

“We had to have!” another replied confidently. “No one would have been able to break out of those magic circles in a split second. Not even Idore himself could survive a direct hit while immobilized like that!”

“And the power we just used,” a third mage added, grinning. “It was enough to break through any type of barrier. There is nothing left of him but ash.”

The mages waited for the visual confirmation of their victory. They would soon get their answer.

When the dust started to settle, and the thick smoke created from the collision of fifteen high-tier spells began to drift away, the center of the room was revealed.

The mages squinted.

There was no one standing in the center. The trap was empty.

A collective sigh of relief washed over the group. They genuinely thought they had accomplished their task, believing they had vaporized their target so completely that not even a corpse remained. They began to lower their guards, turning to congratulate one another.

That relief lasted for exactly one second.

Suddenly, a blade hissed through the air. A sword swung violently right behind one of the mages. Before the man could even register the presence behind him, his vision spun, and his head fell, rolling onto the floor with a wet thud.

Blood sprayed, shocking the others into silence.

Standing there, unscathed, was Raze.

“If it was any other time, then I would have died,” Raze claimed, his voice cold and echoing in the sudden silence. “But Idore didn’t even bother to learn what it was I could actually do before sending me here! He underestimated my nature.”

The truth was, Raze was currently unable to control his Dark Magic freely. He had indeed been trapped by the magic circles initially. Even if he could somewhat use other forms of magic or his standard Dark Magic, the defensive layers of the trap were too strong; he maybe could have destroyed one layer of magic at best before being incinerated.

But because of the unique state he was in—currently undergoing his breakthrough—there was one anomaly he could control without having to move his physical body.

That was the Black Hole Dark Orb.

It was a manifestation of his breakthrough, a condensed point of absolute void. Moving it and allowing it to pass through his own body, Raze had acted as if he were controlling it by invisible strings. He had pressed the singularity against the magic circles beneath him.

In a lot of ways, his breakthrough phenomenon acted almost exactly the same way as his God Tier Blazer.

It didn’t have the same consequences, and it wasn’t able to absorb as large a range of attacks as the item, but it was incredibly handy for concentrated magic. The downside was that this orb was the core of his cultivation breakthrough. Using it was a gamble; it was meant as a last resort because disrupting it could ruin his advancement.

If Raze had been put in this situation earlier in his journey, he doubted he would have even thought about using his breakthrough manifestation to get him out of the current bind. It was just something a person often put to the back of their mind, protecting it at all costs, until they were truly desperate and the issue of survival outweighed the risk of cultivation failure.

There were many mages in history who held onto this “last resort” for too long, terrified of ruining their breakthrough, only to get killed before they could even use it. Raze was not one of those hesitant fools.

Thankfully, the gamble paid off. The Black Hole had absorbed the energy of the magic circles instantly, destroying the trap and allowing Raze to move freely before the bombardment hit.

He moved up ahead, placing the Dark Hole by his feet. It swirled like a hungry abyss, absorbing any residual part of the attack that might have grazed him. He hadn’t been touched.

Since Idore hadn’t fought against Raze for long, and had only sent him to this place hoping to finish him off quickly, he had no idea that Raze possessed this specific capability to break free from mana-based restraints.

Raze didn’t give them time to process his survival. He sprinted forward, a blur of motion.

The other mages panicked, frantically casting their spells again. Bolts of lightning and streams of fire went to hit him, but the Black Hole hovered behind him, absorbing the attacks from the rear like a sentient shield.

Raze closed the distance. His sword, covered in swirling Dark Magic, tore through a defensive fiery spell cast by a desperate mage. The blade didn’t stop there. It continued its arc, slicing the mage cleanly in half.

As the body fell, Raze’s eyes were already locked on the exit.

“I need to hurry!”

***