The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 524

“Has your bullshit ended?”

Swoosh.

Pale brandished her sword. A blue aura could be seen blossoming around her. It seemed she was intending to become the Blue Knight.

“You didn’t think I would really accept a proposal like that, did you? Huh? Lukas. You’re thinking too simply.”

“It seems I am. Because you’re not a simple woman.”

Nevertheless, Lukas didn’t get up and just opened his eyes.

“However, it would be a much more interesting development than just killing me in this place, wouldn’t it?”

“Hmmm. Well. I don’t think so.”

“I can only use my spatial movement magic to go to places I’ve been to before. This place is in the World of Void.”

“You’re saying something useless again.”

Pale, who looked at him reproachfully, soon frowned.

“This isn’t your first time coming to the Dump Site?”

“You brought me here.”

“So what?”

“You should know better than me, right? Why ‘that Pale’ brought me to this place.”

“…”

The swirling blue aura became slightly fainter. Pale looked at Lukas with half lidded eyes, but didn’t open her mouth.

Did she not want to say it herself?

Lukas decided to accept her complaints.

“You wanted us to share a similar original sin. You were inducing me to eat the ‘other Lukases’ here.”

“…”

“And I loyally followed your intentions. I stayed in the Dump Site for a very long time and ate ‘every failed Lukas’.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Lukas smiled faintly.

“Don’t you understand, Pale? The man in front of you is someone who is used to suffering.”

Dark figures emerged behind him.

Pale’s expression hardened instantly. That was how much deep seated resentment she could feel behind Lukas.

…The failed Lukases, these were the fragments of their emotions.

“You should know a part of my life as well. You should also know how far from smooth it was. It was especially true in this place. I have made countless difficult choices in my life, and I even accepted the pain of all of the ‘failed Lukases’ as well.”

Therefore, pain was not a strange or frightening concept for Lukas. In a fundamental sense, he somewhat agreed with the adage, ‘life is pain’.

Looking back now, Lukas’ life could be described as a series of endless pain.

“You lived a more painful life than I did. Is that what you’re trying to claim?”

Pale spoke in a mocking voice.

“Let’s compare.”

“What?”

“You always said. The pain you experienced was uniquely awful, and what others experienced was nothing. You’re free to think that, but whether that is actually the case is another matter. You have never felt any pain other than hunger.”

At some point, Pale’s sword pointed towards the ground. She stared at Lukas’ lips with a disoriented gaze.

“I’m different. The life I’ve experienced, the pain I’ve suffered which was even acknowledged by Rulers.”

[When did I?]

“That is to say, if I suffer as much hunger as you do in this place… it will be possible to compare. I will be able to confirm whether hunger is the most terrible pain or not.”

Looking at Pale, Lukas continued.

“I will try to hold on. If hunger is so terrible that it is beyond comparison to the pain I’ve experienced, I will not be able to hold on, and will have to raise the white flag. At that time, you can cut my head off. What do you think? Isn’t that simple?”

“Ha, hahaha…!”

Pale burst out laughing.

A raspy laugh resounded throughout the Dump Site.

After a short while, she stabbed her sword into the ground.

Puk!

The blue sword remained half buried in the ground.

“How interesting!”

With a grin on her face, Pale sat down.

Accepted.

At last, Pale had accepted Lukas’ offer.

* * *

The flow of time in the Dump Site was different from the outside.

And for the current Lukas, it was also possible to adjust the detailed values of that flow.

In other words, it was possible to set it so that even after hundreds of years had passed, hundreds of seconds wouldn’t have passed outside. Of course, if he were to act that recklessly, the lord of this place, the Twelve Void Lord, the Corpse Ghost, would definitely notice.

It didn’t matter.

When Lukas had first entered this place with Pale, he should have noticed their presence. Nevertheless, it was one of two reasons why there were no signs of intervention so far.

Either he was observing them, or he had already finished his observation and had no intention of hurried getting into contact.

Taking the Corpse Ghost’s sinister and cautious character, it was probably the latter.

That’s why Lukas chose to adjust the flow of time. Now, regardless of how long they spent in the Dump Site, the time outside would not pass a second.

“You probably have a lot of patience. Definitely.”

Pale spoke up.

She was sitting on her in an upright position that didn’t quite suit her, looking at Lukas. There was still a smile on her face.

“Did you say you ate every Lukas in this place? That’s not something that could be done in decades or centuries. Even if you had very high mental strength, that would at least take thousands of years.”

“…”

“Shall I predict something?”

Coldness slowly filled her voice.

“It won’t take that long this time.”

“Do you think I’ll give up before then?”

“Give up? Even that is a joke. Don’t you have to still be sane to do that?”

Pale’s lips moved slightly, and a whisper escaped.

“You won’t be able to endure hunger for thousands of years. You said you knew everything about me, right? Then keep two things in mind.”

Then the whisper seeped into his ears.

“This pain isn’t something you get used to. It gets worse. Like a nightmare.”

* * *

Time.

As he slowly went through his memories, Lukas recalled that word once again.

In the long time he’d lived, what was the longest time that he’d been hungry?

As mentioned before, Lukas’ life had been a series of pains, but hunger was a type of pain that was fairly unfamiliar to him.

This was because, in the first place, the moment of having a physical body did not occupy much importance.

Even when he was imprisoned in the Abyss, it was his mind, not his body, that had suffered. Naturally, he hadn’t felt hungry,

After becoming an Absolute, he shed his physical body and began to move with a transcendent body. While he would occasionally appear with a physical body, most of the time, he remained in a transcendent state which didn’t require any of the metabolism needed by ordinary living beings.

Right.

‘I have never starved.’

Of course, among the ‘failed Lukases’ in his mind, there was a Lukas who died of starvation. He could also see the grief, fear, and pain he felt just before he died.

However, even that could not be considered something he’d personally experienced. Even if he could feel the memories as if they had happened for real, it was still a far cry from actually experiencing it.

That’s why.

Lukas starved himself.

* * *

It was good to have an accurate grasp on the passage of time.

Counting the seconds one by one as they passed.

Lukas operated his body clock with the same precision as a machine.

He didn’t feel much until a day passed. His stomach felt a little strange, but that was it. In the first place, Lukas had often gone hungry for three days and nights when researching magic in the past.

One day passed, then another day.

The existence of his empty stomach became evident. At least it was now beyond a level that could be ignored. Nevertheless, it was bearable.

Lukas didn’t get lost in his thoughts but instead focused on the pain. Then, he began to feel that time was moving ridiculously slow.

After another three days passed, something began to show its presence as much as his empty stomach.

Thirst.

His throat felt like it had become a parched desert. Every time he swallowed his saliva, his throat felt sore, and he felt like crying. He had to swallow his saliva, but the saliva secretion was very slow. Right. There was an unpleasant taste in his mouth. The rough feeling on the top of his tongue felt like sand.

“…”

Lukas didn’t say anything. There was not even any change to his expression.

Most of the pain that a human could experience was no ordeal for Lukas. The same was true for this. Lukas knew there were worse things than physical pain.

But at that moment, feeling a strange gaze, Lukas opened his eyes.

Smirk-

Pale still had a smile on her face.

* * *

It was a month later that his thoughts began to change.

‘…this is the point.’

This was Lukas’ thought as he faced the hunger he was feeling directly.

This was probably the point where ordinary people would die of starvation. Although it may vary among individuals, no human could survive more than a month without eating anything.

It would be more comfortable to die here.

However, the hunger Pale experienced was different.

Instead, this could only be called the beginning.

The incoming pain,

Was a pain no living being had ever experienced,

A pain that transcended death.

Then it began.

“…!”

Lukas’ eyebrow twitched.

Suddenly, his throat felt like it was on fire. His stomach contracted and expanded as if it was shrinking. In the middle of it, there seemed to be a ball made of blades, such that Lukas couldn’t help but swallow every time the process repeated.

He felt nauseous. Of course, there was nothing to throw up. Because there was already nothing in there.

The world became yellow. It seemed that oxygen was no longer being properly supplied to his brain.

‘It hurts.’

It was tough.

Nevertheless, Lukas remained relatively calm as he thought this.

What would an ordinary human think if they were to experience this pain?

…They would try to figure out how to escape this pain.

‘…want to die.’

─Ah.

At that moment, Lukas suddenly understood. He learned what that blue haired girl had felt in the past by experiencing the same thing, not by peeking at her memories.

Pale had,

Lived a long life.

Seen a lot of people.

Seen mountains of corpses of people who had starved to death.

When she saw this scene which would make other people feel pity or disgust, what did she feel?

Envy.

She was so envious her eyes were stained with jealousy.

Because no matter what she tried, she couldn’t die.

* * *

The snowball called pain swelled. Growing larger.

A change occurred in the body of Lukas, who had been sitting motionlessly as if meditating. His eyebrows furrowed, his lips began to twitch, etc. These movements, which were weak at first, soon intensified.

“Uh-, kuk…”

Clutching his abdomen, Lukas let out a groan.

…Three Day Bugs, were they called the Three Day Bugs? He remembered the pain they inflicted. The pain Lukas was feeling now was no less than what he felt then. It felt as if those scavengers, who only existed in the Dump Site, were slowly moving through his body and eating away at his organs.

“Ha, hu…”

His voice couldn’t come out.

Lukas’ voice sounded like the sound of escaping wind.

Even that was painful.

The air passed through his parched airways, and each time, it felt like a blade of ice was ruthlessly cutting into his throat. Even breathing had become painful.

He no longer had the energy to sit up.

Lukas sprawled on the ground.

At times, he strangled himself, or punched himself in the stomach. However, he didn’t feel anything, and it had no effect.

The pain of suffocation or the pain from hitting were meaningless in the face of hunger. Since his body was already burning with the hottest flames, it wouldn’t hurt any more if he was burnt with a match.

“You were counting the time, weren’t you?”

It seemed like he’d heard a voice, but Lukas couldn’t make it out clearly.

With a radiant smile on her face, Pale looked down at Lukas.

To this man, who was buried among the corpses and walking through hell, she said.

“But halfway through, you couldn’t count anymore. You no longer had time to focus on that. Huhu. How is it? Not easy, right?”

Pale giggled, but Lukas couldn’t even hear her laughter properly.

“I’ll tell you. It’s been three months now.”

However, he heard those words clearly.

—Three months.

Ah.

It seems.

Only, that much…

“Compared to the years I experienced, that’s not even a drop in the bucket. It’s safe to say it is only an instant. And yet, Uncle is already like this. Crawling on the floor in an ugly way, shedding tears… puhuhu.”

She let out a chuckle as if she had just told a funny joke.

“…regardless of the fact that you created this artificial situation to try to emulate my pain, Uncle and I are fundamentally different. You can never be like me. Because you can choose to give up at any time.”

A whisper of temptation.

“If you just say, ‘I give up’ now, it will all be over. Then, well, you’ll just have to fight me, won’t you?”

“…”

“It’s not like you have no confidence in a power contest, and you can even borrow the power of a Ruler, so wouldn’t it be more reasonable to just try to fight me and win?”

Lukas looked up blankly at Pale.

He was starving, and,

At that moment, his throat was burning.

Pale’s suggestion shook Lukas like the sweet scent of honey.

—Such a sweet temptation, offered under conditions that were nigh irresistible.

…

…

…

This Lukas Trowman,

Wondered how many times he could resist?

“…!”

Pale trembled.

Because while suffering in hunger, struggling in pain, and writhing as if he was about to die,

Lukas was smiling.

(1/2)