The Game of the Greatest Black Mage

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 90

The Ultimate Calamity.

The name itself screamed ferocity, and indeed, its effects were just as devastating.

Legendary+ rank.

It reduces damage from Holy or Vulnerability-attribute attacks by 33%, and reflects that reduced damage back onto the attacker.

This effect alone was already absurd, but the "Destruction of Salvation" effect, usable once per day, was even more heinous.

One could understand if it were Legendary rank just for having "Destruction of Salvation."

'Reverses all beneficial effects of the enemy?'

This meant that healing would be converted into damage, and buffs would become debuffs.

A truly devastating skill that could be a decisive move.

There was a demerit of only being able to use it once a day, but it hardly felt like a demerit.

Rather, it seemed like a crucial effect without which he would be in serious trouble.

He wondered if the ‘Hourglass of Reversal’ would apply here as well, but upon trying, he found it didn't.

'Too bad.'

It was a bit greedy, but it couldn't be helped.

Since it was a skill obtained through a special effect, it seemed to operate differently from cooldown times.

If he had this "Ultimate Calamity" effect during his spar with Hindel?

He could likely win much more easily that time.

'Though, it's uncertain what would happen if Hindel weren't ensnared.'

This battle was also quite dangerous until Hindel was consumed by fear due to the Death God.

However, thanks to Hindel's entanglement, Seonghyun was able to win more easily than expected.

Seonghyun's skills were indeed terrifying, but regardless, he had won.

With the "Ultimate Calamity" effect, he would have a much more advantageous fight if they clashed again.

He mused about this.

'It's Hindel now... but it'd be good to prepare for a real Hero fight when I return to the present world.'

There was no need to seek out a fight, but he wouldn't avoid one if it came his way.

He was curious to see what the Hero of the present world was like.

With that thought, Seonghyun pulled out his final loot, a random skill book.

The previous random skill book he obtained was Rare rank.

But this one was a whopping Unique.

『Random Skill Book』

→《Unique》

→A skill book that randomly grants a skill related to one's class or a common skill.

→Unique to Legendary rank skills can be acquired from this book.

'Hmm.'

Last time, it ranged from Rare to Epic and an epic rank pulled up.

And the skill he got, Shadow Transference, was quite useful.

He didn't expect such luck again this time.

Since the minimum rank was Unique, even getting just that would be a win!

Anticipating what skill he would get, Seonghyun was about to open the book when a prompt appeared.

[Use Unique rank item, 『Random Skill Book』?]

*Upon use, the skill book will disappear, and you can randomly learn a Unique to Legendary rank Black Magic exclusive skill or a common skill.

*Are you sure you want to use it?

[Yes/No]

It was a warning message he hadn't seen in a while.

However, it couldn't stop Seonghyun.

As soon as Seonghyun pressed Yes, countless pages fluttered and turned.

But unlike before, the antique pages were tinged with gold, and even more beautiful, warm, and radiant orange pages flipped through.

Whirr, whirr, whirr!

With the sound of pages emitting various lights flipping, a single page floated in the air before Seonghyun.

The radiantly glowing orange page floated in the air, illuminating the shabby inn room like dawn.

Soon, that brilliantly glowing page absorbed all the warm, dawn-like light around it, and a clock darker than pitch-black emerged.

As the clock hands moved rapidly and reached the hour,

Dong——!

Dong——!

Dong——!

The sound of bells echoed from somewhere.

Seonghyun, puzzled by the numbing sound of the bells, stared at the scene.

"……???"

Could it be?

As Seonghyun watched with anticipation, the awaited message appeared.

[Acquired Legendary rank skill, 『Doomsday Clock』, from the Random Skill Book!]

'……For real……?'

Even with good luck, another Legendary rank?

As Seonghyun opened his skill window in disbelief,

it was real.

『Doomsday Clock』

→《Legendary》

→[Lv Max][Completed]

[Instant Effect][Active]

[Cooldown 30 minutes]

→Black Mage Class exclusive skill.

→Consumes mana as desired to set a specific time.

→The longer the set time and the more mana consumed, the greater the damage dealt to the opponent when the set time arrives.

→Cooldown time decreases from the moment damage is inflicted.

"Wow."

A rather fascinating skill.

It was a type of skill he was acquiring for the first time.

Though it was a skill that required calculated use, it seemed excellent for use against fleeing enemies.

A skill that increased damage over time?

Even with minimal mana consumption, extending the time would result in an effective attack.

With various ways to use it, the application methods were limitless.

'I've acquired an incredible skill.'

He wanted to check it immediately, but it was almost dinner time, and running into Hindel's group on the way out would be problematic.

"That black mage bastard? He was suspicious enough, and now he's going out at this late hour?"

They might suspect him of being a spy.

They didn't know he was being highly praised and treated like a hero.

So he couldn't help but think this way.

'Let's log out here today.'

Seonghyun decided and logged out.

5.

Saturday evening.

Clearly, in a typical company, there would be no overtime, let alone coming to work.

However, E-World, the company providing Eternal World, was not a typical company.

It was a workplace where weekend attendance was a given if there were important matters!

With generous overtime and special work allowances.

Few people had complaints.

The problem was that the person responsible couldn't help but feel uneasy when even the superiors came to work.

Given the gravity of the matter, Team Leader Jung Jihye and other team leaders were present.

Skill Management Team Leader Yoon Taeseong, Error Compensation Team Leader Im Jiwon, and NPC Management Team Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung were all there.

It was unclear why Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung was included, but anyway, the room was filled with seniors from other teams.

Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

But how could they not call him?

'The situation has become too tangled...'

A compensation measure meeting was held for the Thousand Blood Swords skill Seonghyun had obtained.

It was too overpowered to leave as it was.

Upon reporting the matter, the expressions of the other team leaders became serious.

Understandably.

"It might be different if it were another user... but based on the report I received, this definitely needs a nerf, right?"

"Not a nerf, we need to fix the error. Regardless of whether it's another user or a skilled user."

"Heh heh heh."

Skill Management Team Leader Yoon Taeseong muttered as if troubled, and upon hearing this, Error Compensation Team Leader Im Jiwon pointed out disapprovingly.

While thinking in a direction that minimized compensation was the right move from a company's perspective,

Team Leader Im Jiwon from the Error Compensation Team, who cared about user welfare, had an extremely by-the-book personality.

And in the midst of this, Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung was simply smiling as if he found the situation amusing.

Despite being in a difficult position, Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong swallowed his saliva.

After relaxing his nerves a little, he spoke up among the team leaders.

"Considering the current situation, where a meeting between the Hero, Overpalace, and user Seonghyun, who went to the past, and Helena is almost certain, we need to minimize the compensation."

"The current situation with the Hero and Overpalace is one thing, but what's the problem even if Seonghyun and Helena meet in the past?"

When Team Leader Im Jiwon asked, looking puzzled,

Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong, understanding the reaction, nodded and continued his explanation.

"Currently, across all continents in Eternal World, there are only nine NPCs who can briefly evade the sight of the super-artificial intelligence, Immortal. These are the NPCs known as the Nine Heroes. However, Immortal's opinion is that even combined, those nine are inferior to Helena."

"……So, there's a high probability it will be problematic if user Seonghyun, who went to the past, meets Helena?"

"Hmm, I know she reigned as the strongest NPC in the worldview as an Overlord, but even if he meets her in the past, isn't she still just an NPC?"

"That's……."

Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong bit his lip, seemingly troubled, then nodded.

He then displayed a screen.

It showed Helena in the Dark Fortress, doing something with Fiora.

-Hmm~ What would be a good gift for my successor~

Helena was blatantly mentioning her successor.

The team leaders who saw this had looks of astonishment on their faces, except for Team Leader Jung Jihye, who already knew, and Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung, who was smiling as if he found it amusing.

It was implied that she knew Seonghyun was already her successor.

How she knew was secondary; if an NPC's actions were this blatant, they had to be adjusted with Immortal.

However,

"Hahaha! That can't be fixed."

Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung spoke candidly.

Team Leader Im Jiwon was the first to ask at that sight.

"Excuse me? What do you mean, Deputy Manager?"

"You can't fix it?"

"Even if we adjust and impose restrictions with Immortal, there's a high probability the past stage itself will collapse due to excessive strain. This would interfere with user Seonghyun's main quest, leaving us unable to do anything. We did set it up so that Helena can't give any of her skills or items, but……."

"Then, isn't that enough?"

At the naive question, Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung said,

"She's a being who managed to survive to that point even in Immortal's system, where restrictions were strongest due to a lack of users. In Immortal's words, she's a mysterious NPC with power similar to its own super-artificial intelligence. So we've blocked it for now, but we don't know how she might reward user Seonghyun. And if he ends up receiving it……."

"We won't be able to suppress it according to Chairman Park Won's settings. In a way, it's compensation user Seonghyun rightfully earned……."

"Yes, that's exactly it."

It became a difficult situation.

That's why they were holding a meeting regarding the compensation.

In this helpless situation,

Team Leader Jung Jihye stepped forward.

"First, according to the current compensation plan, wouldn't we compensate with a skill of the same rank? Is there no way to reduce it?"

"……We could reduce it, but if the user complains, there's nothing we can do."

Team Leader Im Jiwon responded helplessly.

If they reduced the compensation and Seonghyun complained, it could lead to even greater expenses.

The key was to provide compensation that wouldn't cause any dissatisfaction in the first place.

They had no choice but to give a Legendary rank skill.

However, Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong, having thought of a clever solution, proposed,

"Then, how about allowing him to upgrade the skill rank to Legendary?"

"Hmm? What do you mean……?"

"Ultimately, we're concerned about user Seonghyun having too many high-rank skills, right? If so, instead of giving a new skill, we can allow him to upgrade existing skills. If we create an item that allows upgrading up to six times and allow three to be used on one skill to raise it to Legendary rank, wouldn't that balance things out somewhat? It's equivalent to making two Unique skills Legendary, but I believe it's better than a new Legendary skill."

All the team leaders nodded in agreement with that proposal.

Instead of simply giving a Legendary skill, providing an item that could increase the rank of existing skills would ensure that the balance wouldn't be drastically disrupted.

It was a good suggestion.

"Oh? The compensation itself is upgrading the skill rank, but in terms of potential, it's equivalent to giving two Legendary skills……."

"Hmm, wasn't the Unique skills user Seonghyun currently has Self in Darkness, Skill Steal, and Add More?"

"All three are skills that wouldn't cause significant problems even if they were strengthened. They're utility-related skills rather than those that immediately enhance combat power, and their improvement range isn't that large, so the power boost won't be substantial."

This could be called the moment where they truly saw the true value of the competent Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong.

Everyone was satisfied.

"Then, we'll change Thousand Blood Swords to have utility and cause damage and explosions when striking anything other than enemies."

"The compensation plan will be created by our Skill Management Team in collaboration with the Item Creation Team. We need to create upgrade levels if user Seonghyun's skills don't have them."

"Thank you all for your hard work."

Just as the meeting was about to conclude,

Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung, nodding as if everything was fine, asked,

"By the way, why is Helena using swordsmanship?"

As he said, when everyone stared at the screen, they could see Helena creating a sword and swinging it as if performing swordsmanship.

"……Well, I'm not sure either……."

It was comical that NPC Management Team Deputy Manager Lee Jaekyung was asking User Management Team employee Lee Wonsang in the first place, but no one paid much attention.

It seemed Helena had taken up swordsmanship as a hobby.

Just as everyone was finishing the meeting and leaving,

once everyone had disappeared,

Helena stared directly at the camera on the screen and grinned.

As if she knew they were all watching.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]