Chapter 119 – Professor Kane

A look of doubt bloomed on Kane’s face.

How did he know such a fact?

He felt as though he had never told anyone about it.

If there was any possibility.

“Did Luna… meet you?”

Luna Maxion.

Something that matched her, yet was not her.

“She did come to find me.”

Of course, it was not she who told him.

Because the information on Kane was the result of countless players who had dealt with him directly experiencing, tracking, and observing him to build it up.

However, Kane, who did not know this, had no choice but to make a guess.

“I see. To think that child would betray me.”

Disappointment spread across his face.

Rashid rebuked him for that.

“Who do you think actually betrayed whom? Did that child really betray you?”

“Have you not thought that you betrayed that child?”

“If so, shouldn’t it be a feeling of apology rather than betrayal that arises?”

Kane unbuttoned his sleeves and slowly rolled them up.

“That child is merely the most completed failure among the various works I created to save her. I have no such thing as an apology for a work. Since she is a creation classified as a failure anyway.”

“Professor. You are making an extremely dangerous statement. That is also clear blasphemy.”

Kane laughed coldly.

“You people would dismiss it all as blasphemy. Even if it is a failure, it would be a great outcome to others. To disparage all that effort in such a way. I never like the church fellows.”

“Professor Kane. I will carry out summary judgment on you.”

The sentence followed.

“The charge is blasphemy. The sin of daring to trespass into the realm of God. That sin deserves to be ruled by death.”

“Inquisitor. You speak well for someone with a mouth. But shouldn’t subduing me come before the summary judgment?”

Kane, who rolled up his sleeves and finished preparing to fight, revealed his sturdy physique.

His build was exceptionally good, enough that a stranger would see him as a fighter rather than a professor.

‘Professor Kane.’

Unlike ordinary mages, he was a combat-type mage who prioritized physical arts.

Moreover, because he handled alchemy perfectly, he could utilize all surrounding matter as his weapons.

Kane walked forward.

Rashid also kept pace and told him an undeniable fact.

“Let me tell you one thing. Human, a creation of God, can never become God. That goes for you as well.”

“Do you really think so?”

Kane’s footsteps stopped.

Rashid also stopped accordingly, and the two stood with an appropriate distance between them.

Kane spoke, referring to the still intact mana circuits inside the building.

“Although it failed because it did not activate. If the Great Transmutation Circle I desired had been successfully manifested in the world. Everyone, including you, would have been equivalently exchanged into Divine Prime Matter.”

“So?”

“If I had opened the Gate of Truth with that, I would have probably become the God that everyone speaks of.”

Rashid snorted.

“You talk crazy nonsense quite well.”

Rashid’s eyes became quite sharp.

“You are the failure. You are a particularly outstanding piece of trash among the various garbage created by God.”

As if it was ridiculous.

Kane pulled up the corners of his mouth.

“Do you think you are at an advantage right now? Or surely you are not under the illusion that I am backed into a corner?”

“Are you not already backed into a corner?”

“It is an illusion. Even if the Magic Tower fellows betrayed me, you are merely a single inquisitor.”

Showing strong confidence, he raised his mana.

“I will lightly trample you and leave.”

The mana surging from his heart stretched through his blood vessels to his entire body, eventually transforming into solidity to crush his opponent.

Crackle!

Intense sparks enveloped Kane’s body, slowly changing his constitution.

His skeleton became hard like steel, and his skin hardened like metal, solidifying firmly.

It was a new exoskeleton to replace the demonic raiment, and was no different from armor covered over his body.

A texture as hard and dense as Kirin’s skin.

That solidity was by no means inferior even when compared to mana armor or demonic raiment.

“Do not be surprised, inquisitor. This is just one of the many tricks I possess.”

Rashid spoke in a tone that was not shaken at all.

“Do you think I would be shaken by a mere struggle?”

Rashid’s visor lowered.

At the same time, he drew out his mana.

An untimely message popped up.

-As the mana stat increases, overall abilities related to mana improve.

-The higher the stat, the more those abilities are maximized.

The mana surging from his heart stretched through his blood vessels to his entire body.

The difference from Kane here was that its activity was extraordinary.

Unlike Kane, who showed the flow of mana only in the arteries and veins connected to the heart and in major thick blood vessels.

Rashid’s mana was spreading very densely even to the area of microvessels.

And that amazing sight.

Kane was witnessing directly.

Kane spoke as he saw through Rashid’s entire body with a somewhat mysterious eye that could observe all things in the world in detail rather than with ordinary vision.

“Amazing activity. The activity is so good that I wonder why you stayed in the church with that talent. It is to the point of being wondrous.”

The activity of the mana possessed by Rashid.

Was something even those called Archmages would find difficult to show.

Therefore, Kane, who had tried to dismiss him as a mere inquisitor, had no choice but to change his mind.

“If we are talking about talent alone, you would surpass an Archmage.”

Then, as if something had occurred to him.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“No. Right, there were such people.”

In this world.

As if mocking this world.

Without any particular reason or effort.

There were those equipped with such talent.

“Don’t tell me… were you a player?”

They could manifest magic easily without learning or making an effort, and they also showed ridiculous mana activity like that.

“The mana activity of the players was indeed ridiculously good. The mana they had was truly insignificant, but they possessed undeserved constitutions that did not match it. It was so fascinating that I caught a few fellows and dissected them, but I couldn’t tell. Why they possessed such a form.”

To put it in a simple analogy.

Those whose road networks in the country were well laid out in detail, but had no cars running on them and were empty, were usually players in most cases.

On the other hand, Rashid was different.

Not only was his road network well established, but he was also in a situation where cars running on it were overflowing.

Kane, making his expression fierce, pointed his raised index finger at Rashid.

“It is you who are actually committing blasphemy.”

Rashid, who did not bother to respond, vanished.

Instantly closing the distance, Rashid injected mana into his Blood Sword to coat it with sword energy, and struck down toward Kane just like that.

It was a slash.

But, as if striking an iron plate.

Kane’s figure, only flying loud sparks, was pushed back significantly.

Kane laughed as if it was ridiculous.

“Fast. But I am hard.”

Kane placed his hand on his chest to check its solidity.

“Because the material is very special.”

The moment he scratched his chest with his fingertips, a sound like scraping iron spread out sharply.

“You won’t be able to cut it easily. Since it is probably even harder than the mana armor you wear.”

Rashid narrowed his eyes.

‘Right. This guy was quite hard, wasn’t he?’

His face contorted from the unpleasant sound for a moment.

Rashid made his expression fierce and coated his sword with sword force this time.

His gaze became sharp for a moment.

The Blood Sword coated with sword force targeted Kane’s entire body fiercely.

Under the rushing sword strikes.

Kane, who was flying numerous sparks, took a defensive posture with crossed hands and soon clenched his fists.

Divine Flow, Kirin’s Ultimate Art!

Among the physical arts called Divine Flow.

The ultimate art drawing out the power of Kirin, a mythical species, was activated.

Crackle!

As the ultimate art was activated, the energy of lightning raged all over Kane’s body, and Rashid stood back to widen the distance for a moment.

Kane, barely controlling the emitted power of lightning, adjusted his posture.

His two fists were solid, and his gaze was also undisturbed.

“It’s a miscalculation if you think I am just hard. Shall we start again? Inquisitor.”

The two, who had briefly broken their confrontation.

Clashed again.

The moment Kane extended his fist, the lightning remaining in his entire body was discharged all at once.

An electric current that even burned the air struck Rashid, but the mana shield overlaid on his mana armor bounced it away.

Kane’s fists shot out like bullets, and the offensive began.

Heavy strikes, each accompanied by lightning and mana explosions, poured out like a rapid-fire cannon.

Not wanting to be outdone.

Rashid did not back down either.

He deflected the fierce fists by a paper-thin margin, stabbing his Blood Sword in whenever a gap appeared.

The tip of the sword coated with sword force persistently targeted Kane’s vital points.

The tip of the sword that struck a vital point pierced into his skin, which had seemed impossible to penetrate, fiercely.

A brief moment of mixed emotions crossed, and Kane grabbed Rashid’s arm as if snatching it and threw him just like that.

Rashid’s body flew, cutting through the air.

Even while flying, he twisted his body like an acrobat to correct his posture, and upon landing on the floor, he slid a long way, leaving a deep mark.

Rashid, who left a long scar on the floor, stood up and showed that he was unharmed.

He was still undisturbed.

Kane, looking at this with displeasure, recalled what had just happened.

‘He coated a thin layer of mana over his armor so that I cannot interfere with my transmutation circle.’

When he caught him earlier.

In fact, instead of throwing him, he had tried to alter his constituent matter with a transmutation circle.

However, the mana layer spread over his mana armor became a problem, preventing him from achieving his intent.

The transmutation circle in contact with the mana layer being affected was a problem, but while physical access had to be permitted for material transmutation, the mana layer refused to allow it.

This was a resistance of the highest level that could only be shown by someone who had faced him before.

It was practically a perfect counter.

“Did you know about me?”

When Kane asked, Rashid pulled up the corners of his mouth.

However, his expression covered by the visor was not visible to Kane.

“It seems you targeted me with a transmutation circle.”

“It seems you know.”

“It is a laughable trick. Your transmutation circle won’t reach me. Even if it reaches, the mana shield I put up will be all it hits.”

To think that was a mana shield.

Indeed, if the mana activity was to that extent, he would be able to draw out mana as a material concept and handle it at will.

“Truly amazing. Just how delicately can a player handle mana?”

If his mana stat had been low.

It would have probably been impossible.

However, the value nearing 20 while wearing mana armor was making it possible.

Rashid ostentatiously showed him a blue sword forged from mana.

Held precisely in his left hand, it was like an example showing how precisely he could handle mana.

“Something like this is also fully possible.”

Kane laughed bitterly.

If it was someone who handled mana so skillfully to that extent, the mana layer wrapped like a shield on the surface of the armor would never be disturbed.

“Splendid.”

Kane, spitting out an unwelcome compliment, changed his mind.

‘If I cannot touch him, I should touch something else.’

He was not the only thing that could be changed.