Chapter 1

“What is the definition of magic?”

When I asked, the Sword Emperor, Aritolt, responded.

“Is it a technique that uses mana to create mysterious phenomena?”

“5 points.”

It was, literally, a textbook answer.

Shrugging my shoulders, this time the Great Sage, Plunium, answered.

“Magic is the ability to twist the laws of the world.”

“Isn’t that too ambiguous?”

“It could also be considered the most advanced form of science.”

“Oh, science?”

“To a primitive man, wouldn’t a firearm seem like magic?”

“That’s not a bad perspective. 7 points.”

The Lord of Spirits, Park Hayan, who had been hesitating, spoke.

“A conversation… with the world?”

“Quite a fresh approach.”

“Feeling the mana, speaking with its flow, and achieving what you desire… that is magic…”

“8 points.”

The Martial Emperor, Yamamoto, frowned.

“Hey, Kim Jeongseok. Why the hell do we need a definition of magic in this situation?”

The landscape I pointed to with my hand was truly alien.

We were at the top of the tower.

In the stratosphere of the universe.

From the periphery, looking at the Earth’s core, a massive crater was spewing volcanic ash without end.

Countless typhoons swept across the entire planet.

The land had fragmented into countless pieces due to constant earthquakes.

On one side, floods.

On another, extreme droughts.

And in other places, epidemics were ravaging humanity.

Observing all those phenomena, I gave my definition of magic.

“Disaster.”

In the end, the ultimate objective of magic is.

Like that which exists before our eyes.

“Magic is the power to create disasters.”

Its purpose is to create disasters.

The Sword Emperor, Aritolt, asked.

“Then, were all those disasters that occurred on Earth the work of a mage?”

“Correct.”

I nodded slowly.

The Great Sage, Plunium, murmured as if he had understood something.

“Wait. Then… the dragons and demonic beasts we have defeated, all those mysterious entities and aberrations… they didn’t appear and cause disasters…”

He fixed his gaze on me intensely.

“But rather, the disasters occurred first, and because of that, they were able to appear in the world?”

“As expected of the Great Sage. You saw it correctly.”

“…A devastated land calls forth demonic beasts, a polluted sea gives birth to aberrations, and the desperate cries of humanity create the mysterious?”

“That’s how it should be seen.”

I clicked my tongue and added.

“From the beginning, our approach was wrong. We saw the results and mistook them for the cause, fighting against them… so we could never find the correct answer.”

It was then.

Rumble—

The entire tower trembled slightly.

The dust floating in the air began to dance before a strange wave of power.

An overwhelming presence, completely different from anything before.

The density of the air changed.

Even the flow of time seemed to slow.

At the highest level of the tower, behind us.

The darkness stirred, and space itself was torn apart, slowly revealing a human figure.

“…So that is the mage.”

“Calling him a mage makes him sound quite harmless, doesn’t it?”

I couldn’t help but let out a remark.

“Hey, does magic seem like a joke to you?”

I smiled faintly as I adjusted the formation.

The owner of the tower.

The one responsible for all these phenomena.

Because the Absolute God had appeared.

***

Kim Jeongseok.

A name my parents gave me, hoping I would live properly.

To live up to those expectations, I truly lived following the right path.

I studied hard, got a respectable job.

And then the world ended.

Even if the intermediate process is omitted a bit.

In the end, we couldn’t do anything.

Too many things happened at the same time for humanity to react.

Of course, I, as a mage, reached quite a high level.

I achieved many accomplishments and was praised as the strongest mage.

…And what was the point?

I couldn’t protect anything.

With the magic I learned following the proper method, I couldn’t create variables.

There are far too many classifications of magic, and I did not have the ability to encompass them all.

For example, the techniques called arts are divided into five major categories.

Sorcery, Taoism, dark arts, illusions, and spiritualism.

And magic?

Its classifications alone exceed one hundred.

By attributes, by ranks, and even alchemy, divination, necromancy, summoning, and creation were all grouped under the name of magic.

To learn a single desired magic, it was necessary to master at least ten related sub-magics.

In a word.

“There are too many useless things to learn.”

To learn it the proper way, there is too much magic.

That’s why a criterion was necessary.

The most common classification is that of the four elements fire, water, wind, and earth.

Each with clear strengths and weaknesses.

Of course, with that, one cannot reach the absolute.

I was no exception.

I mastered the magic of the four elements and was called a Great Mage.

“Really… it’s superficial.”

It was nothing more than scooping up a handful of sand in a desert.

It’s not enough.

But the field is so vast that it cannot be reached.

Another method was needed.

A turning point.

A clearer method of classification.

“Disaster.”

I looked at the god in front of me.

The one who brings disasters.

Or the one who is the disaster itself.

That.

That is the answer.

But it was already too late.

The Sword Emperor, Aritolt, the Great Sage, Plunium, the Lord of Spirits, Park Hayan, the Martial Emperor, Yamamoto…

They all died, and only I survived.

After everything we discovered.

After everything we understood.

That bastard spoke.

“You are wrong.”

“…….”

“This is not the end of the tower. I only came down for a moment because I was curious about your final despair.”

“……I know.”

I knew.

Only I, who traveled the world in search of the truth.

‘…I’m really going to die.’

The time I had left was, at most, about 5 minutes.

I clenched my teeth.

That thing they call a god.

That bastard at the top of the tower is one of the many gods of disaster.

And probably, the one who stands at the very top among them.

He is nothing more than someone who came down for a moment to observe our despair and defeat.

Painful. Unjust.

But humanity, the Earth, were destined to disappear.

However.

“I was waiting for you.”

I smiled.

“……?”

“I knew that when destruction became inevitable, you would come down.”

That’s why.

“No matter the cost… I’m taking you with me.”

“Do you still have any means left?”

Of course I do.

And moreover, the ultimate means.

Clack!

I pulled out my dying heart.

Cough!

Spitting dead blood, I raised the heart.

“From the beginning, we never intended to win.”

After all, if the Earth was going to disappear, what did winning matter?

From the start, our objective was only one.

The collapse of the tower.

We climbed up here with the intention of all dying together.

“With a mere heart…”

“Does that still look like a heart to you?”

“……?”

Magic has many classifications.

Alchemy, divination, necromancy, spiritualism, summoning, and creation are all called magic within the same framework.

If you count all its subdivisions, there would be hundreds, thousands.

My heart was the last hope, concentrating all that magic, the very essence of magic.

What does that mean?

“Idiot. It’s the Philosopher’s Stone.”

At that instant.

Fwoooosh—

A magic circle is drawn across the entire Earth.

From the corpses of my fallen companions, blood vessels sprout and connect to the Philosopher’s Stone.

The mana of all the lives that perished on Earth begins to gather.

Gathering the mana of the entire planet into my heart, to forge the Philosopher’s Stone.

The ultimate magic!

I traveled the world drawing magic circles for this very moment.

In the process, I gathered the greatest alchemists, diviners, necromancers, spiritualists, summoners…

The final strike created with the sweat and blood of everyone.

And I released all that energy at once.

From the beginning, we never intended to win.

We ran only for this instant.

I raised my middle finger toward the ‘god’ and smiled.

“Explosion is art, you son of a bitch.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

***

Ding!

An absolute darkness.

From somewhere, a familiar sound was heard.

[You have killed the Absolute God, Irresistible.]

[You have destroyed for the first time a being that humans could not resist.]

[Absorbing the ‘Causality’ of the Irresistible.]

[You have destroyed the Earth.]

[You have been named the most powerful disaster.]

[With the title of ‘God Slayer,’ you have awakened the authority ‘Devourer of Disasters’!]