Book 10 Chapter 19
제244화
“How boring.”
Mage Slayer tapped his shoulder with the back of Manabane’s blade and clicked his tongue.
“You’re already this beaten up from just this much, do you really think you can face Lord Zernix’s true body?”
Rain Ludwig’s entire body was soaked in blood, his breathing having reached its limit.
Seeing as even the ‘Shisang’ of the Fire Heaven’s Realm began to sway weakly, his mental strength had already reached its limit.
In this situation, the fact that his eyes are still alive is a bit displeasing, though.
“Those eyes, you see, are eyes that only a cold-hearted human, one capable of personally killing a disciple raised like a son, can possess.”
“It’s not over yet…!”
“Just give up, you fool. Think about it. Why would this great senior bother to fight you here?”
Once again, a gaze of flame flew in, but citizens controlled by the Puppet Possession Art defended against it.
“A magician is a rational being; everything should be viewed in terms of probability.”
That guy managed to free nearly 100,000 citizens from the Puppet Possession Art in this short time, but the population of <Raptas> reaches 350,000.
“I called you here because I judged that I could definitely defeat you if we fought here. I don’t engage in fights I can’t win.”
You probably can’t see it due to the altered ‘Shisang’, but the dragon’s flame surrounding this place now severely restricts the power of other dragons.
And since this possession art is currently being remotely controlled by Ulandis, the burden on Zernix is close to zero.
“I’ll commend you for struggling this much in such an environment. But it’s all over now.”
* * *
Suddenly, an entire building was shattered, and grotesque giants poured out from within a sandstorm.
“Demons…?”
Rem immediately strung her bow, braking her feet that had been kicking off the ground.
‘I roughly knew the enemy’s location through their auras, but demons?’
<Raptas> is a city located at the forefront of the anti-demon front line; it’s normal for it to have plenty of military power to oppose demons, but the presence of demons is abnormal.
“LuhaaaaaaAAAA!”
Murderous weapons, emitting a barbaric light and a腥 odor, sprayed from the grasp of the Uruk warriors who charged forward with joyous battle cries.
Their physiques, weapon sizes, and body speeds were on an entirely different level from humans.
She accurately pierced the heads with arrows, felling three who ran ahead and catching seven behind them, but still, this number and speed…!
“Rem!”
The black-steel warrior burst onto the battlefield at that moment, piercing two Uruk warriors with a magnificent dragon-bone spear.
“!”
At that force, the Uruk warriors momentarily recoiled in bewilderment, stepping back one or two paces.
No, it wasn’t because of the force.
It was because of the rumors about that weapon, the Dragon-Bone Spear, which was widely known among Uruk raiders as a symbol of fear.
The Dragon Slayer had come to the fallen lands with that spear and massacred demons, whether out of hatred for them or simply wanting to stretch his limbs.
Furthermore, 500 years ago, before he became the Dragon Slayer, he was first known as the Uruk Slayer.
“I never dreamed that a day would come when your physique would seem ordinary.”
“This is no time for chitchat. Where have all the other citizens gone?”
“Wait.”
While Bart confronted a dozen Uruk warriors, Rem climbed onto the rooftop of a structure and closed her eyes.
She felt the waves, the waves of inorganic and organic matter.
What she felt first was a colossal wave… a wave surrounding what was probably a plaza, in the middle of the city.
“For now, that wave originates from the lighthouse.”
Familiar waves; Miria and Akki were moving in that direction.
“Inside that enormous wave, hmm, the aura of that flame is too strong to accurately detect, but there are a tremendous number of people?”
“Rain is probably in there too. Is there anything else?”
“No, and there’s a wave that seems to resonate with that other wave…!”
Cutting herself off mid-sentence, Rem shot an arrow of magic, woven a vibrant blue, from her bowstring.
The arrow, scattering blue light across the city’s sky as it flew, landed in the center of the commercial district.
It was a man standing on top of the tallest 5-story building on ‘Asalun’s Hill’, the highest point in <Raptas>.
What he held in both hands was a staff.
A staff so grotesquely yet intricately embossed with the faces of countless weeping people.
That very thing was controlling the city’s survivors as puppets.
“…”
The man, so corpulent that it was questionable if he could even walk, turned to look at the arrow.
No sooner had he done so than the structure below him absurdly began to move like a human.
It had stretched out a giant-like arm to block the arrow…
“What in the world is that insanity!”
Indeed, it wasn’t a mere structure to begin with.
That was a Colossus.
Since demi-human artisans couldn’t wield magic, they often created such piloted colossi, but this one, by all appearances, had abnormal dimensions.
The masterpiece of an executive of the Slayers, Engineer Slayer. Moreover, the armor that solidly covered its entire body was dragon scales.
“So, we have to take that thing down.”
“Ugh, feels like the start of another tough ordeal.”
“Let’s go, Rem.”
“Who said I wasn’t going?”
Bart began to charge, breaking through the Uruk siege line head-on, and Rem, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, supported his breakthrough.
“Hmph, these nobodies dare to challenge Lord Ulandis?”
The Dragon-Bone Spear, about to pierce the heart of an Uruk warrior, was momentarily halted by a force.
“No, you don’t!”
It was because some girl stumbled and walked into the midst of the melee…
“Oh dear…”
There wasn’t just one such person.
A crimson smile formed on the lips of the Uruks, who revered victory, as if intrigued.
As the Uruk warriors charged at Bart, using the controlled humans as shields, Rem bit her lip.
“These bastards, truly…!”
Helping Bart here would be endless.
I need to hit the main body.
As Rem charged towards the Colossus, it slammed its hands onto the ground. The entire area sank, the earth’s axis itself shook, and a storm raged.
“Fragments of rock…!”
Though its movements were dreadfully slow, its destructive power was absolute; the aftermath of its attack quickly led to loss of sight and bodily balance.
‘Piercing that armor plate with the destructive power of Serwebon that I can unleash is impossible…’
If it were my ancestor, it would be different, but.
Right now, no matter how much I shoot, arrows that can even pierce steel will merely bounce off powerlessly.
“But there’s always a trick to these things!”
Rem nimbly landed on top of the Colossus’s fist, which was impaled in the earth.
“I don’t need to think about toppling the Colossus. If I just deal with the guy in the cockpit and the guy on its shoulder, it’ll be over!”
Although the Colossus possessed overwhelming power, it was merely overwhelming; its movements lacked any techniques or tricks that master combatants would display.
“How irritating…”
The moment Ulandis clicked his tongue in displeasure, a stream of dark water, manifested from the tip of his staff, surged and coiled.
“Why don’t you join me on this great ride! The feeling of riding it is amazing!”
Simultaneously, to swat away the intruder, the Colossus roughly swept its right arm with its left hand.
She hastily evaded with a leap, barely landing as black magic poured down mercilessly…
Even as she fended that off, Uruk warriors, just like Rem, began to clamber up the Colossus’s arm.
“Gasp, gasp, gasp…”
Bart’s shoulders, his black armor stained with the blood of both sides, rose and fell heavily.
With over fifty torn Uruk corpses covering the street, the citizens were chained together and herded into a building.
Yet, the enemy’s numbers were endless… and the number of controlled puppets was limitless.
“Huh, that one is doing something useless.”
While Rem shot down the Uruk warriors, Ulandis, having checked the situation below, his eyes widened playfully.
“Then this kind of amusement should be fun too.”
The Colossus suddenly began to advance in the direction Ulandis pointed. It was the direction where Bart had isolated the subdued citizens.
As various structures crumbled, sank, and twisted under its stomping feet, something was seen in the distance.
A collapsing building.
A man embracing two children inside it.
Was control disrupted because he was trying to keep Rem in check? More importantly, the Colossus’s foot was about to fall on them.
“Bart?”
The visual information was transmitted in an instant.
A single instant was enough for the information to reach his brain and for his body to issue a command.
Did that one instant bring to mind a sad tragedy from the distant past?
“Hey, Bart! Are you crazy! Bart!”
Everyone’s box of happiness is different.
Some fill their box of happiness with success and glory or wealth and splendor, but others fill that box with just a small moment of everyday life.
He had never wanted to be a great adventurer. He had never thought of becoming a hero.
- Uncle.
- Uncle!
- Uncle Bart!
From the moment I came of age, I was content just protecting such small happinesses.
[GROOOOOM…!]
A creaking sound burst from the Colossus’s joints, and for a moment, silence fell upon the world.
It was enough to make everyone, even the Uruk warriors, who excelled in strength among all races, doubt their eyes.
It would be a natural consequence to be crushed into pulp by the Colossus’s foot, which could smash stone walls like sandcastles and shatter bedrock.
“…How on earth does it appear?”
The ground where its two feet landed was deeply indented, and cracks began to form all over his armor, yet the black-steel warrior was not crushed.
“A human life.”
Instead, wasn’t he receiving those feet with both hands?
“The beauty of life.”
In the face of that warrior’s abnormal strength, the children and their father were also safe.
“How on earth does it appear in your eyes…!”
As the Colossus wobbled and tilted, Ulandis’s jowls shook in bewilderment.
‘A tug-of-war with a Colossus, what an absurd monster is this?’
What am I seeing right now?
“Uryaaaaaaaaaaaaap!”
As Bart roared and raised his arms, the dragon-scaled Colossus lost its balance, flailed, and then fell backward, raising a dust storm.
“Block him!”
Just as the Uruk warriors and puppets charged, the Dragon-Bone Spear, which had been thrown onto the ground, began to spew dazzling flames.
“Stop that guy!”
The will of the Holy Spear Lunark, entrusted by the Paladin, guides the way.
‘Snir…!’
The Dragon-Bone Spear spun, and as soon as he took a stance to thrust, mighty magical power began to converge on the spearhead in the form of a sword aura.
Pinnacle.
In an instant, the length of the sword aura, having reached maximum output, was three times the normal length of the Dragon-Bone Spear. This was already a sword qi, just not yet manifested.
“Hit it now, Bart!”
SWISHHHHHH! Arrows, whistling through the air, embedded themselves neatly into the ground and walls.
From the impact points, verdant vines spread out like spiderwebs, halting the advance of the Uruks and puppets.
A brief moment created, this time is enough. If I can use the realm of that one strike Snir showed back then.
“Tsuwaaaaaaa!”
The moment he stepped forward and thrust the spear.
The moment the sword aura’s light reached its peak, momentarily draining the color from the surrounding area.
The pinnacle of power melted through the dragon-scale armor plate instantly, piercing the Colossus’s core.
CLAAANG!
With a sound like oil splattering on an iron plate, electricity arced everywhere from the penetration point, and the Colossus’s control system began to collapse.
“Oh, oh damn it…”
As Ulandis, who had been flung far away by the recoil of the Colossus falling, picked himself up, covered in dust, something cold permeated deep into his mind.
“Go to hell and please spread the word.”
He belatedly tried to deploy a barrier to prevent a fatal wound, but the arrowhead transformed into vines and pierced through various nerves in his brain.
“That Rem and Bart’s Heart-Pounding Money Copy Adventuring Party is ridiculously strong.”
I, I, me, I Ulandis…
As his corpulent body swayed several times and then fell backward, Bart, exhausted, also dropped his Dragon-Bone Spear and fell to his knees.
‘For a moment, as if possessed by something, I was able to use Snir’s power…’
He didn’t even know the reasoning behind it himself.
“Uncle.”
“Uncle.”
Was he hearing hallucinations as he fell into a near-death state? No, it was too vivid to be a hallucination, and it wasn’t a voice Bart recognized.
“Thank you.”
“You’re cool.”
The children the man had been embracing had somehow approached Bart and respectfully bowed.
He didn’t know the southern dialect of the Republic, but for some reason, he could understand it. Because of that, he was lost in a dream for a moment.
If only he could have seen this scene, here and now, back then. If only he could have heard these voices from those children.
Still, why, for what reason, did the regret he had always carried, unable to forgive himself throughout his life in such sorrow, feel a little lighter…?
“Yes, I’m glad you’re safe. It’s still dangerous, so go over there.”
* * *
An individual blocked the path of Miria and Akki, who had run without rest and reached the Lighthouse of Phayras.
“So you’re finally here.”
On the coast where waves ominously crashed, a heroine sat on a sharp rock and turned to look at them with a bold expression.
If Miria had ever encountered her while performing not just goblin subjugation but also famous extermination missions, her mouth might have dropped open involuntarily.
The supreme among current adventurers, a Diamond-rank adventurer.
“They said this was the most important spot, but I don’t know why only riff-raff showed up. Still, it’s nice when homework is easy.”