Book 10 Chapter 26

Episode 251

"Behold, the true power of Bel Kuerius!"

It was impossible for the brain to comprehend the upheaval that occurred the moment Zernix shouted those words.

'What is this?'

Bart's right arm, which was charging forward with the Dragonbone Spear, twisted this way and that, then suddenly vanished, as if sucked into another dimension.

'What happened…?'

Bart, momentarily incapacitated after dropping the Dragonbone Spear, had his chest shattered by a dozen lumps of iron flying at him.

"Bart—!"

As Rem desperately called out to Bart, who was bloodied and slammed against an outer wall, Miria and Akie moved to surround Zernix from both sides.

'If his focus is on Bart right now…!'

We can finish him before the elements combine, before he can conjure any magic.

'He can only defend against either Akie or me with magic.'

As elements began to coalesce behind Zernix's back, his gaze landed on Miria's face.

A chilling tremor ran down her spine.

Instinct moved her body. Instantly, she imbued her sword with spatial-temporal power.

Stamping her foot on the ground, she stopped in her tracks and simultaneously swung her Shirpeng with all her might.

Whether that action was correct or incorrect could be immediately confirmed.

An intense, bone-crushing impact slammed into her wrist, and a crack spread through the air with the sound of breaking glass.

'Dimensional power…?'

Iron (鐵), Thunder (雷), Ice (氷).

Zernix, who had blocked Akie's attack with an elemental combination of fundamental runes and sent him flying far away.

He curled the corner of his mouth as if impressed.

"You blocked that? Hmph, you're the best among these trash. Did you instinctively grasp the power of Bel Kuerius?"

There was no leisure to stand around and listen to him talk.

"Bel Kuerius, you see, is not merely a power that nullifies abilities."

An invisible vortex raged where she had just been, creating uniform holes in the city buildings. Even the distant horizon became visible.

"If one is proficient in spatial-temporal magic, they can use it as a power that interferes with even physical reality like this."

Perhaps to fill the void of sudden disappearance created by providence, a sandstorm raged where the anomaly occurred.

"This power can kill even gods, it is omnipotence itself! Hmph-hehehehahahahaha!"

He doesn't even need to tear through dimensions like a space-time island, it just happens if his gaze touches it?

Rem, not fully understanding this, fired an arrow imbued with one-shot kill magic.

At that time, Rem was in Zernix's blind spot (死角). It was an arrow capable of piercing the brain and felling even most masters.

"Still don't understand?"

But the moment Zernix turned his gaze that way, not only the arrow but also the building beyond it where Rem was, were swallowed and vanished by an invisible monster.

"That anything you do against me now is utterly meaningless?"

Only I can properly stand against him. Miria steadied her breathing and gripped her sword hilt tightly.

'Hold on.'

Even approaching was impossible; there were inherent limits to moving a normal human body like a Faycarrier.

'Hold on, my heart.'

Her hair had long since turned completely white, and furthermore, her breathing was failing, causing her vision to flicker to black from oxygen deprivation.

'No, I have to move quickly…'

Bel Kuerius's gaze is pursuing me. It's already reached my feet, my thighs, and now my heart. If this continues—

"You can breathe easily now, Rista."

—The flame of dragon speech appeared before Miria, and that flame negated the encroaching power of annihilation, then scattered like embers.

"?!"

What just happened?

Not only did Bel Kuerius's power vanish, but the moment the warmth of the flame touched her body, the fatigue that had been pressing down on her gradually disappeared.

Her hazy consciousness became refreshingly clear. This power, this ability that had sustained her on ancient battlefields, was the Five Gates Epic's area healing.

"Friede."

That name, a name of comfort and blessing that had come into Rista's life.

It was different from before. It wasn't an illusion heard in a fantasy or dream.

The voice, coming from somewhere in the chaotic city, making her heart tremble with emotion, was…

"But that doesn't mean you should zone out."

If one were to measure the shock received from this reunion, Zernix's shock was no less significant.

"What is it?"

Is it a power similar to the priestess from 300 years ago?

It was strange to deny it was not. But to say it was the same person…

The glowing characters rising at his feet were the sealing array of the Psalms. However, the characters of that Psalm were not human language but dragon speech.

"Psalms in dragon speech…?!"

The characters now rising one by one were clearly Changmyeong (彰明), the ultimate Psalm known as particularly noble among the Seven Creation Psalms.

"Don't trifle with me!"

At that moment, with Bel Kuerius's dimensional interference, he blew the characters of the Psalm away to another place.

"!"

Friede, who had been hiding beyond the cityscape, curled her lips into a smile.

"Changmyeong was a diversion from the start."

The power of the Myeongse Psalm, which forcibly slows the movements of beings that defy the providence of creation, clung to Zernix's body like chains.

'Who is this?'

Someone can use the Psalms at such high speed, and in dragon speech?

'Three Psalms in a row?'

The illusion that flashed before his eyes for a moment was that arrogant priestess girl with red hair blowing in the wind.

'It can't be that priestess girl.'

Right?

That girl died 200 years ago.

Zernix moved to find the source of the power, but a firebird fluttered erratically around him, disrupting his vision.

"This fellow…"

He tried to annihilate him from this world with Bel Kuerius, but he was fast. Too fast. How can he be this fast?

'No, it's not just him that's fast.'

The world reflected in his eyes was too fast.

The world hadn't sped up; he had slowed down.

Was the Myeongse Psalm's slowing ability this potent?

'I can still fight.'

Meanwhile, Bart, who had retreated from the front lines of battle, rose, gripping the Dragonbone Spear with his one arm amidst the vitality infusing his body.

'My disordered pulse was instantly rectified.'

Rem also raised himself from the pile of rocks.

This power that vastly surpassed Serwebon's healing ability… It seemed as if the vitality throughout his body was regenerating at super-high speed, like beings of the abyss.

Serwebon flickered dazzlingly, as if in delight.

'Lend me your strength, ancestors.'

I can draw the bowstring at most two or three more times. If I miss this chance, there's no solution.

'This is the chance.'

'We must end it now.'

'If it's right now.'

At that moment, the will everyone held in their hearts was the determination to end it all right here. It was also the impatience that it had to end here.

"Heavenly Apex (天極)!"

The apex of the sword energy, long and sharp, erupted from the Dragonbone Spear, snatching light and shadow from the world as it detonated.

"Space-Time Annihilation (時空殲)!"

Dimensions split along the trajectory of Shirpeng's slash, and a rift in providence sucked the enemy in its path to the other side of providence.

"Drunken Archer's Secret Technique, Thousand Nightingale Kill (千鶯虄)!"

Extreme magic, condensed above the bowstring of the White Creation Bow, wove into a massive, bluish-green arrow, and a cry like a thousand birds shook the sky.

'I'd never succeeded even once until now.'

It was a clean and perfect stance, as if Kiese's will had possessed him for a moment. Serwebon had guided the way.

"Akie's Sincere Punch."

And the young dragon, whose horns and tail burned more fiercely than before, burrowed into his rear in an instant and thrust its fist.

'Don't make me laugh.'

All these things happening simultaneously, and the ever-approaching threats.

'These specters from 300 years ago.'

What swept chillingly down Zernix's spine was fear, a state of panic that turned his mind blank, felt at the moment his life was threatened.

That sensation he had felt a thousand years ago.

The real feeling of death he had experienced the moment his master obliterated his magic and body in an instant.

Coincidentally, that memory, which flashed through his mind, presented the next step, a milestone for how to use this power.

In a world where only he was slow, he let out an inarticulate roar.

Both eyes tore open long above and below, and new eyeballs sprouted from them.

From the six Bel Kuerius, waves spread 360 degrees, instantly dyeing the world, and providence, red…

Roar.

Scream.

Silence.

Where the feast of abilities had ended, on the street where dust clouds passed, only one person stood alone.

"Hmph, heh, heh, heh, heh-hehehehe."

The others were all slammed into collapsing buildings by the impact, or lay covered in blood and dirt amidst the street's paving stones.

"Hahahahahahahaha! I've surpassed it! My own limits, at this very moment! With this, I am invincible! Whether my opponent is a god or an ancient king, I won't lose!"

What could have happened?

Only Friede, from a distance, had clearly witnessed and understood what had transpired.

'That madman, how many dimensions did he open?'

It wasn't merely sending them to another dimension; it was more complex. It should be described as opening dimensional passages.

'In an instant where even the senses of his entire body slowed down.'

Bart's attack continued along the passage and struck Miria, Miria's attack struck Akie, Akie's attack struck Rem, and Rem's attack struck Bart.

"So even our priestess, who is 300 years old and still sexy, was insufficient to stop the power of this newborn Lord Zernix."

Before, she had cautiously hidden her position, but now that was impossible.

Because she had to protect everyone in the party from fatal injuries with the Divine Love Psalm, which cast an area barrier. They had only lost consciousness; all were alive.

Perhaps because she had overexerted herself immensely even with a dragon's soul and body, blood clots streamed from her mouth.

"Friede, Friede, Friede."

As Pipi chattered anxiously, Zernix looked at Friede and licked his lips.

"Normally, it's this Lord Zernix's creed not to force women, you see."

Friede was proficient in all spells and had talent in combat, but the ability she handled best was still healing-type power.

"Since you're a very special case, being able to maintain eternal youth by becoming a dragon, I'll specially make you this Lord Zernix's woman."

Furthermore, witches are inherently more specialized in combat support than one-on-one combat… And even more so now, as she couldn't use other Psalms while maintaining the Divine Love Psalm.

"And you've grown horns, just in time."

This meant she had the lowest combat power among the hero's party, and Zernix was well aware of this, which is why he was so leisurely.

"Perfect, absolutely perfect. Aren't these just the perfect conditions to satisfy my peculiar tastes?"

Friede merely watched Zernix approach with unhurried movements.

"Let's roll around together on the bed of eternity."

The power, manifested in dragon speech, unleashed a force ten times greater than its usual might, but…

"Yes, a feisty woman is more enjoyable to embrace."

It was futilely swallowed by the dimensional barrier shimmering around Zernix's body. It was merely a meaningless resistance.

'Is it that 300 years isn't enough to contend with that thousand-year-old serpent?'

I can't move.

And I shouldn't move carelessly.

'If I do, the power of the Divine Love Psalm, which I deployed four times simultaneously, will scatter.'

Then what do I counter with?

Think, Friede, think.

It was the moment their distance had narrowed to about five paces. The moment Pipi blocked his path.

"No, Pipi!"

The moment Zernix's Bel Kuerius was about to send her body flying to another dimension.

'I can't see ahead. Darkness? Hallucination? What Psalm is this? I didn't detect any ability reactions with Bel Kuerius.'

It took him a not-so-short time to realize that his retina had actually been sliced by a wind blade.

'What about the dimensional barrier? Bel Kuerius's magic detection?'

How could wind magic penetrate these two safeguards?

Zernix, who had regenerated his eyeballs at super high speed, soon saw a bizarre sight.

It was the shadow of a specter that couldn't exist in this timeline.

'Am I really under some hallucination spell?'

Dirt-colored curly hair without any particular charm, and freckles scattered around his nose.

He still possessed the physical characteristics of the 11th Archmage that Zernix had seen when he killed him 300 years ago, and when he was trapped in ice.

But he was different. Back then, he was clearly a boy, but the opponent now before his eyes was a young man in his late twenties.

'No, there are no abilities detected by Bel Kuerius right now.'

If that boy hadn't died on the expedition and had returned, growing up normally, wouldn't he have looked like that?

"What is that utterly hideous appearance? Are you trying to emphasize that you're a specter from the past?"

Despite Zernix's provocation, there was not a single flicker of change in Lin's expression.

"Friede, stay far back with Pipi."

Calm eyes, devoid of anger, fighting spirit, or murderous intent.

"Zernix."

One could even feel a natural serenity, like a lake born somewhere on a spring mountain slope.

"Let's truly end it now."