Book 10 Chapter 6
Episode 231
Annoyance wells up.
It's not just that hatchling dragon; this magician also provokes annoyance as if digging at my nerves with a knife.
‘I don't know why.’
Every time they open their mouths, a different voice is strangely heard.
Are they using some kind of illusion magic?
Such impudence… At that moment, thoughts swirled in Ellamas's hands, forming their own distinct shapes.
The scythe that harvests life, Bahsharo. A transcendental weapon bestowed by the Lizard Lord upon his kin.
“Oh really? Then I have no choice but to bury you alongside those pieces of trash.”
The attack is coming…
Rain judged so and concentrated his mind, but it was his body that had to move.
At that moment, it was the True Dragon that had moved its body and fiercely charged.
There was no particular skill or trick in that movement, but that colossal physique itself, like a mountain, was a powerful technique.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!
The True Dragon's landing, the ground splitting apart, broken paving stones scattering everywhere, and even a crater formed.
‘What kind of speed is this…!’
His body, hastily thrown into the air, tumbled across the ground, barely escaping the range of the attack.
The fact that such a colossal body could perform such movements made him keenly feel the majesty of an absolute life form.
If it were simply fast, it wouldn't be a big problem, but…
[Aruuu!]
As Ellamas vigorously crossed her arms, the True Dragon's foreleg detached from its body. Like a doll.
‘This is.’
Before he could even get up, that foreleg charged fiercely right in front of him.
‘Right in front of me…!’
What kind of combination is this?
To think that the True Dragon's power and necromancy could form such a close combination.
Moreover, not being able to focus solely on the True Dragon is another huge problem.
He barely managed to raise his staff to block the attack, but his body would have shot backwards like an arrow with an impact as if struck by a massive rock.
“Akki, reappearance!”
If Akki hadn't appeared in front of Rain then, and sent that foreleg flying with a strong punch.
“Akki…!”
This is no time to be glad.
Akki can't hold out that long either. I can tell just by looking at her trembling fist.
We must quickly decide the outcome. Before the situation spirals into the worst.
“Your ‘Realm of Soul’ seems to originate from inquiry (探究), but with something like that, you couldn't defeat my realm even if you died and came back to life!”
As he was focusing only on the True Dragon, Ellamas's scythe of death, wielded by her atop the dragon's back, flew in a sharp arc.
‘But what is that sound? A realm originating from inquiry?’
Does this mean that the mindscape barrier and the alien world are on the same line? And is there something that influences the drawing out of that power?
“Fire Mirror Lotus (火鏡蓮花)!”
Innumerable sparks spread in all directions, swirling and dancing around my body.
I confirmed that half of the sparks combined their strength to deflect the dark scythe, and carved new runes into the remaining sparks.
The sparks took on the form of blades and rushed towards Ellamas, who hid behind the dragon's wing and raised an eyebrow.
“A realm that can freely change its power midway… Even if you construct such a realm, Zernix used it freely without any realm!”
I have to find the answer.
I need to find out why my mindscape barrier falls short of Ellamas's alien world.
What secret is hidden within the mindscape barrier.
‘Victory lies right there.’
* * *
The city, filled with the fog of vengeful spirits, was so difficult that even keeping one's eyes open was hard.
What guided them towards the spire were only Serwebon's arrows and Pipi, which emitted a clear light even within the fog.
“What happens when we get to the spire?”
Valensidis, who had connected a flame-type illumination magic to Pipi's trajectory, asked.
“Th-they play music, th-they said they could expand the barrier again with that.”
As expected of the 1st Archmage Ligwind.
Did he consider the day the barrier would break due to the Blackwater, and thus hand down a certain secret technique only to the royal family?
But the Dawn Brigade would also be chasing the prince's whereabouts, so the path ahead would not be easy.
“Found them.”
Before he could finish that thought, members of the brigade who had been waiting on the roof descended to the ground.
Cold sweat formed on Bart's hand clutching the dragonbone spear. Defeating them all was not the problem. The problem was time.
The moment this plague spread throughout the castle… would it really be possible to control it?
“Draw, shoot!”
At that moment, a rain of arrows poured down on the heads of the Dawn Brigade, startling the members, who turned around.
Charging at them, aiming spears and swords, were the kingdom's soldiers.
To Ovin, whose eyes had widened, Ashka, the gatekeeper of the West Gate, shouted.
“Go, Your Highness! We shall open the path for you!”
As if he couldn't readily move his feet, Valensidis forcibly slung Ovin, whose body seemed to have stiffened, over his shoulder and began to run.
He must be worried.
He must be hoping no one dies.
He is different from me, who has become accustomed to compromising with reality. This good heart, which pursues ideals even in despair, will surely change the world someday.
“Focus on your mission now, Ovin! If you fail, it won't just end with those soldiers all dying!”
“…!”
“To achieve ideals, a certain amount of sacrifice is necessary. That's an unavoidable reality!”
Ovin bit his lip, tears painfully welling up, and only after a long while, barely managing to compose himself, did he nod.
‘Even if I can't go.’
This guy, at least, must be sent to the future. I must help his ideals be realized.
Just as the outline of the spire began to appear in the fog, at that very moment.
Something cold pierced through Valensidis's back skin, and penetrated below his heart. His feet automatically stopped in pain beyond limits.
“M-master…!”
Cavellin, the most famous javelin used by elves for its lethality.
The moment it hits a target, the shaft breaks, making it difficult to pull out.
Furthermore, since the shaft is perforated in various places, it causes the target's blood to drain out instantly.
‘Anemia already…’
From Valensidis's mouth, who had fallen to his knees and sat down, blood gushed out.
A fishy smell came from his mouth.
His head was spinning. Thoughts couldn't form into thoughts. His body rapidly grew cold.
Barely gasping for breath, and even as his body felt as if it was moving far away, Valensidis drew Kashasur from his waist and swung it widely.
“I've opened a dimension… leading to the spire… go quickly…”
He placed the princess, whom he had been carrying tucked under his arm since she was unconscious, into the prince's arms.
“Go, quickly…!”
Ovin, with tears overflowing from his eyes, violently shook his head.
“This is no time to cry… For you, your mission… Bart, quickly…!”
As much as I want to go all the way, if the soldiers' defensive line has been breached, then it's right for me to buy time here.
“Is it me, whom you've known for less than a month… or all the people in this royal castle…? Choose…!”
Is this a product of chance?
Or fate?
To experience the same thing as the day I killed my master, no, to experience something like "put oneself in another's shoes" (易地思之) like this.
What did my master do then? He laughed, more heartily than usual. I probably can't laugh that much.
“Go, I'm fine.”
He barely managed to raise the corners of his mouth.
Perhaps having glimpsed the resolve in that expression, Bart took Ovin and threw himself to the other side of the dimension.
A silent roar, audible only to those facing death, could be heard.
His own heartbeat could be heard. Footsteps were heard from behind. Voices were heard. Archaic vocabulary, the language of elves.
‘As long as my body moves, I must fulfill my role as a master…’
As he turned his body, the strength also drained from his arms.
Kashasur slipped from his grip, and his body collapsed onto the dust.
Into his hazy, fading vision, hostile shadows began to appear…
Piiiiing.
An arrow, shot from the darkness of vengeful spirits, embedded itself in Valensidis's forehead.
* * *
“Hmph ha ha ha ha ha! Die!”
The True Dragon spewed black flames into the sky.
The black flames, staining the sky pitch black, split into countless barrages, pouring down incessantly, melting everything they touched.
‘Even if I try to drag it into close combat…!’
Sticking his staff into the ground, Rain hastily formed three hand seals.
Ho (Protection), Jung (Center), Gyeol (Bind).
The elemental hand seal used was Lei (Thunder), extending a defensive barrier centered on speed.
“Can you afford to focus only on this?!”
At that moment, the ground split open, and a long, grotesque, pure white hand shot out from it.
“My alien world is wide-area necromancy control!”
When he heard the sound and turned his head, it had already grasped Rain's ankle.
Let go. I have to make it let go.
It wouldn't be something that would let go just by shouting, but I can't shift my attack or focus here either.
“If it's a being without a soul, anything can be controlled like a puppet!”
Finally, in that grip, his ankle bone was being crushed.
A scream erupting from primal pain. Don't be overwhelmed, don't be controlled by the pain.
Amidst the intense pain that made his head spin, he formed the next hand seal.
“Rune Carving Transformation!”
In the form of a wedge.
It's important to utilize both destructive power and speed.
‘Attacking me in that state?’
Ellamas, who hastily blocked the wedge of lightning with the dragon's wing, raised an eyebrow.
‘That magician bastard, are his senses not normal?’
But that was also the most correct solution in this situation.
I was planning to take his life the moment his defensive action returned to the primitive man, but in that instant, amidst that pain, such a method.
At such a young age, how much combat experience has he accumulated?
‘His eyes…’
The wedge, which she thought would strike her, exploded into a furious halo of light.
If vision is blocked, a gap naturally appears in necromancy control.
The primitive man's grip, which was just about to break Rain's ankle, momentarily weakened.
“Akki!”
At that moment, the skull of the primitive man holding his ankle was utterly shattered in a barrage of flames.
“Akki, it's my turn to appear again.”
As if overjoyed by her sister's assistance, Setsnen's gauntlets flashed brightly.
“But no matter how much you struggle!”
From within the dust, countless primitive men rose.
Armors that had not decayed even within ancient seals indicated their status.
They were not just mere primitive men, mere cannon fodder. They were ancient warriors who guarded the royal castle of the primitive kingdom.
‘Three hundred? Five hundred? No, a thousand…?’
Gasping for breath, he looked around with his back against Akki's.
‘A summoner who handles such a despair-inducing number I've neither seen nor heard of.’
Although it's necromancy, its method wouldn't be vastly different from a summoner's.
‘Just what level of skill is required to make something like that possible?’
Primitive men are primitive men, but the one to be most wary of right now is still Ellamas.
“Now, it’s mealtime!”
With that guy's movements, I could deduce the course of the necromancy…
But the problem is that I can't.
The True Dragon's black flames, and the primitive men currently surrounding them on all sides, meant he couldn't divert his attention.
“Guaaaaaaaaaaaa…!”
As Ellamas swung her scythe, a chaotic wave of primitive men surged in from all directions.
“No matter how fast your magic activation is!”
He swung and thrust his staff, breaking their jaws, severing their waists, and crushing their limbs.
“If I don't even give you time to use that magic, it's useless!”
Even if he cast a wide-area binding with Jeseoseo Ran-yeon, it would be endless.
The reason it's endless is that primitive men keep crawling up tirelessly from the eternal underground to replenish their numbers.
The situation was already an overwhelming disadvantage to anyone. Highlighting that was important. In that case.
“Flash Fire Heavenly Cannon!”
Concentrating the power of Yoo-ryang-se-jon, dragon power manifested from the magic activated at his fingertips.
A fierce and violent wave of flames incinerated all primitive men in its path to ashes as it charged forward.
The targets were Ellamas and the True Dragon…
“For a mere half-dragon like you to confront a True Dragon head-on is absurd to begin with!”
Perhaps judging that he would crush it with power, a vast abyss concentrated in the wide-open maw of the dragon.
Ku-gu-gu-gu…!
To the extent that the entire area was already trembling, it was a premonition of immense power.
He waited.
Only for such great power to be unleashed.
For the positions of the True Dragon and Ellamas to be fixed in one place.
And Miria, who had been waiting, having vanished from sight a while ago, must also have been waiting for this very moment.
“…Heat haze?”
Ellamas's expression, which had been soaked in a triumphant smile, instantly stiffened.
Is it a heat haze created by the black flames?
No, it's strange to say that. Can a heat haze stretch out so long only vertically?
‘Could this be.’
Combat calculations and conjectures, normally impossible deductions, coldly formed in his mind.
To the extent that a chill ran down his spine, he hastily searched for the source of the terrifying power with the dragon's eyes. The True Dragon's corpse and Ellamas's senses were synchronized.
The dragon's eyes drew closer to look at the swordsman standing on the broken spire.
‘Impossible, how could that be?’
In the storm of thoughts, a swordsman with golden bobbed hair fluttered.
The swordsman, whose veins all over her body glowed red, and the sword she held high with both hands was… the sword used by humanity's hero, the Extreme Holy Sword Shurfeng.
Shurfeng's holy light, burning more intensely than when it was in the doll's hands, reached its peak, and a arc of light split the retina.
“───Time-Space Annihilation (時空殲)!”