Book 18 Chapter 31
<Orwardan>` Fierce Battle,
Foreshadowing of That Farewell Story (3)
Lin's expression, that they were 'too weak to rub shoulders with the four of us,' was not wrong in the slightest.
In fact, to be precise, it was a very honest assessment.
It wasn't that he underestimated Nils, Link, and Lyuminik, but rather that he judged there would be no need for their help.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
After a very short silence, just long enough for both sides to catch their final breath… the two forces clashed!
Bloodworm Barrage!
As the Bloodworm Demon deeply slashed his wrist artery, the gushing fresh blood entwined into countless swarms of flying insects and charged! Abhorrent!
“Leave this place to me, Just like moths drawn to a flame.”
Fride inhaled the pipe smoke until his lungs, entire abdomen, and even both cheeks swelled to their limit… then exhaled!
Behold, it was a dragon's breath!
Flames! A dragon's fire! Spewing forth with fierce and intense heat, forming a massive column of fire!
“!”
As soon as the Pale Baronet's insects made contact with the flames, they turned black and withered away, so it was perhaps a natural progression for the Bloodworm Demon's brow to furrow!
Of course, this isn't all!
Pipi, the Parrot of Flame, attached the flames to its wings! Wielding those vast flames, it charged towards the Bloodworm Demon!
“Just like the mythical bird, Suzaku, Suzaku, Suzaku.”
But something was strange. The Pale Baronet immediately grasped the nature of that strangeness.
“It's a deception. Who do you think this beast is trying to fool?!”
That's right. Pipi had no way of carrying those flames! So, was this merely a prank?
Absolutely not!
The reason the flame attribute is powerful lies in its ability to block all major sensory nerves. Sight, touch, smell… and furthermore, even the magic detection sensors known as the sixth sense!
“!”
In the next moment, 8 holes were simultaneously pierced through the vast flames.
It was a passage.
A channel created by extremely sharp and finely honed magical arrows passing through in an instant!
‘What…?’
What should have been spoken aloud could only be expressed as a fleeting delusion in his mind.
What a fatal blow…!
Eight arrows that pierced through the flames simultaneously struck the Bloodworm Demon's abdomen, exploiting the blind spot where all senses were blocked!
[(ㅇ~<)V]
What skill! What humiliation! This was only possible because it was Kiess, an unprecedented existence in the world of bows, the strongest archer of all time!
If it had merely been a fatal wound, it might not have been a big problem for the Bloodworm Demon, but regeneration by the [King's Flesh] was not occurring rapidly.
The residual magic of the World Tree was taking root throughout the Bloodworm Demon's body, hindering regeneration. A masterstroke!
“Truly a top-tier fighting spirit! It'll be well worth enjoying!”
Meanwhile, the Bloodfight Demon targeted Lystra as his first objective and charged! Twin swords formed from fresh blood danced in his hands!
Clashing with Lystra's Surpain!
A shockwave formed within a 50-meter radius around the two swordsmen, and magic and blood flow intertwined, creating a massive wave that once again stirred up a sandstorm in the desert.
“Are you dividing time itself to use it? You're overexerting yourself greatly for that right now. In that case, shall I also push myself just as hard?!”
It wasn't a shockwave caused by a single collision! In that one moment, what ordinary people perceived as a single clash, more than a dozen collisions actually took place!
“What are those two doing? Not finishing it immediately… The stench is getting stronger because of human sweat and blood.”
As the Bloodjade Demon, who was sitting atop the Bloodjade, flicked his finger, the structure of the Bloodjade transformed and rushed towards Lystra.
Truly, a meticulous structure. Was it not an orbit that perfectly restricted Lystra's movement, simultaneously keeping her in check and allowing the Bloodfight Demon to engage in battle?
Of course, that was only a problem if it could reach Lystra.
“5-star, Coordinate Domain.”
At that moment, the magic circle dancing on Lin's palm shattered.
The number of magic circles, five.
It was based on detection magic but differed slightly in nature. The name of this magic, aimed at enhancing the caster's perception range, was Coordinate Domain.
A magic born from the academic pursuit of a boy who dreamed of eternity with mortal perception.
When this magic was activated, everything in the world, originally composed of three dimensions, was interpreted into hundreds of two-dimensional coordinate planes.
For example, points, lines, curves… all of it was clearly inscribed in the brain as coordinate values.
As mentioned before, this magic has no destructive power, so even if it interprets the enemy's attack coordinates, its limitations are clear.
“Kyuut!”
But Lin at that time!
Lin, at that time, when his soul combined with Asrulba, the first Ice Dragon, and he could freely wield the Ice Yeouiju!
He could freeze everything whose coordinates were interpreted on the coordinate plane, turning them icy blue! What a completely insane master!
“What…?”
Blood, the crimson prison of blood, transformed into a blue prison of ice!
That wasn't the end!
The next moment, at the exact instant Lystra's Surpain and the Bloodfight Demon's blood sword clashed, a single icicle stem extended towards that collision point… and shattered.
“Friction occurs in every collision between objects, and from that, a short but intense electric current is generated. That's called triboelectricity.”
That's right. This was the use of a catalyst.
In the battles against inhuman beings during the turbulent period, a single moment's attack often decided the tide of battle.
Lin, who did not possess the Yeouiju of Fire and Electricity at that time, therefore exploited the advantages of using catalysts to the extreme, which can be seen as a fragment of his genius idea.
“Since it's an electric current generated from Surpain, perhaps the power of the holy sword, which is like a natural enemy to demons, will also seep into its positive and negative charges?”
To briefly summarize the engagement so far:
The prison of blood that should have originally imprisoned Lystra was transformed by this genius boy into a conductor transmitting the power of the holy sword… and instead electrocuted the bodies of the Bloodfight Demon and the Bloodjade Demon!
In close combat, even the briefest opening acts as a huge vulnerability, and that electrocution created a blind spot in the Bloodfight Demon's consciousness…
“!”
If Lystra were to miss that fleeting blind spot created by her comrade, she would not be a great figure worthy of being recorded in history books.
But she is Lystra!
The strongest Fae Warrior of all time!
The holy sword Surpain traversed the Bloodfight Demon's body in a straight line! When the blade gouged out his heart, its hilt's direction was immediately changed, making Surpain's sword light cross his upper and lower body!
“Fride, while Lin retrieves the flesh, use your poems to slow down the movements of the Blood Kin's chunks of flesh! So they can't regenerate!”
“Don't worry, I'm already doing it! Kiess, you drunkard! Stop messing around and help out, man!”
“That madman Kiess is currently digging out a huge booger and sticking it on a Blood Kin's face.”
[*(ㅁ,.<)*]
“Dirty, dirty, so dirty.”
The time it took to subdue the three Pale Baronets was incredibly short. Truly, only a single moment of offense and defense was needed.
The other three didn't even need to help.
Link pounded his chest and cheered for the hero party, but similar mixed feelings were crossing Nils's and Lyuminik's minds.
‘I am definitely a genius. Lyuminik, this eccentric human philanderer, is the same.’
‘But we are, after all, geniuses; in about 100 years, a genius with similar talent will be born.’
‘But these guys aren't just geniuses… each one is a monster that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Meister Greta Veiser and still have something left over.’
Monsters that appear perhaps once every thousand years, beings like suns that illuminated their respective eras with their dazzling talents, were born, four of them, in the same era.
If they had merely been born, or if they had been in a civil war forced to kill each other, it would be one thing, but they even united under the name of the hero party.
In short, with four suns simultaneously, or rather, cooperatively pouring forth light, what kind of darkness could possibly remain dark before them?
“The power of the Blood Kin at that time was formidable. It was only natural that the front lines were pushed back so much.”
Later, in response to historians' questions, an elderly Lyuminik replied:
“But when those guys united under the name of Lystra's Party, they became several times stronger than even those Blood Kin! To the point where the leaders of the Blood Kin seemed pathetic! So much so that it's not strange they're comically recorded in today's fairy tales.”
During the turbulent period, the leaders of the demon race are recorded as nightmares in history books.
But what if.
Conversely, if the demon race also had their own history books, the name "Lystra's Party" itself might be recorded as synonymous with disaster.
“With those guys, no enemy was ever fearful. Ah, but… the Bloodspike Lord, whom we met again after that great victory, had become an incredibly formidable foe. He was incomparable to the other Pale Baronets. And for good reason, he had the power of those 'Old Nobles' backing him.”
Lyuminik recalled the scene when they confronted the Bloodspike Lord then: Suddenly, the horizon began to tremble, and countless blood needles (Bloodspikes) surged upwards.
Cruel, ruthless, gruesome!
Behold the sacrifices pierced by that blood. They are people! Though their lives still clung to them, they had lost too much blood and were no longer in their right minds.
“Lin, psychokinesis…!”
Just as Lystra was about to desperately shout for the people to be rescued, suddenly, the bodies of the people were connected by a single massive blood vessel.
And… they were exploited.
All that blood, in other words, their life force.
It was absorbed into the grotesquely emaciated body of the Blood Kin, who sat atop the gigantic bloodspike that had surged up from the city center.
“Hehehehehe, Hahahahahahaha!”
Lin realized then for the first time that blood could create a bloody rainbow and a mirage above the horizon.
Blood surged, piercing the heavens.
Stars that shone in the night sky glowed red within that veil of blood… and the originally blue-glowing eyes of the Blood Kin began to burn red as if resonating with it.
“As the Red Star rises and my mission begins, here and now, the twisted history shall be set right.”
The Bloodspike Lord kicked away his palanquin and rose, his physique strangely healthy and grand.
He cast aside his distinctive star-shaped mask; his two eyes were closed, but a third eye had sprouted on his forehead.
It is said that Anridal, the Lord of Time, bestowed upon his subordinates a ‘third eye,’ which allowed their perception to transcend the limits of time.
“Now, the future (未: not yet, 來: come) has opened.”
The future is the future because it has not yet (未) come (來).
“Only one future is visible. The future where the Lord of Time will once again rule, and the Millennium Kingdom will spread eternally and boundlessly!”
But if someone can observe that future, can it truly be called the future?
“Well then, I must enjoy the honor of laying the first cornerstone for that future.”