Book 20 Chapter 8
The arch-nemesis and vanguard of the mission,
Cheon Kaditpol Knights (11)
It was a situation where it wouldn't be strange to be confident of victory.
[King's Flesh] mainly parasitizes internal organs, so Rin prepared psychokinetic magic.
This was to recover the [King's Flesh] that came out with the Ice Spear Victory Slash's crystal into the Golden Shadow Barrier.
“Huh……?”
But it's gone!
The [King's Flesh], nowhere to be found!
Does that mean Cardin Omec didn't have the [King's Flesh]? Was Omec finished like this?
“Guhhhhhhhhhhh!”
No, that's not it. On the contrary, his body was regenerating at high speed, with nerve bundles, muscle fibers, and tendons connecting in real-time, a truly nightmarish sight!
But how?
The Ice Spear Victory Slash's spike had almost separated his upper and lower body, so how could his body regenerate?
“L-Lava?”
It is said that one can observe lava by smashing the crater of an active volcano with a balloon or similar object and going deep inside.
It is also said that the <Ones> used a method of drilling a hole in the side of a volcano to reduce the heat and volume of lava beforehand, in order to lessen the damage during the moment of eruption.
At that moment, what Rin, Link, and Nils witnessed was exactly that situation. Lava flowing down, melting the crystal and instantly reattaching the body……!
[Dangerous, Rin, Link! Retreat! That guy is like a cream puff with its side burst open! Cream makes you dirty if it splashes on you, but that thing isn't just that level, your body will melt!]
Rin had encountered enemies who regenerated their bodies as if to show off countless times before… but each time, they were truly hideous monstrosities.
“But you're the worst of them all. If you got hit by Link and my fantastic teamwork, shouldn't you die as a matter of courtesy?”
“Kyuuuuut!!!”
“Why are you leaving him out? You stay out of this, you idiot! You just put a spoon in an already cooked meal.”
“Link, Link, Link!”
“Link, you say Swald worked hard too, so don't be like that? What are you talking about! I know. But don't praise him. It'll spoil him.”
Rin appeared to be chatting casually, but he was already freezing the 15th horde of hosts that had swarmed him.
[Don't be careless, Rin! The analysis is complete! That guy's entire body is flesh!]
“Well, his body is flesh, obviously.”
[You stupid Manuki! I mean King's Flesh! His entire bones and muscles! Except for the nervous system that has become the nucleus, everything is flesh!
If so, can that guy be seen as an aggregate of [King's Flesh] acting with will? Truly a demon!
“What happened to you…?”
Del, who flew to Omec's side, glared annoyingly at Rin.
“My power requires chain explosions… and to spam that level of freezing magic, it can't be explained unless your magic power is infinite… What exactly are you, your body…?”
Rin deliberately pulled his conical hat low over his eyes and said coolly.
“[The Strongest], that's all you need to know.”
However, even before he could give that answer, Del was already continuing the conversation in a self-questioning and self-answering manner.
“No, there's definitely a limit… I see the cold sweat flowing all over your body. Your stamina and magic power must be at their limits, right? Your body's reactions are honest.”
“T-This is just a performance for human interest? I'm perfectly fine?”
“You probably pulled down your hat to hide your cold sweat… Alright… then until your magic power is completely depleted… I'll just keep using biological bombs!”
Right then, two unusual things happened.
One was from behind…!
That is, a runaway surge of extreme heat occurred in <Vanessis>, which belongs to the northern peak of the Keltimus volcanic region.
“You… you see it too, right? What do you think that is? The King has begun to awaken… You guys have already lost…!”
Del chuckled.
“I want to watch the demise of all you filthy humans, without exception… from a special seat… So just die already! Don't bother me!!”
The other unusual event… was actually something that could have been known from the moment Nils appeared, and that was reinforcements.
Countless troops began to pour in over the suspension bridge.
The vanguard was the Sagadan of the ‘Sages of Prayer’, followed by human soldiers.
‘Oh no.’
Rin's eyes wavered.
Normally, reinforcements would have been a welcome sight, but at this moment, with Del as the opponent, it was different.
The hosts being eroded by the Abyss Moss rushed towards the North Gate, not Rin!
“No! Don't stab them!”
The fairy soldiers belonging to the Sagadan were truly elite personnel.
Suppressing the movements of hosts with a single strike was no problem.
Once the Sage's command was given, they would defeat anyone without suspicion, in a state of absolute trust. Even if they were controlled civilians!
“Hmph… Hahahahahahaha…!”
Rin and Del's expressions changed drastically!
The one laughing, of course, was the latter!
The Abyss Moss began to spread instantly throughout that many reinforcements!
“P-People all hold a mask in their soul.”
Fear and chaos spread.
Those who were at the forefront melted into a horrible slime, and that slime stuck to others, and again…
“I like to lift that… that mask. You know what? If you peel off that mask, everyone is evil. God couldn't have made them.”
After completing a certain degree of proliferation, the hosts divided into two groups. One group continued towards the reinforcements, while the other rushed towards Rin.
“No, maybe there was no God to begin with?”
Even in Rin's mind, confusion swirled frantically.
‘T-This crazy….’
How, what should I do?
The remaining magic power, as he detected, is enough for three 5-star spells at most.
Sweeping them all away at once wouldn't be a problem, but if I did that…
- Rin.
For some reason, at such moments, whenever he was about to make such a judgment, the Dean's smile flashed through his mind.
“Don't attack, Link! Don't kill them!”
“Link, Link, Link?”
“I'll freeze them! So healers like Friede and Shuan can fix them after everything's over!”
Just as their gazes were fixed on the new hosts, Omec, who had finished regenerating, lunged at Link.
The force that struck Link was so powerful that Rin, who was in the VIP seat on his shoulder, flew through the air and was slammed into the ground.
The situation was truly the worst! Besides the reinforcements, there were also reptilian hosts approaching invisibly in mimicry!
“Don't annoy me… Just disappear…”
Ice Wave 1!
The ultimate cold that freezes the transformed reinforcements!
“With that level of skill… you should know well… shouldn't you?”
Ice Wave 2!
Extreme cold that freezes the reptilian horde aiming for the rear!
“What's important in a battle between mages is the amount of magic power… and the amount of abyss I control is nearly infinite. Meaning I'm one step ahead…”
Ice Wave 3!
The extreme zero-point that freezes the swarming transformed reinforcements again!
“I'm sick of you now… You're in the way! Die!”
As Cardin Del raised his hand and aimed at Rin, a host army formed a veritable wall of flesh from all defenses, all directions, all angles, and charged in!
Then, at that moment, that instant!
Something moved bright blue throughout the frozen area. Just as those unknown things seemed to leap towards Del, they exploded in mid-air!
“Ugh… fragments?”
Inorganic summons, Undine!
Summoning was not Rin's specialty, so he could only control three or four, but it was clearly the iconic summon of the 10th Archmage, Huke!
It was an Undine newly interpreted with the Ice attribute by his successor Archmage, Rin!
“Are you trying to get on my nerves…? Remote explosion of ice summons, how dare you imitate me…?”
However, while the exploding ice particles might cause superficial scratches on the skin, they cannot inflict fatal wounds!
“You think you can beat me if we go into a remote explosion battle…? You arrogant brat…!”
Was it just a final desperate struggle?
Since he couldn't defeat the mage, if the host army that had swept across the entire horizon exploded, even Rin couldn't survive.
But the boy, the genius Archmage boy, at that critical moment, pointed directly at Del and smiled with his eyes!
“Coordinate system construction, successful.”
“……?”
“Breaking the Undines wasn't for the purpose of attack. As the [Strongest Archmage], I should throw strategies to the dogs and solve everything with simple power, but this is embarrassing.”
“……!”
“Water magic is the magic most affected by catalysts. The shattered Undine ice, at this moment, instantly reached its melting point due to the aftermath of the volcanic eruption, turning into water droplets.”
What if we connect those generated water droplets, from this end to the water droplets located at that end, with a single line segment!
“As a result, you and that monster, who were fleeing so nimbly on your broom, were able to create a water pillar that covered the entire 30-meter radius coordinate plane!”
“You idiot, what did water do…? I can just regenerate that much! The hosts have already reached explosion range! Eat this…! Chain explosion of decay…!”
“Retreat with all your might, Link!”
Rin shouted, spitting up blood.
‘I don’t know why….’
It has been since childhood that he could interpret all causality in the world as equations.
‘In times when life had no value or meaning, calculating the coordinates of rain or snow was routine. I didn't even know ordinary mathematical equations. But it was possible.’
What is the genius Archmage trying to say, recalling the past at this moment?
He asserts that it is possible!
To calculate the line segments connecting each of those thousands of water droplets in pairs and instantly change the laws of nature!
“Osarius-style Aquatic Human 5-star, Hundred White Snow Slashes!”
The line segment connecting water droplet to water droplet becomes a water pillar, and that water pillar instantly freezes, sharpened into blades of frost!
One, one, and another!
A hundred, a thousand, ten thousand!
It could no longer be called a water pillar. It was a vortex, a typhoon of frost that tore, sliced, cut, and divided everything with extreme cold!
“Cardin Del & Omec, torn to shreds without a trace and die.”
The moment Rin snapped his finger, which was aimed at Cardin Del, that was the signal, everything was torn! All of it was cut! All of it was sliced!
The broom, the Kaditpol armor, and beyond that, the skin and bones, and everything necessary to exist as a living being!
Cardin Del, literally torn to shreds without a trace, and what floated starkly at his coordinates was [King's Flesh]!
“Kyuuuuut!”
“I-I know!”
The [King's Flesh] tries to reconstruct its body based on the information of the host already inscribed, but Rin is already a professional among professionals in the 'war against flesh'!
Immediately a single running start!
And he threw the Golden Shadow Barrier with all his might!
Of course, due to lack of muscle strength, the throwing force and angle are supplemented with psychokinetic magic!
“Yaaah─────!”