Book 7 Chapter 15
Chapter 164
"I bestow upon you the gift of truth."
As Narïaduke elegantly unfurled her fan like a dancer, the banquet of madness began.
Wailing souls.
Staining of space and time.
On a night when madness ran rampant,
the cosmic timbre heard from a graveyard beyond time.
"Serve my will, the vortex of cause and effect… Kya syu bar, the truth of the stars shall rebirth your bodies into their true forms…!"
Those who had once gazed into the abyss, the Black Witches, transformed into non-human entities amidst chilling screams.
A third eyeball sprouted on their foreheads… their skin was covered in black feathers… and their very skeletons twisted and mutated into avian structures…
Not a few people vomited or collapsed to the floor, clutching their heads, at the nauseating and disgusting sight.
"I don't know if it's Lynn or what, but it's definitely a bastard worth punching!"
Cheonggoshinbo (Pure High Divine Step).
It was Reccaire, the investigation chief of the Musinyeon, who, in a single step, instantly delved into Narïaduke's blind spot.
With a speed and distance that allowed no reaction or counter, he simultaneously landed two powerful blows on her back and unleashed the power drawn into his core (心; Manaheart) from his fingertips.
This was a technique that completely twisted the target's blood and respiratory circulation… but the sensation in his hand felt strangely odd.
'It's not just odd. What is it? I definitely used the technique just now. But why is the casting already over?'
It was the same question Dadan Karain felt, who had counterattacked Narïaduke almost simultaneously with Reccaire.
The fire tongue of the fire toad, the Flame Toad, had clearly ensnared this monster just before it could react.
Whether it was a critical hit or not, it should have been engulfed in flames.
But what…?
'This phenomenon, as if the act of being engulfed in flames had simply vanished…'
His consciousness was bewildered. That moment of doubt led to death.
"…?!"
"…?!"
In what interval, the two masters were flailing in mid-air, their faces grasped in Narïaduke's hands.
"You are worthy enough to receive the gift of darkness. Eat my flesh and become faithful servants of the great kingdom that shall be rebuilt."
Agonizing screams, as if squeezing out the last breath from deep within their lungs…
"Ugh, Kuwaaaaah──!"
By the time that chilling scream ended, the bodies of Dadan and Reccaire, who had been writhing in agony, had already transformed into winged monstrous entities.
"Oh my god, the Dean…!"
"Ch-Chief…!"
The faces of the Rivendell mages and Musinyeon warriors, who witnessed the unbearable catastrophe, turned pale.
'Something else happened…'
Valensidis, who had been cautiously observing Narïaduke's actions, took sharp breaths.
'Another inexplicable event, impossible for human perception to comprehend, has occurred.'
Just as the Rivendell school's Heavenly Flame Strike had vanished as if a lie earlier… that warrior's martial art clearly worked.
But it returned to nothingness (無).
The power wasn't neutralized, it wasn't as if it had never happened, but rather as if only 'the time during which the skill was cast' had vanished…
'Wait, what did I just say…?'
By then, the humans transformed into monstrous birds (怪鳥) unleashed a hellish scene amidst the dark green downpour.
Crushing the skulls of the living, extracting their spines, tearing off their limbs…
Only the elders and archmages of the Rivendell school managed to pull themselves together and reorganize their formation to respond to this wave of destruction.
"Form ranks! If you run, you die! Fight back!"
"Chant! Don't be afraid!"
But the cries didn't seem to reach the ears of the subordinates fleeing in terror, and they were all mercilessly slaughtered.
"Stop! The One Thousand Steps, that side has turned into a cliff!"
Miria cried out frantically, but no one listened.
Those who rushed towards it in the dark one by one tumbled down the cliff or were snatched and devoured by monstrous birds in mid-air.
The stench of blood permeating the dense night air was chillingly thick and pungent.
"Oh my, this is… unbelievable."
Miria bit her lip behind the barrier Valensidis had erected, tightly clutching the trembling baby dragon in her arms.
'If that dragon were an adult.'
Valensidis sighed inwardly.
Even if he had revived by possessing Lynn's body, a red true dragon created to annihilate evil would have been more than enough to subdue him after a bloody battle.
"Take that baby dragon and go down the mountain."
Without time for regret, Valensidis made a cold, rational decision.
"Narïaduke might take root in the Red Mountain Range, but if the Cardinal Conclave steps in, it will be a different story. Your goal is to protect that dragon until it becomes an adult."
"What? And you?"
"I have something to verify."
Valensidis slaughtered the monstrous bird approaching Miria with blades of wind, then simultaneously spread his palm and chanted a sacred spell.
Simultaneous casting of magic and spellcraft.
It was a combination for altering providence, possible only for Valensidis, who had been personally tutored by Tureina.
Four magic circles interwove over his palm, while his chant simultaneously formed three runes.
"O power of the sphere (毬) hidden in the shadow of light, O star (瑆) of wind piercing the forest, O power of tranquility (瀞) darker than shadow and brighter than light."
The runes created by the chant layered over the magic circles, and the magic circles began to flash dazzlingly, sputtering yellowish currents.
"By the supplication of I, Valensidis, reveal your power here and now!"
The moment he finished the chant and simultaneously crushed the magic circles in his grasp, a sharp, ear-splitting sound of wind echoed.
'Now, try to bring it out again.'
The winds swirling with fierce pressure crystallized into crescent-shaped formations of power, and countless such colorful crescents flew towards Narïaduke's back in the next moment.
'I'll make you have to bring it out. Against this power that explodes with fire attributes upon impact.'
Tearing through the flesh and bones of the monstrous birds in its path as easily as paper, the crescents, soaking the world in fresh blood, then engulfed Narïaduke in the next moment…
"…?"
Valensidis's eyes narrowed.
His reaction was different.
Unlike before, when he had stood arrogantly still and nullified the power, this time he violently flapped his deformed wings.
'Did he realize I was observing and hide his power?'
The storm of miasma caused by his wingbeats, a storm that easily negated Valensidis's abilities, turned every creature touched by its currents into rotting pus.
'No, it's impossible for a Tri-Wheel of the old era to hide its power just to be wary of someone like me.'
Amidst the death throes of lamentation echoing in the rain as creatures melted alive, Valensidis, who had deployed a wind barrier, quickly processed his thoughts.
It's a hypothesis.
Still just a hypothesis.
He uses power to manipulate time. But that power cannot be used indefinitely.
It requires a certain cooldown period after use.
'Now I have to convey this. To someone who can defeat him…'
Having focused only on the power of time, he had overlooked Narïaduke's other authorities.
In the next moment, Narïaduke stood before him.
Had he moved at superhuman speed? No, he hadn't moved. Valensidis had simply been forcibly teleported in front of him.
His hair stood on end.
His body immediately went into evasion mode.
He tried to pull his limbs back as much as possible, but the absolute being's hand, stretched to grasp his neck, was half a beat faster—
"I am Milona Alter Gaumris."
─At that moment, the Holy Sword's prayer (祈願) caused a rift of light in a world that had only been darkness.
"I desire to annihilate the darkness and illuminate the dawn."
'Alter', the middle name of the Faequirier, means 'agent' or 'representative'. Thus, Milona Alter Gaumris means Milona, the agent of Gaumris.
In Milona's hand, the Supreme Holy Sword Gaumris, a holy sword in the shape of a great hammer, emitted a faint light at the call of its agent and entered battle readiness.
Milona, appearing suddenly from the sky, created a magical foothold in mid-air, and with extreme leg strength, pushed off it, accelerating her descent beyond its limits.
"This is…"
For the first time, a hint of wariness appeared in Narïaduke's voice, which had been full of composure since his reincarnation.
Gaumris, plummeting at an almost vertical angle, struck Narïaduke's — Lynn's — head directly.
Immediately, the hammer began to blaze with a brilliant flash, unleashing Gaumris's legendary special ability to vaporize enemies with transcendent light pressure (光壓).
"Time, it's time!"
When Valensidis's cry was heard, Milona had to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
What on earth just happened?
Gaumris was embedded not in the enemy's head, but in the ground, and the power of light pressure had also vanished.
"He erases time! The time he was attacked!"
Any human who wasn't a Faequirier would have lost their life at this moment.
But Milona was a hero.
Releasing Gaumris from her hand, she simultaneously moved her arm at an unnatural angle, concentrating the power condensed in her chains (鎖; ManaChain) into her fist.
"…!"
She landed a direct punch on Narïaduke's outstretched arm, going beyond merely breaking it to dragging it deep into his solar plexus and burying it deep.
The mana, coiled like chains, exploded in a golden light from the tip of her fist with a clear resonance, blasting Narïaduke far into the darkness.
Even the aftermath was so intense that Valensidis, standing behind, had to drop to one knee to avoid being knocked down.
"Erases time?"
Milona retorted in a brusque voice, her short, pure white hair violently fluttering.
"Then what was that just now?"
While severing her wrist, which had begun to blacken and rot from contact with Narïaduke, with a dagger, and then taking out a syringe from her waist and injecting it into her wrist.
At that moment, a miraculous sight: tendons, blood vessels, muscles, and skin surged from the severed surface, weaving together to form a new hand.
It was ultra-high-speed regeneration using dragon blood (龍血) serum.
Faequiriers, who fought by housing dragon souls, partially embodied the power of absolute life forms in this manner.
"It seems to require time to use again. Not precise, but about 10 seconds."
10 seconds, huh…
Milona, her golden dragon eyes narrowed, rested Gaumris over the shoulder of her plate armor, which heavily encased her entire body.
"He completely shattered my forces. Kinda annoying, isn't it?"
By that time, Juliana, who must have brought Milona here, also descended from her broom to the ground.
Aerial levitation using brooms was the privilege of witches skilled in spell control. Had flight become possible after Tureina's barrier disappeared?
Juliana immediately began to recite the sacred words from the divine scroll, the Holy Anthem of Love (信愛詩篇), from her waist.
"Scattered everywhere with seeds and vegetables (遍地結子之菜零), and fruit bearing pits grown on all trees (與凡樹所生懷核之果), I give you all of these as food (我俱賜爾以爲食)."
If the power of the Hymn of Creation was binding, the power of the Holy Anthem of Love was protection and healing.
The circle constructed with sacred characters grew larger and larger, healing the wounds of everyone who entered it, lifting curses, and protecting them from evil.
The abyssal monstrous birds could not enter the circle; the moment they touched it, they were repelled by the power of light, screaming in agony before slowly being burned away.
All those who entered the barrier and survived lost consciousness as their extreme fear dissipated.
Only a few elders and archmages barely maintained consciousness.
"Valensidis, what happened? Is that Narïaduke? Did we fail to stop the ritual?"
Juliana's entire body was drenched in sweat, her long scroll, hair, and clothing fluttering in the residual wind as her hands were pressed together in prayer.
As the Seven Cantos of Creation demanded extreme magical power, it was an enormous burden even for her, a great shamaness.
"No, it doesn't seem like we failed. It's *them* who failed. So it seems he absorbed Tureina's life force and then reincarnated by possessing Archmage Lynn's body."
"What?"
"Then what about the true dragon's infant form?"
To Milona's question, he couldn't reply, "I left it to the Goblin Slayer…"
Chills ran down his spine. Why was Narïaduke so quiet?
"No way."
Milona clicked her tongue, then her dragon eyes scoured every corner of the darkness. Eyes that brightened the dark and drew the distant near soon caught sight of it.
"It's only for a very brief moment… Ro o tam, a very brief time is all I need to tame this body…"
The sight of Goblin Slayer, who was desperately running down the mountainside from the endless threat of the monstrous birds, being pulled out from a rift in the torn space.
How could this be…?
Had he judged there was no chance of victory now, unfamiliar with the body? It seemed he intended to hide after dealing with the baby dragon.
"But that abominable race… I will kill him here and announce the true king's return to the world with his blood…!"
Had her spatial perception been thrown into confusion by the sudden teleportation? It was the instant Miria paused.
It was the instant Narïaduke stretched out an arm, swirling with dark blue wind, towards the baby dragon Aki clinging to her back.
In that instant, Milona closed the distance of nearly fifty paces with a single leap, grasping Gaumris with both hands. But in that instant.
"…As expected, you'd come out like that, hehehehehehe."
Narïaduke flashed a smile imbued with ineffable malice.
This bastard…
This was his aim…?
Once again, the time when 'his upper body was pulverized by Gaumris's blow' vanished.
"A mere insignificant human… Al rem, did you truly think I, Narïaduke, would flee from a counterfeit like you who wields a false sword?"
And as Narïaduke, who had been waiting on the other side of the vanished time, swung his fan.
"Lady Milona!"
The fan, light as silk, severed Milona's arm holding the holy sword, and simultaneously.
"Ugh, ughhhh…!"
He unleashed a cosmic wind that instantly corrupted and melted all creation existing in this dimension.
"Balpakir! I, Narïaduke, serve wisdom… The principles of action of barbaric beings like warriors are clear even without stellar knowledge!"
Milona, having dropped Gaumris, was sent flying with her body twisted, tumbling on the ground, before finally braking her body and spitting blood.
"You must have been arrogant, thinking you knew what power was."
Amidst the vortex of miasma, she had deployed all her chains (鎖) on her skin's surface, protecting her body somehow… but without the holy sword, the outcome of the battle was clear.
"Oldos shin, true power does not come from the body, but from a mind tempered by knowledge and insight."
That bastard, he never intended to target the baby dragon from the start. It was all to draw out my weak points…
"Hehehehehe, sacrifice that annoying counterfeit to the King, all of you…"
As soon as that command was given, countless monstrous birds descended from high in the sky towards Milona, letting out long, tearing cries.
"Indeed, how long can you endure? Sher tas? How long? She geru tas? How long?"
She crushed their heads, snapped their spines, tore off their wings… Milona struggled, but a Faequirier is a swordsman, not a pugilist.
"Even those impious beings that were your origin couldn't wield much power without this sword!"
The spells and magic Valensidis cast to help could not penetrate the miasma storm unleashed by Narïaduke's fan and withered powerlessly.
"Don't go, Valensidis!"
"──!"
"If you step outside this Holy Anthem of Love barrier, you'll instantly melt. Milona is a Faequirier, so she can endure that storm."
In the miasma storm where not an inch ahead could be seen, the moment Milona's breathing and posture faltered, the moment monstrous birds poured down upon her, and the moment Narïaduke shifted his gaze to the baby dragon.
"──?!"
"──?!"
"──?!"
Flames reaching the sky (火光衝天), an overwhelming and ferocious wave of fire instantly engulfed everyone's vision and consciousness.
It swept away the miasma storm that was melting the terrain, which was once a mountaintop, into mere dust, and the monstrous birds dancing in that storm turned into charcoal without even a chance to scream.
The flames, which carved out a massive crater in the ground, incredibly caused no harm to Milona.
The fire, which had incinerated everything except where Milona stood, leaving it in its original state, then, in the next moment, sped forth as a wall of fire.
A massive barrier dividing Miria and Aki from Narïaduke.
"Ah, Aboo!"
A power that humanity of the modern era only knows through knowledge, but Narïaduke experienced and knew directly in the era before common reckoning.
"No…"
Is that why the corners of this body's mouth twitch involuntarily?
"Could these flames be…?"
The divine ultimate flames spewed by the red dragon head of Asura, the three-headed dragon who received the authority to annihilate evil from Kalendhen.
Those flames didn't incinerate the target's physical body, but rather burned its very formula of existence.
It was a power that no human could ever reproduce. In short, it was a power of a different dimension.
When the outline of a straw hat, possessing a transcendent presence, appeared amidst the swirling heat haze, Juliana was dazedly muttering.
"Master…?"
But this was impossible.
Even Tureina herself could not handle such mighty flames.
And crucially, the old girl had already fallen into eternal sleep in the old boy's arms.
Cling… Cling… Cling…
As the figure in the straw hat became clear amidst the clear, ringing sound of metal, even the world seemed to hold its breath, and the rain paused for a moment.
'This presence is… similar to the Cardinals…'
Milona trembled with a shiver.
Because she felt the dragon pearls of the wyverns dwelling in her soul instinctively expressing awe towards a dragon pearl of a higher caliber.
'That guy, he was alive after all…'
Miria, holding back Aki who tried to go towards the boy, felt her chest ache somehow.
Because of the joy of reunion?
No. Because on that face, seen again, she saw a grief so tragically etched, impossible to describe.
"…"
The young man, facing the absolute master of time directly, slightly lifted his old straw hat, revealing his eyes.
Beneath the shadow of the straw hat, where rainwater streamed, eyes burned redder than any blood in this world.
Those eyes, where tears had dried up, no longer belonged to the 'boy' whose time had frozen at eighteen.