Chapter 140: The Giant Destroyer (7) |
TL/Editor: Rungir
Schedule: none
Illustrations: none
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"Are you saying that a red light poured out from this ruin, and those who touched it turned into monsters?"
"Yes, that's right!"
In the center of Hoire Village, where the bodies of monsters were piled up like mountains.
Renet nodded frantically to the woman with red eyes, who was looking at the giant ruin in front of her and asking questions.
After being chased by monsters, she had been saved by the woman and blood magicians and had been with them ever since.
Renet didn't have the courage to defy the woman who could annihilate dozens of monsters with a single wave of her finger.
"Damn it, I need to get out of here fast!"
What was happening here was very serious, and Renet felt a duty to inform others about it.
But she was frustrated because she was being dragged around by this mysterious woman.
Moreover, this woman seemed interested in the artifact that caused this situation and had no intention of leaving.
"If that red light emits from the artifact again..."
There could be a way to stop it, but without knowing it, she had no choice but to turn into a monster.
Whether she knew of Renet's anxiety or not, Liushina, the woman, was touching various parts of the ruin with eyes full of interest.
"It seems like a door that leads to another place..."
That was the conclusion she reached after examining the ruin for 30 minutes.
The ruin, shaped like a serpent's tongue, was filled with ancient magic and sorcery formulas, and upon deciphering some of them, it turned out to be a sort of passageway.
'The red light bursting from the ruin is likely the power flowing from the other side as the passage opens.'
To advance her mastery of blood magic, she needed that power, and to verify it, she had no choice but to wait for the red light to pour out of the ruin again.
'No, why should I wait? I can just open it myself.'
With that thought, Liushina smiled and started to infuse her own blood energy into the surface of the ruin.
She was a blood magician at her peak.
There were hardly any spells in this world that she couldn't interfere with.
Not long after Liushina placed her palm on the ruin, the entire ruin began to shake in response to her blood energy.
"What are you doing now...!"
At that moment, Renet, feeling an unknown ominousness, shouted at Liushina, forgetting her fear.
"It's done!"
With the cheerful cry of the witch, whoosh!
The sinister red light that Renet had seen before burst out from the ruin once again, beginning to envelop the entire village.
---
Mind-Thought Sovereign Tarahal.
Among the demonic beings from the magic-infested realms, he was a rare kind, a psychic demon. He had one obsession: to perfectly assimilate with the original owner of the body he had taken over.
This included everything from speech patterns, minor habits, actions, the power used, to the thought processes and ideologies.
He matched everything to the body's original owner based on the absorbed memories, even desiring to be called by the owner's name.
Becoming the very entity of the body he had usurped.
Tarahal, who felt he had no life of his own, only felt alive through this complete assimilation and therefore never broke this rule.
However, now, Tarahal was breaking his own rule by revealing his original magical power.
For one single reason.
Destroying the eternal descendant in front of him was more important than his entire life.
The magic of Tarahal merged, spreading a dark-red light in all directions, beginning to engulf the entire space.
The earth was shaking wildly, cracking open.
The power emanating was incomparably stronger and more malevolent than anything before.
"Utekan... Your Highness?"
"Ma, magic!"
The giants around, feeling such magic, stopped their battle and looked towards Utekan, or rather Tarahal.
Their eyes were shaking.
The Blue Claw Tribe and the Red Horn Tribe, without exception, all showed confusion and horror.
Even those who knew nothing but battle understood how nonsensical the current situation was.
A direct descendant of the Agnes Empire.
How could magic be flowing from Utekan, one of the closest beings to the next emperor?
But,
'I must kill him here.'
As if the giants' astonishment didn't matter at all, Tarahal clenched his fist tightly, fixing his gaze on Zion standing still.
The youngest prince of Agnes, once called the shame of the royal family, had tapped into the power of the eternal nightmare, but it seemed it wasn't fully realized yet.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been dragging out the fight against Tarahal, whose power was limited by these dark-blue chains.
'I must kill him before he grows any stronger.'
There was a good chance of winning.
Now that he had resorted to using his magic, his power had nearly doubled from just moments ago.
'I can't afford to be complacent. I'll smash him in one go.'
Reacting to that thought, the dark-red flames enveloping Tarahal burst into flames.
And the moment one of his feet stepped forward, whoosh!
Tarahal's form vanished from its spot, appearing right in front of Zion.
The movement far surpassed the perception of the giants watching from the sidelines.
Tarahal's fist, charged with all his kinetic energy, easily broke the sound barrier aiming to crush Zion's head.
The surrounding space seemed to bend due to the speed.
Was it too fast for any reaction?
Even then, Zion hadn't moved, merely tilting his head slightly.
Just as Tarahal's magic-condensed fist was about to reach Zion's face, crack!
A sound of something splitting echoed.
It wasn't from Zion's head.
The sound came from Tarahal's fist, or more precisely, from his shoulder.
Without any warning, his arm split and fell to the ground.
“...What?”
As Tarahal uttered a dumbfounded voice, unable to comprehend the sight before him.
Zion slowly lifted his head.
In Zion's eyes, four black stars shone brightly, with a faint fifth star appearing among them.
The moment Tarahal's eyes met Zion's, his body froze as if prey had encountered its natural predator, then - thud -
Suddenly, Zion's hand lightly touched Tarahal's abdomen.
In an instant, whoosh!
Tarahal's figure vanished without a trace.
Simultaneously, Zion reappeared at the far end of the battlefield, now a mere dot in the distance.
-----------------!
Following a line drawn between them, crackle!
A shockwave burst from the line, spreading outwards and annihilating everything it touched.
Before Tarahal's body could even hit the ground, swish-
Zion appeared above him in the darkness, grabbing Tarahal's head and slamming it downward.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted as the demon's body crashed into the earth.
As if that wasn't enough, dark energy furiously blazed from Zion's hand gripping the head, delivering additional shocks.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The demon's head was driven even deeper into the ground.
“Arghhh!”
A scream of desperation escaped from Tarahal, barely clinging to consciousness.
Simultaneously, crackle!
All the magic Tarahal could muster burst out in hundreds of waves, obliterating everything they touched.
Finally, Tarahal managed to free himself from Zion's grasp, straightening up.
But Zion was nowhere in his field of vision.
As Tarahal's eyes filled with confusion,
“Looking for me?”
A low voice came from behind.
As Tarahal turned around, feeling a shiver run down his spine, he saw Zion smiling as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself, and a dark-gray sword swinging towards him.
Demon Star Barrier.
In desperation, Tarahal struck the air with his only remaining arm, creating a defensive barrier mixed with magical energy.
It was a more advanced form of the wave barrier he had previously deployed.
The power infused into it was incomparably greater than before, so naturally, he thought it could block at least one sword strike...
Crackle!
Before Tarahal could even finish his thought,
Zion's Eclipse Blade effortlessly shattered the barrier, slicing through half of Tarahal's abdomen as the chains spread apart.
"Gahhh!"
Tarahal screamed as if his life was being ripped away by this fatal wound.
Disbelief filled his eyes.
'Why, why!'
Despite increasing his power output by using magic, why was he being overpowered more than before?
While there had been a glimmer of hope for victory just moments ago, now he was being crushed overwhelmingly, like a bug.
An utterly inconceivable situation.
But,
'Turns out, it's better than I thought.'
For Zion, this was an expected outcome.
As soon as he saw Tarahal revealing his magic, Zion also added another layer of eclipse.
Normally, layering eclipses was akin to a suicide mission.
The body could only handle the burden of one eclipse at a time; any more, and the body would collapse instantly.
It was a method not even considered without using "Time Lock," which he used to kill Enoch previously.
However, Zion now had a special item that made it possible.
'Sacrifice Doll.'
The reward from the Ascalon family for dealing with the Black Dragon Calonix wasn't just Agdvar.
After everything was settled, he received several items, and the 'Sacrifice Doll' was one of them.
An artifact that takes on one burden placed on the user's body for a certain period.
Using this, Zion was able to alleviate the burden of the second eclipse activation.
'It can only be used once, but...'
If it was used to eliminate Tarahal, one of the Omayreng and a contender for the throne, it was well worth it.
Moreover, it was an excellent deal if it replaced the need for Krono's query.
Thud-thud-thud!
Tarahal, possibly half-lost to pain, indiscriminately unleashed a storm of magic in all directions.
Zion, who had jumped into the air to avoid it, had his eyes shining coldly.
'This ends now.'
There was no time to delay, as the first eclipse was nearing its end.
Could it be that his thoughts had somehow been transmitted?
"Zion Agnes!"
Tarahal, gritting his teeth with such force it seemed they might crack, pulled back his clenched fist with all his might.
Along with that, the magical storm and the light of the celestial sea surrounding him began to converge into his fist.
The ground beneath Tarahal started to give way under the force, and the space around screamed.
Gathering strength beyond his limits into his fist, Tarahal slowly pushed it upwards.
Demon Star Wave.
The most powerful technique he could use at the moment, created by fusing the celestial sea and magic.
A dark-red wave of light burst from Tarahal's fist, targeting Zion with a force that split the air and shattered space as it passed.
Woosh!
Watching the wave of light rushing towards him, the stars in Zion's eyes spun faster, emitting an even darker light.
Along with that, Zion's right arm drew back like a bow.
The tip of the Eclipse Blade held in that right arm began to compress all the scattered darkness into a point.
The Extinguishing Blade quivered as if screaming.
Soon, the darkness at the tip of the Eclipse Blade reached its peak.
At that moment, as Zion's body curved like a bow, boom!
With the sound of the air exploding, Zion's figure vanished from the spot, reappearing right in front of Tarahal.
'Why is he here...?'
Tarahal, belatedly noticing Zion and looking puzzled, saw his own wave of light perfectly split in two.
"No way..."
Muttering in disbelief, a fine line was drawn vertically from his head to his groin on his body.
Thud!
Following that line, Tarahal split in two and collapsed to the ground.
An incredibly anticlimactic end.
Unable to resolve his doubts, the psychic form was completely annihilated by Zion's dark energy.
One of the Omayreng and the leader of the psychic demons.
And the true end of Tarahal, who had entered the body of the Fourth Prince Utekan to manipulate the empire and the power of the giant swarms.
'This should suffice.'
Only then did Zion take his eyes off Tarahal, or rather, Utekan's body and looked around.
The battle around them had already stopped.
The giants looking in his direction wore expressions of disbelief.
"Ah..."
"To truly have defeated Utekan...!"
Soon, in the eyes of these giants, emotions of elation and despair, depending on their allegiance, were visible.
Thud, thud!
Giants wearing helmets with red horns began to drop their weapons to the ground one by one.
The formation had already completely collapsed due to the combined attack of the anti-Utekan faction and the monster legion, and with Utekan, their focal point, dead after using magic.
There was no reason to continue the war now that their cause was gone and defeat was certain.
"We surrender... We will surrender."
The declaration of surrender finally came from Bayarma, the chief of the Red Horn tribe.
And at that moment, whoa!
A resounding cheer burst from the mouths of the anti-Utekan faction giants.
Victory.
It was a victory that no one had anticipated.
'To actually win this war...'
Within those cheers, Batar, the chief of the Blue Claw tribe, looked at Zion with an incredulous face.
"I can handle the cleanup by myself."
Zion, with his usual languid voice, spoke to Batar and began to walk away.
It was time to rest as the backlash from the eclipse was about to hit.
The war had finally come to an end, with Horrible's monster legion starting to retreat upon realizing the war was over.
The end.
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