Chapter 1175 – #279_Declaration Of War (5)
#1169
1.
Many departed.
Some lamented having a small vessel for their grand dreams.
Some, with satisfied smiles, left their dreams to posterity.
Some sighed at lives filled only with suffering.
Some grieved at not being able to share more love.
One by one.
Though they could have chosen immortality, they cherished their pitiful dreams, and thus faded away, ephemeral and beautiful.
They were weathered away into memory, into history.
The path of the pilgrim, cloaked in pride and glory.
Everyone regarded it as sublime and took it for granted, but Erelim could not.
Instead, a sense of duty settled in her heart.
Someone had to watch over that lonely end.
Someone had to record it.
Someone.
2.
Detailed historical records are a relatively modern phenomenon.
Even then, they are often distorted by power and interests, leading to frequent debates among scholars.
Therefore, a witch is a walking history book that any historian would be eager to talk to, and an old witch, considered a fossil even among witches, is even more so.
However, not all old witches possess the same information.
They had different information depending on their area of activity and time period. In that sense, there weren’t many points of contact between Orselia and Erelim.
Their areas of activity were different by continental scales, and by the time Orselia, who had been wandering the New World, set foot on the main continent via the Eastern Continent, Gehenna had already been created, and there was not much reason for Erelim to confront her directly.
On the other hand, Verda, who had clashed with Erelim several times in the past, knew about Erelim from a time that Orselia did not.
“Verda, you called Erelim a gravedigger, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What does that mean?”
Calling Erelim a crazy bitch is somewhat understandable.
In Orselia’s view, Erelim was just a boring person, not particularly possessing the attributes of a crazy bitch, but weren’t those who had lived long lives usually twisted in some way?
It was quite intriguing that Verda knew her old stories that she didn’t.
“You know what Erelim’s inherent magic is, right?”
“Of course. The Akashic Records of the Heavens, right? It’s not a magic I’d particularly want. When would I ever research all that?”
Verda told her that the Akashic Records of the Heavens were a type of dimensional magic.
However, the ‘dimension’ here is slightly different from what Duke Keter deals with.
“If Keter dealt with dimensions as time and space, Erelim deals with the dimension of ‘information’. Information observed by the world never disappears or vanishes. It always exists. In other words, Erelim’s inherent magic allows her to access the witch’s forbidden library stored in the world.”
“Is that for real?”
“At least, that’s what I think.”
Orselia’s expression became very peculiar.
The concept Verda was explaining was the Akashic Records.
The Akashic Records, also called the Void Records, frequently appear in various modern creations, but they were an unknown area even to the native witches of mystery.
However, they do not deny its existence itself.
There was an institution in the witch society that clearly implied its existence.
“Why, isn’t that the same with the prophecy institution?”
“Hmm…”
Even after hearing the explanation, Orselia had a puzzled expression.
The omniscient observation post of the gods that assigns apprentice witches to all witches and occasionally gives prophecies.
The prophecy institution is one of the mysteries that no one knows when, how, or who created it.
Bringing in an uninterpretable piece of evidence to explain an uninterpretable theory doesn’t really make sense.
“Well, I guess it’s true that witches manage that prophecy institution.”
She could understand it to this extent.
“But does that have anything to do with Erelim being a crazy bitch?”
“Listen to the end.”
Verda continued her explanation triumphantly.
“Magic is ultimately about the ideal that a witch wants to realize, right? The Akashic Records of the Heavens is not Erelim’s goal. It’s just a byproduct that came about, and its true origin is different.”
“Then… what is the origin of the Akashic Records of the Heavens?”
“It’s to record the wishes of all the witches who have left the world. That’s how she also obtained the inherent magic called the Akashic Records of the Heavens.”
“……”
Orselia was speechless.
To record the wishes of all the witches who have departed.
Considering that wish is the origin of the Akashic Records of the Heavens, it wouldn’t be just a physical record.
“If that’s the case, is she even sane?”
“That’s why I said she’s a crazy bitch.”
“No way. Aren’t you just guessing wrong?”
Orselia’s eyes narrowed.
She couldn’t believe it.
To record the memories, emotions, and the resulting obsessions, sorrows, sighs, and resignation of countless witches who have died…
Recording means watching and observing.
This is the act of a madman.
It’s absolutely not something one person can handle.
Therefore, she thought that Verda was either mistaken or guessing wrong.
“Does it sound like a lie? But you’ll know when you see it. No, it’s not about knowing. You’ll understand it directly and intuitively.”
“What?”
“I’ve seen the mausoleum that Erelim guards with my own eyes.”
3.
After the first clash, the battle gradually escalated.
The inside of the otherworld barrier was so damaged by the constant collision of meteorites and magic that it was difficult to know what it originally looked like.
“Like an eel!”
Barbara gritted her teeth and turned the ultra-high-level light magic ‘Ancient Light,’ which was trying to pierce her body, into a scattering of feathers.
Erelim was stronger than any of the powerful enemies Barbara had faced.
And above all, she fought too well.
Clearly, Barbara and the Gagiel Brigade were perfectly cornering Erelim with textbook teamwork.
If Erelim had relied solely on her own power and confronted them head-on, she would have suffered a major setback long ago.
However, Erelim very cleverly exploited the gaps in the teamwork, turning the fight into a mud fight, and took the lives of two witches.
She constantly shook and induced cracks, and when they tried to counter her head-on, she gracefully hid herself in the gaps where meteorites exploded.
It’s easy to say, but overcoming such a disadvantage in combat power with improvisation is not an area that can be explained simply by talent.
It is the result of embodying the experience gained through countless battles.
“Damn it! She fights so dirty!”
“That’s a great compliment.”
“Shut your mouth, Olga!”
But at some point, the depth of the lucid dream had already reached stage 2.
As its name suggests, within the space invaded by the lucid dream, Barbara realizes her imagination into reality.
It’s akin to becoming a god, albeit in a limited situation.
If Erelim showed even the slightest gap, she could turn her body into a glass bead, but…
She doesn’t show any gaps, nor does she even seem to be running out of magic power.
It’s because of that.
-Kiiiiing!!!
Above Erelim’s head, a ring reminiscent of a Möbius strip moved smoothly, generating a tremendous force.
At the same time, her magic power amplified, filling Erelim’s almost depleted body with magic power.
At this rate, trying to win with a simple war of attrition is as good as impossible.
They had to hope that either Erelim’s mental strength would bottom out or her magic circuit would be destroyed, but she hadn’t even broken her breathing yet.
But that’s not the only strategy.
The Gagiel Brigade was not just a group of scarecrows to fill the numbers.
“Now!”
With Barbara’s signal, a large magic circle appears on the ground, which has been so damaged that its original shape is unrecognizable.
The barrier that the ‘Noise Witch’ had been building since the start of the fight was finally complete.
-Patsutsutsutsu!
It was a barrier created with great care, protected by other witches and almost completely unhindered.
The barrier emitted terrible noise and static in all directions across the battlefield.
The effect was immediate.
Erelim’s figure faltered for a moment, and the white wings that had sprouted on her back scattered.
The bizarre magic that had been constantly blooming wherever meteorites fell stopped functioning, and Erelim’s complexion hardened for the first time.
Only Barbara, who had received a code in advance to offset the barrier, was able to fully use magic within the lucid dream.
“Open your eyes.”
Black bubbles appeared from around Barbara’s shoulder and quickly took shape.
The body of a muscular man about 3 meters tall with skin covered in snake scales.
Black goat horns and a bull’s head.
Legs in a reverse-jointed shape like a goat and bat wings.
It was Barbara’s familiar, ‘Molek’.
He cannot use magic at all, but his physical abilities and combat skills in close combat are monstrous.
He is the most useful familiar when everyone is unable to use magic properly due to the ‘noise’.
-Kuoohhhh!!!
Molek, who let out a roar that shook the earth, instantly leaped towards Erelim.
The moment his heavy body covered the slender witch.
Erelim’s body, holding a pure white sword, rotated.
-Thwack!
At the same time as the collision sound, Molek’s upper body fell to the ground, scattering blood.
In Erelim’s hand was the sword that had cut Molek in two, dyeing the surroundings in black and white.
“No…”
Barbara, who made eye contact with the emotionless Erelim even in this fierce battle, let out a hollow laugh.
Ordinary witches are vulnerable in close combat.
Especially if they cannot use complex high-level magic.
But to subdue Molek, who could tear apart any witch with his bare hands, in close combat without even using any proper magic.
There is a library called the Akashic Records of the Heavens, but isn’t she just too talented?
“She’s really disgustingly diligent.”
But there are still many of them.
Dozens more of these attacks are prepared.
The depth of the lucid dream will deepen over time, and Barbara’s reality manipulation ability will gradually exert its influence more strongly.
In the end, time is on Barbara’s side.
Whether Erelim can withstand all of that…
“What?”
Barbara’s thoughts, which had been drawing up a victory plan, stopped.
Because the surrounding scenery had changed at some point.
Olga and Oksana, who were right next to her, the Gagiel Brigade, who were supporting her from a distance, and the meteor shower that was pouring down as if the end of the world had come, were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, what unfolded before her eyes was a hazy, green world where ashes fell like snowflakes, covering a low plain.
Tens of thousands of tombstones filled the vast plain all the way to the horizon.
The tombstones, each following different cultural styles, had names, years of death, and poems written in different characters.
“What is all this?”
Barbara, who was bewildered, realized the identity of this space the moment she touched a nearby tombstone.
It was an intuitive realization that was different from general cognition.
This is the source of the magic that Erelim wields.
A resting place prepared for those who desperately wished to stand on the rainbow but could not.
It is the mausoleum of witches.
“It’s a sad thing not to be able to shed tears.”
Erelim appeared among the densely packed tombstones.
In Erelim’s eyes, which did not reveal any significant emotional fluctuations, magic power reflections resembling drops of tears were scattered.
In Erelim’s hand was a tremendous power that even Barbara could not predict the limits of, a power that made her not even think of resisting.
Erelim had been preparing a trump card without revealing her full power in the battle that Barbara thought was a close fight.
“Revere.”
As she watched the light engulf her, Barbara could not move a single finger.
Because her cold reason was telling her that there was a limit that she could not overcome no matter how hard she struggled.
“…Crazy bitch.”
With a sigh that was close to admiration, Barbara’s body scattered.
