Chapter 1002 – 1002. His Shadow (3)
White lightning and black magic collide, each strongly asserting its existence.
Gerard’s white light tore the emperor’s magic to pieces, as if the principles of irrationality were forcibly brought down to the principles of rationality.
“Tsk… !”
Seeing the emperor’s giant form quickly repairing damaged parts and rebuilding his original form, Gerard had no choice but to step back.
It was good to temporarily tear away the emperor’s magical power by raising the penetrating power of one point to the limit, but in the battle of maintaining power, Gerard’s white light had its limits.
In the few seconds it takes to use that attack power, the cost of magical power consumed is too great.
Toward Gerard, who was leaping backwards and widening the distance, the quickly restored Emperor’s Giant stepped back and stretched out his hand toward Gerard, who was floating in the air.
In the air, where there was no ground to step on, there were restrictions on his actions.
Elvin’s shadow stretched out from the ground and pulled Gerard’s leg, saving him from being captured by the emperor.
“Haha! Thank you!”
With a light yet cheerful laugh, Gerard glared at the imperial giant.
He confirmed that the magic of the divine beast he possessed worked with the emperor’s magic.
However, it was impossible to neutralize the giant figure itself and reveal the emperor’s true identity.
Although I was able to feel my own growth, it was also a disappointing result.
“Still…”
It’s not something you can’t kill.
Gerard landed safely on the ground with Elvin’s help and sent a message to the nine-tailed fox.
[Miho! Please!]
[Joy.]
The voice of a nine-tailed fox was heard with a sly snort, as if it did not like something or was trying to hide its feelings.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Please leave it to us to guide the attack and mark the point.”
“…”
The nine-tailed fox did not answer.
It wasn’t on purpose; there was no time to answer.
She was busy performing complex calculations and exerting her utmost concentration.
It was because of Alice’s suggestion, who came up with a strategy similar to the one used by the current expedition team when they defeated the emperor 20 years ago.
‘The emperor’s black magic. True to its name, the Extremely Evil Way has the effect of nullifying all physical and magical attacks. But the effect is not perfect.’
Although it was said to be invalid, it was not a complete invalidation.
To be precise, it was a wall that completely offset the magical power that was the basis of sword and magic and even completely blocked physical power weakened by its overwhelming defensive power.
In other words, it is as if he has a solid barrier surrounding his entire body that blocks external interference and attacks with abilities that border on irrationality.
Inside the black magical power of ‘atrocious evil,’ the Emperor’s body is no different from ordinary humans like themselves.
20 years ago, the way to attack that black magic during the emperor’s subjugation war was unexpectedly simple.
The inside of the wall where the atrocity unfolded.
It was a direct blow to the emperor’s body.
Rather than pouring overwhelming firepower from the outside by somehow destroying the black magic of extreme evil, it is an attack from within that directly attacks the emperor himself who unleashed the black magic.
Although it was a very simple task just from the explanation, I could never say that it was easy to achieve.
This is because the most necessary prerequisite was the wizard’s ability to cast magic attacks directly internally, which was very important.
Of course, Illyana was very strong at that time, and she used unrivaled magic skills with overwhelming firepower and computational power.
It was not easy to designate specific coordinates and pour magic of overwhelming firepower there.
Nowadays, she uses teleportation, which was like the end of space magic for specifying coordinates, but 20 years ago, Illyana had not yet been able to properly handle the eight-digit number.
Therefore, in order for Illyana to create magic close to her mortal blow, her vanguard, including Riod, had to desperately block the Emperor and buy time.
The strategy used by Alice and other heroes was the same as then.
With the miracles of Riod and Gerard Anies, he strengthens his physical abilities and, together with Elvin, blocks and withstands the Emperor’s Giant in the front line, while completing the magic that allows him to directly strike the Emperor inside, the body of the Giant in the rear.
The role of the nine-tailed fox was to replace Illyana, who was not present.
I never dreamed that I would be acting as someone’s representative, and although my pride was hurt, it was something that could not be helped.
She had no choice but to admit that the person she had to replace was Illyana.
The witch who has already surpassed her own level in an instant is truly a being outside the standard.
‘I’ll give it to you. That band. Perfectly.’
She couldn’t admit that it was impossible.
This is a divine beast, a spirit being that transcends the laws of this underworld, and her pride did not allow her to admit that she was in an impossible realm.
Therefore, the nine-tailed fox accepted Illyana’s role even though she was dissatisfied with it.
It never fails.
She couldn’t fail.
But she carries out that mission, but in a different way.
I will fulfill this role.
The air trembled in response to the hand stretched out into the sky.
To be exact, the upper part of the atmosphere began to condense into hazy dark clouds and block the sun.
The moment when the light is lost and the shadows become thicker.
Cry!
A strong, trembling sound and a flash of light.
It was similar to the growl of a ferocious beast as if showing off its presence, but it was also like a harbinger of disaster caused by a cataclysmic abnormal phenomenon.
The magical power of the neat divine beast floating in the sky attracted the magical energy scattered in the air and began to form its shape.
It seemed as if something huge appeared, as if fighting a huge black giant, and was howling fiercely from within something dark.
[Advanced Elemental Art]
[Summon high-ranking spirits]
[Alice and Derkin joint elemental magic]
[Lioner’s Fury]
Puzzle!
Noegi appeared in the sky filled with dark clouds and flocked to the nine-tailed fox who had outstretched his hand.
“Tsk…”
A flow of power so vast that it seems as if my mind will break.
The nine-tailed fox controlled the flow of that power and gradually sublimated it into his own magic.
The task of absorbing and circulating the enormous magical power of the divine beast as the nine silver tails flutter, sublimating its presence back into one’s own.
It constitutes a very sublime and fierce power, as if it is throwing off the category of spiritual creatures called divine beasts and rising to a higher level of existence, and elevates the nine-tailed fox to a new existence.
[Miho!]
Gerrard’s voice was heard.
At the same time, the extremely powerful white lightning he sent flowed into the nine-tailed fox’s body, increasing her strength.
Soon, the nine-tailed fox’s entire body was enveloped in white lightning.
Just as the emperor used black magic to turn himself into a giant who deviated from reason, a being was created by surrounding himself with pure magic that emits white light.
[Barbarian witchcraft]
[White Thunder Tiger]
It was a huge fox spouting white thunderbolts.
Awww!
The white fox looked up at the sky and howled once, and then it growled, glaring at the black giant who was closing the distance as if he had met his enemy.
Soon the white fox opened his mouth.
He condensed a thunderbolt made up of vast magical power into one place, increased its size, and fired the thunderbolt’s breath towards the Emperor’s Giant.
Quaaaaa!
It emitted a white thunderbolt that blinded her, and it took only an instant for the white light to reach the Emperor’s giant.
The moment the thunderbolt that tore up not only the ground but also the atmosphere hit the giant, the black magic of the ‘Ultimate Martial Arts’ that had made him into a giant became unstable and the giantess became blurred.
It is on a different level from the power of a single point, which was only a small portion of the power that can be exerted with a dagger.
The breath of a gigantic thunderbolt striking the giant’s body itself renders the very property of canceling out irrational black magic attacks useless.
It’s not that there was no offset.
Even though it was offset, the white light’s thunderbolt was so powerful in itself that it showed overwhelming attack power that annihilated existence itself.
The thunderous breath was realized by absorbing the upper-level lightning spirit of the two elementalist couple and Gerard’s lightning.
It already had a destructive power comparable to Illyana’s transcendental magic that distorted space itself.
But still.
The emperor only lost the black magic that surrounded him, but his body was still intact.
He tried to use black magic again to realize the ‘extreme evil martial arts (極惡無道)’.
“Older brother. “This is okay, right?”
“Suffice.”
Riod’s sword, which had been waiting in a position where the thunderbolt’s breath could not reach, rushed forward quickly and decapitated the emperor.
“Wow…”
The imperial emperor’s head rolled around on the floor.
The battle with the entity that was a nightmare 20 years ago came to an end so easily and quickly.
In a different way from the time when I desperately searched for a way to attack and cut off the breath.
The confirmation of victory is achieved only by using a force that is not only overwhelming but even beyond common sense.
Anies could not help but be impressed.
At the same time, I felt so helpless that I wondered what all the hardships were like back then.
Obviously, it was because Riod, Gerard, Alice, and herself had grown, but this nine-tailed fox woman was overwhelming.
But he couldn’t help but admire it and raise a toast of victory.
“Ha…”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Alice collapsed on the floor, showing extreme fatigue, perhaps as a reaction to summoning the spirits of the upper world.
It must have been difficult for her too, but she understood the situation with a happy smile at her husband’s consideration for supporting her.
At a slow pace, I headed towards Riod, where the emperor’s head was lying on the ground and his body was strewn about.
“… “Are you dead?”
“…”
Liod did not answer.
Although he clearly cut off his head and rolled around on the floor, he was not sure of victory.
Anies, Gerard, Alice, Derkin, and the nine-tailed fox who followed behind also hardened their faces.
“… “I don’t feel like I’m dead.”
It was the same with Elvin.
“The blood…”
There are no traces of blood.
To be precise, the emperor’s neck and body lying on the floor did not ooze blood.
The expedition members thought the same thing at the same time.
“What the hell is this…” . “What is it?”
In the first place, it was unreasonable for a being who had died 20 years ago to reappear.
The first thing that came to mind was Eunhyeon, who had been resurrected once, but this was a completely different story.
It was alive, but it was not a living being.
But the fighting style and the terrible black magic that made my skin crawl were real.
“I feel so fucking uncomfortable.”
Even though I won, I don’t feel like I won.
Even though it was a victory he achieved while exhausted, he could not feel that he had won it.
Soon, the emperor’s head and body, which had been lying on the floor, disappeared like smoke.
Anyes frowned when he saw the phenomenon.
“Is it true? This?”
“This… “It’s an ‘illusion.'”
“Illusion?”
Alice, who was examining the body of the missing emperor through her spirit eye, said.
“It’s an illusion. “An illusion that is real.”
“What kind of pun… Ha, I really don’t know. “Something like this.”
Anies gave up thinking.
Alice, who was being supported by Derkin, shifted her gaze towards the dimensional crack where the Emperor came from.
An illusion walked out of that crack.
Only then did I understand the nature of the crack through the spirit eye.
“That crack… “It seems like it’s interfering with our memories.”
“What does that mean? “Isn’t that like a passage connecting this side of the demon world?”
“Eunhyeon said that the Demon World is a mental world that is a collection of consciousness that is a synthesis of numerous evil intentions. If the crack itself is also interfering with our consciousness…”
I thought of each and every being that had come out of the crack so far.
All of them were very difficult and difficult to deal with, including the Emperor of the Mirvavila Empire, who fought the most terrible battle and took Alice’s eyes.
“I think they are probably creating something that has been very difficult in our memories and sending it this way through that crack.”
In other words, the memory that is the cause of our fear and discomfort is actually created as an enemy.
“Memory…”
“…”
“So, if I imagine in my head the most shitty bastard I ever meet as an enemy, that bastard will come out of that crack?”
“No. Sister!”
The moment Gerard pondered over Alice’s explanation and understood.
She hurriedly tried to interrupt Anies, but it was already too late.
The moment they heard those words, everyone in this room remembered its existence in their minds without realizing it.
The moment when the existence that came to mind unconsciously became the common perception of the majority.
“Ah.”
It is bound to be imprinted as a concrete and clear being.
Anies’ face hardened and he realized his mistake.
The moment she looks around in shock, not only she but everyone else realizes the seriousness of her situation as their faces harden.
Anyes said with anxiety.
“… Hey. “You guys, aren’t you?”
“…”
“Quickly tell me you didn’t think of that bastard.”
“… It’s already late.”
Riod already looked resigned.
“Who on earth…”
“Aaaaah! Fuck! “I really hate it!”
Derkin reacted with incomprehension and tried to ask what it was, but Anyes threw a fit at his nonsense.
I hated it that much.
When I was an ally and friend, there was no one that was so strong and trustworthy.
This is because the impression of ‘the most shitty bastard ever to meet an enemy’ was ingrained in Anies’ consciousness.
Sure enough, it appeared through a crack in her dimension, as if to hit upon her anxiety that everyone, including her, was reminded of the same man.
So quietly.
A very familiar physique.
A very familiar face.
White-silver hair gently blowing in the wind.
Every little thing, from the way I held the two swords, was so familiar.
Eunhyeon’s alter ego appeared in the dimensional crack.
