Chapter 1209 – #285_상자
#1203
1.
A Titan’s defense is at a level where it can effortlessly withstand a Great Witch’s barrage with its bare body.
For example, even Bianca’s ‘Sky-Piercing Arrow’ could probably be deflected with just the breastplate.
However, things are different in front of Erysichthon, who uses a high-level dispel that seems to devour physical force and magic, something that can only be described as a disaster.
-Crack!
There was a sound of flesh and bone being crushed as if sucked into a giant press.
Siwoo’s left leg, entangled by Erysichthon, was torn off from below the knee.
As easily as a child plucks the wings off a dragonfly with their bare hands.
“Oooooooo!!!!!”
Siwoo roared.
Concentration pushed to the limit.
In the dense flow of time where one second feels like an hour, there is a time difference between the premonition of pain and the actual agony.
This roar is a spirited shout to prepare for the pain that is about to come.
The terrible pain belatedly rises.
Siwoo, regaining his shattered consciousness, quickly severed the tendrils with ‘Unique Creation’ and stepped into his Awakened state.
At that moment, the leg that was clearly torn off by Erysichthon and the Titan are regenerated.
He had preloaded ‘Resurrection’ through distortion and activated the spell the moment he was eaten.
-Kwaaaang!!!
-Kieeeek!!!
The golden magical wave created as the Awakened state dug into the ground.
The dense bundle of tendrils swayed like sea anemones caught in a rapid current, from the pure wave of power scattering particles like gold dust.
That meant that Orselia’s main body was revealed.
-Shwip!
The propulsion force pulled up through the Awakened state heads straight forward.
Erysichthon’s already disheveled obstruction could not stop Siwoo’s charge.
Siwoo tore through the tendrils that rushed at him like vines with brute force as he advanced.
-Crack!
A light hook, drawing a bold arc with the momentum of throwing his whole body, left a red afterimage and slammed into Orselia’s head.
Autonomous defense is meaningless.
It is also meaningless to raise a guard with a few tendrils.
Magic enhancement at full power, the overwhelming output of the Titan, the explosive force of all power at its peak, the wave of the distortion field.
This seemingly simple and reckless blow is a blow from a god that has reproduced several miracles that some witches would want to achieve even if they had to dedicate their entire lives to it.
-Bang!
Orselia’s head exploded spectacularly, scattering brain matter, cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and skull fragments like a claymore.
Orselia’s hand, stiffly extended like a zombie, twitched convulsively, and the white cervical vertebra, torn from the back by the impact, dangled like a spring.
Normally, one could be sure of victory at this point.
Even if Siwoo uses resurrection, he dies if his head is blown off.
Moreover, it wasn’t just a hard hit, but the inside of the spirit was also turned into a pulp through the distortion field, so resurrection should be considered impossible.
“Really… you’re a violent person. I didn’t even see what hit me properly.”
However, as the wriggling tendrils of Orselia’s corpse gather, Orselia, with her head regenerated, nonchalantly sticks out her tongue.
It’s a scene he’s seen three times already.
But it’s certain that it’s not a permanent or unlimited resurrection.
The terrifying magical field that Orselia was creating was slowly decreasing with each resurrection.
A method to avoid death is almost always required for a witch who must pass on her mark to future generations, but it consumes a tremendous amount of resources.
Perhaps because of that, the ‘special’ tendrils that were particularly threatening around Orselia have disappeared.
“And you’re being annoying. It seems you’ve realized that Erysichthon is based on dispel, haven’t you?”
That’s right.
As soon as Siwoo realized that Erysichthon’s ‘devouring’ was a dispel, he changed the patterns and manifestations of each magic every moment.
This was to make the dispel as difficult as possible and to put a load on Orselia’s calculation power.
“You’re a smart young man. It wouldn’t be easy.”
Of course, it wasn’t something anyone could do.
There is a reason why witches maintain a certain uniformity in the patterns and manifestations of magic.
It is to allow the caster to exert maximum power with minimal calculation burden through optimization.
Creating a new pattern for every attack, every defense, and even in the midst of such a fierce battle, is impossible with ordinary calculation power.
Especially if it’s a real battle where limbs are torn off and regenerated, and where life is at stake with a moment’s mistake.
What’s even more astonishing is that Orselia is also keeping up with Siwoo’s changes and succeeding in new forms of dispel.
Five minutes since the start of the full-scale fight.
What had to be sacrificed was sacrificed, and what had to be excluded was excluded.
He engaged in psychological warfare to read the enemy’s cards, and in a meticulous battle of wits, he looked for hidden intentions.
He put everything he had built up on the table and aimed for the enemy’s throat with pure passion.
In this process, neither Siwoo nor Orselia made a single mistake.
Therefore, the one who makes a mistake in this battle will die.
This is the fight of those who have reached the top of the transcendents who defy the laws of the world.
“……”
If neither of them makes a mistake until the end, Siwoo will win.
Even though the battle seems equal at first glance, Siwoo is slowly gaining an advantage in the war of attrition.
But an optimistic future is not visible.
One thing that bothers him.
Orselia’s illusion that comes to mind every time his consciousness fades for a very, very brief moment.
Siwoo is being played with very diligently in it.
Just like accepting a nonsensical dream naturally in a dream, he recognized Orselia as an ally and firmly believed in the foolish promise that she would help him if he freed her, and he was about to have sex with dozens of unidentified witches.
What is that illusion for?
What is it mediated by?
What is Orselia aiming for?
If Orselia’s ‘mansion’ is her hidden trump card, then the situation should not be judged as it appears on the surface.
Siwoo has already fallen for the trump card and has not found a way to break it.
Two things that bother him.
Orselia’s power, which seems to be steadily decreasing on the surface, but is too relaxed.
The overwhelming physical force offensive that was spreading widely like the manifestation of an outer god became defensive after Siwoo hit her a few times.
But what if that’s the distribution of stamina for the mansion?
Then, Siwoo hasn’t really gained an advantage either.
It’s just that Orselia is eliminating variables to solidify her victory.
Three things that bother him.
Orselia’s calculation power, which is an inhuman hell itself.
Magic certainly embodies miracles.
However, it is not a cheat key that blindly defies the laws of the world.
It is the implementation of the order established on mystery within a defined formula.
And Orselia’s calculation power is clearly out of standard.
Calculation power that can solve a magic that she has never seen before, even after changing the pattern several times?
Even against a Great Witch of the same caliber, not just any random person?
At first, he was overwhelmed by the name of the Old Witch, and his eyes were blinded by the peculiarity of the 24th-tier magnetic magic, so he couldn’t pinpoint it clearly.
But I can say with certainty.
That is an impossible realm.
Even the black Siwoo in his subconscious can’t do it.
Siwoo desperately pieced together the clues that were scattered here and there.
It’s more of an intuition than a thought made up of refined words.
Mansion, box, carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, arm, harem of many witches, lust, purple mist, Erysichthon, longing, primal desire, family-like comfort, hypnosis, brainwashing, box, Luna, twisted harmony, orgy.
He puts these words together and organizes them into proper sentences.
1) Orselia cast an illusion.
The common keywords that appear in a series of illusions are ‘longing’, ‘lust’, and ‘one’.
Orselia wants sex.
Orselia urges the discharge of sex and instinctive emotions.
This is presumed to be a kind of exploration process.
As evidence, Orselia began to speak about facts that Siwoo had not mentioned.
As time goes by, the aversion and hostility towards Orselia gradually fade.
2) Orselia invited Siwoo to the mansion.
A mental and time chamber where the time axis is distorted, and the mansion is full of a harmonious witch harem.
A comfortable, attractive space that stirs up instinctive desires.
Everyone looks after Siwoo’s convenience as if they were one body, and they are in a situation where it is easy to express their desires honestly, having an orgy together due to Orselia’s hypnosis.
3) Abnormal phenomenon
Luna, who was pretending to be in pain and asking to be killed.
The witches who stared at Luna as if they had found a vaccine for a mutated virus and then responded to the prank.
Assuming that all of this was not acting and that the prank was not a prank either.
Then, was Luna’s prank a malfunction?
What about the witches who were looking at Luna?
4) Box
The name of the mansion that Orselia revealed is ‘Arca’, which is interpreted as ‘ark’, ‘box’, or ‘chest’ in the Department of Hermeneutics.
Here, ‘Arca’ does not mean a literal ark, box, or chest, but a closed material space itself.
The architectural style of the mansion Arca is completely closed.
In other words, it can also be interpreted as follows.
In the ‘box’, the ‘witches’ are ‘harmoniously together as one’.
Final summary of these elements.
The following is the assumption that is considered closest to the truth.
Orselia’s dispel cannot be performed by the calculation power of a single entity.
Then, let’s think about it this way.
What if Orselia is not a single entity?
In other words.
What if Orselia’s calculation power is not her own ability?
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”
An astonished sigh popped out regardless of his consciousness.
Why did he only realize it now?
That Erysichthon’s ‘tendrils’ have the shape of a rope that is strangely twisted with dissected nerves.
“The riddle is over.”
As soon as Siwoo came to a conclusion in his mind, Orselia smiled brightly.
As if she could now see through all of Siwoo’s mind.
Regardless of his horrified mind, his cold reason announces the result.
This fight is lost.
Siwoo can no longer beat Orselia.
“That’s right. It’s my victory.”
Orselia’s twisted mouth answered, drooling a single line of saliva.
