City ​​of Witches 1077

Chapter 1077 – #256_작은 전쟁(4)

#1071

1.
The heavens and earth convulse.
The sky screams as if torn apart, the ground flips, and heavy soil surges.

“Euryahhhhh——!!!”

With her unique battle cry, the heavy halberd she swung, imbued with a blue flash, struck the diagonally held red branch.

-Crackling, shattering!

As if striking red-hot iron, the distortion field and the red branch’s unique barrier mixed with lightning and scattered.

“I—!! Am about to—!!! Wage war!!!”

The distortion field was clearly tearing through Heria’s body.
Terrible pain and internal injuries must have been ravaging her entire body.

But Heria was like an enraged bull.

With her fierce eyes wide open, she bared her blood-red teeth like a beast and relentlessly pressed forward.
The force, as if throwing her entire life away, hammered at Siwoo’s defense with ceaseless blows.

-Thwack!

A palm strike, taking advantage of a momentary gap, struck Heria’s chest.
The sound of striking iron plates meant it was undoubtedly a clean hit.

A blow delivered without any waste, from the tip of her toes to the end of her fist.

“Hmph!”

Even that couldn’t stop Heria for even 0.1 seconds.

Rather, she pushed her body even further forward, attempting a headbutt with her already crushed forehead.

This meant she had no choice but to retreat and create distance.
Of course, that didn’t mean the situation was improving.

“Goddess, sing of fury!!!”

-Fzzzzzzzz!!!

The moment she sensed the distance widening, Heria prepared an all-around lightning barrage.

Unlike Rinne, who specialized in close combat, and Bianca, who specialized in long-range bombardment, Heria possessed a hexagonal stat distribution.

This meant she wasn’t weak at all in mid-range combat.

Heria’s seemingly simple and ignorant movements were, in fact, closer to a kind of ritualistic ‘dance.’
Since ancient times, ‘dance’ and ‘martial arts’ were separated by a hair’s breadth.

Heria’s movements were magic in themselves, forming ion channels in the area and providing a ‘path for lightning to run,’ a kind of spell.

-Bang! Boom! Crash!

The pale blue lightning, now with a much denser path than before, detonated in rapid succession.
Lightning that passed through insulators, possessed powerful energy in itself, and struck with unavoidable speed.

-Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ribbons extended around Siwoo, forming a circular magic circle.
The magic circle, extended in a ring shape, pulsed like a drum, emitting waves that deflected the electric shocks.

But that was it.
Siwoo, pushed into a defensive position, and Heria, pouring out fierce attacks.

The tide had already turned to 6 to 4.

Honestly, it was surprising.
Even if she had engaged in the battle without any carelessness, Heria hadn’t expected to achieve this much.

She was using the Angel’s Ring, originally a one-time doping and overclocking technique, by distributing it at the right times.

She was freely using the obviously tricky distortion field, and occasionally using ribbons, shockwaves, and elemental magic to reduce damage.
On top of that, she had the ability to compensate for her lack of raw power in close combat with techniques, making her a versatile fighter.

If it weren’t for the difference in physical size, Shin Siwoo would also be a hexagonal great witch like Heria.

“Ha… You’re being a drag.”

Heria could also see through Shin Siwoo’s intentions like the back of her hand.

“This isn’t fun.”

Heria’s lightning magic had a high consumption rate, as much as its destructive power.

Even if she formed ion channels and laid down a lot of negative charges on the ground to assist, it was still the case.
Releasing that much explosive power without pause meant her magic power was being drained rapidly.

At first, Shin Siwoo had boldly engaged in a head-on confrontation, but upon seeing that, she had chosen a war of attrition.
She had postponed a short decisive battle and adopted a petty tactic of waiting for Heria to collapse.

That’s why she was hunkering down like a turtle, only making minimal responses.

Heria was disappointed and, at the same time, furious at that fact.

“You spineless bastard! Show some manly spirit!”

He killed Talia.
He had halved the Lehar Group in a month and caused headaches with all sorts of infighting.

If he had appeared as such a formidable enemy, shouldn’t he show the fighting spirit befitting a worthy opponent, not the pettiness of a scoundrel?

“……”

It was impossible to tell what kind of face he was making, hidden behind his helmet.
There was no answer.

Heria didn’t like even that.
For a moment, she thought about mentioning Dorothy’s end to ignite the fight, but she soon stopped.

She didn’t want to expect anything more from such a pathetic guy.

“Okay, I understand.”
“……”
“From now on, this isn’t a struggle. It’s an execution.”

Heria, who had muttered as if chewing on the words, spread her arms wide.

Even after seeing that, Siwoo showed no reaction.

Well, it was no surprise.
If Heria was such a formidable opponent, she must have a hidden card, and she was probably revealing it now.

-Fzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

Lightning struck.
The point of impact wasn’t Siwoo.

Heria’s short hair stood on end as intense lightning fell on the crown of her head.

Along with that, Heria’s magic power, which had been depleting, began to fill up.
It was a rapid charge that Tesla would be very envious of.

It wasn’t as clean as Siwoo’s repeated amplification, but it was something to be proud of as a hidden card.

“Euryahhhhhhhh!”

The change didn’t stop there.

The overcharged magic power that was overflowing transformed Heria’s body.

Heria’s form, with her solid skeleton and every muscle cell imbued with lightning, was no longer human.

The intense sparks that seemed to blind just by looking at them, and the blue light that shot out from her eyes and mouth, naturally connected to one word.

The being described as the most powerful deity in myths of the East and West.

The Thunder God.

“Just keep being a turtle there. I’ll crush you, shell and all.”

Heria reached her hand towards the sky.

-Rumble!

Tens of thousands of lightning bolts, writhing like dragons among the dark clouds, waited for their master’s call, then rushed into Heria’s grasp with a chilling roar.

What Heria now held in her hand, having thrown away her halberd, was a pure lightning strike itself, woven into the shape of an axe-spear.

“With this, my combat power is doubled.”

Heria’s voice was strangely distorted and booming, surrounded by the currents of too much power.

Heria was spouting lines like a cheap villain, but there was no exaggeration in her words.
Even to Siwoo, that power was dangerous.

-Weeeeeeeng!!!

The moment Heria’s magic power showed signs of surging, she amplified the Angel’s Ring to its maximum.

Heria, who had accepted the power of the Thunder God and transformed into a being close to a natural disaster with every move she made.

The blow she swung with all her might to kill her enemy collided with the red distortion field.

————!!!

“How—is—it——!!!”

Even though she was clearly focused, she hadn’t seen it at all.

Heria had already become lightning, one with the thunder strike.

The fact that she had barely managed to block it was only because she had grasped Heria’s habits through previous engagements and had placed her spear in advance, as if bunting.

An immense power that was impossible to receive head-on.

Therefore, Siwoo bent the space around her body and let the power itself flow away.
A combination magic of dimensional magic and distortion field that she had honed countless times in actual combat.

“Petty—tricks——!!!!”

An enormous force was released from the tip of the axe blade that had been deflected.

The toothed lightning strike that had grazed Siwoo’s shoulder touched the surface of the water…

-Kugugugugung!

The black sea became another sky, flashing white and black like thunderclouds.

Heria didn’t care and instantly retreated before charging again.

A distance that was laughable to call hit-and-out.
The mobility that covered kilometers in the blink of an eye transformed into an overwhelming breakthrough power.

In response, Siwoo held out her spear like a spearman preparing for a cavalry charge.

It wasn’t just a defensive stance like before.
It was a counter-preparation with a minimum of retaliation in mind.

She would probably aim for the unguarded moment when Heria attacked.

“Yes—!!! That’s how you should come——!!!!”

Even though she knew everything, there was no hesitation in Heria’s charge.
A cone-shaped current spread out behind Heria, charging towards Siwoo dozens of times faster than her shout.

Overflowing power.
A precarious gamble where the winner and loser were decided in the blink of an eye.

Heria’s lips twisted into a vulgar grin.

Ah, this moment, this struggle, this war, this fight.
How could she not love it?

-Kwaaaang!

Their attacks narrowly missed each other.

Siwoo’s counter failed against the destructive power that was striking down from the front.
Heria’s strike was also deflected by the defense that bent space.

However, even if she had bent space, receiving that much power head-on meant she had transferred that much impact.

-Crack!

Siwoo’s armor burst like a can hit by a shotgun.

The armor was made of shadows anyway.
It was a method she had devised early on to absorb the impact by releasing the armor itself when a certain level of impact was applied.

“You—bastard!!!! What are you—doing——!!!!”

Heria’s voice became harsh when she saw Siwoo’s face, her helmet having been blown off.

A furious tone, as if she had received an unacceptable insult.

“What’s with that blank face——!!!! Are you—insulting me——!!!!”

What Heria saw was Siwoo’s expression, which showed no fighting spirit at all.

“I didn’t mean to.”

It seemed like she had made her angry for no reason, but it couldn’t be helped.

She had been like this since a little while ago.

Was it because her brain was overworked in the process of using the ‘door,’ leaving a feeling of heat in her head?

Her heart, which should have been pounding with adrenaline, was calm.

She was clearly making the most of her organs, with the best efficiency, and fully utilizing her combat experience that she had honed so far in this grand battle.

But even when she saw the flashing lightning in front of her.
Even when a powerful force that seemed to crush her body was pressing down on her whole body.

Somehow, it felt like a dream, lacking a sense of reality.

It was because something had been bothering her since the beginning of the fight.

Like suddenly becoming aware of blinking her eyes.
Like the natural actions of swallowing and breathing had started to feel bothersome.

Her ‘magic,’ which she had always taken for granted, felt very unnatural.

Even though it was magic that she had broken and created and honed several times, at this moment, it felt awkward, like it belonged to someone else.

This sense of incongruity was more bothersome than Heria, who seemed like she would cut off Siwoo’s head right in front of her.

Because of this situation, she couldn’t help but show a strangely listless appearance.

“…Hmm.”

Why had she been stubbornly sticking to this uncomfortable method like a fool?
Why hadn’t she thought of another way?

Suddenly, a golden staircase appeared before Siwoo’s eyes.

This was a landscape of her mind.
A narrow, winding staircase that could reach the high sky.

It was the ‘Stairway of Extremes,’ which was Siwoo’s own reinterpretation of the ‘Path of Asura’ she had received from Rinne, a double-edged sword that could either draw out the user’s potential to the limit or take their life.

“Shall I change the method a little?”

Siwoo muttered in a listless daze.

Then, she stepped onto the stairs.