Chapter 2198 – 2198. Dark Moon
“Thirty seconds! Are you still not done?!”
“…Hold on a little longer. It needs adjustment. I think it can hold out more than that.”
“Damn it. The area is full of lightning elements, my lungs sting just from breathing. Are you actually a 7th-grade mage hiding your power?”
I scoffed at the black mage’s words. Whether he was worried about the future or not, it sounded like blatant flattery. But that didn’t mean I would spare him. He was the one who blocked my path. I’ll kill him when I get the chance.
“Ten more seconds! Are you still not done?!”
Beliak, who was being caressed by the touch of hell, was slowly shaking off the curse, but he was still groaning.
“Hold on more.”
“It’s impossible now! I need to sacrifice more of my body to suppress him further! I’ve already sacrificed my left hand!”
“Who threatened you to learn such a magic? It was all your choice. And you can always get a prosthetic hand later. Other body parts? It’s better than dying.”
“Shut up and attack now! You have to attack when he can’t move.”
“I’m not sure if we can kill him with this much power. If we can’t kill him, it’s your fault. And we’ll all die.”
“……Hell, I’ll sacrifice my left foot!”
The black mage then sacrificed his left ear. He had endured for a total of one minute and thirty seconds.
It was enough.
And I was also at my limit. I looked at the magic circle on the ceiling and unknowingly frowned. The swirling lightning, just by itself, was emitting an enormous amount of light. If I hadn’t protected my eyes with mana, I would have lost my sight.
The preparation was complete. I took a breath and began to chant.
“Thunder Break.”
The lightning gathered and rotated towards the center of the magic circle, and the energy fell to the ground, destroying everything.
The massive lightning bolt struck Beliak directly. It didn’t end there. Thunder Break pierced through the floor of Sebitseom and fell into the sea along with Beliak.
The sea surged for a moment. Unable to withstand the heat, a large amount of seawater evaporated, creating steam, and a crater formed below. The lightning disappeared, and new seawater filled the crater.
“Is it over?”
The black mage sighed and looked down at the sea. Unlike him, I couldn’t relax my hardened face.
“…This is bad. He survived.”
I had seen his form before he sank into the seawater. Half of his body had melted, and he had momentarily returned to his human form.
‘It was definitely Professor Hong’s face.’
I knew who Beliak had possessed. But it wasn’t important.
‘I couldn’t kill him even with this attack. Not only is my mana rod burning… I have no mana. I can’t use magic.’
There was no way to finish him off.
“What a monster…. But if he’s injured, there’s a chance. I told you, the company’s forces are coming. Thousands of armed soldiers. He’ll be finished in the end.”
“…He’ll come. He can’t leave Sebitseom. If you don’t want to die, use that black magic again.”
“The touch of hell isn’t a magic you can use recklessly!”
Beliak gets stronger and recovers by eating living things. And isn’t the sea often called a treasure trove of life?
‘Still, he’ll be stuck there for the next five minutes. Should I run away with Invisible Blade?’
Bang!
A waterspout rose from the sea, and Beliak shot up. The black mage, who had been watching me instead of Beliak, couldn’t avoid Beliak’s hand. He was grabbed by the neck, and then part of his head was eaten alive by Beliak’s mouth.
“Kkyaaaaaaak!”
Beliak ate the black mage, looking straight at me as if I was next. The more he ate the black mage, the more his body, which had been melted by the lightning, began to recover.
I had to respond.
But even if I squeezed out my mana, I couldn’t even cast a single Thunder Bolt.
The only thing I could do now was run away with Invisible Blade.
‘No.6, Absolute Polymorph of Illusion, transform into a creature suitable for escape, and then escape through No.9 World Door is the best option.’
To use World Door, I needed a door. I had to play a deadly game of tag with Beliak.
That’s when it happened.
Creatures resembling wolves fell from above and attacked Beliak. Each one was a powerful phantom beast.
The space next to me rippled, and Orsia appeared. She had already taken off her glasses. Her clothes, which were always neat, were splattered with red blood. It wasn’t her blood.
“I’m sorry. I was making sure things were taken care of… I seem to be a bit late.”
“Ms. Orsia…!”
“I saw Mr. Eugene’s Thunder Break even from where I was. To be unharmed after taking that… He’s definitely a demon of at least 8th grade. There’s no time to waste. I’ll kill him.”
But time had already been wasted. Beliak was recovering his strength by devouring the phantom beasts that were attacking him.
“Ms. Orsia! The best thing to do here is to run away! You don’t have to run far! Just get a certain distance away from Sebitseom!”
The artificial demon Beliak cannot leave Sebitseom because he made the first contract with it. If Sebitseom self-destructs, he will have no choice but to die as well.
“…I’m sorry, but that’s impossible. Spatial waves are emanating from that demon. Short distances might be possible, but long-distance spatial movement, which requires delicate control, is impossible. If we try to use it forcibly, our bodies might be twisted or shattered.”
“I have a way! We just need to move to a room with a door nearby!”
“He doesn’t seem to have any intention of letting us escape.”
Splat!
Blood splattered. Beliak had nervously swung the corpse of a wolf phantom beast, spraying blood in our direction.
Dozens of wolf phantom beasts, each over 5th grade, were slaughtered in less than a minute.
Orsia’s eyes glowed coldly as she began to cast a spell.
“I’ll show you a secret magic passed down only to some of the Hytel School. Silent Space Accumulation.”
The sound disappeared, and the world turned gray.
For a moment, I thought time had stopped. But time was still flowing. It was just that everything in front of me was expanding.
‘Am I getting smaller? No, space is expanding. I feel like I’m getting smaller because I’m overwhelmed.’
Space was expanding silently. I understood why there was no sound. Because space was expanding faster than the sound could reach my ears.
Beliak couldn’t move and was gradually collapsing downwards. It was as if he was being crushed by something invisible.
‘…He’s being crushed by space.’
To be honest, I couldn’t even grasp how far the expanded space was. That’s how overwhelmingly expanded it was. Orsia was controlling the spatial pressure and pouring it onto Beliak. If it were a normal creature, it would have been crushed and burst like a bug.
‘I guess you can call a demon a demon. To withstand this.’
But space was still expanding. Could even a demon withstand this to the end?
“……”
Blood flowed from Orsia’s mouth.
“Ms. Orsia?!”
“The Silent Space Accumulation… No, I’ve reached my limit. This is my limit for now. So let’s finish it. Space Explosion Annihilation.”
Orsia forcibly exploded the space that had been expanding by magic. It was like thousands of bombs exploding at once. But the aftermath didn’t reach us. The silent explosion of space was directed only at Beliak.
“…Ha.”
Orsia sighed as if she was fed up.
I understood.
Because Beliak hadn’t died even in the exploding and torn space. He was injured, but that was it. He was slowly approaching.
“Han-nam! I will become Han-nam!”
He was spouting incomprehensible words and chewing on the corpse of a wolf phantom beast. The more he did, the more his body recovered.
Now that I’ve experienced it firsthand, I understand why the people of this world fear demons and angels so much. The only ones who can deal with such beings are similar beings. Or maybe superhumans who have reached a similar level.
“Ms. Orsia. Don’t you have something I left with you?”
“……Do you have something useful in this situation?”
“There’s no other way, is there? The angel’s hand. Give it to me. I can’t guarantee it will work… but I can’t just let him kill me, so I have to try.”
Orsia opened a subspace and took out the angel’s hand, giving it to me. I unwrapped the bandage covering the angel’s hand. A white hand was revealed.
I crushed the angel’s hand with telekinesis. Perhaps because it was part of an angel’s corpse, there was no resistance. The blood from the crushed angel’s hand dripped onto my coat.
The luxurious black-blue cape coat I was wearing was Merlin’s Numbers, Illusion.
The ability to use Absolute Polymorph. If there is genetic information of the target, I can transform into a being like a dragon. Not just transforming, but perfectly recreating the characteristics of that race.
[Absolute Polymorph]
A 10th-grade magic enveloped my body.
The magic required an image of an angel.
‘Is an angel not a creature whose form is determined by genetic information?’
I imagined the angel that the magic required.
‘The biggest features of an angel would be wings and a halo.’
My body grew larger, and the hood of my coat covered my face. The face inside the hood… disappeared. No, not just the face. The body itself disappeared.
‘I see why it requires my image. An angel is a creature that has been detached from the body from the beginning. It’s like a kind of spiritual being, similar to a spirit. How did Great Korea obtain the hand of a non-existent angel? Did they give an artificial body to an angel?’
Anyway, it’s an absurd ancient nation. But that’s why they succeeded in creating an artificial demon.
Wings, which could be called the main body of an angel, extended from my back. Not just any wings, but wings made of blue light. Wings of light that resembled lightning streaks.
Light gathered above the hood covering my head, forming a white halo. The halo constantly rotated, emitting a soft light.
As an angel, I felt a sense of elation.
“I am… the angel, Eugineus.”
