Chapter 55. The Clash (5)
Quagagagaga! Kwang!
Dust clouds rose over the battlefield.
Ulan swung his axe, fiercely battling against Astevan.
How much time had passed?
In the distance, Iain, Sven, and Fertisha, who had separated earlier, were returning.
‘Did they find something out?’
I still couldn’t tell.
It wasn’t the kind of distance where I could hear voices.
So, I shook off my distractions and focused on my main objective, thinking they would tell me when the time was right.
After a brief moment, the awaited time came.
—Ulan.
A sudden voice resonated in my mind.
It was Noa’s voice.
Given the glowing communication talisman hanging around my neck, I guessed she was reaching out through a talisman.
—I’m sorry, but please try to fight even more fiercely until we’re ready on this side.
Ulan’s eyes sparkled at that statement.
Mentioning the word “preparation” meant she had found some kind of solution. After a brief pause, Noa’s voice continued.
—And when the time comes, please prioritize Laurea’s safety above all else. I’m counting on you.
Ulan didn’t respond.
As if to say, “Of course.”
Noa seemed to understand Ulan’s silence and stopped talking.
‘In that case…’
It was time to execute Noa’s orders.
To ramp up the intensity and fury until their preparations were complete.
‘I have two more transcendental domains left.’
Ulan used one of them.
Scritch! Kwaduk!
With just one transcendental domain, Astevan witnessed three minions being taken down.
【I told you it was futile!】
Astevan, seizing the slight opening formed as Ulan withdrew the transcendental domain, resurrected the undying minions once again.
Even though the endless battle felt futile, Ulan continued to swing the axe silently.
【What a foolish creature!】
Astevan seemed to realize communication was impossible, his face contorting in frustration.
And thus, the battle resumed.
Ulan summoned the last spirit and forced Astevan back. Astevan too poured all his strength into trying to bring down Ulan.
At that moment, an unusual event occurred.
“What the…”
The bright blue sky darkened in an instant.
As if the sun had set and night had arrived.
Soon, stars began to twinkle one by one in the night sky. It wasn’t just Ulan who witnessed this change.
【W-why are the stars—?】
Astevan’s blue eyes trembled in agitation.
In that moment, he saw a girl on her knees, raising a prayer.
The saintess, Laurea.
Upon seeing her with her hands clasped, engulfed in the holiness of the stars, Astevan understood the situation.
【You! The star’s emissary!】
Astevan, realizing what they were preparing, immediately took off running.
He threw all his minions and undead in Ulan’s way, hoping to seize Laurea’s life in the fleeting moment.
However, the assault failed.
“Hold on! We have to stop him at all costs!”
Noa’s talisman had created a barrier.
Delia was wrapped in the veil of starlight.
Kadel and Iain’s holy shields, along with Fertisha’s spirits forming a protective wall.
While Laurea activated the star’s divinity, the group had already prepared everything.
【You pesky insects! Get lost!】
But it wasn’t enough to hold Astevan back for long. In the blink of an eye, he penetrated all defenses and reached Laurea.
At the moment he aimed to stop the divinity’s activation.
Ka-gagagak! Kwang!
Someone stood in Astevan’s way.
The savage warrior with red eyes who had cleared out all the minions and undead.
“……You’ll face me.”
It was Ulan.
His body was drenched in blood.
Using the last remaining transcendental domain, he pushed through the minions and undead, even in a state where he could collapse at any moment, he stood firm.
Meanwhile, sensing that time was running short, Astevan poured all his withheld strength into pressuring Ulan.
【Don’t interfere, mortal!】
Faced with him, Ulan sensed.
That in order to protect Laurea, he would have to risk his life. So he made a decision without the slightest hesitation.
‘Then I will bet it all!’
Just like in the last moments of his previous life, he willingly decided to burn his life. Pulling out his remaining limits, he activated the domain once more.
‘Transcendental domain.’
Exceeding the limits of use took a tremendous toll on his body. Blood gushed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears as evidence.
But he didn’t stop.
‘Once more!’
His eyes were bloodshot, and the agony of his muscles and insides twisting overwhelmed him.
But he could not stop.
Only the transcendental domain could keep pace with Astevan. Even if he couldn’t reach him, grabbing his feet was enough.
【You! Until the very end—!】
Ignoring the furious roar, Ulan took one step after another, expanding the domain.
Burning his life force instead of the completely exhausted spirits.
Life and source.
Ulan and Astevan fought desperately, burning the very essence that proved their existence.
In a world stained entirely in darkness, only the two of them shone the brightest.
And finally.
The decisive moment came.
────!
The explosion of soundless light.
The night sky brightened, filling the world with starlight. Following that, the long-awaited sound reached Ulan’s ears.
Kwadeuk! Churrring!
The sound of the sky splitting apart.
It was the sound of Astevan’s source shattering.
11.
A world fracturing.
Facing the gradually crumbling scenery, Astevan howled as if he were spitting blood.
【No! This cannot be!】
The minions and undead that had once guarded him now vanished like dust.
The Lord of the Immortals was completely alone.
He still couldn’t believe the current situation, his eyes filled with disbelief.
【Death was not permitted for me! There’s no way my eternal abyss would shatter here, of all places!】
But unlike his denial of reality, Astevan’s clones were fracturing from their very tips.
Not just the clones.
The space where everyone currently existed was rapidly collapsing.
【Ah! Aah—!】
The source was destroyed by divinity.
The magic scattering as if it were crumbling.
All the changes happening around him pointed to Astevan’s imminent extinction.
Thus, he had no choice but to accept it, and the cries Astevan had shouted turned into desperate regret and remorse as they flowed away.
At that moment.
In the increasingly dim blue aura, the culprits that led to this situation reflected clearly.
The first to appear was the girl praying.
【The star’s emissary—.】
The insufferable agent of the divine being.
The very one who destroyed the source and led the immortal being to mortality. Had she not come here, Astevan would not have lost.
【Minions of Rudrik.】
The white wolf that vanished into the fog.
Because of that being, the plan went wrong.
If that creature hadn’t been there, the heroes would never have reached the throne, and undoubtedly the space holding the source would have remained undiscovered.
【—Outsider.】
A being from another world drawn by the stars.
Even if I graciously gave up a hundred steps, victory would have belonged to Astevan if only that outsider had been absent.
Due to Noa, who knew his unique spells too suspiciously, Astevan could not take down a single hero.
If she hadn’t been there, the heroes would have met their demise in the miasma of decay, unable to overcome Astevan’s curse and necromancy.
【And—.】
The most obstructive element of all is someone else.
The heir of long-standing ill fate.
Not only had Astevan proudly destroyed his twelve minions, but he had also shattered all his plans—Rakus, the unspoken variable.
【Kazan Rudrik!】
With a fierce glare, Astevan’s powerful roar exploded forth. He glared at Ulan and screamed.
【I curse you! I curse every drop of blood of yours that flows in your veins, you who chose to inherit Rudrik’s will!】
All the power remaining in the shattered source condensed into the form of a curse.
The star’s emissary was praying, and Ulan had reached his limits, so no one could withstand the curse.
【Those who connect to your power and blood shall never meet a proper death!】
Finally, Astevan’s curse shot straight toward Ulan. But at that moment, two girls unexpectedly blocked the curse.
“No! You can’t!”
“We can’t allow that.”
With white and shining silver hair, it was Fertisha and Delia.
They combined the power of spirits and all their magic to shield against the curse. Just in the nick of time, they succeeded in nullifying Astevan’s curse.
The curse scattered emptily into the air.
The blue aura trembled, not just because the curse had dissipated. It was only when death approached that what had remained invisible came into view.
【I see. It’s you again.】
The expressions on Fertisha and Delia, who stepped out to protect Ulan, awakened the long-forgotten memory Astevan had thought he had buried.
【—Einar, Artina.】
Long ago, during his days as a king of mortals, those precious memories he had preserved came flooding back. Astevan softly murmured the names contained within.
And then he smiled vacantly.
As if reaching out to grasp something but ultimately failing to catch anything.
【Even a thousand years ago and now, you choose him over me…….】
The collapse rose to his chin.
Moments later, Astevan’s clone was reduced to ashen remains, scattered in the wind. The last words he wished to leave behind were swallowed by the breeze and vanished forlornly.
Shahhh!
Following that, shards of the shattered source rained down like raindrops and penetrated the bodies of the group. Among them, Ulan absorbed the largest amount of fragments.
Shortly after.
The scenery surrounding the group transformed.
“H-hello?”
“Where is this…?”
It was the place where Astevan and they first met.
The black swamp with the throne made of human bones, right at the center of the Abyssal Magic Palace. As the group came back to the original location, their expressions were blank.
A familiar sight appeared before Noa’s eyes.
[Achievement Unlocked.]
System notification message.
Followed by details of an achievement she had never seen before filled her vision.
【Achievement】: The One Who Led Immortality to Death
【Condition】: Defeat the Lord of the Immortals ‘Astevan’
【Reward】: Elixir
The notification confirmed the defeat of Astevan.
Noa murmured softly.
“…Ah.”
I actually did it.
I really erased Astevan.
Despite achieving victory herself, Noa still wore a vacant expression as if she couldn’t believe it.
‘Astevan’s source.’
The very source she had sought so hard to identify was, in fact, the desert itself.
Even so, just because she discovered the source didn’t mean she could destroy it yet. The star’s divinity needed to overshadow the source for it to shrink sufficiently.
‘That’s why I asked Ulan.’
To ramp it up a bit more.
To press Astevan so he could draw more from the source.
Ulan had executed his mission superbly.
As a result, Astevan’s source had been significantly reduced, and Noa had managed to lead Laurea to activate the star’s divinity.
‘Thanks to that…’
I had finally grasped a victory I had never been able to seize when I had been a player. I had achieved the paradox of pushing the immortal being into death.
A thrill coursed through her entire body.
Noa shuddered her shoulders.
‘Now just two remain.’
The howling Eye of the Abyss, Rakus.
Giant King Rargtan.
If they could defeat these two lords, it would mean the obliteration of all six lords of the Abyss that existed in the original work.
As she clenched her resolute fist.
Suddenly, a frantic shout was heard.
Noa! U-ulan…!
The three girls wore anxious expressions.
Before them stood Ulan, fainted after exhausting all his stamina. Laurea lay unconscious beside him.
But that wasn’t even the biggest problem.
“The Abyssal Magic Palace seems to be collapsing!”
With Astevan’s destruction, the Abyssal Magic Palace began losing its strength and collapsing.
If this continued, they would be buried alive.
But there was no need for concern.
[Grrr!]
The White Wolf, who had revealed himself, wagged his tail as if to say, “Follow me.”
It seemed he knew the way out.
So, the group hurriedly supported Ulan and Laurea and chased after the White Wolf, trying to escape the quickly crumbling Abyssal Magic Palace.
12.
Rubens Empire’s capital.
Even though it was well past midnight, the lights in D’muehl’s office refused to go out. The stack of papers on the desk was the reason why.
Scratch scratch!
The only sound filling the room was the scratching of a quill as it scurried over the papers. At that moment, the eyes of the mud doll sitting by the window suddenly glistened.
“Finally, it’s gone.”
“Huh?”
“The immortal king has met his end.”
“……!?”
D’muehl’s eyes widened in astonishment.
He understood what the words of the Lord of the Abyss, Rakus, who had borrowed the body of the mud doll, meant.
“With the immortal abyss gone, now only the mortal’s abyss and the giant’s abyss remain.”
Only two lords of the abyss were left.
Despite four of the lords having been defeated by the heroes, there was not a hint of anxiety or fear in Rakus’s voice.
In fact, only delight filled him.
“I can only thank Astevan. Thanks to him, I, who occupy the lowest throne of the abyss, have been given this opportunity.”
For a moment, Rakus fell silent and stared out the window at the southern sky.
The arid land and the haven for cultists, the first destination the Giant King had set his sights on after leaving the abyss.
The direction of the southern desert.
“If the giant’s abyss vanishes, then only I shall be chosen to become the sole abyss.”
Anticipating the coming day with glee.
Rakus’s eyes narrowed, followed by soft laughter filling the room.
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