Chapter 177
Erica snapped to attention at Anna’s shout. Hurriedly, she heightened her sensitivity to mana, allowing her to sense the monster’s power swiftly approaching from afar.
It was on a direct path.
It felt as if it was conveying a will to destroy this city.
After confirming this, Erica spoke.
“I’m not going to let this slide this time.”
Naturally, this was directed at Vargan, who chose not to respond. Regardless of whether Vargan replied or not, Erica pressed on with her stance.
“Once everything here is wrapped up, I’m going to hear about all the causal relationships up until now, so you better be ready.”
She made sure to toss in the word “all.”
This included the situation with Laila.
Misunderstanding? Who knows if that even exists. Even if she’d wanted to understand, she couldn’t.
It wasn’t just Erica who had been a statue until now. After suffering a significant emotional wound, she was finally able to return to somewhat of a normal life.
She had investigated everything from the reasons behind Vargan’s changes to matters concerning Laila. She went in search of answers.
Yet, as always, there were no results, and Vargan pushed Erica away even further. Eventually, she grew tired and gave up.
Vargan was originally a rascal who had only deceived her.
Accepting this hard-to-believe reality, she stopped digging into her own heart.
However, there remained a little corner of her heart… that simply couldn’t let go of the thread of trust. Bantlo was right. This was why she hadn’t broken off the engagement.
Talk about family status and so on were just excuses.
Even if bad rumors spread externally, she could have unilaterally called off the wedding.
Nevertheless, Erica couldn’t completely sever her feelings for Vargan; she wanted to hold onto the connection between them. Cutting that off would make it feel truly irreparable.
“So, this apology is invalid.”
Erica refused to accept an apology without fully grasping the situation. Even if she received words she couldn’t gauge the weight of, it would still leave her baffled.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
Erica stated.
Yet somehow, she faced Vargan with a more relaxed and confident expression.
Though Vargan didn’t reply, that was enough for Erica.
A heartfelt tribute to Laila would become possible after this.
“That should become possible after this.”
“Let’s hurry. We need to deal with that monster first before we can make any progress in our conversation.”
With only the remnants of the warp left behind, Erica moved on. It seemed she was having a conversation with Anna down below. Even though her mind was tangled with various thoughts, she tried to focus on the current situation.
Left alone, Vargan stood still for a moment.
No one was bothering him, and he didn’t want to be disturbed either.
He muttered softly to himself.
“…Is it all just a matter of cause and effect?”
He was intentionally keeping that to himself. He would continue to do so in the future. Because that was for the best.
But did it really have to be that simple?
“…Maybe it would have been better to just be hated and end it.”
He knew she couldn’t endure it.
He tried to distance himself completely, but selfish desires shattered that resolve.
Thus, this was the price for breaking that principle. A mountain to overcome.
As distracting thoughts lingered, Vargan pressed his fingers against his eyes, contracting and then relaxing his facial muscles.
With that, the emotions he had tried to numb returned to clarity.
As Erica said, what he needed to deal with first was.
‘The monster’s assault.’
Vargan took a deep breath and prepared to meet it.
*
“This mana is chillingly vast…”
Anna, riding on the one-horned familiar, Uni, trembled her eyebrows as she spoke.
We were currently rushing out of the city toward the monster.
Truth be told, Anna didn’t really have to come along, but she wanted to pray on the spot while witnessing us fight the monsters with her own eyes.
It was too late to evacuate the citizens anyway, and if the monsters reached the city, death was inevitable, she added as an afterthought.
It might be just a distraction, but she couldn’t ignore the possibility that this was a reflection of the dungeon’s will.
—KUAARRR!
The monster’s roar echoed in the air.
Anna hunched down, clearly frightened, but she soon straightened her eyebrows and clenched her lips tightly.
The monster’s mana was indeed formidable. Even I felt a sense of unease, wondering if a demon king was about to appear.
“Seiman…”
Han, who was running beside me, muttered.
Hearing his words, I couldn’t help but ask.
“Seiman? You mean the Seiman, one of the Twelve Divine Beasts that’s approaching us?”
“It seems so.”
“That’s outrageous.”
There was a reason why I was so incredulous.
I had already encountered a Twelve Divine Beast through Frikkanrisk, the winter dragon.
Except for the nonsense about being a holy being and its secondary abilities, its pure combat strength was nothing compared to an Archbishop.
The Ancient Dragon that rampaged in the Academia was no different.
Of course, even among the Twelve Divine Beasts, there were individual differences, but could they truly differ this much from the Ancient Dragon?
I assumed that Seiman from the original work was comparable to Frikkanrisk…
“I can’t tell if this age is strange or if the dungeon has distorted its power.”
I stated as I watched the massive monster charging straight at us.
Thump thump thump thump—.
The ground trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
I wondered if this was the kind of noise made when a mountain jumps out.
“That’s it.”
Erica’s eyes widened in shock.
“What, what is that size…!”
It was Seiman, one of the Twelve Divine Beasts. But rather, it was a descendant of the current Seiman. The appearance of a creature transformed by the dungeon.
—Kuwaaaa!
It far surpassed the size range of a typical ‘living being.’
“Anna. You ride Uni and stay far away. Don’t even think about coming close, you’ll just be a nuisance.”
“Wha?! Yes, yes, understood! Please be safe!”
As Anna stepped back, I quickly summoned Taesan to charge out.
To block such massive mass, something equally gigantic was necessary.
However, even the largest familiar I had, Taesan, looked like a child in front of it. A hulking figure over 23m tall seemed cute.
If we collided like that, even Taesan would be sent flying by a kick.
So, I made Aduk spring out of the shadows and double-fuse him.
The ogre-like body of Taesan, rushing in with no hesitation, was enveloped in black shadows. It squirmed like clay, doubling Taesan’s size.
A giant roughly 50m tall, arms outstretched, collided with full power.
Kuuung——!
Taesan, not using invisibility, grabbed Seiman’s arms and spread a great distance.
It barely managed to stop Seiman’s advance.
Honestly, it’s ridiculous to look at again.
In the era we live in, Seiman flies through the sky in bird form, but here, it only has a head of a bird yet the muscular body of an ogre.
If you look closely, it does have wings on its back, but they seem insufficient for lifting such a behemoth.
Even if it’s temporary, it was still larger than the now-doubled Taesan.
Taesan was being pushed back. There was a difference in total power.
At this rate, Taesan, now wearing Aduk, could accidentally die.
In that moment, Han’s mana surged.
“The preparation for Liberation is complete…”
I felt the ominous energy bursting forth from Han and spoke.
Unlike the appearance changes that occurred in battles with Archbishop Ami in the past, Han had undoubtedly become several times more powerful than before.
There were no loud decorations, no wild fluctuations of mana.
Calmly. Composedly.
The finely honed energy of a master swirled around his full body.
Han dashed forward quickly.
Yet, there was no explosive noise. Like an assassin weaving through the moonlit night, it was sharp and tranquil.
Then, he smoothly drew his sword and targeted Seiman’s Achilles heel.
Slice.
After the trajectory formed by his sword, kissed by moonlight passed,
only after a brief moment, a red line appeared.
A speed that made you gasp just by watching.
As if folding space. His power moved at super-speed.
In an instant, penetrating the opponent at sonic speed.
A moment too late, a flood of red blood burst forth, and from the wound, which was deeper than the length of the blade…
“…Is it also highly resilient?”
This was becoming troublesome.
The deep cut Han had made quickly healed, leaving merely a scratch.
Seiman, swaying, regained balance and tossed Taesan away.
As I grabbed my brother, I threw Taesan.
Seiman looked down at the ground with bloodshot eyes. Hissing as he exhaled, he stomps down to crush the bothersome presence.
Boom!
Like a bomb dropped, a dust storm erupted.
Everything in the world was covered in sand, making it hard to see in front of me. In that chaos, Han quickly dodged a kick and sliced at Seiman’s Achilles tendon. At some moment, a red aura brushed past his blade.
Half of his ankle got sliced off, and a large amount of blood gushed forth.
Han moved forward through the waterfall of blood.
He drove his sword into Seiman’s thick leg and hacked his way up, leaving behind a red mark. Seiman noticed and his mana became suspicious.
“Erica!”
Noticing Seiman’s change while gathering mana, I called out to Erica.
She too sensed the danger quickly and activated Warp Magic, rising up to a cliff where she could look down at Seiman.
———!
At almost the same time, Seiman’s mana erupted.
He expelled physical force mana from his body to shake off the bugs attached to him.
If we had stayed there, we would have either been blown away by the pressure or burned by the heat.
‘Where’s Han?’
Han left deep gouges in Seiman’s leg as he climbed up like cracks in a rock face. It was a red aura that cut, so recovery wouldn’t be easy.
Han timed his leap perfectly with the mana surge, sustaining minimal damage while maintaining his distance.
Indeed… Han is powerful. Among the current team members, he is the most exceptional in pure combat strength.
However, the opponent is even stronger. It’s clear we wouldn’t have caught him without teamwork for this raid.
“For now, let’s give it a shot.”
I gathered mana and aimed for Seiman’s head.
The spell I cast contained a total of 12 mana orbs. It was the maximum I could use at this moment.
Combining all available mana orbs increased the range and power of the multi-magic cannon.
A straight beam of decay shot forth.
At this size, it would take the head off that gigantic bird. Plus, due to the decay magic, recovery would be difficult.
As the multi-magic cannon was about to pierce Seiman—
At an utterly incompatible speed for his size, his wide-open wings defended against it.
Boom—!
The mass of mana collided with his wings instead of his head.
Seiman, who had held on until the beam dissipated, let out a painful screech that resonated with the mana in the air.
—Kawaawwwk!
His wings took the full force of the multi-magic cannon directly.
Smoke rose from part of Seiman’s wings. Despite being hit with the decay beam, the only mark left was soot. The wings glimmered like iron.
“They’re not for show. Is that what you’re trying to say?”
I grinned wryly, channeling more mana.
It looks like this raid won’t go smoothly.
After taking such a hit from the decay magic cannon, that’s all the damage it caused… those wings aren’t wings anymore—they’re a shield. An invincible shield.
And based on the information I have, wings with that level of defense—
Even Han, our strongest force, wouldn’t be able to penetrate them.
