Episode 1035 The End of the Arcadium (3)
He willingly sacrificed others, hoping that no soul would suffer. He did not hesitate to massacre and violate anyone, whether innocent or not, and there was no room for guilt in that unwavering resolve.
A world without death.
Even the brutally murdered victims would express gratitude to the murderer once they realized the truth. The horrific afterlife would vanish, and the soul would finally be liberated, marking the completion of a suffering-free utopia.
But… … everything was a lie.
Even though I still pursue the same ideals, the path I have walked my entire life was wrong. The blood on my hands has become meaningless. A profound sense of loss chokes me.The sins and emotions I had turned a blind eye to while chasing those ideals have cast a shadow.
What must the failure do now?
“…….”
Draven Lemarque waited silently to regain his lost significance of existence.
* * *
Information about the primitive and primordial region is transmitted through magical power.From the dizzying depths of the underground to the sky, a magical sense transcending the limits of a transcendent being pierced the entire area. A qualitatively different space was rapidly interpreted.
“… … It is not a natural heaven and earth. It was constructed plausibly both inside and out, though.”
Verden’s fingertips brushed against the plant.The supernatural flashed faintly.With its conceptual structure collapsed, it transformed into seawater and seeped into the ground.
This place is still the deep sea.
All living and non-living things possess their own unique characteristics, but their essence is ultimately the sea. To put it simply, it is a model garden realized based on seawater.Why did the host decorate the space this way? It was a question, but not a significant issue.
Verden, who had maintained
Found it.
The host is in the ‘east’.
A distinctive presence is detected at ‘Fog Lake’, just a few kilometers away.
It is a strange fog.
It repels magical power, the spatial coordinates are jumbled, and it is sealed in three dimensions, so it cannot be penetrated by
It is impossible to grasp the inside. And is walking in directly the only way?
The host didn’t seem to have any intention of stubbornly hiding from the start. After all, being someone who considers intellectual pleasure, he wouldn’t waste everyone’s time by dragging out the ending now that things have come this far.
Now that the destination has been revealed, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to move right away.
but…….
The time gained by moving a step ahead after ambushing Bloodia and Deus was almost entirely spent on finding the host.
Even if you are the first to arrive at the Fog Lake, you will be caught up to quickly.Given the opponent, there is a risk of being overtaken in the fog. This is because you do not know the host’s exact whereabouts.
“Buying time and sending Alpha and Beta is an option, but if Bloodia attempts a wide-area extermination, they could be swept away. They are fully aware that the three of us are one, so a strategy of acting separately would be easily figured out.”
Verden made his judgment without hesitation.
Alpha, Beta.
[check.]
[Understood. I will stop the operation.]
Alpha and Beta, understanding the meaning without a detailed explanation, accepted Verden’s touch and temporarily deactivated the core.Since the golem in a suspended animation is perceived as an object rather than a living being, it can be stored in a subspace. Alpha and Beta’s frames were enshrined in the ring [Reindia], which Kalia personally placed on their finger.
8 seconds to perceive the alien landscape of the deep sea.77 seconds to uncover the essence of this space with magic and find the host.4 seconds to gather Alpha and Beta.
Having spent a whopping 89 seconds in one place, an engagement is inevitable.In fact, it must be.Since Verden spent 77 seconds determining the host’s approximate location, Bloodia and Deus must also focus on detection for at least 77 seconds unless they follow Verden.
If I do not move and do not give them time, the two cannot identify the host’s residence.
We gained the upper hand in information.The picture was drawn.
[Einber] gives the concept of a chain of destruction.
I’m cutting it off here.
Verden’s [Interis] was stained with destruction. Thunder shook the miniature garden. He, who dominated the space, stepped into the void and swung out his arm.
Crack.
Bloodyia’s claws and the Spear of Destruction clashed. Despite the distance between them, a powerful pressure surged through them, as if they were actually touching.
Kwaaa
The sky and earth surrounding the two people collapse, unable to maintain their form.
The ancient dragon’s incomprehensible strength turned everything it touched into dust, and the current of destruction erased the power to construct the miniature garden, restoring it to its original state.
As the shockwave spread outward, the seawater, which consisted of trees, soil, clouds, and aberrant species quite resembling dragons, fell like rain.
[Power derived from the destruction of fate… … Indeed, it is said that one lives long enough to see everything. Only after experiencing it firsthand do I understand how horrific the concept is. To think that there is magical power more vicious than Oldark in the fundamental sense.]
Bloodia is floating in the sky, flapping her huge wings. Her tail, which had not been there until just moments ago, sliced through the air faster than a sound.
Deus appeared in front of the boundary line where the land was cut diagonally.
[Heh heh, that mad Oldarc must be desperate to get his hands on that power by any means necessary. Even more than ‘you’ desire. Isn’t that right?]
You’re being presumptuous.
Deus Wieden was furious.
“An apostle dominated by desire.”
[Being faithful to one’s desires is indeed the natural nature of a living being. Unless one is a madman, who would willingly choose a life enslaved to ideals? Whether it is ‘you,’ Oldarc, or… … the transcendents influenced by Oldarc.]
Bloodyia soared into the sky.
[In my opinion, you guys are the crazy ones.]
With a mere flap of its wings, it twists the pressure of the atmosphere, and with a single roar, it brings lightning to its knees. Before the passionate dragon, the wind becomes a path, and the thunder becomes a source of strength.
When the fierce dragon takes flight, the heavenly palace roars.
Carried by the wind, she reached the ground in an instant at pure speed and trampled the space. The axis of the earth collapsed. The miniature garden seemed to tilt slightly. As sheswung her claws, radiating a bluish-purple lightning, from bottom to top, the place where Deus was standing was engulfed in high-temperature plasma.
thud!
Bloodyia closed the distance while shifting her center of gravity.
“The speed is slightly greater than that of the first king of the weakened human world. Is it the ability of one of the ancient dragons?”
However, Bloodia’s movement path is not complex and is entirely linear. There is no reason not to react. It is different from the time of the World Rift.
Boom!
Verden turned to the right to block Bloodia’s surprise attack.He acted as if he were subtly guarding the ‘West’.Thunderbolts and plasma crossed ceaselessly at regular intervals.
Offense and defense unfolding in seconds.
[……what?]
In the adventure, their powers were extremely limited, so it didn’t leave much of an impression…Even though he hadn’t completely deactivated his polymorph, Bloodia looked strangely at Verden, who dared to engage in hand-to-hand combat on equal footing.
I know that he reached the 8th rank in the process of killing the glory of the corpse. I also understood that Verden’s magical talent was on par with that of Oldark. I also anticipated that if left alone, he would soon be able to confront the Apostles of Fate head-on.
But… … this is too fast.
There is something I missed.
From the time he lost consciousness in the Hiaremar Inland Sea until his reappearance on the continent, it was evident that Verden had achieved some form of growth.
Crackle!
The plasma membrane formed by a powerful electric field was partially shattered. A thunderous roar vibrated. Bloodia’s arm was flung upward.
Eight poles engraved in the void with a thunderbolt.A rotating staff.Currents of destruction reflecting randomly without rules.
Verden, having boldly stepped forward, hurled [Interis]—which had transformed into destruction itself—at close range. Passing through the center of the octagon of the Mysterious Thunder, it unleashed a powerful wave of concepts.
The octagon is a kind of external area.
The unique magic that Verden maximized in the inner realm is dramatically amplified in power in an instant as it passes through the outer realm.Lightning extending from eight points connected with [Interis].
Verden’s Magical Spear Technique—Berkaelum’s unique magic exploded upon Bloodia.Immediately afterward, a jagged lightning beam concentrated on Verden’s soaring hand, [Interis] returned, and Verden once again judged the earth with magic.
Kwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwang!
As a chain of destruction occurred, one side of the volcano collapsed significantly. Lava exploded violently. A pyroclastic flow swept through the point where Bloodyia had crashed, followed by a waterfall of magma burying the debris.
At that moment… plasma rose around Verden’s body.
The gravitational pull of the electric charge was generated.
Verden, pulled down, immediately severed the connection to destruction, but had already entered the gap of Bloodia, who had surged up from below.
A magical force emanating simultaneously from the pillars bound Verden and Bloodia. It was a powerful restraining force that rendered even the two of them unable to lift a finger.A conceptual suppression that blocked Bloodia’s roar while temporarily shutting down Verden’s magical path.
Stay still until the arcadium is over.
Several magic circles unfolded from Deus’s fingertips, and the magic of the pillars began to solidify following his touch.
“So you were hiding such a binding spell.”
Verden put strength into his whole body.
Destroy all at once.
Just as the magical power condensed within the body was about to manifest through the Mystic Eyes… the earth anchoring the pillar turned into the sea.As the pillar lost its support and collapsed, all restraints were released.
* * *
‘… … Thearel?’
Did Tearel also cross over from the Landfill of Knowledge to come here? The Woman of the Deep Sea walks from where Verden cast his gaze.
“It’s still not over?”
Tearel, who intervened in the final competition, manipulated the host’s miniature garden using the magic of the Great Sea. Perhaps because she was a transcendent being embodying the concept of the sea, she acted as if she were the master of the garden.
The summit is imminent.
Tearel gestured with his chin.
“Hurry up and finish. We don’t have time.”
She boldly expressed her determination even in the face of the Apostle’s formidable presence. Thearel intended to hold the Apostle back in his place.
Verden asked.
“Is it possible?”“I have an idea.”
Tearel glanced at Deus. Verden understood on what grounds she had stepped forward. Right, if they did that, neither Deus nor Bloodia would be able to move.
“I owe you.”“Consider this paying off your debt to Beta.”
Verden nodded and headed not west, but openly east.
[east?]
As Bloodyia frowned and tried to chase, Tearel blocked her path.
[Ha, do you think someone like you can stop me?]
“Honestly, it would be difficult for me.”
Tearel pointed to the side.
“But he’s different.”“…….”“You said I’m the Apostle’s Adversary. Quite important to the First Demon King.”
Tearel understood in the Arcadium that Deus was a resistor. And that Deus was very deeply connected to the first Demon King.
You don’t intend to let me die, do you? You don’t, do you? Teacher Magion.
* * *
Leaving the rear to Thearel, Verden headed toward the Fog Lake at maximum speed. A region where pure white fog was rising welcomed him.
How should I get in?
Verden jumped from the sky into the fog the moment he thought.
I can barely see anything.
Standing on the clear lake, Verden looked around, adjusting to his surroundings. And then… a familiar shadow approached from beyond the fog.
The shadow said.
As expected, you arrived first.
Verden saw through the opponent’s identity before the shadow had even lifted.
“Draven LeMarque.”
