Episode 1139 Mutual Severance (2)
Haldirn’s dark magic and Beltroa’s fire magic struck the ground. Each explosion, possessing a different attribute, represented the morale of the World Alliance forces.
The Beast King of the Great Beastman Tribe intercepted the undead army’s airborne forces from the skies, while the Spirit King disrupted the enemy’s formation with the agility of a black panther beastman.Mentally strong beastmen, unyielding to corruption, took charge of breaking through the front lines.
Then Romanus raised his voice.
“With innocent glory.”
The radiance of the Goddess Luas became even more vivid. As the Angel of Victory and Prosperity took the lead not only for the clergy but for all of humanity belonging to the Union,Cardinal Gregor Ban proclaimed lofty justice in the land of death.
Compulsory oath: servitude
“Pfft, to think I’d give you a hard time just because you call yourself a dragon.”
Yurion controlled the Bone Dragon through a vow.
The contract nearly failed due to the Dragon Bone’s resistance, but they eventually succeeded in forcibly subjugating it.They boarded the Bone Dragon with the Knights of the Word Spirit.
“You are like a legendary Dragon Knight, Your Majesty.”“I am better than a Dragon Knight.”
Yurion smiled and extended his sword.
The heart of the enemy is right in front of us!! Don’t stop!!!
Two punitive legions targeted the ancient fortress walls that Gareth had destroyed. Soon, the officers of each faction took advantage of the chaos to enter the enemy fortress.
* * *
Am I dreaming?Has the dream swallowed me?
Butterflies simply chase flowers.
* * *
Southern part of the Eastern Continent.
As Ignacia and Rucaria’s super-level magic clashed, illusion snatched away reality.
A world where one cannot distinguish between lies and truth.
Silis was there.
“This is…… Letia.”
On an outdoor terrace overlooking the full view of the royal capital of Retia, she found herself sitting alone in Esnoren, the royal castle where she resided in reality.Upon checking her attire belatedly, she realized it belonged to a princess, not a queen.
Doll Princess.
Just like back then, when I played the role of a doll for decades to hide the fact that I inherited the bloodline of a witch, and to avenge my mother…
This is a dream.
Silis regained consciousness.The blood of the ancient witch protected her from being deeply consumed by the illusion.
I have to find a way out.
Unable to use magic, I could not jump off the terrace. This space is false, yet true. Unlike ordinary dreams, injuries are directly linked to reality.
thud!
As I kicked open the door, I found myself in a hallway.It was an endless hallway.Countless doors lined up on both sides.
Squeak… … .
The first door closest to Silis opened.
───Our Silis.
I saw Queen Remien holding the newborn Silis in her arms. My beloved mother. And that warmth, which I could never feel again, caressed my skin.
Familiar people were surrounding those two people in a circle.
Silis’s father and the King of Estiria.Silis’s eldest brother, Valugna.Silis’s second eldest brother, Rotnil.Silis’s third eldest brother, Evers.The newly appointed Chancellor who turned the Kingdom of Estiria into a human experimentation site… …a member of Gluttony.The Commander of the Court Mage Corps of the Kingdom of Estiria, Leonil.
───I am not incompetent… …! King of Conquest! I will become a king greater than anyone… …! Chancellor! Immediately, use the Queen as a test subject!!! For my sake!!!
───There is no better material than this chunk of meat to throw to those driven mad by lust. Silis Riven di Estria, a doll has value as a doll.
───Silis, your body is mine now!
There are many elements that could be used for political gain, but for the sake of my position, it would be more advantageous to give Silis to Brother Rotnil. After all, what is so special about that mere body?
Then I will remove the organ.
───The Witch’s Heart… … I, too, shall reach the Realm of Transcendence. Without fail.
The villains gradually closed the distance as they revealed their individual desires. In the center of it all, Remien lifted his head and looked at Silis while holding his child in his arms.
Silis knows of his mother’s death.
Even the agonizing pain.And even the final act of being disintegrated alive.
bang!!
Silis suppressed a sudden urge to vomit and closed the door. She didn’t want to see it again. There was no way she could want to see it.The sight of her mother’s body writhing and her internal organs being torn apart…!
Squeak.
The second door on the opposite side opened.
“ah…….”
Silis was unable to resist and had no choice but to turn her head in that direction. Inside the room, the gruesome dissection of Remien was unfolding in graphic detail.
───Our Silis.
Memories received from my mother were forcibly recalled and took root in my mind.Years of human experimentation.
The blood in my whole body flowed backward.
Squeak.
The third and fourth doors opened.
───Our Silis.
───Our Silis.
Remien’s head, kept in a transparent magic container, gapes, and the arm remaining on the operating table twitches and waves its hand.
Squeak.
And the fifth, sixth, and seventh doors opened.
With every door that opened, a year’s worth of memories replayed in her mind. It was only for a moment, but the lingering aftertaste left an indelible scar.In the span of blinking her eyes a few times, Silis’s mind was brutally torn apart.
Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.
Silis ran down the hallway.
───Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis. Our Silis.
───Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch.
───Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess. Doll Princess.
The doors opened one after another.
Because Silis had inherited the power of her bloodline not only from her mother but also from the memories of ancient witches, she had to confront countless fragments of the past.Memories are short, and nightmares are long.Silis’s screams were drowned out by auditory hallucinations. The bizarre friction sound spreading as doors opened overwhelmed the royal castle corridors, Silis’s world.
“Gasp, gasp……!!”
Before she knew it, Silis had reached the end of the hallway.
The sound of the door was no longer heard.
Thinking it was finally over, she turned her head to find all the doors firmly closed,just as when she first stepped into the hallway.
Squeak.
Again, the first door opened.
───Our Silis.
… … .
While there are people who despair over the past, there are also those who overcome it and seize a brilliant future.
However, the past is a record that can never be erased.
Simply reading through and moving on from a chapter of a novel filled with brutal descriptions does not constitute overcoming it. This is because emotions are worn away with every repeated reading.Therefore, wouldn’t it be considered overcoming in the true sense only when one feels no emotion even when repeatedly visualizing that scene?
Considering there will be plenty of falls ahead, to think that merely standing up resolved the trauma.
What an arrogant spirit this is.
Squeak.
The 9192nd door opened.
A world different from before greeted Silis, who had been forced to live her life over and over again. It was a space that was silent yet where disgust suddenly reared its head.
Lecaria said.
Most humans yearn for longevity, and even eternal life, and crave prolongation, claiming that life is far too short. But that is a delusion. It is the delusion of base animals who consider only stimulating memories to be the past and the entirety of their lives, failing to realize that forgetting is a blessing.
Rucaria put a knife to Ignacia, who was lying on the operating table.
“Life is long for everyone. They just lack the ability and the will to ruminate on it. For them, memories cannot be preserved, leaving behind a distorted past entangled with one another.”“Ah, uh, ah, ah.”“So what does reality matter? It just molds shapes as it pleases and insists that is its true self.”
Ignacia’s eyes twitched.
Her crown was cleanly cut open to expose her brain, and Rucaria cut or grafted the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory.
Ruminant───Rucaria.
The transcendent being who had finally devoured Ignacia’s mental realm smiled at Silis.
“I’ll ask you one last time. Silis, what memory do you want to die with?”
Silis slumped to the ground. Her mental state was so severely damaged that she could no longer move. The ceaseless cold sweat seemed to weigh even more heavily on her body.All she could do was perceive and stare at the illusions unfolding before her eyes.
It took quite a while, but even so, I am merely a transcendent being of the most peaceful era. I won.
Rucaria’s laughter, confident of victory, spread softly throughout the fantasy world.
At that moment, Silis parted her lips.
“A doll is… a doll because it cannot perceive the world outside its own.”“What?”“You are no different from me.”
Rucaria’s fingertips tightened at the incomprehensible nonsense he had heard.As you can see, he had definitely subdued Ignacia, but he suddenly sensed an indescribable ominousness at Silis’s voice just moments ago.
“Your disciple said something commendable?”“……?!”“Ahahahahahaha.”
The entire royal castle of Esnoren, extracted from Silis’s memories, began to shake. The walls cracked. Before long, the ceiling was torn off.
Lecaria’s pupils dilated as he hurriedly raised his gaze at the strange phenomenon.
I can’t accept this.
Ignacia, who had been caressing the mental realm until just now, disappeared from the operating table, and her magical power surged into the sky.
A massive Ignacia, large enough to engulf the royal capital and then some.
She retrieved the demonic clone and gazed down upon the spiritual world where Rucaria and Silis existed, her eyes overflowing with a purple Milky Way.
The royal castle was a dollhouse, andRucaria was a doll.
Ignacia was their master.
“How can there be such a gap even though they are of the same rank…?”“Oh my, you still don’t know the reason?”
The earth shook just at the mere touch of Ignacia’s index finger.The world began to collapse.
“They’re different from birth, aren’t they?”
Following the fingertips, Retia sank rapidly past Esnoren. Everything composed of the mental realm struck the two of them in unison.
There was no significant pain.
Darkness and light.Darkness and light.Darkness and light.
White and black merely flickered alternately, filling the inner world. Eventually, the darkness completely lifted, and the dazzling radiance of the magical path spread far and wide.
……dump!
“Ugh.”
Silis fell hard on her bottom.
The tactile sensation was distinct.The texture of the ground was also real.
Silis slowly lifted her eyelids and faced the scenery from before she was swept away by the super-magic.Yes.She had returned to reality.
“It’s my first time clashing with another transcendent being using only the pure mental realm, but it’s more fun than I thought. Is that why Verden goes around seeking out strong guys and killing them all? Hahaha.”
Sealed within the small sphere held in Ignacia’s grasp was none other than the unconscious mind of Rucaria.Rucaria’s true form, having been deprived of its mind, stood frozen with a blank expression.
“Um, aren’t you going to dispose of it?”“It has its uses in its own way. Well, honestly, all I need is the spirit, but since it would be a waste to just discard that body, I’m going to make use of it. It is the body of an enemy commander; just think how many ways there are to use it effectively in war.”
Ignacia bent her finger to completely seal Rucaria and raised Silis.
“So, what was it like experiencing the Ruminant’s Super-Level Magic?”“It was… very difficult.”“But I endured it.”
Ignacia could have protected Silis, but she did not. For the moment she experienced the sincere murderous intent of a hostile Transcendent would become her flesh and blood.
“Urvan, take care of him.”“Yes.”
Ignacia’s right-hand man, who had been in charge of Silis’s escort during this war, appeared nonchalantly and slung Rucaria’s body over his shoulder.
When on earth… …?
Silis swallowed hard.
“Master, by any chance.”“There is no such thing as a one-on-one in war?”
Ignacia grinned.
If you win, it’s over.
It is unlikely, but what would have happened if Ignacia had been pushed back in the mental battle?Urban would have intervened and destroyed Rucaria’s body.
Ignacia engaged in various eccentricities in pursuit of hedonistic fun, but he was certainly not a naive or frivolous being.
“How is the battle situation now?”“The enemy offensive coming up from the Yellow Fang Fortress is quite fierce, but the defensive line is still solid.”
Approximately a few days had passed since the super-level magic clashed. Urban omitted the details of the battle that had taken place during that time and reported only the results.
“And it is said that the legion of the Transcendents has entered the ancient fortress where the source body of the Four Gates is located.”“Oh, really?”
* * *
Gareth, who entered the castle at the forefront, smashed everything within his reach. He searched for the archer while destroying pillars and walls one after another.As he descended deeper underground alone, the ground suddenly gave way.
A trap? I’ll take it.
Gareth, on the contrary, accelerated and plummeted into the underground where deep darkness lurked.
Boom!!!
“Ha, I knew what that bastard was up to.”
Gareth clashed his fists together.
“You think you can kill me over something as trivial as this?”
A total of thirteen pairs of blue eyes flickered in the darkness. Two special-class undead and the 8th Commander welcomed him. Justas multiple poles can stand against a transcendent being.Although their forces were more than enough to confront the transcendent being, whether they could eliminate Gareth before Yurion or Romanus arrived was a separate matter.
Getting rid of that bow first is the priority, rather than reducing the number right now.
As soon as Gareth made his decision, he accelerated at full speed to give Luerin no opening.With agility unbefitting his massive physique, he evaded the attack with minimal bleeding and broke through. Predicting Luerin’s path, he extended his fist into the air.
Chain Ring – Falling Axe
Ruerin, struck by the force of the fist, fell back, deflecting the impact while simultaneously executing a breakfall.Crack.The bow stave was severely damaged. So severe that the bowstring could not be pulled more than a few times.
However, the feel of the strike wasn’t as satisfying as I had expected. It wasn’t that I failed to hit properly, but rather a hunch that I had struck the wrong thing.
“You bastard.”
Gareth’s expression contorted.
“Where did that bastard commander go?”
[Kick.]
The fake Luerin scoffed.
* * *
Kwaaaaaaaang!
Yurion and the Knights of the Word Spirit struck the north of the fortress along with the Bone Dragon, and the Angel of the Luas Church poured out a miracle of radiance to the west.
“Kahaaaaak!”
[Ughhhhh!]
The giant corrupted one who absorbed the soul of King Ronia and did not die even after being hit squarely by Gareth, and the spirit king of the great beast tribe clashed in the courtyard.
The King of the Underworld dived down, snatched up the troublesome undead, and tossed them away from the sky.
Kaang!
[To you. I. Say. The. End.]
We will take care of the outside.
The indomitable Iniktor drew the attention of the two Knights of the Apocalypse and clashed swords.
Prioritize the source.
The ancient fortress was separated from the outer battlefield by walls. Although the enemies inside were strong, their numbers were small, leaving ample space. It wasa battlefield familiar to adventurers.While high-ranking adventurers were conducting their usual subjugation, other forces began to enter the fortress in earnest from various directions.
Whoosh!
Eon’s phases also continued to advance and
Those who entered the fortress through a different entrance are fighting throughout the corridors.
A large wall collapsed.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
Gregorban of Justice appeared, mounted a group of skeletons wielding a mace, and brought down his fist. Although the Allied forces suffered no casualties, their power was formidable.
Junia and her party headed straight for the fortress’s underground, minimizing combat.They insisted on taking a direction where there were as few people as possible,because the Source might be located somewhere in a place others were not heading.
and.
“Sage, that door!”“Indeed, it is an extremely suspicious door!”
Finally, I found a massive door that was incomparable to any other place. It was so large that it could not normally be opened. Moreover, it was antique and ominous.
I naturally thought that the correction of the inverted cone was likely inside there.
Now it’s really right in front of my eyes…!
Junia wanted to put an end to this battlefield rampant with corruption as soon as possible. Of course, Cain, Aldanis, and Aldevan felt the same way.
At that moment, something flashed from the small gap in the door.
Was it instinct?
Before everyone could even realize what it was or react, Cain reflexively pushed Junia on the left with his shoulder.
Silent Wedge.
Luerin’s arrow pierced Cain’s heart.
