Episode 998 There Is No Death (1)
There is no death… … .
Bloodcry Plague.Raid on Sanctuary Avenka.Betrayal.Gate of Death.
It is no exaggeration to say that the number of people who have died in recent months due to the decision of the glory of death is astronomical.
Certainly, millions of people died.
There are more than tens of millions of indirect victims.
This figure excludes the fact that the Kingdom of Ronia and the Lower Beastmen tribe were virtually destroyed this time.In a thousand years of history, damage of this magnitude would be countable on the fingers of one hand.
Of course, since the war between races ended, there have been no continent-scale conflicts or disputes, and with overall peace established, the human species—especially the human population—has continued to increase steadily even after the surge… …From the perspective of the continent as a whole, it might be a somewhat acceptable ratio. The world continues on unchanged even without them.
But numbers aren’t everything.
Verden witnessed all the horrors at the scene and thought about them.
While I was fighting the Desert God and Kirondar, I received reports from Pale and Ferne about the aftermath of the Bloodcry Plague.I saw humans and beastmen who had abandoned their lives and fallen into the undead under the coercion of a choice.In the Kingdom of Ronia, I could see traces of those who did not want to become undead but had also lost all hope of living, trembling in fear before starving to death or committing suicide.
But… … there is no death?
“Sophistry.”“Nonsense.”
Verden and Vangelis activated their entire magical circuits, opening the transcendental level. The sailors, who had been bound to Akand all along, were freed from the pressure.
“Gasp, gasp……!”
The commander of the Alliance’s 3rd ship slumped into his seat and could not move due to excessive sweating. Just being near Arkhand was a great drain on mental energy.Unable to withstand the weight of the status, they comfortably lost consciousness.
Pitch-black flames rise.
Vangelis, having absorbed the magical power of nature and drawn near to the source, has a distinctive green light shimmering in his turquoise eyes.
───The Dark Moon’s Flame… …As expected, it is an incomprehensible magic. The crimson magic power wasn’t the whole story. However, it seems you have no intention of hiding it any longer.
Thoughts were exchanged between them.
I will congratulate you on reaching the same level as me later. You are not in good health; do you think you can move properly?
───I didn’t come without an alternative.
It seems true that they will not attack until war is declared. Retreat is an option. The former king must surely have something to rely on. That must be why he welcomed us here.
Vangelis’s eyes deepened.
It is a proper strategy to step back to move forward in an unexpected situation. I don’t know what a demon is, but Isabella will find it difficult to handle the aftermath of this battle.
You’re underestimating Isabella.
Because I’m not a transcendent being.
Verden showed a resolute determination.
───Vangelis. The enemy leader is alone, without any troops. It would be good if I could kill him, but even if I can’t, I need information. For the sake of the future, I must take at least one more piece of it away.
Hmm, so you mean you won’t go empty-handed?
Vangelis nodded inwardly.
First, let’s try to find out what the former king has prepared.
Now that we have encountered the ringleader threatening the current continent, combat is inevitable.
Verden took a step forward and shielded Isabella. She observed Akand, who was still sitting in the chair, with her keen eyes.
‘Emperor Xerion… … Akhand.’
A super-density body and a pure soul were perfectly united, as if a giant had been compressed. While the aura of death was intensely thick, a strange sublimity contrasting with it encompassed his presence.Incongruous with his moniker of the worst tyrant, wise intellect shone in his black eyes.
Akand seemed to have no intention of concealing such a special nature. He did not even try to resist Isabella’s keen eyes.
“I intended to check on the condition of the ancient king sealed by the roots of the World Tree, but to think he has already escaped into the world… So that is the Apostle of Destiny.”
How many monsters called Apostles did Verden encounter and still survive?
Isabella instinctively felt that the former king would be the greatest formidable opponent she had ever faced in person. She could not be certain whether her regenerative abilities would work to the very end.The skin covering Isabella’s stiff muscles was stained with tension.
Then, Akand said.
“Are you expecting the finale before the opening? That is a misjudgment. The Hiaremar Inland Sea is too humble to bring a war to an end.”
Vangelis used the magic of the source to surround Arkhand with magical power.
“Who would be stupid enough to just let the enemy go when their head is right in front of them?”“It’s the same for both of us having the enemy’s head in front of us.”
Akand slowly stands up.
“Do not try to flip through the last page, Verden.”
For the first time, Akand uttered the name of Verden, who was not the Destroyer of Fate.The Dragon Sword embedded in the deck was held in the King’s hand.
“Our fate does not come to an end today.”“Many are seeking out Verden these days.”
Vangelis frowned.
“Mind your own business, my younger sibling.”“…….”
Akand narrowed his eyebrows as he looked back and forth between Verden and Vangelis.
“Little brother?”“Of course!”
A current of magical energy swirled counterclockwise, forming powerful pressure. The light characteristic of the space flickered. It gathered on the staff of magical energy.
Arcane: Magic Fusion
Vangelis, having disappeared from sight, collided head-on with Arkhand.
BANG!
The outer layer of the deck was torn off. Two transcendent beings flew out of the ship.Hair fluttered in the sharp wind.
“Isabella.”“Leave the outsider to me.”
Verden disappears beyond space, and Isabella reaches out her left hand.
“I will seize even the very foundations.”
Isabella activated [Elderon]. Her magical power constructed a physical form before splitting into particles smaller than dust.Having strengthened her magic of erosion to control objects, she seized control of the airship and the crew, who had collapsed from exhaustion and were in a nearly defenseless state.
Psychokinesis
Device, device device device.
Whether controlling the helmsman or directly controlling the magic stone power source of the seaplane… enduring a heavy load that felt like it would make one’s blood flow burst, he forcibly pushed the fleet entangled with the old king to the outskirts of the battle zone.
With the heart imbued with Verden’s pure magical power, a partial magic circle of reversal, aberrant magic, and demonic abilities combined, her personal level was comparable to a quasi-transcendent being surpassing the highest rank.
A vast open space appeared in the inland sea.
Verden and Vangelis unleashed magic toward Akand from the left and right.
Transcendent beings of the magical realm possessing outstanding affinity for all elements.The eight elements of fire, wind, gravity, earth, ice, space, water, and lightning, cast upon one another, collided and became one, their power multiplied several times over.
Kwagwagwagwagwagwang!
The superimposed elemental explosions spread in an instant. The sea was gouged out. Waves poured down, and the depth of one hundred meters below was clearly revealed.From the center, the elemental light glowed violently without fading.
Vangelis said.
“Indeed, is he the protagonist of the War of the Transcendents?”
The Dragon Sword Magras destroyed the elemental composite from within. The sword energy passing by Verden created a cliff in the sea.
The aura of the nether flower flowing from Verden’s entire body shook violently.
Aching.
Not long after fighting the Empress, Verden’s internal injuries had not yet recovered. Unless he unleashes his divine power, he cannot utilize
However,
Ruin was not the only concept Verden of the 8th rank had mastered. There was a valid reason for launching a preemptive strike against Akand.
He isn’t aggressive at all. Akand has no intention of properly counterattacking.
Verden obscured the view as much as possible with a wide-ranging magical bombardment. He was more conscious of the area around Akand than of Akand himself.
What on earth is that guy waiting for?
Why did Arkhand not leave even after the seal of the taboo was broken?
Boom!
Vangelis’s staff vibrated as it struck the Dragon Sword Magras.He took a large step back and immediately checked the condition of the staff in mid-air. The part that had collided with the blade was cracked and was dropping fine fragments.
“They said it was a sword that conquers all things. It was a good thing I tested it out with a reserve staff member first.”
Direct confrontation is strictly forbidden. The fate of the physical body is unknown. The possibility that the Transcendent’s homeostasis may be compromised cannot be ruled out.
Paat.
Vangelis summoned his original staff and aimed it at Arcand. The atmosphere trembled from the ultra-high density magical power drawn by the source of magic.
I change my tactics.Like a wizard.
“Are you still planning to take it easy?”
The waterfall surged back from the turbulent water and swallowed Akhand.
Mado
The water currents condensed and became a flowing sphere. A waterspout occurred. A total of eight ocean vortices struck a single point from each direction.The terrible pressure of the deep sea crushed the King of the Dead from all sides.
The resistance is strange.
A woman with the colors of the deep sea appeared above the violently surging sea.
Black Sea Thearel.
Having crossed over to the inland sea with Verden and Isabella, she was lying in ambush in the water. After gauging Akand’s physical endurance through the sea, she clicked her tongue briefly and distanced herself a little further.
“It’s difficult for me to do alone. I’ll assist you, so you kill them yourselves.”“As I said.”
Akand, who was completely unharmed, stepped onto the surface of the sea and placed Magras on his shoulder.
Even though he was surrounded by two 8th-tier transcendents descended from the Destroyer of Fate and Oldark, demons exterminated by the Second Apostle, and the 7th-tier transcendent, the most troublesome one in the sea, Arkhand did not show any particular will to fight.
There is no death.
A strange presence was suddenly detected, and the sky was pushed to the left and right.The air currents grew heavy.An aura of death pervading the entire region, too pervasive to be ignored by anyone facing Akand, weighed down the Hiaremar Inland Sea.
Eventually, they took their eyes off Akhand and turned their heads upward. An evil shadow cast between the clouds.
Verden muttered.
“……Dragon.”
* * *
It has a form generally similar to the Bone Dragon, which is well known as the Undead Dragon.
However, its physical size and stature were on a completely different level, incomparable to those exterminated by the Luas Church and the Beldirn Republic.With its imposing form… and a skeleton of entirely different thickness, it was not merely that of a transcendent being.
“They say the ancient king ruled over a giant bone dragon. Is that it?”
Verden did not deny Thearel’s conjecture based on the information revealed by the Holy Kingdom.
It is the guardian dragon of the Xerion Empire.
Its form was the same as what was seen in the memories of the first Necromancer, but its presence had become even more vast than before, just as Vantoreon said.
Four Dragons, Nekhbael.
A new ancient dragon, forged from the corpse of the Blue Dragon, gazes upon the Inner Sea. With the mere act of reigning, death began to seep into everything.
Verden and Isabella were not the only ones who realized the true identity of the Bone Dragon.
“Could that dragon be… … .”
Vangelis felt a sense of déjà vu. He found in his memory the horrors he had witnessed on the Eastern Continent about a century ago, long before he became the Seven Great Demon Kings.
A crushing defeat for the punitive force, with 27,000 out of 30,000 men unable to even have their bodies recovered.Several cities reduced to ashes.The number of casualties estimated by the Magic Tower alone stands at hundreds of thousands.
Red Dragon Sarkandra.
The oppressive weight felt from the traces of the burnt earth swept by the crimson nightmare strongly struck Vangelis’s mind.This must be the move prepared by Akhand Linigea Tain Xerion.
“Verden, you are not just any dragon.”“Oh, Evil Dragon.”
Akand sheathed the Dragon Sword.
Honor the sixth apostle.
Nekbael twitches his jawbone.
[I’ll do that.]
Nekbael answered with a brief word and hovered in place. The encroaching space.The sky, which had been merely hazy, degenerated into a dark green.
… … Something is coming.
Dimensional Transfer
Verden soared into the sky, leaving a trace of intent for those around him. His voice was heard belatedly within Isabella and the Transcendents.
You guys deal with Arkhand.
I didn’t hear the answer.
Whoosh.
Verden, having closed the distance with Nekbael to the limit, meticulously manipulated the magic in his hand. Not merely the burning of the form, but the annihilation of existence. Verden allocated his entire magic circuitry to infinite magic.
“While the significance of birth and conceptual principles may differ, the destination of extinction and destruction is ultimately the same. As long as I am the master.”
Even the space fades away in the pitch-black flames chaotically tangled between the fingers.
In addition to the Lord seated atop a mountain of corpses signifying Arkanth, several other symbols of the Apostles were engraved on the murals of Molgarn. Among them were ‘dragons breathing out toward the earth.’
Could the Four Dragons also be apostles of fate?How far does the Four Dragons’ power extend?
Respond with extinction exceeding the upper limit.
What the international community needs to know is the total power of the Xerion Empire. The opponent is a nation, not an individual. He did not disregard Vantoreon’s advice.
[Gray.]
Nekbael stared directly at Verden, who was trying to block him, with a blue glow. As if possessed by his presence… and his grayness.
[… … I am sorry, O Primordial Dragon.]
Verden paused.
[As for me… … it’s beyond my capabilities… … .]
Nekbael sobbed hollowly. For a moment, Verden saw the form of a blue dragon within Nekbael’s skeleton, which was reduced to nothing but bone and membrane.
Blue Dragon Talisia.
Talisia, who was still nothing more than a hatchling, frolicking on the head of a huge, sleeping gray dragon, was imprinted in Verden’s mind.
‘Memories of the Gray Dragon… … Is this the influence of me acquiring the concept of gray?’
Nekbael spread his wings in front of Verden, who had momentarily opened up a gap. Talicia’s consciousness had already vanished from his eyes.
[─────────────!]
The skeleton of the roaring Nekbael is covered in scales that shimmer with purple and green. The blue light serving as the eyes has turned black.
Nekbael was no longer a bone dragon.
Because the individual has undergone evolution.
Paradoxically, the Dragon of Death, where death and life coexisted, was there, and Nekbael’s ego, rather than Talicia’s, was fully established.
[Who are you giving orders to, a nobody like an Apostle?]
The pitch-black pupil split vertically.
Dragon Fear.
A presence possessing physical force repelled Verden vertically. Space was completely out of control. As Verden plummeted, he manipulated the density of the atmosphere to forcibly apply the brakes to his body.
[It is fate, and resistance… … .]
Nekbael glared at Arkhand beyond Verden with eyes full of hatred. Buthis emotions did not stop there.Nekbael unleashed a furious rage, loathing the Transcendents, including Verden, Isabella, the unconscious sailors, and even the world itself.
[All of you… … vanish from my sight.]
A large mouth opens.
Fraud is biased.
Nekhbael began to assume the Breath stance of the ancient dragon that has reached the pinnacle of dragons.
