Chapter 183
Sea of Blood (1)
Rumble…
An unfamiliar thunder echoed through the sky. Dalen looked up.
The heavens were split as if cleaved in two. The celestial battle above was growing fiercer by the moment.
Boom! Crash…!!
Dark storm clouds and a frozen sky clashed, red and blue talons striking at each other.
The collision of these immense forces scattered shards of magic like hail.
Crackle. Sizzle—
The twisted, condensed fragments of magic couldn’t maintain their unstable state for long, transforming into natural spells of their own accord.
Tiny flames flickered in the air, and a web of small lightning bolts danced like butterflies.
A sudden gust of wind swirled, then shattered into ice shards.
From the ground, it looked like a mystical aurora descending to earth.
A rain of multicolored spells, almost within reach, evaporated before touching the ground.
Dalen sighed softly and stood up.
Through the blizzard that blanketed the earth, a massive shadow approached him.
”…You’re here.”
“The blizzard was fierce, so I was delayed.”
The demon leading the army of monsters, a giant with a bird-like head, spoke.
“It seems they tried to obscure our sight and senses to stop us. Not a bad attempt.”
The bird-headed demon shook its head, dislodging icicles that had formed beneath its feathers, scattering them like powder.
The blizzard raging on the ground was a storm conjured by the royal wizards of the Tsar Kingdom.
A large-scale spell designed to confuse the senses of those within its range, causing them to lose their way and eventually freeze in the cold.
Though not as powerful as the storm that could freeze entire spaces like the Frost Throne, the hallucinatory power of the blizzard was enough to disorient even a demon’s senses.
Without the Eye of Shadow, Dalen might have been lost as well.
But even the demon’s minions, who knew nothing but battle, seemed to have a way to break through.
“Even if our senses are blocked, it doesn’t mean we can’t reach our destination. Not even a blizzard that blinds us can mask the stench of those wretched spellcasters’ blood.”
The bird-headed demon laughed, a sound like metal scraping emanating from between its beak.
“When you killed the vanguard of our army with that relic weapon, we locked eyes for a moment. Do you know my name, warrior?”
“Bird-brained bastard.”
”…I heard you were well-versed in demonology, but perhaps I was misinformed. Or maybe that paladin who always follows you around told you. Where is she now? Did she die when the wall collapsed?”
The metallic voice grew harsher, a crude provocation. Dalen didn’t respond, instead fingering the hilt of his sword.
A slight twitch of his fingers on the hilt. Dalen began counting silently.
“Heh, did she die, leaving you to crawl out here alone? Were you planning to charge in, having given up on everything? They say the death of a brave warrior stems from a fragile heart. Are you also…”
The bird-headed demon’s laughter abruptly stopped. Its head snapped back.
‘Three.’
A faint sound pierced the blizzard.
‘Two.’
The dying screams grew closer.
A glint of realization flashed in the bird-headed demon’s eyes. Through the fierce blizzard, a hand axe flew toward it.
The very relic weapon that had killed the barbarian army’s vanguard at the start of the battle.
‘One.’
「Return to the Abyss」
As the golden disc emerged through the blizzard, Dalen’s figure vanished from where he stood.
Boom!!
The bird-headed giant swung its sword. Even blocking with a sword the size of a house, its body staggered.
“What… strength…!”
As a groan escaped its beak, the axe suspended in mid-air erupted in a golden explosion.
Boom!
The fiery explosion engulfed the upper body of the bird-headed giant, and at the same time, Dalen reappeared right in front of it.
Swoosh—
A gray shadow leaped dozens of meters.
Without hesitation, Dalen severed the giant’s legs in a single stroke.
“Keaaaargh!”
The bird-headed demon shrieked as its legs were cut and its upper body caught fire, signaling the monsters to charge.
It didn’t matter. If they approached, he would cut them down as well.
Raising his holy sword high, Dalen brought it down on the demon’s head lying on the ground.
“You… can’t stop us… alone…!”
Boom!
There was no reason to listen to such worthless last words.
A bolt of lightning struck the ground through the gap between the two battling skies above.
「Thunder Strike」
The holy sword became one with the blue lightning, severing the bird-headed demon’s head in an instant.
「Discharge」
Crackle!
Without losing momentum, the lightning spread across the ground like wildfire, creating a storm of electricity.
Screams echoed as the blue lightning storm swept away the charging monsters, even dispelling the blizzard that had been raging all around.
Simultaneously, as if on cue, the blizzard beyond the range of the lightning storm also subsided.
The blizzard vanished as if it had been a lie.
The monsters and demons now had a clear view of the battlefield.
What they saw was a siege encircling their army on three sides.
[Elle.]
[Memento Elegus.]
On the second wall, eight meters high, a golden wave covered an entire section of the wall.
[Brothers.]
[Take up your arms.]
And the golden wave of the paladin order, which had hidden in the blizzard and emerged outside the fortress to block the eastern flank of the army.
Rumble…
A massive fortress, wreathed in a band of lightning, descended through the dark storm clouds, blocking the western flank and preparing a large-scale spell.
A three-sided siege created using the blizzard as a screen.
The counterattack began from atop the wall.
「Domain Unleashed: The Hand of the Rewinding Earth」
「Thousand Laws, One Origin Cannon」
The golden wave atop the wall began to unleash thousands of spell barrages toward the monster army with a resonant hum.
[For the glory of the God of War—]
[Eradicate the evil before you!]
A blindingly bright army of three thousand, shining with holy light, surged forward like a massive wave of light, shouting battle cries.
[Lenia.]
[Titus.]
[Dalorema]
[Basak.]
[…]
Finally, the floating sky fortress, Barshabak, hovered dozens of meters above.
Endless incantations echoed, creating a massive storm of lightning beneath the fortress.
Crackle—
The heat of the lightning evaporated the snow of the frozen land.
As the bodies of monsters caught in the storm were torn apart, dozens of lightning-based spells began to pour from the fortress’s gunports and spires.
“How… even Barshabak…?”
Dalen gripped his axe and sword.
The bird-headed demon’s body had burned to death in the holy fire, leaving only its head muttering.
Crunch!
He crushed the twitching head underfoot, watching as the experience bar on his status window rose significantly.
Rumble…
The monster army hesitated for a moment, then bared their teeth once more.
Even with the support of the sky fortress, the paladin order, and the bombardment from the walls, it was impossible to turn the tide of battle with a mere flip of the hand.
The surprise attack had wiped out thousands of monsters, but tens of thousands more were regaining their senses and launching a renewed assault.
In the midst of the army, Dalen rolled his shoulders. Tens of thousands of monsters and dozens of demons. He chuckled softly.
“Let’s see how many levels I can gain in a day.”
His feet, soaked in demon blood, took a step forward with a fierce grin.
Thud—
As his figure vanished from the spot, a storm of crimson blood erupted.
It was chaos.
Screech!
A crustacean-like monster clawed its way up the wall, embedding its talons.
Whoosh!
A barrage of spear throws, imbued with sword energy, knocked the monster down.
Thud— Thud— Clatter!
Countless ladders and grappling hooks were thrown over the wall, and surviving barbarian warriors climbed them while massive stone trolls used their weight to batter the wall itself.
The monsters’ magic relentlessly targeted the soldiers atop the wall. The royal wizards countered with freezing spells.
Giant icicles and extreme cold clashed with hellish spells, creating a majestic display of explosions in the air before the wall.
Amidst this precarious balance, the sky fortress Barshabak, the paladin order, and Dalen were steadily cutting down the enemy numbers.
While Barshabak’s wide-range lightning spells crushed the monsters, Dalen and the paladin order prevented the demons from directly attacking the wall.
”…Master, are you really okay with this?”
Tommy, peering beyond the wall, asked with a slightly anxious expression. Felber nodded slowly.
Drip. Drip.
Sweat dripped from his beard.
The old man’s gnarled hands moved ceaselessly, weaving intricate signs, while golden waves erupted continuously at his feet.
Normally, Tomi would have shared the burden of forming these complex signs, but this time, even he couldn’t assist his master in opening the domain.
And for good reason—what Felber was accomplishing shattered the very framework of conventional spellcraft.
Felber was orchestrating hundreds of spells from dozens of schools, seamlessly integrating them as if they were a single, massive ritual.
“Ignel—Tatablos!”
“Ignel Rot!”
Amidst the gathered mages spread across the fortress walls, dozens of massive fireballs and fiery arrows floated into the air.
“Lenia Basak!”
“Elle—Maiarin.”
Bolts of lightning shot forth, and the earth trembled with power, while silent spells, devoid of incantations, began to move from the hands of their casters.
Rumble—
And binding it all was the golden magic, a strange resonance that intertwined flames and lightning, amplifying them into a force many times greater.
Boom—!!
The result was a relentless barrage of hundreds of spells raining down on the enemy, each one striking with sniper-like precision, avoiding allies and providing extensive support.
“Is that… even human?”
A mage casting fire spells nearby was left speechless by the spectacle. Even as one of the top talents from the Ignella Tower, on the verge of forming his own domain, he couldn’t comprehend the mastery unfolding before him.
The resonance of spells, multi-layered casting, the linking of various elements, and the massive ritual performed by numerous casters—none of these were theoretically impossible. However, when the number of casters exceeded double digits, it typically required years of training and research.
Such feats were not easily achieved outside of ancient towers with centuries of history or royal mage corps under strict training.
Yet here it was, accomplished in mere days of training and the opening of a single person’s domain.
“Unless he’s manipulating time itself, how…?”
Even at the pinnacle of the fourth tier, he couldn’t fathom that Felber was directly altering the timeline.
The miraculous process of dissecting and manipulating each spell’s casting into perfect resonance was beyond belief.
No matter how much of a genius Felber was, without the grueling effort and the rebirth of his body as a subordinate of a true dragon, it would have been impossible.
Boom—!!
Talent, effort, and fortune combined to unleash a devastating bombardment across the battlefield.
Beyond the searing heat in his mind and the boiling realm of his imagination, Felber’s expression remained grim despite the miracles he was crafting with his low, rapid incantations and dizzying hand signs.
It wasn’t the visible circumstances that troubled him.
The remaining layers of the fortress and the firepower from the aerial fortress were more than enough to handle the tens of thousands of monsters.
Even if dozens of demons scaled the walls, the paladins and Dalen’s relentless defense meant there was no need to worry.
If demons occasionally broke through and attacked the walls, the fifth-tier transcendents of the Ironblood Army would drive them back beyond the walls.
The number of fallen monsters far exceeded that of the fallen humans, meaning victory was within reach if they held on.
Yet, despite this, Felber’s expression was tense.
It was akin to Dalen descending into the enemy ranks below, even though he could have simply defended the wall and slain the climbing demons.
Crack—
Suddenly, the sound of something solid breaking reached his ears.
His overheated mind detected an eerie silence.
’…What is this?’
In the chaos of battle, silence was impossible.
This dissonance must have arisen from the absence of something.
It didn’t take long to identify the source of the dissonance.
The storm of lightning that had swept through a section of the battlefield—the noise created by this man-made disaster—had suddenly ceased.
’…Varshabak!’
Felber’s golden eyes turned toward the floating aerial fortress.
The archmage’s senses pierced the battlefield, detecting a breach in the barrier surrounding the fortress.
A small hole, only a few meters in diameter, seemed insignificant compared to the fortress’s overwhelming size.
Yet the entity that had infiltrated through that hole was anything but insignificant.
It was one of the very beings Felber had been constantly wary of.
Crunch.
At the top of the highest spire of the fortress, a dragonkin stood, ravenously devouring something in its hand.
Crunch. Munch.
It was a corpse.
The corpse of none other than the master of the Varshabak Tower.
Boom—!
In that moment, the ring of lightning surrounding the aerial fortress shattered with a deafening roar, and the fortress, which had been floating tens of meters above, began to tilt.
Rumble…
”…My God.”
Amidst the intricate hand signs, Felber felt a cold sweat trickle down his back.
The grand tower, revered as the sanctuary of all lightning mages, was crumbling far too easily.
“Is that what a demon lord is…?”
Dalen had warned him in advance.
This invasion, led by dozens of demons, included two demon lords.
One of them was the strongest among the six dukes under Suum.
An unknown demon lord, whose name was not even known among the dark mages.
Yet, witnessing one of the continent’s six grand towers collapse before his eyes, it was hard to maintain composure.
And then—
Whoosh—
From somewhere in the enemy ranks, amidst the chaos of battle, a golden streak of light shot forth.