Chapter 192
The Crimson Spirit (1)
Whoosh—
A dark crimson flame that seemed to melt the very fabric of space.
Crackle, crackle—
A deep green bolt of lightning that tore into the flame.
Boom, boom, boom—
As fire and lightning clashed, the surrounding landscape warped and twisted.
Towering mountain peaks crumbled, and the dark clouds that filled the sky were shredded to pieces.
The lightning of the great sorcerer who had slain a fallen dark god, and the flame of the legendary dragon, said to be the strongest in history.
Two beings capable of defying the very forces of nature clashed, and I charged through their battlefield, my body wrapped in magical armor.
“Spell Armor: Quadruple Layer”
“Wind Armor”
The wind swirling around my limbs twisted the incoming shockwaves, deflecting them.
“Flame Armor”
“Blue Thunder Armor”
A dance of red and blue fire and lightning countered the oncoming force, allowing me to endure.
“River Armor”
The innermost layer, a pale blue armor of flowing water, continuously regenerated the other layers as they were worn down.
[This is… impossible!]
A demon named Arbor, who had been extending chains from a pocket dimension to aid in defense, shouted in disbelief.
I couldn’t blame him for his reaction.
Even with four layers of spells wrapped around me, all I could do was withstand the aftermath of the two beings’ battle.
But retreating wasn’t an option. I had to take the risk and dive in because the spear alone couldn’t bring down the lightning sorcerer.
‘Deltarion, the Master of the Thunder Sea.’
A grandiose title that might invite ridicule from those who didn’t know better.
But his true nature couldn’t be captured in mere words. I knew his abilities better than anyone, having meticulously crafted his character through careful planning and thought.
Despite his fall from grace due to the conflicts among dark gods, he was the one who had vanquished Suum’s true form and obliterated the Great Hell.
Moreover, he had single-handedly withstood all of Suum’s powers and the army of the Palace of Destruction with just his multicolored lightning.
‘The spear is undoubtedly powerful. According to the lore, it’s one of the strongest among all the great demons. In its prime, it might have fought Deltarion to a standstill. But now…’
Having lost its name and fallen from grace due to a conflict with the dragon god, could it truly wield its full power?
The current spear was merely an incarnation, revived through the dragon blood flowing in my veins.
Even if the spear had its original soul and body, Deltarion was an opponent against whom victory couldn’t be assured.
Though it had accepted my request to hold him off, the odds of success were slim to none.
‘But if the battlefield is this snowy mountain… I have a chance.’
This place was a realm of illusions.
A world and universe crafted solely by my will.
Complete domain expansion was a power only transcendent beings of the sixth rank could wield.
But having chosen this place as the battlefield, my domain was as good as fully expanded.
‘When I fought Delver, I didn’t know how to handle it. But now it’s different.’
I had witnessed the full manifestation of both Charina and Deltarion’s domains.
Moreover, I was experiencing firsthand how Deltarion, a wizard who faced the apocalypse head-on, wielded his domain.
Even now, insights into the uncharted realm flooded my mind like a tidal wave, reminiscent of when the witch of a thousand faces and vines clashed, revealing their domains.
Though I couldn’t yet overlay my domain onto reality with my own power, I could manipulate the myriad possibilities of this snowy mountain.
What I needed were the gaps created by the battle between these two transcendent beings.
And the perception and decisiveness to recognize and exploit those gaps.
Boom—
I watched as the dark crimson flame spread in a fan shape, and the green lightning cleaved through it head-on.
Rumble…
The dark clouds, pushed back by the might of the Thunder Sea, began to stir at my will.
Crack, crack, crack—
A ridge split vertically by green lightning.
From the newly formed gorge, the massive form of the dragon soared skyward.
Whoosh!
A dark crimson orb formed in front of its gaping maw, and in the next moment, a line shot toward the sky.
━━━━━━━━━
No sound or shockwave spread. The concentrated heat wasn’t a physical entity but a conceptual one.
It obliterated even the medium that could transmit vibrations, evaporating the space along the line—the spear tip of the dragon god.
[A mere lizard abandoned by its master!]
A sharp voice echoed through the sky. The wizard, appearing at the destination of the dragon’s breath, swiftly changed direction.
But the dragon’s spear didn’t miss. The twisted dark crimson line zigzagged through the sky, relentlessly pursuing the wizard.
[Do you think you can burn me with a mere concentrated breath?]
The wizard halted evasive maneuvers and formed a hand sign. A yellow flash burst from its tip.
Boom━━━━
The collision of the dark crimson line and the yellow lightning created a massive sphere of flame, shining like a sun, as if a nuclear explosion had occurred in the void.
[Huff…]
A bombardment of light that allowed no shadow. Beneath it, the spear panted heavily.
From birth, she had grasped the essence of immortality and fully mastered her power.
Though she was an incarnation born through the medium of dragon blood, unlike ordinary demons, her power wasn’t diminished.
However, as an incarnation bound to someone’s domain, it was impossible to avoid the limitation on the total amount of power she could wield.
She could withstand that formidable yellow lightning only a couple more times at most.
[Dellan. I can’t hold out much longer.]
The dragon, conveying a secret message to the master of the domain, suddenly turned its head.
Zap!
The wizard appeared in the air with a spark.
Not only did he move through the air, but he also tore through space without the slightest awkwardness.
A spectacle that vividly demonstrated what it meant to fully control an independent world and space-time.
In the wizard’s hand was a spear of bright yellow lightning.
“I’ve heard of the dragon of dark crimson flame.”
[…Have you?]
“Thousands of years ago, the true dragon who most vehemently opposed the dragon god’s decision to become the fifth dark god. A loyal retainer abandoned by its master. It’s a common tale.”
The wizard smirked, lifting one corner of his mouth. The spear found the smile oddly familiar.
“Are you trying to rise again from your failure now? Offering everything to that half-baked prophet?”
[Half-baked, you say. Not entirely wrong. If all his potential were concentrated, he would have already formed a complete world.]
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying!”
The wizard shouted, his voice rising.
“Do you know what I saw during the endless time I spent in the Well of Reversal? Hundreds of possibilities that could save the world dozens of times over!”
Veins stood out on his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot, and his fingers trembled slightly.
With each spit of his furious words, the thunder sea in the sky roared, and bolts of lightning erupted from the ground. The wizard, unable to contain his anger, bit his lip and spoke.
“And yet, holding all that potential, you can’t even bring down a single fallen dark god? Oh, ancient dragon who has lived for thousands of years! Do you believe in such nonsense…”
[So, great wizard who has formed a complete world, have you escaped the shackles of fate?]
The dragon’s calm whisper.
The wizard’s words abruptly stopped.
[The reason for my decision is none of a mortal’s concern, one who hasn’t overcome fate. Kneeling before a closed ending is the same for both of us.]
The dragon opened its mouth wide. Dark crimson flames roiled in its throat.
The flames that the dragon god had once kindled at the spear’s tip thousands of years ago. Flames that could rival the hellfire of the Palace of Destruction.
[But if I were to give you a hint…]
The spear spoke with a low chuckle to the wizard, who had regained control over his emotions and raised the spear of lightning.
[…he does not succumb to the wordplay of fate.]
“I didn’t expect you to create an opening with words.”
Crackle—
The sound of space tearing. With a gray shimmer, Dellan appeared at the wizard’s side.
Even with his body wrapped in layers of spell armor, his clothes were tattered and singed, hanging in shreds.
Yet the eyes, glowing with magical energy, never lost their light. Seeing the fierce gleam in those eyes, Jeokchang bared his teeth.
“I haven’t lived for thousands of years in vain. Don’t underestimate me.”
With a hint of laughter, a dark red orb formed in front of the true dragon’s mouth.
“This…!”
As the wizard’s head whipped around, a beam of light once again sliced through the sky.
━━━━━━━━━
It cut through the air in a dark crimson arc.
Light and shadow twisted along the line.
“At this range? Are you insane…!”
The wizard shouted, but there was no turning back.
With the beam distorting the space and magical winds around it, there was only one choice.
Facing the heat that could instantly vaporize even the body of a grand wizard, the wizard swung his lightning spear.
And then.
A brilliant sphere of light swept across the ground.
BOOM!
The forest was obliterated. The eternal ice of the permafrost vaporized in an instant.
The bedrock crumbled before it could even heat up, and the valley twisted and melted like distorted caramel.
In the midst of this destruction, Dalen stood within the sphere of light.
Crackle!
Inside the protective electric field he had conjured, it was the only safe zone within the massive sphere of light.
Crackle!
As Arvor’s chains of frost countered the searing heat, Dalen pushed off from the ground within the five-meter safe zone.
Thud!
In an instant, the wizard’s face was right in front of him, eyes wide with shock.
“These cursed fools, launching a suicide attack together…!”
“A compliment, really.”
Dalen deflected the wizard’s accusation with ease and brought down his axe. In that moment, there were eight figures wielding axes.
“Return to the Underworld”
“Eightfold Dispersal”
Eight axes wrapped in blue lightning. The wizard flicked his fingers.
A massive ring of lightning spread out, shattering all the axe-wielding shadows, and blood trickled from Dalen’s mouth.
“Erase the Origin”
He didn’t give up.
Swinging his holy sword, he severed the ring of lightning and took another step forward.
“Combined Strike: Iron Fist”
“Twenty-Eight Instantaneous Blows”
From his shoulder blades, energy resonated and surged into his fists, splitting into twenty-eight strands aimed at the wizard.
“You wretched…!”
Once again, they were all torn apart. With a single gesture from the wizard, Dalen’s left arm was left in tatters.
“Thunder Strike”
Yet he didn’t retreat, swinging his sword. A blinding flash. Explosive thunder.
Crack!
Limbs were torn, white steam burst forth, axes shattered, and cracks spread across the holy sword, but he didn’t stop.
Inside the prison of the light sphere that could evaporate space itself, now was the chance while the wizard maintained his protective field.
Of course, the wizard deflected every one of the dozens of fierce attacks that pierced through that moment, and it was Dalen who accumulated injuries from the godlike spellwork.
“Ha—”
Even so, he laughed.
A wide grin spread across his face, an emotion Dalen himself couldn’t fully understand.
Was it gratitude for being able to take another step even in this moment? Or pride in himself for not giving up in the face of overwhelming power?
In the whirlwind of emotions he couldn’t comprehend.
The battle cry of a body akin to a berserker and the shout of a man in his thirties, long suppressed, merged into one.
The long-standing dissonance between body and mind vanished in that moment.
A sense of liberation surged through him, affirming that he was truly himself.
In that clarity, Dalen realized one thing.
There would be no regrets at the end of this fight.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!!
His shattered body regenerated with dragon’s blood, and he unleashed all the magical tools and weapons he had stored in subspace.
Rune stones blazed with light, and the essence of a nameless demon exploded.
A silver full-body armor was used as a one-time shield and then torn apart, and a bracelet taken from a fourth-rank elf shattered to pieces.
Vines that grew from the void crumbled upon touching the wizard’s electric field.
Lightning and fire arrows stormed like a tempest, and the gates of hell spewed decay, but all were obliterated with a single gesture.
“If I fall, you’ll die too! Why on earth…!”
The wizard’s cry, filled with incomprehension, was met with a wave of red lightning, and Dalen responded by swinging his holy sword instead of words.
And then.
Clang—!
The holy sword shattered.