Light of the Demigod (2)
The art of the sword and the power of the spirit are wielded in unison.
No chance to evade, no time to block—just a relentless exchange of blows.
“Storm of Martial Thunder!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A tempest of magic erupts around the altar, engulfing everything in its path.
Corrosion, flames, frost, and lightning.
The distorted gravitational field warps time itself, while razor-sharp winds pierce the space surrounding the altar.
This was the chaotic release of power that had seeped into the weapons over decades, even centuries.
[Did you raid the treasury of the Diamond Palace? But if you rely on such trinkets, you’re not worth my time!]
Amidst the weapons embedded around the altar, a blood spirit with an unyielding form glared defiantly through the overwhelming barrage.
“Lux.”
The weapons embedded in the ground began to glow brightly, as the power of the spirit pushed the accumulated magic beyond its limits.
KABOOM!
An explosion filled the steps, a magical storm so vast it covered a third of the hall.
Walls and ceilings shook, debris falling, as the upper steps melted under the intense heat.
The shockwave reverberated endlessly, threatening to unravel the very spells holding the hall together.
[Master! It worked! On the first try…!]
“No.”
He cut off the excited demon. His eyes, gleaming with magical light, were fixed on the heart of the explosion.
The blast, fueled by the magic of dozens of ancient weapons, had cracked the foundation of the hall’s enchantments.
Yet, within the storm, a red figure stood, smiling mockingly.
[Impressive.]
A voice resonated with calm confidence.
With a single step, the explosion dissipated.
The blood spirit, half-melted on the altar, gazed with insatiable greed.
Eyes that saw a tempting offering. A primal desire to fully manifest as the harbinger of the end.
Even when the necromancer who witnessed the end of the world was betrayed, the blood spirit’s eyes had that same look.
[You look delicious. Truly tempting. You could be the perfect offering to summon my true form.]
A grotesquely long tongue licked its lips. Unfazed, Dalen opened a pocket dimension, drawing out a heap of ancient weapons.
Each one worth hundreds of gold coins, but he had no intention of conserving them against a dark god.
He had amassed these relics, spending all his accumulated wealth, precisely for such an extraordinary battle.
In battles against beings beyond the fifth rank, strategy was as crucial as raw power.
Using powerful weapons as disposable tools, he sought to replicate the possibilities glimpsed in the realm of the legendary blacksmith, Delucahim.
“Exi. Tatsum.”
Once more, the power of the incantation grasped over a hundred weapons in mid-air.
Skipping the warming-up process, the engraved abilities were squeezed out, turning the relics into streaks of light.
Under the spectacle of a rainbow of colors falling like shooting stars, the blood spirit watched Dalen without a flinch.
Blocking the path was a figure in a gray hood.
A vampire count.
“That’s enough recklessness, human.”
“Grave Spirit Prison Hand.”
Swoosh!
The ravaged floor of the hall split open.
A chill ran down his spine as dozens of massive hands surged from the cracks.
CRASH!
Pale hands formed a massive wall, blocking the falling weapons around the half-destroyed altar.
Though the sharp weapons tore and pierced the palms and forearms, the powerful dark energy absorbed the weapons’ power.
A single spell nullified the bombardment of relics. Even with the hood obscuring the face, it wasn’t hard to guess the spell’s master.
”…Count.”
The most powerful necromancer alive, aside from the blood spirit.
The protagonist of the Vampire War that seized vast territories of the empire four centuries ago, and the dark sorcerer who maintained the blood spirit’s altar for centuries.
“My apologies for the delay, Blood Spirit.”
The vampire count, revealing a pale face as he removed his hood, glanced at Dalen before bowing to the blood spirit.
He spoke.
“I had to step away briefly to deal with the traitor, Viscount Lavirusk.”
With the vampire count’s arrival,
Even with just one more addition, a tense silence fell over the hall.
It was only natural.
If the blood spirit was the spiritual leader of the vampires, the vampire count was their de facto ruler.
A sixth-rank necromancer of noble vampire lineage, he had lived long enough to rival even the White-Eyed Sage.
Even Dalen, who had prepared thoroughly to face a dark god, couldn’t handle both at once.
The count knew this, which is why he could afford to turn his back so confidently.
[No matter. It was an entertaining fight. Did you handle that child well?]
“Yes. His body has returned to dust. And this human warrior…”
[The viscount left a fine gift. He brought a very fine offering.]
The blood spirit smiled, a crimson aura swirling inside its upturned lips.
Seeing his master’s satisfied smile, the count bowed once more.
“Then it should rightfully be presented to the blood spirit’s altar.”
The count stepped back a few paces from the blood spirit, then turned to Dalen, extending his hand.
A chilling power flickered at his fingertips.
With a simple gesture, over a hundred more hands surged from the cracked floor.
“Grave Spirit Prison Hand.”
“White Death Spirit.”
Eyes, only whites visible, glared from the palms of the pale hands.
The ghostly fingers, with long black nails, grasped the air.
RUMBLE!
The wave of ghostly hands, more overwhelming in force and number than before, blocked all of Dalen’s weapons.
But before Dalen could draw more weapons from his pocket dimension, a heavy wave of power surged from the entrance of the hall.
[Elle.]
A majestic voice echoed through the hall.
[Memento Elegus.]
A golden light struck the cracked floor of the hall.
As the concentric waves swept through the space, the pale hands, reaching out menacingly, froze in mid-air.
“Domain Unleashed: The Hand of the Rewinding Earth.”
[Memento Casiobolg.]
With a strange noise, like a video playing in reverse, the cracked floor reabsorbed the pale hands and arms.
THUD!
As the staff made from the dragon’s spine struck the ground, the floor of the hall healed itself, closing the wounds.
”…Wizard.”
“You’ll face me. Don’t get distracted.”
Stepping over the fallen door, Felber entered.
His brown eyes, beard, and long hair tied back were all naturally golden.
“I did order my subordinates to stop you all.”
The vampire count frowned, glaring past Felber’s shoulder.
In the corridor, a fierce battle still raged.
BOOM! BOOM!
Explosives detonated, scattering red-hot shrapnel, while arrows fired by skeletal archers reversed in time, falling harmlessly to the ground.
The charge of ghostly knights was swept away by a frigid breath, and amidst the vampires casting spells, black feathers pierced hearts and throats.
Even without Felber’s help, the rest of the party was holding their own against the vampire and undead forces of the ghost ship.
Realizing this, the count’s face twisted, while Felber shrugged, taunting lightly.
“Perhaps your subordinates are a bit incompetent. Or maybe we’re just too capable.”
The end of the staff, made from the dragon’s spine, naturally traced a sigil.
[Elle—Tulia Akulor.]
As soon as the short incantation was completed, golems, each over ten meters tall and made of stone and metal, emerged from the ground.
Each one rivaled the golems Felber had crafted with dragon magic in their battle against the earth dragon.
Proof that Felber had deeply studied the dragon’s power contained in the staff.
“Dalen, leave that vampire to me.”
Felber said, stepping out from between the lined-up golems. Dalen nodded.
Felber had reached the transcendent rank even before Dalen, a testament to his talent.
He was a genius who could manipulate the timeline, starting from the very essence of the earth, and had reached the pinnacle of the fifth rank of transcendence.
Even if he couldn’t completely defeat the vampire count on his own, he could certainly buy some time.
The moment he made his decision, Dalen’s feet were already stepping into the void.
“Wizard. How dare a mere human like you—”
“Return to the Abyss.”
Before the count’s furious shout could finish, Dalen vanished into a gray shadow.
In the next instant, he reappeared behind the blood spirit, grabbing its nape with a fierce grip and kicking off the ground.
“Step of the Void.”
Boom—!
In a flash, the two figures soared upward.
The ceiling of the hall drew closer, but they didn’t stop.
Suppressing the rebellious dark power within his grasp, Dalen pushed harder against the air with his legs.
Crash!
They broke the sound barrier, tearing through the ceiling and ripping down the corridor.
As they tore through the ship’s structure with their bare bodies, the friction ground the blood spirit’s crimson form into nothing.
Crack—!!
The blood spirit didn’t remain in Dalen’s grip forever.
Exploding with blood-red power, it broke free from his grasp, spinning around and swinging its arms inward.
Creak!
The ghost ship’s hull twisted with hostility.
It writhed like the innards of a living beast, walls and ceiling closing in to crush Dalen alive.
The blood spirit’s altar wasn’t just the physical platform where its throne sat.
In a broader sense, the entire hull of the ghost ship was an altar crafted from the blood spirit’s power.
And it was only natural for the altar to obey its master’s will. The ghost ship itself lunged to crush Dalen for that reason.
[Do you truly intend to face me alone? You, a mere mortal, dare to reach the heavens with your arrogance!]
The blood spirit laughed maniacally.
[You must be the warrior who killed Sume! But he was merely a fallen avatar! A fool who couldn’t control his base desires and was defeated by a mere human, retreating to his palace of ruin!]
”…I know.”
Crack!
Dalen halted a charging pillar with a mighty swing of his hammer, answering with slightly labored breaths.
He knew it too.
The blood-red entity before him was far stronger than Sume’s avatar, which he had fought before the northern walls of Eclahim.
Unlike the impulsive fanatic who descended imperfectly, diminishing his own rank, this was a being who had perfected its form through four centuries of planning and patience.
“But did you know?”
Hiss…
Dalen exhaled a cloud of white steam, his lips curling into a wide grin.
A smile revealing sharp fangs, like a predator eyeing its prey.
“The situation was worse back then.”
His muscles and organs throbbed, and a metallic taste rose in his throat.
Had he not grafted the dragon bone, his body would have shattered by now.
But unlike in the north, where he couldn’t even perceive Sume’s form due to its overwhelming presence, Dalen could now clearly see the blood spirit’s body composed of red energy.
“If I gave up every time a fight seemed tough, anyone could be a hero. Breaking through impossible situations isn’t recklessness; it’s courage, you fool.”
Seeing a chance of victory.
That alone was enough.
He had overcome battlefields where victory seemed impossible.
To give up easily in the face of such difficulty would be to betray those who had sacrificed their lives to create a chance for victory.
‘Guardian of the Frost Above the Sky.’
A battlefield where no chance of victory existed.
He recalled the sacrifice that had turned faith into hope.
Not only had she given her life to stop the dark god, but even after death, she had come to him, gifting the essence of the frost-covered earth.
As he remembered the landscape of Charina’s domain, the image of a sword embodying that essence materialized.
“Return of the Sword.”
In the next moment, the holy sword that had been resting in the dead viscount’s skeletal carriage leaped through space into his grasp.
Vroom—
The holy sword hummed, and Dalen understood its meaning.
The will to defeat the dark god’s avatar, which had descended with the sacrifice of thousands, and to inflict irreparable damage on its hell.
Could it be that the war god’s resolve, which had cut down demons and dark gods millennia ago, had flowed through one of the twelve holy swords to reach him here?
Dalen shrugged. The source of the will emanating from the holy sword could be explored later.
What mattered was that he shared the same thought at this moment.
As his determination to defeat the enemy before him touched the landscape beyond his mind, the air around him changed in an instant.
[Such foolishness…!]
Sensing the sudden, strange shift in the flow of power, the blood spirit, who had maintained a relaxed demeanor until now, instinctively felt something was amiss and hastily extended both hands.
Rumble…
The hull contracted rapidly, transforming into waves that crashed from all sides.
The mast that had pierced the ceiling descended from above, while the walls and floor disintegrated, swirling like a vortex and pressing down with sheer mass.
The sight of bones, stones, metal, and wood charging with pure murderous intent was like standing alone before a natural disaster.
It didn’t matter.
Only a world of equal standing could oppose another world.
“Complete Domain Release.”
Compared to the world accumulated beyond Dalen’s mind, this ghost ship used for the blood spirit’s descent was nothing more than a mere dinghy.
Rumble───!!
It shook.
Starting from below, an overwhelming shockwave crushed the waves of bone and stone.
With half-closed eyes, Dalen gazed beyond his mind, engraving the image of a white mountain range in his memory. As he swung the blue blade downward,
“Light of the Beginning on the Snowy Mountain.”
Crack━━━━━━━━!!
Enormous peaks rose from the desolate land, piercing the ghost ship’s hull and splitting it in two.