Chapter 296: The Light of the Beginning (2)
[Heh…]
Two shadows plummeted side by side against the backdrop of a crimson vortex that had pierced the heart of the city.
“What? Hell?”
The mocking laughter of the evil god cut sharply through the space between them in response to Dalen’s words.
Dalen didn’t bother to reply. Instead, he formed a familiar hand sign.
“Arbor.”
[Yes, I’m ready.]
As soon as he summoned the demon from the void, a rift opened as if it had been waiting for this moment.
Vroooom…
From the rift shot forth a blood-red dagger, an artifact he had retrieved long ago from the corpse of a dark sorcerer. It had served as a catalyst numerous times to open the gates to hell.
“Se Glam.”
With the incantation, magic surged to life.
The spell, ‘Key to the Gates of Hell,’ was a skill he had acquired from the same dark sorcerer’s remains. It was a testament to his mastery as a true dark sorcerer, honed to perfection through years of training.
Moreover, inheriting the legacy of Dalen Jive had deepened his understanding of dark magic itself. He had even constructed a passage linking the illusionary world and reality to evacuate his comrades from the labyrinth.
“Okmun Surae.”
The experience and skill he had accumulated through all these endeavors were enough to make the skill uniquely his own.
Crack!
A massive fissure split the sky above the city.
From beyond the shimmering veil of blood-red magic on the surface of the rift, the unrestrained malevolence of the great hell poured forth.
“What the…!”
Even the evil god, the ruler of that hell, was taken aback.
It was only natural. The most crucial prerequisite for opening the gates of hell was the permission of its ruler. While lesser demons might not differ much from high-level monsters, demons of a certain rank had complete control over all the power and authority of their hell.
“How…!”
“How did I manage to open a gate in your domain at will?”
Dalen grinned.
“Who knows.”
It wasn’t something achievable through mere mastery of spells.
Perhaps it was the enlightenment of Dalen Jive, who had defeated the evil god as a dark sorcerer. Or maybe it resonated with Arbor’s spell, which transcended time, space, and dimensions.
Or perhaps, after obtaining the Stone of Wishes, his power had simply grown beyond measure.
Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he could now trap the evil god in his own hell and obliterate him completely.
This meant that, at least during his lifetime, there would be no more evil gods invading the continent.
“Some people might stick their heads into a demon’s maw to achieve the same thing… but that’s not really my style.”
Dalen chuckled softly, his form momentarily dissolving into ashen shadows.
“Return to the Underworld.”
Dalen vanished into the shadows, reappearing right in front of the evil god.
“Forty-Eight Linked Steps.”
His body split into forty-eight clones, each one binding the evil god’s massive form from all directions.
“Step.”
“Flame Serpent.”
In unison, the figures surged through the air, dragging the evil god’s colossal body toward the gates of hell.
────!!
A violet beam obliterated nearly a dozen of the clones in an instant, but a red serpent of flame slithered through the gap, coiling tightly around the evil god’s form.
“You think you can just drop me like this…!”
“You’re talking too much.”
Crunch!
Hundreds of pale hands clung to the edges of the hell gate, desperately holding on.
The boundary of the gate screamed in protest, and spatial cracks began to spread outward.
“Thunder Strike.”
But as a resolute fist came crashing down, a blinding flash tore apart even the hands clinging stubbornly to the fissure.
“Get out of reality.”
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, the ground beneath them gave way, and the two beings plunged into the abyss beyond the hell gate.
The fall wasn’t long.
────Thud!
The end of a distant sensation of floating. Solid ground met his feet.
Dalen lifted his head. Before him stretched a fog-laden shoreline.
Swoosh…
The sound of waves tickled his ears. The ground beneath him was not sand but smooth rock.
Dalen dusted off his shoulders and stood up. The figure of Enaxagus, whom he had been holding tightly just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.
Only the blue blood and bits of flesh splattered across his armor testified to the creature’s existence.
Had it used the power of hell to conceal itself after crossing the gate? As he pondered this, the ancient dragon within his mind spoke cautiously.
“A simple beach, Dalen. Was Enaxagus’s celestial throne recorded in the Golden Palace like this…?”
“No, it couldn’t be.”
“Eye of the Shadow.”
He used the power of his eye to dispel the murky fog obscuring his vision.
As the view cleared, it quickly expanded in all directions, revealing that what he had thought was a beach was actually a vast lake.
”…I see.”
The red spear beside him let out a low hum as it took in the scene beyond the lake.
She murmured.
“It seems we’ve walked into a trap.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…
The sound of drums echoed.
The scenes unfolding to the north, south, east, and west of the lake were hellish.
From the north, the march of war drums resounded from the domain of a palace of destruction built from corpses, blood, flames, and metal.
To the south, the land of the dead, covered in skulls and rotting entrails, raised the dead with a chilling wind.
[――――!]
Above the western mountains, the spirits of long-dead dragons gathered and soared into the sky.
From the eastern sea of plagues, countless mutants rose, flying and charging forward.
There was no horizon.
Only the endlessly sprawling territory of hell and the unending army of hell pouring forth to assault the lakeshore.
“Yes. You’ve moved just as I hoped.”
Ripples spread across the lake. It was Enaxagus’s voice.
“Did you think that being the master of five hells was merely about the number of powers and minions I possessed?”
His form was still unseen. The source of the voice was equally elusive.
Neither his keen senses nor the Eye of the Shadow could detect his presence.
“But complete unification is different. I thank you. I learned all this from watching you.”
And now, the voice was filled with laughter.
“Heh heh… The Well of Reversal didn’t just grant you completed power. It tested your qualifications and verified your efforts, integrating the domains of heroes who had perished in other timelines directly into your own.”
The voice, as if whispering right beside him yet shouting from afar, lacked any sense of distance.
A metallic timbre spread across the lake. The ripples on the water grew increasingly turbulent.
“Yes. With this, I am complete. I am the conqueror of the five great hells and the master of the unified great hell! All of this constitutes me, and I am hell itself.”
Rumble…
The ground began to tremble slightly. The army had already closed to within ten kilometers.
The vanguard to the north was a knight riding a spiked boar. To the south, a grotesque bird with its belly split open flew at the forefront.
Behind them charged wraith knights, giants with tentacles sprouting from their eye sockets, massive metal spheres with eyes embedded in them, walking carnivorous trees, and more.
Dalen let the evil god’s voice wash over him as he scrutinized their ranks. Some were creatures he had seen in the game, while others were unfamiliar monstrosities.
“Your judgment was correct. Even if you had defeated me there, as long as I am hell itself, I would have trampled the continent once more.”
Dalen instinctively thought about the experience points he would gain from wiping them out. How many more levels could he achieve?
And then he laughed. It amused him that even after obtaining the Stone of Wishes, he was still thinking about levels.
Moreover, the fact that he had the luxury to entertain such thoughts in this situation was entertaining. After all, the entire might of hell was charging at him to kill him.
“But that judgment will also lead to your death. Even if you have reached a level forbidden to mortals, how can you face an infinite army alone… Why are you laughing?”
“It’s nothing. I just realized this is what it feels like to play with cheat codes.”
“Cheat codes?”
“Yeah, something like that, you bastard.”
The army was now just a few kilometers away. He took a slow, deep breath.
The toxic air seared his lungs, only to burn away on its own, and purified magic coursed through his veins, invigorating his organs.
When he looked up, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness. No midday sun, no moon or stars in the night sky.
Hell, said to be born from the sins and malice of humans, would indeed be strange with light in the sky.
He let the idle thought drift away and reached his hand toward the sky.
“Then I’ll just have to create it myself.”
───━━━
The space at his fingertips began to crumple slowly.
Like an old, faded piece of cloth. Like a parchment gathering dust on a table.
It twisted, stretched, and contorted until it finally shattered.
Through the torn rift, a single beam of light streamed in.
──━━│││
At the start of the game, the monitor was filled with a white background.
「Domain Descent」
A pillar of light, polished and smooth, as if crafted from that very color.
「The Light of Beginnings Shining on the Snowy Mountain」
As the beam of light pierced through, the boundaries of the world were ripped apart.
From the sliver of a gap, new laws began to pour in like a breached dam.
┃┃││││┃┃
Worlds collided with worlds.
Unlike the chaos of a labyrinth, the impact was not immense.
The snow-covered mountain did not rise, nor did ominous dark clouds gather.
The sky merely brightened slightly around the pillar of light that had struck the lakeside.
“Ah, one more thing.”
Dalen, gazing up at the brightened sky, spoke as if a thought had just occurred to him.
“They say I fight alone, but I think I got it wrong. I never intended to fight alone from the start.”
And then, another small light twinkled in the sky.
It was a tiny light, like a distant star.
As it appeared, it grew larger, burning brighter with each moment.
║
As it grew, it became clear. The light wasn’t expanding; it was drawing closer.
║
║
║
║
From a dot to a circle.
From a circle to a small pillar.
Next to the pillar of light at the lakeside, another small pillar of light settled.
The shimmering pillar was about two meters in diameter. Soon, a faint silhouette emerged from within.
“What took you so long?”
The warrior’s build was similar to Dalen’s.
Through the torn armor, solid muscles were visible, marked with the scars of countless battles.
An axe, a sword, and a shield were securely strapped to his waist and back. The warrior scratched his chin and continued.
“Still the same old game addict, always late.”
“When did we ever set a time? You slaughterer who kills indiscriminately.”
His dark eyes curved into a lazy smile. He chuckled softly as he spoke.
“Still, by first-life standards, I’ve achieved more than you, haven’t I?”
“You little shi—”
“Can’t even get a word in, can you?”
”…Yeah.”
The warrior laughed again, this time heartily.
His gaze swept over the approaching monsters and demons near the lakeside. With a smirk, he raised his calloused hand.
「Black Thunder」
A black lightning bolt incinerated the leading demon.
「Nameless Blade」
A storm of lightning erased the rest trailing behind.
With just a flick of his wrist, the vanguard of the army vanished.
The gap that had closed to mere hundreds of meters now stretched back to kilometers.
Of course, the hellish army continued its charge, undeterred by the loss of its vanguard. Dalen, mimicking the warrior’s earlier gesture, scratched his chin and asked.
“Where’s the rest?”
“Up there.”
Following the warrior’s gesture, Dalen looked up to see dots growing brighter and larger.
“They’re coming.”
║ ║ ║ ║ ║
║ ║ ║ ║ ║
║ ║ ║ ║ ║
║ ║ ║ ║ ║
From the slightly brightened sky, hundreds of pillars of light were descending toward the lake.