Chapter 363
“So, you really are as crazy as the rumors say. Go ahead. The one who dies will be you.”
Chris spoke coldly to Idline.
“You just handle that one bony skeleton. I’ll take care of the rest.”
He was referring to the last remaining Arch Lich, the Murderer of Silence.
Being only at the lower end of the 8th rank, Idline should have no trouble dealing with it.
“I’ll take care of that mad clown.”
“No, that’s too much.”
The clown was also 8th rank.
Without using demonic power, it would be difficult even for Idline, an 8th rank True Being.
“There’s something you don’t know.”
Whoosh!
Idline vanished and reappeared right in front of the clown and the Murderer of Silence.
[!!]
“I’m stronger than you think.”
A crimson mist swirled around them.
What followed was a chaotic battle.
The Murderer of Silence’s spectral sword flashed, and the clown’s sickle gleamed.
But Idline’s twin swords showed no sign of faltering.
‘Idline’s on a similar level as me.’
She was every bit the genius her title suggested.
Just as Chris overwhelmed those with higher achievements through his overwhelming talent, Idline displayed a similar prowess.
‘Though the gap in realm is wide, so she won’t last long.’
That was fine.
As long as they could take down the Sculptor within that time.
“What’s taking so long? Didn’t you say you’d bring me down within five minutes? Almost two minutes have passed.”
“Ah, it’s fine. I planned to take it slow. Honestly, three minutes is more than enough.”
The Sculptor scowled.
“Shut up!”
Chaos.
The curse that had dealt Chris a critical wound earlier flared again.
“No matter who you are, you can’t keep unleashing miraculous-level martial arts endlessly like before.”
He growled, expecting Chris to be drenched in blood soon—but something unexpected happened.
Chris remained unharmed.
As if he hadn’t taken a single hit.
“…What?! How?”
The Sculptor raised his voice in disbelief.
It was a curse imbued with ‘Absoluteness.’
Unlike ‘unavoidable’ curses, this one couldn’t be nullified.
“How?”
Chris smirked.
“It’s simple.”
“The moment the curse activates, I cover it up.”
“!!”
Even Chris couldn’t dodge a curse with Absoluteness.
Nor could he recklessly heal the wounds like before—no matter how skilled he was in miraculous-level martial arts, there were limits.
Instead, Chris precisely timed the moment the curse would affect his body and triggered his martial arts on that exact spot.
The curse’s power and his healing energy canceled each other out.
That’s why the Sculptor’s curse couldn’t harm Chris at all.
“Impossible! That can’t be!”
The Sculptor’s curse didn’t simply inflict damage on the same spot as the wooden puppet’s neck he had cut.
It was impossible unless one could calculate every random variable of dark magic in an instant.
“Why are you so surprised by something so trivial?”
Chris twisted the corner of his mouth.
“You’re going to die soon anyway.”
Flash!
The Sculptor gritted his teeth after barely blocking a holy sword flying at him.
“Shut up. Don’t think this is all my power.”
Buzz.
A dark magic circle appeared around the Sculptor.
A sinister, chilling symbol that sent shivers down the spine just by looking at it.
At the same time, a dreadful mark appeared on Chris’s forehead.
The Domain of Domination.
The world’s enemy.
The air around them shifted.
‘My energy flow is being cut off.’
Chris frowned.
It wasn’t just that.
Breathing felt stifled, as if the air itself was thickening.
Moving his limbs was sluggish, like wading through heavy water.
The world had turned against him.
Whether air, gravity, or natural energy—the entire world was cursed to oppose him.
“Once cursed by the world, no tricks will work. Prepare to meet a miserable death.”
The Sculptor swung his dagger, and blood splattered from Chris’s body.
Unlike before, Chris couldn’t heal with his martial arts.
Light mana was also energy derived from the world.
“It’s over.”
The chaotic battle resumed.
Blood surged from Chris’s body like a storm.
His tattered clothes hung loosely as he staggered, unable to hold on, and finally collapsed.
“Chris!! No!!!”
Idline screamed as if her heart was tearing apart.
“Heh heh, arrogant fool. All that boasting, and this is what you get.”
The Sculptor laughed, then suddenly stiffened.
“Wait, no way?”
A chilling sense of danger made him turn quickly—but it was too late. Excruciating pain exploded.
Slash!
“Ugh!”
It was Christian!
He had appeared behind and slashed the Sculptor’s back.
“How—?”
“Oh, that was a fake.”
Chris’s body, writhing and bleeding on the ground, shimmered and vanished into light.
It was the 7th rank Saint Radiance Transcendent Magic, ‘Essence Copy.’
A momentary spell that creates a temporary duplicate of oneself in the world.
“Th-That’s impossible! You can’t use such high-level magic while cursed by the world!”
“Yeah, it’s tough. But somehow, I managed.”
Chris grinned.
“I’m a bit better than you think.”
“!!”
The Sculptor’s face flushed with rage.
“Shut up!!”
Buzz.
Countless magic circles appeared around the Sculptor.
“This time, it’s really over.”
Domain Shift.
The world’s denier.
The world around Chris howled ominously.
If before it was mere hostility, now it was actively trying to erase him.
The air stopped moving.
No breath could be drawn.
His limbs were sealed.
The ground beneath him began to collapse.
Not just crumbling earth, but a gaping void of black darkness opened wide.
If Chris fell into that abyss, he would become a dimensional lost soul, torn apart.
A moment of life-or-death crisis.
“But it’s unfortunate for you—the opponent’s just too strong.”
Dark mana surged from Chris’s core, pushing light mana to the forefront.
Darkness spread around him.
Domain of Domination, the Reign of Seven Colors.
“It’s useless. The Domain of Domination is ultimately based on the world’s energy. If the world denies it, you can’t use it properly.”
But the Sculptor’s expression stiffened.
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
The world, which had been thrashing to erase Chris, suddenly froze.
As if it had sensed fear.
“Yeah, it’s hard to maintain, but it doesn’t matter. I can make even this submit.”
“!!”
“No matter how much the world denies it, it’s just the ‘meaning’ of the domain you artificially created. So I just need to shatter it with a stronger ‘meaning.’”
The Sculptor’s domain was a wondrous power, worthy of an upper 8th rank.
But in the end, it was still just a domain.
Chris raised his sword.
Drawing on the power of Saint Radiance while under the Reign of Seven Colors.
The Saint Radiance Sword.
An intangible blade that cuts through all concepts, shining brilliantly under the domain’s blessing.
Then—
Slash.
With the sound of something being sliced, the Sculptor froze.
Chris’s sword had cut through the Sculptor’s entire domain.
“Guh, guh…”
The Sculptor coughed up blood and dropped to his knees.
As the domain collapsed, the energy reversed and tore apart the Sculptor’s insides.
A shadow fell over him.
It was Christian.
“Any last words?”
A sign of respect, in his own way.
Despite being Chris’s opponent, the Sculptor was one of the few worthy adversaries he had ever faced.
The Sculptor smiled bitterly.
“…You monster.”
That was his last word.
Flash.
The Sculptor’s neck was sliced, and he collapsed.
‘What about Idline’s side?’
Chris’s eyes widened.
An unexpected scene unfolded.
“Hehe, mo-monster…”
Idline’s sword pierced the clown’s heart.
An 8th rank True Being had defeated an enemy two ranks higher, despite being outnumbered two to one.
Moreover, the other enemy, the Murderer of Silence, was severely wounded.
“How’s that? I did my best to help you! I’m not lacking as your friend, right?!”
“Yeah, well done.”
“Hehe, that’s the power of friendship!!”
“Alright, alright. Today, I’ll let you talk like an elementary schooler at the academy.”
Watching Idline and Chris, the Murderer of Silence paled.
[How can such monsters exist in this world…]
At that moment, the Murderer of Silence realized.
Accepting Christian had been the terrible mistake of the Four Kings’ Fortress.
The fortress was doomed because of him.
Too late for regrets.
“You have nothing to say?”
[!!]
Chris’s sword flashed, and the battle was over.
More than half of the Four Kings’ elite, the Four Kings’ Three Flames, had been wiped out.
The massacre of the Four Kings’ Three Flames threw the Four Kings’ Fortress into chaos.
Everyone was in disbelief.
“How could he?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Even with Grand Duchess Idline’s help?”
Only then did the fortress’s mages realize Chris had been hiding his true power all along.
“We can’t just stand by and do nothing!!”
“We have to strike him right now!!”
“This isn’t the time to worry about what Central thinks!!”
He raised his voice in anger, but even that wasn’t easy.
“How exactly are we supposed to hit him?”
“!!”
Drenne asked coldly.
“He’s already slipped into the territory of the Bloodsword Maga. Unless we go to war with the Bloodsword Maga, it’s impossible to reach him.”
Cunning as he was, the bastard realized that the power of the Demon King no longer protected him. So he abandoned his stronghold and sought refuge within the Bloodsword Maga’s domain.
Compared to curses and summoned spirits, the Bloodsword Maga were weaker, but they were still one of the prestigious magical families.
Not a place you could just storm through.
Especially now, after losing a large number of eight-star demons in the last battle, their strength was severely diminished.
‘It’s not just the Bloodsword Maga. With our current forces, if a fight breaks out with the Dark Alliance, we won’t be able to handle it.’
The cursed spirits had already suffered heavy losses among their regular demons and seven-star elites during the last war with the Dark Alliance.
And now, after losing so many eight-star elites as well, they could no longer claim superiority over the Dark Alliance.
‘How did our Demon King’s Castle end up like this? Damn it!’
KRAAAASH!!
Drenne slammed his fist down on the table in fury.
‘Christian, that son of a bitch.’
It was all because of Christian.
Not only had he sabotaged every event at the Demon King’s Castle so far, but he was also the one driving it to ruin.
‘I won’t let him get away with this. I swear I’ll kill him.’