Chapter 153
Chapter 153
Chapter 153
Entrance to the Underworld (4)
"Good. You've become quite skilled."
Admiration appeared in Yugria's eyes.
The Soul Flame.
A power manifested through a source separate from magic, which only Yugria wielded in this world.
Of course, now there were two users of that power.
"You must burn what cannot be burned, and you must not burn what can be burned. That is the true power of the Soul Flame."
It was a strange sight.
Luciella didn't have a sword in her hands as usual.
Between her fingers stood ordinary grass blades, and red flames blazed around those grass blades.
She looked at Yugria while maintaining the flames.
"Does this have any particular meaning?"
Though she had somehow learned as instructed and reached this level, Luciella still didn't understand Yugria's true intention in teaching her to infuse such flames.
"Of course it has meaning! You've learned so well, yet you still don't understand?"
"Well... I definitely feel like I've gotten stronger, but it feels like the efficiency is too low for the difficulty."
"Efficiency..."
Certainly, while learning to handle flames, her magic operation and technical finesse had improved incomparably.
But this was merely a bonus that came with the learning process, and these flames were quite inefficient for actual combat use.
"The destructive power is considerable, but even so..."
The applications were certainly endless.
Luciella had learned for the first time that fire could freeze objects.
By reversing properties, she could even melt steel, and she could overlay flames on grass blades like this.
But if that were the case, she was confident that casting magic with equivalent destructive power would consume several times less magic.
It was certainly a mysterious power, but... it was far from the 'overwhelming power' she desired.
"Pu, puhuhuh...!"
Yugria suddenly burst into laughter upon reading Luciella's thoughts.
"Ahahaha! Our disciple has talent, but she's such a frog in a well!"
"F-frog...!"
It was humiliating, but she couldn't refute it since it wasn't exactly wrong.
"The reason you can't find applications is because you haven't fought upper-tier beings or have little experience with them. If you were experienced, you'd never say such things!"
A heavy fact struck her forehead.
Among the strong opponents Luciella had crossed swords with so far, the strongest were Baphomet Dugo and the Archbishop of the Apophis Cult.
Of course, if counting just what she'd seen, she had witnessed transcendent beings in Seven Arks and Celestial, but according to Rudian, even they were like insects compared to gods.
"What you're learning now is how to interfere with the world's principles."
"Principles?"
"Yes. Do you think ordinary magicians could make ice with fire and set plants ablaze without burning them?"
"That's... No."
Yugria ignited flames in her hand.
Then she swung her arm wide, scattering flames again across the plain that had been completely reduced to ash.
While ordinary flames would quickly die out once they lost their fuel source, Yugria's flames could freely kindle fire without such things.
"Watch carefully."
But what Luciella witnessed wasn't at that level.
"G-grass is... growing?"
From the flame-bearing earth, new life began to grow as if a phoenix were emerging from ashes.
"This is impossible...!"
Saplings wrapped in fire and budding flowers appeared.
It was a miracle like divine authority that she had never seen before.
"If you can interfere with laws, it's possible to breathe life into things with flames like this."
"......"
"Well... the ultimate purpose of these flames is something else, but this is just an application."
Clever Luciella finally realized the greatness of the flames she had learned.
"Then... what is the ultimate purpose of the flames?"
Originally, Yugria hadn't taught the purpose when first learning these flames.
It was too distant and would interfere with achievement or something?
But now, after eight years of training and having mastered the basics, Yugria judged that her disciple was qualified to hear the purpose for which these flames were created.
"God-slaying."
"...What?"
"To be precise, it's to burn divinity. Fire has the nature to burn anything."
Yugria's gaze returned to the distant past.
"Those who first taught me these flames said this could become the catalyst for the gods' downfall."
One day, beings who suddenly came to her, a country girl.
"Actually, I killed one of the Eight Great Gods at that time—the God of Destruction—with these flames. Ah, of course, pure power alone was a bit lacking, so I borrowed the power of the Seven-Colored World."
Even though she had borrowed the power of a tool, the achievement of a mere human reducing the Eight Great Gods to Seven Great Gods didn't disappear.
'So these flames aren't a power Master developed herself?'
Of course, it was thanks to Yugria's skill that she could evolve the flames to a level capable of god-slaying and develop numerous applications.
Initially, it was just like a simple candle flame, not powerful enough to kill gods.
But Luciella felt a strange discomfort in her words.
"From what you're saying, it sounds like those who taught you the flames weren't from the Progenitor Empire."
She used the plural "those" rather than a group or individual.
While having multiple masters in swordsmanship or magic was fairly common, this flame was a different case.
"Yes, that's right. I was originally a commoner, so I couldn't become an imperial knight. After the war ended, my fame became too great, so I couldn't be bound to the empire."
Actually, though the title "God-slayer" was a word praising Yugria's achievements, the citizens of the ancient Progenitor Empire gave Yugria this title during her active period:
"Hero."
The original and senior predecessor of Abel.
As such, the identity of those who gave her the Soul Flame that made her a hero couldn't be ordinary.
"Who were they, the ones who gave Master the flames?"
Yugria's lips protruded slightly as if she had fallen into thought.
"Hmm, honestly, I don't know exactly what their identity was either. They seemed to be spreading special abilities to several people besides me, but their names never appeared prominently in history afterward. Well, it must be some kind of secret society. There are plenty of such groups in the world."
It was quite a vague conclusion, but Luciella accepted it.
After all, hadn't she first heard names like Celestial and Seven Arks while following Rudian?
Despite being a noble of the empire's leading family and head of an Information Guild!
"Anyway, your other companions have the same goal. Training the possibility of killing gods. No, that Rudian fellow seemed to come here aiming for that from the start, judging by the lineup of connected masters."
It was matching that would be impossible without knowing every piece of information about this place from one to ten.
"Be grateful to him. The fact that he brought you here means he trusts you that much."
"What... does that mean?"
"What do you mean, what does it mean? This place is single-use. No matter how you entered through tricks, you entered officially, so when you leave, this entire hall will be closed forever. The gods wouldn't leave a place where you could become infinitely stronger through time dilation."
"...!"
"The name itself contains the word 'hero,' doesn't it? This place is literally a place to raise heroes. One of humanity's last defense in preparation for the end times. Because that child who is the Demon King slayer recognized you, you who lack both skill and achievements could meet us."
Luciella suddenly felt something rising from inside her chest.
Her spirit became full, and some indescribable tender feeling arose.
The fact that she had received his recognition, that she had this fact confirmed by others... Gave Luciella greater satisfaction than anything else.
Though she was slightly shaken by the comment 'Ah, except for that girl Maria, she's a real monster,' Luciella's satisfaction remained firm.
Well, normally she would have ended the questions here and devoted herself to training, but her curiosity as an Information Guild member continued to pour out questions.
"Don't you know their names either?"
"Ah, they did tell me their name. They said they had come up with it without much thought anyway and could change it later."
"What was that name?"
"Hmm... The name was definitely..."
Yugria, who had been searching her memory for a moment, opened her mouth without much consideration.
"Adora... it was definitely a name like that."
"...What?"
But to Luciella, who was receiving this information, those words were absolutely not light.
***
Baaaaah!
An enormous wave of necromantic energy swept across the earth.
Three beings with combat power exceeding 100,000.
The wave of power they emitted alone was strengthening the surrounding undead by two levels.
"Impressive!"
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
The coordinated attack of three Baphomet entities was certainly threatening.
It was clear that Layla had really scraped the bottom of her resources, bringing their power intact from the underworld without any restrictions.
-I shall write your name in the Book of the Dead!
-Mortal, accept death!
Unlike Dugo, whom they had met before, who had fought enemies mostly with physical abilities while most of his authority was sealed.
The power of Baphomet wielding proper death authority could truly be called the natural enemy of living beings.
HISSSSS!
Death incantations surpassing Caslay's death words were carved throughout Rudian's body, leading his flesh to death.
In an instant, Rudian's surroundings changed like a withered desert.
Seeing their authority properly take effect, the Baphomet creatures cried out triumphantly.
-As long as you are mortal!
-You cannot escape our grasp!
-Human, curse your fate for earning the contractor's wrath!
SNICKER!
Rudian smiled twistedly and crossed his arms.
"Fine, try killing me. I'll stay still for you."
Such death-related power was absolutely applicable to 'mortals.'
Caslay was 'One Who Scatters Death.'
But the biggest weakness of such power was that it was limited to 'mortals.'
-Why, why won't you die?
Nearly ten minutes had passed, yet there was no sign of Rudian's body collapsing.
"Sorry, but I'm not a mortal right now."
Baaah?
"It seems you received no word from the King of the Underworld? Or is that bastard Baal still dragging his feet?"
Since the urgent topic of extraterrestrial invasion was presented first, the latter was less likely.
No matter how much Layla was a Great Witch corresponding to 9th Class, no matter how much this was the Seven Arks headquarters, unless she was Giovanni-level, she couldn't open an underworld gate that could handle the causality of all three Baphomet entities.
If that were possible, the demons wouldn't have gone through all that trouble clinging to Eldorado in the first place.
'That means the King of the Underworld likely created this situation deliberately to test my abilities.'
Otherwise, the current situation couldn't be explained.
'Though it's excessive power for surviving Shub's temple...'
According to the Eye of State, this was only temporary power.
Then he'd just squeeze out all he could until then!
Rudian kicked off from his position and charged at Baphomet.
Then, ignoring all the barriers they had set up, he went in and blew away the jaw of the one in the middle with a kick.
CRACK!
Baaaaah!
The enormous form of the middle creature flew hundreds of meters away with a single blow.
-H-how!
"Nice!"
Outer Force, if one could handle it, was the most convenient and versatile among almost all power systems.
Moreover, with divinity added to it, no matter how strong Baphomet's barriers were, they couldn't withstand it.
'I roughly understand how to handle divinity.'
In the original Chapter 4, the original author had explained the setting of divinity through Abel, who became a god.
If that setting hadn't changed, one way to use divinity was definitely...
"Diabolic Gluttony."
The ability to freely use powers of lower systems!
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Adi's creation magic combining the authority of Baal and Diablo.
Without formulas or incantations, if he had used it even once, divinity itself would remember it and reproduce it automatically!
Great magic that was certainly at least 9th Class began devouring the entire space, sweeping away the undead.