Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Death Struggle
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"Hmm..."
The transfer had succeeded, but moving the body still felt awkward. No major issue, though. The soul follows the flesh, and with Orca's abilities, she'd soon attune herself fully.
Orca blinked a few times, sifting through her memories. The spell was incomplete, so sharing every memory and bit of understanding was impossible, but she could recall the latest ones needed to grasp the current situation.
"Fate, huh."
At Orca's will, Reisi's lips parted. She let out a low chuckle, slowly nodding.
"You're right. We do have a fated connection."
The ogre amid the raging lightning ground its teeth and stomped its foot. But the blade storm, now even more swollen, shook off the bolts.
"Orca Derusia?"
It was hard to comprehend, but he had to judge the situation somehow. Whatever "magic" had caused this, the one before the ogre now wasn't Reisi Yuzha—it was Heavenly Thunder Orca inhabiting her body.
"Possession...?"
Magic recreating possession? As the ogre forced his judgment, Orca shed the white robe she wore.
"It's been nearly twenty years, but it's a memory I can't easily forget. One of the most unique experiences in my long life."
That day, Orca had fallen into a trap and nearly died. Without the Faceless Assassin's intervention, she surely would have. So she couldn't help feeling a mix of emotions in this space now.
"This trap's quality falls short of the one prepared to kill me. I guess it wasn't designed with facing the Magic Tower Lord in mind?"
Just as she said. Among the mages at the exhibition hall, none warranted true caution—no grand archmages. They couldn't even consider facing the Tower Lord; building a sanctuary for that would leave gaps vulnerable to adjustments and external interference.
So the ogre retreated instead of answering. Fighting Heavenly Thunder Orca under these conditions risked too much. Especially since, in "combat," she ranked among the top three Tower Lords without question.
"Well..."
Orca smirked, twisting one corner of her mouth. Crackle! Lightning coiled around her hands, forming black gauntlets.
"Even if this were the same caliber trap as back then, you couldn't kill me alone."
Crack.
At her words, veins bulged on the ogre's neck. After all, this wasn't the "real" Heavenly Thunder Orca, right? Just her soul flown in and settled into the body. So wasn't now the perfect chance to kill her?
"She can't exert full power in someone else's body."
Even without using divine power himself, the ogre had no reason to fear this seemingly incomplete Orca preemptively. No! Even at full power, it didn't matter.
Over fifteen years had passed. The power he'd built in that time wasn't so paltry that he'd hesitate against a Tower Lord.
"I'll make you regret coming here."
Killing Orca here would be an achievement the other saints couldn't deny. Even if the rift creation failed, slaying her would suffice. A Tower Lord's head held that much value.
Judgment made.
Kill Orca.
The ogre's massive form vanished from everyone's sight.
This movement was utterly unlike when facing Yuri. No more toying with the worm to inflict pain beyond death. Now, the ogre moved solely to kill, to win—no regard for pain or anything else.
Orca didn't budge from her spot. No need. The moment the ogre vanished, her magic was already deployed.
Crackle! Lightning struck empty space. At that instant, the ogre reappeared.
"Kraaak!"
The ogre thrashed wildly within the lightning, bellowing. Tap, tap, tap. Orca watched him leisurely, drumming her black-gauntleted fingers in the air.
Deathgate Thunder Seal. The intuition born from lightning-altered senses transcended prediction, reaching precognition. Simultaneously, the space's flowing lightning observed even the finest mana movements, responding to all incoming threats by preemptively slamming bolts into them.
It was magic Yuri couldn't comprehend. The sanctuary's mana clung tightly, but to Orca, it posed no hindrance.
Lightning from Deathgate Thunder Seal continued to strike relentlessly, yet the ogre pressed forward without retreat. In his beast-transformed state, he held resistances to various elemental magics.
"Shallow...!"
Bolts that would reduce most foes to ash in one hit—yet the ogre endured. Proof Orca's output fell short of her true self. So take the hits and close in. Gritting his teeth, the ogre leaped. In one bound, he closed the distance to Orca instantly.
Her body shot backward swiftly. Lightning gathered in her hand, drawn by the surrounding discharges.
"Can't use Thunder God Illusion, huh?"
Orca was immune to all physical attacks via Thunder God Illusion. But that spell transformed body and soul entirely into lightning. In this non-native state, she couldn't wield such an ultimate signature magic.
Even if she could, no problem. He had plenty of ways to counter such a foe.
"Hm."
Indeed, output was weaker. Orca thought, observing the ogre's movements.
"Can't use divine power either, it seems."
Borrowing another's body came with restrictions. Her soul was here—not just consciousness, the full soul.
A martial artist in the same situation would be limited by dantian qi or physical prowess, but soul power resided in the soul itself. Spells lay in Orca's memories. She could use signature magics through them—but not at full strength, fact.
Push too hard, and Reisi's body would shatter. Flesh was the soul's vessel. Reisi's was still too fragile to contain Orca's soul.
"And yet, you stupid beast."
Orca muttered with a chuckle. Another saint might demand resolve from her, but not now. No need. To Orca's eyes, the charging ogre looked no different from a fattened pig. His divine authority—its name unknown, but a tree rooting in humans to harvest souls, that much she knew.
The ogre devoured others' souls via divine authority to grow his own, artificially amplifying soul power. No Tower Lord matched his sheer soul power volume.
But quantity didn't guarantee stronger magic. Just as vast inner energy didn't mean mastering supreme techniques, magic worked the same.
Heavenly Thunder Orca. A true grand archmage reigning over Derusia Magic Tower for decades. No miracles from gods. Her magic was lifetime achievement. To her eyes, the ogre's was shallow, pathetic.
That contempt became lightning. The ogre closed in, weathering Deathgate Thunder Seal. Sufficient. Thunder Mark was fully imprinted; Orca's bolts would "never" miss.
Rumble! The ogre's hand slashed empty air. Deathgate's precognition had Orca evade the attack radius already. Dozens of lightning bolts surged at him simultaneously.
Simple, ordinary-looking bolts—yet not to the ogre. No counter possible. He couldn't even hear the familiar crackle. They struck before awareness, blasting his mind.
Even Yuri and Ha-ryeong saw it. Orca's lightning was too fast. To them, it seemed the ogre convulsed in bolts from some unknowable moment.
Thought fragmented, stuttering—yet the ogre forcibly reconnected it. His blade storm dominated physical attacks, but against attribute magics like this—especially lightning—its matchup was poor.
Blade storm alone, maybe, but transformed now. This transformation's specs scaled with soul power. Reason he chose soul-harvesting Spirit Tree via divine authority, layering even Gias atop it.
Problem: no divine power usable now. Sworn to God of Chaos for greater might, yet that power unusable due to rift attunement.
"If I can just close in somehow..."
As if mocking that thought, Orca raised her hand. Crackle! A massive lightning spear materialized. Grasping it, she resembled a thunder god.
The spear pierced the ogre's body the instant it appeared visibly.
"Keurgh!"
Hard-won thought reconnected—then snapped again. Too fast! Sensory shards floated beyond consciousness. The ogre flailed to pull the spear, but attracted lightning stabbed him repeatedly.
"Agwi."
Orca said, smiling. Crackle. Her surroundings glowed fully golden. Amid the sanctuary's eerie darkness, her soul power's lightning blazed eye-searingly bright.
"You've played around too long."
Only one judgment fit this situation. Agwi shouldn't have toyed. At the start, pondering variables, he should've eliminated them all. Kill Yuri in one blow instead of playing, slay Ha-ryeong and Reisi too. Then Orca couldn't have come.
"But I don't play long."
Orca lacked time. The transfer spell was unfinished; Reisi's vessel unprepared for her soul.
Drag too long, vessel shatters, contents spill.
Backlash for not just Reisi, but Orca too.
No intent to pay that. Her eyes glanced skyward. Thick darkness brimmed ominous. Artificial rift. Much to interrogate Agwi on, but no time.
"No...!"
He reached to stop her—too late. Against Orca, all thought, attempt, action came too late. Boom! A colossal bolt appeared, slicing the black sky, burrowing into the rift.
"Kraaaak!"
Rift's pooled divine power scattered under lightning. The dispersed power didn't return to Agwi—burned in the blaze. Orca wasn't sloppy. She thoroughly incinerated the divine power while slamming bolts into Agwi nonstop.
Boom, boom, boom! Each strike crumpled Agwi downward. Even his sustained blade storm faded gradually.
Groooan...!
External vibrations "neared." Divine power scattered, grand magics pounding Agwi—the sanctuary's core shook. Outer foes didn't miss it.
Amid flashing lightning, Agwi's eyes saw beyond the sanctuary. First, the woman astride a scarlet dragon; right behind, ironclad concentrating magic, and kneeling priests in prayer.
"Savage Uproar...!"
That brute muscle woman? His gaze was "read." Sanctuary-out Eleia met Agwi's eyes. Her lips twisted into a grin. Boom! Her swung greatsword rocked the sanctuary massively.
The false sanctuary began crumbling. Agwi's mind grew frantic. Rift! He thought repeatedly. The bolt in the rift didn't vanish—continued spreading, branching.
"Deathblaze Thunderfire...!"
Signature magic incinerating intangible things like mana, soul power, divine power. Once ignited, Deathblaze Thunderfire kept detonating bolts, leading inexorably to annihilation as named.
"She can use signature magic at that level?"
Agwi's body could endure in this state. But enduring didn't solve anything. Alone with Orca, he'd stall undying for openings—but sanctuary collapse exposed him to outer enemies. Earth Church's archbishop absent, yet Iron Bastion—Haber Tower Lord—and even Savage Uproar outside.
Their intervention meant doom. Sanctuary already crumbling. Agwi hastily withdrew rift's divine power. Couldn't let Deathblaze burn it all.
"Stopping already?"
Orca asked, laughing. Crackle, crackle! Just withdrawing divine power restored lightning resistance. But not yet. Much poured out; recovery needed time.
And Spirit Tree. No abandoning the hostage souls snared there. Happiness harvest incomplete? No matter.
Rift creation: failed.
Killing Heavenly Thunder: failed.
Then kill all hostages. That made it terrorism, sowed chaos. Fail even that, all attempts failure—inescapable punishment.
Agwi's thoughts so obvious, no need cautious prediction. Truthfully, Orca didn't care how many today's captives died—but having come this far, ignoring rescue pretense complicated later matters.
"Can't let that hap—"
Blast his head with lightning? That sturdy brute might survive decapitation. Transformed via magic, after all. High priests wielding "miracles" often defied mages' logic.
Still, head-blast effective. At least halts thought. As she pondered firing—
In the huddled lightning, Yuri moved behind Agwi.
"What're you doing?"
Unclear even watching, so Orca asked outright.
[Help me land one punch.]
Yuri requested outright. Orca's mouth twitched at the reply.
[Fine.]
No reason refuse. Lightning illuminating Orca intensified. Reisi's purple hair whipped upward. Orca's extended hands crossed.
Crackle! Output ramped to vessel's limit—lightning engulfed Agwi. Fading blade storm extinguished fully; his limbs pierced through.
"Kraaak!"
He'd been retrieving Spirit Tree souls. Agwi tried shaking off intensifying lightning, drawing in divine power—but then Yuri leaped before him.
"You bastard...!"
Agwi's face twisted.
Holy Flame gathered in Yuri's fist slammed into Agwi's chest.