Chapter 253: Severance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 253: Severance
Monsters come in many varieties, and with so many individuals, superior ones are bound to emerge.
The title of 'Lord' is not earned for nothing; those who lack the qualification will eventually have it stripped away, even if they somehow manage to obtain it.
Even among the Beast Species, which are split into hundreds and thousands of factions, each breed surely has its own Lord.
How much more powerful, then, would a Succubus Lord be—a race known for high intelligence and vast natural mana reserves?
Some might claim that the Succubus Species, with their female forms called Succubi and male forms called Incubi, are not a race specialized for combat. However, in the end, victory in battle depends on 'neutralizing' the opponent.
"This might sting a little."
From a massive pink magic formation floating in the sky, dozens of heart-shaped mana projectiles erupted, surging toward Yoo Eon.
It was a vicious magical assault designed to seek out and ruin a living creature's brain. The moment it touched a target, it would nullify all magical defenses, collapse the creature's survival instincts, and turn them into a beast driven solely by lust.
However, the hundreds of eyeballs embedded in Yoo Eon's face, each possessing its own unique trait, had already deciphered the mechanics of that magical attack.
Queen Arachne’s brief future sight calculated the projectiles' trajectories, while the Umbra Valkyrie’s vision pinpointed the structural flaws in the magic.
In a split second, Yoo Eon ejected dozens of spare brains he had been storing in all directions. The Succubus Queen’s attack lost its way, following the ejected brains and neutralizing itself.
Since the attack was designed to destroy a 'brain,' he blocked it by providing extra brains. It was logical, in a sense, but an impossible feat for most living beings who do not possess multiple brains.
"Hmph."
The brains that had intercepted the mental collapse magic fell to the ground with a wet thud. Due to Horus’s mana, the surrounding air swirled and gathered into a single point, forming a sphere of extremely condensed air stained with the dark-red, lethal gas of a mana-enhanced Poison Mushroom.
For an ordinary person, a mere touch would melt their skin, and without advanced magical skill, purification was impossible. The moment it entered the lungs through breath, the victim would be severed from the world by seizures, hallucinations, and auditory delusions.
As dozens of these air spheres surged toward Mystery Antoinette, Yoo Eon’s body—using inhaled air as fuel—propelled itself forward at supersonic speeds.
Rumble—Boom!
Mystery Antoinette thrust her spear forward to block Yoo Eon’s direct strike, but the sheer force sent her skidding back dozens of meters.
Screeeech!
"Ngh...!"
Two swords clashed against the Succubus Queen’s Treasure. Toxic gas attacks periodically lunged from the surroundings, and the Evil Eye’s gaze constantly hindered her movements, draining her mana.
Following the two arms locked in a contest of strength, a new pair of arms split through Yoo Eon's ribs and emerged, manifesting more swords to bash and shatter her barrier. Meanwhile, from his split face, an ultra-high-temperature flame attack—a mixture of the Flame Core and flammable liquid—was being prepared.
"Tch...!"
Fwoosh...
Intense, dark-red flames struck the Succubus Queen. The heat was so great that the road's pavement melted and nearby buildings crumbled.
"Cheap tricks."
"You're being quite aggressive, aren't you?"
There was no reply. Hundreds of Evil Eyes, empowered by Yoo Eon’s mana to a level incomparable to before, soared into the sky and poured mana disintegration rays down upon the Succubus Queen.
While she displayed high-speed aerial maneuvers to evade the orbital bombardment-like assault, an attack came from an unexpected direction.
Boom!
"Ngh?!"
The Synthetic Horus suddenly appeared behind her. Its eyes glowing red, it slammed into the Succubus Queen’s barrier with incredible speed.
Cracks formed on the ground where she was pinned, and the massive maw of the Megido Serpent—now adapted to crawl through the earth instead of water—gaped open to swallow her.
Splash!
"How rude...!"
The Succubus Queen swung her spear, slicing through the Megido Serpent’s mouth to escape, only to be met by Yoo Eon’s follow-up attack. The immense impact shattered three or four layers of her physical defense barriers simultaneously, burying her in a pile of rubble.
Before she could even emerge from the debris, the Evil Eye’s mana disintegration rays rained down from the sky once more. Added to that were the curse spells of a Lich, which had been infused with captured spirits.
Screeeeeeech!
Without mental protection magic, the mere sound would cause immediate loss of consciousness, but it didn't stop there. Yoo Eon threw water balloons made of thin membranes filled with Eldyokul’s flammable liquid onto the rubble and immediately set them ablaze.
However, the Succubus Queen possessed several evasion spells that were not bound by physical constraints. She suddenly appeared behind Yoo Eon and thrust her spear at him.
"Haaah!"
Immediately, dozens of Evil Eyes along his spine snapped open, and eight of Queen Arachne’s legs sprouted from his back to intercept the spear.
"Eek...!"
K-Boom!
Mana rays poured out in dozens of directions. He seized the legs of the Succubus Queen, who had spread her wings for an evasive maneuver, and the fine, hair-like needles on the surface of Queen Arachne’s exoskeleton injected paralysis poison under her skin.
Ping!
Using magic to break free from the restraint, the Succubus Queen teleported a distance away. She shook her captured right leg and glared at Yoo Eon.
"Really, you don't leave a single opening...!"
Yoo Eon did not answer. The human vocal cords he had briefly fashioned for conversation were no longer there. The true value of the Treasure she held lay in commanding an army, not in direct combat.
The Succubus Queen’s original goal had been to brainwash the successor with her magic and make her a subordinate—or kill her—before she could properly grow.
'I should have killed him before it came to this...!'
Her mistake was failing to account for the numerous variables that arose from the human having subordinates.
Since conversation was impossible, her specialties—persuasion and seduction—were useless. Even when she tried to buy time to recover mana, the battle resumed in an instant.
Grind!
Forcing air into his lungs, Yoo Eon charged toward the Succubus Queen at supersonic speed, firing dozens of bio-missiles equipped with excised miniature brains.
Due to the repeated teleportation spells, the constant stopping attacks from the Evil Eyes, the lethal poison scattered in the air, the barrier needed to protect her skin, and the continuous use of purification magic for breathing, the Succubus Queen’s mana showed no signs of recovering.
"Tch...!!"
Pink lightning surged from the tip of the trident she raised toward the sky. As the pink lightning touched the magic formation rotating above, the formation suddenly swelled to a massive size.
Chains made of mana descended from the formation and pierced various parts of the Southeast district. Before long, a profound aura of mana flowed down the chains and into the ground. This was one of the Succubus Species' abilities: eroding the land to distort the opponent's senses and lower their mental resistance.
Within the eroded area, the Succubus Species could exert even greater power than usual.
Rumble!
Yoo Eon did not just stand by and watch. He redirected the targets of his bio-missiles to the chains. The Evil Eyes attached to the missiles moved busily, seeking out and smashing the chains.
Clatter!
Seeing the broken chains, the Succubus Queen let out a mocking laugh.
"Aha...! I knew you would do that...!"
The mana from the shattered chains began to multiply instantly, turning into pink mana particles identical to the Succubus Queen’s.
The pink mana particles flowing from the collapsed chains began to swirl in the air. Floating and spreading beautifully like flower petals, the sight momentarily transformed the battlefield into something dreamlike.
But it was not a mere visual effect. Each particle was a spell containing the Succubus Queen’s secret technique.
"Dream Within a Dream Realm (夢中夢界)."
As the Succubus Queen whispered softly, the collapsed mana particles instantly surrounded Yoo Eon and took shape.
The massive magic formation in the sky opened completely, and a mana barrier pierced through reality, closing around Yoo Eon.
Creeak!
The moment the barrier closed, Yoo Eon released dozens of Evil Eyes to send his vision outside the barrier, but all efforts to secure an objective view were blocked.
The structure inside the barrier was not a simple physical wall; it was a 'Lord's Authority,' similar to Iris’s subspace.
"This is..."
Yoo Eon felt it. His nervous system twisted, the output of his sensory organs changed, and his entire body began to be eroded by 'his deepest memories.'
It wasn't brainwashing or a mere illusion.
It was a spell that perfectly analyzed the brain's functions to drag out the most horrific memory he possessed.
The scene before him shifted. It was a day just like this, with heavy dark clouds.
A wheel spinning out of control. Scorching heat. The smell of spilled oil.
"Oppa...!"
A voice he missed. A memory from long ago.
His biological organs began to output errors, and his heart rate spiked to the limit.
Intense rage and sadness, enough to consume even his subconscious.
Body functions no longer followed the designed blueprints.
Eyelids that wouldn't close even when he tried. The horrific sight that continued to play out.
Crunch—!!
Yoo Eon immediately tore out a portion of his own brain. He extracted the entire Horus brain he had kept as a small reserve, connected it to his ability circuits, and handed over sovereignty of his body.
He had chosen Horus’s brain, which possessed high combat intelligence, to fight in his stead while he struggled to restore his own brain functions. However, Horus’s brain judged differently.
Having seized control of the physical transformation functions, Horus chose not 'combat proxy' but 'restoration of the control tower.'
In the estimation of Horus’s fast-calculating mind, Yoo Eon’s current combat intelligence surpassed its own, leading to a refusal of the command.
Thus, it chose the most certain method for restoring the control tower.
"Yuria. I'm busy, so move."
Snap...
Under Horus’s initiative, the emotional functions were excised from Yoo Eon’s brain.