Chapter 254: Handshake
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 254: Handshake
Creeeeeak...
His body temperature spiked from his surging heart rate, causing his physical functions to paralyze one by one.
The Arachne’s exoskeleton covering his exterior folded open like a machine, exposing the dense muscle fibers packed inside to the open air.
Pshhhhhhh....
He began the process of cooling his body, venting clouds of scorching steam. It was a time-consuming task to circulate blood chilled by his frost core throughout his entire system.
Yoo Eon had injected Amelia’s mana into the Umbra Valkyrie’s vision to enhance its capabilities. By amplifying the nervous system's ability to detect "weaknesses," he had discovered a vulnerability in the sub-space.
Cr-crack!
With a grotesque sound, a weapon emerged from his hand—crafted from Queen Arachne’s exoskeleton and shaped like a Lizardman’s spear.
BOOM—!!!!
He dissolved mana into his muscles and engraved Horus’s wind magic to minimize air friction. After filling the spear’s shaft with flammable liquid, he created miniature thrusters, allowing the weapon to instantly leap across sub-space toward the Succubus Queen.
"H-how...!!!"
The tip of the spear blade, which had torn through the illusionary barrier, narrowly missed the Succubus Queen, but the resulting shockwave was immense.
The powerful blade, imbued with aura, shredded dozens of physical barriers, leaving the Succubus Queen physically "naked" for a fleeting moment.
Without missing a beat, Yoo Eon used Tenebrax’s dematerialization to shift behind her, swinging his blade to sever her limbs.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Hundreds of illusions began to vanish simultaneously. Having lost her limbs, the Succubus Queen used blink magic to teleport herself to a hidden location.
Snap!
The Succubus Queen gnashed her teeth as she slowly regenerated her severed limbs with mana.
"How can he use the power of a Monarch...! Eek?!"
An independent Evil Eye entity was watching her from the side. Its blood-red pupil stared intently at her, and shortly after, a roar like a falling meteor echoed through the air.
CRASH—!!!!
Immediately after the roar, a glowing red mark appeared on the wall of the abandoned building.
Sliiiice!
In a display of terrifying skill, the wall of the building where she was hiding was sliced through like tofu. Though the Succubus Queen was a master at concealing her mana, Yoo Eon’s vision now permeated the entire area.
At this point, even stepping on a single drop of blood on the floor would allow him to pinpoint her location using the Vampire Lord's abilities.
However, the Succubus Queen was not so helpless as to meet her end like this. She quickly burst the Evil Eye watching her and fled into the sky.
Since her physical barriers had not yet fully recovered, she had sustained a wound on her left shoulder when Yoo Eon sliced through the building, but she could manage.
"To dare wound a maiden's body...!"
The moment she raised her right hand to cast healing magic on her left shoulder—
"O-oh...?"
The blood leaking from the shallow cut began to squirm. Suddenly, it erupted like a fountain. The expanding blood abruptly surged out like tentacles, wrapping around her neck and strangling her.
"Kh... A V-vampire Lord!?"
While she dissolved massive amounts of mana to wash away the Vampire Lord's curse, dozens of bio-missiles streaked toward her from the ground once again. These were fire explosions carrying the curse of the dead, fueled by a Lich’s mana and potent toxic gas.
Propelled by flammable liquid that could travel dozens of kilometers and enveloped in a Grand Swordmaster’s aura, they were nearly impossible to shoot down through physical force.
To shake off the missiles that would pursue her until death, the Succubus Queen fortified her defenses with a mana shroud. Just before impact, she teleported the missiles, sending them right back at Yoo Eon.
Boom! Bam! Boom!
"It truly is useless...!"
Of course, Yoo Eon would not be affected by weapons he had created himself. However, there was one variable even Yoo Eon hadn't anticipated.
"Heh... Ahaha...!! Ahahahaha—!!!!"
The Southeast was within the range of her magic formation. While the Succubus Queen and Yoo Eon—who possessed even greater mana—clashed and consumed energy atop the formation, mana residue was being generated.
The amount was negligible compared to standard mana, and its purity was too low to be used normally. However, the residue produced by the clash of two high-ranking beings was more than enough to accelerate the Succubus Queen’s plan to summon an army from the Demon Realm.
"It’s the end, then? Our fight was quite entertaining."
As the Succubus Queen summoned her treasure from wherever she had dropped it, a spear pulsing with an even more ominous and massive mana reappeared in her grasp.
"Come forth, my faithful servants."
Rumble, rumble...!!
A vibration rose from deep within the earth. A massive mana signature with a gloomy, murky scent filled the air. It was a vast pressure incomparable to the Succubus Queen who had been merely running away until now.
Burst!
A hole connecting to the abyss opened in the corpse disposal ground located in the outer district, and the Succubus Queen’s monster legion began to pour out.
"This was all part of the plan. How is it? Did you... enjoy our little play? Tee-hee! Ahahaha...!!!"
Whirrrrr....
A quiet wind began to howl.
Patter, patter....
The thick dark clouds shrouding the sky turned into heavy, drenching rain that began to pour onto the ground.
The Succubus Queen’s monster legion poured out of the disposal ground, advancing like a tidal wave toward the northern and western boundaries of Calax.
In response, Yoo Eon selected the bases for the synthetic monsters he would use to face them.
One was a high-speed aerial bombardment unit, combining Horus’s body with an Eldyokul’s flame core and a Volcanus Deathworm’s frost core.
One was based on a Snowfield Troll, compressed into a near-human form and clad in an exoskeleton armor, imbued with the swordsmanship of the Knight Lord Hersha.
One was based on a Megido Serpent, designed to crawl underground while consuming and resurrecting corpses using a Lich’s necromancy.
And one was based on Queen Arachne, augmented with Amelia’s overwhelming mana capacity, intended for wide-range binding.
Four synthetic monsters, each with an estimated combat power easily exceeding the 60th floor, clashed with the Succubus Queen’s legion.
"My, do you really think you can stop them all with just four?"
The Succubus Queen spoke as if mocking him, but he didn't need to stop them all. He had already anticipated this situation, which was why he had summoned the explorers to wait at the southeastern boundary.
And above all, those four monsters were actually doing a fine job of holding back the Succubus Queen’s surging legion.
Realizing this, the Succubus Queen frowned slightly and spoke.
"If you deploy everything like that, you won't have the strength left to stop me."
However, during his long hours honing his skills inside Iris’s sub-space, Yoo Eon had acquired one more ability.
A loophole born from damage and recovery.
When muscle fibers are torn, new ones are generated. When an exoskeleton is broken, a new one grows beneath it.
If you inject mana into a heart cut in half to heal the wound, you end up with two hearts. With mana, any injury can be restored.
And if one could deconstruct and reassemble the transcendental mana knowledge gained from acquiring Amelia’s mana core...
Crack!
Even a mana core could be restored.
* * *
Watching the overwhelming battle from afar, there wasn't a single opening to intervene, even for a split second.
Soles Getia, an Orichalcum-grade explorer and the strongest in Calax, watched from a distance as the two monsters clashing with immense mana fought.
To his dynamic visual acuity, which surpassed human limits, the battle seemed simple at a glance, but the reality was different.
They weren't fighting a low-level battle; they were fighting in a state where all low-level attacks had already been excluded.
No matter how powerful a being was, mana was finite and constantly consumed during combat. No matter how profound the techniques used, one could not overcome a difference in output.
The Succubus Queen now possessed even more vast mana as the connection to the Demon Realm was established through the hole in the disposal ground.
Although the four synthetic monsters Yoo Eon had deployed were holding them back with overwhelming combat power, there were simply too many to stop them all.
Dozens of entities visible to the naked eye were heading toward the southeastern boundary.
The western boundary is in danger...!
The boundary connecting the Southwest and Southeast was populated by many explorers whose combat power was significantly lower due to their location. Soles Getia decided this was where he needed to make his stand.
Whoosh!!
Thud!!
"Fall back. It’s about to get hot."
He spoke as he pushed the explorers back upon reaching the southwestern boundary.
—I-it’s Soles Getia!
—Is it really him?! It’s my first time seeing him in person!!
While the battle was already in full swing inside the Southeast, the explorers waiting near the boundary hadn't seen any sign of monsters for a while. They had been feeling somewhat relieved.
"Powerful monsters are swarming this way. Explorers below Platinum Grade should retreat."
He judged that it would surely be a long fight. After all, there would be few high-grade explorers available to protect the Southwest.
However, something happened that defied his expectations.
"Hmm...?"
Only about thirty percent of the explorers guarding the boundary retreated; the rest remained in their positions.
"I shall say it once more. Explorers below Platinum Grade may die."
"Ah, um... I’m Cobalt Grade."
"Cobalt?"
As he looked around, he realized that a surprisingly large number of high-grade explorers were stationed there, skillfully preparing their defenses.
Where did all these high-grade explorers come from...?
Just as Soles Getia was feeling puzzled—
Static...
:: Testing, one, two. Announcement. Right now, a whole bunch of super-duper scary-looking guys are swarming in. ::
The voice of a young girl echoed through a voice amplification artifact. It was followed by the voice of a mature woman.
:: Ahem...! Re-announcing. Multiple monster entities of unknown types are approaching, approximately 2.6 kilometers away. They are medium-sized monsters with an average length of 4 meters. Physical-based tanks to the front lines. Rear-guard explorers, take positions on the rooftops and engage. ::
It was a follow-up announcement that seemed to correct the child's mistake. When Soles Getia approached the source of the voices, he saw a young girl with red hair and a blonde beastkin woman bickering.
"My way was short and sweet, so it's way easier to understand!"
"That is what we call a poor transmission. 'Scary-looking'? There is a limit to how insufficient information can be."
Those people... no, that lady?
One of them was clearly Chairwoman Renart Lymain. He didn't recognize the young girl, but why were they here?
"What are you doing?"
When Soles Getia approached and asked, the two who had been bickering looked at him simultaneously.
"Ah, Sir Getia. A pleasure to see you. I didn't expect to run into you in a place like this."
"It has been a while, Madam Lymain. But why are you here?"
Looking closely at the surroundings, they were all high-grade explorers. Individuals from the Northwest who didn't belong to any clans. Some were top-tier explorers whose reputations would make even the Mayerbridge Union covet them.
"How did they get here...?"
"I called them."
"You called them?"
The Northwest explorers were notorious for being stubborn and prideful. How on earth did she do it? Even if a request for help was made in the name of the Mayerbridge Union, people of this caliber wouldn't show up.
"I have my ways. Sir Getia, will you be fighting here at the boundary?"
"That is the plan."
"How reassuring."
Soles Getia awkwardly accepted the handshake Renart offered, then naturally turned his gaze to the side.
"Is your name Ge-twigim? Let's shake hands."
The voice was identical to the young girl's voice that had just come through the voice amplification artifact.
"S-sure..."
He felt even more awkward about this one.