Chapter 304: What Are You Doing?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 304: What Are You Doing?
Skreeeeek—!!
The scythe, swung with immense power, collided with Yoo Eon’s biological greatsword, sending sparks flying. The creature’s movements were elusive, as if fighting a ghost; before he knew it, the scythe had swung from behind, instantly severing his limbs and cleaving his body in two.
Pshhhhhhh—!!!!
The fragments of flesh that had been Yoo Eon began to spray a massive amount of blood as they started to reassemble in mid-air. With every injury, stacks of Bleeding Berserk continued to pile up, granting him an output dozens of times his original strength.
‘There are no openings.’
The power held by the Necro Lord, ranked second in combat strength among the Legion Commanders, was truly formidable. Yet, this was the surface world, not the Demon Realm, meaning he was in a significantly weakened state.
The number of living beings in the Demon Realm was dozens of times greater. Wars were frequent, the fear of death was incomparable, and the number of powerful dead was hundreds of times higher.
Despite those differences, Belmorak’s combat prowess was staggering.
Slice—!
Having endured countless dissections, Yoo Eon had already suppressed his emotions, pouring all his strength into the confrontation. He replaced exhausted muscles, replenished lost blood, and retracted organs that had lost their function.
It was then.
Whoosh—!
The reason why the Necro Species, each with their own distinct origins, trembled before the singular existence of Belmorak revealed itself.
‘The Soul-Reaping Scythe.’
The tip of Belmorak’s scythe, held at a distance, began to ignite and burn with a bright green flame. Many of the surrounding Necro Species had already been killed and annihilated, leaving the interior of the dome-shaped barrier filled with a chilling energy.
—Slice!
‘Here it comes—’
Faster than the 'thought' of a brain composed of electrical signals, Belmorak’s scythe pierced through the crown of Yoo Eon’s head and swept down, splitting him all the way to his crotch.
Crrraaaaack—!!!
The resulting shockwave split the southern part of the barrier in half, instantly crumbling the magic crafted by the world’s greatest mages.
Belmorak had absorbed a certain threshold of 'souls.'
"Th-That...! Is he going to be okay?!"
"I don't know! Just fight!"
At Skaeda Justitia’s worried cry, Murit Denshter continued the battle, breaking into a cold sweat.
While everyone was focused on the fight right in front of them, they were all concerned for Yoo Eon’s safety.
However.
Thud...
Like a slab of meat falling off a butcher’s hook, Yoo Eon’s body, split into two halves, fell powerlessly onto the shattered earth.
"Th-This can't be...!"
Hemeth Nefertiri watched the scene in horror, and though they didn't show it, many explorers, including Lykes O'Connor, witnessed his death with their own eyes.
There was still a long time before sunrise. The portal of Hollow Breeze began to vomit out Necro Species even more violently, and although the large number of synthetic monsters Yoo Eon had created remained to carry on the fight...
‘The moment that thing joins the fray...!’
Ordinary Necro Species were fine. Those could be handled by the combined strength of the other explorers.
But Belmorak possessed a catastrophic power that could instantly overwhelm even Hemeth, who had the strongest individual combat ability among them.
"W-We have to run...!"
"Stop! H-Hey!!"
"Aaaargh!!!"
The synthetic monsters were certainly fighting hard, but the explorers were ultimately the backbone. As the premise of their support began to crumble, the tide of battle shifted in an instant.
A swarm of Necro Species surged forward like a wave. Due to the overwhelming numbers, it could hardly be called a proper battle; it looked more like people being swept away by a tide made of corpses.
Skritch...
Leaving all that chaos behind, Belmorak walked slowly toward Yoo Eon’s bifurcated corpse.
He raised the scythe held in his hand toward the sky, and just as he was about to drive the blade down into the corpse—
KABOOOOOOOM—!!!!!!!!!!!!
A roar so intense it pierced the ears of everyone inside the barrier despite the chaotic situation. A mana beam of deep dark-red light poured from outside the barrier toward Belmorak.
Crack, craaaack...
Starting from the point where the beam had pierced through, cracks began to spread across the entire hemispherical dome barrier. Then, another offensive spell struck to drive a wedge into those fissures.
Bang—!!!! Boom—!!!!!!!!
A sublime destructive power that sent vibrations through the entire body just by standing on the ground. The mysterious pink explosion magic shattered the barrier entirely, instantly turning the surging undead monsters of Hollow Breeze into lumps of meat and shattered spirit fragments.
The offensive of Hollow Breeze faltered for a split second, and everyone snapped back to their senses at the shouts of the Orichalcum-grade explorers.
"You lot—!!! If you run from here, there is only death—!!!!!"
"Reorganize quickly! Get back to your positions, now!!"
Following Lykes O'Connor’s massive frame, Marilli Marionette’s heavy stone golems began to surround the Hollow Breeze portal.
The most important thing in battle was, after all, morale. Though it hadn't been apparent due to the overwhelming presence of Belmorak, the people gathered there were all high-ranking explorers of Palladium Grade or higher.
—Damn it...! Activate artifact!
—My son is watching from home...!!
—I’m definitely going back alive to confess—!
The explorers began to re-establish the front lines, burning with mana and fighting spirit. The mages, who had been stunned by the partial destruction of the barrier, also regained their composure and began to support the explorers with all their might.
‘But who...? Who used such powerful magic...?!’
Due to the fog that had swirled around with Belmorak’s appearance, the source of the powerful attack magic fired from afar was unknown. However, before long, the two individuals who had fired the spells revealed themselves in the sky.
"Hello, bone-head."
"Hmph. You're as ugly as ever."
One woman with long, straight white hair and red eyes, and another woman with flamboyant pink hair fluttering like waves.
The unique feature anyone could recognize was the wings on their backs. One even had horns on her head and a tail. Their races were easy enough to guess.
"V-Vampire...?"
"Isn't that a Succubus?!"
The explorers' minds were filled with confusion, but that emotion soon subsided.
—Roooooar!!!!
—Bwaaaaaagh...!!
Because right next to them, monsters that didn't look even remotely human had been fighting side-by-side with them all this time.
And the explorers of the Mayerbridge Union Clan, who remembered the face of Lilith Astaroth, the former Mystery Antoinette...
"Wh-Why is that bitch here?!"
"No way...! Is she joining this fight?!"
As Melis Superiora shrieked and made a fuss, Delbaheim, who was beside her, restrained her.
"Wait, something is strange."
Though the distance was great, Melis Superiora had a Clairvoyance skill that had allowed her to watch Yoo Eon’s battle from outside the Southeast. She watched Lilith Astaroth, wondering if she might attack them, but...
"It looks like she's confronting that powerful monster...!"
"It seems so!"
Soles Getia and Raya Delbaheim ran simulations in their heads and reached a conclusion.
‘She must have fallen victim to Aven’s ability.’
Since his abilities often caused such extraordinary things to happen, they figured that must be it.
* * *
:: Trai... tor.... ::
"What's he saying, mosquito?"
"He says your pussy's turned brown."
"...."
Lilith Astaroth’s hand trembled as she gripped her spear, but she soon pointed the blade toward Belmorak and spoke.
"I didn't exactly become a traitor because I wanted to, okay? You'll understand once it happens to you."
:: Persuasion. Futile.... ::
Belmorak, having fully recovered from the shock of Iris’s Vampire Death Beam, rattled his skull and turned his head to look where Yoo Eon’s corpse had been.
However, the body that had been lying there split in two was already gone.
"Don't look away."
Boom—!
Lilith Astaroth instantly charged toward Belmorak’s ribs. Belmorak blocked the long spear blade with his scythe handle, and just as he raised a foreleg to push her away—
Shhh...
Zzzzzzt—!!!!!!
Lilith Astaroth’s figure vanished in an instant, and an intense mana beam surged toward Belmorak. In the Demon Realm, death was extremely frequent, which allowed Belmorak, a Lord-class of the Necro Species, to exert immense power.
But this was the surface world, where the power of death reached less effectively. Belmorak had been harvesting 'death' from many living beings to bridge that power gap.
That plan had been warped by Yoo Eon’s ability, which rendered those who had died into a state of being 'not yet dead.'
The authority to turn shredded pieces of meat back into living beings. The reason Belmorak had never confronted the Emperor of Sinew in the Demon Realm was that their abilities were polar opposites.
"Haah!"
The moment Iris’s sublime destruction beam ended, Lilith Astaroth appeared from nowhere and drove a powerful charging attack into his lower flank.
Rumble—!!!
A spear strike that pushed forward for hundreds of meters. As soon as Belmorak regained his posture and tried to swing his scythe, a mental-destruction-type explosion flew in and detonated, scrambling his mind.
Even while taking those attacks with his entire body, he swung his scythe using transcendent strength, but—
Clang—!
"You, stop using a scythe."
:: Ques... tion. ::
"Our characters overlap."
The scythe Iris extended from a distance cut through Belmorak’s scythe handle, nullifying the attack.
While the clash that transcended the perception of the three Legion Commanders continued second by second, the questions among the explorers persisted.
"H-Hey! That person just now, he's dead, right?!"
"I don't know either! Probably!"
Those who didn't know Yoo Eon well speculated as much.
"He will probably return alive...!"
"I'm sure of it!"
The people of the Mayerbridge Union, who knew him well, predicted that he wasn't dead yet. In addition, Skaeda Justitia, who had witnessed Yoo Eon’s previous battles...
‘That monster is powerful... but Aven would die from just that...?’
Skaeda Justitia began to subtly reduce her firepower and started touching the mana spreading widely around the area, one by one.
It was a very small and humble part of the detection magic she had learned from her master. But for an ordinary human, it was a sublime detection spell that was hundreds of years more advanced.
"Ugh, blaaargh...!!!!"
Skaeda Justitia suddenly retched and collapsed to the floor.
"H-Hic...!!!"
"Lady Justitia!! What's wrong?!"
"Clan Leader! Are you okay?!"
Pulling her hand away from the ground as she fell forward, a startled Skaeda shook her head at her fellow Avalon explorers rushing toward her.
"No! It's nothing! Go and fight, quickly!!"
"O-Okay...?"
Lucas Saldermo, who was nearby, called out to her.
"Sir Justitia! Is something the matter?!"
"No! It's nothing!"
She repeated that it was nothing and returned to the battle.
‘Beneath the ground... what on earth are you doing...?!’
Wiping the traces of stomach acid from her lips, Justitia used flight magic, her body drenched in a cold sweat.
She couldn't even imagine what he was trying to do, but she had a feeling that she absolutely shouldn't be caught up in it.