Flight (2)
Flight (2)
A murky wave crashed down, smothering the sky.
It surged in an instant, with force that could not be ignored.
Whoosh! The Calamity Flame, coiled around his right arm, swelled.
Channeling vitality through the now-familiar procedure, Lee Ha-yul fed the blaze with Gale. He swung his arm, still wreathed in roaring Calamity Flame.
The colliding wave and Calamity Flame convulsed in the air.
Lee Ha-yul flicked the lingering Calamity Flame from his fingertips as the two forces tore at each other and canceled out.
Beyond the churning waves of mana, the Tower Master of the Dead spread his wings wide.
Whaaash! The viscous darkness scattered by his wingbeat coalesced like raindrops. Some of it seeped into the earth; some hung heavy in the void.
Eerie, gleaming eyes flashed within the dark. From the bulging, misshapen shadows, undead spilled forth in a rush.
"......."
The empty ground filled with undead in a single breath.
So many that they flooded past the shore and surged into the sea.
The sheer number was not what alarmed anyone. But as their forms became clear, the faces of Lee Ji-yeon and the others hardened.
—Crackle, cra-ack.
Flesh clung to the rising bones. As if time had rewound, something regained its body. And it was human.
Necromancy was a craft that manipulated the corpses and thought-residue of the dead. Under that law, humans could be no exception.
But the wielder was, in the end, human.
For a necromancer who kept to a moral code, undead formed from human remains could only ever be a source of revulsion.
—Crrk...!
Amak Commander Lee Su-yeong's face twisted like a demon's.
"Grrh, ghhrrrrrgh...!"
The undead raised its head, joints grinding.
Light brown hair on its scalp, dreary green light in its eyes. A deceased soul that had lain at rest in this land was pulled upright.
The Authority of the Dead.
The power to govern the dead. The Authority of the Dead could summon those who had perished within its range, enslave them, and wield them at will.
That was why the Tower Master of the Dead became more and more abominable the longer a battle dragged on.
The longer an invasion lasted, the more his host of undead swelled exponentially.
"Kraaaaaaah— K-hak!?"
The undead, veins bulging in its eyes, threw its mouth wide open. Lightning slammed straight into its exposed gullet.
The moment its green eyes flew wide, the detonating lightning swallowed the area whole.
—Rumble!
Its death cry was buried under thunder. The high-ranking lightning spirit that had annihilated the undead in a single strike raised a hand and shrieked.
—Undead, die agaaaain...!
A dozen more high-ranking lightning spirits answered the call, whipping up lightning energy. Thunder far more fearsome than before came spearing down like forked lightning.
—Kill all the undead!
—A holy war!
—Send these poor things back!
As if that were the signal, the spirits' eyes sharpened and they all unleashed their attribute powers at once.
The Pure Life Unit and the Dark Evil Unit also kicked off the ground in a rush.
"Commencing operation! All personnel to your positions!"
They were not the main force of this war.
Their role was to craft a stage where the spirits could pour out their power more easily.
The Pure Life Unit reshaped the terrain to construct advantageous formations. The Dark Evil Unit thrust undead forward as meat shields so the spirits could commit fully to their attacks.
In the meantime, five elements swept across the front line in the shape of a natural disaster.
The freshly raised undead were wiped away like marks under an eraser.
The Tower Master of the Dead's brow furrowed.
Spirits born of attributes existed in every world. He knew their usual level well enough.
These were different.
Abnormally strong.
Every single individual boasted distinct specialness. And massed together in a horde, their synergistic effect was beyond absurd.
The Tower Master of the Dead opened his mouth, aiming at the place where the spirits had gathered.
Enormous mana swirled, and his tongues wove word commands.
Just as the wave was about to burst forth—
A searing line of lightning scored through space, piercing straight through the mana condensing at his mouth and deep into his jaws.
Heavenly Thunder Pseudo Expansion Ability
Clear Lightning Flash
—Kwoorrrrrrng...!
The fastest, strongest technique in the 8th Iteration's arsenal. Still a mere imitation, inferior to the source record, but not unusable.
— I'll kill that one, just as we discussed.
"...Honestly. Can you actually kill that?"
Lee Ha-yul sent a sound transmission, lightly stroking the Heavenly Thunder still clinging to his fingers.
Slowly relaxing her fist, Lee Ji-yeon's expression turned clouded.
The distance was so vast that the tower and the Earth Dragon looked small in her sight.
But the felt size was something else entirely.
Too enormous.
An oppressive level of presence seemed to loom over the world itself. Her instincts loosed a silent scream: never, ever approach that place.
— Yes. Without fail, I can kill it.
"...Ahaha. Wow. That's incredible."
In the face of such a being, Lee Ha-yul declared victory. A small laugh escaping her, Lee Ji-yeon stepped one pace forward.
"Then I'll deal with that... that person first."
That person. Lee Ha-yul's expression darkened at those words.
Near the shore by the Dead Tower. Amid the madly charging army corps, a completely composed human figure could be seen.
Not a dead soul dragged out. A living being, brimming with immense vitality.
— ...Right. If things get dangerous, I'll be there right away. So don't worry.
"Keh, I'd better pull through and back you up so it never comes to that."
— And Seo-yul, you make sure to prioritize your own safety first.
"Don't worry. I will never be a burden to my father."
Lee Ji-yeon smiled, emphasizing her fist. Lee Seo-yul was fluttering her wings, supporting the spirits. By her side, Terramor was present as well.
Checking on them, Lee Ha-yul nodded slowly and pulled firmly at the Heavenly Thunder he had been stroking.
Heavenly Thunder Pseudo Expansion Ability
Lightning Step Movement
Lee Ha-yul transformed into lightning energy and shot upward along the path he had marked out.
His destination: right above the Tower Master of the Dead's head. Giving no time to react, Lee Ha-yul drove down his fist, wringing brilliant light tight within it.
'Homogenization, White Night.'
The exploding radiance smashed into the head. Boom! A few black scales shattered and scattered into the void. That was all.
'Hard.'
Lee Ha-yul grimaced. The fist he'd brought down was crushed. His current body was still far too soft.
A spirit body that had been given no time to stabilize.
And what of his opponent?
The Tower Master of the Dead.
Its fundamental species was Earth Dragon.
In the original world, that was a name for an earthworm. But this one was, in every literal sense, a dragon of the earth.
Earth was widely regarded as a symbol of strength—and also a symbol of solidity.
Either way, this was a Tower Master of the Dead of that lineage.
Considering the ages he had lived and the lives he had chewed through, such toughness was understandable.
'Close combat is a bad match for me right now.'
An alarm rang through his mind. Lee Ha-yul instantly kicked off a scale. Craunch! The space he had occupied was hideously crushed.
A phenomenon manifested by word command.
That single attack was far from the end.
Word commands wove densely into the air where he was about to pass, tangling like a prison.
His heightened qi sense caught every trap.
He twisted his body and unfurled his wings.
Waaah! The mana pulse carried by his wingbeat scattered the word commands. Wreathed in Heavenly Thunder and accelerating, Lee Ha-yul threaded through the gaps between the word commands.
Then, head-on, he faced the Tower Master of the Dead. From its gaping maw, a wave of force poured out.
Getting caught in it meant death. Dodge? He considered other options. Lee Ha-yul enacted them. Mana coiled around both his forearms.
'Homogenization, Gale.'
His mana reconfigured into Gale. Fierce winds swirled in vortexes at his forearms.
The process was completed in the split second the wave was bearing down. Lee Ha-yul thrust both palms forward at once.
—Bwaaaaaaang—!
The layered storms clashed with the wave.
His hair whipped wildly. The disrupted storm mass pushed backward. Lee Ha-yul calmly drew upon his Inherent Talent.
—Craa-ackle-crack!
Spines of cold energy mixed into the storm shred the wave to pieces. The swelling storm slammed into the Tower Master of the Dead's mouth. The Azure Sea froze his word-forming tongues for an instant.
At the same moment, he pulled Heavenly Thunder. The leaping Heavenly Thunder surged along the Azure Sea's water energy and detonated inside the Tower Master of the Dead's jaws.
『────!』
In that instant, a violent blast erupted from deep in his throat.
The overwhelming sound itself turned into a vicious weapon and pummeled his body.
—Tinnnnnge...!
His hearing blanked out for a moment under the roar that shredded his defensive magic.
But his qi sense was alive. Feeling mana spilling out from inside the throat, Lee Ha-yul pulled his body out immediately.
Whoooosh! Thick, viscous mana shot past right in front of his face. Lee Ha-yul kicked off the thing's jaw and shot downward.
『Like a gnat. Such paltry, insolent fleeing.』
— Better a gnat than a worm that squirms in the dirt.
Sneering, Lee Ha-yul sensed an attack thick with killing intent.
Above, straight ahead. A wave pooling inside the wide-open mouth.
Below, behind. The Tower Master of the Dead's tail was spearing upward like a lance.
A split second. His accelerated cognition finished its judgment.
Lee Ha-yul deployed the Foolish Straight Twin Wheels. Shrrrk! Mana circuits burst from his shoulder blades and branched out like tree limbs.
Their manifestation was far easier than before, and the extended circuits and magic formulas were dense and precise.
It was thanks to his fairy body—a spirit body inherently attuned to mana—and his species itself.
'Taesan.'
A hand of rock deposited from the void seized the surging tail. Tree roots sprouted from the stone and wound around the tail, lashing it in place.
In both hands stretched forward, Heavenly Thunder and White Night—each kept in a state of Homogenization—flashed.
Discharged straight ahead, the Heavenly Thunder and White Night pulverized the falling wave.
The wave dispersed. Far above it, he sensed three heads pooling with wave-energy.
One was its original head. The other two were heads from roughly 3rd-Rank undead, stitched on as grafts.
—Krrrroorrrrrr!
The three waves layered together and rushed down upon him. The output had markedly spiked compared to before.
No issue. Because this side had also prepared a high-output option.
The Foolish Straight Twin Wheels, branched like a tree. Upon it, three-colored fruits that had steadily ripened glittered.
'Three Ends.'
Wielding the Foolish Straight Twin Wheels, he launched the Three Ends clustered on its branches.
The colliding Three Ends didn't stop. They swallowed the wave whole and raced straight upward.
The Tower Master of the Dead's eyes flew wide as he twisted his body. Under the reinforcement of his word commands, the enormous creature was terrifyingly fast.
—Thud, crrrowrrrr...!
『Shyaaaaaak...!』
One of the grafted undead heads caught in the Three Ends' trajectory was completely annihilated.
Where the explosion's aftermath touched, its scales were shattered entirely and chunks of flesh were gouged out.
『Grrrgh...!』
The enraged Tower Master of the Dead opened his mouth. Hundreds upon hundreds of tongues unleashed word commands all at once.
In an instant, the attack filled every direction.
Lee Ha-yul wielded Gale and Heavenly Thunder in careful coordination, barely slipping out of the snare of word commands.
'Tch.'
Having briefly widened the distance, Lee Ha-yul openly clicked his tongue.
At some point, the Tower Master of the Dead had detached from the tower and landed upon the sea.
He did not sink into the seawater. Because beneath him, the seabed floor had surged upward to meet him.
That was not the reason for his displeasure.
The darkness swirling all around and the undead were seeping into his wounds, carrying out healing concurrently.
It was by no means fast, but his sheer massive durability made the steady, nibbling recovery a vexing annoyance.
What was more, he had stitched on seven more undead heads. They could be destroyed far more easily than his main body, but they were nuisances all the same.
'I can win.'
Lee Ha-yul could see the victory.
The Tower Master of the Dead surely had hidden cards too. But they could not surpass the number and performance of the cards Lee Ha-yul held.
The defense that the Tower Master of the Dead prided himself on—even that could be pierced with Three Ends.
Killing him in one blow was difficult, but if he steadily hammered away, he could do it.
'It's taking too long.'
Even now, under the Dead Tower's influence, naturally-spawning undead were teeming throughout the territory.
Lee Ha-yul registered the battlefield spread across the Taesan territory. He registered the casualties that would increase as the fight dragged on.
He suspected that the Tower Master of the Dead might yet pull out some unknown variable. He was wary of the unidentified enemy that had already wounded the Tower Master of the Dead.
Since there were already two prior incidents, he also weighed the possibility that the Tower Master of Purgatory might crawl in.
'...More.'
He could do better.
But his body was failing to keep up.
His flesh was dull. It refused to move as he willed it. The force he could exert was lacking.
This was not overconfidence. Just a few days ago, his physical body could have pulled this off with ease.
Now, it couldn't.
That was only natural.
This spirit body had not fully matured. It had not undergone stabilization. The drop in function was unavoidable.
'...I can do better.'
He needed a body fit for that.
Lee Ha-yul spread his arms.
Fairies were spirit bodies. Their souls could directly bring about physical phenomena.
That was why severed limbs could grow back. Even if the head were blown off, the spiritual blueprint kept death from being instant.
'Spiritual blueprint.'
It meant that as long as you fixed this, you had a species that could adapt swiftly and easily.
Lee Ha-yul manipulated the mana in his right arm. He expanded the range from his circuits.
He observed the mana particles composing the arm down to their smallest units, then tore out and rebuilt them appropriately.
There was precedent for this method.
The unique ability of the 4th Iteration.
Regrettably, he had never met and learned from them. But since this was a trajectory that 'Lee Ha-yul' had reached, the current Lee Ha-yul could do it too.
Lee Ha-yul wanted a stronger body.
He wanted a body that could shatter the Tower Master of the Dead's scales and rip its flesh apart.
He wanted a sturdier body.
He wanted a hardened body that could more easily handle Three Ends, and even endure the Five Ends combined with Gale and Heavenly Thunder.
Wish, impatience, and will-thought guided the mana.
Lee Ha-yul's mana affinity, defying reason, answered.
—...Crrrraack-sna-aap!
His right arm twisted like a wrung-out rag.
Blood gushed out as if squeezed from a mop. The skin bulged and swelled, then gradually began to take the shape of the arm he wished for.