Chapter 210
Chapter 210
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 210
Chapter Title: Descent to the Last Altar
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The fortress rocketed upward, piercing through the smoke from the shattered altar.
The structure, swept up in the blast, was a ragged mess.
But the two legs attached to its underside thrashed desperately onward.
Leyzon deactivated Landscape Painting as he escaped the crumbling altar.
'As expected, the bastard doesn't hesitate to use dirty tricks.'
He'd figured the Ossuary would show up without regard for means or methods.
That's why he'd prepared Narmeok as bait.
'Necromancers appeared, and sure enough...'
There was no way the Ossuary would let them go unscathed.
The guy had even thoroughly killed off that lizard.
And as predicted, he'd turned the necromancers into a trap themselves.
"Everyone okay?"
"Yes, we're fine."
Syria responded in a slightly subdued voice.
Even though Leyzon had explained it was Narmeok, the undead had failed to protect their master.
She seemed furious with herself over it.
The other undead felt the same.
Every one of them wore deeply displeased expressions.
"Leyzon, sir... this time, I really thought we were done for."
Even Hanok spoke through gritted teeth.
It was the price for the Ossuary deceiving even their comrades.
"Pull yourselves together, everyone."
But Leyzon couldn't let them wallow in gloom.
"The battle isn't over yet."
He'd landed a solid hit, but the Ossuary wasn't going down that easily.
Besides, one altar still remained.
Unless they destroyed that one too, the mission was a failure.
'The Ossuary will surely head to the remaining altar.'
And there, he'd try to finish things once and for all.
"What about the Witch of Copies?"
Estelle asked casually, and Leyzon pointed upward.
"She'll have slunk away on her own, no doubt."
Narmeok had one peculiar extra skill.
Cat's Lives [SSS]
Nine lives granted to a cat. Narmeok can divide her life into nine portions.
True to her title as the Witch of Copies, she'd replicated her own body.
She'd probably revived in one of those by now.
Leyzon had purchased one of Narmeok's lives for himself.
There were no more left for her.
Which meant she no longer had a way to cheat death like this.
But thanks to that, he'd gotten a read on the Ossuary.
'What a monster.'
Leyzon had no intention of letting Narmeok lose her life if he could avoid it.
Yet he hadn't sensed a thing from him.
Not a single undead had recognized him as the Ossuary—that was proof.
A 17th-Ascension Pioneer, Narmeok, taken out in one hit.
Leyzon went without saying.
If he gave the guy any distance next time, Leyzon was dead too.
And the aura emanating from the Ossuary was on another level entirely.
His power far surpassed even Platinum Hero rank.
'From Platinum Hero rank onward, characters grow stats without Ascension.'
Meaning growth had no limits after 20th Ascension.
Of course, with finite dungeons, growth was eventually capped.
But he was a Prophet.
He didn't follow the standard Dungeon Replay rules.
On top of that, as a Prophet, he received power from the Transcendent of Evil.
Tacked on up to Otherworldly levels.
'A head-on fight is impossible.'
Leyzon's eyes gleamed quietly.
He'd anticipated this from the start.
The Empire weakened the power granted by the Transcendent of Evil.
Even so, reaching this level meant the Ossuary's own strength was immense.
No matter how much Leyzon prepared, a direct confrontation was out of the question right now.
So he'd laid other plans.
The weak could prepare precisely because they were weak.
Plans the strong would never expect.
"Pauli, to the final altar."
"Got it!"
With the Ossuary caught in the explosion, now was their chance.
At Leyzon's command, Pauli hurriedly refitted the fortress.
Meanwhile, Leyzon gripped his staff in reverse.
"Everyone, I'm going to focus from here on out."
He now knew the Ossuary had come in person.
No more holding back on tricks.
Leyzon resolved to prepare his ultimate move.
"You'll have to fight without me until then. Think you can handle it?"
Was that even possible?
They all exchanged glances.
Then nodded in unison.
"Leyzon, sir, we might finish everything before you even have work to do!"
"Leave it to us."
"Haha, we'll wrap it up!"
"We'll take care of it all."
The undead showed their resolve.
"L-Leyzon, sir must have brought me here for a reason."
Hanok, the weakest among them, gripped his spear tightly.
He'd followed Leyzon as usual but wondered why he was here.
Given his power level, he'd assumed he'd be sent topside.
But Leyzon bringing him meant there was a purpose.
Hanak decided to trust it.
Leyzon smiled at their unwavering faith.
"Yeah, I'm counting on you all."
Pauli's fortress finally finished its modifications and began burrowing into the earth.
Underground rock shattered as it plunged downward at tremendous speed.
In the meantime, Leyzon began preparing fusion magic with his staff.
In the tense atmosphere,
Pauli finally reached the last altar.
KABOOM!
Thick underground dust poured into their noses.
The fortress breached the ceiling of the tenth altar and invaded at last.
A structure on an entirely different scale appeared.
"Whoa."
Hanok let out an involuntary gasp.
This wasn't an altar—it was more like an underground city.
At its center loomed a massive faceless statue.
The city radiated outward in a circular pattern carved from bedrock.
KABOOOM!
In that instant, a dragon burst from a side passage.
A vivid crimson red dragon.
Nermakadia.
Nermakadia's jaws gaped wide.
And inside them were the Bloodless Sovereign's group—and Raklod's party.
"The Abyss!"
Raklod realized the Ossuary had appeared here.
Raklod levitated into the air with magic.
Meanwhile, Leyzon stood tall atop the fortress.
"Raklod, she's yours."
They'd already discussed what to do if the Ossuary showed.
Raklod nodded grimly.
"Pauli."
"Got it!"
At Leyzon's call, Pauli flew over and perched on his shoulder.
With that, Leyzon hurled himself into Nermakadia's maw.
A broad smile played on his lips.
His face showed no doubt of victory.
"Watch everyone for me."
Nermakadia swallowed Leyzon and Pauli, then smashed through the wall and vanished.
The moment Leyzon left them behind,
CRACK!
Darkness split the ceiling like lips parting.
SKREEEEEE—
In that instant, an uncountable horde of undead and apostles poured forth.
Like an endless coral reef filling the sea, they cascaded down without stop.
"SKREEEEE!"
"KIIEEEE!"
The apostles screeched like hatchlings breaking from eggs.
"GRARARAK!"
"GRIK!"
The life-hungry undead howled in pursuit of the living.
And at their center.
A dark elf emerged, bringing pitch-black darkness in his wake.
His tattered black uniform robe fluttered.
Remnants of the earlier explosion.
He pressed down his uniform cap, radiating utter disgust.
The creeping Ossuary.
The Prophet had survived Leyzon's explosion.
The Ossuary's face was twisted in the deepest scowl yet.
He loathed being played by Leyzon's schemes.
His gaze slowly drifted downward.
Chill!
Just that sent shivers of indescribable dread through everyone present.
The Ossuary's deathly aura was that overwhelming.
The Ossuary noted Leyzon's absence.
"Hah."
A scoff escaped his lips.
He'd been trading schemes with Leyzon up to now.
He sensed Leyzon was plotting something again.
The Ossuary never let his guard down against Leyzon.
So he decided to teach him reality.
"You think I'm a joke. Even if these fools all die, can you keep scheming?"
The Ossuary raised his hand.
All the surrounding darkness was sucked into his grasp.
The underground altar began flowing into peril.
At that moment, blue flames flickered around him like will-o'-the-wisps.
The flames surged toward the Ossuary in unison.
Then a winged dragon of elongated spines appeared from the darkness.
Just before the flames struck, black flowers bloomed from the dragon, absorbing and devouring them.
Then it hurled the flames back whence they came.
KABOOOM!
Surrounding buildings exploded and vanished in the blue inferno.
The Ossuary eyed the shooter with half-lidded gaze.
There stood a man wreathed in blue flames.
Flame-haired Raklod.
He wasn't alone.
KRASH!
Undead descending from above were swept into shadows and blood.
There stood Syria, wings of membrane unfurled.
Fierce rage blazed in her eyes.
"For the crime of trying to kill Leyzon..."
The Vampire Queen revealed her wrath.
"Pay the price."
Starting with Syria, the other undead unleashed their power.
Waves of undead and apostles crashed toward them.
But the three undead facing them showed no fear.
They regarded the horde with contempt.
The evil dragon soared.
The lord of curses unleashed his maledictions.
The Abyss undead and the Ossuary's forces clashed head-on.
KABOOM!
The final altar was instantly engulfed in battle.
In the cauldron of chaos,
Raklod and the three women charged forward.
Raklod's eyes remained fixed solely on the Ossuary from start to finish.
The undead and apostles he commanded bordered on infinite.
What kind of mana pool allowed for no limit in numbers?
If the Abyss undead focused purely on quality, the Ossuary's were the opposite.
Overwhelming quantity.
A number no individual could handle.
Undead and apostles continued pouring from the ceiling's gaping maw of darkness.
Unless the Ossuary fell, this war wouldn't end.
"Everyone, remember this!"
Raklod drew his flame-infused staff into combat stance.
The Bloodless Sovereign already blazed with red fire on her legs as she ran.
They pulverized every blocking undead and apostle in their path.
"Our job is to buy time!"
But Raklod had no intention of merely stalling.
"And that means you can take him down within that time."
Full throttle.
Fight not to stall, but to kill.
"Suits me fine—I'm used to it."
The Bloodless Sovereign slammed her flaming foot down with a bang.
Soaring flames blasted undead and apostles away.
But they instantly refilled the gap and charged.
"Besides, I've got questions for that bastard."
The Bloodless Sovereign's eyes flashed.
As everyone plunged into war,
One person had slipped between buildings using Landscape Painting [A].
'...Leyzon, sir. What can someone like me even do?'
It was Hanok, who had hidden with Haron for now.
In the staggering scale of the battlefield that threatened to shatter his mind,
Hanok, the sole high-rank Pioneer, grappled with deepening doubt.