Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Battle for the Floating Island
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What the hell was going on right now?
Whether it was the people on the floating island, the folks in the community, or even the Murderers themselves, the bewilderment was universal.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Floating Island Defense System... Control lost!] [Special privilege restrictions lifted again! Across the entire region!!] [No way! Even the warp gate system has been hijacked!] Listening to the real-time reports from his aides, Blurt's mouth fell open in shock.
Those with some composure just stared blankly at the massive floating island—big enough to rival a whole city—constantly shifting its form high in the sky.
Fragments of the islands began stacking layer upon layer around the world tree at the floating island's center, like building a tower.
'Those people over there...!'
Crushed to death? Or...
The question was answered soon enough.
Shockingly, countless chunks of earth carrying people were flying through the air.
They were pieces of the floating island itself.
Did that mean there was no intent to cause casualties?
"Uwaaaah...!"
"Urk!"
Someone fell.
It was only natural.
The floating island was sustained not just by its defense spells, but by a host of safety systems regulating wind, air currents, and more. Now, with every safeguard gone, it had been tossed into the middle of the sky.
How could anyone avoid plummeting...
"Hm?"
That was resolved quickly too.
Black feathers unfurled, slowing the faller's descent gently.
Magic artifacts, no doubt.
They must have been scattered in advance.
Watching the scene, Blurt realized this was meticulously planned.
'Who the hell... The Murderers? No, those idiots don't have the brains for this.'
Then who?
He suddenly noticed the sky's color shifting and looked up.
The moon had turned blue.
"......"
What kind of divine intervention was this?
If someone capable of this existed...
Feeling uneasy, Blurt sought out the most trustworthy person with authority over the floating island.
"Where's the headmaster right now?"
The community was in chaos too.
💬 Community Chat — Kobski entered. — Maya entered. — Pristan entered. Rankers poured in one after another, but the current spectacle was too riveting to get distracted by their arrivals.
— Anonymous What the fuck is happening??? — Anonymous Why's the floating island doing that? — Anonymous Hey, anyone hearing from their handler gods? — Anonymous I'm fucking trying to come. — Anonymous The Murderers must be fucked if that's happening. — Anonymous Floating island folks probably got wrecked too. — Anonymous Breaking news! My handler god said Almiraj did it! — Anonymous Bullshit. Almiraj fanboy, fuck off. — Anonymous Fuck your praise. My handler said it directly, what about it? — Anonymous My handler said Almiraj too?? — Anonymous Are you all crazy...? — Anonymous Shut up if you've never seen that Almiraj fucker. That monster rabbit does whatever, no surprise. — Anonymous Fact is he's strong, but he can't do shit like that. Even back in his mage days he couldn't, and he gave up all that mage shit from his handler. — Anonymous Almiraj was a mage?? Despite the panic, the changes didn't stop. The floating island kept reshaping until it formed a tower.
Stones floated in front of the tower, forming an eerie pattern.
Everyone fell silent at the majestic sight.
The academy students at the top were no exception.
"What the hell is going on...?"
"...The sky?"
Rius shook his head as he stood, while Lars muttered in disbelief.
The view outside the Grand Archmage's Rest was that dreamlike—and terrifying.
"You lot."
Alfred's clear voice rang out.
The students snapped to attention. Especially Asita, who had zoned out after seeing Dre fall.
"Don't move."
"......"
Not just Alfred—Gizaire looked tense too.
Even they, who could suppress Veil without special privileges, were on edge.
The students glanced around and understood why.
The figure before them... Was "figure" even the right word?
A 3-meter-tall black enigma of a monster.
Shouldn't something like that be called a monster?
Its presence was overwhelmingly dominant.
Enough to make two Igrela-level mages tense up.
"...I heard Hero Kaiz caught you."
No answer.
This time, Alfred asked.
"Where's the headmaster?"
[Somewhere on this island.] Almiraj finally answered in a voice blending male and female tones—monstrous.
As the students flinched instinctively, blue flames ignited in Almiraj's empty eye sockets.
"I thought you were one who kept to the rules, for an Outsider... Do you have what it takes to clean this up?"
Almiraj didn't answer again.
Just raised a finger.
"!"
Boom!!
Invisible force swept up Veil, Alfred, Gizaire, and the students, hurling them.
They tried resisting with mana, but the overwhelming power dragged everyone except the two instructors away helplessly.
The students smashed through the walls of the precious Grand Archmage's Rest and were tossed outside.
"Barrier?"
Despite the rough throw, it didn't hurt at all.
Some transparent force had enveloped them.
Judging by the instructors' expressions, it was Almiraj's doing, not theirs.
But Alfred scowled in displeasure.
"Touching students in front of me. You wanna die?"
Then he sensed a presence and turned.
Even the great Alfred was speechless.
Floating stones.
Big and small, but thousands of floating rocks drifted about, with people riding atop them.
Floating island residents.
Terror-stricken, they couldn't even whisper.
At Almiraj's gesture, they rose higher.
Suddenly, screams echoed from afar.
"Uwaaaah..."
"Fuck...!"
Curses.
Harsh voices grew closer.
A group streamed toward the summit like a Milky Way—Murderers.
At Almiraj's gesture, a magic circle glowed in the air. Floating island fragments gathered, forming a vast platform.
The Murderer horde rained down like hail onto the baseball-field-sized floating rock.
Splat! Thud!
"Argh!"
"Kak!"
Boom, boom.
Murderers slammed into the ground like cannonballs.
Looked fatal, but their superhuman bodies shrugged it off.
Alfred couldn't fathom the intent.
Wielding such power meant control over the floating island's core.
Manipulating the core and ancient spells was near-impossible without mage expertise.
Yet Almiraj had reassembled it into a tower and now platforms, minimizing damage to sections.
All while keeping villagers safely airborne separately...
'Even Igrela-level mages or this nation couldn't do it easily.'
Almiraj had.
Too easily, for a mage.
Meant Almiraj had special knowledge beyond brute strength.
'What scheme does such a brilliant bastard have?'
Why reshape the island? Why drag these trash here?
If Murderers, the vast Prynar mana could crush them like bugs.
Why bring them up here?
"Kuh..."
Unlike the instructors and students, Veil—tossed without a barrier—gnashed his teeth and rose, glaring murderously at Almiraj.
"...Hey. You hear that?"
Seemed like mutter to himself, but Alfred and Gizaire sensed mana and eavesdropped with scrying spells.
[Huh? Hey, what the fuck is all this...] "Plan C."
[What?] "You debt-collecting bastards. This'll wipe the slate clean in one go, so hurry up and start!"
[O-okay!!] His contacts were top-tier Outsiders. Murderers, naturally.
Five of them. The ones Veil had set aside—they'd resisted Almiraj's massive mana surge with their privileges, barely surviving.
Almiraj sensed them too and spread a grotesquely huge hand the size of its torso.
Magic circle appeared; darkness enveloped it, shattering the spell.
Veil flipped it off and stuck out his tongue.
"Don't know your game, but let's see you handle what's getting summoned now!"
Far off, in the still-village-shaped area, the Murderers gripped the crystal orbs Veil gave them.
That was...
"Detonator switch, right? Just smash it."
"Enough to blow the floating island..."
The uneasy faces twisted into smirks.
Their handler gods were slaughter-loving ones, unlike normal Outsiders' handlers.
This act would net huge rewards.
Excited by rewards, the Murderers smashed their orbs.
Crash!
"......?"
"Nothing happened?"
The words barely left when a gale whipped up.
Kwaaaak!
"Uwa?!"
"What the fu... Uwaaaak!!"
Their bodies were sucked in.
Ominous black smoke billowed from the shattered orbs...
A rare sight even for Murderers.
Demon King descent.
But.
It required sacrifices.
"...Veil! That fucker tricked us!"
"C-can't die like this!"
"Save us!! Please!!"
Resistance futile; they shattered like glass shards, absorbed into the smoke.
Kriaaaak... The echoing screams faded.
Kuuaaaak!!
The smoke expanded.
Endlessly expanding, it took form.
The instructors grimaced at the ominous power.
Something was being summoned...
"Kekekeke!! Exciting, huh Almiraj? Wonder what'll come out!"
[Should be entertaining.] Almiraj replied flatly, eyeing Veil's hardened face.
That instant, figures landed around him.
"...Instructors!!"
Mayal's face lit up.
As she said—instructors.
Witch Emily, scholar Blurt, and a priest named Mullin clutching a liquor bottle from who-knows-where.
They glared coldly at Almiraj.
And the Murderers behind...
"Trash first? Or the big fish?"
"Restoring the island comes first. Hey, Almiraj. Where's the headmaster?"
Emily's words to the Murderers made the dazed ones freak out.
"This bitch! Trash?! Talking about us?!"
"Wanna die, cunt? We can use our privileges now?!"
'Shut the fuck up, idiots!'
Veil knew.
The academy instructors... were way beyond imagination.
Not like that Yapuno kid among the students.
Even one of those five—no, one alone—could crush all Murderers except him.
He was confident against one, but multiple? No chance.
Especially Alfred.
His darkness magic outclassed Veil's darkness privilege. Similar, but superior.
'Damn. Need to bail now, but one gesture from that Almiraj fuck and I'll get dragged back...'
Almiraj held all floating island authority now.
And the vast Prynar mana.
Just crushing them with that would kill all Murderers, including him.
They'd already lost.
Kuaaa!
'Right as I think it, fuck!'
But his pounding heart calmed soon.
The Prynar didn't crush the Murderers.
It crushed the instructors.
"...!"
"Kuh...!"
Kugugu.
Crushing gravity pinned the instructors immobile.
Even monster-like instructors struggled against it.
Gizaire's aged body even buckled to his knees.
Seeing that... the Murderers grinned.
"Now..."
"We can kill them."
G greed in their eyes.
Killing them would bring massive rewards...
Kwang!
"Gak!!"
In the center of the baseball-sized floating rock, one Murderer got flattened.
Almiraj stood atop the instantly KO'd, eyes-rolled-back bastard.
[Greed even now?] Its majesty awed them momentarily, but the Murderers glanced around and snickered.
"Hey hey, Almiraj. You cocky fuck?"
"Can't see our numbers?"
"Plus you lifted our privileges? Puhahaha!"
"Or you gonna pull the Prynar off those instructors and use it on us?"
Veil gnashed at their words, glaring.
'Shut up, fuckers!'
If Almiraj actually withdrew Prynar from instructors, it'd be a three-way fight—and Murderers would die first.
But...
Almiraj tilted its skull head and said,
[Why bother?] "......"
"......"
Even arrogant Veil was speechless.
The Murderers, realizing the contempt beyond provocation, opened their mouths to scream—
Shwak.
Almiraj vanished.
Crack. Crunch.
Those about to shout had necks snapped.
Instantly subdued, they crumpled, moaning in agony.
The Murderers who'd instinctively backed up had bloodshot eyes.
"Th-this!"
"Kill it! Kill!"
"That Almiraj! Killing it gives huge points... Krack!"
Shuk. Shuk.
Teleport-like high-speed movement.
Each vanish left a scream and a collapse.
Veil, seeing the still-clueless idiots panicking, used his amplification skill and bellowed.
"That rabbit fucker's challenging us 120-to-1! He's totally looking down on us! Kill it, you worms!!"
Finally, Murderers activated privileges and charged.
Not actually 120.
Excluding those crippled from prior fights with island forces, under 100.
Still.
Still a hundred.
"No way we lose, right?"
El muttered blankly.
Makes sense—she'd seen the world's strongest man, Dre, struggle a bit against ten Murderers.
And Veil wasn't there then.
Yet...
Almiraj didn't seem like it'd lose.
Even against that many elites, the monster rabbit exuded unbeatable might.
Crack! Snap! Crack!
"Kuhk!"
"Urryap!"
Lightning, fire, ice, swords, arrows, spears flew wildly.
Some hit true, but even those projectiles were casually swatted away by massive arms.
"Uwaaaah!"
Veil fired a potent darkness orb.
Almiraj glanced and charged.
The orb chased relentlessly.
While swallowing innocent Murderers.
"Kraaak!"
"Veil you fucking bastard!"
"Get this off me, idiot!!"
Murderers scattered; only then did Almiraj raise its arm.
Black arm spun like a black hole, blocking Veil's orb.
Veil gaped in shock.
'Wh-what's that so tough?'
That orb could level the area if lucky.
Each speck of darkness shredded flesh on contact.
And it blocked with one arm?
Almiraj deflected it—straight back at Veil.
"Eek!"
While Veil spewed darkness to block and absorb his own attack, Almiraj snapped seven more necks.
Already, half remained.
"......"
"......"
Speechless Murderers.
One hit bypassed HP, killing or disabling.
No attacks landed.
Speed invisible.
No mercy in strikes.
Was that really another player?
Same word in all minds.
Calamity.
Reaper.
...Outsider Killer.
"Uwaaaaa!"
"Run! Run away!"
"Fuck, shouldn't have come he... Ack!"
Most Murderers fled, preferring the fall—but the baseball-sized rock was walled by transparent barrier.
"This shit... Kuhk!"
Those trying to break it had necks snapped without fail.
"S-save me! Please! I was wrong!"
"Those guys cursed! I didn't... Kraak!"
"You crazy fucks! Fight! Fight!!"
Veil barely blocked and absorbed his ricocheted orb, then roared—but morale was long gone.
Three minutes later.
Of a hundred Murderers, only Veil moved.
Crack.
Almiraj cracked its own neck, then opened its clenched fist toward the sky before lowering it.
Splatter!
Sparks flew as countless black spears summoned, skewering fallen Murderers like kebabs.
"Kreeeuk!"
"It hurts! Hurts!!"
"Mercy! Aak!"
"Kiaaak!"
"Gaaak!"
"Kuhhhh...!"
Under the blue moon, Veil watched them wriggle, necks twisted backward on spits.
This... was hell?
"...Fuck that shit!"
Kwaaaa!
Vast darkness erupted from Veil, blotting the blue moon and darkening the sky.
Students and instructors tensed at the top-tier Outsider's weather-altering power.
"Not even using privilege seal skill, huh? Figures those scrubs are weak, right?"
Almiraj didn't reply, slowly—but accelerating—closing distance on Veil.
"But I'm different. If you don't use privileges against me... you'll die—"
Vanished from sight.
Nape prickled.
A whisper from behind.
[Think you're any different from them?] "Kuh...!"
Kwang!
Defended with darkness, yet it scattered—arm throbbed.
And... Veil laughed.
'Manageable!'
Invisible speed was the issue, but this was doable.
Invisible or not, auto-dark defense protected him.
Its attacks weren't effective!
'Good. Surround it...'
Just limit movement with vast darkness, and victory...
.....
"Huh?"
Almiraj strode freely through Veil's darkness.
More precisely, darkness parted where it passed, forming a path.
"Kuh!"
Veil realized spreading darkness wide was a mistake, condensed it.
Backpedaled at high speed, firing darkness bullets to intercept—but none hit.
"Even so, if this keeps up, my wi—"
Whoosh.
"Huh."
Suddenly gone—then skull face right in front.
Those... sharp teeth.
Imagination of flesh peeling at touch brought terror.
"Uuuuu!"
Fearful cry, unleashed all power into a condensed spear... piercing Almiraj's arm.
Veil's relieved smirk was short-lived.
Crunk.
"Gak!"
Right arm snapped backward.
Left twisted next.
Screaming in pain, spear dispersed; wound on Almiraj's arm regenerated smoothly.
[Top Outsider #7. Veil.] "Auh... Aak..."
[Weak.] Almiraj backhanded tear-streaming Veil's occiput.
Kwang!
Smashed head-first into ground twice, thrice more with pot-lid-sized fists, then Almiraj waved hand skyward.
Three black spears pierced Veil, skewering him.
"Kuhhhuk..."
Gasping moans as eyes rolled back.
Hoooo...
Murderers' groans.
Otherwise, dead silent.
This wasn't a fight.
Except for Veil's scrap—it was slaughter.
No one left to stop it here.
Up in the sky.
Something shot down from the gawking civilians.
Kwang!
Something assaulted Almiraj.
Craaaack!
Baseball-field rock split in two, drifting apart.
Almiraj hopped back; its flaming eyes narrowed slightly.
Someone landed where Almiraj stood, cleaving the sky.
Whoosh!
Sword pressure cleared dust; the arrival was...
[Continental Sword.] "Yeah. Me."
He glanced fiercely at skewered Veil and Murderers.
"What's your goal, Almiraj?"
No answer.
"Thought I was the target... but this is some next-level bullshit."
Still no reply.
Continental Sword bellowed.
"What's the fucking goal!!"
[Sacrifice.] "...What?"
[Different from you lot.] Different?
About to ask when—
Kuuuung...
Ground rumbled.
And far off, terrifyingly potent... demonic energy surged.
"Kee, kekik..."
Skewered Veil laughed.
"1st Purgatory's Demon King... Enjoy the show..."
Huge.
Visible from here—like a fairy-tale giant.
Maybe 1/10th the floating island.
Unimaginable behemoth roared thunderously.
[Rooooaaaarrrrr...!!] Continental Sword stared blankly, then clutched his forehead.
"...Gonna lose my mind."
The rabbit was beyond imagination.
But 1st Purgatory Demon King?
Isn't that worse than Almiraj?
[Continental Sword.] "Huh?!"
Turning, Almiraj dropped both arms. Those grotesquely long arms reaching the ground.
As he eyed them sidelong, it spoke.
[Leave your clan.] "...What?"
[Then I won't kill you.] "......"
No explanation—just bullshit? And what, sparing me like charity?
Scoffed—then Almiraj added,
[Your affiliation's already drifted far from your nature, no?] "...Fuck."
Talking like it knew everything.
Continental Sword drew his sword.
Yeah. Simple.
Subdue this thing, instructors free, island restores.
Beat Almiraj.
That's it.
Simple, right?
Almiraj... groaned, readying for battle.
Then flinched briefly.
...Below. Something there.
Two Demon Kings plus two more powerful presences each.
Something else?
Almiraj pondered what it'd missed.
Hero later. New threat Yedre dropped to ground.
What's the last one?
[......] Error.
Simple hunch. Ignored it, focusing on today's strongest foe.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Ha, fuck."
What the hell is that?
Be cold to myself. Think what to do now... Rushed here, and bam—giant monster.
Kaiz too.
Light flashes, finger-point crumbles arm like high-rise.
Wow, reincarnators really are cheats.
Yeah, leave that beast to Kaiz and...
But too huge—casual arm swing kicks up typhoon winds, crumbling surroundings.
Awkward to move carelessly.
Debris raining, winds turning it to bullet storm.
Obstructing passage.
But damn impressive.
If not urgent, I'd gawk like at a fairy tale.
Endless mountain-like golem.
Moving casually could wipe a city—insane.
Then.
New mighty presence here.
Another? Looked up—
Kuaaaaang!
Nearby buildings exploded.
What now?
Gripped sword tensely—whiny voice.
"I hate this nowwww!! How long must this body waitttt!!"
"......"
"You bastard!!!! Said you'd come soon, but almost a week passed!!! I'll kill you!!!!"
...Ah.
Right.
Felt like I forgot something—not dangerous, so ignored!
Forgot. Lady Prostia!
Said see you tomorrow a week ago—left her hanging.
Stayed in hotel till now...
...Kinda sorry.
"...Huh?! Y-you! Finally here!!"
Spotting me, Prostia growled closer.
Still pretty, noble... and very welcome.
"But I won't forgive!! Proper punishment... Huh?"
Rushed, grabbed her hand—she blinked confused.
Brightly to her:
"Lady Prostia!"
"Uh, y-yes? What?"
Pointed at rock behemoth.
"Please smash that fucker!"