Chapter 185
Chapter 185
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Inversion of Law (6)
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Gadrak found the place he was looking for not far away.
It was a place where the valley had subsided, creating a fissure. The crack was just wide enough for one person to squeeze through, and a single ray of light streamed down along it.
“Look here.”
Gadrak said, pointing to the center of the gleam. Only in that spot was the light uniquely clustered together. It was fluffy like a snowflake, and upon closer inspection, you could see particles of light swirling within.
Shirone peered at it, scratching his head. How could he explain this? Given the nature of light, it was impossible for particles to clump together naturally.
Of course, the Norr thought no differently.
As if to emphasize the peculiar phenomenon, Gadrak cupped the light particles with both hands and spoke.
“You see how the light gathers only here?”
“Yes. But how is that possible?”
“It's essence. The essence of light has settled in this place.”
“So… you're saying this essence is gathering the light?”
“No. The essence settled here because light lingered for a very long time. Essence can inhabit anything. It can settle in the wind, in water, even in a thought. Provided, of course, that thought remains unchanged for an eternity.”
Shirone wondered if it was a concept similar to magic crystals.
It was a phenomenon where, if a certain property stagnated for a very long time, the concept behind it would materialize.
“When an essence lingers in one place long enough, it becomes a spirit. A spirit is… an essence with agency. What's more, they can form contracts with humans. If you contract with a light spirit, you can draw upon the power of light anytime, anywhere. But finding one is like plucking a star from the sky.”
Shirone pointed to the essence and said.
“Then this light will also become a spirit someday?”
“Haha, I suppose so. Maybe in about a thousand years? As long as it doesn't dissipate before then.”
A thousand years. A period far longer than a human lifetime. The time it took for a property to become an essence was likely just as long. He now understood why finding a spirit was like plucking a star from the sky.
“Anyway, we can get to the Norr's sanctuary through here. Everyone, gather 'round.”
“The space is tight. Shouldn't some people cross over to the other side?”
“It's fine. Come to think of it, the magic of the land-dwellers doesn't have a wide radius. As long as we have the essence of light, we can expand the scale as much as we want. Like this.”
Gadrak clenched the clump of light. His fist turned golden, and the light crept up to his shoulder.
It looked as if the light would soon spread over his entire body.
The power of nature is infinite, so a human borrowing that power can expand its scale indefinitely.
However, it seemed to be taking quite some time.
When the light still hadn't passed his shoulder after a while, a flicker of doubt crossed Gadrak's eyes.
“Strange. Why is it taking so long? Usually, five minutes is enough.”
“Master, could the light essence have weakened?”
“Impossible. I did this without any problems just three days ago. For the energy of an essence to change, it takes at least several hundred years. Unless some other factor is weakening it.”
“But that can't be, right? Only one law exists here. That's why we use it as a way station.”
From Clove's words, Gadrak realized. It might be a delusion, but searching for other factors while ignoring the only possible answer was an even greater delusion.
“Could it be…! But why?”
The essence of light began to waver. Then the ground, and finally the entire valley, shook as if in an earthquake.
“What's happening? What's wrong?”
“Get out of here, now! It's the Vortex Snake! The essence is being disrupted!”
If the cliffs collapsed, they would be crushed to death, so Shirone's group hastily scrambled out of the fissure.
Looking from the outside, the entire surrounding area was shaking. A tremor of this magnitude meant that whatever it was, it had to be close.
But looking around, they couldn't see anything that resembled a snake.
“Dammit! Where is it? Where is it coming from?”
Rian drew his greatsword and stood protectively in front of Shirone.
The mages also formed up and entered a combat stance.
Tess focused her senses, scanning the area. The tremor on the left is different from the tremor on the right. It's rounding the corner on the right.
As the ground shook so hard it was difficult to stay balanced, Tess finally sensed something was wrong. Her senses and reality weren't matching up. With a tremor this intense, it should have already appeared before their eyes.
“Th-there it is!”
Shirone pointed with a look of astonishment.
On a rock three meters away, a deceptively small, white creature was crouched on all fours.
No, could this even be called a living creature?
It had no eyes, no nose, no mouth. Its form resembled a salamander, but its surface was smooth as if carved from jade.
He had never seen such a purely white creature in his entire life.
“What? Is that the Vortex Snake?”
“Not that one!”
At Gadrak's shout, Shirone reflexively took a step back. His field of view opened up, and he could finally see it.
The shadow of the Vortex Snake was cast over the valley. Unbelievably, the shadow was enormous enough to cover the entire cliff face.
Shirone turned his gaze back to the rock. The body of the salamander-like creature was glowing intensely.
It was enlarging its shadow with the light from its body.
By the time he realized this, the shadow had already leaped from the cliff, its massive jaws tearing open as it flew toward them.
A curtain of darkness blocked their vision. Its size was so beyond common sense that they didn't even register they were being attacked.
The moment Shirone's group was trapped in pitch-black darkness, Gadrak, watching from the fissure, shouted.
“Danger!”
Shirone's Light Burst erupted.
The instant the light spread, everyone realized that sharp shadow claws had come right up to their faces.
A moment later, and their flesh would have been torn away.
Kiiiaaaaaaa!
Torn apart by the Light Burst, the Vortex Snake shrieked.
It was probably the same mechanism as Harvest. A creature without a mouth couldn't possibly have vocal organs.
When they came to their senses, they saw the Vortex Snake's shadow receding like a storm cloud.
It was fortunate they had blocked the first attack.
Most prey lost their lives in the Vortex Snake's first attack. This was because it did something while trapping them in darkness, making it impossible to even see the attack coming.
Amy wiped away a cold sweat and asked.
“What in the world is that? Is it a living thing, or not? Is that salamander-like thing controlling it?”
Gadrak emerged from the fissure and said.
“No, the true form of the Vortex Snake is the shadow. It has no physical body. The thing on the rock is merely an 'avatar' created by the Vortex Snake's shadow.”
“How is that possible? A shadow can't exist without a body to cast it!”
“I don't know either. We call this the 'Inversion of Law.' It's an extradimensional species. I don't know where it came from, but it's definitely not from any world we can imagine.”
The Vortex Snake did not approach readily. None of the humans it had killed before could emit light, so it was natural for it to be wary.
As the avatar's body glowed, the shadow grew even larger. It was similar to a wild animal displaying its prowess before an enemy.
From this, Shirone realized something. Perhaps this place wouldn't be his grave after all.
“It seems like a wild animal. In its original world, maybe it was a common predator? Like a cat or a mouse. If it were an apex predator, it wouldn't react so defensively.”
“A cat? A mouse? Are you joking right now?”
Kanya voiced what everyone else was thinking. But besides Shirone, there was one other person who had realized this.
It was Canis.
He was watching the Vortex Snake's every move with eyes full of wonder.
‘So it really exists… a world where darkness rules over light.’
The Inversion of Law. The contents of Arcane's note were true.
“Shirone is right. If it's truly a world where the rules are reversed, then all creatures must exist as shadows. In that case, the Vortex Snake probably wasn't particularly strong there. Of course, the situation is different here.”
Gadrak checked the fissure in the valley.
As expected, the Vortex Snake's law had been activated, weakening the essence of light.
Escape was impossible in this state.
But it wasn't time to give up. Shirone's wave of light had been powerful enough to make the Vortex Snake retreat.
“Hey, we're past the initial crisis, but stay alert. Its weakness is light. That's why it doesn't move during the day. I don't know why the law has been distorted, but if we use light magic, we have a chance.”
Shirone recalled his battle with Harvest. What he had learned from that fight was that impact didn't matter to darkness. The key was the total amount of energy.
Shirone cast Photon Cannon, and eight photons materialized in irregular positions to his left and right.
All eight flashes of light slammed into the Vortex Snake. A terrible scream erupted.
Amy unleashed a barrage of Fireballs. Flames also contained light, so it should be effective.
The Vortex Snake's shadow caught fire.
But it was no more impactful than an ant crawling on an elephant and pinching its skin. The shadow was so colossal it felt like cheating.
Canis couldn't even attempt his magic. He tried to attack with the authority of darkness, but his power was only being absorbed.
Between those of the same attribute, victory is decided by raw power.
If he couldn't control a darkness greater than the Vortex Snake's, he would be the one to be devoured.
Shirone broke away from his friends' group. If its shroud enveloped them again, things could get truly dangerous.
True to its name, the Vortex Snake moved by rotating widely through space. When he slammed a Photon Cannon into its side, it writhed in pain and then gave chase to Shirone.
The Vortex Snake swerved sharply, and its massive tail swung toward Amy's group.
Clove grabbed his head and screamed.
“Aaaah! It's coming!”
Amy deployed a Fire Mist. The fiery smoke protected everyone, but it wasn't enough to burn the tail.
The moment the tail was about to sweep the group away like a broom, Amy cast a Fire Wall as well.
The tail caught fire, but its trajectory remained unchanged.
Amy bit her lip and increased her firepower. She was determined to hold her ground, even if it meant dying.
The tail, which had been flying toward Amy's torso, suddenly veered away and grazed past her face. Unable to endure the pain of the fire, the Vortex Snake had pulled back.
“Shirone!”
Amy shouted without even a moment to catch her breath.
The Vortex Snake opened its jaws and swallowed Shirone whole. Simultaneously, a Light Burst exploded, blowing the snake's face apart.
A rapid-fire barrage of Photon Cannons erupted.
Amy calculated it had to be at least two hundred shots per minute. For Shirone, who had set the academy's top record in the speed gun test, such a number was entirely possible.
The rate of fire was getting even faster. Then, it became a straight beam of light that pushed the shadow all the way to the opposite wall.
He had removed the mass from the photons.
With zero impact force, it couldn't tear the shadow apart, but the beam of light slowly ate away at its body.
“What in the world is that magic? No way! That shouldn't be possible!”
It was a good thing their side was winning, but Clove couldn't accept the reality unfolding before his eyes.
Kanya and Lena were just as bewildered.
Unlike the Meca, the Norr could wield great power even alone. But they had never seen anything like this, not even in heaven.
The sight of him fighting alone against the Vortex Snake that everyone feared was simply wondrous.
Above all, he was winning. Watching the Vortex Snake struggle, plastered against the wall, sent a thrill through them.
Shirone's beam of light began to turn red.
From Photon Cannon to photon emission, and by raising the energy level even further, it compressed into a single-wavelength laser.
The Vortex Snake tried to restore its shadowy domain and push back the laser, but even that was scattered by a chain of explosions.
Kiiiaaaaaaa!
It was a ferocious roar.
The Vortex Snake was afraid.
In its original world, it had been a bottom-tier predator. Then, a full ten thousand years ago, it had passed through a strange tunnel and arrived in heaven.
Here, with no natural enemies, evolution was impossible, and it had simply lived in comfort.
But now, that comfort was about to be shattered. By a mere human, the likes of which it had torn apart for sport until now.