Chapter 342
Chapter 342
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 342
Chapter Title: The Protagonist of Life (2)
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Talent, or whatever—it was all just an excuse from the start.
Their minds were so consumed by magic from the very beginning that there was no room for things like success or fame.
They wanted to win. They didn't want to lose the competition. And in the end, they wanted to become the greatest mages.
Dante’s eyes lit up as he watched Inferno. It was a formidable spell, one he hadn't seen during the graduation exam.
‘She used self-image memory to lower the entropy. With Red Eyes, it would be close to zero percent. That should work.’
“Dante, Dante.”
Lilia, kneeling on the ground, called out to Dante behind her in a trembling voice.
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
“Can we… really do this? Can we succeed?”
“Why are you asking me?”
Lilia turned her head and looked up at Dante. Seeing her tearful face, it was clear she was in significant emotional turmoil.
“You always make the most certain choices! So tell me! If you say it, I think I’ll feel relieved.”
Dante understood how she felt. In battle, a mage’s composure was as crucial as a swordsman’s conviction. Fear stemmed not from crisis but from uncertainty. When a situation could be analyzed objectively, comrades could find the courage to fight.
“I’m not optimistic. But I’m not pessimistic either.”
It was, quite literally, two sides of the same coin. It was also the minimum probability a mage needed to even attempt something.
“The probability of Shirone pushing through is 50 percent. The probability of my defensive magic circle holding is also 50 percent. And the probability of Amy’s magic working on the enemy is 50 percent. If you add up those three cases, you’ll see where we stand, right?”
Mumbling Dante’s words, Lilia’s eyes widened in realization as she lifted her head.
“Th-then 150 percent?”
Dante gave a bitter smile.
“…Don’t become a mage.”
Distance remaining to the Bakyojin installation point: 220 meters.
Shirone relentlessly fired his Photon Cannon in a trance. The flashes of light shooting past the back of his hands were blinding. The magic amplifiers embedded in both hands glowed red-hot.
“Kraaaaaaaaah!”
The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara’s back bent as it was pushed toward the ground.
Distance remaining: 200 meters.
Watching the colossal Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara, which looked ready to fall at any moment, Zokre’s legs trembled.
‘So that’s Shirone…’
The one who had overwhelmed Dante, the kingdom’s greatest defender, with sheer firepower.
He had once thought it was all just at a student’s level. He had to, or he wouldn’t have been able to bear his own sense of inadequacy.
But seeing the Photon Cannon with his own eyes, he realized it was a power that even most professionals couldn't wield.
They might not be superior to professionals in every aspect, but in at least one area, they had already reached a professional level.
Such were the students of the five great academies.
Distance remaining: 170 meters.
“It’s in range! I’m creating the secondary barrier!”
Dante trapped the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara in a hexahedral mansion. Since the information was concentrated only on the inner faces of the magic circle, attacks from the outside had no effect. In contrast, the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara, now confined within the narrow walls, struggled violently.
“Grrrrrrr!”
Dante’s face contorted. He was dragging the mansion containing the beast to the ground, but its resistance was fiercer than expected. The power of the fireballs spreading in all directions was enough to destroy his defensive magic circle, constructed for maximum durability, within thirty seconds.
Distance remaining: 120 meters.
With veins popping on his forehead, Dante shouted.
“Amy! Now!”
“Got it!”
Amy leaped up, and as she swung her arms, the massive Inferno left its master’s hands and flew into the distance. The fireball, slowly traversing the sky, followed the coordinates of the self-image memory and struck the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara without error.
“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
As the creature’s body burst into flames, Dante felt the pressure on him ease slightly. Fire-based magic had the advantage over Photon Cannon in that it could deliver continuous damage.
Distance remaining: 40 meters.
Lilia shook her head and cried out.
“It's still not enough! We can't trap it in the Bakyojin like this!”
The furiously burning Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara thrashed inside the mansion, clawing at the magic circle and letting out monstrous screams. Finally, the magic circle reached its durability limit and shattered into pieces like glass.
Lilia’s face was awash with despair.
“It’s over. The demigod is going to get out into the world.”
“No, it’s not over.”
Lilia’s gaze lifted to the sky. Shirone, gathering brilliant light in both hands, was looking down on the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara from above. As the light in his hands grew, it was as if another sun had appeared in the sky.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaah!”
Shirone fired the Photon Cannon with all his might. A massive flash of light one meter in diameter slammed into the side of the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara.
Distance remaining: 30 meters.
“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara flailed its arms in a desperate struggle. But a mass it couldn't withstand even with its own laws continued to press in.
Distance remaining: 20 meters.
“Now! Begin!”
Lilia clasped her hands and prayed.
May evil be vanquished. May a world come where everyone can live happily. If she could achieve a paradise of good, free from hunger, murder, and adultery, she wouldn’t mind if her body was torn into a thousand, ten thousand pieces. She could even smile if she earned the hatred of demons and was cast into hell to suffer for eternity. She would become fertilizer for the world. If everyone could embrace the will of good, she would gladly enter the filthiest places and throw herself into the muck.
Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall. A will that transcended mortal limits drew upon the energy of the totems embedded in the ancient castle ruins. As the Geum-majin disappeared, a ten-meter-diameter Bakyojin revealed its form.
“By my name, Lilia, I command you! Evil, be laid to rest here!”
Lilia’s pupils blazed with golden light. Her flowing tears instantly evaporated, and a pillar of light created by her law pierced the heavens.
“Kraaaaaaaaah!”
As the flash of the Photon Cannon pushed it back, the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara let out a final scream, its dozens of hands flailing.
Distance remaining: 10 meters.
“Ughaaaaaaaaah!”
Shirone felt the output of his Photon Cannon waning. But through mental transcendence, he boosted its power once more, and the amplified flash of light completely engulfed the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara.
Distance remaining.
0 meters.
As the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara entered the Bakyojin’s domain, Lilia focused all her will into one point.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The strongest demon-sealing art of the Arkeanis Shrine.
Okwang-bakyojin.
Two arms made of light twisted upward like braids, seizing the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara and dragging it to the ground.
“Kraaah! Kraa! Kraaaaaaaaah!”
The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara fought back with all its might. There was no reason for a law of evil to exist in a space filled with the will of good. The fact that it could resist at all was clear proof that it was a demigod.
‘But it’s over now! Just a little, a little more…!’
Just as Lilia thought it was finished, she heard footsteps. Vivian ran past her, heading for the Okwang-bakyojin.
“Ice Queen!”
Dante’s face twisted.
“That fool!”
Lilia shouted, her eyes wide with shock.
“You can’t go near it! You’ll be dragged in!”
Bakyojin was different from Geum-majin.
Because it concentrated the will of good into a narrow area, any human even slightly inclined toward evil would be pulled into the abyss.
Vivian heard Lilia’s voice clearly. But she did not stop running.
“This is the end. This is the final act of my play.”
Hers was a life no one had ever paid attention to. But the Ice Queen had given her hope that she could be the protagonist. Even if her true form was a monster, even if the Queen’s kindness and consideration stemmed from ignorance, for Vivian, that was her only spotlight.
Vivian’s tears streamed down her cheeks and flew away.
What would happen if she entered the Bakyojin? Perhaps only the silence after the play’s end would stretch on for eternity.
But she wasn’t afraid. She would meet the Ice Queen. She would hold her hand and bow to the audience. She would shout to the world, thanking them for watching a wonderful performance.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaah!”
The moment her vision blurred with tears, Vivian kicked off the ground and threw herself toward the Okwang-bakyojin.
“Vivian! Come back!”
Zokre cried out, sobbing.
She was a sensitive child. Perhaps her heart had broken in the face of a situation she couldn't handle.
But it couldn't end like this.
It was all his fault.
If only he hadn’t gotten drunk and entered the Ice Queen’s true nature, or if he hadn't been so preoccupied with Amy, she wouldn't have made such an extreme choice.
“Viviaaaaaaaaan!”
Zokre’s desperate cry couldn’t reach Vivian. What stopped her was Amy. Leaping forward, Amy wrapped her arms around Vivian, and they fell just shy of the sealing circle by a hair’s breadth. At the same time, the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara plunged into the Okwang-bakyojin as if being buried. The gruesome sound of hundreds of claws scraping against the earth filled the air.
“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
The raw power that tore at the ground sent shivers down the spines of the onlookers. But even that formidable strength could not overcome the laws of the Okwang-bakyojin.
It was the power of a mysterious and profound law.
Leaving behind only thousands of claw marks, the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara sank into the abyss of the law.
Vivian, who had been watching with tears in her eyes, turned to Amy and shouted.
“Let go! I said, let go of me! I’m going in too!”
“Are you crazy?! You’ll die if you go in there!”
“Since when did you care about me? Do you know how I feel? You, who’s lived your whole life like a protagonist, do you have any idea how miserable I feel?”
“So you’re going to die? Because you’re miserable?”
“No, I’m going to torment you to the very end! I’ll make sure you all never succeed! For this one moment, I am the protagonist!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, you idiot! What kind of protagonist gives up on life so easily!”
Amy’s voice pierced Vivian’s eardrums.
“Fighting is hard for everyone! But you have to fight to the end to become the protagonist! If you give up, if you give up…!”
Choking up as she spoke, Amy lowered her head. She, too, was someone who wanted to be the protagonist more than anyone.
“The moment you do, you become nothing.”
The feeling of being cast out of the world’s spotlight.
While everyone else was looking only at the successful candidates, Amy had been crying alone in her room.
No one had looked at her.
But now, she thought she understood.
You still had to fight.
Even if a bad ending was all that awaited, the role of the protagonist would never be given to someone who didn’t fight to the very end.
Vivian, not understanding why Amy had suddenly gotten so emotional, wore a dazed expression and opened her mouth to say something.
“I…”
Just then, the ground began to vibrate. Vivian turned her head, and then everyone else stared at the Okwang-bakyojin.
As soon as Shirone landed, he shouted.
“It’s not over yet!”
Dozens of hands shot up from the Okwang-bakyojin. They rose vertically before bending at once, pushing against the ground, and the face of the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara emerged once more.
“I! Am the ruler of the world!”
The faces of Shirone and his companions turned pale. It hadn't yet completely overcome the power of the Okwang-bakyojin, but there was no telling what would happen over time.
“You caught a Law-Wielder? You were lucky.”
Shirone turned his head in surprise.
A woman with curly blonde hair, dark skin, and a form-fitting suit stood there.
It was Ahoya Kang-nan, the Chief Secretary of the Magic Association.
“Who are you?”
Walking toward the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara, Kang-nan took off her high heels. As she passed Shirone and the others, she said.
“Stand back. You might get hurt.”
Lilia cried out.
“Wait! You can’t just go in there! If you can’t handle the law, you’ll be pulled in by the power of the Bakyojin!”
Kang-nan didn't show the slightest hesitation as she stepped into the Okwang-bakyojin. She didn't know whether she was a person inclined toward good or evil. However, the conviction she had lived by as a Lammuai since the moment of her birth was not so weak as to be shaken by a mere law.
“Kraaaaaah! Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
Like a person drowning at sea, the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara repeatedly clawed at the ground, alternating between rising and sinking.