Chapter 627
Chapter Title: You Die Here
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As the Star Magic, The End, erupted, Silatuna's body began to disintegrate.
Writhing in agony, Silatuna momentarily raised her arm.
The grotesque arm instantly transformed into a massive blade.
Thwack—!
Without hesitation, Silatuna severed a part of her own enormous body.
The End quickly disintegrated the severed portion of Silatuna's body.
Watching this, Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘As expected, I suppose.’
The End is a destructive magic that relentlessly pulverizes any object it directly hits.
Because of this characteristic, it became known as Luna's signature spell.
In most cases, being struck by The End meant unavoidable annihilation.
However, even this absolute magic of destruction has a weakness.
Its destructive power is extremely dependent on the user's mana.
If struck by The End cast by someone with Luna's level of mana, one would be utterly helpless, with no time to react.
But Leo's mana was not on Luna's level.
That was why he couldn't completely annihilate Silatuna.
Silatuna was a Legion Commander.
One who had survived the Age of Calamity and reigned as a terror to the world for thousands of years.
During the Age of Calamity, the Great Heroes had attempted to subjugate all the Legion Commanders.
They had fought continuous battles against them.
Silatuna was the one who survived that struggle.
From Silatuna's perspective, she had been hit by an unknown magic, but she quickly figured out how to counter it.
‘What in the world is this magic!’
A chilling killing intent emanated from Silatuna's eyes.
It was a spell she had never seen before.
And it wasn't just a new spell.
Its power was utterly horrifying.
‘Was there an elf who could use such magic?’
An unknown dread crept over her.
‘Is it that wench named Luna?’
Silatuna had heard of her.
Luna Rubinence.
A singularity who had recently appeared in a world spiraling toward ruin.
‘An anomaly, just like the Surviving Hero, the Foolish One, and the Divine Blacksmith.’
If not for them, the world would have long since been reduced to ashes by Erebos's flames, walking the path of destruction.
‘Is this truly the final obstacle to the god's will?’
Silatuna's terrifying eyes turned toward the direction the magic had come from.
And she saw it.
A single, beautiful elf flying straight toward her.
Watching the opponent—with fluttering silver-gold eyes filled with a thick killing intent unbecoming of an elf—Silatuna experienced a moment of cognitive dissonance.
It was clearly the one who had just cast the spell.
That mage was charging at her all alone.
Normally, she would have scoffed at such a blatant suicide attempt.
But for some reason, Silatuna felt a rage boiling within her.
[You damn wench! Are you that desperate to die!]
There was no way a mage like Luna could win in a head-on fight against her.
No matter what, the Monster Queen was a Legion Commander of Tartaros.
A despair-inducing being, a confidant of Erebos who had driven the world into terror.
And Luna's current actions were tantamount to looking down on her.
Indeed, the smirk on her opponent's lips was one of clear derision.
As if victory was a foregone conclusion.
The look one gives an insect.
[Fine! If you want to die that badly, I'll tear you to shreds!]
Whoooosh—!
Dark mana began to surge from Silatuna's body.
With it, a curse was quickly completed.
The Curse of Severance, which spatially cut off all external connections.
With this, no one from the outside could help Luna.
Not only that.
It was also now impossible to escape from Silatuna.
She was literally trapped in this world, one-on-one with a Legion Commander.
[I'll make you regret ever fighting me!]
Kugagagagagang—!
Silatuna's formidable killing intent and fighting spirit made the very ground tremble.
Silatuna charged with incredible speed, belying her massive size.
Fwoosh—!
As she raised her arm, immense power shimmered around it.
An attack from a range a mage could never evade.
Unfortunately, the person standing before Silatuna was not Luna, nor was he a mage.
Leo erupted with Aura from his entire body.
Flash—!
Golden Aura gathered at Leo's feet.
[Aura?! A magic swordsman!]
But that wasn't all.
Crackle—!
Pure white lightning crackled in Leo's hand.
It was the Essence of Lightning, containing the power of Albus, the Pegasus King.
As the waves of spiritual power swirled from Leo's fingertips, Silatuna's face contorted in shock.
[Spiritual power, too?!]
Fusing Ar-on's Aura with his own summoning arts, Leo closed the distance to Silatuna at incredible speed.
“It's nice when the target is big.”
With a sneer, Leo drove his fist straight into Silatuna's face.
Flash! Zzzzzzap!
A pure white flash and lightning raged.
The Essence of Lightning, the power of the Pegasus King, was a force that was her natural enemy.
Tsssssss—!
Her head and upper torso blown away, Silatuna's massive body staggered and then fell backward.
Craaaash—!
The ground shook with a deafening roar.
Crossing his arms, Leo looked down at Silatuna.
At that moment.
Crunch— Crackle—! Thwack!
The gruesome sound of twisting bone and flesh filled the air.
Silatuna's body, which had collapsed to the ground, began to squirm and shrink as if being compressed.
Soon, Silatuna, now in human form, looked up at Leo.
Silatuna spat out her words.
“I heard the Surviving Hero was human.”
The frenzied appearance from moments ago was gone.
She was still consumed by rage, but she maintained her composure.
And she was trying to size up the unknown elf standing before her.
All-Class.
As Erebos's confidant, Silatuna knew better than anyone what that meant to him.
“Why? Scared? Worried that Erebos has one more natural enemy?”
At Leo's words, Silatuna's face hardened.
‘How does he know that?’
Staring at an opponent who knew what kind of power she possessed, Silatuna gritted her teeth.
‘He must die, no matter what.’
As Silatuna glared at Leo, she sensed an extraordinary killing intent in his eyes.
At that ferocious killing intent, Silatuna curled her lip.
“It seems you want to kill me. Well, I have devoured countless of your kind. Elves are delicious.”
She said something meant to provoke an elf, a race known for its strong kinship, hoping to agitate her opponent.
“Of course I do. It's human nature to want to get rid of bugs crawling around the house.”
“You damn knife-ear… Do you have a rag for a mouth!”
“I suppose I do.”
But Leo didn't lose his composure.
Instead, watching Leo mock her, Silatuna felt her stomach churn for some unknown reason.
“Your bluffing is useless. The fact that you lot are doomed to perish remains unchanged.”
“Oh, that? Let me make a prophecy.”
Leo smiled brightly.
“You won't be able to destroy the world. In twenty years, Erebos will be subjugated by our hands.”
“Nonsense.”
“Does it sound that way? But it's the truth. The recent subjugation of the Gluttony King was just the beginning.”
“…”
For a moment, Silatuna's face stiffened.
‘How does he know that?’
Silatuna had also heard the news that Jormungand, the Gluttony King, had been subjugated.
But the elves had not.
There were only two survivors from that battle.
The Foolish One and the Surviving Hero.
And she had heard they were on their way here.
Silatuna had attacked today to annihilate the elves before they arrived.
‘The Foolish One and the Surviving Hero shouldn't have any means to deliver the news, though.’
Within the Legion Commanders' sphere of influence, communication magic was rendered useless by the power of curses.
“The world will be saved, Monster Queen.”
“You have a long tongue for someone who's about to die here.”
Whoooosh—
Dark mana began to surge from Silatuna's body.
“Stop bluffing and face reality. Killing a worthless knife-ear like you is simple. A single blow is all it takes. And you talk of saving the world?”
At Silatuna's words, Leo nodded.
“True. A single hit would be instant death.”
Leo's eyes narrowed.
“If I get hit, that is.”
Kwagagagak—!
Silatuna's hand stretched out, flying toward Leo.
Leo dodged her attack.
“Where do you think you're going!”
Silatuna sneered at Leo and prepared her next attack.
From Silatuna's outstretched arm, more arms began to sprout.
Watching the feast of flesh descending upon him like a spider's web, Leo curled his lip into a smirk.
‘I can see it.’
Silatuna's attack patterns.
If one were to compare the pure strength of the current Silatuna with the Silatuna from 5,000 years in the future, the current one would be overwhelmingly stronger.
The Silatuna of 5,000 years later had lost her dominion.
And Leo's current strength was slightly less than that of the Silatuna from 5,000 years later.
Normally, it wouldn't be a fight.
But…
‘Hyper-sense.’
Leo's senses sharpened to their absolute limit.
Combat prowess isn't determined by strength alone.
Even though the current Silatuna was physically stronger than her future self, the Silatuna from 5,000 years later was far more threatening in battle.
The Great Heroes were not the only ones who survived the fierce, 20-year war between those trying to save the world and those trying to destroy it.
Silatuna, too, had been forced to hone her skills to survive that war.
She constantly created unorthodox attacks and endlessly changed the patterns of her dark magic.
To avoid being figured out by the heroes.
To slaughter the heroes.
And ultimately, to destroy the world.
They weren't the only ones who had gained experience and grown stronger.
The Legion Commanders were the same.
‘That is their true terror.’
The fact that they survived.
Compared to the three great Legion Commanders from 5,000 years in the future, the Silatuna before him, despite being the same Monster Queen, was nothing more than a greenhorn who only knew how to use brute force.
‘She's not as cunning or as vicious as her future self.’
Just a brute busy swinging her power around.
‘There's nothing easier to deal with than a greenhorn who overestimates their own strength.’
That was why Leo could see Silatuna's attacks so clearly.
To Leo, who had endlessly pondered how to kill Silatuna, the current version of her posed no great threat.
The same went for this Curse of Severance.
‘The future Silatuna wouldn't have been so reckless as to cast the Curse of Severance.’
From Leo's perspective, the most threatening power Silatuna possessed was the legion she commanded.
A massive force that could act as a wild card.
But Silatuna hadn't brought her legion into this Curse of Severance.
The Silatuna of the past was certain she could tear him apart herself.
A single mistake meant death.
But the time and experience Leo had accumulated would not allow for even the slightest mistake.
‘A legion without Silatuna is only half-strength.’
If he could keep Silatuna trapped here, the elves outside could hold on.
Of course, just holding on wouldn't be enough to secure victory.
Rather, as time passed, only despair would loom.
But Leo knew.
He knew who was coming to the elven forest right now.
‘History won't repeat itself.’
Leo curled his lip into a smirk.
‘Feel the terror of the Monster Queen, he said?’
Remembering Jorua who had sent him here, Leo scoffed.
‘To me, this fight doesn't even count as a trial.’
For Leo, this battle was merely a review of a past fight.
‘Just you wait. After this one, you're next.’
Leo's sword swung, tracing a gray arc.
Thwack—!
Silatuna's head flew into the air.
Silatuna's face was a mask of horror.
‘Why! Why can't I hit him!’
She could feel the elf before her toying with her.
As if he knew her better than she knew herself.
Her opponent saw right through her.
‘Impossible! I am… a Legion Commander! The great Monster Queen Silatuna!’
Dark magic swirled from Silatuna's body.
It was a curse, one of the demons' most powerful abilities.
Fizzle—!
The formula composing the curse was instantly dispelled.
Silatuna's face hardened.
“How…”
“I could see how to break it.”
Leo said coldly as he sliced Silatuna's airborne head in half.
‘My legion! I need my legion!’
For reasons she couldn't fathom, her opponent saw right through her.
Realizing her mistake in recklessly dragging such an opponent into the world of severance, a pale-faced Silatuna tried to dispel it.
But Leo saw through that as well.
Leo's sword destroyed the dispel incantation faster than it could be activated.
Leo said grimly.
“Where do you think you're going?”
Whoooosh—!
At the seething killing intent, Silatuna's face was filled with terror.
“Spare…!”
Thwack—!
Silatuna's plea was cut short in vain.
Looking at Silatuna, Leo declared.
“You die here.”