Chapter 192

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 192

Chapter Title: Mental Image Manifestation

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The sea churned up a massive whirlpool.

It wasn't just a shift in the currents.

The downpour that had been pounding the island with the intent to submerge it began to taper off gradually, and all the water elements that had poured down onto the land until now converged in one spot, creating the phenomenon.

"W-What... what the hell is that...?"

No one was there to answer, but Javier screamed out anyway.

The changes were happening so dramatically.

At the center of it all, Derman—who had absorbed an enormous amount of water elements—now looked utterly different from before.

Up until moments ago, he had at least roughly retained a human form, but not anymore.

"That crazy spirit bastard... swallowed everything."

Derman's corrupted spirit.

But it was markedly different from what Jun remembered seeing in the game.

The reason was probably because it had forcibly awakened in an incomplete state.

A rampage that had come several years earlier than the timeline Jun knew.

Naturally, there had to be repercussions.

'Did it forcibly absorb other powers? That form... it looks familiar. Oh. Poison Snake?'

A skeletal frame, just like when the Poison Snake's corrupted spirit had gone berserk.

But the difference was the translucent flesh clinging haphazardly to that bony body.

Moreover, faces of other humans had formed sporadically across its body.

'Poison Snake. Did it absorb what he left behind? And not just that—it seems to have taken in the raid party members too.'

The now vastly enlarged, five-meter-tall behemoth began to move.

Groooaaaaar—!

Four massive claws burst from between its wing bones, slamming down into the sea.

The resulting waves swallowed up all the flames Jun had prepared in an instant.

"You."

But did Jun just stand there admiring its transformation?

Not at all.

In fact, with its bulked-up size, it had become an even better target.

Before Derman could extinguish all the fire elements, Jun struck first with a storm of flames.

A fusion of two spells he had infused with deep mental images while it was awakening.

Sizzle...

The already dark sky grew even blacker.

Occasional bursts of white lightning flashed through.

Finally, as Derman sensed the ominous energy and raised its massive head,

Kraaaack! Zzzzzzap—!

Rumble rumble roooaaar—!!!

Lightning poured down in chains, bringing divine punishment upon the world.

As if sensing the thunder elements raining from the thunderclouds, Derman's gaping maw unleashed the Claws of Thunder Wolf to absorb the Heavenly Thunder's bolts.

Crack!

The overused Claws of Thunder Wolf screamed as cracks spiderwebbed across it.

Groooooaaaaar—!

Unable to endure any longer, the Claws of Thunder Wolf shattered, and the final bolt pierced straight through Derman.

Blue lightning tendrils rampaged freely through its colossal innards.

Until now, it had been free from lightning thanks to the Claws, but no more.

Jun had created one weakness in it.

However, for every gain Jun made, the enemy clearly gained something too.

"Its regeneration is beyond imagination."

Water elements weren't inherently specialized in recovery, after all.

With the Claws destroyed, the Heavenly Thunder's power was halved, making it hard to inflict a fatal wound.

'This is going to be a prolonged battle. I was planning to lure it onto land otherwise.'

The enemy showed no intention of leaving its advantageous domain.

And above all, after its first awakening, it had an even better combat method at its disposal.

Groooaaaaar—

Splash—!

As it raised its enormous arms and clapped its palms together, a massive shockwave rippled out, shoving away all the surrounding rainwater.

Realizing it wasn't just a shockwave, Jun immediately countered.

Myriad raindrops battered the double-layered barrier of the glowing red ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠steel rampart and Shield.

It was like countless needle-sized raindrops whipping around in a frenzy.

Massive chunks of mana drained away, and the two barriers shook precariously.

'Monghwan!'

Entrusting the barriers' maintenance to Monghwan, Jun launched a counterattack.

'It can create a domain too!'

His surroundings had become saturated with water elements from that last attack.

And unlike its initial appearance, after awakening once, its elemental dominance had grown far stronger.

Spears of water might erupt from beneath his feet again, or it could weaponize the water like bombs.

Instead of seizing the water elements with mana like before, he opted to evaporate the water outright.

Using the fire elements rotating around his circles, he dispersed Flame Rage's flames and transformed them into other spells.

A basic 2-circle attack spell, nothing more.

But once Jun got involved, that changed everything.

An overwhelming number of Fire Arrows—enough to blanket the area—launched toward Derman at his gesture.

In response, Derman slammed its massive arms into the sea surface. A wall of water rose around it.

Not just water surging upward, but reinforced with water elements.

Dozens of fiery arrows fizzled out before the wall, but the remaining hundreds did not.

The flames battered the sturdy barrier repeatedly until they finally pierced through, striking Derman.

Groooaaaaar!

It expended water elements to extinguish the flames engulfing its body once more, leading to another standoff.

Not just to probe for openings, but to prepare something bigger.

On the surface, it seemed evenly matched so far, but in reality, Jun was at a disadvantage.

'The strain on my heart is starting to show.'

His heart had been aching for a while now.

According to Mershar, this signaled the mutant transformation was nearing its end.

'Hold on just a bit longer.'

If not, he'd have to down another potion.

At that moment, Derman moved.

But not to attack.

'Absorbing more there?'

It knelt and plunged both hands into the sea.

The wriggling motion indicated it was drawing in water element mana.

'What are you planning?'

No matter how dominant it was over water elements, there was a limit to how much it could handle at once.

So why absorb so much water mana?

'To brace against my attacks? No, that's not it...'

Jun racked his brain furiously, his forehead burning hot.

Exhausting every possible tactic it might use with mana, recalling Derman's human days and the raid members it had absorbed...

"...!"

Realizing something, Jun immediately flipped open his spellbook.

He no longer needed it during the mutant transformation, but this time was different.

Flap flap flap—!!

Two volumes tore free in an instant, mana bursting forth.

Storms of flame without infused mental images—forced into being by raw mana injection.

Their power was ferocious as a result, to the point where Jun at the center looked precarious.

"...!!"

Javier, watching the scene, cried out in horror at Derman's next action.

"W-What in the world...!"

Derman's body, which had been absorbing mana from the sea moments ago, transformed again.

Aaaaaah—!

Aaaaaaaaagh—!!

Something wriggled out from the hollow cavity in Derman's chest.

The human faces clinging to its body twisted in agony, screaming.

As if being sucked in, their faces vanished into its flesh.

Whatever was surging from within Derman's body explosively expanded.

It was a coral reef.

A cluster blooming not from the sea, but above the surface.

The colony was murky and dull-colored, but the real issue was that it wasn't physical.

"Jun...!!"

The mana it spewed turned to mist, engulfing everything around.

Recognizing it, Javier screamed.

The last thing he saw was Jun—absorbing something amid the flaming storms—being swept into the fog.

In the sensation of his body floating weightlessly, the first thing Jun felt was cold.

'Mental Image Manifestation.'

Similar to a mage's mental boundary or a warrior's conviction realm, but fundamentally a different concept.

Unlike a mage's boundary crafted from intricate spell formulas and profound mental images, this was a dimension twisted forcibly from the host's mental image by the corrupted spirit.

'It created a dimension directly.'

It would consume an immense amount of mana, of course. That explained why Derman had gathered mana from the sea.

'Can I still use mana?'

Whoosh! Fire ignited before Jun's eyes.

'Good, it's working.'

Confirming mana flowed properly, Jun sighed in relief.

But the situation wasn't favorable.

'Hard to overpower it with mana volume like before.'

He had just noticed while casting: mana didn't obey his will smoothly.

Like sticky sap poured into delicate machinery, it clogged and stuttered.

'No maintaining the mutant form anymore.'

Even sustaining it consumed too much mana, so Jun boldly released the transformation.

At least his injuries from earlier had fully healed in the meantime.

"Hoo..."

He looked around.

Endless cold everywhere.

A space so still it felt like the deep sea—lonely and frigid.

"So this is its mental image."

A dead sea, perhaps.

A sea where nothing flowed, everything frozen still.

But it wasn't peaceful.

"That..."

Down below.

Something wriggled up from the light-devouring abyss.

"...Not a pretty sight."

At a glance, it was a sea monster.

Shark-like, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but with human-toned skin covered in burns.

'Is that how its own burn-scarred face manifested?'

Its teeth were blunt like a human's, not shark-sharp.

'Like something a demon sculpted.'

Such monsters emerged by the dozens from the depths.

'One at a time for now.'

He lashed one with a summoned lightning whip. It convulsed, electrified, body swelling.

Pop! It burst, spraying flesh everywhere. Jun grimaced watching.

'Mana handling's gotten harder than before. Killing them makes it tougher for me to use mana.'

The trigger seemed to be these flesh monsters' deaths.

Still barely noticeable, but.

"Haa..."

Beyond the pitch-black darkness below, countless red eyes gleamed.