Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Disaster, Nightmare, Ghost (4)
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Belnoa does not revere the stars.
Like all mages who had traded with the stars, Belnoa regarded them simply as a means of transaction.
‘Offer a price, and it grants the corresponding rights.’
There was no room for sanctity in that.
It was nothing more than a purely transactional relationship.
‘...It should be that way.’
Belnoa gazes ahead.
Monsters emerge from the fog. The alley is packed with beasts she’s never seen before in her life. Yet the instant she stands before them... she knows with certainty that her body will be torn to shreds.
Something she cannot face.
Something she must fear precisely because she cannot face it.
And there is someone confronting it head-on.
Her ash-gray hair sways. She turns around. Belnoa’s eyes meet hers.
“Watch closely.”
She says.
“Just watching will be helpful enough.”
She claps her hands.
“I offer.”
A clear voice rings out.
Even amid the stench of the quivering monsters, through the clamor of their cries, that voice remains vivid.
It’s almost like a prayer.
The stars answer the prayer. The stars never ignore those who seek a trade. The price is paid, and the deal is sealed. Belnoa watches the entire process.
Something is offered.
Something ascends the scales.
What rises on the scales becomes radiant starlight.
The moment the trade concludes, her ash-gray hair glows. Her very body shines like a star. A star descends into a mere human form.
‘...Beautiful.’
Those who witness miracles become priests.
They sing of the stars’ brilliance. They utter the names of gods and deem the stars sacred.
But Belnoa is a mage.
A mage who witnesses a miracle glimpses the truth within it. They probe the laws contained there. It was but a fleeting instant, yet Belnoa saw it.
‘The endpoint.’
What lies at the end of all magical studies.
The ultimate limit that every mage must pursue.
Kwachik.
The mage embracing the star takes a step forward. Bricks shatter and scatter. Cracks spiderweb across the ground. Jeojjeok, the fissures race through the alley.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smash Crushing impact wave devastates the area
A flash erupts.
Light cleaves the darkness. Brilliant starlight incinerates the shadows. Before the light, the monsters crumble to ash.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
The sound comes belatedly.
Amid wind pressure that threatens to steal her senses, Belnoa forces her eyes wide open. She strains to see.
How far a human embracing a star can shine. Where her own pursued ultimate lies.
She simply watches.
Because that’s all she can do right now.
2.
『Everything you possess can become currency.』
On the day I first learned about trading with the stars, my master said those words to me. As a child, the moment I heard them, one question arose in my mind.
‘Then, what’s the most valuable currency I possess?’
My master didn’t answer.
She simply remained silent. She only stroked my head wordlessly.
...I learned the answer much later.
Thinking back, it’s simple.
The right granted at birth. Something irreplaceable by anything else. Thus, the most precious thing. That is the most expensive currency.
Life.
Lifespan.
The right to live in the world bestowed by the heavens upon one person. Currency quantified by duration. When a person renounces a portion of that right, they draw closer to the stars than anything else.
Lifespan is the most precious currency.
It cannot be undone.
Using it strains the body.
The price of wielding power beyond one’s capacity is steep.
‘Lifespan is a currency of limited quantity.’
It must be cherished. Treasured.
Yet it remains currency all the same.
‘When the moment to use it arrives.’
If the moment demands it be used.
If a chance arises to shorten years of time, to bear the unbearable.
‘I must offer it willingly.’
I have offered my lifespan willingly.
I’ve lived that way until now.
A way of life doesn’t change easily.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smash Arm swing unleashes devastating force
I swing my arm.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
With a deafening roar, the monsters are swept away.
Through the spray of their blood and flesh, I eye the apostate. I gauge her condition.
She’s weakened.
She set foot in the kingdom of her own accord.
Unknown constraints bind her.
Her summoned familiars are diminished.
And finally, she hesitated to fully descend.
Evidence accumulates.
The gathered evidence leads to one conclusion. That conclusion is a possibility. I saw it.
‘Today, right here.’
A chance that will never come again.
A slender possibility. To turn it to certainty, I willingly paid with my lifespan.
‘Kill the apostate.’
Kill the madwoman who has reigned as a disaster for centuries. With that sole intent, I move my body.
Chiiiiiik.
Smoke rises from my body.
The sound of life burning echoes in my ears. The consumed life becomes starlight infusing my form.
What I feel is omnipotence.
Kwaang!
I clench and unclench my fist, taking a step forward. The alley shatters. Chunks of monster flesh caught in the Smash scatter everywhere.
Kuung.
One step closes the distance.
I take a wide stance and draw back my fist. The moment my foot slams the ground, buildings begin to crumble.
“Ah, really...”
Her face is right in front of me.
“You’re so lovable it’s driving me mad.”
A smile graces the apostate’s face. Even in this situation, she laughs. Nausea rises at her ecstatic smile.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smash Point-blank strike at close range
From point-blank range, I swing my fist. Naturally, it doesn’t connect. An armored dragon from the otherworld shields her.
Kieeeeeeeek!
Cracks form on the armored dragon’s hide as it withstands the Smash.
It thrashes with a hideous screech. I drive my fist deeper.
The preloaded spell emits light.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Triple-Spell Layered spells amplify destructive power
Jjeojjeok.
Cracks spiderweb across the armored dragon’s hide. I pour strength into my fist. Advancing a step, I swing.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
The armored dragon shatters.
The compounded shock launches the apostate’s body into the air. She swings her arm. Monsters pour forth.
“...”
Gazing at the monsters raining down from above, I bend my knees. I know how to fight the apostate. It’s simple, and that’s why it’s difficult.
‘Don’t give her time.’
I kick off the ground.
I burst through the falling monsters. Using them as footholds, I leap. I pursue the airborne apostate.
‘Press her relentlessly.’
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 💨 Accel Activated 💪 Muscular Activated ✨ Enhance-Strength Activated Spells ignite in sequence. My body, reinforced to its limits, surpasses them. Mana covers the cost. Starlight infuses the transcendent flesh.
Everything unfolds steps ahead of my expectations.
The starlight dwelling in my body makes it possible.
A distance I wouldn’t have reached normally. An enemy I couldn’t have grasped. But now, I do. My outstretched hand seizes the monster cloaking her body.
Binggeul.
I spin once in midair. Twisting my body, I swing the arm grasping the apostate.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smash + Triple-Spell Spinning aerial smash with compounded force
Jjeoeok!
The compounded shock sends the apostate’s body flying. Tracking where she’s headed, I snap my fingers.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Chain Mana chains bind and reel in target
Chains bind the flying apostate’s body.
I swing the arm holding the chain. The momentarily taut chain slackens, yanking her body toward me.
Kieeeeeeeek!
What flies toward me isn’t just the apostate.
Even mid-flight, her hand remains plunged into the otherworld. Monsters continue bursting from the widening rift.
“Tch.”
I click my tongue briefly and swing my arm.
The monsters explode. For now, changing position takes priority. I glance at the spot I’d preselected.
‘The city wall.’
Monster remains rain down onto the ground.
Amid the deluge, I yank the chain. Chaeng, the chain snaps under the strain.
“Think that’ll reach?”
Now right before me, she smiles.
She spreads her arms to embrace me. She still exudes leisure. The monsters cloaking her body remain unpeeled.
Unless it’s the Star Sword.
I can’t cleave the monsters shrouding her body in a single strike.
‘I already know that.’
I have no Star Sword. No need to seek what I lack. I have my own way.
“Shut up.”
I clench my fist tight.
Dispersed ashes converge on my fist.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smash + Ashes to Ashes Ash-infused strike incinerates defenses
Flash, followed by a storm of scorching heat.
The monsters shrouding her burn away and vanish. With only one layer of monster left, I swing my fist toward her face.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
The explosion sends her body flying. She soars far before crashing into the city wall with a bang.
Binggeul.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Chain Chains anchor to structures for pursuit
I twist in midair and hurl chains.
Toward the clocktower, the cathedral, or the ground. I yank the haphazardly embedded chains. My body accelerates.
Swaaak!
I see the apostate embedded in the city wall.
Her hand stretches through the debris. The otherworld tears, something about to emerge.
But I’m just a bit faster.
Kwajik!
I stomp down on the apostate’s head. Jjeojjeok, cracks form in the wall. Her head buries deep into the stone.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Triple-Spell + Spell-Boost + Spell-Reinforce Accelerated, reinforced spells overload target
I swing my clenched fist.
Its target is her arm. I’ve finally stripped away the monsters. If I sever that arm, I can seize the advantage.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smash Final strike to sever exposed limb
That instant.
Seogeuk.
A quiet slicing sound brushes my ear.
The spell on the verge of completion is severed. A blade pierces through layer upon layer of spells, grazing the back of my hand.
Perfect swordsmanship.
An impeccably clean slash.
Pit.
Blood spatters. The wound is shallow. Shallow, yet I cannot immediately follow up. My pupils tremble. When I open my mouth, my voice shakes.
“You...”
I look at the apostate pinned against the wall.
I see ‘that’ guarding her.
“What is this...”
“Like it?”
Pinned beneath my foot, the apostate bursts into laughter.
“After you cut off my arm, I did a lot of thinking. It was the first time I’d been pushed that hard. Even I panicked.”
Her eerie laughter echoes in my ears.
“But then the answer was simple. In the end, I’m a mage, and mages are weak to swordsmen. No matter what I do, I couldn’t last even a single second against Ganicardt.”
She.
“So I thought.”
She laughs.
“I wished for another swordsman to protect me besides Ganicardt. I can’t summon him anytime. And I didn’t need to look far for the materials.”
Her summoned familiar wields a sword.
The sharp blade gleams demonically under the moonlight.
“The only one in history to withstand Ganicardt with pure swordsmanship. A human accomplished what no superhuman could.”
That blade halts before my nape.