Chapter 173: The Sin of Greed (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 173: The Sin of Greed (2)
Dozens of Golden Tubes erupted from Line’s eyes, streaking in all directions like a complex circuit diagram being drawn in the air.
Unlike her previous attack, which had been fueled by raw emotion, these Golden Tubes moved with far greater stability as they lunged toward Emil.
Crunch—!
Yet, just as before, Line’s attack was intercepted by the tree that bled dark energy.
“Hmm—it’s no fun if I just keep defending, is it?”
The Apostle of Greed let out a repulsive smirk.
Rumble—!
The black branches growing from her back began to expand with explosive force.
The tree trunks grew at a terrifying speed, as if to colonize the entire Great Hollow. They tangled behind Emil, twisting into a grotesque, malformed tree.
It was a tree devoid of a single leaf, radiating an incredibly ominous aura.
Line’s instincts screamed at her.
This was dangerous.
She hurriedly manipulated her Golden Tubes to crush the tree, but—
“No, Line. That won’t do.”
The aggressive tree trunks blocked every single Golden Tube.
And then.
Creak, crack—!
Fruit began to sprout from the barren tree.
Black fruit.
Squelch—!
Dozens of fruits swelled in an instant, then burst, vomiting forth a variety of monsters drenched in thick fluids.
They were creatures that even Line, with her Library, could not properly identify.
SKREEEE—!!!!
As they rushed forward with blood-curdling shrieks, Line frantically moved her Golden Tubes.
Crunch—!
With a sickening sound, the Golden Tubes pierced through the monsters' bodies.
Having only just been born, they shuddered and lost their lives in an instant.
However, even though she was taking down nearly ten at a time, the number of monsters only continued to grow.
It was as if Line’s attacks posed no threat at all.
‘There must be a weakness somewhere—’
A type of anxiety Line had never felt before filled her mind.
The sensation of walking through a fog while facing an opponent right in front of her was alien to her.
Line had always constructed her strategies on the premise of victory.
The Library in her mind made that possible.
It provided countermeasures for unpredictable situations, and even when a perfect solution didn't exist, it found the closest possible answer and presented it to her.
In other words, Line had never fought a battle without an answer key.
But the power the Apostle of Greed was currently wielding was of a kind that could not be grasped even with the vast knowledge of the Library.
This unfamiliar situation only served to deepen Line’s agitation.
…………
……No.
That wasn't it.
It wasn't just because of that.
While Emil’s appearance had caused her anxiety, there was a more fundamental reason.
Something else was gnawing at Line’s mind.
“You’re flustered, aren’t you? Because this isn't in your Library.”
Emil curled the corners of her mouth as if she could see right through her.
Line tried to compose her expression, but her brow furrowed as the smiling Emil drew closer.
Kachink—!!
The Golden Tubes rushed toward the Apostle without hesitation, but they could not penetrate the black branches protecting her.
Having reached Line with such ease, Emil, the Apostle of Greed, thrust her grinning face right up to Line’s nose.
She had blue eyes, just like Line.
However, her sclera were stained black, giving her eyes a ghastly, terrifying aura.
“So, shall I tell you?”
The corners of her cold eyes curved like crescent moons.
“No, I don’t even need to tell you. You just have to make a choice. You’re smart, so you already know, don’t you? That there are far more hidden spaces in your Library.”
At the mocking voice, Line understood exactly what the Apostle was referring to.
The Forbidden Zone.
A Pandora’s box that allowed one to know all the secrets of the world the moment they entered, but as a reaction, drove the user’s mind to madness.
“Get lost.”
There was no need to hesitate.
To be honest, Line couldn't even guess what Emil’s exact goal was.
To begin with, the only information she had on Emil was that she was a being related to the "black thing."
But for that very reason, she had no reason to listen to her words.
“Hmph—well, if that’s how it is, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
Emil shrugged as if disappointed, then scanned Line’s entire body.
“Then first—shall we start lightly with an arm?”
She smiled.
In that moment, Line witnessed it.
Behind Emil, black branches began to manifest ostentatiously.
Line swung her Golden Tubes without delay to block the growing branches, but it wasn't enough.
She had already summoned her tubes to their near limit.
As if she had anticipated even that, Emil leisurely produced more branches.
[No, I don’t even need to tell you. You just have to make a choice. You’re smart, so you already know, don’t you? That there are far more hidden spaces in your Library.]
In the face of the encroaching helplessness, Emil’s voice brushed past Line’s ear.
A voice filled with temptation.
‘The Forbidden Zone….’
A momentary conflict.
Line’s mind raced.
If she stepped into the Forbidden Zone now, could she kill that woman?
No—
Could she kill her before her Godfather emerged?
That was the most important issue to her.
More than anything else.
Solely.
The most important issue.
And so.
Just as she was about to make her choice while staring down the black branches shooting toward her.
Line suddenly realized a strange fact.
That a chilling frost was settling over her breath, which had become irregular from tension.
At the same time.
“…!”
Seeing the branches freeze solid, a familiar back entered Line’s field of vision.
A man wearing a coat that scattered cold frost crystals in accordance with his manifested magic—
“…I’m a bit late.”
It was the back of Marquis Palatio.
* * *
To put it simply, Alon had emerged before finishing his conversation with Kailas.
The reason was that Kailas had informed him of the situation outside.
‘I don’t know what method you used to call me here, but while this is your Mental World, it seems to be a place where the outside situation can be felt to some extent. And it doesn't look like a very pleasant guest has arrived out there.’
Ending the conversation abruptly and manifesting in reality, Alon discovered a woman with a bizarre smile.
And he realized.
‘An Apostle.’
The fact that the being before him was an Apostle of the Five Great Sins.
“What a princely entrance.”
Emil was surrounded by monsters so hideous they were hard to describe, filling the vast hollow to the brim.
Seeing her swaying as if enjoying herself, Alon calmly assessed the situation and looked back.
“…!”
There stood Line, looking terrified for all to see.
It was a sight he had never seen before.
Alon was momentarily taken aback, but he could easily guess the reason.
‘Is it the same case as Seolrang?’
Of course, Alon didn't know what had transpired between the Apostle and Line.
However, through his previous experience encountering an Apostle, he had a rough idea of how things were playing out—
‘I’ll finish this quickly.’
Alon made his decision and scanned his surroundings.
The situation was not good, to put it mildly.
The massive underground hollow was already teeming with monsters.
On the ceiling, the floor, the side walls, the pillars.
Everywhere Alon’s gaze landed.
Furthermore, the Golden Tubes that Line had been wielding despite her panic were all ensnared by the Apostle’s tree trunks.
In other words, he couldn't expect any help from Line at this point.
“Shall we see what our Prince can do?”
At that mocking voice, the monsters rushed forward ravenously to devour Alon.
SKREEEE—!!!
A headless monster lunged through the air.
A creature resembling a Hungry Ghost leaped from a pillar.
A monster that looked like an unfinished creation of a god, dragging its entrails, charged toward Alon.
But.
Just as the monsters were about to reach Alon.
“Expansion.”
Snap—!
Everything stopped.
The monster leaping through the air.
The Hungry Ghost baring its sharp teeth.
The creature dragging its entrails.
Everything came to a halt.
“!”
The Apostle also frowned, seemingly flustered by the sudden turn of events, but only for a moment.
“I guessed you were a Magus based on the information I had, but you use a fascinating method, don't you?”
Her expression relaxed again.
Realizing that this ‘stop’ was due to the expansion of mana, the Apostle wore a relaxed expression and tried to pull out a tree trunk—
“…Huh?”
—but she couldn't.
The Apostle’s face clouded with bewilderment.
“…!?”
Then, her face gradually contorted, and clear panic took hold.
“Phew—”
Exhaling a long breath as he watched her, Alon began his magic deployment.
In truth, the Apostle’s assessment wasn't wrong.
The expansion of mana created a virtual volume that pressed down on the monsters to restrict their movement, but that was all.
Those capable of using physical force or mana above a certain threshold could easily break free from its influence.
Yes, if what Alon had scattered was ‘ordinary’ mana.
“What is this—”
Basically, the structure of mana is easily destroyed if no specific property is added to it.
That was the reason Alon could only hold the previous Apostle for less than a second in their last battle.
Because of mana’s characteristic of being easily broken by even slight physical force.
However, if one added another seal to make the molecular structure of the mana itself dense—
‘The mana enters a state where it can no longer be easily destroyed by general physical force or mana.’
Especially for those within the range of the mana deployed by the caster.
This was the linked hand seal Alon had first successfully mastered by combining two seals.
It was the fruit of his efforts, researched and practiced to compensate for the Magus’s weakness of taking time to form seals and recite Phrases.
And here, Alon had ‘coincidentally’ taken one step further.
Through the journal Penia had meticulously written after misunderstanding Alon’s intentions, he had learned that six or more seals could resonate and create a synergistic effect.
However, it was naturally impossible for a human to form six seals.
A human only has two hands.
But Alon had eventually solved that blind spot.
If he didn't have the hands to form the seals.
He just had to make them.
Crackle—!
Ice began to form behind Alon’s back.
The crystallized ice instantly split into six branches, taking the shape of hands and fingers—
Snap, snap—!
And formed the seals.
The first Hand Ice Seal firmly fixed the structure of the expanded mana.
The second Hand Ice Seal merged the modified molecular structures.
The third Hand Ice Seal stabilized the merged mana.
And then,
The fourth Hand Ice Seal twisted the stabilized molecular structure to create amplification.
The fifth Hand Ice Seal created a switch within the deployed mana.
What was completed through this.
Was a massive prison and a spell that could be manifested into any attribute.
“!”
As the Apostle’s eyes filled with horror, what emerged from the final Hand Ice Seal Alon created was.
A ‘tiny snowflake.’
A fragile snowflake so delicate it would melt into a handful of water the moment it landed on a finger.
It drifted weakly down along the finger of the final ice hand.
And then.
Hand Ice Seal.
Six Knots.
The moment that tiny snowflake touched the mana Alon had spread,
Snow Flower.
The monsters scattered into snowflakes.
Elegantly.
……And beautifully.