Chapter 247: Enlightenment (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 247: Enlightenment (4)
The first thing Ryanga felt when she saw Baarma was terror.
A desperate, paralyzing fear that froze her body and turned her vision white just by looking at him.
Yet, amidst such horror, there were two reasons Ryanga could still move.
First was the rage seething within her, a fury potent enough to transcend that distant dread.
And second was the sight of Alon moving with such urgency—the man who had made a contract to give up everything in exchange for Baarma’s death.
She knew exactly how incredible Alon’s feats were.
He had restored the World Tree, which had been utterly destroyed by Baarma’s hands, to a state so perfect that no one could dispute it.
Even Ryanga, who wasn't particularly well-versed in the ways of the world, couldn't help but realize it instantly.
She realized just how monumental a feat it was—and just how mighty the god she had contracted with truly was.
However, immediately after manifesting the World Tree, Alon looked vulnerable to Baarma’s assault.
Even as Baarma charged toward him, Alon’s eyes remained closed.
The moment she judged that even the giant mechanical hand falling from the sky wouldn't be enough to stop Baarma’s momentum, she immediately channeled every ounce of strength into her legs.
Normally, reaching Baarma would have been impossible.
Even for a member of the Ghost Tribe, born with innate superhuman strength, the distance between her—hidden among the refugees—and Baarma was far too great.
But that was only true if Ryanga were a 'normal Ghost Tribe girl.'
Rumble—!!!
As Ryanga kicked off the ground, her vision blurred into a streak of motion.
In an instant, she bypassed the refugees and soldiers.
With her next step, she blurred past the commanders and the King.
By the time her final step slammed into the earth, she was directly beneath Baarma.
Lifting her gaze, Ryanga gathered her strength once more.
Before her loomed Baarma’s massive frame, the very embodiment of despair.
Yet, even in the face of that terror, Ryanga steeled her will.
She remembered.
That night she had wailed like a madwoman.
The time she had shed tears while devouring the half-rotted corpses of her kin.
She had waited for this very moment—the chance to take her revenge on Baarma.
Recalling every emotion and memory, Ryanga released her limiters.
Mana exploded forth.
If she moved even once in this state, her body would surely shatter, unable to withstand the strain.
Despite knowing this...
BOOM—!!!!!!
She leapt without hesitation, hurtling like a projectile toward his heart.
[A mere insignificant insect—]
Ryanga’s attack succeeded in halting Baarma’s movement, but it failed to inflict any significant damage.
“Urgh—”
Having managed only a shallow scratch on Baarma’s skin, Ryanga was caught in his massive hand. She let out a pained groan as she stared up at him.
His gaze looked down upon her as if she were something utterly trivial.
His face was one that invoked instinctive primal fear.
“Heh—”
Yet, even facing Baarma, the girl—no, Ryanga—smiled.
She already knew.
She knew all too well that her strength alone wasn't enough to deal with the monster before her.
That was why her goal had been singular from the start: to successfully thwart Baarma’s attempt to interfere with Alon.
And her objective had been achieved with absolute certainty.
With a strained expression, Ryanga turned her gaze toward Alon.
There he stood.
Alon was shrouded in a brilliant white radiance, unlike anything she had seen before.
Seeing him, Ryanga felt a mixture of ecstasy and apology.
Ecstasy, knowing that Alon would exact the revenge she couldn't finish against Baarma.
And an apology, for no longer being able to keep the contract she had made with him.
Regrettably, Ryanga’s body had reached its limit.
Having pushed her failing frame to the absolute brink, it was a miracle she was even alive.
But she could smile.
Because Baarma would eventually fall.
Because she had managed to land at least one blow against him.
Even as she watched Baarma’s expression darken with rage, she closed her eyes with a smile on her lips.
“?”
Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation of floating.
The suffocating pressure of being gripped in Baarma’s hand vanished.
Even the bone-shattering pain throughout her body seemed to fade.
Puzzled, she squeezed out the last of her strength to open her eyes, only to see...
“...Boss?”
“Yes.”
It was Alon.
Shrouded in white light, he held Ryanga in his arms.
“Thank you.”
He handed Ryanga over to Line, who had rushed to his side, and whispered something to her.
Then, he immediately turned around.
Thump!
Baarma had already reached Alon.
With eyes wide with fury, Baarma pulled his leg back to deliver a crushing kick to the calmly standing Alon.
Everyone watched in horror.
“Wait—”
Magrina, who had been in a state of shock until a moment ago, instinctively reached out her hand. In that instant, they saw it.
Cr-cr-crack—!!!!
Baarma’s body began to freeze at an incredible speed.
And then.
“Thunder God Form.”
At that low murmur, Baarma’s frozen torso was sent flying.
Boom! Crash! Boom—!!!
Baarma’s form was repelled in an instant, tumbling violently across the ground and crushing his own believers.
“Aaaargh!”
“Gah—!!!”
The terrified screams of the believers rang out.
Baarma’s frozen body slammed into the stump of the World Tree that had been destroyed.
Amidst the chaotic scene filled with monstrous roars, the eyes of the entire Allied Forces turned toward one man.
Toward the man who had effortlessly blown away Baarma, a being who had seemed utterly untouchable.
At the same time...
Vrrr—!
They looked upon their god—their hope—who had filled the ashen sky with a galaxy of light. They offered him their awe.
* * *
The shining lights embroidered in the gray sky formed a Great Milky Way.
SCREECH—!!!!
An ear-piercing shriek echoed in all directions as Baarma kicked off the ground and began charging toward Alon.
He scattered pitch-black divine power everywhere, as if determined to kill him once and for all.
The mouths that had been frozen shut just a moment ago all split open at once.
And then.
Vrrr—!!!
Black divine power began to condense grotesquely, gathering in his mouths before being unleashed in every direction.
ROAR──────────!!!!
The divine power shot forth as if to leave nothing remaining, swallowing even his own believers in its path.
The tyrannical force, already splitting into multiple branches, was something Alon normally wouldn't have been able to block.
No matter how powerful his magic was, his mana capacity was only enough to block a single stream of divine power.
Yes, that would have been true normally.
But not now.
Cr-cr-cr-crack—!!!
His formula—the Art of Defying Heaven—made it possible.
Ten ice seals appeared behind Alon, and he instantly formed a hand seal.
It looked like the six Ice Seals he usually used, but it was different.
Ten hands were now all forming the exact same seal.
And then.
Hand Ice Seal.
Ten Knots.
“Crystallization, Ice Snow, Form, Fame of Snow Mountain, Inevitability of the Blind.”
Alon chanted the all-too-familiar Phrases.
Ice Crystal Flower Spear: Modified.
Glacier.
In the ashen world...
Crack—!
A glacier arrived.
The divine power fired at the Allied Forces froze solid.
The glacier that blocked Baarma’s attack didn't stop there; it encased every believer in the vicinity within cold ice.
“Thunder God Form.”
Alon’s seal changed once more, and the man who had created that impossible sight vanished for a split second—
BOOM—!!
He became lightning, striking Baarma’s torso.
[Kuaaargh—!]
Baarma was launched into the air, unable to offer any significant resistance.
Even in that fleeting moment, he tried to open his numerous mouths to gather divine power again.
Regrettably, he was thwarted by Alon, who flew at him once more.
And with that—
Cr-crackle—!!!
A brawl began.
Every time the brilliant lightning moved, Baarma’s body, which was about to fall to the ground, was knocked back into the air.
The chilling sound of breaking the sound barrier echoed across the glacier.
“Ah...”
Everyone watched the overwhelming sight with their mouths agape.
The soldiers of the Allied Forces who had fallen into despair.
The commanders whose hands had been trembling.
The King who had been scowling with a sense of betrayal.
The believers who worshipped Baarma.
The fanatics who could smile even in the face of death.
Everyone—
They simply watched.
And so,
[Gah—!]
The moment Baarma’s mangled body began to fall.
The moment he shone brilliantly beneath the galaxy that now covered the gray world.
As Alon, trailing lightning, formed another seal, Baarma’s falling body halted in mid-air.
And then.
Zap— crackle—!
The galaxy set.
The Milky Way that had embroidered the gray sky shattered into fine grains of light and vanished.
The radiance surrounding Alon’s body disappeared in an instant.
“Cough—!”
Blood erupted from Alon’s mouth.
It was a situation no one had foreseen.
Yet, even as he spat out blood, he did not panic.
‘...Is this the limit?’
He simply stared blankly up at the fading sky, letting out a weary sigh as the backlash of the Art of Defying Heaven took hold.
The law of the Art of Defying Heaven he had created was simple.
‘To reverse the laws of magic.’
That was the Art of Defying Heaven, and the law governing Alon’s formula.
The moment it was activated, he could apply it to Mana Burn—which normally burns away all mana—to gain nearly infinite mana.
But the problem was Alon’s Mana Hole.
His tiny Mana Hole was far too narrow to handle the mana being incessantly generated at a terrifying speed through Defying Heaven.
To maintain Defying Heaven, he had to use magic continuously.
The result of that backlash was the mana spheres in the sky, looking like stars.
He had fought by constantly creating hundreds, thousands of spheres that failed to take the form of proper magic, simply cramming mana into them. But Alon’s physical body had easily reached its limit.
Alon closed and opened his eyes through his blurred vision.
His head, which had processed dozens of calculations in less than a second, throbbed with a heat as if molten lava had been poured into it.
His eyes were bloodshot from ruptured capillaries.
Dark red blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
Because he had crammed in as much mana and magic as possible, his physical condition was a wreck.
Grin—!
Baarma, still suspended in the air, twisted his lips into a smirk as he looked at Alon.
He could see that Alon had reached his limit.
In contrast, Baarma...
Though he had taken damage, he wasn't in critical condition despite the numerous attacks.
[I shall kill you—!]
He wore a deep smirk.
However, instead...
Smirk.
Seeing Baarma’s mockery, Alon smiled back.
From the beginning, Alon’s goal hadn't been to kill him.
He had predicted long ago that even with overflowing mana, he wouldn't be able to kill the monster.
What Alon had aimed for from the start was...
To inflict as much damage as possible on Baarma.
And to fix him in place.
Because the one to deliver the final blow—
[!]
Wasn't him.
Sensing that something was wrong, Baarma quickly looked behind Alon.
And then, he discovered it.
It was a giant cannon.
A cannon massive enough to swallow Baarma whole.
A giant cannon connected to the World Tree.
And then.
“Ờ̉ű̆̉̂̾͠ẗ̛́̂͛̿e̛͛̆́,́̇̇͡ȑ̛͛͗̈́ G͐̌̕o̾̓͠d̛͌͛̏̃ Ẁ̛̊͋̒̉e͆͒̏͆͌͠â̑͠p̃̊́͡o͆́̀̆̓͡n̄͑͠, Ǎ̍͝ğ̛̏̀̌͂a̿̆͞t҇̋͋́̾̋h̉̌̅̓̓͠o̅̅̎̎͐͠ń́̇̓͞-À̛̉r̋̆̉̂̾͠ä̛́̂͛̿i̛͛̆́,́̇̇͡s̛̏͛͗̈́m͐̌̕a̾̓͠,̛͌͛̏̃ f̛̀̊͋̒̉u͆͒̏͆͌͠l̂̑͠l̃̊́͡ d͆́̀̆̓͡ē͑͠p̌̍͝l̛̆̏̀̌͂o̿̆͞y҇̋͋́̾̋m̉̌̅̓̓͠e̅̅̎̎͐͠ń́̇̓͞t c̛̀̉ő̆̉̂̾͠m̛̈́̂͛̿p̛͛̆́,́̇̇͡l̛̏͛͗̈́e͐̌̕t̾̓͠e̛͌͛̏̃—̛̀̊͋̒̉”
Line, who had moved her hand toward Baarma, spoke.
“Activate.”
With that tiny murmur...
[No—!]
Baarma’s scream erupted—
BOOM───────────────!!!!!!
A pure white light swallowed everything.
Even the ashen sky.