Chapter 296: The Sin of Greed (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 296: The Sin of Greed (7)
A colossal hand descended, swallowing even the ashen clouds.
Alon watched with his mouth agape as that hand reduced everything it touched to nothingness.
It was Alon who had awakened the sealed Line.
He had two reasons for doing so.
First, Line’s assistance was indispensable in facing the Sin of Greed.
Through his attacks, Alon had realized that even if its avatar was different, this entity wielded the power of 'Knowledge'—exactly like the Sin he had encountered in Psychedelia.
If Line, who possessed knowledge on the same level as the Sin, were present...
He believed she could easily identify the powers the Sin utilized beyond what he already knew and find ways to counter them.
The second reason was his conviction that Line would have become far stronger than before.
As far as Alon knew, the place where Line had been imprisoned was home to the 'Mother of Greed'—an entity that only appeared when the Ash Scatterer, or rather, the Sin of Greed, was born.
And that fact alone was enough.
Alon could easily guess what choice Line, trapped like a Hungry Ghost, had made to deal with it.
...The presence of the Mother of Greed meant that Line had likely coveted the forbidden knowledge within the Ancient Library.
That was why Alon had felt a sense of relief when he first saw the inscription written at the seal.
It was handwriting that Line could never have produced had she truly fallen and become a Sin herself.
Regardless, based on that judgment, Alon had decided to deal with the Sin with Line’s help, and his intuition had proven correct.
Despite coveting forbidden knowledge, Line was perfectly fine, and she had grown as powerful as he had anticipated.
However, there was one thing he hadn't quite expected.
‘...To think she’d become this strong—’
Line was stronger—far stronger—than Alon had ever imagined.
To think she had reached such heights.
With a dazed expression, Alon stared at the tower that had grown even more massive since he last saw it—no, he stared at the giant fist that had plummeted from the sky.
"Line..."
As the fist retracted, revealing a figure, Alon murmured her name unconsciously.
She looked just as she always had.
Her hair, the color of lush vegetation, retained its vibrant hue even under the ashen sky.
Her vivid green eyes shone clearly as they met his.
"..."
There was so much he wanted to say.
He wanted to thank her, and at the same time, he wanted to scold her.
But more than anything, he felt sorry.
Alon had never experienced the passage of hundreds of years.
He couldn't even begin to fathom what it meant to live through centuries.
He knew that the world could change easily in just ten years.
He knew that in a mere decade, most of his memories, save for the most precious ones, would be buried in the swamp of oblivion.
That was why Alon couldn't easily find the words.
He couldn't simply say she had worked hard.
He couldn't easily say thank you.
He couldn't even imagine how difficult it must have been to endure hundreds of years of solitude.
As he remained silent, Line, who had approached him, slightly lifted the corners of her once-motionless lips.
"That's right, Godfather."
"..."
"It's me... your Line."
She answered with a smile.
"..."
Alon opened his mouth to say something.
However—
"But I think our greetings will have to wait a moment, Godfather."
At Line's following words, Alon snapped back to his senses and looked ahead.
[...What, exactly, are you?]
The Sin of Greed stood there.
The Sin stared at Line as if it couldn't comprehend the situation, its shattered body already beginning to regenerate.
As the regeneration finished, the scraps of paper hanging from its shoulder blades lost their power and fluttered to the ground.
[Just what are you that you—]
The Sin of Greed, squeezing out a voice that barely seemed to form, suddenly—
[!]
Its eyes widened as if it had realized something, and it glared at Line.
Then.
[Could it be, back then, you—]
Unlike its usual indifferent self, the Sin murmured in disbelief. Line responded with a smile.
"I'm glad. You've obtained a new body instead of that of a Hungry Ghost."
[...I thought I had cast aside all of the Five Desires and Seven Emotions.]
The moment the Sin—
[It seems I was wrong.]
—muttered those words.
[...I shall repay the debt from that time.]
Its body began to swell as if it were about to burst.
* * *
The Sin of Greed that Alon had faced in Psychedelia was divided into two phases.
The first phase was the human form currently before them.
In this state, the Sin used forbidden knowledge to cast various debuffs and spells that no one else in Psychedelia used.
However, in the game, the first phase wasn't that difficult to handle.
First of all, unlike now, when facing the Sin in the game, the party consisted of Elivan and two other members, plus three of the Seven Strongest.
Furthermore, depending on the player's progress...
At least three knight orders and anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of soldiers would assist in the battle.
Therefore, the main concern when fighting the Sin of Greed in the game was managing the debuffs and near-instant-death spells—either by dodging them or preparing to tank them.
But once the numerous papers behind its shoulder blades—which represented the Sin's lives—were gone, leaving exactly five, the Sin would transition into its second phase: the Grotesque Transformation. It would take the form of a monster.
...Just like it was doing now.
"...Tsk."
Alon frowned instinctively as he watched the Sin's body swell rapidly.
The Sin's pure white flesh mutated in an instant, its size increasing explosively as it began to take shape.
Even before he could act, the Sin was forming into a giant skeleton.
Watching this, Alon thought:
‘What should I do?’
The Sin's second phase was essentially a final, desperate struggle.
Once it transformed into the skeleton of a giant beast, it would sprout dozens of arms and begin casting every spell it had used up to that point simultaneously.
In other words, the difficulty spiked tremendously compared to the first phase.
To make matters worse, the current Sin had initiated the Grotesque Transformation even though it still had dozens of lives left.
Just as Alon's frown deepened.
"!"
From the sky, the same giant hand from before began to fall again.
Like a massive tower collapsing, the mechanical hand surged down as if to pulverize the Sin.
■■■■■■■■■■■■—!!!
The colossal hand, swallowing everything in its path and shredding the very air, crushed the Sin's body once more.
In an instant, countless lives were stripped away from the Sin's massive shoulder blades.
It was enough to spark a glimmer of hope that the Sin might be finished off with just this.
Unfortunately, however...
Alon's hope was not realized.
The moment the retracted hand fell once more.
Vroooooom!
A massive magic circle appeared in the air, blocking the descending hand.
Creeeeeak!
The magic circle began to crack.
But.
Before the circle could shatter completely, dozens of arms—resembling those of a Thousand-armed Guanyin—regenerated in an instant. They moved in unison to form hand seals, and at the same time...
──────Vroooooom!
Dozens of magic circles began to manifest above the Sin's head.
And then.
"!"
The moment two of the dozens of hands that weren't occupied formed a specific seal.
Alon instinctively pulled Line into his arms and used Thunder God Form to bolt from the spot.
KABOOM!
The moment a green light swallowed everything, Alon saw it.
"...!"
The western zone of Phildegrin had been turned into a complete wasteland.
A chill ran down his spine.
Even though the Sin was using most of its magic to block the mechanical hand, Pluto, falling from above...
It had displayed that much destructive power with a spell created from just two hand seals.
"Godfather."
His thoughts were interrupted by Line's call. Alon looked down and met her eyes.
"Could I ask you for a moment?"
It was a short request.
But Alon understood its meaning perfectly and nodded.
With that, a massive magic circle formed beneath Line's feet.
Furthermore, golden eyes that hadn't been visible until a moment ago began to shine brilliantly.
Turning his gaze, Alon saw the Sin forming hand seals toward Line once again.
"Blackie."
[Kyu—]
He placed Blackie, who had been hiding in his pocket, onto his shoulder.
"Shadow Awakening—"
He began to recite the Phrases once more.
Alon's body was covered in eyes again, and a giant eye formed within his halo.
"Defying Heaven."
The moment his voice whispered the words, the Milky Way began to form in the ashen sky once again.
Seeing this, Alon felt it instinctively.
‘There isn't much time left.’
He had used his divinity to restore his body the moment he decided to buy time for Line, but the time limit had not reset.
"Phew—"
As if even a fraction of a second were too precious to waste, he began to control the Milky Way without hesitation.
Red rifts spread out with a cracking sound.
The Sin had seized control of them before, but it didn't matter now.
The current Sin didn't have the luxury of time to steal control of his magic.
Crackle!
The rifts spread in an instant, bringing the magic orbs under his control.
Extending his index and middle fingers, he immediately ejected the magic orbs.
However, his target wasn't the Sin's body—
Boom!
It was the hands forming the seals.
The magic orbs, trailing flashes of light, were fired in unison toward the hands.
Crack—
Simultaneously, the magic circle blocking the giant mechanical hand began to show signs of collapse.
The hand seals that had been directed at Line just a moment ago shifted their form.
But that was short-lived.
"Urgh—!"
Alon felt his limit.
His mind was screaming danger.
A signal that if he maintained this formula for even a few more seconds, the damage would be irreversible.
As if to prove it, the magic circle that had been on the verge of collapse became firm once again.
The Sin's two freed hands formed a seal, and a green light was fired.
It was a speed so fast that Alon could barely react.
Instead of trying to block it, Alon instinctively fired all the magic orbs he was currently ejecting into the green light.
KABOOM!
His sight and hearing were instantly consumed by a violent explosion.
"Ah."
At that moment, Alon realized two things.
One was that he had successfully blocked the fired spell.
And the other was...
"Cough—!"
The fact that the Art of Defying Heaven could no longer be maintained and had flickered out.
Coughing up black blood, Alon stared ahead with hazy eyes.
He had certainly blocked the attack.
But the attack that Alon had exerted every ounce of his effort to stop...
Vroom!
The Sin neutralized it as if it were nothing and was already preparing the next one.
"Ha—"
Alon let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Grit!
He widened his eyes, trying to force the formula to activate once more.
At that moment.
Snap!
Everything stopped.
The giant mechanical hand falling from the sky stopped.
The magic circle that had been blocking the giant hand stopped.
The magic that was about to be fired at Alon and Line stopped.
The elves who were watching the scene.
Penia, who had been running forward, chanting a spell to save Alon.
Magrina, who had been staring ahead with an anxious expression.
Everyone stopped.
Instead.
They all turned their gazes toward a single point.
They were witnessing it.
Far off.
Within the ashen sky, a massive rift like an abyss appeared, looking as though it could swallow everything in this space.
And from within it—
"The Created God."
—revealing its form.
"Pluto."
The massive—
"Full Deployment."
─̶̗̔─̶͓̓─̷͇͗─̴͔̆T̸h̸e̸ ̸G̸o̸d̸ ̸o̸f̸ ̸M̸a̸c̸h̸i̸n̸e̸s̸