Chapter 439: The Temple (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 439: The Temple (2)
In a split second, Alon searched his mind for the sparse information he had on Calypsophobia.
Since the entity before him had taken a human form, Alon wondered if he might be a character from Calypsophobia.
However, no such being existed in the knowledge he possessed.
Just as his doubts began to swell—
"Incredible. Everything is exactly as expected. Even He doesn't possess this level of foresight."
The man before them turned completely away from the red sphere, looking at Alon and Yutia with an expression of pure amusement.
Now that he had turned around, it was clear his body could hardly be called human.
Half of him appeared like an ordinary man, but the other half was encrusted in something resembling bizarre, crimson minerals.
"…Who are you?"
A playful smirk.
Crimson hair.
Alon threw the question at this Divine Blood he had never seen before.
The man spoke, his voice laced with laughter.
"Does it matter who I am? Since you’ve come this far, it’s not like you’re going to make it out of here alive anyway."
"…You can’t be sure of that."
"I can't?"
The man let out a scoff.
He nodded, as if finding it hilarious on one hand and delightful on the other.
"Ah—well, sure—maybe you can't. Perhaps you really can stop me. But—"
He chuckled.
"It doesn't really matter, considering 'The Whispering Void' is currently descending."
"!"
Alon’s eyes widened.
He still hadn't figured out who the man in front of him was.
However, the words that left the man's mouth were a different story.
"The Whispering, Void?"
Alon knew that name.
It was impossible to forget.
The Whispering Void was one of the 4th Stage Divine Bloods mentioned by the Blue-eyed Entity, the leader of the largest faction of Divine Blood.
How is this possible?
It made no sense.
Behind his expressionless mask, Alon’s brow furrowed instinctively.
As far as he knew, the Divine Blood had to descend to the surface in stages.
That was why the Blue-eyed Entity, who had spoken to him, and The Wanderer, who had provided additional explanations, could not descend to this world.
They simply weren't able to come down yet.
And yet, here was this man, claiming that the very last Divine Blood meant to descend was arriving now, just as the 1st Stage Divine Bloods were beginning their descent. It was absurd.
Could he be lying?
The natural suspicion crossed Alon’s mind.
But he quickly judged that it might not be a lie.
The reason was the massive sphere behind the man.
The red sphere, pulsing violently as if harboring an unimaginable power, was gradually shrinking and compressing.
Seeing this, Alon moved to use magic against the red sphere without hesitation, but—
"Oh, if you were planning on trying something, feel free. Regardless of what you do, the descent has already begun."
"…What?"
The man was nonchalant.
"Was I being too technical? To put it simply: you’re too late. Too late to stop His descent."
He shrugged his shoulders as if telling Alon to go ahead and try, even stepping aside to clear the path.
Just as Alon’s expression turned incredulous—
[……Teacher.]
"!"
Yutia’s voice echoed in his mind.
[I am transmitting my voice through Divine Power, so please listen.]
After a brief moment of surprise, Alon gave a microscopic nod at her explanation, and she continued.
[I believe what that man is saying is a half-truth. It’s true that a powerful Divine Blood we cannot handle is descending, but it’s not as if we’ve lost the chance to stop it yet.]
"…!"
[If you can hold that man back, Teacher, I will try to do something about the sphere.]
Alon looked at her.
She nodded with a small smile, as if telling him not to worry.
"……."
Alon turned his gaze back to the red sphere.
It pulsed like a living thing, shrinking as it condensed its power.
…Was it really okay to send Yutia in there alone?
Worry took hold of him.
[It’s okay.]
As if reading his thoughts, Yutia’s red eyes filled with conviction.
He couldn't hesitate any longer.
Nod.
Alon gave a slight nod of affirmation.
[Teacher, be careful of that man. He seems to be on a completely different level than the Divine Blood we’ve faced so far.]
He looked forward, taking her advice to heart.
To be honest, there were still many things he didn't understand.
But the most important thing right now was stopping the catastrophe before his eyes.
He exhaled slowly and stared straight ahead.
In that instant.
Yutia, who had been standing still without a trace of presence, lunged toward the red sphere.
* * *
Yutia’s form moved in a flash.
The man, who had been smiling until a moment ago, reached out his hand.
In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Yutia.
However.
The moment the man’s hand began to extend.
Alon, who had already been forming a seal inside his pocket, acted.
‘Snipe of Remembrance.’
He immediately fired the Snipe of Remembrance at the man's hand.
It hadn't gathered much mana.
But it was more than enough power to disrupt the man's movement.
And in that moment, Alon saw it.
The magic fired at the hand reaching for Yutia stopped dead in its tracks.
An inexplicable situation had occurred without warning.
But by the time Alon recognized the bizarre phenomenon, Yutia had already plunged into the red sphere.
"Tsk, she went in."
The man shrugged as if it couldn't be helped and looked at Alon.
"I kept warning you that you couldn't stop it."
"…For someone saying that, you seemed quite hurried to block her."
"Well, there’s always that one-in-a-million chance. But since she’s already inside, there’s no reason to stop her anymore. No, actually, this might be for the better."
"…Why is that?"
"Why? Because—I get to face the Star Eater myself."
The man continued, the smile never leaving his lips.
"I was so curious why He was so concerned about you. I was curious why this plan was moved so far forward because of you, too."
"……."
Hearing the man's words, Alon realized instinctively.
The Whispering Void was someone who remembered the 1st Turn.
And for some reason, the events occurring in this temple had been accelerated because of him.
"And above all—I wanted to test the power I gained by reaching the 2nd Stage through His grace."
Alon remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"…Are you a Divine Blood?"
He was fundamentally different from the Divine Blood Alon had seen so far.
The man laughed jovially for a moment, then answered coldly.
"Are you comparing me to those half-baked failures wandering the continent, who can't even draw a Law properly, let alone handle their true power?"
"……."
"Of course, I wasn't much different from them until recently."
"…You speak as if you are different from the Divine Blood outside."
"Do you really think I wouldn't be?"
The man’s expression soured.
"There is a massive difference between being able to manipulate Law and not. You don't know that?"
"…Should I?"
"No, you don't need to know. I just don't quite understand why He told me, 'The All-Ensnaring Night,' to kill you."
"Well, whatever," muttered The All-Ensnaring Night.
"I'll show you."
He smirked and raised his hand.
"The difference between the riffraff outside and a true Divine Blood."
And then.
As his hand clenched tight—
Thud.
An anomaly occurred.
"…?"
At first, Alon couldn't figure out what was wrong.
But in the next heartbeat, a realization struck him.
…They’re floating?
Small pebbles were rising into the air.
The moment he realized the change—
Thud.
The upheaval began in earnest.
Rumble—!!
The outer walls of the temple where Alon stood were ripped away with terrifying ease, sucked upward into the sky.
As if gravity itself had been inverted.
Crack! Crash!
The floor of the temple.
The massive pillars.
The carved murals of unknown meaning.
In an instant, everything was shattered into pieces and sucked into the sky, vanishing.
Even Alon’s own body began to lift.
"Basiliora—!"
The moment he felt his body floating, a shout erupted from Alon’s lips.
Along with it—
SCREEEEEE—!!!
Shattering the temple, the Receiver Basiliora appeared.
Alon, grabbing onto its body to secure a wider field of vision, found his eyes widening involuntarily.
"—!"
The range of the suction didn't stop at the temple.
The massive temple, the red eggs.
The ancient giant trees.
…And eventually, the hill itself.
Everything in the vicinity was being greedily devoured.
Countless red things on the vast plains were being crushed, broken, and absorbed.
The small hill in the middle of the meadow was being mangled and sucked in as if by a black hole.
And in the final moment, what Alon saw was—
"…Ha."
A massive meteor floating in the sky.
Created by absorbing everything on the ground.
A crimson earth.
It was of such an absurd size that it blotted out the sky and made even Basiliora look like an ordinary snake. A hollow sigh escaped Alon’s lips.
"Do you realize it now? The difference between the riffraff and a true Divine Blood."
The All-Ensnaring Night, the one who had created that colossal meteor, wore a twisted grin.
* * *
"…That crazy—"
Far away, Evan, who had been leisurely watching the situation at the temple until a moment ago, muttered a curse.
Beside him, Penia let out a hollow laugh.
"This is… impossible—"
The massive meteor floating in the sky.
It was of an overwhelming scale, large enough to easily erase everything the moment it fell to the ground.
"……."
Of course, Penia had roughly expected something like this.
She had already been warned by Alon that something dangerous would happen at this temple.
However, she hadn't thought Alon would fall into danger so easily.
Before entering the temple, Alon had finished every possible preparation.
The fact that he could respond immediately with Basiliora was thanks to those preparations.
But even if there was another plan following this—
"This is just too much—"
Penia’s hollow voice drifted away as her gaze turned toward Alon.
Normally, the distance should have been too great to see him clearly.
However, her eyes, enhanced by mana, could see Alon’s face.
His expressionless face.
And then.
"…Huh?"
Penia let out an involuntary exclamation.
It wasn't because of Alon’s expressionless face, of course.
He maintained that stoic look in any situation.
The reason she was surprised was because of the posture he was taking.
Having watched Alon for a long time, she had learned how to read his emotions.
The secret was his posture.
Unlike his face, his emotional state at the time was always revealed in his actions.
And at this moment, the emotion Penia captured from Alon was—
Not intimidation, fear, or resignation—
…Confidence?
It was confidence.
As Penia was reading Alon’s emotions.
Inside the red mist where Yutia had entered—
"It’s been a long time—"
[I suspected you would have returned, you monster.]
She was facing a massive eye with her own crimson gaze.