Chapter 449
Chapter 449
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 450
Chapter Title: Subjugating the Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains
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Rumble!
A powerful wave of mana rocked the area around the snowy mountains.
The far side of the world was dyed in darkness, and a massive black silhouette began to reveal itself.
"...I-Is that the Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains?"
The villagers muttered in trembling voices, crushed by fear.
As the enormous silhouette flashed red glowing eyes, a chill ran down my spine.
"Everyone, get ready!"
At my words, they snapped to attention and began channeling their mana.
At the same time, the creature hidden in the darkness revealed its form.
Long ears reminiscent of a giant rabbit and pure white fur.
It was exactly as I had seen it in the virtual world.
Rumble!
At that moment, a massive chunk of ice began to materialize above its head.
Realizing its nest had been invaded, it was trying to kill us.
To counter it, I immediately drew a ritual with my mana.
[The 'Spirit Materialization Ritual' is being activated.]
Rumble!
A massive ritual slowly began to form on the snow-covered ground.
But since the opponent was a Great Spirit, I had to match it with an equally enormous ritual, so completing it right away was impossible.
"Hold out for two minutes!"
At my shout, everyone nodded and activated their rituals.
Soon, the rituals cast by several people merged into one, taking the form of a magic circle.
Rumble!
And simultaneously.
The massive ice chunk conjured by the Great Spirit began to tremble heavily, as if to crush me flat.
At that instant, a strong light flashed from the magic circle created by the villagers, and a massive barrier unfolded centered on me.
Boom!
The ice chunk collided with the barrier, shaking everything like an earthquake.
Soon, the ice chunk split in half and fell powerlessly.
"...It worked!"
"We blocked it!"
We rejoiced at having blocked its first attack.
But then...
Crack...
Fine cracks began to appear on the translucent barrier.
Everyone wore panicked expressions and stepped back at the sudden situation.
"What is this...?"
Boom!
The barrier shattered into fragments in an instant. The grand barrier we had all created together crumbled in a moment.
Groan!
At the same time, the Great Spirit took a step forward.
The ground shook violently, and the mana hidden in nature surged like waves.
Its red glowing eyes flashed again, and the blizzard pouring from the sky began to rage even stronger than before.
Whoooosh!
"Ugh..."
The suddenly intensified blizzard made my body feel like it was freezing solid.
In the extreme cold, I couldn't think straight, and my concentration for the ritual wavered.
At the same time, the ground beneath our feet began to freeze.
"...M-My feet!"
"...Ugh! What kind of magic is this?"
The situation grew urgent.
Feeling bewildered, I tried to focus on the Spirit Materialization Ritual.
Then the Great Spirit's gaze turned to me. With intense killing intent, another massive ice chunk began to form above its head.
Crack, crack!
It was incomparably larger than the one before.
It was like looking at a meteor.
"...Ugh!"
Terrified, the villagers used manifestation magic to melt the ice on their feet.
But the fiercely blowing blizzard regenerated the ice, changing nothing.
"Hey...! How much longer?!"
Jeong Minha asked me in a voice mixed with tears.
And simultaneously, the massive ice began to slowly fall, carrying a white chill.
Seeing it, I realized this was no time for that.
First, I needed to regain my broken focus.
[The latent trait 'Hyperfocus' is activated.]
Soon, the terrified voices around me faded away.
My mind held only the goal of completing the 'Spirit Materialization Ritual,' and I executed it.
Moments later, the extreme chill approached, and numbness spread through my body.
But I focused on completing the ritual until the end.
Just as my entire body was about to freeze.
Rumble!
A strong light burst from the 'Spirit Materialization Ritual' covering the entire ground.
The ritual, built over two minutes, was complete.
[The 'Spirit Materialization Ritual' has been successfully activated!]
[The Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains' spirit body is materializing.]
[Successfully completed an ancient ritual using a latent trait.]
['Ritual Comprehension (A)' proficiency has greatly increased.]
['Ritual Comprehension' rank has risen to S!]
[You can now implement rituals more precisely and quickly.]
['Great Spirit Materialization' achievement unlocked.]
[Acquired 5,000 points as reward.]
Done!
Realizing the ritual's success, I immediately activated the next ability.
[The user effect 'Instant Acceleration' is activated.]
With Instant Acceleration active, everything before my eyes slowed down.
I quickly scanned with my eyes, grasping the entire situation ahead.
My body frozen halfway up.
People gripped by fear.
The massive ice chunk right in front of me.
And the Great Spirit flustered by its materialized flesh.
I spread my palm.
Blue mana spread out, slowly forming a magic circle.
Was it because Ritual Comprehension reached S-rank?
Implementing the ritual felt easier than usual.
I could complete the magic circle much faster than before, and its size was vastly larger than ever, at my will.
Rumble!
And the magic circle soon took the form of the invincible defense magic, Reflection.
Just as the ice chunk was about to touch the magic circle—
Slowed time returned to normal, and Reflection activated.
The massive ice chunk filling the sky was shot back toward the Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains.
The Great Spirit desperately tried to block the attack, but as always, countering Reflection's perfectly timed return was no easy feat.
Unprepared for its own attack rebounding, the Great Spirit was caught in it.
Boom!
A grotesque scream erupted loudly, and a massive hole formed between its chest and stomach.
"...W-What? The attack got reflected?"
"What kind of magic is that?"
Surprised voices came from around me.
But I ignored them and prepared the next attack.
It was time to use what I'd prepared for this moment.
I activated the fire attribute I'd stored in advance in the 'Legacy of the Formless Spirit.'
At the same time, countless fire orbs began to materialize around me.
Roar!
As the warm mana spread through the white blizzard, our frozen bodies began to thaw.
The people around us were the same.
Suddenly free, Jeong Minha looked around and shouted loudly.
"Now!"
At her cry, everyone implemented rituals again.
Binding magic to halt its movements.
...Groan.
Now was the chance.
I immediately activated the new trait I'd just acquired.
['Blessing of Reversal' is activated.]
Rumble!
A mysterious power unlike any I'd felt before spread through my body.
I spread my palm and channeled mana again, and a transparent, mystical glow began to gather into a circular form.
[The user effect 'Attribute Reversal' is activated.]
Attribute Reversal.
It was a technique that lowered all attribute resistances by the amount of the target's highest attribute resistance.
Naturally, as an ice-attribute Great Spirit, it had extreme ice resistance, making this the most powerful magic against it.
Groan.
Sensing the danger of the reversal magic hovering over my palm, it quickly tried to conjure an ice chunk to attack me.
At that moment.
Swoosh!
Countless mana chains shot up from the ground, binding the Great Spirit's legs.
In the sudden situation, its body tilted greatly.
'...Now!'
The moment it showed an opening. I released the reversal magic at it.
Bang!
The magic instantly touched its body and seeped in.
In the abrupt situation, the Great Spirit's red eyes flashed.
...Grrk, grrk?
"Did it work?"
At that moment, its gray fur, shining pure white, began to lose its luster. Sensing something wrong with its body, it rolled its eyes back and slowly opened its mouth, letting out a scream.
[The Great Ancient Spirit's ice attribute resistance value lowers all attribute resistances by that amount!]
"...It worked."
All of its attribute resistances dropped sharply.
It wouldn't be very effective on humans with low base resistances, but this was a spirit skewed to the extreme in one attribute.
Right now, it was as good as naked, having shed thick armor.
And now was the time.
[The user effect 'Victory Cry' is activated.]
[The user effect 'Fighting Spirit' is activated.]
[The user effect 'Heart of Great Nature' is activated.]
[The user effect 'Gravity' is activated.]
Rumble!
Activating multiple user effects, I felt intense mana surging through my body.
Then, atop my palm, a fireball began to slowly form, burning hot.
Ice-attribute monsters are fundamentally weak to fire attributes.
Plus, with Attribute Reversal, its ice resistance amount subtracted from all resistances—meaning its fire resistance plummeted.
In other words, even simple fire magic could now deal massive damage.
Roar!
The fireball soon took on a subtle golden hue.
Sensing the crisis, the Great Spirit struggled to escape.
But it couldn't move easily due to the binding magic from the people.
I gave a small smile and spread my palm toward it.
Taking a short breath, I released it straight at the creature.
Bang—
Passing through the white blizzard, the red fireball pierced straight through its chest.
With its already low fire resistance greatly reduced, this would be quite fatal to it.
Boom!
At the same time, an enormous mana wave swept through the surroundings.
It screamed in agony. For a moment, it felt like victory, but even weakened, this level of attack wouldn't finish it off.
I needed to pile on more attacks.
I spread my palm again and channeled mana for the final blow.
Rumble!
Soon, a magic circle formed before my palm, and with the boosted Ritual Comprehension, it completed quickly.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Magic circles for [Rain of Mana] began to appear one by one in the sky.
I didn't stop there.
I then activated another new ability, [Trait Reversal].
[The user effect 'Trait Reversal' is activated.]
[The user effect 'Fighting Spirit' cooldown has been reset.]
[The user effect 'Fighting Spirit' is activated.]
Since I couldn't use other magic while using Rain of Mana, this was my best choice.
And simultaneously, with abilities boosted 30%, another 30% stacked on top.
I felt the overwhelming mana power bursting from within.
"...Hoo."
Exhaling shortly, I activated the Rain of Mana magic circles.
Rumble!
Strong light poured from the magic circles filling the sky.
Then, like a natural disaster, endless rain of fire poured down toward it.
Enhanced by Fighting Spirit and the long-cultivated Ritual Comprehension, the Rain of Mana held incomparable power to before.
The dense shower of fire burned the Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains' body.
Boom! Boom! Boooom!
It wailed loudly.
The continuous fire attacks rapidly melted the snowy mountain's snow, and the Great Spirit burned in a horrific state worthy of being called a volcanic Great Spirit.
"...How is there such magic."
I kept focusing on the spell.
As time passed, the Heart of Great Nature's rapid regeneration couldn't keep up, and my mana began to dwindle, but this wasn't the end.
[The sustained effect 'Mana Reversal' is activated.]
As my remaining mana hit bottom, Mana Reversal triggered, instantly recovering it.
My mana filled up again, and the fire shower continued.
It gradually lost strength and collapsed.
Watching it, I pondered to myself.
Blessing of Reversal.
Even thinking again, it seemed better than most SS-rank traits.
Of course, the extreme efficiency came because the opponent was a spirit.
...Time passed like that.
It finally lost all strength and collapsed to the ground.
At the same time, the ground shook violently, and messages appeared before my eyes.
[Subjugated the Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains.]
['Great Spirit Subjugation' achievement unlocked.]
[Acquired 30,000 points as reward.]
[Victory in battle against the target!]
['Dominator of the Frontier (S)' acquired via Victory Cry effect.]
[A great change in the future has been detected.]
[Karma increases by 2.]
Countless messages floated before my eyes.
At the same time, all remaining mana was depleted, and all magic vanished.
With trembling eyes, I gazed at the Great Spirit of the Snowy Mountains' corpse burning hotly and muttered softly.
"...We won."
The flames that had burned the Great Spirit's body gradually died down under the snowy mountain's blizzard.
Its massive body turned to particles of light and slowly scattered, vanishing completely over time.
Moments later, the blizzard over the snowy mountains stopped.
Faint sunlight peeked through the pitch-black clouds, as if celebrating the victory, warmly illuminating the ground.
"Kim Sunwoo."
As I gazed at the scene before me, Jeong Minha's voice came from behind.
I turned and met her gaze. Her eyes toward me held many doubts.
I smiled at her and said.
"It's all over now."
With this, the existence that had terrorized the frontier's residents for so long was gone.
It wasn't complete peace yet, but at least attacks from spirits would nearly vanish.
I activated Outsider's Benefit and looked around.
With the situation resolved, it was time to collect the victory rewards.
Then, faint traces of a magic circle caught my eye on the nearby ground.
"Is that it?"
I slowly walked toward the magic circle.
Carefully brushing away the snow covering the ground revealed a magic circle buried in the snow.
It contained a simple sealing ritual like a treasure chest.
"Found it."
I immediately channeled mana to dismantle the magic circle.