Chapter 203: Life Force Vessel
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 203: Life Force Vessel
Magic clashed against magic, canceling each other out.
Boom!
Crash!
Flames and ice shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions.
"Ugh!"
Bayorodum channeled his mana with all his might.
His head felt like it would explode from the sheer number of spell formulas, but he couldn't rest for even a second.
Even a single mistake, a delay of just one second, would mean his defeat.
Even at this very moment, he had to cancel out the countless spells endlessly raining down, along with the barriers that amplified and distorted them.
[Pentaple Shield is deployed!]
He blocked the relatively weaker attacks with his shield and completely evaded the ones that were too overwhelming to handle.
No mistakes could be made in any of his moves. Bayorodum knew this better than anyone.
'I just need to hold out... for one minute.'
There was no way such an absurdly powerful grand magic could be sustained indefinitely. Somehow, by any means necessary, he had to buy time.
'If only I could cast a 7th-circle spell just once...'
Bayorodum focused his mind to cast a new spell. But...
[Lv4 'Crimson Magic Bullet' is activated!]
Thud-thud-thud!
"Aaargh!"
The red flashes of light battered his shield, completely shattering the magic circle he had barely managed to form.
He couldn't concentrate at all. The moment he tried to introduce even a slight variable, that detestable human's attacks would instantly follow like a ghost.
"Do you think I will just keep taking your hits?!"
Since things had come to this, he had to go on the offensive, even if it meant taking some damage. As long as his Life Force Vessel remained intact, he wouldn't die even if he sustained a fatal wound.
Blocking the Crimson Magic Bullets with his bare body, Bayorodum gathered all his mana and completed a massive magic circle.
Whoosh!
[Bayorodum activates the 7th-Circle spell, 'Flame Eater'!]
A massive fireball, three meters in diameter, materialized. Flames of intense heat, exceeding hundreds of degrees, blazed furiously.
* * *
"Fire magic, huh..."
How cute.
Jinhyuk lightly waved his hand.
[The Infinite Magic 'Hell Calamity Fire' is activated!]
Flames of an entirely different caliber surged.
Ruuuumble!
Bayorodum's flames were reduced to a handful of dust and extinguished. It was only natural for a small flame to be swallowed by a larger, hotter fire.
"This... makes no sense..."
The heat was so intense that his entire body felt like it was burning just by facing it. Confronted with a high-rank spell of such absurd power, nothing but a groan could escape his mouth.
I must dodge.
That single thought filled Bayorodum's mind.
Boom, boom, boom!
A stream of fire reminiscent of a solar corona sliced through the sky.
In an instant that was almost simultaneous, Bayorodum's body dispersed into black smoke.
Blink.
Having evaded the attack with the short-range teleportation spell, Bayorodum reappeared about twenty meters to the left.
Of course, that spot was...
"Predictable."
...a location whose coordinates Jinhyuk had already pinpointed.
[The Infinite Magic 'Frost Witch's Sigh' is activated!]
This time, it was ice magic.
Crack!
A single line pierced through Bayorodum's chest.
Crack-crack-crack!
It took less than a second for his entire body to freeze solid. As if that weren't enough, the block of ice soon began to stretch toward both the ground and the sky.
In an instant, a massive ice tree connecting the heavens and the earth was formed. Naturally, Bayorodum, trapped inside, couldn't even lift a finger.
Flying into the air using reverse gravity magic, Jinhyuk approached right in front of Bayorodum's nose.
"There are still about forty seconds left. You must know that keeping this up is useless, right?"
He stared directly into the Lich's eyes, which blazed with fury inside the ice. But at that very moment...
Crash!
The ice tree shattered, and black thorny vines pierced through Jinhyuk's body.
Or rather, they appeared to pierce through him.
Just before touching Jinhyuk's body, the vines disintegrated at a molecular level and vanished.
Even for Bayorodum, who had experienced all kinds of magic, this was a high-circle defensive spell he had never seen before.
"There... there is no way there is a magic I do not know! Such a thing cannot exist!"
[Bayorodum draws the 8th-Circle 'Sword of Darkness'.]
If knights had Aura Blades, Liches had attribute swords reconstructed from mana.
Bayorodum firmly gripped the sword, which exuded an ominous energy. However, even his strongest magic was nothing more than a speck of dust compared to his opponent's.
[The Infinite Magic, Glacial Shaping: 'Sword of the Sky' appears!]
Parting the clouds, a sword descended from the heavens. Its scale was on an entirely different level compared to any sword used so far.
Ruuuumble!
No matter what he pulled out, his opponent countered with a higher-rank spell, as if mocking him. And it was always a spell of an entirely unreachable level.
Amidst overwhelming despair and frustration,
"Aaaaaah!"
The sword, nearly dozens of meters long, crashed down to the ground along with Bayorodum.
Kabaam!
A massive crater formed in the earth.
In the pit, dug about ten meters deep into the ground, lay Bayorodum, covered in dirt and dust. Seeing how he still maintained his form even after taking that hit, it seemed the rumors about a Lich's cockroach-like tenacity were indeed true.
'As expected, there's no other way to destroy him completely besides crushing his Life Force Vessel.'
Jinhyuk glanced toward the outskirts of the palace.
It should be about time for them to show up...
Just as he was thinking that...
Bang!
A heavy impact rattled his shield.
Bayorodum, who had recovered before anyone realized, had cast a fire spell.
Although his entire body looked like a tattered rag, he was absorbing the surrounding demonic qi to restore his broken parts at an incredibly rapid pace.
"I... shall never be defeated."
Even if he lost the battle, he would not lose the war.
Thanks to his immortality and the demonic qi he could continuously replenish, the Lich could keep fighting indefinitely. On the other hand, Jinhyuk, who had limited resources, would only find himself at a disadvantage as time dragged on.
Only ten seconds remained. There was only one spell left that he could activate.
In that case...
Jinhyuk drew a pure white magic circle with his remaining mana.
[The Infinite Magic 'Eternal Redemption' is activated!]
One of the strongest grand spells of the holy attribute unfolded before his eyes.
Hummmmm!
Along with an indescribable energy, everyone's vision was dyed pure white.
A moment later, their vision returned.
Sssssss!
White steam billowed from the spot swept by the holy magic. True to an attack boasting maximum efficiency against undead monsters, its power was beyond imagination.
However...
"Hehehe... Fuhahaha!"
Bayorodum had not been obliterated.
Half of his skull was gone, and his black robe had turned into tattered rags, but his life had not ended.
After bursting into wild laughter for a long while, Bayorodum abruptly stopped.
"It seems I am the one who laughs last. Honestly, in terms of magical skill, you were far superior to me, but that is all."
The smoke slowly cleared. There stood Jinhyuk, looking thoroughly exhausted now that his 'Infinite Magic' had completely ended.
"Remember this well. It is not the strong who survive, but the survivor who is str—huh?"
But as he spoke, Bayorodum suddenly tilted his head in confusion.
He had no choice but to do so. Because at the spot where Jinhyuk stood, other creatures were huddled together besides him.
* * *
"Mogi!"
"Master, we did good, right?"
"It was exactly where you said it would be!"
"Everyone, quiet down. You're too loud."
Goguma and the spirit beasts were raising their voices, gathered around a fairly heavy-looking orb.
There was no mistake.
That was Bayorodum's Life Force Vessel.
"H-How did you...? I... I definitely changed its hiding spot! I hid it so no one could ever find it!"
"Ah... this?"
Jinhyuk scratched his head.
"If you were going to hide it, you should have done a better job. You focused so much on erasing its mana that you neglected to mask the smell of death, didn't you?"
"The... smell of death?"
"Yeah, the smell of death. You might not know this, but our Goguma has an incredibly sharp sense of smell."
Jinhyuk stroked Goguma's head.
"Mogi!"
Goguma snorted proudly.
Staring blankly at the scene, Bayorodum let out a deep groan.
"To think you predicted I would erase its mana, and thought to locate the Life Force Vessel using scent instead of magic..."
He had believed that as long as he took care of eliminating any faint traces of mana, it would be enough. However, that complacency had led to this irreversible consequence.
"Now, what should we do with this?"
Jinhyuk smiled broadly as he placed the Life Force Vessel on his palm.
It looked incredibly precarious. A single slip, and it would fall to the ground and shatter.
"B-Be careful! If it falls...!"
"Well, that would be a shame, but what can you do?"
He could just think of it as losing a pretty piece of glassware. What was the big deal? It wasn't like his own body would get hurt anyway.
With that thought, Jinhyuk's grip became even looser.
"But don't worry too much. I don't plan on breaking it right away."
There was still one thing he needed to extract from Bayorodum. Specifically, satisfying the copying condition.
To fulfill the condition of 'teaching him a bitter lesson in life,' he needed to approach this a bit more creatively.
After pondering for a moment, Jinhyuk handed the Life Force Vessel to Goguma.
"Mogi?"
Goguma tightly grasped the orb with both hands.
"Play with that."
"Mooogi!"
"Oh! Master, is it a ball game?"
"I want to play too! Me too!"
Goguma and the spirit beasts threw the Life Force Vessel back and forth to each other with sparkling eyes. It was as if they were playing dodgeball.
To top it off, Jinhyuk slyly turned on a ViewTube video of "Should I throw it or not? 1-hour loop," setting up quite a fitting stage.
Of course, watching his Life Force Vessel constantly on the verge of hitting the ground, Bayorodum's insides were burning up with anxiety.
"S-Stop."
Bayorodum's fingertips trembled.
"Please. Please stop! That is not a toy. It is my... my lifeline, you cruel bastards!"
He begged with a tearful voice, but the spirit beasts were not the type to be swayed by such pleas.
[You have met the copying conditions.]
[You can now copy one of the skills possessed by Bayorodum.]
A status window appeared, announcing the successful copy.
'I finally succeeded in this too.'
Seriously, he had gone through so much trouble coming all the way to this distant foreign land.
Just when he thought everything was over...
Whoooosh!
With a terrifying sound of tearing air, a sword imbued with Aura suddenly rushed toward Jinhyuk from the side.
It was fast.
"...Huh?"
Since his mana and stamina were almost completely depleted, he had no strength left to react to that attack.
Let alone countering, even dodging was impossible.
Jinhyuk quickly grabbed and hugged Goguma in front of him. The so-called Ancient Species Shield.
If it was the sturdiest shield in the world, it should easily withstand even a sword aura. Probably... that is.
"M-Mogi!"
Startled, Goguma flailed wildly in Jinhyuk's arms.
But that was only for a brief moment. As if remembering something, Goguma also quickly grabbed and hugged Undine, who was in front of him.
Like master, like summon.
Having spent so much time with Jinhyuk, Goguma had also perfectly learned how to cope with crisis situations.
Thus, shield was stacked upon shield. Now, the target shifted to Undine, who was at the very front.
"Kyaaaah! What on earth is this?!"
Seeing the sword right in front of her nose, Undine instinctively reached her hands forward.
There lay the only hope that could block this attack. Without hesitation, Undine used it to shield herself.
Namely...
Bayorodum's Life Force Vessel.
Crack!
The moment the sword struck the glass surface...
"Noooooooo!"
Bayorodum's desperate scream echoed throughout the palace.