358. Zervallua, Beast of Destruction
358. Zervallua, Beast of Destruction
***
After that, an untimely silence hung over the space, and several minutes passed.
Belua bit her lip hard and spoke.
"I will trust the Grand Duke."
"...!"
Arianne tried to say something at Belua's completely unexpected words. But when Belua shot him a glance, he could not open his mouth in the end.
Serin answered them with a nod, but she could not hide her wonder.
Belua’s voice unmistakably carried worry so deep it was hard to believe it was hers, and the knight called Arianne, who had now addressed me as Grand Duke, also plainly seemed worried about me.
At that, a bitter laugh escaped me before I knew it.
'To think I'd ever feel something like this.'
A position where someone worried about me. The fact that I was now in such a position... even I could not get used to it. And because I felt that, I could not help realizing why they were showing such signs.
'Right now, I'm... weaker than them.'
Objectively, they were the ones who possessed strength greater than mine. And now, even they were agreeing to coordinate with Sua and Yujeong according to my words. Yet I had said I would act alone.
It took only a little thought to see how dangerous I must look in their eyes.
But even so, I considered this the best option.
As if by fate, I was once again acting alone, just like that time in the past, but the situation now was completely different.
Back then, I had been able to charge at Zervallua first with skills at their peak. Now, I would have to move amid threats where every moment brushed against death.
Even so, I considered the present situation better than back then.
Because now I knew how to deal with Zervallua, its weaknesses, and even the things that must never happen, so I could respond.
According to the plan I had devised, Sua and Yujeong would each press the offensive from left and right alongside the two Stars. Immediately after, Zervallua’s attention would inevitably be drawn to them.
Ironically, the current me would not be able to draw Zervallua’s gaze the way I had back then. Precisely because of that, there was something I could do.
Organizing my settling thoughts, I slowly poured energy into the Crescent-Moon Weight.
As moonlight gathered thickly, as if congealing, I took in the sight before my eyes.
At the edge of a hill overlooking a ruined city that had lost its light, everyone—including me—readied themselves for battle.
—!!
Then, without exception, all of them simultaneously unleashed their presence in a great surge and began to be enveloped in their own auras.
Among them, the presences of Belua and Arianne unquestionably felt immense to me now, and as if sensing Daji’s shadow, I felt firsthand how enormous their presences were. Along with that, I keenly felt how far I now fell short of... the past.
'...Hoo.'
But even so, the one who would first draw Zervallua’s gaze was me, just as it had been back then.
—!
As the transparent moonlight energy surged, I deployed a new technique with a completely different mindset from back then.
—Moonlight Step.
In a world stained by darkness. From the transparent moonlight enveloping Serin, a vast moonlight burst forth as if exploding, illuminating the world, and in that instant Serin hurled herself toward the ruined city as a single streak of moonlight.
Serin flew as fast as moonlight spreading outward. At that, Belua and the remaining figures also swiftly released their energy and hurled themselves forward.
...
As five streaks of light, each bearing a different hue, rapidly charged toward the ruined city, a change appeared in the great demonic beast crouching at the center of the ruined city.
***
—Zervallua, Beast of Destruction.
A crimson demonic beast in the form of a giant wolf. A form like a mountain, bloated thousands of times larger than an ordinary wolf. Its dark-red fur, tinged with blood, wrapped its massive body with overwhelming pressure, sending chills down the spine just to look at.
And among them, there was one defining feature that symbolized Zervallua.
The thousands of eyes set upon the great beast's head.
No existence could deceive Zervallua's eyes, and that in itself became an immense power that swelled Zervallua's bulk.
The mystic eyes of Absolute Perception, said to hold all things within those countless eyes.
They permitted no one to approach. And so those eyes made it react instantly to danger.
...
The moment a being bearing moonlight seemed to enter its range, Zervallua reacted immediately.
————!!
Countless eyes flew open, bloodshot and radiating overwhelming madness, and the thousands of blood-colored eyes all at once leaped across the vast distance and took in the variously colored beings.
First, the being bearing moonlight at the very front, then immediately after, it 'perceived' the four-colored beings bearing black, gold, blue, and water hues as they hurled themselves forward in succession.
The countless eyes soon shifted their focus toward the two beings bearing water and blue hues. Ironically, the eyes directed at Serin at the very front amounted to less than a tenth of the whole.
WHIRRR!
Immediately after, the beast's countless eyes split their gaze left and right. It perceived the two beings bearing blue and water hues instantly widening the distance to either side.
Clearly perceiving it, Zervallua did not move its massive body.
—Creeeak...
As the beast's mouth slowly opened, its dark-red blood-tinged fur began to float sharply in the air.
As Zervallua's crimson fur surged like great rolling waves, an energy like pitch-black blood wrapped around its entire body.
It was an aura as chilling as it was ominous, yet it was a deep blood-red demonic energy that seemed as though it would mesmerize anyone who looked upon it.
Perceiving the five streaks of light closing to a certain distance, the beast's continuing open mouth stopped for a moment.
As if this much were enough, the beast closed its mouth in that instant, quick as light.
————————————————!!!!!!
It was a soundless shockwave of fresh blood, like a great tsunami of demonic energy.
Zervallua's action had merely been opening its mouth and closing it again. Just that alone, yet the blood-red demonic energy wrapping its massive body spread out in an instant, sweeping through the ruined city.
KRA-KA-KA-KA-KOOM!!
BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!
As the indescribable shockwave swept through once more, the ground of the ruined city peeled back a layer, exposing the flesh beneath, and the countless buildings nearby instantly turned to ash and burst apart with demonic energy.
The shockwave went beyond merging with the blood-red tsunami, embracing everything that burst apart and swelling its force even further.
SSSSSH!!
As if being devoured by the blood-red demonic energy. The ruined city met another great storm and cried out in agony, and the massive aftermath was no exception for Serin's party as they rapidly pushed through the ruins.
Just before they could encircle Zervallua from all sides, they had no choice but to deploy their techniques.
—Moonlit Threads.
Serin, flying rapidly toward the center, fired countless strands of moonlight to block the tsunami of demonic energy pouring from the front and held her ground,
—Light Severance.
Arianne, heading left, urgently blocked the front of Sua, who had been following behind him, and swung his sword wide. Soon after, as a great blue light formed a strange radiance as if devouring space itself, he completely distorted the pouring demonic energy and deflected it in an instant.
—Presence of Death.
Belua, heading right, likewise hurled herself in front of Yujeong, just as Arianne had done. She gripped her dagger with both hands toward the front and unleashed her complete presence. As darkness like an abyss that seemed to swallow the darkness in the space burst explosively outward from Belua, the tsunami of demonic energy pouring from the front split wide as if swallowed by that darkness, its force dispersing elsewhere.
A shockwave of demonic energy so massive it could not even be called an exchange. And the three people who had blocked it head-on.
Among them, Serin, who had barely held her ground while perceiving the momentary situation, had a face harder than ever.
'It's different...'
I had thought it would move its massive body toward me, the first to enter its range, but Zervallua responded far too strangely, as if mocking me.
Even though it had clearly noticed me first, it did not move its massive body, as if waiting for the others. Only after all of them had entered its range did it release its demonic energy in a great surge and respond cunningly.
That was clearly... something a great demonic beast should not possess.
The Beast of Destruction, which should only repeat immediate reactions in its gluttony...
'It has... intelligence?'
Serin's face sank deeper than ever as she finished the thought in an instant, and the hand gripping the Crescent-Moon Weight trembled faintly.
During her Black Ark days, she had always viewed situations objectively, no matter the circumstances.
Rather, the more dire the crisis, the more she knew she must not be swayed by emotion, so she tried to view the situation coldly.
Yet now, Serin was shaken so greatly that she could not hide her emotions.
Because to her, a variable far too enormous had appeared.
Zervallua, the great demonic beast she had thought was the same as the past... was completely different from the past she remembered.