Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 196
>Chapter Title: The Best Way to Maintain an Undefeated Record
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At the very moment Aster broke into a run.
Damian, who had his eyes closed, slowly opened them and took in the space around him.
The space was vast and pristine. There was no sign of the battle that loomed ahead. The only harbinger was the ominous *thump, thump, thump* echoing in his ears, warning that something dire was about to unfold.
Damian drew in a shallow breath as he attuned his ears to the sound. He had put considerable distance between himself and the Infernal before parting ways with Aster, granting him this brief respite.
"Are you going to be alright?"
Damian spoke without turning his gaze toward Mysern's voice.
"With what?"
"Whether you can hold out—that's what I'm asking."
Damian pondered.
Could he hold out?
It was a question even he found hard to answer definitively.
The Infernal was powerful, and to make matters worse, his own affinity was ice.
Ice magic was the natural counter to flame, so in the end, the stronger force would prevail—but whether his spells could withstand the Infernal's blaze was no easy call.
As the silence stretched on, Mysern spoke again.
"Your talent is remarkable, to be sure, but it's still too much, no matter how I look at it. It would be wiser to join forces with this old man."
"Won't that put you in danger, Master?"
"This old body of mine—what's the point of clinging to more years?"
"You're right."
"......"
"Just kidding."
Damian gave a faint smile and sharpened his hearing. The Infernal was drawing closer. At this point, with battle imminent, Damian sank back into thought.
It didn't take long for him to speak.
"I'm having fun."
"Fun...?"
Damian nodded.
"My friend's always playing alone. But this time, we're playing together. Of course it's fun."
"......?"
Mysern tilted his head.
He couldn't make sense of it.
He stared at Damian, and one thing became clear.
He had no idea what the boy meant... but Damian looked genuinely thrilled right now.
That resolute gaze was no different from when he'd thought Aster was dead, but the emotion behind it was worlds apart.
Just as Mysern pieced that together, Chenbi approached.
"Sir Mysern, please fall back with us."
Mysern silently studied Chenbi.
She seemed composed, but her eyes betrayed an emotion she couldn't hide.
It was... the frustration of her own powerlessness. Retreating to safety in the rear was agonizing for her heart.
And so.
"...I'll lend a hand, however little it may be. The spirits can't even act in this situation, so I wonder how much help it'll be, but better than nothing."
Mysern stepped up in Chenbi's stead.
To ease the young mage's guilt, even if just a little.
"...Thank you."
"It's only natural."
With that, Chenbi withdrew from the chamber with a much lighter heart.
*Thump, thump, thump...*
The footsteps grew even closer. The Infernal entered Damian's space and took in Damian and Mysern.
Was it puzzled by the sight of the rat that had only fled until now standing boldly to face it?
No way to know.
As the standoff took shape, Damian stared up at the Infernal and slyly curled the corner of his mouth.
"What're you waiting for? Gonna play or not?"
Perhaps those words were the signal.
*Whoosh—boom!*
The Infernal's fist slammed into the ground. Stone dust scattered. Sparks crackled and popped as Damian, who had leaped aside, steadied himself and began casting.
*Layer upon layer upon layer...*
Countless ice flowers bloomed in the air. No, not flowers. Blades of ice, each brimming with lethal sharpness.
*Roar—crunch!*
The ice blades surged toward the Infernal and melted away without inflicting any real damage... but Damian was smiling.
* * *
I didn't stop as I barreled through the walls.
Every now and then, I'd punch through wall after wall, then quickly reorient when a path appeared, before diving back into the stone.
As I progressed this way, chipping away at the walls, a thought crossed my mind.
'Maybe... this could revolutionize mining?'
No fancy equipment needed. And since I was only carving a path for one, there wasn't much risk of collapse.
If you tunneled into a mine like this to find veins?
Sure, you'd still need manpower afterward, but you'd save labor and time upfront scouting for the ore.
Of course, it was nonsense. This was just shortcutting from one path to another through walls; mines were a whole different environment.
Anyway, lost in such idle thoughts to push aside my worries about Damian, I pressed on for a while.
[It's there! Over there!]
The spirit trailing right behind me cried out.
Before I could ask what, a rush of open space unfolded before me.
I thought the wall had ended into a path, but no—it opened into a vast room.
The layout was simple.
The floor was etched with all sorts of metaphysical runes. At its center sat a crystal about two meters long, which I easily recognized as a barrier stone.
I paused for a moment to take it in.
Then, suddenly—
*Roar, crackle...*
A blast of heat 'whooshed' into the room.
Turning toward it, a massive Infernal greeted me.
The Infernal was enormous. Almost the same size as the one that had chased us earlier.
It sensed the intruder and slowly rose, and as I gauged its heat, I muttered without thinking.
"Is that thing weakened?"
[...Yeah.]
"Seems about the same as the last one?"
[It used to be stronger. The barrier guardians are the strongest.]
In other words, we'd been scammed.
But my surprise was short-lived.
I turned from the Infernal and eyed the barrier stone.
'So there are three more like that ahead?'
Someone in my shoes might despair. One was tough enough; four total?
But I was fine.
Hands were faster than eyes, and my feet were faster than the Infernal's.
What did that mean?
'...I'm out.'
*Thump, thump...!*
Ignoring the approaching Infernal, I charged. Soon, the barrier stone loomed ahead with a *whoosh*. But I didn't slow down.
When in doubt, go straight.
*Crash...!*
The barrier stone shattered more easily than expected.
I dashed through the flying shards. Then, without stopping, I punched straight through the wall toward the next one.
*Crunch, grind!*
The familiar vibrations wracked my body again.
I thought to myself.
'One down.'
The best way to stay undefeated was not to fight. So I wasn't fighting the Infernal.
Just smashing the barrier stones.
But there was one thing I hadn't considered.
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Crunch!*
Monstrous noise from behind.
A wave of scorching heat nipped at my heels.
Heat that should have been left far behind by now—why?
Glancing back in confusion, I couldn't believe my eyes.
"...Holy shit."
It... was following me?
* * *
Aster ran hard, the Infernal hot on his tail. He could have shaken it on open plains somehow, but tunneling through walls—and the solid interior walls between them—was no easy feat.
Meanwhile, with the barrier stone shattered, a change rippled through Baharmut's space.
*Shh, shush...*
The barrier enveloping all of Baharmut peeled away like an onion skin, one layer thinner.
The shift was so subtle that Aster, Damian, Mysern, and Chenbi couldn't detect it, but someone felt it plainly.
[It's working! Did it work? Not yet. Three left. But it broke! The barrier's weaker.]
The spirits in the grand hall cheered at the fading presence of the thinned barrier stone.
The barrier that had imprisoned them for ages—unchanged for thousands of years—was finally losing power, even if just one layer.
Of course, it wasn't enough to escape Baharmut yet...
[Ah, aah.]
The spirits let out repeated sighs of awe at the slight loosening of their ancient bonds.
But then.
[But...]
A single voice amid the joyous clamor.
[...Is this okay?]
A spirit monitoring one of Baharmut's spaces via the crystal orb voiced concern from within the grand hall.
[What? It's fine? Not fine? Problem? What's wrong?]
The cheering spirits buzzed, fearing something had gone awry, as the first voice continued.
[We need to watch that side.]
[...?]
The spirit pointed to two spots.
One was...
- Rotten.
Aster, barreling through the wall.
A familiar spirit trailed him, and farther back, the Infernal they feared so much pursued with a ferocious presence.
It was still a good distance away, but perilously close.
[...Ah.]
The spirits sighed, but for a different reason.
They knew.
No issue for now, but soon those trailing Infernals would number two, and eventually four.
And what was the problem?
The Infernals didn't stop even if the barriers broke.
In other words... even after destroying all the barriers, the savior wouldn't be free of the four Infernals.
As the spirits floundered at the sight, the first spirit pointed elsewhere.
[This side too.]
The remaining spot was...
Damian and the Infernal's battlefield.
Or was it even a battle?
- *Crunch! Boom! Crack!*
Endless explosions.
Freezing blasts filled the air, only to vanish pathetically against surging heat.
Then the Infernal's fist inevitably pounded the ground, while the small boy before it barely rolled away.
It was one-sided.
And brutal.
All the boy could do was endure.
His spells were fierce, but too feeble to meaningfully harm the Infernal. The Infernal's attacks were simple, yet each blow was lethal.
- Careful!
The old spiritist occasionally aided him, but unable to fully draw on spirit power, it was minimal.
The spirits fell silent at the scene.
Meanwhile, a thought flickered through their minds.
'Maybe...'
In the future they'd foreseen.
The one who came to the ruins seeking them wasn't just the one savior.
They'd viewed Damian, Mysern, and Chenbi as threats because in that future, only Aster had met the liberated spirits.
So they'd worried the three had derailed the future... but maybe not.
...What if all four had come in that future too?
And only one remained in the end.
And that was the only scene they'd witnessed?
[Danger? Dangerous. Boy in danger? Old human in danger? Three in danger?]
The spirits stirred at the sudden possibility.
If their foreseen future was true, then everyone except the savior would die here.
...Then.
- *Gahk...!*
[...Danger!]
The Infernal's fist struck the boy dead-on. Steam filled the space entirely.
The spirits held their breath, watching.
Even the obscuring steam dispersed in the heat, and when the space cleared...
[...He's okay!]
The spirits cheered as the boy staggered to his feet. He'd taken such a brutal hit he could barely breathe, but radiant light enveloped him, healing his wounds.
He hadn't burned up because he'd blocked with magic and a barrier in that split second, no doubt.
-Are you alright...!
-......
The old spiritist leaped in to shield the boy from the follow-up, and the boy dove back into the fray before fully recovering.
Watching that, the spirits thought.
[Help. We help?]
Shouldn't they help?
[How?]
But there was no way.
The boy wasn't a spiritist, and their power didn't affect the Infernal anyway.
The old spiritist was there, sure... but to them, he was far too frail to channel their strength.
And above all, what held them back was...
[...Fear.]
The fear of the Infernal etched into them over eons.
They'd seen it their whole lives.
How spirits dying by Infernal hands screamed in agony as they vanished. How many spirits perished in those flames.
And so, time passed.
...Toward the future the spirits had foreseen.