Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 200
>Chapter Title: Me... Wyvern!
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A blinding flash was followed by a terrifying roar that echoed through the space.
* * *
Rumble―
Amid clouds of flame devouring the area ferociously, Aster deployed a force field and dashed through the inferno.
It wasn't long before he kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
*Thud!*
His figure soared high. Infernal's fist slammed into the empty ground a beat too late. *Boom!* As the explosion rang out, Aster hovered in midair, expanding his aura sense widely.
Five presences had taken the bait.
'First off, one of them...'
The one hit by Vaporize was still recovering—scratch that.
That left four moving ones.
He'd just grasped that much when—
*Whoooosh―!*
"......!"
Aster twisted away in midair, evading the oncoming Infernal's fist.
The punch missed by a hair, slicing through empty space. Feeling his back grow slick with sweat despite himself, Aster's eyelids twitched.
'This... might never end.'
The fight had only been going for about ten minutes.
Yet despair was already creeping in.
How many times had he shattered Infernals in those ten minutes? Right from the start, he'd focused his firepower and smashed over ten more.
Dealing with them wasn't hard.
Sure, the surging flames and heat were intimidating, but their attacks were just simple punches and kicks, and they weren't even that fast.
The problem was their endless regeneration.
*Ta-tat!*
Aster landed, assuming a stance, and immediately conjured a Vaporize, floating it into the air. Then came the resounding boom.
*Kwaang―!*
The Infernal struck by Vaporize had its upper body half-destroyed, unleashing a massive wave of heat into the space.
This was the issue...
'Regeneration and explosion.'
Self-repair the moment they were damaged, accompanied by that explosion.
The self-repair kept the Infernals coming endlessly, and the blasts that came with it...
'Dirty.'
Yeah, filthy dirty.
Every time he smashed one, the heat made it hard to breathe... He was starting to worry he'd get cooked by the heat before the Infernals even touched him.
And that wasn't all.
The Infernals seemed utterly unaffected by their own insane heat, making conditions all-around awful.
No lethal one-shot kill—just a slow death by attrition?
"Damn it."
So Aster launched three more Vaporizes in quick succession, destroying three intact Infernals.
Soon, *kwaang―* booms overlapped with flames filling the space. Amid the blaze from five Infernals, Aster reinforced his force field and escaped the area.
As he broke free from the flames spilling outward, something followed.
[Friend, okay? We, run.]
It was Spirit No. 1.
Aster caught his breath for a moment, then looked at the trailing spirit and asked,
"Why aren't you leaving?"
[We, friend.]
A deflating laugh escaped Aster's lips.
'Friend my ass.'
They'd only been together a few hours—friends?
He knew spirits and humans thought differently, but this was still hard to comprehend.
And what?
'We make a contract in the future?'
Seemed like that's why it was hanging around, but even that was ridiculous.
Thinking that far, Aster waved it off dismissively, shooing the spirit away. Or trying to.
If not for the footsteps drilling into his ears again.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
The sound of the first recovered Infernal approaching.
Aster immediately bolted up, ending his brief rest.
That's when the spirit asked,
[Friend, why no run? Can't understand.]
Why not run?
"......Beats me."
Honestly, there wasn't a real reason.
It wasn't some calculated choice.
[Maybe, sacrifice?]
"Sacrifice... tch."
For a split second, Damian, Chenbi, and Myselrn's faces flashed in Aster's mind.
Was this why he was stepping up alone—for them? Volunteering sacrifice to save them?
He mulled it over briefly, but it just drew a hollow chuckle.
'Sacrifice? Please.'
No grand reason like that.
Just... felt like he had to.
Simply... no one else could hold the Infernals like this. Yeah, that was it.
Aster had reached that thought when—
*Thud! Thud!*
The Infernal's footsteps drawing closer.
Aster shook off the thought and fixed his gaze on the spirit.
"You're not going, huh?"
[We, friend.]
"Friend, schmend. If you're staying, go tell the others."
[......?]
"Get out of the ruins first. Tell Senior Myselrn on the sly. She'll handle it."
With that, Aster launched himself back toward the cavern where the Infernals clustered.
The spirit tried to follow belatedly, but Aster was already plunging into their flames.
As Aster's back vanished beyond the surging fire, the spirit thought,
[Friend, sacrifice.]
So what should it do?
Not sure.
But.
[Go first.]
Deliver the friend's message. Figure out the rest later.
Of course... the spirit had no intention of leaving the ruins without its friend.
[Me, Wyvern.]
It was a Wyvern, after all.
The spirit flitted toward Damian's group.
Behind it, Aster and the Infernals' roars echoed.
How far did it fly? Then it spotted them.
Three people approaching from a distant corridor.
[Humans! Ov......er here?]
The spirit called out in delight, then froze, sensing something off, body trembling.
'Something... changed?'
Their auras were starkly different from before.
As the spirit puzzled over the unfamiliar sight, the oldest spirit approached and asked,
[Savior, where?]
[You're......]
[Me, oldest spirit.]
[......!]
The spirit startled at the oldest spirit's form.
No longer a formless lump of light.
Now a tiger-like shape tinged brown, the oldest spirit asked again,
[Me, now 'Gaias.' Guide us. Savior, where?]
The stern question made the spirit quiver and stammer hastily,
[N-no. Friend said leave.]
Damian, Chenbi, and Myselrn said nothing, but the spirit easily grasped their intent.
The resolute will in their eyes proved it.
So it tried to stop them somehow.
But then Gaias spoke.
[Now, we save. We save the Savior.]
No more questions needed.
They knew the cavern with the Savior anyway. Just asked on the off chance.
Even if not that exact spot from the future vision, following these massive booms would lead there easily.
......And so.
Three followed behind the leading Gaias. And behind them...
[We, brave.]
[Agree.]
[We, sacrifice.]
A Milky Way cluster of spirits trailed in a swarm.
The spirit stood frozen, speechless.
But only for a moment.
[Me...... Wyvern!]
It hurriedly joined the group.
* * *
The battle between Aster and the Infernals dragged on monotonously.
Was this even a 'battle'?
Just one-sided destruction.
*Boom, kwa-kwang! Boom!*
Aster floated Vaporizes to demolish Infernals, then sat amid the enveloping flames, focusing his mind.
Vision obscured, but his aura sense and spatial awareness at their limit painted the full picture in his brain.
The five Infernals weren't moving. Fully focused on repairing the damage.
Aster sat a short distance away, periodically generating Vaporizes from his hands to strike them.
Infernals regenerated.
Aster smashed.
Nothing else.
At a glance, Aster dominated utterly—but reality was far from it.
'......Hoo.'
The heat scorching his skin choked his breath.
He wanted to pull back and rest, but any farther and he couldn't one-shot them.
Their flames disrupted energy, weakening even Vaporize up close.
So Aster stayed as near as he could endure, smashing them.
But a doubt lingered.
'How much longer can I hold?'
Mana was fine.
Mental fortitude? Less certain.
Maintaining a force field tough enough for the heat, casting Vaporize, healing his cooking body with Light of Healing—all at once.
No room for slop.
He could manage now, but one slip and his mind would crumble, risking everything.
Put simply... yeah.
If Destroys was a knife-edge fight, this was an endless war with time.
Locked in that grind, a pang of regret hit.
If only...
'......Transcendence, if I could wield it fully.'
Then halting the Infernals wouldn't be impossible.
Transcendence that overwhelmed even Destroys—the pillar of flame would utterly destroy Infernals too.
But.
Impossible.
'Just for an instant.'
Only... a single instant.
Could that fleeting flame neutralize five Infernals?
Probably... no.
So Aster endured.
Suppressing the agony of searing flesh, overtaxing his brain, quelling despair at the endless ordeal.
As said, not sacrifice.
Just... yeah.
Because he could.
Even now, the thought of dying never crossed his mind.
......But regrettably, this was one of countless paths where Aster died.
In the spirits' future vision, Aster held the Infernals alone like this, until mental limits forced Transcendence open.
Then the backlash of that overreach claimed his life.
But a variable arose right then.
*Shaaaaaaa―*
A radiant glow surged from behind Aster. It pushed back the Infernals' filling flames, expanding its domain. Aster noticed when it enveloped him.
'......This?'
A glow invigorating his flesh somehow. Mana? No, distinctly different energy.
This was...
'......Spirit force?'
As Aster grasped its power—
Presence from behind.
"Friend."
It was Damian.
Behind him stood Myselrn and Chenbi, plus spirits manifesting as glowing orbs.
As Aster's eyes took in the scene—
Damian spoke.
"We play together."
......A scene never seen in any future.