Chapter 387
Chapter 387
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 387
>Chapter Title: As Much as I've Been Fucked
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“……Evade!”
As the Black Stone wizards kicked off the ground and leaped away, *kwaduduk!* Rock spikes erupted from where they had stood.
[O wizards, do you have nothing more to show?]
The Black Stone wizards' faces hardened at the voice booming from the sky above. Their pride was being torn to shreds.
They wanted to launch themselves into the air right then and there, climb onto its back, rip off those wings, and smash it into the ground. But...
“……Urk!”
The Black Stone wizards clustered together and raised a barrier field. *Phit! Pibibibik!* The barrier trembled perilously as it was struck by the rock spikes.
In the midst of it, they fired spells toward the black wyvern, but with a single flap of its wings, the magic bounced away.
“Sir Gait……!”
“……Just wait.”
Gait gazed up at the sky with a grim expression. The Black Stone wizards were blocking the relentless barrage of spells raining down without respite. Narrowing his eyes at the magic pounding against the barrier...
*What kind of monster is this...*
The spell hammering the barrier right now was one the Black Stone wizards had used mid-battle. In other words, that monster had stolen the Black Stone wizards' magic.
Dragon Tongue— if it truly existed, would it be like this?
He couldn't say.
But one thing was certain: the fight couldn't drag on.
Yet charging headlong into a powerful spell invocation wasn't an option either...
Behold.
*Grooooaaar—!*
When the black wyvern halted its magic and roared, the mana in the atmosphere churned like a stormy sea. The violent waves made not only the Black Stone wizards groan and stagger, but Gait as well.
“Y-You cunning...!”
Gait bellowed, unleashing his own aura. The dense spray of mana dispersed the encroaching mist.
[Better to be cunning than vile.]
“......”
Gait ground his teeth at the taunt, but his magic didn't let up.
The Black Stone wizards dodged Yongyong's spells, gathered, scattered, repeating the cycle as they traded blows.
Under their cover, Gait sought an opening for a decisive strike, but it was no easy task.
It was a drawn-out exchange.
Tedious—for Gait, the black wyvern, and Yongyong alike.
Gait had the power to tear Yongyong apart at any moment, but Yongyong high in the sky offered no chance. Nor could Gait easily take to the air. The ground was Gait's domain; the sky was Yongyong's.
Conversely, Yongyong lacked the strength. The Black Stone wizards' defenses were solid, and magic alone couldn't pierce them. It wanted to descend and shred them with claws, but it knew the ground was their turf.
So, how long would this battle last?
...The end wasn't far off.
*Tsz, tsuzuzuzu—*
It began with a faint, almost imperceptible shift in the air currents. Or rather, to be precise, it wasn't the air.
The earth—the mana dwelling within it.
“......What?”
Gait instinctively looked down at his feet at the incomprehensible phenomenon. Yongyong sensed the change too.
If Gait merely noticed something "off," Yongyong perceived far more.
[What is... this...]
From the sky, gazing down at the earth.
Mana was stirring.
Like water spiraling into a vortex, all the mana in the ground converged toward a single point.
And the site where this vast expanse of mana gathered was none other than...
*......That vile human?*
Yes, where he stood.
By the time Yongyong realized it, not only Gait but the Black Stone wizards had caught on as well.
As if by agreement, they halted the fight and turned their gazes toward where the mana was being sucked in.
Or tried to.
*Tzueung—*
A bizarre frictional hum rang in their ears.
[......!]
“Gasp!”
In an instant, the mana across the entire earth was nearly drained. But it was only for a moment.
*Kwaaaaaang—!*
An explosion rocked the ground. Blinding light engulfed everything. Amid the groans from Yongyong and even the Black Stone wizards...
At the epicenter of that light.
Stood Aster.
* * *
Seventy-two Ultimate Stones.
Four formed a pair.
Eighteen pairs in total—the light they unleashed blanketed the space.
The light spread in concentric circles, shredding everything in its path. No, "shredding" wasn't quite right.
It was outright vaporization.
And within that finely fragmented time, Aster writhed in agony.
It hurt.
*Like this...*
Had it ever hurt so much before?
Not even the final moments of his previous life, battling Pahren, had been this agonizing. The clash with Destrow was the same.
The pain was so distant, he almost wanted to let go of his mind entirely.
But Aster didn't yield to it. No—he embraced every sensation, as if savoring the torment.
Because it was his final moment? No, that wasn't it.
*Pain is...*
A fleeting instant, yet eternal.
How much more so in this transcendence that splits the fleeting into fragments? Like eternity stacked thousands, hundreds of times over.
In that stacked eternity of stacked pain, it felt as if even the already fragmented time was breaking down into individual shards.
And that was the breakthrough Aster found.
The finely split time...
*Even finer.*
Finer still...
Fragment it.
Of course, it wasn't easy.
His thoughts were already accelerated to the limit. His brain was overloaded. But Aster ignored the feasibility.
In this moment, the indescribable pain was the blade that split time. The pain layered in the split time sharpened his senses further, and those honed senses accelerated his thoughts more.
And so, once.
When he fragmented time.
*......I see it.*
His mana sense realized the incoming magic from all sides wasn't "one."
What had seemed an unfathomably distant spell from Otto wasn't a unified whole... but a sequence of overlapping, continuous spells.
The Ultimate Stones...
*......Seventy-two.*
And four make a pair.
*Total of eighteen pairs.*
This wave of light wasn't singular—it was something hurled simultaneously by eighteen pairs of Ultimate Stones.
But...
*Not enough.*
Aster fragmented time again. The pain amplified with the finer split, but with senses forged by the amplified pain, he split time once more.
And again...
*Tzueueung—!*
Second acceleration.
*......*
His even sharper mana sense swept the surroundings. Otto's magic no longer seemed fast.
He saw the "threads" in the overlapping waves of light that had been indistinguishable. And there were a total of...
*......Eighteen.*
Each thread clear as day. Some had already grazed Aster, others rushed to devour him.
Aster had endured two threads with his body. Sixteen remained to withstand...
*Can I take it?*
He considered.
Raise a barrier, wrap himself in Collision Formula, slow it with magic. Of course, ordinary magic wouldn't do. At least... yes, the deep blue flames. That much was needed to slow it.
So, if he did that.
He asked himself again.
*Can I... take it?*
The answer was simple.
*......No.*
Once more—
*Tzueung...!*
Time fragmented further. Otto's magic now appeared frozen. Aster took in the threads of light bearing down right before him. Unthinkingly, he flared his mana.
*Sakak—*
The light thread touching his mana crumbled like grains of sand. But it hadn't lost its power. Each grain was a arrow that would pulverize flesh—he could see it clearly.
So, what now?
Aster shut out his vision and heightened his mana sense. Bodily senses were meaningless in this ultra-fragmented time. With that sharpened sense, he scanned the light threads. And—
*It's possible.*
Conviction surged, and his will moved naturally. Mana followed, forming a wall. And to it...
*......Interference Formula.*
A familiar mana manipulation. But there was no certainty. Interference Formula was made to pierce barriers, after all. No guarantee it'd work on spells.
But the result...
*Sararak—*
Success.
The light waves touched the mana field laced with Interference Formula and melted away like salt in water. Sensing it with his keen perception, Aster pressed on.
Now, the remaining waves...
*......Fifteen.*
As the mana field that dispersed the light crumbled, Aster's sense swept the next wave. Tracing its pattern, he analyzed it.
And so.
*......Fourteen.*
When he blocked another, instinct rang alarm bells. No further—it was dangerous. But Aster ignored it. Survival or not, death was the same either way.
Again...
*Thirteen.*
The count kept dropping. Each time, a deep fatigue washed over him. Not physical—his mind was wearing down. But...
*......Keep going.*
Eight, seven, six...
Yeokcheon wailed. As if pleading to stop.
But Aster didn't. As said before, blocking or not, death awaited.
And so...
Five, four, two.
*Jijijik, jik—!*
Consciousness wavered. Thoughts tangled like after a bender. Just one more, one more block...
...A thought struck him.
*Block it?*
What changes?
He was already at his limit. Surviving this attack left no strength to continue fighting. Meanwhile, the enemy?
This spell must've burdened even Patriarch Otto. With preparation time, maybe, but instant casting like this was tough even for grand archmages. So he borrowed power from Yeokcheon's fragments.
But that didn't mean Otto was spent. What did that imply?
Surviving this spell...
*......Doesn't end it.*
Temptation crept in. Give up now. Better a clean death than clinging pathetically.
In a way, it made sense. Dying in battle spared him a gruesome fate.
But.
*......Fuck that.*
Aster steadied his faltering will. Not just his mind was fraying—his will too. This weakness wasn't truly his. He had to recognize that.
Thus.
*......One more.*
He raised the mana field. He wanted to close his eyes and rest, but he forced it. Stomach churning against his will, Aster mechanically formed and adjusted the field.
He wasn't ignoring the inner voice either.
It wouldn't end.
Reaffirming that, Aster expanded his mana sense after raising the field. Amid crumbling light waves inches away, it stretched far, locking onto one presence.
*......Otto.*
That damnable Otto.
In the finely, ultra-fragmented time, even Otto was nearly a still object. Gazing at him, Aster summoned his will. His "will to live" was dead and listless, but Aster had always thrived on negative drive.
To the extent I've been fucked...
*......You should get fucked once too, right?*
Malice boiled. Energy filled his lethargic heart. The surge stirred his mana. Or tried to—it wasn't easy. Otto's mana had infested everywhere.
But amid it, Aster found familiar mana. Scattered intermittently across the ground.
*...Right, this.*
*Crimson Jade.*
Or more precisely, the blood that failed to become Crimson Jade.
The blood had vaporized traceless under Otto's spell, but the mana within hadn't fully burned—it lingered in the air. Aster widened his sense further, capturing the drifting mana. And...
*Hwarak—*
Deep blue flames rose into the void.
Engulfing Otto.
*Good.*
Aster's heart swelled. Landing a hit on Otto made the pain vanish.
It was then that the silent Yeokcheon reacted.
*Woooung—*
An eerie resonance.
Gravitational pull linking Otto and Aster. And riding that pull came...
A fragment.
In the split time ignoring time's flow, the fragment's movement made Aster mutter a curse.
*......Fucking bastard.*
If only it'd done this sooner...
...Regrettably, that was Aster's last conscious thought.
*Kwaaaaaang—!*
Back in the flow of time, Aster lost consciousness amid the earth-shaking roar. And in his ears, a wretched scream.
“G-Guaaaaaah!”
As the light faded, Otto's wail echoed.