Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: The Eternal Unquenchable Flame (5)
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Setting aside anomalies beyond standards—like divine authority or a dragon's breath—
Without a doubt, the most destructive fire in the world was "hellfire."
The Flame of Gehenna, the Flame of Golgotha, the Flame of Grimos... All three boasted destructive power incomparable to ordinary earthly flames. Even the weakest, the Flame of Gehenna, easily surpassed the heat of a fire kindled by humans at full strength.
To say nothing of the hellfire from the deepest abyss, the Flame of Grimos.
It was the ultimate flame, its very existence shrouded in uncertainty. The deepest pit of hell, "Grimos," was a chaotic melee that even most demons shunned entering. There was scarcely any chance for the living to witness its flames.
Even the powerful demons residing in Grimos regarded that black fire as dangerous and kept their distance. Thus, for any human to wield the Flame of Grimos was nearly impossible...
Except for one. The sole exception.
The "Archmage" who had directly confronted and replicated that flame from the abyss of hell.
After countless trials and errors, once she succeeded in replicating it, the Flame of Grimos became Melissa's sharpest dagger. She had incinerated demons in hell with it numbering well into the four digits. Even high-ranking demons with formidable powers were often utterly consumed the moment the flame touched them.
This was a flame that permitted no defense or counter—never once blocked except by dragon speech.
And yet.
Kuuhuuu...
That black inferno was extinguished once more, effortlessly.
―――― Kugugugugwang - !!
It wasn't blocked, scattered, distorted, or solidified. The Flame of Grimos was precisely "extinguished" by the crimson blaze.
It was absurd. A flame burning another flame? The hellfire that annihilated existence, burned by a similar blaze? The common knowledge that no fire surpassed hellfire in destructiveness was being shattered mercilessly.
Melissa furrowed her brow deeply. Then she gazed at the warrior, who had transformed into a raging blaze.
"What in the world... did you do? What is that flame...?"
"[It's no different from what you did. I kindled it with fuel contained in my flesh.]"
Kadim replied in a casual tone. Flames mingled in his pronunciation, making his voice boom majestically. At a glance, he resembled a dragon exhaling breath.
"No, that... it's not just any flame, is it? How... how could you erase the 'Flame of Grimos'...?"
A decisive slash cut her words short, followed by a straight-line charge of explosion.
―――――― Kugugugugwang - !!
The attack was so sudden she couldn't dodge. Melissa was engulfed entirely by the oncoming flames.
"[Have you forgotten my old advice? Unless you're trying to deceive, never show panic to the enemy.]"
"...".
Melissa bit her lip until it bled. Not because of the sudden rebuke from her old comrade. A far graver reason.
That "blood flame" inflicted external wounds, ignoring even "Mana's Blessing."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely ignored. Most damage was mitigated by mana consumption. But the precedent of even a trace piercing Mana's Blessing, combined with the flame's inherently overwhelming power, made even a sliver fatal.
'I blocked even that dragon's breath with mana... What kind of flame is this...'
Flame control spells had no effect. To extinguish the flames clinging to her body, she had to sever the space itself. In the meantime, her shriveled, peeling skin endured scorching agony she hadn't felt in ages, gritting her teeth through it.
She barely had time to respond. This flame wasn't a one-shot finisher; it was an ongoing state of unknown duration. Even dodging once meant bracing for repeated explosions, endlessly preparing evasion spells under tension.
―――――― Kugugugugwang, Kugugugugwang - !
Replicating or analyzing it was impossible. It was forged from the War God's aura and dragon blood. No matter how versed an archmage was in flame mysteries, piercing and substituting such primal materials with mere mana was out of the question.
Unable to find a counter, she could only flee.
Kwa - ang!
Suddenly, Kadim leaped like a flash, closing the distance.
Scorching thermal pressure crushed her chest. She poured white hellfire at his face to repel him, but it was effortlessly extinguished. Kadim devoured the hellfire with his enveloping flames, swinging his axe downward. The trailing explosion tore into Melissa's abdomen with numbing force.
――――――― Kugugugugwa - !!
"Hwik..."
No time to catch her breath. The axe head's flames used reverse thrust to control momentum, snapping the blade back without the slightest delay.
Desperately, Melissa bound the axe haft with hundreds of flame tendrils. She summoned a tidal wave of lava, erected a wall of black flame, struggling to block the slash any way she could, but...
――――――― Jjeojeojeojjeok, Kugugugugugwang - !
...it was futile. Once again, Kadim nullified all flame interference with a single stroke.
A chain of attacks followed mercilessly. The scorching axe blade's flames ripped and burned the flesh from her limbs red-hot. Melissa barely escaped via instant teleport just before her face split apart.
"Hwik, kuhk..."
She painfully realized flames were utterly disadvantaged against that "blood flame." As a fallback, she switched to other elemental spells.
But they fared no better.
―――――――― Kugugugugwang - !!
Water evaporated, ice sublimated, wind scattered, distortions shattered. The blood-scented blaze equally eradicated anything in its path. Melissa finally realized this wasn't a matter of "matchup."
This was a matter of "power."
That "blood flame" didn't suppress with special effects—it simply incinerated everything with "transcendent firepower." Even similar flames or unique anomalous properties. Kadim's assertion that she'd burn out like a moth was not the slightest exaggeration.
Helplessness—an overwhelming helplessness—染ed her inner self.
It was an "anomaly beyond standards," like heavenly punishment or dragon breath. Unless one was a celestial god, no one could confront it head-on. Not even an archmage who had just crossed the threshold of transcendence.
Yet... this archmage who survived even hell was no ordinary being.
Soon, Melissa found an opening behind her. Just as she had felled a dragon with a similar anomaly hours ago.
"Hehheuk, hehhe... This is fun, Kadim. I had no idea you were hiding such a cute little flame."
"[......]"
"But... we're not fighting to see whose flame burns hotter, are we?"
Melissa gestured with a straight face.
Ceiling, floor, walls, empty air... Lava giant hands surged from everywhere. Dripping molten blood-like lava, they greedily stretched toward one spot.
Toward the "Dream of the World Tree," barely evading the flames.
Kadim furrowed his brow sharply.
Indeed, their fight wasn't about proving superiority. Melissa didn't care losing if she destroyed the orb; for him, victory meant nothing if it shattered.
―――――――― Kugugugugwang - !!
Even cleaved by slash explosions or burst by lightning bolts, new hands sprouted from all directions. Instead, Melissa kept casting, multiplying the lava hands. Eventually, the orb would inevitably break.
Kadim chose a more fundamental solution.
Eliminate the spell's source.
Kwa – ang!
Kicking off the ground in a charge, Melissa tried to teleport as if anticipating it. But she only watched the warrior rushing forward, not checking her rear.
"...Hut!"
The thrown axe sparking lightning struck the mage's back.
To use it this way, Kadim had hurled lightning earlier and deliberately not recalled it. Blocked by Mana's Blessing with no damage, but enough surprise to disrupt focus. Seizing the hesitation, Kadim closed in effortlessly.
After that, no more spells were cast.
"Heup!"
Heavy fists battered Melissa's face relentlessly.
As an archmage, Melissa could cast grand spells with mere focus and thought, without chants or circles. But when even focus and thought were disrupted, no archmage could cast.
It was like being pummeled by a near-burning mace. Each punch exploded flames, rendering Mana's Blessing meaningless. Fierce impacts burst her lips, tore cheek flesh, rattled her skull. Soon, all lava giant hands vanished like melting snowflakes.
"Hwik, kuhk, keuuk..."
Melissa groaned in pain. Kadim asked sternly.
"[......Does it hurt?]"
"Hehheuk, heuhk... Hehhe... No."
"[......Does it hurt?]"
"Heuhk, no... It doesn't hurt at all... Feels like cotton swabs... "
"......"
A lie. Pain like she hadn't felt in centuries. It had to hurt. Kadim scowled fiercely, glaring at Melissa, then.
Roughly seized her collar and hoisted her up.
Then bolted out of the hall, racing to the cliff's edge in one breath, hurling himself under the World Tree as a meteor god.
Gravity heavily pressing the body, fierce winds stinging the ears, a comet-like tail of fire trailing...
Bloodstains painted in fiery pigment trailed their plummeting path. To prevent teleport or spatial warp escape, Kadim never ceased his punches amid it all.
The two crashed into an open field on the outskirts of the elves' city, Hesiliad.
――――――――― Kwa – ang!!!
Impact explosion layered on the fall shook everything. The ground cratered deeply; charred stump-buildings collapsed in ruins. Pinned beneath, Melissa coughed violently. Kadim pressed down without releasing her collar, asking.
"[......Does it hurt?]"
"Kuhluk, kuhluk... Heuhk, no, it doesn't... "
"[......Does it hurt?]"
"Heuhk, heu... It doesn't hurt, I said it doesn't... "
Kadim gnashed his teeth to the breaking point. Eyes bloodshot red, he battered her face with murderous fury.
"[If it hurts, say it hurts!! If it was a mistake, say it was a mistake!! Why carve needless wounds, self-flagellate, and swing blades at others!! What does that change—does the situation improve even a hair?!]"
Melissa's face blanked into expressionless void once more.
It hurts.
"It doesn't hurt..."
It hurts.
"It doesn't hurt..."
It hurts.
"I-it doesn't hurt..."
It hurts.
"I-it hurts..."
It hurts.
"It hurts, it hurts... Yes, it hurts..."
The blank void vanished, covered in blood and tear stains.
The woodcutter's scolding axe strokes erased the expression of the wooden doll that had set the whole world ablaze with its own flames, helpless and burning itself too.
Kadim heaved ragged breaths as if his lungs would burst. Finally, he shattered her defiant facade of self-destruction. Rising, he pointed to the rift in the distant sky, asking.
"[......That rift—you truly didn't want to open it, right?]"
Melissa's eyes rimmed red with bloodshot tears. Laughter and sobs mingled in messy weeping.
"Yeah, that's right... I didn't want to do it either..."
"[......]"
"I just wanted to find the world you left... I thought that rift naturally led there..."
"[......]"
"If I'd known it connected to a demon-infested hell... If I'd known it would unleash demons across the continent... If I'd foreseen that all my devotion and efforts would turn into such a catastrophe... I never, never, never, never, never, never would have opened that rift... Heuhk, I'd have just stayed quietly in the Magic Tower, researching magic, waiting for you..."
The festering scars of her inner rot were laid bare. Kadim listened to the truth gnawing his eardrums like poison, teeth clenched.
"You know, Kadim...? After opening it, for over a century, without fail, even in hell, in my right mind, I dreamed... Dreams rewinding to the instant just before opening the rift? And no matter how I screamed, thrashed, writhed, howled inside that body to stop myself, I couldn't halt it?"
"[......]"
"Then, in the dream, I gather mana again, activate the spell, the rift opens, demons pour out... And in the end, like that irreversible day, I stupidly collapse like an abandoned wooden doll in a hut, just staring at it..."
A rambling litany of confessions, laments, sighs, grief, sobs, and regrets poured out endlessly, like excreting filth. Having vomited all her truths, Melissa reverted to her ashen, hollowed-out shell.
"...Kadim."
"[......]"
"What I saw in hell... You saw it too, right?"
Melissa fixed her gaze. With heavy eyes, toward the hell rift slowly sealing over its revived roots.
"How... is Gale doing? Is he still... being torn apart by demons, suffering?"
"[......]"
In her embrace lingered the girl's record. From the nearly burned record that would crumble at a touch, a tiny paper scrap fluttered down.
Kadim extinguished only the flames on his hand. Silently bending, he picked up the scrap and read each word.
His face darkened, dimming even the firelight.
*
After the great demon died, Kadim vanished through the rift of unknown origin.
And then.
Our hero, Gale, disappeared.