Chapter 213
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 213
Chapter Title: Part 2, Chapter 5: Divine Beast (3)
Kwaaaargh!
The basilisk writhed in agony as it plummeted downward.
Nearly half of its massive body had vanished.
Even as it rained down drops of sacred blood, the basilisk couldn't comprehend what was happening.
'What in the world was that light?!'
It was a being favored by the god Drian. That was the basilisk.
Though it hadn't descended in its complete form, humans of this era were no more than insects to it.
Yet that bizarre light had erupted, shattering the 'Blessing of Drian' that enveloped its entire body.
No, it had survived because of Drian's blessing.
Without it, the basilisk would likely have been obliterated entirely.
"Humiliating...!"
To end up like this from a mere human's attack.
For the basilisk, the fact that it had been bested by a puny human was a greater disgrace than the opponent's strength.
Gnashing its teeth, it transformed into human form.
"Not quite an instant death, huh?"
At that moment, the air shimmered as a black mass materialized.
The black mass dispersed into particles, revealing the human who had fired that strange light—emerald hair fluttering as he appeared.
The human aimed his staff at the surviving basilisk.
"Die."
Light erupted once more.
But the basilisk wasn't foolish enough to take the same attack twice.
Judging that its petrifying ray couldn't block it, it mustered its remaining strength to slip into the space between dimensions.
"Still had the power to flee."
Jamie withdrew the light and summoned darkness, raising his arm high.
A 9th Class space magic, 'Dimension Wall,' completely severed the exterior from the space, forming a new dimension that encased a wide area in a spherical barrier.
"Guh!"
Since the space had transformed into its own unique dimension, the basilisk lurking on the boundary was flung back before Jamie with a heavy impact.
"You thought you could escape?"
"Y-You pathetic human!"
Light blazed forth.
The basilisk couldn't even scream amid the agony of its skin searing away.
Jamie had moderated the power.
Since it was still alive, he intended to extract information from it.
"Cough!"
The basilisk convulsed, vomiting blood.
Its hair, white as its scales, had burned pitch-black.
'Fiat Lux' was a power forged from the 'holy light' born of the ultimate phenomenon Black had created, shaped by 9th Class magic.
A magic that was both black sorcery and not black sorcery.
Its might was potent enough to neutralize even a divine beast like the basilisk.
"You'd best watch your tongue from now on."
The basilisk glared at Jamie, rolling only its eyes.
It struggled to grasp the situation.
A human had reached the supreme realm.
That shouldn't have been possible.
In an ancient past, the 12 Gods had stripped humans of their 'right' to it.
Especially in this modern era, it was utterly impossible.
Occasionally, humans broke through their limits, but they numbered so few—easily countable—that they fell within an acceptable margin of error.
The same held true now.
'Even if you've reached the supreme realm, it's impossible to inflict this much damage on me!'
Not even dragons, lords of magic, could be easily subdued by it in its current state.
Yet a human—far inferior to dragons—had cost it half its body.
The problem was that the power wasn't purely magical.
Facing a force it had never encountered in tens of thousands of years, the basilisk had no idea how to respond.
Moreover, the black sphere enveloping this place had severed its link to the heavens.
"Your god won't save you."
Jamie eyed the basilisk's mangled body.
As expected of a non-ordinary lifeform, no flesh scattered from the rents—instead, shadows fluttered like flags.
For the basilisk was a kind of illusion, a conceptual entity.
"Who are you?"
Being conceptual allowed it to endure horrific pain unscathed.
That didn't change the fact it faced a life-or-death crisis.
Jamie offered no answer, merely sneering with a mocking curl of his lip.
A blatant scoff.
"Is this the extent of your power upon descending to this land?"
"Don't look down on me, you human scum!"
The basilisk raged at Jamie gazing down from above.
Among sentient beings on this earth, humans were the lowest. Mere slaves.
For such a race to look down on a noble creation of the gods defied the laws of heaven.
It would be stranger not to rage.
Yet Jamie's sneer only deepened.
"Not even in your true form would it suffice."
Jamie's eyes tinted purple as black mana slowly seeped from his body.
The basilisk's eyes widened in shock.
"W-What are you?! How do you possess that power?!"
It stammered in utter panic.
It had no choice.
The basilisk knew that power all too well.
It had clashed with it countless times.
Not merely clashed—it had suffered innumerable deaths at its hands.
That black mana was the culprit.
"Diablo Volpir's black mana... How do you...?!"
Diablo Volpir.
The 12 Gods' archenemy. The most dangerous human.
And the human the basilisk feared most in the world.
How could it forget, even after tens of thousands of years?
Jamie asked it.
"So. How many times is this for you?"
The basilisk fell silent.
Ignoring it, Jamie pressed on.
"If memory serves, you've died by my hand about 300 times, haven't you?"
The basilisk's eyes bulged as if they might pop out, its lower lip bitten raw.
Its sclera burst with ruptured veins, on the verge of bleeding.
This human spouted information impossible to know, even in death.
The purple-tinged black mana and that insufferably arrogant tone.
Only the appearance and voice differed—the behavior mirrored the human it feared most.
Yet it couldn't be.
"...Diablo Volpir should still be sealed in the abyss."
He wasn't present, but its master, god Drian, had assured it Diablo Volpir was imprisoned in the primordial darkness that predated even the 12 Gods.
Not even Diablo Volpir, creator of god-slaying black mana, could escape that prison.
"You... his successor, perhaps?"
"Who knows."
"...But his records were mostly erased."
Jamie gazed at the flustered basilisk with evident delight.
"Lucky you didn't die in one hit."
"What?"
"Looks like I can learn something from you after all."
"...I have nothing to say to you."
"Doesn't matter."
Come to think of it, the basilisk was among the 12 Gods' closest aides.
It surely knew the world's secrets.
Pyro had said pursuing that keyword would prompt the 12 Gods to eliminate him, but what if the basilisk spoke directly?
'Any fallout would hit it, not me.'
Pyro couldn't speak freely without risking attack from the 12 Gods, but the basilisk was expendable.
As a resurrectable conceptual entity, it was a major headache regardless.
Removing it from the world was a win, secrets or not.
Either way, eliminating the basilisk would deal a massive blow to Drian, one of the 12 Gods.
Weakening the 12 Gods' forces.
That alone was a tremendous gain.
"Kekeke! I don't know your connection to Diablo Volpir, but you'd best not expect to pry anything from me."
Its earlier panic gone, the basilisk sneered smugly, self-esteem restored.
No matter.
"You can just keep your mouth shut."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll handle your brain myself."
"Wait!"
A vein bulged at Jamie's temple.
The basilisk's mental barriers would be tougher than imagined.
As a divine beast, after all.
Thus, he had no choice but to employ 9th Class power.
'Pushing it hard today.'
Not yet accustomed to 9th Class, each use overloaded him.
Jamie swallowed the blood in his mouth and pointed his index finger at it.
"From Diablo Volpir's death to the unrecorded history ten thousand years prior. Speak it all."
[Cursing]
[Consciousness Erosion] - 9th Class Mental Magic
Empowered by his authority of curses and infused with 9th Class mana, the mental magic 'Consciousness Erosion' activated.
Blood tears streamed from his eyes.
The basilisk desperately reinforced its mental barriers to resist, but it was futile.
"Hngh!"
In its true form, maybe—but in its gravely weakened state, it couldn't block 'Consciousness Erosion' laced with curse authority.
"S-Stop!!"
The divine beast shrieked in abject ugliness.
But soon, its eyes lost focus, glazing over like the dead.
Blood streamed from Jamie's seven orifices as he commanded.
"Speak it all."
The basilisk's eyes unfocused further, and it began reciting past events in obedience.
"After sealing Diablo Volpir, we..."
Urk—
At that instant, its body twisted grotesquely, spewing a clump of blood from its mouth.
A conceptual entity like the basilisk had no blood.
That must be a component sustaining its form.
"Guh-guh-guh-gurgle!"
Its body contorted at impossible angles, dead yet not quite.
The 'keyword' had triggered.
"...So they planted safeguards this deep, huh."
Jamie watched the basilisk curl into a spherical, grotesque ball.
Even a conceptual entity couldn't escape the keyword—its very essence warped.
"Nothing's ever straightforward."
Tsking in annoyance, Jamie frowned at the shrinking basilisk.
It dwindled to a speck, then vanished entirely.
An absurd end left little to say.
"A shame I didn't get the details."
Still, as planned from the start, it was a huge win.
A direct hit to Drian's forces.
Permanent erasure or heavenly resurrection later—who knew? But it wouldn't appear in this era.
'In the end, to uncover the world's secrets, I need to hear it straight from the 12 Gods.'
The moment he dismantled the Dimension Wall, Drian would sense the basilisk's demise.
But from another dimension, details like how or by whom would elude it.
That alone would make it wary of the human realm—and exceedingly cautious.
The god of violence and plunder was that sort.
'Grand name, but sneakier than anyone.'
A vile creature befitting a wicked god. Without the 12 Gods' system, it would've been the first targeted by others.
'That's enough.'
With the 12 Gods' order crumbling already, Drian wouldn't breathe a word.
At best, to its ally 'Crolan, god of hypocrisy and inaction'—but cliques exist for a reason.
Crolan was no less vile; they'd sooner backstab each other.
Anyway, if they grew cautious and prepared...
Jamie would use that time productively.
"This'll do."
Jamie lowered his hand, and the Dimension Wall crumbled.
Thus, Harmonia regained its freedom.
No more interlopers left to interfere.
Yet someone apparently wanted to ruin the mood.
Gazing down, Jamie spotted Jin standing there, his panic evident even behind the white mask.
"...What the hell just happened? What was that black sphere? And the white light earlier? Where'd the winged white snake go?!"
Jin seemed utterly baffled by the situation.
Understandable.
Even to a Sword Master, the basilisk was an unmanageable monster.
He'd likely rushed here to help.
Commendable spirit.
Jamie landed before Jin, patted his shoulder as he passed.
"We'll talk later. Later."
"Jamie Welton!"
"Kinda tired now. Gonna sleep."
"Hey!"
Blood trickled from Jamie's nose as he collapsed.
Aftereffects of 9th Class magic.
Rushing to Jamie, Jin checked his condition and let out a hollow chuckle.
"Zzz... Zzz..."
"...You?"
Jamie slumbered deeply, face serene.