Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Rescue Operation - 3
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The ability I had just stolen from Adin with my sword—his so-called 'God's Radiance'—began to shoot forth.
It collided with his radiance.
And so, we engaged in a tug-of-war of power.
That tug-of-war held in balance for a while.
"Urk."
"Maide, you okay?"
"So-so. More importantly, hurry up and get ready."
Risel shouted in response to my words, which slipped out like a groan through gritted teeth.
"Mime! Over here."
"Yes, my king."
"How's Agril doing?"
"Well... I don't think it's my place to say."
At that, Jenia must have checked on Agril's condition.
I could hear the party's conversation.
"Sob sob. Agril..."
"Jenia, how's Agril?"
"He's fine. Hand over the potion quick."
"No, you just said he's fine... Never mind. Here."
Why was Serein suddenly using honorifics based on Jenia's expression?
I felt a stirring from the back.
Soon after.
"Groooowl."
"Agril, you're safe. Thank goodness."
"Maide hyung. We can escape now!"
Good.
I looked at Adin's face across from the radiance.
He had already surpassed his limits.
"Grraaah."
The human skin that had merely grazed his left arm earlier was gradually spreading.
In other words, the pure white light enveloping him was beginning to fade.
It climbed from his arm to his face.
And moments later.
"So that's Adin Press's true face."
I'd only glimpsed it fleetingly through the Eye of Omniscience before, with no time to take it in.
"Urk! How dare you..."
Adin was an old man.
Snow-white hair.
Deeply wrinkled skin.
Eyes gleaming darkly with desire.
What an utterly distasteful face.
But what mattered now was something else.
-He has sinned against Impellium the Almighty (Unmeasurable).
I could see his Blood Letters!
'Blood Letters are visible. Ones that weren't there before!'
[He must have temporarily descended from his divine seat.]
'Yeah. The victim count is unmeasurable. Just how many people has he sinned against?'
[I don't even want to imagine.]
'Same here. And...'
He had sinned against Impellium.
The most secretive sin. The one he least wanted exposed.
[Could he be the opponent Mime mentioned that Adin fought in the past? Impellium?]
'No idea. I'll ask if I meet him later.'
[Heh heh. Pass along my regards too.]
I gripped my sword tighter.
And to shake Adin one final time, I said this.
"You seem to have committed quite a secretive sin against Impellium."
"......!"
Adin clearly wavered at my words.
Now that his face was visible, his emotions were plainly evident.
"How on earth do you..."
Now's the time!
With his emotions rattled, Adin's radiance weakened slightly.
I seized the moment and unleashed my ability even stronger.
-Whoooosh. KABOOOM.
The radiance I fired began to overwhelm his.
"This is... ugh."
"Not sure if it'll kill you, but die trying your best!"
"Uwaaaah. Maide. Maide Mohan!"
He cried out my name in a final death throe.
At the same moment, my radiance engulfed him.
"Graaaaaah."
My light enveloped and swept over him for a while.
How many seconds passed like that?
"Huff huff."
Did I overdo it?
I dropped the fake hero's sword.
My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the ground.
Neril quickly picked up the sword and handed it to me.
"Don't drop this. The mark's gone too."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. If you had to drop your sword, you must've really pushed yourself. Want to lean on me?"
"Please."
I rose with Neril's support.
Then I looked straight ahead.
Adin lay fallen.
No pure white light shone anywhere on his body.
All that remained was a corpse black as charred coal.
Just then, Serein's voice came from behind.
"Maide!"
Turning back, I saw the party already mounted on Agril.
Serein peeked her head out, blinking.
"Did you get him?"
"......"
"You got him!"
Damn it. She said it twice.
The next instant.
Ssshh.
A chill ran down my spine.
Neril shuddered beside me, so it wasn't just me.
"Whatever. Let's bolt."
"Guess we should."
"It's Serein's fault for saying that. Why say it there?"
"Hee hee. Great minds think alike."
"You find this funny?"
I climbed onto Agril's back with Neril.
Whoosh.
Agril soared into the air.
The party was already nagging at Serein.
"Serein noona! You have things you can say and things you can't."
"I-I just asked if you got him..."
"Didn't you read history books? Whenever someone said that line after a demon lord's minion fell, it always revived like a ghost."
"Ugh. I didn't read them... but..."
"And you said it twice. He's gonna revive twice."
"No, but is this really my fault? Logically speaking!"
I chuckled and chimed in.
"It's not your fault. If anything, it's our fault for getting Agril back."
"What do you mean?"
"He was weakened earlier because holding Agril was more than 'passive cooperation.' But now that we've retrieved Agril..."
"The world's law enforcement ended?"
"Yeah. Look."
Adin, like burnt ashes, slowly rose.
I focused my vision on him.
His body began to be enveloped in pure white light once more.
It swelled in size in an instant.
When we first arrived here, Adin was at most 3 or 4 meters tall.
But...
"I'll kill you! I swear on my name, I'll kill you all."
A mountain of light formed.
Even the worm giant I defeated in Dronoer territory wasn't that big.
He had regained all the power from when we first encountered him.
Thud thud.
He began pursuing us, shaking the ground.
"Uwaaaah. One step covers hundreds of meters!"
"Ah, Agril. Faster..."
"Groooowl."
"This is max speed! Serein, over here."
"Now it's automatic."
Serein hurriedly clung to Agril.
Then Risel spoke up.
"No need for that. Mime!"
Mime soon appeared.
He flew alongside Agril.
"Yes, my king."
"Push Agril from behind. With your support on Agril's speed, we should hit unprecedented velocity."
"If the divine beast's body can handle it."
Agril let out a roar in response.
"Grooowl!"
Jenia translated.
"He says he can handle it no problem. Don't underestimate him."
How does she even understand that?
Anyway, Risel nodded to Mime.
Mime quickly positioned himself behind Agril.
And began pushing with his entire body.
"Rooooaaar."
Agril flew forward roaring excitedly.
Good thing it had wind-barrier spells, or at this speed, our skin would've stung badly.
"Stop!"
Thud thud.
The giant of light, Adin Press, chased after us.
Even with Agril's massively boosted speed, it felt perilously close.
"Tch."
I stood by Agril's tail and gripped my sword again.
"Neril. The Withering Jewel. I'm pretty drained right now."
"Oh, yeah!"
I clutched the jewel Neril handed me tightly.
I drew out its energy to the max and swung my sword.
'Attack with light!'
[Please tell me that's not the new skill name. It better not be.]
The 'Attack with light' bolstered by the Withering Jewel shot out a thicker, brighter beam than before.
It struck the pursuing giant Adin.
But.
"Pathetic!"
He staggered briefly but quickly regained his footing.
If anything, the attack seemed to excite him, as his pursuit sped up.
I was on the verge of bitter laughter.
"Good grief."
"Maide..."
"Makes you realize just how weakened he was fighting us earlier."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Even if he's a fake god, it'd be weird if it were that easy. How far to the starting line boundary?"
Jenia answered.
"One minute at this speed!"
Wow. Just one minute to escape a territory-sized starting line?
Impressive, but human greed wishes it were faster in a pinch.
"Alright. Let's give it everything for one minute. Neril, hold my hand."
I placed the Withering Jewel on my palm and reached out to Neril.
She clasped my hand gently.
"Don't overdo it. Just tie his feet if you can."
"Got it. You too."
"Of course."
Neril and I unleashed every skill and spell we could muster, draining the jewel's energy to the roots.
Then Risel chanted spirit tongue.
"Byrar. Miarr. Naelle!"
Mime and all the spirits flew toward the heavenly god.
Probably the party's maximum firepower.
Unfortunately, it didn't kill the thudding Adin.
But it slowed his steps, ever so slightly. Truly slightly.
"40 seconds left!"
The distance from Adin began to widen bit by bit.
Good. That's enough.
But then.
"Grahhh! Die!"
Craaaack.
Suddenly, the pure white Adin's mouth gaped wide.
Something began gathering light there.
Moments later.
Flash.
The light shot toward us in an instant.
Power! Size! Speed incomparable to the beam from his mouth earlier!
I sensed it instinctively.
'Too late.'
Neril turned to me.
"Maide! Dodge!"
Before regression, when Idria's final attack killed me, Neril had turned to me too.
And tried to say dodge.
But she vanished before she could finish.
That despairing memory overlaid my mind.
'No.'
I can't lose party members again!
That's when it happened.
Time suddenly felt like it slowed.
I'd felt this sensation before.
In Atrium territory, when I thought Idria would kill Jenia.
'I have to block it. Me. The hero!'
Unconsciously, I raised my sword.
I'll throw this sword.
Throw it and cleave the incoming light!
That's when.
[Use a different sword.]
'Trail?'
[That's the fake hero's sword. We need it for practical use, so throw a normal one.]
'...Not Trail, then. Impellium.'
I asked, but no reply came.
Anyway, not the time.
I grabbed a spare normal sword from the weapon shop.
Holding onto that previous sensation as tightly as possible, I hurled the sword at the light.
'Sword Throw!'
Time resumed normally.
My sword cleaved through the light beam and flew toward Adin.
"Wh-what is..."
"Hyung. What did you just do?"
"The sword pierced the light. Impossible."
My sword, fully slicing the beam, pierced his form.
Stab.
His posture crumbled suddenly, despite ignoring all prior attacks.
"Wh-what is this?"
He halted his steps.
Instead, he thrust his arm toward us.
His elongated arm pursuing us was as awe-inspiring as the giant of light's chase.
But.
-Zzzt! Crack!
His arm was blocked by an invisible wall.
Sparks flew.
The wall Agril and we had passed through unscathed.
But he could not breach that transparent barrier.
Jenia's voice rang out.
"We've crossed the starting line."
Boom.
A vibration shook our eardrums.
We hurriedly gathered and looked toward the source.
Boom. Boom.
Adin Press.
The fake god pounding on the invisible wall.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
"......"
"Remove this wall. Remove the wall! Impelliuuuuum!"
Huh?
He was telling Impellium to remove the wall?
[No way... Did Impellium bind the heavenly god Adin to the starting line?]
'What. Trail?'
[Why do you sound disappointed?]
'Impellium just spoke to me.'
[What? I didn't hear anything.]
Trail continued, baffled.
[I can buy you meeting him in a dream without me. Even if my soul resides in you, we don't share dreams.]
'......'
[But talking to you behind my back while you're wide awake? Doesn't make sense.]
'Whatever. Not important.'
[No. It looks pretty damn important.]
Ignoring him, I gazed at Adin.
Thanks to Agril's insane speed, I had to strain my eyes to see him now.
He knew he'd lost us but kept pounding the wall.
What a sight...
"Serves you right! Damn fake god!"