Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Imprisonment - 1
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Impellium fell silent for a moment.
But soon enough, he noticeably changed the subject.
“Anyway, I broke the immortality, and as a result, I received the sanction of the ‘modified’ law and lost the hero’s power.”
“…….”
“It means I could no longer use fame as power. Even though I had already steeled myself for it.”
“…….”
“Naturally, I became infinitely weaker, got taken out by Bellosian, and died. All that enormous fame was stolen away.”
There was no need to ask who took it.
“Bellosian handed your fame over to Adin. So that’s how Adin became a heavenly god.”
“Kukuk. He only received an extremely small portion. Like a single ladle of water from the ocean?”
“Just how much fame did you have at your peak, anyway.”
“Regardless, the law Bellosian modified back then is still in effect. If you kill Kaild…….”
I would receive the sanction too.
I wouldn’t be able to use fame as power.
In Impellium’s words, it meant losing the hero’s power.
A horrific future.
“Well, your party members don’t have any such restrictions. If push comes to shove, you could always borrow their hands to kill Kaild.”
“…….”
“But with their current power levels, they won’t be able to do anything to Kaild after he received power from Bellosian. Neril might deal a serious blow, but in the end, she won’t be able to sever his head.”
Tap tap.
I was unconsciously shaking my leg.
I grabbed that leg on purpose and spoke.
“What’s your proposal?”
“Change the order. Kill Bellosian first.”
“…….”
“Then all the world’s laws he modified will revert to normal. He’s putting every ounce of his power right now into preventing the laws from restoring.”
“So if I kill him, the power blocking the restoration will vanish, and the law upholding immortality will return to its original state too.”
Impellium nodded.
I scratched my head furiously once more.
“No. You should’ve told me this ages ago.”
“Be grateful it’s not too late.”
“Ah, um. Well, sure, I’m definitely grateful for that.”
Come to think of it, without Impellium, there’d been more than one or two moments where things could’ve gone dangerously wrong.
Whining about it at this stage would be too ungrateful.
“I said something I shouldn’t have. Sorry.”
“Not at all. So, what’s the plan now?”
“What else? Change the order, just like you said.”
“Hmm. I’m the one who proposed it, but letting Kaild roam free like this is still dangerous.”
That was true.
If I pulled back from the starting line, what would Kaild do?
With his fame steadily plummeting day by day, he might fly into a berserk rage.
He could even threaten to massacre an entire territory just to lure me out.
With Bellosian’s power, that wouldn’t be difficult for him at all.
‘No choice.’
I hardened my resolve.
Impellium smiled as he read my expression.
I spoke.
“For now, let’s imprison him.”
Until the execution could be carried out.
The next day.
I shared my conversation with Impellium with the rest of the group.
Risel asked.
“Is breakfast ready?”
“They said Serad’s asleep. And is that really important right now?”
“Ah, um…… A little.”
“Anyway, you all get the gist, right? We’re pivoting the plan. From execution to imprisonment.”
Ophense cut in.
“You mean lock him in one of the spaces you create.”
“Yeah.”
“Idria couldn’t even escape the space you made for her, but will it work on Kaild? I can’t get a read on just how strong he is now.”
“The space I trapped Idria in wasn’t made with my full power.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide.
I shrugged.
“Back then, I poured everything into creating the black hole. I had no choice but to skimp on tearing the space itself.”
“Well, given the circumstances.”
“This time, I’m putting all my power into tearing the space. Strong enough that Kaild won’t be able to break out, no matter how powered up he is.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
I stretched out long and lazily.
“Anyway, let’s grab some breakfast.”
“No way!”
Jenia’s shout.
We couldn’t help but be stunned.
Adwin said in a trembling voice.
“S-Sis. You serious? You’re not feeling sick or anything, right?”
“It’s Agril over there.”
“……!”
Sure enough, Agril was descending from the sky at an incredible speed.
“I told you ahead of time. To keep scouting even when I can’t share my vision.”
“That means…….”
“Yeah. Kaild’s here.”
He was insanely fast.
Whoosh. Thud.
Agril touched down on the ground.
The group—everyone except me and Neril—climbed onto its back as we’d planned beforehand.
Jenia said.
“We’ll just double up on lunch instead of breakfast. Maide.”
“Sure.”
“It’ll be over before lunch, right?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Please be careful. Neril too.”
I nodded, and Neril let out a smirk.
That seemed to be answer enough, because Jenia gave Agril its orders.
With Mime’s assistance, they soon shrank to a dot and vanished beyond the sky.
Neril twirled a strand of hair around her finger and said.
“Not nervous?”
“With you here? Not really.”
“Hehe. I like how you always say the nice things.”
“You too.”
We just gazed at each other and smiled.
And then, about three minutes later.
-Kuuguugwang!
A deafening roar that made us want to clap our hands over our ears rang out.
Vibrations strong enough to shake our bodies came crashing down on us.
It wasn’t any kind of grand attack.
Kaild was simply charging straight at us.
Kicking up dust clouds that blotted out the sky.
Thud. Thud.
Kaild Wake.
The man who was my greatest nemesis before and after my regression glared at me with bloodshot eyes.
Shing.
I drew my sword and slung it over my shoulder.
“Yo. You made it?”
“Maide…….”
“You know, there was something I swore I’d say to you next time we met.”
He gave no reply, just glared at me in silence.
I said it.
“You’re one tenacious fucking bastard.”
The usual sly smirk was completely gone from Kaild’s face.
In its place was raw urgency and anxiety.
He spoke.
“It was the flashiest invitation in the world.”
“Did it suit your tastes?”
“Huh. A little.”
Shing.
He drew his sword and assumed his stance.
“Thanks to it, I figured out a way to break through this mess.”
“Gonna beg him to hand over my fame. To Bellosian.”
“……!”
“But that comes with the prerequisite of killing me first. Think you can manage it?”
Whoosh.
The wind blew.
Standing at the edge of that wind, Kaild replied.
“From the way you’re talking, seems like you already know I got power from Bellosian too?”
“Yeah. And I know that’s what got him tied up in that special room.”
“Hmph. He’s not tied up. He passed out.”
“Huh?”
“Something about using too much power. Knocked out cold. Fell asleep nice and easy.”
Even so, Bellosian was a benefactor to Kaild, for whatever that was worth.
Though Kaild wasn’t the type to feel gratitude anyway.
“After the transfer, Bellosian said he’d passed on about ten percent of his true power.”
“Ten percent? What’s that gonna do.”
“For example—this!”
Kaild’s arm moved.
Even from nearly two hundred meters away, his sword wind came flying straight at us.
‘Quicksword?’
One of his signature techniques.
I’d seen it before, back during our first clash atop Agril.
But the power now was incomparable to then.
Just grazing that single attack felt like it’d slice me to the bone.
I swung my sword in a hurry.
-Enormous Slash!
I knocked down each of his sword winds one by one.
Clang. Claaang!
The Quicksword, which had raged for tens of seconds, finally stopped.
I remembered Neril was right behind me.
Without turning around, I asked.
“Neril. You okay?”
“Perfectly fine. Me.”
“Good.”
“But the area around us is a total mess.”
At her words, I quickly flicked just my eyes around.
‘Gah!’
Aside from me and Neril, every inch of visible ground at the starting line had been torn up.
The reed thicket that symbolized it was gone without a trace.
[The rear is even worse. Ah, don’t turn your body.]
‘I wouldn’t pull something that stupid with the enemy right in front of me.’
[Can’t even recognize the original terrain anymore. This is worse than that time you went all-out on lung capacity against Idria.]
Just from a single technique?
I swallowed hard.
That’s when it happened.
“Kukuk. Kehahaha.”
Suddenly, Kaild covered his face with one hand and burst into mad laughter.
“As expected! Yeah, that’s right.”
“What.”
“I hadn’t actually tested a proper technique since getting Bellosian’s power, so I didn’t know…… but damn, I’ve gotten ridiculously strong.”
“But you still couldn’t kill us.”
“That’s why from here on out, I’ll get serious.”
Whoosh.
He tossed aside the sword he’d been holding.
Truth be told, it wasn’t even sword-shaped anymore.
He was the one who’d attacked, but the sheer overwhelming power riding on it had shattered the blade.
Perhaps reading the confusion on my face, Kaild spoke up.
“Heh. Don’t need a weapon anymore. Now I get it—Bellosian’s power isn’t meant to be used like that.”
“……?”
“This is how you wield this power!”
Crack. Crack.
Suddenly, his bones twisted at grotesque angles!
Not just his limbs—even his spine folded backward at a ninety-degree angle.
That posture alone should’ve been instant death.
But unfortunately, Kaild was still alive.
“Urgh. Uwaaaaa!”
He let out a scream of agony, but his face wore the opposite expression—a beaming grin.
Whatever this was, I couldn’t just stand there watching.
I thrust my sword forward and called out.
“Neril!”
“Y-Yeah.”
Her hands blurred as she formed seals at lightning speed.
Soon, my Attack with Light and Neril’s Transcendent Decomposition hurtled toward Kaild simultaneously.
Kuuguugwang.
Attack with Light, powered by 1.2 million fame.
Transcendent Decomposition, powered by 720 thousand fame.
The combined assault had enough force to reduce Kaild’s earlier Quicksword to child’s play.
But I didn’t drop my guard.
“Unload every attack you’ve got!”
“Got it.”
Rather than closing in, we bombarded him relentlessly from range.
The ground crumbled and melted away.
The air around us began to vanish.
Dust billowed thick, obscuring Kaild from view.
But even amid this indiscriminate barrage, a prickling chill ran up my nape.
Trail seemed to think the same, issuing a tense warning.
[Better to seal him away fast.]
‘Yeah. You’re right.’
-Pull into Space!
Zzzt.
It was hard to see through the dust cloud, but I tore open a spatial rift right next to where Kaild had been standing moments ago.
As I widened the rift, I said.
“Neril. I just made the space.”
“…….”
“I tuned it so the gravitational pull doesn’t affect us, but I can’t block it from sucking in air. Like I said last time, breathing will get tough soon.”
“…….”
“So hurry up and hit it with your magic…… Neril?”
Neril’s expression was strange.
Her lips trembled as she craned her neck upward.
My gaze followed hers.
“……!”
The pull was definitely working fine.
All the thick dust around Kaild had been sucked into the space.
Which was how we could see it.
“Heh.”
Kaild—or whatever was presumed to be Kaild—standing there.
“W-What the hell is that?”
For starters, its height looked to be around twenty to thirty meters.
The waist that had bent at ninety degrees was now ramrod straight.
Two horns jutted sharply from its head.
Its mouth had elongated into a muzzle, lined with hundreds of teeth as thick as a man’s arm.
Its muscles were swollen beyond taut, fit to burst, and in place of its tattered clothes, shaggy fur covered its upper and lower body.
Neril summed up the entire grotesque sight in a single word.
“Monster…….”
That’s right.
Kaild now looked like a monster through and through.
‘Hmm. So killing it’s fair game now? Heroes just can’t kill humans.’
[You’re seriously that chill seeing that thing?]
‘Eh, probably not. No way Impellium failed to predict something like this.’
[No, seriously—why are you so damn casual about it?]
Just figured it suits Kaild to a T.
Step.
Kaild—no, the monster—took a single step toward us.
It was just walking, but somehow my body felt lighter, like it might float away.
“The gravity pull’s got zero effect. Its movements are way too smooth.”
“……We should just cancel it. No point wasting energy.”
“Yeah.”
I dispelled Pull into Space.
Swipe.
In the meantime, Kaild halted his advance.
For a brief moment, we simply glared at each other.
Neril whispered to me.
“You said even Idria got dragged in by that gravity, right?”
“Yeah. Kaild now seems way stronger than Idria was after absorbing Adin’s soul. Maybe even stronger than me.”
“……And you’re fine staying this calm?”
“Feels fine. Even after coming this far, I still don’t think I’ll lose.”
Neril lowered her voice even further.
“I believe you on that. You won’t lose to Kaild, at least. Ah—not that I think you’d lose to anyone else.”
“Why?”
“You’re the real hero, and he’s the fake. No matter how much Idria flaps around, she can’t lay a finger on Bellosian, right? Feels like the same deal with you and Kaild.”
“…….”
“What’s actually shocking is that this is just from borrowing ten percent of his power.”
Her words forced even me to tense up.
Ten percent of Bellosian’s true power, and it was already this monstrous.
That’s when it happened.
“You look pretty shocked.”
The monsterized Kaild called out to us.
I shrugged.
“Nah. Honestly, I was lost in thought for a sec.”