Chapter 276: Advent of the Heavenly Demon (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 276: Advent of the Heavenly Demon (8)
It was a bizarre scene.
A human trembling in agony, and Roman Dmitry, the man inflicting that pain, made the battlefield feel entirely surreal.
"...Ugh, ugh, aaargh."
The groans did not stop.
Though his struggles had been violent at first, his senses seemed to grow numb under the continuous torment.
Hannibal.
The proud sword of Kronos was dying in such a pathetic manner.
The onlookers watched the scene with eyes filled with a complex mix of shock, horror, and fear.
The rumors surrounding Roman Dmitry had always been extreme. When he brought down Barco, tales spread of an absolute slaughter, yet he also showed boundless mercy to those who followed him, even going so far as to host a party for his servants. Humans were dual-natured beings by design, but such extreme tendencies felt jarringly contradictory to the masses.
Now, they finally understood. They understood what it truly meant to be inside or outside his fence.
To those he deemed his 'enemies,' Roman Dmitry was no longer a fellow human.
A beast.
A demon.
Whatever they called him, he didn't care. He hadn't fought with the desire to remain human in the first place. The moment one waged war with murderous intent, holding back out of concern for the opinions of others simply did not fit the ways of the Demonic Cult. Kill or be killed. A being who had ruled a world governed by the survival of the fittest had just pushed Hannibal—a man infamous for torturing others—into a cruel, agonizing death.
Finally, Hannibal's body went limp.
Roman Dmitry stood up and swept back his blood-soaked hair.
"The war isn't over yet. Are you just going to stand there and watch?"
Drip. Drip.
Drops of blood fell from the tips of his hair.
Knowing full well that it was the blood of Hannibal, a man who had been breathing just moments ago, Duke Bamford spoke, his gaze trembling.
"...Even on the battlefield, there is a line that humans do not cross. Are you prepared to handle the consequences of committing such an atrocious act in front of everyone? From now on, any of your people captured by Kronos will suffer far worse pain. What you did just now means you have completely crossed the line."
"You speak nonsense."
Roman Dmitry smirked.
The defeat on the Western Front.
Those who were captured had already fallen into hell.
Showing mercy to enemies just to secure a peaceful death for his own captured men was a concept that did not exist in the life Roman Dmitry had lived. It was inevitable that the process of dying would be painful. From the moment they stepped onto the battlefield, the burden everyone had to bear was simply the price of their own choices.
However, he would ensure his people never regretted following him.
He would lead this war to victory, and he would repay the suffering of his men so severely that the enemy would not forget it, even in death.
Roman Dmitry spoke. "Those I define as enemies are no longer human. If you resolved to face the tip of my sword, you should have known you wouldn't die peacefully. If you won't come to me... I will come to you."
He took a step forward.
Just one man.
At the sight of a single man approaching, the soldiers of Kronos raised their weapons, their faces pale with terror.
Roman Dmitry's words and actions were terror incarnate.
Against the Kronos Empire, there had never been a single being who dared to act this way.
It was then.
"Giga Lightning."
Flash!
Boom!
A colossal bolt of light crashed down toward Roman Dmitry's head.
*
Rumble!
The world flashed.
Blinded by the overwhelming force that dyed the surroundings white, Duke Bamford momentarily thought Roman Dmitry might have died.
However...
"To withstand this. Roman Dmitry, you are no ordinary being."
It was Shepir.
After launching a surprise 6th Circle spell, he found Roman Dmitry standing perfectly intact, surrounded by a translucent barrier right where the Giga Lightning had exploded. Shepir had been quietly observing the battle between the knights of Kronos and Roman Dmitry. He had done so to verify the truth of the rumors, and he could now confirm that Roman was a far more powerful being than the stories suggested.
Now, it was certain.
Roman Dmitry was the First Sword of the Continent.
Shepir had seen countless Aura Swordsmen, but not a single one had reached the same realm as Roman Dmitry.
Even the number one ranker of Kronos could not display this level of power.
Whoosh!
Roman Dmitry shattered the residual magic.
As electric currents crackled around the swordsman, Shepir spoke.
"At first, I was merely curious about you, Roman Dmitry. It was truly fascinating to see someone bold enough to declare war against the Kronos Empire—unlike those fools who don't know their place—and actually win every time. But seeing you now, I can understand our past defeats. Against a monster like you, there was no way for the small fry to win."
Rumble!
Magic power surged.
The 8th Circle—a realm whose very existence in reality was questioned.
Shepir was exactly that kind of being.
The reason Duke Bamford was so confident of victory in the war against Dmitry was not because of Aura Swordsmen like Hannibal, but because of his absolute faith in Shepir. An 8th Circle mage was an absolute existence. Even if Roman Dmitry displayed overwhelming martial prowess, Shepir was also a monster who had reached the Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Crash! Rumble!
His magic power expanded.
With a force that seemed ready to swallow the world, Shepir unleashed his full presence.
"From now on, I acknowledge you, Roman Dmitry. I will go all out. Let's see if you can survive this."
Whoosh!
Magic power swirled.
As his circles spun, dark mana surged outward.
At that moment—
"Revival."
It was a forbidden magic that could only be found in dusty, ancient history books.
*
Thud!
"Argh!"
"Aaaargh!"
The corpses stood up.
Including the soldiers slaughtered by Roman Dmitry, the fallen knights of the Kronos Empire jerkily raised their bodies, even those with severed limbs. They no longer looked like living humans. With thick blood dripping from their wounds and unfocused pupils shrunk to the size of rice grains, they were clearly the dead.
If that were all, Revival would not have been classified as forbidden magic.
The corpses of beings who were once Aura Swordsmen flared their Aura and rushed forward at Shepir's command.
Crash! Rumble!
A storm of Aura rose from all directions.
Hannibal, who had lost his legs, dragged his broken body forward using his remaining arm, and hundreds of undead troops simultaneously descended upon Roman Dmitry. Because of Revival, Shepir hadn't bothered to save Hannibal earlier. To Shepir, the renowned strongmen of Kronos were not particularly important lives.
It was then.
Flash!
Roman Dmitry swung his sword.
Instantly, the rushing dead were torn to shreds.
Boom! Rumble!
"You play an interesting trick."
Resurrection of the dead. It was a familiar sight.
In the Central Plains Murim, there were factions that dealt with the dead, creating Jiangshi, but they had never posed a threat to the path of the Demonic Cult. They were beings who had met death simply because they were weak. No matter how many enemies there were, undead or otherwise, he just had to slaughter them all.
Whoosh!
He kicked off the ground.
Cutting down the dead rushing at him, he charged straight toward Shepir.
At that sight, Shepir leisurely raised his magic power.
"Fury of the Heaven."
Flash! Rumble!
Dark clouds rapidly gathered.
A barrage of lightning flashed from the sky, raining down as if to deny Roman Dmitry any room to breathe.
Boom! Crash!
The world flashed white.
It was an attack that could not be avoided with a human body, and Roman Dmitry recognized that the power Shepir wielded was extraordinary. Mages were a breed that utilized 'natural energy.' The ability to command natural disasters through human will was a terrifying force that would be highly effective even in the Central Plains Murim.
Mages had touched the domain of God.
And Roman Dmitry, in his past life, had also surpassed human limits through his own power.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique - Latter Half First Form.'
Fifth Step.
Mana swirled.
The Aura erupting from his feet manifested through Roman Dmitry's blade.
Flash! Rumble!
A single strike.
He slashed through the air.
The exploding lightning and Aura collided. With a deafening crash, the formless lightning was violently torn apart.
It was a shocking moment for Shepir as well. He had never heard of anyone cutting magic with a sword. Moreover, 8th Circle magic was a realm that supposedly could not be matched by human power.
Breaking through the lightning, Roman Dmitry appeared.
Shepir showed panic for the first time and instantly double-cast.
"Flare, Blink."
Boom! Whoosh!
He attempted to keep Roman in check with overwhelming firepower while simultaneously teleporting away.
However, Shepir did not know.
He did not know that the 'fire attribute' was useless against Roman Dmitry, nor did he know that Roman's razor-sharp senses could immediately pinpoint the exact destination of his Blink.
Shepir's body materialized ten meters away from his original position. But the moment his vision cleared, he saw Roman Dmitry bursting through the flames.
Whoosh! Crackle!
Electricity and fire surged harmlessly around Roman Dmitry.
The dead summoned by Revival could not even begin to keep up with Roman Dmitry's speed.
In a situation where any ordinary mage would have been utterly doomed, Shepir reacted instantly.
"Death Hand."
Boom! Crash!
Hands shot up from the ground like jagged thorns.
They bound Roman Dmitry's body. Shepir's eyes turned pitch black as dark mana swelled explosively. Fully revealing his presence as a 'Shadow,' he pointed his finger, intensely concentrating his magic power.
"Die."
He compressed the 8th Circle Fury of the Heaven.
The intensely rising light shrank into a small sphere, and before anyone could even react, it triggered a massive explosion.
Flash!
Space itself was annihilated.
Along the path of the light, everything was utterly destroyed.
Crash!
The air twisted and the ground ruptured. The nearby soldiers of the Kronos Empire were swept away by the white light before they could even scream. It was a power that completely surpassed human limits. Shepir had demonstrated exactly what an 8th Circle mage was capable of, asserting his overwhelming presence even against Roman Dmitry.
At that moment—
Whoosh!
Wind swirled.
Breaking through the blinding white light, Roman Dmitry appeared.
Sixth Step.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique - Latter Half First Form.'
Crash! Rumble!
Mana swirled violently.
Shepir knew instinctively.
The moment this attack landed, he would surely die.
*
Upon reaching the 8th Circle, Shepir felt he had become a god.
The supposed strongmen the world talked about could not even compare to him, and he was confident he could swat away someone like Hannibal with ease. That was exactly why he had been chosen to deal with Roman Dmitry. He truly believed that with 8th Circle magic, he could single-handedly collapse the Western Front and effortlessly defeat Roman Dmitry.
He harbored no doubts.
Even while watching Hannibal die, Shepir had not realized the gravity of the situation.
Crash! Rumble!
Magic power swirled.
I'm going to die.
For the first time in hundreds of years, warning bells screamed in his head.
He stared wide-eyed at Roman Dmitry.
He could not comprehend how someone who had barely lived thirty years could possess martial power capable of overwhelming him. What was certain, however, was that Roman was the natural enemy of mages. He cut through 8th Circle magic, broke through fire magic with sheer physical force, and even Blink could not deceive his eyes.
It was a fatal misjudgment.
To defeat this monster, the Kronos Empire needed to concentrate all of its military might in one place.
Because Shepir had reached the Heaven Beyond Heaven, he had made the 'common-sense' judgment that he could defeat Roman Dmitry with 8th Circle magic.
'At this rate, I'll die.'
His eyes turned completely white.
Link.
His consciousness reached out somewhere deep into the Abyss.
'I'm sorry. I must use what I intended to save for that girl now.'
There was no time to wait for permission.
Faced with a destructive power that threatened to tear his body apart, Shepir explosively unleashed his remaining magic power.
"Congratulations. You are the first being we have truly acknowledged."
Boom! Rumble!
A massive explosion of magic power erupted.
Space twisted.
In the distorting dimensional rift, a void resembling a black hole formed, unleashing a terrifying gravitational force that began sucking in everything around it. Even Roman Dmitry could not escape its pull.
Shepir and Roman Dmitry—just like that, the two monsters were sucked into the dark expanse.