The Princess of Alvheim
The ship rocked violently as the sky split open with fire and wind.
A magnificent welcome indeed.
They had fused the mutually reinforcing energies of flame and wind to amplify their destructive power. The raw destructive force was on par with Sergey’s Ice Age. The moment they sensed my presence, they countered with a high-tier spell combo. These were no ordinary opponents.
Memorize Skill — Solar Explosion released.
Memorize Skill — Avalanche released.
Eclipse activated.
I collided the pre-prepared spells of extreme yang and extreme yin, then maximized the repulsive force with Eclipse.
The world bleached white. The crimson whirlwind that tried to swallow the flash was instead torn apart.
BOOOOOOM!
The light of destruction didn’t stop at pulverizing the whirlwind—it evaporated the nearby clouds as well.
Call Elemental
Sylphid — Scar of the Wind
Undine — Abyss Barrier
“Protect Her Highness!”
Hisssssss!
The deep-blue barrier vaporized. The wind sharp enough to shave mountain peaks buckled before the flash. Yet the elves held their ground without being swept away by the maximized repulsion.
Tsk.
“This is exactly why I hate dealing with pointy-eared bastards.”
They wielded immense power without any mana rearrangement process. Just snap your fingers and the spirits solved everything.
That’s not something you should be saying.
“Memorize has its own restrictions, you know?”
I could only store up to three skills at a time, and each use came with a twelve-hour cooldown.
“You filthy huuuuuman!”
“Who, me?”
“How dare you ambush a vessel carrying Her Highness Agnes Gudrødsson, the Fifth Princess of the Alvheim Empire!”
One of the pointy-eared bastards screamed with a face flushed red.
“Do elves these days take Animal Communication as part of their etiquette classes?”
“Animal… what?”
“If not, why else would you be barking so much nonsense?”
“You—earthling!”
“We’re in the middle of a trial and you’re demanding courtesy? Give me a break.”
While sneering, a sudden sense of déjà vu made me frown.
Wait a second.
That princess or whatever she called herself… I think I’ve heard that name before.
I scanned the pointy-eared figures standing on the deck until my eyes met a certain woman’s.
Ah.
It’s you.
Agnes Gudrødsson.
Someone you were connected to in your previous life?
“Well… sort of.”
It wasn’t exactly a deep connection. We had clashed several times while climbing the Tower.
Hoh. So did you emerge victorious?
“Twenty matches. Seventeen losses, three wins.”
That is quite the rarity. An opponent who humiliated you with defeat.
“Defeat? Your wording is a bit harsh.”
I won the last three times, didn’t I?
The previous seventeen losses happened before I sat upon the Monarch’s throne—back when my Devour ability was still underdeveloped. After I used the Rainbow Flashing Stone to transform my body and step into the realm of transcendence, I never lost again.
In other words, I had already tasted the transcendent realm back on the sixtieth floor.
“In this life, I won’t lose.”
The massive explosion created by repelling Solar Explosion and Avalanche tore through the now-silent sky devoid of even a single breeze, flying straight toward her.
“Earthling. You will pay the price for underestimating me.”
Spirit Arts — Rapid Growth
The burning wolves swelled to nearly ten meters tall and opened their jaws wide. It was a technique that poured mana into a lupus to instantly amplify its spirit power.
“Pure essence of fire. It’s going to be quite hot.”
Agnes’s bold claim was no exaggeration. The lupus, now more than twice its original size, radiated heat intense enough to make hellfire seem lukewarm.
Yeah. I know exactly how hot that thing is. I took it to the face multiple times in my previous life.
And more importantly, I knew how to counter it.
The random game of learning while getting hit—or rather, learning the enemy’s patterns. The hint lay in the words Agnes had just spoken.
Blessing of All-Devouring Erosion activated.
Blessing of Greed activated.
The power of a fake constellation that interfered with providence. I infused it with the strength Baal had granted me.
The ruler of the seventy-two demons. The constellation that governed Greed among the Seven Deadly Sins.
The blessing Baal bestowed can corrupt both tangible and intangible things, dyeing them with his own color.
「Kyaeng?!」
One lupus’s eyes bulged as if they would pop out. Black spots bloomed across its red flames like the marks of the Black Death. The traces of death devoured the wolf’s body in an instant.
“Lupus!”
“Looks like your doggy is sick. Shouldn’t you take it to the vet?”
“You! Earthling! What kind of sorcery did you use?!”
Even the pointy-eared bastards were crying sorcery. The world really was ending.
To think you could apply that unclean power in such a way.
Nyx muttered in a tone that could have been admiration or horror.
As expected of a conceptual goddess—she recognized it immediately.
Spirits were essentially spiritual bodies. Spirit arts was the act of summoning a formless spirit into the world. At its core, it involved pouring mana into the spirit’s concept to forge it a physical body.
Even if you erased those flames, you would only be reducing the power poured into the spirit. The actual damage to the spirit itself was negligible.
But you interfered with the pure spirit power that composes their bodies.
Just as a stain on white clothes is hard to remove, the effects of corruption and degeneration struck the lupus—whose body was made of pure mana—with lethal force.
“Explain it so I can understand, you earthling!”
Oh dear. Listen to that tone.
I could let it slide, but our goddess is not on the same level as you.
She is called a princess, so of course she has no experience doing laundry.
“Oh. That’s true.”
But you’ve never done laundry either, Goddess.
While we casually chatted, I activated a technique.
Do-ol-ah activated.
I released the internal energy concentrated at my fingertips. The two-meter-long blade of condensed qi sliced across the corrupted lupus’s neck.
The flames that formed its body splattered in all directions like blood.
“Kyaa!”
Agnes collapsed with a sharp scream. The remaining two spirits charged, but I kicked off the air and broke through them.
Full of openings.
Did she really take her eyes off the enemy just because she received a little shock? Was this a butterfly effect from meeting her earlier than in my previous life?
This was the fresh, newbie version of Agnes. How precious.
I’d make sure to establish the hierarchy properly.
“Stop him!”
Spirit Fusion
The wind swirled in resonance with the flow of an aura blade, spinning repeatedly to maximize the destructive power carried by the sword strike.
The elven swordsman gathered the amplified power at the tip of his blade the instant it was released and thrust it forward with blinding speed.
The momentum behind that strike is quite fierce.
Now I understood why the earth-side players kept getting demoted.
I had already used two of the skills stored in Memorize. On top of having just released my internal energy, following up with the next form would be a beat too slow.
Which was exactly why I had prepared the next move.
True Cintamani effect activated.
Mana → Seon Energy
Thundercloud Technique — Brain Net activated.
A net made of lightning energy unfolded densely. The lightning that clung to the wind wrapped around the blade crackled as it gnawed away at the aura blade.
The beauty of his swift swordsmanship had been rendered meaningless.
Blood Reaving activated.
I yanked the immobilized elven swordsman toward me and smashed his face with a fist reinforced by Monstrous Strength and explosive demonic energy.
BANG!
The elven swordsman turned into a handful of blood and scattered.
There had been a minor hiccup, but I landed safely on the deck.
Right then.
“Let the pillaging begin.”
What I would take were the lives of the crew.
Void Projection activated.
Lexy summoned.
Ark summoned.
I had to finish this before the ship reached its destination.
Therefore—
“Let’s go all out.”
“This goddess shall assist as well.”
Nyx, manifested in her homunculus body, gracefully extended her arm. The Polar Night surged like a tidal wave, fiercely swallowing the spirits.
“Your Highness!”
“A-ah…”
Agnes could only let out a dazed sound. She had lost control of her spirits.
Sylphid and Lupus both launched attacks in response to their contractor’s crisis, but their movements were closer to desperate flailing without any real edge.
True Dragon Armor activated.
There was no need to even deploy explosive demonic energy. This was the strongest defensive form, reinforced with dragon scales. Their attacks were at a level that could be completely neutralized by True Dragon Armor.
“You really make it sound like it’s nothing.”
“You can do at least this much too, Goddess.”
“Hohoho. To put this goddess and a mere mortal on the same level—how blasphemous.”
Says the person lying on the sofa eating cotton candy. There’s zero persuasive power in those words.
「Grrrruuu!」
The bear-like high-ranking earth spirit, Duik, swung its forepaw. The force behind the attack was enough to bring down several apartment buildings. There was no reason I couldn't meet it head-on, but there was a simpler way. No need to waste my strength.
Blessing of All-Devouring Erosion activated.
Blessing of Greed activated.
「Gruuuk?!」
The weakness of pure beings—they were even more vulnerable to corruption. Thanks to Agnes, I had confirmed just how effective the combination of these two blessings was against spirits.
The energy I released wouldn’t produce such a dramatic effect, but when a mana-constructed spiritual body charged directly at me like this, the result was perfect.
Void Mirror activated.
Implementing essence of Primordial Species — Tyrannosaurus.
Implementing essence of High Orc.
Duration: 3 minutes.
Crack. Crunch.
The base was the strongest tyrant among the primordial species. I projected the High Orc essence onto its originally stubby arms, sculpting them into massive, muscular limbs.
My physical abilities had increased several times over. Since this was a battle of speed, I excluded martial techniques.
Explosive Demonic Energy activated.
Monstrous Strength activated.
I charged forward with dark-red energy wrapped around my arms and threw a punch. The spirit, already corrupted and twisted by the two blessings, exploded the moment it made contact with my fist.
“Aaaargh!”
Another elf screamed and collapsed.
“Ahan!”
“Th-the spirit… it’s in pain.”
“You cowardly earthling! It’s that sorcery from before!”
Yes, yes. That sorcery is correct.
It wasn’t a normal counter-summoning. I had interfered directly with the mana that formed the spirit’s body, dealing damage to it. The shock seemed to have fed back to the elf who was mentally linked with it.
“This is pretty good.”
Anti-Spirit Combat Strategy acquired.
It could be used as a tactic against spirits in the future. While it didn’t show dramatic effects against already manifested abilities like the combo Agnes used at the start, it was extremely effective when dealing with spirits constructed from mana.
“I cannot allow you to reach Her Highness! In the name of the Royal Guard’s honor!”
“You were part of the Royal Guard?”
You’re weaker than I remember.
“What did you say?!”
Why are you getting angry? I didn’t say anything.
Your expression is saying everything for you.
Ah. Sorry.
The pointy-eared members of the Alvheim Royal Guard I fought before my regression were a bit stronger. Still, expecting the same level from people on the sixtieth floor would be unreasonable.
“It’s fine. Even Royal Guards can be a little weak sometimes.”
“To tarnish the name of the Alvheim Royal Guard and expect me to—!”
Crunch!
So noisy. Their pride really is ridiculously high.
By the time I had taken down all the elven royal guards, Agnes had finally recovered from the shock.
Whether she regained her senses or not, the battle was already over.
She was a spirit arts specialist with no connection to physical techniques. Once the distance had been closed this much, she would have no proper way to respond.
“You. Earthling.”
“Yeah. Pointy-ears.”
“What is your name?”
“Didn’t they teach you to show proper etiquette when asking for someone’s name?”
The blood drained from Agnes’s already pale face.
Did I tease her too much?
The moment I raised my internal energy to finish things before she got even angrier—
“I am Agnes Gudrødsson, Fifth Princess of the Alvheim Empire.”
She lightly pinched the hem of her skirt and gave an elegant bow. A posture that perfectly blended arrogance and grace.
Her completely unexpected reaction nearly made my jaw drop. I barely held it back.
Hmm.
She had gone this far. There was no way I could just brush it off now.
“Yu Jinho.”
Agnes repeated my name several times, savoring each syllable.
“You… no. Yu Jinho. You are incredibly strong.”
“I am truly humbled by Your Highness’s recognition.”
“I’m speaking from the heart and you’re going to mock me?”
“……”
Um. I’m sorry. I apologize.
But I lost to you seventeen times and suffered all kinds of humiliation, you know? Even though those events have been erased by my regression, it still feels pretty bad.
“Yu Jinho. I will defeat you, so just wait for me.”
Flames flickered in Agnes’s eyes.
It wasn’t a metaphor. They were real flames created from spirit power.
“Next time, I won’t lose.”
“Sure, sure. Do your best.”
If she still didn’t break after seventeen defeats, then I would acknowledge her.
I lifted my right foot and stomped down hard.