Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Beyond the Invasion
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At that moment, Zectbaya gathered its two heads into one.
Two streams of breath poured out simultaneously. One was frost, the other lightning.
The tightly fused breaths twisted like a spiral, merging into a single stream as they surged forward.
How powerful was that magic, exactly?
If I threw myself to the side right now, could I escape the blast radius of that spell?
What about a defensive spell? If I cast Protection Magic and layered three shields of light, could I withstand it unscathed?
No.
The Lord's eye was telling me. That wasn't a spell you could block like that.
So that meant I had to die here....
But a spell was still just a spell.
Ziiing!
The Pure Magic I completed at high speed pierced through the enemy breath hurtling right toward my face.
It looked like a transparent eraser devouring a flashy spiraling bagel from the top down.
In an instant, the Pure Magic broke through the breath and collided between the enemy's jaws, detonating.
Pffft.
A faint popping sound, like air leaking from a balloon.
Tch. As expected, it doesn't work on the main body. Well, what did I expect? It's not some patron—it's a living creature with a building-sized physique standing right there.
"But how does a creature shrug off Quadruple Magic barehanded.... Ugh!"
I twisted my waist forcibly and pulled out the ice arrow embedded in my body. Ugh, at this rate, I'm really going to die.
No choice now. Whether it works or not, should I summon Ignis?
No way it's truly immune to magic, right? If I team up with the queen....
-No.
Then the queen spoke directly into my mind.
-I've been watching through your eyes until now. That thing's body is impervious to magic.
"Yeah. I saw it too. It looked like patron bandages."
-Not quite, but similar. So the answer is possession.
"Possession?"
Kiiiiieeeeeek!
In the midst of it, Zectbaya threw its head back and roared.
The thing had some temper. Getting pissed because its attacks kept failing? I'm just as pissed as you are.
"I'm already possessed by Lukkar?"
-Not him. Me.
"It's still dangerous, isn't it? No, even if we did, what would change? My body would just get stronger. Knight Master level at best? Useless. You think even a great sword could kill that monster?"
-My possession is different.
"What?"
-When we possess, you become fire.
"What are you talking about!"
-It means we become one. You become me, and I become you. Then we can kill that pitiful monster.
"So how?"
-You'll know when you try.
What kind of irresponsible nonsense is that!
What am I supposed to do if it doesn't work? And fire? Fire's magic too, isn't it? You said magic doesn't work on it?
-Of course, your body can't endure it right away. Even if we release the possession as quickly as possible, there's a risk of death. And the possession time won't last more than 10 seconds.
"10 seconds? What can I do in just 10 seconds?"
-So I won't force you. If you think there are no other options, I recommend fleeing.
No, but if I flee now....
What about the tens of thousands of people living in Vindyr behind me?
Sacrifice them?
Kill them all just to escape first?
Because if I die here, nothing gets done? Because the whole world will perish?
Ugh....
A flood of thoughts poured into my head.
This is all because I'm weak.
How can I bet everything on just 10 seconds? At least a minute, or 30 seconds, then maybe I could do something....
Wait a second.
"Queen. Answer quickly from now on."
-What is it?
"You said I can only last 10 seconds because my body is weak? But right now, with Lukkar's possession, my body's super enhanced, right? And there's about 2 minutes left on the possession timer. So what if we layer it on top in this state?"
-Layer it? Without releasing the existing possession and adding mine on top? Are you sane? What will you do when both unravel at once?
"Just answer quickly!"
-Hmph. 2 minutes.
"2 minutes? As long as Lukkar's possession holds?"
-Yes. But when both release at the same time, you die. Definitely.
"No? I won't die."
With my decision made, from here on it was a race against time.
I immediately summoned the wood spirit, the dryad.
"Ah.... Contractor, you always manage to startle me whenever you call."
The dryad sighed as she looked at the monster roaring in the distance. I immediately reached out toward her and cast holy magic.
"Life Link. 1 to 9."
Wooong!
In an instant, chains of light connected the wood spirit and me before vanishing. The dryad flinched for a moment, then nodded.
"Life Link accepted. From now on, all damage to you, Contractor...."
"Enough! Get as far away as possible! Hurry!"
"Yes. Understood."
The dryad hurriedly retracted her tree roots and retreated. Ugh, no time. This alone has probably eaten up 20 seconds already.
"Ignis. Possess me."
-As you command.
At that moment, pain like needles stabbing every inch of my body flooded in.
Simultaneously, through every one of those needles, an illusion of flames hot enough to melt iron injecting into my body.
So much flame.
How much fire had poured into me?
It felt like all the blood flowing through my veins had been replaced with flames.
At the same time, I could feel every nerve in my body linked by blazing fire. Yes, this must be it. The feeling Ignis meant by 'become fire.'
“…….”
When I raised my head, I could see the hideous monster's malice surging toward me.
Chilling hatred and rage.
But my eyes now saw more than that.
Every flow composing the creature, gathered deep inside its body into a single core.
-That's the weak point.
The queen said. Or did I? We're so overlapped now I can't tell where one ends and the other begins.
Either way, the enemy's weak point was a bit below where the two heads met.
A little above the heart.... The center of the collarbone?
Destroy that, and every flow composing the monster's body would snap at once.
So I charged in.
Swoosh!
My body felt light.
So light it was almost like flying. And I hadn't even cast flight magic.
Pzzzt!
Then a vast lightning net poured down from above.
Just looking at that grid pattern sent shivers down my spine.... But it didn't matter now. I just had to break through before it touched me.
Sizzle!
The moment I stomped hard, the ground ignited.
I threw my body forward, and in that instant, I flew out of the lightning net's range.
How fast was I right now?
Pzzzzzt!
In the meantime, the enemy layered lightning net walls upon walls. Before the mesh tightened, I hurled myself through one of them.
At the same time, countless ice arrows rained down.
But it didn't matter.
Siiiiiizzle!
Hundreds of arrows vaporized before even touching my body.
As the world filled with thick steam, I lightly passed through the second invisible lightning net wall.
The mesh had already narrowed a lot.
But I'm small too, right? Who knew being petite would pay off someday.
Amid it all, my body automatically reacted to the flood of external information.
Before, too much info overwhelmed my brain, causing agony.
But now, my whole body naturally divided and processed it.
As if I had brains all over my body, connected by a neural network of flames.
That way, I broke through the third lightning net and the fourth, and I could feel thousands of ice arrows vaporizing in an instant, filling the world with steam.
Yeah. Guess I really am hot right now.
But a question arose.
Knowing it didn't work, why was Zectbaya desperately pouring out ice arrows?
Wouldn't it be better to pool that mana into dozens of Ice Meteors? Thousands of puny ones just turn to steam instantly?
No, the opposite.
What it wanted was to create massive amounts of steam.
Why?
To obscure my vision with steam and land something more powerful.
-How does it feel to be a genius?
I said—or did the queen? How does it feel? Great. Amazing. I can see right through the enemy's intentions to their roots.
Then, a breath poured through the steam from the sky.
The union of lightning and ice.
That exquisite balance, seeming to merge yet never quite doing so—it was beautiful.
Even when I saw it with the Lord's eye before, it wasn't this intense. Now with the queen's eyes added....
The world looked completely different.
Anyway, with another burst of acceleration, I was already out of the dual breath's impact zone.
But the breath was powerful.
Impact.
From the point of impact on my back, an immense shockwave radiated outward.
-Don't resist. Let your body go.
The queen and I said it together. Right. If it's pushing my back, no need to fight it. You know tailwinds improve records in track, right?
Wooong!
Riding that tailwind, I closed in to point-blank range in an instant.
Still far?
My human side thought so, but my fire side didn't accept it.
Close. One kick off the ground and I'd reach the enemy.
-Draw your sword.
I immediately drew the Elven Lord's sword from my waist.
-Pour the fire flowing inside me into it.
So I poured fire into the sword. This was intriguing—like veins connecting the sword and my hand.
Then the silver blade glowed red-hot, flashing yellow as it began emanating extreme heat.
Hot!
My God, even possessed by the Fire Spirit Queen, it felt hot? What the hell did I do to that blade?
Curious, so let's test it now.
Sizzle!
Igniting the ground with my sole again, I leaped straight for the enemy's solar plexus.
Zectbaya.
A monster as tall as a decent building.
In that gap, it desperately erected a new lightning net wall, but my body had already passed through the space.
Before my eyes, densely packed scales like iron armor bristled.
And now I could see.
Between all those scales, minuscule flows like electric currents packed tightly.
Those flows neutralized incoming magic instantly. That's why it didn't even blink at Quadruple Magic.
But what if I went in personally?
With the momentum of my leap, I thrust the sword between the scales and slammed my body in.
Zzzt!
The pitch-black skin beyond the armor charred even blacker, the wound gaping wide.
Finally, exposed red flesh.
I burrowed my whole body into that flesh, incinerating everything I touched to ash.
Screeeeech!
Carving a path with my body, the core where all the enemy's flows converged finally appeared.
....A coffin?
This was a coffin, right? The kind you go into when you die? It carried a coffin inside its body? Why?
Either way, endless living tissue extended from that coffin, forming Zectbaya's body.
No reason to hold back then.
Sizzle!
One clean slice.
The coffin's thickness far exceeded the sword's length, but it didn't matter. A heat ray extended from the tip, making it longer than it looked.
From the bisected coffin, something utterly horrific spilled out.
Zect.
And Baya.
The two Arch Wizards' bodies, half-liquefied, fused as one.
So I'd split the one back into two. Not that it mattered anymore, since they'd already merged.
And it stopped.
The massive monster Zectbaya, with a hole punched through its chest—its body halted, aside from the pathetic corpses of the two humans before me.
"I win...."
...ned?
Huh?
No, I did win.... But suddenly, an unfamiliar flow I'd never sensed filled my vision.
Energy was emanating from the split coffin.
Energy that originally flowed into the two Arch Wizards' bodies, ultimately composing Zectbaya's flesh.
But the moment the two Arch Wizards died, the energy flow halted, triggering a new phenomenon.
"This is...."
I held my breath.
A black shadow tore open, revealing the sight of the world beyond.