Chapter 92
The space beyond the mana barrier was incomparably vast compared to what it had appeared from outside. It resembled a colossal dome unfurled like a giant stadium. The walls shimmered with artificially conjured starlight, while the flat floor was shrouded in mystical blue mist rising to ankle height. It felt like gazing upon a slice of the celestial sphere, a fragment of the universe itself.
"Whoa..."
Even Elena, captivated by the dreamlike atmosphere, lost herself like a child at an amusement park, gawking around in awe.
At the center stood antique wooden bookshelves arranged at precise intervals, alongside tables laden with research tools—neatly ordered beakers and flasks as if someone were deep in study. Between ancient trees with golden leaves hung starlit hammocks. A woman of exotic allure, lounging languidly, stretched with a yawn and rose.
The Dream Witch Libra. The culprit who had plunged Paris, France, into terror.
She adjusted her witch's hat with a flick, frowning in clear displeasure at the intruders in her domain.
"Ho? What brings uninvited guests all the way here?"
"Got a report of unauthorized squatting. Heard someone was burrowing underground like an earthworm, so I came to check. So, you paying rent?"
Libra tilted her head, face blank with confusion.
"What the hell are you blabbering about, barging in like this? Rent? More importantly... did you just compare this noble self to a mere worm?"
"Hmm... Leech might fit better? Sucking the fear out of people like a summer mosquito."
Crack.
A vein bulged on Libra's forehead. Elena stared back and forth between me and Libra, utterly baffled. Probably no one else in the world provoked a world boss like this.
"You pint-sized pest, got a mouth on you. Where'd you learn to talk like that?"
"Where'd you learn to leech off people like a parasite?"
I didn't yield an inch. No point playing nice with someone doomed to die anyway. Especially since...
"Insolent bug, all bark. Still, you'll make decent material. Consider it an honor—I'll use you as my personal test subject."
Raw killing intent clung to us from the moment we entered, thick and unrelenting. She never intended to let us leave alive. Even now, her encirclement tightened around us like a noose.
Of course, I knew that full well.
Zziiiiiing—!
Two immense forces collided.
"Guh?! How...!"
Libra reacted first. The instant an invisible mana hand lunged silently to seize us, I'd thrust out Blood Eater and shattered it.
It was a perfectly timed blind-spot strike, but to me—who could sense mana—it was as obvious as daylight. Sneak attacks using mana don't work on me.
"Heh, didn't expect you to react to that."
Libra let out a disbelieving chuckle.
"But..."
She slowly lowered her head. Beneath the brim of her hat, her lips curled into a smirk.
"Right now, I'm in peak condition—better than ever!"
KABOOOM—!
An explosion roared as vast mana erupted like a geyser. From within it, the Dream Witch slammed her hat down and burst into maniacal laughter.
"Pure terror—the viscous essence of emotion—transcends all!"
The chaotic mana torrent coalesced, stabilized, and took amorphous form. What emerged: hundreds of translucent tentacles, tips sharpened to razor edges.
Elena swallowed hard, her cry laced with horror.
"H-Hundreds?! The standard pattern's only thirty!"
Whoosh!
With a flick of Libra's wrist, the tentacles surged toward a single point. Me.
At the epicenter of the onslaught blotting my vision, I straightened my grip on the sword hilt and murmured low.
"Stay back."
I bent my knees, drew a deep breath. Then kicked off the ground in a flash of light.
BOOM—!
The incoming tentacles veered to match my trajectory.
"Hahaha! Foolish! You're already in the palm of my hand!"
Like a giant clenching its fist. Ignoring Libra's cackle, I calmly traced the arcs and speeds of the approaching tentacles. My blade tip held no hesitation.
Shwick! Shwick! Shwick!
The erratic onslaught fell to fluid swordsmanship. Not a single one slipped past. Mana-forged flesh tore against a blade that defied air resistance.
"Wha...? You think some amateur trick will work?"
Krash!
At least three times as many tentacles burst from Libra's body. The translucent blades charged like a swarm of starved vipers.
"I'll turn you into Swiss cheese!"
Her shout ripped the air with sonic booms. The tentacles filled my vision without escape, seemingly chaotic yet flawlessly seamless—like a perfected law unto themselves.
"..."
I closed my eyes. Regripped the hilt. Entrusting everything to instinct.
Drawing on centuries of battle-honed experience, I calculated the optimal path. As the world's flow slowed and my mind filled with eerie calm—
Swish—
I lifted my foot from the ground. Body and blade merged as one, flowing with the sword's lead, cleaving every sensed threat in a transcendent rush.
Slashslash—
A satisfying slice rippled through my hands as Libra's shocked cry pierced my ears.
"Wh-What are you?! How'd you cut all of them...!"
Cut them down? Obviously. Your attacks aren't threatening enough.
Boom! Kaboom!
Explosions chained, tentacles shredded, flesh scattered. My dazzling sword dance closed the distance to Libra in an instant, twisting her face in fury.
"Y-You psycho bitch! Get lost!"
Fwoom—
Blue smoke trailed as she blinked away nearby. But against my transcendent acceleration, it was just buying time. Two seconds at most.
Hundreds of tentacles slashed empty air, but the unseen afterimages of my swings nullified them all.
"Th-This can't be possible. It's impossible by any logic! Who the hell are you?!"
"Me?"
I fixed my burning crimson gaze on the terror-stricken Dream Witch.
"Your nightmare."
Elena couldn't believe the scene unfolding before her. Swordsmanship transcending limits—not a realm any mere mortal could touch.
No way... blocking that many with just one sword?!
Hundreds of tentacles crumbled before a single blade. Sertina's technique wasn't merely flashy; it was art incarnate. Each trajectory traced the world's most perfect, beautiful curve, the casually swung edge condensing neutron-star force.
Elena could only gape, mesmerized by the performance.
"Pha!"
She realized she'd forgotten to breathe.
I can't follow it at all!
Not a single arc amid the ceaseless barrage registered. Every flourish of Sertina's sword made Elena feel like she stood in a storm's eye. If she could replicate even a fifth... no, a tenth of that technique...
France's crisis might resolve. No more suffering spectators.
If only I had that power.
Crunch—
Her small fist clenched till her knuckles whitened. Elena bowed her head in self-reproach, biting her lip. The rapier in her grip trembled powerlessly.
KABOOOM—!
"Ngh...!"
She crossed her arms just in time to block the shockwave. Chilling vibrations assaulted her as wind whipped her hair. Sertina's mere footfall carved flesh from bone with air alone.
Clang! Boom!
The fierce exchanges continued. No matter how Libra—amped to her limit—tried to flee, Sertina's pursuit outpaced her utterly. Until finally—
Shriiing!
"Gaaack!"
Crimson radiance pulverized the air, bisecting Libra's body.
***
Phase one. I'd conserved strength, unsure of variables. That's all.
Libra's true nature emerged in phase two, or so the lore said.
"Quit whining and get up."
I gazed coldly at Libra's bisected form. Her bulging eyes stared blankly like a dead fish, crimson blood and entrails spilling from the sundered torso.
"Gross."
Fwoosh!
A gesture summoned pillars of flame. Her flesh burned to bone, crumbling to ash.
But according to the pyromaniac's intel, that body wasn't her true form. The Dream Witch's moniker meant her reality was mana-made shell. The real body lurked in dreams.
Then—a faint tick brushed past.
"Hm...?"
"Wh-What's wrong?"
Elena, somehow meeker now, clasped her hands and asked.
"Hold on."
I silenced her with a raised hand, probing that sensation. A subtle ripple, too faint for most. Reality flickered for a split-second, splicing to another.
Normally, I'd ignore it. But against Libra? The dissonance was obvious.
"We're in. Her dream."
In that instant, the entire space's mana flow shifted. The crude sub-dimension solidified into a world. Rumble—!
Vibrations thundered from earth's depths. Simultaneously—
"...!"
The space ballooned rapidly, the ground beneath our feet sinking whole.