Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Atine Mountain
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Atine Mountain.
In front of the entrance to a mountain a short distance from the Phileo Kingdom.
A man with silver hair bordering on white landed there.
He tilted his head slightly toward the dense forest on the mountain.
The mountain was utterly silent.
Not a single animal or even insect could be heard—it was endlessly quiet.
Atine Mountain felt more bizarre than ever before.
Crash!
"Ah... ugh... damn it."
At that moment, someone shattered the silence by appearing.
With messy black hair and thick, dark skin.
It was Barutuga, the man nicknamed the Savage, a member of Memento Mori.
Exhausted from chasing after Havel, he gasped for breath.
"Weakling."
Havel, watching Barutuga, remarked curtly.
Barutuga wanted to protest,
but his heaving breaths left him unable to utter a word.
"I'm going in."
Leaving Barutuga behind, Havel stepped into the forest.
He showed no hesitation, even knowing full well it was a trap.
Watching him, Barutuga was struck once again by the realization.
This man was an absurdly powerful fighter.
Could Memento Mori really take him down?
'Unless the Ghost Elder shows up.'
Barutuga's expression grew ambiguous as he considered the main force's strength.
The main group at least had Ridak.
But if even Ridak fell...
'The Ghost Elder said he's taking an interest. He'll definitely come.'
In that case, he couldn't even guess what would become of the Tower.
The moment Havel clashed with the Ghost Elder...
'A whole floor might vanish that day.'
And that would be Memento Mori's final desperate move.
Destroying a floor to the point where clearing it becomes impossible.
The Warlord of Armaments, who had no desire to see the Tower cleared, was exactly the type to do something like that.
'But if even the Ghost Elder can't beat this guy...'
What would happen then?
Barutuga let out a hollow chuckle as he thought of the future.
To think the day would come when someone like him, who'd always lived carefree, would worry like this.
The world really was ridiculously vast.
"Hmph."
It was then.
Barutuga's keen nose, attuned to familiar scents from the forest, twitched first.
'This is...'
Barutuga noticed the forest slowly turning red.
As if autumn leaves were changing color.
The forest shifting to red was endlessly eerie.
Barutuga's head turned back belatedly.
There, everything—the path ahead—was already dyed the same crimson.
It was as if declaring there was no way back.
"Barutuga."
Havel, who had been taking in the scenery, called out to him.
Seeing Havel's relaxed demeanor, Barutuga fulfilled his role.
"It's the twins who handle barriers. This is the Twins' Illusion Barrier right now."
He was already a captive anyway.
With nothing left to hide, Barutuga revealed the information readily.
Havel slowly stroked his chin and scanned the surroundings.
Then, as if sensing nothing unusual, he resumed walking.
"Hold on, you're just going to keep going?"
Barutuga hurried after him and asked.
He knew Havel was strong, but wasn't he too nonchalant inside the enemy's barrier?
"We have to move forward anyway if we want results, right?"
Havel's reason for his calm was simple.
He just wanted Memento Mori's main force to show up quickly.
He wasn't worried about the situation at all.
Seeing Havel's impassive attitude, Barutuga reacted with exasperation.
"You might not live to see it."
Havel actually laughed at the gruff remark.
"I've already lived far beyond my allotted lifespan."
To Barutuga, he looked only mid-twenties at most.
But the traces of years in Havel's eyes were profoundly deep.
Barutuga couldn't grasp the meaning.
And so, Havel and Barutuga began walking through the barrier.
It didn't take Havel long to figure out the barrier's nature.
'It's looping us around the same spot over and over.'
A forest made entirely of red.
The scenery was changing bit by bit, sure.
But Havel knew his footsteps were just circling the same area.
And that wasn't all.
The barrier was shrinking more and more as time passed.
As if it meant to encase them entirely within it.
Boom!
At that moment, a massive echo resounded.
They must have realized Havel had caught on to the barrier's structure.
The barrier began contracting rapidly.
"You twins, are you abandoning me?!"
Barutuga, realizing it late, shouted in protest.
But his cries couldn't reach the twins.
Taking down Havel took priority over him.
"Hey, in one minute, this barrier will clamp shut completely!"
Barutuga yelled urgently at Havel.
He'd lost his calamity armament to Havel.
With no options left, he had to rely on Havel.
Havel stared blankly at the encroaching red sky.
Then, slowly, he raised his hand blade.
"I'll break through."
With that short shout, aura enveloped Havel's hand blade.
The moment Barutuga felt a chill at the sight...
Havel's hand blade thrust forward.
In that instant, a slashing strike erupted from it.
The strike, dyed in light, collided with the barrier wall in a flash.
Boom!
The barrier stretched like taffy along the path of the strike.
The strike kept extending, and the barrier kept expanding.
The entire barrier began to destabilize.
The strike showed no sign of stopping.
It was exceeding the barrier's capacity.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The barrier's tremors intensified.
The barrier, which had been trying to crush Havel, now swelled beyond its limits.
And when it far exceeded its breaking point...
Shatter!
With the sound of glass breaking, cracks spiderwebbed across the barrier.
With that, it collapsed in a cascade of crashing noises.
The red sky shattered like glass shards and scattered.
With the blue sky returning beyond it, Barutuga finally sighed in relief.
If not for Havel, he would've been trapped in the barrier mold.
But soon, he realized it wasn't over.
Beyond the shattering barrier.
A massive swarm of calamity swirled there.
"Wha—what?!"
Barutuga spat out incoherent words like a scream.
"Explosion Demon!"
And he knew exactly who controlled this raging calamity.
The one in Memento Mori with the highest destructive power.
Explosion Demon.
He'd been preparing his explosion outside the barrier from the start.
This was a premeditated plan.
First, capture Havel with the twins' barrier if possible—that would be ideal.
If the barrier failed, Explosion Demon would launch his attack.
From the moment the twins' barrier began tightening...
Explosion Demon's calamity had already been primed to detonate at any time.
Explosion Demon reflected in Havel's eyes.
His entire body blackened, he blazed fiercely.
Within those flames of intense heat...
Explosion Demon's lips slowly curled up as he met Havel's gaze.
The sight of only his black lips rising was unsettling just to look at.
And that was the signal.
"Crazy bastard!"
The moment Barutuga turned to flee for his life...
A fierce flash erupted centered on Explosion Demon.
And as the flash condensed, the area blew away.
Kabooooom!
An explosion like the mountain collapsing swallowed everything around it.
Flames of fire fiends roared, black smoke blanketing the sky.
It was enough to mistake it for a volcano erupting.
The explosion from Explosion Demon's condensed calamity had absurd power.
It obliterated everything in the vicinity.
Amid the blast, Explosion Demon, exhaling black smoke from his mouth, raised his head.
His blackened body was gradually returning to its original color.
Only his two hands remained pitch black.
Those were his gauntlets.
"Twins, you okay?"
At his call, a crisp sound came from somewhere.
Explosion Demon turned his head, and there stood the boy-girl twins.
Looking only mid-teens, they gripped each other's hands tightly.
But the barrier around them was extraordinary.
Strong enough to withstand even Explosion Demon's blast.
They were the twin barrier masters of Memento Mori.
Seeing them unharmed, Explosion Demon scratched his arm with a finger.
"I think Barutuga was there earlier. Could've blown him away too, huh."
At Explosion Demon's question, the boy twin replied.
"He was captured and spilling everything anyway. Probably doesn't matter."
They'd known Barutuga was there since trapping him in the barrier.
The boy had seen what attitude Barutuga showed Havel.
So he figured Barutuga had no grounds for complaint if it came to that.
"As long as Leader Ridak doesn't chew us out."
The moment Explosion Demon smirked, his black lips contrasting his pale skin...
Whoosh!
A pitch-black arm shot out from the smoke toward Explosion Demon in an instant.
The twins hurriedly cast a barrier over Explosion Demon the moment they saw it.
But the barrier and Explosion Demon's head were seized together and slammed into the ground.
Kabooooom!
Silver hair near white whipped above Explosion Demon, whose head was buried neck-deep in the earth.
Some soot from piercing the smoke smeared his face.
But the blazing blue in his eyes wasn't dimmed at all.
"Urk."
In that instant, light gathered in Explosion Demon's black gauntlets as he raised his arms.
And the moment the black gauntlets were about to explode...
Slash!
Two severed wrists tumbled across the ground in a flash.
It was Havel's hand blade, moved unbeknownst.
"I won't give you a third chance."
The sight of wrists severed by a hand blade was bizarre.
Havel stomped on the wristless Explosion Demon and leaped up.
His eyes locked on the twins fleeing in haste.
The area around the twins was already turning red.
The orb they held was activating a barrier.
At this rate, the twins would vanish into the barrier forever.
But Havel didn't care, reaching out toward the barrier.
Crunch!
The air warped and was grasped in Havel's hand.
And without a hint of hesitation, Havel yanked the air.
Grrrrrind!
The barrier that had just been forming dragged the twins into the air with it.
They belatedly realized Havel had pulled them.
The boy twin immediately released the girl twin's hand and shoved her away.
"B-Brother!"
She reached out screaming, but the boy didn't take her hand.
Instead, the orb now in the girl's hand poured out fierce red light.
"Reina, run!"
Havel seized the nape of the dragged boy's neck.
But there was no mercy in Havel's eyes.
"If you want to stay together that badly..."
The boy's body was lifted into the air.
"Then stay together."
Havel hurled the boy like a shot put.
"Aaaagh!"
As the screaming boy flew at her, the girl hurriedly dismantled the barrier.
Otherwise, colliding with it would shatter the boy to pieces.
Bam!
"Kyaaah!"
The girl screamed as she caught the boy, and the twins plummeted together.
Just before they hit the ground rolling...
Thud!
Someone appeared from nowhere and caught them both.
His flayed face revealed a blackened skull.
Beneath it, his ferocious body and steel pants looked bizarre at a glance.
And even that individuality paled in comparison.
The calamity rising from his body was utterly off-the-charts.
"L-Leader Ridak."
The twin girl called his name, and he gently set them down.
Red glows flickered through his skull.
Ridak, leader of Memento Mori's main force.
"I anticipated this."
The two unconscious ones slithered into the shadows.
And Explosion Demon had already vanished into the shadows similarly.
"But you're exceeding expectations by a mile."
Havel, having mercilessly crushed Explosion Demon and the twins, casually picked at his ear.
He blew on his finger, then rested his hand on his sword.
"You're the leader Ridak, right?"
Havel had heard the details beforehand from Barutuga and Merimolly.
So he asked to confirm, and Ridak raised the bracelet on his wrist.
"Then."
Seeing him take a battle stance immediately, Havel chuckled shortly.
"You're the one getting beaten."
As always.