094. The Purge of Elpelland (4)
The body split into literally dozens of pieces.
Such damage would be inescapable even for a troll, let alone a magic caster, marking an end to any chance of revival. However, no one in the group believed this to be the end for Alpha. Instead, they caught their breath, preparing for what was to come next.
Koo-goo-goo-gung…!
And the world began to collapse.
This was not a mere figure of speech. From the ceiling of the vast hollow to the cracks leading down to the walls, it all collapsed in an instant. Fragments of the shattered dimension fell like pieces of glass. Soon, the group found themselves abandoned in the midst of chaos.
‘Void.’
Yes, void. No other word could as aptly describe this space.
Looking around, there was no sign of life; sometimes it was dark, at times it was red, and at others, it was filled with a chaotic mix of colors, as if paint had been haphazardly blended together. A space where only chaos, born of the void, existed.
Khan unconsciously tapped the ground with the tip of his foot to check. Since they weren’t falling, it seemed the demonic realm hadn’t completely collapsed.
‘That would have been quite troublesome.’
After all, even with superhuman strength, one couldn’t fly. It was fortunate there was a ground. Distinguishing up from down was difficult in the void, the very space where even Ron, with his pathfinding skills, would undoubtedly lose his way like a directionless wanderer.
“… Tsk. Ptooey!”
“Are you okay?”
“Does this look okay to you? Damn. It’s going to cost a fortune to fix this.”
Yeah, it didn’t look okay. Khan smirked as he watched Kal Elson spit like a street thug. The once-overwhelming barrage of spells from Alpha proved to be too much for him as well, leaving his right hand completely broken. Blood oozed from every possible point on his face.
It was hard to decide whether Kal Elson was impressive for breaking through the Grand Magus’s spells with such a price… or if it was Alpha who was remarkable for pushing the Swordmaster to such extremes.
“Alive is enough.”
“Absolutely. Yes!”
Pashantu, who had drawn out an opening by self-detonating vital essence, burst into laughter amid her blood-drenched form. Despite looking like she could drop dead at any moment, her barbarian’s robust physique meant death wasn’t imminent.
‘Of course, that’s if it all ends here.’
Khan, seeing his comrades gather around, then took in the sight of the demonic realm, now solely a void. All traces that this place had once been the grand duke’s secret workshop had long vanished, alongside Alpha’s body, which Kal Elson had cut down, becoming part of the void itself and disappearing.
But that was it. As if to say the demonic realm wasn’t over yet, it refused to spit out the group.
“… So much for embracing the void.”
As if responding to Khan’s mumble, someone laughed. The laughter came in a form slightly different from that produced by the throat.
──────.
It was a psychic wave.
Of course, this wasn’t a level of power that could interfere with the world like the will of a transcendent being. Similar to how Draupnir communicated with Khan, it was a form of communication that shot thoughts directly.
Squirm- Squirm-
Somewhat away from the group, the chaos of the demonic realm began to stir.
Constantly changing its color, the chaos eventually formed into a huge sphere that then transformed into hundreds, thousands of tendrils, beginning to devour one another. It was a sight so nauseating that even those with strong stomachs might find themselves retching.
Even the team, accustomed to all sorts of horrific sights, involuntarily grimaced.
─────.
The sphere of chaos sent out another psychic wave. While the message couldn’t be understood in human language, those who received it faintly grasped the entity’s intent. He was laughing now, reveling in the boundless joy of shedding its human form and becoming a true part of the chaos.
“You look disgustingly hideous.”
To any ordinary human, he would appear nothing but a massive tentacled monster. Then, the sphere of chaos once again scattered its psychic waves, and atop the mass of numerous tentacles, a gigantic eyeball revealed itself.
Blink. Blink.
The eye socket that opened among the tentacles was filled with chaos, but it was evident that it was watching them. Specifically, Khan. Himself.
─────!
“Damn, what the hell?”
As the monster furiously scattered its psychic waves, Khan retrieved the axe he had thrown just moments before with the ‘Arachne’s Silent Thread’. He charged at it without hesitation. The part of the orb that hadn’t shown any significant reaction despite the psychic waves was now torn away.
───?
The psychic waves this time were understandable. Pain, confusion, questioning. Those words roughly represented the meaning.
“What’s with the question mark, you damn thing?”
Khan leapt into the air to attack the floating creature, spinning his body and gripping his magic sword. Then, as soon as his feet touched the ground, he jumped again.
Swoosh!
The magic sword smoothly penetrated the monster’s tentacles. Khan’s body flew through the air as he pierced through the sphere of chaos, and the eyeball of the sphere of chaos rolled away.
“What are you looking at?”
His arm, wielding the axe, swelled momentarily, and with the strength of his shoulder and wrist alone, he threw the axe. The unstable posture in mid-air hardly posed a disadvantage, thanks to the throwing skill. The axe, propelled quickly by the skill, crashed into the eyeball of the sphere.
Crack.
But unlike expected, the tentacled body merely stretched back like a rubber band. The axe neither penetrated nor shattered it; the tentacles that composed the monster’s body busily wriggled, offsetting the impact.
“Damn.”
Now he found himself in the bizarre situation of having to deal with a tentacle monster.
Suppressing the sudden surge of revulsion, Khan noted that, just as it appeared, the injuries of Kal Elson and Pashantu were severe. They might claim they could still fight, but against a creature from the void, injured comrades were only a hindrance. What else could be done?
He had to step in and blow up the tentacles himself. Of course, he was relatively unscathed, but he wasn’t in perfect condition either. The only tactic Khan had to choose was ultimately—
“Make it quick.”
Crack…!
Pulling on the ‘Silent Thread’ connected to the axe, it immediately flew back into his hand. By then, the sphere of chaos had moved its tentacles to return to its original form, albeit slightly smaller in size.
Right, just keep whacking it down to the size of a pea.
Thud. With a leap closing the distance and planning to strike swiftly, Khan performed a feint. Underneath his transparent steps, ripples spread as if his body was about to be launched like a cannonball.
Whiff.
A sound like air escaping was heard, and pain that started from his left shoulder spread throughout his body. Even Khan, accustomed to enduring pain, involuntarily flinched from the intense agony.
Thud. Boom─!
But the hesitation was brief.
Khan’s body followed its intended movement, charging towards the sphere of chaos.
Whiff. Whiff.
“Tentacles…?!”
This time, Khan caught the source of the sound in midair. A tentacle had shot out from the monster’s body, aiming precisely at his heart. It wasn’t strange for a tentacle monster to use tentacles to attack.
However, the problem was that the tentacle moved so fast it was hard to catch even with Khan’s agility stats, and it pierced through the ‘Fur of the Snow Mountain White Wolf’ he was wearing with incredible penetrating power. Had he not relied on his combat foresight to dodge, his heart would have been pierced in an instant.────!
As if asking why his attacks were evaded, the psychic wave emanated.
‘Would you take it if you were me?’
Khan rapidly closed the distance to right in front of the creature and swung his axe through the air. Whoosh—. Tentacles flew toward the trajectory of the axe and were severed.
[Combat Foresight (B) – 07%]
─Activated only within battle situations.
Facing the worst kind of enemy, a monster from the void, his concentration reached its peak. Through it, he quickly became accustomed to utilizing combat foresight, and a rapid proficiency increase immediately followed. It was as if the tentacles fired by the sphere of chaos were sucked towards the axe and magic sword of their own accord.
Crack-crunch!
Seeing its attacks fail, the sphere of chaos seemed to change tactics, starting to extract some of its tentacles.
‘Always something new….’
The giant arm thus formed, the sphere of chaos slammed it down towards Khan with force. The tentacle-made muscles inflated like those of a human, swelling in size to surpass Khan.
Without experiencing it, it was clear. Getting hit by that would leave nothing left to pick up—.
‘I’ll counterattack.’
Head-on.
The left foot is the pivot. Around it, the body rotates slightly, and in a state where the slightly bent lower body firmly supports, he raises his magic sword with both hands.
Zzzzt—!
A red line streaked across the tentacle arm. Despite the tentacles wriggling as if resisting the sword attack, Khan’s slash carved a straight line, reaching up to the sky filled with void.
─Acquired Antares’ Sword Technique (C).
─Due to the effect of the Ancient Bloodline, the Antares’ Sword Technique (B) grade rises.
[Antares’ Sword Technique (B) – 14%]
─A swordsmanship created by a great swordsman who led the battle against demons and their minions that descended upon Midland in the ancient past. It was designed so that even humans, inherently weaker in size and strength against demons, could pierce the heart of a demon.
─The sword of one who trains in this swordsmanship never loses its center, regardless of any external force.
The chaos sphere exploded into a psychic wave made of screams. The once gigantic tentacle monster now reduced to a size somewhat manageable. Did that make the fight any easier?
“Huff.”
Not quite. Ignoring stamina management completely, Khan exerted his full strength. In pushing the creature to the edge in an instant, he was essentially gambling with his life.
‘When have I not?’
He stepped forward. A hidden tentacle within the net that came right before him pierced through Khan’s torso as he severed the net with his magic sword, halting his body abruptly—thud.
Despite the searing pain that spread from his abdomen, reminiscent of an acute torture, he gritted his teeth and took another step forward. The slightly smaller creature, along with the psychic wave, now conjured a massive flame. The flame, mixed with the power of the void, shot out in a shape reminiscent of a dragon’s breath.
Actually, it was a dragon’s breath. Khan, recalling the ‘Wyvern’ he dealt with in Al-Rasdel, drew power from the scar on his right chest. A pure white shield materialized in the air, blocking the breath.
Fwoosh-ahahah!
While the pure white shield had blocked the breath before, this time, it was a breath mixed with the power of the void. The heat transmitted beyond the gradually retreating shield of pure white made it difficult to open his eyes. So, he just closed them.
The barbarian senses caught the breath and the presence of the chaos sphere that fired it.
Again, with the right foot forward, the thrown axe created a dragon fist wind, climbing straight through the breath like a meteor shower rewound. Completing its task by fully piercing through the breath, the axe shattered.
Craaack.
‘I was getting used to it.’
Khan pushed his regret aside. He could just ask the Goddess of Justice for a new one. With the blessing of a god added to the weapon promised by the mage Jerome of the Magic Tower, wouldn’t it become even more effective?
Holding ‘Neria’s Magic Awl’ in his now empty left hand, Khan addressed Draupnir, which had become unusually quiet since his arrival in the demonic realm.
‘Hey, let’s try that thing again from last time.’
[…….]
No response came back. Instead, the flames of blood erupting from within consumed his entire body.