Chapter 173

Dozens of golden crowns burst from Rine’s eyes, shooting out in all directions like a complex circuit diagram.

Unlike her previous emotionally charged attack, these golden crowns moved much more stably and instantly shot toward Emil.

Crack!

Yet again, Rine’s attack was blocked by the tree emanating black energy.

“Hmm~ It’s no fun if you just keep defending.”

The Apostle of Greed smirked with a sinister grin.

Rumble—!

Black branches sprouted from her back, rapidly expanding as if they were exploding.

Like they were claiming dominion over this vast cavern, the tree’s trunk grew at an astonishing rate and soon intertwined behind Emil, forming a grotesque-looking tree.

A tree devoid of leaves, exuding an ominous energy.

Rine’s instincts screamed in warning.

‘This is dangerous.’

She hurriedly manipulated her golden crowns to crush the tree.

But—

“You can’t do that, Rine. That won’t do.”

The aggressive branches blocked all the golden crowns.

And with that—

Crunch!

Despite having been empty just moments ago, the tree began to bear fruit.

Black fruits.

Crack!

Dozens of fruits swelled in an instant, and soon, they burst open, spewing out various grotesque creatures along with thick, dark fluids.

Even Rine, with all the knowledge stored in her library, could not identify these monsters.

-!!!!

Letting out eerie, blood-curdling screams, the creatures charged at her.

Rine quickly moved her golden crowns.

Crash!

With an unsettling sound, the golden crowns pierced through the creatures’ bodies.

Born mere moments ago, they trembled before instantly perishing.

However, even though she was eliminating nearly ten creatures at a time, their numbers only continued to grow.

As if her attacks were of no threat at all.

‘There must be a weakness somewhere…’

For the first time in her life, a type of anxiety she had never experienced before filled Rine’s mind.

The feeling of walking blindly through fog while facing an enemy was unfamiliar to her.

Rine always structured her battles with victory in mind.

Her vast library made that possible.

Even in unpredictable situations, it provided countermeasures.

Even when no perfect solution existed, it would guide her to an answer that was close enough.

In other words, Rine had never fought without having an answer before.

But now, the power that the Apostle of Greed was using—

Not even her enormous mental library could comprehend it.

That only deepened Rine’s anxiety.

….

No.

That wasn’t the only reason.

Emil’s appearance had certainly unsettled her, but the true source of her distress lay elsewhere.

Something was gnawing at her mind.

“Confusing, isn’t it? Because it’s something your library doesn’t contain.”

As if she could see right through her, Emil curled her lips into a smirk.

Rine tried to compose her expression.

But as Emil, still smiling, approached her, her brows furrowed involuntarily.

Kwagagagak—!!

The golden crowns shot toward the Apostle without hesitation.

However, they failed to penetrate the black branches protecting her.

Effortlessly, Emil closed the distance between them.

Now standing right in front of her, she grinned, her face mere inches away from Rine’s.

Eyes as blue as hers.

Yet, with whites darkened to an eerie black, exuding a sinister aura.

“So, should I tell you?”

Her cold, piercing gaze curved into a crescent-moon smile.

“No, actually, I don’t even need to tell you. You just have to make a choice. You’re smart enough to know, aren’t you? That your library holds far more hidden spaces than you admit.”

The scornful tone made it painfully clear what the Apostle was implying.

The Forbidden Domain (금역, 禁域).

A place where, upon entry, one could learn all the secrets of the world—

But in return, the user’s mind would be driven to madness.

“Get lost.”

There was no need to hesitate.

To be honest, Rine had no idea what Emil’s true goal was.

From the beginning, all she knew about Emil was that she was connected to the black energy.

And that was reason enough not to listen to her words.

“Hmm~ Well, if that’s the case, I guess there’s no helping it.”

Emil shrugged as if disappointed.

She then casually scanned Rine from head to toe.

“Then, why don’t we start with an arm?”

She smiled.

And in that instant, Rine witnessed it.

Behind Emil, new black branches began to form.

Without hesitation, she swung her golden crowns to cut them down before they could grow.

But it wasn’t enough.

Rine had already summoned so many crowns that she was nearing her limit.

And as if fully aware of that, Emil leisurely continued generating the branches.

[No, actually, I don’t even need to tell you. You just have to make a choice. You’re smart enough to know, aren’t you? That your library holds far more hidden spaces than you admit?]

Amidst the overwhelming sense of helplessness, Emil’s voice echoed in Rine’s ears.

Dripping with temptation.

‘The Forbidden Domain…’

A fleeting moment of hesitation.

Rine’s mind spun rapidly.

If she stepped into the Forbidden Domain now—

Could she kill that woman?

No.

Could she kill that woman before Godfather escapes?

That was the most important question to her.

More than anything else.

Solely.

The most important issue.

That was why—

Just as she was about to make her choice while staring at the black branches shooting toward her—

Rine suddenly realized something strange.

In her irregular breaths, shaken by tension, she felt a cold chill settle over her.

At the same time—

“……!”

As Rine confirmed that the branches had frozen over, a familiar back entered her field of vision.

A man dressed in a coat, scattering frost crystals in accordance with the magic he had cast—

“……I’m a little late.”

The back of Marquis Palatio.

***

To put it simply, Alon had not been able to finish his conversation with Kylrus before leaving.

The reason was that Kylrus had informed him about the situation outside.

‘I don’t know how you managed to summon me here, but this place seems to be your mental world while also allowing you to sense some aspects of the external reality. And from what I can tell, it seems like an unpleasant guest has arrived outside.’

Upon hearing that, Alon hurriedly ended their conversation and returned to reality—

Where he found a woman with a peculiar smile.

And in that instant, he understood.

‘An Apostle.’

That the being before him was one of the Apostles of the Five Great Sins.

“You’re making quite the grand entrance, like a prince.”

Emil, surrounded by grotesque monsters that filled the massive cavern to the brim—so horrifying that words could not do them justice—

She swayed slightly, as if thrilled by the sight.

Alon calmly assessed the situation and turned around.

“……!”

There, he saw Rine, unmistakably stricken with fear.

It was a sight he had never witnessed before.

For a brief moment, Alon was taken aback, but he quickly deduced the reason.

‘Is it like what happened with Seolrang?’

Of course, Alon had no way of knowing what had transpired between the Apostle and Rine.

However, based on his previous encounter with an Apostle, he had a rough idea of the situation.

‘Handle this quickly.’

Making his decision, Alon scanned his surroundings.

The situation was far from favorable.

The vast underground cavern was already overflowing with monsters.

The ceiling, the floor, the walls, the pillars—

Everywhere within his field of vision.

Moreover, even in her panicked state, Rine had tried to wield her golden crowns, but they were now entirely ensnared by the Apostle’s tree vines.

In other words, relying on Rine’s help was not an option at the moment.

“Our prince, let’s see what you’ve got.”

With that mocking remark as the signal, the ravenous creatures lunged at Alon, eager to devour him.

■-!!!

A headless monster soared through the air.

A beast with a gaping maw leaped from a pillar.

A creature, as if abandoned mid-creation, spilled its intestines as it charged toward him.

In an instant, they closed in on Alon.

But—

Just as the monsters were about to touch him—

“Expansion (膨脹).”

Snap!

Everything stopped.

The monster that had been flying through the air.

The gaping maw that had been baring its teeth.

The abomination that had been rushing forward, trailing its entrails.

Everything came to a halt.

“!”

Even the Apostle furrowed her brows in apparent confusion at the sudden turn of events.

But only for a moment.

“I had a rough idea that you were a mage from the information I gathered, but this is an interesting trick you’re using?”

Her expression quickly relaxed again.

Having realized that this ‘stopping’ effect was due to the expansion of mana, she nonchalantly reached out to pull out her tree vines—

“……Huh?”

—But she couldn’t.

A look of puzzlement crossed the Apostle’s face.

“!?”

As it gradually twisted further into an expression of clear bewilderment—

“Hah.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Alon began deploying his magic.

In truth, the Apostle’s decision hadn’t been wrong.

Mana expansion created a virtual volume that compressed and restricted the movements of the monsters, but that was all.

Anyone with sufficient physical or magical strength could break free from its influence without much difficulty.

That is—

If the mana Alon had scattered was the ‘usual’ kind of mana.

“What is this—”

By default, mana is inherently fragile and easily destroyed unless it is given a specific form.

The reason Alon had only been able to restrain the previous Apostle for less than a second was precisely because of this characteristic.

Mana is easily shattered by even the slightest physical force.

However—

If one were to add an additional seal to its composition, restructuring the very molecular framework of the mana itself—

‘Then mana would no longer be something that could be broken by conventional physical or magical force.’

Especially for those caught within the range of a mage’s constructed field.

This was the very first linked incantation that Alon had successfully developed—

A technique that seamlessly combined two seals.

It was the culmination of his research and training, an effort to overcome the typical limitations of mages, who require time to form seals and recite incantations.

And from here, Alon had ‘accidentally’ taken an even greater step forward.

Through a misunderstanding by Penia, who had aggressively documented his theories, he discovered that using six or more seals in conjunction produced a remarkable synergy.

Of course—

For a human, forming six seals simultaneously was practically impossible.

After all, a human has only two hands. But Alon ultimately found a way to overcome that limitation.

If he lacked enough hands to form the seals—

Then he would simply ‘create’ them.

Crack—!

Behind Alon, ice began to take shape.

The crystallized ice split into six distinct branches in an instant.

Soon, they molded into the form of hands and fingers—

Click—!

And the seals were formed.

The first ice hand solidified the expanded mana structure.

The second ice hand fused the modified molecular framework.

The third ice hand stabilized the merged mana.

Then—

The fourth ice hand twisted and warped the stabilized molecular structure, creating an amplification.

The fifth ice hand embedded a trigger within the unfolded mana.

And with that, the spell was completed—

A massive prison of magic, capable of transforming into any attribute upon activation.

“….”

As the Apostle’s eyes widened in sheer shock, the final ice hand moved—

And from its fingertips fell—

A single, tiny snowflake.

So delicate and frail, it would melt into a mere drop of water the moment it touched a fingertip.

That minuscule snowflake drifted down from the ice hand, falling gently.

And then—

Hand-Seal Magic (手印).

Sixfold Binding (六結).

The instant that small snowflake touched the mana Alon had laid out—

A Blizzard Bloomed (雪花).

The monsters—

Became snowflakes, scattering into the air.

Gracefully.

…And beautifully.