Chapter 394: Budding (9)

Acaron, one of the Baba Yaga, honestly felt like hope had appeared—something that hadn’t existed even when the black tree split the sky above the royal castle.

The black wood Acaron had seen near the royal castle was so magnificent that just knowing the person who created it was on their side was enough to steady the heart.

But just a moment ago.

Acaron fell into despair once again.

The first time was because of the peculiar entities that truly poured out without end.

And the second time was because of the enormous “thing” that had appeared in the very center of Colony.

Just looking at it made your breathing quicken and your mind turn hazy.

That massive spider shape delivered despair to Acaron.

“That thing” didn’t do anything.

It only stared down at the ground with lofty indifference.

And yet, even though it wasn’t taking any action at all—

everyone who looked up at it from here, without exception, couldn’t even think about fighting. They only felt hollow.

Of course.

No—there was no way it could be anything else.

Because every single person here realized it by instinct.

How foolish it would be to fight that thing.

Whether it was a powerless old man.

Or a Baba Yaga, said to be the strongest within this colosseum.

No one could defy that instinct.

So everyone, swallowed by that empty despair, stared blankly as a gigantic web began spreading across the sky.

Chiiiiik—!!

“R-run—run away!”

“U-uaaahhh—!!”

The moment everyone panicked as venom began dripping down to the ground and they scattered in every direction—

Kwaaaahhh—!!

The anomaly began.

“That—!”

The sky where venom had been falling—venom that even melted land away.

Pure-white ice appeared there and began freezing everything.

The venom that had fallen.

The gigantic web spread across the sky.

Everything.

As if it were trying to stop time itself, the instant everything froze—

“Ah—”

a Milky Way rose over that frozen world.

And after that.

A guardian deity descended to the ground.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!

Along with a chilling sound that seemed to clamp down on everyone’s minds in an instant, the guardian deity appeared, and black armor plating began forming over its body.

And with that, the fight began.

Between the enormous guardian deity—

and that thing that had filled everyone with hollow despair.

“Insane...”

Acaron let it slip without meaning to.

Faced with something that looked like a battle of gods ripped straight from myth, even the citizens who’d been drowning in fear just moments ago could only stare blankly into the air.

And watching Marquis Palatio hurl lightning down again and again between those “gods,” Acaron found an epithet rising unbidden to the tongue.

“Kalannon, the Lightning Receiver....”

At that point, Acaron realized it.

The truth behind the countless rumors tied to Marquis Palatio.

‘It wasn’t exaggerated.’

Acaron had heard all kinds of rumors about Marquis Palatio.

But Acaron could say this for certain.

Those rumors Acaron had heard—

the ones everyone had clicked their tongues at, saying they were all nonsense and loaded with exaggeration—

had actually all been toned down.

“......”

Without a word, Acaron shifted their gaze to the side.

Kazan, who’d been saying the same thing—how Marquis Palatio’s rumors were too exaggerated—was also staring blankly into the air.

“...This is absurd.”

It was Kazan’s mutter.

A raw truth that slipped out on its own.

And Acaron could tell Kazan felt the same way.

Because in Kazan’s eyes, the feeling was already there—reverence.

“Uh—uh!”

At that moment, a fighter’s voice rang out.

Acaron and Kazan turned their heads.

A fighter who’d been staring up into the air in a daze was now frowning hard and looking off to one side.

And there—

“...Tch.”

Peculiar entities were climbing over the colosseum.

So many of them had swarmed in that some had slipped through even Seollang’s defense.

But watching that—

the two who’d been filled with doubt only a moment ago now looked at each other as if it were nothing.

“...We have to stop them.”

“Seems we do. If the mage says there’s something prepared, then we have to believe it.”

A short exchange.

But it was enough for them.

It was enough to feel, once again, that a spark of hope had taken root between them.

####

“Hoo—”

Alon let out a deep sigh, already unable to count how many spells had been cast, and yet kept moving nonstop using Thunder God Form.

Acaron and Kazan—and the fighters inside the colosseum—had started to feel hope.

But unfortunately, Alon’s situation wasn’t that good.

Feeling heat rise in the head, Alon looked around.

Up ahead, the venom-swallowing one and Basiliora were fighting, each trying to land a fatal blow.

And everything around them was covered in ice.

No—more precisely, it was right to say it looked covered in ice.

‘The cost to maintain it is too high.’

Behind a blank expression, Alon’s brow tightened slightly.

To anyone watching, it would look like everything was buried under ice—but unfortunately, that state existed only because Alon kept layering spellwork over it nonstop to hold the situation together.

The venom-swallowing one’s venom wasn’t the kind Alon could block easily with magic.

On top of that, the peculiar entities that kept appearing endlessly from somewhere were forcing Alon to keep using Thunder God Form as well.

‘So there really is a limit.’

Alon looked down at Seollang, flashing like madness across the ground.

Seollang was doing well.

Wherever Seollang passed, no peculiar entities remained.

But despite that struggle, the amount of peculiar entities crawling out from somewhere without end was far more than expected.

So many it was hard not to wonder how they’d gathered this many in such a short time.

Anyway, in the end—

it meant Alon was maintaining two spells at all times.

‘...If I hadn’t finished it, even halfway, I would’ve had to pay a sacrifice on one side or the other.’

Alon exhaled inwardly.

If Alon hadn’t been able to use magic quickly—

it would’ve been impossible to create this situation in the first place.

To be honest, maintaining things like this was exactly that—maintenance—so it wasn’t something Alon could call positive.

Even so, the reason Alon could relax slightly was Basiliora.

Everything the venom-swallowing one had shown so far had been sealed by Alon.

And Basiliora, fused with Blackie, wasn’t just pushing the battle in a favorable direction—

[Krgh—!]

Basiliora had clearly taken the upper hand.

‘Now.’

After confirming Basiliora had completely wrapped the venom-swallowing one’s body, Alon gathered mana at once.

Along with it, six ice puppets that moved according to Alon’s will.

And—

“Shadow Wood.”

With Alon’s murmur, sharp spikes burst out in an instant from the black armor plating Basiliora wore.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!

At the same time, the venom-swallowing one started thrashing and screaming like it had gone mad.

Maybe it had taken serious damage—red blood that didn’t match its form burst out in all directions.

And as Alon let out a breath of relief at the sight—

Druk—!

The venom-swallowing one turned its gaze to Alon.

[At this point—there’s no helping it.]

■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!

It suddenly began making a bizarre sound.

Not like it was roaring in a frenzy at something—

more like it had remembered a specific sound and was reproducing it.

And then.

[I’ll admit it, low creature. There was a reason they put a bounty on you up there.]

With that admission from the venom-swallowing one—

[Good thing I said it in advance.]

Alon saw it.

“!”

The royal castle off in the distance—

was starting to sink as a whole.

Kwagagagagagagagak—!!!!

A bone-chilling sound that seemed ready to tear eardrums rang out,

and the area around it—including the royal castle—began slowly dropping below the ground.

No.

That wasn’t it.

It wasn’t falling down to the ground.

[To the devouring one.]

Beneath the ground that swallowed the royal castle—

there was a mouth.

A mouth so enormous it could swallow the entire royal castle whole.

And then—

in an instant, the one that had “swallowed” the entire royal castle began moving with a tremendous roar.

And Alon didn’t have any trouble figuring out where it was headed.

No—Alon had no choice but to realize it.

The place it was coming to was—

“!”

right here.

The colosseum.

The moment Alon realized it, the mind started spinning like it was about to burst.

Could it be stopped?

No—could it at least be held back?

The question presented itself in Alon’s head.

But unfortunately, there was no spell Alon had right now that could stop the devouring one.

At this moment, what Alon could do was—

nothing but watch as the entire colosseum got sucked into the devouring one’s mouth.

‘No.’

Alon clenched the teeth and immediately sealed off the entire colosseum with frozen wasteland.

Huge enough that from the very start, it couldn’t be sucked into the devouring one’s mouth.

And as Alon tried to do that—

“...?”

Alon realized something was off.

The devouring one, which had been charging toward the colosseum with savage momentum just a moment ago, was no longer heading for the colosseum.

Instead—

“!”

as if it had been waiting for this moment,

its jaws were already gaping open directly beneath Alon.

The instant Alon realized it—

threads that hadn’t been visible until a second ago suddenly gathered, forming at once—

Kwaduk—!

and Alon was bound.

[I knew you’d make that choice, low creature.]

And then.

[Die.]

With a tremendous roar, the devouring one’s mouth began to close.

A monstrous sound bursting out like machinery grinding and chewing.

Anyone could see it was urgent—

but.

‘Think.’

Alon assessed the current situation as calmly as possible.

If anything, this was a little better than the future Alon had expected.

If the devouring one had ignored Alon and tried to swallow the colosseum—

Alon wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all.

But because both the devouring one and the venom-swallowing one were targeting Alon at the same time, it actually narrowed what Alon had ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ to consider.

The problem was that no matter which one Alon chose, some sacrifice would be unavoidable.

“......”

To stop the venom-swallowing one’s threads from severing the body, Alon wrapped a mana field around the body right before the threads could tighten.

And while maintaining that, with calculations already pushed to the brink, Alon now had, effectively, only two options.

One: give up blocking the venom falling from the sky and escape the devouring one’s mouth right here.

Or else: in this state, expand the mana field that was already spread to its maximum and cut the threads.

And after struggling, Alon finally made a decision in Alon’s own way.

‘Use the mana field to cut the threads.’

The venom-swallowing one’s threads clearly wouldn’t break easily, but Alon chose it anyway.

There was still some time before the devouring one’s mouth fully closed.

The moment Alon made that choice—

Uwoooooong—!!

Alon turned at a resonance of mana so vast it raised gooseflesh.

And Alon could see it.

The red blood flowing from the venom-swallowing one—

was rising into the sky against gravity.

At the same time, threads extended from the venom-swallowing one tangled together and shot upward.

And just like that, before anyone noticed, an unbloomed red rose began forming above the venom-swallowing one.

A beautiful shape that didn’t match the venom-swallowing one’s form at all.

But staring at that rose, Alon—

“!”

had no choice but to widen the eyes.

Because Alon’s eyes, which could see mana, had no trouble picking up the mana wavelength near that rose.

‘Mana is dying.’

Mana was dying—literally.

The faint mana leaking from the rose—

no, because of the venom—

“!”

Once Alon grasped that much, it wasn’t hard to understand what kind of structure that rose was.

That rose was beautiful only on the outside—inside, it was closer to a spell built to spread venom.

Venom so vicious that even a minuscule amount flowing through the air was enough to kill the mana in the atmosphere.

...Venom so lethal that if an ordinary person inhaled even an extremely tiny trace, they’d die instantly.

And judging by the scale of the spell, if that thing bloomed and spread, the range would cover all of Colony—no—

‘More than that...!’

[Quick, aren’t you.]

As if it had read Alon’s thoughts, the venom-swallowing one spoke.

[I didn’t want to use it because if I kill you and turn you into a puppet, faith doesn’t gather very richly—but it can’t be helped.]

Alon frowned.

No matter what, Alon had to stop that from blooming.

Alon might be able to endure it, but that venom would be fatal to everyone else.

To the citizens here.

To the fighters.

And to Evan and Penia, too.

If it were after it bloomed, maybe not—

but with the current Alon, working together with Basiliora and Seollang, it could be stopped somehow.

The problem was time.

There wasn’t enough time.

To calculate even the time needed to escape from here and still stop that—

the time Alon had wasn’t enough.

“......”

In Alon’s eyes, anguish flickered past.

####

“Master!”

Seollang shouted, racing around and killing peculiar entities like mad.

The moment Seollang saw Alon bound by the venom-swallowing one’s threads and the devouring one appear and open its mouth, Seollang twisted the body to rush in and save Alon—

but there was nothing Seollang could do.

Literally.

Seollang couldn’t do anything.

The venom-swallowing one’s threads binding Alon didn’t so much as scratch under Seollang’s attacks, even using Thunder God Form.

And the devouring one, slowly closing a hole so huge it didn’t even register as a mouth, didn’t budge at Seollang’s attacks either.

Instead—

“Krgh—!?”

Seollang’s right arm snapped from making the attack.

The situation was spiraling even further into the worst.

The moment Seollang stopped hunting, the peculiar entities, now too many to handle, poured past the colosseum.

And Basiliora, no longer receiving Alon’s support, began getting pushed back in the fight against the venom-swallowing one.

Just a few dozen seconds.

In only a few dozen seconds—

everything was plunging into the worst.

And yet. Even as all of it turned for the worst—

there was nothing Seollang could do.

“Ah.”

A dry breath burst from Seollang’s mouth.

Clutching the shattered right arm after slamming the devouring one again and again, Seollang felt a heavy helplessness.

If Yutia were here, would it have come to this?

...If Rine were here, would it have come to this?

Seollang knew the answer.

If it were them instead of Seollang, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.

Seollang knew it far too well.

...In truth, Seollang knew the answer.

Seollang knew what had to be done here.

In that brief instant, Seollang saw the essence.

Seollang’s eyes, seeing the essence shining brilliantly—bright as Seollang’s own golden lightning—hesitated.

Of course.

If Seollang used essence, then from now on────

“......”

Seollang cut off the wandering thoughts.

There was nothing else to do.

So it had to be done.

That’s why Seollang steeled the resolve.

And the moment Seollang made up the mind—

Seollang was standing inside the inner depths of the shrine.

A shrine bathed in dark moonlight.

And there—

[You’ve come.]

Just like last time, Seollang could meet a single beastkin standing within that shrine.

[So. Are you finished preparing?]

With the same golden hair as Seollang—

[Are you ready to throw everything away, and receive the power of Monster blood.]

A beastkin whose red eyes were shining.