The Changed Future (3)

The battle against the King Serpent began somewhat abruptly the moment Seraphine and I arrived at the West Gate.

The first priority was naturally protecting Ethan.

To start, Seraphine drew the King Serpent’s aggro to prevent it from attacking Ethan, who had already collapsed from exhaustion, marking the beginning of the boss fight.

Of course, if it were Seraphine at her usual condition, even she would have found it difficult to maintain the King Serpent’s aggro for long.

I wasn’t entirely sure what her current level was, but considering her level at the point of joining in the original story, she should have been around the same as Ethan now.

My estimate was roughly level 7-8. At most, she wouldn’t have exceeded level 10.

In that case, it would naturally be absurd for her to hold her own against a boss monster like the King Serpent, even briefly.

…But Seraphine under a full moon was unmistakably on a completely different level.

-Wham!

‘Hiss…!’

The King Serpent, struck on the bridge of its nose by her dazzling aerial kick, flared up in anger.

Though it didn’t show any visible external injuries, just by looking, it was clear that the impact had momentarily stunned it.

As expected of a ridiculously overpowered character who becomes absurdly strong once a month.

True to her epithet, “Princess of the Moonlight Shadow,” she was a character who could fight not with ordinary stamina or magic but with “lunar power.”

Since her ability heavily relied on external factors, it was inevitable that her performance would fluctuate, but on the night of a full moon, she was undeniably one of the strongest characters among the main cast.

With a graceful overhead kick tracing the arc of a crescent moon, she struck the King Serpent’s lower jaw.

Her shimmering golden hair, glowing like a lunar halo, mesmerized the monster as she effortlessly kept its attention fixated on her.

In the game, Seraphine was indeed an excellent support DPS and evasion tank.

…Well. Given that she was already a mandatory companion for the story, it made sense that her stats were decent-otherwise, player sentiment would have been downright hostile.

The fact that she remained popular despite being a nuisance character was, of course, for good reason.

‘Of course, even Seraphine under a full moon wouldn’t be strong enough to kill the King Serpent at this point.’

And according to the original story, Agnes and Seraphine had to combine their strength to barely defeat the King Serpent, so realistically, Agnes was likely the one who dealt the killing blow back then.

Seraphine would have played the role of buying time by distracting the monster like this.

Though I could roughly guess how the battle would have unfolded, there was no need to cross-verify those details in my head.

Especially in such a dire situation, wasting time on trivialities was unnecessary-all I had to do was land a Mana Blast on that King Serpent.

If that was the future Seraphine had seen, then it was safe to assume it would indeed come to pass.

“Lillith…? What do you mean by you and Her Highness ending this…?”

“Stay quiet, Ethan. I need to focus now.”

“……”

Cutting off Ethan, who was still muttering in confusion behind me, I immediately began chanting a spell, focusing on forming a mass of mana between my palms.

Unlike simple spells like Clean or Shockwave, this was practically my first time using a proper high-level spell, but compared to other magic I’d used before, it didn’t feel particularly difficult.

As unfamiliar magical formulas flooded my mind, a sphere of mana began to take shape between my hands, gradually growing in size.

‘Right, this was how it looked.’

In the game, characters who used Mana Blast often started by gathering small masses of mana like this.

Of course, most mage characters used tools like staves or wands to cast it, but that was a minor difference.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t disappointed, but it was a trivial matter. After all, having played through Lillith’s route over ten times, this sight wasn’t strange to me.

Did they really think I’d never taught Lillith Mana Blast while traveling with her?

I had tried everything-support magic builds, melee builds, offensive magic builds-no one understood Lillith better than I did.

And despite being a magic-based character, this pitiful girl couldn’t equip staves or wands, so she always had to gather mana with her hands when casting spells.

Maybe her low accuracy was a reflection of her inability to use casting tools.

Though accuracy didn’t matter much for Mana Blast.

‘An ultimate skill with a guaranteed 100% hit rate-it never misses.’

What began as a mana sphere the size of a ping-pong ball steadily grew in my hands, expanding at a rate befitting Lillith’s immense mana pool.

Even as it reached the size of a basketball, I felt like I had only used about half my mana, which was strangely unsettling.

By the time it surpassed the size of a small exercise ball, a peculiar sense of unease began creeping in.

‘Was it supposed to get this big…?’

…I don’t remember it ever growing this large in the game.

The terrifyingly massive mana sphere, growing beyond just impressive to outright frightening, began to instill a strange fear in me.

‘If I accidentally drop this, wouldn’t that be the end of me…?’

Part of me wanted to stop and throw it right then, but unfortunately, Mana Blast wasn’t the kind of spell you could cancel midway.

It was the ultimate finisher-a spell that consumed all remaining mana in a single, devastating blast.

Even though the mana gathered was more than enough to kill the King Serpent, the sphere in my hands continued to grow.

Terrified by the massive orb of energy looming before me, I lifted it high above my head with both arms.

-Whoosh, whoosh!

“……!!!”

A whirlwind surged around the colossal mana sphere, as if a vortex had formed with it at the center.

Dust and wind swirled around me and the enormous orb, obscuring my vision.

Unable to bear looking directly at its terrifying size, I simply stretched my arms upward, pouring the last of my mana into it.

Finally, when I felt no more mana left to give, a sudden sensation told me I could now ‘release’ the Mana Blast.

‘This… is the feeling of casting Mana Blast.’

It felt like I could throw it anywhere-even at the head of that towering monster, easily three stories tall.

The boss monster reared its massive body, baring its fangs at Seraphine, who was barely holding her ground against it.

For her sake-for the time she had bought, and for Ethan, who had endured until now-it was time to end this battle.

“YOUR HIGHNESS!!!!!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!”

Just before releasing the Mana Blast, I shouted at the top of my lungs for Seraphine to move.

The Mana Blast, infused with all my mana over the past ten minutes, finally left my hands.

I couldn’t confirm whether she had actually heard me and dodged in time.

Just throwing the Mana Blast alone was already exhausting enough.

She probably dodged it. If she had seen the future, avoiding my Mana Blast would be child’s play for her.

After all, Seraphine would never act on a future where she ‘dies.’

She was a character who knew with absolute certainty that surviving would ultimately save more lives.

-Whoooooosh…!

The massive mana sphere, carrying with it the whirlwind and dust that had gathered around me, soared forward.

Seeing it fly away from my hands, I realized it was far larger than I had thought.

It was hard to compare it to anything, but if I had to, it was roughly the size of a kimchi refrigerator.

It was hard to believe that all that mana had come from me.

The colossal sphere of mana, generating a tremendous gust as it shot forward, flew straight toward the King Serpent’s head.

True to its reputation as a 100%-accuracy ultimate, the Mana Blast struck the monster’s head before it could even comprehend what was happening.

-KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Like several thunderclaps striking at once, the Mana Blast exploded with a deafening roar.

The moment it collided with the King Serpent’s flank, the blast sent shockwaves strong enough to shake the ground, and I was thrown backward, landing hard on my rear.

-Thud!

“Oof!”

Though the explosion lasted only a second or two-short for a spell that consumed all my mana-it was more than enough to prove its power.

After the deafening noise, tremors, and shockwaves subsided, I regained my senses and saw that the King Serpent’s head had completely vanished, as if evaporated.

Only its headless body remained, collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

-THUD!

The King Serpent’s body fell, shaking the earth once more.

With this, the boss monster of the “Imperial Palace Assault Incident” had been dealt with.

Relieved that none of the main characters had died, I surveyed the aftermath of the West Gate’s defense.

As my gaze swept over the devastated battlefield, my eyes naturally met Ethan’s bewildered stare.

“……”

“……”

…Well then.

How am I supposed to explain this?