Appearance
by Afuhfuihgs
The space looked like it had been cut off, but surprisingly, Raellan’s body was fine. However, Raellan was greatly embarrassed and immediately pulled back, hiding behind me. Raellan, who had been glaring at the cult leader with rough breaths, calmed down his excitement and said.
“The connection with the Demon King… it’s completely cut off. The cult leader already knew that we would use the Demon King’s power to attack him, and he found a way to dismiss the Demon King using God-Slaying.”
“That can’t be…”
The word God-Slaying wasn’t unfamiliar. I knew it was the mission left to Estelle’s clan, and that it meant the highest level of assassin that the clan’s founder, Parell, had reached. It was also the fundamental reason why the Modiste information guild was created.
I never dreamed that the cult leader would use it.
“But it seems like the cult leader paid the price for using God-Slaying as well.”
As Raellan said, blood vessels were clearly visible all over the cult leader’s face. The cult leader, who was biting his lip as if enduring pain, got up and put on the mask that was wriggling as if it were alive again. Then, as if he had regained his composure, he opened his mouth.
「Heh heh, did you think you were the only one writing the novel?」
At the question that was close to mockery, I gripped my spear. Our plan had completely gone wrong. Ellie quickly noticed that the situation was going strangely and joined us with Marmot.
「It’s a story that countless versions of you have repeated when I’ve met them. To me, your struggles are just a cliché. I’ve already dealt with many Rosses who have joined hands with the Demon King. Of course, finding a way to deal with it isn’t that difficult for me, the writer.」
I could feel my companions wavering. But even if the Demon King was absurdly dismissed, it wasn’t all over. I still had the ‘World Tree Spear’ left by the Saintess.
The cult leader, who thought he had the upper hand, said to us.
「Knowing that this world is a fake I created, are you still pointlessly trying to resist me? Hoping that another me will save you? Your attempt to open your eyes and dream is truly pathetic.」
I immediately retorted the cult leader’s words.
“You’re also a copy of an original, aren’t you? Sorry, but no matter how hard you try, you’re just a fake.”
Whether that was the cult leader’s sore spot, the aura of chaos shattered the road surface around where the cult leader was standing.
「Don’t you understand yet? The being you’ve been so desperately seeking an answer from is giving you the answer. The reason why everything went wrong is because a disposable extra who should have been dismissed long ago is still alive and well.」
At those words, I burst out laughing. No matter how strong he was, the fact that he was another me…
“Are you thinking of yourself as a god now? It just seems like your puberty came too late.”
「….」
I mocked the cult leader’s words, took out the World Tree Spear from the space warehouse, and said to my companions.
“I’ll take on the cult leader. Just block the Confessions like before.”
Everyone nodded and followed my words, aiming their staffs at the Confessions that surrounded us. Ellie, who was back-to-back with me, said over her shoulder.
“Ross, you’ll be okay.”
I gave a bitter smile at Ellie’s comfort and immediately rushed towards the cult leader. As a signal, magic and sword energy raged everywhere, the road surface was shattered, and mana scattered everywhere.
Kwaaaang―――!
Breaking through the explosion right in front of me, I threw a shadow spear that I had materialized in my empty hand as a surprise attack. The cult leader, who lightly blocked the thrown spear with a chakram, twisted one corner of his mouth.
「What did you say to me…? That I didn’t seem better than Roel? Heh heh. How does it feel to be completely fooled by a liar?」
As if all the times he had been pushed back by me were all acting, the cult leader released chaos from his heart, erasing all the space coordinates around him. Then, he doubled the chakram and began to pour out attacks with the power of chaos.
「Did you think you were the only one who got stronger by losing something? I lost everything. I emptied everything to gain everything. So, do you still think I’m inferior to Roel in your eyes?」
I couldn’t use space magic, but I had also grown tremendously from when I was only relying on space magic. Using the fact that the weapon’s range was longer than the chakram with pure swordsmanship alone, I could easily push back the cult leader, who was trying to push forward.
I glanced around and avoided the chakram that flew in as a surprise attack, drawing out the power of the World Tree Spear. The cult leader realized what weapon I was using from the dark light of destruction flowing from the spear blade and didn’t try to attack rashly. Taking advantage of that, I poured out a series of attacks, pushing the cult leader further and further back.
It wasn’t that he was being pushed back by force. The cult leader was blocking the attacks and waiting for an opportunity to launch a fatal counterattack on me. But this time, my scheme came first.
Taak-!
「…!」
The golem, whose legs were shattered and rolling on the floor, grabbed the cult leader’s ankle as he was pushed near it. The cult leader hurriedly tried to shatter the golem’s arm with the aura of chaos, but the magic stone bomb that had been placed inside the golem was reacting to the magic power contained in the shadow spear I had thrown.
Kwaaaang―――!
An explosion occurred in the golem along with a huge explosion. The cult leader managed to withstand the power of the explosion thanks to the barrier he had hastily created with the aura of chaos, but he reacted too late to me, who had already approached right in front of him.
「You bastard…!」
The cult leader hurriedly swung the chakram, but the World Tree Spear was already emitting the light of destruction and rushing towards the cult leader. Pushing back the chakram containing the power of chaos with the power of destruction, the spear blade reached its destination, the cult leader’s heart.
Puuuk―――!
The cult leader, whose heart had been pierced, stood still without moving. The wriggling mask also stopped as if its life had been extinguished. The moment I was sure of victory, I quickly retrieved the spear and pulled my body back with a strange sense of unease.
What I stabbed was an elaborate illusion created with the power of chaos.
「You’re quick to notice, though.」
The cult leader, who suddenly appeared next to me, swung the chakram to cut off my neck. I hurriedly used the formless breathing technique to get out of the way, put the World Tree Spear, which needed a rest, back into the space warehouse using the power of destruction, materialized a shadow spear, and countered the cult leader’s attack.
With the spear blade and chakram touching, the cult leader, who had come close, twisted his lips at me.
「Handling the chakram is the cult leader’s setting. It’s not my real advantage, though.」
The moment the words ended, I was briefly deprived of my vision by the flash of light emitted from the eyes I met. I hurriedly swung the spear to create distance, but I felt something hard blocking the spear and prepared for the upcoming attack with space distortion using the formless breathing technique.
However, there was no attack at all. I recovered my vision and found the cult leader smiling quietly and watching me. The cult leader, who had already experienced space distortion, knew that his attack wouldn’t work and deliberately consumed my power.
The cult leader scratched around his ear and laughed mockingly.
「You’re making a fuss.」
Is it because he’s another me and knows me well? Or is it because his experience of dealing with countless Rosses from other worlds gives him the upper hand? I gritted my teeth, pulled up my magic power, pushed back the aura of chaos that was blocking the spear, and cut down the cult leader.
Kang-!
I had already considered that it would be blocked by the chakram, so I continuously slammed the spear down and tried to push the cult leader back by putting one leg forward. But the cult leader freely used two chakrams and even the aura of chaos to use unconventional attacks and didn’t budge at all.
No, he even spewed flames from his mouth, causing large burn blisters to form on the fingers holding the spear shaft. Thanks to the blood boiling with the excitement of the battle, I didn’t feel much pain… The cult leader, who freely used chakrams, magic, and the power of chaos, was indeed a formidable enemy.
「I can clearly see you panicking.」
“Are you even being creepy now?”
「The act of trying to hide your true feelings with lies and mockery when you’re at a disadvantage is the same for every Ross.」
The cult leader threw two chakrams containing the power of chaos. I lowered my body as if I had sat down to avoid them, and moved my body to the side, guessing that the chakrams that had passed would return like boomerangs. As expected, the chakrams drew a horizontal line and returned to where I was standing.
But unexpectedly, the cult leader chose not to grab the chakrams returning to him, but to take something out of his arms and throw it at me. I instinctively knocked away what was coming.
The chakrams that returned like boomerangs grazed the cult leader’s arms, causing him to bleed, but the cult leader didn’t care at all and focused his attention on what I had knocked away.
Bururururuk―――!
What had touched the surface of the spear blade burst, and huge bubbles poured out. The bubbles that flowed down to the hands holding the spear and spear shaft hardened like solid stone, and my arm fell to the floor because it couldn’t bear the weight.
Kung-!
「This is the end of your struggle. Extra. Now become a material for my story.」
At the sight of the cult leader swinging the chakram towards me, who was bound by the bubbles, I tried to use space distortion until the very end to avoid the attack, but the chakram containing the power of chaos ignored the distortion of space and headed straight for me.
I didn’t close my eyes. If the cult leader’s attack failed, even if it was just a possibility, I had to counterattack immediately. But there was no one who could help me. Ellie noticed that I was in danger, but she couldn’t find a gap to help because she was dealing with the vice-leader and Carterus at the same time.
“Ross!”
But even in that situation, Ellie took the risk of ignoring the vice-leader and Carterus’ magic to help me. Because she turned her body with the enemy in front of her, Ellie’s arm exploded from Carterus’ magic, but Ellie’s magic flew to block the cult leader.
「It’s already too late!」
The chakram containing the power of chaos breaks through Ellie’s powerful magic and flies unhindered towards my neck.
The moment I felt the thick aura of death approaching my neck…
A pure white flash of light split the space between me and the cult leader.
“Sorry. I’m a little late.”
Lykan, who had decided to join us, appeared.
Not alone either…
“…Team Leader!”
Together with the Messiah members.
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