Ch.1281Please, Let’s Fight One-On-One, Please

Negative Torrent.

Millions of spirits swirled and covered everything in sight, their wails of lamentation and hatred violently shaking my mind.

The chorus of the dead penetrating my brain through mental waves. Just perceiving it made my consciousness blur with headache and nausea rise.

I thought it would attack me directly, but surprisingly it was a curse-type power?

Despite its impressive scale, its actual killing power seems questionable… though its effectiveness as a curse is undeniable.

A curse that could pierce my mana resistance and affect me this much would drive ordinary people insane the moment they were trapped in it.

Once they lose their minds, they’re as good as dead even if they’re still breathing.

“…Damn, that’s noisy. Millions gathered together and all you can do is howl and make my head hurt? Pathetic vermin. What a waste of numbers.”

Of course, from my perspective, it was a curse I could tolerate reasonably well. Well enough that I could smile rather than clutch my head and go berserk.

“A hasty criticism. I haven’t properly demonstrated anything yet.”

However, Aurelius Garmerlic Pendragon showed no concern for my mockery, simply spreading his arms and smiling calmly.

‘Is he saying the wailing curse is merely a secondary effect?’

Well, a power of this grand scale wouldn’t end with just making some maddening noise. The real thing starts now, I guess.

“But keeping a guest waiting too long would be impolite. Though I still have preparations to make… I suppose I can advance the prelude.”

“This bastard still doesn’t get it. Don’t you know how to speak normally?”

“…Now, let the banquet begin.”

Garmerlic spread his dragon wings wide as if showing them off, pulling his lips into a smile that reached his ears.

From the river of spirits covering everything in all directions, some flowed out like tributaries and swirled around his upper body like armor.

“Please, enjoy your struggle.”

The next moment, a wave of spirits surged toward me.

– Kiiiiaaaack—!

These weren’t ordinary spirits.

Unlike common spirits that look like translucent tadpoles with only eyes and mouths, these had formed upper bodies that resembled skeletons.

They were even armed with spear-blades that looked like pieces of pitch-black glass.

– Kieeeeeck—!

At least hundreds of such spirits. With just one gesture from Garmerlic, they rushed in like waves from all directions.

“Ha. Acting all high and mighty, but in the end you’re just overwhelming with numbers?”

Kenaz. I swung my right arm wide, sweeping the surroundings with a vortex of flames.

No matter how many there are, they’re just weak vermin.

Their weapons look somewhat ominous, but whatever, I’ll just sweep them away with a wide-area attack. Right?

“Spirits with arms are still just spirits. If I burn them before they reach me, it’s no big—”

– Kiiiiieek!

Huh?

Instead of burning away, the wailing grew closer. Startled, I glanced in the direction of the closest sound, and—

– Kyaahiaaaack!

The wall of flames was torn through like paper, and countless spirits poured out from beyond it all at once.

“What are these things? That heat could instantly melt black iron, yet they withstood it…?”

I rapidly expelled karma flames, using the recoil to barely dodge.

The stream of spirits that failed to reach me let out shrill cries of frustration before flowing away and being absorbed into another group of spirits on the opposite side.

– Kieeeeeck!

Then, they emerged from another direction and charged at me again.

“How foolish. Unless they were undead with physical bodies, how could souls without substance burn in fire?”

Garmerlic, who had somehow retreated to a distance, answered my muttering with a smirk. As if saying it was physically impossible to burn souls with fire.

“What nonsense is that? I’ve been burning them just fine until now.”

From my perspective, his words seemed like nonsense.

This is a world where people fly through the air with punches, where swinging a sword can cut through space-time, and where giant magical lizards fly around breathing fire.

In such an insane world, is burning spirits with fire the only impossible thing? Isn’t that stranger?

“Well… divine flames might purify lowly spirits. Assuming the divinity of your colleague doesn’t interfere.”

“Ah, so they’re summoned by your power, which means fire with a bit of divinity doesn’t work?”

“How annoyingly quick to understand. Have you devoted all your brain functions solely to combat?”

…This bastard, did he just mock me as a meathead who can only think during battle?

[ An accurate assessment. ]

What’s accurate about it, Aishan-Gioro Hersella?

I do tend to get smarter during combat, but that doesn’t mean I live without thinking at all times.

No, more importantly…

‘How are you talking? Weren’t you supposed to lose consciousness when I awakened my divinity?’

When I revealed the halo and divine core light, Hersella’s consciousness would normally be pushed back and forced to sleep, or even if awake, she shouldn’t be able to speak.

[ Why act surprised now? You spoke to me last time too. ]

‘Oh… now that you mention it… How did you manage that?’

So now that’s no longer the case.

[ Isn’t it proof that my caliber has grown? I used to fall asleep because the difference in our calibers pushed my soul beyond consciousness. ]

Hersella answered with a confident tone. Thanks to her becoming stronger than before, she could now withstand my awakened divinity without falling asleep.

‘Hmm…’

So she’s gained enough caliber not to be suppressed by my divinity? Theoretically that makes sense, but… it’s hard to accept. What did she do to grow?

She hasn’t had a proper battle in a while since she lacks the strength to face demigod-level opponents equally. So how…

…Could it be that she’s been secretly absorbing the divine power I didn’t fully consume?

Could it be that after accumulating all that divinity she siphoned off, she reached a critical point and began to bloom?

No, that can’t be. There’s no way she could casually obtain a demigod’s divinity like that.

After all the hardship I went through to develop one divine attribute, how unfair would it be if someone else reached a demigod’s caliber just by absorbing leftover divinity?

That’s impossible.

The world can’t be that unfair. There must be another reason why Hersella has grown strong enough to withstand the pressure of my divinity—

[ That’s enough idle thoughts. Your reaction speed is slowing down! ]

‘Ah, you’re right.’

Like switching off a machine, I stopped my excessive thoughts—perhaps due to the instinct to ignore the headache—and turned my attention back to the practical problem.

– Kiiiiieek!

– Kieeeeeeeck!

The spirits that broke through the wall of flames—or according to Garmerlic, passed through without any damage—reached my vicinity in an instant.

Even while talking and getting lost in thought, my body was automatically dodging or countering their fierce attacks, but that was merely the manifestation of ingrained defensive instincts.

Since I wasn’t thinking properly while moving my body, I couldn’t do anything beyond reflexive evasion and defense.

– Kwak!

Until now.

– Kiiaaaaaaack!

“Shut up.”

My longsword cleaved through the upper body of a spirit charging with its spear extended.

A blue-silver flash cut through the smoke-like black-gray mass, and the light spread throughout its entire body like water seeping into dry, cracked earth.

– Passsss…!

Yes, this works.

The spirit turned to dust and disappeared. While my punches and kicks only scattered the spirits temporarily, Durandal completely annihilated them.

The divine metal’s true silver slash, which purifies the unholy, proved effective even against spirits that physical attacks couldn’t harm.

If punches had worked too, I couldn’t have asked for more… that was the only disappointment. It meant I had to swing my sword at each one of these countless spirits.

“…Well, whatever, I’ll just cut them all down!”

“Not wrong, but… do you think I’ll just stand by and let you?”

Garmerlic snorted and flew toward me with a flap of his wings.

He still held the thorned sword and scythe in his hands, and the dragon’s massive yet sharp front claws were coated with gleaming black death energy.

– Kiiaaaaaaack!

And on top of that, the spirits, loyal to Garmerlic’s command, continued to swarm around me in a frenzy, unconcerned about being annihilated.

The death army, both singular and legion, pressed in mercilessly from all directions.

“So in the end it’s a war of attrition? How cliché!”

His strategy was obvious.

He intended to partially bind my limbs with his own power, then gradually wear down my strength by sacrificing expendable vermin that he wouldn’t miss.

“Your power is great but excessive consumption is your flaw. You still haven’t overcome that, have you?”

It was a cliché and crude method, but efficient.

If I only had to deal with spirits, I could annihilate them given enough time, but with Garmerlic’s interference added, I would have to expend considerable energy to counter both threats.

“I’m looking forward to it. How long can you keep swinging against this great army, including myself?”

“Obviously, until your head flies off!”

My sword blade tore through the river of spirits, and my fist collided with the dragon’s left paw, both rebounding simultaneously.

As I retreated with the recoil, hundreds of spirits slashed through the empty space before my eyes, and spear-blades from spirits charging from other directions occasionally grazed my limbs, splattering blood.

A battle of one against millions.

I had scraped together all sorts of races from Naraka to avoid exactly this kind of situation, but despite all that effort, I was surrounded by countless enemies.

Well, when was it ever different?