Ch.1283Fighting Foul with Foul

A power that could now be called divine without exaggeration.

Looking at the monster who wore the guise of a human while displaying the strength of a dragon or giant, Garmerlic thought.

‘Strong. Bizarrely strong.’

In terms of raw power alone, it wasn’t unprecedented.

Among the transcendents of Xanten in Garmerlic’s old memories, there were certainly those who had demonstrated combat prowess equal to hers, and even some who possessed greater strength.

However, between those powerful beings and this star’s divine entity, there existed a decisive difference—no, a distinction. Two of them, in fact.

‘…How can she grow stronger at such a rate?’

First was her insane growth speed.

The powerful beings Garmerlic remembered had attained their strength after decades or centuries of arduous training, but she had achieved a divine status worthy of being counted among the strongest in just a few years.

And not by receiving a portion of divinity as a vassal to those who had ascended to the heavens, like ordinary demigods, but through the incredibly difficult path of building her rank through endless struggle.

This rapid growth couldn’t be explained by talent alone. That growth rate was certainly unprecedented throughout history.

But that wasn’t all.

‘Still, I cannot… glimpse her bottom.’

While her insane growth rate alone posed a serious threat, it was still something one could anticipate and counter.

The most threatening characteristic of “Haschal,” as Garmerlic judged, was that it was impossible to discern where the bottom of her power truly lay.

This didn’t mean she possessed infinite power or was a monster that never tired.

Quite the opposite.

Due to her fighting style of unleashing vast amounts of power without restraint, Haschal was the type who, despite having monstrous stamina, would struggle to sustain herself in prolonged battles.

For this reason, most who opposed Haschal tended to choose wars of attrition rather than quick decisive battles, trying to weaken her as much as possible before defeating her.

In theory, it was a flawless and rational tactic. In theory.

…Perhaps the problem was that Haschal’s power had somehow reached beyond the realm of reason and rationality.

The truth spoken by results: those who chose wars of attrition against Haschal were defeated without exception.

Though she would visibly grow tired and weaker, she never fell before her opponent.

Either awakening new power to turn the tide, or refusing to die even when at death’s door, fighting to the end and claiming victory. Every battle followed this pattern.

An irrationality that defied logic. No matter how much power she expended, as long as an adversary stood before her, she never revealed her bottom—her limit—and never fell.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

That’s why, even though Garmerlic had forced her into a one-sided war of attrition, he didn’t assume his victory.

‘She is certainly weak to attrition, but can never be defeated by it. The source of that irrationality is probably… the divine power residing in the star and dawn.’

Though it was speculation based on circumstantial evidence without confirmation, it was an inference incredibly close to the truth.

As the Goddess of Stars and Dawn, the essence of the power Haschal had awakened was a miracle that transcended the maximization of possibility, breaking through limitations themselves.

That power shone whenever she reached her limits, granting her, albeit weakly, strength beyond those limits.

Haschal herself wasn’t conscious of this, but this was precisely why she suffered from extreme exhaustion after intense battles.

Using her faint divinity as fuel, burning it to push her body beyond its limits—naturally, the backlash after battle would be severe.

Anyway, for this reason, Garmerlic had long abandoned the idea of defeating Haschal through attrition. He was convinced it wouldn’t work.

…In other words, his reason for summoning millions of specters wasn’t, as Haschal suspected, to deplete her power and subdue her.

‘The specters are disappearing faster than expected. She seems unaware, but… is she becoming sharper as she tires? What a monster.’

The power to open the gates of the netherworld and summon rivers of specters—Negative Torrent.

Its essence was, as Haschal guessed, to deplete the opponent’s body and soul to the extreme with an army of specters carrying the chorus of wailing and the curse of death.

However, if that were its only purpose, Garmerlic wouldn’t have bothered using Negative Torrent.

‘As expected, attrition isn’t the answer. That much is as I predicted. Though I didn’t expect 20% of the specters to be destroyed in just a few minutes.’

If victory couldn’t be guaranteed through gradual attrition, it would be far more efficient to allocate power to other abilities.

‘The weakness of Negative Torrent is that as the number of specters decreases, the ritual itself weakens. Once they’re reduced by half, it becomes essentially meaningless.’

In other words, Negative Torrent had another application beyond using an army of specters to wear down an enemy’s body and soul.

That application was the very reason Garmerlic had cast Negative Torrent, expending considerable power.

‘…No choice. I’ll have to advance the plan a bit.’

After a brief mental calculation, Garmerlic looked at Haschal, who was panting heavily while slaughtering specters, and spoke.

“Do you know?”

“Know what, your goddess’s death anniversary?”

“……”

“When was it again, your father confessed—”

Even while gasping for breath, Haschal didn’t miss the opportunity to provoke Garmerlic with taunting remarks.

Not angered but speechless from disbelief, Garmerlic sighed deeply, ignored her provocation, and continued what he was trying to say.

“…Specters are the souls of the dead who have lost their sense of self after unbearable pain. Though fallen and twisted, they are essentially fragments of souls.”

“So what? Want me to look for your goddess among them?”

More provocation. More ignoring. Though knowing any words would be met with mockery, Garmerlic steadfastly continued his speech.

Under his gaze, at the bottom of the massive sphere filled with specters, countless specters were mixing to form a complex formation—which he was trying to hide.

In short, it was a distraction to buy time.

“And souls are the supreme catalyst and resource for all magic and sorcery. Are you starting to understand what I mean?”

“You bastard, don’t tell me…!”

“Too late!”

And that distraction came to an end at this moment.

As Haschal violently shook off the specters and charged at him, Garmerlic welcomed her with open arms, laughing in ecstasy.

“The value of a single specter may not match that of a complete soul, but with this many gathered, it’s a different story!”

From the moment he unleashed Negative Torrent, he had secretly begun preparations, and now, risking discovery due to faster-than-expected consumption, he hastily completed and activated the grand ritual.

The massive magic circle, finally complete, resonated with an ominous sound and began to glow, as all the specters that had filled the surroundings disappeared as if being sucked into it.

“Behold! The sacrificial offerings overflow!”

This was the other application of Negative Torrent.

Using the millions of specters summoned through the gates of the netherworld not as weapons to kill enemies, but as sacrifices to manifest a more powerful miracle.

It was his trump card to defeat the invincible monster, hidden until this very moment behind words and actions that overtly suggested a war of attrition.

“Like I’ll let you!”

That’s dangerous.

With a spine-chilling sense of foreboding, Haschal accelerated fiercely, expelling Karma flames behind her.

‘Whatever he’s trying to do, I just need to stop it before it activates!’

Whether sorcery, magic, or divine power, most such grand rituals could be disrupted by inflicting serious injury to the caster and breaking their concentration.

Once she had gained sufficient acceleration, Haschal withdrew the power of Murder Karma and elevated her soul, demonstrating the mark of heroism she had achieved as a human.

“Time stop?”

Garmerlic snorted at the familiar sensation. Even if Haschal charged at him with time stopped, it would be impossible to stop him.

The defensive power he had strengthened by implanting incomplete death divinity within himself, Sarcophagus of Rest, could perfectly nullify the time stop of “Defying Fate.”

“You should know. It won’t change anything—”

“If it were time stop, yes, but…!”

【 Defying Fate 】

But in the next moment, Haschal’s charging speed nearly tripled.

More precisely, the time it took for her sword to reach Garmerlic was compressed to one-third.

Unlike time stop, which affects the world—in other words, the opponent too—this was Defying Fate’s time compression, which pseudo-accelerated only herself.

Since this wasn’t an ability that directly affected the opponent like mental magic or curses, it couldn’t be nullified by “Sarcophagus of Rest,” which blocked such interference.

– Thwack.

Perhaps that’s why. The tip of Durandal, flying like a comet, pierced through Garmerlic’s heart and protruded from his back before he could do anything.

“Kuh, haaack…!”

Spewing black blood with a splash, Garmerlic’s face contorted. He dropped his thorn sword from his right hand and, with trembling hands imbued with death power, firmly grasped Durandal’s blade.

As if certain he would be sliced to pieces the moment he let go.

“Ha, trying to resist? With a sword stuck in your heart?”

Haschal smiled fiercely and reawakened the power of severance she had deliberately suppressed to minimize power consumption.

– Crackle!

The blade turned golden again. As the awakened power antagonized the death divinity in Garmerlic’s hands, black lightning and golden flashes erupted between them.

– Crunch.

“Grrrgh…!”

Very slowly, bit by bit, the blade moved upward. As transcendent powers canceled each other out, Haschal’s sword began to slice through Garmerlic’s body by sheer difference in physical strength.

Nevertheless, the specters’ magic circle still glowed and writhed without dispersing, but Haschal postponed judgment on this for now.

“Struggling to the end…! Why not just give up? I’ll give you a peaceful passing!”

“I… can’t… kuhk, I cannot…! Like this… you…”

Another splash of blood erupted. Groaning at the sensation of the blade that had now reached his chin, Garmerlic pulled up his trembling lips as far as he could.

“Because I’ve caught you.”

In the next moment, as the center of Garmerlic’s chest condensed into a single point and disappeared as if being sucked in—

【 Invitation to the Netherworld 】

A door opened.

The result of the grand ritual performed using millions of specters and all of Garmerlic’s former divinity as sacrifices—a passage to the netherworld.

This was the completion and final gamble of the plan Garmerlic had been advancing with all sorts of bluffs since the moment he chose to merge with the dark dragon.

Everything he had done was merely preparation for this very moment.

“…I’m screwed.”

The door to the netherworld swallowed the souls of the two demigods.