Ch.178Chapter 178

Clang!

The honestly swung sword was blocked by Iphomia’s arm, creating a noise.

In an instant, she had wrapped her arm in ice to block my attack.

I was inwardly surprised to see her quickly blocking my attack even while in pain.

People say that even when The Advisor’s power erases a red mist the size of a fist, they feel like their bodies might fly away.

That meant even something that small had quite a significant impact on people.

But the size of the pain within Iphomia was exactly her size.

Just touching this pain could lead an ordinary human to mental collapse.

Yet she moved nimbly despite it all.

Even now, she was emitting killing intent so intense it made my skin tingle, as if she wanted to kill me immediately.

To think even this is her weakened state.

The Advisor’s power.

Zumiya’s lesser dragon.

I shuddered inwardly at the fact that coincidence upon coincidence had given me something useful for the final battle, and deflected my sword.

Using the recoil to move backward, Iphomia immediately aimed her trembling arm at me.

About 10 ice projectiles rushed toward me.

Catching my breath, I drew out the lesser dragon’s wings.

Perhaps because they had been flying for so long, the force with which the wings spread was rather weak.

This must mean that the power Zumiya gave me was nearly depleted.

Until these wings disappear is my last chance.

Whoosh!

I kicked off the ground, adding momentum to the wings.

Moving quickly forward, I pushed my dynamic vision to the extreme to calculate the trajectory of the ice.

One small mistake and I could be hit and frozen solid.

But.

The White Mask’s training.

Oko’s blessing.

The Advisor’s power.

All of these combined.

Making even nearly impossible situations possible.

Taking another deep breath, I moved while focusing my body’s energy on my vision and arm muscles.

My flexibly moving arms quickly shattered all 10 ice projectiles, allowing me to approach Iphomia again.

Clang!

The force of my attack pushed Iphomia’s body backward.

As she was about to trip on the throne, she made a face as if outraged by the fact she was being pushed back.

“You, what are you exactly?”

“Princess, it’s still not too late. Please set aside your anger and listen to what I have to say…”

“Set aside my anger?”

Iphomia had been wearing an expression of mere irritation.

But upon hearing the word “anger,” her expression suddenly became even more ferocious than before.

“Who are you to judge my anger!!”

“Argh!”

Iphomia swung her arm with a voice close to a scream.

The force sent me flying back, nearly crashing into the wall.

I quickly moved the lesser dragon’s wings to stop before hitting the wall.

Damn.

I used quite a bit of the remaining wing energy just to protect myself.

“Don’t speak carelessly when you don’t understand my position.”

Iphomia approached quickly with an expression steeped in anger.

I quickly raised my sword.

It was a close call.

I almost had my skull pierced by her sharp claws.

“The people of the Empire and the god-folk are all the same.”

Knowing I couldn’t win with strength alone, I quickly twisted my body to avoid her.

Her sharp ice claws stuck into the floor.

Despite being embedded quite deeply, Iphomia easily pulled them out and quickly leaped toward me.

“Everyone talks as if I’m the bad one. They call me the Giant of the Snow Mountain who froze the world. They say I deserve to be cursed. But I was the one who had been enduring all this time.”

While calmly reciting her words, I moved my sword frantically to block her rapidly swinging attacks.

Indeed, she was a god-folk capable of absorbing the power of the Four Supremes.

Even her physical abilities were exceptional—despite experiencing extreme pain.

“From the beginning, my mother cast me out. Even my father abandoned me. Have you ever experienced pain like mine?”

“Princess, please calm down!”

“Don’t try to lecture me with that pathetic sense of justice when you know nothing!”

I was twisting my entire body to block her attacks, but eventually I allowed one hit through.

“Ugh!”

As I was flying backward from the hit, Oko caught me.

Thinking I was incapacitated, Iphomia immediately turned toward Salvia.

“Salvia, you tell me.”

“Iphomia…”

“You didn’t care about me either. You abandoned me too, didn’t you? And now you say you have something to tell me?”

Iphomia grabbed Salvia’s neck and lifted her up.

Salvia’s life-giving power and Iphomia’s warmth-stealing power began to clash violently.

“Salvia, you’re a hypocrite. You didn’t come here for me, you just came looking for me to gain trust from the people of the Empire. If things work out well, you’ll laugh and chat with people, celebrating that you solved one grand problem.”

“I…phomia… that’s not…”

“Such creatures are better off not existing. Such selfish beings who give wounds while offering fleeting love for the sake of reward… they should be eliminated here.”

With those words, Iphomia’s grip tightened.

Despite being nearly invulnerable to physical attacks, Salvia’s face was growing increasingly pale due to Iphomia’s power.

“Oko, thank you.”

“Raedan…”

After expressing my gratitude to Oko, I slowly approached Iphomia.

If I left things as they were, Salvia was in real danger of dying.

I couldn’t allow that.

“What does The Princess intend to do?”

At my casually thrown question, Iphomia answered dryly.

“…I told you to stay out of it if you don’t understand.”

“Is this truly what you want to do?”

“Stop meddling with your meager knowledge, and that mouth…!”

“Then why haven’t you ended humanity with your own hands?”

Cutting off Iphomia’s angry words, I immediately got to the point.

At my words, Iphomia’s facial muscles froze.

“If humans were so hateful to you, and the god-folk who abandoned you so detestable, couldn’t you have destroyed them all directly with your enlightened hands?”

“…That’s because I wanted to see you all die slowly in agony…”

“Is that really the reason?”

I could see Iphomia’s killing intent intensify.

I felt like my legs might give out at any moment, but I endured with mental strength and said what needed to be said.

“If you wanted to see them die slowly in agony, that doesn’t explain the humans you’ve merely frozen in ice right in front of you. I’m talking about the act of taking away their warmth while sparing their lives!”

“…!”

Iphomia’s expression filled with shock for a moment.

It was as if she was wondering how I knew that.

“The Knight Commander returned safely. And she testified to us.”

“…No, don’t talk as if you can figure me out so easily.”

“You simply wanted to vent your anger. Didn’t you want someone to come stop you, and understand you?”

“I said shut up!!!!”

Finally, Iphomia threw Salvia to the floor and rushed at me.

I could hear Salvia coughing.

Fortunately, it seemed her life wasn’t in danger.

I moved my body immediately.

I blocked Iphomia’s attack.

My sword began to freeze, perhaps to ensure a definitive end.

It seemed she intended to steal my heat directly.

I quickly repelled Iphomia and converted all the lesser dragon particles into my physical abilities.

I could feel the sensation of the lesser dragon’s wings connected to my wing bones disappearing.

At the same time, I felt my body become much lighter.

The final minute.

I had to settle this within that time.

“Raedan!”

Oko seemed to think this was a reckless decision.

But it wasn’t an impulsive judgment at all.

It was all part of the plan.

Clang!

I charged at her first.

Iphomia groaned slightly, seemingly surprised by my speed, which was much faster than before.

But I didn’t stop.

I had to move as fast as possible to tire her out.

After all, given her half-human, half-god origin, she must have limits.

Bang!

I deliberately moved erratically while swinging my sword at her.

I intentionally avoided areas that would cause fatal wounds.

I aimed only for the joints, cutting them.

That way, Demeter’s power could help with recovery later.

“Aaaah!”

Iphomia grabbed one of my arms as I attacked, letting out an irritated scream.

“Grrgh!”

An unbearable burning sensation was felt from the grabbed area.

Despite Oko’s blessing, the directly interfered area seemed to be losing heat.

As soon as I confirmed it was beginning to freeze, I forcibly condensed her pain a bit more using The Advisor’s power.

“Kuh…!”

As if she could barely even scream, Iphomia let go of my hand to clutch her head.

I caught my breath.

One arm was completely frozen, making it impossible to move properly.

But.

I could still do this.

Now that it was truly time to end this, this much was nothing to worry about.

I moved my legs.

I could feel my body’s energy draining, showing its limits.

Nevertheless, I made one final dash.

Iphomia belatedly noticed me and reached out her hand toward me.

I ducked to avoid her hand.

And then.

Slash.

“Aah!”

Finally succeeding in cutting her Achilles tendon as well, I could see Iphomia fall to the ground, completely immobilized.

I looked at Iphomia’s face.

Her pupils were trembling.

It was clear.

That was a gaze filled with the fear of death.

My body was screaming that it had reached its limit, as if the lesser dragon’s power had drained away.

But I couldn’t stop moving.

“Raedan! Don’t!”

Salvia screamed and tried to approach me.

She must have thought I was going to kill Iphomia.

Because of her action, Iphomia’s face plunged further into despair.

I raised my sword.

Looking at Iphomia who was squeezing her eyes shut.

I threw the sword aside.

As Iphomia flinched at the sound of the falling sword and tried to look at me.

I embraced her.