Ch.196Chapter 196 – Gate Destruction Battle

I was struck speechless by the scene unfolding before my eyes.

The succubus I had seen before, Phobia staring at me with vacant eyes, and Somnus.

‘Why the hell are these bastards here…?’

Logically, there was no reason for Somnus and Phobia to be here. In this land of elves who revere the World Tree, the Church’s influence is weaker compared to other places. In fact, during my stay here, I hadn’t even heard mention of the Emiris Church.

If the Church had made any significant moves, they would have already been caught in the elves’ information network, which was on high alert due to the demon invasion.

Yet despite this, those bastards were here.

‘And of all places, why here?’

I’m currently at the roots of the World Tree, where the Einherjar are sealed. According to the lich, this is the place where heroes voluntarily entered slumber to prepare for a war that would someday come. It’s a location outsiders shouldn’t know about, yet these guys were casually here.

Moreover, it seemed these lunatics had already caused some incident, as the surrounding light was gradually dimming, and the gate opened in front of the succubus was pulsating with an ominous glow.

“What are you bastards doing here?”

When I questioned them again, Somnus answered with a smile.

“Summoning the Demon King.”

Somnus replied nonchalantly, spreading his arms as he spoke to me.

“Did you know that the World Tree’s immense magical power is used to maintain the Einherjar’s seal?”

“…How do you know that?”

“I haven’t wasted my years, you see.”

Somnus answered with a smile.

“Well, that saves me some explanation. What we’re doing here is quite simple.”

Somnus said, gesturing around as if inviting me to look.

“We’re opening a gate to summon the Demon King, right here. Using the magical power that maintains the seal, and the power of the Einherjar themselves.”

Somnus smiled brightly amid the gradually fading lights.

And then, lightning shot past me toward Somnus.

“Oops.”

As if he had anticipated it, Somnus calmly extended his hand and blocked the lightning. Then, with sparks flying from his hand, the lich approached my side.

“Eek…!”

“Now, now. Calm down. I told you I’d protect you.”

The succubus seemed terrified, as if she had some trauma related to the lich. Somnus calmly placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

Then he looked at the lich with a smile.

“Well, well. I suppose it would be strange if you hadn’t come.”

[…You seem to know me.]

“I do. Very well.”

Somnus replied with a casual smile.

“A lich who knows about the Einherjar’s seal and harbors hatred toward demons. Yet someone the elves praise as a great being. The answer is quite simple, isn’t it?”

Somnus extended his hand as if introducing the lich to everyone.

“The mage of the hero’s party who created the World Tree alongside the hero. Lumen.”

[……]

The lich didn’t deny it.

And Somnus added, as if just remembering:

“Oh, and I should mention your other titles: the dragon’s disciple, the first Archmage.”

Somnus said with a smile.

As the lich maintained his silence, I glanced at him, somewhat understanding the identity Somnus had revealed.

‘I knew he wasn’t an ordinary being.’

No wonder he seemed to know so much about the hero and his deeds.

While I was thinking this, the lich—Lumen—who had been standing behind me, gently pushed me aside and stepped forward.

[…If you know me, then I assume you also know what this place means to me?]

“Of course. It’s where your comrades sleep, willingly sealed to stop the Demon King who would one day return.”

Somnus respectfully put his hands together in prayer.

Then, he quietly said:

“But, is there a problem?”

Somnus said with a smile.

“It may be precious to you, but I have no reason to respect someone like you.”

[You goddamn bastard!!]

Lumen, seemingly losing his rationality to anger, roared and thrust both hands forward. Suddenly, mud rose up, transformed into spears, and flew toward Somnus.

Somnus flicked his finger, creating a magical shield to block them.

[Not content with defiling the place where they sleep with your filthy feet, you plan to use them to summon the Demon King? How far do you intend to desecrate the will of those who sacrificed themselves to protect the world!]

Despite his lifeless body, Lumen’s cry seemed as if he was spitting blood. Somnus listened quietly, nodding his head.

Then, with a calm face, he spoke:

“Sacrifice? Since they’ve become magical beings, they’re not exactly dead, are they?”

Somnus said with a smile.

“Well, if we keep this gate open, some might perish before their seals are even broken, but that’s beside the point.”

[You son of a bitch!]

Lumen roared, waving his hand. Instantly, the surrounding walls and ceiling were torn apart, becoming sharp, and sparks began to fly over them before they shot toward Somnus.

“You’re being cautious, afraid of damaging the seal.”

As if everything was going according to his expectations, Somnus calmly spoke while deploying multiple layers of magical barriers. As the lightning-infused stone spears tore through the barriers, Somnus smiled and said:

“Still, I can’t block this alone.”

Somnus said, slowly turning his head toward Phobia.

“Would you help me?”

“Oh, right. I’m your bodyguard.”

Immediately, she shot threads from her fingertips, which began to wrap around the stone spears. After a while, the spears, which were about to breach the final barrier, stopped in mid-air and fell powerlessly to the ground.

[Damn you all!]

Lumen said, preparing his next attack.

And I quickly sprang into action, starting to run.

‘I need to stop that first!’

The top priority now was to prevent the Demon King’s summoning. Somehow, I had to neutralize the gate the succubus was creating.

No matter what, stopping that gate was the only way to protect the Einherjar’s seal. I ran with all my might.

And then, three shadows leaped toward me.

“Kill… you…”

“Get out of my way!”

The three elf sisters, now wielding weapons from the Emiris Church—perhaps because Ib and Sera had taken their previous ones—were charging at me.

I deflected the sword of the elf knight with my arm, making her drop it, then kicked the sword away, breaking the bow of the elf archer who was about to shoot an arrow from behind.

After dodging a magic missile from the elf mage by rolling on the ground, I grabbed the sword that had returned to my hand and swung it, breaking her staff before pushing her aside and continuing to run.

“Wait! Play with me!”

“Damn you, bitch!”

As if determined not to let me escape, Phobia flew at me and embraced me. Since I was already running with my weight shifted forward, and with her suddenly clinging to me, I couldn’t withstand Phobia’s weight and tumbled to the ground.

“Get off!”

As I hurriedly tried to push her away and get up, something dripped onto my face. Slightly confused by the liquid with a strange warmth, I looked up to see Phobia looking down at me, drooling.

“Hehe… you’re really not bad.”

“Are you insane?!”

I forcefully pushed her away again, creating distance between us, and wiped the saliva from my cheek. Phobia slowly got up and looked at me with eyes that seemed to burn with heat.

“Ah… I’m glad.”

“About what?”

As I shrank back slightly, feeling a bit creeped out, Phobia smiled at me.

“I was a bit worried back then because of your helmet… but the contents are quite… ♡”

“What?”

While I was momentarily confused, Phobia jumped backward. Suddenly, a giant spider descended from the ceiling and pounced on me.

“Damn it!”

Because my thoughts had momentarily frozen at Phobia’s words, I couldn’t dodge the spider in time. I was buried under it, and on top of that, the elf sisters again began to pin down my arms and legs.

Finally, I saw Phobia climbing on top.

“Now then…”

Just as Phobia was about to do something to me with a smile, her body suddenly flew sideways.

[Get away!]

Immediately, Lumen used magic to blow away the three elf sisters as well.

And just as he was about to clear away the spider, magic flew toward him.

“Did you think I would just stand by?”

[Then I’ll deal with you first, you crazy old man!]

“My, I might be younger than you, bone-man.”

Somnus said that, but Lumen had already completed his incantation. As he waved his arm, plant stems and stone fragments suddenly appeared from the ground and flew toward Somnus. Seeing this, Somnus smiled and said:

“This much, I can handle alone.”

Saying that, Somnus created a shield with a blue glow, neutralizing Lumen’s magic. Then, fireballs formed behind his arm.

“You must be cold with just bones, let me give you some heat.”

[I’ll pass!]

Water spheres flew and neutralized Somnus’s magic.

While the two exchanged spells, I raised my fist.

“Get off me, you spider!”

I struck one of the spider’s legs, breaking its hard shell, then grabbed that part with my hand and tore it off.

After stabbing the sharp leg into the spider’s head and kicking it away, the spider finally fell off my body.

“My Arachno! I just fixed it!”

Phobia cried out in surprise. And as she picked up her weapon again, the three elf sisters charged at me once more.

While dealing with the knight who had retrieved her sword and the ranger who had drawn a dagger, I also faced the elf mage who was trying to grab me with her bare hands.

‘Damn, this is chaotic!’

Somnus was occupied by Lumen, and Phobia was after me.

‘Maybe I should have brought Pine…’

If she were here, she could have broken through this chaos and attacked the enemy. Leaving her behind to protect Sera was a mistake.

‘Can’t be helped.’

-Crackle!

Red sparks flew intensely. And the next moment, white armor appeared on my arm.

“I apologize to the others, but…!”

I had to risk my life now. I swung my weapon, sending the elf sisters flying, and spread my wings to take flight.

[What are you doing!]

Lumen’s surprised voice was heard, probably not expecting me to unleash the dragon’s power in this situation.

But right now, the gate was the priority.

I gathered magical power in both hands, amplified it, and thought about how to manipulate it before throwing it.

“Take this!”

As I threw the sphere, it transformed into a circular saw blade and flew forward, spinning.

Somnus quickly tried to intercept it with magic.

[Where do you think you’re aiming!]

“My, interfering again!”

Lumen shouted while keeping Somnus in check. Seeing the fiercely flying sphere, Phobia smiled and shouted:

“This won’t do.”

The moment she muttered that, the elf mage and the spider standing behind her threw themselves forward.

“Aaaahh!!”

-Screech!

As the magical saw blade embedded itself in their bodies, the spider and the elf puppet screamed. Judging by the threads stuck in their backs, they had probably been enhanced with magic.

But even so, it was still the body of the conscious elf mage that was blocking the attack.

“Aaaahh!!”

Being a puppet, no blood spurted out. But it was essentially the same as blocking a saw blade with her own body. The elf mage looked down at her body with a terrified expression.

“Go help her!”

At Phobia’s command, the other elf puppets, their faces pale with fear, were seen lifting the mage’s body to use as a shield.

While this horrific scene of sisters using their sibling’s body as a meat shield unfolded, I was gathering magical power in my halberd.

“Oh no!”

Somnus’s voice was heard.

But it was already too late to stop it.

‘My target is one.’

I threw the halberd, aiming for the succubus.

-Whoosh!!

“Kyaaak?!”

The succubus screamed, and Somnus hurriedly shot magic to intercept the halberd. However, it was a halberd infused with dragon’s magic.

It easily broke through Somnus’s magic and flew toward the succubus.

“S-save meee!!”

With a comical scream, the succubus threw herself aside. Luck was on her side, as the halberd missed her body by a hair’s breadth and flew past.

“That’s a relief, it missed…”

Somnus began to express relief. But his relief was short-lived. His eyes began to widen.

-Whoosh!!

The halberd was still flying. It had changed its trajectory like a boomerang and was now flying back toward where I was.

And where I was standing was in front of the gate.

“Ah, I need to block…”

[I won’t let you!]

Phobia belatedly tried to shoot her threads, but Lumen immediately cast magic to check her and simultaneously launched magic toward Somnus.

Thus, without any interference, the halberd flew toward me.

And it passed through the gate on its way to me.

“Ah, no…”

The succubus’s face turned pale as she watched the gate being torn apart by the magic-infused halberd.

And the very next moment, a massive explosion occurred at the gate.

‘It worked.’

I sensed victory as I watched the gradually disappearing gate.

-Thump

A hand in black armor grabbed the surface of the gate.

“Who do you!!”

The exploding, collapsing gate was forcibly stabilized.

“Think!!”

Another hand stretched out, grabbing the gate and forcibly widening the hole as if tearing it open.

“I AM!!!!”

Through the forcibly opened dimensional rift, something in black armor appeared, accompanied by an enraged voice.