Ch.241241. Three-Way Battle

“So you’ve come after all.”

Luanes looked down at me from atop the Spirit King. He sighed, but his reaction was calm, as if he had expected this to happen.

Judging by how thoroughly he had destroyed the warp markers, he must have tried his best to prevent me from coming.

“How did you know we would gather here?”

The answer to that question was simple.

This forest was the location where Dante’s final episode takes place.

I had told the Zeronia family and the Bright family to dispatch troops to wait near the Rometiu Forest in advance.

I knew that this was where they would eventually come.

But since I couldn’t answer that I knew because of the game, I offered a more reasonable excuse.

“I simply thought you would need spirits to confirm the results of an act that would annihilate all souls on the continent.”

“Yes, that’s right. You were a spiritmaster too.”

Luanes and Dante said they needed to annihilate all souls to save the continent.

Eliminating the old dead and allowing new dead to rest on the continent again.

That was Luanes’ method, and in the game, you had to guide him to succeed in order to avoid the bad ending.

In other words, the spiritmaster Luanes was essential to the game’s progression and ending.

But is it really possible to just annihilate only the souls of the continent?

As someone researching the same field, I can assert that it’s impossible.

“Not souls, but all spiritual beings will be annihilated. That’s your plan, to be precise.”

Starting with the already dead.

From the spirits of the Rometiu Forest to guardian deities like the mountain gods of the Norsweden mountains.

Luanes’ method was to exterminate all spiritual beings from this continent.

“I think it’s a fair exchange for the salvation of the continent.”

“You might see it that way.”

Luanes responded rather glumly to my emotionless answer.

“Your proposed method is too hopeful.”

Creating a place.

An afterlife where the dead can newly rest their bodies.

“You’re saying you’ll create a place that the gods spoken of in religions would welcome.”

It’s said that followers of God Bellas go to his palace after death and hold lavish, indulgent feasts.

Followers of Goddess Hertia become beloved angels.

Followers of Goddess Justia are embraced by the goddess and enjoy happy, peaceful times.

Followers of God Raizer walk on clouds and become falling thunder that drives away evil.

The afterlife.

Creating one would be an issue that the religious community couldn’t simply overlook.

But I had no intention of worrying about what the gods might think.

“So you’re saying you want to become a god by creating a world for the dead?”

Luanes sneered rather awkwardly. This approach seemed so incomprehensible to his common sense that his mind didn’t seem to be working properly.

“It’s not about being a god.”

Gods are beings who establish standards, judge, and decide.

Blessings for the good, judgment for the evil.

Even the most famous afterlives, heaven and hell, are places divided by the presence or absence of sin during one’s lifetime.

And the standard of sin was entirely based on the perspective of scripture.

“I do not judge.”

I neither punish nor reward.

I simply provide a place to rest.

Beyond that, I do nothing to them.

“Sigh.”

Perhaps thinking he was getting drawn into the conversation, Luanes changed the subject while receiving the gazes of the other Black Mages.

“Why go to such lengths? Simply annihilating them is the most rational and stable option. It’s for the future of the continent.”

Now persuasion.

He seemed like a student trying to convince others that his method wasn’t wrong.

“Souls that have entered rest won’t wake up anyway. It’s not much different from annihilation.”

“I told you before. They are the final traces left by those who lived as humans.”

“……”

“The traces left behind by many who lived fiercely. Evidence that they once lived on this continent.”

The continent’s history books.

That’s what the souls lying with closed eyes were.

“Luanes Luden Griffin.”

When I called his full name, Gloria and Tairn behind me were startled.

But I continued speaking without paying them any mind.

“Show at least minimal respect to the dead.”

They too walked the same path we are walking now.

But despite my words, Luanes still wore an expression of rejection.

“We are both spiritmasters. We’ve seen countless human deaths and what comes after.”

Smoke began to rise from Luanes’ entire body, spreading in all directions.

That was his soul.

It was a type of spirit magic where Luanes, who had lived for hundreds of years, manipulated his own soul.

“Yet our views are so different.”

“While some humans lose their sense of the weight and attachment to life by being close to death…”

The opposite.

“Others find life more precious precisely because they are close to death.”

Even seeing the same things, what we feel is different.

In the end, we will both claim our methods are more correct, and there will be no resolution unless one of us yields.

Kuung!

Emitting smoke, Luanes flew straight at me.

Before I could respond, Findenai had already stepped between us, swinging Baekseol.

Kwaaang!

“I didn’t like you from before.”

Despite Baekseol being blocked by the white smoke, Findenai didn’t hesitate. She had already seen how Luanes fought in Greyfond.

She applied more force, pushing Luanes back.

Luanes landed softly, enveloped in smoke. Behind him, Black Mages were drawing up mana or rushing in to assist.

“Can I kill them all?”

To her bold question, I shook my head.

“Luanes must not be killed. We need to take the magic stone he possesses.”

“…!”

Luanes’ eyes widened at my words. The magical power he had been gathering to annihilate all souls on the continent.

Based on what I saw in the game, he used a massive magic stone to handle magic, so he probably had it hidden somewhere.

“You even know about that.”

Luanes glared at me with hatred-filled eyes, gritting his teeth.

“I understand, but…”

Findenai rested Baekseol on her shoulder and turned her head slightly toward me, giving me an irritated glare.

“We need to talk later.”

Findenai was still holding a grudge about the wall-slamming incident.

But I couldn’t answer her. Before I could open my mouth, a flying fist sent Findenai floating backward.

“Tsk, maid outfit and face completely my type. What a shame.”

Blood Mage Pelestan.

The man with the second strongest combat power in Dante after Luanes.

After pushing Findenai back with one blow, he admired her style and followed after her.

To prevent her from interfering with the fight between me and Luanes.

“You bastard!”

Though she blocked with Baekseol, the surprise attack sent her flying backward, and harsh curses spilled from her mouth.

In the original work, Findenai would have been no match for Pelestan, but…

‘She’s enough now.’

The current Findenai could serve as an extreme counter to the troublesome Blood Mage.

“Tairn, please take care of Erika.”

“Understood.”

I kept glancing at the insects trying to approach Erika, who was breathing steadily on the ground, unconscious.

When I found Baktus looking this way with a lecherous gaze, he grinned and raised his hand.

“Long time no see, Deus.”

But my attention wasn’t only on Baktus. The woman beside him, seemingly preparing something.

Though her body was wrapped in a robe, the stitched marks visible between exposed skin.

Along with her small frame and the ominous atmosphere she carried.

A necromancer.

‘Is she the woman I saw at the Mongma Festival?’

She was the woman who had killed most of the guests at the Mongma Festival, starting with the young Luanes.

Tairn stepped up to defend.

The robe he wore was a full-body armor of magical power. The space around him distorted, rendering the Black Mages’ minor tricks ineffective.

The ultimate counter to mages.

Defense was the responsibility of the Magic Judge.

For offense, it was naturally the knight’s turn.

Hwarlruk!

Flames that seemed alive enveloped Gloria’s greatsword. The flames, flickering like the breath of a phoenix, revealed their fierce presence through heat.

“Just don’t die.”

The woman in red armor, wielding a blazing longsword, turned toward the Black Mages.

“Then I’ll kill you all.”

A speed that made it hard to believe she was wearing armor. The woman bearing the title of King’s Sword rushed forward to execute the Black Mages defiling this land.

Kwang!

“Kuhaaak!”

The first to block her way was Jangroon, the only one among the Black Mages confident in close combat.

A shout close to a scream.

His spear barely deflected the heavily falling sword.

“The technique of the Martial God?”

Gloria recognized Jangroon’s spear technique at a glance and muttered softly, but she didn’t stop her sword.

The deflected sword returned to its place in an instant.

A burning heat felt on his left shoulder. Whether from the pain of flesh being cut or from the flames in Gloria’s sword.

“Kueeeeek!”

Either way, Jangroon couldn’t bear the heat and had to drop his spear and kneel.

“You must be a disciple of the Martial God.”

A disciple of Martial God Han So.

Gloria immediately recognized the secret spear technique taught only to his disciples.

“But your level is far inferior.”

In the end, he was someone who had entered the path of Black Magic, not a spear master. Not knowing what magic he used, but knowing Jangroon was no longer in fighting condition.

Gloria immediately rushed toward the next Black Mages.

Her combat truly deserved to be called a flame.

It had the destructive power to never stop and reduce everything it touched to ashes.

Therefore, I decided to focus on the white-haired man in front of me without worry.

“How did you know about the magic stone? I had kept it top secret.”

“Still on that?”

“It’s power I’ve gathered for 200 years. The main driving force of my plan.”

It was natural that enormous magical power would be needed to annihilate all spiritual beings across the vast continent.

This was content that appeared in the game, but even without that, it wasn’t difficult to infer.

“I can’t let you take it.”

With determination, Luanes spread his soul in all directions.

The white smoke enveloping Luanes’ body began to take on a massive form.

A kind of monster or demon.

With thick horns on its forehead and a dragon’s head, but a human-like body with thick hands touching the ground.

It was a direct indication that Luanes’ soul, having lived for a long time, had become something other than human.

“Your method is unstable. If that afterworld you created goes wrong, a massive soul bomb will explode.”

Then it would truly be irreversible.

I was well aware of that part too, but…

“There’s no need to worry.”

I had already prepared measures for that. But he wouldn’t accept it.

“I understand that you value the dead under the name of a spiritmaster. But think coldly. You already know which path is easier and safer.”

“……”

“I just can’t understand. You’re a rational person. You know what the best choice is. The living should take priority over the dead!”

“……”

“Why do we have different answers to the same problem?”

Luanes’ cry was full of indignation and frustration.

He wanted to persuade me, and his expression was filled with desperation.

“Deus Verdi, creating a world is impossible.”

“Enough, no matter how many hours you talk, my mind won’t change.”

Hearing my firm answer, Luanes lowered his head.

Gritting his teeth, he now glared at me with hatred-filled eyes.

“I don’t know why you’re going to such lengths, but that’s enough now.”

Buuuuung!

His soul, transformed into a monster, raised its fist high.

“Don’t think you can defeat me when you don’t even handle souls despite being a spiritmaster.”

The massive fist that cut through the air and plunged right above me carried weight as if it had a physical body, but…

Chwaaaak!

The giant monster’s fist split, scattered, and didn’t even retain its original shape.

“Kuk!”

Since Luanes was handling his own soul, he complained of a headache when it was damaged.

A woman issued a challenge to him with a smile.

[The person I hated most in the world was Heralhajade.]

With arms crossed, the Dark Spiritmaster stared at Luanes with a slight smile.

[The title of strongest Black Mage already belonged to that person. And I couldn’t fight someone from 200 years ago.]

“Dark… Spiritmaster.”

Brushing back his hair, Luanes glared at her. But she boldly deflected even such hostility and answered.

[I’m glad this opportunity came.]

The Dark Spiritmaster descended in front of me and declared while gathering mana at her fingertips.

[Killing many people doesn’t make you the strongest.]

And so.

The time came for spiritmasters to test the paths they had each walked, a time when neither could back down.

But before that.

“Is the evil spirit play over?”

[Senior, you’re so cool.]

When Stella and I spoke simultaneously, the Dark Spiritmaster blushed and got irritated.

[I was trying to be cool! And I’m still an evil spirit! Deus, you come at me too! Let’s make it a three-way battle!]

“Hmm.”

Perhaps it was because it had been a while since I’d spoken with the Dark Spiritmaster. I maintained my expressionless face and said.

“Even for you, fighting in spirit form would be difficult, Jenny.”

[Kyaaaang! Don’t call me by that name!]

The Dark Spiritmaster’s body immediately floated up as she covered her face with both hands.

One of the three combatants had already fallen.