Ch.90Monitor (3)

Crack-

A monitor suspended by a thread from a snow-white finger shatters and crashes to the ground.

Including the one I just destroyed, we’ve demolished eight monitors since the battle began.

It was a decent achievement, but our expressions remained grim.

“Lumia, have you discovered anything else?”

“I’ve been searching diligently, but unfortunately, nothing yet.”

Breaking monitors was fine, but no matter how many we destroyed, there was no meaningful change to our situation.

On top of that, the constant mental attacks from the Evil God gave us persistent headaches.

[How long do you plan to continue this pointless activity?]

[Don’t you feel this is becoming a waste of effort?]

“Obviously until we walk out of here on our own feet.”

“And for someone who claims this is pointless, you seem awfully committed to stopping us.”

Lumia and I continued fighting while calmly responding to the Evil God’s whispers.

‘The problem is that we’re not actually calm at all…’

Every time I heard those whispers, thoughts of giving up emerged against my will, hindering my actions and causing me a headache.

The Evil God probably continued these mental attacks because they were proving effective.

Twitch-

Bang-! Crash-!! BOOM-!!!

Once again, the Evil God moved its finger during the moment our bodies froze.

Simultaneously, dozens of lightning bolts formed in the clear sky and began raining down on us.

“Huh… I never thought lightning would literally strike from a clear sky…”

“Stop with the strange comments and focus on reading the preliminary magic energy. One wrong hit could be dangerous.”

No matter how quickly we moved, we couldn’t dodge lightning bolts that easily exceeded the speed of sound just by watching them fall.

To avoid the lightning, we had to read the preliminary magical energy that formed at the points where thunder would strike.

“I am reading it carefully, so don’t worry. More importantly, have you thought of an attack strategy?”

“Nothing certain, but… I think we should keep destroying the monitors. Unlike the hands and threads, they’re definitely being destroyed.”

As I spoke, I accelerated in an instant to break through the falling lightning.

It was a movement that slipped through the Evil God’s awareness while it was distracted by our desperate dodging.

[The real one moves better than the fake, I see.]

“No matter how similar they may be, there’s always a difference in experience and skill.”

Having instantly approached the monitors, I swung my sword at two unprotected screens.

Slash- Crack-

Unlike when I cut the hands and threads earlier, I could clearly feel the sensation of cutting something solid at my fingertips.

‘The monitors definitely have physical form, that’s certain.’

After Lumia and I cut down the monitors, we next targeted the hands hanging in the sky and the threads connected to them.

It was an obvious choice since anyone could see they were controlling the monitors.

But unfortunately, our choice was incorrect.

The sensation I felt when cutting the hands and threads was that of slicing through insubstantial illusions.

Though they appeared to be cut, they quickly restored to their original state, forcing us to abandon that approach.

‘At least the monitors provide some satisfaction when cut… though even that doesn’t seem to have much effect.’

The current situation wasn’t ideal, but with nothing else we could do, we had to focus on what was working.

“Huff…”

I prepared to swing my sword again, positioning myself to cut another monitor.

In response, the finger floating above my head moved to intercept me.

Twitch-

Woong-

Once again, the Evil God’s magic unfolded, and a meteor slowly began falling from the distant sky toward my position.

If I didn’t dodge, I would certainly be crushed.

Conversely, if I focused solely on dodging without attacking, it was an attack I could easily avoid.

‘Not difficult to dodge but definitely avoidable… something seems suspicious.’

Instead of dodging the Evil God’s blatant attempt to drive me away, I prepared an even stronger attack.

The meteor was concerning, but I was sure Lumia could handle it.

“Sorry, but I need you to cover me for a moment.”

“You want me to block THAT? Seriously?”

I believed she could do it well.

“If I swing my sword at that thing, my arm will be crushed…!?”

Though Lumia was complaining now, I knew she would perform well when it mattered.

“Hey!? Are you listening to me!?”

I trusted her.

“Hello!? Hey!!”

I trusted her.

“Sigh…”

Erasing all unnecessary external reactions and sensations, I left only myself and the Evil God in this world.

As the factors requiring my attention decreased, I felt my concentration toward the Evil God naturally increase.

My extremely activated focus made time seem slower, allowing me to examine the monitor screens that I couldn’t see clearly before.

The dozens of monitors before me still displayed videos of different people.

‘There’s something I’m missing here.’

I examined the monitors more carefully than before.

The people in the monitors had different characteristics with hardly any common points.

One peculiar thing was that all the people in the screens were demonstrating their techniques.

However, they didn’t seem particularly strong, as the videos themselves weren’t impressive.

This raised a question for me.

‘Is there any need to display these?’

The Evil God was currently lacking in many ways.

Not only time but also the power it could use was insufficient.

‘If it had overflowing power, it would have just burst my head.’

Why would it summon these somewhat fragile monitors in such a situation?

At the very least, it could have played horrific videos on the monitors for psychological attacks, but there was no reason to play these videos.

‘Wait, that one is different…’

Amidst all this, I noticed a monitor playing a distinctly different video.

Barely visible through the gaps between other monitors, this one showed a fire mage casting magic.

At first glance, it seemed like the other monitors, but its uniqueness was clear.

‘The mage demonstrating magic is strong.’

While the other monitors showed people who might barely qualify as B-rank adventurers, this one was different.

It featured a mage who could rightfully be called a grand mage.

“Bingo.”

Having found what I was looking for, my next actions were swift and smooth.

Slash-

I immediately cut down that monitor, and simultaneously, the world began to change drastically.

The flame zone that had been heating the ground and air returned to its original state, and the terrifying meteor falling from the sky disappeared.

Thanks to this, Lumia, who had been about to be crushed while trying to block the meteor, was saved by a hair’s breadth.

“Haa… haa… looks like you found something…”

“Yes, thanks to you. There was a real one hidden among the monitors. Though concealed by other monitors, there was one showing the magic we’ve been hit with.”

From my deduction, the monitors seemed to be devices for the Evil God to activate the powers it had stolen.

With various constraints, it probably tried to bypass them this way.

“And since it would be obvious if it only brought what it needed, it hid them among these fake monitors.”

“Though calling them fake isn’t quite right—they’re real monitors, just weaker. But their purpose is the same.”

Regardless, now that we’d found the attack method, our next actions were simple.

We just needed to work together as we just did and smash the hidden monitors.

“That wasn’t teamwork just now, that was dumping responsibility. I seriously thought you were crazy, expecting me to block a meteor alone.”

“At that moment, I couldn’t think of any other way. Anyway, it worked out fine, didn’t it?”

“Sigh… prepare to face my revenge after this battle. I’ll make you beg and cry.”

“Haha, please go easy on me~”

Lumia and I chatted casually while moving quickly.

As the battle continued, our coordination improved, while the Evil God grew progressively weaker.

Crack- Crackle-

Two swords swung again, and all the monitors the Evil God had been hiding were destroyed.

The remaining monitors were so insignificant they couldn’t even constitute a proper battle.

The Evil God seemed to know this too, as it had completely sealed its lips since its hidden monitors were discovered.

Ignoring the other monitors, I approached the one the Evil God had been using to send messages.

“It seems you have nothing more to say…”

I looked at the silent monitor, as if the connection had been cut.

Having completely ruined its plan, the Evil God seemed to have rage-quit.

‘Though I doubt it’s completely lost interest.’

The Evil God probably sensed that I would continue to block its path.

Similarly, I felt that I would clash with the Evil God repeatedly until I killed it.

So, believing the Evil God was still listening, I clenched my fist.

I clenched my fist just like when I smashed my computer monitor right before falling into this world.

“I hope you’re listening. Next time, I’ll smash your actual head, not just this monitor.”

Crack-

With those final words, my fist broke through the screen and completely shattered the monitor.

And as if causing déjà vu, this mental world began to collapse, starting from the broken monitor.