Ch.90The Beast That Heralds the End (1)

MUOOOOOO——!!!!

A roar of rage echoed across the battlefield.

The intense roar was powerful enough to instantly shatter the mental defenses of the trained Holy Knights and Holy Hammer Corps members despite their spirit protection magic, while the clergy fainted, unable to withstand the Fear contained within it.

The same was true for the skeletons as well.

The powerful roar extinguished the green flames that powered the skeletons’ movements, rendering all of them immobile except for the Death Knights, Liches, and a few Skeleton Knights.

The Saintess, Plok, and the corpse of the Hydra, who had been overwhelmed by the tremendous Fear, turned their gaze toward Khan.

His height, which had been ten meters, doubled to twenty meters, and his two horns multiplied into four.

Khan’s body was now wrapped in black lightning and stone, but the most dramatic change was…

Khan’s eyes.

His once blood-red pupils had turned completely crimson, and lightning continuously sparked from them, illuminating the space darkened by the green flames.

“That is… the Rage mentioned in the revelation…”

Seeing this form for the first time, the Saintess immediately thought that this was exactly the being described in Lord Uldur’s revelation.

Though not quite the size of a mountain, his fists were like massive boulders, and his four horns, surrounded by black lightning, looked sharp enough to pierce anything.

And then there was the power of earth, which wasn’t mentioned in the revelation. Someone must have intervened in Lord Uldur’s revelation to grant him this power.

Though it seemed insufficient to be the Rage described in the revelation, his body had already nearly doubled in size, so who knew how much larger he might grow.

The Saintess recalled what Lord Uldur had directly told her during this holy war.

“The fairy…!! If the fairy Lord Uldur mentioned isn’t visible… then the condition for that transformation must be the fairy getting hurt or killed…! We must find it quickly! Plok! Use Life Detect! We need to find the small fairy, even if it’s just a corpse!”

“Yes, Saintess!”

The Saintess ordered Plok to search for the small fairy, Mary, while she joined the search herself.

The diamond embedded in the rosary around the Saintess’s neck began to glow with a red light.

“Hahahahaha——!! Yes, this is it! This is exactly what I wanted to see! Today, I will defeat you at your full power and reclaim her legacy!”

Another figure watching Khan’s transformation—Envy—burst into maniacal laughter at the sight of Khan’s form that he had been waiting for, and began casting spells by manipulating the armor covering his body.

“Festival of the Green Night! Requiem of the Dead! David’s Rebellion!”

As if he had been waiting only for Rage to activate, Envy began using skills he hadn’t used until now.

Festival of the Green Night. A skill that strengthened the flames of Envy’s undead green fire users but gradually led to self-destruction.

A skill suitable for short battles rather than prolonged ones, prepared by Envy who had witnessed Khan’s powerful endurance and strength in the past—a skill specifically designed against Rage.

Then, Requiem of the Dead.

A skill that enhanced the undead’s durability, provided self-healing, and slightly improved physical abilities.

Finally, David’s Rebellion.

A second anti-Rage skill created based on the ancient Earth legend of David defeating Goliath.

A skill of obsession created specifically to capture Khan, making his undead stronger when they were smaller than their opponent.

After using these powerful buff skills in succession, Envy released all the Death Knights and Liches from his undead storage pocket, along with Hydra and Transform, to prepare for a major skill.

Seventeen Death Knights and eight Liches.

The corpses of Masters and Magic Corps commanders who died during the Imperial War, or those he had personally killed or exhumed from the graves of dead Masters to make his minions.

Plus the Hydra, which had driven away the holy territory, and Transform, which had been evenly matched with Khan, all enhanced with various buffs.

With these reinforcements, they should be able to hold out long enough for him to prepare.

Just as Envy finished all his preparations and was about to ready his killing blow against Rage…

Rumble…

“Here it comes! Everyone, prepare…!!”

KWAAANG——!!

Though Envy ordered preparations when the thunder sounded, Rage was already in front of him by the time the thunder roared.

“Huh…!”

KWAAANG———!!!

Rage’s fist crashed down on Envy.

A single blow.

With just a casual swing of his fist, the earth screamed as cracks formed everywhere, and the shockwave created by Rage’s fist embedding into the ground generated powerful gusts of wind.

“Eek…!”

“Saintess! Be careful. I’ll take the lead, so please stay behind me…”

“Yes. But… such power from a single punch… He doesn’t even seem to be using lightning or earth power yet… Indeed, Rage is truly a being worthy of Lord Uldur’s revelation that a mythical battle would be reenacted.”

The Saintess, who nearly got blown away by the gust created by Rage’s punch, remarked that Lord Uldur was indeed correct, and continued searching for Mary from behind Plok.

If Rage’s transformation was triggered by the fairy’s injury or death, then even having the fairy’s corpse in her possession would help until she could kill him.

* * *

KWAAANG———!!!

———!!!

KWARUNG——!!

After pulverizing Envy with a single punch, Rage swung his fist again at the Hydra beside him.

Thunder that only rumbled after the attack was completed.

His attacks were now so fast that they landed before the sound could even be heard.

With Rage’s single blow, the Hydra’s neck soared high into the sky.

The neck, which had only dislocated its lower jaw from Khan’s earlier strike, now completely detached as the skull was utterly shattered by Rage’s blow.

But the opponent was undead.

Those who charged forward regardless of their bodies being destroyed rushed at Rage as soon as they saw his form.

Transform took the five Hydra heads that were rolling on the ground and flying through the air, making them his own to bind Rage’s arms, legs, and torso tightly.

The Hydra rushed forward to sink its venomous fangs into Khan’s body with its four remaining heads.

Seventeen Death Knights charged at Khan’s ankles, while four Liches began chanting spells to cast their magic.

At that moment, Rage’s restrained head turned to look in a particular direction.

With his face contorted in rage as he stared at that spot…

CRACKLE—!!!

KWAAANG—!!

He broke free from the small Transform’s restraints, grabbed it with one hand, and lifted it up.

———!!

Though Transform let out a silent scream, Rage paid no attention and swung it at the Hydra.

KWANG—!!

Two of the Hydra’s heads were smashed by the combined force of Transform’s mass and Rage’s strength.

Despite receiving various support spells, the undead could barely withstand a single blow.

The remaining three heads were intact and tried to bite Rage with their attached teeth, but…

KUWOONG—!!

A massive hand that shot up from the ground grabbed the Hydra’s neck and wouldn’t let go.

It seemed Rage’s abilities had also strengthened with his transformation. While Khan’s earth hands had barely withstood the weakened Hydra’s struggles earlier, now they firmly held the enhanced Hydra’s head despite its desperate thrashing.

Seizing the opportunity, Rage grabbed Transform’s upper and lower body separately.

Crack—

Then came the sound of rupture.

———!!!

Transform took on the form of the most solid knight to endure as much as possible, but such defenses only work when the opponents are similar in size or strength.

Even Transform, which had been slightly challenging for Khan when he was in his right mind, couldn’t overcome Rage’s power now, despite receiving powerful support skills.

MUOOOO———!!!

———!!!

Transform, completely restrained in Rage’s hands, was split in half. Its core wasn’t visible, so it would likely appear again somewhere else…

The direct confrontation Envy had wanted wasn’t going according to his wishes.

* * *

“Huff—! Cough… Kek… Whew… Hoo—!”

Meanwhile, while Rage was dealing with Envy’s undead, at the top of a tree overlooking the battlefield, a skeleton awakened, breathing heavily as if alive, with green flames flickering from its eye sockets.

“Whew… That speed… I couldn’t even properly react. He wasn’t this powerful before, so he must have gone through hell like I did. Huh… Well, good. I have one Death Return left. I still can’t use Battlefield Maestro due to the penalty from Envy that cost me my body, so from here I’ll deliver the final blow…”

KWARUNG—!!

Though Envy thought he had died, he seemed to have insurance as he awakened in another body far from the battlefield. Just as he was about to prepare his final move to kill Rage, thunder rumbled.

As Envy turned his head to look at the battlefield, hearing the thunder despite being so far away, judging that Rage had begun using his full power…

“Guhk…!!”

Transform’s upper body, surrounded by black lightning, flew at him with such speed it might as well have been instantaneous, shattering Envy’s body to pieces.

He had enchanted defensive skills since losing his core would mean losing this body too, but… it was insufficient to handle Rage’s blow.

The upper body of Transform surrounded by black lightning was over 5 meters long, with its head alone being about 2 meters—an object of tremendous mass flying faster than the speed of sound.

That overwhelming mass and speed pulverized Envy’s new body and blew away his consciousness.

Muooo…

The last sound he heard was Rage’s roar echoing from the distance.