Chapter 126 – 18th Floor. Songstress

Kuguuuguuung—

The collision of forces that seemed as if it might collapse the entire gallery continued endlessly.

Death magic pursuing artistic beauty and life magic blooming on that death clashed fiercely, repeatedly overwhelming each other as they competed for dominance.

In terms of compatibility, the fungi living on death had a conceptual advantage, but the Necromancer’s nearly infinite magical power total crushed that compatibility advantage through sheer class difference.

A tug-of-war-like power struggle.

“AAAAAAARGH!!!”

Levand screamed as he withered and killed the mushrooms climbing up his body and eating away at his life force.

The blackened, dried corpses fell to the floor with a thud, revealing decaying and tattered skin through the clothes.

The consumption itself wasn’t that great.

However, the pain of having one’s fundamental essence absorbed, rather than just being cut or torn, was an agony difficult to bear without screaming, even for an immortal being.

“Grrrrh..! Just die already!”

Squish—

It was infuriating.

Despite the intense battle continuing for so long that he had lost count of how many times he had destroyed that hideous thing, the lord of the monstrosities, made of dozens of intertwined mushroom species, returned perfectly to its original form as if it still had strength to spare.

For Levand, who had endured even the pain of tearing his soul apart to obtain forbidden knowledge, it was hard to understand how this could be created just by pouring one potion on the floor.

Once again, hand signs formed, and the great death magic spread around, instantly blackening and killing the molds and fungi that were stealthily trying to climb up his legs again.

【End of Life: Die】

The highest-level spell of the necromancy school, mimicking a divine command that would have absolute effect on mortals, learned over several centuries.

The height of irrationality, forcibly imposing a conceptual death.

This incomprehensible ultra-high-level magic, which he had thought he would never need to use, settled on the Clump Lord without giving even a moment’s time.

Thud!

The Clump Lord’s body suddenly collapsed.

The tubular mushrooms forming the outside of the legs, the fibrous material not quite mushroom filling the inside, and the net-like mushrooms binding them together all decomposed and flowed to the floor, naturally causing the Clump Lord to kneel.

Though it was questionable whether that could be considered kneeling, Levand could redirect his attention upward and give his nerves a break.

Grind!

“That cursed intruder is the next problem..! I must restore the source..!”

Thump He felt it. Thump The source was fluctuating as if it would collapse at any moment.

At this rate, he would lose both the precious research material he had never seen before and the source that sustained his life.

‘I must save at least one of them!’

If he headed toward the source now and annihilated the wraith absorbing the souls, he could still protect the vessel of the source itself.

Although, by his estimation from the total amount of power felt and the sensations connected to the source, nearly 90% of its power had already been consumed, but even so, it could still recover.

Just as Levand was about to fly up through the hole he had drilled, right at that moment.

Grab.

“What.”

The grip felt on his ankle stopping him.

Turning his head in surprise, he saw a black-haired youth with an impudent expression, carrying a chest on his back much larger than the one he had been carrying before.

“Hey, long time no see?”

“This…!”

Bang!

Pulled down by a force stronger than the flight output, he helplessly crashed back to the floor.

The dull taste of corrosive soil filled his mouth, but there was no time to worry about such things.

Time was truly running out now!

“Grrrh..! Let go of this! I must restore the source right now!”

“Isn’t that why I’m holding you back?!”

Whoosh—!

With superhuman strength, Levand’s knee crack bent, and a centrifugal force and buoyancy rushed to his head as his vision stretched into lines.

Bang What followed was a massive impact that concussed his brain.

Through his vision reddening with frothy blood bubbling up, Levand realized that in that brief moment, he had flown dozens of meters and crashed his head into a pillar supporting the floor.

“Khek… Wekh!”

It would have taken not even seconds to recover from such an injury normally, but strangely, the regeneration was slow.

The reason was simple: the power of the source was almost completely depleted.

The black-haired youth walked with leisurely, heavy footsteps.

Levand flinched at the sight of the strange style of shoes that suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.

“Ah, don’t worry about the Clump Lord. I’ve already sent things to deal with it. You two idiots fighting to the death made my job easier.”

“Was it… was it all planned?”

Forcibly swallowing the boiling anger, he heated his head with cold fury.

It had been strange from the beginning.

A man who seemed to know him unusually well despite clearly meeting for the first time.

“Are you an Inquisitor? Has the Inquisitorial Office finally located me after a hundred years?”

Instead of answering Levand’s question that wasn’t really a question, the man simply made a hissing sound like air leaking.

But that response actually gave confirmation.

Levand looked up at the man with bloodshot eyes, trembling with contempt.

“So there was a reason I had material that would make one’s eyes roll back. It was bait to skewer me. Khahaha!”

He felt it.

Thump— Thump— Thump—

Realizing the source had reached its limit, now shaking the gallery with condensed waves of power rather than just sensations through the connection, Levand abandoned survival.

The infinite magical power source that granted immortality is gone, the technological culmination made by consuming an entire kingdom is destroyed, the undead army that endlessly revived can no longer be summoned.

The power approaching that of a true god had been consumed to the extreme, and one who had reached the peak of necromancy had been dragged down to the realm of mortals.

He feared the man before him.

No matter how desperately he tried to kill him, he simply wouldn’t die.

If asked to choose between facing hundreds of heroes or this man as an enemy, he would choose the former without hesitation.

“Hah… To think this is the end. To be honest, it feels incredibly empty.”

“Your tongue sure moves smoothly when it’s time to die, huh?”

“That’s because everything I’ve built up over well more than a hundred years has been completely demolished in less than an hour. How could it not feel empty?”

Levand sensed the wave of soul power pulsating like a heartbeat from above.

If this is the end, let’s at least see the conclusion.

From this near-delusional thought, one hand sign formed.

As his hands formed, the sword in the black-haired man’s hand flashed and slash severed his interlaced fingers.

But the condition for activation had already been met.

Crack—

【ΑΒΡΑΞΑΣ】

Dismal death magic spread out, drawing three hundred and sixty-five lines.

These lines embroidered the air, creating a pattern like a cracked eggshell.

“I must get at least this much revenge on you, or I won’t feel satisfied.”

Though it couldn’t be called a life-ending technique, it was the most alien, grand, complex, and abstruse of all the magic he possessed.

“I don’t expect this to kill you.”

“Hmm…”

Countless magical arrangements danced, forming a single formation.

An enormous power that seemed like it would sweep through the entire gallery undulated as it formed the magic array.

“Heh, hehehehehe!!!”

If he could just see the despair on that man’s face, he would accept even the annihilation of his existence. With that thought, he expended all his remaining resources in a final effort.

He forcibly focused his blurry eyes with magic to witness the pathetic sight of the man wailing and begging for his life.

“Please don’t disappoint me with your reaction…”

“Is this like interior decoration? Or a festival fireworks substitute? With this, I wouldn’t have to see my tuition money get blown up at every festival.”

The man watched the harbinger of Abraxas with a blank face, as if it were nothing significant.

‘What… Does he have a way to escape? No, could it be he doesn’t know anything about magic..?’

Levand couldn’t even think to close his gaping mouth.

Come to think of it, that was true.

No highly refined magical power could be sensed from the man’s body, and all the magic he had used until now was through scrolls.

Plus, even during their first clash, it was that wraith who had used magic, not the man!

To think that the one who had been driving him into a corner all this time knew nothing about magic—a complete layman.

The legendary Necromancer, facing the ultimate expression of the necromancy school, sat down dumbfounded with a sense of futility.

“Insteadoflookingatthisfancylightshow,whydon’tyoulookatheroverthere?”

Suddenly I felt an urge to shout “ME!!!” but Levand looked up in the direction where the man was pointing.

Crack— Crack—

The size and depth of cracks engraved in the transparent crystal pillar grew even deeper.

The power sleeping within it surged, trying to break the egg to be born.

Thump!

A heartbeat sound.

The source of warmth that he could no longer hear, being dead—thus, what he would miss more than anything.

With a vibration as if mimicking that, the birth began.

Crack.

The pillar did not employ a huge explosion or tremendous sound, but rather broke like an egg hatching in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep, without anyone knowing.

Once begun, the collapse accelerated, and instantly revealed what it had been holding to the world.

It was a woman.

A foolish woman who had made herself a vessel to hold and save a million souls.

Ah—

At one word exhaled by the woman’s soul—who had been a proud hero, a deranged wraith, and was now a noble ascetic—the bodies of the undead pressing the two knights collapsed to the floor with a thud.

“What!”

“Hmm… Has her class gone up?”

Her appearance after emerging from the egg: pale skin, sharp eyes, reddish irises… the elements that composed her remained the same, but her witch-like attire had changed to that of a different type of saint, with a long black veil and thin dress flowing like curtains.

The Black Saint did not answer and simply walked, as if sliding, toward the huge hole extending below.

They collapsed.

The undead, who had been overworked, lost their strength and entered peace just from her passing by, turning to dust and scattering, gathering as hazy sand that flowed like a river down into the hole.

At the same time, the Black Saint seemed about to collapse herself.

Indeed, the density of accepting a million souls was not something a single soul could withstand.

Perhaps shortly, she would collapse, and her actions would have no meaning.

“…”

Fearing this, the Black Saint moved.

And looking down, she finally found her master, who had brought the immortal Necromancer to his knees.

Ah— Thank goodness.

Seeing her master looking up at her with his usual impudent smile and waving his hand, the Black Saint smiled clearly for the first time, with relief.

Her soul felt as if it would tear apart, but she couldn’t feel more refreshed.

The Black Saint opened her mouth.

【Soul Requiem】

A beautiful singing voice filled the gallery.