episode_0157

“… .”

He waved his hand wildly and threw away the door he was holding.

It was just an act of indifference, but it was thrown so forcefully that the metal door panel bent on its own, bounced like a bouncy ball, and disappeared on the other side, leaving only the broken pieces of stone rolling on the floor.

“You put a lot of effort into it. haha. You completely broke down the gate.”

I turned my gaze towards the voice that came from the darkness. Collector.

The guy who said he would follow me and lead me to Alexstras was smiling.

On the outside, he appears to be a large old man, but we know that his appearance is not real. Because now we all know that appearances don’t matter.

“… I know you have a plan.”

“Hehe, that should be so. Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t have secrets? As you know, this is the most efficient. Your disciples will have to stop the demons down there while you fight the final battle against them. In the meantime, it is best to leave the room so that no one can intervene.”

Saying that, the Collector looked down.

The place where we are now is the top of the fortress. I don’t know what to call it because the castle has such a geometric and difficult design, but we are climbing towards a high place that looks like a castle tower.

When I follow him and look down, I see a fierce battle going on below.

It was as if the gates of hell had been opened. If this were a city, it could be said that the number of gates close to three digits was open.

No matter how many monsters I had slain across Africa to reach that castle, it was hard to imagine that this many monsters would remain.

“Well, anyway, isn’t this guy’s last bastion? There is no need to think about the future anymore, so just pour everything into it.”

“… .”

“You look like you’re worried about the people below. It’s hard to read because it’s a dragon’s expression, but it’s probably like that.”

There was a doubt in the guy’s eyes. This is because the sly sarcasm he always maintained disappeared and a slightly reproachful look in his eyes passed by for a moment.

“… It’s all meaningless to you anyway. Likewise, aren’t they just toys? They are the kind of guys who can create as much as they want and produce the same thing once everything is done. You get distracted by such trivial things right before the most important battle.”

“I don’t like talking about my people like that. Shut your mouth.”

After hearing my angry answer, he waved his hand excitedly as if he understood, turned his back to me, put his hand in the loose monastic habit he was wearing, and started walking ahead.

I stared at that guy for a moment and looked down.

The movements of the monsters visible in the insignificant light in the darkness were like a black river flowing. It was on a completely different level from previous fights that had been pushed to a level that could be called organized.

They pushed in violently, as if they were possessed by something or as if someone was pushing them with strong force from behind.

It was such a merciless charge that many of them were crushed to death by the monsters rushing in from behind.

Monsters rained down, and the bodily fluids they spewed wet the stone road soaked in abyss water. The deep darkness swirls in a spiral, and countless balls of light of various colors swing through the darkness, causing ripples.

As if it wasn’t from this world. Under the dark night sky, a dreamlike scene unfolded below, almost as if I was looking at things through a kaleidoscope.

And the people who are taking the lead in swinging them to open the path are familiar faces that I know well, so the gentle ripples ring in my heart even more.

“Do you have any strategy in mind? The person waiting in front of you won’t be at the same level that Northmund experienced earlier.”

“What’s in this that makes you say that? The best you can do is inside the castle. I feel an amazing energy, but it’s not much different from before.”

“It will be different. Alexstras may be a fool, but he doesn’t put unnecessary sentimentality into his last resort. No matter how stupid it is.”

At the end of the stairs he walked up with a shrug, he kicked the locked door.

“It’s almost the end. Now, relax. Mr. Northmund.”

Pa-de-de-duk.

The stone block attached to the door’s hinges breaks away, and the huge iron door is torn apart and falls inside. At that moment, an energy bullet made of dark mana flies towards him, but the Collector swings his arm and throws it away with an unimpressed face.

Like a billiard ball being bounced, the bounced magic bullet flies to the side and the part right next to the bulkhead breaks apart and flies away.

“How are you, you idiots?”

─The traitor… .

It was a short, deep voice. Of course, he is full of anger.

Alexstras wasn’t the only one in the last room. Two demons who appeared to be his closest associates were assisting Alexstras in the form of a black dragon.

Seeing that one of them was pointing what looked like an arm in this direction, it seemed like he was the one who fired the magic bullet just now.

─You Dimostra. How could you, one of the highest ascendants who served a great being, be like this…? .

“Ah, ah. When are you talking about? That great being has long since passed away. How long do I have to live a life of being in a vegetative state and only doing nothing? I actually feel sorry for you.”

─How dare you! Ugh! #!@$!@#*

The guy who was yelling in anger let out a screaming noise.

When the floor he was standing on was completely cut away, he jumped up and threw out his hand.

Looking at the Collector, it seemed like he had been intent on attacking the moment he entered the room, but it was ironic that the demons who greeted him were so angry that they didn’t even notice his preparations.

I heard that demons have lost all their emotions as they live for a long time, but now I think that’s not necessarily true.

“Oh. Phalearatia, you still look like you can rot. Avoiding this.”

As a collector, he attacked with the thought that it would be a fatal blow, and although an arm was blown off, it did not seem to have inflicted a fatal wound on the demon.

“But it’s already too late. Do you think that you, who is only a shell of me, who has taken over this body, can defeat me?”

─You!

Numerous explosions rang out. The wall is blown away and the furniture inside is destroyed by the explosion.

Watching the fight between demons was refreshing and fun in its own way. Isn’t this a sight that cannot be easily seen?

That humanoid demon called Palealatia seems to be a pretty cool guy, too. Still, the outcome of the fight seemed clear, as if what the Collector had said was not a lie.

As the explosion occurred, the frequency of the screaming noise gradually increased proportionally, but at some point, the annoying noise was no longer heard, along with a crunching sound as if someone was stepping on something like a jewel.

“Hui. It’s been a while since I used my strength.”

“… Dimostra.”

Alexstras called to him lowly. When I turn my gaze towards him, I see a bitter expression on his face.

The last remaining demon was actually trembling, and it felt comical.

“This is the last time, so I’ll ask. Why did you betray us? Didn’t you agree with our plan at first?”

“How many times do you ask? I think I’ve given you this answer countless times every time we’ve met. Alexstras.”

“There were many answers, but they were all meaningless answers. I have never heard your truth, Dimostra. Why? Please tell me.”

“Me. I’ve told you this hundreds of times, but what kind of answer do you want? Or are you going to keep asking until you get the answer you want?”

─Ugh!

Boom, boom, boom.

The head of one of the demons, which was shaking with fear, flew off, broke a decoration placed on one side, and hit the wall.

Instead of blood, thick abyssal water was leaking from that section. The head that had been blown off still had an expression of shock on its face as if it couldn’t believe it. Of course, the devil’s body has no facial expression.

The body, which had lost the control part that gave commands, stood still, spewing out a disgusting feeling and struggling with its hands and feet.

While this slapstick comedy was happening, a black beam fired from the Collector’s finger swept across in a straight line.

Alexstras, who was watching this, opened his mouth.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, Dimostra. It’s not part of my business to steal one of the spare bodies we’ve prepared and gain strong power and take advantage of it, but the essence of it is still the same as your despicable bastard.”

“What are you saying that you know about me? To the idiot who was intoxicated by his position as a controller and did nothing.”

“I have been keeping an eye on you even before we lost our emotions, before the great being fell asleep, and even during the interdimensional war. Even the great being was concerned about you, who wanted glory but always wanted that glory to be given only to you.”

The white teeth of the grinning black dragon shined between them. Alexstras took a deep breath, glared at the Collector facing him, and closed his eyes.

“I know that since you left the guardians’ temple and acted alone, you have taken advantage of countless sweethearts and destroyed countless people. That Northmund will be like him too. Isn’t that what you did because there is no one left in this world who will believe you, you liar?”

“… What do you mean?”

“Isn’t this an attempt to remove a part of a great being, create a pure baby-like being that knows nothing, and then infuse it with strange knowledge and boil it? Do you still not understand why you were ignored by your subordinates? They all got sick of your meanness and left. It means that you have turned everyone into your enemy.”

“Uh-huh!”

The Collector waved his hand horizontally. The height at which the huge man stood corresponded to the height of his shoulders.

A white line ran over the black dragon’s chest, and they began to cut it.

“Have you hit the nail on the head? Dimostra, the fact that you brought Northmund here must be part of your dastardly plan. There is still time left until the dream of a great being ends and the world collapses, but isn’t it you, Dimostra, who has accelerated it!”

“What?”

“─Profit!”

The Collector groaned and stamped his left foot. The heel of the foot spun, twisted the body, and the slightly lifted right foot spread out.

I intervened and struck down the Collector who was trying to stop Alexstras from speaking.

As his posture collapsed, the Collector spread his hands and kicked his right foot. Crystals of the dark mana he had gathered flashed inside his right foot.

“I guess I guess he was tricked, Northmund. I guess he said he would make you a great being. No, isn’t it? Didn’t you say that your power is needed to prevent the destruction of the world?”

“… That is.”

“I guess that’s right. Northmund, you really trust others so recklessly. I was foolish to misunderstand that you had some plan. ha… .”

“… .”

I felt a little jealous when I heard Alexstras say that it was pathetic.

But I still couldn’t trust Alexstras. If you ask why, there is no solution. Anyway, it is true that the world was destroyed and Alexstras tried to succeed the great being.

“I’ll give it to you if you want. Even if you, who were originally part of the great being, return to your original state, there is no reason for me to stop it. If only you had made your intentions known in advance, we could have cooperated much earlier.”

“Wasn’t what you wanted to enslave humanity and turn it into a playground for demons? So, all we can do is create a romance between the two main characters at the academy!”

“It had to be followed because it was the setting of the dream story of a great being. The same goes for our invasion of the human world. Don’t you know that it’s because the background of that dream had to be realized? Because that was the setting for the skit that took place at the academy.”

I groaned because the situation changed so quickly. It was a little confusing.

“But your will as a part of the Great Being is different. There’s no need to maintain those settings! Because you are a part of the great being, you can safely be deified again. The reason I tried to absorb Han Si-woo while maintaining that ridiculous romantic skit was ultimately for the sake of deification! Northmund: If only you had told me sooner… Everything could have been finished a long time ago… .”

“The fact that you haven’t thought about that until now is also your limitation, Alexstras. So you will die today.”

“What?”

The Collector gritted his teeth and flew straight ahead, slamming his head into Alexstras’ chest as if fighting.

I swung my sword to stop it, but the moment his collapsing body regained its balance, he reversed his legs and twisted his body once again.

My greatsword missed the guy by a split second, and the blade that missed its target sharply cut through the wind.

The blade of dark mana he had loaded into my leg grazed the scales of my shoulder.

Once again, the sword body, blazing with pure white plasma, chased after the guy’s flying trajectory, but unfortunately, it only slightly stole the bridge of the guy’s nose.

The collector raised his eyebrows and continued.

Phew!

“Keuak!”

He put his hand on Alexstras’ chest.

At that moment, a large explosion occurred.

It was not the shock of air pressure suddenly expanding when a bomb exploded, but the shock of pure energy expansion.

A vast energy that had never been seen in the world flashed before my eyes.

My breath stopped.

After a moment of pain that was so intense that my body even forgot to breathe, my lungs were screaming for oxygen.

I took a deep breath, as if the massive release of energy had burned the surrounding air and created a vacuum, but it was not enough to deliver the oxygen my lungs wanted.

I opened my eyes from that merciless shock.

It came into view that the guy was holding something black.

It’s “. This.”

Due to the violent movement, something that looked like blood fell from something black. When I looked closely, I saw that it was the head of a black dragon.

When he squeezes his hand hard, the animal’s horn falls apart.

“Why did I take over the body in advance? I did it because it was all useful. We demons can only truly demonstrate our power when we obtain a prepared body. Likewise, the existence of a physical body is essential to absorb the opponent’s power.”

“Collector.”

“Actually, it’s something I’m finally saying now. It was quite difficult to pretend to be weak?”

The Collector, or rather the demon Dimostra, raised his tilted head straight ahead and extended the neck of Alexstras held in his left arm.

“It’s a bit disappointing that it actually turned out like this. If I had waited a little longer and taken over Han Si-woo’s body, I would have felt even more joy than this. He was one of the reserve bodies, but he ended up eating Alexstras with the body of an old man like this.”

The guy pursed his lips and squeezed his left hand.

With a crunching sound, like breaking an egg, the last traces of Alexstras are scattered on the ground.

“You didn’t really trust me anyway, right? So you don’t regret it, do you? Anyway, if you didn’t have expectations, there’s no need to be betrayed.”

At that moment, I felt pressure as if someone was pressing my shoulders. As if it were not an illusion, the place where it originally stood bursts.

The geometric castle tower that I had been standing on, not knowing how high it was in the sky, collapsed, and at the same time, I escaped the place by teleportation.

Resisting the heavy pressure pulling on my arm, I created a large fireball with the opposite hand holding the sword and threw it at the guy.

Since it was not an attack that was expected to work on the guy who absorbed Alexstras, it was so insignificant that it lost its momentum and disappeared.

“I told you in the stairwell earlier, Northmund, no, you are part of the great being.”

“… .”

“What will happen from now on will not be at the level you expected. Now let me prove that. Hehehehe.”

The air crackled and vibrated with the bastard’s vile laughter.