episode_0176

|While mortals may not choose how they live bearing their name, they should at least have the autonomy to decide how they die. The manner of your death is for you to choose.|

As I woke up.

The words of the god of the underworld echoed in my mind.

And as I stroked Mia’s head and got up, what greeted me was none other than a massive flame.

A fierce blaze that seemed to engulf all of Elvengard, burning with intense flames.

The flames created pillars of fire, devouring the forest and slowly advancing towards Elvengard.

“Ifrid…”

Finding the culprit was not that difficult.

Within the flames.

Inside, a colossal ethereal figure was rising, glaring with one eye open.

The Elemental Lord of Fire, Ifrit.

The culprit who once caused the great fire in Elvengard had struck again.

“Why is that bastard causing trouble again…!”

Already in a fierce state of mind, why was Ifrit causing chaos again.

Wondering what misunderstanding had occurred, I rushed over and soon found Mia and the elven elders trying to restrain Ifrit, waving their hands in front of the flames.

Then Ifrit’s breath flew towards Mia.

“Eek?!”

I hurriedly rushed to Mia, picked her up, and left the spot.

The place where Mia had been moments ago was now engulfed in flames.

Ifrit had just tried to sincerely kill Mia.

“Ifrid is not in his right mind now. No matter what we do, we can’t stop him, so let’s run away and evacuate the residents first.”

“Ah, okay…!”

“Get a hold of yourself. You, as a priestess, must live so that the residents can live. Let’s meet again later. We’ll have a drink together then.”

“Yes!”

Seeing that Mia seemed a bit dazed, I helped her regain her composure by gently touching her face.

Mia must survive.

The lives of tens of thousands depend on Mia.

Even if the World Tree burns and Elvengard is destroyed, the fact remains that Mia will bear the burden of those tens of thousands of lives.

Mia and the elders ran off to guide the residents to safety.

I confirmed that Mia’s spirit and Guiho, who had lost consciousness due to encountering the god of the underworld for too long, were safe.

Mumyeong had simply fainted, emitting various colored breaths as he slept soundly.

After laying them down in a room for a while.

I, along with Mia, approached Ifrit once again.

[Roar!!!]

“It seems like communication is impossible…”

During the previous great fire.

Although Ifrit had tried to ignite the World Tree, ignoring Mia and the elders’ pleas, he had not tried to kill Mia.

But now, it was completely different.

Communication was futile.

Whether there were people in the way or not, he only sought to burn everything.

It was clear that Ifrit was not in his right mind for some reason.

And the identity of the one who had made Ifrit like this…

[Splash!!!]

“…?!”

With a loud rumble, another figure rose from a distant forest.

The lake water surged upwards, forming a large droplet.

Soon, the droplet transformed into a large ethereal figure.

“The Elemental Lord of Water!”

Not only that.

From another direction, with crackling sounds, lightning gathered and descended.

The lightning whirled down like a tornado and took the form of an ethereal figure.

From another side, a strong wind rushed in, forming a vortex of wind.

The vortex, resembling a storm, quickly took the form of an ethereal figure.

Fire, water, lightning, and wind.

A strange phenomenon where all four elemental lords gathered in one place.

But even more bizarre was…

[Roar!!!]

[Splash!!!]

“This is madness…”

They all have one goal in mind: to bring Elvengard to its end.

With eyes devoid of reason, they scatter their power indiscriminately in all directions.

Someone is clearly controlling the Great Spirits!

“How do you like my creations?”

“······!”

At that moment, a voice echoed from the sky.

Startled by the chilling voice, I looked up to see a humanoid figure in front of me.

Skin as white as jade.

A slightly artificial, handsome face.

And the identity of the figure floating in the air with dark, massive wings spread out was obvious even without looking.

Transcendent Luna.

This is Luna’s transcendent form that only appears in the latter part of the story.

“I’ve been looking for you, Luna.”

“Of course you recognize me right away! How do you like my new body! This is the perfect form of a human evolution! Transcendence!”

Transcendence.

A physical form that surpasses all human limits.

Luna has managed to create a transcendent form.

The question of ‘how’ was the first to come to mind.

But now is not the time to worry about that.

I need to prepare for the imminent attacks.

If that is truly a completed transcendent form.

It will be much stronger than even Yerina Tran Silvia.

“Are you scared? It’s only natural! I am now the one who controls all spirits! I have become the king who rules over death!”

“What..?”

“Are you too dumbfounded to understand? I have finally transcended even the limits of death! I have reached a realm no different from a god! Hehehehe!”

Looking down on me like a bug, Luna smirked darkly.

As Luna said, I was dumbfounded.

I tried to understand Luna’s words for a moment but failed.

Just now, a divine being came and went, claiming to be the king of death?

Have I lost my mind?

“Do you not know who just came and went?”

“Who came and went? What are you talking about? Although my vision was momentarily obscured as if there was a problem with the dimensions.”

Luna tilted his head, truly not knowing.

This guy. He must not have known that a divine being had come and gone because he was stuck in the dungeon.

No, in fact, most people whose ‘eyes’ were obscured probably did not realize what had happened.

That’s why he’s spouting nonsense about being the king of death and transcending the limits of death.

‘Isn’t this an opportunity?’

Confused at first, I quickly realized that this was an opportunity.

If I make contact with Luna, a part of the divine being within me will drag Luna into the divine realm.

I just need to make contact somehow!

Now that Luna is being conceited, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

“You are truly remarkable. I now feel reverence. Indeed, Luna, you are the human closest to a god.”

“Hehe! You are the first person to recognize that! You are truly exceptional among humans!”

“Yes. I know how great of a creation that is. So, may I request a handshake?”

“······”

I reached out my hand towards him.

Upon seeing this, Luna briefly examined my posture and hardened his expression.

“How far do you dare to crawl… Where do you dare to reach with that filthy hand towards this transcendent being!!!”

“······!”

At that moment, a tremendous aura gathered around Luna’s transcendent form.

No, it wasn’t an aura.

It was clearly dark energy.

The energy of evil spirits that humans cannot handle on their own surged, forming a tangible, ominous entity.

“It’s a shame to kill an exceptional human like you! Farewell! Hehehe!”

Without any chance to react, a huge entity flew towards me.

It was too massive, there was no way to dodge it.

Should I try to block it then?

“······”

However, even when I swung my sword, the Magi Sword did not respond in any way.

It seems that even the Magi Sword does not know how to cut through the aura.

If there is no way to avoid it, I have no choice but to take the hit and endure!

As I raised my arm to shield my head, the aura struck me.

“What?!”

As soon as it touched my body, it shattered into pieces and scattered in all directions.

I felt no shock or damage at all.

There were no wounds on the hand that touched the aura.

I was only momentarily surprised by this strange phenomenon.

“Right. There is still a part of the Divine King’s power within me.”

Soon, I realized that the true King of Death resided within me.

No matter how skilled Luna is in manipulating spirits, the Divine King is a being who incorporates spirits into his own physical body.

The level of existence is different.

No matter what Luna tries, the power of the spirits cannot harm me.

“Ifrid! Kill that guy!”

“Grrrrrr….”

“Jegiral! Why are these guys malfunctioning?”

Even when commanded by the Great Spirits, they turned away and refused to attack me.

As spirits that have taken on physical form, they cannot harm the Divine King.

Luna, seeming flustered, leaped and soared high into the sky.

“I never intended to kill you from the beginning! I just want to see the look of despair on your face after losing everything!”

“What are you saying? You were just trying to kill me a moment ago.”

“Shut up! Watch as Elvengard burns and people die in droves!”

Realizing that the situation was not in his favor, Luna quickly flew away and disappeared from sight.

I was left somewhat bewildered.

“How am I supposed to make contact now?”

The first condition to send Luna to the Divine Realm is contact.

But with Luna realizing that he is at a disadvantage and running away, it became impossible.

Even if I were to find and pursue him, Luna would likely refuse any contact and fly even higher into the sky.

And most importantly, I have no way to chase him into the sky.

In short, I’m screwed.

It was all messed up because Luna got scared and messed things up.

“Ifrid! Stop!”

Meanwhile, the four Great Spirits continued to advance towards Elvengard.

Even when I shouted and blocked their path, the Great Spirits simply avoided me and continued forward.

They never listened to my commands.

Perhaps they are afraid of harming the Divine King within me.

But the part of the Divine King within me is too small to listen to commands.

Moreover, the Great Spirits are currently trying to surround Elvengard.

With the evacuation of the residents not yet complete, tens of thousands of elves are at risk of being killed by water, fire, lightning, and storms.

“I have to trap Ifrid again.”

I have to eliminate at least one of them and create an escape route.

So, I have no choice but to capture Ifrid like last time.

“Ifrid! Be trapped once again!”

When I handed the magic necklace to Mijung, she spun it around and sent it flying towards Ifrid.

The necklace flashed and shimmered, trying to absorb the core of the spirit, but it resisted and managed to withstand it.

Perhaps it’s because of the power of the transcendental body.

It seems that the trick to trap Ifrid in the magic stone no longer works.

Despite a moment of frustration, I stood up again with renewed strength.

If I stop here, a future where a hundred thousand elves perish awaits.

“I must somehow capture Luna’s transcendental body!”

There is only one way to prevent that future.

Sending Luna to the Divine Realm to restore the Great Spirits to their senses.

However, there is still no clue as to where Luna has escaped to or how to catch her as she fled into the sky.

“Yujin! Something terrible happened! Earlier, a creature with wings that gave off a bad vibe came out of the dungeon and caused chaos… Oh! Why are you covered in blood again…”

Breathless, she ran towards me and clung to me, her voice trembling.

Following her, Yerina, Julia, and Transylvia were seen walking towards us with stern expressions.

“Did we fail to conquer the dungeon?”

“Yeah… We couldn’t break through the undead…”

The dungeon conquest was a failure.

And within it, Luna’s transcendental form was completed, leading to the destruction of Elvengard.

No matter how much the main heroines were considered superhumans, as mere individuals, they couldn’t prevent a massive natural disaster.

Just standing by.

We had to watch Elvengard perish with many elves.

Superhumans like us could somehow endure injuries, break through the flames, and escape, but not everyone was like us.

The heroines’ faces were already filled with frustration and despair.

I felt the same way.

…Or so I thought.

“Wait a minute. How did she manage to complete the transcendental form at this point?”

The appearance of Luna’s transcendental form was in the late game.

If it could have been created earlier, there would be no reason not to.

In other words, the necessary conditions were so tight that they were all met in the late game.

In this episode, Luna completed the transcendental form much earlier.

How did she manage to do it?

How did she fulfill the lacking requirements?

“The dungeon…”

The answer came quickly.

Luna’s unique dungeon.

If she consumes the undead army born within it, there is nothing impossible.

If she sacrifices the endlessly resurrecting undead to supply energy, it wouldn’t be difficult.

“The dungeon? Has it already disappeared?”

“No. It’s still there…”

The fact that her unique dungeon had not disappeared meant that the transcendental form was still receiving energy in real-time from the undead army.

In other words, the transcendental form was not yet complete.

Despite being incomplete, it emerged hastily to destroy Elvengard.

So, the next step was clear.

It felt like the darkened vision in front of me was suddenly clear.

“I will enter the dungeon.”

“…?!”

If I couldn’t find her, then I would make her come to me.