CH 143
The black diamond-shaped object was so huge that it was like a single ‘fortress’’.
Whoi-eiiiii-eiiiiiik—!
Dark clouds hung over the overwhelming force that the fortress sucked in, and the wind blew fiercely.
Dry leaves mercilessly fluttered in the air.
Indeed, it was an overwhelming sight.
―It was an object that I would never have seen in my life, even in my dreams.
But why?!
…It looked kinda familiar.
‘What is that?!’
‘I’ve definitely seen it somewhere.’
‘Think, please. Where did you see it, Annette?!’
Just as I was squeezing my brains out, the sharp sound of ‘Tul-suk!’ caught my ears.
Next to me, a servant was on his knees and raising his hands to the sky. He cried out with a face full of fear, as if a ghost had pried open his eyes.
“Ah, the evil spirit has come! To punish us who are sinful!”
The cry made everyone in the entire hallway shake.
Except for me. Only me.
Everyone knelt down as if possessed and shouted to the sky.
“Alas, the end of the world is coming!”
“Everyone, pray. We have to beg to be saved…!”
“The evil spirit must have sent messengers to punish us! Oh, my God… Help us.”
My mouth dropped wide open.
‘Crazy, everyone is being swept away!’
It didn’t look like they were under any spell or magic. However, everyone was just terrified.
What’s the situation outside?
I hurriedly looked out the window.
Roughly half of the people looked up at the sky, the other half were crying, and some were praying to the god they believed in.
―It was literally pandemonium.
“Ah.”
That was then. As if lightning struck my head, I remembered where I had seen the black object in the sky.
About 10 years ago, Gerard’s cigarette case.
It looked exactly like the black jewel that had been attached to it, emitting a dazzling light.
“Gerard…”
It was a time when Sordi and Um were needed.
“Sordi, Um! Please answer.”
These days, I could immediately summon Sordi and Um whenever I wanted. My ‘resonance’ was almost running towards the maximum.
To the extent that it could be expected for <blooming> to happen soon.
Unsurprisingly, immediately, my left and right hand tingled, and the power of each was felt.
The cool light and the hot fire showed off their respective presence, and a message rang in my ears.
[Glutinous rice, you called…!!! Oh, Gerard has finally gone crazy.]
Although they did not actually show themselves to my request of ‘answer me,’ they clearly share the same view as me since they responded to my call like this.
I stared at the unidentified black gem.
“That’s Gerard’s work, isn’t it? I’ve seen that object in Gerard’s belongings… Of course, it wasn’t that big.”
Behind the fiery voice of Um, Sordi’s calm message reverberated in my head.
[That’s Acra, the condensed power of Venénum, the cursed sorcerer’s core. ]
“The cursed sorcerer’s core?”
[Yes. It is similar to the process of building ‘resonance’ with us. Gerard must have nurtured Acra for a long time, having been handed the nucleus from Venénum, putting it in his belongings, and keeping it with him at all times.]
That’s why…!
He acted like he should never lose it.
This was the reason he had no choice but to accept the deal with the cigarette case.
[When the resonance between Acra and the contractor is strong, it’s transplanted into the contractor’s body from the object, and continues growing. And now, the power was released. ]
‘How can it get that big?’
The owner of the voice in my mind changed. Now it was a voice with the intensity of scorching fire.
[Glutinous rice! Venénum is spreading fear with ‘mind manipulation’. If one is not a warrior with strong mental power, he or she will be swept away. You have to stop it! ]
“…I’ll go. The two of you, please do not materialize, gather that power and give it to me.”
Because even the slightest amount of power should not be wasted.
[Good. Go for it, glutinous rice! ]
[Okay, sweetheart! ]
‘Can I do it?’
The sky was now all black, not a single handful of light existed in the world.
People became increasingly frightened.
I instinctively realized.
‘This is not the time to ask questions.’
It was a time when I could do something only if I took a step forward instead of asking questions.
I quickly ran towards Acra.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“Shit! It’s kind of sticky.”
Puck! The monster that clung to the waist was kicked away, then a bullet went through it with precision.
Kieeeeek-!
The corpse of the beast, whose head had been blown away, fell to the floor.
Nevertheless, there were many more beasts around.
“I don’t know what the hell this is. Demonic beasts appearing in the middle of El Dorado…?!”
Wasn’t this a bizarre sight, as if baguettes and sausage buns were stuck in the middle of the desert instead of cacti?
Number 19 scratched the back of his head with the muzzle.
“I will live and see all the starry landscapes.”
<Winston’s Shield> was in full force at the sudden appearance of the demonic beasts.
These veteran warriors who went through countless battles were able to safely evacuate the residents who were terrified and smoothly dealt with the beasts.
However, it was always done in change.
“Even Requiterras (worm-like beasts resembling insects) appeared. Master, as you know… That’s a beast that only appears in desert areas.”
One-eye frowned.
“Something is strange.”
Kyle, who hit the head of a beast resembling a snake that was rushing at him, skillfully aimed his shotgun at the next target and said,
“It must be because of that strange jewel in the sky.”
“I think the same.”
Although Kyle and One-eye didn’t know what Acra was, the cause seemed obvious to anyone who saw it.
After that huge black diamond-shaped object floated in the sky, people suddenly became terrified, and the beasts were flocking to El Dorado.
Many were too frightened, to the point they could not even evacuate and were just praying, nailed to their seats.
If it weren’t for <Winston’s Shield>, most of them would already have been the food of the beasts.
“Shit! Master! We’ll die of exhaustion if we keep dealing with the beasts here like this!”
“Shouldn’t we deal with that dark thing first? Ah, stop rushing in~ You guys, I’m scared to death~”
“You’re right. First of all, it would be better to figure out the identity of that black object.”
As Chubby, Number 19, and a heinous-looking comrade spoke, One-eye added,
“And we need to know where Miss Annette is.”
“…….”
‘Annette.’
Kyle bit his lip. He said as he shoved a bullet into the head of a Requiterras that dashed headfirst at him.
“You guys defend the people here! I will go.”
“I will accompany you, Master.”
It was too dangerous to go alone. One-eye thought so and stepped forward.
But Kyle grabbed his shoulder and said,
“You protect your comrades.”
“……!”
His emerald eyes were desperate, yet trusting. At the master’s words, One-eye made a torn expression for a moment, then clenched his fist and nodded his head.
“Take care, Master.”
‘Leave it to me.’
Immediately, Kyle started running, cutting through a cloud of beasts, leaving the place.
How long has it been?
A child’s cry was heard from somewhere.
“Ahhh! No, heuk…”
The cries became lesser and softer. The little girl was so frightened that she couldn’t even speak properly.
‘Is there a child who hasn’t been able to evacuate yet?’
A dangerous situation unfolded as he followed the cry around the corner.
In front of the little girl who looked like she wasn’t even ten years old, the green sticky demon was drooling, its mouth wide open, and trying to swallow the child.
Without a second thought, Kyle threw his body, wrapping it around the child.
Then, taang!
He fired the bullet at the beast’s head.
Paak!!!
The bullet of Kine, the leader of <Larva>, never, ever missed.
The beast’s head exploded as it was.
In the next moment, the green body swelled— a rapidly growing ‘second’ head opened its mouth and swallowed Kyle whole.
Gulp.
“……!!!”
Then it wobbled, and slowly crawled down the alley.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
I was running.
A large building was always farther away than it looked, and the Acra was like that.
It was quite far beyond the Imperial Palace of El Dorado.
‘What the hell…’
It was none other than hell.
Complete hell.
While Gerard’s private army and the Imperial Palace’s soldiers were fighting frantically, I was running away from them well (of course, there were instances where I needed to use my abilities).
‘Isn’t Sislin supposed to be around here?’
The closer I got to the Acra, the more I felt that Gerard had more troops.
Since it was Sislin that led the Imperial Palace’s core forces, he would probably be on this battlefield.
But I wasn’t worried about Sislin’s life.
He was a warrior stronger than anyone else.
Sislin, Heinrich, and Kyle.
‘Everyone, please stay strong in your position.’
It was only natural to counter a sorcerer’s power with another sorcerer’s power.
I was the only one who could untie this terrible knot with Gerard, who had been tangled up in bad blood since my mother’s generation.
After running like crazy, I finally reached the front of the Acra.
“……!!!”
Gerard was standing under the Acra. His eyes were closed, drawing the power of the Venénum from his whole body and consolidating it into the Acra.
A strong wind blew nearby.
‘Now is my chance.’
Because he was concentrating without realizing that I was approaching.
‘Let’s finish it all at once.’
I approached Gerard at high speed and drew out the power of Exordium.
Shu-woo-woo-!
Just then, Sislin discovered her. He frantically ran towards Annette, killing Gerard’s soldiers who were flocking like dogs in one blow with a bayonet. However, more enemies blocked him like a shield.
“Annette! It’s dangerous, don’t go near it!”
At that moment, when Annette’s fire was about to capture Gerard.
“……!”
Gerard opened his eyes.
His livid, blood-red eyes stared right into hers as if to tear her apart.
Ame: This final battle isn’t going down like how I imagined it to be back during the ‘hell party’ arc lmao
Where’s the part where all the boys assemble and overcome their differences and take down the big bad Germrad????
Instead, we have Sislin who was awol till the last few sentences, Heinrich who just woke up from being poisoned, and Kyle was just swallowed by mr. greeny slimy… Sordi and Um ain’t guarding their backs, they’re freaking just holding pompoms and cheering from the heavens or whatever…
Tassie: I AM TENSE!!!! WHATS GONNA HAPPEN NEXT??? Also can anyone else smell the death flags being raised through the screen?? No?? Just me???
Whoi-eiiiii-eiiiiiik—!
Dark clouds hung over the overwhelming force that the fortress sucked in, and the wind blew fiercely.
Dry leaves mercilessly fluttered in the air.
Indeed, it was an overwhelming sight.
―It was an object that I would never have seen in my life, even in my dreams.
But why?!
…It looked kinda familiar.
‘What is that?!’
‘I’ve definitely seen it somewhere.’
‘Think, please. Where did you see it, Annette?!’
Just as I was squeezing my brains out, the sharp sound of ‘Tul-suk!’ caught my ears.
Next to me, a servant was on his knees and raising his hands to the sky. He cried out with a face full of fear, as if a ghost had pried open his eyes.
“Ah, the evil spirit has come! To punish us who are sinful!”
The cry made everyone in the entire hallway shake.
Except for me. Only me.
Everyone knelt down as if possessed and shouted to the sky.
“Alas, the end of the world is coming!”
“Everyone, pray. We have to beg to be saved…!”
“The evil spirit must have sent messengers to punish us! Oh, my God… Help us.”
My mouth dropped wide open.
‘Crazy, everyone is being swept away!’
It didn’t look like they were under any spell or magic. However, everyone was just terrified.
What’s the situation outside?
I hurriedly looked out the window.
Roughly half of the people looked up at the sky, the other half were crying, and some were praying to the god they believed in.
―It was literally pandemonium.
“Ah.”
That was then. As if lightning struck my head, I remembered where I had seen the black object in the sky.
About 10 years ago, Gerard’s cigarette case.
It looked exactly like the black jewel that had been attached to it, emitting a dazzling light.
“Gerard…”
It was a time when Sordi and Um were needed.
“Sordi, Um! Please answer.”
These days, I could immediately summon Sordi and Um whenever I wanted. My ‘resonance’ was almost running towards the maximum.
To the extent that it could be expected for <blooming> to happen soon.
Unsurprisingly, immediately, my left and right hand tingled, and the power of each was felt.
The cool light and the hot fire showed off their respective presence, and a message rang in my ears.
[Glutinous rice, you called…!!! Oh, Gerard has finally gone crazy.]
Although they did not actually show themselves to my request of ‘answer me,’ they clearly share the same view as me since they responded to my call like this.
I stared at the unidentified black gem.
“That’s Gerard’s work, isn’t it? I’ve seen that object in Gerard’s belongings… Of course, it wasn’t that big.”
Behind the fiery voice of Um, Sordi’s calm message reverberated in my head.
[That’s Acra, the condensed power of Venénum, the cursed sorcerer’s core. ]
“The cursed sorcerer’s core?”
[Yes. It is similar to the process of building ‘resonance’ with us. Gerard must have nurtured Acra for a long time, having been handed the nucleus from Venénum, putting it in his belongings, and keeping it with him at all times.]
That’s why…!
He acted like he should never lose it.
This was the reason he had no choice but to accept the deal with the cigarette case.
[When the resonance between Acra and the contractor is strong, it’s transplanted into the contractor’s body from the object, and continues growing. And now, the power was released. ]
‘How can it get that big?’
The owner of the voice in my mind changed. Now it was a voice with the intensity of scorching fire.
[Glutinous rice! Venénum is spreading fear with ‘mind manipulation’. If one is not a warrior with strong mental power, he or she will be swept away. You have to stop it! ]
“…I’ll go. The two of you, please do not materialize, gather that power and give it to me.”
Because even the slightest amount of power should not be wasted.
[Good. Go for it, glutinous rice! ]
[Okay, sweetheart! ]
‘Can I do it?’
The sky was now all black, not a single handful of light existed in the world.
People became increasingly frightened.
I instinctively realized.
‘This is not the time to ask questions.’
It was a time when I could do something only if I took a step forward instead of asking questions.
I quickly ran towards Acra.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“Shit! It’s kind of sticky.”
Puck! The monster that clung to the waist was kicked away, then a bullet went through it with precision.
Kieeeeek-!
The corpse of the beast, whose head had been blown away, fell to the floor.
Nevertheless, there were many more beasts around.
“I don’t know what the hell this is. Demonic beasts appearing in the middle of El Dorado…?!”
Wasn’t this a bizarre sight, as if baguettes and sausage buns were stuck in the middle of the desert instead of cacti?
Number 19 scratched the back of his head with the muzzle.
“I will live and see all the starry landscapes.”
<Winston’s Shield> was in full force at the sudden appearance of the demonic beasts.
These veteran warriors who went through countless battles were able to safely evacuate the residents who were terrified and smoothly dealt with the beasts.
However, it was always done in change.
“Even Requiterras (worm-like beasts resembling insects) appeared. Master, as you know… That’s a beast that only appears in desert areas.”
One-eye frowned.
“Something is strange.”
Kyle, who hit the head of a beast resembling a snake that was rushing at him, skillfully aimed his shotgun at the next target and said,
“It must be because of that strange jewel in the sky.”
“I think the same.”
Although Kyle and One-eye didn’t know what Acra was, the cause seemed obvious to anyone who saw it.
After that huge black diamond-shaped object floated in the sky, people suddenly became terrified, and the beasts were flocking to El Dorado.
Many were too frightened, to the point they could not even evacuate and were just praying, nailed to their seats.
If it weren’t for <Winston’s Shield>, most of them would already have been the food of the beasts.
“Shit! Master! We’ll die of exhaustion if we keep dealing with the beasts here like this!”
“Shouldn’t we deal with that dark thing first? Ah, stop rushing in~ You guys, I’m scared to death~”
“You’re right. First of all, it would be better to figure out the identity of that black object.”
As Chubby, Number 19, and a heinous-looking comrade spoke, One-eye added,
“And we need to know where Miss Annette is.”
“…….”
‘Annette.’
Kyle bit his lip. He said as he shoved a bullet into the head of a Requiterras that dashed headfirst at him.
“You guys defend the people here! I will go.”
“I will accompany you, Master.”
It was too dangerous to go alone. One-eye thought so and stepped forward.
But Kyle grabbed his shoulder and said,
“You protect your comrades.”
“……!”
His emerald eyes were desperate, yet trusting. At the master’s words, One-eye made a torn expression for a moment, then clenched his fist and nodded his head.
“Take care, Master.”
‘Leave it to me.’
Immediately, Kyle started running, cutting through a cloud of beasts, leaving the place.
How long has it been?
A child’s cry was heard from somewhere.
“Ahhh! No, heuk…”
The cries became lesser and softer. The little girl was so frightened that she couldn’t even speak properly.
‘Is there a child who hasn’t been able to evacuate yet?’
A dangerous situation unfolded as he followed the cry around the corner.
In front of the little girl who looked like she wasn’t even ten years old, the green sticky demon was drooling, its mouth wide open, and trying to swallow the child.
Without a second thought, Kyle threw his body, wrapping it around the child.
Then, taang!
He fired the bullet at the beast’s head.
Paak!!!
The bullet of Kine, the leader of <Larva>, never, ever missed.
The beast’s head exploded as it was.
In the next moment, the green body swelled— a rapidly growing ‘second’ head opened its mouth and swallowed Kyle whole.
Gulp.
“……!!!”
Then it wobbled, and slowly crawled down the alley.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
I was running.
A large building was always farther away than it looked, and the Acra was like that.
It was quite far beyond the Imperial Palace of El Dorado.
‘What the hell…’
It was none other than hell.
Complete hell.
While Gerard’s private army and the Imperial Palace’s soldiers were fighting frantically, I was running away from them well (of course, there were instances where I needed to use my abilities).
‘Isn’t Sislin supposed to be around here?’
The closer I got to the Acra, the more I felt that Gerard had more troops.
Since it was Sislin that led the Imperial Palace’s core forces, he would probably be on this battlefield.
But I wasn’t worried about Sislin’s life.
He was a warrior stronger than anyone else.
Sislin, Heinrich, and Kyle.
‘Everyone, please stay strong in your position.’
It was only natural to counter a sorcerer’s power with another sorcerer’s power.
I was the only one who could untie this terrible knot with Gerard, who had been tangled up in bad blood since my mother’s generation.
After running like crazy, I finally reached the front of the Acra.
“……!!!”
Gerard was standing under the Acra. His eyes were closed, drawing the power of the Venénum from his whole body and consolidating it into the Acra.
A strong wind blew nearby.
‘Now is my chance.’
Because he was concentrating without realizing that I was approaching.
‘Let’s finish it all at once.’
I approached Gerard at high speed and drew out the power of Exordium.
Shu-woo-woo-!
Just then, Sislin discovered her. He frantically ran towards Annette, killing Gerard’s soldiers who were flocking like dogs in one blow with a bayonet. However, more enemies blocked him like a shield.
“Annette! It’s dangerous, don’t go near it!”
At that moment, when Annette’s fire was about to capture Gerard.
“……!”
Gerard opened his eyes.
His livid, blood-red eyes stared right into hers as if to tear her apart.
Ame: This final battle isn’t going down like how I imagined it to be back during the ‘hell party’ arc lmao
Where’s the part where all the boys assemble and overcome their differences and take down the big bad Germrad????
Instead, we have Sislin who was awol till the last few sentences, Heinrich who just woke up from being poisoned, and Kyle was just swallowed by mr. greeny slimy… Sordi and Um ain’t guarding their backs, they’re freaking just holding pompoms and cheering from the heavens or whatever…
Tassie: I AM TENSE!!!! WHATS GONNA HAPPEN NEXT??? Also can anyone else smell the death flags being raised through the screen?? No?? Just me???
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