Chapter 94: Because It Depends on the Other Person

‘The world.’

It was strange.

It felt as if it had stopped, yet somehow it was vivid.

As if… everything I had seen with my eyes… had been a lie.

The world was infinitely wide and vast.

And yet, it was utterly cramped.

It was a sensation difficult to describe.

‘Is this….’

As if to shake the world, a massive bolt of lightning surged from that thing.

Its color was red and brilliant.

It was invisible to the eye.

And yet, I could see it; I could feel it.

The red lightning extending from him soon branched out in all directions.

As if a spiderweb were forming in the atmosphere, it became incredibly dense.

And then, it reached the position where I stood.

The moment I touched that minute thread, a stinging sensation surged through my body as if I were being electrocuted.

But at the same time.

My empty body was suddenly filled, overflowing with power.

Normally, I wouldn’t have even been able to move my body.

Yet, using that power as a foundation, I moved.

And I did so.

Faster than anyone else here.

Until the moment the red lightning flowing through my body surged across my entire frame and vanished into the ground through the soles of my feet.

The aftermath and the tremors remained, pulling my body forward.

Perhaps because that process repeated several times.

The one who had been trying to pierce and kill me was now seized by bewilderment.

That wasn’t all.

The tiny force of stepping on the ground.

The axis of the soles, the heels.

The process of force loading into the bones and muscles and then reversing.

The heart beating, blood flowing through the veins.

I could feel that this process was affecting me down to the marrow.

No, it was the opposite.

It had been originating from there all along.

Soon, all sorts of reactions began to occur within my head.

Electricity.

His red current flowed through my body, and as if replacing something from before, it began to emit new electricity.

Though minute, it was clearly an electrical reaction.

…Even the phenomena unfolding within my body as if they were natural were an absolute mystery to me.

In such complex and diverse forms.

Had we been moving like this?

We collide.

No, it’s completely different.

This is, well….

I am being sucked in.

As if my body were reacting to the opponent’s body.

It happens automatically.

My mind was complicated, but that was likely because I tried to understand it.

This is not something to understand, but something to accept.

If I let my guard down for even a moment here.

All the harmony will break.

…I had such a premonition.

====

“…How perplexing.”

Why was he reacting to his movements?

Even that reaction far exceeded Bargo’s own movements.

He knew that method well.

Not just the manipulation of mana, but a technique of wielding mana itself according to one’s will to eventually neutralize and seize control over another’s body and influence.

He didn’t know the principle.

However, there was something common among those who had faced such opponents.

As everyone who had faced Grandeus had claimed.

It felt as if they were being sucked into something.

His successors and followers had used similar tricks.

But at this moment.

The one closest to that was the thing before his eyes.

‘I thought it would be enough as long as I didn’t let him touch me.’

Who wouldn’t know that?

However, the reaction and response shown by that thing.

It proved that Grandeus could not be defeated or countered simply by not being touched.

It showed that such a complacent response could never be a solution.

That was the very technique.

To be precise, this was a way of reacting aimed at thorough defense rather than offense.

The most terrifying part was the moment that was converted into an offense.

The repeated battles with Grandeus had taught many a simple and direct fact.

[Then isn’t it enough to throw all your strength before you are touched?]

[It can be solved by countering with sheer physical violence.]

[With the violence of numbers. And if that is not enough, one can win with a Massive Frame that reminds them that a small body is useless.]

For example, immediately after manipulating mana until just before contact, one launches their body like an arrow.

Thus, the launched body becomes like an arrow or a hurled stone.

In an offense based on inertia and kinetic energy, mana and such do not matter.

Furthermore, one can push forward with a giant frame that a small body simply cannot oppose.

A simple and concise conclusion.

However, those who came up with such countermeasures.

Immediately faced the next wall.

‘There is no mistake.’

That thing hadn’t followed his speed.

It was the opposite.

Because there was distance, if he could produce the same speed and velocity as himself.

It wouldn’t be a problem to overwhelm him the moment he reached him.

And what made that possible.

…It meant that he had acquired some special Skill that allowed him to react as if touched, even without touching.

“You certainly are his successor.”

Even among the Salvation Knight Order.

No one had reached such a level yet.

If he hadn’t known Grandeus, Bargo himself would have been the one to self-destruct while panicking in this situation.

But Bargo knew Grandeus far too well for that.

‘Therefore, that alone is not enough.’

Though there is a third wall.

It would be impossible for that thing to reach it now.

A realm that was impossible for anyone other than ‘him’ from the start.

No.

It was certain that the thing before him was currently in a realm that no one had ever caught up to.

He didn’t know the principle.

Nor the method.

Where was the source?

What was the origin?

‘The Black Star, huh.’

Bargo had once received a sort of lesson from Grandeus.

At that time, he had given the lesson but said it would be unknowable.

And that was the truth.

“I pay my respects.”

To think he reached that level in such a short time with a human body.

Yet he is an enemy, the son of a nemesis.

If he had been our comrade.

He would have surely become a hero to carry the burden of our era.

“Haa.”

With a miserable heart, Bargo raised his snow-white left hand and gripped his chest.

He steeled his resolve.

From his right grip, which held the Jet-Black Spear, an intense light erupted.

The red lightning illuminated the surroundings, scattering a brilliant radiance.

Soon, it merged with the Jet-Black Spear and oxidized into a Dark Red Light.

The sight of brilliant light being swallowed by a small darkness was truly unnatural and abnormal.

However, since it was clear what that thing was aiming for.

Everyone watching shifted their gaze between two points.

One was the light that seemed to swallow the world, yet paradoxically extended outward; and the darkness that conversely swallowed and forced everything down.

If that was a catastrophic sight of entanglement.

The other point, the person standing there.

Was silent.

As if even the stillness had descended.

That area was exceptionally quiet and calm.

‘As if.’

As if the space itself had melted into his atmosphere.

The area around Kariel was uniquely seized by a static silence.

====

-As expected, the matchup wasn’t good.

Even though the compatibility issue was solved, the opponent pushed a trial, a wall, even greater than the one just overcome.

“…….”

The opponent’s method was simple.

Unlike the clumsy responses shown so far, this time he intended to throw everything in with full power.

The amount of power Kariel could accept was extremely limited.

For example, the power the body could accommodate.

If it far exceeded that total.

…Without any room to use it to his advantage, the body would break first.

If before the body was sturdy but lacked the technique and ability to accept such things.

Now it was the exact opposite.

Above all.

…Even if his body had been in a healthy state, he honestly couldn’t tell if he could have handled that head-on.

‘If I can use that.’

The thing he had used without even knowing what he was doing when facing Elhermina.

He realized then that that was the direction he should pursue.

…But didn’t the Demon King say that it’s not something you can use however you want just because you want to?

He said Elbat was needed to fulfill those conditions.

Then.

How did I use it back then?

At that time, the Demon King had said:

[You should consider it as the opponent helping you. Where in the world is there a premise where an opponent exerts such overwhelming Divine Authority without hostility?]

For example, if he had faced a Divine Authority equal to that, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had died long ago.

However, Elhermina’s power had exerted an overwhelming Divine Authority in a way that didn’t kill or injure him.

…Which meant she had given Kariel the room to struggle.

But that was only possible because of who Kariel was at the time.

[If you had learned something else, it wouldn’t make sense to resist that.]

This too was a compatibility issue.

In the first place, the Divine Authorities that the Great Demon King possessed in his lifetime, named the Legacy of the Great Demon King.

And Grandeus had brought forth the Black Light Star to break, collapse, neutralize, and smash those head-on.

He had even said that this was one of the few ways the Great Demon King himself could be countered.

Had he not personally told him and even passed it down?

[If it can be completed, that is.]

And currently.

I knew nothing about it.

…That was the stark reality.

The Dark Red Lightning had eventually been swallowed by darkness, transforming into a bizarre electric shock that emitted White Light despite its darkness.

At that very moment.

The whole world was covered in a dark black light.

‘That is….’

Something distinctly different from what he had deployed in the past.

Yet, perhaps it was trying to emulate that, wanting to resemble its form.

The Black Current extending in all directions, like tree branches sprouting.

It embroidered countless shapes in the air.

Like a tree extending black branches for a fleeting moment.

It began to fill all the space.

With no corner to escape to, no room to step back.

But my current body had not a single shred of leeway left to pull back or withdraw.

The fact that I reacted was entirely because I used the opponent’s power to react.

The response was the same.

Right now, I am.

A hollow corpse.

It would be a miracle that I hadn’t become such a state already.

‘My heart is beating.’

Slowly.

Infinitely slowly.

The flow of blood, even the senses were infinitely slow and faint.

But the world was accelerating, faster than ever.

‘Death….’

Is coming.

The black lightning becomes light and extends its branches toward me.

-Let’s just pray now.

The Demon King was laughing.

And then he began to speak cheerfully.

In this world.

If there is one being who will not allow you to die.

If we assume such a being exists, just one.

And if that being is an absurd existence.

“?!”

A branch.

A black branch collided with a new branch surging from underground.

And then it scattered.

It collapsed.

It overlapped.

“What—?!”

Starting with the cracks blooming on the ground.

For a moment, a branch extended.

And not stopping at a branch, this time something like a massive pillar.

Something writhing broke through the ground without hesitation, thrusting its head and waist.

-The Residual Grudge clinging to you seems to have a very clear desire.

But what if you die?

-Then it can’t even beg to be saved, right?

The whole body is rotting.

Sputtering a dark, murky liquid.

The sight of massive branches, stems, and vines tangled and rotting.

How on earth should I describe this?

-I don’t really know. I can at least grasp that you somehow saved the World Tree from the rumors I’ve gathered, but even those seem to be haphazardly attached. I can only guess.

But did Bargo say that fellow almost killed you there?

And he also babbled that the World Tree and the Elves saved you?

-Some of it might have been said without knowing the facts… putting the truth aside. If I think about various things based on that, I can deduce a few things.

The gratitude and grudge toward the World Tree.

The unlimited grace of the Elves resulting from it.

Furthermore.

-Most of the abilities you possess align more with those of an Elf than a human.

This is likely the influence of the World Tree.

And I believe it’s the aftermath of when you died once.

-The memory impairment and the mana maladaptation are probably related to this.

Well, it’s all just a guess.

Anyway, the truth is something we can figure out step by step later, right?

-But I wonder what the identity of that Residual Grudge was? While you were asleep, I had quite a few encounters with that thing.

Of course, it was mostly just one-sidedly acting spoiled.

Every time, you were in a hell of a mess, barely clinging to life, weren’t you?

“…….”

Seizures.

Is he talking about that?

The thing that burst through the surface was, literally, a monster.

However, only half of it had emerged.

In a way, it reminded one of an Earth Dragon or an Earth Wyrm.

But most of what composed it—the scales and the epidermis—were all murky and contaminated.

…Above all, rotten branches and vines were clinging to it like tentacles.

It had a very, very ominous and filthy appearance.

-Now it’s certain. That Residual Grudge is obsessed with you.

Why?

-Because it kept saying, ‘Save me too.’ Just take those words literally.

It’s a request I’ve heard repeatedly.

When that seemed difficult, at the very end, it acted as if it would strangle Kariel to death….

-But it can’t actually kill you. So it must have manipulated things to make something like this happen.

Of all times, right before you were about to kick the bucket.

-And the identity of that thing is nothing else.

It was born with the same fate as the World Tree.

But the land it stands on is different, and the world is different.

The World Tree and that thing are beings considered to stand above and below, or front and back, in a planar world.

However, they can absolutely never share the same world.

-There is something similar to a World Tree in the Demon Realm. That’s why in the Demon Realm, they call it the ‘Demonic World Tree.’

And now, that thing.

-Has exerted its influence to invade even another world.

Even while enduring considerable sacrifice.

-The other side must be in chaos. Since this happened arbitrarily.

“…Is this possible?”

Even amidst the confusion, the world I saw was still slow.

It was acting pretentious.

-Nothing is impossible. Since it happened, it’s a possible thing, right? It’s just that you or we didn’t know. We didn’t try to look. We never counted it.

The Demon King said.

-There’s one more over there who won’t simply accept your death. If you die… hmm. Wouldn’t this become interesting in its own way?

To that thing, you look like the only hope.

-A world that destroyed that hope. To use a metaphor… if your savior? Or your child died in a foreign land… could you mercifully forgive all the people of that foreign country? When that person was the only one who could save you. Or the one who was to succeed you, and some bastards in a far-off place killed them as they pleased? Wow! This has become truly interesting.

The Demon King burst into laughter.

-Aren’t you happy to be loved and attended to?

“…….”

Nevertheless, it raised its massive frame and let out a hideous roar, the likes of which had never been heard.

Grrrr-rrick!

-The path to live there has opened. Only after flinging open the gates of hell has our life been liberated.

Watching the Golden Girl recite unknown words and phrases.

Kariel gasped.

Even though the air was murky, dark, gloomy, and suffocating.

Even that must be utilized now.

He naturally continued his breathing.

The very breathing he had always done.