Chapter 308 – City of Giants (Three)

The entire underground space began to tremble as if a massive earthquake had struck.

It was a war of countless, dizzying colors.

The rainbow-hued Mana resonating with the emotions the boy had accumulated thus far.

The dark Indigo Mana resonating with the inferiority complex the man had harbored his entire life.

Kwaang! Kwaaang!

They bloomed fiercely in the form of small spheres everywhere, repeatedly colliding and exploding.

This contest of power wasn’t only taking place in the air.

Ray, who had reached the front of Indiago’s Ward and was engaged in a fierce battle.

Pazik! Pajijik!

The multicolored Mana emanating from the boy’s palm showed violent movement, trying to penetrate the Indigo Ward it touched.

Conversely, the Indigo Mana fiercely struggled to drive out the foreign species that had dared to invade its territory.

Kugugugu!

Amidst the falling stone fragments, Indiago gritted his teeth.

It was unbelievable.

He absolutely could not accept it.

The fact that his opponent was on par with him, who had reached the 6th Circle.

Even considering that he hadn’t fully recovered from the aftereffects of the previous battle.

Kkaddeudeuk!

With the sound of teeth shattering, blood flowed from between Indiago’s lips.

“Don’t… block me…! You…! You have no right…!”

“Whatever the right is, I’m not, interested.”

Ray was calm.

But his sentence was cut short.

Because he was simultaneously drawing out all the Mana contained in the gemstones and rings, exceeding their limits.

Due to the Mana running wild with its reins of control loosened, multicolored Mana bloomed like mist from his entire body, and brilliant Eye Light shot from his eyes.

Furthermore, the sensations of his body and mind were maximized, making everything vivid.

He saw and felt it.

The massive lump of Indigo Mana writhing like a nightmare within the chest of the man before him.

The nauseatingly thick inferiority complex and malice.

The throbbing venom was enough to make his spirit tingle.

And.

─Gooooooo.

It seemed that the pulsation of those emotions was clearly being transmitted to Khum, sealed below the pit.

Judging by the continuous, chilling cries, it was highly likely.

‘Khum.’

The unprecedented monster of the Ancient Era who had surpassed the predetermined limits of its race.

During the first war, they said it couldn’t be destroyed due to its infinite regenerative power and could only be sealed.

Its body was said to be incomparably larger than that of a normal Giant, and its skin was impervious to Magic.

‘If it awakens.’

It was obvious that it wouldn’t end with simply turning the surroundings into a wasteland.

He had to quickly eliminate Indiago, the source of the emotions stimulating Khum.

Ray focused his entire mind on destroying the Indigo Ward.

After an intense battle, Indiago spat blood and knelt on one knee.

“Kkulleuk…! Me…! Don’t…! Look down on me…! With such…! eyes…!”

The destroyed Ward scattered like glass fragments and dispersed, turning into Mana.

The ice dagger that had been aimed at Indiago’s throat suddenly changed its trajectory and was swung sideways.

Chaeng!

The stone fragments flying near Ray’s head were deflected.

Those surging from behind were frozen by the scattered cold and fell to the ground.

‘Doctor.’

The moment he saw the Doctor stretching his hand towards him.

Ray turned his body again and swung the dagger towards Indiago’s throat.

Jiik─!

It was shallow.

Indiago, who had evaded the attack by a hair’s breadth, threw himself without hesitation into the pit below.

With a red line drawn on his neck, a mad smile on his lips.

Ray threw himself after him.

The intensifying heat of the lava.

He felt his blood and breath growing hot.

It must be due to the lake of lava situated like a volcanic crater at the bottom of the pit.

Pajijijik──!

A Thread of condensed blue Lightning fired from his grasp towards Indiago, who was falling ahead.

Each time the line of Lightning drew numbers in the air, his vision flickered, and each time, Indiago was seen narrowly evading the attacks, his position changing.

Hwaruk!

Ray twisted his body to avoid a fireball flying from behind.

He turned his head.

The owner of the attack was the Doctor.

The Doctor, who was following in descent, took out a handful of Bloodstones from his bosom and scattered them in the air.

“Eliminate him.”

“As ordered.”

With a red aura, hundreds of Homunculi appeared in an instant.

A truly overwhelming number.

Was he investing all his remaining power, thinking this was the final battle?

Each and every one wore an expression of anger, so natural that an ordinary person wouldn’t notice.

But that was all.

Because only the artificial emotions the Doctor had injected resided in their Vessels.

Artificial lifeforms infinitely close to human yet infinitely inhuman.

Ray towards them.

Kwaaaaang──!

Swinged the Magic of judgment.

Fragments of shattered red gemstones scattered around.

After a not-short descent, Ray landed on the ground, stirring up wind.

He quickly took in the surrounding scenery.

The head of a Giant with closed eyes, exposed above a massive lava lake.

A long, narrow path starting from the wide circular space where he currently stood led up to it.

That Giant must be Khum.

‘Big.’

A little, no, very much.

Simply saying ‘big’ was insufficient.

Judging by the exposed head, its full height seemed to reach tens of meters, comparable to Rael Row.

Upon spotting Indiago heading towards Khum via the path, Ray immediately tried to dash forward.

Hudududuk!

That is, if not for the countless Bloodstones that fell from above right after.

Hundreds of newly created Homunculi surrounded him.

Thak.

Behind them, the Doctor landed.

Glancing at Indiago staggering far ahead towards Khum, he said.

“How about leaving him be? Isn’t it admirable, the sight of a man who craved power his whole life, not satisfied with the present, striving to become stronger?”

“Doctor.”

“I hold the man called Indiago in very high regard. Even before I first gave him the Indigo fragment, his inferiority complex was already near completion.”

“Redran.”

Upon hearing his true name, the Doctor finally stopped speaking.

Behind the broken sunglasses were only the eye sockets emitting the unique Eye Light of a Golem, but he could guess.

What kind of look the Doctor’s true body, hiding somewhere far away and remotely observing the situation, would have.

“Redran, you’ve shown great fear of me all this time. You’ve sent countless minions but never once revealed your true form.”

“……”

“The reason you fear me so much, I know it now.”

Ray’s breath caught for a moment.

“It’s because I am the Rainbow, isn’t it?”

“……”

“You probably wished I didn’t know, but I’m quite perceptive.”

Truthfully, he still didn’t have complete certainty that he was the reincarnation of the Rainbow.

Only circumstantial evidence that had piled up to an unignorable degree.

Unidentified memories that kept surfacing with headaches.

He was only leaving the possibility wide open based on these numerous elements.

The Doctor muttered, disconcerted.

“To realize it only now….”

“The reason you feared me is because there’s a high chance you’ll be judged for the wrongs you committed in the past, right?”

“……”

“You can’t deny the fact that you sowed discord among the other Guardians and caused the second war.”

Then the Doctor gestured into the air.

The next moment, the Homunculi all charged at Ray simultaneously.

Hooong──!

The battle began with a massive Wind longsword cleaving dozens of Homunculi in half.

With roars, Lightning raced through the air, and flames danced.

Amidst the fierce battle, the Doctor’s shout was heard.

“It’s useless. No matter what you realize. No matter what you find out. If that man absorbs the ancient power, even you won’t be able to do anything about it.”

There was no Vessel for emotions in a Golem’s body.

But Ray could read the emotion contained in its tone.

It was hope.

The hope that the moment Indiago absorbed Khum’s power, nothing would stand in his way anymore.

It was ridiculous, contradictory.

The one who seeks to erase the world’s emotions clinging to emotion himself, hoping for salvation.

Pajijik! Kwaang!

The feeling of the blood in his head cooling.

The moment he turned the last Homunculus to ashes, a thought occurred.

After knocking down the fleeing Doctor with a shockwave, Ray approached him.

“If even Indiago, having absorbed Khum’s power, is defeated. Then the hope you hold will completely disappear, won’t it?”

Even if he stopped Indiago here, the root of the problem wouldn’t be solved unless he caught the real Doctor.

He would clearly cultivate minions again and reveal his ambition to the world.

Finding the Doctor’s hideout would solve the problem, but there was no sign of that yet.

Rather.

‘It’s better to shatter the hope the Doctor harbors right here and now.’

Hope.

It was an emotion rarely seen in the colorless Slums, but one he had encountered with considerable frequency in people’s Vessels throughout his numerous journeys.

Ray also knew well how much impact the act of crushing hope has on the human psyche.

As a person to carry out his beliefs in the world on his behalf, it would be hard to find a case as suitable as Indiago having absorbed Khum’s power.

The decision was made.

Defeat him after he absorbs the power.

And here, erase all hope in the name of possibility that the Doctor holds.

“You think Indiago, having absorbed the power, will defeat me. That must be your only hope.”

“Zizik… That possibility… zizik… does not exist… zizik….”

“We’ll see.”

After completely blowing off the Golem’s limbs so the Doctor couldn’t use his hands, Ray cast his gaze into the distance.

Having passed the long path, Indiago had already reached before Khum’s face.

Reciting a spell to release the Seal with labored breath.

In truth, even if he had defeated all enemies and moved immediately, it would have been too late to stop it.

The trembling of Khum’s closed eyelids and the cries flowing from its mouth.

They had already grown to an unbearable level quite some time ago.

‘Perhaps Khum’s Seal being released was already decided the moment Indiago arrived at the surface city.’

It seemed Khum’s Seal would release naturally even without the incantation.

The situation was already late; it was a strategic judgment that it was better to shake the Doctor’s psyche and also rest to recover mental strength.

─────.

With the incantation, the Magic Circles engraved in the air around Khum began to scatter and disappear.

From the iron chains embedded in the cliff face leading down into the lava lake, the sound of something unlocking was heard, clanking.

Finally, the incantation stopped.

Indiago, staring directly into the eyes of the now-awakened Khum, shouted.

“O Great Being! Grant me the honor of becoming a part of my power!”

A smile appeared on the face of the being harboring Indigo Mana in his chest.