Chapter 1227: Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign (18)
CRAAAASH!!!!
An overwhelming spectacle of towering skyscrapers collapsing like dominoes.
At the heart of the destruction, where debris covered the ground like a tsunami, two spellcrafts intersected simultaneously.
Dark azure lightning flared as golden wings unfurled.
A violet black hole condensed within a rotating, glass-colored gauntlet.
Lightning-type and manipulation-type. At the moment these two authorities, embodying the mental images of different spellcraft systems, rose against the dark sky and fiercely collided.
The world’s spacetime warped, covering everything in a grotesque, glass-like radiance.
BOOOOOM!!!!!!
[…!!!]
A massive, circular spatial distortion bloomed and rotated at the exploding center of the collapsing skyscraper.
A tremendous backlash swept through the surroundings, so immense that even the observers could not properly witness the sight.
ROOOOOAR!!!
The dark azure lightning’s radiance tore apart and annihilated everything. The black hole’s form compressed and warped concepts, spacetime and all.
Laws and principles that fundamentally could not exist in the same place collided, annihilating, distorting, and compressing each other.
Dark azure lightning raged and swirled madly between the violet black holes at sub-light speed.
Each time, the black hole’s gravity distorted the lightning, collapsing and altering the world’s spatial coordinates.
[Ugh… Aaaargh…!!!!]
[Close your eyes. Your senses will be overwhelmed!!]
[Unbelievable. Even from this far…!!!]
A terrifying tearing sound, as if the five senses and mana perception ran wild, instantly exceeding the tolerable threshold.
Something that should not break, broke. Something that should not shatter, shattered into pieces.
Merely observing it felt as though the human will and mind were being eroded and worn away.
The moment they realized an incomprehensible, distant vastness, akin to facing an Outer God, existed there.
Glass-like cracks erupted from the collision point, piercing and tearing through the empty sky.
[All personnel flying in the Outer Zone airspace. Evacuate immediately!!]
[Heaven’s Wrath Unit, descend to the ground immediately and take a new route…!!!]
[Lieutenant General Sahin. No, this isn’t-!!!!]
CRAAAAAASH!!!!
Screams of high-ranking superhumans erupted in succession over the communication network.
Even mighty Transcendent who had completed or surpassed their tiers could not conceal the terror in their voices.
Everything vanished amidst the discord and reverberations of spellcraft and laws that crushed, shattered, and broke the sky like glass.
Assault ships and transport vessels, as well as those aboard them, were swept away and annihilated instantly, unable even to attempt escape.
[Flagship carrying Lieutenant General Sahin, signal lost!!!]
[The 11th Legion Commander has fallen. Put distance between yourselves and District 49!! You must get out of the Outer Zone-!!]
[Annihilation Squad Leader No. 5 is dead. The Ability Bloom will move… .]
[Bertrand, 3rd Flame Pillar, is dead. The Flame Majesty Temple must be turned back right now!!!]
Casualty reports echoed like screams from all directions.
Legion Commanders and Flame Pillars. Even high-ranking psychics and military priests could not escape the aftermath.
Transcendent from other factions, moving in step with The Doctor’s plan, died everywhere, unable even to resist.
[Did Legion Commanders and Flame Pillars really die just from the backlash of colliding spellcraft… ?]
Even The Doctor, who had been manipulating the command center to obstruct Adamant Tower, gave a bitter smile at the absurd damage.
The sky shattered into glass shards, broke apart, and then began to collapse.
CRAAAAAASH!!!!!!
Dark azure lightning fragments and black hole halos intertwined, breaking, molding, and newly creating space.
Cracks spread across the sky, widening and shattering like glass—a sight unbelievable even to those witnessing it with their own eyes.
Even those observing the situation let out groans at the vestiges of destruction and creation, things they had never dared to imagine.
[The world is collapsing… .]
[This is no longer a disaster limited to the human race.]
[The spellcraft they wield has already surpassed the world’s standards… .]
If one were to crush and break the world, then raise it anew, would it look like this?
If humans wielded the power and laws of gods, would such things occur?
Commanders of the factions participating in the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign and members of the Demonic Conflux.
Even the City Council and citizens inadvertently recalled the same thought, and the moment they belatedly grasped its meaning.
The fractured sky burst open like an explosion, sweeping across the entire ground with immense recoil.
CRAAAAAASH!!!!
“Ugh…!!!”
Dark azure thunder and violet distortion points mingled, overflowing like a massive tsunami.
Lightning that annihilated space and black holes that warped and compressed space manifested simultaneously at a single spatial coordinate, creating a paradox.
Immediately after the dark azure lightning and violet black hole collided, shattering the sky and entering a state of antagonism.
Beyond the glass-like ripples, golden wings and a glass-colored gauntlet began to clash at tremendous speed.
KRAAAAAANG!!!!
Dark azure lightning raged, increasing its speed, and simultaneously pressed down on space as it descended into reality.
A continuous barrage, rotating at immense speed from all directions, aiming to completely annihilate the spot where Lennok and Deimus stood.
But Lennok deflected the dark azure lightning continuously pouring down from the sky with his gauntlet, rotating his body.
WHOOOOOOSH!!!
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE-!!!
Glass-like ripples spread explosively, crossing spacetime, and the moment Lennok grasped that paradox with his gauntlet.
At the center of the dazzling light, Victor ‘grasped’ the lightning unleashed by Adamant Thunder and deflected it as if bouncing it away.
WHOOSH!!
With a sharp tearing sound, dark azure lightning narrowly grazed past Lennok and Deimus.
Lennok, having parried the diagonally surging dark azure lightning with his gauntlet, briefly raised his head.
Beyond the obsidian mask visible inside his shadow robe, the lightning’s radiance flickered between the gauntlets.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE…!!!!
As Lennok twisted his shoulder as if to spring, he simultaneously annihilated all the collapsing building debris that had swept across several hundred meters.
CRAAAAASH!!!!
Grotesque firepower that devoured and instantly evaporated the collapsing building debris from all directions.
A miraculous sight: continuously deflecting lightning head-on, lightning that no Transcendent had been able to withstand since the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign began.
“This won’t do.”
Lennok turned to Deimus, who was staring blankly, and mumbled, clenching and unclenching his left hand.
“I had a feeling, but as expected, the spellcraft output doesn’t match. From here on, it will be difficult without a Domain.”
“…….”
“The only reason this is even possible is due to the unique nature of my spellcraft… with other spellcrafts, it would be impossible to even compare.”
“How…”
Deimus asked, his composure completely shattered.
“How were you able to withstand that monster’s lightning alone…?”
“I didn’t withstand it; I twisted and deflected it. You don’t even know, seeing it right next to you.”
Using the gauntlet, Lennok could momentarily ‘touch’ concepts at the cost of immense mana consumption.
Thus, at this moment, Lennok was experimenting to see if he could parry the Incarnation Body’s lightning with his manipulation spellcraft.
However, the output difference between the rampaging lightning magic and the manipulation spellcraft was so vast that he could only manage to twist the trajectory.
Considering that manipulation spellcraft is not inherently specialized for combat, even this result was only possible thanks to its unique properties.
But even Lennok’s explanation seemed incomprehensible to Deimus.
“Adamant Thunder is currently nearing ascension… For an individual to withstand such lightning alone, no one in this Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign can-”
“You’re making me repeat myself.”
Lennok tilted his head and turned to walk away.
“I was only able to make a show of it because I twisted the trajectory with a trick. Even then, it consumed quite a lot of mana at once.”
Twisting and deflecting the Incarnation Body’s lightning just once required an enormous amount of mana.
Had it been before absorbing the Outer Sea’s mana in the Restricted Zone, his mana would have already been completely depleted and then some.
Yet, the amount of mana flowing from Lennok’s body seemed strangely unchanged.
Even his words about consuming a considerable amount of mana felt like a lie.
Before Deimus could even sense something amiss in those words, Lennok looked down at him with a sneer.
“It was your proposal to need my spellcraft for the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign in the first place. What are you asking now?”
“…….”
“We can’t keep doing this, so get up. If it knows it couldn’t kill us, it will change its pattern next time.”
Lennok glanced back at the stirring golden wings and spoke.
“The next magic it uses might not be stoppable with the same method.”
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE…!!!!
Indeed, the lightning’s radiance held by the golden wings was growing even calmer than before.
A premonition of spellcraft that, instead of swelling and scattering power, compressed and refined it to increase its potency.
Lightning-type Unique Magic
Property Transformation Descent Manifestation
Fate’s Libra: Extreme Art, Fifth Law.
BOOOOOM…!!!!
As the lightning embraced the third Property Transformation of the Extreme Art, Fifth Law, the dark azure lightning began to twist into a different form.
Lowering the spellcraft’s power, eliminating its speed, and ultimately ‘Hellification’ it, dragging it down one stage further from conventional lightning magic.
The intense Thunderclap Star twisted darkly and distorted, its ominous precursor so strong that even Deimus noticed it.
Seeing that, Lennok tilted his head slightly.
‘Should I use it?’
If it were just Lennok, perhaps, but the situation required him to reach the command center past the Incarnation Body, all while keeping Deimus alive.
He had anticipated this since facing the Incarnation Body, but indeed, going beyond this without using his Domain was difficult.
The power of the Unmarked Succession Knot could allow him to face the Incarnation Body, ignoring the output difference, but the problem was how much of Victor’s Domain could be revealed to other factions at this point.
In Kabahim, he had used it without worrying about outside attention, as he was confident he could kill most of those who entered its range.
Conversely, now he had to use it to keep living beings within its range alive and get them into District 49.
Though the power of the Unmarked Succession Knot couldn’t be stopped just by knowing about it, to what extent could the risk of revealing his ability be weighed against the current situation’s benefits?
Dozens of branching points and calculations flashed through his mind in a fleeting moment.
The moment Lennok, having instantly calculated the pros and cons, raised his mana with both hands clasped together.
“Domain-”
SWOOOOOSH!!
A winged serpent, descending at tremendous speed from the sky, snatched Deimus with its tail as if it had been waiting.
“….!!!!”
Deimus flinched, looking up, and Lennok, who had been concentrating to deploy his Domain, reacted immediately.
He used Flicker to follow onto the serpent’s massive body, simultaneously with the winged serpent’s explosive ascent.
It shot into the sky, avoiding the hellish lightning unleashed by Adamant Tower.
WHOOOOSH!!!!
Lennok, atop the serpent’s wooden body, sharply turned his gaze, then used Flicker.
Immediately after, he collided at immense speed in mid-air with the man standing on the serpent’s head.
KRAAAANG!!!!
Black Mana Threads, launched like bullets, instantly pierced and convulsed the totems that floated around the man like a shield.
Shattering the wooden totems into pieces, it revealed the sorcerer standing beyond them.
From atop the serpent’s head, the sorcerer and Lennok simultaneously reached out, grappling each other and exchanging blows in an instant.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!!!!
Forearms intertwined and collided, making a hard, bone-breaking sound.
Between the two clashing at close range, black Mana Threads and totem fragments scattered as spellcraft was unleashed indiscriminately.
Manipulation spellcraft and sorcery intersected simultaneously, and the creaking, tearing sound of space resonated repeatedly.
CRASH!!!
“So you’re the manipulation spellcaster who’s new to Pandemonium.”
Baragan, having stopped beyond the shattering spellcraft fragments, looked down at Lennok.
“Are you the one tasked with taking Deimus into the command center?”
“Why are you interfering? Do you want to die?”
“…….”
Baragan’s eyebrow twitched at Lennok’s counter-question.
“Hmph, instead of a thank you for saving your life…”
Baragan chuckled, pointing at the ground.
“Did you really think you two could withstand that down there in your right minds?”
CRAAAASH!!!!
The landscape below, seething and sinking like a black, viscous swamp.
The new lightning used by Adamant Thunder was instantly transforming the Outer Zone’s ruins into a Demonic Realm.
A miracle creating a Demonic Realm that didn’t exist in reality: the air burned, the ground boiled, and the wind froze and distorted.
As Deimus stared down at the ground, speechless, Baragan scratched his head and spoke.
“That monster fires lightning that forces Property Transformation onto its targets. As you can tell from Townsend’s death, it’s not a power even an 8th-level Grand Sorcerer can withstand.”
“…….”
“The problem is that the Property Transformation that monster forces doesn’t seem to be an ability it intends to use. It just wields it, not knowing what change it will force, so we, who are getting hit, have no choice but to take it.”
Had he already grasped that much about the power contained in the lightning, simply from briefly engaging Adamant Thunder in the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign?
Despite his appearance, like a street thug, his insight as a sorcerer seemed remarkably sharp.
“As you can see, it’s virtually an incarnation of completely mad chaos. Rather than an Ascendant, I’d say it’s closer to an Outer God.”
“Cough, cough…!! B-Baragan-nim…”
Deimus, collapsed on Quetzalcoatl, dry-heaved and barely managed to raise a hand.
Even a high-ranking superhuman like Deimus could not possibly withstand the aftermath of that recent battle.
Even with superhuman durability and balance, merely staying conscious before fainting was his limit.
Deimus spoke with difficulty.
“The reason we brought the 3rd Command to the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign, not any other war-weapon… you would know if you saw the briefing.”
“…….”
Deimus, raising his head with a hazy gaze, looked at Baragan.
“I… I will open the ‘Pathway’ myself. Please just buy me some time.”
“I’ve already seen what that manipulation spellcaster is doing, even without you telling me.”
Baragan said gruffly, crossing his arms.
“He manipulates Mana Threads as if he’s on some drug. Though, of course, no one could be proficient in Trait-type Spellcraft unless they were a madman.”
“…….”
“I don’t like it, but at this point, he’s probably the only one who can break through that monster and open the ‘Pathway’.”
Baragan, turning sharply, raised his magical power and nodded.
“Let’s start right away. Are you ready?”
“You should ask the idiot waiting below, not me.”
The moment he got on Quetzalcoatl, Lennok understood why Baragan had intervened.
If the plan could succeed without using his Domain, it wouldn’t be bad for Lennok, but timing was the issue.
“Ha, don’t worry about that.”
Baragan smirked, looking at Lennok for the first time.
“He’s an idiot I wouldn’t even want to talk to, but in operations like this, he usually does his part…!!”
KRAAAANG!!!
With an exploding roar, the colossal winged serpent descended at a terrifying speed.
Its target was the central part of the Outer Zone where the golden wings and the remnants of the 3rd Command were clashing.
The middle of the Demonic Realm, where the black, twisted lightning was melting the ground like a viscous swamp.
CLANG!!
Adamant Thunder, sensing the descending Quetzalcoatl, immediately turned its gaze.
The golden wings flashed and rotated, instantly spotting Baragan and Lennok perched atop it.
In the blink of an eye, it drew out and converged a massive amount of current, then unleashed it in the form of a laser.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!
Dozens of dark azure lightning bolts surged continuously towards the winged serpent.
An intense thermal energy, enough to completely annihilate Baragan and the totem instantly upon direct impact.
But Baragan twisted Quetzalcoatl in a spiral, rotating it, and narrowly evaded the lightning strike.
A spectacular maneuver: precisely controlling a colossal, hundreds-of-meters-long totem to attempt evasive actions in mid-air.
The Incarnation Body reacted immediately to Quetzalcoatl’s movements, which were based on the Grand Sorcerer’s transcendent spellcraft manipulation.
Lightning-type Unique Magic
Property Transformation Descent Manifestation
Fate’s Libra: Extreme Art, Fifth Law
[Tread Thunder]
SCREEEEEECH!!!
At that moment, dozens of lightning bolts that had surged into the sky reversed direction as if rewinding time, and plummeted down.
Tread Thunder: mixing the property of descent into already launched lightning magic, then adding additional incantations to pull it back towards the caster.
Just before the lightning, which had transcended space without any prior sign, completely ignored Quetzalcoatl’s elegant evasive maneuvers and struck directly.
A silver-white slash, surging in a semicircle from the ground, struck the dark azure lightning from the side.
[Return: Reversal]
THUNNNNNG!!
A white-haired swordsman, wielding a pure white tachi, parried the lightning falling behind Quetzalcoatl.
Song-ha’s expression, having deflected the Tread Thunder falling from the sky, instantly hardened.
“Aargh, what power…!!!”
The difference in output was palpable, even though he hadn’t faced it head-on, but had unleashed a slash from the side to twist its trajectory.
Immediately after, Song-ha’s body, swept away by the dark azure lightning, plummeted hundreds of meters and crashed into the ground.
CRAAAAASH!!!!
“Cough…!!!!”
Sticky blood splattered like paint amidst the debris where Song-ha had fallen and rolled.
Flesh tore, bones broke, and muscles were crushed, a terrifying tearing sound.
Dark azure lightning bolts continuously struck him, trampling the swordsman’s body and mercilessly battering him.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
“Ugh… Aaaargh!!!!”
His shoulder burst open as if exploding, and the skin and muscles of his arm instantly burned to tatters.
Red blood sprayed everywhere, bones were crushed and pulverized, and his pure white coat became drenched in blood.
Even as he swung his tachi with all his might to deflect the pouring lightning, Song-ha’s entire body was being ravaged, broken, crushed, and pulverized.
Though not the instant-kill spellcraft that had slain Townsend, Song-ha’s body was horribly broken by lightning mixed with Property Transformation of comparable power.
Even using his Miniature Universe to counter the Property Transformation and absorbing the backlash with his body, it was merely buying time.
Quetzalcoatl, having descended from thousands of meters above, crashed into the center where Adamant Tower and the 3rd Command were colliding.
KRAAAAAASH!!!!!!
As a shockwave that engulfed the Outer Zone erupted, Quetzalcoatl’s body was torn apart.
The totem’s form was disintegrated and broken down into mana, matter and all, each time it came into contact with Adamant Tower.
But Baragan, even as he watched, gritted his teeth and raised his magical power.
“Deimus!!”
WHOOSH!!!
Lennok was already moving before Baragan even shouted.
Gripping the Mana Threads binding Deimus, he detached from the serpent’s wing and headed towards the oscillating remnants of the command center.
CRAAAAAASH!!!
The core of destruction, where golden wings and the remnants of Primo Alert clashed and were crushed.
He extended Mana Threads, leaping over lightning fragments radiating heat so intense that flesh would evaporate upon contact.
Amidst the overflowing dark azure nebula, he initiated evasive maneuvers, relying solely on Mana Thread manipulation.
Lennok’s body repeatedly changed direction and accelerated dozens of times per second, traversing between the Magic Tower and the command center.
CRAAAAASH!!!!!
“K-Ugh…!!!”
Deimus couldn’t even distinguish the situation or his location, and just as he gritted his teeth to somehow maintain consciousness.
Lennok twisted his body and narrowly entered between the rapidly rotating remnants of the 3rd Command.
WHOOOOSH!!!!
He broke through, as if piercing the complex corridors within the massive black pyramid.
He flew and accelerated through the diagonally tilted interior of Primo Alert without even setting foot on the ground.
Lennok, sliding onto the corridor floor, turned his gaze.
“Entered the 3rd Command. Doctor, what’s the location?”
[The aerial fortress’s center of gravity. It shouldn’t be hard to find, as it’s directly below where Adamant Tower pierced through and destroyed the command center.]
The Doctor replied.
[Activate the engine with Deimus’s authority to open the ‘Pathway’. Hurry. We are already-]
[Aaaaaargh!!!!]
CRASH!!
Breaking through the lower levels, the interior of the fortress was clearly visible.
Most of the personnel aboard the command center had died simultaneously with the collision with Adamant Tower.
The place was filled with gruesome corpses, bodies crushed or heads smashed.
Broken equipment and monitors sputtering with noise. Blood-soaked reports and military uniforms were strewn about.
“…….”
A silent stillness, filled only with death, making the fierce battle outside feel strangely out of place.
Only the faint roars from outside hinted at the bloody battle Baragan and Song-ha were waging against Adamant Thunder.
How long had he walked down the corridor, dragging the unconscious and slumped Deimus?
Lennok finally stopped at the end of the corridor, discovering a mechanical sphere engraved with an unknown pattern.
“Deimus.”
THUD!
Lennok, having tossed the unconscious Deimus, spoke.
“Arrived at the command center engine room. Open the Pathway.”
“Victor…”
Deimus, who had been lying limply, slowly opened his eyes from the shock.
Deimus mumbled, looking up at the vibrating, mysterious mechanical sphere with hazy eyes.
“You really… succeeded.”
“…….”
“How, by yourself, through that Demonic Realm…”
“No need for unnecessary talk, just start quickly.”
Lennok interrupted Deimus and asked.
“How do you open that ‘Pathway’?”
“It’s… not difficult.”
Deimus staggered to his feet and stood before the mechanical sphere.
Deimus, placing his hand on the sphere taller than himself, spoke with labored breaths.
“The 3rd Command, Primo Alert… was originally an Imperial Palace cruiser built at the same time as the 1st Command, Ultima Alert… designed even to carry royalty in an emergency.”
“…….”
“Therefore, from Primo Alert’s engine room, a ‘Pathway’ connecting to Ultima Alert can be opened…”
“A Pathway connecting to Ultima Alert…?”
Lennok frowned behind his mask.
It was only now that he finally understood the meaning of the ‘Pathway’ that The Doctor and Deimus had mentioned.
“Are you saying you’ll bring in the forces of the 1st Command, currently stationed on the Central Front, in this situation?”
“No, this isn’t a Pathway that works like that.”
WHOOSH!!
Deimus cut his wrist, let blood flow, and dripped it onto the sphere.
The mechanical sphere, engraved with mysterious script, instantly evaporated and vanished upon contact with Deimus’s blood.
OOOOOH!!!
A bizarre resonance, as if the sphere itself was drinking Deimus’s blood and awakening.
At that moment, Lennok felt the entire space of the engine room ‘connecting’ somewhere.
“What can be exchanged through the ‘Pathway’ opened by Primo Alert is not matter, but pure power and authority itself…”
Deimus raised his gaze.
“It’s an operation to perfectly bring the power existing thousands of kilometers away on the Central Front to this spot, without any loss.”
“That is…”
Beyond the violently fluctuating mechanical sphere, Lennok’s empathic ability flared sharply, peering into the other side.
A dark chamber, devoid of any light.
A gaunt-faced man, sitting slumped in a massive chair, only his blurred form visible.
The moment ‘Gileon’, who had been breathing quietly, motionless, with tubes connected all over his body, raised his gaze.
The landscape reflected in Lennok’s eyes completely inverted and began to tilt.
SCREEEEECH…!!!!
It felt as if one were tilting the sky and adjusting its angle with sheer will.
Just as Lennok glanced up at the inexplicably powerful authority, whose principles he couldn’t guess.
Deimus, kneeling and slumping before the mechanical sphere, closed his eyes and gasped for breath.
“Considering Adamant Thunder’s Targeted Resistance… it wouldn’t be affected at all by any spellcraft encompassing the Outer Zone…”
“…….”
“But precisely because of that… there is only one way for our forces to bypass Adamant Thunder and enter District 49 first…”
“That is…”
A method to enter District 49 first, taking into account even Lennok’s Targeted Resistance, by exploiting its characteristics in reverse.
The plan that The Doctor and Deimus had simultaneously agreed upon was none other than-
KRAAAAAASH!!!!!!
The golden wings, noticing the anomaly, rotated elegantly, enveloped the dark azure nebula, and exploded.
From that impact, the remnants of the command center that had been clashing with the Magic Tower were utterly destroyed, and lightning surged into the fortress’s interior.
But Deimus, facing the dark azure lightning surging into the engine room, spoke in a low voice.
“From the beginning, this entire plan… was an operation to borrow Commander Miloze’s ‘Heavenly Axis’.”
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!!!!
With Gileon as the last, the wills wielded by the three commanders at the pinnacle of The Legion converged into a single spacetime.
Gileon’s authority, which massively warped spacetime as if tilting and folding the sky’s axis entirely, manifested.
The moment everything except Adamant Tower, located at the center of the battlefield, was converged beyond District 49’s nebula.
Lennok and Deimus’s vision turned pure white.
Breathing felt strangely difficult.
An unsettling sensation, as if the entire space was pressing down and overwhelming all living beings within it.
A foreign feeling lingered in his mind, as if he were not in reality but somewhere entirely different.
Even the cold touch of the corridor on his cheek was utterly different from the battlefields he had traversed until now-
“Cough…!!”
Deimus, coughing and opening his eyes wide, pushed himself up.
His breathing was heavy, his body sluggish. His head throbbed, and even his mana felt stiff.
The basic metabolism required by a human. The functions of will-thought and mana used by a superhuman.
A chilling sense of unease, as if all these things were deficient, lost, and being eroded and worn away in real-time.
Deimus flinched, looking up.
“This is…”
The last moment when, with Victor’s help, they broke through the Outer Zone and entered District 49.
Immediately after using Gileon’s ‘Heavenly Axis’ to forcibly move friendly forces from the Outer Zone into District 49.
The ‘true form’ of District 49, hidden by the dark azure nebula, where the unconscious Deimus had arrived.
But Deimus couldn’t utter a single word at the sight before him.
He simply fell silent, his mouth agape with a bewildered expression.
“…….”
An endlessly stretching, vast corridor. Ornate chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and complex spell formations were carved into the walls.
Unable to find direction, with no proper paths, and unable to even gauge distance with mana perception.
A sight never expected to be encountered within District 49, never even imagined since the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign began.
“Is this… Adamant Thunder’s Domain…?”
Deimus stood in the middle of a colossal, endlessly sprawling Golden Labyrinth.