Chapter 1230: Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign (21)
CRASSSSHHHH!!!!
Dark blue lightning flashed, filling a corner of the gate and corridor, surging upwards.
Each swing of the house-sized hammer sent shockwaves rippling across the ground.
“Uwaaaahh!!”
Ermont, panting wildly as he fled, tumbled across the floor.
Deimus, too, struggled to turn his gaze, forcibly heightening his suppressed Will-thought.
The Domain of Adamant Thunder covered the entirety of District 49. The battle began at the gate of this endless labyrinth.
But from the moment the engagement started, Deimus was solely focused on escaping the enemy before him.
“Felix Magart….”
Felix Magart. A member of the Antares Mercenary Group and a Level 7 superhuman with enhanced physical abilities.
A former war mercenary who once operated in the Central Front, he was one of the key figures of Adamant Thunder’s Magic Tower that the Legion Command had been wary of.
His combat power wasn’t comparable to a Legion Commander’s, but his popularity was high, and he had many followers, making him a designated target for assassination. The Command had judged there was no reason to hesitate against anyone except Antares himself, but—
RRRUMBLEEEE!!!!!!
The sight of the bird-headed giant, wielding a house-sized hammer of thunder and adorned with a Golden Halo, was awe-inspiring.
Emitting an immense Will-thought, his body wreathed in lightning, he exuded a powerful yet elegant presence, as if blessed by the Lightning God.
The aura of a warrior, clad in dark blue lightning, scattering crimson eyes as he glared this way, was already—
“Pant, puff… Deimus, that thing.”
“Yes. It’s unmistakably Adamant Thunder’s lightning.”
Deimus replied weakly to Ermont, who was gasping for breath in the suffocating labyrinth.
“The output is vastly different, but the power contained within must be similar… If we face him head-on, we’ll probably…”
“Pandemonium.”
Felix, with the Golden Halo floating behind him, spoke in a deep voice.
“I expected you would certainly come here.”
“….”
“A heinous criminal organization beyond redemption, yet their abilities were exceptional. They must have survived somehow and reached this point.”
“Ahem. Well, it’s been a while, Felix. Have you been well?”
Ermont, having recovered his breath, cleared his throat awkwardly and waved his hand.
“Isn’t this the first time since Anathema’s Temple? We had a healthy competition based on sportsmanship over that gauntlet, didn’t we?”
“….”
Felix didn’t even bother to respond to Ermont’s nonsense.
He merely gazed with heavy eyes at Victor, who stood faintly, like a ghost, in the distance.
“Well, you know… Back then, we were both so busy, we barely had time to say hello.”
Ermont said with difficulty, shrinking his shoulders under that sinking gaze.
“How about we take some time to get to know each other, even now—”
“That gauntlet should have rightfully belonged to Van.”
Felix cut off Ermont, muttering.
“It was his legacy, rightfully owned by Van, who subjugated Anathema.”
“….”
“If only I had done a little better… the gauntlet wouldn’t have been taken so meaninglessly.”
A gauntlet, he said.
Deimus understood what Felix meant the moment he heard it.
That fleeting moment when Victor clashed head-on with Adamant Thunder during his infiltration of the 3rd Command.
The shape of a beautiful, glass-colored gauntlet that grasped Adamant Thunder’s lightning then.
He recognized at a glance that it wasn’t an ordinary item, but could it have been a treasure stolen directly from Adamant Thunder himself?
“Since then, I have not forgotten the defeat I suffered at your hands… not for a single moment.”
Before he knew it, Felix’s eyes, staring at Victor, glowed intensely, as if burning.
“Today, in this place, I will surely repay that debt.”
“Damn it all.”
Ermont muttered, his face deeply wrinkled.
“There was no room for negotiation from the start, I wasted my time flattering him—”
CRACKKKK!!!!
Suddenly, the flat side of a house-sized hammer appeared where Ermont had stood.
With a tremendous roar, Ermont was sent flying and slammed into a cavern in the distance.
It was an intense and fatal blow that made Deimus’s face blanch. In the blink of an eye, Ermont’s body was a bloody mess.
“Cough, cough…!! Ugh…!!”
“Pandemonium.”
Felix turned his gaze with sharp eyes, leaving Ermont, who was spewing black blood.
“Don’t even think about leaving this labyrinth alive.”
“Victor…!!!”
Deimus cried out, forcibly circulating his magic, which had become sluggish since entering the labyrinth.
“We’ll handle this one. You, go to the gate—”
WOOSH—!!!
Before he could finish, Felix turned, and Deimus leaned his upper body back.
As the house-sized hammer struck down, dark blue lightning faintly flickered.
Immediately after, a powerful shockwave, wreathed in lightning, exploded and violently shook the cavern.
BOOMMM!!!
“Ugh…!!!”
His vision flickered brightly, then thunder crushed his senses and pushed Deimus back.
Even though Felix swung the hammer without proper aim, Deimus felt a crushing pressure on his internal organs.
“Cough!! Deimus… Are you insane…?”
Ermont, covered in blood, muttered in disbelief as he watched Deimus roll on the floor.
“Victor is the one with the gauntlet. Why do we, who haven’t even touched the gauntlet, have to face this enraged monster?”
“Because among us… Victor has the most outstanding spellcraft aptitude and talent… Ugh!!”
Deimus gagged, drawing up his magic.
His gaze, fixed on the gate floating in the center of the cavern, sank heavily.
“The Golden Arch that Felix is guarding. It’s not just a simple connection point for the tower. It’s probably one of the gates leading to the center of this labyrinth.”
“….”
“But even looking directly at it, I can’t figure out how to operate it… If analyzing it requires spellcraft capability, then only Victor can find the way.”
“Excuse me, I used to be a pretty good black wizard myself, you know…”
“We need to hurry if we want to reach the center of the Domain before Adamant Thunder. While Victor moves, we’ll tie Felix down here.”
Ignoring Ermont’s protest, Deimus removed his gloves and raised his hands.
“I’ll… start first.”
SWISH!!
Five rings, connected by chains, were on Deimus’s fingers.
As he rotated the gems on the rings, the entangled chains unwound and slipped off.
As Deimus’s bare hands were revealed, magic began to swirl around them.
Ermont, watching from behind, tilted his head.
“So that’s why the Legion Commander could join Pandemonium. What kind of strange ability is that?”
“I thought you, using Jawoon Audis’s body, would recognize it immediately.”
The moment Deimus flicked his fingers, a transparently glowing diamond floated in the air.
“It’s Gemstone Spellcraft.”
CRACKKKK!!!
A barrier structured like a diamond unfolded, receiving Felix’s hammer.
Felix’s crimson magic and the barrier exploded and scattered from the point of impact.
Amidst the raining fragments, Felix, Ermont, and Deimus all began to move simultaneously.
“Run!!”
“Pant, pant…!!”
BOOM!!
THUMP THUMP THUMP!!!!
Forcibly rising in the suffocating labyrinth, they threw themselves to either side of Felix.
Following Ermont rolling on the floor, Felix’s hammer struck down repeatedly, like playing whack-a-mole.
Pillars of shockwaves, wreathed in lightning, surged up one after another, unleashing deafening roars.
Ermont, barely dodging the hammer by sliding, carved ancient characters onto the floor with black magic.
“Sa, I’m alive!! Black Magic Activate!!”
It was a grotesque, almost unrecognizably distorted script, practically a blur.
As a black magic circle unfurled and chains of shadow bound Felix’s feet, Deimus scattered gems into the air.
Gemstone lights, flashing from all directions, illuminated Felix and then exploded. Lights imbued with different attributes struck down like lasers.
FLASH!!
CRASHHHH!!!!
Smoke billowed, momentarily obscuring Felix’s massive body.
“Did… did we get him?”
“Ermont!”
The moment Deimus shouted at Ermont, who had uttered a suicidal incantation, Felix’s arm pierced through the smoke and seized Ermont by the collar.
CRACK!!
THUD THUD THUMP!!
As he kicked Ermont’s ankles, knocking him down, Felix twisted him once by the collar and slammed him onto the floor.
As Ermont bounced into the air from the impact, Felix gripped his hammer with both hands.
Matching Ermont’s falling speed, like swinging a bat, Felix aimed the hammer with all his might and struck at that very moment.
Deimus, holding ten gems in both hands, intervened, absorbing the impact in conjunction with Ermont’s black magic.
CRASSHHHH!!!!!
The gems, absorbing the impact in place of Deimus, shattered into dust between his fingers.
Still, it wasn’t enough, and Deimus’s body was crushed alongside Ermont’s, slamming into the cold cavern wall.
CRASHHHH!!!!
“K-ack…!!!”
“Gwaaaahk!!”
His ten fingers bent at grotesque angles, and the muscles in both arms ruptured, bleeding purple.
Even after using more than ten high-grade gems for defense simultaneously and absorbing the impact in conjunction with Ermont’s black magic, the power was still this immense.
Deimus’s expression wavered from the excruciating pain of his arm bones shattering.
This can't be. What kind of power…!!
They hadn’t even reached the center of District 49, let alone gotten past the gate.
Could Adamant Thunder himself, let alone his war mercenary followers, possess such immense power?
More agonizing than the pain shooting up his arms was the sheer despair and hopelessness of an endless struggle, even after coming all this way.
This… is wrong. It's already…
An extreme environment that suppressed vital activities and metabolism. A crushing pressure that stifled even the operation of magic and Will-thought.
The existence of monsters, blessed by lightning, blocking the gate in an endless labyrinth.
Everything composing Adamant Thunder’s Labyrinth disheartened Deimus, making him feel not even a shred of winning chance.
“Gemstone Spellcraft.”
WHOOSH—
Felix, shouldering his house-sized hammer, opened his mouth.
“So, you’re a spellcaster who uses consumables to produce power beyond your capacity.”
“Compared to other Legion Commanders… I’m not particularly talented in combat.”
Deimus replied, painfully getting up with trembling arms.
“As someone who often leads units, I had to pursue efficient methods.”
“….”
“In an environment where catalysts can be smoothly supplied, it’s a power that can achieve peak efficiency… Once I realized I had the aptitude, there was no reason to hesitate in learning.”
“So, it was a spellcraft and ability you learned to fight as a commander.”
Felix aimed his hammer with a heavy expression.
“But now you stand before me without even a single squad accompanying you.”
“That’s right. This is entirely my mistake.”
Deimus conceded.
“Even after planning the operation assuming the worst… there was always something beyond that. I never imagined how dangerous Adamant Thunder’s Domain was, or that even his followers would be this overwhelming.”
“….”
“What kind of Seeker Adamant Thunder is. What he can do if he truly commits to war… I only learned after sacrificing tens of thousands of lives.”
CLICK.
Deimus took out a blue sapphire from his pocket and muttered.
“Therefore, I will not flee, and I will take responsibility for my mistake with my life until the very end.”
“You are a soldier.”
Felix said quietly.
“The pride in obeying orders and taking responsibility, the cruelty in taking the sacrifice of subordinates for granted. I respect it, but I cannot understand it.”
“….”
“For you, Van’s existence too, would merely be one of the necessary sacrifices for the Legion.”
Felix slowly raised his hammer, drawing up his magic, and said.
“So, I will kill you here for Van.”
There were no more words.
The shadows of Felix, wielding a heavy hammer, and Deimus, holding gems in both hands, intersected.
As countless gem fragments scattered into the sky, their forms clashed violently.
CRASH!!!
Each time Felix’s hammer struck down with a dull glow, the gems Deimus threw exploded.
Amidst the glittering light of the gemstone blasts, Felix’s massive body shimmered and spun brilliantly.
His charge, enduring the falling heat and spellcraft barrage head-on, was like that of a berserker.
The moment Deimus felt a sense of déjà vu from the frenzied magic, burning with resolve—
Felix struck a gem fragment away with the side of his hammer, grabbed Deimus by the collar, and slammed him onto the floor.
THUDDDD!!!
“Choke…!!!”
“There will be no pain.”
A single move that nullified all previous exchanges at once.
Felix’s grip, empowered by Will-thought amplification via the Halo, crushed space itself at this moment.
The moment Felix, with an expressionless face, tightened his grip on Deimus’s convulsing neck—
“Cough! Bird-head. Have you forgotten our last fight…?”
Ermont, lying prostrate, grinned with a blood-smeared face.
“Even if a black wizard’s limbs are shattered… they can still use magic.”
SPLASH!!
The moment he slammed his hand into the pool of blood at his feet and formed a hand seal, Deimus’s form vanished.
Deimus’s body slid and plunged deep into the shadow beneath the cavern floor.
In his place, an obsidian mask emerged from beyond the shadow, transforming into a robe.
SWISHHH!!
“…!!!”
Felix, who had been about to grab the vanishing Deimus, abruptly recoiled the moment he saw Victor.
Pushing the hammer away as if it were a spring, Felix instantly created distance, drawing up his magic with full power.
A level of caution incomparably greater than when he was facing Deimus and Ermont simultaneously.
“Victor. A way to manipulate the gate, is…”
Deimus, his face pale, looked up, then bowed his head upon seeing the unchanged gate.
With trembling, shattered arms, Deimus painfully rose and said.
“If you haven’t found a way… I’ll… Can you handle Felix Magart for me?”
“Deimus.”
Victor said mockingly, without even looking back at Deimus.
“I didn’t come all this way to follow your orders.”
“….”
“I’m saving my strength for something else.”
Saying so, Victor pulled out a small communicator and tossed it to Deimus.
“If you want a way, find it yourself.”
“What…”
[Deimus. Are you there?]
Deimus stiffened, hearing a languid voice through the communicator.
[There aren’t many reasonable commanders in the Legion. I’d prefer if you were still alive.]
“D-Doctor…?”
Deimus said, his face surprised as he recognized the voice.
“How… All communications should be blocked inside the labyrinth, shouldn’t they?”
[It’s nothing special. I just created a new communication network that only works within this labyrinth.]
The Doctor said nonchalantly.
[However, I couldn’t find a relay point to connect the communication, so I borrowed your location.]
“Borrowed my location…? You mean you detected my location inside the labyrinth?”
[No matter how special Adamant Thunder’s Domain is, there couldn’t be two places where black magic and Trait-type Spellcraft are observed simultaneously.]
The Doctor replied in a leisurely voice.
[If Victor is there, you’ll be beside him, dead or alive. It’s not a difficult inference, is it?]
“….”
Did he detect their location by picking up Victor’s and Ermont’s magic and then connect the communication?
He didn’t know how that was possible, but it must be true that The Doctor had found a way.
If so, the reason Victor had ignored Felix and observed the situation until now was—
[Deimus. I know what you’re thinking, but there’s not much time.]
Before he could finish his thoughts, The Doctor spoke through the communicator.
[I’m going to use the method I’ve prepared to guide you. Is that alright?]
“The labyrinth’s environment is working too disadvantageously against us… It won’t be easy.”
Deimus said with difficulty.
“The superhumans guarding each gate are also incredibly strong. If we don’t deal with them…”
[I’m about to tell you how to solve precisely that problem.]
“….”
[Leave the on-site judgment to Victor and proceed. I’ll explain now.]
WHOSHSHSH!!!
Beyond Deimus’s gaze, holding the communicator, Victor and Felix faced each other.
The shadow robe fluttered in the heat. Crimson eyes flickered like ghosts beyond the obsidian mask.
A free presence, seemingly unaffected by the extreme environment that suppressed all life.
“Manipulation Spellcaster. I’ve been waiting.”
Felix looked at Victor, slowly gripping his hammer with both hands.
“You, too, have appeared on this battlefield to hinder Van, haven’t you?”
“….”
“This time… I will not let you take only what you desire as you did last time.”
GROOOWLLL…!!
Crimson magic surged from Felix’s entire body, and the Golden Halo rotated slowly.
Simultaneously, Felix’s magic began to amplify wildly, and the size of his Will-thought and Mental Image swelled as if to burst.
Felix, whose role was to guard the gate, was, for the first time, unleashing his full power, even utilizing the power of Ouroboros.
“W-wait…!! I’m out of here—”
Before Ermont, who had noticed the ominous prelude and was terrified, could say anything, Felix’s shoulder, holding the hammer, vanished.
Miniature Universe: Impact Transfer
CRASSSSHHHH!!!!!!
One side of the vast cavern wall where Victor stood exploded outright.
An enormous output that swept away nearly half of the cavern, spanning hundreds of meters.
“Waaah?!?!?”
Ermont’s body was also lifted into the air by the shock, flying dozens of meters.
Even Ermont’s bewildered words, as he tumbled through the cavern, were swept away by the shock.
“Cough!! No, what kind of drugs did he take—!!”
CRASHHHH!!!!!!
Ermont had seen Felix use his Miniature Universe at Anathema’s Temple.
But the Miniature Universe Felix used now was dozens of times more powerful than before.
A tactical technique that amplified shock by striking space, inflicting damage comparable to a high-level wizard’s firepower.
While Ermont stared bewildered at the half-destroyed cavern, Felix and Victor moved amidst the debris.
Victor, flicking out Mana Threads and wrapping them around his wrists, and Felix’s massive body, advancing like a tank, breaking through the cavern.
[Ram: Shatter]
CRASHHHH!!
The force of Felix’s hammer gathered on its flat surface along with crimson magic.
An intangible shockwave wreathed the hammer, rotating violently and creating powerful ripples, grinding everything it touched.
A terrifying sight, as he dragged the heavily weighted hammer forward, grinding away the entire floor.
Intricately entangled Mana Threads rotated complexly, instantly gripping and entangling space.
The cavern’s outer wall crumbled along with their movements, revealing a dark blue nebula.
“OOOOOHHHHH!!!!”
He rewound and compressed the shock he had unleashed back into the hammer, then swung the hammer again, continuously increasing its power.
A miracle of endlessly amplifying power by circulating the intuitive ability of Impact Transfer under the laws of Ouroboros.
But Felix, even understanding the true value of the power in his hands, never lowered his guard.
“Victor!!”
The Manipulation Spellcaster of the Trait-type, who possessed a uniquely peculiar nature and abilities among Pandemonium members.
Felix also knew how dangerous this superhuman spellcaster, who had stolen the gauntlet, was.
His calm demeanor, seemingly unaffected by the labyrinth’s environment, unlike others.
Perhaps a variable more dangerous than the Legion’s commanders in this war.
Even if he couldn’t win, at least his spellcraft and the gauntlet’s ability—
WHOOSH!!!
Suddenly, a shadow robe unfurled before Felix’s eyes, obscuring his vision.
Without panicking, Felix fully deployed his magic. The moment he unleashed all the concentrated impact on his hammer and broke through—
The form of the glass-colored gauntlet pressed precisely down on the handle of Felix’s hammer.
CLICK!!
A single counter that used leverage to press the center of force and change its trajectory.
The narrowly missed shockwave exploded diagonally, bursting through the cavern ceiling.
CRASHHHH!!!!!!
“This…!!!”
He had momentarily missed the movement that pressed the hammer handle.
Felix, a shiver running down his spine, roared as he tried to heighten his fighting spirit, when Victor said in a modulated voice.
“I am not your opponent. A waste of time.”
“You!!!”
“The one you should unleash your power on is elsewhere.”
WOOOOOSH!!!!
At that moment, the Golden Gate floating behind Felix began to violently churn.
As Felix flinched and looked up, Victor said with a laugh.
“So, I think we should change the stage here.”
“No way…!!”
FLASHHHHH!!!!
The Golden Arch, floating in the center of the half-destroyed cavern, flipped over in place.
The gate, floating in the center of the cavern, seemed to be responding and moving according to someone’s will.
By now, Deimus, covered in blood, stood beneath the Golden Gate, gripping the communicator.
[Deimus. The gates in this labyrinth were designed based on knowledge I possess.]
The Doctor spoke from beneath the dazzling, falling golden light.
[It’s a method conceived in my hometown, establishing fixed singularities in spacetime that seeks infinite change, and using them as a link…]
“…That is.”
[Adamant Thunder must have applied this knowledge to his Domain because he once visited Machina. But precisely because he is absent now… we can, however imperfectly, utilize this gate.]
So that was why The Doctor could create a communication network only usable within Adamant Thunder’s Domain—because he understood the gate’s existence method.
But Deimus understood and held his breath, wondering exactly what knowledge The Doctor was referring to.
Artemeyer. The greatest designer in Machina’s history.
The last thing he designed after being expelled from Machina was the Ascension Ritual of the Machine City itself—
[Provisional Ascension Gate Opening]
CREAAAAKKK…!!!!
The Golden Arch swelled like a balloon in place, rotating strangely.
It expanded explosively, as if pulling open a colossal [Gate] to either side, intensely flashing a glass-colored light like an opaque mirror.
[Position adjustment initiated. Directional function interference. Connection point adjustment.]
The knowledge of a failed gate that reflected not this world’s spacetime, but a world that already existed.
Using it, he adjusted the gate’s direction and position, opening new paths and transforming passages in real-time.
A failed principle that Adamant Thunder had embraced as part of his Domain. A lingering regret that The Doctor himself had once designed and dreamed of.
A small miracle allowed only in Adamant Thunder’s absence at this moment.
[Destination set. Commencing transfer.]
As the golden mirror changed its angle to reflect a different landscape, the spacetime surrounding the labyrinth spun violently and changed dramatically.
The entire cavern where Victor and Felix stood was overturned, and spacetime began to restructure.
KIIIIIING!!!!
“This…!!!”
The moment Felix drew up his magic with a hardened expression, Victor, extending Mana Threads, vanished like a ghost.
Deimus’s and Ermont’s forms were instantly sucked into the Golden Gate and began to fall.
“Uwaaaah!!! N-not a fan of heights!!!”
“We’re falling…!!!”
WHOSHSHSHSH!!!!
Beyond the Golden Gate, a beautiful glass-colored passage unfolded, and everywhere was filled with a radiant crystal light.
Beyond the infinitely stretching horizon of light, an undulating twilight glow.
The moment Deimus’s eyes widened, seeing the faint reflection of a dark blue Cradle beyond—
[It took some time to prepare, but it seems we can manage it with just the price we paid here.]
The Doctor said in a leisurely voice.
[I’ll send you to the center of this labyrinth first.]
Felix stood before the now empty Golden Gate, still gripping his hammer.
Behind him, the beautiful Halo rotated, and in his hands, the house-sized hammer of thunder.
But Victor and Deimus, whom he had been fighting just moments ago, were nowhere to be seen.
In their place appeared a fierce-looking man leading a superhuman unit numbering in the dozens.
“All units, prepare for combat!!”
“A new enemy has appeared!!!”
“….”
The superhumans, drawing up their magic as they faced Felix, were all skilled practitioners who had awakened Property Transformation.
The man walked out in front of the soldiers, who reeked of bloodlust as if they had been fighting fiercely elsewhere.
“This is Deadrise’s 2nd Legion Commander. My name is Yujeff.”
FIZZ!!
The fierce-looking man, a cigarette in one hand, lit it and looked up at Felix, saying.
“We’re on our way to the center of District 49 to stop Adamant Thunder’s ascension. So, I’ll ask for just one thing.”
“….”
“Move away from the gate. Otherwise, I’ll kill you.”
“…Is that so. In the end, I let them get away.”
Only then did Felix close his eyes slightly, a complex expression on his face.
Even after letting Victor and Deimus escape right before his eyes, he merely sighed quietly. Felix neither raged nor was perturbed.
A strange attitude, as if he had expected this outcome, calmly accepting reality.
“Though it was destined to happen… Since we met like this, I intended to at least chip away at them a bit. Was it not enough?”
“What are you mumbling about?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
CLICK!!
As he adjusted his grip on the hammer, a dull magic surged from Felix’s entire body.
Felix walked forward to the gate, then seized the neck of a soldier who had crept up, concealing his presence from behind.
CRACK!!
The terrifying sound of a neck snapping, crushed by one hand.
As he threw aside the corpse of the instantly killed soldier, a pillar of dark blue lightning surged upwards.
CRASSHHHH!!!!
“…!!!”
Now, the dark blue lightning felt nightmarish, enough to brand itself as a trauma.
The Legion Commander’s expression changed completely upon facing the unforgettable color, and as the soldiers flinched, Felix slowly turned his gaze.
“It is painful, but nothing can take precedence over helping Van.”
Crimson magic wreathed Felix’s eyes, dyeing his gaze crimson.
“In that sense, I will definitively weed you out here.”