Chapter 1237: Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign (28)
As the sharp arrowhead pierced his neck, the Doctor’s head was severed.
As blood gushed, the Doctor’s headless body crumpled to its knees.
Evelyn, looking down at the Doctor’s corpse with a cold gaze, slowly turned away.
Deimus, who had been watching, gritted his teeth, his face pale.
‘She saw right through us…!!’
The Doctor’s plan to thwart Adamant Thunder’s ongoing Ascension Ritual was to initiate an Ascension Ritual of their own.
Using the knowledge of the Ascension Gate he possessed, the Doctor would forcefully open it with the capabilities of the Alpha Operation System.
The goal was for the two Ascension Rituals to clash, interfere with each other, and ultimately halt both ceremonies.
To tie down Hyun-gung, who would be a hindrance in the process, their allied forces had advanced, yet…
They never imagined Evelyn would, instead, assassinate the Doctor.
And she had done so, even taking the risk of abandoning the high ground she had occupied to descend to the battlefield.
‘No, was allowing us to approach in the first place a ploy to lure us in…?’
Baragan had used his Domain to create a blind spot, and Esteban Aisen had forged a path.
Even Ermont and Deimus were moving to draw Evelyn’s attention and tie her down.
But conversely, what if Evelyn’s entire response was merely a tactic to draw some of their forces away from the Doctor?
What if, the moment the Legion’s mobile forces were heavily drawn towards Evelyn, she had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to swiftly reposition and kill the Doctor in one blow?
Upon seeing the Doctor’s corpse, thoughts raced through Deimus’s mind.
‘She knew the Doctor was the linchpin of the plan from the very beginning! But how, when the Ascension Gate hasn’t even been opened yet?!’
“The Gate’s movement.”
Suddenly, Esteban spoke from beside him.
He pulled a broken arrow from his mercury, looking down at the ground with a rare expression of defeat.
“She realized that the Doctor used his knowledge of The Gate to move it and guide us here.”
“…!!!”
“Hyun-gung, waiting in the Cradle of Lightning, couldn’t have figured that out alone. Someone… was watching us from somewhere in this labyrinth.”
“Jenicia Bajour…!!!”
CRASH!!!
The tattered Quetzalcoatl roared savagely and lunged at Evelyn.
Baragan, riding atop its head, looked down at the Doctor’s corpse with a grim expression, gritting his teeth.
“Interfering until the very end, damn it…!!!!”
“Don’t call Jenny that, Sorcerer.”
Evelyn, dodging Quetzalcoatl’s headbutt, said coldly.
“She’s not a member of the Legion; she’s Van’s partner. She was, long before you all started this war.”
“You bastard, how dare you…!!!”
“Do you really think you have any right to speak about her now?”
“Shut up, Sniper!!”
CRASH!!!
Evelyn, mounted on the surging serpentine giant, and Baragan clashed simultaneously.
Baragan’s uniform and skin were torn and cut by sharp arrows, scattering blood.
The potent energy, bursting from a shattered totem, flashed above Quetzalcoatl’s body and slammed into Evelyn.
CLANG!!!
Evelyn, having parried Baragan’s totem at close range, said icily.
“It’s already too late, Deadrise.”’
VVVOOOMMMMM!!!!!!
The nine wings, now settled at the heart of the labyrinth, slowly unfurled, casting a shadow over the sky.
From within the mass of wings, an arm surged, flickering with blue light, shimmering with dark blue lightning.
The power, compressed within the Cocoon form, slowly began to release, spreading across the entire Domain.
The final stage of the Ascension Ritual. Everyone realized, in that instant, that the maddened Transcendent had begun to truly form his physical body.
From behind Evelyn, the Doctor’s aged voice echoed.
“Excellent work, Hyun-gung.”
“…!!!”
The Doctor’s head, severed by Evelyn, rolled on the ground and looked towards them.
Even as it tumbled across the ground, its half-opened eyes seemed to whisper slowly.
“The insight not to be fooled by Chebien’s disguised dummy, and to find me. The skill to devise a means to approach me amidst the chaos.”
“Doctor, how?!”
“And to aim for the neck, not the brain, to seal any potential incantation… not a single flaw in your technique.”
The Doctor, bleeding, chuckled as he spoke.
“But if there’s one mistake you made, it’s that I, being from Machina, also know the assassination techniques of the Enforcers that you use.”
“No way…!!”
“No matter how skilled an assassin the opponent may be, if you know where they’ll strike, countering isn’t impossible.”
Unlike Evelyn’s archery, her close-quarters combat techniques were acquired through the Machina Enforcer curriculum.
Could the Doctor have read the Enforcer’s assassination technique, which targets both a skilled spellcaster’s head and neck simultaneously, and countered it?
“If one can supply oxygen, blood, and nutrients to the brain using spellcraft, they can endure for a while even after their neck is severed…”
The Doctor asked.
“Don’t you think that’s enough time… to complete the incantation I had prepared beforehand?”
No answer came.
Evelyn’s mana burst forth explosively, her body abruptly shifting to one side.
Miniature Universe: Inertia Deflection
WHOOSH!!!!
Evelyn Marcia’s Miniature Universe, which artificially manipulates direction and trajectory by adding a bias to existing inertia.
It was an overwhelmingly powerful ability, seemingly tailor-made for an archer, yet its power wasn’t strictly limited to sniping.
For Evelyn, with her exceptional martial prowess, Inertia Deflection was an ability of immense utility, invaluable in any situation.
WHOOSH!!!
Evelyn, dodging Baragan’s barrages of spell-cannons as if leaping over them, accelerated once more.
Driving arrows into the necks of soldiers charging from all directions, she lunged towards the Doctor.
“Damn it, stop her!!!!”
“What kind of movement…!!”
The soldiers remaining on the ground were aghast at Evelyn’s sprint, which defied physical laws and broke through the superhumans.
Hyun-gung of the Agents. A special agent belonging to the city government’s special agency, dedicated to the mega-city Vulcan.
The gathered individuals immediately realized just how extraordinary a superhuman Evelyn Marcia, whom they’d only heard of through rumors, truly was.
The moment Evelyn flicked her hand towards the Doctor’s head, intending to pierce his glabella—
A pair of blood-red twin swords intervened, knocking Evelyn’s arrow away.
CLANG!!!!
“Oh, how swift.”
“…!!!”
The vampire, having turned, gripped a short sword in a reverse grip, smiling at Evelyn with crimson eyes.
“I almost missed you, you know.”
“Sarin…!!”
“Damn vampire! Where have you been?! You’re terribly late!!!”
Ermont, who had been rushing down on a golden arch, shouted, but received no answer.
Both Evelyn and Sarin, as if on cue, refused to break eye contact.
A standoff between technicians who had recognized each other’s skill and specialty from a single clash.
Even a moment’s distraction would mean losing the initiative.
“As a mere human, you’re achieving such speed without Blood Manipulation?”
WHOOSH!!
Sarin, spinning a short sword, laughed and tilted her head.
“I didn’t expect to find another opponent on this battlefield who could dance with me.”
“It seems vampires these days think risking their lives in battle is pointless.”
Evelyn, discarding a worn-out arrow, retorted sharply.
“Move. Or do you want to die in the Doctor’s place?”
“I can’t do that. Pandemonium’s desired role for me was always this one, you see.”
Sarin smiled, properly gripped her short sword, and raised it.
“Actually, I believe this role was originally meant for an Enforcer named Maiya… but she’s away due to urgent circumstances.”
“…”
“Well, if the opportunity has come to me, there’s no reason to refuse it. A technician has their pride, after all!”
Sarin hummed a tune and gave an eerie smile.
“Shall we see who has the superior technique?”
“Maiya, or you… it doesn’t matter who.”
Evelyn, with cold eyes, drew and gripped a new arrow.
“Anyone who interferes with Van, I won’t go easy on them.”
“That’s good. I just had an unsatisfactory encounter with an irritating kinsman myself.”
Sarin grinned broadly.
“I hope we can decisively settle things here, don’t you agree?”
“Hah…!!!”
The moment Evelyn, arrow drawn, lowered her stance and rotated her body, and Sarin, humming, readjusted her twin swords—
The figures of the human and the vampire clashed with astonishing speed amidst the piles of corpses, unleashing fierce shockwaves.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
A furious percussive sound, like a machine gun firing, continuously hammered the air, piercing eardrums and shredding them.
In the blink of an eye, they shifted positions dozens of times, taking hundreds of steps per second, constantly rotating their direction.
A storm of killing intent, invisible to the naked eye, instantly tore through the battlefield, cutting down all living things caught within.
Commanders and high-level wizards desperately struggled to retreat, leading their surviving unit forces.
“G-guah…!!”
“Impossible speed!!!”
“We can’t react, just evade!!”
CLANG!!!!
Evelyn and Sarin’s bodies rotated, almost grazing the ground, as twin swords and arrows crossed.
With an intense shockwave, both were pushed back over ten meters in opposite directions.
CRASH!!!
From that impact, the Doctor’s severed head tumbled among the corpses of the Modified Soldiers.
The Doctor’s head, rolling amidst the Modified Soldiers of the Mechanized Legion, became soaked in oily mechanical parts.
The blood flowing from his head soaked gears and components, trickling stickily, when suddenly—
[Alpha Operation System Hacking Complete]
[Mechanized Legion Command Program Algorithm Serial Manipulation]
The Modified Soldiers, touched by the Doctor’s blood, exploded in place, scattering mechanical components in all directions.
CRASH!!!
“…!!!!”
The exploded, disassembled components, instead of falling, floated majestically upwards.
In an instant, components gathered from all directions, forming a massive circle that began to rotate above the Doctor’s head.
It was as if a colossal [Gate] of unknown purpose was being assembled from the discarded mechanical parts.
RUMBLE!!!!
“Hacking the Mechanized Legion’s Modified Soldiers, and using their parts as material…!!!”
“The human body is truly fascinating, isn’t it?”
The moment Evelyn intuited the true nature of The Gate and her expression hardened, the Doctor spoke.
“No matter how much a body is modified with machinery… if even a shred of humanity remains, it is treated the same as a human sacrifice.”
“…You.”
“Marcia. You probably intended to kill me to stop what I was trying to do, but in truth, that was meaningless from the very beginning.”
The Doctor’s head, still tumbling among the mechanical components, had somehow transformed into that of a frail old man, aged by decades.
“The Mechanized Legion, expelled from Machina, are offerings I can use at any time… I already held all the necessary methods.”
WHOOSH!!!
The Modified Soldiers committed suicide, becoming real-time human sacrifices, throwing their bodies for the Doctor.
Simultaneously, the Alpha Operation System unfolded above the Doctor’s head, artificially amplifying his Spiritual Presence.
Mechanical equipment originating from Machina, created in real-time using the Modified Soldiers expelled from the Machine City.
The omission and streamlining of the human sacrifice process. Even the stimulation of talent and Spiritual Presence using the Alpha Operation System.
Gathering miracles that could not inherently exist in this space, completely burning the lifespan of the body the Doctor had used as a vessel.
Finally, the moment he actualized the ‘knowledge’ contained within the Doctor’s head into reality—
The colossal [Gate] made of mechanical components began to rotate in place, emitting an intense light.
RUMBLE!!!!
“Then, from this moment on, I’ll leave it to all of you… and withdraw.”
With dimming eyes, where the light of life was extinguishing, the Doctor slowly tilted his head back.
“It’s a pity I can’t watch until the end… but I’ll leave the rest to you.”
SCREECH-!!!!
The Machine City Machina’s Ascension Plan.
Connecting with the Second World, the failed Ascension Gate manifested once again in this place.
A degraded version of the Ascension Gate, forcibly opened by combining Artemeyer’s knowledge with the System’s abilities.
Beyond the colossal [Gate] forged from rotating mechanical debris, an unidentifiable noise crackled and sputtered.
The moment the debris of the utterly annihilated Second World explosively poured towards the center of the Domain—
Adamant Thunder, clad in nine wings, and the noise of the Ascension Gate violently clashed, inverting spacetime into black.
[Ascension Gate Opened]
CRAAAAASSSHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Laws that existed in different worlds. Ascension Rituals that dreamed of challenging different worlds.
Two Ascension Rituals, whose destinations differed but aspirations were similar, overlapped and clashed within a single spacetime.
Forcibly imposing their disparate laws and miracles upon each other, they wildly distorted and ground each other into oblivion.
CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE!!!!!!
“Everyone, get down!!!!”
“Don’t take that impact head-on!!!”
Dark blue lightning and unidentifiable noise clashed and distorted, scattering like ricochets across the entire labyrinth.
Pale hands grasping each other, and the Ascension Gate’s noise, mixed and intertwined, influencing one another.
Simultaneously, Adamant Thunder’s movements, which had been unfurling his wings at the heart of the labyrinth, abruptly froze in place.
[…]
CRACKLE, ZZZZZT-CRACKLE!!!!!
Wrapped in dark blue lightning, flashing, exactly as he had been when releasing his nine wings.
Violently clashing with the Ascension Gate that now lay before him, he seemed to have frozen solid in place.
Ermont, who had descended to the ground on a golden arch, stared blankly at Adamant Thunder.
“H-he stopped…?”
“…”
CRACKLE, CRACKLE…!!!!
Beneath the nine wings spread towards the sky, dark blue lightning began to converge.
The moment the condensed current transformed into a sharp bolt of lightning, darkly illuminating Ermont’s face—
Hundreds of bloodshot eyes, appearing on the surface of the wings, glared down at the ground.
Lightning-type Unique Magic
Property Transformation: Descent Manifestation
Fate’s Libra: Extreme Art, Fifth Law
[Eternal Thunder]
BOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!
A sphere of dark blue lightning exploded like a star, engulfing and rotating through the labyrinth.
“GUAAAHHHH!!!!”
“N-no…!!!!”
“I don’t want to d—”
A colossal sphere of lightning, rotating with limitless heat.
Ability users from the vanguard and soldiers of the Legion were helplessly swept away and ground into dust by the Eternal Thunder’s scorching heat.
A massacre unavoidable even by commanders leading units, surviving Flame Pillars, or sergeants of the Mechanized Legion.
Seeing this, Baragan and Esteban moved simultaneously.
“Psychic!!!!”
“I know.”
The reason Adamant Thunder, who had been completing his Ascension Ritual until now, had switched back to an offensive stance and begun a massacre.
The very act of beginning to cast magic and slaughter the Legion was proof that something had gone wrong with the ritual.
The Doctor’s hypothesis had been correct.
At this moment, Adamant Thunder’s Ascension Ritual and the Ascension Gate clashed simultaneously within a single spacetime.
If Adamant Thunder’s Ascension Ritual had paused, even for a moment, due to the presence of the Ascension Gate, there was only one thing left to do.
Pale hands dashed through the surging Demonic Realm as the two scattered to opposite sides.
“The Zero Seat showed me the way. I will use it now.”
“Ah, right!! We’re ready on this end as well…!!!!”
Esteban condensed mercury and clutched it in his hand, while Baragan pulled out dark-hued scales and roared.
“Victor!!!!!”
Baragan, mounted on Quetzalcoatl, charged across the ground without hesitation, shouting.
“From now on, I’m going to drag Adamant Thunder out of those wings!! Prepare!!!”
Pandemonium’s Manipulation Spellcaster, capable of a direct spellcraft duel with Adamant Thunder, even if only for a brief moment.
Even the ability of that man, who always intervened at critical moments to adjust the battlefield, was needed now.
Immediately after Baragan roared fiercely, trying to lead Quetzalcoatl to the forefront—
“Right.”
A distorted voice echoed from somewhere.
“This… is the last time.”
WHOOSH!!!
Suddenly, from the far side of the labyrinth, a shadow robe swayed and began to fall.
The robe descended from above the allied forces, who were charging towards Adamant Thunder, who had halted his ritual.
But what lay within the old robe was not an obsidian mask with flickering crimson eyes.
SCREECH-SCREECH-SCREECH…
A hawk-nosed giant, emitting bizarre sounds and eerie laughter.
The moment they realized the presence of a summoned beast, a hawk-nosed giant, hanging upside down with eight arms pressed together, observing the battlefield—
Behind Baragan, Victor silently landed.
“Domain deployment.”
KIIIIIING!!!!
Black Mana Threads gathered in the air, rotating, piercing and pulling at spacetime.
Countless lines of light, sucked in from all directions, tangled like a ball of yarn, rotating in a complex dance.
Along the dark horizon, light distorted, and the moment it spread open like a colossal eye—
“Unmarked Succession Knot.”
A dark distortion point, formed from beyond space, descended into reality, rotating in the darkness.