Chapter 989: Central Front Border Region (6)

Hellfire Illusion Palace.

The moment Lennok called the spell’s name, activating it, black-green hellfire began to take shape according to his will.

Fwoosh…!!

The flames, ignited by the blood dripping from his fingertips, spread through his grip, forming a curve.

Lennok clutched the long, arcing hellfire, aiming it precisely at Roberaid.

“Is that the key to victory you’ve chosen for this battle?”

Roberaid, facing the manifestation directly, tilted his head.

“It looks as if… you are holding the flames as a longbow.”

Wrapping around Lennok’s left hand, which was extended towards Roberaid, the black-green flames surged meters high, curving upwards.

An eerie presence, as if gripping a colossal bow made of hellfire, aimed at the Lieutenant General.

But even in the sharply tensed air that instantly targeted him, Roberaid maintained his composure.

“I had not heard any information about Cheonbeon having talent in archery.”

“There was one exceptional archer among the Watchers.”

Lennok replied.

“I learned from her over her shoulder.”

“…Are you speaking of Evelyn Marcia? I, too, am well aware of Hyun-gung.”

Clank!!

Roberaid, manipulating his heavy armor to expel steam, spoke with glinting eyes.

“An archer among the top five on the continent. She was once the top priority target for recruitment by Headquarters and the 1st Legion, so there’s no need to speak of her skill.”

“…”

“However, even a genius whose name is on the Central Front Annihilation Campaign, teaching someone is an entirely different domain.”

The Lieutenant General’s gaze, fixed on the fiercely burning great flame bow, deepened.

“No matter how profound your learning, it’s hard to believe that arrow will be as sharp as Hyun-gung’s.”

“Perhaps. Because what I learned from Hyun-gung wasn’t Hyun-gung’s archery.”

The moment Lennok, clutching the great bow forged of black-green flames, drew the string placed on the bow.

Crack…!!

A ominous flaming arrow extended from his fingertips and settled onto the bowstring.

The image of the wizard holding a great flame bow, glinting with an eerie black-green hue under the night sky, and aiming an arrow.

“What was important was the inspiration. The very idea of shaping power into the form of archery.”

“…”

“To face the Lieutenant General head-on would probably take a considerable amount of time. I would need to preheat the flames I wield to their fullest for any kind of offense and defense to even be established.”

Lennok, his face shadowed by the hellfire’s glow, muttered.

“But this isn’t that kind of power. It’s a power closer to the backlash of dark magic that doesn’t follow such logic.”

With the arrow nocked, Lennok slowly tilted his head back, openly aiming at Roberaid.

“Especially against a warrior like you.”

“Do you believe you can contend with me through cunning tricks?”

Whoosh!

The armor on his right arm tightened, spewing intense steam, instantly increasing its weight.

Roberaid, lowering his stance deeply and hunching his body, spoke.

“I shall teach you how futile such an attempt is for a soldier on the battlefield.”

Creak…!!

Lennok ignored his words and drew the bowstring, settling into his stance.

It was as clear as day where the string of that Hellfire Illusion Palace would be aimed.

However, no matter how miraculous the spellcraft, once it takes the form of a bow, the caster’s location is revealed immediately after firing.

Therefore, the best option was to definitively kill Lennok, even if it meant taking a hit.

Crunch!!

Roberaid’s single step, increasing his body weight by tens of times, shook the ground and crushed the earth, swinging towards Lennok with invisible speed.

Boom!!!

The shockwave that exploded in front of Lennok’s nose split to either side of the two, traversing the horizon, and then.

Lennok, holding the great flame bow horizontally, released the drawn string from his hand.

Pang!!

The black-green flames, defying the limits of perception, ignored the shockwave and, like lightning, pierced through the Lieutenant General’s shoulder.

“…!!!”

Shhhhhhh…!!!

A tearing sound, burning the air as it passed. A chill felt before the pain.

Not intense heat, but a bone-chilling coldness.

The profound unfamiliarity, utterly different from any previous combat, sent a shiver down Roberaid’s spine.

But even knowing this, the Lieutenant General roared, relentlessly raising his mana.

“Ooooooh!!!”

Boom!!

Without even pulling out the flaming arrow embedded in his shoulder, he channeled his will-thought to move his heavy armor.

Flames that ravaged and burned his body caused little damage to the Lieutenant General’s robust physique.

As long as his body moved, his monstrous strength and inner world would not wane.

Snap!!

He batted away the Hellfire Illusion Palace blocking his view with one hand, and the moment he extended his will-thought with all his might towards Lennok, who was revealed beyond it.

Roberaid’s punch narrowly grazed Lennok’s side, roughly sweeping the ground.

Cwaaang!!!

“Gah…!!”

Though he avoided a direct hit, Lennok’s form seemed to slide back as if flung, unable to completely fend off the impact.

Clutching the great flame bow with one hand, he stumbled weakly, barely regaining his balance.

But Roberaid’s face, as he looked at Lennok, was hardened beyond compare.

“This…!!”

Roberaid’s punch was an explosion in itself, amplifying his weight by tens of times and unleashing it in a single moment.

Even if it didn’t directly hit, his entire body should have exploded the moment it struck the area.

Yet, Roberaid’s attack, far from killing Lennok, failed to inflict even proper injury on his body.

An unsettling feeling, as if the very foundation of the heavy-armored warrior’s power was greatly shaken, causing its might to go awry.

Instantly grasping the nature of this anomaly, Roberaid roughly clutched the hellfire arrow embedded in his shoulder.

Shhh…!!

Ignoring the scorching pain in his hand, Roberaid, clutching the flaming arrow, muttered in disbelief.

“Is this a dark magic that forcibly manipulates and twists will-thought…!!!”

Immediately after being pierced by the hellfire arrow, his will-thought consumption surged dramatically, momentarily twisting the manipulation of his Miniature Universe.

Because of this, the Lieutenant General’s own weight failed to properly manifest, preventing the amplification of his power.

And Roberaid immediately understood that the cause of the sudden increase in will-thought consumption was the arrow piercing his shoulder.

“Unbelievable. To think there’s a power that interferes with a target’s will-thought just by touching it!!”

“Flame magic is simple, yet has profound depths.”

Lennok, leaning against the ignition device and looking up at the Lieutenant General, smiled.

“To generate power, it requires preheating, but once preheating reaches a certain level, it starts to consume the caster in return.”

“…”

“To avoid being consumed by the flames one has ignited, one must prepare another spark to set against it. The profound principle understood while learning flame magic is forced upon the caster throughout their life.”

Whoosh!

Aiming the fiercely burning black-green great flame bow at Roberaid once more, Lennok spoke.

“This is a new [spark] ignited precisely by exploiting that contradiction.”

“…Evan Martinez.”

A type of Geas that amplifies power by revealing magical information.

Roberaid, instantly discerning what Lennok was doing, focused not on his words, but on the phenomenon he had just experienced.

Roberaid failed to avoid the hellfire arrow, but conversely, Lennok also failed to properly deflect the Lieutenant General’s own attack.

Was Lennok also experiencing difficulty with will-thought manipulation while initiating that great flame bow?

As if reading Roberaid’s thoughts, Lennok chuckled.

“I don’t think further explanation is necessary. If you haven’t understood, let’s end it here.”

Creak…!!

As Lennok said that and drew the string of the great flame bow, another flaming arrow appeared, burning atop the great bow.

The arrow’s tip, rippling with black-green flames, aimed precisely at the Lieutenant General’s heart.

Roberaid watched it, slowly rotating his shoulder.

‘Immediately after being hit by the arrow, my will-thought consumption increased dramatically.’

The Lieutenant General’s gaze, as he walked out, roughly spewing steam from between his heavy armor, deepened.

‘The presumed ability is will-thought absorption, or devouring… a dark magic that preys on will?’

A warrior’s Miniature Universe is a miracle that forces changes in physical laws within the body through the harmony of will-thought and the inner world.

It is natural for the manipulation of the Miniature Universe to go awry once will-thought is absorbed, disrupting the balance with the inner world.

However, interfering with another’s will-thought to absorb or devour it is an act that places an enormous burden on the caster themselves.

Furthermore, if the target is a powerful individual with an unyielding will and inner world like Roberaid, it goes without saying that the efficiency would be extremely low.

Twisting the Miniature Universe manipulation in a surprise attack like just now must be its limit.

“…It’s regrettable.”

A low voice escaped Roberaid’s lips after that thought.

The middle-aged man’s eyes, glinting from behind his armor, fixed on Lennok’s expressionless face.

“I had thought that if the great wizard who turned Vulcan into a sea of fire joined my legion, he could do greater things than anyone else in future wars.”

“…”

“However, if a brave commander like you were to join another faction, you would surely become a far more dangerous enemy than now.”

Thump!!

The moment he lowered his stance and began to raise his mana, Roberaid’s will-thought activated to its utmost limit.

Simultaneously, the Lieutenant General’s armor relentlessly spewed steam, continuously increasing his body’s weight.

“To prevent a greater loss than the sacrifices the legion has made today, I shall cleanly settle today’s matter right here.”

“Isn’t it too late to say such things after the fight is over?”

“No, it would be.”

Rummmble…!!

The air around Roberaid constantly warped and twisted, violently pressing down on space.

The Lieutenant General, slowly leaning his massive body forward and bowing his head, muttered, placing one hand on the ground.

“From now until I take your life, no conversation will be necessary…!!”

Boom!!

Simultaneously with the explosion of a circular ripple, Roberaid’s form vanished.

The Lieutenant General’s body, accelerating as if throwing itself forward with all its might, surpassed the speed of sound, unleashing a shockwave.

Th-th-thump!!!

Traveling hundreds of meters faster than sound, it tore through the air a moment later, emitting a sonic boom.

Flame magic, omitting incantations, hand seals, and chants, unfolded and completed before Roberaid’s eyes the moment it began.

[Blazing Draw Shatter]

[Crimson Emission]

Cwaaaang!!!!

Above the surging sea of fire, Lennok’s and Roberaid’s forms collided head-on.

Lennok, wreathed in flames, and the heavy-armored warrior, spewing steam from his entire body, clashed like lightning.

[Self-Propelled Heavy Shot]

[Grand Flame Wheel]

[Karmic Blossom]

Kwoohaaaaang!!!

Dazzling beams of flame rained down, and waves of lava and pillars of fire surged, striking Roberaid.

“…!!!!”

The heavy-armored warrior’s body was flung tens of meters across the burning sea of fire, tumbling.

An enormous heat, momentarily suffocating even Roberaid, pressed down on his entire body, melting and damaging his armor.

[Fire Curtain Piercing Rain]

[Jurasal]

Drrdrrdrrrk!!

From beyond the sea of fire, overlapping flames surged, obliterating and erasing everything on the ground.

A terrifying figure, a living incarnate Fire God, burning the world with every breath and every step.

Assault unit soldiers, still alive and wandering the battlefield, floundered in the heat that engulfed their surroundings.

“No, no!! Save me!!”

“Wha-what is the…! What is the Staff Department doing?!”

“Look at me, Evan Martinez!!!”

Enraged, Roberaid stretched one foot forward, explosively raising his Miniature Universe.

[Hyukinswae]

[Balhong]

He indiscriminately fired high-level flame magic, which typically required minimal incantation, like artillery shells, without any cost or preparation.

He bore down on the heavy-armored warrior’s body, which was tumbling between the sea of fire and the lava lake, and shot.

Kugugugu!!!

“Not yet!!”

But Roberaid also controlled the direction of the impact inflicted upon him, closing the distance and colliding with Lennok again.

He thrust his arm, melting amidst the burning pillars of fire, and punched Lennok.

Boom!!

The flame streaks curved gently, deflecting the punch, but Lennok’s form was pushed back through the flames by the impact.

He withstood the barrage of flame magic head-on, extinguishing the flames he gripped in his hands, and charged forward.

Clang!!

Roberaid’s eyes, stopping before a sun-like orb blocking his path, gleamed with terrifying fighting spirit.

He clutched the violently rotating sphere of flame with both hands, tearing it open as if to rip it apart.

Dodododoook!!!!

“Haaaah!!!!”

With a monstrous roar that seemed to elevate his soul, steam explosively spread from between his heavy armor, pressing down on his body.

Simultaneously, the Lieutenant General’s monstrous strength, amplified to its limit, scattered like an explosion, bursting the Crimson Emission solar orb with his bare hands.

And Lennok’s form, unable to withstand the explosive force, was instantly flung tens of meters backward.

Swishhh!!

The wizard’s figure receded between the two splitting pillars of flame. The black-green great bow wrapped around his hand continuously shimmered, emitting an ominous glow.

The moment Roberaid, who was about to give chase, realized that the arrow on the great flame bow’s string had already vanished from Lennok’s hand.

Thwack!

The hellfire arrow, striking from behind the Lieutenant General, pierced through his heavy armor from the back and protruded from his chest.

Cold flames stabbed into the flesh beneath the armor that had withstood all manner of impacts and spells.

“Ooooooh!!!!”

But Roberaid roared, relentlessly drawing upon his mana despite the chilling heat digging into his chest.

‘Mana…!!’

If his will-thought was absorbed the moment he was hit by the arrow, he simply had to draw upon more will-thought to replenish what was absorbed.

Robert Roberaid possessed both the formidable mental strength and inner world necessary to do so.

He used his body weight, amplified tens of times, as a weapon to bomb and crush the area. He charged forward, using the tension of the arrow impaled in his back as propulsion.

The Lieutenant General’s body weight increased hundreds of times on the spot, momentarily distorting the surrounding space.

The moment Roberaid’s form, having leaped with all its might, plunged down upon Lennok’s head.

[Yongseongchu]

Kwaaaang!!!

A massive crater, hundreds of meters in radius, formed, sinking the ground deeply.

The earth cracked and crumbled in all directions, and shockwaves continuously erupted into the sky.

Roberaid’s form, having shaken the ground and churned the earth like waves, was embedded in the pulverized crater, tens of meters deep.

“Huuuh…!!”

The ultimate expression of his inner world, unleashed with all his might, so strenuous that even Roberaid himself, equipped with specialized transforming heavy armor, found it difficult to endure.

At the point where the gravity exerted on himself was increased by over hundreds of times, the impact force falling towards the ground was comparable to a tactical weapon.

It was impossible to take a frontal hit from an all-encompassing attack that crushed and exploded space itself.

The moment Roberaid, convinced of this, retracted his Miniature Universe and tried to stand up.

Crack!!

Cracks began to form beneath the crater where Roberaid stood.

The ground, unable to bear Roberaid’s extreme weight, began to collapse.

Snap, crackle!!

Hot lava overflowed from the rapidly expanding fissures in the ground all around him.

Kwoohaaaang!!

“Damn…!!”

The lava overflowing beneath his feet formed a massive volcanic crater, beginning to engulf the Lieutenant General’s colossal body.

The amount of lava erupting from beneath the ground was considerable, to an extent that could not be explained by merely collapsing the ground a little.

Immediately realizing this, Roberaid turned his gaze and gritted his teeth as he saw the Steel Turtle of Fiery Breath, slowly breathing in the distance.

“You were using a summon to melt the ground into lava!!”

Immediately after the battle, Roberaid had shattered the fire turtle’s shell, incapacitating it, but despite that, the Steel Turtle of Fiery Breath was not unsummoned from its spot.

It had somehow stubbornly endured there, continuously pouring lava, instead of blood, into the ground below.

In that process, the ground of the battlefield where Lennok and Roberaid fought weakened, transforming the entire battlefield into a gigantic volcano.

Kwoohaaaang…!!!

Roberaid’s form slowly sank, now submerged in lava up to his neck.

Roberaid immediately tried to cancel his Miniature Universe and revert his weight, but the gravity exerted on his body only continued to intensify.

Crack, crackle!!

Only then did the Lieutenant General’s expression harden as he understood the anomalous phenomenon happening to his body.

“This cannot be. My Miniature Universe…!!”

An 8-level physical ability user. An inner world that had surpassed its tier, reaching its own unique path.

The Miniature Universe of a warrior who had reached the pinnacle was running wild, beyond Robert Roberaid’s control.

This was not an aftereffect of something Roberaid himself had done.

The Lieutenant General, realizing this instinctively, roared, veins bulging in his neck.

“Evan Martinez!!!!”

“I can hear you just fine without you screaming.”

Lennok, walking out from above the crater, replied.

Looking down at the Lieutenant General, who was buried in the crater he had created, staring at him, Lennok smiled.

“I had a feeling, but you are truly incredibly durable. You’re still enduring, even after increasing your weight that much?”

“What did you do to my inner world?!”

“You should know, shouldn’t you?”

Lennok said, patting his chest.

“The second arrow I hit you with. By now, you should be able to guess.”

“No. Your hellfire should be a power that forcibly absorbs a target’s will-thought…!!”

Roberaid shouted roughly.

“It’s impossible to interfere with my inner world through will-thought absorption. This isn’t even twisting its manipulation, how…!!”

“No. The Hellfire Illusion Palace’s ability is not the power to absorb will-thought.”

“…What?”

“Hellfire is a flame of the negative dimension. In other words, it’s a flame with a negative property.”

Crack…!!

The Lieutenant General’s rigid gaze, met Lennok’s directly, feeling a chilling sensation that coursed through his entire body.

“The Hellfire Illusion Palace’s ability uses negative properties to forcibly draw out positive properties, causing will-thought overload. And in the process of increasing consumption through that, eventually…”

Lennok said, watching the Lieutenant General slowly sink into the ground.

“Even your Miniature Universe can be forcibly driven to rampage.”

“…!!”

If it were merely the ability to devour and absorb will-thought, one could simply pour in more will-thought to compensate for what was absorbed.

From the start, the will-thought of a peak-level ability user who has transcended their tier is largely unaffected by actions like absorption or devouring.

However, the Hellfire Illusion Palace’s ability is a power that forcibly repels and draws out positive properties through negative properties.

It is the very spark of contradiction and repulsion that forcibly draws out and causes existing properties to run wild.

Because it was akin to an act that drew out and amplified the target’s will-thought, Roberaid was slow to notice the true nature of the anomaly.

And the Miniature Universe, having begun its rampage through will-thought overload, began to amplify its abilities to an extent Roberaid himself could not control.

Thump!!

Roberaid’s body slowly sank into the collapsed crater.

The gravity exerted on his massive frame increased tens to hundreds of times, now pressing him down, making him unable to move.

The lava filling the crater became a massive volcanic maw, engulfing the Lieutenant General’s body and slowly sinking him into the ground.

“Ughhh…!!”

Deadrise 3rd Legion Commander. Lieutenant General Robert Roberaid.

A fierce general who led and commanded the vanguard of all operations carried out by the 3rd Legion.

Unrealistic monstrous strength and durability. Specialized transforming heavy armor that supported his Miniature Universe ability. Extensive combat experience, surviving countless battlefields to reach his current position.

But what was killing him here was not another powerful individual or someone else’s spellcraft, but the Miniature Universe itself, which he had so trusted.

“There’s no reason to try and break that bizarrely tough body here.”

Lennok nodded, watching the Lieutenant General self-destruct, crushed by his own inner world.

“Die right there, crushed by your own weight.”