novelraw Chapter 143 : Chapter 143
Chapter 143 : Chapter 143
Chapter 143. The Moment of the Decisive Battle (2)
Nox scrunched up his gaunt, bony face and glared at the giant tower before him.
Around him, the powerful liches he had personally revived were relentlessly pouring dark magic towards the tower's barrier.
But the tower remained unmoved.
“Why! Why won't it break!”
Nox groaned in a dry voice.
Only three towers remained.
But these last towers were on a different level from the hundreds before them.
As if in a last desperate struggle, the barrier surrounding the tower was unbelievably sturdy.
Even after a long time since the attack began, not a single scratch had been made.
He must have become incomparably stronger through this grueling process of destroying towers.
Even though he was launching a pincer attack with the powerful liches he had revived from the natives of this land, the descendants of the Sage of the East, the tower before him still stood firm.
‘Is it impossible with my power alone?’
For the first time, a deep sense of frustration seeped into his heart.
‘I wish Lord Primus would help.’
But his master, after reprimanding him for the ‘one human’ he had missed and leaving a warning, had not shown himself.
Nox was gripped by impatience and anxiety.
If he delayed any longer, he might not be able to meet his master's expectations.
It was at that very moment.
Without any sign, Primus suddenly appeared behind him.
Nox was startled and hastily knelt down, bowing his head.
“You have come, Lord Primus!”
Primus, without answering, simply looked at the tower Nox had been attacking for a moment.
No emotion was visible on his face, but Nox felt a fear as if his whole body was freezing just from his gaze.
After a moment, Primus opened his mouth in a low voice.
“It seems it was too much for you all alone.”
His voice was mixed with an emotion that could be either disappointment or a resignation as if it were a matter of course.
Nox bowed his head even deeper.
“I-I was lacking…….”
“That's enough.”
Primus cut him off.
“These last towers were not something you could destroy with your power anyway. This is something only I can do.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Nox tried to raise his head in confusion, but Primus, instead of answering his question, slowly stretched his hand towards the tower.
There was no incantation, no concentration of magic power.
He just gestured lightly, but,Kwa-gagagagang!
The giant tower before him and the powerful barrier surrounding it instantly turned to dust and scattered into the air, like a sandcastle.
Nox, as well as the liches following him, stood with their mouths agape, unable to believe the sight before them.
The sturdy tower that they had not been able to scratch even after pouring all their strength into it just a moment ago had disappeared without a trace with a single gesture from Primus.
“H-how…….”
Nox, along with his astonishment, keenly realized the insurmountable gap between himself and Primus once again.
Primus turned to Nox and said.
“I have destroyed the core of that tower. Now, you will be able to destroy the remaining two towers with your power alone.”
He finished his words and suddenly looked towards the western sea, beyond the distant horizon.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
“They are finally approaching.”
With those meaningful words, Primus disappeared back into space without any warning, just as he had come.
Nox, left alone, stared blankly at the spot where Primus had disappeared for a while.
‘If it was going to be like this, Lord Primus could have done it himself from the beginning…….’
But he soon shook his head.
He reprimanded himself for his foolishness in daring to try to fathom his master's will.
‘No. Lord Primus said that I could destroy the remaining two towers with my power alone. I just have to believe his words and follow them.’
Nox pushed himself up from where he had collapsed.
Blue flames blazed once again in his empty eye sockets.
He commanded the liches following him.
“Follow me! We will destroy the remaining two towers!”
Why Primus had personally destroyed only one of the last three towers.
And who ‘they’ he had pointed to referred to, he did not know.
But it didn't matter.
He would simply obey his master's command and do his best to destroy the last towers remaining in this land.
His steps moved towards the next target without hesitation.
***
A little while ago.
That is, before Primus personally appeared before Nox, while Nox was diligently tearing down the ancient towers along the coastline of Reubungwo.
In the hiding place of the Sage of the East, the one who had built the towers and was the de facto ruler of this island, Primus put down the last scroll among a mountain of ancient books.
A deep contemplation and a cold anger were on his face.
‘Amazing. To think that he not only sealed me but also researched a way to annihilate me.’
The sage's research records, numbering in the thousands.
They contained deep insights into the source of his own power and his weaknesses, things Primus himself had not even thought of.
And methods to exploit them.
In particular, the sealing system built using the World Tree, which was imbued with the goddess' power, and the information about the last three towers that were its core, was surprising information even to Primus.
‘No wonder that Nox fellow was struggling with the last towers. They were no ordinary towers after all.’
According to the sage's records, the last three towers were not simply structures built with magic power.
They were powerful barriers themselves, a condensation of divine power and the power of nature, created by transforming parts of the roots and trunk of the ‘World Tree’ that the goddess herself was said to have planted in this land.
Because they were a part of the World Tree, a being almost equal to himself, even Nox, who had become the Lich King, could not easily destroy them even with all his strength.
Also, those three towers were the core of the seal that had bound him to this island of Reubungwo for so long.
‘I was trying to save my strength as much as possible until the hero appeared……. It can't be helped.’
If he left those towers as they were, a new hero who might appear someday might get his hands on the sage's research results and threaten him.
Primus rose from his seat.
Although he would have to endure a considerable consumption of magic power, he had to deal with those towers, which were the core of the seal and a potential threat, himself.
Fortunately, the sage's records also contained one piece of hopeful information.
The three World Tree towers were connected to each other, so if even one of them was destroyed, the binding force and defensive power of the other two towers would be drastically weakened.
‘If I just destroy one myself, the current Nox alone will be able to handle the other two.’
Primus smiled coldly.
He no longer hesitated.
He released a part of his original power and annihilated one of the towers Nox was struggling with in an instant.
And now.
Having returned to the sage's hiding place, he decided to erase even the last traces of the sage.
When Primus gestured lightly, all the books and research materials in the room were instantly engulfed in black flames and began to turn to ash.
‘Hmph. With this, there is no more knowledge that can torment me.’
Primus watched the burning flames with a satisfied expression.
Now that he knew all the methods the sage had researched to stop him, even if a hero appeared and tried the same methods, it would be useless.
He was even planning to use that knowledge to his advantage and lure the hero into a trap.
‘However, the magic power I consumed just now to destroy the tower was greater than I thought.’
He looked down at his hand for a moment.
The power of the World Tree was indeed formidable.
He needed to quickly recover his magic power to face the approaching hero party in top condition.
He turned without hesitation and left the hiding place.
His destination was the open space in the center where the three World Tree towers were built in a triangular shape.
That was the place where the World Tree had first taken root in ancient times, the source and origin of the island's entire magic power.
‘To use even the World Tree to seal me. But thanks to that, I've gained a good magic power charging station.’
Primus plopped down in the center of the open space and took a meditative posture.
When he closed his eyes and concentrated, the pure magic power filling the surrounding atmosphere began to be sucked into his body in a vortex.
The area around his body gradually began to emit a bright light, and he could feel his consumed power rapidly recovering.
He quietly accumulated power, preparing for the final battle to come.
‘Soon, everything will be over.’
He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.
As if facing his mother, the goddess who had given birth to him.
***
Ka-gang!
The blue Aura Sword and the dagger imbued with a blood-red energy clashed, producing a deafening sound.
Iris' arm tingled from the shockwave, but she gritted her teeth and endured it.
The monster before her, which was identical to her father Frank in every way, was stronger than she had imagined.
‘It's really the same.’
Not only its appearance, but also the style of its swordsmanship, the techniques it used, and even its overwhelming power.
Iris, who had prided herself on becoming much stronger by conquering the dungeon, realized that she was still no match for the power of the monster that imitated her father, no, her father.
It was as if she were standing before a giant wall.
‘How strong is the real father? Did I dare to try to get his approval?’
With that thought, goosebumps and a slight tremor spread throughout her body.
The deep, dark fear and helplessness she had felt towards her father as a child seemed to be rearing its head again.
But Iris soon shook off such thoughts.
She shook her head vigorously.
‘Get a grip, Iris! That thing is definitely not my father!’
She glared at the monster before her.
A cold, fishy smile.
That was definitely not her father.
Her father had changed.
There was a time in the past when he had made things so difficult for her, but he had definitely changed.
He had willingly risked his life for them, and he had awkwardly but sincerely tried to approach them.
The wounds and anger of the past that she had managed to forget thanks to Lion Heart.
It was clear that it still remained deep in her heart.
‘Yes……. I forgave my father, but the wounds in my heart have not yet completely forgiven him.’
She finally realized the true nature of her complex emotions.
And at the same time, she redefined the meaning of this battle.
The monster before her is not her father.
But it has her father's appearance and uses her father's power. Then…….
A cold smile appeared on Iris' lips.
She looked straight at the monster in her father's form and whispered in a low voice.
“Should I say thank you? Thanks to you, I've gained a very good opportunity.”
As if she had been given time to sort out her old feelings. She decided not to be bound by the trauma of the past anymore.
Instead, she would sublimate those emotions into the power to defeat the enemy before her.
At that moment, an incomparably hideous and powerful red energy exploded from the blood dagger Iris held in both hands.
The dagger itself pulsed violently as if it were alive, spewing a killing intent that seemed to swallow even the surrounding darkness.
But surprisingly, the energy flowing from Iris' body was still a cold, clear blue.
She was not being consumed by the ferocious power emanating from the blood dagger, but rather was perfectly controlling it and harmonizing it with her own power.
Blue and red.
Two opposing energies swirled around her body in a strange balance.
The fake Frank smiled for a moment as if interested in the sight, but then he activated a powerful Aura Sword once again.
A blue sword energy cut through the space and flew towards Iris.
Iris no longer dodged.
She too poured all her magic power, will, and even all the emotions buried deep in her heart into the two daggers and thrust them forward with all her might.
“With this, I will repay all my grudges against my father!”
Iris' attack, a mixture of a cold blue aura and an ominous red magic, collided head-on with the pure blue Aura Sword shot by the fake Frank.
Kwa-aaaaaaang!!!
With a tremendous crash, a violent explosion occurred as if the entire 100th floor was shaking.
In the light and darkness that seemed to swallow everything.
The final winner was about to be decided.