The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns

Chapter 440

[Translator - Night]

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Chapter 440

Integrated Rift.

In truth, it was a special kind of rift found only in places like dungeon cities that only those in the know knew about.

The members of the Spiritist Club, having happened to obtain information about the Integrated Rift, had come here to investigate further among themselves.

There were comparatively safe places and quite dangerous places as well, but according to the rumors, it was also said to be an excellent place to build real combat experience.

Starting with Eltemion, grandson of Azure Star Algran Tevne, and continuing with Lady Behena Mobierty, Lerbad Code, Yumid, and the other promising young spiritists who had risked their lives together in the Spirit Corridor to break through the snowfield, they began carrying on that bond by working together first in a small club.

Of course, they could not invite the very existence that had shocked them during that process—Leon Cascadia—to join the club, but they intended that when those gathered by this connection had risen higher through continued exchange with one another, they would invite him again then.

Still, even among them, the existence known as Leon Cascadia was truly strange and impossible to get a handle on.

The Leon Cascadia they had seen was clearly an incredible spiritist who had subdued a Spirit King.

But according to the rumors, some said he was a swordsman.

Others said he was a mage.

Judging coldly, even just one of the three would be incredible.

There was no way all three could be possible.

To begin with, the more one dug into the rumors about Leon Cascadia, the more most of them became the sort of things where it was difficult to grasp what was true.

Shaking off that confusion with effort, they had been spending several days in the Integrated Rift, holding a sort of training camp together, building real combat experience and giving one another feedback on their shortcomings.

Though it was a recently discovered jackpot rift whose full nature still had yet to be properly revealed, judging only from the parts discovered so far, it was not especially threatening.

While they were communing with spirits in a plain field unusually crowded with people, they found themselves feeling puzzled when the spirits suddenly flinched and began trembling all over.

“The spirits are… trembling?”

At the murmur of Behena Mobierty, who was the first to notice something strange, the gazes of those clustered around the campfire chatting together all turned at once to their own spirits.

They had never seen spirits act this frightened against any enemy they had encountered here.

That was when it happened.

Craaack… crack!!

The sky split apart and began to shatter with a crash.

The sky of the Integrated Rift looked like a real sky, but in truth, the sky here was only a simulated environment.

It was not real.

Even so, none of them had ever seen a phenomenon that affected it like that, so everyone sprang to their feet and grabbed their respective wands.

And then, from between the completely shattered gap, someone came flying out.

It was a woman with red hair tied into a single strand.

However, one of her arms had been severed, and whether from severe injuries, she was coughing up mouthful after mouthful of blood.

Thinking she might be someone injured in the dungeon after being attacked by monsters, they were all just about to move—

when, as though pursuing her, three figures revealed themselves.

One was a man with gray hair, and the other two were women so beautiful that one’s eyes widened just from seeing them.

They paid absolutely no attention to the people gathered around them and unleashed attacks on the red-haired woman.

“Leon… Cascadia?”

Only then did they realize that the man was someone they had met not long ago.

The being who had subdued the Spirit King alone.

They had known him as Cotton Belmud, but in truth he was not that man, but rather someone called Leon Cascadia of the Kingdom of Bata.

Normally he wore a mask, so they had not known, but during the battle with the Spirit King, his mask had broken and they had seen his face once.

“Why is he here…?”

They had only a moment to marvel.

A chilling aura began to overflow around Leon, enough to make their feet freeze stiff.

Its beginning came from a few explorers who had stepped in front of the injured woman and confronted Leon.

They had not attacked Leon.

But soon they staggered, as though something unknown had attacked them, then in an instant shriveled up as if they had become mummies, before collapsing like puppets whose strings had been cut.

At first they wondered if Leon had done that to them.

But the moment they saw the eerie aura overflowing around Leon, they could not deny that that was not the case.

Soon, Leon attacked again.

However, it was clearly different from the Leon the promising spiritists had known.

He did not use spirit arts even once.

Rather, he held a sword and relentlessly drove the red-haired woman back at incredible speed.

The hostility in it was strange to a degree that made it hard to see it as merely an attempt to kill a person.

Knowing that he was not the kind of evil man who would do something like this for no reason only made them more flustered.

Just who was that woman, for him to attack her so mercilessly?

“Is that… aura?”

“Are you an idiot, Lerban? That’s an aura blade. It’s fundamentally different even in appearance from aura.”

“You’re both wrong. That’s not an aura blade either.”

At the words of one spiritist who at least had some acquaintance with swords, everyone’s gaze turned to him.

“I once saw the training of the Boscal Imperial Knights. I saw a battle involving high-ranking knights who handled aura blades. What he’s using looks similar to the aura blades they swung, but it’s fundamentally different. That is…”

“Something beyond even that?”

“Who knows?”

Everyone fell silent at the calm reply.

At the very least, one thing had become certain.

The unbelievable rumors surrounding Leon were true in that, aside from spirit arts, he also handled aura.

Could that even make sense to begin with?

They all thought so, but denying the reality before their eyes was something only an idiot would do.

He unleashed attacks at a speed their eyes could not follow.

“Could… anyone block that?”

“Don’t say ridiculous things. I couldn’t take even a single strike. No, I can only tell the sword was swung after the fact, so how could dodging even be possible?”

No one denied it.

And then, the moment Leon gripped his sword in both hands and cut the woman down—

a chilling presence crushed the entire surrounding area.

They instinctively flinched and looked at what was before their eyes.

“My God…”

“What is this?”

Ice crystals that seemed to coil around the entire region.

The sheer presence of the ice crystals floating in midair as though ignoring gravity made everyone’s hearts plummet.

Crackle… crackle-crackle!!!

And then—the unknown reaction born from the ice, and the tremendous, roaring lightning that fell from the sky—

made them organize their thoughts.

Ah.

So he uses magic too.

But how is that even possible?

Is he really human?

Not a single rumor was false?

Someone muttered as if possessed.

“Holy shit. Am I dreaming right now?”

“Could this be a hallucination from spirit arts?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Every hair on my body is standing on end—what kind of hallucination is this?”

Even the spiritists turned their gazes toward Eltemion, the one with the greatest talent among them.

“Why.”

The look in his eyes said, You think I’m any different from you lot?

“Now I get why the rumors got so distorted.”

“They were too absurd, so nobody could even tell what was true.”

What mattered was that more than half the rumors were true—no, even those had been understatements.

Their minds were tangled with all sorts of thoughts, but there was no one among them who could give a clear answer.

* * *

A dust storm born from thunderous roars and earthquakes blanketing all directions swept around the entire area.

“Lispa. Can you see it?”

“I can’t be certain. Since that bastard made a plan, that’s why it latched on, isn’t it?”

The pale, hazy shape circling around Isna had vanished.

If their guess was right, that would be Yog’s form that had attached itself to Isna.

Originally it should have been dwelling inside her body, but when Kuralion’s Staff activated, something went wrong with that connection and it had been flung outside.

Turning my head, I saw Isna lying collapsed on the ground in silence.

“Lispa. Please check once whether that bastard has completely disappeared.”

“If I find anything strange, I’ll tell you immediately, so don’t worry and take care of that woman.”

I walked over to Luna, who had approached Isna and begun treating her.

“Luna. Do you see anything else?”

“Other than the severe physical injuries, nothing in particular visible.”

Isna’s body was a complete wreck.

Her body was deathly pale from the blood loss caused by her severed arm, and from Luna’s attacks, there was not a single bone in her body left intact.

No matter how much she had grown stronger through Authority, neither Luna nor I had exactly held back in a moderate way.

More than anything, what made me feel dirty was Yog’s existence.

The gigantic monster Yog had been using Isna’s body in the most literal sense like a disposable thing.

Without any concern for finesse or safety.

As if a pure child had played wildly with a toy until it broke.

They were injuries severe enough that if it had been anyone other than Isna, it would not have been strange if she had already died, but Luna’s healing rapidly restored Isna’s body, which had been driven to the very brink of death.

Her severed arm regenerated, and her shattered bones became solid again as though time itself had reversed.

Her crushed organs recovered their original forms and began moving vigorously again.

Color returned to her previously pale skin.

“Ugh…”

That was when it happened.

Luna, who had been healing her quietly, suddenly frowned.

She was struggling while healing?

“Luna?”

I, startled, supported her, and she shook her head.

“Her injuries were worse than they appeared.”

Meaning it was not simply a problem of the body?

As long as the person did not die, Luna could pull them back without issue even from the threshold of the underworld, but it seemed Isna’s injuries were serious enough that even Luna had staggered for a moment.

“This can’t be this difficult from physical injuries alone. The Authority inside her seems to be the problem…”

In practical terms, neither Luna nor I had any way to interfere with that Authority.

I slowly lifted Isna, who had lost consciousness and kept her eyes closed, into my arms.

For now, one could say the primary objective—rescuing Isna—had succeeded.

But there were still two unresolved problems left.

[Translator - Night]

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In truth, I had also failed to obtain any clue about the hourglass Melissa had been worried about, the one by the Cascadia-side entrance.

At present, Isna was unconscious.

As for the issue concerning her, it would not be too late to deal with it right after she woke up.

That was what I had been thinking, when—

a certain group entered my field of view once more.

They were the ones I had met in the Spirit Corridor.

The others appeared to have fled in fear amid the ominous atmosphere, but those ones alone had stayed behind and were watching us.

Of course, their expressions were not light either.

Their gazes held a strangely fearful look.

After meeting my eyes for a moment, Eltemion slowly approached.

“We meet again, Leon.”

“Hm?”

Had I told him my name?

I didn’t pay much attention to that sort of thing, so my memory was hazy.

“Actually, I sent word to the Belmud Marquess household and heard about it. That you participated in the competition under the name Cotton Belmud. Leon Cascadia. That’s right, isn’t it?”

When I quietly nodded, he smiled faintly.

“So I wasn’t wrong. More importantly… what happened? What are you doing here?”

“That’s what I want to ask. What were you doing here?”

“What do you mean, what were we doing? The purpose of people entering the Integrated Rift is obvious. Looking for treasures, building our skills.”

“Do you know what this place is?”

At my question, he looked at me as if he did not understand.

“What do you mean? Is there some problem with the Integrated Rift?”

Had they not seen that hourglass?

Even if there were multiple entrances, had that hourglass appeared only in the Cascadia Demon Realm?

Just in case, I asked him to confirm the facts.

And then, I heard an unexpected answer from Eltemion.

“An hourglass? Well. At least, when we entered this place, there wasn’t anything like that. More importantly… do you know that woman?”

“Yeah. She was possessed by an evil spirit.”

At my answer, he laughed awkwardly.

The look in his eyes said, You blasted her with that kind of brute-force magic just to exorcise an evil spirit?

But there was nothing to be done.

This was no ordinary evil spirit, after all.

“More importantly… you really are incredible. I heard the rumors, but I had no idea you could really use both magic and the sword too.”

I answered with silence.

“This isn’t the time for that. First, shall we head to the safe zone? Things must have gotten pretty noisy because of what just happened. To clear up the misunderstandings of the people here too, and that woman over there…”

“Leon!! That bastard is still here!!”

That was when it happened.

The instant Lispa, who had been on guard around us, flinched and shouted—

the spiritists all clutched at their throats at once and began choking in agony.

“Ghk… khk…!”

“Grrk….”

As though something invisible were gripping their throats, they suffered terribly—but that was not someone’s attack.

The human body itself was rejecting its own breath.

Fear that surpassed the limit bred madness, and eroded the body.

Watching those whose bodies, crushed by fear regardless of their own will, could not breathe, Luna spread her wings and created a curtain that wrapped around them, but the situation did not improve easily.

At least, as far as I knew, there was only one being capable of doing this.

Flinging it out of Isna’s body had been all well and good, but it seemed expecting more than that had been greed.

[How pitiful, the sight of your struggle.]

A ghastly will chilled through my mind.

[Have you become intoxicated by such a trivial victory? In the end, time has already submitted to me. Watching you struggle until the very moment my existence arrives in this dimension shall also be a form of amusement.]

Quite apart from the way it spoke as though mocking me, I could not sense its presence anywhere.

That was when I suddenly raised my head and looked up at the sky.

This son of a bitch hadn’t disappeared somewhere.

“Goddamn it, seriously. Is that size even sane?”

The sky looked the same as usual.

But—

that was not because the infinitely broad and high sky of this space was intact.

To begin with, the sky here was not a sky, only something we had mistaken for one.

An eyeball.

It was an eyeball of tremendous size, so enormous its scale could not be fathomed.

And it had been watching me completely from the very beginning.

The condition of the spiritists, swept up in horrifying madness, worsened even more.

But unlike them, elsewhere had become a complete hellscape.

It was around the safe zone Eltemion had mentioned.

The only ones enduring it at all were Luna, Lispa, and me, who was in a state of complete immunity.

As for the other humans still remaining here, they screamed in terrible madness and created a frenzied hellscape, clawing at their own bodies with their own hands and gouging out their eyes.

“Lispa!”

“I’m already doing it!”

As long as they did not die, they could be saved.

But if their minds completely collapsed, Luna’s healing would not be able to reverse it.

So Lispa forcefully plucked the strings of the lyre in her hand, creating a massive wave of melody that forcibly shorted out the minds of those driven into self-harm by madness.

It would not be a fundamental solution, but at least it should prevent the worst-case scenario.

Fortunately, none of them realized that it had not been the sky, but a gigantic eyeball.

They had merely been exposed to madness because the presence of the Outer God, Yog, had grown a little stronger.

It was actually fortunate that this was inside the Integrated Rift.

If this had unfolded on the continent of Lazarus, it was hard even to imagine what sort of hellish scene would have resulted.

Of course, that did not mean I was especially worried.

At the very least, I had become certain that it was impossible for that bastard to exert enough influence to wreak havoc even outside the Integrated Rift.

This sort of thing was possible only because this was a limited space inside the rift.

Yog, whose seal had not been completely broken yet and who still could not fully wield his power on this continent, had no way he could do something like that.

If that had been possible, there would have been no reason for him to go through such annoying lengths trying to steal Isna’s body.

—How absurd. Has the power of that disgusting lifeform become that strong?

Lucifer’s voice sounded, but I ignored it.

—Strange. How was it able to accumulate power to such a degree? As though… it had built it up while repeating time, does it not?

I heard something I could not simply dismiss.

Was it possible that the errors generated as I—or rather, the Leon Cascadias of the Closed World—reset the world over and over again through countless repetitions had made Yog’s power even stronger?

Thinking about it, I had to admit that might be possible.

Turning back time would not be something only our side benefited from, after all.

—You idiot. Do not try to fight it head-on. This place itself is that bastard’s trap. With your current power, there is no possibility whatsoever of defeating that thing in a frontal battle.

I knew that.

Unless I had manifested the Extreme, the final realm reached in Labyrinthos, I had not yet fully recovered all the power I had possessed back then in Labyrinthos.

I had only compensated for my lacking power by forcibly overcharging, or by using the powers of multiple halls in combination.

My fundamental firepower itself fell short.

That was when it happened.

Mysterious rifts of light began to flicker here and there across the sky inside the rift.

“Michael!!”

At the sight, Lispa and Luna cried out at the same time.

“Yeah. I was wondering why you bastards were just sitting still!”

Lispa looked as though she might throw herself at those rifts of light immediately, but Luna swiftly grabbed Lispa by the hair and forcibly calmed her down.

“Ah! Let go, you crazy bitch!”

“Stay still. You lunatic bitch.”

Whether it liked it or not, the power of the archangels manifested and restricted that bastard’s movements.

Even now, Yog still could not fully interfere with this world.

The power of the archangels might not be enough to kill it, but it should be enough to drive it out of here.

Well aware of that fact, Yog’s eyeball fixed me within its sight.

[It is but a pitiful struggle. With your power, you will not be able to stop my descent. Though now is not yet the time, I shall leave you a gift.]

With those words, a change came over the giant sky.

At that time, I did not realize it.

That the sand in the hourglass engraved at the entrance of the Integrated Rift I had entered had begun pouring down at tremendous speed, and at last emptied itself completely.

At the same time—

the entire rift shook violently, and something other than Yog began to stir.

Yog’s eerie presence faded, and the spiritist brats who had been unable to breathe and suffering drew in great breaths.

But—

the void left behind as that bastard’s presence vanished was filled by another overwhelming presence.

I knew the owner of this presence.

Because among all the foes I had met in Labyrinthos, it had been the strongest Ancient God-class entity.

“Tyrant, Room.”

[The Ancient God Tyrant Ruum awakens from slumber.]

[Before it escapes the tomb, extermination is strongly advised.]

The true nature of the Integrated Rift was none other than a tomb where an ancient monster had been sleeping.

Was what I had seen at the end of the labyrinth its throne?

“This is bad. For now… we should retreat…”

Perhaps because even Lispa sensed how ominous this was, she suggested retreat.

However, I took the Demon Sword in hand and slowly rose to my feet.

“Let’s kill it before we go. That thing.”

“Kill it?!”

Shock filled Lispa’s and Luna’s eyes, but it was not wrong.

To begin with, the Ancient God Tyrant Ruum was an Ancient God that had a cheesy workaround strategy.

In the case of the Ancient God Tyrant Ruum, unlike other Ancient God-class entities, even a time attack had been possible.

The fastest clear time had been… around ten minutes, was it?

Of course, to do it that easily, you needed a lot of hands, but well, wasn’t labor exactly what was lying around everywhere here?

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