novelraw Chapter 443
Chapter 443
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Chapter 443
“Move it, now! You don’t want to get crushed to death by that insane monster, do you?!”
There was no hesitation in the movements of the people rushing at high speed.
Whatever it was, if they couldn’t deal with that thing, they wouldn’t be able to get out.
That didn’t mean they had any confidence in fighting it themselves.
No one knew what method was being used, but seeing someone hold out this long against that giant in full plate armor, swinging a sword at an absurd speed, led everyone to the same conclusion—there was enough of a chance.
There was only one thing they had to do.
Eliminate the phantoms appearing all over the place.
Killing the phantoms themselves wasn’t difficult.
Finding them wasn’t particularly difficult either.
All that remained now was simply to pray that the gigantic monster would be subjugated.
“Now that I know the truth… it’s even more astonishing.”
Yumid of the Spiritists’ Club muttered quietly.
Unlike the others, they were in a position where they could observe Leon’s battle from a high vantage point.
Because of that, they could see and feel the situation far more vividly.
“How long do you think you’d last in there?”
“I couldn’t even see the sword being swung. But with a weapon that heavy… I’d be dead in one strike.”
“It’s not just Leon Cascadia. The other two are ridiculous too.”
“What are they? That… those aren’t wings, are they?”
“This might be a stretch, but I heard a rumor in the Holy Kingdom before. Something about a Archangel descending or whatever.”
“Come on. A Archangel? That’s going too far.”
“Is it?”
Whatever the case, if this subjugation succeeded, the entire field of monster studies would be turned upside down.
Regardless of what that giant clad in massive armor really was.
* * *
Seeing Ruum speak while staring at Leon with violet light burning in his eyes, Luna was swallowed into silence.
Authority?
An Authority imitating a human?
At least in Luna’s eyes, Leon was a complete human.
Even if he now possessed transcendent power that could no longer be considered human, his very foundation was undeniably human.
He had parents, and even his physical composition was that of a human.
In other words, what Ruum was saying was nothing but nonsense.
Normally, one would think that.
But for some reason, it was difficult to just dismiss it.
Luna herself had thought a great deal about Leon.
Various other factors—such as Leon possessing unexpected powers—weren’t actually that important.
What puzzled Luna the most was, in fact, the Authority of Thanatos.
In other words… the truth behind the Authority of Death.
No matter how she thought about it, the process by which Leon obtained the Authority of Death didn’t quite align with her common sense.
How was that even possible?
Leon had displayed so many strange behaviors that she had simply accepted it without question, trusting him—but when examined closely, it was the most incomprehensible phenomenon.
Leon’s strength? Sure. That could be attributed to talent. Even if he claimed he didn’t want it, one could believe effort had been involved.
But—
Acquiring the Authority of Death like that made no sense.
Lost in complicated thoughts, Luna shifted the direction of her thinking.
Leon’s origin is an Authority?
If it were an Authority that gained self-awareness and imitated a soul, that would mean it took the place of a human soul within the body called Leon Cascadia and was born into the world.
Frankly speaking, from beginning to end, it was nothing but absurdity.
To begin with, an Authority shouldn’t even be capable of such a thing, nor should it be able to possess will.
It was as if… a Archangel without a self had somehow gained one.
“Haah…”
Taking a short breath, Luna spoke to Leon.
“Leon. There’s a lot I want to ask that thing after we catch it.”
“Really? Then should we capture it alive first?”
“That seems best. But unless we deal with it, there’s no way out anyway…”
“Let’s catch it and think afterward.”
His tone was so casual, as if he were suggesting they go out for a stroll.
At that point, the atmosphere of the three shifted.
Ruum took a step back, becoming extremely wary of the three of them.
“So that’s how it is.”
—How dare you… show such arrogance before me!!
To the three, Ruum was no longer a dangerous hostile entity.
It was merely a black box from which they could extract information they did not yet know.
As the enraged Ruum began explosively releasing a chilling aura from his entire body, not only the ground but even the air trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
And then—his violet gaze flaring violently, he began to move at a speed different from before.
It was a strange change for something that hadn’t yet recovered its phantoms, but Leon maintained a relaxed attitude, as if he already knew.
“That thing… it’s starting to burn itself. If we just leave it, it’ll self-destruct.”
He paused briefly, then shrugged.
“Either way, we need to break open the exit. I’ll use a sealing technique right before that. Buy me ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?”
Setting aside whether sealing an Ancient God was even possible, it was an unusually long time considering Leon’s usual standards.
At Luna’s question, Leon gave a bitter smile.
“That one’s not easy.”
If sealing were that simple, there would’ve been no need to go through such a complicated battle.
With that, Leon took out an ordinary flute from subspace and began to play.
A melody, slightly different from what Lispa produced, spread out and seeped into Luna and Lispa.
Luna lightly clenched and unclenched her fist, then nodded.
Soon after, Luna, Lispa, and Ruum all began attacking each other at once, as if by mutual agreement.
* * *
Ruum’s movements were powerful beyond belief for something of such massive size.
The sword it swung tore through the air as it flew toward Leon.
Perhaps judging Leon to be the most dangerous, it aimed for him whenever an opening appeared.
Kagagagagak!!! Jjeo-eong!!
However, neither Lispa nor Luna would simply stand by and watch.
The power of Lispa’s melody took the attack head-on.
“...Tch.”
But perhaps realizing it wouldn’t be easy, Ruum immediately twisted its wrist, redirecting the strike so the sword slammed uselessly into the ground.
Thump!!!
Then Luna lightly stepped onto the sword as if weightless and began running up it at incredible speed, climbing as if scaling a wall.
—You rat-like bitch!
Irritated, Ruum tried to grab Luna with its other hand.
But Luna slipped out of its grasp effortlessly, moving as if her feet were stuck to a surface, performing acrobatics.
Even after that, Luna’s movements were astonishingly precise and skilled.
In an instant, she reached its shoulder armor and clenched her fist.
Her base strength was already immense, but the buff infused throughout her body made it even stronger.
With a thunderous roar that seemed to tear the eardrums, a sonic boom erupted, and Ruum’s massive body staggered and was pushed back.
From afar, it looked as if a gigantic shockwave had suddenly struck and shoved its body away.
For Ruum, who had rarely encountered anyone capable of opposing him, it was infuriating.
Of course, it could sense the hateful aura of Lucifer from Luna and Lispa—but its instincts told it that the unknown entity over there had to be killed first.
Some strange power that thing was preparing?
No.
It wasn’t that.
Its very existence was chilling.
Especially… something pulsing deep within it absolutely could not be left alone.
That was why it prioritized Leon as its primary target.
But no matter how grotesque that existence was, attacks had to land first.
Still stuck in its weakened state, the only things Ruum possessed were its overwhelming size and the strength and speed that came with it.
But as damage accumulated, even that gradually diminished.
Thud—!!!
While evading Luna’s relentless assault, Ruum seized an opening and grabbed Luna while she was momentarily defenseless after attacking.
—Got you! You rat-like thing!
Fast as she was, once caught, there was no escape.
Ruum immediately tightened its grip, intending to crush her.
But—
—Wh… what?!
“I don’t know about anything else, but I’m pretty strong.”
Incredibly, Luna began prying open its massive hand with her bare hands.
Clearly, Ruum was being overpowered in pure strength.
—A monster?!
Even as it tried to crush her, Luna used its hand as a foothold and leapt up again, forcing Ruum to step back.
And that movement became a fatal opening.
Luna’s fist once again struck Ruum’s massive helmet.
This time, a visible crack spread across the helmet, and Ruum staggered, clutching its face with one hand.
Madness filled its violet gaze as its killing intent toward Luna pressed down on the surroundings.
Screams echoed across the field, but it paid them no mind.
It didn’t care about the lesser insects crushed by the aftermath of its power.
What mattered was eliminating the monsters before it.
After finally returning to life, it refused to die again!
With that thought repeated over and over, Ruum raised its greatsword with both hands.
Its target was Luna.
Luna tried to move out of its trajectory—but hesitated.
Because at the end of that attack path stood Leon, gathering an ominous force.
It wouldn’t be easy to block.
But if she dodged, Leon would take the hit directly.
Luna’s expression twisted.
Of course, Lispa also moved to interfere, but compared to Luna, her attacks weren’t particularly threatening.
As if entering a super armor state, Ruum ignored the barrage of attacks and began to infuse its sword with black energy.
“R-run away!!!”
“What the hell?!”
Shouts rang out from distant humans.
Ruum did not hesitate.
The strike it unleashed was stronger, sharper, and faster than any before.
As the sword tore through space, about to reach Luna midair—
[Translator - Night]
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Crack!
With that sound, the space along its trajectory split apart as if a sea were being divided.
Wooooong!!!
Because of that—
Ruum’s strike lost its target, disappearing into the torn void and destroying something else instead.
—You!!
Ruum’s gaze turned to Leon, who held a sword in one hand.
He had not moved until now, and now he stood there holding a red sword in both hands, looking up.
Didn’t he need more time?
Damn it—it was a bluff.
Ruum had assumed Leon wouldn’t be able to act for at least ten minutes.
But… it was something that could’ve been questioned with a bit of thought.
Behind Leon, a massive, unknown magic circle had already formed, standing vertically and flickering.
That wasn’t magic.
But once that activated, it would be over.
With that realization, Ruum charged toward Leon, shaking the ground.
At that moment, Leon spoke.
“Grivy. Gigantification.”
At his words, a cluster of white light flickered around him, taking the form of a small girl.
Then the girl ran forward with quick little steps, soon becoming enveloped in light.
“Thump!!”
She grew even larger than Ruum itself and struck its entire body with a soft, white hand.
Under that overwhelming physical force that seemed to crush space itself, Ruum’s massive body collapsed and slammed into the ground.
A spirit?
A spirit with this much power?
Impossible.
This, too, had clearly surpassed normal limits.
Ruum’s body no longer moved according to its will.
I… who was once feared by all… called the King… the Tyrant… am reduced to this by mere insects?
What emanated from the giant spirit was nothing but raw physical power.
“Ahahahahat!”
Giggling, Grivy smashed Ruum down, then—before one could react—shrunk again and fell to the ground as if she had exhausted all her strength.
But the falling girl was immediately caught by a chick that flew up into the air, grabbing the back of her neck and swiftly retreating from the battlefield.
—Krrrgh…
Ruum tried to move again.
But the moment the magic circle behind Leon clicked into motion—
A massive magic circle manifested beneath Ruum’s body, pressing down on it entirely.
—KRAAAAAAAAH!!! This can’t be!! This cannot be!!
The more it struggled, the tighter the sealing bound it.
No matter how it resisted, it was restrained like an insect caught in a spider’s web.
And then—
Leon stepped onto Ruum’s chest and looked down at it.
—Don’t look at me… you monster! Don’t look at me with those eyes!! I am a king! I am a tyrant! The immortal king who can carve mountains—!
“You know immortality becomes impossible once all the phantoms are destroyed.”
Leon spoke calmly as he thrust his hand into its chest.
Thud!!
Then he pulled out something like a small amber gem from within.
Ruum’s very essence was sealed within that tiny amber-like object.
Pssshhhhh…
Ruum’s entire body crumbled like sand and began to collapse.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you easily.”
Ruum’s screams didn’t last long.
It was the sealing of a newly resurrected Ancient God.
* * *
The gate leading out of the Integrated Rift opened once more.
Many explorers who had sensed something was wrong and entered stared in shock at the silent ruins before them.
“What the hell… is this?”
The history of the Integrated Rift wasn’t that long.
But something like this—they had never seen in their lives.
“What on earth… happened here?”
When they grabbed a wounded explorer and asked, the man looked at his companions before letting out a sigh.
“I don’t know. Whether I was dreaming… or seeing illusions.”
“What?”
“If I tried to explain it in words, I’d bet my arm people would call me insane.”
It was an absurd answer.
Beyond the horizon, a massive sword scar split the land.
Around a huge crater, as if the earth had been crushed, were dozens of craters of various sizes.
And beyond that, countless enormous sword marks, as if carved by a blade tens of meters long.
Even just looking at the traces, it made no sense that anyone had survived whatever created them.
“Who was it? What in the world came out here?”
“I heard it was the true boss of the Integrated Rift.”
“The boss? It shouldn’t have been something capable of this level of destruction.”
“That was a misunderstanding. It’s hard to even describe. See that?”
He pointed at the massive scar cutting across the horizon.
“That…?”
“That’s the trace of a single strike exchanged between the boss and the one who subjugated it.”
A single swing of a sword created that?
As disbelief spread, the reinforcements asked:
“Then who defeated that monster?”
“What we did was just clearing out mobs. That thing was taken down by only three people.”
“What?! Then where are those people?!”
“No idea. They disappeared after that. Oh—and I heard the Integrated Rift itself will close soon. They said to get out within a few days at most.”
The explorers and adventurers who had come as reinforcements were left speechless.
* * *
While the explorers handled the aftermath—
I and the others gathered in a small, secluded cave, staring at Ruum’s sealed core.
I stood with my arms crossed, a small amber sphere placed before me.
“Well then. Let’s continue what we were talking about.”
—…
“You’re not going to talk?”
Kkwwajijijik!!!!
At the end of some unknown device, a sharp tip jabbed into the amber with a thunk, causing it to tremble violently with a humming sound.
—Krrgh?! Damn it…
“Seems ready now. Go ahead and ask.”
At my words, Luna slowly approached.
And asked:
“Tell me everything. Everything about Leon.”
—Why should I?
“There’s plenty of time. Let’s see who lasts longer—you or me. But if you talk properly, I’ll let you go without pain.”
—You expect me to cooperate with someone who plans to kill me?
Though it spoke that way, Ruum’s voice was oddly cheerful.
—Fine. The victor deserves the victor’s privilege. Go ahead—hear the truth and wrestle with it alone.
Ruum’s voice echoed.
—You. You are not human. You are an Authority formed by the fusion of two cores of Authority. And despite being such an Authority, you imitated a human soul and were born as a human.
“What…?”
—You are the most alien existence in the world. The farthest thing from life, yet you claim to be a living being. And not just claim it—you are nearly identical in every aspect. Form, self… An Authority with no shape or identity becoming a human child? Heh.
At Ruum’s mockery, Luna frowned.
“The Leon I know is not like that.”
—You cannot deceive my eyes. Even now, something unknown is pulsing within your subconscious. Heh… Yes. If it had remained silent… I might not have noticed. But once it began to pulse, it could no longer escape my sight.
In the midst of the confusion, I looked at Luna.
She returned my gaze with a complicated expression.
“If what it says is true, several things fall into place.”
“Luna?”
“Leon. How did you say you obtained the Authority of Death?”
“While breaking through my limits, using Thanatos ritual magic?”
“That’s normally impossible. I overlooked it because Leon often defies norms—but if what that thing says is true, everything makes sense.”
She paused, then looked at me with calm, starlit eyes.
“Do you remember when that thieving pigeon first saw you and called you Adam?”
“Oh? Yeah.”
“I did the same. Because Leon bore an uncanny resemblance to Adam.”
“Right. When I first heard Leon’s voice, I mistook him for Adam.”
Was Leon Adam’s reincarnation?
Or perhaps his descendant?
There had been no clear answer.
“If what this thing says is true, then Leon is an Authority created from the power of Adam and Eve—one that imitated a soul and self, and was born as a human.”
The God of Death, Adam, created something unknown for some purpose.
And that Authority didn’t just imitate a human—it was born as one.
That… was me.
“I’m… not my parents’ biological child?”
“In terms of physical bloodline, you are. But your origin is fundamentally different from a normal soul that goes through reincarnation. Leon is the eldest son of Cascadia, half of Adam—and essentially Adam’s child.”
Unbelievable.
So my parents aren’t just two… but four?
What a joke.
At that moment—
A voice different from Ruum’s was heard.
Lucifer’s.
—Strange. It’s possible, but for something like that to begin pulsing as it does now, it would require an immense amount of time. Yet the you I see has only gone through a few cycles of reincarnation like an ordinary human. If all assumptions are correct, you must have spent an enormous amount of time somewhere.
—Lucifer?!
Hearing that voice, Ruum sounded shocked.
It seemed Lucifer’s voice was audible to others as well.
—Silence, Ruum. I did not grant you permission to speak.
Lucifer’s voice turned back to me.
—At this point, shouldn’t you reveal what you’ve been hiding?
“Why should I trust you?”
—The choice is yours. But I’m not in a position to do anything anyway. And who knows—I might provide an answer.
I closed my eyes.
Right.
I never intended to hide this from Luna forever.
Lucifer was suspicious—but his words had a point.
At the very least, I needed to know what this thing pulsing inside me was.
I strengthened the seal on Ruum, blocking its hearing.
Then I revealed fragments about Labyrinthos.
At my words, the two Archangels fell silent, staring at me with shocked and sorrowful eyes.
Then Lucifer spoke.
—The answer is clear. That space was a womb for your essence to fully form. Simply put, by going through it, what lies within you has begun to truly awaken.
If that was true, then I had only become complete after leaving Labyrinthos.
In the end, the memories of the halls I experienced there were merely additional constructs I created to defeat Yog.
The true purpose of Labyrinthos lay elsewhere.
However, if that were the case, then the Hall of Martial God—my essence—should have been active even when I existed in the Closed World.
Because that version of me had also experienced all of Labyrinthos.
That question was quickly resolved.
—Even so, that alone wouldn’t be enough…
After a brief silence, Lucifer sharply inhaled.
—My word… you rewound time. Countless times. No wonder the Main God remained silent.
I instinctively understood his words.
What my past self in the Closed World had said—that this would be the last time.
Unlike before, this was the first time the Hall of Martial God had activated.
“Then… is this the key to killing Yog?”
—We won’t know until we open it. It seems locked for now… you’ll need a key. What did Adam, the being who created the essence of your soul, leave behind?
If it was something he left behind… the pendant he gave Luna… the demonic sword Elekstra, presumed to belong to Adam… and—
“Fate Lord.”
Luna’s lips moved.
The ring she had searched for so desperately.
[Translator - Night]
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