Chapter 58

Chapter 58

The vision of every person present was stolen by an overwhelming, pure white radiance.

As their senses gradually returned, the mercenaries and Alon saw…

“……!”

An enormous crater.

The space was empty.

The vegetation that had covered the ground…

And the ancient ruins that had stood upon it were now utterly erased.

Even Argonia and Maverick, who had been near him, were gone without a remnant.

At the very center of that devastation stood…

An Outer God, a dark smile twisting the corners of his mouth.

Despair began to contort the faces of the mercenaries.

Myaon, her bow still in hand, and Himan, who had been mid-incantation, stared in stunned silence.

Then,

Grinning-!

The Outer God took action.

“…..”

Appearing without warning before the paralyzed Himan, the Outer God swept his hand horizontally, a gesture of casual execution.

Understanding the lethal intent behind that movement, Himan threw himself backward to evade the unseen cut and immediately attempted to Blink away.

But then,

“How will you evade an attack from above?”

With a tone of mockery, his hand chopped downward.

Crack-!

The moment Himan’s body was cloven in two and collapsed,

The Outer God was already beside Myaon.

“Gasp!”

The instant she saw Himan fall, Myaon had nocked an arrow and was about to loose it as he appeared.

“Khak-!”

But before the string could be released, a vicious kick from the Outer God sent her hurtling into the ruins opposite.

“Now, you are the last.”

Kailas spoke, his smile sinister.

***

With all four guild masters defeated before they could mount a meaningful resistance, the battle’s conclusion was inevitable.

For Alon, this was the most disastrous scenario.

His strategy had collapsed from the outset.

The Ice Crystal Cascade, which had consumed nearly all his magical energy, had left the enemy unscathed.

The guild masters, meant to buy him time to prepare his spells, were all neutralized.

Alon’s gaze dropped briefly.

Two empty potion vials lay rolling near his feet.

Having ingested two mana potions, gambling with the peril of magical addiction, his limited mana reserves were refilling at a frantic rate.

But even as his mana grew, his mind failed to produce a solution.

Confronting the Outer God with his plans in ashes was a staggering prospect.

A more profound problem was the magic itself.

‘I have never witnessed that spell before.’
Alon had confronted Kailas numerous times within Psychedelia and was intimately familiar with his capabilities and known spells.

The guild masters had managed to endure against the Outer God precisely because this knowledge provided a critical edge.

Yet the incantation-based magic Kailas had just employed was unknown to Alon.

His informational superiority had evaporated.

That was not the only concern.

“…That is magic.”

Alon felt a wave of despair as he observed the barren crater behind him.

Though the fundamental principles might be shared, and the same words and phrases used, the Outer God’s magic was of a completely different quality from his own.

In essence, from skill to intelligence to planning, he was at an overwhelming disadvantage. Even the mercenaries had lost their will to fight, merely gazing up at the Outer God in resignation.

In this hopeless situation, where only death seemed certain, Alon looked at the Outer God, who appeared to be taunting him.

He was quiet for a long moment, then…

“Glory of the Snowy Mountains.”

He began his incantation.

“Crystallize.”

At Alon’s command, the atmosphere coalesced once more, forming dozens of shimmering motes.

“Rotation.”

With the next phrase, the particles began to spin in a clockwise direction.

Grin-!

Kailas, his dark smile unwavering, gestured with his fingers.

A simple, lateral sweep.

But…

Crack-!

‘There is still a chance.’
The invisible slash directed at Alon collided with one of the floating particles and froze solid upon impact.

“Rine, assist me.”

The conflict began anew.

***

In a duel between mages, many elements were involved, but two were paramount.

The first was the velocity of spellcasting.

The second was tactical foresight.

To overcome an opposing mage, one needed to anticipate which spells they would employ and how they would deploy them, then act a step ahead.

To seize the initiative, one also required a casting speed comparable to the opponent’s.

No matter the tactical superiority, if one’s casting speed was insufficient, there would be no capacity to counter.

From this perspective, Alon’s struggle against the Outer God appeared fated for failure.

Yet…

Swish~!!

Alon had Rine at his side, deflecting the invisible slashes that penetrated his rapidly depleting magical defenses.

Crack-!!

Even after conjuring more than three defensive spells, Rine continued to intercept the unseen attacks, nimbly navigating the dwindling magical field.

Alon could feel his hands shaking.

By now, over five empty mana potion bottles littered the ground, and his skin had taken on a distinct blue tint.

The symptoms of mana addiction.

His heart hammered violently in his chest, and his mana pool was regenerating at an abnormal speed, enabling him to cast yet another spell.

Crack-!

But the moment it formed, a slash immediately shattered it.

In that brief opening, Kailas materialized directly in front of Alon as if he had been anticipating it.

“Huh-”

Swish~!

Chains suddenly shot forth, forcing the Outer God to retreat and create distance, from which he launched another spell.

It was the play of a cat with a mouse.

With the demeanor of an absolute being observing Alon’s final, desperate struggles, he could have ended it at any moment but chose instead to toy with him.

Yet, despite this humiliation, Alon’s mind was not filled with rage, but with a chilling, calculated logic.

In that state,

“Crystallize.”

Once more, Alon maintained his defense.

Defend,

Defend,

Defend,

Defend.

As if he possessed no strength left for offense.

Unnoticed, the blue hue that had spread from his fingertips now reached his shoulders as he continued to block the assaults.

This desperate struggle, more akin to a final, stubborn refusal, was witnessed by all.

Some watched with eyes full of despair.

Some with disappointment.

Some with vacant frustration.

Everyone was watching.

Still, in the face of it, Alon relentlessly parried the strikes.

As if this were his last stand.

With his eyes, now blue from mana addiction, weeping blood,

He simply continued to weave the only magic permitted to him.

And then,

Just as the chains wielded by Rine, who had been defending him, finally shattered.

Grin-

Kailas smiled, as if he had been waiting for this very moment.

‘Now.’
With a fleeting thought.

“Crystallize.”

Once again, Alon raised the particles to obstruct Kailas’s view—

“Ice and Snow.”

—But this time, he spoke different words.

The mana gathering before him formed a seal, and a white frost began to cling to it.

“Form.”

The frost swiftly amplified its power, spreading out around Alon.

“Glory of the Snowy Mountains.”

The phrase, forced out as Alon choked back the blood rising in his throat, conjured a massive hexagonal crystal before him.

“The inevitable… of the blind—”

The hexagonal crystal expanded rapidly, consuming the surrounding air, and shaped itself into a spear, just as before.

No, it was something so exquisite it could not merely be called a spear.

But Alon, suppressing the blood flooding his mouth, did not speak the final words.

‘This is insufficient.’
This was the moment that offered the greatest likelihood of victory over the Outer God.

He had consumed every mana potion he had saved for this occasion.

Despite his limited mana reserves, he had sustained a near-fatal war of attrition.

And with that, he had successfully lured Kailas into overconfidence.

His body, now bordering on total collapse, had triggered another pre-established restriction.

A limitation that allowed him to warp the world’s laws when casting magic at the brink of death.

Now, all that remained was to prepare the final, killing blow for Kailas, concealed behind the ice that had blocked the slash.

But Alon knew.

This alone would not be enough.

Even so, the reason Alon cast this spell was because of what it had said.

The subsequent stage of the natural order.

The manifestation of true essence.

‘But, ultimately, you still comprehend nothing.’
Alon remembered the Outer God’s words.

Undoubtedly, his statement had referred to that.

And so, Alon had to achieve it.

The ultimate, inescapable technique that could strike when the Outer God was vulnerable.

It had to be manifested here and now.

‘Think.’
His thoughts accelerated.

His mind, threatening to rupture from mana addiction, frenziedly generated and discarded countless concepts at once.

The maddening rhythm of his heartbeat thundered incessantly in his chest.

It felt as though his brain were melting from the agony.

Still, he did not cease.

Sifting through every conceivable notion, Alon sought a clue that would lead him to the next stage of the natural order.

And in that moment.

[It is the seal.]

A voice resonated within Alon’s consciousness.

[Delusion and enlightenment are one in origin.]

[When you arrive, you will obtain the key.]

Having spoken these words, accompanied by a black ripple, the speaker vanished, as if its purpose was fulfilled.

Before Alon could even discern its nature, he had discovered the final component to advance. Without a second thought, he released the seal he held and fashioned a new one.

He clasped his right hand over his left, extending only his index fingers and pressing them together.

The completed seal: the Wisdom Fist Mudra.

And then,

Alon saw it.

The spear, which moments before had been adorned with beautiful patterns, began to contort in an unnatural way, transforming into the shape of a key.

Simultaneously—

“!”

As the ice dissipated, the previously relaxed countenance of the Outer God came back into view.

His earlier nonchalance vanished, his expression hardening. As if realizing the preceding struggle had been mere sport, he materialized before Alon and reached out without hesitation.

“I”

Swish~!

As if it had been poised from the beginning, Rine’s chain lashed out to intercept the Outer God in front of Alon.

In that instant, a new variable was introduced.

The Outer God instantly redirected his attention toward Rine, who had exposed herself to protect Alon, and flicked his fingers.

“Ah.”

A soft gasp escaped Rine, anticipating her death.

But,

Alon, who had already foreseen this outcome, seized her garment and pulled her toward him.

Swoosh-!

The slash whistled past them, barely missing.

“_”

In exchange, Alon’s hand, which had drawn her to safety, erupted in a spray of blood. Yet without pause, he formed the Wisdom Fist Mudra once more.

“Ice Crystal Spear.”

He uttered the final phrase.

The key slotted into the giant crystal, turning—

And in an instant, a glacier engulfed the plains.