Chapter 171

Chapter 171

Floor 58 of the Tower.

Locating the descent into the underworld of the fiends wasn’t particularly difficult.

It took roughly three days of journeying.

Soon enough, their path terminated at a massive gateway.

The genuine threshold opening into the demon realm.

“Your abilities are truly remarkable.”

Eila, the Champion herself, raised her hands in a gesture of complete concession.

His battle prowess was staggering, he bridged every deficiency in their ranks, and he had steered their course to the fiendish domain with unerring accuracy.

Had it really been necessary to remain suspicious of him?

In all honesty, she had gained immense insight.

The trail had been clear of fiends and monsters, presenting instead a labyrinth of diverse snares and mechanical puzzles, providing ample opportunity for instruction.

Drill Sarge, was that his title?

Every piece of advice he offered cut right through years of plateaued progress like a sharp edge. It was as if he had plumbed the depths of her mind, identified her exact obstacles, and presented the solution on a platter.

She wasn’t an isolated case. The Paladin Commander bore a similarly gratified expression.

“Alright, the threshold is right ahead. Brace yourselves.”

Baek Jinwoo advanced with a confident smirk.

A trail stained the color of gore.

Positioned at the vanguard, Baek Jinwoo and Rachel exchanged a knowing glance.

As though following a prearranged script, both came to a halt in front of their respective mechanisms.

Three, two, one.

“Begin.”

Screeech!

They threw both handles downward at the exact same moment.

RUUUUMMMMBLLE……!

The earth trembled beneath them as a heavy metallic screech echoed through the cavernous space.

The mechanisms locked into place, and the immense barrier began to part.

“Ah.”

“Ohhhhh.”

The watching Paladins murmured with mounting anticipation.

GLEAM!

A suffocating crimson radiance spilled through the widening fracture.

Wshhhhh!

An icy gust blew past their positions, bearing the distinct aroma of the abyssal waste.

“……There it is.”

Eila gulped nervously.

“The domain of the fiends……”

The firmament was unlike any sky she had ever observed.

Saturated completely in a hue of deep blood, it shifted and throbbed as if it possessed a heartbeat of its own.

— SCREEEEEEECH!

— ROAAAAAAAAR!

Unnatural shrieks tore through the air beneath that canopy.

Grizzly screams, ripped from the throats of countless fiends, reverberated and battered against their eardrums.

Predatory.

Deformed cries.

“You’ve all restrained yourselves long enough, haven’t you? The real conflict starts now.”

Baek Jinwoo let go of the handle.

Floor 59 of the Tower.

A grand engagement against the fiendish host.

They would have to endure a punishing war of attrition against that limitless multitude.

“Everyone.”

Shhh.

The Champion lifted her immaculate pale lance, and sacred radiance began to stream outward in all directions.

— SHREEEEEEEEK!

The fiends’ wailing grew even more frantic when struck by the divine energy.

“IMPRINT UPON THOSE FOUL CREATURES — THE IDENTITY OF THEIR CONQUERORS! FORWARD!”

“WAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“ROAAAAAAAAAR!”

Thousands of Paladins and tens of thousands of combatants rushed across the threshold of the fiendish domain without a single doubt.

Abominations slammed into their defensive lines in immeasurable tides.

Centered on the gateway of the demon realm, a panoramic view would make the forces resemble hundreds of millions of insects blanketing a colossal carcass.

Snap!

Baek Jinwoo activated the device’s recording function once more.

There was no telling when he might escape this place.

But a spectacle of this magnitude? Only an idiot would fail to capture it.

— Onward!

Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish!

The moment the portal to the demon realm parted, Ramba’s accumulations vanished.

To regenerate them, she would need to brandish that implement as though her survival depended on it.

Cleave.

Drill Sarge’s edge sliced straight through the throat of an encroaching fiend.

SPURT!

Dark fluids geysered into the air.

Yet through the opening, a colossal abomination lunged forward with its jaws extended wide.

“Take cover!”

FLASH!

Eila’s lance punched a massive cavity right through the monster’s torso.

Naturally.

The pair operated in flawless harmony.

Indeed.

Baek Jinwoo offered a faint smile.

You must become formidable. Potent enough to pierce your weapon directly through Asmodeus’s core.

Aso, Rolly, Drill Sarge.

A single strike, a single expiration for each!

Boring through ribs or craniums, they combated the horde without a moment’s rest.

BLAAAZZE!

Stormy spun her draconic-crested staff, splashing the theater of war in a magnificent exhibition of flames.

The greater the concentration of fiends and abominations, the more advantageous it proved for her.

Each individual foe represented another point toward her Dragon Burst accumulation!

“Phew.”

“Their numbers are truly staggering.”

Baek Jinwoo and Rachel monitored the engagement from a central vantage point.

Holding the status of a participant didn’t imply one could merely act as an observer.

The majority of these adversaries were minor monsters or low-tier fiends, but occasionally, genuine powerhouses were interspersed within the ranks.

Fiends who answered directly to Asmodeus.

Detecting their arrival was paramount.

That was the primary purpose of Floor 59.

Time to move.

“Hah, pant!”

Eila Lunares drew a ragged breath and brandished her lance.

CRACK! Thud!

Each sweep impaled fiends like pieces on a skewer.

“YAAAAAAAH!”

And then.

Her trademark ability manifested.

WHIIIISH!

Sacred luminescence coalesced at the point of her weapon.

BANG!

The absolute moment it made contact with a fiend’s flesh—

BOOOOOOOM!

A catastrophic divine detonation consumed the surrounding foes alongside the target.

The designation of the ability: Skylight Lance.

It represented the celestial heights where the Creator resides.

Was her status as the Champion a fluke?

When facing fiends, her destructive output eclipsed Drill Sarge, Aso, Rolly, and even Stormy.

Unending cascades of radiance cascaded forward, not merely incinerating the encroaching fiends but dissolving them into nothingness.

Then, at that exact instant.

Bzzt!

What?

An abrupt, piercing ache assailed her skull.

As if a bolt of electricity had struck her, her perception shifted violently.

What is happening?

Like a flash searing through her consciousness, a sequence of events materialized without warning.

Recollections, sharp and unedited, unfolded within her thoughts.

……What?

She could perceive the agonizing weeping of her populace.

The Holy Kingdom was collapsing.

Pained shrieks echoed unceasingly from between the structures.

— Hold the perimeter! By the sacred light, DEFLECT ASMODEUS!

The stout Holy King was trembling violently as he shouted.

His tone fracturing with panic, as if he might break apart at any second.

Asmodeus?

Why was the Archfiend present within the Holy Kingdom……?

Just as the disorientation threatened to overwhelm her senses.

“REGAIN YOUR FOCUS!”

Drill Sarge’s shout echoed right beside her ear.

Her eyelids snapped upward. Directly adjacent to her position, a fiend was showing its teeth, springing straight toward her throat.

Drill Sarge buried his blade deep into the monster’s skull.

Then yanked it free.

“Why are you losing awareness?”

“……Forgive me.”

She spoke with sincerity.

Yet Eila shook her head to clear it.

What was the meaning of that sequence just now?

The inexplicable illusions only persisted as moments ticked by.

They turned more distinct, more elaborate, and now she could experience the sentiments leaking through the visions.

Droplets of moisture rolled down her cheeks as she struck down the fiends.

The sensations of the current conflict she was participating in drifted away, supplanted by something far more oppressive — the sorrow of her own self sobbing beneath a disintegrating realm.

What was this.

What in the world was this.

Her hands shook.

The illusions intensified until they became indistinguishable from actual events, overtaking her intellect.

Ultimately.

She had no option but to cease her movements.

“What is amiss?!”

The Paladin Commander hurried over, recognizing that something was fundamentally wrong.

“……I require a brief respite.”

She lowered her weapon.

And retreated toward the center.

To the spot where Baek Jinwoo stood.

What is occurring?

Why is she demonstrating this behavior?

Eila wasn’t the sole individual with internal queries.

Baek Jinwoo found himself equally unable to comprehend the situation.

“You look like you’re under an immense amount of strain?”

“Is it an illness?”

Rachel tilted her chin.

“An illness? Are you serious?”

Baek Jinwoo threw a skeptical glance her way.

Something significant was definitely transpiring, though.

Observing Eila weeping in that manner, she appeared completely shattered emotionally.

For the moment.

It was irrelevant in this specific timeframe.

The engagement was progressing favorably enough.

Stormy’s drive was absurdly outperforming expectations.

“Wow, she’s really exerting herself, isn’t she?”

— I appreciate the praise.

Stormy’s blazes leaped.

The immense Fire Dragon circling her form steadily widened its zone of devastation.

Owing to that support, the Paladins discovered the conflict becoming simpler by the minute.

Pat, pat.

He caressed Stormy’s locks.

“Hey, are you alright?”

He neared Eila, but she remained holding her skull, twisting in distress.

Damn.

She couldn’t afford to break down in this environment.

Recover your composure and grip the lance!

Asmodeus would manifest shortly!

Eila had perceived numerous sequences.

And comprehension dawned upon her.

I……

No.

We……

We had already faced total ruin.

At the hands of Asmodeus.

Based on her recollections, that was precisely the outcome that had transpired.

Far from liberating the three settlements, they had been cornered within the realm and utterly wiped out.

That monster.

Asmodeus had relished the tragic display to his absolute satisfaction before finally making his grand entrance.

Ah.

His contact was the embodiment of pure darkness.

A monstrous shadow blanketed the entire realm, consuming everything in its path.

Their meager remnants of sacred energy?

Extinguished like a flickering flame by a single exhalation of the fully realized Asmodeus.

— The Creator has…… forsaken us.

CRACK!

The Holy King’s cranium fractured, and his bulky form dropped lifelessly to the earth.

Eila had observed the entire sequence with vision saturated by hopelessness, and then……

She had lifted her lance to execute one concluding strike against Asmodeus…… No. She had attempted to do so.

But.

As if her weapon could ever hope to reach his form.

Correct.

I absolutely perished in that moment.

His talons had torn through her chest. She had witnessed her own life force spilling out before her awareness dissolved away.

Then what did this state of affairs represent?

Something had shifted.

Baek Jinwoo, and the individual named Rachel.

They had materialized.

Figures who possessed no existence in her recollections whatsoever.

Which indicated……

A grand opportunity.

A prospect to alter destiny.

She remained ignorant of the reason.

Perhaps it was a chance afforded by the divine.

Once her internal thoughts aligned, the chaos in her chest subsided.

The throbbing in her head began to diminish.

Eila unsealed her eyes and stood tall.

And there loomed a man observing her with deeply anxious expressions.

“Lord Baek Jinwoo.”

“Yes?”

“……You’ve stated it since the beginning. That I must plunge my lance directly into Asmodeus’s core.”

“That I have.”

Baek Jinwoo gave a firm nod.

Then.

“Please instruct me.”

Her hold on her weapon tightened.

The serenity that reassumed its place in Eila bore a vastly different quality than before.

Where once she had merely combated to eradicate wickedness, now there resided absolute desperation.

A burning determination to preserve someone had established its roots.

The history must never occur again.

If she could avoid that outcome alone……

She was prepared to execute any task.

If she was required to surrender her spirit to an individual?

She was braced for that consequence as well.

In reaction.

BURST!

Her sacred energy began to erupt even more fiercely.

“To eliminate that archfiend — convey to me the methodology.”

— I am uncertain of the precise cause, but it appears she has achieved an Awakening. Master.

“Awakening?”

Baek Jinwoo’s eyelids widened significantly.

What is the implication of that?

— It is a occurrence I am witnessing for the inaugural time as well. Analyzing the data cataloging itself within my consciousness…… It appears entities of S-tier or superior can attain an event designated as ‘Awakening’ when specific parameters are satisfied.

“……Is that so?”

A decade of playing Battle of Summoners, and he had never encountered such a concept.

Then again, the sole S-tier entity I ever possessed was the Armageddon Dragon.

“Rachel.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever caught wind of an Awakening?”

“……Negative?”

“Understood.”

Rachel possessed no awareness of it either.

Which signified?

This was a circumstance mankind was encountering for the absolute first time.

Nevertheless.

Was Eila considered a summon?

She very well might be.

Just as the Paladins in this location could conceivably be called forth by an individual, perhaps Eila operated as a summon too.

The probabilities were substantial.

Though possessing an S-tier status meant she would essentially never fade away even if you perished in the attempt.

— When an Awakening transpires, the core attributes themselves seem to alter fundamentally. Even within the identical tier, the variance in capability between an Awakened entity and a standard one is apparently monumental……

“Hmm. Substantially greater than the variance provided by runes?”

— Quite possibly, if conditions prove optimal.

“Huh.”

That brought forth an additional inquiry.

S-tier summons could experience Awakening.

So what occurred regarding an EX-tier?

I suppose I shall ascertain that answer as time progresses.

Regardless of the future.

Eila was gazing at him with an unblinking, anticipatory expression.

Exceedingly so.

“She’s requesting that you instruct her properly?”

— Affirmative.

Clink!

Drill Sarge returned his blade to its sheath.

The current engagement was being led by Stormy regardless.

— Asmodeus will manifest shortly, so I shall make this instruction concise.

Drill Sarge’s gaze intensified.