Chapter 513

Chapter 513

513

Having just unleashed a devastating volley of Annihilation, Luna kept her eyes locked on the spot where the Lich King stood.

‘There’s no way an attack like that would be enough to bring him down, right?’

The manifestation of Luna present here belonged to the golden age when the Great Heroes set out on their ultimate campaign.

In those days, the sheer personal strength of any single Great Hero easily surpassed that of the Legion Commanders, who served as the direct underlings of Erebus.

This superiority extended even to the Lich King Hel Kaiser, the absolute ruler of Tartarus.

‘But that logic only holds true for my peak condition.’

At this moment, Luna existed merely as a spiritual entity.

Her current form was kept stable only by weaving her own residual mana stored inside Kometes together with the mystical energies of Seyrun.

Operating under these heavy constraints placed severe limitations on her spellcasting capabilities.

‘Furthermore, that skeletal piece of trash has grown more formidable than he was 5000 years ago.’

It wasn’t difficult for Luna to deduce the source of his newly acquired might.

‘He undoubtedly drew this power from the shard of Erebus he carries within him.’

Weighing her current reserves against the Lich King’s aura, she pondered her chances.

‘Obliterating him in a direct clash of raw power might prove rather troublesome.’

As Luna thoughtfully pinched her chin.

Goooooooh-!

A malevolent wave of dark sorcery began to swell.

Observing this display, Luna’s gaze sharpened.

‘Ah, so he chose to consume that Legion Commander.’

Instantly perceiving that the Lich King’s strength had spiked dramatically, Luna let out a soft click of her tongue.

Hwarrruruk-!

The Lich King emerged from the shadows, his hand wreathed in the identical pitch-black fire that Eljenie had been wielding moments prior. Looking directly at him, Luna taunted,

“Turning on your own kind, how tragic. Though I suppose that’s exactly what one should expect from wretched fiends like you.”

“Your venomous tongue remains completely unchanged, even in the afterlife.”

“True legends remain unyielding in their principles, regardless of whether they are among the living or the dead.”

Luna replied with a subtle smirk, flicking her fingers.

Whiririririring-!

A bizarre, vibrating hum filled the atmosphere, and within seconds, hundreds of ethereal blades woven entirely from pure mana materialized in the surrounding space.

Demon-Slaying Sword.

This was a specialized spell Luna had originally developed specifically to neutralize the Lich King.

It functioned as the perfect countermeasure, designed to disintegrate the dark energies of the undead.

Unmoved by the display, the Lich King lifted his arm.

Gooooh-!

A dense, obsidian haze erupted from his palm.

With a swift wave of Luna’s hand, the massive volley of glowing blades plummeted toward the Lich King like a torrential storm.

Pububububububububung-!

In an instant, the descending Demon-Slaying Swords crashed violently into the Lich King’s dark fog and were entirely halted.

“Did you honestly believe the strategies you employed 5000 years ago would still be effective against me?”

“Yeah, it looks like they won’t cut it anymore.”

Tak-

Maintaining her composure, Luna reached out to grasp the final remaining Demon-Slaying Sword and channeled her mana into it.

Blink-!

The Lich King’s eyelids twitched as Luna vanished from his field of vision in the blink of an eye.

‘A spatial displacement spell?’

He immediately broadcasted a sensory pulse to scan the area for her magical signature.

In a flash.

Detecting a sudden, lethal presence directly behind him, the Lich King instantly triggered his own spatial movement magic to displace himself.

Sk-ak-!

The glowing edge of the Demon-Slaying Sword cut harmlessly through the empty air where he had just stood.

“Aw, how disappointing~”

Luna lazily swung the glowing blade back and forth, clicking her tongue in mock regret.

Staring at her, the Lich King’s eyes tightened.

‘Did she implement a temporal acceleration formula onto her existing spellcasting?’

This was far more complex than simply enhancing her physical speed.

She had quite literally manipulated the fabric of time to make her own personal timeline flow at an accelerated rate.

For a brief microsecond, Luna had asserted total authority over her own time.

‘A theoretical branch of magic that had not even been conceptualized 5000 years ago.’

The magical doctrines governing the acceleration of time had only been systematically established in very recent years.

Furthermore, it was a breakthrough achieved by a singular, extraordinary sorcerer who possessed an incredibly unique mana composition.

Even in the modern day, magic users capable of executing such advanced concepts remained exceedingly scarce.

‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.’

It was impossible to tell just how many individuals in this current era could replicate it.

However, the methodology behind her spellcraft was fundamentally distinct from what she used 5000 years ago.

‘I had already considered the possibility, but it seems most of the counterstrategies I formulated in anticipation of Luna Rubynance manifesting in this era will be entirely ineffective.’

During the previous winter season.

Ever since the Lich King received the devastating intelligence that the grand invasion meant to annihilate Seyrun had been utterly crushed by the sudden intervention of the Hero of the Beginning and the Primeval Ancestor of the Nebula, he had been meticulously developing contingency plans to deal with them.

It was undeniable that the historical Great Heroes were manifesting in this modern era by utilizing the Hero Record.

It was, quite literally, an intervention of miraculous proportions.

‘Yet, what has occurred once can easily happen a second time.’

Just as the Lich King had deduced, the legendary Great Heroes persisted in making their appearances across the world.

Arion the Brave had even succeeded in completely destroying one of Erebus’s shards before vanishing once more.

And at this very moment.

Standing right before his eyes was Luna, the legendary Primeval Ancestor of the Nebula.

‘It would be most accurate to assume that her mastery over magic has progressed a step beyond the historical records I possessed.’

Unwilling to hesitate, the Lich King unleashed a torrent of malevolent dark magic.

Kwagagagagagagaga-!

A massive shroud of abyssal energy raced forward, threatening to engulf Luna at an unbelievable velocity.

Reacting instantly, Luna invoked her temporal acceleration magic once more to slip away from the Lich King’s incoming strike.

While she could have easily bypassed the danger by utilizing spatial movement magic, she consciously chose to rely on her acceleration technique instead.

Closing the gap toward the Lich King at a blinding speed, Luna brought her palms together in a singular, sharp clap.

As she drew her hands back apart, a dazzling cascade of brilliant light fragments sprayed outward like a blast from a shotgun.

Kwagagagagang-!

A thunderous explosion rocked the battlefield.

However, the assault was entirely absorbed by a crimson-veined black protective barrier erected by the Lich King.

Hwarrruruk-!

Simultaneously, the Lich King’s arm underwent a grotesque transformation, warping into the skeletal limb of a colossal prehistoric behemoth.

Wreathed in raging black flames, the skeletal beast opened its massive jaws wide, lunging forward to swallow Luna whole.

Hwaak-!

Luna deftly leaped backward, creating a safe distance between them once more.

“How incredibly tedious.”

The Lich King let out an irritated click of his tongue.

The Monster Queen Shilathuna, the Giant King Gias, and several others like them.

Those particular Legion Commanders were entities who specialized entirely in direct, close-quarters combat.

To categorize them by human standards, they fit squarely into the Knight and Warrior archetypes.

In stark contrast, the Lich King belonged firmly to the Summoner and Mage archetypes, dedicating his existence to the mastery of conjuration and complex sorcery.

Yet, Luna had been persistently forcing the Lich King into a frantic melee struggle.

The rationale behind her actions was straightforward.

Luna possessed terrifying combat proficiency even at point-blank range.

She was more than capable of completely overriding a spellcaster who relied on conventional, long-distance magical duel tactics.

When it came to purely avoiding attacks, spatial distortion spells undoubtedly provided the highest level of safety.

Nevertheless, Luna deliberately abstained from utilizing spatial displacement.

The Lich King followed the exact same logic.

It wasn’t because engaging in a chaotic dogfight filled with constant teleportation was beyond their capabilities.

For entities of their caliber, shifting through dimensions was child’s play.

However, spatial displacement carried a critical, unavoidable vulnerability.

Short-range teleportation fundamentally relies on compressing and folding the fabric of physical space.

Because of this mechanic, the exact coordinates where a person will reappear can inevitably be calculated and anticipated by a sufficiently skilled opponent.

Under normal circumstances, performing such complex calculations during the heat of a high-speed battle would be a logical impossibility. However, Luna was universally revered as the most brilliant spellcaster in the entire history of magic, while the Lich King had reigned for millennia as the most terrifying master of curses and sorcery within Tartarus.

To avoid having her ultimate destination read and falling victim to a devastating pre-emptive counterattack, Luna refrained from using spatial magic, while the Lich King opted to remain firmly entrenched behind his localized defensive wards.

“Do you intend to keep dragging out this irritating battle of attrition?”

“You bet.”

Luna offered a playful, subtle grin.

Luna was operating under a strict time limit; the moment her current reservoir of mana was fully depleted, her spiritual form would inevitably dissolve into nothingness.

The Lich King was acutely aware of this limitation.

‘If she were completely free of restrictions, she would have unleashed her full power from the very beginning.’

Regrettably for him, however, the flow of time was ultimately working in Luna’s favor.

‘The surviving hero.’

Jjeojeok-! Jjeojeojeojeok-!

Leo, who remained confined within the isolated domain of the Mirror Queen, was currently battering against the walls of that world to force his way out.

“Do you comprehend the foundational difference between those of us who strive to bring about the end of this world, and you fools who desperately struggle to preserve it? Luna Rubynance.”

“Why on earth should I care about what a literal sack of dry bones thinks!”

Luna’s eyes flared with sudden intensity.

For a split second, an intricate pentagram materialized directly within her irises.

Pachijijijijijij-!

The layered defensive barriers shielding the Lich King instantly shattered into formless particles.

She had instantaneously analyzed the entire structural formula of his defensive spell and reverse-engineered a specialized disruption wave to tear it apart.

Luna lunged forward to close the distance once more.

Anticipating her movement, the Lich King pulled his lips back into a cold, mocking smirk.

Goooooooh-!

An overwhelming, suffocating pressure of dark magic erupted from the Lich King’s body.

Kugugugugugugung-!

As the Lich King raised his skeletal hand toward the heavens, the shattered ruins and massive blocks of debris scattered across Lumeria City levitated high into the clouds.

Luna paused mid-stride, her expression tightening.

“Those who seek destruction merely need to obliterate everything within their field of vision, but those who claim to be guardians are forced to expend their strength protecting everything they look upon.”

Tookwagagagak-!

“Ugh!”

Luna immediately redirected her mana to cast a wide-scale protection spell.

The massive downpour of falling debris was instantly frozen mid-air by the sheer force of the telekinetic magic she deployed to shield the citizens below.

With a forceful swing of her arms, Luna hurled the massive collection of boulders and rubble far outside the city limits.

Seizing the vulnerability, the Lich King thrust his hand forward.

Goooooooh-!

An inferno of pitch-black flames completely swallowed Luna’s position.

Just as the dark fire threatened to reduce her spiritual form to ash.

Flash-

A monumental, intricate magic array materialized directly from the palm of Luna’s hand.

“Stella Radius.”

The moment her signature, unparalleled spell reached completion, a blinding beam of pure starlight carved a long, devastating path through the sky, surging directly toward the Lich King.

Kwakwagagagak-!

The absolute destructive force of the beam completely vaporized the entire left half of the Lich King’s torso.

Kkwadeuk- Kkwadeuddeudeuk-!

Yet, with a sickening crunch of regenerating marrow, the Lich King’s mangled form began to knit itself back together flawlessly.

Watching the horrific regeneration, Luna knit her brows in disgust.

“Ugh, no matter how many times I see that, it never stops being utterly revolting. You just refuse to stay dead.”

“You of all people should understand this perfectly, Luna Rubynance. I am an entity that has already moved past death.”

The Lich King’s smirk widened.

“So long as my absolute core remains unharmed, I possess true immortality.”

“Right, you’re built on the exact same basic framework as those low-tier, common liches.”

Luna let out a dismissive sneer.

The Lich King kept his vital core hidden within his physical person at all times.

However, actually tracking it down and shattering it was an astronomical task.

‘As the focal point of his entire magical existence, that core is unimaginably durable, and he possesses the ability to instantly shift its location within his body at any given microsecond.’

Luna’s expression darkened further.

Staring down at her, the Lich King let out a low chuckle.

“The exact same principle applies to your current state, Luna Rubynance.”

“What did you say?”

“Have you truly forgotten? You, too, are nothing more than a ghost of the deceased.”

Kkwadeuk-! Kkwadeuddeudeuk-!

Using his right hand—which was thoroughly saturated with the dark malice of Erebus—the Lich King ruthlessly ripped his own remaining left arm straight out of its socket.

The detached skeletal limb immediately shifted and reshaped itself, morphing into a wicked, jagged javelin.

Gooooooh-!

An unprecedented, terrifying surge of dark mana concentrated around the weapon.

‘A guaranteed-hit spell!’

Luna’s entire face stiffened.

It was a conceptual form of magic that completely bypassed the notion of evasion, ensuring the strike would inevitably pierce its intended target.

The absolute moment Luna began to formulate a counter-spell to dissolve the tracking formula.

Kwak-!

“…Cough?!”

In a fraction of a heartbeat, the Lich King’s projectile plunged straight through the center of Luna’s chest, piercing her heart completely.

“You miserable bastard…”

Luna’s features twisted in agonizing pain.

Looking down upon her from above, the Lich King spoke in a voice devoid of warmth.

“That particular strike was imbued with the entirety of Lord Erebus’s divine essence, which I fully ignited by using Eljenie’s life force as kindling.”

The Lich King explained coldly.

“Originally, this absolute power was preserved specifically to execute the surviving hero. However, the very instant your archaic soul decided to obstruct my path, that original objective became irrelevant. Furthermore, the divine consciousness that fueled itself on Eljenie’s sacrifice harbored a far deeper, ancient resentment toward you from the very beginning.”

Luna spat out a thick glob of crimson blood.

“I deliberately sacrificed an entity of Legion Commander caliber to achieve this. Therefore, I must ensure that something of equal value is definitively broken this day.”

Luna’s chin dropped toward her chest, her hands trembling violently.

“As it stands right now, an anomaly like you—who possesses the knowledge to advance the magical capabilities of this entire era by generations—poses a far greater threat to our grand design than the surviving hero ever could, Luna Rubynance.”

When a grand strategy encounters an unexpected variable, a true commander must pivot to extract the absolute highest possible benefit from the altered circumstances.

In the Lich King’s estimation, ensuring the total, agonizing demise of Luna Rubynance was the ultimate prize.

Whomp-!

At that moment, the skeletal javelin dissolved into nothingness.

He had successfully funneled the entirety of Erebus’s abyssal flames into that singular, devastating curse.

And yet, Luna’s spiritual form did not immediately fade away.

“You will not vanish from this world right away, Luna Rubynance.”

The Lich King gave a cruel, freezing smile.

“Even if your heart is completely ruptured, your limbs torn from your torso, and your skull shattered into fragments, your consciousness will still linger in this realm. After all, you are a creature of the dead, functioning on the same rules as myself. My only desire now is to watch you exhibit a truly pathetic display of suffering before you finally dissolve in total despair.”

“You absolute piece of garbage…!”

“Because I harbor a profound, endless hatred for all of you self-righteous Great Heroes.”

The Lich King swung his open palm downward with immense force.

KWAANG-!

“Kuh-eok!”

Slammed by a colossal kinetic impact, Luna’s body plummeted through the air and crashed violently into the dirt below.

Kwagagagagang-!

“Lady Luna!”

Her face completely drained of color, Lunia rushed toward the impact crater in a panic.

The remaining warriors who had been desperately holding the line against the combined forces of the Lich King and the Blood Queen’s terrifying legions felt a wave of profound hopelessness wash over them as they witnessed Luna bleeding profusely from her ruptured chest.

“Stay back!”

Luna roared through a throat choked with blood.

Then, defying all physical logic, she forced herself back up onto her feet as if the fatal wound were a minor inconvenience.

An unimaginable, mind-shattering agony was currently tearing through her entire nervous system, threatening to unseat her sanity.

With every minor movement she made, it felt as though an involuntary shriek of pure torment would rip from her throat.

The corrupting influence of Erebus’s essence combined with the Lich King’s ultimate curse would have instantly broken the mind of any ordinary entity, driving them to immediate madness.

Instead, Luna let out a fierce, wild laugh.

“Fantastic! This just means I can cut loose and throw down as hard as I want without having to worry about keeping myself intact!”

There was not a single trace of defeat or sorrow in Luna’s expression; her face was the picture of pure, bloodthirsty defiance as she smiled through the crimson staining her lips.

Tak-

Descending gracefully back to the earth, the Lich King simply shook his head slowly at the display.

“You truly are a Great Hero through and through. Doggedly obstinate to the bitter end. To think you can still bare your teeth in a smile while enduring a torment that should rightfully shatter your very soul.”

Fixing her with a look of profound weariness, the Lich King spoke once more.

“Luna Rubynance. Existing as nothing more than a lingering spirit, what could possibly be the ultimate regret that tethers you to this world?”

“Not having the chance to thoroughly grind every single one of you monsters into dust.”

“A predictable answer, and perhaps partially true. However, I highly doubt you would allow a simple desire for vengeance to serve as your primary anchor, especially since you have already confidently placed the weight of the future onto the shoulders of that surviving hero who refuses to break.”

The Lich King let out a soft, mocking chuckle before continuing.

“Allow me to show you what your true, agonizing regret actually is.”

The Lich King spread his fingers wide.

In the center of his palm, an intricate, glowing Lich’s Contract Array flared to life.

Luna, who had been glaring at him with fierce defiance, closely scanned the complex formulas etched within the contract array, and her entire posture gradually locked up.

A moment later, all the color completely drained from Luna’s face, leaving her deathly pale.

“Hoohoohoo. Hoohohohohoho— Khuhuhuhuhuh!”

The Lich King no longer bothered to contain his swelling amusement, letting out a loud, mocking laugh that thoroughly ridiculed her despair.

Luna stared fixedly down at the earth, a look of profound, unadulterated revulsion washing over her features.

“It appears I have struck the correct nerve.”

The Lich King casually dismissed the glowing Contract Array from his palm.

“Berkia, the cherished pupil you spent so much energy worrying over, has already been reanimated as a mindless thrall of the undead. Tell me, did you simply fail to instruct your disciple properly?”

Kwagagagagang-!

With a careless backhand motion of the Lich King’s arm, Luna was blown away like a ragdoll, smashing powerlessly into the distant terrain.

Kwaang-! Jjeojeojeojeok-!

In that exact instant, the very fabric of the surrounding dimension began to shudder violently, spiderweb fractures ripping across the sky.

Observing the structural instability, the Lich King’s gaze narrowed.

‘The surviving hero will be breaking through the barrier shortly.’

He needed to completely break Luna’s spirit and body before that variable arrived.

The absolute moment that calculation crossed his mind.

The ancient syllables of high-tier Runes began to reverberate through the atmosphere.

Blink-!

A breathtakingly massive, complex geometric magic formation embroidered itself across the entire expanse of the heavens.

Beholding the colossal array, the Lich King’s features instantly froze in disbelief.

“Annihilation?”

He whirled his gaze back toward the crater where Luna had been brutally hurled.

Standing tall amidst the dust, Luna was staring directly back at him with her characteristic, brilliant eyes, defiantly raising her middle finger high in the air.

“You have just discovered that your precious disciple has been desecrated into an undead puppet, and yet your mind remains completely unshaken?”

Luna offered a cold, knowing smirk as she delivered her final reply to the Lich King’s stunned question.

“Like hell I’m fine with it, you miserable son of a bitch.”