Chapter 200

Chapter 200. Me…… Wyvern!

With a blinding flash of light, a terrifying roar reverberated.

Kwarreureung—

As cloud-like flames viciously devoured the area, Aster manifested a force field and sprinted straight through the fire.

It wasn’t long before he kicked off the ground and leapt.

Tap!

His body soared high. Infernal’s fist slammed into the empty floor a fraction of a second too late. Boom! As the roar shook the air, Aster suspended himself in midair and cast his senses wide.

The presences he detected totaled five.

‘For now, one is…….’

Excluded, since it was recovering after taking Explosive Annihilation.

That meant there were four active entities.

Just as he realized that—

Whoooong—!

“……!”

Aster propelled himself off the air and shifted his trajectory to dodge Infernal’s charging fist.

Infernal’s fist narrowly missed, cleaving through empty space instead. Feeling his back break into a cold sweat without realizing it, Aster’s eyes trembled.

‘This…… might not have an end.’

The battle had commenced only about ten minutes ago.

But already, a suffocating hopelessness was creeping in.

How many times had he smashed Infernal in those ten minutes? From the moment the conflict started, he focused his firepower and shattered it more than ten times.

Engaging it directly wasn’t particularly difficult.

The surging flames and heat were threatening, certainly, but the attacks were nothing more than straightforward punches and kicks, and the speed wasn’t that impressive.

The problem lay in that endless recovery.

Ta-at!

Landing and stabilizing his stance, Aster immediately manifested Explosive Annihilation and launched it into the air. A roar followed.

KWAANG—!

When Infernal’s upper body was blown half apart by Explosive Annihilation, a monstrous heat instantly surged into the area.

Like this…….

‘Recovery and explosion.’

The self-repair that occurred the instant it sustained damage—and the explosion that accompanied that self-repair—those were the issues.

Self-repair allowed Infernal to move indefinitely, and the explosion that unfolded alongside it……

‘Dirty.’

Yeah. It was absolutely dirty.

Every time he broke it, heat surged up so intensely it was difficult even to breathe…… it was enough to make him worry he’d roast and die from the heat, rather than from Infernal.

And that wasn’t all.

Infernal seemed completely unaffected by that monstrous heat, making it a terrible environment in every conceivable way.

In other words, it was a fight where you lacked a decisive strike, and instead you slowly withered away and died.

“Damn it.”

So Aster conjured three more Explosive Annihilations in rapid succession, destroying three intact Infernals.

Soon, with a KWAANG— roar, flames layered and overlapped within the space. Under the flames spewed by five Infernals, Aster reinforced his force field and escaped the zone.

The moment he slipped out of the flames spilling even beyond the space, something followed him.

[Friend, okay? We, run.]

It was Spirit 1.

Aster took a brief breath, then looked at the Spirit 1 that had followed and asked,

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

[We, friend.]

A dry laugh leaked from Aster’s mouth.

‘Friend, my ass.’

They’d been together for, what, a few hours, and it was calling him a friend?

He knew spirits and humans perceived things differently, but even so, it was hard to comprehend.

And what?

‘A contract in the future?’

It seemed to be lingering around because of that, but even that wasn’t amusing.

With that thought, Aster waved his hand, attempting to shoo the spirit away.

He would have—if not for the footsteps drilling into his ears once more.

Thoom, thoom, thoom.

The sound of the Infernal that had finished regenerating first, stepping as it searched for Aster.

Aster immediately braced himself and concluded the short intermission.

That was when the spirit asked,

[Friend, why not run? Me, not understand.]

Why wasn’t he fleeing?

“……Who knows.”

To be honest, there wasn’t any specific reason.

He hadn’t thought it through and made a calculated choice.

[Maybe, sacrifice?]

“Sacrifice…… tsk.”

For an instant, Demian and Chenbi, and Myseolne’s faces flickered through Aster’s mind.

Was he stepping up alone like this for them? Had he chosen sacrifice to keep them alive?

He pondered it for a moment, but only a hollow laugh emerged.

‘Sacrifice, my ass.’

There wasn’t such a grand motivation.

It was just—yeah.

It felt like he should.

Just…… because there wasn’t anyone else who could restrain Infernal like this. That was all.

As Aster arrived at that thought—

Thoom! Thoom!

Infernal’s footsteps grew closer.

Aster cut off his musings and fixed his eyes on the spirit.

“You’re not leaving, are you?”

[We, friend.]

“Friend or whatever. If you’re not leaving, then go to the kids and at least deliver a message.”

[……?]

“Tell them to evacuate the ruins first. Inform Senior Myseolne secretly. Then he’ll manage it, I suppose.”

With that, Aster launched himself back toward the hall where the Infernals had assembled.

The spirit tried to follow a moment too late, but Aster was already plunging into Infernal’s flames.

As Aster’s back vanished beyond the surging fire, the spirit thought:

[Friend, sacrifice.]

Then what should it do?

It didn’t really know.

But.

[First, go.]

Go deliver what friend left behind. And after that, think about the rest then.

Of course…… the spirit had no intention whatsoever of abandoning the ruins and deserting its friend.

[Me, Wyvern.]

Because it was a Wyvern.

The spirit went pyororong, flying toward Demian’s group.

Behind it, the roar generated by Aster and the Infernal pack thundered on.

How long did it fly?

Then the spirit spotted them.

Far ahead—three figures approaching down the corridor.

[Human! he…re?]

The spirit started to call out to the three in delight, but then it realized something was amiss and its body trembled.

‘Something, changed?’

The aura of the three was clearly distinct from before.

As the spirit tilted its head at the unfamiliar sensation, the oldest spirit stepped forward and asked.

[Savior, where?]

[You are…….]

[Me, oldest spirit.]

[……!]

The spirit was instantly shocked by the oldest spirit’s appearance.

Because his form was no longer a shapeless clump of light.

Taking the shape of a brown-tinted tiger, the oldest spirit asked again.

[Me, now ‘Gaius’. Guide. Savior, where?]

At the question that carried a certain gravity, the spirit fluttered, trembling, and answered in a rush.

[N-no. Friend, said. Leave.]

Demian, Chenbi, and Myseolne all remained silent, but the spirit could easily discern their purpose.

The firm resolve sitting in their eyes proved it.

So it tried to halt the three somehow—

but that was when Gaius spoke.

[Now, save. We, savior.]

No more inquiries were necessary.

They already knew the hall where the savior would be. They had asked only “just in case.”

Even if it wasn’t the exact location they’d witnessed in the future, if they simply followed this enormous roar, they would reach it without difficulty.

……And so.

Behind Gaius leading the way, the three began to march.

And behind them…….

[We, brave.]

[That, agree.]

[We, sacrifice.]

Spirits like a cluster of stars in the Milky Way surged after them.

The spirit could say nothing, standing there blankly.

But only for a moment.

[Me…… Wyvern!]

The spirit hurriedly joined the procession.

Aster and Infernal’s battle was proceeding in a monotonous pattern.

Could this even be classified as a “battle”?

It was simply one-sided destruction.

Boom, KWA-BOOM! Boom!

Aster deployed Explosive Annihilation, shattered the Infernals, then sat motionless in the flames that saturated the space and focused his mind.

He couldn’t see, but his sensory perception and awareness of space—driven to the absolute limit—held the entire situation in his mind.

The five Infernals did not move. They were fully concentrating their power on repairing the destruction.

And Aster sat a short distance away, his hand periodically manifestating Explosive Annihilation to strike the Infernals.

The Infernals recover.

Aster breaks them.

There was nothing else.

At a glance, it appeared as though Aster was overwhelmingly in control, but the truth was not like that at all.

‘……Hoo.’

The heat, hot enough to scorch skin, suffocated him.

He wished to gain distance and rest, but if he retreated any further, he couldn’t destroy the Infernals in a single strike.

Their flames were flames that disrupted one’s energy, so even Explosive Annihilation lost potency before those flames.

So Aster stayed as close as he could tolerate, destroying the Infernals.

But on the other hand, a question arose.

‘How much longer can I endure?’

His magical power was sufficient.

But he couldn’t guarantee his mental stamina.

He had to maintain a force field sturdy enough to block Infernal’s heat while simultaneously utilizing Explosive Annihilation, and at the same time, he had to mend a body being roasted by the heat using healing light.

A situation where not a single aspect could be handled carelessly.

He could endure now, but if he slipped even a fraction, his mental endurance would collapse severely, and it would become hazardous.

In other words…… yes.

If the confrontation with Destrow was a battle on a blade’s edge, then this was a fight against endless time.

As he fought time, a regret surfaced.

If……

‘……Transcendence (超越), if only I could wield it fully.’

Then halting the Infernals’ functionality wouldn’t be impossible.

Transcendence—the pillar of flame that even overwhelmed Destrow—if he possessed that, even Infernal could be obliterated completely.

But.

It was impossible.

‘For an instant, it’s possible.’

Only…… for one fleeting instant.

Could he neutralize five Infernals with that transient flame?

Still…… it would be impossible.

So Aster simply endured.

He suppressed the agony of skin being cooked, pushed his brain to exhaustion, and pressed down despair at a bleak situation with no visible conclusion.

As he stated, it wasn’t sacrifice.

This was…… just, yeah.

Because he could.

Even now, Aster didn’t believe, even for a moment, that he would perish.

……But sadly, this was one of the many potential ways Aster dies.

In the future the spirits witnessed, Aster restrains the Infernals alone like this, eventually feels his mental endurance reach its limit, and unleashes Transcendence.

And due to the backlash of that forced Transcendence, he is destined to meet death in the end.

However, a variable occurred at that very moment.

Shaaaaaa—

From behind Aster, a brilliant mass of light surged in. That light mass repelled Infernal’s flames that filled the space, expanding its territory—and Aster noticed the alteration right when that light enveloped his body.

‘……This is?’

A light mass that, for some reason, revitalized his body. Mana? No, it was clearly a different energy than Mana.

This was, in other words……

‘……Spirit power?’

The moment Aster comprehended the nature of that energy—

he perceived someone behind him.

“Friend.”

It was Demian.

And behind him stood Myseolne and Chenbi, and even the spirits, now existing as lumps of light radiating their presence.

When Aster’s eyes took in that entire spectacle,

Demian spoke.

“When we play, we play together.”

……In every future up until now, it was a scene that had never manifested even once.