Chapter 396: Unchanged (1) |
As the golden moon fell toward the ground, Alon was robbed of his cognitive abilities.
The sight that had been fixed on the mouth just before it closed was dyed white, and instead of information about the current situation, only a tinnitus like electronic noise continued to ring in his ears.
And then.
When Alon’s vision and hearing finally regained their function, what he could see was— the horribly crushed appearance of the Devourer.
“...”
Alon unconsciously opened his mouth.
That was how shocking the Devourer’s appearance was.
The enormous mouth that had swallowed Colony’s royal castle whole was gone by nearly half, and from the place where something seemed to have been chewed away, red blood like that of a human poured down like a waterfall, soaking the ground.
Lastly, the body, scorched by lightning and sagging with a thick stench of burning, showed that the gigantic divine-blood had met its death.
“?”
—felt doubt rise within him.
Just moments ago.
He had clearly been bound by the Poison Swallower’s threads and positioned atop the Devourer’s mouth.
So why—
Slowly turning his gaze, Alon—soon realized that he was being held in Seolrang’s arms.
Like a princess.
Looking up at Seolrang as she silently gazed down at him, Alon thought.
‘What on earth happened?’
The beastkin holding him was very different from the Seolrang he knew.
Her atmosphere was different, her appearance was different.
And yet, Alon knew that this person was Seolrang.
Instinctively.
Although he had no idea why she had changed into this form, Alon first opened his mouth to speak to her—
[Hrr—!]
—only to fail.
He frowned at the presence emanating from beyond the Devourer, from the Poison Swallower.
Despite having been beaten by Basiliora and Blackie, and struck by Seolrang’s Falling Moon, it was still maintaining its body to some extent, and above its head—
“Tsk—!”
a rose.
Death was blooming.
[What a pity, it’s already over.]
A beautiful flower that granted an equal death to all bloomed, and before Alon could even form a seal, he watched as the red mist spread in an instant.
‘Too late.’
Alon let out a low sigh.
If it had been before it bloomed, he could have done something somehow.
But in a situation like this, there was nothing more he could do.
For Alon, there was no magic that could stop the poisonous mist that had already spread over more than half the sky above the city.
And that mist—
“That’s—”
“This is insane—”
“..Ah.”
—tried once more to sever everyone’s hope.
To the warriors who first noticed the mist’s existence.
To the mages who had been digging tunnels with Penia afterward.
To the citizens who saw the reactions of those warriors and mages.
Just as fear was about to engulf everything.
Alon, who had been staring at it in a daze, finally formed a seal.
Because a single thought had come to his mind.
‘At least this, for now.........!’
He didn’t know if it was possible, given his physical condition.
But he couldn’t just stand by and watch that thing spread.
‘Somehow.’
Just as Alon steeled his resolve in his own way—
Thud—
Seolrang, who had been looking at the Poison Swallower together with Alon, carefully set him down on the ground.
“Seolrang?”
“I’ll be back.”
Despite Alon’s call.
Seolrang simply replied calmly and—
Tst—!
—disappeared right before his eyes.
As if she had never existed to begin with.
As Alon was about to voice his confusion at the sudden turn of events—
KWAHHHHHHHHHH~!!!!!
The spot where Seolrang had been exploded, accompanied by a thunderous roar that came belatedly.
That wasn’t all.
As if everything had been chasing after her movements too late, the moment she appeared in the sky, everything along a straight line exploded, and then—
Crackle—!
Golden lightning burst from Seolrang’s body, and her form turned golden.
The appearance of the Thunder God he had seen many times before.
But the next moment, Alon saw it.
As if it were a lie, dark clouds gathering above Seolrang’s head even as she was in her thunder-god form.
At the same time, Seolrang raised her hand upward, and—
“Strike.”
At the moment her hand fell with that emotionless voice—
KWAHHHHHHHHHH~!!!!!
A thunderstorm began to pour down upon Colony.
A mad-like like deluge of lightning that struck the entire city as if to erase everything on the ground.
And when Seolrang raised her hand once more and ended the thunderstorm—
“!!”
The red mist that had filled the entire sky above Colony just moments ago vanished as if it had never existed, and the flower of death that had bloomed above the Poison Swallower crumbled away weakly.
[That’s impossible~!]
A flustered voice burst out from the Poison Swallower, which had been convinced of its victory,
[.....Ha—!]
and it let out a hollow laugh as if it were absurd.
[.....Fine. If that’s how it is—]
The Poison Swallower—
[I’ll just kill everyone.]
—ground out its words and began spewing threads in all directions.
Wooooong~!
Then, magic circles like the ones Alon had seen near the First Prince, used to summon anomalous entities, appeared.
The difference was—
“Crazy—”
Unlike the First Prince, there were dozens of magic circles surrounding the Poison Swallower, and before Alon could do anything—
KWADDDDDDEUK~!!!!!
Anomalous entities began pouring out from those dozens of circles.
The number was on a completely different level from the ones Seolrang had blocked earlier.
It was overwhelming in itself.
So much so that everyone present let out a groan of despair.
The Poison Swallower once again blocked the sky with the threads it scattered.
The difference this time was—as if it had prepared for the thunderstorm, it layered and layered hundreds of thousands of threads, completely sealing off the sky.
At the same time, the spiderweb being formed again spread across the entirety of Colony in an instant, and along those webs, anomalous entities began raining down like madness.
[This time, I’ll kill every last one of you...............!]
Chiiiiik~!!!
The Poison Swallower, melting its own body and letting blood flow, began creating the flower of death once more.
And at that sight—
“Ah.......”
Someone let out a low sigh.
Whose sigh it was didn’t really matter.
Everyone present—was being rapidly consumed by despair.
That was how overwhelming the scene before them was.
The sky was obscured by threads, turning the world gray.
Around the Poison Swallower, anomalous entities—dozens of times more than those blocked earlier—poured out like madness.
Those entities moved back and forth across the massive spiderweb the Poison Swallower had created, densely filling both the ground and the air, and advanced closer, carrying death with them.
The flower of death formed above the Poison Swallower’s head was once again waiting to bloom, annihilating mana as it did.
All of that—instilled unmistakable despair just by being seen.
However, at that moment—
Crackle—!
Everyone there heard it.
A small rupture sound that rang out in an instant.
And then—
PAJIIIIIIJIIIIIK!!!
In that despairing gray world where even the sky was hidden, golden lightning burst forth, and Seolrang’s figure, pouring out brilliant golden light, appeared.
Her appearance was different from the thunder-god form she had shown before.
Beyond merely being dyed golden, she had literally become lightning itself.
The dazzling lightning shone—
And then—
Tst—!
—the moment it vanished, accompanied by a fleeting silence—
KWAHHHHHHHHHH—!!!!
Golden lightning spread throughout the entire space.
No one could see Seolrang’s form anymore.
What they saw was the brilliant golden light spinning wildly, and the sight of hundreds—perhaps thousands—of anomalous entities bursting apart under that golden radiance.
PAJIIIIIIJIK~!!!
Thus, the lightning—
“Huh.”
Someone let out a gasp, someone else voiced reverence.
And at the very end—
[Impossible! This, from a mere insignificant creature!!]
The Poison Swallower, trying by force to make the flower of death bloom amid the lightning exploding from all sides.
Then, Seolrang appeared above it—
before it could even take action—
“Rangchanglangchang (槍狼槍)”
—Arang (牙狼)
Wrapped in golden lightning, she pierced through the flower of death and shot down toward the Poison Swallower, and together with the lightning that crashed down, splitting the sky—they saw it.
The sight of Seolrang lightly landing atop the shattered roof, and—
KWAJIIIIIIJIK~!
the body of the Poison Swallower, screaming with incomprehensible rage,
—!!!!!—
shattering into pieces and creating a vast sea of red blood.
As the Poison Swallower’s threads that had covered the sky vanished, the sun shone down upon them.
However, among those present, none looked at the sun.
Because something shining even more brilliantly existed before them.
***
In conclusion, the Devourer and the Poison Swallower met their deaths at Seolrang’s hands, and Colony escaped the brink of annihilation.
However, it wasn’t a situation that could be viewed as wholly good.
“Marquis, were you here?”
“Evan.”
Late at night.
Alon, who had been staring blankly at Colony’s panorama, turned his head at Evan’s voice.
“Wow, it’s kind of cold.”
“......Normally, there’s a temperature-maintenance spell over the entire city provided by the red Mage Tower, but not now.”
“I guess it would be strange for that kind of spell to still be running in this situation.”
Following Evan, who clicked his tongue while looking ahead, Alon also turned his gaze forward again.
There, Colony’s scenery still spread out before them.
A scene so horribly shattered that it looked closer to ruins than a city.
“......I’ve followed you for a long time, Marquis, and I’ve seen cities get destroyed plenty of times, but this is beyond imagination.”
“I see.”
Alon agreed with Evan’s words.
In truth, Colony’s situation was more miserable than any city he had seen before.
Among the buildings that entered his field of vision, there were only a handful that could be called intact.
The center of Colony, where the royal castle should have stood.
As he looked at the massive hole drilled there, he fell into thought for a moment, then—
“Evan.”
“Yes?”
“....Is Seolrang alright?”
“Ah, for now, yes. According to the diagnosis, they say she simply fainted from excessive use of her strength.”
“That’s a relief.”
Alon let out a sigh of relief.
Right after Seolrang dealt with the Poison Swallower, she had looked down at the divine-blood that had become a corpse amid that horrific sea of blood, then suddenly reverted to her original form and collapsed on the spot.
“Then when will she wake up?”
“I heard it should be around tomorrow.”
“That’s a relief.”
“......By the way, Marquis, are you alright?”
“In what sense?”
“Your condition. You don’t look very good—are you sure it’s alright for you to be like this?”
Evan was right.
Unlike before, being able to deploy magic more quickly meant he could conserve computational capacity, and with mana being consumed rapidly in many areas, the burden of using Reverse Heaven had been gradually easing.
Of course, that didn’t mean he had completely overcome Reverse Heaven yet.
This time as well, in order to fight the Poison Swallower, he had maintained Reverse Heaven longer than necessary, and because of that, he would have to lie still and recover for several days.
Alon knew that as well.
He knew it, and yet—
‘......Those eyes.’
Alon recalled Seolrang’s eyes.
Those inorganic eyes, as if they were gazing at something utterly meaningless.
The eyes that had looked sad because of it.
Alon was fully aware that some kind of change had occurred in Seolrang.
But no matter how much he knew—the gaze Seolrang had shown gave Alon a tremendous sense of unease and alienation.
So much so that even now, he couldn’t stop worrying.
“......Let’s go inside.”
“A wise decision.............. though it doesn’t look like your worries have gone away.”
Alon soon headed to the temporary lodgings together with Evan.
However, just as Evan had said, Alon’s concern for Seolrang hadn’t faded, and it was plainly visible on his face.
***
“Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine, Your Highness.”
The next day.
After waking from sleep, Alon faced Karsem, who had come to his room.
“I am truly grateful, Marquis.”
After exchanging brief greetings, Karsem bowed his head without hesitation.
“Please raise your head. Your Highness must now become king, must you not.”
Although Alon tried to dissuade him, Karsem instead shook his head and continued speaking.
“No. If I am to become king, then I must bow even deeper. A king is one who bears responsibility for all people and guides them rightly, not one who lifts his head while leaning on power. Thank you truly. If it weren’t for you, Marquis, everyone in this Colony would have been sacrificed to them.”
At Karsem’s repeated thanks, Alon no longer stopped him.
Instead, a thought unconsciously crossed his mind.
That a Colony ruled by Karsem rather than Karaan might shine even more brilliantly than it did now.
But only for a moment.
“I truly don’t wish to express my gratitude with words alone. However, the city right now is.......”
At Karsem’s trailing words, Alon quietly turned his head.
Colony’s scenery was no different from yesterday.
A scene that felt far more like ruins than a city.
Alon answered without hesitation.
“I’m fine, so please focus on rebuilding the city.”
“......Are you truly sure that’s alright?”
“Yes. If necessary, I’ll also inquire with the Mage Tower.”
At that, Karsem bowed his head deeply, his shoulders trembling for a while.
“Thank you, truly, truly...............!”
He expressed his gratitude once more in a voice thick with emotion.
Right after Karsem left—
“Marquis.”
“Evan.”
“Are you feeling alright?”
“There’s no problem.”
“That’s a relief, but............... did something happen with the Second Prince, by any chance?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well................ he was sniffling a lot and muttering your name.”
Alon heard some behind-the-scenes (?) talk about Karsem that might have seemed a bit awkward if others heard it, delivered by Evan.
Soon, Evan brought up the main topic.
“Marquis. There’s some interesting new information that came in from the information guild.”
“......Even in this state, the information guild is still operating?”
“We received it via a crystal ball.”
“What is it?”
“Do you remember? Caliban said last time that it was under attack by a divine-blood.”
“Did something happen to Deus?”
Alon asked reflexively.
However, Evan shook his head.
“No. If something had happened to Deus, would I be here like this?”
“Then?”
“Rather, Caliban has overcome the crisis.”
“Even though a divine-blood attacked?”
“Yes.”
“......Did Deus block it?”
“That is true, but Deus didn’t block everything.”
“Then?”
At Alon’s question, Evan seemed to ponder briefly how to phrase it, then—
“Well, Marquis, I’d like to ask you a question, just in case. Would that be alright?”
“What is it?”
“Were you perhaps an actual god in your previous life?”
He asked such a question.
“......What are you talking about?”
“No, I mean it literally.”
“Are you seriously asking that?”
“I am.”
At Alon’s reaction, clearly unable to understand the question—
“I heard that a divine-blood in the form of a gigantic giant helped Caliban.”
“What? A divine-blood?”
“Yes. And it said that you were the one who sent it.”
Evan relayed the information exactly as he had received it.
And—
“...?”
Alon’s face filled with question marks.
‘......Me?’