Chapter 153 - Assault (4)

Alon knew nothing about the Essence of the Golden Mane Tribe.

That was only natural. In Psychedelia, the Essence was not something used like that. It was simply an artifact that increased the player's critical hit rate.

Yet he had been able to advise Seollang because he had seen it: the mana arrangement of the Essence she possessed began twisting abnormally, then climbed through her body in a nonlinear arrangement.

Normally, Alon could not have seen that configuration. Neither could other mages—not even a tower master who had reached the eighth tier. While it was generally possible to sense another person's mana, one could not tell how that mana moved.

But now, Alon could.

It had probably begun after his battle with Duke Comalon. He had become able to see other people's mana arrangements, however faintly.

Until recently, however, he had not fully recognized that fact.

No, he simply had not considered it important. Though he could faintly see their arrangements, they lacked detail, and that much was of little help in magical research or combat.

Yet at this moment, Seollang's mana arrangement was astonishingly clear. He did not know why, but it was almost as though he had undergone an awakening.

That was why Alon had been able to offer her that advice.

And Seollang had reached the sixth stage.

CRACKLE!

Alon stared at her in a daze.

Her entire body suffused with gold, Seollang looked down at the apostle of Pride. She appeared so proudly aloof that even Alon let out a quiet gasp of admiration.

Just as she moved to bring her fist down again—

"Ha!"

Seolgak moved.

CRACKLE!

He pulled back, releasing black lightning unlike Seollang's, and grimaced. When she had awakened, he had been unable to react in time to her blow, and his right arm had vanished completely.

"Grrgh!"

Seolgak barely managed to clutch his profusely bleeding arm.

GRIND!

Yet rather than cry out in pain, his face filled with rage.

"... All right, I'll admit it. You got me, little sister. But—"

CRACKLE!

"Nothing will change."

Wrapping himself in black lightning like a cloak, he charged at Seollang.

Black thunder began to strike.

####

KRA-KRA-KRA-BOOM!!!

Charging at Seollang through the skies above Coloni amid crashing black thunder, Seolgak struck her body at a speed even she could not perceive.

Unable to react to that speed, which far surpassed human limits, Seollang took the attack.

Yet contrary to what the situation suggested, it was Seolgak's expression that stiffened. He realized that in that fleeting instant, Seollang had raised her hand and counteracted the impact.

He clenched his teeth, his mind racing with anxiety.

'Now is my only chance to win.'

He knew what realm Thunder God Transformation represented for the Golden Mane Tribe. He also knew that even with the power bestowed upon him by Him, it was a realm he could never reach.

His insides twisted.

What rose within him was a sense of inferiority.

And fear.

He had coveted that realm more than anything. He had offered his entire family as sacrifices without hesitation, and had even intended to sacrifice his little sister as a vessel for His descent.

That was why he already knew: now that Seollang had reached that realm, he could never defeat her.

And so—

'I have to kill her before she adapts to Thunder God Transformation...!'

His eyes bloodshot, Seolgak unleashed his mana.

The excessive mana he had received from Him instantly consumed his body, granting him strength he could never otherwise attain.

But strength obtained without cause came at a price. That excessive power, beyond what he could bear, began not merely to consume his body but to break it down.

Even so, he used the ability without hesitation.

The power bestowed upon him by the great Sin of Pride allowed him to look down on most of this world's mighty beings. Yet this much alone could not bring him within reach of that golden god.

It had merely bought him a little more time.

'Whatever it takes, I'll kill you before you adapt!'

Enveloped in Pride's mana, Seolgak became black mana itself, unlike Seollang, and shot forward.

With that, black and golden thunder began raining down across all of Coloni.

Ink-black lightning plunged down, shaking the world.

Golden lightning plunged down, leaving its mark upon heaven and earth.

Amid that chaos, Alon quietly murmured as he looked up at the sky.

"The preparations are complete."

####

In truth, Alon could not participate in this battle.

Seolgak was desperately increasing his output to kill Seollang, even at the cost of destroying his own body, while she blocked his attacks. There was no way Alon could keep up with their speed.

Indeed, to him, this battle looked like nothing more than a natural disaster: golden and black lightning striking amid deafening thunder.

In other words, he lacked the ability to enter the world they perceived.

But Alon could calmly observe the situation, thanks to the residual traces of mana they left as they fought.

For a mage like him, those traces offered considerable insight.

He had lately been concentrating on magical research. His study of how magical arrangements varied with seals had proved particularly helpful.

Examining those mana traces alone did not allow him to understand the situation perfectly, but he could still glean a few pieces of information.

Two facts were especially clear.

'The apostle of Pride is overexerting himself to eliminate Seollang, and Seollang has yet to fully adapt to her awakening.'

Alon gazed into the air.

He still could not see them clearly. There was only mana, constantly appearing and dispersing, from which he could infer their movements.

After taking a moment to steady his breathing, Alon exhaled.

"Whew..."

He formed a seal.

As stated, Alon could not participate in this battle.

It would have been impossible.

For his former self.

Alon looked up at the sky again.

Alongside the chaotic mana traces left by the two members of the Golden Mane Tribe, his own mana had spread through the air. Not yet manifested, it floated there invisibly.

Mana ordinarily had to undergo manifestation.

Yet Alon had broken that accepted rule, drawing almost all the mana out of his mana reservoir and leaving only the bare minimum behind. This, too, was thanks to his recent research with Penia.

Transforming mana arrangements according to the structure of seals.

And a byproduct of discovering new forms of mana molecules through combinations of seals.

It allowed him to fix his mana in the air in molecular form, retaining control over it without manifesting a spell.

By taking enough time, Alon had managed to scatter his mana throughout the area where the battle was taking place.

Of course, since he had little mana, its density was inevitably extremely low.

But for now, that was enough.

After all, Alon was not trying to eliminate Seolgak—

"Expansion."

—only to create a brief opening for Seollang.

KRA-KRA-KRA-CRACK!!!

As Alon murmured, the molecular mana he had scattered began swelling all at once.

In that instant—

"!"

Alon could see Seollang, pulled out of the battle by the mana's sudden expansion in the air.

"What—!"

And Seolgak, launching a blow at her.

The moment he saw them, Alon spoke the next phrase without a second to spare.

"Single Point."

The expanding mana instantly clung to Seolgak.

But—

BOOM!

The spell Alon had spent several minutes preparing in silence was reduced to nothing by a single irritated kick from Seolgak. One descending bolt of black thunder annihilated all the mana he had expanded.

It had happened in less than two seconds—a bitterly futile outcome for Alon.

Yet behind his expressionless face, Alon smiled crookedly.

Two seconds.

For him, two seconds was scarcely enough time to manifest a spell.

But for Seollang—

"!"

—it was more than enough time to eliminate Seolgak.

Alon did not take his eyes off the sky.

There was Seolgak, staring higher still in horror.

"Wolf Spear, Wolf Spear—"

And then, descending upon him—

—Thunder Dragon's Descent.

A golden dragon.

KRAAAAA-BOOM!!!

The world turned white.

####

Immediately afterward, an impossibly wide and deep crater had formed there.

Seollang stood at its center.

Her Thunder God Transformation had faded. She silently lowered her gaze to Seolgak, the apostle of Pride, lying at her feet.

A massive hole had been punched through his heart.

"You... fool—"

Though his pierced heart clearly made it impossible for him to remain alive, he glared at Seollang with his eyes wide open.

"You'll regret this, little sister—you will regret this. The day you cast aside the powers I arranged for you... You will regret it!"

Seolgak raged in his final throes.

But Seollang merely lifted her foot, her face expressionless.

"I don't need that crap."

CRUNCH!

She smashed his head as though there was nothing more worth hearing.

"I've already gotten what I wanted."

Seollang watched Seolgak crumble to dust and vanish, as though he were becoming something that had never existed.

"Oh, Mentor!"

Then she turned, spotted Alon, and tried to run over to him.

THUD!

She collapsed on the spot.

Alon hurried over to check on her.

"Huh? I can't muster any strength at all."

Hearing how unconcerned she sounded despite her collapse, he let out a small sigh of relief.

"You probably pushed yourself a little too hard."

"Is that it, Mentor?"

"Yes."

Seollang gave a brief nod of understanding, then whispered quietly.

"Thank you, Mentor."

"... Why so suddenly?"

"Well, you taught me, didn't you? How to use Thunder God Transformation. Thanks to you, I was able to kill him."

Thank you, she said.

After a moment's silence, Alon spoke.

"Seollang."

"What is it, Mentor?"

"... Are you all right?"

"Hm? In what way?"

"... You treasure your family, don't you?"

At his question, Seollang smiled—a bitter smile Alon had never seen before.

Yet she said,

"... You're right, Mentor. My family is precious to me."

"..."

"But you know what?"

This time, a bright smile appeared on her face.

"I will never do anything that makes me lose something even more precious. I'm not a fool."

"..."

Her resolute words brought Alon to an unwitting realization.

He, too, had been judging her as he pleased, no differently from Seolgak.

Just as Seolgak had viewed her as the immature, weak child she had been ten years ago, Alon had continued to think of her as one of the Five Great Sins from Psychedelia.

Despite the memories they had made and their continued meetings, he had looked at her through his own preconceived notions.

Not as Seollang, who smiled so brightly at him and had become Coloni's foremost Baba Yaga.

But as a character from a game who might become one of the Five Great Sins at any moment.

Only now did he realize it.

Seollang was no longer one of the Five Great Sins from a game, nor someone he needed to carefully look after at all costs.

She treasured her family as much as her own life, yet could make a choice without hesitation when necessary.

... Perhaps she had grown into someone even more admirable and resolute than Alon himself.

"I see."

Feeling considerably lighter, Alon looked at her and, without realizing it, gave a small smile.

"Mentor... You can smile?"

"..."

Seollang looked up at Alon with greater surprise than ever before.

It was a faint smile, but it touched her heart.

####

A short while later, just after hearing that Rine had dealt with Scorpirion, Seollang was resting against part of the ruins while she waited for help.

"Mentor."

"Hm?"

"Do that again for me."

"That?"

"Pressing down on my ears."

"... Why?"

"It felt kind of nice."

Seollang giggled, and Alon obligingly pressed gently down on her ears.

Slowly closing her eyes, she spoke.

"Mentor."

"What is it?"

"Thank you for worrying about me."