Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Light swept away the shadows.

The dazzling radiance finally tore Enlil’s Thought away.

An eerie silence settled over the area.

The forest, the mountain, the earth and sky held their breath at ‘her’ appearance.

In that place, where it felt as though even the sound of a beating heart should not be allowed, let alone breathing, ‘she’ opened her mouth.

“Interesting. You were dwelling inside the Great Mountain Centipede’s Dragon Jade, and then you tried to cling to Isran just like that?”

[……Who are you?]

“Me?”

‘She’ smiled.

Her gentle hand touched the place where his heart had already stopped.

“His fairy.”

Thump!

‘Her’ mana seeped into his heart and sent fibrillation through the heart that had stopped.

Then the still heart began to beat again.

“It has been a long time since I performed a Construction Ritual…… but this should be good enough, right?”

The Dragon Jade, which had only been circling around his heart, began to properly settle in and take the form of a Core.

The Core began to pulse in time with his heartbeat.

‘She’ guided the surging mana and connected it to the fine vessels of his body, creating a path for it to flow through.

[…….]

‘She’ was creating a Core in real time.

Compared to using a Spell Formation, it was crude, but it prevented his body from collapsing because it could not withstand the energy.

If he later borrowed the help of a Spell Formation and completed the Construction Ritual perfectly, the Dragon Jade would settle completely as Isran’s Mana Core.

“Now I no longer need your help.”

‘She’ smiled.

An unfamiliar smile formed on the face that had always maintained an expressionless look.

[Why…….]

Enlil’s Thought growled.

[Who are you……? Who are you…………? Why are you interfering with me? Why? Why……? Why…… whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy—]

The Thought, which had been twisting its body as though in a seizure, suddenly stopped moving.

Then, with a chilling red glow in its eyes, it poured out a curse-filled voice.

[I will not forgive you…….]

Sssssss……

The Thought crossed through the air and entered the dead body of the Great Mountain Centipede.

Black energy seemed to boil up explosively, and then the centipede that should have been dead rose to its feet again.

Seething hostility spewed rage toward the existence dwelling in Isran’s body.

[Give it back…… That is mine!]

Kiaaaaaak─!

Viscous mana spread out as a single ghostly wail.

Then every Gigantia on South Spirit Mountain swarmed toward the nest at the summit.

─Tsrrrrrr…….

─Kiiiiiik!!

Was she stealing and using the Great Mountain Centipede’s Authority?

The Gigantias had all lost their reason and were dyed with mad hostility.

Tens of thousands of centipedes surrounded the summit in a pitch-black mass.

“Isran does not belong to anyone.”

‘She’ refuted it.

“The life he will go on to live is his own. Do not touch it.”

A streak of sword light flashed.

If someone had seen it, they would have thought she had merely swung her sword lightly.

However, the result that followed was not light at all.

KAAAAANG──!!

A streak of violet light drew a sharp Trajectory.

The Gigantias swept up in it vanished without a trace, and the space along its path was torn away in its entirety.

The sword strike shook heaven and earth.

With only three swings of her sword, ‘she’ wiped out every last Gigantia that had swarmed in.

Kyaaaaaak!!

The massive body of the Great Mountain Centipede occupied by the Thought let out a monstrous cry.

Its enormous body, too large to take in at a single glance, charged forward while sweeping across the earth.

Even at that moment, ‘she’ did not lose her composure and merely swung her sword once more.

KWAGWAGWAGWANG─!!

Its hard carapace shattered in a single blow.

The Great Mountain Centipede’s body, which had so often repelled even Isran’s attacks, was cut apart and dismantled into pieces by a single strike.

[Do not interfere with me!!]

A black current surged up and stitched the severed body back together.

‘She’ immediately recognized the nature of that power.

“Aura, is it? Mysticism-Type, no less.”

[Haha! Yes!]

The being that had taken over the centipede’s body growled.

[You manifested through a Fragment, did you not? I can tell…… If you do not return like this, your existence will disappear.]

“…….”

Just as the Thought said, the time ‘she’ could Manifest here was not long.

Once the power of the Fragment of the Golden Rule, the ‘Authority of Transference’, which was emitting fierce light, was exhausted, the Fragment would break and she too would disappear.

Time was not on her side.

[Hand it over to me.]

Kirrrrk─

Aura mixed into the cry it released and vibrated.

Bizarre cries began to erupt all across South Spirit Mountain.

The Thought giggled.

[If I disappear like this, every Gigantia on South Spirit Mountain will pour outside.]

The centipedes of South Spirit Mountain would pour out.

That meant the Gigantias would begin attacking the people of the Second Floor indiscriminately.

The monsters that stayed in the Demonic Region were, by nature, astronomical in number.

Ordinarily, the balance was maintained because they did not leave the Demonic Region, but what if they were all released outside at once through the power of the Great Mountain Centipede?

[How does that sound? Hm? Would all your small, precious companions not die? Hehe…….]

“…….”

Not only Persica and Jin Sohwi, who should be nearby, but even White Cloud Castle could be put in danger.

Since Gigantia was considered quite an Upper Species monster on the Second Floor, the damage would not be small.

[Something like you would not know! When one can handle Aura, things like this are possible!]

Enlil’s Thought burst into laughter.

[You are going to disappear anyway, are you not? Then who will advise him about the Dragon Jade? Its usage? Knowledge of the lower floors? I can teach him everything! Unlike you!]

“Certainly, I cannot do that.”

‘She’ readily admitted it.

However, instead of backing down, she raised her mana and caught a certain existence that had been circling around the Dragon Jade.

It was the soul of the Great Mountain Centipede, which had not yet dispersed.

“This child will do that in my place.”

She caught the soul that was on the verge of death.

When she gently cupped it in both hands, the soul trembled sorrowfully, as if held in its mother’s arms.

She breathed the Great Mountain Centipede’s soul into the Dragon Jade.

“I believe in Isran. I am certain he will overcome the matters of the lower floors too.”

[You…….]

The eerie laughter stopped.

Enlil’s Thought stared at that sight as though it could not believe it.

[How did you settle a soul……? Do not tell me.]

Then it lifted its head as though it had realized something.

Because ‘she’ had arrived by borrowing the power of the Fragment, the Thought had not noticed.

[You were not borrowing the Fragment’s power?]

The fact that she had performed a Construction Ritual on the spot.

The fact that she had annihilated tens of thousands of Gigantias with mere sword strikes.

The Thought had assumed all of it had been done by borrowing the Fragment’s power, but that had not been the case.

All of it had been Art that this being had performed through her own power.

[You……! You are a Higher Being!]

“Correct~ You noticed late, did you not?”

‘She’ smiled.

“Earlier, you were going on about your understanding of Aura, were you not?”

Starlight glittered around her.

The Aura filling the surroundings surged like a torrent and began to form a single Formation.

“Aura is an Art one learns through the senses that have reached transcendence, after pushing a single Trait to its utmost limit.”

Some used Magic Power.

Some used Divinity.

Some used Mysticism.

“But that is not the end. If one manifests Aura, that is only the beginning.”

Aura was the perfect higher-order counterpart to every Trait and superhuman power.

Simply manifesting it could destroy all ordinary superhuman powers, and through its immense attack power, it could inflict damage on an entirely different level.

If one went even further from there.

It became possible to grant it a unique property according to one’s Trait.

Piercing through defense, ignoring evasion, forbidding escape beyond a certain range.

However, was that the end? No.

The moment one transcended even that realm and established a ‘Precept’, a rule unique to oneself, Aura evolved into its true form.

“Aura is the power to defy the Providence of the world and impose my own Precept. When that reaches beyond ‘myself’ and touches the ‘world’, the caster is reborn as a true Higher Being.”

A personal Precept manifested through Aura.

An existence that wove and wove it together until it finally unfolded as a single ‘Great Precept ’ rose to a godlike position, rewriting the laws of the world.

“If you have reached ‘higher’, you should know that, should you not?”

‘She’ smiled.

She held her sword horizontally forward and placed the index and middle fingers of her left hand against the blade.

Aura materialized through Mysticism wrapped around the sword and soon became the Nucleus of the Formation.

RUMBLE……

The world trembled.

An indescribable immense force swallowed all of South Spirit Mountain.

[If I disappear, the Second Floor will not remain safe either!]

“I know.”

She was not doing this out of ignorance.

She knew, and she was doing it anyway.

She knew, and she intended to ‘erase’ everything.

“If you intend to bring calamity down upon him, I will become a star and wash it away.”

The sword shone.

The world.

Its laws.

Providence.

Beneath it, all of them were rewritten anew.

And beyond the dazzling flicker of starlight, within the radiance, ‘her’ true form was revealed.

[……!]

It was a woman with black hair and violet eyes.

She was so similar to that man that one could have believed they were siblings, and she was dazzlingly beautiful.

‘Ishara’ finally opened her mouth.

“Descent of the Great Precept.”

Light.

Sound.

Everything grew distant.

At that moment, the world slipped free from the hands of the Golden Rule and was reborn anew as hers.

[You are…….]

It saw.

Far beyond the reach of human perception.

The true realm of a Higher Being.

[A Master……?]

Starlight swallowed the world.

***

At that moment, outside South Spirit Mountain.

The investigation team, including Persica and Jin Sohwi, encountered the forces of White Cloud Castle, who had rushed over at full speed.

“We came after receiving your message. We are to rescue Lord Isran, correct?”

“That is right. You heard the explanation, did you not?”

“That the Great Mountain Centipede appeared…….”

A centipede that had lived for hundreds of years and was said to exist only in legends had truly appeared.

At those words, White Cloud Castle had been thrown into an uproar, and they had immediately selected their elites and dispatched them to South Spirit Mountain.

“We had quite a hard time stopping the Head of the House from coming as well. Let us resolve this quickly and return.”

“Why would the elder—”

At that moment, the sky was suddenly covered in light.

The ground shook as though an earthquake had struck, and a roar like the heavens collapsing resounded throughout the entire southern region.

“W-What is that!? What happened!?”

“I do not know either!”

They were in a forest a little distance away from South Spirit Mountain.

Since they were near the Styxia River, the jungle here was dense, so it was difficult to see outside.

“Ugh…… F-First, judging from the tremors, it came from South Spirit Mountain!”

“L-Let us go together, Young Lady!”

Had something happened to Isran?

Persica forcibly suppressed the anxiety rising within her and ran with all her strength.

Had they run for about five minutes like that?

She suddenly stopped at the place where the forest ‘ended’.

“Huh……?”

There was an enormous hill country spread before her, too large to take in at a single glance.

Was this not the direction where South Spirit Mountain was supposed to be? Why was something like this here?

To begin with, had such terrain existed on the Second Floor……?

“Hm? Why is there a hill country here……? Did we take the wrong path?”

“The path is…… correct.”

Even after checking again, this was South Spirit Mountain.

However, the mountain was nowhere to be found, and only a vast, desolate hill country of dirt and sand stretched out before them.

“……Isran.”

Something was strange.

Persica crossed the gently sloping hill country with all her strength.

After running for quite a while, she arrived at the place where South Spirit Mountain’s ‘summit’ should originally have been.

The moment she arrived there, Persica found a man collapsed on the dirt ground.

“Isran!”

Fortunately, there were no wounds. He was breathing too.

However, the sword was floating above him as he lay there, and when people approached, it gave off a threatening vibration.

As though it were protecting him from outsiders.

“Uh…… it seems to be wary of us.”

“It looks as though we will be cut if we approach.”

The hostility it revealed was so chilling that it felt as though it truly would cut them down if they came closer.

When no one could easily approach, Persica stepped in front of the sword and whispered in a small voice.

“……Ishara. It is me, Persica. Please let me take Isran back. I beg you.”

Her voice was as though she were speaking to a friend.

The volume was too low for anyone else to hear, so the people were bewildered. But astonishingly, at Persica’s request, the sword rang once, then slowly moved aside.

“Thank you!”

While Persica hurriedly examined Isran’s condition, the others expressed their confusion.

“Huh…… what in the world is going on here……?”

“Young Master, this is strange. Where did South Spirit Mountain go, and why is there a hill country here?”

“And why is Lord Isran in a place like this……?”

Jin Sohwi shook his head.

Isran had been found at the location where the summit should have been.

Then, there was only one thing that meant.

Jin Sohwi stared at the vast hill country that had suddenly appeared, aghast.

“……This is South Spirit Mountain.”

They had not come to the wrong place. Something that had been here had simply disappeared.

He did not know what had happened, but……

“The mountain…… disappeared.”

South Spirit Mountain had vanished in its entirety.