Volume 3 Chapter 6.5
Once Again,
The First Step Part 5
Translator : PolterGlast
Irisdina and the
others managed to defend against the attacks of [Cracked Crown], but they
finally reached their limits.
They were on such a
tightrope walk that they could not afford to counterattack in the first place.
It was almost a miracle that they were able to maintain their formation until
now.
Perhaps grew tired of
it, the [Cracked Crown]'s unique crown emitted an unprecedentedly dazzling
flash of lightning.
Following this, similar
lightning overflowed from all its body segments and converged on the tips of
the arms at the ends of the upper sections of each segment.
Even the tip of its
tail was lit up, and extremely thick lightning began to run across its huge
body.
"Not good! Everybody
get down!"
Immediately after
Irisdina shouted, a torrent of extreme lightning was released.
"Kyaaa!"
"Gaah!"
With a thunderous
sound as if a comet had fallen in close proximity, [Extreme Lightning] running
in a straight line penetrated Tima's barriers in an instant. The mere impact of
the blast knocked away Irisdina and the others who were lying flat on the
ground, completely robbing them of their combat ability, which had been
depleted until the very last minute.
"Kuu......"
Irisdina forcibly
raised herself up, whipping her sensory-deprived body, but she had no strength
left in her hands to even hold her own weapon.
The [Silver Wings of
the Evening Moon] she was carrying fell to the ground and made a hollow sound.
Her magic power was completely
depleted. She attempted to deploy a magic spell, but her outstretched hand
slumped against her will, and as a price for trying to use magic forcibly, she
was hit with a strong headache.
Next to her, Shina
managed to raise herself up in the same manner, but her appearance was not much
different from Irisdina's. Her partner, Razward, also stood beside her, staring
at the [Cracked Crown], but his appearance was continuously flickering, and it
was clear that the source element in his body was on the verge of depletion.
*Gichigichigichigichi......*
The [Cracked Crown]
began to clad its gigantic physique in purple electricity once again, clicking
its fangs as if to mock the helpless Irisdina.
Surely, it was trying
to unleash that [Extreme Lightning] once again.
Irisdina and the
others were desperately trying to support their bodies, which were about to
collapse, but that was the best they could do at the moment.
And at the very moment
when the lightning was about to be released, a silver shadow ran past Irisdina
and the others, who were at their limits, at high speed.
"Eh?"
"W-What!?"
Immediately afterward,
*Bang!*. The silver shadow charged toward the head of the [Cracked Crown] and
the sound of purple lightning busting resounded. The fist-equipped black
gauntlet was pulled out after it struck one of the giant centipede's eyes,
which was startled by the sudden intervention.
"Just be quiet
for a minute!"
*Giiii!*
A powerful blow
punched through the [Cracked Crown]'s eye, and the impact caused it to
involuntarily bend its huge body backward.
"Karanti,
now!"
"Roger that,
Leader."
In the meantime,
Kevin's party members retrieved Mars and the others, who were unable to move,
one after another.
"They are
......"
"Kevin Ardinal.
Why are you here ......?"
Irisdina and Shina
were stunned by the appearance of a young man from the Silver Wolf clan, who
was not supposed to be there.
A hand was gently
placed on their shoulder as they almost slumped to the ground.
"Thank you, both
of you......'
"Eh......"
A calm voice in
contrast to the tense battlefield.
Then, as they let out
an involuntary yelp, Nozomu's back as he ran off jumped into their vision.
*Gyiiiii!*
"Kuh!?"
Kevin's blow exposed
an unintentional opening, but [Cracked Crown] immediately released lightning
from its entire body to repel him. The lightning was then aimed at Nozomu, who
was its top priority target.
"Haa, haa,
haa...... ughh!"
While forcing his aching
body to move, Nozomu ran as fast as he could with his hand on the invisible
chains.
At the same time, with
a searing rage burning through his entire body, the reddened scene of gore and
burning flames flashed through his mind once again.
Obviously, it was
Tiamat's interference. Even though he was aware of it and was prepared for it,
the interference of the Dragon King instantly eroded Nozomu's rationality.
A strong destructive
impulse surged up, followed by the revival of the joy of releasing his power as
he wished.
How good would it feel
to be able to go on a rampage without thinking?
Even the feeling that
he could throw away his life and everything he has ever experienced came to
mind.
His mind has
surrendered to the growing fear, and his hands, clutching the invisible chains,
have begun to tremble.
(But......)
Once again, he looked
over his shoulder at Irisdina and the others.
Even after he had
pointed his blade at them and almost killed them, they never abandoned him, and
on the contrary, they sacrificed themselves to save him.
With the mere sight of
them in his vision, the trembling in his hands disappeared. All that was left
was to step forward.
It was just like the
last time he fought with his master. To face those who are precious to him once
again.
(Now, let's start over
again......!)
With his friends'
figures burned into his eyes once again, Nozomu tore off the invisible chains,
releasing his ability suppression.
"Guuhh!"
Pain so intense that
his entire body felt like it was going to be torn apart, as it erupted forth a
torrent of Qi.
For the third time,
blood began to flow from the wound that had just been healed.
At the same time, he
sensed a mighty presence closing in on him, and the forest that stretched out
before him vanished.
In its wake, a
scorching world spread out before him.
The nightmarish
landscape reappeared.
But Nozomu was no
longer misled and stared into the darkening sky, where sparks of fire danced in
the air.
[What an annoying
bastard......]
"I won't be
fooled by your illusions anymore. At least for this moment, I will make you
behave!"
Tiamat's voice
resounded from the void. Nozomu clenched his sweaty palms and yelled at the
giant dragon.
Tiamat's pressure
increased in response to the puny human's declaration of war. At the same time,
the entire world began to creak. Nozomu's spine froze as if pierced by an ice
spear, and cold sweats broke out in a single gush.
As his survival
instincts warned him of the greatest danger, he felt a sharp pain in his head.
Tiamat's interference had begun.
"Ugh!"
[This time, I will
surely break your mind ......]
"Guu,
aaaaa!"
Nozomu's screams
echoed through the scorching world, and various forms of death swirled in his
mind. It was the scene where everything was being done by his own hand.
The image of Nozomu
decapitating Irisdina.
The image of Nozomu
impaling Shina with his own hands.
The image of Nozomu
crushing Mars' skull.
The image of Nozomu
turning Anri's body into bloody dust.
And the image of
Nozomu strangling Lisa.
The carnage that felt
so real that it could even be sensed by his senses penetrated his mind over and
over again, churning his mind into a jumbled mess.
"~! Aaghh!
Guuuu!"
Nozomu kept screaming
in agony at the sensation of having his mind crushed. He desperately resisted,
but his mind was gradually being scraped away, becoming smaller and smaller and
diffusing into the void.
(E-everyone......)
His diffusing mind
naturally sought them out.
A place where he could
return to, revived at the moment of impending death.
At that moment, Nozomu
heard a sound in the darkness, like drops of water trickling down to the
water's surface.
The sound spread like
a repeated echo in the cave, and at the same time, Nozomu's consciousness,
which had almost completely diffused, rapidly returned.
"~, That's
enough! You bastard!"
[Wha~!]
Nozomu shouted loudly
and slammed his own head into the ground to drive out the illusion that
lingered in his head.
Behind his eyes, there
was a flash of light and a dull ache, but at the same time, the interference
that had invaded Nozomu's head was disrupted.
[I-Impossible! How can
you shake off my interference in such a way!?]
Tiamat let out an
upset voice for the first time.
While the giant dragon
was shocked, Nozomu stared at the scorching world spreading out before him,
stained with hatred.
A fake world that she
had constructed in order to deceive Nozomu.
In that case, it is
necessary for him to destroy this fake world in order to break free from her
interference.
(I should already have
what I need to do that......)
Then he raised his
right hand, exhaled loudly, and with determination, pierced his own chest all
at once.
"Ggghhhh!"
While spitting a
mouthful of blood, Nozomu closed his eyes and kept searching his insides.
(More, deeper......)
With his vision
shrouded in darkness, he felt as if he were falling into a bottomless ravine,
but he kept falling deeper and deeper into an infinite abyss.
When he had fallen so
far that he did not even know how deep he had come, a small ball of glowing
light appeared in Nozomu's mind.
A ball of light that
shone with a mixture of five different colors, as if it represented chaos. No
doubt, it was the power of Tiamat that Nozomu had absorbed.
"Guu......"
Slowly, he pulled it
out from his chest. In his hand, he clutched a brightly shining ball of light.
[That's ...... damn
you!]
Nozomu squeezed the
ball of light with his raised right hand.
The five-colored light
overflowed from his hand and entwined into his arm, causing it to clench and
tighten around his arm.
"Uoooo!"
With a loud cry, he
slammed his raised right hand to the ground.
[Qi-jutsu・Light of Annihilation]
The light of chaos,
the power that was taken from Tiamat, erupted from the ground. The fake world
created by the Dragon King was returned to nothing, obliterating everything it
touched.
The sky was filled
with fire flakes and cracks, crumbling like an egg being peeled off its shell,
but Nozomu simply ran forward with all his might, looking straight ahead and
leaping across the cracks in the fake world.
Then, he found himself
back in the real world.
In front of his eyes,
[Cracked Crown] was about to unleash its [Extreme Lightning] just at this very
moment.
"Fuu
......."
With a short exhale,
Nozomu pulled half his body back and poised the katana so that the tip of the
blade was pointed at his opponent, and then infused it with the power of
Tiamat.
The power of chaos was
infused into the blade, which the pattern had previously changed into that of
chains. His katana, which until a moment ago did not seem to be able to respond
to the will of its wielder, easily absorbed the essence of the Dragon of
Destruction into its blade.
The blade glowed a brilliant
five-colored light, symbolizing Nozomu's determination as he stood upright with
his newfound resolve.
*Gishaaa!*
The [Cracked Crown]'s
[Extreme Lightning] was unleashed.
Lightning bolts several
times as thick as Nozomu's height pierced through the air as they came at him.
"~!"
Along with a rippling
fighting spirit, Nozomu drew a slashing trajectory with his katana.
The five-colored
elements traced the trajectory of the slash, drawing a circular path, and a
huge film of light appeared.
Immediately
afterwards, the [Cracked Crown]'s extreme lightning struck the light film. The
film of light bent like a sail caught in the wind and absorbed the torrent of
lightning.
[Fan-Sailed Lotus].
One of the defensive techniques of the Mikagura Style. It is a technique that
flexibly catches and deflects an opponent's magic with the film of Qi that is
generated from the slash trajectory.
Originally, it was
used as an auxiliary technique combined with evasion. However, the scale and
strength of the [Fan-Sailed Lotus], which Nozomu created by directly utilizing
Tiamat's power, was so great that it completely protected Irisdina and the
others behind him.
"Oooooo!"
Nozomu then raised his
right hand and slammed his clenched fist into the extreme lightning through the
film of Qi.
The film, which was
bent after caching the lightning, rebounded in the opposite direction, firing
the lightning back at the [Cracked Crown].
The [Cracked Crown],
perhaps not expecting its own magic to be reflected, was unable to avoid the
direct blow from its own magic.
*Gii, iiiii!*
An ear-splitting
scream. The thunderbolt that bounced back gouged out its sturdy carapace, and
the giant centipede writhed in intense pain.
"Phew......."
While [Cracked Crown]
was thrashing around, Nozomu sheathed the katana he had drawn and took a deep
breath. He quietly closed his eyes.
His body was still
leaking an enormous amount of power, but strangely enough, the intimidation in
his appearance had subsided.
*Gigigigigi!*
The [Cracked Crown]'s
eyes, which were in agony, caught sight of Nozomu once again.
The giant centipede,
with its eyes tinged with flames of anger, began to charge toward its sworn
enemy.
With an agility
unbecoming of its huge body, it closed the distance while raising its
sickle-like arms and approaching as if to swoop down on Nozomu from above.
Despite this, Nozomu
kept his eyes closed and did not move an inch.
"Nozomu!"
"~!"
Nozomu's eyes widen
along with Irisdina's scream.
The power of Tiamat,
which had erupted from his body and was drifting around him, instantly
converged on the katana he was poised at the ready.
In the next instant,
an extremely powerful sword Qi, which was released from Nozomu's body, struck
the [Cracked Crown].
It was a dense wave
like an approaching black wall. The physical pressure generated by the sword Qi
overwhelmed not only the [Cracked Crown], but also the one controlling it,
causing his body to become temporarily rigid.
An extreme
concentration was exerted. In a world where everything seemed to be in slow
motion, Nozomu stepped his right foot forward, letting the power he had drawn
out flow through his entire body.
The ground crumbled
and the soil danced up as he lowered his hips, fully interlocking all the
muscles in his body and repeatedly strengthening them to the extreme.
*Snap,
snap-snap*....... The sound of his muscles tearing could be heard deep in his
ears.
His body was too
fragile to use Tiamat's source elements as they were.
The body that had just
been patched up by healing magic easily reached its limits, and his vision was
getting blurry due to blood loss.
Even so, there was no
delay in Nozomu's movements. Even though his senses were gone, his body,
imprinted with techniques to the core, moved to the best of its ability to
deliver the ultimate move he had inherited from his master.
[Phantom・Flash]
His katana was drawn,
and accompanied by a flash of five-colored brilliance, the ultimate move of a
master swordsman sliced through the [Cracked Crown]'s tough carapace and
obliterated its flesh.
Furthermore, the blow,
which was imbued with the Dragon of Destruction's power, turned its fangs on
the spirit that had been controlling the centipede.
*Giiiiii!*
[Gyaaaa!]
A girl's high-pitched
scream overlapped with the [Cracked Crown]'s scream.
The power of [Cracked
Crown], whose belly had been ripped open, was drained from its entire body, and
with a *thud!* sound, its body limped down to the ground.
Nozomu, who had pushed
himself to the limit, also fell to his knees powerlessly.
"Nozomu......!"
"Nozomu-kun!"
Irisdina and Shina
rushed over to support his body, which was about to collapse.
"Thank, you
....... I'm ....... alright now."
Nozomu smiled, trying
not to worry them, but he fainted like a puppet whose strings had been severed.
At the same time, his ability suppression was activated. The power that had
sustained his body up to now disappeared, and the amount of blood flowing out
of his body increased at once.
"What do you mean
by alright!? Your condition is severe!"
"Norn-sensei,
hurry up!"
"Oh my goodness,
you really are a student who makes doctors cry!"
In response to Shina's
call, Norn rushed over to Nozomu and began healing him again.
However, at that
moment, a heavy, resentful voice was heard echoing within their ears.
[You're supposed to be
a mere toy.......!]
Irisdina and the
others involuntarily turned their gazes toward the [Cracked Crown].
Upon closer look,
something seemed to melt out of the body of the giant centipede.
It was a tiny girl
with transparent wings reminiscent of an insect. However, to call her a girl,
her appearance was somewhat unusual.
Her lovely face was
covered with countless cracks. Eventually, the skin on her face peeled off like
old coatings, revealing a strange appearance underneath.
"That's
......."
A pair of compound
eyes resembling that of an insect and a proboscis resembling that of a
butterfly. It was not a human girl, but a hybrid of several insects.
"An insect
spirit, huh? Perhaps it had attached itself to this giant centipede and was
controlling its mind. We'll need to do a little ...... questioning."
Shina's sharp gaze
fell on the insect spirit.
But before she could
question her, the spirit disappeared as if dissolving into the darkness of the
night.
As soon as the insect
spirit disappeared, the giant centipede woke up and raised its wounded body.
*Gigigi, gi.......*
"Oioi, come on,
spare me any more of this ......"
Mars let out a sigh
for what seemed like the umpteenth time today. Tension once again assailed
Irisdina and the others.
However, the severely
wounded [Cracked Crown] merely glanced down at them, did nothing, then turned
around and disappeared into the night forest.
"Perhaps, that
demonic beast was possessed and controlled by the insect spirit while it was
sleeping. Its priority was to survive rather than to fight us......"
Indeed, it should be
nearly impossible for them to encounter that monster again. Everyone was
relieved to hear Shina's words.
"Honestly, there
are still many unanswered questions......"
Irisdina, while
holding Nozomu's collapsed body, gently stroked his cheek.
"Welcome back,
Nozomu. When you wake up, please tell me your stories."
A tingling sensation
stung the inside of her nose. She surrendered herself to relief, overcome by
the heat rising up from the depths of her chest.
With a smile filled
with affection on her face.
End of Chapter 6
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