Book 2: Chapter 369
Dreadment.
The sword technique created by Lucid. The sword technique that always protected them.
Reliable, rea.s.suring. Capable of giving the confidence that Lucid would hold out, regardless of what enemy they were facing.
That’s why she’d never known.
Just how much pressure one felt when they were on the other side of that sword.
‘How should I say it?’
A rampart? An iron wall?
In any case, it felt like she was punching an incredibly hard surface to no avail. She didn’t even know if any of her attacks were working.
‘I’m not a combat specialist in the first place!’
It was only natural for Anastasia to scream inwardly.
Over the last 10 years, she’d made numerous modifications to her body. She attached magical tools and even added alchemy. In the first place, it was the most efficient way for golems to become stronger.
As a result, she was much stronger than she was 10 years ago.
Nevertheless, she was having a very hard time dealing with Lucid. Even though she was receiving the full support of Iris, nothing changed…
‘Our cooperation is better than before, but…’
The situation wasn’t showing any signs of improving.
No, that wasn’t all.
Anastasia narrowed her eyes slightly.
‘It feels like this guy is growing stronger the more we fight.’
Was he familiarising himself with his undead body?
That thought alone gave her gooseb.u.mps.
He was already frighteningly strong right now, but if he were to make that body completely his…
As she had that thought, her fists clenched subconsciously. The situation would only become worse as time dragged on.
Paak!
Anastasia’s fist met Lucid’s stomach.
It sunk in deeply.
The proof of this was the fact that his black armour, which hadn’t suffered a single scratch until now, caved slightly.
It was her first effective blow since the battle had started.
Nevertheless, Anastasia, who had managed to attack successfully, had a stunned expression.
That attack hadn’t been a trump card or anything. And the blow wasn’t snuck in after exchanging a fierce set of blows.
It was the same attack as before, but for some reason, Lucid had allowed it to hit him.
Anastasia retreated quickly. Then she looked at Lucid with a wary gaze.
He was standing still as if he’d suddenly lost his mind. When she looked at him closely, she realised that he was actually looking somewhere else.
He wasn’t looking at Anastasia right now. But it didn’t seem like Iris was the one who captured his attention.
Lucid’s gaze was aimed at the sky.
To be precise, it was trained on the two Wizards who were fighting in the sky.
Among them, it seemed that his gaze was fixed more on the man with grey hair.
* * *
When a battle between Wizards of the same level took place, there were important factors that usually determined the outcome.
In order to win such a fierce, equal battle, it was necessary to be able to read the opponent’s intentions and be ready to quickly respond to them at any time. In other words, a broad mind was crucial.
Their field of view couldn’t be too narrow. A Great Wizard was capable of casting more than a dozen spells at the same time. Front, back, left, right, above, beneath. It was even necessary to remember that it was possible to cast a spell directly in the body.
But the most important factor was calculative ability.
Spells that had already been cast couldn’t be undone. Regardless of the size of the spell, the mana could not be recovered, and the time that was invested to cast it, whether long or short, could not be returned.
In other words, if one was to cast dozens of spells at the same time and send them all to their opponent without thinking about it, it was likely that they wouldn’t be able to display even half of their maximum power.
Because even the spells that were cast by the same person could counteract each other.
Fire and water.
Air and earth.
Light and darkness.
Spells with conflicting attributes should never be sent out at the same time. A certain amount of distance needed to be between them for them to not affect each other. On the flip side, there were also spells that synergised when they were combined. Those types of spells didn’t necessarily need to be cast at the same time. But even if their departure time was different, they had to arrive at the same time.
That was not the only thing that one needed to think about.
There was something that was more important than the spells cast by an individual. These were the spells of their opponent.
In fact, it was much more important.
The dozens of spells that one sent out, and the dozens of spells sent out by their opponent.
When spells of the same level collided, the factor that decided the outcome was ‘matchmaking’.
Therefore, it was necessary to constantly correct the course until the collision. In order to obtain and keep the advantageous position, it was imperative to not stop thinking and calculating even for a moment.
On top of that, it was necessary to remember to continuously cast new spells while the other collisions were still ongoing.
It was no different from a large-scale war. Even if one gained the slight advantage in the first round of clashes, without any reinforcements, that situation could be reversed at any time.
—Diablo and Frey.
The magical bombardment fired off by the two Great Wizards seemed like an endless war of attrition, but the reality was completely different.
They were constantly calculating to the point that smoke might start coming from their brains. Even if 10 7-star Wizards were to gather, they wouldn’t be able to digest the number of spell formulas that were being squeezed out every second.
The fight had already turned into a brawl.
In this kind of chaotic fight, sometimes even 1-star spells were more effective than 6-star spells.
That’s why one could never let their guard down.
“Impossible.’
Right. He couldn’t let his guard down.
Diablo had never thought that his calculative ability would be inferior to anyone.
And that was the truth that he was facing right now.
However, what was the war situation now?
Boom!
The aftermath of a spell collision happened right in front of him. If one were to compare the current situation to a real war, then the frontline had been pushed back all the way to the front of his base.
The opponent’s mind was at least one level higher than his, his field of view was extraordinarily wide, and his calculative ability was incomparable.
Crash!
The first price of losing in the battle of attrition finally appeared.
Diablo’s right arm shattered.
To be hit so hard, it had to at least have been the 6-star spell Hyperbolt.
‘Paimon’s Curtain has already dispersed.’
He didn’t have the extra mental capacity to maintain the barrier.
There was a saying that offence was the best defence. That saying was perfect for Diablo at that moment. If he’d tried to defend at all, his entire body would have been shattered to pieces long before.
At that moment, he had no choice but to admit that this unknown Wizard bested him in every way.
That made his suspicions grow even more.
His opponent wasn’t simply a genius.
It was true that one could be born with a high calculative ability.
However, in order to develop such a deep mind and battle awareness, one would need to acc.u.mulate experience for a very long time.
Diablo had lived for over 1,000 years.
A Wizard who was more experienced than him should not exist on the current continent.
Right, the current continent.
[…]
At that moment, Diablo felt a shock as though an electric current had pa.s.sed through his body.
It was a certain type of pleasure that one felt when all of the pieces of a puzzle clicked into place.
[Kukuku… Kuhaha… Kuhahaha!]
Diablo’s low laugh suddenly became a cackle.
The flames in his eyes burned brightly.
[I see. So it’s you, Great Mage—!]
A voice filled with joy.
At that moment, Frey.
No, Lukas who currently had the ‘appearance of Frey’, paused.
[You have finally returned. To this world…]
“…”
[Kuhaha… I see. That appearance. It must be one of those ‘forgotten appearances’ that you had in the past. Right. I couldn’t feel the presence of the box, but I hadn’t thought that you’d already made contact with it.]
Diablo burst into laughter once more.
Lukas simply looked at him silently.
He was completely defenceless now. Should he just finish him off now?
‘No.’
He couldn’t.
Something had changed. Diablo was ‘different’ from before.
It wasn’t his aura.
Instead, he simply felt that the current Diablo was dangerous. But that in itself was strange. The situation hadn’t changed. The only thing that changed was that Diablo realised his ident.i.ty.
‘He realised that I am Lukas Trowman.’
Immediately after that, he regained his composure.
In other words, did that mean that he had means that could be used on ‘Lukas Trowman’?
…Although there was no proof of this, Lukas trusted his intuition.
In the next instant, Diablo’s mad laughter cut off.
[Come here, Lucid.]
Somehow, Lucid, who was still fighting Anastasia, managed to hear his low whisper and quickly appeared beside Diablo.
Lukas looked at him before opening his mouth heavily.
“…Lucid.”
Kiki, kik.
As if broken, the Death Knight turned its head to him in a slow, choppy motion.
The moment their eyes met.
Lukas’ eyes trembled slightly.
[Lu… Ka… S…]
A broken voice.
[Luka… Lukas… Lukas, Trowman.]
“…Lucid. You…”
[Ahhh. Uaah. Aaak. A-, ak!]
Lucid gripped his head and screamed.
Lukas’ expression hardened. His very soul was being damaged.
[Let’s stop here.]
Diablo spoke.
[I’ll be leaving now. Because this isn’t the place to fight you.]
“Bulls.h.i.t.”
Boom!
Following the cold voice, an explosion caused stone to scatter in every direction.
It was Anastasia’ landing. She’d crossed the distance of hundreds of metres in a single leap, so it was natural to damage the ground like that.
She glared at Diablo as the cloud of dust rose around her.
“Do you really think we’ll let you go like that?”
Despite Anastasia’s clear rage, Diablo still responded in a cheerful manner.
[I won’t stop you from following me. But you should be prepared to risk your life when you come, Wandering Golem.]
“…you.”
Diablo didn’t listen to her response and instead snapped his fingers.
Then a pitch black tear in s.p.a.ce rose up from the ground and swallowed him from the feet up.
Iris, who had just arrived, immediately recognised the true nature of the black magic.
‘Shadow Way.’
It was a high level spell with a long travel distance and fast activation speed.
In the blink of an eye, Diablo and Lucid disappeared. But Anastasia didn’t panic and instead turned to look at Iris.
“Can you track them?”
“…yes.”
While it was undeniable that Shadow Way was a high level black spell, it wasn’t impossible for Iris, who had the authority of s.p.a.ce, to track it.
“Good. Start tracking them right away. Diablo should be on the ropes right now. This is our best chance to finish him off. We can’t miss it.”
“You cannot track them.”
A restrained voice.
Anastasia turned her head sharply.
Her fiery gaze met Lukas’.
“You…”
Anastasia paused for a moment before letting out a sigh.
“I’m thankful for your help, but please don’t interfere more than this.”
“Even though you don’t know if you’ll die if you chase them?”
It seemed that he was asking about their intentions, but his strange tone made Anastasia snap.
“Do you think I don’t know that? But if we miss this opportunity today, it’ll be even more dangerous the next time. So we have to try and end it now.”
“There’s a good chance that it’s a trap.”
“No. He can’t afford that right now.”
“Don’t make a.s.sumptions. Have you forgotten Diablo’s att.i.tude as he left? He didn’t seem too worried that we’d follow him.”
“It’s possible that he was just bluffing.”
“…you should know how meticulous Diablo is. He is not the type of man to bet his safety on uncertain odds. Calm down a bit.”
Anastasia was silent.
Perhaps it was because she understood what Lukas was saying, or perhaps it was because she thought differently.
The reason was proven by her next words.
“…calm down?”
Anastasia spoke in a clear but emotional voice.
“How can I calm down? Did you know? That undead knight, the Death Knight that Diablo revived and controlled, is my friend.”
“…”
“This has nothing to do with you, which is why you can still be so calm. You can take a step back and a.n.a.lyse the situation carefully. I can’t.”
Anastasia’s voice was like a cold wind that penetrated his heart.
Subconsciously, his fists clenched.
…Those words… were hard to bear.
“That guy, Lucid, was a man who never spat on the street in his life. He was always clean and innocent. He was someone who would fuss more over his teammates’ scratches than his own broken arm…”
He knew. He knew it very well.
Nevertheless, Lukas, who could not admit that, stayed silent.
“…a guy like that… was made into an undead. He must still be in pain even now. I’m sure of it. He was cleaner than anyone else. If even a small portion of his sense of self remains, he will never accept the reality that he was made into an undead.”
“…”
“So I have to break those chains and free Lucid as soon as possible.”
Anastasia looked at Lukas before sighing again.
“You don’t know. You can’t understand. But I can’t just sit back and watch my friend become an undead.”
…Since Anastasia.
No, since Schweiser was the one that said that.
Lukas couldn’t say anything. He felt like he couldn’t stop Anastasia now.
No.
Was that really the reason?
Was the reason he didn’t continue to dissuade Anastasia really because he had no way to stop her?
Lukas asked himself.
Or perhaps he was just afraid that her words would hurt him even more, which was why he backed down.
He didn’t know. But it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t understand.
Anastasia wouldn’t know just how much her simple words had hurt him. They were daggers that pierced his heart.
It was much more painful than he expected.
Ignoring Lukas, who was standing there silently, Anastasia turned to talk to Iris. They were probably discussing how they would track down Diablo.
“…I.”
Just as Iris turned to look at Lukas.
“Stop.”
A loud shout was heard.
Someone was walking along the broken street.
“He is right. If you go after Diablo, you might not survive.”
Everyone turned to look at the source of this voice.
It was a woman in a very unique style of dress.
But Lukas recognised her instantly.
G.o.d’s representative.
A being he’d been determined to meet after returning to this world.
“…Great Medium.”
The Great Medium of Hitume Ikar walked along, leaving soft footprints in her wake.
“I have a lot to tell you all. Especially.”
The Great Medium stopped a short distance away and poked Lukas’ chest with her finger.
“Lukas Trowman, especially you.”
(TL: Oof did Anastasia forget the way she was being wrecked by Lucid? How would she kill Diablo?)