Chapter 215
The man from Gadisil stood before us.
Long white hair and sky-colored eyes. Huge wings of light rose and fell upon his shoulders.
His holy power seemed even greater than Eilin's, and there was an unfathomable strength coiled within his body. His aura of holiness surged as if it was flooding over us, though he wasn't even trying to show off.
The ice-bound Gadisil around us had been tainted by darkness, yet this one looked completely unaffected by it. His divinity seemed different from ours.
I handed the greatsword down to Donnie, and gave Eilin the bow inlaid with the stone of the gods. Then, I grasped the holy sword that Rod had left us. My companions did likewise.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at me intently.
"Who am I?"
A smirk curled his lips.
I spoke again.
"Are you a subordinate of the Demon King, then?"
"The Demon King? Subordinate?"
"Are you hiding here to try conquering the world or something? Is that what the Demon King sent you to do?"
A fierce power of frost began to radiate from the man's body. If this guy really was Gadisil's Apostle, then he must have been serving as a lackey for the Demon King.
The man vanished, then reappeared.
Right in front of me.
Tap—
He tried to grab me by the throat, but I caught his hand instead. A powerful cold air burst from his grip. I was unaffected, so it was him who was startled.
"Do you mean to defeat a god?"
"You're no god."
In that instant my body surged upward.
The self-proclaimed god, still held by his wrist, was sent flying by my grasp. I didn't stay passive either.
Thwack—
I slugged the man's grinning face as he soared upward. His head snapped back, then came right up again.
Smack—
I hit him again. When he tried to ram me, I beat him to it. He was slower than me!
Crack—
I rammed into him with all the fiery energy I could muster. He was of frost. And—
He certainly wasn't a god. As the Lord of Flame had said, this one was a Gadisil who only wielded the power and authority of a god. In the end, no different from a devil!
Both of us became fireballs in the air. He kept shooting skyward, but I clung to his wrist and hammered him with blows.
"Human, you must be mad."
"You've made a huge mistake! Once I catch someone, I never let go!"
The self-proclaimed god threw a punch. I wasn't about to take a hit like that. I dodged lightly and crashed my head into his face once more.
Smack—
He wasn't hurt at all, but I had to stay attached. Against such a formidable foe, I'd be pummeled if there was any distance between us.
"Donnie! Everyone, get out of here!"
― Understood!
Since my companions might die in the fight, it was better this way. The man tried to shake me off but couldn't—I had his wrist in my grip.
"I'll exterminate your entire kin!"
"Big talk from a hatchling trapped in an ice wall!"
Pop-pop-pop—
He burst forth with magic power. He was weaker than I'd thought. Perhaps a divine being in ancient times, but not anymore.
"Try harder!"
We nosedived together in a swirl of magic, and I unsheathed the holy sword from my back in a reverse grip. I drove it straight into his face.
Thunk—
The sword pierced him!
Right in his right eye!
"Aaaaagh!"
He screamed in agony.
Wrenching out the sword stuck in his eye, I started slicing at his neck. He was stronger than me in raw power, but as long as I stuck close, I held the advantage. He only used big flashy techniques!
"Graaaagh!"
This so-called god howled with a demon's scream. Although his radiated divinity appeared as light, it was stained with an even greater darkness. Primordial divinity!
"So you became a god with only this much power?"
"Die!"
Boom-boom-boom-boom—
An immense explosion of frost raged. The whole world seemed on the verge of freezing.
Tangling together, we spun and flew as I held out. If my companions were nearby, they'd be frozen in an instant. I unleashed my lightning magic as well.
Zap-zap-crack—
We spun down and fell, whirling together. He was weak against lightning. Really, how was he any different from an upper devil?
Through his wrist clamped in my grip, I blasted him with my strongest lightning magic. At the same time, I hacked at his neck with the sword charged with both holy power and lightning.
At last, his flesh was cut and blood spurted out. A member of a mere race, betraying the god above and making himself a god! Joining with darkness and turning into a devil!
Boom-pop-pop—
He exploded again with an intense wave of frost. It wasn't even meant to freeze me—ice was just the natural manifestation of his magic power.
"It was a mistake to let you live!"
"You talk too much!"
Slash—
I half-severed his neck.
Boom—
He unleashed more magic and struck my chest. I tried to hold on, but slipped and lost his wrist.
He quickly vanished and appeared beneath me as I fell. He swung a sword he'd picked up from somewhere.
It was just then.
An enormous blaze engulfed him. Then, with a thunderous blow from a massive forepaw, he was sent plummeting downward at astonishing speed.
It was Yuri, transformed into a dragon.
She swooped in beneath my falling body and caught me deftly on her back, then shot downward like an arrow.
Fwooooosh—
An angry dragon was truly terrifying. Yuri breathed immense fire as she descended at full force.
The man dropped to the ground wreathed in flame, then bounced upward. Next, Yuri's giant hind foot crashed down, stomping him flat.
Crash-crash-crash—
Chunks of ice exploded in all directions. Yuri stomped over and over where he had landed.
But then, the man managed to fend off Yuri's foot and swiftly teleported away. Traces of heat showed where he'd gone, so I could follow his movement exactly.
He spread his wings of light.
But now his body was shrouded in black energy.
This must have been his true form!
Fwoooosh—
Yuri spat another searing blast of fire toward him. It was strong enough to melt the entire area in an instant.
Just then, he swung his sword at Yuri. Crescent-shaped shards of light shot out.
"Yuri! Watch out!"
I cried and bolted toward him.
At that moment, a shaft of light curved through the air and embedded itself in the man's heart.
"Grah!"
He collapsed, shrieking.
It was an arrow fired by Eilin.
A guided arrow filled with holy power!
"He's a devil! The most powerful devil!"
"Keep shooting!"
Even as he crouched, the man vanished and reappeared in front of Eilin. He tried to strike her with his sword, but Eilin dodged and stabbed back instead.
Thunk—
"Ugh!"
Her sword pierced his heart.
Her enormous holy power pierced through his very authority!
Moreover, his heart began to burn away.
The moment Eilin grabbed him!
I flew in and drove my sword into his side. My team did the same—just like when we hunted True Demon!
Thud—thunk-thunk-thud—
With holy daggers, we slashed up to his neck. His severed neck did not reconnect, not with the holy power of light.
While all of us were hanging onto him, binding him—
Yuri flew through the skies, burning the city. Blood streamed down from wounds caused by the man's crescent blade of light.
From the direction of the snow mountain, countless mutated Gadisil were pouring out. Each time they emerged, Yuri incinerated and melted them all in fire.
"Kraaaagh!"
The man roared over and over.
This guy and True Demon Vampire were no different! If this was the level of traitorous Apostles, then we could take them all down!
Maybe to ordinary people he's a god.
But not to us!
"Grah—"
He coughed up black blood and thrashed. As long as we didn't pull out the holy sword, he was stuck. Eilin's holy sword was one bestowed by a god!
"Eilin! Strike with that sword!"
As I withdrew the dagger from his throat, Eilin pulled the holy sword from his heart. At the same time, the man tried to teleport away, but he was too late.
Slash—
The sword Eilin swung pierced straight through his neck. His head fell off with a thunk.
Then, something incredible happened.
A fierce light burst out from the man's body. That light was all drawn directly into us.
Thud.
The man collapsed to the floor.
And then, he gradually dissolved into a powder of light, scattering slowly. Even that powder of light entered our bodies.
"He really did have primordial divinity."
"Well, he called himself a god."
His divinity became our power, unchanged. He had possessed the primordial divinity from before light and darkness were ever separated. Truly a Gadisil Apostle.
I even felt an odd sense of emptiness.
The so-called gods that people so devoutly worshiped and revered were nothing but this.
Long ago, the lords of the seven races called themselves gods. Simply by being 'the first,' they received divine power and authority from the Creator. These were the ones who ended up betraying the divine.
All of us absorbed the bizarre power released by the dead Apostle. Apostles who betrayed must have killed Yan's Apostle and seized some kind of strength. That's probably why they grew stronger.
Just as the man was almost completely gone—
Something strange happened before my eyes.
"What's this?"
"What is?"
It was a change happening only to me.
Had I taken the man's authority into myself?
The whole world was slowly dyed in yellow light.
I could see the world of energy with my eyes. As if perceiving every current of power, the flow of energy was vividly visible. I could even measure the size of someone's magic power.
The team's magical energy appeared blue, with Donnie's the deepest blue of all. Yuri was deep blood-black. Eilin was a shining golden light.
When I reached out my hand, I could see the magic power streaming from it. Even with my hand drawn back, I could control it by will alone. So I focused on a spot over there, pouring intent into it.
Then, magic and a certain flow seemed to gather at that point. The world snapped! —and stopped.
I'd wondered if it was possible, but didn't think it would really work.
"Young master!"
I had moved over 20 meters in an instant.
My companions stared at me in astonishment.
I had just teleported.
"I think I absorbed his authority."
"Really?"
The team's eyes widened.
Since my magic was the strongest, the authority was immediately manifest in me. But there was more.
"Young master! You have wings of light now!"
I could feel it too.
Something was shimmering above my shoulders. My holy power had grown to be as great as Eilin's had been.
If we keep consuming more light and darkness, or kill these so-called Apostles of gods, their power and authority will become ours. If we hunt the other two Apostles, we might even be able to fight the Demon King.
"Yuri! Let's stop and go!"
"Okay!"
Yuri had melted the entire frozen city. Countless icebound Gadisil had emerged, but all were charred black. The city was filled with steam.
This frost barrier probably wasn't put up by Elin. The Apostles must have erected it to hide something here. That's why the dead Gadisil Apostle guarded this place.
Together again, we set out for the huge snow mountain. I didn't know what the Apostles were protecting, but there had to be something extremely important on that mountain.
They hadn't expected the Apostle to fall.
Neither had we expected to win, for that matter.
/ / /
The snow mountain was teeming with devils.
On the city side, everything was frozen solid, with only mutated Gadisil around, but once we started climbing the mountain, all manner of devils appeared.
Like the underground waterways of the capital, here too, a devil's door was open. Unlike before, though, it might link directly without a detour.
Ancient-looking walls stretched endlessly, each one guarded by devils. They possessed not only powerful darkness, but magic power as well.
"Don't bother fighting the devils—just move straight ahead!"
"Yes!"
There were devils spewing fire, wielding huge axes, bugs exhaling poison, giants unleashing power of frost. All kinds I'd never seen before.
When Eilin released an aura buff filled with her holy power, most of them couldn't even approach and crumbled into ashes. We ignored the tougher ones and pressed onward.
After some time climbing, a high ice wall appeared. There was a fairly large cave beneath it. We entered that cave without hesitation.
"Mark our path as you follow!"
"Understood!"
It was a maze-like cave.
Maybe there was some great devil near the summit, because devils swarmed in constantly to block our way.
Like the tunnel to the northern underground base, it seemed someone had designed this one as well. Not man-made, but neither was it wholly natural.
We climbed for maybe three hours.
The mountain was tall, but the cave's continuous upward path was strange.
"This might have been the first place the devils emerged during the ancient era!"
"That's possible! It can't be coincidence that Rod was in the western mountains—it's so close from here!"
"There are stairs going up over there!"
No devils were coming down the stairs.
So we dashed right up them.
As soon as we emerged at the top, the surroundings opened wide.
It was the middle of a very high snow mountain.
The city looked minuscule far below.
"This is a really tall mountain."
"It might be the tallest on the whole continent."
Kuoooo—
Beyond the slope, I could see the entrance to the stronghold.
There was a monster with wings of light, too.
Its power would become ours as well.
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