Chapter 90
Chapter 90: Raid (4)
For Erik, when things weren't going well meant one simple thing: money was running short.
In that context, Erik ground through hundreds of thousands of gold while Divine Power, attempting to recreate the miracles of the past.
The result.
[You overturn the laws of the world.]
[The Teleportation effect has been sealed.]
Whether by chance or opportunity, it wasn't difficult to recreate something he'd done once before.
'As expected, if you do it, it works.'
After spending about 800,000 gold, he succeeded.
The will to block a specific power.
Since he knew how to perform the Miracle of Teleportation, making the manifestation of that power impossible was also possible.
'Give up any thought of escape.'
Possessors of the Black Mage class had skills that excelled at [Utility].
Portal creation, for instance.
Opening gates.
They were troublesome beings capable of even summoning designated targets.
So he blocked this at the source.
Kwuung!
Erik's tremendous Divine Power spread out like a spider's web, and it soon covered the Demon Realm.
The strong ones who sensed that aura paused momentarily, seeing Erik's power surrounding all directions.
"Hah, what in the world is this impossible Divine Power!"
Julius, who was slaughtering Black Mages at the front lines, cried out in shock.
Setting aside the quality of power, the sheer quantity seemed unbelievable.
It was a technique only possible for Erik, who could instantly recover his Divine Power to maximum capacity.
But from the perspective of those who didn't know this, it was unthinkable.
Monstrous.
'Has his total Divine Power already become comparable to His Holiness the Pope?'
Divine Power that dominated space.
It was a power that reached 80 times Erik's total Divine Power, so it could certainly be called overwhelming.
"What is this......"
The Black Mage Group, observing the battlefield from the Black Tower, felt the same emotion.
They were currently setting up two plans.
'All the utility skills are blocked.'
One was leaving this place with [Gate].
A skill that could be acquired in the advanced class change of the Black Mage class.
The ultimate [Gate] of utility.
A power that could overwhelmingly accelerate the pace of Labyrinth conquest, it was a skill that summoned a gate to connect with specific coordinates.
This had absurd performance that transcended the layers of the Labyrinth.
[This is an area where skill use is impossible.]
Thomas tried to activate the skill for a moment, but it misfired.
Divine Power had poor compatibility with Black Magic Power.
Moreover, it was a power that burned Possessors.
That covered the entire Demon Realm like a spider's web.
"Director, it seems impossible to escape through Gate."
Thomas, looking at the trembling black liquid, bowed his head.
Crunch! Crunch!
Makia's recovery was very slow.
Since she'd been pierced by the Holy Spear dozens of times over, it made sense.
A white hand first took its form from a giant mud-like mass.
Thomas brought his mouth to that hand.
Chomp!
A thrill ran through him.
'Aaah!'
Even without physical form, the existence called Makia was so great to Thomas.
Makia's hand trembled gently.
"The next best option is......"
Thomas looked at the shareholders gathered around Siuron's eyes.
They were engaged in heated discussion within a veil of concealment.
'Will we fight, or will we retreat again for the greater plan?'
These were the shareholders who had once hidden, fleeing from Riferoze.
Hadn't they been hit by the Holy Spear barrage right after returning?
'Perhaps......’
The shareholders might take the lead in fighting to vent their accumulated frustrations.
Of course, the choice was the shareholders' prerogative.
Thomas's gaze turned toward the abyss of the Demon Realm.
He saw the Pope.
'Now that the Pope has truly entered, the major shareholder might step forward too.'
A massive pillar of Divine Power rose above the abyss.
It was the Pope's power.
Was it even possible to erect such Divine Power in the middle of the Demon Realm, and right above the core of the Demon Realm?
Siiiiiiii!
Following Siuron's eyes, the monsters crawling up from the abyss began to disintegrate into particles and vanish.
"As expected of His Holiness the Pope."
Erik nodded as he watched the Pope's actions.
The Black Tower was beyond the abyss.
You couldn't fight while leaving monsters behind you, could you?
So that's why the Pope invested that level of Divine Power.
'Will we fight?'
Erik's gaze turned toward the Black Tower.
The Black Mages, noticing that Teleportation was blocked, became busy.
The Pope's advance had already reached the immediate vicinity of the Black Tower.
The shareholders were still observing the situation within the black veil, and as the Pope approached near the tower, he raised his hand high into the sky.
"Grant me the Sword of Judgment upon this land!"
The Pope, taking the form of a giant Holy Paladin rather than an old man or child, brought his hand down in a sweeping motion.
Kwuung!
A massive great sword-shaped form tore through the empty space and appeared.
A blade gleaming with brilliant gold descended upon the headquarters of the Black Mage Group.
Clang!!!
The black veil surrounding the shareholders and the massive sword of Divine Power collided head-on.
It was a great sword of Divine Power, far larger than Rudrick's giant form, measuring tens of meters in length.
As the power of sword and veil collided, a wave in the shape of a circular ring shook the Demon Realm.
Siiiiii.
As waves spread across the water's surface.
Golden rings spread across the sky of the Demon Realm.
With each continuing wave, the sword penetrated deeper.
Crack! Crack!
Changes occurred in the veil surrounding the Black Tower.
'It's cracking.'
Apart from that fellow calling himself the major shareholder with nine tiers, strong individuals were abundant in the Black Mage Group.
Seven tiers were the standard, and occasionally you could see those who had reached eight tiers.
'As expected, there's definitely something wrong with those guys.'
Though it was one who had sacrificed 100 million lives, it appeared incapable of performing its role.
Those below them were the same.
The shareholders of the Black Mage Group could not take the offensive.
They were too busy defending.
'But they are holding on.'
The veil was cracked, but the Pope's power was not advancing further.
Something seemed to be lacking by just one notch.
Erik wondered if there was anything he could help with here.
'A skill that summons a great sword of Divine Power.'
The Pope had summoned a sword of overwhelming proportions.
Literally a summon.
'Did he borrow a miracle from God?'
Erik could also summon Meteor Shower, but he felt that wouldn't be enough.
He felt like there was something he could do as well.
'If I spend a few hundred million......’
Erik opened the [Skill Shop].
***
"The greater plan......"
The veil cracked.
Through the gaps, sacred light poured out.
The shareholders held up their hands to block the golden light.
"We should finish them off right here!"
"That will not do."
An old man standing beside the major shareholder firmly shook his hand in refusal.
An old man with notably white and long whiskers appeared to be missing one arm.
Unlike his aged and wrinkled face, his entire body overflowed with ferocious Black Magic Power.
"That Pope is comparable to Riferoze. There's no way this imperfect descent will work."
Yet, only his words seemed frightened.
The one-armed old man lamented while waving his empty sleeve.
"It hasn't been long since we intervened in that thing called the Status Window......"
The shareholders used Possessors.
Through mergers and acquisitions, they absorbed the concept of 'Nightmare Demon' from the knowledge within Possessors.
Thus, they summoned a demon that ruled over dreams.
"Just a little more......"
As a result, they achieved minimal intervention with the Status Window.
They sacrificed tens of millions of souls and viewed the [Status Window] through dreams.
With that achievement, when obtaining the Black Mage class, they made it so that the words "You who are called by Darkness" could be heard.
It was a paltry achievement compared to such enormous investment.
"So we gathered Possessors more easily, but hasn't there been no benefit so far?"
Far from beneficial, they hadn't even recovered their initial capital yet.
"The power of the Nightmare Demon is functioning, isn't it? Surely this investment will definitely succeed."
The Black Mage Group created an environment familiar to Possessors.
Possessors who had not become Black Mages lived wandering through worlds of dreams inside capsules.
The dreams they dreamed were lives on Earth.
These were gradually becoming nourishment for the Black Mage Group.
"Most urgently, we must eliminate the risks of mergers and acquisitions."
When a Possessor and a shareholder become one, that is the Black Mage Group's merger and acquisition.
How wonderful it would be if they could just absorb the Possessor's memories?
However, great gains come with great risks.
There had been several unfortunate cases where a Possessor's soul took control of a shareholder's body.
"Those guys are mentally weak, so they're useless."
"Still, don't guys like Thomas exist?"
Possessors who had taken control of a shareholder's body were all useless.
Such Possessors had passive skills of the Black Mage class like [Pleasure of Murder] nullified and gained a high level of status.
Thus armed with such powerful mental fortitude, they spouted nonsense about implementing democratic society.
"The probability of a capable Possessor like Thomas appearing doesn't even reach one in a hundred......"
That's why when a Possessor took control in a merger and acquisition, it became the group's directive to offer that shareholder's body as a sacrifice.
"To embody and master the knowledge of Possessors is our best option."
The shareholders' will was settled.
The reason they couldn't step forward was that they couldn't use descent.
"Weren't the demons we served before all illusions?"
The demons they had previously served.
Shareholders who had sacrificed one million to tens of millions as offerings, but the demons that descended were not intelligent.
Most resembled monsters.
A monster received monstrous power and descended, so it was overwhelmingly powerful.
However, it was insufficient against experienced clergy or armies.
Merely optimized for destruction, devastation, and massacre.
"The descended body is entirely ours—how attractive is that?"
However, the demons that Possessors envisioned were real.
The Black Mage Group underwent great change.
"Just look at you, who became the ruler of dreams."
A woman with black wings fluttering shyly covered her mouth with her hand at the gaze of the one-armed old man.
A long, black, whip-like tail swayed gently.
"Hehe......I am ashamed, Master."
Descent of a demon.
Like the shareholder who descended in the southern granary region, usually one loses their body to the summoned demon.
However, if descent were achieved through the method of Possessors, Black Mages could maintain their sanity.
They became the descent body themselves, possessing the power of the [Demon] concept they pursued.
"Just look at Siuron."
"Even if language comprehension is a bit lacking, clearly he's maintaining his sanity, isn't he?"
The shareholders had lived long lives, sacrificing overwhelming offerings.
After descending, they might lose their body to the demons they served (which they now consider monsters) and die ignominiously.
Now what they pursued was not such a life.
Because the concept of demons had been completely reversed.
"Well, we can't go ignominiously like Landor, who died in the southern part of the Empire, right?"
The death of shareholder Landor, who died to Erik in the south-southeastern part of the Empire, was all the more shocking.
"So, how much more time before we can show the dreams of the Possessors realized in this world?"
"Master, I cannot guarantee, but wouldn't a year be sufficient? Of course, it will require capturing that many more Possessors."
"That bewitching way of speaking......"
The exterior and voice changing character makes me a bit worried."
Since there was a restriction on not being able to use power, the only option was retreat.
"Gate is blocked, but well."
"If we just restore the Black Tower's connection, we can move the tower."
The headquarters of the Black Mage Group.
The building was a sort of mobile fortress.
Towers of identical form were built throughout the Demon Realm, and they could move from tower to tower.
Trading towers with the power of the Demon Realm.
A different concept from Teleportation.
Thanks to this, the shareholders had been able to hide throughout the continent to escape from Riferoze.
"I never thought it would be split in two by the Holy Spear."
The tower was still in a broken state, but its source of power was steadily being restored.
They were thinking it was time to move.
Kwuung!
Something massive appeared above the Black Tower.
***
'What in the world is wrong with those guys?'
Erik was puzzled.
Skills and Teleportation were sealed.
Yet the Black Mage Group continued only on defense.
There's no way that things would be resolved by just blocking without taking the offensive.
For whatever reason, it was suspicious.
'They're not the type to do that.'
Black Mages, if things go wrong, would self-destruct to cause as much casualties as possible.
They're worse than terrorist organizations on Earth.
That's why Erik quickly selected skills.
[Judgment - 1,000,000,000]
[Divine Wrath – 3,000,000,000]
Like the 10 billion gold [Revival] below, he noted expensive skills that were listed lower.
From among those, he selected ones whose effects could be known from their names.
'His Holiness the Pope definitely said Judgment.'
The evidence was experience.
When the Pope summoned the sword, the word [Judgment] was heard.
So, might this power also show similar performance?
That was his thought.
Thus, Erik used 1 billion gold to purchase the [Judgment] skill.
Kugugugung!
Tremendous energy undulated around Erik.
Just like when he obtained [Creation].
The entire space trembled, and as though defying gravity, everything began to float up.
Erik's body shone brilliantly, piercing through the darkness of the Demon Realm.
Waaaaaaa!!!
At that display, the Holy Paladins of the Religious Order cried out in exclamation.
Even in the midst of combat, they resonated with the aura emanating from the Saint above.
Truly overwhelming power.
Sseuruk!
Erik instinctively stretched his hand high into the sky according to the skill motion he felt.
Then he brought it down.
Ssureuk!
A hand slowly descending.
And at the same time, change occurred.
Kwuung!
A heavy tremor.
The Demon Realm shook.
Cracks formed in the sky above the abyss.
'The Sword of Judgment.'
A massive sword similar to the Pope's slowly tore through empty space and appeared.
Overwhelming in scale.
And tremendous in power.
Kwuung!!
The sword Erik summoned approached the veil surrounding the Black Tower.
Gliding slowly through the sky.
Yet toward the precise target.
'A bit lower.'
The sword summoned by the Pope was still striking against the veil of the Black Tower.
Clear cracks had formed where the two met.
'Perfect.'
Erik precisely wedged his [Judgment] into that fissure.
Fwoooop!
A violent tremor erupted and the veil of the Black Tower tore open.