Chapter 270: Limbo [1]
Chapter 269
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Episode 70 - Limbo [1]
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"Cardinal Beatrice, what the hell took you so long?"
Cardinal Abraham shouted as he emerged from the rubble.
His left arm was completely mangled; the flesh had been torn apart, exposing the bone beneath.
"Damn it..."
Meanwhile, both of Cardinal Julius’s arms had their bones completely shattered.
At that moment, a light began to glow around his arms as his bones started to regenerate.
"Don’t blame me. The Pope sent me to find the Vessel, but I couldn’t locate it. I don’t know what that fairy did, but not only did they disappear, I can’t sense either of their presences."
"That means they’re using a Relic."
Cardinal Julius muttered with a slight frown.
Then, Cardinal Abraham asked:
"What’s the Pope’s condition? We couldn’t protect him because of that bastard’s constant attacks."
Cardinal Beatrice, swinging her mace to clear away the rubble surrounding her, replied:
"He’s not in good shape. I wanted to help him, but he told me to kill that bastard first and find the Vessel."
Upon hearing Beatrice’s response, Abraham and Julius breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Beatrice’s expression remained serious.
"The Pope doesn’t have much time left. He could die within minutes if we don’t find the Vessel and complete the Ritual."
At Beatrice’s words, Abraham and Julius’s expressions darkened.
"That bastard must know where the Vessel is, right?"
Abraham asked.
"That’s correct. So, before we kill him, we need to force him to tell us where the Vessel is."
As the two spoke, the sound of coughing caught their attention.
"Cough...!!! Damn it, I’m seriously injured internally..."
Julius spat out a mouthful of blood, his face growing increasingly pale.
"Beatrice, Julius, and I have used almost all our Mana to block that guy’s last attack. He probably doesn’t have much Mana left either."
Beatrice nodded slightly and stepped forward, tightening her grip on her mace.
"I’ll fight him head-on. The two of you follow me, and when we get the chance, we’ll attack together and subdue him in a single strike."
The two nodded, agreeing with Beatrice’s plan.
"And watch out for the debris. That guy uses it to distract us and buy enough time to attack."
Because of the distraction caused by the debris flying toward them, Abraham and Julius hadn’t had time to dodge Adel’s attack.
Therefore, they could only brace themselves defensively at the last second.
At Abraham’s warning, Beatrice nodded.
Then...
Slash!
Her figure disappeared.
In less than a second, she had closed the distance with Adel and appeared in front of him.
Without giving him a chance to react, she swung her mace with both hands. The veins in her arms bulged as she exerted all her strength.
Light Mana enveloped the mace.
Then, it came crashing down with brutal force, directly toward Adel’s head.
Clank! Bang!
The instant Beatrice appeared in front of him, Adel, taking advantage of his perception of time, raised his sword as a shield and blocked the mace.
A violent explosion shook the surroundings.
Adel’s feet sank into the ground as massive cracks spread from beneath them, forming a gigantic crater.
".....!"
’This bastard has insane durability. What the hell?’
Feeling as though she had struck an extremely hard piece of metal, Beatrice stared at Adel with increased seriousness.
Boom! Slash!
The moment Adel blocked Beatrice’s attack, Abraham and Julius appeared on either side of him.
Abraham swung his greatsword with the little Mana he had left, while Julius used the final Stance of his Martial Art.
Both attacked with everything they had.
Then...
Bang! Clank!
Unable to block the duo’s attacks, an enormous amount of Dark Mana erupted from Adel’s body and formed a Mana armor on both sides of his body.
Abraham and Julius’s attacks slammed into the armor.
Crack!
It cracked and, moments later, shattered completely.
However, it had served its purpose.
The force behind both attacks had been considerably weakened.
Clank!
Adel took a powerful blow to his left side. His bones creaked as cracks spread through his ribs.
At the same time, from the opposite side, the blade of Abraham’s greatsword pierced through his skin and flesh before striking his ribs.
Slash!
At that instant, Adel reacted.
He kicked Beatrice in the abdomen and, using the momentum, spun around and struck Julius in the back of the head, causing his head to slam into the ground.
Meanwhile, Abraham was kicked in the head, sending his body flying.
Slash!
Adel retreated a dozen meters before dropping to his knees.
"Cough...!!!"
A large amount of blood gushed from his mouth and splattered across the ground.
His arms trembled from Beatrice’s attack, while the sides of his body were bleeding profusely.
’Damn it... I think some of my organs were ruptured.’
Adel slowly rose from the ground as he wiped the blood from the corner of his lips.
Then, right before his eyes, the wounds on his body began to heal thanks to the characteristics of his Divine Body.
He would probably need around a minute to heal most of his wounds, except for the most severe ones.
Even so, it was enough.
Adel extended one hand.
Then...
"Gravity."
"....!?"
All the debris within a one-kilometer radius slowly rose into the air.
An instant later, they shot forward at terrifying speed and began converging until they formed six enormous spears.
Each of them had been created by compressing the debris as much as physically possible.
That meant they possessed enough durability to pierce through almost any defense.
Seeing this, Beatrice, who was the only one of the three with enough strength to dodge...
...looked at Abraham and Julius. Both were getting up from the ground and soon gathered around her.
"I-I don’t have... Cough...!!! enough Mana to block that."
"Neither do I."
Beatrice nodded and, without saying a word, assumed a defensive stance.
Then, an enormous amount of Mana began surging from her body.
Her objective wasn’t to dodge, much less destroy, the enormous thirty-meter-long spears.
She simply had to go on the defensive.
The moment her Mana surged from her body, the spears moved the next second.
Whoosh!
The spears moved at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they slammed into the trio.
Beatrice used nearly all her Mana to create a barrier, protecting herself along with the other two Cardinals.
Bang!
A massive column of dust rose into the air, and upon striking their target, the spears shattered.
Then, with a swing of her mace, the dust dispersed, and she quickly looked toward Adel, but...
"....!?"
’Where is he...?’
Sensing something, she looked toward the sky.
Adel, using his black wings, had ascended into the sky and suddenly held his sword in a vertical position, ready to slash downward.
".....!"
"Shit..."
At Beatrice’s shout, Cardinals Abraham and Julius also looked up and cursed.
This was because the amount of Mana Adel was gathering was probably all the Mana he had left. Moreover...
"....?!"
Gravity was concentrating around the blade of his sword, but that wasn’t all. Crimson petals emerged and flew around the blade.
It was obvious that this was Adel’s final attack.
Knowing this, Beatrice and the other two Cardinals used all their remaining Mana.
Light Mana enveloped their bodies, creating layer upon layer of protection as they prepared a counterattack.
On the other hand, Adel, who had covered his sword with all his Mana, added the effect of Gravity by using 1% of the world’s Gravity, and finally...
With the little Mana he had left in reserve...
"Growing Flower."
He specifically utilized the power of the crimson flowers, which focused on penetration, with each petal being like an extremely sharp blade.
The moment he combined three forms of attack into a single strike, he finally focused his attention completely on the three Cardinals. As blood gushed from his mouth, he muttered.
"Third Form: Intent."
He swung his sword from top to bottom. Then, using Space, he created a single crack, and on the other side, where the three Cardinals stood...
Countless cracks appeared within a hundred-meter radius, packed tightly together.
Then, using Time, he accelerated each of the blades and...
Slash! Boom!
The attack struck across a hundred-meter radius, and at the center of the attack...
The figures of the three Cardinals simply disappeared.
Each blade was black, covered in crimson petals, and because of Gravity...
It was as if every blade had been swung with the full strength of a Nine-Star Awakened.
Massive cracks spread across several kilometers. Their number reached hundreds or perhaps even thousands.
The entire terrain shattered in the blink of an eye.
"Aah...!"
".....!?"
Adel "looked" at the result of combining his two strongest Traits into a single attack, along with using his Sword Art.
’Unfortunately... it can only be used once.’
His figure fell from the sky toward the ground.
Bang!
When his body crashed into the ground, his chest rose and fell rapidly.
He felt completely exhausted, and every muscle in his body was extremely tense.
On top of that, he had suffered a considerable number of severe wounds that were still slowly regenerating.
’Rinna...’
Remembering that Rinna had been hidden using a Relic, Adel rose from the ground and walked toward a pile of rubble.
At that moment...
"...!?"
A notification appeared in his mind.
〖!!! Warning!!! One of the two side effects of the Unique Trait, Eyes of the End, will be applied as a penalty for failing to unlock its active effects.〗
The moment he read the notification, his body suddenly weakened considerably.
Both his Mana and his Traits were completely sealed.
His physical capabilities weakened to such an extent that even an ordinary person, using all their strength, could now kill him with a single blow.
His wounds that had yet to recover began bleeding profusely.
’S-Shit... I need to get Rinna far away from here.’
His mind began spinning. The amount of blood he had lost was taking its toll, and his body was now in terrible pain because his ’Immunity to Pain’ Trait had been sealed.
Finally, after walking for a few more seconds, Adel found Rinna together with Liora.
She was sitting with her back against a fallen pillar.
As he approached, Rinna, her mind spinning, looked at Adel.
"Adel..."
Seeing Adel, she murmured, and then her eyes lit up as a small smile appeared on her face.
"Yes... cough...! I-I’m here. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here soon."
Upon reaching Rinna, Adel extended his hand toward her.
Rinna looked at Adel’s hand and extended her own to take it.
"G-Good job, Liora."
Liora nodded, her concern clearly evident, but then...
"...!?"
Liora’s expression changed, and she shouted.
"Dad, behind you! Look out!"
"....!?"
Just as he was about to take Rinna’s hand, Adel suddenly felt an intense pain, and at that moment...
"....!"
A spear created from Mana had pierced through his chest. Blood gushed from his mouth as his eyes widened. (Image)
Adel "looked" toward the person who had cast that magic.
"....?!"
’Rinna...’
In Rinna’s left hand was a magic circle corresponding to Five-Star Magic.