Chapter 281
Chapter 281: Goddamn He's So Cool
Two hollow, muffled voices suddenly rang out in Erika's mind.
At almost the same moment, Erika froze in place above the sea's surface.
Her body began to tremble faintly.
Then, Viktor's voice cut through:
"Helnersen."
Roooaarr—!!
In an instant, a thunderous bear's roar, wild and furious, shook the sky.
Helnersen, who had drawn close without anyone noticing, leapt from the surface of the sea.
His body was swelling rapidly, currents of air flooding through him.
In that moment, it was as though he had forgotten his usual composure—like a raging bear consumed by fire, ready to reduce the entire world to ash.
A savage aura poured endlessly from his body.
Treading the ocean cleaved in two beneath his feet, he hurled himself at the 2 Calamities with all his force.
The moment Lorelei saw Helnersen, her mind went completely blank.
But then Heim Horn's heavy voice reached her ears:
"Keep chanting—don't break the Magic Link!"
Lorelei snapped back to herself and continued pouring Magic Power into the Formation.
Duke Livi stood at the Formation's center, eyes shut tight.
From his body, too, surges of Magic Power rolled outward in layer after layer, spreading toward the sky.
By then, Helnersen had already closed the distance to Dozarel.
He leapt high above the ocean's surface, and a fist forged from pure fury came crashing forward—aimed straight at Dozarel in the depths of the sea.
Boom!!!
The waves erupted into towering walls of water hundreds of meters tall, as though a massive hole had been punched through the ocean itself.
Dozarel's entire body was swallowed by the twisting, churning sea.
The damage was minimal—but the humiliation was absolute.
Reileis snapped back to its senses and bellowed, unleashing an endless torrent of lightning from around its body. The bolts took shape as coiling serpents, lunging toward Helnersen.
The Bear-man let out a roar, just about to take the strike head-on—but Viktor gave his staff a quiet downward tap.
【Castling】
The next second, Helnersen and Viktor simultaneously dissolved into phantom afterimages.
When they reappeared, Viktor was standing in the exact spot Helnersen had just vacated.
And those 2 bolts of lightning were now heading straight for Viktor.
The terrifying lightning surged down toward him. Viktor pressed his staff downward.
Vines exploded upward from the underwater forest beneath the sea, tearing madly through the water and winding themselves around Viktor's body, intercepting every last arc of the crackling light.
Yet even in the midst of such danger, Viktor did not stop chanting:
"【Words bound to a life by contract shall shatter the illusory dream.】"
"【Take up the blade—tear apart slander and delusion.】"
The Formation expanded another layer, its rotation accelerating to a furious pace.
The moment Erika caught sight of Viktor, something clicked.
She finally remembered the task her father had given her, and called out to Viktor urgently.
"Professor! This Formation—it needs you to take the lead..."
"I know."
Before Erika could finish, a voice reached her that made her feel at ease.
Viktor hadn't turned to look at her. He simply stood before her.
Taking her place—standing against the 2 terrifying Calamities.
His Coat whipped and snapped in the howling storm.
Erika watched Viktor's silhouette.
And in her gaze, something gradually took hold—a faint, helpless fascination.
At that same moment, the Calamities finally regained their focus.
Even after taking the Bear-man's punch, Dozarel did little more than shake its head.
Then it shifted its body and rose again from the sea.
But that one punch had bought just enough time.
Now, Dozarel and Reileis had reached the absolute peak of their fury.
The moment they laid eyes on Viktor, their rage became boundless.
Because they knew—throughout the entire battle, this man had been like an irritating fly, harassing them without end.
If not for him, that Serpentine Creature and that flightless beast—
How could they possibly have been a match for the 2 of them?
In this moment, both Calamities released a terrifying pressure from every part of their bodies.
With the disappearance of the Calamity of Wind, 2 Domain abilities erupted simultaneously.
【Trillion-Volt Surge】
In an instant, lightning spread across the sky, blanketing the thick and heavy cloud layer.
A dry charge crackled through the air—as though a single spark could ignite everything.
【Sunken Star Sea】
Above the clouds, the storm-churning sky seemed to grow even darker and deeper.
Torrential rain surged downward, as though to swallow all existence.
And beneath the thunder-clouds, where the rain cascaded down, something strange began to emerge—an eerie fusion taking hold.
The black clouds suddenly burst with chaotic rain droplets flickering with a luminous, jade-like glow, swallowing the entire world in their wake.
【Radiant Surging Thunder】
In this moment, the domain of the Calamity of Lightning and the domain of the Calamity of Water merged into one.
A violent trembling seemed on the verge of shattering everything into pieces.
Thunder shook continuously between Reileis's wings, wrapping itself around the shimmering rain droplets, and launched a devastating volley of arrows forward at terrifying speed.
Enough destructive force to tear through the entire sea in an instant.
【Radiant Lightning Arrow】
Around Dozarel's body, the waves swelled again, and thick Water Elements began rapidly overflowing from the thundering downpour.
The next second, the deep azure waves began to warp and distort—yellow-green lightning laced through the surging torrent, driving it forward like a colossal tide.
【Ocean Source Star】
The ultimate abilities of both Calamities blazed outward—and still Viktor kept chanting.
Watching this, Erika's mind went utterly blank.
In this moment, she seemed to forget entirely that she was standing in the middle of danger.
"Pro—Professor!"
She took a step forward.
But the moment her right foot moved, Viktor extended one arm and pulled her into his embrace.
Then the 2 forces of annihilation coiled together and came crashing straight toward Viktor.
In the instant before they struck Viktor and Erika—
The world fell into absolute silence. Only a sharp, ringing sound gradually rose—then gradually faded.
A flood of memories suddenly surged through Erika's mind.
They say that at the moment of death, the mind races through its memories in a final rush.
Is this... what a life flashing before your eyes feels like?
Going to die here... with the Professor.
Those thread-thin words faded.
And then, with the force of a nuclear explosion, it was as though the entire world had been obliterated.
Beneath the white light, all sound vanished.
The whole world seemed to fall into absolute silence.
But then, a low, magnetic voice—as though carrying a deep resonance—
Suddenly rang out through all that white:
"Weija."
The One-eyed Crow opened its eye.
That pitch-black, fathomless eye unleashed a staggering surge of pressure.
Almost instantly, the pale-blue gemstone atop Weija's head burst apart.
Completely shattered.
The 100,000 souls contained within came pouring out all at once, transforming into dense white smoke that shot straight into the sky.
These were the souls of 100,000 Sea Folk—those who had polluted this sea and been trapped within it, forced to become a part of the ocean itself.
And now, they had been given the chance to atone.
Those drifting souls transformed into a hurricane, intercepting and absorbing the full force of those 2 devastating strikes.
The thunderous ocean was completely shattered by the returning soul storm. The soaring white souls fractured and scattered in every direction, dispersing across the four corners of the world.
After the soul storm broke apart, Erika's eyes went wide.
The white light was not blinding—but its brilliance, carrying with it a deep and chilling weight, dissolved into smoke and drifted into the sky.
Viktor placed one hand over Erika's hands.
"Erika."
"Lend me your power."
Erika's body gave a faint tremble. In that moment, she remembered what the Professor had told her.
The Professor... needed her.
"I... what do I do?"
"Just trust me. That's all."
Viktor's large hand enveloped Erika's hands and slowly raised them.
His voice continued to echo with an arcane incantation, and the Formation behind him blazed to life once more.
Above the sky and over the sea, the elements that had dispersed from Dorakon and Gulton now gathered again—converging back onto Viktor's body.
3 streams of alien-colored energy welled up around him, coiling and twisting in his orbit.
Coiling around Erika as well.
It was as though some force was being drawn from within her.
Erika suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of weakness. She went limp in Viktor's arms, unable to stop herself.
Her eyes grew hazy. She breathed in ragged gasps, her cheeks flushed with color from the exhaustion.
Viktor held Erika, supporting her, keeping her from collapsing into the sea.
Then, facing the colossal force about to break through again, his voice rang out.
"Weija, link with me."
His words fell.
A faint blue light flickered in Weija's single eye.
After 2 days of rest, Weija's reserves had recovered.
And this time, it had already prepared itself mentally.
"Viktor, when this is over—I want 1,000,000 followers!"
Viktor's Coat surged in the wind. He replied, calm and unhurried:
"Don't worry."
"1,000,000—I can give you that easily."
The words had barely left his mouth when, in an instant, a flash of azure swept through Viktor's eyes.
【Link Successful—】
Feeling the boundless Magic Power flood back into his body once more, Viktor smiled with satisfaction.
He raised his staff. The 3-colored energy flowing along his Coat climbed upward, reaching the very tip of Ulruste.
As the elemental energies departed, the Coat gradually lost its color and form, fading to nothing.
Then, the 3 streams of energy began to converge.
"However."
Viktor raised his staff.
"That comes after this is finished."
His Magic Power dropped at a terrifying rate—that vast ocean of magical energy suddenly ran to the bottom, as though drained in an instant, unable to surge again.
But that was not all.
Control of the Formation was seized by Viktor in an instant, and almost simultaneously—
The countless Mages sustaining the Formation felt their own Magic Power being yanked away, like a mountain stream rerouted through bedrock at a frantic pace.
Even Rashel felt herself age several years.
At this rate, she likely wouldn't have many years left.
Heim Horn's eyes went wide, his voice filled with stunned disbelief:
"Sure enough—that same feeling of being completely wrung dry."
He recognized it, because he had experienced it before. The last time, it had also been Viktor's doing.
Beside him, Lorelei was completely lost.
"Again!?"
"Heim, you have to tell me—what exactly have you been through?!"
But there was no time left for conversation.
Reileis and Dozarel roared once more.
White light blazed upward—and at last, the Formation behind Viktor locked into place, every piece connecting with the next.
Countless patterns seemed to take on a will of their own, growing wildly erratic—yet carrying an eerie, paradoxical harmony.
3 streams of Natural Energy joined at the perimeter of the enormous Formation, pouring in an even more chaotic surge of power.
Feeling the overwhelming force and crushing pressure bearing down on them, countless people lifted their heads in stunned silence—gazing upon something that reached into the very depths of their souls.
What... was that?
It was as if 3 enormous beast phantoms, each a different color, were gradually tearing apart their own forms.
Becoming light. Merging completely into one.
As the blazing white light slowly faded, a colossal creature—towering between heaven and earth like a giant—emerged into the world.
Its enormous claws were wrapped in thick, flowing lava. Its scales were hard as scorching rock, veiled in a pale, indifferent mist.
A luminous white serpentine body coiled atop the ocean. Atop its vast, pallid dragon-like head, fierce and blazing light burned.
Behind it, countless immense hands of ancient forest power wound and curled.
Faced with this creature, both Reileis and Dozarel suddenly went still.
The markings on their bodies flickered wildly.
They could feel it—this terrifying creature before them.
Was of the same origin as themselves.
In that instant, a shattering, explosive sense of danger spread through them.
But it was too late.
The terrifying fused entity opened its abyss-deep maw. Overwhelming Natural Energy, thick to the point of horror, began slowly converging within.
At that moment, Viktor's staff split open with a crack.
"Overloaded, has it?"
"So be it."
He gave it a casual flick. The staff in his hand crumbled into glittering fragments, drifting away through the air.
Viktor held Erika close, supporting her, and raised her hands.
As though using her body as a conduit, he delivered the final incantation:
"【The crimson imperial star can overturn the cosmos—the radiance of a bright day shall shatter the void—smiting all things into ruin.】"
The massive fused Calamity released every last reserve of its power in full.
A vast, profound beam of energy swallowed everything in its path. Space itself ceased to have meaning. Even the void, in this moment, became fragile.
The ocean was split apart entirely. Ten-thousand-zhang surging waves truly tore through the heavens and clouds. The black shroud of darkness collapsed inward and came crashing down.
Temperature lost all sense of cold or heat—instead settling into an utterly indeterminate, eternal constant warmth.
The world seemed to contract entirely. All perception was stripped away completely.
Only one voice remained, echoing ever so slowly:
"【The annihilation of all elemental existence—Void Triad of the Dimming Day.】"