Chapter 123
“Recall it.”
“Y-Yes!”
Arte instinctively lowered her head further in response to the weighty, low voice.
The Founder, who had finally awakened—or rather, the resurrected Nameless Demon—wanted a full report from Arte on everything that had transpired.
Arte meticulously recounted the events from the moment the Founder began the ritual until now.
The remnants of the 3rd Elder’s forces had been captured, followed by the exposure and capture of the 1st Elder.
Even the war in the western continent, which Arte had spearheaded, had not concluded as planned.
At the center of all these events was one organization.
The Black Shadow Corps, which the Nameless had initially dismissed as mere thieves, had been overlooked in their investigations.
It was the Black Shadow Corps that eradicated the 3rd Elder’s remnants, captured the 1st Elder, disrupted the war, and inflicted grievous injuries on Arte.
When Arte brought up the leader of the Black Shadow Corps, it was the first time the Demon, who had been quietly listening, spoke.
“Recall the battle with the leader of the Black Shadow Corps in as much detail as possible.”
Swoosh-
Arte trembled instinctively as she felt a hand rest on her bowed head.
Though the Demon had taken on a human form, the aura emanating from him was anything but human.
Even the hand resting on her head felt unnatural.
Just that touch alone sent chills down her spine and filled her with dread.
“Keep recalling.”
“Y-Yes!”
Arte replied in a tense voice and obediently began recalling the battle with the leader of the Black Shadow Corps in as much detail as she could.
The confrontation that had taken place in the royal palace at the heart of the Flora Kingdom.
***
“Can he truly negate everything created by mana?”
Arte maintained a composed facade, but inwardly, she was shocked by the incomprehensible abilities of the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.
When she had first heard about it from the captive Erica, she had dismissed it as an exaggeration.
But seeing it for herself, she couldn’t help but believe it.
The leader of the Black Shadow Corps truly possessed a teleportation technique unaffected by mana.
If that ability was real, then everything Erica had confessed earlier was likely true as well.
“To manipulate space…”
“You’re dead.”
Arte instinctively swallowed at the sight of Ryu Yeong, the leader of the Black Shadow Corps, drawing his sword while muttering in a low voice.
Though muffled by the mask, Ryu Yeong’s voice carried an unmistakable, overwhelming rage.
His anger was evident not only in his voice but also in the aura surrounding his sword.
The blade of Ryu Yeong’s sword emitted a black aura, as if the mana surrounding it had turned dark.
It wasn’t black magic, though.
It seemed the mana itself was reacting to the blade, giving it that color.
“How long can you…”
Whoosh!
“Ack!”
Before Arte could finish her sentence, Ryu Yeong charged at her without hesitation, swinging his sword.
Letting out an involuntary cry, Arte hastily threw something from her sleeve toward Ryu Yeong.
Clang!
What Arte had thrown was white powder.
The powder clumped together in the shape of Ryu Yeong’s sword as if it were magnetized, blocking his attack.
For a moment, the sound of metal clashing filled the air, but Ryu Yeong had already vanished.
“What in the…!”
Whoosh!
Realizing Ryu Yeong had disappeared, Arte quickly scattered more of the white powder from her sleeve into the surrounding area.
To an outsider, it might have looked like ordinary powder, but what she had thrown were living creatures.
These microscopic creatures were specialized for physical defense.
Floating invisibly in the air, they would clump together to form a barrier against any weapon entering their range.
When it came to physical attacks, they provided near-absolute defense.
Clang!
“Urgh!”
“Are the powder creatures… dead?”
The creatures, which had always reliably protected Arte from physical attacks, had never been destroyed before.
Not only could they block strikes, but they would also absorb mana from weapons and use it to replenish their energy.
This made them one of Arte’s trump cards.
Yet, after blocking just two of Ryu Yeong’s strikes, the powder creatures lost their power and fell to the ground.
Slash!
“Kyaaah!”
While Arte was reeling from the loss of her creatures, something even more unexpected occurred.
Ryu Yeong’s sharp strike pierced through the remaining powder creatures, which were still floating in the air.
Caught off guard, Arte had no time to react and was slashed.
Luckily, the wound wasn’t deep.
Had the blade gone even slightly deeper, it would have been a fatal injury.
[One!]
Desperate, Arte called out to One in her mind, but there was no response.
The reason for One’s lack of response was clear.
It had already been defeated.
“Defeated…?”
“You… damn it!”
Arte let out a frustrated cry, clutching her stinging, slashed right arm to stop the bleeding, and reached out toward Ryu Yeong.
Immediately, a black energy coalesced, and creatures began emerging at that very spot.
They weren’t just one or two.
Countless creatures of varying forms burst forth all at once.
There were creatures resembling wolves and butterflies, common to the Arkaria Continent, as well as bizarre geometric shapes and hybrids of multiple animals.
These were the many creatures Arte had created through her research in black magic.
Every single one was a killing machine, designed as the ultimate creatures for destruction.
“You bastard!!”
Arte felt the hot blood flowing from her right arm and screamed in anger.
With her scream, the countless creatures charged toward Ryu Yeong all at once.
From the air, the ground, and even underground.
Despite the creatures closing in from every direction, Ryu Yeong stood motionless.
He wasn’t scared by their sudden appearance, nor had he given up the fight.
There was no way he would have that kind of look in his eyes if he had.
“I need to heal first…!”
Arte retreated, gripping her arm tightly, and summoned a healing creature she had prepared for moments like this.
A creature resembling a snail attached itself to her wound, and Arte immediately felt the pain ease.
As the pain subsided, she turned her gaze back to Ryu Yeong, who was fighting her creatures.
As expected, Ryu Yeong hadn’t given up.
“What… What is that…?”
Arte couldn’t close her gaping mouth as she watched the battle between Ryu Yeong and the creatures.
There was no trace of mana emanating from Ryu Yeong.
The only mana present was the black energy enveloping his sword.
It was clear that the black energy was the only mana-based skill he was using.
“Why aren’t the attacks landing?”
The creatures were attacking relentlessly, yet none of their attacks reached Ryu Yeong.
It was as if there was an invisible, impenetrable shield around him.
To be more precise, it wasn’t just a shield.
The space around Ryu Yeong seemed to be distorted.
The sharp stinger of a viper, the subterranean assault of a centipede, and the charge of a wolf—all of these attacks vanished into the distorted space around him.
Meanwhile, every strike Ryu Yeong made landed unerringly on the creatures.
Each swing of his black-tinged sword obliterated at least one creature.
As Arte watched this scene, she felt her determination crumble in real-time.
Her greatest creation, One, had been defeated—not by Ryu Yeong, but by someone else.
Even in such a situation, Ryu Yeong was not being overwhelmed by the dozens of creatures.
He was instead overwhelming them, drawing closer and closer to Arte.
The fight, which had started in the royal underground, was escalating, becoming more chaotic and destructive.
The surroundings were already devastated, and the soldiers of the Flora Kingdom, who had gathered after sensing the commotion, were being killed—not by Ryu Yeong but by other creatures.
Woooong-
“That… that lunatic!”
Arte’s jaw dropped even further at what she saw next.
With a sound as if space itself was trembling, something unbelievable occurred.
The blue wolf, one of Arte’s masterpieces, was attacking Ryu Yeong rapidly and fiercely.
But without any forewarning, its front paw disappeared.
It wasn’t cut by a sword or severed by magic.
It simply wasn’t there, as if it had never existed in the first place.
The blue wolf, having lost the paw it was using to maintain its balance, toppled forward.
Squelch-
Ryu Yeong’s black sword pierced the wolf’s neck.
Seeing this, Arte immediately realized.
She had no chance of winning.
“I… I need to run.”
The creatures that had once filled the space, her reliable creations, were now lifeless and scattered around her.
Ryu Yeong, though slightly staggering, bore no wounds.
“No… No way!!”
Wooong-
Arte extended her hand again, gathering black energy, as the space around them trembled.
Slash-
“Aaaah!!”
With a burning, searing pain, Arte saw her arm flying through the air.
The sight was grotesque and horrifying.
Just as a few creatures emerged from the magic circle she had activated in desperation, Arte clutched her severed right arm and scrambled backward.
“I have to live!”
Tearing apart an emergency spatial teleportation scroll, Arte, consumed by terror, closed her eyes.
—
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