Cold, utter darkness enveloped . As my limbs gradually gave out, I couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t touch anything. It felt as though I were dead and yet simultaneously alive.
Deerheart had rely injected a single fluid into .
But after that I couldn’t recall anything.
Even the man who brought here, the one I was certain I knew, had faded from my mories.
I missed my dad, my mom, aunt, uncle, unnie, and most of all, oppa.
As the final light in my eyes diminished, I was no more who I used to be, just an empty shell devoid of a body.
Even now, though I could perceive Oppa’s presence and feel my body moving of its own volition, attacking him relentlessly, I couldn’t stop it.
It felt like hell. I yearned desperately to plead for help, but I couldn’t.
"Oppa, please save !" But even as I scread internally, my voice was nonexistent.
Yet I still gave it my all, didn’t I...? I hope I did.
Even my na that I could never forget had been rewritten by another title... No, a celestial code: Weaver Of Truth.
--------
"Damn!"
As my knee buckled, I couldn’t help but curse inwardly. This wasn’t a pressure a B-rank should be capable of exerting.
Did that an Hari had sohow grown stronger?
Hell, I couldn’t even call that creature Hari anymore.
My breath caught as my legs trembled. The frozen river beneath had begun to crack, long, web-like fractures that only deepened as the unknown force behind Hari’s words intensified.
I slowly turned to Matt, whose azure flas had long since dimd like a dying candle.
Our entire group struggled to breathe. It wasn’t rely mana, nor a special talent or technique.
No. If that were the case, neither Anica nor Matt, both of whom possessed divine abilities, would have been affected to such a degree.
This was sothing more primal, intertwined with the very fabric of the universe. The ability to use language to influence others’ actions.
It might have been a far-fetched conclusion, but my instincts scread at to believe this was undoubtedly sorcery.
I wasn’t certain what kind of sorcery it was, but if it bore any resemblance to my weaving of life sorcery, then it would also possess a weakness, or at least a condition that had to be t.
Even as grief clawed at the edges of my mind, I regained my composure. My now-cold detached gaze locked on Hari, who stared down at .
With trembling hands, I commanded my saints to erge from my shadows and temporarily severed my connection to them. This was the first ti I attempted sothing so reckless.
The crackling in the air intensified as a single dark spark ignited in the atmosphere.
I could feel so of my mana being siphoned away as my orange core trembled slightly within the oppressive aura emanating from Hari.
The spark of darkness slowly expanded, tinting the white blizzard sky with faint blackness.
The darkness began to coalesce as my three saints materialized. Without needing my command, and with Gumiho at the lead, they charged toward Hari’s looming figure, each able to move independently.
Neko-sensei once told during one of our lessons: ’Talents are born from a mage’s interaction with their Affinity, but that doesn’t an mages are confined solely to their talents.
In rare cases, a mage can transcend those boundaries and wield a separate ability, that is known as sorcery. Each sorcery technique, much like runes, has both an awakening condition and a key pass or activation clause.’
From her words, I deduced two things. Whatever form of sorcery Hari wielded was triggered by command. Nothing occurred until she spoke, and even then, it affected not only us but her allies as well.
By deploying my saints, I confird this. And the reason I severed my connection rather than simply summoning them, given they cannot hear, was due to the second part of Neko-sensei’s explanation.
They required both an awakening condition and a key pass. So, assuming the awakening condition was a trauma associated with issuing commands, then the key pass must relate to a virtue inherent in a leader or commander.
After thorough analysis, I narrowed the possibilities down to one: Truth.
Yes, if that were it, it would all make sense.
The human mind doesn’t register truth or lies upon first hearing sothing.
Even entities that couldn’t hear, like the drifters that erged from the cliff, still obeyed her. That implied they were compelled through body language alone.
That ant she required both herself and her opponent to believe her command to be the truth, which sounded both insane and overwhelmingly powerful.
But in the unlikely event that soone persistently regarded her words as lies... her sorcery would be rendered ineffective.
But could I and the rest of my group really accomplish that?
I didn’t know. But it was also not entirely implausible.
Clearing all extraneous thoughts from my mind, I gradually rose to my feet.
It was difficult trying to convince myself that her words were false, but it wasn’t as if I hadn’t done it before.
Every human, even if only once, had a mont when they denied sothing that was blatantly true. So why couldn’t I, who had done it a thousand tis, do it again.
As my breath slowly stabilized and infinite adaptability took over nding and stabilizing my body, I swiftly mounted Gumiho as she dashed forward with remarkable speed, though slightly slower than usual due to the severed link I had just reattached.
But she still didn’t falter, and my mana continued flowing into her as she recovered. My blood surged with not only adrenaline but also mana.
Hari’s eyes twitched as I raced past one of the drifters. She lifted her hand to attempt casting a spell that would completely annihilate .
I already knew: In her eyes, I was nothing more than an insect that could be squashed with only a flicker from her hand.
And I had no complaints in being perceived that way.
My mana was depleting drastically, both from empowering Gumiho and from cloaking myself, in an effort to neutralize the miasma emanating from the drifter.
As I and Gumiho dashed forward, the haunting figure of Hari, raised her left hand high above her head. "Fla Shower!"
A loud, deafening roar erupted from Hari’s mouth as fire began descending from the heavens, making the dungeon surroundings resemble a scene conjured from a space docuntary.
The blue from the snow and blizzard contrasted starkly with the crimson of the falling flas.
So of the snow extinguished parts of the fire, thereby slowing its montum, but even so, it did little to halt the onslaught.
Like a cursed deluge sent by divine wrath on a day of reckoning, the sky turned crimson as flaming arrows and droplets descended, shattering, mangling, and dislocating the bones of the kneeling drifters.
Gumiho struggled to maintain her footing as more trees collapsed amidst the tremors.
I quickly turned to face the group, and a smile crept onto my lips. "Does she live in my head or sothing?"
The sight of Reni maneuvering through the firestorm while murmuring sothing to the rest of the team was awe-inspiring.
Just as I had deciphered how Hari’s sorcery worked, she too had unraveled it, though I doubted she understood the finer details. Still, having a companion capable of remaining composed and analyzing the situation was reassuring.
Leaving the group in her care, I advanced toward the drifters teetering at the brink of death and began cutting them down one by one.
"Power-ups co with chaos." I grinned, swinging the dragon sword vestige I obtained from Nefertari and severing the heads of the drifters while plunging through the chests of those whose heads weren’t within reach.
Hari’s gaze sharpened at the sight of still alive, then a familiar playful smile curved her lips.
She raised her hands, mana igniting like a blazing bonfire.
The air surrounding her sparked with ferocity.
For a fleeting mont, I felt both my lives flash before my eyes.
Yes, her ability beca less effective on soone who actively rejected it as truth.
But when she manifested it into the world and then attacked with it, then it was simply another form of magic.
"Judge!"
I heard a screeching sound that nearly ruptured my eardrums as her smile morphed into a manic grin. "Shit."
Reviews
All reviews (0)