Chapter 105: Self-Destruct
After a long, long time.
The scenery soon shifted.
The ice egg came out into the world, led by countless Frost Spirits. And that scene was a place Walfred knew well too.
’The West Philadelphia Station plaza.’
Receiving the worship of countless Frost Spirits.
The Spirit King finally opened its eyes.
Right after birth, the first thing the Spirit King did was shatter the Frost Crown Stone in front of the plaza and absorb the pure snow of mana stored inside.
But its intoxication on the sweet mana was short-lived.
KABOOOOOM!
By three humans who suddenly appeared.
The Spirit King was engulfed in crimson flames.
[It hurts!]
[It’s too hot.]
The horrific agony of its body burning and melting away crashed over the Spirit King, and the thing was quickly consumed by overwhelming terror and helplessness.
[I want to live.]
[I don’t want to die.]
The Spirit King thrashed desperately.
Its powerful survival instinct drove the Spirit King’s consciousness to the very edge of a cliff. In the end, the Spirit King swallowed the bodies of its own kind, who had been protecting it, and absorbed their mana.
The moment he saw those fragments of memory.
Walfred quietly nodded.
’I see. So that’s why...’
So that’s how the Spirit King grew into its Complete Form.
Just as he grasped the truth belatedly.
The Spirit King, reborn into its Complete Form, was tormented by guilt and disgust at having devoured its own kind.
That soon turned into rage, and the rage was directed at those who had driven it to the brink of death.
[I won’t forgive them.]
[I’ll wipe them all out, every last one.]
A bloodlust that blazed up like an explosion.
With that as the last of it.
The Spirit King’s memories came to an end.
"..."
Having glimpsed the Spirit King’s memories in that fleeting moment, Walfred kept a quiet silence. Then, looking at the Spirit King’s core, he felt the faintest trace of pity.
After all, it had slept for centuries and then, the instant it was born, had its life threatened.
’But...’
Even so, if he’d just left it be, it would surely have hunted humans alongside the spirits under its command.
To expand its domain, and to grow into its Complete Form.
So there was no helping it.
’If I don’t kill it, I’m the one who dies.’
After reminding himself once more of that obvious law.
Walfred cast aside every lingering hesitation. And, focusing all of his senses into the hand gripping the Spirit King’s core, he unleashed an explosive grip.
Crrrunch! Crack!
Unlike the damnably hard outer shell, the core’s own durability wasn’t all that great. Enough that mere grip strength alone was enough to crack it.
Meanwhile, right after the core cracked.
The Spirit King began its final, desperate struggle.
[─ఆగఇఉఘఔఇశఱశఛో౨ౕఓమ]
A murmur with a feel quite different from before.
Along with what looked like the chanting of a spell, a huge vortex churned around the core.
’A mana bullet? No, this is...!’
It had no particular form. Pure mana was simply gathering and condensing into a single point.
But Walfred sensed it by instinct.
That if that thing reached its critical point and exploded, this entire space might be blown away.
’Then I’ll break it first!’
Krrrrk! Crack!
He gripped the core even harder.
And just as the core was about to shatter.
The Spirit King quickly beat him to the punch.
[ఘఔఇశఱ─!]
The mana, condensed to the extreme, set off a massive explosion. In that instant, unable even to react to its tremendous speed.
Flaaash!
A pure-white light bloomed in midair and gently enveloped the mana on the verge of exploding. And then it vanished without a trace.
’...That just now, what was it?’
What in the world happened?
As he was startled by the inexplicable situation.
The truth came to light.
[A special skill activates.]
[Blessing of Eternal Light: Brilliance]
[Activation chance: 10%]
[Nullifies the enemy’s damage.]
The [Blessing of Eternal Light] he’d been granted in the past for saving the Trenton underground arcade shelter from the undead.
Its special skill, [Brilliance], had shone at just the right moment. Thanks to it, Walfred avoided a fatal wound and poured every last bit of his remaining strength into his grip.
And then.
Crrrnch! Krsh!
The Spirit King’s core shattered.
The blue marble broke into countless pieces and scattered, and at the same time, a tearing scream rang out.
[──! ────!?]
The Spirit King’s final death cry.
Along with it, the polyhedral ice shards that made up the Spirit King’s body began to collapse.
’It’s over.’
He’d finally exterminated the Spirit King.
After confirming the core was completely destroyed, he immediately turned around. To escape the collapsing body of the Spirit King.
But just then.
Shiver!
A wave of gooseflesh suddenly ran up his spine.
At the same time, his enhanced senses and survival instinct blared sirens like mad, hurling out a warning.
An incredibly ominous feeling.
It soon took shape as reality.
-----
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
[An uncontrollable ’Mana Runaway’ has been detected in the remains of the Frost Spirit King’s core!]
[A large-scale mana disaster is occurring.]
[Time remaining]: 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds...
[Evacuate the area immediately!]
-----
"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!"
That means it’s going to self-destruct!
Couldn’t it at least go out gracefully? To trip him up like this even in death. Face twisting in a scowl, Walfred immediately escaped from the Spirit King’s body.
"Elsa!"
The instant he landed on the ground, he used [Instant Burst] and scooped Elsa into his arms. Then he shouted toward Margaret’s group, who stood there dazed.
"If you don’t want to die, get over to me right now!"
At the sight of Walfred, who looked frantic unlike his usual self, the three Hunters jumped in shock and clung to him.
At the same time, Walfred pulled out the pocket watch he’d tucked into the inner pocket of his tattered winter coat.
The Legend-rank artifact he’d bought from Special Sales, the [Void Exile’s Pocket Watch].
And then.
Click!
Right after he pressed the button.
The watch’s hands spun rapidly.
-----
[Void Exile’s Pocket Watch - Activated]
[Phase Shift: Activated]
[You are isolated into a Dimensional Fault.]
[Duration]: 30 seconds
-----
In that instant.
The vision of Walfred and the group with him twisted bizarrely. Along with a feeling of every sense flipping in reverse, a black-and-white world unfolded.
"Wh-what is this now..."
"Ugh, my head’s spinning."
"I feel motion sick all of a sudden... Bleugh!"
As various reactions came out.
Outside the Dimensional Fault, in the prime dimension where everyone had been just moments ago, an anomaly occurred.
"...!?"
From the shattered remains of the Spirit King’s core, mana poured out, enough to be observed with the naked eye.
Then all of the mana concentrated into a single black point, completely crumpling all the surrounding light, sound, and physical space itself.
And a moment later.
A staggering gravitational pull arose.
Krrrrrrnch!
Crushing the surrounding space itself, every object was violently sucked into the black point.
The West Philadelphia Station building, an abandoned utility pole, the wall and streetlights in front of the apartment complex, all of it. It took less than five seconds for everything to vanish.
"...!?"
Facing that overwhelming catastrophe from within the Dimensional Fault, every member of the group was aghast. They gaped wide enough to dislocate their jaws and couldn’t make so much as a breath.
The anomaly that occurred with the Spirit King’s destruction vanished only after swallowing everything around it, and a bit more time passed before a notification appeared.
-----
[Phase Shift: Deactivated]
[Duration ended.]
[Returning to the prime dimension.]
-----
The 30 seconds of invincibility ended.
The scenery that unfolded before the group, now returned to the original world, was utterly different from before.
"...Looks like it took some kind of bombardment."
"No, this is beyond bombardment level..."
The space itself had been wiped out.
The West Philadelphia Station building, the plaza, the road, the apartment complex and park, the streetlights and utility poles, and even the very ground all these facilities had stood on, all of it.
What remained was only a massive crater, like the kind a meteorite impact would leave. Looking at that horrific scene, Walfred swallowed dryly.
’If it weren’t for the Void Exile’s watch...’
He too would have been caught in the mana storm and sucked away somewhere by that unidentified black point. Walfred let out a deep breath of relief, smoothing a hand over his chest.
And a moment later.
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level...]
Along with an explosive series of level-ups.
A reward he was seeing for the first time appeared.