Chapter 147
The condensed Flames of Gehenna fired from Levatein’s blade.
KIIIIING!
Lord Biden swung his massive staff and blocked the crimson flash.
A black flash erupted from Lord Biden’s staff as well.
The crimson flash and black flash collided.
A fierce tug-of-war between powers began, neither side yielding even an inch.
The first to withdraw was me.
Several black Magic Circles formed around Lord Biden, unleashing a flood of spells.
Multi Casting.
Lord Biden was an exceptional Necromancer worthy of the title Lich King, but before that, he was also a Grand Magician who had reached the pinnacle of magic.
Pulling my sword back while twisting my body, I unleashed a slash.
The crimson crescent cleaved through Lord Biden’s magic.
Bending my knees, I immediately charged toward him.
The ground caved in beneath me as a massive sonic boom exploded outward.
There was absolutely no benefit in giving a magician distance.
And Lord Biden, a magician of the highest level, knew better than anyone how to exploit such situations.
Light flowed from the ground as eerie voices of the dead echoed out.
Walls of bone erupted from the earth, blocking my advance.
“Grrrrrrr!”
Arms made of bone flailed wildly, trying to restrain my movements.
I summoned Giant’s Spear and hurled it.
The gigantic spear instantly expanded, crushing the bone wall beneath its overwhelming mass.
Beyond the shattered wall of bone, Lord Biden came into view.
At some point, condensed Ghosts had gathered around him, letting out shrill ghostly screams.
Damn it.
Grinding my teeth, I swung Levatein.
But Lord Biden’s attack was faster.
The swarm of spirits, gathered like a massive lump, swallowed me whole.
“KIEEEEEEEK!”
“Die die die die die!”
The cursed shrieks of the spirits assaulted my ears.
A sharp ringing filled my head as blood flowed from my ears.
Like a storm, the spirits swirled around me, obscuring my vision while grabbing my limbs to stop me from moving.
“You bastards……!”
As expected of Lord Biden.
Even with his power drastically weakened, he was far from an easy opponent.
To shake off the spirits, I ignited the Flames of Gehenna.
Asura Divine Art
Asura Descent
At that moment, I became one with the flames of hell.
The swarm of spirits devouring me instantly turned to ash beneath the infernal flames.
Beyond them stood Lord Biden.
He stared at me with clear surprise.
“To wrap your body in the flames of hell. Have you gone mad?”
“Did you really think I’d do something as stupid as burning myself alive?”
Wrapping the Power of Severance around my hand, I swung it.
The Flames of Gehenna transferred onto the Power of Severance, spreading into a dense net of fire that engulfed Lord Biden.
But Lord Biden avoided my net using Blink.
This was exactly why fighting magicians was so troublesome.
The versatility of magic was limitless.
In an instant, Lord Biden appeared behind me and stretched out his blackened hand.
Cursed Hand.
The moment that touched me, I’d be afflicted with a horrific curse.
But that was Lord Biden’s mistake.
In my Asura Descent state, I had become one with flame itself.
Meaning physical attacks no longer worked on me.
Lord Biden’s hand grasped empty air.
And I didn’t miss that opening.
The Flames of Gehenna climbed up Lord Biden’s arm.
“Kgh!”
A groan of pain escaped his lips.
I immediately thrust Levatein forward.
But Lord Biden’s black cloak swallowed my attack whole.
Clicking my tongue lightly, I retreated from him.
I forgot about that thing.
The Cloak of Darkness.
Together with his staff, Amrita, it was an item players could obtain with a certain probability after defeating Lord Biden.
Because of its absurd ability to absorb and reflect enemy attacks, I used to pray for the Cloak of Darkness to drop after defeating him.
That was how broken the item was.
It perfectly compensated for Lord Biden’s lack of defensive power.
If you obtained it, it was good enough to serve as an endgame item.
But because of that, my attacks weren’t landing properly on Lord Biden.
Still, the battle situation wasn’t bad.
Lord Biden and I had terrible compatibility.
To begin with, Lord Biden naturally had poor compatibility against Demons above a certain level.
And on top of that, even his strongest trump card, the Undead Legion, had effectively been sealed away.
His army was currently occupied holding back Chun Ga-eun.
And they were probably losing.
Yet he still had to deal with me on top of all that.
At this point, his insides were probably burning beyond frustration and turning to white ash.
Most importantly—
There was one decisive difference between him and me.
I was fighting prepared to kill him.
But Lord Biden was different.
He couldn’t kill me.
Because I was the Vessel of the End.
And it was always far harder to subdue someone than to kill them.
Sure enough, Lord Biden’s entire atmosphere changed.
The Cloak of Darkness around him fluttered violently.
At the same time, a dense and overwhelming Demonic Energy surged outward.
His Demonic Energy became increasingly concentrated and pure.
“DEVIL KNIGHT!”
Lord Biden’s furious roar echoed thunderously.
I knew exactly what this was the precursor to.
Lord Biden’s body slowly floated into the air as Demonic Energy spiraled around him.
Something was forming within his hollow chest.
The essence and heart of a Lich.
He was summoning the Life Vessel containing all of his power.
Which meant—
He was finally revealing his full strength.
Of course, there was no way I’d just stand there and watch.
Focusing all my senses into 【Lamb】, I drew forth dense Demonic Energy.
The power of Demonic Authorities changed depending on the quality of the Demonic Energy.
The ground shook violently as Giant’s Spear manifested.
The Giant’s Spear formed from dense Demonic Energy was heavier than ever before.
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
Could the reason there was such a vast difference between the power of Demons and Demon Authorities be the quality of Demonic Energy itself?
The hurled Giant’s Spear tore through the air.
KWA-A-A-A-ANG!
With a massive explosion, Giant’s Spear expanded and crushed down toward Lord Biden.
But this wasn’t enough.
Holding the Jet-Black Sword, I poured even more power into it.
Combination of the Authorities of Mighty Strength and Severance.
Sky Cleaving.
A gigantic slash shot forward immediately after.
Just as the slash shattered Giant’s Spear and was about to reach Lord Biden—
The world stopped.
What?
Darkness spread like spilled paint and swallowed all of my attacks whole.
At the same time, Lord Biden’s gloomy voice echoed out.
“You are stronger than I expected. I will abandon the idea of subduing you.”
After reclaiming his Life Vessel, his appearance had changed completely.
Previously, he merely resembled a skeleton draped in a black cloak.
But now, he possessed a human form.
A pale middle-aged man with long disheveled hair and gloomy green eyes.
I knew that appearance well.
Lord Biden’s final form.
The form he revealed in the game after being cornered and fusing with the summoned Life Vessel.
That appearance—
Was Lord Biden’s true form.
“So that means you intend to kill me? Wouldn’t that become a problem for you?”
“Prophecy, Demon of the End—none of it matters if I die.”
“So you’re not completely stupid after all.”
“Do you still not understand your situation? Even in death, you will never know peaceful rest.”
When Lord Biden swung his staff, an enormous Magic Circle unlike anything I had seen before engraved itself across the sky.
Seeing that, my expression hardened.
Apparently, his threat to kill me wasn’t a bluff.
The gigantic Magic Circle large enough to cover the entire world was the summoning circle for his ultimate skill—
Bone Dragon.
In this world, a Bone Dragon was a calamity incomparable even to a Drake.
Which meant if that thing fully manifested, it was over.
In the game, whenever Lord Biden successfully activated this skill, it always resulted in a game over regardless of timing or conditions.
So I had to kill him before then.
Unleashing my Demonic Authorities at full power, I charged toward him.
Levatein scattered the Flames of Gehenna and created a massive wave of fire.
But it never reached Lord Biden.
While maintaining the Bone Dragon summoning circle, he simultaneously deployed additional magic.
Wait, he could use other magic while channeling his ultimate?
In the game, I never realized it because his summoned Undead always protected him.
What a damn bastard.
Grinding my teeth, I unleashed my Authorities at full power.
Originally, this was merely a technique I had only theorized about in my head.
But now wasn’t the time to hold anything back.
The Power of Severance manifested in my hand.
I swung it repeatedly, creating countless slashes.
Then compressed them together.
The slashes gathered and gathered until they formed a single ring.
That’s right.
This was an imitation of Sword Sphere, the technique that compressed Sword Aura into a single orb.
Before I knew it, the compressed mass of slashes had transformed into a pure white sphere.
I fired it toward Lord Biden.
In response, Lord Biden attempted to swallow the Sword Sphere once more with his black darkness.
But that too was within my expectations.
The Sword Sphere expanded in size and unleashed countless slashes in every direction.
The overwhelming number exceeded what Lord Biden’s darkness could consume, shredding his body apart.
“KRAAAAAAH!”
I cursed inwardly.
Damn it, I intended to finish him with that attack.
The Sword Sphere left countless wounds across his body—
But it failed to destroy his Life Vessel.
Laughter escaped Lord Biden’s lips.
“Your attack was too shallow to kill me……!”
Intense light burst from the gigantic Magic Circle as the jaw of a dragon made entirely of bone emerged from within.
“Bone Dragon……!”
Its jaws opened wide as all surrounding energy began gathering into its mouth.
Dragon Breath.
Its power existed on an entirely different level from a Drake’s Breath.
I couldn’t block that.
I barely survived against a Drake’s Breath before.
Blocking the Breath of a Bone Dragon was impossible.
For an instant, the Greatsword of World Annihilation formed from combining three Demonic Authorities crossed my mind.
But my current level was nowhere near enough to use it.
Should I forcibly increase my Corrosion Rate?
Wouldn’t surviving, even by increasing the Corrosion Rate, be the right choice?
Twenty percent wasn’t even that high.
I slapped myself across the face.
What stupid nonsense.
My Corrosion Rate was already at thirteen percent, and raising it another seven percent before the Breath fired was physically impossible.
No—
The very idea of raising the Corrosion Rate was fundamentally wrong.
The moment my Corrosion Rate reached one hundred percent, this world was finished.
And yet I was thinking of increasing it just to save myself?
After endlessly talking about a happy ending?
In the game, Bone Dragon meant instant game over every time?
Who gives a damn?
Right now, I possessed greater power than any playthrough I’d ever experienced.
I needed another method.
What could I do?
Trust my control over flames and imitate what the Heavenly Demon did?
No, impossible.
Dragon Breath wasn’t flame.
It was a high-output mass of Mana formed by absorbing surrounding Mana and releasing it.
Then should I try blocking it with Giant’s Spear or Levatein?
The combined power of two Authorities was certainly strong, but not enough to stop Dragon Breath.
Unless—
I could further amplify their output.
Suddenly, sparks flew through my mind.
Amplify the output of Authorities?
It wasn’t completely impossible.
Just moments ago, I amplified Giant’s Spear’s output using the deeper Demonic Energy within 【Lamb】.
An idea I had once abandoned resurfaced again.
If the reason Demons possessed overwhelmingly greater Authority power than Demon hosts was due to the density of Demonic Energy—
Then by drawing out the Demonic Energy located deep within 【Lamb】’s abyss, wouldn’t I be able to produce power closer to that of a true Demon?
There was no hesitation.
I immediately focused my consciousness and drew power from 【Lamb】.
Past the comparatively shallow sea of Demonic Energy.
Deeper.
Even deeper.
Until I reached the place where that bastard slept.
Beyond my consciousness, I saw golden eyes staring back at me.
Then the crimson sword in my hand—
Levatein—
Began to transform.
More crimson.
More magnificent.
Levatein, having bloomed into its true form, drew a single line through the air—
And cleaved both Lord Biden and the Bone Dragon apart.