C646
Ilina couldn't understand Rosa's intentions at that moment. Just a few hours ago, Rosa had been extremely cautious about the possibility of losing her sanity.
Rosa had never changed her attitude since she made a contract with her.
Threats, persuasion, temptation.
No matter how the Prophet approached her, Rosa never abandoned her principle.
The principle that she wouldn't 'completely' assimilate to the power of chaos.
But the current Rosa was showing behavior completely different from her past actions.
Ilina hoped, no, she was sure that if she accelerated the chaos even more, Rosa's mind would collapse.
No, she was certain.
"If she fires Ram's main cannon, she will surely lose both her sanity and her will...!"As Rosa said, Ilina always hoped for her to break, but if it happened now, with so much consumed chaos, if Rosa's will vanished, it would take too long to recover.
If at that moment the enemies regrouped and attacked the Garden of Swords again, Ilina didn't trust she could endure it.
Unlike the two main factions that lost their entire fleet, Jin only suffered personal injuries, and since they weren't fatal, he wouldn't take too long to recover.
"Yes, that's true. I've been wanting your will to crumble for a long time. But if it crumbles now, I won't be able to bear the consequences alone. I'm serious. Wasn't this part of your plan from the beginning?"
The main cannon was about to reload.
"If you had made this decision before summoning the great knights and intervening personally, of course, I would have been glad. But now... it's not right. It's an unreasonable decision!"
[It seems you're completely terrified.]
Rosa's eyes gleamed black.
In the end, Ilina knelt to plead with Rosa, but as expected,
Rosa had no intention of stopping.
[I alone.... can defeat the younger one. I can break that radiant child and sever the ties that protect him.]
Kwaaang...!
Ram's cannon spewed forth black energy once more, splitting the sky. It seemed as if a black tsunami unfolded behind Murakan.
Ram's main cannon was a shock to Murakan, who had easily received Rosa's secret technique all along.
[This is madness......!]
There was no way to dodge it.
The cannon that destroyed the Second Fleet in one blow had a more terrible power than before.
Heheh, hahahah...!
Amidst the tremendous roar of the cannon, Rosa's crazed laughter was heard.
The sky and the earth, enveloped in chaos, laughed with her.
"Up!" Jin shouted.
Murakan had originally planned to block the cannon and descend, but, as always, he followed Jin's opinion.
Jin believed that Ram's blast should be directed upwards.
Although that would take them further from the escape point, Jin judged that if Ram's main cannon was directed downwards, the entire forest with the Red Owl would disappear.
Then the escape would have ended.
The moment Murakan was forcibly withdrawn, the rest of the group would become sitting ducks.
Murakan increased his speed upwards. The protective shields and rear curtains were shattered.
Before they could be completely shattered, the discharge began to spread. Jin and Kaio managed to hold onto consciousness amidst the pain.
[Aaaa...!]
Soon, Murakan swept through the chaos clouds as he escaped the cannon fire.
The Shadow Energy shield was broken, but there were no fatal injuries.
The shield quickly restored itself. Even Jin was impressed by Murakan's strength, but the problem was that the cannon fire hadn't ended yet.
[Tsk...! They won't be able to reload that fast, right?]
"I don't think so."
Unlike Murakan, who flew forward without looking back, Jin turned to check Ram's condition.
"Just now..."
The abyssal ship, Ram, was opening its dark maw again, and a new cannon was already reloading.
[Darn it, it would have been nearly impossible to escape in the first place if I hadn't been able to save my strength thanks to Orgal....]
Rosa's crazed laughter continued to weigh on the group.
It seemed that Ram was mocking them.
A chill ran down their spines.
If Gliek awakened the primal fear of life, Rosa's madness was digging its own dark hole in the human mind.
It wasn't Chaos; it pierced through the deepest depths of those who looked, like a sharp arrow.
[Oh, oh...]
Rosa exclaimed in admiration.
It was a strange sensation.
Despite firing the cannon to kill, the fact that she always survived felt incredibly pleasant to her.
It was the first time in her life that she felt such great happiness.
The power gathered in Ram's jaws aimed again at Murakan.
Although it looked like a point in the distance, Rosa vividly saw her son before her eyes.
"No, no...!"
By then, Ilina had judged that Rosa's mind had completely collapsed.
So before Rosa could fire the second shot, she had to somehow restrain her.
Rosa seemed like she wouldn't stop bombarding until Ram was completely destroyed.
Zas!
A dagger pierced Rosa's back.
It was the dagger that Ilina pulled from her bosom.
The blade pierced Rosa's spine and pierced her heart, and Rosa writhed for a moment before ceasing to move.
"Stop! You'll die too if you keep this up!"
Rosa didn't look at Ilina.
She didn't even look at the sword protruding from her chest.
Instead, she fired the main cannon.
Her eerie laughter still emanated from her dry lips.
This time, she even gathered the minimal Chaos protecting Ram.
'If this continues, everything will end...!'
Ilina managed to pull the dagger from Rosa's back with her regained strength legs. Then she tried to stab her again in the neck.
But for some reason, she couldn't gather any strength.
More precisely, although she tried with all her might, her body wouldn't move.
Something invisible was holding Ilina back.
Boom!
At the same time, Ram's massive hull tilted slightly to the right.
With the protective shield of the hull gone, both fleets were now seriously pounding Ram.
Some of the cannons, numbering in the thousands, reached the forefront where they were over Ram.
There were holes all over the hull, and sharp fragments and debris pierced Rosa's body.
Ilina could dodge as many cannon blasts as she could.
Ilina could easily dodge those attacks, but only if her body could move.
It would be as easy as breathing if she could also handle the Chaos power accompanying her.
But Ilina couldn't do anything.
All she could do was watch the bombardment fall, just as she was about to stab Rosa.
'What the hell... is holding me back?'
Ilina's heartbeats thudded in her chest as she looked at Rosa's back.
'It's impossible for Rosa to be doing this.'
Surely, a being that had already lost sanity and turned into a Chaos monster couldn't hold her back. But what was holding her was undoubtedly Rosa's power.
"S-Surely... You... Aren't you... still in the process of, of assimilation...?" Ilina asked hesitantly.
[Silence...]
As Rosa began to speak, terror filled Ilina's eyes.
[Silence... I don't want anyone to bother me right now.]
Finally, Rosa released Ilina.
Ilina, who fell to her knees and began to pant, had no choice but to obey her words.
It was overwhelming.
To think she had been overwhelmed by a human named Rosa Runcandel.
[Do you see it too, my little one? Countless enemy bombardments rush to kill this mother! But none can touch me directly. There's no need to block or evade anything.]
Because it is fate.
Nothing trivial can interfere with the fate that now separates us.
Indeed, as Rosa said, despite so many attacks hitting the vanguard, not a single shot reached her directly.
They all simply missed, bouncing off with only debris flying.
With all her heart, Rosa only watched her younger son, thinking only of shooting him down. A smile formed on Rosa's lips.
At the same time, the second shot imbued with the power of Chaos began to spread towards Murakan.
The darkness of the abyss enveloped the group once again.
Murakan's allotted time had come to an end, precisely at that moment.
"Down!"
This time, they were descending.
It made no sense to try to stop the second barrage.
Murakan was going to disappear now, and the group had no power to defend themselves against Rosa.
Before the barrage could reach them, Murakan's time would come to an end.
["Brat!"]
"I won't die...!"
Jin held onto Talaris and Mort with all his might.
Then he stuffed Bradamante into his mouth and pointed the sword downward.
Kaio understood exactly what Jin was thinking.
"What's the aiming point?"
"The center of the forest!"
So Kaio also hurried to stick his feet into Murakan's back wounds.
He pulled out the GodSlayer arrow and aimed it at Bradamante's sword.
At that moment, Murakan's body had become semi-transparent, and Ram's barrage seemed about to touch Murakan's tail.
As their gazes met, Kaio released the bowstring.
Snap!
The GodSlayer arrow struck Bradamante's sword.
Though he felt a terrible backlash from the arrow throughout his body, Jin endured it with all his might.
He held onto Talaris and Mort tightly with both arms.
Jin began to fall towards the forest, where the Red Owl was.
Kaio's last will to save his brothers was imbued in the arrow, which was firmly attached to Bradamante's blade like a magnet.
At the moment Ram's main cannon reached them.
Murakan disappeared with his eyes fixed on Jin, and Kaio raised his thumb to the sky.
His arrow demonstrated tremendous force, instantly slamming Jin, Talaris, and Mort into the center of the forest.
"Ugh..!"
Spitting blood, Jin got up immediately and checked on Talaris and Mort, both in bad shape.
Talaris was nearly unconscious from internal injuries and the arrow's impact, and Mort remained still, like dead.
Looking around, there was no trace of the Red Owl. Although they fell in the center of the forest, it was about five hundred paces away from the Red Owl.
'What a way...!'
At that moment, the forest was like a maze.
The next attack would surely land in the forest.
[Bong... Oog....]
In a moment of uncertainty, Mort opened the dimensional portal to the snow garden.
Dark spots of Chaos were visible across the pure white snowfield.
If they fell more than a hundred steps away, Mort wouldn't have been able to open the portal.
As if it were destined, Mort only had the strength to open the portal just five hundred paces away.
Once they entered the portal, Jin, with Talaris in his arms, headed to the Red Owl's location using the snow garden as a shortcut.
When he pressed the button in the center of the cockpit, the Red Owl vibrated with mana and began to accelerate.
The acceleration needed to jump through space was about 10 seconds.
'Just hope the next barrage isn't ready...!'
One.
Two.
Three...
...
Nine.
The space jump had begun.
As Jin was enveloped in the dizzying sensation of the space jump, he looked at Ram.
He felt as if he had made eye contact with Rosa.
[You'll soon return to this mother. I'll be waiting for you...]
Rosa gazed at the forest where Jin had disappeared, calming the overwhelming excitement that seemed to burst her heart.