Chapter 231 — 아자젤
Chapter 231
Azazel
Let’s do this.
The instant Elric’s thoughts reached that point, he got to work.
What he held in his hand was a bundle of strands. If he projected mana into it, it would become a mana field.
But Mia had told him to breathe his will into it once more before that.
Only by blindly, relentlessly forcing his will into the laws that formed the unconscious world would he gain the strength to twist them.
Wondering how to infuse his will into the bundle of strands, Elric projected his Agwi-sense.
Since it had become something like a synesthesia that combined all of his senses, he figured imbuing will through it would be easy.
Bzzzzng!
The bundle of strands in his hand shuddered roughly.
Its color began to change.
Where it had been black or white, the knot of strands now gleamed gold.
The same color as Elric’s hair.
Proof that it had taken on his will and begun to acquire a new property.
Let’s call this “Nyeom (念).”
A new form concretized by the fusion of strands and will—so it needed a new name.
Next…
Crackle! Crack-crackle!
Enspell it.
Sparks leapt across the Seal of Thunderfire.
The bright yellow lightning energy rapidly expanded its range, ran up his forearm, and soaked into the mass of Nyeom.
He did not forget for a moment to trigger the Seal of Compression in the process, binding the lightning tight.
Compressed lightning called greater lightning, and as it began to spin, it reinforced the Nyeom even further.
Whrrrrr…!
Kzzzzzt—
A thunder orb blazed, fiercer than anything before.
It looked for all the world like a sun rising in Elric’s palm.
“Y-You, that…!”
Watching from beside him, Mia couldn’t help but gasp.
In truth, it hadn’t even crossed her mind to teach Elric Progenitor Magic yet.
She had thought that even just handling the laws of the unconscious world was a tall enough order for him right now.
Up to now, what Mia meant to teach Elric was how to handle ideation.
Progenitor Magic was a discipline one could only begin after freely handling ideation and acquiring the process to carve it wholly into the world.
Meaning, now that Elric had only just grasped what ideation even was, she planned to teach him slowly after he seized control of the unconscious world…
He skipped all that?
She knew Elric could see strands with his mind’s eye, but she had never imagined he’d use it like this. A helpless laugh slipped out.
Maybe…
I’ve been forcing my way too much.
Mia had to admit it to herself, hard.
The habit of teaching the family’s mages in life had stuck, and she had tried to teach Elric the same way.
That wasn’t how this should have gone. From the start, she should have found a method that suited Elric and taught him that.
Then they wouldn’t have needed this detour.
At any rate—
By combining Mia’s method with what he had figured out on his own, Elric had reached Progenitor Magic.
The moment he saw the thunder orb rising above his palm, he knew it in his gut.
This was the “real” Progenitor Magic he had meant to manifest.
What he’d used on the High Priest had only been an imitation.
The seals are stinging. Guess I’d better bump their grade.
Feeling the Seals of Thunderfire and Compression shrieking that he’d pushed well past their limits, Elric snorted.
Then he lifted his head and stared across the distance at Azazel.
Azazel was still locked in a back-and-forth brawl with Mephisto and the others.
The bastard clearly had no idea what Elric was up to.
No—he didn’t care.
With Mephisto and the Winter Six Chapters in front of him, he probably thought there was no need to bother with a chick he could swat any time.
Not realizing it might poison him.
Heh.
Elric’s lips crooked.
“Uh, that smile?”
Mia blinked, covering his grin with her hand.
“Exactly like Otto Han…?”
For some reason, that smile didn’t feel unfamiliar to her.
Whenever Otto Han had cooked something up without explaining it to them properly, he always looked just like that.
“[Descend].”
In that instant, Elric yanked the Nyeom he was holding straight down and triggered the spell.
The thunder orb seemed to sink into the Nyeom and vanish—and then, high in the pitch-black sky, a bright yellow bolt appeared.
Kra-thoooom!
With no warning, the lightning ripped one of the Jackdaw’s wings long and deep.
“Graaagh! What the—!”
Azazel’s scream rang out, shaking.
But Elric’s assault didn’t stop there.
“[Down], and [Down] again.”
Each time a thunder orb formed, the might of the thunderclap manifested.
He didn’t worry about mana depletion.
Even if Azazel had the place seized, this was Elric’s unconscious world. So long as he kept even a thread tied into those laws, he could unfold the thunderclap’s might one after another as much as he pleased.
Rumble, rumble, rrrrumble—
KRA-KRA-KRAK!
Rrrrrr—
The bright yellow flashes hacked the Jackdaw’s sky-spanning wings to tatters.
It was so massive now that he didn’t need to fix the thunderclap’s power on any specific spot.
He just had to drop the thunderclap wherever he could see.
Then the wings tore, and demonic energy spilled like blood.
“Gyaaaah!”
Azazel’s screams only grew louder.
Consequently, the feather storm that had been harrying the party ceased.
“This is…?”
“Ridiculous, but it seems our descendant landed a solid hit.”
Trading glances, Cepes and Damir unleashed, in succession, the most destructive techniques they had.
The gale raised by the skeletal giant, laced with holy power, smashed into the Jackdaw’s body.
“I hate that I have to watch this eyesore again.”
Mephisto, too, seemed to think the time had come and drew up even more demonic energy.
Vwoooo—
“Still, seeing the bastard scream makes it tolerable.”
Grrrrr—
A mournful howling (Howling) spread from somewhere, and the horned wolf’s phantom that had been poised at his back suddenly appeared, sank its fangs into the Jackdaw’s nape, and tore.
Crunch, crack!
A sickening grind of bones and muscle getting pulped resounded.
“How dare you—how dare—!”
Azazel tried to rip off Mephisto’s wolf that clung tenaciously to him, but the harder he fought, the worse the pain, and he howled.
Veins bulged around his eyes. He glared toward Elric, who was still turning his wings into rags.
He was burning with rage.
It infuriated him to be toyed with by Elric, whom he’d treated like a bug.
Worse, this magic tormenting him dredged up the last thing he ever wanted to remember—the Progenitor of his mortal enemy, House Merbinger…!
Right then, Elric looked this way and grinned.
“Man, this is fun.”
Even across that distance, the words reached Azazel’s ears far too clearly.
“You crazy bastard…!”
“Coming from a lunatic like you, that’s annoying. You tried to steal my body—what the hell are you yapping about?”
Elric’s face hardened. He dropped another thunderclap.
Kra-ruuuumble!
“Grrrgh…! This won’t do. This won’t…!”
Thinking he’d be in real trouble if this kept up, Azazel decided to abandon the body he was using.
Then he would regenerate a body near Elric. That way he could escape this damned Progenitor Magic. It seemed better to take out Elric first and save himself the trouble.
“Ordinarily, I’d devour everyone here and leave you for last… but I have no choice!”
Azazel had put Elric off to the end because devouring him first might collapse the unconscious world and cost him Mephisto and the Winter Six Chapters.
But Merbinger was Merbinger. He now felt keenly that he should have taken him out first.
However—
“W-What…?”
Azazel flinched.
He couldn’t dissolve.
He could still feel the body, but he couldn’t sense any link to the unconscious world.
Oh right—resetting’s going to be tough now.
As if reading his thoughts, Elric’s laugh pierced his ears.
This place is mine now.
…!
Elric had somehow seized the remaining control of the unconscious world!
It had happened because Azazel, being ruthlessly ravaged by thunderclaps, had failed to sense it.
So—
Elric’s sneer carried even here.
One more time—let’s gooo!
“N-No—!”
Kra-thoooom!
Shhhhhh—
The strongest thunderclap yet tore savagely across his body.
His gigantic form split nearly in half.
“With things as they are, there’s no point in hiding my hand any longer.”
Mephisto smiled coldly and thrust his hand forward. Demonic energy gathered to his grip, shaping into something long.
Azazel’s eyes went wide when he realized what it was.
“T-That…!”
“Dragon Killer. I didn’t want to bring this out here, but so be it.”
It was a spear.
A spear far longer and larger than Mephisto’s own body.
Elric had once seen it as an apparition in the Gem Dragon’s nest. That was the spear that had taken the Gem Dragon’s life.
But Azazel, who had watched Mephisto for a long time, knew.
He knew how absurd the power of that spear was.
Devised by Mephisto himself to hunt dragons—the demons’ ancient nemesis—it had, at some point, become his signature fang.
If exposed to that, even he would be in danger…!
“It’s a loss to show this, but if I get to devour you, I still come out ahead, don’t I?”
Mephisto’s eyes gleamed murderously.
“So be a part of this king, Azazel.”
Flaaash!
Screee—
Mephisto hurled the Dragon Killer with all his strength.
A streak of light traced a path and pierced straight through the Jackdaw’s center.
Thunnnkk!
The force was so great it punched a wind hole vast enough to fit dozens of people—and even that began to whirl, expanding rapidly.
And then—
Krrrck-krk!
Like cracks racing across glass, fractures spread all through the Jackdaw.
True to the Dragon Killer’s infamy for breaking existence itself, Azazel’s true body wavered, on the verge of shattering.
“N—!”
With that one strained syllable—
Crunch, shhhhhh!
Azazel’s shattered fragments rained down to the ground.
The Wizard Who Devoured Talent