NOVEL NEXT chapter 204
204. Sloth and Thunder (6)
Kwaaa-!!!!
After the fierce explosion caused by the falling purple star engulfed the ruins and the forest.
The scene revealed right after the dust settled.
“Kr-!”
Deus, who had rushed in an instant, was seen driving a sword into the heart of the Apostle of Sloth.
‘It worked.’
Watching that scene, Alon let out a light sigh.
Because Deus had excellently accepted Alon’s advice as he had thought.
What Alon had advised Deus was.
The technique used by the Sin of Sloth in the game after the player finishes the first phase and enters the second phase.
It was to bind the invisible ‘mana’ with threads.
‘…Indeed, teaching the Sin of Sloth to use threads was the right answer.’
With that thought, Alon looked at the Apostle of Sloth.
The Apostle of Sloth’s appearance was not normal.
Not only were both arms blown away.
The right occipital bone was crushed, making it a miracle that he was even standing.
Deus’s sword pierced through the heart of the apostle.
“Ka-hak-!”
With a splattering sound, black blood sprayed in all directions.
Blood surged from the apostle’s mouth.
A perfect victory, by anyone’s standards.
Just as Deus was about to push the sword further to deliver the final blow.
“Heh-“
The apostle burst into laughter.
“Heh heh heh-“
A vacant, yet different emotion from what had been shown so far.
A laugh that was far too carefree.
Deus stared at the apostle, who was smiling deeply.
“!”
Shwaa-!
He immediately changed his grip and pulled the sword upwards.
A fountain of blood erupted.
However.
“!”
Despite being split from the heart to the head.
“Fine, I admit it. I was careless. I never thought you could use your abilities to that extent without borrowing His power.”
The apostle of sloth chuckled and said.
“But- do you really think it ends here?”
“!”
He let out a bizarre laugh.
A laugh so eerie that it would send chills down anyone’s spine.
In response, Deus wrapped the remaining limbs of the apostle of sloth with purple threads and tore them apart-
“!”
The shredded flesh turned into black threads and was absorbed into the black veins.
Puhwaak-!
Eggs cracked open, and spiders burst out from within.
Kkiriririk-!
The spiders, each the size of an adult man, were grotesque in appearance.
Each one had a human face etched into its abdomen like a pattern.
With chilling movements, they shed their broken eggshells.
It was a truly nauseating sight.
However.
That was not the end.
Soon.
The spiders that poured out.
Puk-!
– began to commit suicide.
“……?”
“What, what is this?”
A bewildered Sircal and Reinhardt, who involuntarily let out a voice.
The mass suicide of the spiders did not ‘stop’.
As if controlled by something.
They tore their own necks or ripped their bodies apart, ending their lives.
Then they collapsed to the ground and began to be absorbed into the veins.
“-!”
Only then did Alon realize.
What these spiders were doing.
At that moment.
Thud-!
The ground began to collapse.
Kuguguguguguguguk-!!!!!
With a tremendous noise that struck everyone’s eardrums.
The powerful vibrations shook the earth so violently that it was hard to even stand properly.
“Damn, this is insane-!”
Reinhardt, who discovered something.
Let out a rough voice.
Something that overturned the entire earth appeared.
It was none other than.
“What is that?”
So enormous that it could collapse this entire ruin-
“…Monstrosity.”
It was the Kraksha, harboring the monstrosity of sloth.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!
As if hatching from an egg.
The Kraksha burst forth from the ground with a chilling screech.
At its appearance, the knights’ eyes were instantly filled with terror.
“This is insane-“
Reinhardt, who involuntarily cursed, gripped his sword tighter.
With a face full of dismay, he hurriedly looked around.
The reason was.
Because the entire ruin was still crawling with surviving spiders.
“That, black magic-!”
To make matters worse, as soon as the Kraksha emerged from the burrow, black magic began to flow out.
Now the knights’ faces turned from fear to panic.
“Tsk-!”
Deus hastily scattered purple threads to block the black magic.
“Hey, Marquis! You didn’t mention anything about this!”
Only Reinhardt’s urgent voice echoed.
‘…I didn’t expect the monstrosity to appear as well.’
Alon frowned behind his expressionless face as he scanned the surroundings.
What he saw were hundreds, thousands of spiders.
But the more despairing fact was.
Even if they dealt with all those spiders, they couldn’t escape.
Even if they dealt with all the spiders.
There was the Kraksha, scattering black magic just like the apostles.
It was a situation of life and death, no matter who looked at it.
There was no escape.
A hopeless situation where even fighting couldn’t guarantee victory.
In the midst of it, Alon let out a small sigh,
‘Originally, I didn’t plan to use it here, but- I have no choice.’
Just as he was about to reach into his bosom.
“!”
The scenery before his eyes changed.
What he saw was the Milky Way in the blue night sky.
As soon as he realized that, Alon instinctively knew where he was.
[Fortunately, you came early.]
A girl’s voice-
No,
[However, it seems the situation is not favorable, so I’ll tell you quickly.]
The voice of Kalanon, the one who receives the lightning, echoed.
[The way to manifest.]
Dark clouds began to gather in the blue sky.
####
The worst situation.
Literally the worst.
Alon’s already expressionless face hardened even more.
Seeing this, Reinhardt gritted his teeth.
‘Damn it…!’
A monstrous creature loomed before them.
A spider of overwhelming size, as if it could crush the world, stood proudly.
Of course, for Reinhardt, the size of the enemy didn’t matter unless it was the altar of rain.
Yet he was overwhelmed.
Because he felt it instinctively.
That it was a dangerous being.
The black magic it was emitting.
Was no different from the black magic the apostle had scattered earlier.
“The situation is not good.”
Reinhardt assessed the current situation calmly.
Anxiety surged through his entire body.
A giant spider exuding such a dangerous presence that even he felt tense.
Moreover, the small spiders surrounded the entire ruins as if constructing a siege network.
But the most despairing thing here was.
The knights who had come in with him.
They were brought to prevent the Apostle of Sloth from manipulating the residual magic left in the air.
But now, they had become a source of despair.
If the temporary seal on the black magic by Marquis Palatio and Deus were to be lifted.
And the black magic began to exert its power again.
Most of the knights here would essentially become puppets.
“What should I do?”
Reinhardt looked around with an anxious expression.
Circal, who couldn’t hide his tension just like him.
And even at this moment.
Deus, who was blocking the black magic trying to weave itself again using the purple thread.
As if mocking them.
[Heh- I didn’t expect you to go this far. Good thing I was prepared.]
A voice falling from above.
Reinhardt looked up at the grotesquely distorted voice.
“Crazy- you’re not dead?”
The Apostle of Sloth, revealing only his upper body, loomed over him.
The hideous Apostle sneered.
And then he said.
[Did you really think I wouldn’t prepare for the end while preparing this much? Well- I guess you could think that. Normally, I could handle you all with just my power.]
Crack-!
[But unfortunately, I’m the type to thoroughly prepare for any situation.]
Crack-crack-!
Deus began to cut the purple thread that he had laid out.
“Tsk-!”
Deus hurriedly reinforced the thread.
But despite his efforts.
Due to the excessive force used in the previous strike, the thread was cut at an even faster rate.
In the end, the purple thread that was blocking the black magic.
Was completely severed.
“Ah-“
A low sigh escaped someone’s lips.
The corners of the apostle’s mouth twisted even more above Kraksha.
At the moment when the black magic was about to flow into the area that Deus was blocking.
Rumble-!
“…?”
Reinhardt suddenly realized something.
It was that the sky, which had been clear until a moment ago, was now covered with dark clouds.
That wasn’t all.
Plop-! Plop-plop-!
As if someone was artificially controlling it.
It started to rain just a few seconds after the sky was covered with dark clouds.
“What-?”
At the moment when the face of the apostle of sloth, who had been showing signs of victory until a moment ago, was filled with doubt.
Step-step-
The Marquis of Palatio, who had been silent until now, slowly began to move.
One step,
Another step.
He moved his body and approached the front of Kraksha, where the black mist was flowing in.
He did not form a seal.
He did not mutter an incantation.
He did not recite a sentence.
He did not move his magic.
He just kept walking.
Towards Kraksha.
To the place where the black magic was flowing out.
Like a moth to a flame.
And it didn’t stop there.
The Marquis of Palatio continued to walk, casually crossing the threads that Deus was desperately trying to block again.
[Heh, have you given up on everything!]
“Marquis, what on earth-!”
The Apostle of Sloth sneered again.
Deus let out a cry of astonishment-
Crack-!
In an instant, the surroundings flashed.
And Deus saw it.
In that fleeting moment.
The lightning that flowed from Alon’s fingertips.
Static electricity sparked.
Very small.
But in the dark, ashen world, the static electricity shone brightly.
In an instant, it turned blue and touched the black magic.
The moment they made contact.
Crackle-!!!
The black magic began to turn into blue lightning.
[What the-!]
The apostle exclaimed in bewilderment.
But the static electricity flowing from Alon’s fingertips ran through the black magic without hesitation, turning it all into lightning.
Watching that spectacle.
Alon recalled what Kalanon had told him.
‘Handling divinity is not that difficult. You just need to bring out the divinity within. But to freely use the power imbued in the divinity, merely bringing it out is not enough.’
He looked ahead.
The black magic that had been floating in the air was no longer there.
Instead, what could be seen was a vividly blue lightning.
Kalanon’s voice continued.
‘Therefore, what must be done is to accept the summoned divinity.’
[I will kill you-!]
■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!
As if realizing that something unusual was about to happen.
At the same time as Kraksha’s massive leg was lifted.
The spiders that had been surrounding them began to charge, emitting grotesque noises.
‘Accepting the divinity is difficult. It requires a lot more practice than you think. But- this time, I will help you. So you focus on pulling the trigger. The trigger is-‘
The leg that had soared into the air against the pouring rain came crashing down.
Countless spiders rushed towards Marquis Palatio all at once.
But even in that fleeting moment, Alon.
Without doing anything, raised his left hand.
‘The lightning-‘
“To catch it.”
Simply, he grabbed the magic flickering like lightning around him.
At that moment.
Snap-!
Everything stopped.
The pouring rain stopped.
The spiders that had been rushing towards Alon stopped.
Kraksha’s massive leg stopped.
The lightning that had been in Alon’s hand disappeared.
As if time in the whole world had stopped.
And then.
“……!”
The first to realize the strange anomaly was Circal.
‘It’s disappearing?’
She realized that the countless spiders that had been rushing towards Alon just a moment ago were suspended in the air and disappearing like dust.
Slowly, from the end of the bridge.
Just as corpses return to the earth, she confirmed that the spiders were returning to dust.
“Manifestation.”
A small voice echoed, and she could see the lightning explosively bursting from the body of Marquis Palatio.
As if it intended to devour the entire world.
The blue lightning burst forth with tremendous noise.
At the same time, a blue horn began to grow on the head of Marquis Palatio.
Finally, as the rain and wind, even fiercer than before, began to fall again.
The god manifested.
Crackle-!
The one who receives the lightning, Kalanon.