Leveling up the World

Chapter 954: The fall of Magic

The air around Dallion suddenly hardened. It wasn’t just the space around him, but the air in his lungs and stomach. Deep inside Dallion’s mind, the tiny voice of manic screamed, yelling that he was doomed.

Dallion chose to ignore it.

AREA AWAKENING

Everything around him disappeared, replaced by an endlessness of clouds and sky. This time, Euryale hadn’t joined Dallion in the realm, remaining in the real world. The outlines of the Moons, though, were present.

“Where are you?” Dallion concentrated, focusing on his empathy trait to pinpoint the location of the area guardian. Since they were in a domain of air surrounded by clouds, it was logical to assume that the guardian would be a cloud creature of some sort. Finding which one in a realm this size was going to take longer than he had time for, provided that he used the standard way.

To his surprise, the search didn’t take long. No sooner had Dallion sensed a cluster of emotions than one of the clouds shifted form, changing into a massive dolphin.

Air Guardian

Species: AIRPHIN

Class: CLOUD

Health: 90%

Traits:

- BODY 0

- MIND 100

- REACTION 20

- PERCEPTION 100

- MAGIC 80

Skills:

- ATTACK

- ATHLETICS

- GUARD

- SPELLCRAFT

- CLOUD FORM (Species Unique)

- FLIGHT (Species Unique)

Weakness: NONE

Seeing the creature head towards him, Dallion boosted his own spell to halve the time to contact.

“Any chance you’d surrender?” he shouted, suspecting the answer.

None of us can surrender, the guardian replied. Even if we wish you luck.

Dallion had heard the same whisper from a lot of the other area guardians he’d heard in the real world. For some reason, the majority were intent on him and the other challengers winning. That had slightly decreased since Simon’s switching sides, yet remained surprising.

“Why?” Dallion asked.

Why we wish you luck? The form of the guardian grew larger as it approached, taking on the appearance of a whale. Because we’re hoping you’d win.

“You’re not pleased with the Moons, are you?”

It’s not about the Moons. It’s about the change. The Moons can’t provide that. They can only maintain.

COMBAT INITIATED

The question Dallion had in mind vanished away as the red rectangle appeared. As Adzorg had told him ages ago, the secret to moving forward quickly is focusing on what was immediately important. Everything else was distractions.

“Sorry,” Dallion said, then performed a music spark attack.

Threads emerged from his harpsisword as he slashed the air in front of him, releasing hundreds of white strands. Effortlessly, they pierced through the cloud, creating cascades of red rectangles.

AIR Level increased

AIR cannot be improved further.

A flash of curiosity went through Dallion as he considered what options there would have been. It was something he didn’t even want to think about, given that until recently he didn’t know that there could be domains entirely of nothing. Apparently, being a moon gave one control over the entire atmosphere.

Reality blinked again, returning him to the fight. The sensation of heaviness instantly vanished as the air returned to its formal state.

“Magic?” Euryale asked behind him.

“Realm,“ Dallion replied, putting in all his effort to finish casting another pearl of destruction.

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SPELL NEGATED

Aether sphere has been shattered by CENTOR.

Spell has no effect.

The entire purple aether barrier shattered as the Red Moon slammed it with his hammer. Even Galatea’s own spell was not enough to stop an attack of such magnitude. Almost simultaneously, Simon’s barrier vanished as well.

One more second! Dallion told himself.

That was all the time he and Eury needed to reach the Purple Moon and attempt to defeat him. if they didn’t manage, then there was no point even trying to win the overall fight.

“No, you don’t.” Centor threw his hammer in Dallion’s direction.

Euryale immediately turned around, casting a multitude of point attacks at the weapon in an attempt to slow its speed, or at least change its course. Nothing seemed to work, as it continued undeterred straight for Dallion.

“Galatea!” Dallion shouted, splitting into three hundred instances.

Three hundred hammer variants slightly changed course, all still heading towards their target.

For a split second, the purple Moon stopped distorting reality and looked in Dallion’s direction. Supreme confidence emanated from him. Most likely, he believed it impossible that anyone could get to a point to hurt him. In less than a second, he would be proven wrong. The pearl of destruction had come into being, ready to be propelled in any direction he wished. That presented Dallion with a choice. He knew from his instances that Centor’s hammer was still flying towards him. The Moon of dwarves had put a lot of strength into it, guaranteeing a one hit kill if it came into contact. The hammer, as the Moon itself, was made out of divine magic, so the pearl had the power to affect it. Yet, if Dallion were to save his life, it guaranteed that he’d miss his chance of defeating Galatea.

In his mind, the scene kept on playing over and over hundreds of times. Was there a way for him to survive the hit? If he took down Galatea, the original plan could work out. Centor would be the next target, and hopefully quick to take out thanks to the efforts of two mages. Yet, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose? What was the point of having his party win if Dallion wasn’t able to join them as a new Moon?

“Do it!” Euryale flew between Dallion and the Red Moon’s hammer. As she did, the dragon helping her fly transformed back into its full form and let out a torrent of wind against the divine weapons.

Dallion’s hesitation disappeared. While he was considering putting his life at risk, he wasn’t ready to let his wife sacrifice herself for him. Gritting his teeth, he stopped his forward advance, flying to the side where he summoned a sky silver ingot and used it to propel the pearl in the direction of the hammer.

“Touching,” Galatea said with icy coldness.

A short distance away, the hammer came into contact with the pearl, then both vanished in a red and purple flash.

MINOR HIT

Damage dealt has increased by 5%

A red rectangle appeared. Strangely enough, it appeared right above Centor.

“It’s not like you ever had a chance.” The Purple Moon started a new spell, floating slowly towards Dallion. “But at least you’d have done some more damage.”

In the distance, behind Centor, the rest of the Moons were visible. Without the aether barrier, nothing prevented them from joining the fight. At this point, they had effectively won, even without Simon’s betrayal.

Seeing that there was no further point in exerting himself, the archbishop stopped maintaining his own barrier, causing it to disappear as well.

“I’ll make sure the two of you end up together.” The Purple Moon raised his hand. “You were among the more interesting to watch.”

The start of a spell was drawn, yet never finished, for fractions of a second later, Pan and Tiallia emerged on both sides of Galatea. A complex spell—the scale of which Dallion couldn’t even contemplate—had already been cast by both of them in tandem. Two parts of a ring, larger than any spell sphere Dallion had seen, covered their sides and back. It was made of hundreds of millions of complex magic threads forming one single magic circuit with more symbols than there were letters in Dallion’s first library.

Faster than even a Moon could react, both halves snapped together, trapping him.

Dallion was just about to let out a sigh of relief when he felt it—the sense of relief and regret mixed into one. The unlikely duo hadn’t cast a trap—they were sacrificing themselves to take a Moon with them.

Time seemed to freeze. As the spell-ring activated, distorting everything within it, Dallion could sense their emotions with such clarity it was almost the same if they had said it. Both entities were ancient, both had tried to take over the world for various reasons, and both knew the consequences of failure. This very moment, both of them had other things they valued more than their lives.

Tiallia wished for her sister and her entire race to remain in the world. As much as she despised Dallion, and distrusted the rest, she knew they were the best chance they’d ever have.

Pan had formed attachments to Hannah, Dallion, and all the people he’d served while pretending to be a cook. His race had long been banished or made into spies of the Order, and he didn’t want his friends to go through the same fate.

It’s always easier the second time, Dallion thought he heard the copyette say before the ring and everything in it imploded to a single speck of purple dust that vanished away.

GALATEA has been defeated.

A yellow rectangle appeared. One of the Moons had fallen. Five more remained.

Summoning a new hammer, Centor glanced at Dallion. As he did, a small portal emerged a step away from him. A torrent of roots and vines shot out, continuously trying to wrap themselves around him. Surprisingly, they had an effect. Being the physically strongest of the Moons, Centor had no issue tearing the vines up, yet no matter how many times he did so, more vines kept on shooting out.

“Dal!” Euryale did a point attack straight at him.

MODERATE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 20%

Dozens of Dallion’s instances were pushed back, just in time to see Emion’s white bolt fly past the spot he had been.

“She needs to be next!” the gorgon shouted.

Unexpectedly, a new aether wall emerged between the Moons and the remaining conquerors. Just as before, Simon wasn’t among the Moons. The second unexpected thing was that time had come to an abrupt stop.

ESCAPE TRIGGERED

If you wish to escape combat, smash the window.

Guard sequence? Dallion wondered.

The mere concept was absurd. Someone in his party had to have completed a series of guard sequences to gain their bonus effect. Yet, what did the explanation even mean? If he smashed the rectangle, would the fight be over? Would they be cast out into the void?

“This really is like a realm,” Jeremy said, his voice coming from miles away.

“You did this?” Dallion asked.

“The sequence or the barrier? In both cases, yes.” Even in such circumstances, the Tamin emperor remained highly arrogant. “Simon is nothing if not predictable.”

Looking in the archbishop's direction, Dallion was able to see him casting a multitude of thin rays at Jeremy. That must have been the way through which the time freeze had occurred. And, of course, since Simon had left the party, he had been affected as well.

“You’re suggesting we try to flee?” Lyulak asked in a mocking tone. “This isn’t an awakening trial.”

“I see why your race was banished,” Jeremy snapped back. “Inability to think. The Moons are subject to rules. The freeze won’t last forever, but it gives us some time to plan our next move.”

“He’s already made up his decision,” Euryale whispered. “He just needs you.”

That made some sense, although Dallion would have chosen the dryad. Then again, Jeremy was always following several plans at once.

“Without Galatea, they have no mage,” Jeremy continued. “Now it’s key that we take out Simon. After that, we’ll pick out the rest one by one.”

“You make it sound a lot easier than it is,” the gorgon said.

“Would you prefer I went on and on about how outmatched we are? Maybe if I repeated it enough times, I’ll get a special bonus.”

Euryale clenched her fists, but remained quiet. Now was the worst time for infighting, and Jeremy knew it.

“How?” Dallion asked. “His barrier is invulnerable.” And currently Dallion didn’t have a way to change its properties again. “True, but he’s not infallible. All we need is a distraction and you are it.”

“I should have guessed.” Dallion didn’t even bother to sigh.

“He can’t hurt you. He made a vow, right? If he thinks of hurting you, we win by default and get to focus on the real challenge. If not, you’ll give us a chance to remove him from the field. Then it’s us against the Moons.”

“Four against five,” Lyulak noted.

“As I said, without Galatea they don’t have a mage. We have two and a half. That should change the odds.”