LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 96
Chapter 96
“No matter how powerful a transcendent being may be, do you think this body of mine cannot even touch him once? If you cannot cut down Eckelart… then make the most of the single moment Albinas will buy for you.”
Those were Amon’s parting words to me.
Perhaps he was worried, just in case.
Everyone in the Frost Nest had exceeded expectations, accomplishing what they had to do.
Amon, who touched the now fully transcended Eckelart seven times, and I, who cut him down with Mislante without Albinas’ help.
BOOOOM!
All the spells used for defense were shattered, and seven lightning strikes still targeted Eckelart.
Ssshhh…
It was clear that Eckelart was in a state where he could no longer fight. His skin had turned pitch black, melting with his magical power and sticking to the ground.
Eckelart, now hardened. If the curse were to continue any longer, he might die before being subdued.
“Eckelart.”
“…….”
“You’ve been defeated.”
“…….”
From here, it was the process of subjugation.
“Surrender to me. Swear to devote your life to me. If you do….”
“You will gain life… and your existence will continue… Isn’t that right?”
The pitch-black Eckelart muttered.
“I admit defeat.”
[Soon, the final chapter of Episode 4, Transcendent Eckelart, will conclude.]
[Nothing has been discovered.]
[The Dungeon Defense mission has ended.]
[Mission result: Eckelart (captured alive)]
[As a reward for the Dungeon Defense mission, you have obtained the intruder’s belongings.]
There was no loot.
‘It doesn’t matter. This was all to obtain Eckelart.’
Creak…
His mouth opened, and words began to flow out.
“Chaot Tribe of the Frozen Lands. I was born a bastard of the tribe and abandoned early on.”
“…….”
“I begged for milk and committed my first murder at the age of seven. I did everything necessary to survive without hesitation. But now… for the first time, I hesitate.”
The process of subjugation was now just one step away.
“I’ve made my decision. No longer….”
Hummmm…
A boundless blue energy began to fill Eckelart’s charred body.
“No longer… will I hold back. No one can bind me anymore!”
What Eckelart chose was to unleash his magical power in a rampage, erasing everything that had happened here.
‘…Is he aiming for a massacre?’
The subjugation had failed.
The first plan had ended in failure.
‘It’s about time…’
When he reacts like this, there is someone who should naturally appear.
Fwoooosh!
Someone arrived at the first layer with astonishing speed.
“Whew… I’m not too late, am I?”
I tilted my head toward Eckelart instead of explaining the situation directly, signaling for him to take a look.
“…As expected, Akad’s prediction was right.”
Swish!
Four swords flew out from Aita’s arms, surrounding Eckelart from all sides.
Whoooooooong…
Eckelart floated silently in midair, as if time had stopped, his body still swollen.
“Where’s Akad?”
“He’s coming. I was sent ahead to deal with something urgent. But more importantly…”
Aita approached the hovering Eckelart.
“You really did hunt down a Transcendent.”
“That was the plan.”
“Acting like it’s nothing…”
“If he sent you here, there must be a reason, right?”
There was no way Greed’s Akad had taken the subjugation of Eckelart lightly. He must have prepared for contingencies in case the subjugation failed.
The reason Akad hadn’t shown any regret when Eckelart refused to submit was because of that.
If it’s that guy… He’s already crunched all the numbers.
If the plan would have ended with a simple failure of the subjugation, it wouldn’t have even started in the first place.
That guy must have calculated everything up to this point. Otherwise, Aita wouldn’t have shown up so perfectly timed.
“…I was hoping for a bit of surprise, but… this is no fun.”
Aita wrinkled her nose, expressing her disappointment.
“What do you think a Transcendent is?”
“Someone who possesses abilities that transcend their species, regardless of the catalyst.”
“Exactly, and that’s the extent of a typical Transcendent’s value. So then, why would Akad and I stay here for days just for one Transcendent?”
The opponent was one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
A being among the strongest on the continent had no reason to linger here for days.
The conclusion was clear.
“Eckelart isn’t an ordinary Transcendent, is he?”
“You! You, you, you…! So boring, guessing everything right. Isn’t there anyone around here a bit less sharp?”
“If that’s what you’re looking for, I can find someone.”
“Forget it! I’ll explain. The reason Eckelart is special is because of the long seal. Some things, even if they aren’t significant, can become special with enough time, like fossils or ancient relics. During his long period of sealing, Eckelart absorbed the magic of the Frozen Lands. Pure cold.”
Pure cold.
The fact that he seemed like the source of a massive energy was undoubtedly because of that.
His fighting style was a bit unusual too.
Those who reached Transcendence through prolonged training usually evolve their existing abilities to combat enemies.
But Eckelart had displayed a power that was drastically different from the battle capabilities of Transcendents I knew. He showed no advancement in sorcery; instead, he merely used brutal magic to pummel his opponents… a bizarre fighting style.
“A long seal became his shackle.”
“Exactly. You felt that his magic was abnormally vast, right?”
“I nearly fell victim to it just moments ago.”
The fact that he attempted mutual destruction by exploding his own magic… meant he possessed a ridiculously immense power.
“This guy is now, to put it simply, like a salmon that’s fattened up!”
“Isn’t the important thing that subjugation is impossible?”
“Subjugation? Ah… that? Actually, I didn’t expect it to succeed. No, I should say I was hoping it wouldn’t succeed.”
“…What?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Subjugating a magical beast that can’t even fight properly… So, the use for this one was already decided by Akad.”
The use had already been decided?
‘Was there a separate purpose assigned to the familiar by the Transcendent?’
“Only we, Greed, can use this method.”
Snap!
[Aita uses Greed: The Devil’s Forge.]
[Aita summons the demon residing in the forge to issue a task.]
When Aita snapped her fingers, a miniature forge about the size of a small metal box popped out.
Aita kicked the forge with a thud.
Boom!
– “Aaaaagh! Who’s there?”
“It’s Aita! Come out.”
– …….
Boom!
– “Aaaagh! It’s noisy! Damn it, Aita, it’s too noisy!”
“There’s work to be done, I need a weapon.”
– “…Can you come back later?”
“Get out and cool your head. Now.”
– “Grrr….”
Whoosh…
From the small forge, a being twice my size emerged.
Growl…
‘…A demon?’
Its face looked youthful, but its body was massive… not in terms of bulk, but the skeletal structure itself was large. It felt like a completely different species compared to Ipos.
‘Those horns are quite large.’
The demon bent down and glared at me.
“Hmm… interesting, you smell similar to Akad?”
“Hey, say another word, and I, Aita, won’t forgive you.”
“Oh no, if the damn Aita won’t forgive me, I guess I better piss myself out of fear. How terrifying!”
“Halphas, say hello. This is the friend Akad is interested in.”
“Hoooo… that picky Akad?”
Upon hearing the name Halphas, I couldn’t help but recall the original work.
‘Halphas wasn’t released back then.’
The server had been up for such a short time that not all 72 demons could be released. There were usually two main speculations about the unreleased demons.
The first was that they simply hadn’t been released yet but would be in time.
The second was that an NPC who contracted with the demon appeared in the story, preventing the demon from being released.
I had suspected Halphas was the latter…
‘Looks like I was right. There was a contractor.’
Halphas, the Demon of Armaments.
According to the lore, Halphas is a demon with the skill to turn anything into a weapon.
“So, make a weapon for this friend.”
“The material?”
“Over there.”
“Hm?”
Halphas muttered to himself as he observed Eckelart’s demise.
“Whoa? Pure cold energy? And there’s quite a bit of it?”
“Right? You could say it’s a beautiful harmony created by a series of coincidences.”
“Did Akad tell you to make a weapon?”
“If not, I would’ve taken it myself.”
“Say what?”
Aita walked over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Akad wants you to take good care of this friend, so consider this a bribe.”
“Still, isn’t he just a rookie?”
“It’s about seeing the future.”
“A bribe… doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d be swayed by that… but he does seem pretty resolute.”
A bribe?
‘What a sly way with words.’
I had gone through so much trouble to take down Eckelart, and yet they were talking as if they were doing me a favor. If a fool had been here instead of me, they might have even expressed gratitude.
‘I’m the one who defeated him, though?’
Of course… after Eckelart refused to be subjugated, I didn’t really have a good way to handle it either.
“What can you do? Akad already made the decision.”
Step…
Step…
“That’s right. It was my decision.”
Suddenly, stepping out of the darkness was Greed, Akad.
“Since you enjoyed such a rare show, shouldn’t you pay the admission fee?”
“Hmm… if you say so, then I suppose that’s how it is.”
Whoosh—!
Whoooooosh—!
Halphas, while closely observing Eckelart, spoke.
“The cold energy is incredibly strong. If we’re not careful, a ghost could pop out. Better be cautious.”
Swish!
She leaned down again and asked me.
“Hey, do you have a wish?”
“A wish?”
“For it to be a true weapon of dreams, it needs to embody the desire of its user. Surely, you have something you’d want from the weapon? Haven’t you been adjusting yourself to the weapon all this time?”
…Like some sort of ability?
I’ve never really thought about how I’d like my weapon to be….
Still, I’d prefer a blade, something I’m at least familiar with…
‘If only it wouldn’t leave me collapsing after a few swings, like when I wielded the lake.’
Pop!
Suddenly, Halphas grabbed both of my shoulders.
“Just now, something came to mind, didn’t it?”
“What?”
“Something definitely came to mind. I just got hit with a bolt of inspiration—Pop!”
What the…
Halphas’s hammer began to glow.
Whoooooooosh…
Bang—!
When she struck Eckelart, the body, which might as well have been dead or alive, transformed into pure energy.
Extreme cold energy.
Bang—!
With each strike of the hammer, waves of frigid air erupted outward.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Bang—!
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack…
More than ten blows fell.
There was no sign of tempering or using bellows… none of that seemed necessary.
‘Well, she’s a demon, after all.’
[Halphas uses Weapon Creation: The Wielder’s Wish.]
[Creates a weapon imbued with the wielder’s wish.]
[Suitable materials are absolutely necessary.]
Bang-bang-bang…
As the sound of the hammering quieted down, the frigid air that had been recklessly invading the surroundings also subsided.
“To think a human would become a weapon.”
At my candid observation, Akad shook his head.
“A human? No, not at all. A Transcendent is a being that has broken free from the mold. I doubt Eckelart thought of himself as human when he died.”
Akad’s eyes gleamed.
“A Transcendent is a part of the world. We’ve merely turned a part of the world into a weapon.”
“It’s done!”
Bang—!
Whoooooooosh—!
Amidst a scattering of radiant light, a single sword floated where Eckelart once lay.