Chapter 772: Episode 772

Simon sprinted across the field, his cape fluttering wildly behind him as Pier’s Bone Armor encased his body. Blocking his path were the monsters of the prairie and the denizens of the ancient civilization. A massive army stood waiting in formation. Beyond them, he could see the final head of the Eildar Hydra fleeing.

‘I don’t have time to dawdle!’

He had to catch up somehow. Just as Simon tightened his grip on his greatsword and prepared to smash into the army’s vanguard…

Covering fire rained down from above.

With the sound of tearing air, globs of paint reminiscent of a complex abstract painting fell from the sky, striking the ground with heavy thuds. The barrage transformed the cool, natural green of the grass into a flashy, punk-like explosion of color. Any monster that touched Byulya’s domain began to melt away entirely. Explosions continued to rock the field as Simon looked back in mild admiration.

[Byulya Original: Myriad Changes]

On the hill behind him, Byulya stood with both arms raised. Acting like an erupting volcano, she continuously fired off artillery shells of deadly poison. The world warped into a colorful array of her hues, poisoning everything in the vicinity. It didn’t matter if the monsters were immune to standard toxins.

Out of 20 different lethal components, if even a single one was effective, that was enough. Byulya’s world flooded the battlefield like a deluge, wiping out the monsters in one fell swoop. Watching the spectacle, Simon slowly opened his palm.

“It’s a more effective antidote,” Byulya had told him. “It lasts for five minutes.”

Simon bit down and swallowed the natural antidote she had given him. If he had to describe it, it tasted like soggy grease.

‘It only prevents the toxicity. It’s still dangerous if I get hit directly.’

Simon leveled his greatsword in front of him and bent his knees.

‘I have to take that risk. I’m breaking through!’

Forcefully kicking off the ground, Simon accelerated, leaving a black trail of aura in his wake. There was no need to cut down any monsters. He simply dashed in a straight line through the formation Byulya had decimated. The paint meteors avoided Simon entirely, and the toxic liquids parted around the path he ran on.

‘Amazing control. As expected of Professor Byulya.’

Having safely broken through the monster army thanks to her support, Simon raised his head. He locked onto the fleeing Hydra’s head. Drawing jet-black aura throughout his entire body, he lowered his Greatsword of Ruin to the ground.

“Hup!”

The greatsword screeched and trembled from the friction as it struck the dirt. Simon dragged the blade, slicing a deep trench through the earth, before swinging it upward with all his might. A mountain-sized slash of Pier’s aura shot forward from the tip of the sword, tearing along the ground. But suddenly, the earth split open as if a tectonic shift had occurred, violently twisting the trajectory of the slash.

‘The terrain changed again!’

He could feel Mur’s overwhelming will, absolutely refusing to give up this final head. Simon readjusted his grip on the greatsword and dashed forward once more. At this rate, his only option was to catch up and cut it down directly. The ground rumbled beneath his feet as the entire terrain of the prairie constantly shifted.

A forest at his eight o’clock moved to the center, and a lake in the south shifted to the west. Even the course of the river changed, violently blocking Simon’s path. Simon leaped over the rushing water in a single bound.

“I’m not losing you!”

As if to refute Simon’s shout, a massive cliff rose from the earth, so high that it completely filled his field of vision. Just as Simon clicked his tongue and prepared to detour around it, a paint meteor flew in from the sky and slammed into the wall with a deafening bang. A massive, perfectly round hole was instantly blown through the rock face, and the cliff melted away like ice cream under the summer sun.

‘Nice, Professor Byulya!’

Simon kicked off the ground and vaulted over the melting rock. The distance to the Hydra closed once again. He could clearly see its gleaming scales.

[Kuhuhu! At this distance, a spatial slash would be best, Boy!]

‘Right, Pier!’

Simon raised his greatsword as he ran. He factored in the Hydra’s direction of travel, its movements, and variables like the wind and terrain. He halted his steps with a heavy thud. His left leg roughly trampled the grass, sliding forward to brace himself.

He adjusted his grip on the greatsword, tilting it behind his waist. A perfect slashing stance. The target was visible right in front of him. Just as Simon’s arm tensed to swing…

With a deafening crash, a rocky mountain abruptly thrust upward right in front of Simon, as if it had been waiting for this exact moment. The Hydra was obscured by the rock, his entire world suddenly covered in brown. However, Simon’s concentration did not break. He wasn’t distracted by physical objects; he only perceived the space itself.

Simon’s eyes widened, searching for an unseen third element.

‘What I’m cutting isn’t the target!’

His right leg stepped forward, and his waist twisted.

‘It’s the space!’

He swung the Greatsword of Ruin fiercely. A portion of the rocky mountain split apart with a thunderous crack, and at the exact same time, the scales on the Hydra’s back split open. Blood sprayed into the air. The Hydra let out an agonizing roar that seemed to tear the sky apart.

Simon let out a disappointed sigh.

‘It was a little shallow!’

The heavily injured Hydra began to move again. Having exerted too much power, Simon’s legs momentarily gave out, but he forced his body to keep running.

‘I have to catch it!’

He was completely out of breath. His chest tightened, and a metallic wheeze escaped through his clenched teeth. His legs felt like blocks of lead, and his heart throbbed painfully against his ribs, but he ran regardless.

‘This is my only chance!’

The speed of the injured Hydra and the exhausted Simon were nearly identical. However, Mur continued to interfere by constantly altering the terrain. The distance between them just wouldn’t close. Simon chased after it frantically, unaware of how much time had passed, until he noticed the landscape ahead.

‘Wait, that direction is…!’

Simon belatedly realized where the Hydra was fleeing, and his eyes widened in horror. To avoid being slashed, the Hydra was moving toward a place with cover—the ancient civilization’s city Simon had first visited. An ominous sensation washed over him.

‘Everyone evacuated, right?’

—

At the same time, inside the ruined temple.

“Simon! Where are you? Simon!”

“Simon! Answer if you can hear me!”

Dick, Meirin, and Kamibarez searched every corner of the collapsed temple, each holding a lantern. Kamibarez squeezed into a narrow gap that looked like it could collapse at any moment, while Dick used his equipment to lift the debris. For the group, staying here was the obvious decision. Simon, who had stepped forward to lure the monsters away, had gone missing.

With Hydras appearing everywhere and causing absolute chaos, they could never abandon him and flee.

“Ugh, where the hell is he?” Meirin muttered with her hands on her hips, her voice laced with worry.

Kamibarez emerged from the narrow gap, her expression already tearful. “I’m worried about Simon.”

“It’s okay, Kami!” Dick chimed in, shining his light through the collapsed crevices. “He might have just lost consciousness for a moment when the temple collapsed during the chaos earlier. Let’s find him quickly and get out of here!”

“Okay!”

While the two of them diligently searched the area, Meirin walked over and looked past the collapsed wall toward the outside of the temple.

‘What was that just now?’

She felt a strange vibration from outside. Her eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. A sudden boom echoed through the air.

“Whoa!”

Kamibarez gasped.

The entire temple shook violently. The cracked walls split apart completely, and heavy debris came crashing down. Slipping from the initial shock, Kamibarez hit her head. Dick quickly ran over and supported her, but the cracked ceiling was already crumbling down upon them.

[Freezing]

A blast of cold air swept through the ruins, turning the surrounding world white. The collapsing temple froze solid, the falling debris suspended in midair. It was as if time had stopped. Dick, who was shielding Kamibarez, stared at the ceiling with wide eyes before turning to look at Meirin.

“Whoa.”

“What do you mean, ‘whoa’?! Commoner, take Kami and get out of here while you can.”

“What about you?”

“That snake-like monster from earlier showed up. I’m going to stop it.”

With that, Meirin leaped outside. She immediately discovered the cause of the temple’s collapse. A Hydra head, bearing a massive sword wound on its back, was slithering forward, destroying any structures that got in its way. Blood flowed endlessly from the huge gash on its spine.

With a deafening crash, the Hydra crushed another temple beneath its massive body. Since they didn’t know where Simon was, she couldn’t just leave it be. Above all, Professor Hongfeng—who had looked like she could pass out at any moment—had been desperately chasing that Hydra earlier. Meirin figured there had to be a reason.

[Ice Track]

Leaping into the air, she created a path of ice in the sky and skated forward. At the same time, she cast a new dark magic spell with her free hand.

[Cruel Blizzard]

With a howling rush of wind, hailstones of ice poured down fiercely upon the Hydra. The injured beast let out a ferocious roar and opened its massive jaws. Poison Breath spewed forth in a deadly, splashing torrent, but Meirin stepped on her ice footholds in midair and dodged it gracefully. Spinning her body in the air, she conjured ice in her right hand and flames in her left.

“What are you looking at?!”

[Dark Prominence]

[Dark Everfrost]

Flames roared and ice cracked as both dark magic spells struck the Hydra’s body simultaneously. Meirin smiled, panting heavily.

“How does that ta—”

At that moment, the Hydra’s scales suddenly zoomed right in front of her eyes. Struck by the Hydra’s massive body with a sickening smack, she was sent flying along with her foothold, slamming brutally into the temple wall. Losing consciousness instantly, Meirin collapsed at the bottom of the temple stairs. A stream of blood trickled down her forehead.

The enraged Hydra hissed, opening its jaws wide to finish her off. Drops of poison dripped from its flicking tongue—the precursor to its deadly Poison Breath. Meanwhile, from far away, Simon sprinted toward the ruins, his breaths coming in ragged gasps from within Pier’s Bone Armor.

‘No! No! No! No!’

He was late because of Mur’s interference. In the meantime, the Hydra had entered the temple, and Meirin—who had been searching for Simon—had engaged it in combat and fainted. The Hydra was about to fire its Poison Breath.

‘Meirin!’

It felt like a dagger had been plunged into his heart. If Meirin died like this… If he could never return to those everyday moments at school with his friends…

It would be irreversible. He knew he would suffer from the guilt for the rest of his life.

‘I have to stop it!’

A burning, agonizing pain flooded his muscles, but his mind relentlessly drove his body forward. His brain worked furiously, desperately searching for a solution.

Spatial slash? The distance was too great. Ranged slash? Meirin would be hit before the slash reached the beast.

Using the power of ‘Kal’ imbued in the Greatsword of Ruin? The skill that launched liquid lacked the necessary speed.

A projectile skill throwing the greatsword? It required time for Pier’s Bone Armor to reassemble. He had no choice but to just run.

That fact tormented him to his very bones. What good was being a Legion Commander? He couldn’t even protect a friend right in front of his eyes. A bitter sense of helplessness coursed through his body.

[Are you giving up already, Boy?]

Pier’s voice echoed in his head.

[When you were a first-year, you had a bit more of a simple flavor to you. But now that your head has gotten bigger, you weigh things more, calculate more, and overthink far more than you did back then.]

‘Meirin’s life is on the line! Of course I have to be careful…!’

[That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is that when the results of those calculations lead to despair, your spirit breaks as well.]

Hearing those words, Simon’s eyes trembled. Pier’s voice became clearer and clearer.

[You have too many distracting thoughts. Think a little more simply, more clearly.]

Simon’s eyes grew bloodshot.

[What you need to save your friend is not a method. Nor is it a brilliant idea.]

His vision, which had been clouded by despair, refocused, and fresh strength surged into his legs.

[It is the will to save her. Pry open the principles of the world, and push your will through with the momentum to break and twist everything that stands in your way!]

He locked his gaze onto Meirin. She was still a long distance away, but her form was as clear as if he were looking through a telescope.

‘I will go to her side.’

He thought of absolutely nothing else.

[Kuhahahaha! Yes, that’s it!]

His field of vision, focused entirely on her, heaved heavily up and down with his ragged breaths.

[Just like how your father threw everything away to save that Priest!]

‘I will save Meirin.’

Nothing else mattered. Right at this moment, he would detonate his body and mind.

‘I’ll save her!’

The distant vision, the field of view that had looked narrow and far away as if seen through a telescope… suddenly warped with a heavy thrum, bringing him right in front of her. He didn’t know how it happened, but in the blink of an eye, the Hydra’s scales completely filled his vision.

Simon swung his greatsword upward. His entire body erupted in an explosion of dark blue smoke. For a moment, he felt as though the shape of the greatsword had transformed into something else. His body felt distorted, like a demon’s.

But why would such trivial things matter right now?

[Legion Skill: Leap]

Simon emerged right next to her, his weapon already in motion. He had pried open space, twisted it, and leaped through. The world was split in half. The sky and the atmosphere.

No, this entire ruin was split in half, the severed pieces rising into the air. Feeling an extreme sense of tranquility, Simon quietly raised his head. With a clean slice, the massive head of the Hydra flew high into the sky. Soon, everything that had risen upward as if defying gravity split apart and began to crash back down to the ground.

Simon gathered Meirin into his arms and leaped away.

—

Meirin, who had lost consciousness, slowly opened her eyes. Her mind was hazy.

‘Where am I?’

‘Is this a dream?’

‘Right, I was fighting that monster.’

‘Am I dead?’

She found herself in a world where all sorts of ancient architecture poured down around her like rain. A cold wind raged. She was floating high up in the sky. And in front of her, she saw a blurry face.

‘Simon?’

She was being held in someone’s arms. In the arms of a man wearing a massive set of bone armor and draped in an intangible cape. Soon, Simon’s blurry face vanished like smoke, and in its place, she saw the terrifying visage of a large skull helmet.

“Could it be, Lord Pion?” she whispered.

How unfair. For a dream, wasn’t this far too overwhelmingly happy? She was already worried about the disappointment she’d feel once she woke up.