Chapter 89

Without any warning, a white aurora suddenly descended from the sky.

The light struck Aichi, who was about to defeat the last magma snake, at a perfect moment. The intense heat and impact engulfed Aichi like a storm.

"Aichi!!"

Yue's scream echoed. Shia and Thea, standing a bit further away, watched in shock as Aichi was consumed by the aurora. Hearing Yue's scream, which she had never heard before, the two of them regained their composure.

The aurora, accompanied by a roar, tilted down from above Aichi, swallowing the last magma snake and striking the sea of magma directly. The surrounding magma surged in huge waves, even exposing the ocean floor. For a while, the aurora continued to penetrate the sea of magma, then gradually narrowed, and finally disappeared as if it had merged with the void.

Yue flew desperately toward where Aichi had been. From the vanished light, she saw Aichi, though battered and bruised, still hovering in the air. However, Aichi, who had crossed his arms to protect his chest and face, soon lost his balance and began to fall toward the desolate sea of magma, ravaged by the aurora's impact.

"──! [Rai Shou]!"

Thanks to the foothold he had created with [Kuuryoku], Aichi didn't fall directly, but that was his limit. Losing consciousness, he fell backward, about to drop. Yue took advantage of that moment to approach with her flying magic, caught Aichi with both arms, and landed on a nearby foothold.

"Ah! Aichi! Aichi!"

With an extremely anxious expression, Yue took out the divine water and gave it to Aichi. Aichi's condition was dire. His right arm was burned to the bone, his left arm was half-melted. His eye patch had been blown off, and there was a deep wound from his face to his neck, bleeding profusely. His entire abdomen was charred and carbonized. Despite this, as a sign of his growth, his internal organs were unharmed.

At the moment the aurora struck Aichi, he had twisted his body at the last second, facing the aurora head-on. He had reinforced his body with the derivative skills [Concentration Reinforcement] and [Grant Reinforcement] of [Kongou]. Thanks to this, his head was protected by the [Grant Reinforcement] prosthetic arm, and his heart and lungs were protected by the Dona he was holding. His abdomen, protected by a special outfit made from monster skin and reinforced by [Grant Reinforcement], and his own high magic resistance, saved him from fatal injury. However...

"Ugh... It's healing so slowly!"

As Yue muttered with frustration, the healing made no progress despite using the divine water. Yue gritted her teeth.

Back in the [Orkus Great Labyrinth], when Aichi had been severely injured by a similar aurora while protecting Yue from the final guardian, Hydra, he had vowed never to let such a thing happen again, never to let Aichi be in that state again! The sight of Aichi being severely injured and falling after being engulfed by the aurora was like a replay of that moment. Yue's expressionless face was deeply twisted with regret.

"Idiot! Above you!!"

Thea warned as countless flashes rained down like a storm. These were smaller versions of the aurora, with only one-tenth the power and size of the previous one, but each was a deadly light capable of destroying flesh.

Yue, who had been giving Aichi the second vial of divine water, didn't notice the countless auroras descending from the sky. By the time she heard the warning and looked up, it was too late to cast a spell. If she had just three seconds, no, one second...

In the frozen moment, Yue desperately constructed a defensive spell in her mind.

"I won't let you succeed! [Ran Kuu]!"

These few seconds were bought by Thea, who had noticed the sneak attack in time. She cast the intermediate wind defense spell [Ran Kuu]. The compressed air wall absorbed the rain of death. At the moment of impact, the wind barrier bent significantly. Normally, it should have deflected the attack, but now it showed no such composure. The small auroras hitting one after another made the barrier groan, and it was clear that this defense could only hold for a few seconds.

But that was enough.

"[Sei Zetsu]!"

Yue's defensive spell was activated. Normally, [Zetsu Fuka] would have been better, but with the increased proficiency, the casting time had shortened. However, the construction and activation time of gravity magic was still much longer than other spells. As a high-level defensive spell that could be cast instantly, [Sei Zetsu] was the most suitable.

A brilliant light barrier appeared in front of Yue's raised hand, a hemispherical barrier enveloping Yue and the fallen Aichi. Shortly after, Thea's [Ran Kuu] finally gave way to the small auroras, breaking with a crackling sound. The destructive torrent continued to pound the light barrier below.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The pressure, like a great waterfall, relentlessly attacked to make the two disappear. Yue's [Sei Zetsu] also made a sound like a rain-soaked carport. Judging that they would be overwhelmed, Yue reshaped the [Sei Zetsu] from a wide, trumpet-like form to a small, round shield covering only the top, increasing its strength at the cost of a smaller protective area.

All the other footholds around Yue and Aichi had been destroyed by the aftereffects of the small auroras, turning into rubble and sinking into the sea of magma.

The small auroras clearly targeted Aichi. Despite Shia and Thea standing on a slightly farther foothold, the small auroras stopped in front of them. Even so, the density and power of this aurora rain were enough to stop the two of them, making it an unusually powerful attack.

"Aichi-sama! Aichi-sama!"

"Calm down, Shia! If you leave my protection, you'll die too!"

"But! Aichi-sama!"

Shia, on the verge of tears, was about to rush into the rain of small auroras. Thea, while shifting the trajectory of the whirlwind shield, desperately tried to dissuade her.

Thea wasn't any less worried about Aichi. She was just as pained as Shia. However, even the smaller version of the aurora that had severely injured Aichi, and the fact that even the divine water had little effect, made it absolutely impossible to rush into this terrifying attack without protection. She grabbed Shia's neck with one hand and desperately tried to deflect the light's power.

Ten seconds, or a minute? The aurora storm, which seemed to last forever, finally intensified for a while and then came to a temporary end. The surroundings were in a terrible state, with white smoke rising everywhere.

Yue and Thea, who had been supporting themselves, panted and took out magic crystals to replenish their magic power.

At the same time, a man's voice, half in admiration and half in surprise, came from above.

"...Impressive strength. Indeed, it was correct to ambush here. You are too dangerous. Especially that man..."

Yue and the others looked up to where the voice came from and widened their eyes in shock. Unbeknownst to them, a group of dragons had gathered, and among them, a pure white dragon, far more majestic than the others, stood a red-haired, black-skinned, and pointed-eared demon race male.

"I didn't expect that even my white dragon's breath couldn't kill you... And the report of a powerful unknown weapon... Even the woman, who could withstand the barrage of fifty gray dragons, is unexpected. Who are you? How many ancient magic spells have you learned?"

The demon race male, with golden eyes similar to Thea's, narrowed them like swords and looked down from the sky, asking Yue and the others, who had raised their guard. He seemed to think that their power came from ancient magic spells obtained after clearing a great labyrinth.

"Before asking questions, why don't you introduce yourself first? Don't demon races know manners?"

Aichi, who had been unconscious until just now, answered the demon race male. The demon race male frowned. However, before he could speak, Yue and the others screamed.

"Aichi!"

"Aichi-sama!"

"Are you okay! Master!"

Aichi managed to sit up, but his injuries were severe, and he looked like he could fall at any moment. Yue immediately supported him, and Thea and Shia quickly jumped to the remaining foothold, worriedly huddling around him.

Aichi smiled reassuringly at Yue and the others, who were looking at him with concern, and stood up on his own feet. However, he was far from being ready to fight, and the sweat on his forehead testified to the intense pain he was feeling. Despite this, Aichi turned his gaze upward and smiled boldly at the demon race male.

"...There's no need to give my name to a dying man."

"Completely agree. It was just a routine question. I'm not interested, so don't worry. By the way, how's your friend's arm?"

Aichi asked sarcastically to buy time for recovery. From the demon race male's words about "reports" and "ambush," it was clear that he had received information from a demon race male who had lost an arm to Aichi in Urutown and fled with his life.

The demon race male's eyebrows twitched, and he answered in a slightly deeper voice.

"I've changed my mind. Remember my name well. I am Fried Bagua. A loyal apostle of the gods, who brings divine punishment to heretics."

"An apostle of the gods... That's a bit exaggerated. Just because you have ancient magic, you can call yourself that? Is it just a monster control spell? ...A monster that can release auroras? It's annoying. Probably a monster creation spell? If you can create an invincible army, calling yourself an apostle of the gods makes sense."

"That's right. With the power of the ancients, [Lord Alvor] himself told me, 'I am an apostle.' Therefore, I will do everything to fulfill my master's wishes. You, who will become obstacles, I will negate with all my might."

Fried Bagua, who called himself an apostle of the gods, seemed to be like the pope of the Holy Church, Ishitar, negating the existence of Yue and the others. Such cruel words only brought a bold smile to Aichi's face. The recovery was slow, so he used the derivative skill [Healing Power Conversion] of [Magic Power Conversion] to convert magic power into healing power to stop the bleeding. His left hand was unusable, but his right hand wasn't broken and could still be used. "I can still fight!" he thought, and he mustered his strength again.

"This is my line. You standing in front of me are my enemies. Enemies... I will kill them all!"

Aichi shouted, enduring the intense pain, and pulled the trigger of Dona. The recoil of the bullet made Aichi's right hand and body cry out, but he endured it with his killing intent. At the same time, he activated [Shun Kuu] to draw out the cross floating cannon for a charge. Along with this, Yue's [Thunder Dragon], Thea's breath, and Shia's explosive headshot were also released.

However, several gray dragons, about three to four meters long, agilely entered the line of fire, and then a crimson-black barrier composed of countless equilateral triangles appeared, absorbing Aichi's attack.

These barriers, after withstanding Aichi's maximum attack, showed cracks and were about to break within a few seconds. However, other gray dragons entered the line of fire from behind, forming multiple layers of barriers, making it impossible to break through. Upon closer inspection, turtle-type monsters were attached to the backs of the dragons, and their shells emitted a crimson-black light, suggesting that the barriers were their innate magic.

"Do you think the monsters I bring are just dragons? This barrier isn't that easy to break. Watch this. My other power. The power of the ancients!"

Saying this, Fried entered a highly concentrated state, remaining still and beginning to chant a spell. He held a large cloth with a complex and strange magic array. The new ancient power he mentioned was probably the ancient magic of the [Gurun Great Volcano]. Knowing the immense power of ancient magic, Aichi and the others said, "We won't let you cast it," and unleashed even more intense attacks.

However, even after breaking through the gray dragons' barriers, new barriers quickly formed, and Aichi's attacks couldn't reach Fried. Normally, Aichi could have used [Kuuryoku] to break through with Yue and the others' cover, but he wasn't fully recovered and could only knock down the gray dragons. Realizing this, Aichi gritted his teeth, put away Dona, and fired all the rounds from the recoilless Orugen, blowing away several gray dragons' barriers, but still couldn't reach Fried. The cross floating cannon also lacked the power to destroy the barriers.

At that moment, it seemed time was up, and Fried's chant was complete.

"[Kai Ketsu]!"

"! Behind you! Aichi-sama!"

As he said the final spell name, Fried and the white dragon disappeared. More accurately, a glowing membrane appeared, and they jumped into it. Almost at the same moment Fried disappeared, Shia warned. Aichi and the others, following Shia's warning, looked behind them without even a moment to widen their eyes in shock.

There... was the white dragon opening its mouth in front of Aichi and Fried, who was looking down at Aichi from the dragon's back. In the white dragon's mouth, a massive amount of heat and magic power had been gathered and compressed to a critical state. Aichi immediately used Orugen as a shield to block the aurora that was almost fired at point-blank range.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Ugh! Ahhhhh!"

With a loud bang, Aichi, who had raised Orugen, was hit by the aurora and blown away horizontally. The intense impact made his already damaged body cry out, and a pained groan escaped from his clenched teeth.

"Aichi!"

Yue and the others immediately tried to attack the white dragon to help Aichi, who was being pushed away by the aurora. However, as if reading their minds, a barrage from the gray dragons trapped them in place.

Aichi, who was blown away, didn't take a direct hit, but the impact of the aurora caused his wounds to reopen, and he bled profusely. He then used his injured right hand to prop up Orugen and, using [Kuuryoku], spread his legs to stand firmly, realizing that he would be knocked into the boiling sea of magma if he didn't. Aichi then activated [Limit Break].

Using [Limit Break] with an injured body was a very dangerous gamble. Even under normal circumstances, using [Limit Break] would result in severe fatigue, and in his current state, he might not be able to move once the time limit was up. However, to turn the tide, it was necessary.

Aichi's body emitted a red light, and his strength increased explosively.

"Ahhhhh!"

While shouting, he forced Orugen to deflect the aurora upward. However, he couldn't completely deflect it. Being hit by the aftereffects of the aurora, he was blown away, spewing more blood.

The white dragon released countless light bullets in pursuit. In this situation, it was just like Hydra. However, the aurora's power was even greater than Hydra's, and the light bullets were also formidable. Working together with the user of ancient magic, it was a super-standard trouble.

"Cross Floating Cannon!"

Aichi, through extreme concentration, dodged the light bullets like leaves in a slow-motion storm. Then, he discarded the melted Orugen, fired Dona in rapid succession, and launched the cross floating cannon to assault Fried.

"Such tenacity! Just a hair's breadth from a decisive blow!"

Fried retreated behind the barrier formed by the turtle-type monsters. Impressed by Aichi's tenacity despite his severe injuries, Fried gritted his teeth and began chanting again while riding the rapidly flying white dragon.

"I won't let you succeed!"

Fried and the white dragon withstood the cross floating cannon's assault, using light bullets to harass and pulling away from Aichi to buy time. Suddenly, an inexplicable sound echoed throughout the space, and a terrifying impact struck Fried from the side.

Blown away, Fried tightly clung to the white dragon, interrupting his chant. He turned his gaze to the cause of the impact that could blow away a ten-meter-long white dragon and widened his eyes in shock.

"It's a black dragon!?"

"Such a mere imposter dares to act