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172 - The Tower of Causality (12)
172 - The Tower of Causality (12)
172 - The Tower of Causality (12)
TL/Editor: raei
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: none
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Episode 172, Chapter 45: The Tower of Causality (12)
Divine artifact.
This term referred to the highest-tier mythical weapons and armor imbued with the stories of gods, directly representing a single deity.
For a mortal to become the owner of such a divine artifact, they needed to possess qualifications worthy of it.
Of course, obtaining those qualifications was incredibly difficult.
As proof, throughout human history, only a handful of individuals had ever been acknowledged by divine artifacts.And now,
'This is...'
Zion found himself in the mental world created by the Heat Heaven Armor Muspelheim to recognize such qualifications.
After all, Muspelheim was the divine artifact representing Loki, the God of Fire and Mischief.
The "synchronization with the Flame Heaven" mentioned earlier by the Trial Helper was probably the process and test for gaining recognition.
'And that must be the test.'
Thinking this, Zion looked up.
What he saw was,
-----------------!
A bright red flame falling towards him, burning the entire sky of this mental world, its end invisible.
From this fiery sky, a heat that seemed capable of scorching even souls radiated down.
Even someone with iron-like willpower would instantly perish if engulfed by this 'Flame Heaven'.
In contrast, Zion's figure standing alone on the empty ground below looked precarious, as if he might burn up at any moment.
'This certainly looks challenging.'
It was on a completely different level from the tests of other artifacts.
However, Zion's eyes remained utterly calm as he thought this.
After all, there was no way he couldn't pass a test that even Magnus Flare, the first hero, had passed.
And this place...
Swish swish-
Was not reality, but a mental world.
Darkness flowed from Zion's entire body, spreading across the ground in all directions at an insane speed.
Finally, as this darkness covered the entire ground, rumble!
An infinite army burst forth from the darkness, soaring towards the sky of flames.
The army spread even wider than the flames, taking a form that enveloped the sky.
As the speed of the falling Flame Heaven slowed, seemingly shrinking from this overwhelming momentum, the Emperor's army finally swallowed the sky.
* * *
The Trial Helper's voice rang in their ears.
Along with it, the scene inside the iron door that appeared before the woman's eyes was completely different from her previous life.
'Everything's... frozen?'
A cavern covered in pure white frost, as if they were at the extreme north.
The cavern floor was entirely composed of a lake, which was also completely frozen solid.
Then, boom!
With a loud noise, the iron door closed behind them, and something in the center of the lake slowly began to rise.
A woman whose entire body, from head to toe, was made of ice.
Inside the woman's transparent chest, an unpleasant black mass churned.
'The Remnant of the Frost Queen Tainted by Evil...'
The eyes of the woman - Flosimar - watching this scene shook violently.
She couldn't understand what was happening at all.
Why had the trial's difficulty been changed to extreme, and why had a being she hadn't seen in her previous life appeared?
'And the Trial Helper's last words...'
She didn't know who the "King of Fire" referred to, but the instruction to "hold out" that followed bothered her even more.
While she didn't know how strong this "Remnant of the Frost Queen" was, those words implied that the Trial Helper had judged they couldn't handle this being on their own.
At that moment, screech!
The Remnant of the Frost Queen, having fully risen, let out a massive cry.
It was a howl closer to that of a monster than a human.
Crackle!
Along with the terrifying cold energy bursting forth from it,
-20 minutes remain until the King of Fire arrives.
The Trial Helper's voice reached the ears of all participants in the trial.
And this also signaled the start of the battle.
"Ugh! Maintain formation! Priests and mages, start with cold defense spells!"
"We've been casting them since we entered! But it's too strong, the spells aren't working well!"
The participants struggled to defend against the cold, their expressions bewildered by the rapidly dropping temperature in the cavern.
Then, whoosh!
As if that wasn't enough, the Remnant began to suck in all the cold energy in the cavern, seemingly preparing something.
"We have to stop it!"
Did they instinctively sense that if this was unleashed, it would be dangerous?
With a loud cry, Rain's form was the first to charge towards the Remnant.
Other participants followed behind Rain, their expressions grim.
Crackle!
Rain, who had instantly reached the front of the Remnant riding lightning, plunged her incandescent white spear towards the Remnant's heart area.
However, clang!
The Remnant casually deflected Rain's spear as if swatting away an insect.
As Rain's body was sent flying from the tremendous recoil, staggering, slash!
Lee Un-gang, the Blood Sword, who had appeared behind Rain, dove into the Remnant's embrace in one breath and swung his blood-stained sword towards its neck.
It was a fantastic strike, entering at the perfect timing without a single error.
Lee Un-gang's eyes lit up as he saw the Remnant fail to properly defend, but crack!
That light soon turned to bewilderment.
"What the..."
His sword, into which he had poured almost all his strength, had left only a tiny scratch on the Remnant's neck and couldn't penetrate any further.
Thud!
The Remnant's hand pierced Lee Un-gang's abdomen.
Then, as the Remnant lightly flicked its hand, boom!
Lee Un-gang's body flew at a terrifying speed and crashed into the frozen lake's surface.
Lee Un-gang's motionless form, embedded in the ice, looked as if he might be dead, but there was no time to check on him.
Even as this happened, the surrounding cold energy continued to be sucked towards the Remnant.
At that moment,
"Hup!"
Turzan, who had appeared right beside the Remnant, rammed into it with his shoulder, channeling all his momentum.
It was a strike powerful enough to shatter a mountain.
The Remnant of the Frost Queen couldn't ignore this, using a shield it created by transforming some of the cold energy it had been absorbing to block the giant's attack.
Boom!
With a sound like dozens of bombs exploding at once, the lake's surface cracked and shot upwards.
Before the aftermath of that could fade, Rain, who had regained her posture, and Gregory the Steel Soul, a new addition from the 'Twelve Seas', simultaneously launched their maximum attacks from the front and back of the Remnant.
Crack!
A massive shockwave, combined with the previous impact, spread throughout the entire cavern.
This time, it seemed to have some effect as the Remnant of the Frost Queen staggered back, but,
"Damn it!"
Despite this, the cold energy continued to condense unabated.
"Shit, stop it!"
As Rain and the other participants desperately charged in, cursing, the Remnant gazed at them with emotionless eyes. Just as it was about to unleash the cold energy condensed to its maximum,
A sword that pierces five heavens.
Crack!
Without any warning, the silver-haired woman's sword appeared above the Frost Queen, piercing the exact center of the condensed cold energy.
The cold energy scattered as its core was shattered.
As if that wasn't enough, the woman's sword moved in an elegant curve upwards before slashing down vertically.
Boom!
The Remnant's body, having blocked the woman's sword strike with both hands, burrowed through the ice into the ground below.
At that moment, as if on cue, all the participants engaged in close combat simultaneously retreated.
"Pour everything into it!"
Following the cry of Rihardt the Storm King, another member of the 'Twelve Seas', ranged participants including mages began to unleash all their prepared attacks towards the Remnant fixed to the ground.
Boom!
Weapons, magic, spirits, and more.
Attacks of all kinds and attributes were fired solely at the evil-tainted Remnant, creating a tremendous explosion.
And, a sword that cleaves seven seas.
White Dragon Strike.
Mountain Breaker.
----------------!
The hero's party's strikes decorated the finale of this concentrated offensive.
For a moment, the cavern's temperature, which had plummeted well below zero, soared above freezing, and the entire field of vision was filled with a bright light.
"We did it! With this level of power...!"
An expectant voice flowed from the mouth of one of the participants.
Three of the 'Twelve Seas', and those with power equal to or surpassing them, had combined to unleash their strongest attacks.
No matter how monstrous the final trial's creature was, it surely couldn't survive this.
But those people's expectations,
-8 minutes remain until the King of Fire arrives.
Vanished immediately with the Trial Helper's voice ringing in their ears.
Screech!
The Remnant of the Frost Queen revealed itself, howling loudly as the explosion gradually subsided.
While parts of the Remnant's body were broken, it looked far too intact for having received all those attacks.
Before the people who saw this could even react, whoosh!
A wave originating from the howling Remnant began to spread throughout the entire cavern.
"Don't let that wave touch you!!"
Following someone's cry, the participants quickly tried to defend against the approaching wave, but it was already too late.
Crack!
The world froze.
Those who tried to block it with their weapons froze along with their weapons.
Those who tried to block it with defensive techniques froze along with their techniques.
They stopped, completely frozen like frostbite victims.
Then, crack, crackle!
The frozen participants shattered, meeting their demise.
"Ah..."
The participants who barely managed to withstand it looked at this scene with blank faces, letting out sounds tinged with despair.
One-third.
That was the proportion of participants who lost their lives from just that single wave.
But, as if there was no reason to wait for the participants to regain their senses, whoosh!
Once again, the Remnant of the Frost Queen Tainted by Evil began to gather cold energy in front of its blackened chest.
"You fucking ice bastard!"
"We can't let it use area attacks!"
The remaining mobile participants, including the hero's party, poured out all their attacks to stop the Remnant, but whoosh!
Those attacks were all swept away by the second wave that burst forth several times faster than before.
Were they unable to block it this time?
Along with this, the bodies of the participants touched by the wave immediately began to freeze and shatter.
An even greater number than before.
"How can we possibly..."
Despair settled in the eyes of the remaining people as the tide of battle, which had seemed in their favor at first, turned in an instant.
And this was true for the silver-haired woman as well.
'I can't think of a way to win.'
Strong.
Too strong.
How to successfully land an attack.
How to defend against that cold energy.
She couldn't figure it out at all.
Even though she and Turzan, whose power could easily be considered upper-tier among the 'Seven Heavens', were doing their best, they could barely hold on.
No matter how tainted by evil it was, she couldn't understand why a mere part of the Frost Queen, not even the main body, was this powerful.
At this rate, they would be completely annihilated in no time.
The near-death experiences she had faced in her previous life began to overlap in the woman's mind.
-2 minutes remain until the King of Fire arrives.
The Trial Helper's voice informed them that not much time remained until the 'King of Fire' arrived.
But the despair in the woman's eyes didn't disappear.
She doubted whether the addition of just one more person could truly defeat this being.
Meanwhile, boom!
Rain, who had finally allowed an attack from the Remnant, was sent flying at an invisible speed and crashed into the cavern wall with a loud noise.
"Ugh!"
Rain coughed up blood, making a dying sound while embedded in the wall.
Starting with this, crack!
Gregory the Steel Soul fell with a hole in his heart, and even Turzan began to freeze as pure white frost settled on various parts of his body.
Finally, as if to conclude this battle, screech!
The Remnant of the Frost Queen howled, beginning to generate another wave of cold energy in front of its chest.
Death.
That was the word that appeared in the woman's eyes as she watched this scene.
And it was also the word that all other surviving participants were thinking of.
A sword that destroys six heavens.
Crack!
The woman's sword strike, launched as if in a last desperate attempt, was blocked by the Remnant with hundreds of layers of ice walls. The Remnant grinned and stretched its hand forward.
As despair deepened in the woman's eyes, the cold energy wave, finally reaching its peak, began to spread, about to drive all participants to their deaths.
-The King of Fire arrives here.
The Trial Helper's voice rang out in the ears of every being present.
* * *
Was time frozen?
In the center of the cavern, where cognition had accelerated to the point that everything flowed extremely slowly.
That being stood.
As if it had been there from the beginning.
The being stood calmly, looking down on everyone else.
While its appearance seemed utterly ordinary, exuding no sense of power, everyone in the cavern had no doubt that this being was the 'King of Fire'.
The soft flames burning and enveloping the being's entire body.
They couldn't take their eyes off those flames.
Like mayflies flying towards a flame even knowing they would die.
Those flames forcibly captured the gaze of every living being present.
Swish-
The wave of cold energy disappeared, melting away as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Along with this, amidst the continued sea of silence, the 'King of Fire's' gaze slowly began to move.
And finally, as the King's gaze turned fully towards the Remnant, whoosh!
The Queen's frozen cavern began to burn bright red.
---
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