Acaron, one of the Babayaga, honestly felt as though a hope that had not existed before had been born, even back when the Black Wood split the sky above the royal castle.

The Black Wood he had seen near the royal castle was so great that just knowing the one who created that existence was an ally was enough to calm his heart.

However, just a moment ago.

Acaron had once again fallen into despair.

The first reason was the truly endless stream of Anomalous entities pouring out, and the second was the gigantic ‘that thing’ which had appeared right in the center of the Colony.

Just looking at it made his breathing grow ragged and his mind grow hazy.

The form of the enormous spider bestowed despair upon Acaron.

‘That thing’ did nothing.

It merely gazed down upon the ground with lofty indifference.

However, despite taking no action at all.

Everyone who looked up at it from here felt nothing but emptiness, unable to even think of trying to fight.

That was only natural.

No, it could not have been otherwise.

How foolish it would be to fight that thing.

Everyone present here realized it instinctively.

Whether it was a powerless old man.

Or a Babayaga who could be called the strongest within this Colosseum.

No one was able to defy that instinct.

Thus, everyone fell into hollow despair and blankly watched the gigantic nest beginning to spread across the sky.

Chiiiiik~!!

"-R, run away!"

“U, uaaaaaah-!!!"

At the moment when everyone panicked and scrambled about as the poison liquid began to fall to the ground.

Kwaaaaaaah!!

The anomaly began to occur.

"That is-"

The sky, from which poison liquid that had even melted away the land had been falling just moments ago. From there, pure white ice appeared and began to freeze everything.

The falling poison liquid as well.

The gigantic nest spread across the sky as well.

Everything without exception.

At the moment when everything froze, as if time itself had been stopped.

“Ah-"

Over that frozen world, a Milky Way rose.

And after that.

The Guardian Deity descended upon the ground.

-!!!!!

With a spine-chilling sound that seemed to seize everyone’s minds in an instant, black ink armor began to form over the Guardian Deity’s body.

And with that, the battle began.

Between the gigantic Guardian Deity.

And that thing which had made everyone feel futile despair.

"Crazy."

Acaron muttered without realizing it.

At the sight that looked similar to a battle between gods that would only appear in myths.

Even the citizens who had been gripped by deep fear just moments ago stared blankly into the air.

And as he watched the figure of Marquis Palatio, who was incessantly striking down lightning between those gods, Acaron involuntarily recalled his epithet.

"Lightning Receiver Kalannon....”

At that moment, Acaron realized it.

The truth behind the countless rumors that had surrounded Marquis Palatio until now.

'They weren’t exaggerated.'

Acaron had heard many rumors about him.

However, he could state it with certainty.

The rumors Acaron had heard.

The ones everyone had clicked their tongues at, saying they made no sense and were full of exaggeration.

Were in fact all toned down.

Acaron silently turned his gaze to the side.

Kazan, who had been saying together with him that the rumors about Marquis Palatio were too exaggerated, was also staring blankly into the air.

“This is ridiculous."

It was Kazan’s muttering.

The genuine feeling that slipped out of his mouth without him realizing it.

However, Acaron could tell that Kazan felt the same as he did.

Because in his eyes, the emotion of reverence had already taken root.

“U, ugh!"

At that moment, the voice of a warrior was heard.

Acaron and Kazan turned their gazes.

The warrior who had been staring vacantly into the air frowned and looked toward one side.

And there.

“Tsk."

Anomalous entities were crossing over the Colosseum.

So many entities were swarming in that even Seolrang could not stop some of them.

However, upon seeing that sight.

The two, who had been filled with skepticism, found themselves calmly looking at each other before they knew it.

“......We have to stop them."

“It seems so. Since the mage says he has something prepared, we should trust that.”

A brief exchange.

Yet the two were satisfied with that alone.

Because even that short conversation was enough for them to once again feel that a spark of hope had been kindled between them.

***

"Hu—"

Alon let out a deep sigh, already unable to count how many times he had cast magic, yet he continued to move by incessantly using Thunder God Form.

Acaron, Kazan, and the warriors inside the Colosseum had begun to harbor hope.

Unfortunately, the situation was not nearly as good for Alon.

He felt his head heating up as he looked around.

In front of him, the Poison Swallower and Basiliora were fighting to deal lethal blows to one another.

And everything around them was covered in ice.

No, to be precise, it merely looked as though it was covered.

‘The cost to maintain this is too great.’

Alon slightly furrowed his brow behind his expressionless face.

It looked as though everything was encased in ice, but regrettably, that was only because Alon was continuously reinforcing the magic to maintain the situation.

The Poison Swallower’s venom was not something that could be easily blocked by Alon’s magic.

On top of that, the Anomalous entities endlessly appearing from somewhere were forcing Alon to use Thunder God Form as well.

‘There really is a limit.’

Alon looked at Seolrang, who was flashing about wildly on the ground.

She was doing well.

No Anomalous entities remained where she passed.

However, despite her struggle, the number of Anomalous entities constantly crawling out from somewhere was far greater than expected.

It was enough to make one wonder how they had gathered so many in such a short amount of time.

In any case, to put it simply.

Alon was constantly maintaining two spells.

‘If I hadn’t completed even a half-finished version, sacrifices would have been unavoidable either way.’

He let out a quiet sigh inwardly.

If he had not been able to use magic quickly.

It would have been impossible to create this situation at all.

In truth, maintaining things like this was literally just maintenance, so it could not be called optimistic.

Even so, the reason Alon could relax slightly was because of Basiliora.

All of the abilities the Poison Swallower had shown so far had been sealed by Alon.

Basiliora, fused with Blackie, was not only leading the battle in a highly advantageous manner.

[Keugh~!]

He was clearly seizing the upper hand.

'Now.'

After confirming Basiliora completely coiling around the Poison Swallower’s body, Alon immediately gathered mana.

Along with that, the six Water-Freezing Seals moved according to Alon’s will.

And.

"Spirit Wood (木)."

With Alon’s mutter, sharp thorns burst out in an instant from the black ink armor Basiliora was wearing.

-!!!!!

Along with that, the Poison Swallower began to thrash about while screaming madly.

As if it had taken severe damage, red blood that did not match its form burst out in all directions.

And the moment Alon let out a sigh of relief at that sight.

Duruk—!

The Poison Swallower turned its eyes toward Alon.

[At this point, it can’t be helped.]

-!!!!

It suddenly began to emit a strange sound.

Rather than a cry of frenzy, it was as if it were recalling and producing a specific sound.

And then.

[I admit it, insignificant one. There was a reason they placed a bounty on you from above.]

Along with the Poison Swallower’s admission.

[Good thing I talked about this in advance.]

Alon saw it.

"!"

The royal castle that had been visible over there.

Beginning to sink as a whole.

Kwagaragagagagagak—!!!!

A skin-crawling sound that seemed to tear at the ears rang out.

And the surroundings, including the royal castle, began to slowly fall beneath the ground.

No.

That was not it.

It was not falling down to the ground.

[To the Devourer.]

Beneath the ground that swallowed the royal castle.

There was a mouth.

A mouth so enormous it could swallow the entire royal castle whole.

And then.

The one that swallowed the entire royal castle began to move with a tremendous noise.

And Alon was able to grasp where it was heading without much difficulty.

No, he could not help but grasp it.

The place it was coming to was.

Right here, the Colosseum.

The moment he realized that, Alon’s mind began to race as if it would burst.

Could he stop it?

No, could he at least hold it back?

Questions flooded Alon’s mind.

But regrettably, at present, there was no magic he possessed that could stop the Devourer.

At this point in time, all Alon could do was watch as the Colosseum was sucked into the Devourer’s mouth.

'No.'

Gritting his teeth, Alon immediately sealed off the entire Colosseum in frozen wasteland.

So massive that it could not be sucked in even by the Devourer’s mouth.

And just as he was about to do so.

“?”

He sensed something strange.

The Devourer, which had been charging fiercely toward the Colosseum just moments ago, was no longer heading for it.

Instead.

As if it had been waiting for this very moment.

It had already opened its maw directly beneath Alon.

And the instant he realized it.

Alon saw threads that had been invisible until just before suddenly gather and form.

Kwaduk—!

And he was bound by the threads.

[I knew you would make that choice, insignificant one.]

And then.

[Die.]

With a tremendous roar, the Devourer’s mouth began to close.

A hideous grinding noise, like machinery being chewed.

It was a dire situation by anyone’s standards.

'Think.'

Alon calmly assessed the current situation as much as possible.

In fact, this situation could be slightly better than the future he had anticipated.

If the Devourer had ignored him and tried to swallow the Colosseum, there would have been nothing he could do.

But because both the Devourer and the Poison Swallower were targeting him at the same time, the things Alon had to consider were reduced instead.

The problem, however, was that no matter which he chose, he would have to accept some degree of sacrifice.

To prevent the Poison Swallower’s threads from severing his body, he wrapped himself in a mana barrier just before the threads coiled around him.

And for Alon, who was already continuing calculations at nearly his limit just to maintain it, there were now essentially two options left.

One was to abandon blocking the sky where venom was falling and escape from the Devourer’s mouth here.

The other was to fully expand the already-deployed mana barrier in this state and cut the threads.

And after agonizing over it, Alon finally made his decision.

'I’ll cut the threads using the mana barrier.'

The Poison Swallower’s threads would clearly not be easy to cut, but Alon chose that path.

There was still some time left before the Devourer’s mouth fully closed.

The moment he made that choice.

Uuuung~!!

Alon turned his gaze at the horrifyingly massive resonance of mana.

And he could see it.

The red blood flowing from the Poison Swallower rising into the sky against gravity.

At the same time, the threads extending from the Poison Swallower intertwined and shot upward.

And in doing so, before anyone realized it, an unbloomed red rose began to form above the Poison Swallower.

An appearance of beauty that did not suit the Poison Swallower’s form at all.

However, as Alon looked at that rose.

"!!"

He could not help but widen his eyes.

Because Alon’s eyes, capable of seeing mana, easily detected the mana fluctuations near that rose.

'The mana is being annihilated.'

Quite literally, the mana was being annihilated.

The faint mana flowing out from the rose—

No, by the poison.

"!!"

Once he grasped that much, he easily understood what kind of structure that rose had been formed with.

That rose was beautiful only in appearance, but in truth, it was closer to a spell created to spread poison, so potent that even an extremely minute flow was enough to annihilate mana in the air.

A poison so vicious that even an ordinary person would die instantly upon inhaling an infinitesimal amount.

And judging by the scale of the magic, if that were to bloom and spread, its reach would encompass the entire Colony—no—

'Even beyond that……!'

[You’re perceptive.]

As if reading Alon’s thoughts, the Poison Swallower spoke.

[I had no intention of using it, since killing you and turning you into a puppet wouldn’t gather much faith, but it can’t be helped.]

Alon frowned.

He absolutely had to stop that from blooming.

That poison might not kill Alon, but it was fatal to others.

To the citizens here.

To the warriors.

And to Evan and Penia as well.

If it bloomed, that would be the end.

But as he was now, Alon could somehow stop it by coordinating with Basiliora and Seolrang.

The problem was time.

There was not enough time.

To stop that while also calculating the time needed to escape from here.

The time given to him was insufficient.

"......"

A look of anguish flickered through Alon’s eyes.

***

"Master!"

Seolrang, who had been rampaging around slaughtering Anomalous entities like a madwoman, shouted.

After seeing Alon bound by the Poison Swallower’s threads and the newly appeared Devourer opening its mouth, she immediately twisted her body to rush to save him, but.

There was nothing Seolrang could do.

It was quite literally so.

She could do nothing.

The Poison Swallower’s threads binding Alon did not even get scratched by Seolrang’s attacks enhanced by Thunder God Transformation.

And the Devourer, slowly closing a hole so enormous it could hardly even be recognized as a mouth, did not budge in the slightest from Seolrang’s attacks either.

Rather.

“Gkugh~!?”

Only Seolrang’s right arm, which had launched the attack, was broken.

The situation was spiraling further and further into the worst possible outcome.

When Seolrang stopped hunting, the Anomalous entities, now too numerous to handle, spilled over beyond the Colosseum, and Basiliora, no longer receiving Alon’s support, began to be pushed back in her fight against the Poison Swallower.

Just a few dozen seconds.

In just a few dozen seconds, the situation was plunging into the worst.

And yet.

Even as everything was going to ruin.

There was nothing Seolrang could do.

"Ah."

A dry breath escaped Seolrang’s lips.

Clutching her shattered right arm after striking the Devourer over and over, she felt a deep sense of helplessness.

If Yutia had been here, would the situation have turned out like this?

If Rine had been here, would things really have become this bad?

Seolrang knew the answer.

That if it had been them instead of her, it would not have come to this.

She knew it all too well.

In truth, Seolrang knew the answer.

She knew what she had to do here.

In that fleeting instant, Seolrang saw the essence.

As her eyes caught sight of an essence shining brilliantly, just like her golden lightning, hesitation flickered through her gaze.

That was only natural.

If she used that essence, then from now on she would—

"....."

Seolrang cut off her wandering thoughts.

There was nothing else she could do.

So she had to do it.

That was why she resolved herself.

And the moment she made up her mind.

Seolrang was standing inside the sanctuary.

A sanctuary bathed in dark moonlight.

And there.

[You’ve come.]

Just like last time, Seolrang was able to meet a single beastman standing within the sanctuary.

[So, are you ready?]

With golden hair the same color as hers.

[Ready to abandon everything and accept the power of Abominable Blood.]

A beastman whose crimson eyes gleamed.