[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 349: Wind and Lightning (8)

The two who had barged into the battlefield first looked around.

“……Didn’t you say we were going to the forest?”

“It was a forest. Until just a moment ago.”

At the Heavenly Sword’s question, Oscar shrugged.

This golden space was unfamiliar even to him, who had been here just 30 minutes ago.

“Oscar! Lord Heavenly Sword!”

Sasha and Andre, having spotted them, brightened and ran over.

The Heavenly Sword, glancing past them at the people who had turned into golden statues, asked,

“Given the situation, we’ll skip greetings. What the hell is all this?”

“The Yellow Tower Master has liberated the world.”

World liberation.

If something that defies common sense occurs, most of the time it can be explained with those two words.

A liberated world possesses the power to even defy the laws of physics.

“And the effect?”

Andre answered Oscar’s question.

“From what we’ve figured out, the more mana one consumes, the more the body stiffens, eventually turning into gold. And when the Yellow Tower Master uses magic, that gold is consumed instead of mana.”

“Using gold instead of mana……”

At those words, the Heavenly Sword looked around once more.

No matter where his gaze fell, the space was filled with gold.

“So that means the Yellow Tower Master has obtained mana close to infinite.”

“That’s right.”

At Sasha’s answer, the Heavenly Sword and Oscar exchanged glances.

The one who spoke first was the Heavenly Sword.

“Isn’t it strange?”

“Yes, no matter how you look at it, this is…….”

Before Oscar could finish his sentence—pajijijik!

A bolt of lightning struck where they stood.

Splitting in four directions in a hurry to avoid it, their gazes turned toward the Yellow Tower Master.

“Uninvited guests sure are making quite a racket.”

“……Pentarion Ereus.”

The Heavenly Sword gazed at him with a regretful expression and asked,

“I thought you were a bastard with a rotten personality but at least a sharp mind. What on earth made you do something like this?”

“I cannot understand the meaning of your question.”

“Even if you start a war, very few mages of the Yellow Tower would follow such a mad idea. Do you think you’ll be able to stretch your legs and sleep peacefully on this continent from now on?”

“……You’ve stagnated.”

Pentarion lightly shook his expressionless face.

“The frame of your thinking has stagnated. It’s probably the same now as it was decades ago.”

“That’s a relief. If my frame were as freewheeling as yours, I might’ve done something like this.”

“Kh, the answer to your question is simple. I just won’t live in the Empire anymore.”

Pentarion, floating in midair, made a light gesture and sat down in the air.

Chararararak!

Golden cubes began to stack on the ground, soon forming a throne for him.

“Heavenly Sword. Let’s speak frankly. You must carry the same concerns as I do.”

“Concerns?”

The Heavenly Sword scoffed.

“That’s something only a bastard like you who hasn’t even grasped the clue to Level 9 would feel. I don’t have such things.”

“Hm, is that so? Then the Empire will soon celebrate a great occasion.”

There was no envy, no jealousy in his voice.

Instead, Pentarion posed a question.

“By the way, what changes when one reaches Level 9?”

“……What?”

The Heavenly Sword narrowed his eyes as he replied.

“You’re not asking because you don’t know that, are you?”

“No, I truly don’t know, so I’d appreciate it if you answered. What changes so much upon reaching Level 9?”

“How foolish. The difference between Level 9 and Level 8 is greater than the difference between Level 1 and Level 8.”

Of course, no one knows whether the difference is truly that vast.

However, they remember the power Oscar Sage displayed in the last war when he reached Level 9.

That power, which was hard to believe as human, was enough to make such thoughts not seem strange.

“That may be so.”

Leaning back deeply into his throne, Pentarion looked down at the Heavenly Sword.

“But I asked what actually changes.”

“……What?”

“Even now at Level 8, you’re called the Empire’s greatest knight and the strongest human. So even if you reach Level 9, what really changes? Even then, the Emperor will still stand above you.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Humans die in the end.”

Pentarion revealed the concern he had long harbored.

“When I reach Level 9, will that worry disappear? I once struggled desperately to reach Level 9, even cutting down on sleep. But even if a human reaches Level 9, all that happens is their lifespan increases slightly, merely postponing death. In the end, they still die.”

He wanted to enjoy eternal power and everlasting convenience.

But as a being born on this land, he had no choice but to face the limit of lifespan that all living things possess.

“I held quite a lot in my hands. The position of Tower Master, the achievements I built in the Empire, sweet and powerful authority. That’s why I hesitated and feared.”

But tonight, the Emperor tried to take away from him the position of Tower Master.

At that moment, Pentarion felt three things.

“An unbearable rage and despair…… and liberation.”

It was only because he lacked the courage to let go that he had clung to it until now.

But once someone took it away, there was no longer any reason to hesitate.

“I will cross the Red Mountain Range and attain eternal life.”

“……!”

“……!”

At that shocking declaration, Sasha and Andre’s eyes trembled violently.

Only the Heavenly Sword and Oscar stared at him with cold, sunken gazes.

“You’ll cross the Red Mountain Range?! No matter how angry you are, that’s not something to say lightly!”

“Andre Bright. Do I look like I said that because I was consumed by anger?”

Pentarion shook his head.

“I thought about it a lot. Even when I received the offer, I wavered. But back then, I had too much to lose, so I refused.”

But the situation had changed.

Now that he had lost the absolute authority of being Tower Master, he had not a shred of attachment left to this Empire.

“You’ve rotted.”

The Heavenly Sword looked at him with pity.

“I take back even calling you smart. You’re a once-in-a-generation idiot.”

“Say whatever you like. I will abandon the Empire and humanity.”

And he would cast off the shackles of lifespan and enjoy eternal life.

Moreover, someone of a Tower Master’s caliber would be treated well even in the Demon Realm.

This had already been proven by the former Black Tower Master, Silgrim Fonerth, who had defected to the Demon Realm.

Let alone the Yellow Tower Master, who was evaluated even higher than him.

If anything, he would receive better treatment, not worse.

“Oscar. Isn’t Pentarion Ereus’s resistance a bit too strong?”

“Hm?”

Oscar reflexively asked back at the Heavenly Sword’s sudden question.

But only for a moment—the Emperor’s command brushed past his ears.

“……Indeed. When he should be submitting quietly to arrest, his resistance is far too fierce.”

“Then it can’t be helped.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Yes, it can’t be helped.”

If resistance is strong, it is permitted to execute him on the spot.

Recalling the Emperor’s words, the Heavenly Sword clasped his hands behind his back and spoke.

“From this moment, I will pass judgment upon you.”

“Judgment?”

Pentarion scoffed.

This was his world.

Moreover, his world was one where the phrase “the first strike wins” fit all too well.

“In this place, the one who can use that word…… is only me.”

Pajik! Pajijik!

Several golden trees nearby vanished in an instant.

In this place, gold disappearing meant that Pentarion’s magic was being activated.

Kwarurururung!

Dozens of lightning bolts struck mercilessly toward the four.

“Lightning that remains forever.”

The Heavenly Sword muttered as he looked at the lightning that did not disappear.

“Even its fleeting beauty has been lost.”

In an instant, he drew up his mana and stepped onto the lightning.

Then he began to run toward Pentarion.

“L-Lord Heavenly Sword! You mustn’t consume too much mana!”

“It’s fine.”

The Heavenly Sword replied, reinforcing his blade with mana.

“This much mana is nothing more than a drop in the bucket to this old man.”

Then his gaze turned this way.

He said nothing, but Oscar understood the meaning in his eyes.

‘Watch my exchange with Pentarion and figure out the structure of this world.’

No sooner had he nodded than dozens of lightning bolts fell toward the Heavenly Sword.

Kwarururung! Ureureung!

With light movements, the Heavenly Sword dodged them all, instead riding them to close the distance.

In an instant, the distance to Pentarion shrank to 30 meters.

“How foolish.”

But Pentarion did not panic and simply extended his hand.

Kwarurururung!

This time, hundreds of lightning bolts fell.

An ultimate attack with absolutely no space to evade.

“Tch.”

Even the Heavenly Sword felt there was no answer to that and leapt back.

Landing beside Oscar, he asked,

“Well?”

“Hmm, for your age, your movements are light and impressive?”

“You brat, I mean not me, but this world.”

“Well, obviously it’s strange.”

A liberated world should, naturally, benefit its owner.

However, this world called the Golden Age is excessively biased to that point.

“To begin with, world liberation is the act of overlaying a world upon a world, a concept upon a concept.”

Naturally, there are limits.

Otherwise, there would be nothing strange about a world that annihilates opponents simply by being liberated.

Moreover, this equivalent exchange is quite strict.

If you gain something, you must lose something.

For example, it’s like getting a mansion for free but also having to live with 100 cockroaches. And you can’t exterminate them.

‘This is the same for my Infinite Sky as well.’

His world had three main effects.

1. The wind automatically attacks entities recognized as hostile.

2. If one stays for a certain amount of time, they freeze.

3. He can predict the opponent’s movements.

A perfected form created by combining realizations from his past life and this life, along with extreme cold.

He was confident that there were few worlds better than this.

On the other hand, the cost to draw out such broken abilities was also clear.

1. Overwhelming mana consumption.

2. Accelerated brain computation to use prediction; if used too long, the brain melts.

Yet the Golden Age has many advantages even compared to this Infinite Heavenly Sky.

It restricts the opponent’s mana while granting this side infinite mana.

Both in principle and in balance, it doesn’t add up.

“What on earth did he offer as the price?”

Kwarurururung!

Pentarion did not give him time to ponder that question.

Chunks of the golden background vanished, and indiscriminate lightning bombardment began toward the four.

“Eek!”

Sasha, hopping around as she desperately dodged lightning, shouted,

“Because the lightning doesn’t disappear, the ground we can step on is shrinking more and more!”

“Everyone, dodge with minimal movement! That way we can preserve more space!”

All of them were busy avoiding the pouring lightning.

Oscar’s eyes rapidly scanned the battlefield.

‘This is bad.’

The initiative of the battle had completely fallen to the opponent.

At this rate, they would have no choice but to keep dodging until one of them died.

After a brief moment of thought, he drew up his mana.

‘First, break the flow.’

With the mana he had gathered, he pulled on several strands of space.

The next moment, he moved above Pentarion Ereus’s head.

“……!”

Sensing a presence above his head, Pentarion hurriedly looked up.

By then, Oscar was already aiming at his forehead with his index and middle fingers pressed together.

『Wind Bullet』

Piyuung!

A swiftly fired bullet of wind tore through the air and shot forward.

In response, Pentarion hastily consumed a large amount of gold and summoned lightning to block it.

Kwarurururung!

Dozens of lightning bolts flashed, racing between them and literally erasing the wind bullet.

“Tch.”

Having failed the surprise snipe, Oscar quickly used Blink.

He returned to his original position.

“Did it fail?”

“Yes, his reaction speed is fast as expected.”

“Still, thanks to that, the flow of attacks was interrupted.”

The group, having barely caught their breath, steadied themselves.

But only for a moment—golden trees vanished again, and lightning flew in once more.

‘This isn’t even funny.’

Oscar clicked his tongue lightly.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being toyed with.

As proof, hadn’t Pentarion not used a single high-tier spell until now?

“……Hm?”

Wait.

Just a second.

‘Is there really any reason for Pentarion to toy with us before killing us?’

No.

Rather, it would be better for him to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and cross the Red Mountain Range.

Even now, armies from the capital and nearby cities must be approaching to capture him.

‘Wait, come to think of it…….’

Did he really have to erase the Wind Bullet with an attack spell like that?

He could have blocked it with 『Lightning Curtain』 like earlier, or at the very least with the beginner spell 『Spark Shield』.

“…….”

Oscar’s gaze hurriedly swept the surroundings.

Hundreds of lightning bolts remained embedded in the ground, all of them identical in form.

Thinking that, he felt he could make a certain deduction.

The price Pentarion Ereus pays to use this world, the Golden Age.

1. The magic Pentarion Ereus can use is restricted to the mid-tier spell, 『Lightning』.

‘If this hypothesis is correct…….’

This world has a clear drawback as well.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]