Pierce! A bluish aura protruded from the king of hell's chest.
"Ha," the king of hell paused and glanced at the blade that had pierced his chest.
Kwoosh! And it did not stop there.
Aura was divided into multiple strands and turned into a storm in an instant, cutting through and splitting everything, from the demon's chest to the actual space. The lich's withered-up body in which the king of hell had incarnated was shredded apart to pieces, spreading dry dust everywhere instead of blood. Limbs were detached and fell to the ground, as did the head on the butchered torso.
It worked!
Lloyd clenched his fist, seeing Javier's surprise attack land on his adversary. He had verbally abused the king of hell and hurled insults as best as he could for this moment, concealing the grandmaster's presence.
Even if you're the king of hell, you can't really do anything without the body.
Lloyd suspected it would at least have delivered significant damage. But the orc Arosh sniffed and stated the tabooed phrase.
"We got him." Shriek!
"...Dude."
"What's wrong?" Shriek!
"Don't say that. You're going to jinx--"
"You'd be disheartened to know that the surprise attack was to no avail."
It was the king of hell's voice, as Lloyd tried to hush Arosh. The estate developer flinched and glanced at the bodily debris from the attack, and noticed the head was staring straight at his face without losing signs of life in its eyes. It even moved its jaw robustly and added.
"I knew you were trying to grab my attention with such sharp words. I was waiting to see what kind of surprise you'd have prepared for me, but it's extremely disappointing."
Fwoosh.
The shredded body of the king of hell was shrouded by dark, opaque dust, reconstructing a dark silhouette of a whole lich again. The shape became apparent as the dismembered body parts floated in the air and assembled again.
"Javier!"
The grandmaster did not hesitate as soon as he heard the shout. Javier's sword flashed intensely as he slashed through the space in all directions. However, it still fell short of the king of hell. Different parts of the lich's body had maneuvered in different ways as though they were independent entities to avoid the attack.
"Everyone!" Shouted out Lloyd, as he tightened the grip on his shovel.
The queen extended her aura into her sword, hell's knight Sir Giolexius's armor transformed into his trusted steed, Raphael held the hammer of judgment in his hands, orc Arosh swung his battleaxe and charged, and elf Moira drew her bow. Yong Yong and Bibeong lifted their forearms to help.
Kwoosh!
The forearm attacks of two colossal beasts, weighing 4,000 tons in total, fell on the lich's body and crushed it into the pit 15 feet deep and 200 feet wide, created on the platform from the attack. But even that wasn't enough.
Fwoosh.
"Bibeong?"
A single strand of dark dust found itself out through the exerting fingers of Bibeong and formed a shape in the air again, reconstructing the king of hell's body.
"So this is the type of futile resistance you had planned all along."
The king of hell stretched out the wand on his right hand after the body became whole again.
"I suppose it's my turn to pay back."
The skull at the tip of the wand unleashed an ominous glow.
Ding-dong!
A red message popped up in front of Lloyd suddenly.
[Warning: Danger!]
[Skill Option 7: Urgent Foresight is activated.]
[Your body temperature increases by 2°F due to the effect of the relic Eye of the Summer.]
Whoosh!
Lloyd's mana heart began operating itself without Lloyd's realization, as the relic Eye of the Summer heated his body up, shortly before roughly showing him 5 seconds into the future.
"...Everyone!"
Lloyd attempted to shout out and warn the others of what he saw, but it was too late. Before he could finish, something flashed above his head and charged towards him, not giving him a moment of peace, followed by detonations beneath his feet as if he had stepped on landmines or was running through a field being bombarded. A huge explosion swept through the place, engulfing it with a storm of dark purplish flames.
Lloyd had barely managed to respond in time and jumped to the side, avoiding losing his leg. However, the scope of the enemy's attack was too vast.
"Ack!"
Lloyd flew more than 50 feet aback, seeing the sky and the ground exchange their positions several times in the process. He couldn't even dream of landing properly from the physical damage and the dizziness it involved. The estate developer urgently covered his head with his arms. That was a good decision.
Tumble. Thud! Thump! Roll! Thud!
He fell on the ground and rolled several times, only to be stopped by a boulder.
"...Huff, huff. Ugh."
Lloyd questioned if he was a disassembled Lego set from the pain. He touched his own body, trying to see if his limbs were still intact and his torso whole. He then picked up the shovel again and lifted his head, seeing another message in the air.
Ding-dong!
[Warning: The effectiveness of your Mana Heart and Mana Circle is reduced by 20%.]
What...?!
Lloyd was in disbelief as he read the continuous warning messages.
[You have sustained damage both physically and spiritually.]
[Should you take similar hits like this 2 more times, you will lose 60% of your Mana Heart and Mana Circle capacity and enter into a state of severe disarray.]
[Should you take similar hits like this 3 more times, you will lose 80% of your Mana Heart and Mana Circle capacity and enter into a state of displacement from the disconnection between your physical body and the soul.]
[Should you take similar hits like this 4 more times, you will lose 100% of your Mana Heart and Mana Circle capacity and die permanently.]
What kind of...
It was outrageous, but Lloyd knew not to undermine the warnings. In fact, he felt the reduced effectiveness of the mana heart and the circle firsthand.
Zing...
"...Ugh." Cough!
Lloyd felt the tension around his chest. It was as if his mana circle had just become rusty; it indicated one thing.
I don't know if that's a physical or a magic attack... but it definitely affects the soul and the mana of the target. A few hits will definitely kill me.
But the king of hell was pointing his wand towards Lloyd again when he identified the nature of the strike. Another intense flash fell from the sky.
Damn it!
He hadn't even gotten up from the ground, let alone regained energy. Lloyd quickly attempted to rise, or even crawl out of the area if he could, seeing a series of messages in red font in front of him.
[Warning: Danger!]
His body temperature rose without his consent again, showing him five minutes into the future.
"Hold tightly onto me."
"Huh?"
That was when a hand of salvation held Lloyd by his shoulders and pulled him out of the path. Momentarily after they jumped, something fell from the sky and the ground exploded once again.
Kwoosh!
"...Javier?" It took some time for Lloyd to realize who had come to his rescue.
"Are you alright?"
"Not at all," replied Lloyd, shaking his head vehemently before shouting out to his allies. "Everyone, be careful! That attack seems to affect your soul and the body at the same time! A few hits or even scratches by it can take your life!"
Everyone nodded at the estate developer. Queen Alicia grinned ferociously as she did.
I don't think anyone can take more than a few hits anyway.
Her palms became sweaty from fear and thrill. While these two emotions contradicted one another, she harbored both and raised her fighting spirit. Her blade unleashed fearsome noises as she charged forth.
Kwoosh!
I shall strike before the enemy has time to respond with magic!
The queen found herself at a distance of ten feet from the adversary, which was just perfect for her to slay her foe with the enlarged aura slash.
Whoooosh!
Queen Alicia immediately swung her sword horizontally, unleashing the fiftten-feet-tall aura blade to slash through the space. But this ferocious attack was negated so effortlessly, by a nonchalant swing of the king of hell's hand.
Tap!
It was an ordinary movement. The king of hell causally tilted his head like he had just stopped a child's punch. Queen Alicia was appalled.
It didn't work at all?!
That was an understatement. In fact, the king of hell hadn't even budged. She even noticed the palm, which had been cut halfway from the attack, was regenerating in real-time.
Urgh...!
But the queen did not panic. She had retracted her sword the moment the attack was stopped and was turning clockwise in a skillful manner to avoid the wand attack by the king of hell. The attack fortunately missed the target as the queen shouted out.
"Lord Angel of Thrones!"
Swoosh!
The hammer of judgment fell on the lich as soon as the queen spoke. The angel of thrones descended from the sky like lightning.
"Hraah!"
Bolstered by the ring of flames behind his back, the angel of thrones exerted all of his divine angelic strength into this attack and swung his hammer vertically with the intent to crush the king of hell.
Thwoosh!
The king of hell's skull was smashed down, shortly before three arrows fired by Moira pierced the crumbling forehead. Or Arosh charged forth and swung his battleaxe against the lich's legs, causing him to stagger.
Yong Yong subsequently swung its massive tail.
Whoosh! Thump!
The king of hell's body floated in the air from the impact, and Bibeong quickly spiked it down like a volleyball. Sir Giolexius was waiting on the ground.
"Hi-yah!"
Pierce!
Sir Giolexius's greatsword pierced the king of hell in the chest. But Javier did not give his enemy time to respond and unleashed a slash attack immediately.
Thwoosh!
And it literally destroyed the lich's skull. However, the headless king of hell lifted his wand once and summoned another flash above everyone's head, followed by a huge explosion.
Boooooom!
Everyone except Javier flew backward from the impact. Queen Alicia, Raphael the angel, hell's knight Sir Giolexius, orc Arosh, elf Moira, Yong Yong, and Bibeong were all unable to avoid the attack; they were swept by the deadly detonation and rolled on the ground. Lloyd, who was watching from a distance away as he tried to regain his focus, saw the whole thing unfold.
Is that like a meteorite smash? That's like orbital bombardment.
It wasn't a small object falling from the sky like a shooting star. Even though Lloyd was a swordmaster, he couldn't even see what was bombarding the ground. He only saw a quick glimpse of the object before flashes nearly blinded him.
It was way too fast.
He imagined the intercontinental ballistic missiles that fell from the geostationary orbit. He had read that the speed of this missile exceeded Mach 25 upon entering the Earth's atmosphere. The bombardment certainly reminded him of that.
That's five miles per second.
It sent chills down Lloyd's spine. The king of hell was glaring at the estate developer again after recovering from all those attacks.
None of our attacks are working. He recovered from all that, and even from Javier's slash like it was nothing.
Lloyd suspected it was because the king of hell had incarnated himself in the body of a lich, which was virtually immortal. Combined with the power of the ruler of the underworld, the enemy was nearly invincible.
He won't die. We can't. He can summon meteorites at the speed of 5 miles per second without casting time, which can kill us in an instant. Even getting swept indirectly by the explosion will get us eventually.
Lloyd wondered how he could overcome this, or if there even was a way. Even though he had already asked the Jewel of Truth and saw the outcome of today's battle, it was way more devastating to witness it firsthand. All hopes were fading away, as Javier continued to charge towards the king of hell all by himself.
Would Javier be able to do it?
Lloyd genuinely hoped. Maybe, just maybe, the grandmaster could defeat the king of hell. But that hope was crushed shortly.
Flash! Kaboom!!
A series of flashes fell on Javier, who barely managed to respond in time. But even he wasn't able to get away from the scope of the bombardment entirely; he flew several yards before landing, faltering throughout the process. He had most definitely sustained some damage.
That means...
Lloyd's heart began pounding, as he was reminded of the answer the Jewel of Truth had given him.
I suppose I knew that was the only way. Nothing else was going to work, and I should have resorted to this method from the get-go.
But he did not want to. He despised the idea. Even though Lloyd knew the Jewel of Truth would only speak the truth, the last answer it gave was absolutely ridiculous. That was why the estate developer tried to come up with other ways to defeat the king of hell, but they all seemed ineffective. It was hopeless.
The more I think about it...
There was no other way. Holding onto false hope was going to put his allies in greater peril.
Realizing this, Lloyd bit his lips tightly with the intent to execute the plan suggested by the Jewel of Truth. Lloyd coldly stared at his adversary after having decided to turn to the last resort, to ultimately smile at the end of the final battle.
I'm so sorry, Javier.
