Central Front Border Zone (5)
At the center of the vast crater carved into the middle of the wide grasslands stood a gigantic figure scattering steam.
A monster clad in thick full-body armor like solid rock, constantly breathing out mana without pause.
Gray light flickered within the night sky, and breath leaked through the man’s thick beard.
Thud!!
Each time he slowly inhaled and took another step forward, it created the illusion that the surrounding air itself had grown heavier.
The presence of the superhuman approaching from afar revolved ponderously, continuously radiating willpower.
A divine technique possible only for an 8th-level physical ability user, dominating and controlling space through nothing but the force of one’s existence and will.
The moment the search unit saw the man’s face, their expressions turned deathly pale.
“That’s Lieutenant General Roberide......!!”
“No way. Why would the most stubborn hardliner even within the legion be in a place like this...............!!”
The search unit, who had fought the legion’s assault corps without ever being pushed back, visibly wavered merely from facing the lieutenant general.
But Lennok could understand their reaction to some extent.
The announcement that had echoed out just before that man descended from the airship.
Even the desperate movement of the assault corps trying to flee from the landing point while burning alive in the lava.
All of it proved one thing beyond doubt.
The commander leading Deadrise’s Third Legion had personally arrived on this battlefield.
Lieutenant General Robert Roberide.
So that man, scattering a pressure as heavy as a giant boulder with every breath, was one of the legion’s highest-ranking generals.
Clank!!
Lennok raised his combustion armament with both hands and spoke.
“Gate Search Unit. I’ll buy you time, so retreat to the Gate.”
“Evan!”
“If you ride through the night starting now, you should make it back to the Gate.”
Lennok turned toward the stunned members with an expressionless face.
“From here on, you’ll only get in my way. I’ll handle the rest myself.”
“That’s….!!”
“So you’re willing to go that far for a search unit you’ve only spent a few days with.”
Roberide, who had walked forward with his heavy armor creaking, narrowed his eyes after hearing Lennok’s words.
“You’re more compassionate than the reports suggested. But that is troublesome. Anyone in command must be capable of coldly calculating even the lives of their subordinates.”
“For someone who personally appeared on the battlefield in the body of a legion commander, your own actions don’t seem especially cold-headed.”
Chiiiiik!!
Lennok stepped onto the lake of lava and spoke while gripping his combustion armament in one hand.
After all, Lennok had not stepped forward to block Lieutenant General Roberide merely because he favored the search unit.
“I’ve got business at the First Gate too, so I have no intention of letting the search unit be wiped out here.”
If he wanted to enter the Gate without arousing the Conjoining Sorcerer’s suspicion, the search unit’s cooperation was indispensable.
Even aside from the fact that he had spent the last three days traveling with them, Lennok still felt it necessary to stop the legion’s interference and safely return them to the Gate.
Facing the steam-spewing armored warrior, Lennok exhaled thick cigar smoke.
“The grand cause of the legion you keep shouting about—at the end of the day, isn’t that just another means to an end?”
“You have a sharp tongue. But your question is mistaken.”
Clank!!
As Roberide pulled back one arm and raised his mana, the gaps in the armor wrapped around his arm split apart and emitted light.
It looked as though the armor could no longer contain the compressed mana and heat within, forcing them outward.
Kiiiiiiing......!!
“This officer does not believe the legion itself is justice. I merely believe the legion’s methods are the only viable alternative.”
Roberide spoke with his face cast in shadow beneath the flashing mana light beneath his arm.
“I stand here to force the path I chose upon others. And more than anyone, I am prepared to lead by example in carrying out that conviction.”
“......”
“You are an exceptional person, so surely you understand. On the road toward Ars Nova, vague answers can never reach the end.”
Jjeojeojeok...............!!
At that moment, Roberide’s gigantic body sank heavily into the ground beneath him.
A dreadful pressure surged forth, as though his own mass had suddenly multiplied.
At the same time he lowered his stance deeply, veins bulged across the lieutenant general’s forehead.
“Will you become the legion’s spear, or its enemy? Decide here and now, Evan Martinez!!!”
“Sorry. Extreme binary thinking isn’t really my style.”
Lennok smiled.
“Let’s start by getting some of that heat out of your head.”
“Hahahahahahat!!!”
Kwajijik!!
Roberide burst into booming laughter, his steam-spewing heavy armor rattling as he clenched his fist and raised his mana.
Lennok immediately sensed the precursor and planted the ignition device vertically into the ground.
“Heaven. Diamond. Immovable.”
Three overlapping grand barriers instantly unfolded around the ignition device, rising up to protect Lennok.
A barrier technique directly inherited from Jindun within the Ganges Sand Labyrinth.
A ritual spell constructing three types of Still Wheel Barriers specialized for defense and harmony through activation chants.
A supreme barrier art personally inherited from an Ascendant, now freely deployed according to Lennok’s own will.
The instant the three opaque barriers surrounded and protected Lennok’s body, Roberide moved as well.
Roberide rotated his shoulder with a creak of heavy armor, and at the same time his fist vanished from sight—
It struck the barrier directly.
Jjeoeoeoeong!!!!
Shockwaves exploded outward to both sides, cutting across the lava lake.
The overheated atmosphere and flames churned violently without end, rising and twisting high into the sky.
Kugugugugugu!!!
The ground shook madly as though an earthquake had struck, while even the airships floating in the sky swayed.
It was impossible to believe such destructive output had come from an attack launched merely by shifting posture in place.
Even Lennok’s expression hardened for a moment before that absurd explosive power.
‘What kind of strength is this......!’
It wasn’t some special technique or ability.
He was simply monstrously strong beyond all reason.
Commander of Deadrise’s Third Legion.
Proof that Lieutenant General Roberide’s physical capabilities had reached a truly transcendent level.
Kkiiiiiig!!
Between the tightly clenched steel fist, space itself twisted and emitted a shriek sharp enough to tear apart one’s ears.
As though spacetime had frozen, Roberide stared at the fist pinned before the barrier, his brows twitching—
Clank!!
Lennok activated the ignition device and raised it before Roberide’s eyes, murmuring coldly.
“My turn.”
“No!!”
At that moment, Roberide twisted his shoulder while drawing up his mana even more violently.
“It isn’t over yet!!”
Pajik!!
A simple and brutish feat—forcing the fist halted by the barrier to change direction through sheer physical power alone.
Yet even the recoil generated against his body was absorbed entirely by the heavy armor and converted into new physical force.
The shockwave scattering across Roberide’s shoulder deflected diagonally around the barrier and pierced straight through the Fire Heaven Steel Turtle, which had been continuously spewing lava.
“……”
Kwaaaaaang!!!!
[Gwoooooooaar!!!]
The Fire Heaven Steel Turtle’s hardened shell split cleanly in half, and crimson flames poured from within like blood.
The flaming turtle collapsed with a desperate scream as massive torrents of lava cascaded over its back like a waterfall.
Kugwagwagwagwa!!!
The wave of lava instantly swept across the battlefield and surged toward the spot where Lennok and Roberide stood.
Standing atop the flowing lava, Lennok glared coldly at the lieutenant general.
“No matter how strong you are, there should still be limits. You shattered the Fire Heaven Steel Turtle’s shell?”
“That turtle had been obsessively targeting the airships since earlier.”
Roberide slowly rotated his shoulder as steam poured from it.
“You intended to tie me down while intercepting the airships. But I couldn’t allow that.”
“This should also make replenishing the lava you were using as a power source far more difficult than before.”
So the moment his attack was blocked by the Still Wheel Barrier, he had redirected his remaining force toward the summon instead.
Roberide had seen through the fact that Lennok’s Fire Heaven Steel Turtle was not only suppressing the airships but continuously supplying lava to the battlefield itself.
“A defensive barrier that specifies and nullifies certain physical forces. Its level of completion is astonishing, but it cannot be a power usable without conditions.”
Clank!!
Raising his hand to point toward the barrier protecting Lennok’s body, Roberide spoke in a heavy bass tone.
“If it’s a power that forcibly nullifies physical force, then surely one of the conditions is that the caster cannot move from the spot where the barrier is deployed.”
Kwaajik!!
Roberide slammed one hand into the ground and clenched it, and cracks immediately began spreading across the earth centered around his fingers.
The legion commander, who caused an earthquake merely by gripping and shaking the ground through raw grip strength alone, raised his mana and shouted.
“In that case, all I need to do is change the environment so you cannot remain in place...!!”
Kwaaaaaang!!
The ground split apart completely beneath Lennok’s feet as the earth cracked apart along Roberide’s five fingers.
The moment Lennok moved while gripping the ignition device, the Still Wheel Barrier dissipated.
Roberide charged across the collapsing terrain at terrifying speed.
Kugwagwagwa!!!
Lennok also aimed the muzzle of the ignition device in response and raised his mana.
Heat-element Unique Magic
Trait Transformation Repulsion Accumulation
Kuooooooo!!!
The lava burning beneath the two men gathered before the ignition device and began compressing.
The sphere of molten lava compressed to its utmost limit until it transformed into a black-red orb.
[Flame Core Vault]
[Carbon Round]
Hundreds of beams of flame burst from within the sphere, decorating the dark night sky.
Dududududududu!!!
“Ooooooooooh!!!”
Roberide received the machine-gun-like barrage of flame bullets directly upon his armored body and charged straight through without slowing.
He swung around airship wreckage through the surging lava to block attacks and tore apart the ground to peel away the erupting pillars of flame.
“All troops. Follow me!!!”
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
Roberide ran between the earth and lava while detonating dozens of shockwaves beneath his feet as he roared.
“As always, this Roberide shall lead the charge!!!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
At the thunderous shout echoing across the battlefield, the assault corps soldiers who had been helplessly massacred by Lennok’s flames regained formation.
The instant Lennok glanced toward them, Roberide’s gigantic body descended at supersonic speed and slammed directly into him.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
As ripples of flame rotated outward, Lennok’s body was flung violently to the side.
He accelerated away using his flame wings as propulsion, but Roberide did not miss the opening.
[Crimson Net Scatter]
“Shatter!!”
Kwaaaaaang!!!
Lennok and Roberide crossed paths, easily traversing dozens of meters in an instant.
The flame wings flared as Lennok increased speed, while the ignition device rotated continuously spewing fire—
But Roberide crushed every bombardment flying before him with his bare hands and charged straight through.
The surface of his heavy armor blackened and the joints creaked apart, yet he endured all those scars directly with his own body.
“So this is the valor said to have survived after fighting Bolt of Vulcan on equal footing!!”
Chiiiiik!!
Roberide’s eyes flashed as he grasped blazing flames with his bare hands and extinguished them.
“Indeed. If I defeat you, then perhaps I can finally grasp the level that great mage’s power has reached.”
“You seem awfully interested in Bolt.”
“Indeed. Unlike this officer, legion headquarters considers that mad mage the greatest threat in Vulcan and wishes to move against him.”
Kuuwoong!!
With nothing more than a casual stomp upon the ground, Lieutenant General Roberide’s presence seemed to multiply dozens of times over.
As Lennok frowned beneath that absurd pressure, Roberide spoke in a voice infinitely heavy and ponderous.
“Therefore, I shall defeat you here and force this officer’s will upon headquarters.”
Chiiiiiiik!!
Steam erupted violently from behind the armor and propelled the giant body ruthlessly upward from the crater.
The moment he stepped forward, the ground caved beneath him, unable to withstand the weight.
Roberide’s willpower exploded outward and engulfed his entire body.
Inner World Microcosm
Manifestation Activated
[Heavenly Shift]
[Twelve Thousand Three Hundred Diverting Pounds]
Ripples spreading perpendicular to the earth instantly expanded across dozens of meters.
Roberide’s body, made unimaginably heavy, bent gravity and space around itself as it rotated.
At the same moment the surrounding space twisted into distortion, the shockwave unleashed by Roberide swept across the horizon.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
“......!!”
Lennok’s violently shaking body flickered repeatedly through near-instant teleportation.
Ricocheting through the shockwaves, Lennok tumbled away before pulling himself back up while leaning against the ignition device.
“Huff......!!”
As he exhaled heavily and lifted his gaze, the heavy armor crushing the earth approached from afar in wavering waves.
Kuuung!!
Durability powerful enough to endure heat magic after its full buildup had completed.
Absurd monstrous strength beyond what anyone could reasonably withstand, paired with sharp judgment honed through long years of experience.
But what truly made Roberide terrifying was the explosive force with which he combined all those abilities in an instant.
A violent offensive style that trusted in overwhelming physical power and matching durability, pushing his entire body beyond its limits to unleash devastating force.
That alone was enough to withstand all of Lennok’s spells while preventing any meaningful decisive strike.
It was obvious the steam-spewing heavy armor assisted him in unleashing his full power.
But in terms of the sheer speed at which he weaponized that monstrous strength, he rivaled even Crocken Asilus himself.
So this was the power of a Deadrise legion commander.
The martial might of a lieutenant general commanding an entire legion.
“To survive after enduring this officer’s Heavenly Shift to such an extent...............!!”
Shuuuuuu....!!
Steam billowed from between the heavy armor as Roberide muttered in open admiration.
Slowly raising one hand, the legion commander glared at Lennok with an expression hard as iron, as though trying to devour him whole.
“Your talent, your fame—even your death—I wish to place them all beneath the legion’s banner.....!”
“I’ve got no idea what nonsense you’re rambling about. Honestly, I don’t particularly want to understand either.”
Through the array mechanism attached to his arm, Lennok vented all the heat accumulated within his body.
That heat alone scorched and vaporized the ground beneath his feet, releasing thick acrid smoke.
“But I understand one thing.”
Thud!!
Placing the heavy ignition device beside him, Lennok clasped both hands together and lowered them as he spoke.
“The microcosm you use. It’s probably an ability that freely manipulates your body weight, isn’t it?”
Chiik!!
As he lightly rubbed his hands together, a sound like striking flint echoed outward.
Lennok closed his eyes while staring at the sparks generated through the friction of mana within his palms.
“It’s probably not the power to arbitrarily alter mass itself. To classify it precisely... it’s the power to alter the intensity of gravity acting upon yourself.”
Roberide possessed unbelievable monstrous strength and durability, but his agility was not especially remarkable.
That was likely because his monstrous strength itself resulted from increasing his own body weight to the absolute extreme.
“You endure the backlash of that increased weight through the heavy armor, then convert and vent it as steam. The reason your body appeared so massive was probably because you intentionally left space within the armor to absorb those impacts.”
The Fire Heaven Steel Turtle summoned by Lennok was a summon capable of converting impacts inflicted upon itself into force and unleashing it outward.
Yet the moment Roberide saw the Fire Heaven Steel Turtle, he launched a preemptive strike and nearly shattered its shell in half.
The only reason that had been possible was because the principles behind Roberide’s power and the turtle’s abilities were fundamentally similar.
Wasn’t it because the steam-spewing armor he wore possessed the ability to convert recoil inflicted upon himself into power?
Watching Roberide stride steadily toward him from afar, Lennok spoke.
“Let’s start by destroying that armor first, then continue this conversation.”
“Very well. If you can, then by all means try.”
Roberide grinned and slammed both fists together.
Shockwaves exploded along the thick steel gauntlets, driving the burning flames far away.
“Before this officer claims both your life and the search unit’s upon this battlefield!!!”
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!
As Roberide inflated his own body weight hundreds of times over and kicked off the ground, the massive metallic body shot low across the battlefield like a flying projectile.
A body slam launched at subsonic speed with a mass weighing dozens of tons.
Its destructive power surpassed missiles or artillery shells through sheer physical force alone.
The aftermath alone tore apart the earth and shook it violently, making it impossible to block with the Still Wheel Barrier like before.
Yet even knowing that, Lennok remained focused with both hands clasped together.
Durability and heat resistance capable of enduring endlessly unleashed heat magic.
And even so, enough overwhelming stamina to continue fighting without losing combat power or concentration.
Most importantly, the existence of that solid armor which still had not melted despite enduring such extreme heat.
As expected, his opponent was a transcendent powerhouse.
A monster that could not be fought carelessly.
Having reached that conclusion, Lennok quietly exhaled and raised one hand.
‘Using the Red Star Domain... is impossible after all.’
The secret art obtained by Evan Martinez, the Red Star Domain, was an amplifier fueled by a mana core reactor.
Just as in Vulcan, once activated it could not be stopped until fully consumed.
If he used the Red Star Domain before even reaching the Gate, then the operation would fail before he ever entered it.
More importantly, considering the existence of the Conjoining Sorcerer, he needed to conserve it here.
What Lennok needed to use now was the new [Spark] he had acquired through this incident.
Thinking that far, Lennok raised one hand to his mouth.
Chwaak!!
A wound split open across his palm, blood flowing between his fingers.
The dripping blood instantly ignited, transforming into blackish-green flames.
Pointing the black-green fire climbing along his left hand toward Roberide, Lennok whispered.
“Hellfire Phantasmal Palace. Activate.”
Hwaruk............!!
At that moment, something slowly began opening its eyes from within the hellfire blooming at his fingertips.