Chapter 174 – Sin of Greed (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The monster that had leapt into the air.

The ogre baring its sharp teeth.

The body of the creation that had been dragging its entrails as it charged.

All of them bloomed white.

And it was not only them.

Every monster caught within the range of Alon’s spread-out mana oxidized into whiteness.

Then.

Paseuseu.

They scattered.

It was not flashy.

No deafening explosion sounded.

It was not overbearing.

Nor was it oppressive.

They simply scattered.

As though snowmen were slowly melting with the arrival of spring.

Every monster within the range of Alon’s mana simply became handfuls of snowflakes and drifted away.

The monsters.

The ogres.

The malformed creatures.

The tree that had been continuously spewing them out.

And even.

“Impossible…”

The apostle herself.

Just as the law of all things acts equally upon the world, the magical space Alon had created bestowed an equal law upon everything inside it.

Alon stared directly at her.

She looked at her own body, which was slowly breaking apart into fine fragments, as though she could not understand the situation at all.

“Ugh.”

She tried to drag up every last drop of mana to escape the situation and resist the freezing mana that covered everything.

But unfortunately for her, the more her mana rose, the more it froze.

“This power…”

The trembling voice of disbelief eventually stopped altogether.

Crack.

The frozen white face of the apostle split apart and scattered.

And with that, nothing at all remained in the great underground hall.

“…”

Rine stared blankly at Marquis Palladio’s back.

At the Marquis standing there with six ice arms behind him, forming seals while the coat covered in cold crystals fluttered.

At the awe he had drawn out in silence.

And Alon.

I feel like I am going to throw up.

Only then did he release the seals, feeling sick from the mana he had squeezed out to the very limit.

Tutududuk.

The moment he released the seals, the six hands behind his back became snowflakes just like the monsters and scattered away.

At least it went as expected.

Alon recalled the apostle from moments ago, who had worn a face of disbelief as she turned into white snowflakes and vanished.

There were two conditions that had allowed him to defeat the apostle this time.

One was that this space was small enough for Alon’s mana to cover in full.

The other was that he had already anticipated the apostle’s carelessness.

After all, he knew that the apostle’s aim was to drive Rine to the edge mentally and awaken her to sin.

And this time the weakness of the unfinished art was compensated for rather well.

The magic he had created together with Penia was extremely strong.

The moment someone was trapped within the expansion of mana linked by three or more seals.

The only way to escape was to possess enough overwhelming physical force or absurd mana to sweep Alon’s mana away outright.

That was not all.

By forcibly twisting the molecular structure of mana and increasing the elemental responsiveness of the mana inside the trapped space, Alon could manifest that reaction across the entire spread range of his mana with only a tiny spell.

And he could even choose which spell to apply.

But even this powerful magic had one clear drawback.

The mana prison itself was extremely weak against impact from the outside.

A prison formed by six linked seals had no method of escape from the inside.

The expanded mana restricted the opponent’s physical movement.

And the mana molecules hardened according to Alon’s seals not only interfered with the trapped opponent’s magic, but actively hindered the construction of spells themselves.

But that functioned only inside.

From the outside, Alon’s mana prison was like a balloon.

In other words, the moment mana or physical force struck from outside, the molecules maintaining the prison distorted, and the prison collapsed.

I need to find some way to compensate for that before long too.

Both Alon and Penia already knew the method.

Simply put, the answer was to link the seals without expanding the mana from the beginning.

But for the Alon of now, that was impossible.

He needed to use up all his mana and then expand it just to secure the necessary range.

In any case, because the scale of this hall had barely fit fully within Alon’s range, and because the apostle had let down her guard, he had been able to imprison both the apostle and the monsters and erase all variables.

Still, for the first use in a real battle, it worked excellently.

Alon was inwardly very satisfied that the first magic he had created had manifested properly.

Of course, nothing showed on his face.

With an unreadable gaze, he turned to check Rine.

“Are you all right?”

“…Yes. I am all right, Godfather.”

She said that, but her complexion did not look good at all.

“Let us return for now.”

Concern faintly colored his voice.

####

Alon woke Evan, who had been collapsed on the ground, and left that place together with Rine.

Evan, who had no idea what had happened because he had been unconscious, soon heard the explanation from Rine.

“If you hear what that thing says, you die?”

“Yes. Things that should never be heard are spoken by her mouth.”

“…What does that even mean?”

Unlike Evan, who only tilted his head in complete confusion, Alon understood immediately.

He had heard related information before, and he had experienced something similar himself at Laxas.

I never imagined there would be one who used the knowledge itself as an attack.

Alon looked at Rine.

Her expression was filled with worry.

He hesitated for a moment.

She definitely seemed to know something about the apostle.

Rine’s reaction earlier had been that way, and from Alon’s perspective as well, the apostle was clearly linked to Rine’s past.

“Rine.”

“…Yes, Godfather.”

Unlike usual, her response was somewhat slow.

Alon looked directly at her face.

Her complexion had recovered a little.

But another feeling was faintly present in her eyes.

A very slight anxiety that had shown itself without her intending it.

Having caught that, Alon thought for a moment, then made a decision.

“…You worked hard, so once we return, get some rest first.”

He chose not to ask Rine about her past.

Of course he was curious.

But it was obvious.

She clearly did not want to talk about her past.

Even so, if Alon asked, she would surely answer him sincerely.

He did not want to make her bring up something she clearly did not want to speak about.

“Thank you, Godfather.”

Rine lowered her head.

To anyone else, it would have looked like thanks for worrying about her.

But Alon understood without difficulty.

She had recognized his intention and was thanking him for the consideration itself.

“…What is this? Suddenly the two of you are leaving me out of something.”

Unable to grasp the subtle mood at all, Evan simply looked back and forth between Alon and Rine with a baffled expression.

By then, the sun was already setting.

When Alon returned to Lartania, he met Deus, who had returned from the labyrinth.

“You came out sooner than I expected.”

“Yes. It was easy to find the route, so I was able to get what I wanted quickly and come back out.”

A cheerful smile hung from Deus’s lips, as though he had obtained what he wanted.

“Did you obtain what you wanted as well, Marquis?”

“I did.”

As Alon nodded, he touched Foot that Runs Through the Past inside his pocket.

Strictly speaking, if things had gone as planned, he should have returned only after finishing every conversation with Kailus.

So in a strict sense, it would be more accurate to say that he had obtained only half of what he wanted.

And yet there was one reason he could answer so cleanly that he had indeed obtained what he wanted.

Because now I can meet Kailus without going there again.

Alon recalled what Kailus had said just before he exited the mind-image world.

Do not worry, brat. Even if you leave now, once I have already been connected here, you can summon me again as long as you activate the medium. We can continue our conversation then.

A very short exchange.

Of course, to use Foot that Runs Through the Past again, he still needed to refill it with mana.

But that was not a serious problem.

Even if it took a long time, one month would be enough to fill it again unless something major happened.

Come to think of it, in Psychedelia, Foot that Runs Through the Past could only be used there. Why was that?

A fresh question was forming in Alon’s mind when.

“Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“You may look forward to it.”

Deus, the corners of his mouth slightly lifted, puffed his chest out with evident confidence.

Like a child waiting for praise.

“…I am grateful that you are preparing a gift for me, but do not overdo it.”

“Understood.”

“So then, now that your business in Lartania is finished, are you returning?”

“No. I intend to stop by Laxas. It seems there are materials I need there.”

Looking at Deus as he added that, Alon briefly wondered whether he had listened to a word he had just said.

At that moment.

[Hmm. I feel refreshed.]

A voice he had not heard in a while sounded out.

When Alon lowered his gaze, Basiliora, who had remained strangely quiet inside the ring until the group returned to Lartania, had emerged.

[Waaah. What is this one?]

The moment Basiliora noticed Deus, it reacted in alarm.

“And this is…?”

When Deus frowned at the little snake, Alon explained.

“It is Basiliora. Do you remember what I briefly told you on the way to Lartania?”

Deus thought for a moment, then struck his fist into his palm.

“It truly became smaller, just as you said, Marquis.”

He looked Basiliora over with evident interest.

[What are you looking at?]

In contrast, Basiliora flinched and glared at him full of hostility.

The contrasting reactions made understanding dawn in Alon’s mind.

Ah. That does make sense.

Come to think of it, had Deus not helped catch Basiliora?

It would make sense for there to be some resentment.

Recalling at once that the reason Basiliora could not say much even to him was because of Heinkel, Alon nodded.

“Hm.”

Without reacting to Basiliora’s outburst, Deus kept looking at it for a moment, then said with a low laugh,

“Seeing it this small, it is cute.”

[What? A human dares call me cute?]

Apparently stung by the word cute, Basiliora became even more hysterical.

“…Cute?”

“Yes.”

“…That thing?”

It was an incomprehensible impression.

Even though he carried Basiliora around every day, Alon had never once found it cute.

The cute one is Kkamangi, if anything. Ah.

Then again, on that occasion when Deus’s younger sister Shili was marveling at Kkamangi, Deus himself had shown no particular reaction.

His tastes are a bit.

Only then did Alon understand.

“Yes. That pathetic smallness is cute.”

[Kraaaah.]

“…I see.”

That Deus’s sense of aesthetics was oddly unusual.

####

And at that same time.

In the kingdom of Colony.

“…So according to what you are saying, it is not that incarnate gods might exist, but that they truly do exist, is that correct?”

“That would be the more accurate expression.”

“Can you take responsibility for those words?”

“Yes.”

As Karmakses III heard that view from a scholar.

Is Marquis Palladio truly… a god?

He was arriving at that strange truth.