Chapter 496: Into the Rift
They stepped into a vast, dome-shaped hall, its stone walls curving up to form a high ceiling. At the far end of the hall, the Dimensional Rift pulsed with a purple glow, its power contained by a complex array of seals.
Blocking their path to the rift was a broken stone throne, upon which sat a monstrous figure.
The creature was a towering, ten-foot-tall humanoid with six muscular arms, each ending in razor-sharp claws.
Its skin was a mottled grey, covered in patches of hard, chitinous armour. Its eyes glowed with a malevolent red light, and from its back protruded two massive, bat-like wings.
It gave off ’Demonic’ vibes, but couldn’t be anything further from a Demon—it had divinity after all.
"Ha, wouldn’t be the first."
Evan muttered this under his breath as he appraised the monster and discerned its level.
"Oh wow. It’s Level 739. Intermediate Legendary."
Their Levels were 793, 653, 647, 641.
"Dude, how many monsters did you slaughter while I was fighting Crarox?"
Arthur questioned as he looked at Evan’s Level which sat at 653. The boy had even surpassed Artemisia’s 647.
It should be noted that Evan was Level 576 when he arrived on the last day of March. The date was May 17, so in 47 days, his level had increased by 77!
"Dunno...thousands of them?"
Evan didn’t know how many he had killed, but thousands was putting it mildly. His level was 605 at the beginning of that day, so the number of Crarox’s Sea Monster subordinates he had killed had to be astronomical for such a huge power jump.
Adding on the extra days he participated in the War on Plomux while Arthur was handling his Soul Impurity issue, his level had spiked.
Nevertheless, that spiked level was not enough for him to take the Legendary Realm existence before him alone.
Even with Artemisia and Beatrix helping, it’d be a really tough fight.
As for why Evan was even considering fighting while Arthur was there, it was because the Progenitor was showing zero intentions of making a move.
It was clear Arthur did not want to fight, so to get to the Dimensional Rift behind the monster, they’d have to be the ones dealing with the creature before them.
[GRAAAAAAARGHH!!!]
The monster let out a guttural roar, its eyes locking onto the four intruders, ready to strike.
Its two pairs of lower arms cupped themselves together and began condensing a ball of raw destructive energy.
[YOU SHALL NOT PASS!]
Making this declaration, it stomped its feet on the ground and released shockwaves that pushed the Epic’s back.
They drew their weapons—Evan, his sword and shield; Artemisia, her sword, and Beatrix, her staff—and were ready to leap into action when the silent Arthur finally acted.
Holding out his hand to stop them from rushing forward, he shouted.
"Wait!"
"???"
It went without saying that they were confused as to why he stopped them, but the Progenitor didn’t address their unspoken questions.
He simply kept his gaze on the monster who was condensing energy and spoke.
"Let him cook."
"Pfft...BAHAHAHAHA!!"
Evan suddenly burst out laughing, dropping to one knee while holding his stomach.
Both his allies, and the Level 739 monster looked at him dumbfoundedly as he laughed, and sensing their questioning gazes, he explained.
"Haha...dude, you have no idea...
It hadn’t been long since I did the exact same thing to my companions when we were faced with an opponent..."
Hearing this, Arthur quickly understood.
"You told them to ’Let them cook’?"
"Damn right, I did."
Arthur joined in on Evan’s laughter, while the two girls looked at both of them with incredulous expressions on their faces.
At that moment, they shared a thought.
’What is wrong with these boys?’
Finally, Arthur and Evan’s laughter died down and they turned to the monster who was looking at them dumbfoundedly before asking.
""You done cooking?""
[?!]
The mirth in their eyes as they asked this was unconcealed, and noticing it, the monster’s forehead twitched.
’These humans are making fun of me!!’
It released a burst of power, its wings erupting into flames and a swirl of ambient destruction law energy coalescing around its body, forming into two massive swords held by its uppermost arms.
At this sight, Evan and Arthur exchanged amused glances, their voices laced with sarcasm as they spoke one after the other.
"Wow, he’s using fire, isn’t he?"
"Definitely. And that thing he’s controlling...surely it’s not destruction law energy?"
"News flash, it is."
Once again, they laughed, and this time, Artemisia and Beatrix understood why they did.
Evan’s Unique Skill allowed him to control esoteric, prismatic flames, making his fire affinity and resistance unmatched in the Epic Realm.
Arthur’s affinity with the law of Destruction was so absurdly high it seemed the law itself was in love with him.
To face an opponent using these very powers against them was, to them, absurdly funny.
The monster, enraged by their laughter, unleashed its power.
Two orbs of destructive flames hurtled towards them, the ground sizzling in their wake. It followed immediately after, charging with its swords raised high, ready to cleave them in two.
Arthur’s laughter ceased abruptly, his demeanour shifting to one of cold focus. He looked up, his voice carrying a calm undertone.
"Alright, that was fun while it lasted."
Suddenly, the world around them turned monochrome, and everything came to a halt.
Arthur waved his right hand, using gravity law energy to create a force that deflected the two orbs of power towards a side wall.
He then raised his right hand, forming it into a knifehand, and brought it down in a slashing motion.
Time resumed its flow.
The redirected orbs crashed into the wall, exploding with a force that obliterated half the temple and extended the destruction to the city beyond.
The monstrous creature remained frozen, swords still poised overhead, as if in disbelief.
Seeing it remaining still, Artemisia assumed it was still frozen in time and glanced at Arthur, a brow raised in curiosity as she asked.
"You’re not attacking?"
Her response came not from Arthur, but from Evan.
"What do you mean, Artemisia? He has already attacked."
"...what?"
Artemisia was confused. She glanced at Beatrix and the other goddess was equally lost, with the only thing she was able to tell being the fact that the monster was currently NOT frozen in time.
Suddenly, a silver line of light appeared on the monster’s forehead, extending down to its crotch.
Silently, its body split apart into two equal halves, blood and viscera spilling onto the ancient stones.
"..."
The hall fell silent, save for the crackling remnants of the explosion and the soft hum of the Dimensional Rift.
Now, they all understood why Arthur had not shown any indication of wanting to fight earlier. He never needed to ’fight’, since he could kill the monster with a single unexplained attack.
Artemisia wanted to speak up, but before she could, her vision blurred and she was hit with a sudden wave of nausea.
Beatrix was in a similar state, clutching her head in pain.
This sudden occurrence was not unfamiliar to them. They had experienced it before when they were trapped in an underground dungeon with Arthur months ago.
As such, they instantly identified the cause.
’Arthur’s blood.’
Glancing at the boy’s hand, Artemisia saw drops of silver spilling to the ground from the tips of his fingers.
"I guess using the Law of Extinction’s power with my bare body is not a good idea."
He remarked casually as he looked at his bleeding fingers, and his Sword, Celestia, replied in a scolding tone.
[Of course, it’s NOT, Master. It’s a law that makes things go EXTINCT.]
"Fair enough."
He shrugged and then flicked his fingers, rewinding the time on his fingers and freeing the two goddesses from their pain.
"Please...don’t do that again, Arthur."
"Hmm? Oh, sorry."
Due to his nature as the Progenitor godslayer, his blood was poison to gods. For those weaker than him, even smelling a little bit of it was enough to make them nauseous.
"What are you guys waiting for? Let’s find a way to open this thing."
Evan called out to them and they turned to see him already at the other end of the Hall, one hand holding up the broken throne the bifurcated monster once sat on.
One short-distance teleportation later, they were right in front of the Dimensional Rift, and Arthur placed his hand on his chin while speaking.
"If I am to use Spatial Break..."
Hearing his mutter, Beatrix flinched as she could already imagine the scene of devastation such an action would lead to.
She rushed up to Arthur and grabbed him by his shirt collar, pulling him over to one of the pillars on both sides of the rift.
"Look! Here’s a non-destructive way to get in!"
"Oh...we can simply pour spatial magic inside."
Arthur noticed that these pillars were actually magic receptacles connected to the seal, and after pouring a suitable amount of spatial magic inside, the seal on the rift would be released.
"Yes, we can do that. This thing’s a ’Dimensional Gate’, I dread to think of what would happen if you were to destroy it."
She shivered as she spoke, and Arthur just laughed while he crouched in front of the pillar and studied it.
Behind him, Evan was asking some questions about Dimensional Gates, ’controlling people who came in through the gates’, and ’Soul Marks’ but Arthur zoned all that out.
By the time he was done analysing the seal, Beatrix was sending a message to her mother through her tablet.
"...oh and, Arty finally said she loves me."
"Oy! Don’t send your mother lies!"
Artemisia called out to Beatrix who read out what she was typing and Arthur just silently shook his head before asking.
"Can we get to unsealing this thing?"
Hearing him, Beatrix put away the tablet and rushed over to the second pillar. On the count of 3, they began infusing spatial magic into the pillars.
The ground trembled, and a resonant hum filled the air as cracks formed along the seal, spreading rapidly.
With a deafening crack, the seal shattered, sending shards of glowing stone flying.
An arched tear in space formed where the seal had been, its edges shimmering with radiant light.
Swirling lights of every colour danced beyond the tear, and dense energy gushed out from it unrestrained.
"Hmm, that’d be inconvenient."
Arthur spoke as he manipulated the ambient cosmic energy and trapped the rapidly escaping energy of the Dimensional Rift, forcing it back into the rift right after.
"Let’s go in."
Beatrix spoke and hopped in to the rift, while Artemisia reached out to her to grab her.
"Silly girl! Don’t just enter that thing without checking for safety!"
Unfortunately, she didn’t expect that Beatrix would suddenly utilize all her strength so instead of pulling Beatrix out of the rift, Artemisia got pulled in.
Arthur just laughed and said he’d already checked and it was safe, before he and Evan entered right after.
