Chapter 282
There was much more to come after the boom that shook the heavens and earth.
The two men's spears flew into the air and slammed against each other repeatedly. One had to wonder if these pieces of metal could be called mere spears.
White sparks flew in every direction. Electric currents crackled down toward the ground.
Bolts of lightning crashed into each other with flashes of blinding brightness. This was the power of the lightning—everything that got in its way was torn to shreds by its might.
Sugahak’s Fury was like divine retribution, it was as if the heavens were raining punishment onto the earth below.
A split second later, Joshua took to the air. Midair, he held the spear tightly as he pulled his arm back. All the mana in his body was focused on a single point just before release.
The devastating force of his spear was amplified by the pull of gravity—there was a reason why this spear throw was considered the apogee of Magic Spear Arts.
Surprisingly, though, his spear shot had little effect even after hitting his opponent’s spear.
“Are you afraid?” Joshua said, right in his enemy's face.
The doppelganger’s expression quickly acquired a tinge of fear. Joshua smiled.
If his opponent copied his moves after seeing them once, then the solution was simple—to become better than himself, who was easily copied. Even though it was only a short period of time since he had been copied, he had to become better.
Joshua surpassed the limits of time. It seemed as though minutes were divided into seconds, and seconds was divided into smaller increments as he developed himself and his skills.
With a strange sound, fine cracks began to spread across the entire length of the doppelganger’s spear. Visibility agitated, it made a hasty effort to recover the spear.
“Do you even have the strength to continue?”
Immediately following Joshua's muttered words, the two engaged in a vicious scuffle.
The first strike was Joshua charging forward with his clenched fists aimed at his opponent’s face. As his fist flew forward, the space around him shuddered like the surface of a leather drum. The afterimage of his fist left in the air slowly faded away.
His opponent responded the same. This response wasn’t the same in the sense of responding to aggression with aggression—the response was like looking in a mirror. In the same manner and position, the doppelganger threw out his fist.
The roar that followed was impossible to imagine coming from a clash of human flesh.
“How interesting.” The grin on Joshua's face became bigger.
He was fighting himself. Joshua thought that he should pay attention and take advantage of the opportunity while he had it; he might learn something from it that he wouldn't learn anywhere else.
This time, Joshua kicked with his right leg. The funny thing was, his opponent also jumped and kicked with the opposite leg. They were both hanging in midair with their legs crossed.
Joshua didn’t stop moving.
He used the leg his opponent was blocking with as support and kicked up with his other leg. Naturally, his left leg was higher than his right. He aimed for his opponent’s head, but of course, the result was the same.
No matter what Joshua did, the doppelganger responded in the same way. Since they both possessed the same power and ability, it was not easy to inflict damage on the other… at least, that’s how it would have appeared to outsiders.
‘If your opponent uses the same tactic as you, you should move slightly faster and slightly stronger than them.’
When Joshua’s fists moved quickly, his opponent’s fists also became dizzyingly fast.
‘A little more… More!’
He clenched his teeth, tightened his muscles, heightened his senses, and spun his mana.
And after that, Poong!?
A new sound emerged, like the pounding of a leather drum, far unlike anything that had come before. Joshua's extended fist connected with his opponent's stomach. The doppelganger’s waist, of course, folded into a right angle.
“KWAAAAAAAA!”
A scream came from the doppelganger’s twisted body that made Joshua’s ears tingle. The scream seemed to echo across the entire floor.
“I see… You can feel agony.”
“You fucking bastardddddd!”
“You know how to swear too.”
“I WILL KILL YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL MURDER YOU!”
The opponent, infuriated by Joshua's sarcasm, held both hands high. A drop of blood trickled from between its lips; not real human blood, but a very dark liquid.
“Magic Spear Arts Level Six! Void Spear!” The doppelganger angrily yelled, hefting the brightly glowing spear it had summoned. “There will be nothing left but rubble when this is all over.”
A few seconds later, a completely black sphere materialized in front of Joshua’s eyes.
“Is it the Annihilation Black Sphere this time?” Joshua mocked it.
“JUST DIE!”
The perfect Annihilation Black Sphere flew at Joshua.
When a person was swallowed by the sphere, their body would instantly turn into a pool of blood, yet Joshua's actions radiated calm confidence. He saw the attack coming, but he kept his cool and pointed his spear upwards.
‘This is the best time to try it.’
Joshua was deep in thought, but what was he thinking?
Light flashed in Joshua's eyes, and he thrust his spear up with all his power, audibly cracking the air.
‘Soul makes the heavens.’
From the spear's point, a solitary flame shot upwards toward the heavens.
‘The body makes the earth.’
Electricity began to stretch out of the opposite end of the spear, seeping into the ground.
The tip of the spear was pointed at the heavens, and the spear’s end was directed at the ground. Positive and negative energy came together and formed a new space: an entire universe fitted inside a single spear.
“Magic Spear Arts Level Seven,” Joshua mumbled.
The doppelganger's eyes widened as it listened.
Right then, Joshua entered another state. It was a state that even in his previous life, he hadn’t been able to achieve. It gave him power that could stand against a country, never mind a regular army.
Disbelief, shock, and bewilderment. The doppelganger’s eyes conveyed a range of feelings in a single glance.
Joshua locked eyes with his opponent as he softly struck his spear against the ground.
“Boundless Mystery: Creation of Genesis.”
***
Krrrrrr.
Iceline stared blankly up at the ceiling.
A terrifying beast loomed over the clouds, swooping up and down. It was thirty meters in length and made out of bare bones.
Even though she’d never seen it before, she had a feeling she knew what it was.
“Bone… Dragon!” Iceline’s shocked voice slipped out.
A Bone Dragon was a monster with the might of a dragon; it was supposedly the strongest creature in middle earth. Despite its rebirth as an undead, the dragon retained none of the supernatural powers it possessed in its previous life—but even without that physical versatility, the bone dragon was already hailed as a contender for middle earth's strongest. Even without magic, it possessed a formidable tool known as “Breath.”
“That size—is that an adult?” Theta’s voice brought Iceline back to reality.
“How—?”
“That would imply they have a fantastic lich over there.”
“Right, the lich!” Iceline groaned.
The robed person took the lead against the elf. In case it wasn't obvious, the objects protruding from between the robes looked suspiciously like human hands.
“Use your mana to perceive it, not your sight.”
“Mana?”
“Aren’t you a mage?”
Iceline closed her eyes and silently concentrated. Then she seemed to have an epiphany.
“Demonic power!” she screamed.
Iceline squinted as she was hit by a blinding ray of light. Demonic power floated suspiciously around the person wearing the robe.
And that was not even the main issue.
“This is very dangerous!”
“Not for us.”
“Huh?”
Instead of answering, Theta pointed his finger in the direction of the blonde elf kid, who was staring ahead of him with a fiery hatred in his eyes.
“Too much time has been frittered away.”
“Jerath, you piece of shit. I will ask one last time, where is the World Tree?”
“Where would the fun be if I answered your question immediately, child of Elenburs? Hahahahaha!”
“Fun? Fun?”
The elf’s eyes were bloodshot. The act that ended the lives of so many friends and the future of his species was considered fun.
“Die!”
A powerful wind began to form between the elf’s hands.
“A Twin Cyclone? But…”
The robed figure extended his hand with a glimmer in his eyes. A sinister, jet-black sword was fashioned from his fingertip.
It was a Shadow Sword. Although it was unmatched in its sharpness, weak wizards avoided using it because of the danger that close-quarters combat posed.
“That’s just a Class Six. You’re rather shortsighted.”
“You bastard!”
Ash’s mouth formed into a snarl as he prepared to launch the terrible cyclone, yet the robed figure remained calm.
“If the last ‘high elf’ vanishes, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to turn the remaining elves into undeads. I could also try something like ‘Spirits of the Undead.’ It’d be the first time anyone would do it on the continent. And if I do, then this land would be easy prey.”
That was the final straw for the elf kid, and the last vestige of his sanity melted away.
“You fucking son of a bitch!”
Whooooooooosh!
At last, the elf kid's fingers unleashed a raging tempest. It swelled tremendously, and the killer wind appeared ready to rip the opponent's body to shreds at any second.
But alas, the adversary proved too powerful.
Flash!
The robed figure suddenly disappeared, startling the elf child, whose eyes widened in surprise.
Soon after, blood began to trickle down the elf’s pale neck. Cold sweat ran down his back as he stared down at the black sword aimed at his neck. The robed figure gently patted Ash’s head with a grin.
“A mage should never show their true feelings.”
“Jerath dick Orbis!”
Jerath’s grip tightened.
“I enjoyed our brief encounter and can only say, child of Elenburs, that it was a pleasure to finally meet you. Don’t fret. In the same way that I admire your bravery, your concern for Yggdrasil will be useful to me.”
“Damn it…” The kid closed his eyes in despair.
“The night is cold with the Frost Queen's reign!”
Iceline started chanting; she couldn’t just stand there watching any longer.
“What are you doing?” Theta demanded.
“I’m going to help!”
“I thought I already explained this clearly—”
“You're calculative and very pragmatic, but I’ll do what I have to do! Really, as if they wouldn’t know you’re a mage—”
Theta had been shaking his head from side to side, but Iceline’s final words made him freeze.
“Mage… Mage…” he mumbled.
Theta’s eyes widened. The air inside the closed space suddenly changed.
“Exhaling a chilly breath across this land…”
“Wait.”
“Everything in my line of sight is about to freeze,” Iceline continued to chant, ignoring Theta’s plea.
“Wait!”
“Now—”
“Someone’s coming.”
Without warning, Iceline's voice came to an abrupt halt.
A refreshing wind was passing through the midst of the raging storm. Iceline’s eyes grew wider as she sensed a growing sense of familiarity.
“I can’t let anyone bother my servant, Berber.”
The elf child and the robed man, sensing the shift, hastily turned their heads.
“How—!?”
Disbelief crept into their expressions, no, it was only the elf and the undead who was surprised.
Iceline's voice, glowing with astonishment and the delight of fulfilled expectations, filled the room.
“Joshua!”
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