Kwaaaang!
The two magicians appeared in the wreckage. They weren"t affected by the enormous heat and pressure, or the air-deprived environment.
Magic power barrier—it was one of the basics for magicians who circulated magic power within their body. The magic power repeatedly circulated in the owner"s body, with the centrifugal force creating an invisible protective film on the skin.
Of course, the basic defense wasn"t great, and it would be difficult to block a few arrows with the barrier of a 4th circle magician. It meant it wasn"t a technique that could be used in practice. However, that common sense was turned upside down at the 8th circle.
"Indeed, Veronica"s phenomenal durability is the result of applying the low magic power barrier." Theodore admired it as he watched Veronica"s back.
He studied the application of the magic power barrier. The magic power circulation in Veronica"s body was accelerated several times, amplifying the magnitude of the centrifugal force that formed the magic power barrier. The innate blood of a dragon, combined with high magic power concentration, would"ve increased the intensity even further.
In fact, Veronica occasionally had a red haze around her body. It was because her magic power was so concentrated that the magic barrier could be seen.
"How is it? Isn"t it fairly good?" Veronica taught Theodore how to do it and looked around at the city in front of them.
Over the wall that had been destroyed by magic, the view of the divine king"s palace was revealed. The city was filled with dried blood, stinking pus, and traces of undead.
"Look here... Hah, is there a need to look so closely? That big building is the church of the divine king"s palace. A place where people who want to live a pure life enjoy the doctrines."
"Certainly. It is tall enough to be seen from the outside... There would be no building taller than the church. To put it bluntly, it is like their G.o.d is looking down on them."
It was a common guide everywhere. The people shouldn"t have a building larger than the royal family, and a person who wasn"t a lord shouldn"t have private property larger than a barrack. The authority of Lairon was absolute, so it wasn"t possible to have a building that was taller and larger than the church.
"Well, it isn"t possible to mistake it." Theodore stared coldly at the headquarters of the divine king"s palace that rose in the distance. Other people might not know it, but his eyes couldn"t be fooled. Black magic power was swirling in the city, and the source of the evil power was that building. It was like an open door to an abyss where evil spilled out. The chill it produced was frightening, and Theodore"s hair became damp with sweat.
It was fortunate that he noticed the crisis, but his instincts as a living creature refused to approach.
"...Veronica!" Nevertheless, Theodore shook off the instincts and cried out. "Don"t mind the small fries! Give priority to the destruction of the great magic circle and head straight to the main building!"
"Ahahaha! That is my Theodore!" Veronica responded in a joyful voice and started to take in a deep breath.
A gust of wind was sucked into her mouth. Theodore knew what this deep breath meant and quickly created an ice barrier. It had far greater power than the magic that drove the stage 4 Pride away. This was Dragon Breath.
――――――――――――!!!
There were burning sounds as flames emerged from Veronica"s lips and shot forward without interruption. The power of a protective water cover was meaningless! All the buildings and undead in its path were swallowed up as the flames rushed toward the headquarters. Soon, the building, which had a long history in Lairon, would turn to ash. It was at this moment that...
"This...!" Theodore shouted without hiding his dismay.
The moment that Veronica"s breath hit the main building, a swirl of black magic power spread out against the heat. It was a storm of black magic power that was comparable—no, even stronger than the breath! Did it know that the Dragon Breath would occur?
No, it was because Lairon couldn"t ignore the possibility of an outside attack. There was always a chance that great magic would be used against the kingdom of Lairon. Once the flames went out, the main building of the divine king"s palace stayed standing without a single sign of damage. This was a defense that could block even the powerful breath of an 8th circle magician...
"At least the road to the main building is open. If we can"t break it from a distance, we will go inside and break it."
It was as Theodore thought. The trail of the Dragon Breath had created a shortcut to the main building. There wasn"t a single bone fragment left in the path that the fire had pa.s.sed through.
Papat!
The two magicians flew through the flames without needing to share their opinions. One was a quarter red dragon and the other was a magician who had the power of Laevateinn. They weren"t the type of people who could be hurt by the fire. However, it wasn"t just the flames that interfered with the two people.
[...Grr, grrr...r...Lai...ronnnn!]
"Living... the dead, I will, lead...."
"Repent, unbelievers trapped in a poor life!"
The skeleton type senior undead, bone warlords... The evil spirits that hadn"t been able to become death knights, the doom knights... The elder lich that Theodore had met once a long time ago... These high-level undead that could withstand the aftermath of Dragon Breath were flocked here in the double digits. They were designated as level 3 risks by the Magic Society.
It was a terrifying scene of fear.
"...Eh?" Theodore realized that he didn"t feel any tension at all.
The bone warlords, doom knights, and elder lich… All the undead were at danger level 3, but Theodore"s super sensitivity was as calm as a lake on a clear day. He had no worries at all. His concentration of the moment drew up into a new ground.
"Forced Harmonization."
As a doom knight"s blade headed toward him...
Integrated Dual Attributes.
Lightning and Wind.
Lightning Vortex.
Theodore blended the wind and lightning attributes in his body. He hadn"t tried it before, but he felt confident that he could do it. It might"ve failed if it was fire and water. However, it wasn"t difficult for Theodore to mix lightning and wind.
Shaaack! The doom knight"s sharp scimitar cut at Theodore"s torso. From the left clavicle to the right rib, it was a diagonal slash that would cause a serious injury. For some reason, the sensation against its hand was faint, but the doom knight shivered from the pleasure of killing the living. It was only a short time before Theodore"s fist, which had turned into a lightning storm, flew forward.
Kwarururung! There was a thunderous explosion.
Theodore"s fist shattered the doom knight, and the debris of its armor struck the bone warlord behind it. Then blue lightning rushed forward and swallowed several undead. It was literally a storm lightning fist! Theodore was like both a gust of wind and a lightning storm as he moved. In addition to his high destructive power, his attack speed was too fast. Master level aura users couldn"t respond to it, let alone the doom knights. This was the strength of the integrated attributes.
"I alone am enough!"
Theodore was confident in his own strength and shouted, "Veronica, this time I will lead!"
"Okay, show me how cool you are!"
By the moment she replied, Theodore was already a few hundred meters away. This speed didn"t just apply to his body.
"The whole world seems to stop..."
It felt like a normal one second had been increased to one minute. There was even the illusion that his frontal lobe was spinning and his head became hot. Theodore"s thoughts were quick due to the acceleration. The result of adding acceleration to his already genius brain was truly frightening.
"Decuple Casting."
10 magic circles simultaneously appeared around Theodore"s body. The ten circles faced every direction and shone with a golden light. This was a magic circle that imitated the divine power of Nuada Airgetlám, a power that was deadly to all undead.
Hwaaack!
A loud explosion wasn"t necessary. Rather, a genuine light beam emerged. The skull of the bone warlord, which was comparable to adamantium, was crushed by the light. The undead didn"t have vocal organs, so they couldn"t even scream loudly at their ends.
"Kyaaaack!"
"I...trans-cend...death...!"
The banshees screamed as they were burned, and even the immortal elder lich couldn"t bear the divine brilliance. By complementing the scarce divine power with his magic power, Theodore"s pure light wave swept through the crowd of senior undead. He looked like one of the mighty warriors from the fairy tales, a hero who wielded light itself.
"―Wow, cool." Veronica looked at Theodore"s back with glazed eyes and licked her lips.
The blood of an arrogant red dragon didn"t allow her to pay attention to the weak. Only the strongest who could threaten her life were qualified to be an adversary or a friend. The same was true for a companion, which could be considered an equal relationship.
"Huhu, this is the second time now."
They moved through the land filled with undead and soon arrived at the main building. However, the two people stopped walking at almost the same time. Anyone would worry when facing an unforeseen crossroad. It might be different for a common crossroads, but they had to decide if they should go up or down.
Theodore looked at the choices carefully.
"This is a problem."
The luxurious church in the capital was 40 floors high, and it also had a deep bas.e.m.e.nt. This meant it had a total of 60 floors. It would likely take a long amount of time to cover these, especially when taking Jerem"s unknown plan into consideration.
Should they go up or down? The place where the core of the magic circle was contained was either the top floor or the bottom most floor. A warlock would usually think about the bas.e.m.e.nt, but Theodore couldn"t base a decision on a stereotype.
Either way, it was necessary to investigate both. In this case, the two people had to separate.
"I"ll go to the top. Personally, the bas.e.m.e.nt is a little stuffy for me," Veronica chose her direction first.
So, Theodore naturally went down to the bas.e.m.e.nt. He decided it without any clues. The two magicians discussed the signals they would send to each other if it was necessary, then they separated. One climbed the staircase to the top, while the other headed to the bas.e.m.e.nt lit with torches.
* * *
"...Strange," Theodore muttered as he was three floors away from the very bottom of the church.
He stopped for a moment and placed a hand on the wall. The air was too mild to contain the core of the black magic circle, Pluto"s Palace, that had already destroyed the kingdom. There were hardly any remnants of black magic on the walls, and there were no undead blocking him.
The bas.e.m.e.nt of this building felt like a different place. The mana in the bas.e.m.e.nt was calm, so he couldn"t feel anything with his super sensitivity.
Theodore started moving again and descended two more floors. Finally, he reached the deepest part of the building. In the end, Theodore didn"t encounter any undead, and the door on the bottom floor was unlocked. It was an ordinary sliding door that could be opened with a push.
"There might be a trap... My senses are still quiet. Let"s get some help from this guy."
Theodore summoned a knight from his inventory. It was the sword master automaton, Gladio. It was still damaged from the previous battle, but Gladio was capable of taking the lead.
"Open the door."
Gladio pushed hard at the door.
Rattle. Then the door opened.
Theodore was filled with tension, but there was no danger in the room revealed. He sighed lightly and recalled Gladio back to the inventory. His tension disappeared and curiosity filled the gap.
"There is no black magic, traps, or locks. I don"t know what this place is used for."
This was the main church of the divine king"s palace, so it shouldn"t be a useless place, even if it was 20 floors underground. Theodore took a step forward.
"Hmm?"
There were no lighting devices in the room. This was a room that didn"t have torches or magic b.a.l.l.s... so why was Theodore able to see clearly inside it? The reason for that was at the center of the room. Theodore"s eyes widened as he saw it, and he muttered in a cold voice, "...Coffin?"
The answer was the huge coffin filling the room. It glowed with a golden divine light which served as the lighting.
"The remains of light," a phrase from the prophecy came to Theodore"s mind.