Chapter 278
The black body crashed into the ground with a monster's dying scream.
The fallen body lost its ink-like viscosity and soon crumbled into dust.
“Looks like we're done with this area.”
Romina steadied her breathing as she withdrew the blue aura of cold that flickered around her eyes.
As she did, the chill that had filled the surrounding area was drawn into her and disappeared.
“The numbers keep increasing.”
“Of course.”
Glenn answered as he retrieved his sword.
“That means we're getting closer to where they're being created.
Aren't you sensing it?”
“I am.”
Romina closed her eyes.
“……No.
We're much closer than I thought.”
“How close?”
“Once we pass through this forest, there should be a hill, right?
Then we'll be able to see the source directly.”
“That means Nox is there.”
Or perhaps Uelos.
“Can we win?”
“Yeah.
As long as Nox and Uelos don't appear at the same time.”
“They won't.
If both of them were there, I would've noticed.
Isn't that man over there sensing it too?”
“That is correct.
It should be only one of them.”
Radeo also nodded in agreement.
“Then that's fine.
We can win.”
Glenn's holy demonic power was gradually approaching completion, and his body was wrapped in the skill Unknown, which had once reduced a High God to an ordinary human.
Recently, even his beloved Einheria had entered its final stage.
Even if Nox used his original power like he had during the battle with Runicus, it would be fine.
As long as Glenn could draw out all of his power, he could defeat even that.
“Oh?
You seem pretty confident.”
“And you and Radeo will help me.
So what is there to worry about?”
Even if Radeo's overall strength was somewhat disappointing, Romina was different from before.
In the few days Glenn had not seen her, she had killed her archenemy, the Demon King, absorbed his demonic energy, and formed the Ninth Demon Ring.
On top of that, she had learned to control and use the Extreme Cold Call once wielded by her father and Regnes's cold with astonishing precision.
Honestly, with Romina's current strength, she's already comparable to the power she displayed in Gray Eden…… No.
Her pure ability to control demonic energy is even better now.
And she also possessed the core of Regnes, a Mythic-grade artifact.
Less than half a year had passed.
The five-star witch who had once been dying inside a cold prison had already become a powerful being who surpassed her archenemy, the Demon King.
“……”
A smile naturally appeared on Glenn's lips.
Reaching out to the demon woman who had been his enemy and a villain in Gray Eden that day had definitely been the right choice.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Nothing.
You just look especially pretty and admirable today.”
“……What are you talking about all of a sudden……”
Romina quickly turned away.
Watching her stride ahead, Glenn clicked his tongue.
“What's wrong?
It's not like this is the first time you've received a compliment.”
Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder.
It was Radeo.
“You need to choose your words more carefully.”
Glenn narrowed his eyes.
“Why?
Did I do something wrong by complimenting her?”
“I would not exactly call it wrong…… Hmm.
You should become more aware of the influence you have on those around you.”
“……”
Glenn wondered what the man was talking about.
After spending half a day moving toward Wadsworth while destroying the black monsters along the way, Glenn finally left the southwestern forest region of Wadsworth.
And with his own eyes, he saw the source where the monsters were being created.
“……What the hell is that?”
Looking at the enormous object visible at the edge of his vision from atop the hill, Glenn spoke.
Where Nox or Uelos should have been, there was instead a gigantic floating island.
“……Symposion?”
Could he have been seeing it wrong?
Judging by its shape and size, it definitely looked like Symposion.
“Radeo.
Isn't that Symposion?”
“It is…… But how is it moving?”
Radeo also frowned.
“What is that?
A floating island?”
Only Romina, who did not know much about Symposion, reacted rather indifferently.
“You remember how I told you at the mansion that there was a garden belonging to the gods.
That's it.”
“Ah……
I definitely heard about it.
But could it move?”
“No.
I've never seen anything like this either.”
“That is correct.
It should have been stationary.”
The Heavenly Law, which was the core of Symposion, had stopped, causing the manifestation of the heavens on earth.
Because of that, the Symposion that appeared in the mortal world should have been nothing more than an empty shell of a floating island.
Yet the Symposion before their eyes was slowly moving toward the Holy Empire, as if it were a gigantic aerial fortress.
Kiaaaaaaaa!
And hundreds of flying monsters were swarming around it like bees protecting their hive.
“……Hey, Romina.”
“What?”
“I'm asking just to make sure.
Are Nox or Uelos inside?”
“Yeah.
I think so.
And I think it's Nox.
Now that we're closer, I can tell.”
“I think so as well.
Unknown being, I can definitely sense Uelos's power too, but I can sense Nox's presence at the center of Symposion.”
Then there was no denying it.
“So Nox is creating those black monsters there and spreading them in every direction.”
“That's probably it.”
“That would seem to be the case.”
“Then what choice do we have?
We'll have to break in and meet Nox ourselves.”
A strange light flashed in Glenn's eyes.
Their goal was to meet Nox anyway, so how Nox was moving the empty shell of the floating island or creating monsters was no longer important.
“It'll be faster to ask Nox himself about what happened.
Don't you think?”
If they gave the monsters more time, the creatures spreading in every direction would turn the continent into a wasteland.
At this point, they could not simply ignore it as a trap.
“Obviously.
I'm ready.”
“I am as well.
But it is floating so high.
How do you intend to get inside?”
From the hill, the distance made it difficult to judge the actual scale.
Once they approached Symposion, however, they would find that the floating island was so high in the sky that an ordinary jump would never be enough to reach it.
But—
“Honestly, at this point, something being in the air isn't even a problem anymore.
Isn't that right, Romina?”
Glenn looked at Romina.
“Of course.”
Romina raised the corners of her lips.
She already seemed to know exactly why Glenn had called her.
Looking at the two people smiling slyly—
No.
Looking at one demon and one human smiling slyly, Radeo slowly swallowed.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
Kyaaak!
Kieek!
The floating island advanced eastward with a tremendous roar that shook the surroundings like an earthquake.
Countless black monsters screamed and flew around it.
And then.
A dark-blue mist containing a bitter chill slowly approached from one side.
“Krrk?
Shaaaaa!”
Several monsters sensed the change in the air and began looking around.
Then—
Shajajak!
Ice spikes suddenly formed out of thin air and pierced through the monsters.
“Kirik?
Kiaaaaaaa!”
Ice spikes rushed in from every direction.
The monsters could not even react before being impaled like skewered meat and crumbling apart.
At the same time, three figures appeared from the direction the dark-blue mist had come from.
Tap!
“Nice!
Romina, now you can really do anything I ask!”
Glenn shouted joyfully as he stepped onto the footholds created by the ice spikes.
“It's not difficult for me anymore.”
Romina snorted as she created footholds out of the cold she had spread throughout the surroundings.
“Still, don't move too recklessly.
I can't create footholds quickly enough to react to your current speed yet.”
“That's a little disappointing.”
“You're just too fast.”
“Really?
Then I'll slow down a little.”
Glenn released his holy demonic power and grinned, baring his teeth.
“Keep up with me!”
Glenn kicked off the foothold with all his strength.
“Hey!
I told you not to break the footholds as you go…… Haa.
Mister, don't fall behind either!”
“Hmm.
No problem.”
Romina bit her lip as she glared at Glenn, who shot forward like a flash of light, destroying every ice foothold beneath his feet.
“Shaaaaa!”
“Ssss, Kyaaaaaa!”
“Don't block my way……
Get lost!”
A burst of light exploded from Glenn's eyes.
At the same time, dozens of monsters coming to eliminate the intruders were swept away.
Boom!
“Kiaaaaaaaaa!”
A path opened amid the monsters' screams.
Because Glenn was precisely dealing with every monster that approached, Romina quickly focused her mind and continued connecting the footholds.
Honestly, it was an absurd task.
She had to create footholds not only for herself but also for Glenn, who was moving ahead of her.
Crack!
Crack!
But Romina's precise control over demonic energy made everything possible.
She created footholds for herself and Radeo to step on.
She also created footholds that would be sacrificed to allow Glenn to move freely ahead of them.
Step—
Boom!
Everything was perfectly constructed.
Shraaaaaa!
“Krrk…?
Kiaaaaaaa!”
Even though the ground was impossibly far below them, Glenn moved as freely as if he were walking on solid ground.
He slaughtered every monster blocking his path.
“Wow……”
A sound of admiration escaped Glenn's mouth.
“It actually works.”
The coordination between him and Romina was nearly perfect.
It was even better than he had planned.
And just as he was becoming intoxicated by the incredible aerial battle he was creating with Romina—
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
A sharp cry unlike the previous ones rang out.
A huge dot came flying from far away.
Unlike the monsters whose forms twisted like ink, this creature's body was shaped like a perfectly formed shadow.
Just by looking at it, Glenn could feel that its strength was on an entirely different level from the monsters he had fought so far.
At a glance, it seemed to be around nine stars.
“Yeah……
There should be a gatekeeper.”
Glenn smiled coldly.
And then—
Woooooong—
The ten Holy and Demon Rings intertwined around his heart resonated together and began changing into a single color.
A gray ring.
It was one of Glenn's core powers.
A skill he had been saving because of its restriction.
After using one of its two available charges, the holy demonic power surrounding Glenn exploded, taking on an even deeper ash-gray color.
The current mastery of the Gray Ring was 10.
Its duration, which had originally been only about five minutes, had increased to 14 minutes.
And by using his unique potential ability, Favor of the Wild, that duration was doubled again.
With a single use of the Gray Ring, Glenn could fight on equal terms with most High Gods for 28 minutes.
However, 28 minutes was an extremely short duration in an actual battle.
“Honestly, I didn't want to use this until I met Nox.”
Glenn's ash-gray eyes stared at the monster charging toward him at incredible speed while screaming.
A cold killing intent appeared in the depths of his gaze.
“But since things turned out like this……
I might as well use it to reach Nox.”
There were no variables.
The gigantic monster that seemed to be Symposion's gatekeeper could not withstand Glenn for even a moment before being reduced to nothing within his holy demonic power.
It was only natural.
Even if one gave the monster the highest possible estimate and called its strength equal to a Demon King, there was no way it could defeat Glenn, who had surpassed nine stars by a huge margin after using the Gray Ring.
Thanks to that, Glenn still had plenty of time left, so he cleared out all the monsters around the floating island.
Considering their numbers were enough to blacken the entire sky, it was an absurd feat.
“Of course, it's largely thanks to you.”
On top of the floating island.
Standing on the ruined floor of Symposion, Glenn looked at Romina.
“I didn't do anything.
You did it all yourself.”
“I couldn't have done it without the footholds.”
Romina frowned at those words.
Perhaps because she had never seen Glenn fight while using the Gray Ring before, she seemed surprised by the sudden increase in his power.
“Still……
What on earth have you been doing while I didn't see you?”
“Preparing to fight Nox.
At the very least, shouldn't I prepare this much if I'm going to fight a god?”
“That is true, but……
You're human.
How can a human…… Well, never mind.”
Perhaps she had given up trying to understand.
Romina let out a hollow laugh.
“After everything I've seen from you, I guess there's no reason to be surprised anymore.
If anything, it would be strange if you couldn't fly at that level.”
“Exactly.”
The only disappointing thing was that he could not obtain flight abilities without a related unique potential ability or some other special method.
“Well, we won't have to fight in the air anymore, so let's forget about it.”
Whatever the case, they had reached Symposion according to plan after breaking through the army of monsters stationed in the sky.
“But he's not here.
Nox.”
“I can feel power coming from below.”
“He's probably in the deepest part.”
“Where the Heavenly Law is?”
Of course.
If Nox wanted to move this enormous floating island, he must have done something to the Heavenly Law.
They would have to descend to the deepest part, where the Heavenly Law was located, to see Nox.
“Then shall we move right away?”
“Glenn, are you sure you don't need to rest?”
“Yeah.
I don't think it would be good to waste time.
And Romina, stay here.
You know why without me having to explain, right?”
No matter how much she had grown stronger by absorbing the Demon King's demonic energy, Romina was still only at nine stars.
If she were caught up in a battle between a High God and Glenn, she might not even be able to recover her bones.
Of course, it would be best if everything went smoothly and the situation ended without Glenn having to fight Nox.
But they still had to consider the possibility of a battle.
“I know.
I'd only get in the way if I went.”
“If possible, support us with magic from as far away as you can.”
If it were anyone else, Glenn would not expect much.
But with Romina's magic, perhaps she could even fire supporting attacks through space.
“Okay.
I won't overdo it, so trust me and go.
You're the one in greater danger, you know?”
“That's true.
All right.
I'll be back.”
“Hmm.
Be careful.”
And so Glenn left Romina in the ruins and headed toward the deepest part of Symposion together with Radeo.
The eyes that had been closed opened.
The golden rings engraved within the dark-brown pupils glowed ominously.
Uelos, the God of Fate, realized that his target had entered the trap.
“He has come.”
The corners of his mouth slowly rose.
“Then……
I'll leave it to you, Nox.”
His low voice quietly settled through the air.
There was no one around him, yet Uelos continued speaking as if giving an order to someone.
“Cut off that crude Unknown that defies fate with your life.”
