#262
The King of Madness (1)
A black silhouette of ordinary build, and a white giant the size of a fifteen-story building.
Even the expression David and Goliath fell far short.
The difference in scale was so vast that a fight should never have been possible in the first place, and anyone would have had no choice but to predict the giant’s advantage…
But if they were to see the two of them here in person, that thought would naturally change.
Gooooo—
And for good reason.
The sight of the black energy pouring from that small figure, pushing back the giant’s momentum and covering the world.
It naturally made one think—
That was overwhelming violence that no living being could resist.
Death of the world itself.
‘Ahh, this feels incredible.’
At the center of the black energy spreading out in every direction.
Hans, standing loftily at its very heart, lifted his head, feeling more satisfied than ever by the power filling him.
In truth, after becoming the complete Immortal King, he had almost never fought to his satisfaction.
The clash with the Beoncheon Society Leader in Japan could perhaps be considered a battle in which he had done his best, but at the time, various restrictions meant the conditions had not allowed him to pour out his full power.
Moreover, most of his battles in Auterica had been part of a scenario, and even when he had completely lost his mind, hadn’t he still retained the bare minimum of reason that prevented him from killing Heinrich?
In reality, it would be fair to say that he had never once gone all out in Auterica.
‘But now is different.’
The boundary between the surface and the Abyss.
A realm of chaos where everything was twisted and mingled together.
That revolutionary bastard had said that the power of his authority was maximized in this space.
But the same was true for Hans.
Kudududuk—
A violent force surged forward without restraint.
In its wake, the surrounding space distorted, and death mingled with the Abyss bared its teeth in every direction.
It then mercilessly tore into the place where the giant stood.
“Puhkekek! Ahh— yes, this is what an Immortal King should be! If you are an existence arranged as the end of the world, then you ought to possess arrogance befitting that power!”
But even in the face of that overwhelming display of might, the giant was not intimidated in the slightest.
Scattering death with the dark-red energy he emitted, he formed a twisted smile.
Then, taking a step back, he crouched as low as he could.
And immediately vanished from the spot.
Kwaaaaaang!
The very next instant, space warped from the impact that erupted right in front of Hans’s nose.
Two different energies thrust sharp claws toward one another.
[Oh? Not bad.]
“Kkeuheut, this is only the beginning!”
Kwaduduk—!
The giant’s nails instantly dug into the barrier surrounding Hans.
The dark-red madness gathered at the five tips tore through the black death, and at the same time, his other hand swung once more.
Kuuuuung!
A deafening boom spread with a fierce shockwave.
With that single attack, the surrounding flow became tangled, and a radius of several hundred meters was overturned all at once.
And then.
Hans, who was somehow watching the scene from far away, nodded.
Thinking that the giant did indeed live up to his size.
[Puh— yes, this should be amusing.]
But there was no real sense of danger.
Only the thought that this much was natural if the other party also hailed from the Abyss in name.
If anything, he would have been more disappointed if the bastard had shown a poor performance.
‘Of course…’
As he had said himself, he still had to keep his word and show the difference in their level.
Feeling his energy encroaching in all directions, Hans slowly spread both arms to either side.
His heart, his very origin, resonated with the Abyss at the bottom of this world, drawing out a response beyond the usual.
As a result.
“Kiyaaaaaak—!”
“Kkeuaaaah!”
“Krrrk— kkeureuk—”
With bizarre wails like ghosts howling.
All the “death” within the area where his energy had spread began to react and rise at once.
Death by freezing, death by burning, death by drowning, death by explosion, death by being run over, death by crushing, death by illness, death by starvation, and more.
Every form of death that existed in the world forced its way through space, took shape, and manifested in the world.
Neither undead, nor ghost, nor demon, but something abstract.
Amid the flood of the very concept of death given form.
[Then now— let us decide together.]
The king who ruled them, the Immortal King, declared.
[How you shall die.]
The execution of a fool.
***
When the second door to the Abyss opened and madness was drawn up.
Most of it, due to the effects of the incomplete summoning, failed to emerge fully and spread throughout the entire world.
And among it, only one portion, a fragment that served as the core, burrowed into the body of the one who had carried out the ritual.
That was the seed of madness that became the foundation of the body the revolutionary wore.
“Pukikakak! I expected as much to some extent, but you truly live up to your reputation. This simply won’t do, will it? Pukekek!”
Because of that, madness was more than suited to the purpose of plunging the world into chaos, but its destructive power as a single entity was bound to be somewhat lacking.
He had even made use of the giants of the Abyss to compensate for that point, but as expected, that alone seemed far from enough against the Immortal King.
‘Madness is also somewhat lower in rank compared to death.’
Kwaaaang—
Once again, black energy and dark-red energy clashed, shattering the space in the area.
But the gain was nil.
With a hollow laugh, the revolutionary looked at the Immortal King, who was leisurely retreating while shedding pitch-black energy.
His eyes could grasp the flow of energy extending from his opponent at a glance, his ears could eavesdrop on the intentions contained within hostility, and the words from his mouth could manipulate part of the flow of space and turn the board in his favor, but…
Kwaduduk— Hwareureuk!
At that moment, something with a distorted form that had bitten into his left shoulder burst into flames and turned to ash in an instant.
Along with the part of his body caught in its jaws.
At the same time, his right side was shredded and torn away, and the toes on his left foot were crushed flat as if compressed by something.
Such processes had been continuing from a while ago… repeating without pause.
Even if he read the flow of an attack and evaded, even if he eavesdropped on its intent and responded.
The death that covered every direction, and the phenomena derived from it, approached without his knowledge, tore into his body, and vanished.
Like a destiny that could not be avoided no matter how one tried.
Of course, he had not simply stood still.
He raised his body’s abilities through madness, boosted his regenerative power to the utmost, and twisted the flow of the world to rip space to shreds.
‘The problem is that none of it was of much use. Ahh— O God! Forgive the incompetence of this body!’
Besides, restoring his body was one thing once or twice, but under attacks pouring down like a storm, even that had its limits.
Even now, it was only thanks to His authority that he was still maintaining his reason.
If not for that, the madness he had drawn out to an excessive degree would already have turned him into a monster with only instinct remaining.
To put it simply.
There was no longer any possibility left for him.
Wooooong—
To make matters worse, the Immortal King’s attacks did not simply end there.
Grand magic circles had, before he knew it, surrounded him.
Kurururung—!
Those things, whose every stroke and diagram was formed from dense Abyss, activated, twisting the vast space around him all at once so that he could not escape.
Just as they had done many times already.
If this place had not been the world of the boundary, it would have been an earth-shaking battle that could already have ruined an entire kingdom.
[Indeed, you are sturdy to an excessive degree.]
But even amid all that, the giant did not fall.
Though he had suffered rather severe damage and was left in tatters, if given some time, he would probably be able to recover.
And when the situation had reached that point, the revolutionary was able to discover a piece of information he had not anticipated.
“Puhuhu, so that was how it was? No wonder my sense of smell wouldn’t return no matter what…”
The white giant muttered while flicking his tongue through the air and smacking his lips.
A strange smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
“You were keeping that one with you.”
After focusing his senses and exchanging blows several times, he had realized it.
That a bond existed between the Immortal King and that person.
And it was quite a deep connection too, not an ordinary one.
‘It would have been difficult if this weren’t a space where authority is strengthened. If only the one I possessed had been smell, I would have found out sooner. Ah! O God!’
In any case, it was fortunate that he had obtained the information.
Now all that remained was to somehow cross over to the surface, retrieve his sense of smell, and completely open every seal.
If he could do that, then even if it was the Immortal King, he would have the power to face—
Kwaaaang—!
But his thoughts were soon cut off by the torrent of energy that followed.
[I can hear the gears turning in your head from here.]
Whatever he had discovered, nothing about the situation had changed.
Unlike the giant’s body, which had been reduced to a bloody ruin as his regenerative power gradually declined, the Immortal King still dominated space while emitting a tyrannical force.
[It does not matter what tricks you play.]
A massive amount of energy moved, weaving the mystery of destruction once more.
Even amid that, the death scattered in every direction was still gnawing away at the giant’s body.
[After all, you will not escape me, and you will die here.]
At that declaration, the corners of the giant’s mouth twisted.
Escaping this space and crossing over to the place he wanted was not something that could be done in a short time.
There was no way the Immortal King would wait for that time.
In the end, as long as that bastard was before him, it meant he could not go to release the seals.
And so, the battle resumed once more, but…
Contrary to his outward appearance of composure, Hans’s thoughts had also become complicated.
Because the word “smell” that the revolutionary had mentioned had made someone flash through his mind.
‘Diana.’
A girl who possessed a mysterious sense of smell to the point that she could smell souls.
Her ability was useful, and he had been keeping her by his side and watching her because he was curious about the origin of that ability, but…
‘Was it an ability related to the revolutionary? No, to be precise, it must be related to the imprisoned god.’
Though currently buried in the Abyss, a god was still a god.
There was no need to even say how tremendous that ability would be.
‘Then the authority he mentioned earlier must be that as well. What that bastard has are the other senses excluding smell? If so…’
The battle was gradually entering its final stage.
As Hans pushed the giant into a corner to finish things, he calmly organized the newly obtained information in his head.
And just as he was optimistically thinking that the situation would soon end.
《The XXed XXX gazes at you.》
An unforeseen abnormality occurred.
Thump—
At the same time the notification window appeared, a fierce pulse echoed through space.
It happened only once, but that alone was destructive enough to twist the entire flow of the world.
Naturally, the death that had occupied every direction scattered, and the magic circles he had been preparing were also shattered to pieces.
[Kuh? What is this…!]
It was an abnormal phenomenon like a natural disaster.
Hans struggled to gather his energy and hurriedly checked the giant so that he could not try anything foolish, but…
Thump—
As if mocking that effort, the successive pulse threw all the surrounding coordinates and phases into disarray.
A powerful wave that seemed as though it would sweep him away despite wrapping his body in the Abyss to fix it in place.
Hans naturally realized where it came from.
A place far, far beneath this world.
Among them, it was the heartbeat of someone sleeping deep underground within the Abyss.
‘Insane…! To think he can interfere to this degree?’
No matter how close this place was to the Abyss compared to the surface, who would have thought that an existence imprisoned for long ages could exert this much influence!
And it did not even end there.
Feeling his body slowly being dragged toward the floor, Hans gritted his teeth.
As he barely held on and pondered how to break through the situation.
“Ahh— my Lord! I shall do as You will!”
The revolutionary, who had clasped both hands together and offered a prayer as if overcome with emotion, turned and headed somewhere.
[Where do you think you’re going!]
At that, Hans, forcibly ignoring the pull from below, fired sharply honed death at him once more.
‘Damn it! What kind of absurd nonsense is this!’
But with space twisting without pause, his attack merely brushed past like an illusion.
As an added consequence of overexerting himself, his body lurched down another level.
“Puhuhu— Immortal King. Dimensional wanderer who drifted in with nowhere to go. Heretic who received His grace yet defied His will.”
Just as Hans hurriedly fixed his body in place and focused on escaping that pull.
The giant, who had already finished all preparations, turned his ruined body toward him and looked at him.
“His will is with me. It seems you were not my death after all. Kkeukkeuk!”
With those words, the bastard’s face contorted, and as he let out a phlegmy laugh, he soon disappeared into a rift that had forced its way out of the world’s flow.
It was obvious where he had headed.
[Krh, that arrogant bastard dares…!]
Hans hurriedly focused his mind to take follow-up measures, but even then, feeling his body continuing to be dragged in, he irritably looked down.
‘Damn it, I already have so much to do, and now this annoyance!’
As long as he remained here, he would only be wasting mental strength for no reason.
Now that he needed to move busily, he had no time to get dragged into a pointless struggle.
‘I’ll deal with you next time too.’
Hans’s body, which had been slowly sinking downward as if being sucked into a swamp.
At some point, vanished from the spot as if washed away.
***
Near the Steel Fortress adjacent to the northern mountain range, on the northern border of the Tulk Kingdom.
Bzzzzzt—
Something ominous was happening there.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“Wait… don’t tell me that’s?”
“Emergency! Emergency! Report to the higher-ups, now!”
Although it was quite some distance from the fortress, a massive rift had formed, large enough for the soldiers atop the walls to recognize at a glance.
No, the abnormality did not end with the simple formation of a rift.
Tchwa-jajajajak—!
With a violent noise like cloth being grabbed on both sides and torn apart, the rift was ripped open.
Kuuung!
And from within emerged a colossal giant with a pure-white body.
“Kkeuheuheu— ahh, I found it!”
The King of Madness took his first step onto the surface.