“All my questions began there.”
The soul of a dragon that had become one with the abyss.
The fact that it was merely asleep in such a state was already a miracle.
Had it been any other living creature instead of a dragon, its very soul would have been devoured by the Abyss and transformed into a soul utterly unlike its original form.
The dragon was only barely asleep thanks to the sealing magic placed in advance, the tiny remnant of its original soul,
and its lofty rank. In truth, it was in a state no different from the monsters that emerged from the Abyss.
……Yes. Those Abyss monsters.
The monsters steeped in evil that one could see upon entering to conquer the Abyss.
To think that a dragon, the guardian of this world and a being called a demigod, could feel similar to a lowly Abyss monster.
It seemed impossible, and yet it was not an entirely impossible supposition.
And so his thoughts continued.
Where did Abyss monsters come from?
Did they possess souls?
Could the true identity of Abyss monsters be……
humans, monsters, or living beings from other worlds that had once been devoured by it?
It was a subject he had never once considered.
“Of course, knowing that won’t change anything.”
Still, he needed to know, so he only had to find out step by step.
“First, shall I take a look at just how impressive they are?”
An island surrounded by dense darkness.
A massive island floating in the air, covered in all manner of ill omens at a glance.
An island sunk into an abyss whose interior could not be seen by the eyes of an Awakened or by modern technology.
So Hio intended to see it through the eyes of a wizard.
He lightly raised his staff.
At the same time, a skill based on the 4th Circle manifested.
「Skill—‘Wizard Eye’ has activated.」
An island floating in the air, and an enormous figure positioned even higher above it.
The figure, as large as the island itself, was an old man wearing the same pointed hat as Hio and holding an even more splendid staff.
When that figure tapped a single point in the air with its enormous staff, eyes burst into existence and covered the entire sky above the island.
“Ha, ha……”
Though he was the one who had cast it, Hio let out a hollow laugh at the absurd sight every time he saw it.
“What kind of simpleminded, brute-force effect is this?”
Wizard Eye.
In other words, the eyes of a wizard.
Which meant an effect that created one wizard and thousands of eyeballs.
It was merely stupidly huge and stupidly multiplied in number, but for that very reason, it was dazzling.
It seemed that the trait ‘Can’t Live Without Style!’ included illusion magic and mental defense magic.
Thinking of it from a wizard’s perspective, wasn’t it quite a good trait?
“At any rate…… I still can’t see it.”
Thousands of eyes dominated the sky.
Only a few of them were real, and he tried to peer inside the island with those, but he could not see.
Well, that much was one thing, but what truly disappointed him was this.
「Trait—‘Ghost’s Eye’ has been deactivated.」
He had tried to confirm whether ‘Wizard Eye’ and ‘Ghost’s Eye’ could be linked, but it seemed that was impossible.
He had wanted to see what their souls looked like,
and whether they truly gave off the same feeling as the dragon’s soul devoured by the Abyss, but he had failed.
“A shame, but I can look into it next time.”
It was not urgent.
In other words, there was no need to enter the island just to confirm that.
「Skill—‘Wizard Eye’ has been deactivated.」
What was truly urgent was eliminating this cursed island floating in the air before it reached the mainland where people had gathered.
Eradicating it so that the power of the Abyss would not spread across Earth.
That was truly the matter that had to be resolved first and foremost.
“Accursed beings of the Abyss. What might your weakness be?”
A power to face things tainted by the Abyss.
Would it truly be a fatal power?
“The answer is.”
Depending on the result, many things would change.
Hio raised his staff high into the sky.
In response, the benevolent light of the goddess revealed itself.
A warm, golden touch.
This was, indeed—
“Heaven.”
Power from above the sky.
Divinity that annihilated evil.
「Skill—‘Heaven (天上)’ has activated.」
The radiance of Heaven split the darkness.
Holy power drove back the night in a wide sweep and filled that space to the brim.
It began to envelop the island sunk in the abyss.
That place was no longer their domain.
It was now the domain of god, touched by the hand of the goddess.
An absolute domain that nothing Hio Pavlenko perceived as evil could invade.
A domain where insignificant wicked souls would vanish without even mounting a proper resistance.
As the one who had cast such a skill, he could feel it.
The darkness of the island was disappearing.
The countless beings within it were writhing in agony and being cleanly erased.
How much time passed like that?
No one would have counted the seconds, but for roughly a little over one minute, less than two, the domain of Heaven persisted.
The light of divinity, which sent all who beheld it into rapture, gradually faded.
“The consumption of divine power and mana is beyond imagination.”
After confirming that his divine power was empty and his mana had rapidly decreased, Hio shook his head faintly.
Even taking into account that his divine power stat was low, the duration was short.
It consumed mana at a rate comparable to ‘Thunder Emperor,’ and on top of that, divine power plummeted at tremendous speed.
Even among top-tier skills, it could be called the skill with the greatest cost.
Of course, it was a power more than worth that price.
A short time of less than two minutes.
That meager span was enough for all the Abyss energy present on the island to be cleanly erased by Heaven.
Which meant—
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
the island floating in the sky lost its strength and began to crumble.
Where Heaven’s golden radiance had disappeared,
the island broke apart with a heavy roar and was falling toward the sea.
The darkness that had enveloped the island vanished as if washed away, and the Abyss monsters falling along with the island came into view.
They dropped limply like puppets whose strings had been cut.
The highest-grade divine magic had annihilated all the Abyss energy that formed their very foundation.
Against things tainted by the Abyss, it was truly a disaster-like power.
“The point is divine power, after all.”
From now on, he would have to work diligently to raise his divine power stat.
* * *
Modern science and technology were truly wondrous.
After all, what happened in the middle of the Pacific could be vividly seen anywhere in the world.
Daphne had hurriedly controlled the personnel, but there were limits.
Which meant there had been drones or helicopters hiding somewhere, secretly filming from the opposite side of the island or in some shaded place.
It meant the situation at the scene had been captured vividly.
Well, hundreds and thousands of cameras on land were already filming this place anyway, but being close to the scene had its own merits, did it not?
For instance, interviewing the person who had caused this miraculous event.
The unprecedentedly enormous black Gate.
The island floating in midair that appeared the moment it shattered.
It was only natural that the eyes of the entire world were focused on it.
No one could even guess what kind of calamity it would bring.
Only a few of the first Awakened had said not to approach it under any circumstances, that humanity would face an unprecedented crisis.
Even so, there were always people everywhere who could not truly grasp that.
Like that helicopter flying madly toward Hio right now.
It was such an absurd sight that Hio, who had been standing atop Phantom Steed while watching the island sink, let out a hollow laugh.
Did they have no sense of danger?
A massive island was falling right before them, that landmass was making the sea heave, the wind was blowing fiercely because of it, and no one knew how fragments might fly—yet they were flying straight toward this place.
The helicopter, shaking precariously yet stubbornly approaching, even seemed to radiate madness.
From their perspective, they were risking their lives to come here.
Fragments of the island were raining down right over them at that very moment.
“Good grief.”
If Hio had not extended his staff and spread a shield to block them, they would surely have crashed.
Inside the helicopter that had somehow struggled through adversity and finally reached Hio, he could see a cameraman with the expression of someone determined to capture this scene even at the cost of his life.
He could see a reporter clutching the wall tightly with one hand and holding a microphone in the other.
Their professionalism could only be applauded.
“……lsakjlakjr!”
They thrust out the microphone and said something or other to him, but naturally, he could not understand them.
It was a different language, and it was noisy with the sound of the wind, the helicopter, and the crashing waves.
But he could roughly guess what they wanted.
Things like, who are you?
What is that?
How did you do it?
The questions were obvious, were they not?
So Hio opened his mouth.
He spoke with mana in his voice so it could push aside all the surrounding noise.
Of course, he was not speaking because he had been moved by their professionalism.
This was a warning.
Yes.
To borrow Daphne’s words—
“Fools who gained fame far beyond their ability.”
This was a warning for those pathetic people.
“Know shame.”
Around then, the island sank completely.
The island that must once have been mystical had been devoured by the Abyss and collapsed entirely like that…… and as if waiting, a message appeared.
「All Abyss Gates have been extinguished.」
“I will be watching.”
「Returning.」
* * *
Arileia, whose population was mostly made up of elves.
Elves were originally a race that took nature as their companion, sang with spirits, and wielded magic at an excellent level, but……
the elves of an era that had lost spirits and magic had become incomparably weaker than those of the past.
Elves had weakened.
Then was Arileia weak?
No. Arileia was strong.
Though most of Arileia was made up of elves, they were strong.
Because protecting was their mission.
It was because they had worked tirelessly for that purpose, to protect their island.
This shone in a crisis.
Regarda, who sensed the energy of the abyss from the Gate, rushed out first.
And the Noblest Elf, Isidore, gathered all the elves.
In the end, there was only one entrance.
There was a limit to the number of monsters that could surge out at once, and without the need for the other elves to step in, they were dealt with at Regarda’s line.
But there were too many.
Eventually, monsters began slipping past Regarda, and only then did the other elves step forward.
Once a hole appeared, it gradually widened, and Regarda made a decision.
—Isidore.
They would use the power of the Noblest Elf.
Was Regarda not the one who knew the cursed power of Abyss energy better than anyone?
He intended to make certain before any elves were contaminated by it.
He pulled the troops back and had them surround the Gate widely.
He had created space for Isidore to exert her power.
Why was the Noblest Elf the Noblest Elf?
Who had decided that?
If asked, the elves of Arileia would answer in unison like this.
‘The Noblest Elf is the Noblest Elf because she is the noblest.’
It sounded like wordplay, but it was the truth.
A giant tree rooted deeply in the very center of Arileia.
Inside that tree, which rose so high it seemed to touch the sky, Isidore closed her eyes. She stretched her hand forward.
At that, the giant tree, also called the Divine Tree, began to sway little by little.
The Noblest Elf, Isidore.
Her will was the will of the tree.
The power to become one with the Divine Tree, to wield and control it.
It was a noble bloodline of ability passed down from a distant, ancient past.
That was why everyone did not hesitate to call her the Noblest Elf.
A massive branch covered the horde of monsters that had just burst out of the Gate.
Before that overwhelming size and power, even mid-depth Abyss monsters had no way to resist.
And there was not just one such branch; they continued to sweep across the area around the Gate like a raging storm.
“……Haaah!”
Of course, she could not use that much power indefinitely, so whenever Isidore and the Divine Tree paused their movements for a moment, Regarda and the elves stepped forward.
Thus, one had no choice but to accept it.
Arileia was strong.
Mid-depth Abyss monsters were powerful, but what was the flood pouring out of a single Gate?
They could block it without major damage.
Because everyone had joined forces with one heart.
It was possible because there were two immense powers, Isidore and Regarda, and countless elves who respected and followed those two beings.
Quite a long time passed like that.
The battle continued until the high midday sun tilted downward.
It was fair to call it a one-sided slaughter.
However, if one thought about it slightly differently, it was enough to send chills down the spine.
So many monsters endlessly pouring out from a single Gate.
They were blocking them easily because Regarda and Isidore were there, but what state were other parts of the continent in, and how惨惨惨惨 would they be?
The situation was relaxed enough for such thoughts to arise.
Regarda was fine, as stamina was originally meaningless to a being like him, and thanks to the efforts of the other elves, Isidore was also able to take occasional rests.
The number of monsters pouring out so relentlessly also seemed to be decreasing little by little…… so the battle would end before the sun rose again.
The variable Regarda overlooked here was that, even so, the battle had already continued far too long.
In other words, the energy of the Abyss was spreading.
The amount was faint, so he had not paid it much mind.
And—
“……”
the dragon had opened its eyes in response to that small trace of energy.
Green eyes bearing the wind, finally opened again after a full thousand years.
At the same time, an enormous body rose.
The body of a dragon, so vast it could be seen from anywhere in Arileia, began to fly up, and fierce winds surged from the beating of its wings.
Regarda raised his head and looked up at the sky.
The dragon soaring into the sky also looked down precisely at Regarda.
Eyes finally meeting again after a thousand years.
The dragon’s eyes, which he had not forgotten for even an instant in his memories. The eyes of his friend.
—……Ariel.
There was no longer any profound mystery in those green eyes.
Nor the sharpness that had, at times, seemed to see through one’s innermost thoughts.
Nor the warmth that had gently enveloped him.
What filled them instead was only destruction. Killing intent.
The eyes of a predator gleaming savagely.
‘The dragon must absolutely not awaken until I return.’
Even without the words Hio Pavlenko had deliberately left behind at the end, Regarda could immediately tell that the state was terribly dangerous.
Of course.
—Grrrrrr……
The dragon did not recognize him.