Saturn Raid (2)

“How dare you insignificant things!!”

It seemed the shock of the surprise attack he had suffered from Go Yu-jin had been great.

The power he had been maintaining around his body had diminished considerably, and as he floated into the air and looked at the masters rushing toward him, he was dodging rather than knocking their attacks away.

“Spider Web!”

The mages who had come from the Magic Tower as support used magic while targeting the one floating in the air, but Saturn broke the magic by waving his hand as if sweeping it away with ease. Then he clenched his fist and forcefully released his power toward the ground.

It felt as if he was first targeting the mages who could annoy him.

However, An Sang-ik, who had not stepped forward to attack in order to focus on defense, swung his fist toward Saturn’s psychic power while under Chantra’s buff.

A powerful aura spewed out a shockwave, and the two forces collided before canceling each other out.

Saturn’s expression stiffened as if he found that situation displeasing, but the attacks were only beginning now.

With a bang!! Go Yu-jin once again shot up into the air. After Saturn lightly dodged her, he launched an attack at Go Yu-jin’s body as she floated in midair, but Go Yu-jin used magic as if she had expected this.

“Boom!”

With a boom! it seemed a powerful impact was transmitted to the golem’s body, causing its direction to change as it dodged the psychic power.

And as she fell, Go Yu-jin stretched out the golem’s arm.

I wondered what she intended to do, since I could not tell. But in the next instant, the golem’s body transformed and shot out long wire-like strands straight toward Saturn. The shape wrapped around Saturn as if it had recreated Spider Web itself, and Saturn, flustered by it, tried to tear it apart. But at that moment, curses that pressured Saturn’s body flew in.

“Paralyze!”

“Deadly Curse.”

Han Sang-gil and Baek Da-gyeong had cast curses.

The curses dug into Saturn’s body as if a prearranged combo had been activated.

‘It’s to the point where I don’t even need to step in, is it?’

It was an astonishing situation. On top of that, the masters who had come with us also began faithfully fulfilling their respective roles.

The psychic Awakeners confirmed that Saturn’s power was close to a psychic ability, then continued disrupting the direction of his power to interfere with their influence over it so that his power could not properly burst out. Meanwhile, the mages fired off all kinds of magic to hinder Saturn’s movement however they could.

They were pouring out mana without sparing any of it.

Alongside them, the physical Awakeners had taken a defensive posture in a way that protected the mages and psychic Awakeners. Since psychic Awakeners and mages naturally created many openings while attacking, that flow had formed on its own.

‘I can’t just sit here and do nothing either.’

Saturn was being dragged down to the ground by the wire-like strands Go Yu-jin had created. So I naturally used resonance to stir up mana around Saturn, expanding my influence as much as possible and making it so that Saturn could not resist.

When similar powers clashed, it ultimately became a battle of influence.

That was exactly the case with Saturn and me right now.

“So you are the problem….”

Saturn looked up at me and glared as if he wanted to kill me. It seemed he likely did not care much about the others.

In fact, attacks continued to batter Saturn’s body, but seeing that none of them could create even a single wound showed just how high Saturn’s rank was.

But it was then.

“Ah, in the name of god, I sing this hymn….”

It was a hymn of the Gaia Church that had begun lightly. At the divinity spreading around him, Saturn scowled fiercely.

“What a cursed song, servant of Gaia. I shall tear you to shreds and make you goblin feed…!”

I saw Saturn’s fury-filled appearance, and in that brief instant, there was a figure that revealed itself behind Saturn’s back.

Stab. A sharp dagger dug into Saturn’s back. Startled by it, Saturn hurriedly turned around and waved his arm.

“Eek, is age finally catching up to me?”

Chu Myeong-hun’s strike had dug in while targeting Saturn’s back.

I saw the dagger embedded deeply as if it had aimed for the heart, but unfortunately, it seemed it could not dig in any farther beyond a certain depth.

‘He seems to be facing him seriously right now.’

In Chu Myeong-hun’s case, there had been a possibility that he would betray us. So if he tried some trick, I had intended to eliminate him.

But for now, it felt as if he was leaning toward eliminating Saturn.

Perhaps he had simply looked only at “money” when he had cooperated with the Cultists of Ruin.

He was someone who had far too much to lose.

At that moment, the dagger embedded in Saturn’s back emitted light and exploded.

Boooom!! With a tremendous roar, I saw a chunk of flesh get torn away, and Go Yu-jin bound Saturn in place in the air as he tried to crash down.

During that time, curses repeatedly flew in and made Saturn unable to move an inch.

So I also granted additional power through resonance and began spewing mana from my entire body.

‘It would be right to prepare an attack that can manifest powerful force against a single target.’

An attack that dealt damage over a fixed area was also a good choice.

That was because he would manifest influence to defend himself. However, in a situation like now, where there were many people who could help nearby, anti-personnel magic was more appropriate.

‘Even if he looks like that, he is a being with divinity. It seems right to prepare attack magic like when I faced Chantra.’

I took out the Necronomicon and immediately began pushing mana into it.

Before, since we had not been contracted, it had felt pain every time it accepted my mana. But not anymore.

The mana transmitted from me was like powerful nourishment to it.

What an ecstatic power. Now I have enough reason to make you stronger!! -

I ignored the Necronomicon as it revealed its madness and began drawing the pattern in the form I wanted.

I chose the shape of deep darkness and wrote various patterns down onto that pillar. Then, between them, I carved engravings that symbolized power and amplification.

As mana equivalent to the entire volume of an 8th Circle spell swirled, everyone’s gaze turned toward the air.

Even the rampaging Saturn looked up at me.

A black magic circle was engraved in the air, and gloomy mana swirled.

The pillar that had finished being engraved revealed itself and began taking form as a three-dimensional magic circle.

It was at the moment when it displayed an overwhelming majesty, enough to create the illusion that the entire sky was covered in magic circles.

“I will never let you manifest it!!”

Saturn spewed out an enormous amount of power.

If until now it had felt as if he had been conserving his strength, now it could be said that he had drawn out all his full power.

It was an overwhelming presence that was enough to compare to my power, and that was when it happened.

“Da-in, please!!”

Go Yu-jin’s clear shout rang out.

My gaze naturally shifted, and the person called “Da-in” manifested divinity.

Gong Da-in, the high priest of Kravados. In truth, Kravados, who was called the god of darkness, was also a god quite familiar to us black mages.

To the point that there were even believers of the god of darkness among black mages. And that high priest from the divine camp manifested divinity and did something to Go Yu-jin.

A black shimmer burst out from the Keltium Golem’s body, and the strands that had been pressuring Saturn tightened sharply, pressing down on Saturn’s entire body.

Saturn had been holding out by creating waves up to a certain distance without allowing direct contact with his body, but this time, even maintaining that distance seemed difficult. In an instant, he was suppressed as if his entire body had been bound tight, and just as he looked at Go Yu-jin in bewilderment, I also had no intention of missing that moment, so I immediately manifested the completed magic circle.

Snap. Along with the sound of my fingers snapping, the magic circle collapsed in pieces. In that moment, the magic circle that fell apart into fragments transformed into an enormous power and began taking shape.

“Th-this can’t be…!”

Saturn screamed, but the magic that took shape was the essence of 8th Circle black magic, and it was the strongest single-target spell I could create.

-Fatal Arc Spear.-

It was a spear that embodied deep darkness, and it was an impressive single-target attack spell, with black flames blazing around it and a size reaching dozens of meters.

Leaving the completed shape behind me, the moment I pointed at Saturn with my finger, Saturn, who could not move an inch, struggled with all his might to break free of his restraints. And Go Yu-jin, strengthened by my buff, her own personal buff, and even the buff of the god of darkness, somehow blocked Saturn’s resistance with the Keltium Golem.

‘Maybe Yu-jin alone would have been enough.’

In truth, it could be called the result of everyone’s efforts creating an opening, but it felt far too anticlimactic. So as I watched Saturn get pierced by the enormous spear that fell according to my gesture, I let out a brief impression.

“Too easy.”

Below expectations. That was exactly what I felt right now.

In an instant, the hole that formed in Saturn’s chest burned with dark red flames and set Saturn’s entire body ablaze.

“Gaaaaaah!! Th-this can’t be. This cannot happen! I am… an apostle of god. I am… like this… calamity… of….”

The flames that blazed up fiercely turned Saturn into a handful of ash and died down.

At that, everyone looked down at Saturn’s remains with dazed expressions, but only for a moment.

“We woooon!!!”

It was a shout imbued with An Sang-ik’s aura, and everyone sat down on the ground and began checking the condition of their bodies after pouring out all their strength.

The battle itself had lasted only about ten minutes, but the problem was that the waves of power unleashed during that short time had been intense enough to force everyone to pour out their full strength. In the process, most of them were exhausted from the burden placed on their bodies.

It could be said that the only one who was perfectly fine was “me.”

‘I never thought they would go all out to this extent….’

At that moment, Saturn’s dead remains scattered in the wind, and I saw something sparkling that had fallen among the debris.

I slowly lowered my altitude, picked up the sphere that revealed itself, and spoke while looking around.

“I’m taking this, all right?”

The people gestured as if telling me to do as I pleased.

They seemed even more exhausted because of their tension, and some were sprawled out on the ground with pleasant smiles on their faces.

‘What is this?’

The sphere emitted a brilliant light. It did not seem like an ordinary object, but since I could not know its information right away, I tossed it straight into my Sub-space.

Afterward, I encouraged the people and had them head toward the Mobile Magic Tower. In the meantime, Chu Myeong-hun approached me and asked.

“Is the operation over like this?”

“I thought there would be a hidden trump card. That dagger, how did you get it?”

“Even if I want to use one now, I have no more.”

It was the Dagger of Lamentation.

It was an item that caused a stronger explosion the higher the opponent’s defense was. So it needed to be used carefully, and it was commonly used by assassins to kill tanks.

“Wasn’t the creator said to have gone missing?”

“That is right. I had five blades, but I used them all in the war, and only the last one had remained. Now even that is gone, so it is quite regrettable.”

I could not know why Chu Myeong-hun had invested enough in this battle to use it, but with this, one thing was clear.

‘It seems he intends to completely cut ties with the Cultists of Ruin.’

So I casually asked him a question.

“Are you planning to wash your hands of it?”

“…I do not know what you mean.”

“That was a wise decision. If not, I would have made a move myself.”

Chu Myeong-hun flinched and looked at me. Then he smirked.

I did not know what kind of answer that was, but I thought it would be enough as long as we did not devolve into a too bad of a relationship.

Afterward, the people quickly headed toward the Mobile Magic Tower.