CHAPTER 182
The place swept by Annihilation.
The darkness that had loomed there was completely swallowed and torn apart by the light of Annihilation.

Since I prided myself on that single shot being the absolute best, its power was proportionate. However, the price was that the arm that fired the bullet was blown off, and more than half of my body was left in tatters.

Meanwhile, blood surged up from the back of my throat.
A single strike that poured out absolutely everything in my body in an instant. The toll was gruesome.

"Keugh."

My vision blurred from the blood filling my lungs.
It was obvious. Annihilation was literally a desperate strike that sacrificed my life.

Kill the enemy, and I die too.
That was the mindset behind drawing out absolutely everything for that strike. So, naturally, the price was my life.

"A-Aranseol."

And I had already let her know this in advance.
Catching my collapsing body, Aranseol swung her sword without hesitation.
With that, my vision went completely black.
The rest of death fell over me.

Soon, my consciousness returned from beyond death.

Flash—

With my eyes wide open, I saw the devastated center of the Sky Castle. Not only the bone structures, but even the flesh walls had been completely ripped apart and vaporized.

"Hah, man, when it comes to firepower, there's no one who can compare to you now."

Inferno clicked his tongue, looking at the space where only white smoke remained. Anastasia had previously evaluated my power as being in the top 10%. Now, I had truly perfected the ultimate glass cannon.

Sure, I had to sacrifice my life in the process, but who cares?
It's not like I have Resurrection magic for nothing.
A death-defying strike that only I could choose. For me, there was virtually no risk to this attack.

Of course, even with Resurrection magic, my Holy Mana might recover, but the Divine Power I had poured out all at once was empty. I wanted to fire it in rapid succession, but Divine Power was a whole different realm.

"What's the situation?"

When I asked while feeling out my newly restored body, Aranseol supported me and helped me stand.

"The darkness is all gone. But..."

Aranseol stared quietly ahead.

"It looks like whatever was hidden inside the darkness has properly revealed itself."

Everyone had their weapons drawn in a standoff.
From within the white smoke, a deeply unsettling aura wafted out. It felt as if something unidentifiable was fiercely crawling along the floor.

"Everyone, step back."

At that moment, Legolash stepped forward.
He was gripping a staff made of overlapping layers of skulls. A staff with terrible taste, even at a glance. And just like its appearance, the aura seeping from it was extraordinary.

"Is something wrong?"

When I asked, he slammed his staff onto the ground with a thud.

"I can't even fathom how many souls they've mashed together. By the looks of it, that darkness earlier was the River of Oblivion. That's what they used to hide them until now."

The River of Oblivion.
The river said to contain souls. A mythical river where the souls submerged in it lose all memories of their past lives.

Did something like that actually exist?
As expected of this world, many of the myths turned out to be completely true.

"What does it mean that the River of Oblivion is gone?"
"The souls will go berserk."

At that moment, the skull jaws on Legolash's staff all opened at once.

Ruuuumble!

Simultaneously, something began to fiercely crash against an invisible barrier in front of us. Countless handprints, faces, and all sorts of marks made by human body parts began to appear in droves.

"Hiiiik!"

A sudden situation.
It was a horrifying sight that made Babiyen, who was weak to this sort of thing, swallow a scream.

The rampage of souls.
It was a sight that instantly made it clear what that meant.

"It's obvious what spirits that have regained their past memories will do. They'll seep into anything living, randomly, just to get a physical body back."

In other words, we were almost forcefully possessed without even realizing it.

Legolash's staff, planted in the ground, trembled violently. I could clearly feel just how violent the wails of the dead were.

"Can't we just eliminate them?"

Inferno asked, smashing his fists together.
We are the army that entered to destroy the Sky Castle. We understood the danger of the rampaging souls, but if we didn't achieve our objective, we'd be in trouble.

"We'd need to perform a Mass Exorcism to eliminate the souls."
"How long will this Mass Exorcism take?"
"With a number this massive, it will take quite a while at the very least. Even I have never seen such numbers before."

Inferno clicked his tongue.

Soul Mages were an extremely rare profession even in this world. As such, there were no Soul Mages within the Regular Army. Legolash practically had to conduct the Mass Exorcism all by himself. I couldn't guarantee how long he could hold back those souls alone.

Could the Emperor's soul be here too?

"Lord Legolash, the Emperor's soul might be here. Is there any chance you can find it?"

Even so, I didn't really think his soul would be among these wraiths. But there was a non-zero chance that the Emperor's soul was tied down here, preventing his resurrection.

"Hmm."

Legolash glanced at the wraiths and then looked back at me.

"Well, I'll give it a try."

So he was saying it wasn't impossible.

"Can I help?"

At that moment, Babiyen stepped up.
Legolash looked at Babiyen and slowly stroked his chin.

"Fire attribute?"
"Yes, I'm a 2nd-class Fire Mage."
"A Mass Exorcism requires the Flame of Purification. I suppose you won't be entirely useless."
"In that case, I'll bring as many Fire Mages as possible to prepare for the Mass Exorcism."

Meanwhile, Colonel Bagel started running in the opposite direction. Since communication magic still wasn't working properly, he had no choice but to run himself.

The moment Colonel Bagel stepped forward.
Inferno's eyes widened, and he stomped the ground.

"Bagel!"

Inferno roared and dashed forward.
The explosion that erupted from beneath his feet was more urgent than ever.
But right before he could reach him...

A black root shot up from beneath Bagel's feet and pierced straight through his head.

Crack!

By the time Inferno smashed the root with an explosion from his grasp, a gaping hole was already blown through Colonel Bagel's head.

Instant death.

A situation that happened in a split second.
Bagel, who would normally have a magic shield constantly active since we were in the middle of enemy territory, was taken down far too easily.

What did that mean?

"It's magic immunity!"

It meant the root had the ability to neutralize magic.

The moment I realized this, the first person I turned to was Legolash. Acting purely on reflex, I reached out and shoved Legolash.

In that instant, a root shot up from below, trying to pierce the arm I used to push him. But Aranseol moved faster.

The root, severed in a single strike, flew through the air.

I couldn't feel any presence from the root.
Even though it clearly existed right in front of my eyes, the perception of it being there was blurry. It was obvious some kind of ability had been overlaid on it.

Shoving Legolash was pure instinct.
I realized that in this moment, Legolash would be the biggest obstacle to the enemy.

"Everyone, protect the staff!"

And it was obvious what would be an even bigger obstacle to them.
Legolash's staff, planted in the ground.
The staff holding back the wraiths.

Lululio scattered into light and flew in instantly.
Following her, Aigis also spread her wings and soared up.

But their judgment was delayed because their attention had been drawn to us.
A momentary lapse in judgment.
That completely turned the situation upside down.

Beneath the staff.
Dozens of bundles of black roots shot up all at once.

Craaaaaash!

The staff, thrust all the way up to the ceiling, smashed against it and shattered into pieces.
Consequently, the wraiths pounding on the central barrier were all set free.

Wraiths invisible to our eyes.
But everyone knew exactly where those wraiths would head.

"Stick together!"

With Legolash's shout, he slammed his hand onto the ground.
In that instant, a transparent barrier spread from his grasp and surrounded us.

However, because time was of the essence, the scale of the barrier was too small.
It only managed to enclose me, Aranseol, and Babiyen.

Ruuuumble!

As soon as the barrier surrounded us, the wraiths rushed in like ravenous beasts, throwing their entire bodies against it to smash it. Because of this, the transparent barrier was instantly covered by their bodies, completely obscuring the outside view.

"Damn it."

I knew something was going to happen, of course.
But I never expected the wraiths to cause this much chaos.
If it weren't for Legolash, we might have actually been wiped out.

Cold sweat beaded on my forehead, but there was no time to panic.

"Lady Aigis! Lululio!"
"Lord Harua, we are fine!"

Aigis's reply came back immediately to my shout.

"I took Lululio and deployed a Divine Shield! With this, we can hold out even against the wraiths!"

Hearing that, I felt a bit of relief.
Thank goodness Aigis followed Lululio right away.

"...Harua."

But aside from those two, there was someone else.
Someone left outside.

"...Yeah."

Lieutenant General Inferno.
Plus, the corpse of Colonel Bagel that he had secured.
It was obvious where the souls would head.

Booooooom!

An explosion violently struck my ears from a short distance away.
I didn't have to think hard to figure out what had happened.

Legolash had explicitly mentioned possession.

"Lord Legolash, can anyone be possessed?"
"Those with strong mental fortitude will endure it. But an empty corpse won't be able to resist."

I understood the meaning behind the explosion just now.
Colonel Bagel's corpse.
The soul that entered it must be moving Bagel to attack Inferno.

My vision was blocked so I couldn't see well, but I could tell Inferno was still in okay shape. But even so, he couldn't just pass through the barrier and come inside. If we lowered the barrier even for a second, the souls would obviously flood in.

And the problem wasn't just them.
The others who were entering from different directions. The wraiths would be rushing at them all at once, too. It was easy to predict what would happen to those who couldn't even see the wraiths.

Plus, there were those presence-less, magic-immune roots running amok.
The roots would take advantage of this chaotic opportunity to continuously create casualties and plunder bodies.

The situation was a total mess.
But just because it was a mess didn't mean I could throw my hands up.
I had to do whatever it took to solve it.

"Lord Legolash, what about the Mass Exorcism?"
"I can proceed with it. But a Mass Exorcism cannot drive out wraiths that have already entered a body."

I swallowed a groan at his next words.
Even if he performed the Mass Exorcism, we'd still have to fight the possessed. If they all swarmed here to stop the Mass Exorcism, there'd be no way to block them.

As I was agonizing over this, an idea suddenly struck me.

"Lord Legolash."

Realizing this fact, my eyes quietly flashed.

"If it's me, wouldn't I be able to walk around outside without any problems?"

Countering a variable with a variable.
Creating a new variable.