The allied force finally arrived at the place of battle.
The moment they teleported there, they became lost for words.
The lofty walls were half-destroyed. In some parts, it was hard to tell whether a wall even existed in the first place. The same went for what was inside the walls, and the space above was distorted like crumpled up paper.
Everyone had expected a fierce battle to have taken place, but the reality surpassed their wildest imaginations.
They wanted to help Seol Jihu as quickly as possible. The problem was how.
Everyone present was a powerhouse who was among the strongest in Paradise. Despite this, only a few were able to follow Seol Jihu and the Parasite Queen’s movements.
Baek Haeju was just barely following the battle half a beat late, and Agnes and Hoshino Urara were turning their heads a full beat later.
Kwang!
Another explosion erupted in a nearby area. The earth rumbled just from a simple clash. The portion of the walls crumbled down merely from the resulting shockwave.
“…We have to join that?”
Wu Lei muttered while looking dumbstruck from the absurd display of strength. No one said a word. It was because they were all thinking the same thing.
In fact, even Seol Jihu, who was fighting the Parasite Queen, thought the same.
‘What should I do?’
The World Tree had successfully migrated over, and all of the Army Commanders had been taken care of as well. This was truly the best-case scenario.
However, the Parasite Queen did not seem fazed in the slightest. She and Seol Jihu had been fighting constantly since the latter broke through the center army, yet she did not show any signs of being exhausted.
It wasn’t as if she was getting stronger the longer she fought… but Seol Jihu really felt like he was fighting a vast, endless ocean.
‘I can only use Spear God one more time….’
Although his stamina and mana recovered with the World Tree’s migration, the side-effect of activating Spear God was a different matter altogether. This was because of the way Spear God worked. It forcefully detonated Seol Jihu’s potential after he climbed to the ‘Golden Constellation’ with the Spear of Purity’s help.
It went without saying that the World Tree could not heal someone’s potential.
‘I have to hide this trump card until that moment….’
Of course, the battle only seemed unending now. Looking at it from a long-term perspective, it wasn’t as if there wasn’t a way.
What both sides prioritized the most had been time. And as of this moment, time was on the allied force’s side.
It wasn’t just because the World Tree purified the corrupted land and was healing the allied force.
The heart of the Empire was the Parasite Queen’s territory. She made great efforts to create this territory because she was bound by the effect of the Imperial Oath, which would evict her from the planet.
The only way to keep this timebomb in check was to stay in her own territory. Yet, the World Tree had taken root in this place. There was no doubt that the World Tree was stretching out its roots to the deepest levels of earth and purifying the land constantly.
As proof, the Parasite Queen began to feel the dormant Imperial Oath waking up. She expended additional divinity to suppress it, but it was easy to tell that she would need to use more divinity as time went by.
So what would happen the longer this battle dragged out?
Then, what happened in Tigol Fortress was sure to repeat.
Unless the Parasite Queen were a complete fool, she would want to end this battle before then. In fact, she really had no choice but to do so.
This was evident from the fact that the Parasite Queen’s attacks had been getting fiercer since a while ago.
“!”
Was Seol Jihu overthinking this? He allowed an attack to go through. Seizing the opportunity, the Parasite Queen sent Seol Jihu flying.
She looked down just before choosing to chase after Seol Jihu. The main attack force of the allied force was moving busily to snipe her down. She also felt an immeasurable presence approaching her from a distance.
The Parasite Queen staggered briefly after landing on an unbroken part of the castle wall. It was because intense vertigo suddenly struck her brain. Next, she felt her body become heavy.
After settling in Paradise, besides the basic ones, three restrictions had been placed on the Parasite Queen.
The first was the Imperial Oath, which was formed from the power of the Chief Deity. The second was the divinity she expended permanently to kill Seol Jihu the first time. The third was the inability to recover and regenerate due to the annihilation of the Nests and the purification of her territory.
And just now, a fourth restriction was placed on her.
[Yggdrasil….]
The Parasite Queen furrowed her brows and glared at the World Tree standing tall in the distance. Normally, she would not have thought much of something like this, but she had suffered more losses due to her current state. After all, she had to expend additional energy to counter the World Tree’s restraints on her divinity.
Despite this, the Parasite Queen was calm as she gazed at her enemies. Her eyes were cold and uncaring as they scanned the members of the allied force that were rushing in to kill her.
This couldn’t be helped. When she had an entire galaxy beneath her feet, she had once fought against an army of millions. A mere few thousand would not be enough to move her in any way.
In any case, what was important was that Seol Jihu would no longer be the only one fighting her.
The Parasite Queen stretched out her arms. From her palms, circular waves pulsed inward. And shortly afterward, two raging orbs appeared and quickly expanded in size.
Goddess of Parasitism — Chain World Destruction.
BOOOM!
Once fired, the orbs drew a thick line in the sky and cut across the air in a straight line.
There were only two orbs. The troops that were charging in paid careful attention to the course of the orbs and prepared to dodge.
However, their legs slowed down until eventually coming to a complete stop. Looking up, they dropped their jaws in a daze. It was because they realized how meaningless it was to try and dodge them.
From the two orbs that shot across the sky like a bullet, dozens of beams of light began to shoot out. They spread out like a fountain, drawing arcs in the air, and then poured down after splitting again and again into dozens of beams.
It almost looked like countless umbrella frames opening up at once. By the time the beams of light struck the ground, they had multiplied to an uncountable number.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
A fierce, explosive sound resounded in the battlefield.
Sky Fairies that were hit by the beams did not just have holes drilled into their bodies; they exploded in a spray of blood.
Even if the beams somehow missed them, the result was the same. They were swept away by the aftermath of the explosions and bounced up like springs.
The main attack force was not doing any better. The barrier Seo Yuhui cast with all her might shattered in three seconds, and the rest of the crew quickly threw away any thought of blocking the attack.
Of course, that didn’t mean everyone could dodge them.
“Boss!”
Agnes shouted.
Cinzia was stuck underground, convulsing sporadically in a pool of blood. Her eyes rolled back as if she would die any second. Fireflies were gathering on her body, but she was still slow to recover.
Agnes quickly picked up Cinzia, bit down on her lower lip, and looked back. The meteor shower resulted in a thick mist of light, which quickly turned into a carpet of blood.
By the time the blood mist subsided, there was no one left standing in the range of the bombardment. It was hard to find even a corpse. Only blood and bits and pieces of flesh remained.
Surprisingly, there were still remnants of the light, splitting and shooting out beams of light. It was indeed a terrifying scene.
‘Damn it.’
Seol Jihu’s face distorted.
It might have been a different story before. But no matter how strong Seol Jihu was, it was impossible to approach the Parasite Queen while protecting everyone. This was especially so for a massive-range attack like the one before….
Right, he knew this. But….
‘Should I have activated it?’
Seol Jihu smacked his lips. With the previous attack, the Parasite Queen must have realized he was hesitant to use Spear God.
[Hmm….]
The Parasite Queen also did not like the current situation. Her original plan had been to decimate the allied force and even attack the World Tree. However, the power of her attack had been halved due to the damned guy who was claiming to be her “destined partner.”
The Parasite Queen kicked off the wall.
“Uaaaaah….”
On the other hand, an Earthling who was just at the edge of the explosion’s radius slowly raised his head. Seeing the gruesome scene that unfolded in front of him, he swallowed hard and shuddered.
Somehow he was alive.
‘I, I can’t do this.’
Feeling strength returning to his body, the man shook his head.
A monster had to fight a monster. A mere human like him would only be killed if he interfered.
‘I have to head back to the main camp and…?’
The man blinked in a daze after staggering up. Before he noticed, a huge shadow had been cast on him. Just as he raised his head with widened eyes…
KWANG!
The man’s body exploded.
Stomped by a giant foot, he was crushed like an insect and died in vain.
The Parasite Queen had leaped into the middle of the battlefield. Not because of anyone, but of her own will.
Though this put her in an ideal spot to be surrounded, no one dared to rush in so recklessly. Her previous attack was one reason, but it was also because she was giving off a terrifying pressure just by existing.
Of course, that wasn’t to say she could be left alone. The allied force’s main group began to move.
[I expected you to rush in in a fit of rage….]
The Parasite Queen glanced at Seol Jihu, who was carefully observing her. She then looked back at the others and opened her mouth.
—Huaaaaaah.
Tentacle-shaped gas spewed out of the Parasite Queen’s mouth.
—Huaaah, huaaaaah!
Goddess of Parasitism — Infestation.
Black gas blossomed out, and the surroundings quickly became rowdy. There was no loud explosion like before. However, anyone that made contact with the gas began to scratch their bodies crazily.
One Beastman scratched his arm before jumping in fright after seeing his arm melt. One Priest used holy spells frantically before coughing up blood and collapsing.
Neither wind magic nor barriers worked. Wherever the gas went, the land became corrupted again, and the allied force’s troops collapsed without being able to do a thing.
That wasn’t all. The light of destruction that seeped into the earth mixed with the infestation gas scattered in the area.
Soon, the Parasite Queen spread out her wings after absorbing an orb of light and darkness.
Goddess of Parasitism — Coincidentia Oppositorum: 28 Chaos.
Light and darkness alternated out from the Parasite Queen. Blink, blink. The light illuminating the world flickered on and off like a streetlamp.
“Aaaaah!”
“W-What’s happening!?”
The already chaotic battlefield became even more chaotic. They were all the way back, but out of the blue, black insect-like masses were creeping up from the bottom of their vision.
Eventually, a strange space was created, where both light and sound were isolated.
They couldn’t see the sky or the battlefield. The comrades standing right next to them had disappeared. All they could see was an endless darkness, and all they could feel was an indescribable, creeping sense of terror.
All who felt this terror slowly submerged into the darkness, almost like they were being swallowed by fear.
Clang!
The longsword in Teresa’s hand fell. She had not dropped it. It had fallen.
When she looked down with a look of despair, she could see her right hand, of which only the ring finger and pinky finger remained. The rest of it was gone as if someone took a big bite out of it.
“Ah….”
Teresa stammered. Tears filled her eyes. She expected the worst, but she never thought it would be this bad.
‘We can’t win….’
The wall she saw was incomparably taller than Twisted Kindness. Only after seeing it for herself did she finally realize just how absurd it was that Seol Jihu was holding the Parasite Queen back until now.
‘How are we supposed to….’
The feeling of her existence being devoured by the darkness, the feeling of disappearing… was enough to make even the strong-hearted Teresa fall into despair.
All she could do was drop her head and let things happen.
It was then.
A light flashed in front of her half-closed eyes. The flash spread out slowly before revealing a brilliant golden light.
Eventually…
Pzzt!
“!”
Teresa’s eyes shot open. She felt the darkness surrounding her shatter in an instant.
Blinking in a daze, Teresa looked like she was at a loss for what to do. She almost looked drowsy, as if she had just woken up from a long nap.
She wasn’t the only one with such an expression. Everyone had pretty much the same face.
But soon, their eyes widened. Golden lightning bolts were striking down from the sky.
Their vision returned to normal.
Rumble! Boom!
They could hear again as well, rumbles and booms ringing out clearly.
“This is….”
Seeing the lightning bolts destroying the darkness, Teresa’s eyes flashed.
Uwaaaaaaaah!
The surging lightning rose into the sky as if to respond to the roar. Everyone turned their heads and fixated their gaze on one person.
Seol Jihu pointed his raised spear down below. Then, lightning bolts rose from the surroundings and gathered together to form a giant dragon.
The lightning dragon shot forward while crackling terrifyingly.
The Parasite Queen lowered her center of gravity and brought her wings together like interlocked hands, forming a shield.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
What happened next made everyone’s eyes widen.
She was being pushed back.
The Parasite Queen was being pushed back, leaving behind a deep track on the ground.
It was just that, but the feeling of fighting an unwinnable battle disappeared. Teresa clenched her teeth and used her hand that was enveloped in amber light to pick up the longsword she dropped.
The Parasite Queen was indeed a lot stronger than Twisted Kindness.
But it was different now.
Of course, it might be more difficult, but it might also be easier.
Because Seol Jihu was here.
“Just let me get marrieeeeed!”
Teresa regained her energy and kicked off the ground with a yelp.
After coming to a temporary halt, the allied force began to move once again.
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