Chapter 145: Fruit of Metamorphosis - IV

—Swish!

A small, silver line of light cut through the space around him, tearing through the fabric of space-time itself.

The vorpal blade had torn a rift in space along its cutting line, unbelievably thin and unbelievably large at the same time.

The sudden distortion that occurred to Aventine’s active [Warp] was annihilated by a more terrifying force—as if the hands wringing the cloth had been completely severed.

"..."

For a moment, Aventine was silent.

[Absolute Awareness] swiftly extracted the information he needed, making him aware of the cause of his failure.

"Ah... I overlooked the possibility that this High Elf, Afira, had already plotted against me and continued to do so."

After a few minutes of sifting through <Fate’s> threads, he finally found the portion that was originally Tanchi’s.

From it, he saw how Afira had established a connection within him through mere proximity. That <Anti-Magic Body> deep within Tanchi’s body served as the mode of connection, allowing Afira to ’bless’ Tanchi, who was her subordinate, with an odd Star Magic spell.

"<Celestial Spite>, huh?"

Aventine’s eyes gleamed in understanding. It was a spell that burrowed into one’s body, lying dormant like a slumbering parasite up until the moment of the host’s death.

Thereafter, the area where the host perished would be subjected to a curse that broke all forms of Spatial Magic below the 8th Circle.

It was special in that it bypassed the general idea that S-Rank beings and above could not attack those of A-Rank and below. After all, it wasn’t an attack. It was merely a blessing given to a subordinate that altered the surroundings after that subordinate’s death.

Aventine had simply been careless—lost in thought and already paying attention to events in the distance.

"No..."

He swiftly realized that this wasn’t carelessness on his end. After all, he was always aware of his surroundings simply by virtue of his Gift.

Carelessness did not exist for him. Sure, he was still a mortal being capable of mistakes, but that didn’t mean he would fail to sense a massive restriction on his surroundings.

[Absolute Awareness] was simply too powerful for that.

Instead...

’Was this planned by Afira herself... or have I been schemed against by <Fate> once again?’

The moment that <Celestial Spite> activated coincided exactly with the activation of his <Warp>, making it so that there was simply no way for him to react beforehand.

The spell, upon confirming its host’s death, had a window between that specific moment and its activation. Aventine had simply been unlucky enough to cast his spell right after that window of dormancy.

It was simply too terrifying a coincidence that he couldn’t help but doubt the intentionality of Afira’s <Celestial Spite> given its timing with the eruption of threats in the other two central towers.

Had he delayed his casting for even a moment... He wouldn’t have fallen prey to such a violent rending of space.

Thus...

Aventine was now faced with a choice. The grand radiance behind him had dissipated, and eight A-Rank auras erupted all around him in that very moment.

Looking at the Fruit of Metamorphosis, perfectly ripe for the picking, a frown finally appeared on his face.

He fell into contemplation.

’Gron, Kuvie, and Reazue have no way to defend the central tower... But there are intruders appearing all around the 16 Claws’ territory, summoned at the very moment of ripening.’

Another Space Mage was supporting them from behind.

It was most likely...

’That High Elf Afira.’

Even without checking using [Absolute Awareness], he was almost certain.

After all, based on his divination, his only other enemy was Arvishue’rre... and that High Winged Lion King’s subordinate Minotaurs were charging right at him at this very moment.

"Their timing is impeccable. However, all that credit should go to these synchronized Fruits of Metamorphosis."

If they hadn’t all ripened at the same time, then Aventine would have a little more wiggle room to deal with.

Instead of fighting three fronts against two different schemers, he could easily exploit the difference in time and information to reap all three harvests.

Now...

If he wanted to keep Gron, Kuvie, and Reazue alive... then he had to choose none.

Aventine suddenly started laughing, and the charging A-Rank Minotaurs hesitated for a moment before their footsteps froze where they stood.

Literally.

6th-Circle Ice Magic.

[Winter Deathland].

The floor beneath everyone’s feet found itself frozen, coated with a thick layer of ice—and even Aventine wasn’t spared by his own spell.

But that didn’t matter.

He was the source and the one surrounded by enemies.

There were no allies he had to take note of.

—Shing!

With the deadly ring of a sword being unsheathed, the top floor of the central tower was once again bathed in light.

This one, however, wasn’t simply grand.

It seared the eyes and blessed all those who gazed upon it... with blindness.

—Crack. Swish!

Then in the next moment, Aventine’s figure blurred. The ice freezing his legs shattered at the slightest exertion as afterimages trailed behind him.

—BOOM!

Sonic booms accompanied his fleeting afterimages as he swung the <Sword of Light> in a simple, wide arc.

In the blinding light where one’s vision was deemed useless, the Minotaurs relied on their superior reflexes that no human could beat, as well as the thickness of their reinforced skin.

All of them had a simple thought, lacking crucial information that no one could have surmised without surviving Aventine’s hunt:

’I can take a hit before counterattacking with even greater force! What can a space mage do in this place where Spatial Magic is restricted?’

None of them were like the Berserker Minotaur Aventine had fought earlier—the only one who had survived his favorite combo so far.

All of them bore hubris they could not remedy.

After all... though Aventine had fought many battles just now... there wasn’t enough time for others to truly adapt to his fighting style and fully understand what he was capable of.

Furthermore, with Aventine intentionally maintaining this information gap, all of his foes would be none the wiser.

—Swish!

The <Sword of Light> was thus swung multiple times in quick succession.

Until—

—Clang! Clang! Clang!

There were three instances where his blade was blocked or redirected. However, since he moved too swiftly, he hadn’t had time to check.

While five heads rolled, there were still three more left intact.

Aventine’s brow twitched as he read through one particular Minotaur’s recent memories.

"Aha~? Seems like there are quite a few of you who are on the same level as that Berserker."

Intrigued, he decided to use up a little more mana to understand his current opponents with greater depth.