Chapter 587. Eventually (8)

Another two minutes passed.

‘Ah, dammit. Why is it that my life never goes the easy way?’

Two minutes. Two minutes.

In a normal life, this amount of time didn't usually hold great meaning.

The problem, however, was that the Archmage was not currently encased in a body.

‘This guy is maintaining his ego much better than I thought…!’

I clearly thought he was like a candle before a typhoon, so why can that invader still complete new prayers?

[ —! ]

The Archmage realized the cause of the miracle.

‘He’s persistent!’

The enemy leader was not maintaining his form merely through a desire for survival.

The opponent was displaying an anger so intense it could make even the humans on the mainland shiver.

‘Even in this situation, are you hating them, thinking that the “mammals who will survive alone are the worst”?’

Resentment.

Petty emotions such as malice were surprisingly helpful in maintaining a spiritual body.

To think a being with nowhere to return would take a last stand.

It was truly a life force that transcended imagination.

Well, since I clearly understood why the enemy's dissipation was being delayed.

‘No. Well, even though things have turned out this way, it's certain that he will die.’

The Archmage naturally fell into a state of tension.

Because the enemy was holding out more stubbornly than expected, I had already lost a portion of my soul particles.

But judging by the general atmosphere, the enemy didn't look like he would expire immediately either.

In other words, there was no path forward but for the injuries to the spiritual body to keep increasing.

If my soul is gnawed away further, I'll have to give up on returning safely. What should I do?

‘I was already sorrowful enough over losing the body I cherished!’

To keep the enemy's soul from moving elsewhere, the mana wall around the island had to be maintained.

But if injuries continued to accumulate like this, even if I won the battle, I wouldn't be able to lead a proper daily life afterward.

I might lose my magic.

Perhaps I would fall into a pain worse than death, so the Archmage soon rolled his eyes.

‘Earth's mana is so stupid! A-ah, no. I won't curse you. Is it impossible to awaken the friend-or-foe identification function even now?’

To summarize, I had barely driven the enemy to the edge of a cliff, only to face ruin by being caught in a simple stalling tactic.

‘Dammit.’

Thoughts flickered by rapidly.

‘If only a spare vessel had remained on the ground, the story would be different, but at this rate, there’s no way to avoid permanent aftereffects...’

Even while only a soul remained, the Archmage nimbly conjured various ideas.

However, even though he fell into deep thought to the point of temporarily neglecting the physical ground, the result was a blank sheet.

No matter how much I thought, there was no way to escape alone while holding the invader captive.

‘I’m screwed.’

Resignation.

Irritation.

I wished these sensations would also help in maintaining the spiritual body.

Slide.

The Archmage sank into despair.

I had tried, but at this rate, it seemed my soul would be shattered to pieces. From a certain moment, he simply braced himself for the coming damage.

Slide.

But what was this change now?

I couldn’t understand.

I had clearly lost my body long ago, but strangely, a sound like a human moving their body began to come from the ground...

‘What is it?’

A human at a time like this?

While spiritualized, he stopped mid-action of wiping his face with the tentacles of his heart.

He immediately turned his consciousness toward the source of the sound, and what he saw was a specific image.

Scuff, scuff.

I wondered why there had been such a scuffing noise for a while.

As it turned out, a living being was approaching the center of the island where they were clashing.

Despite having a pathetic body with only two legs, the opponent managed to move through the ground that had become a mess of black mud and Original Species corpses.

‘That is...’

The one appearing now was South Korea's 3rd S-rank.

'It's Kang Changho.'

His identity could be recognized using only a mage's unique sixth sense.

But even though the approaching person became clear, a question still filled my mind.

A psychic who prioritized his own preservation above all else, even when a disaster struck the world...

To think the only existence who would perfectly understand the crisis a soul was experiencing would voluntarily seek out the jaws of death at this point.

'...

Well, if one's soul control ability is lacking, there's no telling what might happen when colliding with another being.

The invader, who had been extending his tentacles sharply like malignant cells, stepped back further and further, one step at a time.

***

Splaaash!

The waves surged.

The mages at the scene had lost their vessels.

'There was no way to keep a body safe while facing a thing like that anyway. This is for the best.'

Only the skin the invader had brought for the infiltration of Earth remained abandoned on the soil.

After a few seconds of silent air, the edge of the artificial island began to transform into a grotesque shape.

Volcanic craters.

Deep darkness.

Or something resembling the internal organs of an Iron Maiden.

Thud!

Materials completely unrelated to Earth's existing environment suddenly descended before my eyes.

Furthermore, cone-shaped thorns, primarily seen in dungeon traps, sprouted in mid-air, defying gravity.

Thanks to this, the artificial island became an alien landscape in every sense of the word.

'The landscape is being eroded into a new space...'

I wondered how this was any different from the [Gisimche] that appeared in the past.

For one, the sorcery attempted by the enemy entity could not be laughed off.

The opponent was an invader who had come all the way here simply because he was jealous of the well-off Earthlings.

Bubble, bubble.

The soul from the binary star system sought to turn a large portion of Earth into a 'Dungeon' by utilizing the techniques he had honed.

Noticing this, the Archmage quickly blocked the opponent's magic.

'Now that we've both lost our bodies, it seems he's desperately turned his target back to Earth's humanity at the very end—.'

The attempt to turn the entire Earth into a dungeon was successfully suppressed.

Of course, because two mages used their power simultaneously, it was impossible to prevent the island itself from becoming unstable.

However, even this part was ultimately acceptable.

'The charging of the magic installed on the island is finished!'

Now, even those many-winged monsters that followed the vengeful spirit of the planet Alphauri closed their eyes and collapsed one by one.

'It's done!'

The grunts were swept away.

The enemy's soul was flickering like a candle that could go out at any moment.

Then, couldn't victory be seized hereafter simply by waiting?

Another two minutes passed.

'Ah, dammit. Why is it that my life never goes the easy way?'

Two minutes. Two minutes.

In a normal life, this amount of time didn't usually hold great meaning.

The problem, however, was that the Archmage was not currently encased in a body.

'This guy is maintaining his ego much better than I thought...!'

I clearly thought he was like a candle before a typhoon, so why can that invader still complete new prayers?

[—!]

The Archmage realized the cause of the miracle.

'He's persistent!'

The enemy leader was not maintaining his form merely through a desire for survival.

The opponent was displaying an anger so intense it could make even the humans on the mainland shiver.

'Even in this situation, are you hating them, thinking that the "mammals who will survive alone are the worst"?'

Resentment.

Petty emotions such as malice were surprisingly helpful in maintaining a spiritual body.

To think a being with nowhere to return would take a last stand.

It was truly a life force that transcended imagination.

Well, since I clearly understood why the enemy's dissipation was being delayed.

'No. Well, even though things have turned out this way, it's certain that he will die.'

The Archmage naturally fell into a state of tension.

Because the enemy was holding out more stubbornly than expected, I had already lost a portion of my soul particles.

But judging by the general atmosphere, the enemy didn't look like he would expire immediately either.

In other words, there was no path forward but for the injuries to the spiritual body to keep increasing.