The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 280

Outro 9.

The Forgotten War, The Spider Lord Subjugation (9)

“It can’t succeed. Creating your own dimension is impossible. That’s something only a god can do.”

Mir warned.

“According to the legends of creation, the creation gods sacrificed their most important things when they created the world.”

“……?”

“I also have divinity. Only a fragment, but if I sacrifice that and what’s most precious to me, wouldn’t it work somehow?”

The moment Mir’s eyes widened, I held a finger to my lips.

That’s right.

What I’m offering as a price is my life.

* * *

「How comical. You’re the first human since the Ones Who Came [ancient beings of immense power] to obtain a divinity of the same caliber as ‘us’.」

Ashron’s eyes narrowed, seemingly intrigued as he examined the dimension.

He had identified the cross-shaped divine object rotating in the center of the hole pierced through my heart.

This divine object was proof of harboring divinity in a human body, the symbol of a transcendent.

「If you received that much power from the creation god, I can understand your escapade from my Thousand-Year Ice Prison.」

「That wasn’t my power.」

「This is also a good thing. If what you rely on is this insignificant dimension, then all I have to do is oppress you along with this dimension!」

Was it confidence that he would fight on equal terms?

Ashron’s humanoid form emerged from the pale, repulsive, and nauseating skull of his main body.

He landed on the ground with deliberate movements. The main body standing behind him did not disappear.

It was similar to the way I wield the power of Asura.

「…….」

「…….」

A calmly beating heart.

The divinity coursing through my body, causing it to tremble.

And the next moment, we began to run towards each other, and at the same time, Asura and Ashron’s main body clashed.

Fwoooosh───!

Asura’s second arm tore at Ashron’s chest… and in retaliation, Ashron’s spider leg struck Asura’s chest.

The instant Asura was knocked back.

Hundreds of spiderwebs spewed from Ashron’s entire body wrapped around Asura, lifting him up and slamming him down left and right.

「Even with amplified power from your own dimension, is this all you can do!」

The entire front of Ashron’s main body tore open grotesquely.

Hideous fangs were revealed in the torn cross-section. Spider fangs. Venom dripped from their tips.

From the hundreds of spider mouths, venomous smoke poured towards Asura like a dark blue tidal wave.

「Hahahahahahaha!」

Yes, that’s what you believe.

This dimension isn’t simply a dimension that amplifies my power. Unfortunately, that’s just a secondary condition.

This is a space that amplifies the power of my friends.

“Spatial Annihilation.”

At that moment, a rift several times larger and more immense than usual was drawn on the horizon.

Like a pane of glass shattering, the rift broke open with a loud crash, banishing everything above it to another space.

The wave of venom and Ashron’s countless legs and torso were severed.

“Drunken Master’s Secret Technique, Thousand Swallow Slash.”

Vast magic woven from illusionary arrows scattered a pale blue light, piercing through Ashron’s chest.

“Huh……?”

“Um……?”

No sooner had the two stood beside me than their eyes widened at the reality unfolding before them.

A hole had been pierced through Ashron’s chest, and rotating in the center was none other than an inverted cross…….

I already knew, but Ashron, realizing the meaning of Rem and Miria’s gazes, let out a hollow laugh.

「Indeed. I, Ashron, was originally a mortal like you. But realizing the irrationality of the creation order, I knelt before the master of the great abyss and took on divinity.」

Even as he said this, Ashron’s relentless attacks continued, forcing me to deploy Asura to its full extent to block the onslaught.

「With the power of a god, I will dominate and isolate this world, teaching the humans of this land the rules of power. So that they can reach transcendence like ‘us’!」

Rem, leaping high, moved out of the shadows of Asura and Ashron, securing a firing angle and shouting.

“You crazy bastard!”

The arrow, nocked on the bowstring, was fired, woven into an arrow the size of a Thousand Swallow Slash, even with only a tiny amount of magic.

It was clear that even the old nobles would struggle to block that arrow, but the opponent was an old god.

“You slaughtered and raised humans so cruelly, and you’re saying you were the same human as us?”

The arrows failed to penetrate the fog of venom and decayed and dissipated in the air.

「Your path is stained with the sins of hypocrisy, truly perverse! The five absolute gods have already gathered to discuss the providence of the new world, so no matter how much you struggle, it is meaningless!」

Even so, he instantly closed the distance, trying to kill Rem, but a massive spear blocked his path.

Bart’s Dragon Bone Spear.

The sword energy emitted by the spear, shimmering with the dignity of a dragon, severed two of Ashron’s spider legs, but was blocked by the third.

「Truly powerless, but do not lament. The power that can be produced from that bare flesh is inherently so powerless!」

After dozens of heavy exchanges, Bart was knocked far away, and a wind blade tearing through the dimension rushed towards Ashron.

「──!」

At that moment, I led Asura and clashed with Ashron once more.

Asura’s nine arms and Ashron’s spider legs grappled each other, entering a power struggle, and Ashron said.

「Yes! If you intend to fight me, be willing to give up your life as the price of this battle, like this one!」

My companions’ faces turned pale.

I could feel their bewildered gazes fixed on me.

Ashron wore a bitter smile.

「Didn’t I tell you? The power of creation is always like that. Sanctifying the servitude of suicide with the providence of sacrifice and discussing it as if it were a great value!」

「…….」

「Why should we accept that as natural? The strong determine the laws of the world!」

One of Asura’s arms was severed by Ashron’s spiderweb. The same pain struck my body.

「The strong also set and control all order! The strong are also qualified to achieve transcendence!」

To block it, Miria rushed forward, but was helplessly knocked away by Ashron’s spider leg and rolled across the ground.

「But why does the creation rule unconditionally force the strong to sacrifice themselves for the weak!」

Ashron’s spiderwebs simultaneously grabbed all eight of Asura’s arms.

「There is no future in the order of creation!」

He began to pull them in different directions.

「No possibility!」

Excruciating pain turned my vision yellowish.

「Nor is there rationality!」

Asura’s first and third arms were torn off, scattering countless light particles.

「You, who are mired in a misguided order that oppresses and condemns the strong chosen by the world!」

Then the fifth and seventh arms as well.

「Are merely!」

Bart, who was trying to help me urgently, was blocked by the venom spewed by Ashron.

「Intoxicated with the self-satisfaction that comes from helping the weak!」

As all the arms were pulled out, I felt as if a line connecting reason to my mind had been severed.

As Asura, with all its arms torn off, roared in agony, Ashron threw the powerless Asura away.

I, linked to Asura, rolled across the ground as well, crashing into Rem, who was aiming Thousand Swallow Slash at Ashron.

「There is no possibility in the world of creation. You should know, we abandoned the world of creation because creation abandoned ‘us’ first!」

Ashron approached, dripping filthy mucus from his massive body.

I laughed.

Even though Asura and I were caught in his grasp, and death was imminent.

「There’s no possibility in the world of creation…… Then what am I standing in front of you……?」

In that instant, the air rippled once more, and the dimension split open with a deafening crash.

Spatial Annihilation.

The ultimate technique using Shirpen [a powerful artifact], but more powerful and fierce than what Miria uses.

This was the ‘real’ Spatial Annihilation cast by Lista, who had imbued her body with the Dragon Spirit.

「───?!」

Soft smoke enveloped my body as it plummeted from the sky due to the recoil from Ashron’s severed hand.

The Fire Dragon’s Maiden, Friede.

Before ascending to a dragon, she was dressed in a witch’s attire. Her body glowed faintly because it was realized with light.

「I was an orphan, you son of a bitch.」

Ashron immediately reached out with his other hand to snatch me from the mist.

「A chosen strong one, what a joke. I was barely making a living, just thinking about when I would die.」

However, a brilliant ray of light pierced through his hand accurately.

Was it just his hand? The arrow of light, the ‘Original Thousand Swallow Slash,’ completely swallowed nearly 30% of his chest beyond that and flew away.

Serwebon [a magical bow] trembled in the hands of the Bow Star, Keyes, from the recoil of the emission.

「The order of creation that you cursed back then came to me.」

If I hadn’t met Headmaster, I would have lived and died as an orphan.

「This dimension I created isn’t to strengthen me…….」

If Lista hadn’t come to me that day.

And if I hadn’t met Friede and Keyes.

I would have ended my life as a grumpy old man in the Magic Tower, definitely.

「What I’m showing you through this dimension is possibility…….」

Ashron’s spider legs stretched out from both sides simultaneously.

Clang, with the sound of metal, a giant man with shackles on both hands grabbed them with unrealistic strength and threw them back.

Demon Slayer, Cassel Ringkan.

「Connecting me, an immature human, from the past to the future to complete me───!」

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

Thousands of arrows, which even the high-ranking Old Ones [powerful ancient beings] screamed at, were embedded in Ashron’s back and exploded.

「──The possibility of this world!」

The Divine Machine Arrows of Nils Blantz, the chief tinkerer and developer of the Fire Cart.

「Now engrave it clearly in those eyes, Ashron!」

And in the sky above the arrows pouring out of the Fire Cart, there was a being spewing fireballs, the Red Dragon Alakish.

It didn’t end there.

Friends I met at the Magic Academy, beastmen warriors led by Griffion, even minor connections like the Thousand Flower One Dragon, Celine, were all realized with light.

「This is my Asura!」

All the threads of fate connecting the past and the future, the past life and the present life, are connected in this place, in this dimension.

That is my dimension.

That is the world I created by giving everything I have.

「The Asura Spiritual Realm of my life!」

* * *

“Crazy, is this real? This is right? This is our ancestor, right?”

Rem seemed to be very honored to meet her respected ancestor.

“The Fire Dragon’s Maiden, Friede.”

For similar reasons, Valencidith and Bart paid their respects to Friede and Lista, respectively.

Miria, who was looking at her past self with a faint smile, finally came to my side and sighed.

“Really, I can’t stop you.”

「Miria.」

“So, this is your choice? Nothing has changed from 300 years ago…… How many more years do I have to wait now?”

I had nothing to say.

If I could return alive, I wanted to say let’s really start a family, but my mouth wouldn’t open.

It was also uncertain whether there would be time to say it then.

「Compared to Karen Den’s Asura, it’s insignificant! Can dozens of insects gather together and oppose a god!」

Ashron roared in anger, and as he gathered all his spider legs in one place, the dimension began to tremble.

「What a god needs is only his own overwhelming power!」

Everything was writhing.

The outer walls of the dimension melted, exposing the inner universe of creation beyond.

「With this, you will surely know! The truth that no matter how many inferior weaklings gather, they are useless!」

That was the cataclysm of the abyss that devoured and corrupted the three thousand worlds. The divine authority of the old king who freely commanded that power.

「To seal the divinity, you have to aim for that divine object.」

In the hundred-year journey of my life.

I will put an end to it here and now.

「Everyone, help me.」

The first to rush out were Bart and Friede.

“Go, Rain!”

The sword energy and fiery breath that the Dragon Bone Spear unleashed sharply and massively put a brake on the storm of the abyss.

“Kh, thank you for giving me the opportunity to fight with our ancestor!”

The Thousand Swallow Slashes fired simultaneously by Rem and Keyes, back to back, crossed each other and pierced the blood point of the abyss.

「All of this!」

Valencidith’s dimensional wind blade suppressed the spiderwebs that were blackening the entire world.

「Is a futile resistance!」

Beyond all that disgusting slime.

The Demon Slayer grabbed the five pairs of spider legs that Ashron’s main body was unleashing, fixing the target.

“Go!”

At that moment.

The dimension rippled in an X shape.

The simultaneous strikes of Lista and Miria, Double Spatial Annihilation.

“Rain!”

The spider legs were sucked into the tearing dimensional rift.

Beyond that, an X-shaped cut was made on Ashron’s chest, exposing the divine object.

Although the rapidly regenerating body tried to hide the divine object.

「!」

The volleys of hundreds of divine machine arrows prevented the flesh from sticking together.

Take this, Ashron…….

And at that moment, Alakish.

Carrying me on his back, he evaded all the bombardments, the spiderwebs flying from all directions, and the fog of poison.

He moved me to the heart of Ashron.

This is what I have received throughout my life.

And what has nurtured me.

The potential of this world.

As I kicked off Alakish’s back and jumped, ultra-fine spiderwebs rushed towards me.

Griffion, Barzhen, Celine.

Those warriors blocked the spiderwebs, even as their arms, legs, and bodies were pierced.

So again.

The light that must be returned to this world.

Lilian’s flame, Hubert’s wind, and Nora’s water opened the final path, and at the same time, Logan threw me forward with all his might.

I pray.

And so that the light of that connection.

Can be passed on to my children, and so that those children can pass it on to the next generation in the same way.

At that moment, a flame blazed in the air, taking the form of a staff.

Alakish’s Four Ring Staff.

Grasping it, I thrust it forward with all my might, straight until it touched Ashron’s divine object.

So now, here.

I will end the nightmare that is you with my own hands.

Clack.

In that moment of rupture.

I was able to access the interior of Ashron’s divine object, the very core of his divinity.

「Did you see that, Ashron! If I were alone, I wouldn’t have even made it here, in front of you!」

Finally, I see it.

Ashron before he became a king.

The source of his soul.

「Meaningless? No future? Shut your damn mouth! This is the power of connection! The power of creation that spins around and creates eternity!」

The bloody battle within.

The fierce close combat, exchanging hundreds of blows until I plunged the staff into Ashron’s heart using the staff techniques I learned from Lista.

I don’t remember the details now.

「You…… You all…… You may think you are eternal…… But you are wrong……!」

However, at that time.

I clearly remember the mindset I had, even as I gasped for breath as if my heart would burst.

「What is truly eternal is the heart……!」

That beautiful connection nurtured me.

That brilliant encounter created who I am now.

And those sad farewells allowed me to reach this point.

「The heart of man……!」

The light passed from the heart of man to another heart does not disappear but continues into the next era, and the era after that, illuminating the world.

That is the truth I have realized.

And the providence of creation.

「Dare you, with your pathetic perception, who has never even lived an eternity, to discuss the truth before me!」

Nothing was in vain.

The light that started from the
Ones Who Came [likely referring to ancient beings or ancestors]
and illuminated this land.

Passed down through Headmaster, Lista, Alakish, and countless connections, it is now alive and breathing within me.

「Connecting beliefs through sacrifice is just a bad move appealing to emotions! You ignorant fool!」

Therefore.

That’s why I am here like this.

Standing before you.

「Sacrificing? Nonsense! I’m just returning what I received!」

I wanted to shout that.

I wanted to shout it, and I clearly remember that mindset even now.

「You lowly devil────!」

As I knocked away his arm, spun around, and thrust the staff in reverse, it pierced his heart, activating the elemental deployment.

Light.

The rings of those elements bound together, weaving a dazzling rainbow-colored ring, and now unleash their power.

「───Gu, GuAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The letters spinning in that ring are verses from the Founding Era Poem. It integrates the Guangxu Formation’s sealing ceremony and the power of the Founding Era Poem into one.

Charrrrrr, Kaboom!

Hundreds, thousands of layers of chains of light surged from all dimensions, piercing the blood vessels of Ashron’s body.

Those chains are chains of light.

But if you look closely at the structure, you can see that they are all made of character strings from the Founding Era Poem.

This is a seal that has extremely amplified the power of creation.

「Ke, ketas, You, you bastard…….」

The moment he was pierced by those chains.

The power of the spiderwebs that were about to pierce my heart.

And the power of regeneration that was rapidly restoring Ashron’s body disappeared.

「Don’t think…… This is the end…….」

Even as he said that, chains continued to appear, piercing Ashron’s body.

「I am the one who devours the world……!」

As if resisting that.

Even the hands that were moving to grab the chains soon stopped moving.

「The day…… That you, that you cherish so much…… Everything you have built collapses…… And disappears……!」

A jet-black liquid gushed from the mouth of Ashron’s human form.

It was divine blood.

Even as he spat out that blood, Ashron twisted the corners of his mouth into a smile and burst into a chilling laugh.

「I will, I will surely awaken again…… And devour everything…… This is not a warning, but a prophecy……!」

Charrrrrr.

With the sound of chains coiling around, Ashron’s body was lifted into the air and fixed in place.

「Spend your life’s nights in fear! Until the day your mortal life ends and you are buried in the ground! Eternally!」

At the same time, the human form that had been separated from the main body began to break down into slime.

「Ha, ha, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha────!」

Ashron’s main body’s face seemed to twitch, then drooped. It was sealed while hanging from the chains.

It’s over…….

I finished it…….

I knelt down on the ground and blankly looked back at my comrades.

The living connections were rushing towards me, while.

The connections who had died first nodded with faint smiles.

Ah.

Now I have fulfilled my path.

Then I too, now.

To that side…….

* * *

「It is not your time yet.」

Thud.

Somewhere in the space dominated by black mist, I felt a staff pushing against my forehead.

「You who possessed divinity has died, but you who possess humanity has survived. Go. In your life, there are still things to do.」

Things to do in my life, you say.

What is left to do?

「Your children, I didn’t do well, but I hope you do it without regrets. Cherish them a lot. So that they may know love.」

* * *

As I opened my eyes again and spat out a lump of blood-mixed breath, cheers erupted from the soldiers who were shedding tears all around.

Tears streamed from Miria’s eyes as she hugged me, and then she hugged me so tightly that I felt like I would be crushed.

I asked Valencidith and Rem, who were looking down at that, to help me, but no one listened.

“I don’t know how many times this dying act prank has been done.”

“This trash’s story should be made into a fable to teach a lesson not to lie.”

As expected, Bart was the only one who helped me in this situation. You bastards.

That day, the war in which countless lives were lost came to an end, and the Abyss’s forces were defeated.

Namdongja Alcuta was sealed with the sacrifice of two white dragons.

Hushinkyeong Jayun killed three Payqueries before running out of energy, at which point the yellow dragon Yoshhar sacrificed his lifespan to seal him.

Since it was sealed with the souls of the dragons, it goes without saying that the seal was powerful.

The reason why Shar’kas broke the seal early was because the king had awakened, but the king will now sleep again for eternity in the dimension I created.

That day’s battle was a great achievement in stopping the Spider Lord early.

Yes, future people may describe it as a simple achievement, but for modern people, the number of lives lost that day was far too great.

Even as I record this, I do not know if what I did that day was the right answer.

Not even a little bit, I do not know.

* * *

The Water Dragon Yerisehrika’s wounds from the old king were so deep that she could no longer maintain her body.

Yerisehrika handed over the White Dragon Corps (now so small in number that it could no longer be called a corps) to Mirngardia, the last white dragon.

After that, Yerisehrika’s body was now becoming one with the World Tree.

Already, blue moss covered the Water Dragon’s body wrapped around the World Tree.

“Did I really do the right thing?”

It was after the worldwide funeral.

I visited Lake World Tree in the Idea Peninsula on Aki’s back (!) to see Mir and Nen again.

“Isn’t it true, as the rumors say, that I killed too many people because of my overconfidence that I could defeat Ashron?”

I asked as if talking to myself.

The memorial stone had far too many names written on it, including Nora and Hubert, as well as names I knew.

“Aki, look! Look how much Nen has grown! Nen is even trying to grow horns!”

Aki had to work hard to calm Nen, who was jumping around with joy.

Aki, who had defeated that White Spirit Shar’kas, seemed to have grown up a lot. Not because she could speak perfectly, but because of her atmosphere.

On the other hand, Mir, who was the only one who noticed that I was prepared to die, didn’t think of leaving my side.

“Really, wouldn’t it have ended without any casualties if I had just fiddled with the sealing ceremony? I…… I’m really a selfish bastard. How can a guy like me be a Great Sage? I think it’s a good thing I lost my divinity and became an ordinary mage. This is just right for me.”

The Water Dragon said that she could only appear for a very short time even in the ‘Pure White Dream,’ so she was only focusing on Mir’s education.

[Child of the Spring Breeze.]

That’s why I didn’t expect an answer.

[I tried to live righteously. I did my best to create a world where everyone could live together in harmony, doing good.]

The next moment, wasn’t that a string of characters floating in blue above the lake?

[Looking back, all those actions were just me wanting to tell the world with my life that KarenDen’s decision to leave me behind was a great judgment, that keeping me alive like this was not in vain.]

I couldn’t think of anything to say.

I only thought that I had to refute it.

If you are selfish, then there is not a single altruistic being in this world.

[We are weak and do not inherently know love. Just like you and I, we only gradually come to know its fragments through favoritism.]

“……?”

[Whether you did the right thing or not will be taught by the future. A future far away on a day that neither you nor I can see.]

There was no way she could express emotions, but I felt as if Yerisehrika was giving that kind smile.

The lake rippled once and then became still.

After that, no answer came back.

“Yerisehrika-nim…….”

My third ‘future’ was looking up at me worriedly between her snow-white eyelashes.

“Water Dragon cannot maintain consciousness for long. Moving fragments of consciousness to the World Tree.”

When I stroked the head of the third ‘future’ to mean don’t worry.

Right behind me.

I could hear the first ‘future’ and the second ‘future’ laughing boisterously.

The future will tell me, huh…….

I gave a bitter smile mixed with self-deprecation and anticipation.

And I lifted the third ‘future’ up into my arms and returned to the first and second ‘future.’

As I was with those ‘futures’ that day, I suddenly found myself forgetting all the sadness and bursting into laughter.

– Cherish them a lot. So that those children can know love.

I may not be able to see the answer to this future while I am alive.

Someday these children will grow up.

Someday I will have to leave these children in this world and leave.

Ah, I really did a good job then…….

Looking back on this day.

I had a humble dream that I would really like to be able to think like this.

Really, a humble, single one…….