Chapter 224: Episode 70. An Explosion (2)
Lyhee misunderstood the situation. She thought that Yoo Eunhye attacked me. That was why she bound Yoo Eunhye.
I clicked my tongue as I entered the room. I unchained Yoo Eunhye’s arms and gently held her body. I carefully laid her on the floor. I took out a potion from my magic pouch.
It was an elixir of life. This potion could heal someone who was badly injured. However, it could not bring the dead back to life. Moreover, I discovered that it had limitations. After the sudden attacks from Pandemonium, I drank the elixir, but it didn’t work that much. It occurred to me that there was a relationship between transcendence and the effects of the elixir.
Since the elixir of life didn’t work for me, I was resolved to use it to help Yoo Eunhye recover. I poured the elixir of life into her mouth without any hesitation.
Cough!
Yoo Eunhye came to her senses. I stopped and observed her. She sat and opened her eyes. I handed her the elixir, and she took it, then drank it.
My assessment was her origin was damaged.
It looked like she had used her origin mana when she brought me here. The elixir could help restore her mana of origin.
I placed my hand on Yoo Eunhye’s stomach to help the circulation of mana. There was a possibility of a side effect since I filled mana forcibly into her weak body and empty stomach. I had to gently manipulate the mana like kneading dough.
I stayed in that position for about an hour. Then, I gave her something to cover her body and got up.
“Go back,” I ordered. “This isn’t a place for you.”
“But…,” she weakly replied.
I could still hear Yoo Eunhye saying something, but I proceeded to leave. I could not comprehend why she came back. When I came out of the room, I met Oswen’s glance. He nodded. Oswen would take Yoo Eunhye out, away from the battlefield.
“My mana is somewhat recovered,” I noticed.
I stretched my neck from side to side. The muscles relaxed with a bone-popping sound. Then, I took Rage and the Sword of the Emperor and went down of the clock tower.
“Master!” Lyhee exclaimed. “You should rest!”
Lyhee immediately followed me, but I ignored her.
“I have to check how the war is going.”
***
It seemed like I had been unconscious for one day. Many things had happened since then.
Ariel Diablo caught Ufa Blennon’s back. It meant she had noticed the hole I created. She managed to lessen Ufa’s forces to half.
It was the same between Pandemonium and the angels. Pandemonium sent a lot of his forces to attack me. He almost succeeded. However, he did not have enough power to block the angels. Hashi figured it out and counterattacked. The battlefield was more chaotic.
“Pandemonium probably knows his raid has failed by now.”
The shadow hunters were persistent. They were insignificant monsters, but it was hard to defeat them because there were too many of them. Moreover, the modified demons didn’t die easily because their regeneration abilities were maximized.
I succeeded in getting rid of them all, but it cost me a lot—I was injured. I knew that Yoo Eunhye was the one who had brought me to the clock tower while I had been unconscious. However, I wasn’t grateful for what she did. I couldn’t understand why she had returned in the first place. It was really risky.
‘Soon, the victor will emerge, then I will detonate Hope,’ I thought.
The most careless time was when someone was guaranteed to win. The loser would not care about other things. Therefore, I must only use Hope when it was time to maximize the damage.
Pandemonium’s surprise attack was over. He was busy blocking the angels. If he had succeeded to assassinate me, he would have somewhat achieved his goal, but he failed. There was nothing he could do anymore.
With his reduced forces, he would not be able to defeat Ufa or Ariel. Only a terrible future awaited him.
“Pandemonium… You should have not gone for me.”
Had he used all those forces who attacked me to defeat the angels, he would have already won. He would have overwhelming victory and enjoy more benefits. But he failed, and it was too late for him to even regret it now.
I headed back to the underground area. I was confident there would be no more attacks.
***
When the moon rose again in the night sky, the battle was over.
Cough!
Ariel Diablo knelt on the ground. She vomited blood, and her body was immensely injured. Ufa was looking dreadful, too, but he had a little more room to move.
“You coward!” Ariel gritted her teeth.
She was able to break through and set a stage for retaliation, but the difference in numbers was too much for her troops.
The silver knights who survived so far fell at once. Through the gap, Ufa’s monsters came and attacked Ariel. The number was a big concern in the war.
Ariel was strong, but so as her opponent. As she dealt not only with Ufa but also with the monsters, her strength was greatly weakened. Ufa finally succeeded in making Ariel kneel.
“Ha! You damn bitch! Monsters are my strength, too. Who’s coward?”
Actually, Ufa was in a worse situation. He had been fighting for several days, and Ariel was slightly ahead of him. He was greatly wounded. But still, he was the last one standing.
Furthermore, he received tremendous damage. Hundreds of thousands of monsters had been noticeably reduced. About only 50,000 of them left. He also lost a considerable number of demons.
“I will kill you,” Ufa threatened Ariel. “It is time to end our ill-fated relationship.”
Ufa and Ariel had an extremely complicated relationship stemming from Devildom. Finally, now was the time to end their ill-fated relationship. Ufa was pleased. He could not help but laugh disdainfully.
Ariel managed to stand up with difficulty. She held her Ivory Sword. Most of her demons and monsters were already dead. She managed to evacuate some of them, but she couldn’t escape. Ufa didn’t care about the others running away and persistently attacked Ariel.
It seemed difficult to get out. Still, she thought it was honorable to die fighting than to run away, especially from a demon she abhorred.
She was the daughter of the last Dark Lord. She had the bloodline of a true king, but it did not mean she would always be victorious.
“Hold your weapon, Ufa Blennon. We are not friendly enough to talk, aren’t we?” Ariel smirked.
Ufa was annoyed. “So you can still speak… Ha! Fine! I will kill you in the worst possible way.”
Ufa summoned typhoons. He also lined up dozens of black spheres. He went all out—everything he could use to end the situation.
Soon, they struck each other. At the same time, the whole world was covered in white light.
Pandemonium attacked the angels’ main base. For him, there were not many soldiers left to continue the melee. He decided to wipe out the base at once.
However, there were only underlings in the main base. Besides ophanim who his shadow hunters had killed, there should be a cherub who was the most important one. But he did not find any.
“Where did they go?” Pandemonium frowned. “Did the angels notice I was coming?”
No…there was no way. He thought his plan was perfect. He mobilized his monsters little by little to surround the angels’ base. There was no way the angels would notice unless they could foresee the future.
“Did they plan originally to retreat? But why? For what reason?” Pandemonium considered.
Not only the cherub, but he could not find even the main angels. All the high-ranking angels had abandoned their positions. Usually, those situations happened when defeat was inevitable.
However, the angels were equal to him. They were not losing. It was a fight worth trying. There was no reason to run away.
He thought carefully about it. He was not sure of what to make out of the situation. But soon, he finally realized.
The world turned bright. White mana began to consume the surroundings.
“What the… I have to get out of here!”
His instincts warned him. It was dangerous. That white light wasn’t normal. But it was already too late. The light quickly ate up hundreds of kilometers in the radius of the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.
***
I was also swept up in the explosion. I didn’t escape because I needed to keep the archdukes in this place.
They had been monitoring around the clock tower. They had checked and confirmed that I was in the clock tower many times. I could not just leave.
If I escaped the observatory in this situation, other archdukes would sense the danger and run away as well. I had to be here to trap them.
I thought about using the transformation skill, but I remembered Pandemonium’s forays. They would not be deceived.
It was a gamble. I had placed Hope on the mana amplifying the magic circle in the observatory. The range of the explosion would double, and the destructive power would be stronger. In other words, a great number of demons and monsters would be destroyed right away.
“I have to make this work. I can’t afford even a small mishap.”
If I just detonated Hope, the range would not be that great. There was a small chance that someone could escape with a teleportation scroll. If the destructive power wasn’t what I had imagined it to be, then many could survive.
“This should work… It will work.”
Risks were unavoidable. I evacuated my important monsters and made Lyhee return to the dungeon. Hope’s explosion might have serious effects on Lyhee.
Boom!
When the explosion happened, I was also on the battlefield.
The archdukes stopped at the sudden light that was consuming the world. And that was it—their skins began to melt slowly.
Archdukes and dukes immediately sensed danger after the explosion and utilized defense skills. However, the others weren’t as lucky. They turned to ash in an instant.
“How amazing,” I uttered. Then, I frowned. “Did I calculate wrong?”
Even though most of my mana was restored, the explosive power of Hope was beyond imagination. My skin started to melt, too.
It looked like not many would survive the aftermath of this explosion. I was feeling strong effects since I was closer to Hope than anybody else.
It seemed like I was in danger as well.
Yoo Eunhye saw the white flash from a distance.
“His Majesty will be safe,” Oswen assured Yoo Eunhye.
They were moving on the back of the white tiger. They had been running half of the day to escape from the explosion.
“I’m not feeling good about this. Can’t we go back?” Yoo Eunhye asked.
“His Majesty wanted me to bring you to a safe place. I have to follow his order,” Oswen gently explained.
Although he was an awful-looking monster now, he used to be a human. He was a blacksmith with great skills. Unfortunately, he became like this because of the Hell Lord. Even so, his human mind was still intact.
“Anyway, you are a really stupid lady. Why did you come back? I appreciate that you brought His Majesty back, but you are just a mere human.”
“He told me that he is the hope of humanity, so I came back to check if he really is,” Yoo Eunhye revealed without hesitation.
Oswen didn’t respond. Then he spoke again, “And what did you find out? Is he really the hope of humanity?”
“Yes, I think so. He…is the last and only hope of humanity, although nobody will believe that.”
“I see. You will be the only human who thinks that way even after knowing his true identity. Then, what do you plan to do now?”
“I don’t know. Everything is confusing right now. I just feel sorry for him. He is surrounded by enemies.”
Yoo Eunhye sympathized with the man. She didn’t know why, but she just felt sorry for him. Oswen was absurd. He thought Yoo Eunhye was crazy.
“Then why don’t you be with His Majesty?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Stamp your seal on the slave document,” Oswen suggested. “Then, His Majesty will fully trust you.”
Oswen knew Randalf Bruciel would only trust someone who would enter into a contract with him. It was because he could be sure that way.
“I see. I will do it,” Yoo Eunhye decided.
“You will regret it.”
“I think I can help him make the world a better place. He would be able to get closer with others, too.”
“Ha! That is a great idea, though I find it a little bizarre.” Oswen was astonished.
Yoo Eunhye barely smiled. “Will he be okay?”
“Just trust him,” Oswen simply replied.
Silence ensued between the two. Soon, the explosion ceased, and the white light began to dissipate from a distance.