The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 429

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[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 429

Somewhere in this place.

Or not far from here, there absolutely existed either Elraim herself or the center where she was manifesting her ritual.

My objective was to stop that, and drag the rampaging Spirit King back to the lake.

That much was the contract.

Honestly, as the guardian of the Bata Kingdom, getting involved in outside affairs wasn’t something I particularly welcomed, but what else could I do.

It was a promise with Sylphid.

And the fact that this place happened to be the empire of Emperor Credos, who had been favorable toward me, also played a part.

In truth, that was one of the reasons I accepted Algran Tevne’s request as well.

I could leave a debt to the Star, and it felt awkward to just ignore Eltemion, who had treated me kindly.

Along the way, I ended up meeting far more people than expected.

Most of them were being chased by spirits with bloodshot eyes.

The majority were mid-tier spirits.

Mid-tier spirits.

They were the kind most talented spiritists formed contracts with.

They possessed considerable strength, but compared to master-class powerhouses, they were pitifully weak.

Which was why many of the spiritists caught up in this situation were capable of dealing with attacks from mid-tier spirits.

But.

As the saying goes, numbers overwhelm.

The spirits’ assault—recovering rapidly through the Spirit King’s power and continuing to attack—was enough to make even seasoned spiritists recoil in terror.

Still, Spirit King Elraim showed absolutely no intention of killing the humans trapped here quickly.

To begin with, if she truly wanted to, Spirit King Elraim possessed enough power to instantly reduce this entire Spirit Corridor to ruin and extract all the energy she desired.

Azure Star Algran Tevne?

Even someone who wielded high-tier spirits would have no means to stop a Spirit King itself if it went berserk.

The difference in raw power was one issue, but the hierarchy she possessed was fatal to spiritists.

Yet aside from me—the variable—she was merely pressuring everyone else enough to force out their strength, choosing instead to absorb the spirit mana that leaked from them.

The flow of energy visible to my eyes surged violently every time spiritists summoned spirits to respond, causing massive consumption of spirit mana.

Unless they were fools, the humans here must have noticed something strange.

Eventually, the moment one exhausted spiritist let out a scream, the mid-tier spirits released overwhelming killing intent and rushed to attack the weakest first.

“Damn! Syria!”

At the same time as a panicked man shouted, a water spirit tried to leave a wound on her with a sharply honed pressure cutter—

“Sur.”

With my voice, the tiny chick that had leapt into the air spread its wings.

TUUUUUUUNG!!!!

At once, a colorless, formless shockwave exploded outward in a fan shape centered on Sur, overturning the ground and violently flinging all the spirits away.

“Y-you are…….”

“Run west from here without looking back. Azure Star elder is evacuating survivors.”

“A-Azure Star elder…….”

The name alone clearly carried weight, judging by their stunned expressions.

After that, I asked the man among them who seemed the calmest.

“Have you seen any place where spirits are moving unusually in large numbers?”

He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“I’m not certain, but… there was a region north of where we escaped from that even the spirits didn’t approach.”

“Thank you.”

“W-wait?! Where are you going?!”

They tried to stop me in confusion, but I had already moved away, leaving them behind.

Since the offensive had paused once, they should be able to reach a safe zone without issue.

Of course, there was no true safe zone inside this space.

If Elraim wished it, catastrophe could happen at any time.

[Azure Star Algran Tevne’s request remains.]

“If I see him on the way.”

I had agreed to help him, but he didn’t know exactly how little time we had.

Even I only had a rough sense—nothing certain—so resolving the situation quickly was better than wasting time searching aimlessly.

After heading north for quite a while—

Suddenly, I felt something thin brush past my entire body.

It was a strange, muffled sensation, like diving into water.

Thung…… thung…….

When I reached out toward the direction I had just come from, a formless wall blocked my way as if sealing off my retreat.

Soon mist surged around me, and the scenery changed.

When the fog cleared, what appeared was a vast snowfield boasting extreme cold.

The endlessly spread snowy plain was enough to make me question whether this was an entirely different space.

“Interesting. It’s not a different space though.”

Considering the original size of this area, this scale made no sense, yet it felt undeniably real.

Crunch… crunch.

I walked forward, stepping through the snow.

Extreme cold wrapped around me, but Sur perched on my shoulder was a spirit of heat born after absorbing the power of Cthugha, who wielded scorching heat.

Depending on how heat was manipulated, it could produce either extreme flame or ultra-low cold.

“Thanks, Sur.”

My body already possessed extreme resistance to both heat and cold, so it didn’t really matter, but I couldn’t ignore the way it looked at me as if waiting for praise.

—Piik!

Seeing it puff out its chest proudly was absurdly funny.

“The ritual core seems obvious enough. Let’s go take a look.”

This place might as well have been a virtual space created from mental imagery.

I didn’t know why the Spirit King had based it on memories of such a snowfield, but what mattered was that this was the place she remembered when manifesting the ritual.

Before long, something began to appear beyond the snow.

“Oh… Frozen Elk? I heard they were extinct.”

Unlike ordinary elk, they were violent, predatory creatures that mainly consumed meat, but due to their extremely delicious meat, they had been hunted indiscriminately in the past and were said to have gone extinct.

They looked severely starved, as if they hadn’t eaten in ages.

Which meant—

The moment they saw me, their eyes would go wild.

Of course, these things were probably fake.

[They are not fake. This is reality being created by a specific space.]

The Librarian refuted me then.

“Reality?”

[Correct. Based on the current situation, it appears the Spirit King is manifesting the world from her memories into reality.]

That made no sense.

Reviving extinct lifeforms?

I walked calmly toward the approaching Frozen Elks.

The spirits around me tried to move under the pressure of the predators, but I stopped them and continued forward.

—Grrrraaagh!!

With their characteristic bizarre cry, one charged powerfully and bit into my shoulder with sturdy fangs.

It looked like it intended to shake me around and throw me, but my feet didn’t leave the snow even a little.

—Grragh!

It flinched back in confusion.

“It’s real. How is this possible?”

[It is presumed that Frozen Elks are lifeforms born through a structure different from other animals.]

“A different structure?”

It was my first time seeing one in person, so I grabbed one and manifested the Heart of the Machine God.

And then I realized.

“You guys… you’re a case similar to spirit beasts, huh?”

A new fact, discovered rather late.

Regardless, my original objective mattered more than these resurrected Frozen Elks.

So I snapped the neck of the nearest one.

—Grrrraaagh!!

The rest immediately retreated in tension and fled in an instant.

What was interesting was that since entering this space, I hadn’t seen a single spirit.

“Where did they all go?”

Come to think of it, they had said even high-tier spirits didn’t come near this place.

I thought it was simply because of the ritual core, but that wasn’t it.

Even high-tier spirits couldn’t enter, afraid of getting trapped.

“Librarian. Any analysis?”

[Based on current observations, this space is gradually expanding in scale through a special power. If predictions are correct, once the ritual completes, not only the Spirit Corridor but also a vast surrounding region may be covered entirely by this snowfield.]

Emperor Credos’s Boscal Empire had no snowfields.

Yet not only was a snowfield forming—it was clear this wasn’t an ordinary one.

“You know… I keep feeling this. It doesn’t seem like a normal natural landscape.”

[That is highly possible.]

On the surface it looked normal, but my instincts told me that if this appeared on the Lazarus Continent, something extremely serious would happen.

Then it happened.

I reflexively stretched out a hand and caught an arrow flying toward me.

Judging by its size, either it was originally tiny or the bow itself was small.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

When I turned my head, I saw something strange between the frozen trees.

“Goblin?”

It was small—about goblin size.

But unlike goblins, it moved with remarkable agility, and its posture wasn’t hunched.

“Is that… a cloak?”

They were entirely covered in something like cloaks, making it impossible to see their bodies or faces.

But upon closer inspection, one fact became clear.

That wasn’t a cloak—it was a bodily organ.

In simpler terms, fur.

Had there ever been a creature whose fur grew like that?

The fur was long and flowed in a way that made it look like a cloak—an oddly fascinating sight.

I had seen similar creatures in Labyrinthos, but those had much shorter fur.

Soon they aimed their tiny bows at me again and nocked arrows.

As if determined to kill me.

I snapped the arrow in my hand and moved to approach them—

KWAANG!!!

If not for the fireball that suddenly shot toward them in an instant.

“Got it! Hit!”

The small creatures that had been aiming at me scattered quickly, as if by prior agreement.

Their behavior was similar too.

“Could they… be the same species?”

I thought that for a moment.

Then someone spoke toward me.

“What the hell. It’s that half-baked spiritist from the Belmud family. Why are you here?”

“Corison Corison Jackper. Do you have some illness where you can’t survive without insulting others?”

At the sharp retort, the man at the front clicked his tongue.

“Shut up, Lerban Code. A wounded guy shouldn’t butt in.”

“You son of a—.”

Grinding his teeth in rage, the man winced in pain soon after.

“Don’t fall for pointless provocation. Just ignore him.”

The woman supporting Lerban spoke flatly.

Behena Mobierty, was it?

Only then did I fully recognize who they were.

One thug from the Jackper family who looked completely ill-mannered.

Lady Behena Mobierty of the Mobierty family.

Lerban Code, who had been clashing with Corison since the bamboo forest.

And finally, Eltemion Rubakara, the grandson of the Azure Star.

There were a few more men and women, but all were unfamiliar faces.

They looked like spiritists barely holding onto consciousness.

Used to this environment, they guided me beneath a rocky terrain where ambushes were difficult, blocking the biting wind.

Then they gathered nearby branches, dried them, and lit a fire.

The faint heat naturally couldn’t ward off all the cold.

Their faces were red from freezing temperatures.

“Seriously… I’m so sick of this damn cold.”

“It’s awful… I want to rest… I want to wash….”

One female spiritist muttered gloomily.

Apparently, they had been trapped here for several days.

I heard two or three had already died from the cold.

They survived by hunting animals here, including Frozen Elks, layering their hides to endure the cold.

One might think fire spirits solved the issue, but they couldn’t use spirit power endlessly—and they were struggling greatly with spirit control in this place.

Watching them forced into an unwanted survival scenario was pitiful enough to make me shake my head.

I wanted to send them out since they would die if left alone, but while entering this space from outside was possible, leaving it now was nearly impossible.

I had come searching for the core of the ritual magic Elemental Law, only to end up stranded.

Ridiculous—but it also gave me certainty.

This snowfield was the center of the backlash created by Elemental Law’s core.

In simple terms, the ritual’s central control core existed somewhere inside this snowfield.

“What about the spirits?”

“We hardly see the water spirits that attacked us outside once we’re here. That’s at least one good thing.”

It seemed even Elraim and her spirits avoided entering because once caught here, escaping wouldn’t be easy.

In other words, she had no way to interfere until I destroyed the core.

Someone muttered in despair.

“Damn it… the cold’s getting worse than expected… at this rate we’ll all freeze to death.”

According to Eltemion, a massive blizzard came periodically.

However, the core would briefly appear only at the moment the blizzard ended before disappearing again, so they had been waiting for a blizzard to pass in order to approach it.

But that required enduring extreme cold and securing enough food to survive through the storm.

The cold wasn’t a big deal for me, but for them it was a matter of survival.

And then—

“Damn it… a blizzard!!! The blizzard’s already starting!”

With a desperate shout, a massive snowstorm could be seen approaching from beyond the snowfield.

Faced with such a horrifying natural disaster, they frantically began commanding spirits to dig into the ground.

“Damn it! It’s much faster than expected! Hurry! If we stay out here, we’ll freeze solid!”

Those controlling earth spirits struggled to dig, but for some reason they couldn’t control them properly.

“Use more power!”

“It’s no good! You know spirit magic barely works here, Young Lady!”

The man controlling earth spirits shouted urgently at Behena’s cry.

“Hard to use spirit magic?”

At my question, Eltemion answered while commanding a mid-tier earth spirit to dig.

His expression wasn’t good either.

“Yeah. Ever since we came in here, the spirit mana we send to spirits keeps slipping out of control.”

Spirits that didn’t receive proper power couldn’t exert strength.

“Damn it! Instead of saving useless trash, we should’ve prepared for the blizzard!!”

Corison Jackper shouted irritably, berating the earth spiritists.

“Dig faster, you bastards! I don’t plan on dying yet!”

As he raged, several strands of his hair began blowing away.

Oh.

The curse was already starting to work.

The reason I was leaving him alive was simple—I couldn’t kill him.

He had to live so I could see the gift I planted on his head and forehead take effect.

“Shut your mouth, Corison!”

Amid the escalating panic, I sorted the situation in my head.

Within the space of Elemental Law, powers other than spirit magic were heavily suppressed.

On top of that, this place even interfered with ordinary spirit arts.

Yet I felt none of that.

The reason was simple.

The density of spirit mana here was so thick that to them it felt as though spirit arts were being obstructed.

Simply put—it was a difference in experience.

From their perspective, this was the worst possible environment.

Watching the rapidly approaching blizzard, I spoke calmly.

“Grivy.”

At my call, Grivy was summoned, and the surrounding earth began to shake.

KUUUNG!!!!

At the same time, a massive earthen wall rose, surrounding us like a giant igloo.

To the spiritists struggling with failing spirit magic, it probably looked like they had suddenly succeeded.

“It worked!!”

“Damn it! Finally!”

While they cheered in relief, I stroked Grivy’s head.

Grivy giggled and leapt into my arms.

I hadn’t intended to hide it, but Grivy seemed to enjoy sneaking up like tapping a friend’s back—handling things in a very covert way.

Still, some of them noticed my actions.

“You… how…?”

Behena Mobierty stared at me with wide eyes.

It wasn’t like I was deliberately hiding anything, and Grivy’s playful stealth had left plenty of room to notice.

“How can you use spirit magic like this under such restrictions…?”

“There are no restrictions.”

The same goes for you.

At my explanation, she looked at Grivy and me with fascination.

“A mutant spirit… I see. Since their structure differs from normal spirits, the special restrictions of this space don’t apply to you.”

I didn’t bother correcting her misunderstanding.

“Fire spiritists!! Make the fire bigger! The temperature’s dropping—”

“Sur. 25 degrees.”

The moment I muttered that, the brave little chick flapped its wings and flew into the air.

The biting cold air changed instantly, warming rapidly.

Sur wasn’t merely using flames like a fire spirit.

It controlled heat itself, having been born from consuming the heat of the Outer God’s subordinate, Cthugha.

Temperature control?

Raw, direct temperature manipulation was absurdly simple for Sur.

“Huh?”

“Heat? Is this possible through spirit power?”

“What is going on…?”

Watching them stare blankly in confusion, I asked:

“How long does the blizzard last?”

They answered, still dazed.

“The last one lasted about a day.”

“Then we’ll have to wait a day.”

We could only approach the ritual core after the blizzard passed.

Being unable to see my beloved daughter Elpiria for another day stung, but I endured it.

When I turned my gaze toward Eltemion, he burst out laughing.

“Ahahaha!! Amazing, just as I thought! My eyes weren’t wrong!”

“How fascinating. To think mutant spirits could display such extraordinary power in a situation like this.”

They seemed convinced my spirits were mutants that just happened to function well under special conditions.

Still, since I had helped them, the spiritists gathered around me.

All except one.

Corison Jackper watched me with blatant jealousy.

I wondered if I should beat him as promised to Azure Star—but decided against it.

In my experience, mad dogs like that would eventually come to bite on their own if left alone.

If it were just the two of us, there’d be no need to care about justification anyway.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]