The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 361

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Chapter 361

Dagon’s massive body lost its life force and drooped heavily.

Looking at its corpse, a thought crossed my mind.

‘Can I raise this one as an undead too?’

With that thought, I stretched my hand toward the corpse and drew forth necromantic mana.

[Wraithification]

An amount of necromantic power incomparable to anything before surged out, causing the surrounding air to tremble.

‘Oh. It works.’

Just in sheer size alone, it was larger than Nessie.

Of course, this wasn’t Dagon’s true size—this was merely the fragment it projected here.

The wraithified Dagon looked nearly identical to its living form.

A fish-man torso with a massive serpent-like tail.

I could clearly sense strength comparable to a dragon lord like Baril, but surprisingly, that was all.

“What? This thing is way weaker than it should be?”

It felt like its original specs had been deflated—same as the Nemesis I wraithified at the Outer Boundary.

There was only one situation in which something’s strength was reduced this drastically,

Dagon’s actual power was far weaker than expected.

Even after dying, the oppressive pressure that suffocated the surroundings still remained.

“Then Dagon wasn’t the real problem?”

[A massive energy fluctuation has been detected inside R’lyeh.]

‘So that’s how it is.’

The power Dagon used wasn’t Dagon’s own.

Because it had taken over R’lyeh, it was simply wielding the power of the space itself.

Perhaps that “Sea of Screams” I saw earlier was the same phenomenon.

Now that its master was gone, the space had begun to run wild.

I couldn’t immediately do anything about R’lyeh.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a space with a will—it wouldn’t attack anything on its own.

Following the trail of the elementals I had sent out earlier, I quickly crossed the ruined city.

When I finally reached their location—

“Kyahahahahahah!!”

Grivy was laughing joyfully and hopping around while fish-shaped monsters were being stomped into paste beneath her feet.

[Deep Ones confirmed. With Dagon’s death, they appear to be without control.]

Deep Ones weren’t particularly threatening.

Sur trudged forward bravely, opened its jaws, and with a roar released heat so intense it evaporated all moisture around, incinerating the monsters into charcoal. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Serqet, meanwhile, was near the princess of Baltosma, lazily melting anything that approached into nothing but poisonous sludge.

Kids really do have ridiculous stamina…

Seeing Grivy’s energetic sprinting, I decided to let her play a bit more.

If I didn’t let her burn off that energy now, she’d be even harder to deal with later.

Arsha, who had slowly begun to grow out of her childish phase, often complained of fatigue after playing with Grivy.

Ordinary children are said to have limitless stamina—but Grivy far surpassed them.

“L-Lord… that monster…”

“It’s dead. What about the thing we were looking for?”

“That way…”

Where she pointed, a blue sun floated.

Like a flare burning, blue streaks of light rippled around the giant sphere.

But it wasn’t fire.

It was a massive lump of energy, and I could sense numerous life forces within it.

Just as I was about to interfere with it—

—Stop. Do you intend to kill them all?

“What the hell?”

—I am Archangel Uriel, the one who delivers the decrees of the Almighty.

A voice filled with authority—unlike Luna, Lispa, or Gabriel.

Now that I thought about it, Uriel was one of the archangels Lispa most wanted to kill.

He was one of the three who slew the demon she wanted to save—Michael, Raguel, and Uriel.

“So what?”

His irritating tone did not inspire politeness.

—Dagon’s death has been confirmed. Was it your doing?

“Of course he died.”

—This space was created not by Dagon’s power, but by R’lyeh itself. Unless you first subdue the rampaging R’lyeh, it is impossible to physically open this place.

Coming from the angel in charge of divine knowledge, his claim wasn’t unbelievable.

“So you're telling me to subdue R’lyeh? How?”

—R’lyeh cannot be controlled by humans. But R’lyeh requires a master. Only the master of R’lyeh can control it.

So basically, all I need is Dagon?

I quickly summoned necromantic mana.

“Dagon.”

At my command, the undead Dagon slowly emerged from the shadows, its mind vacant.

“Can you control R’lyeh?”

The undead Dagon shook its head.

—You made Dagon into an undead… you meddle in forbidden arts.

“You. Shut up.”

So turning him undead removed his authority as R’lyeh’s master.

Expected, but still annoying.

—There is one more way.

“What?”

—There is a single being here who is connected to both inside and outside this space.

My gaze turned to the princess of Baltosma.

—Sacrifice her. By releasing her soul from her body, I can force open a momentary gap between the realms.

I narrowed my eyes.

“You’re telling me to sacrifice a person?”

—What is the issue? There are countless lives still trapped within this place. One measly human life in exchange for preserving thousands—and maintaining the existence of an archangel—is entirely rational—

“Now I understand why Luna and Lispa hate you angels.”

Their entire worldview was utilitarian.

If sacrificing one life saved many, they saw no issue.

Luna and Lispa loathed that ideology.

Angels, however, embraced it.

“I’ll ask you something, Uriel.”

—Speak.

“If killing you would save more people… would you sacrifice yourself?”

—Clarify the subject of the question. What kinds of beings would be saved? What potential changes—

“Ah forget it. I’ve heard enough.”

I made my decision.

“You want me to sacrifice the princess?”

—It is the only viable method.

Though Uriel’s figure was unseen, it didn’t matter.

“Fuck off. You’re giving me the one thing I hate most in the world—the trolley dilemma.”

If a train is rushing toward two tracks with hostages on each track and I have to choose one?

Then I’ll destroy the damn train and save both.

—Foolish mortal… hm? It seems R’lyeh has chosen a new master.

At that moment—

BOOM!!

Far away, a colossal fish-man began rising.

Easily over fifty meters tall.

Even in this radiant underwater city, the sight of such a giant felt surreal.

The Baltosma princess’s eyes widened—not in fear, but in despair.

“No!! Brother!!”

She tried to run toward the giant, but I seized her by the collar.

“No! You promised!! You promised you wouldn’t die!! You said you’d live a long life!!”

That gigantic fish-man…

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He was her brother—the prince of Baltosma—devoured and transformed beyond recognition.

Her resistance was meaningless before my strength.

“No! It can’t be!!”

Perhaps she’d held onto hope that he might still be alive.

Her expression broke the hearts of those watching.

‘Another unlucky Cascadia situation…’

The giant fish-man didn’t attack; it simply scanned its surroundings and then began to march toward the blue sphere.

Its destination was obvious.

The sphere holding the people Dagon had swallowed.

The giant crushed everything in its path as it approached.

—You must stop it. A transformed entity has no mind. It is merely a discarded puppet that obeys Dagon’s last commands. It intends to destroy the sphere.

“If it destroys it, will the people inside die?”

—They will.

“Then will killing it fix anything?”

—Unlikely.

So killing it offered no benefit—but letting it destroy the sphere meant casualties.

It made no effort to protect itself; it didn’t care about its own survival.

Was this thing even alive?

As it approached, I told the princess.

“Get a hold of yourself. I get it… but he’s not human anymore.”

“N-no… no…”

Her reason screamed one thing, but her emotions rejected it entirely.

With R’lyeh’s power flooding into it, the creature grew rapidly stronger.

But it was still early—and I had fully broken through to next realm.

SLASH!! RIP!!

Formless sword energy rewrote the laws of space, slicing the giant’s body.

A barrier of R’lyeh’s power rose to protect it, but my strike ignored the barrier entirely and cut only the flesh.

Its massive arm fell to the ground, and it roared in pain.

It had strong regeneration, but the part cut by my sword wouldn’t regenerate.

Even so, it continued crawling toward the sphere.

—To exert such power within R’lyeh’s laws… impressive.

I ignored Uriel and prepared another strike.

But R’lyeh’s resistance made accurate targeting difficult.

And the princess’s grief didn’t help.

[Your power is unstable. Overexertion may cause backlash. Rest is recommended.]

The biggest problem.

Cutting through the bottleneck and using advanced techniques consecutively was taxing.

More blows landed, severing both legs.

Even so, the creature dragged itself forward with its remaining arm.

“Tch.”

I calmed my breathing and gathered aura for the finishing blow.

As I swung toward its neck—

Its eyes met mine.

My aura scattered.

My sword’s energy dissipated.

—What are you doing!?

For the first time, Uriel sounded genuinely panicked.

Just moments ago I had been blocking the creature—now I wasn’t.

He didn’t understand.

—If it reaches that sphere, it’s all over! Stop it!

But I kept my eyes on the creature.

And then—

Its hand touched the sphere.

—Foolish—!?

Uriel shouted, but I ignored him.

A voice linked to me for a brief instant.

‘Please…’

In that moment—

BOOOOM!!

Contrary to expectations, the giant did not destroy the sphere.

It gently grabbed it.

Then, from its colossal mouth, a soft whisper resonated.

A soundless language.

But the message reached my soul.

‘Stay alive… my beloved sister. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.’

Then—

Its body disintegrated into dust.

R’lyeh’s energy streams began to thrash violently.

CRACK!! SNAP!!

The sphere fractured on its own, and burst open.

People flew out—unconscious Rebecca, the true body of the Baltosma princess, and a handful of others swept up in the capital’s destruction.

Though countless had been devoured, only a few survived.

Should I feel sorrow for those lost?

Or relief for those saved?

And among the survivors—

The strongest presence burst forth.

Archangel Uriel emerged with three pairs of wings and immediately pointed a blade of light at my neck.

—Foolish mortal. Why did you choose that path?

“He didn’t come to kill anyone. He came to save his sister. Her real body was trapped in that sphere. He created a miracle to save her.”

Uriel glared coldly.

—Impossible. A creature turned monster has no remaining reason.

“What’s so strange about a miracle? You’re an archangel, yet you deny miracles? Really?”

Uriel frowned.

—Miracles are solely the will of God. Only the Almighty—

“I’m not an expert in theology, but isn’t that wrong?”

A miracle is when someone’s deep, desperate wish manifests in a phenomenon beyond their own power.

If a god intervenes directly, it’s not a miracle.

“A heavenly scholar who's completely narrow-minded, huh?”

—I speak because I know it cannot happen, mortal.

He kept calling me mortal.

Annoying bastard.

“Look at the result. The prince saved his sister—and everyone else.”

Even killing the giant wouldn't have freed the sphere.

But holding on to the faintest thread of consciousness, the transformed prince used his authority as R’lyeh’s new master to free them.

“That fact isn’t changing.”

The princess wept loudly, holding her brother’s now human-shaped corpse.

And then—

Something strange began happening inside me.

“What the…?”

—No! R’lyeh is designating YOU as its new master! Detach it immediately! A mortal cannot withstand—

[Special Space: R’lyeh is completely binding to you. You may control all phenomena within R’lyeh.]

This space—whose master could alter anything—was the reason Dagon was so powerful.

‘Can I take R’lyeh back and use it in Cascadia?’

[Due to R’lyeh’s nature, you may manifest it as a massive floating island if desired.]

So Dagon sank it deep underwater and used it as his personal pantry, huh?

I turned to the stunned Uriel.

“It works.”

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