The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 385

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Chapter 385

The woman wearing the pure white mask slowly raised her hand.

At a glance, the movement looked sluggish—so slow that it hardly felt threatening.

That was how it had seemed back then too.

The first time I met her in the Labyrinthos, I had thought, Is this some kind of break time?

And then I died instantly.

Even so, I wasn’t particularly tense.

Utopia’s abilities were certainly overwhelming, but I didn’t feel that blood-freezing dread I’d felt back in the Labyrinthos.

Was it because I’d grown numb since then?

Or because the situation itself was completely different now?

Either way, it didn’t matter.

I would control things just enough so that Utopia’s illusion wouldn’t collapse…

Surprisingly, she struck first.

The moment her fingertip lazily pointed toward me, the space around her began to melt. From the liquefied mana, twisted, distorted magic erupted outward.

Eight shots.

I snapped my fingers, immediately moving the black necromantic mana rippling at my feet.

Necromancy infused with the Authority of Death surged up around me like armored plating intercepting incoming bullets, colliding with her attack and canceling it out before vanishing.

The Authority of Death really is absurd.

Normally, blocking a single one of those attacks would require stacking the same spell eight times.

But simply because the Authority of Death was mixed in, I gained the upper hand in the power struggle.

Of course, both of us knew this was nothing more than a light warm-up.

She had far more powerful attacks than this, and my own attacks would almost certainly be blocked at a high rate.

Honestly, if I had used a sword or some other power, this wouldn’t have been so troublesome.

She wasn’t called the Calamity of Mages for nothing.

The moment her first attack was blocked, she launched another.

From the melting mana, grotesquely twisted spell-like projectiles continued to fly at me like bullets.

I calmly blocked every single one with walls of necromantic mana.

Then I slowly swept my free hand through the air.

BANG!!

[7th Circle Lightning Magic]

[Astrape]

The lightning streams drifting around me surged forward, and the 7th-circle lightning spell Astrape threaded its way through the gaps in her attacks and shot toward her.

Astrape was one of my greatest specialty spells.

Though it was “only” a high-tier 7th circle spell, I could confidently say that in terms of operational efficiency, it surpassed almost any other magic I knew.

Crackle!! Crackle!!

Each bolt of Astrape carried ultra-high-temperature, ultra-high-pressure currents capable of scorching entire areas.

Yet the moment they reached her vicinity, the lightning warped, twisted, and melted away as if dissolving.

Still, the number of bolts flying toward her didn’t decrease.

Just as she attacked relentlessly, I continued to assault her without pause.

SHAAK!!

And then—within barely ten seconds—dozens of Astrape bolts finally slipped through a gap in her defense, lightly scorching the sleeve of her robe before vanishing.

Should I be proud that, while pushing my body into overload, I at least managed to burn her sleeve?

Or should I be horrified that even after unleashing magic on this scale, her unique power continued to melt and erase every spell and every trace of mana that approached her?

[8th Circle Lightning Magic]

[Keraunos]

Lightning spears materialized around me.

Beside Astrape, even more powerful lightning lances began to form.

KRAAASH!!

Perhaps because she had handled Astrape so effortlessly, she also rapidly melted and vaporized the higher-tier lightning magic.

From my memories, unless it was 9th-circle magic, there was simply no way to inflict meaningful damage on her.

And it wasn’t that 9th-circle magic “worked” on her in a simple sense.

It was more like a character in a game unlocking a passive skill upon changing classes.

Only upon reaching the 9th circle did a completely different level of operational capacity become available.

Dozens of projectiles collided, canceled each other out, and scattered.

‘If it weren’t for the Authority of Death, I couldn’t pull this off.’

Through repeated collisions, my attacks began to accumulate microscopic damage on her defense.

Meanwhile, even a single missed attack from her would be fatal—so I couldn’t afford even one mistake.

The burden on my physical body grew heavier and heavier.

“Cough.”

Blood spilled from my mouth as internal injuries accumulated—but I smiled.

Yes.

This feeling.

This was it.

This sensation of my body being pushed and reinforced.

Is this how gym rats feel when they go crazy over lifting iron?

[Experiencing pain for pleasure is not a recommended hobby.]

“Shut up, you scrap heap.”

[Confirmed.]

It’s not like I enjoy getting hit.

Still, we couldn’t remain in a stalemate forever, so I prepared another approach.

Behind the continuously charging Astrape and Keraunos, the black necromantic mana at my feet began to writhe and swell.

Her power to melt mana rendered her nearly invincible against magic—but it wasn’t an absolute law.

Simultaneously wielding necromancy and elemental magic was inefficient.

So one would be defense, one offense.

If one prepared large-scale magic, the other would intercept.

This approach was impossible in the Labyrinthos, but my current state required a different calibration.

As a black swamp of mana spread outward from beneath my feet, her attacks grew even fiercer.

This time, I met them by infusing lightning magic with the Authority of Death and firing back.

“…Unbelievable. Using magic like this and the mana consumption is still—”

I didn’t have much experience firing spells this way in practice, but as my total mana capacity increased, the natural recovery rate far exceeded my expectations.

While blocking her attacks with a barrage of lightning spears, I snapped my fingers once more.

RUMBLE—CRACK!!

The ground around her distorted, the earth warping and pressing inward from both sides as if trying to crush her.

FSSSSSH!!

Most of the attack melted away before reaching her—but earth magic wasn’t merely “magic.”

It used the earth itself.

Her power corroded and dissolved mana.

Once the mana was gone, the earth magic lost its form—but the physical debris left behind remained.

Chunks of soil and stone began piling up around her.

And when it reached a critical point—

SNAP!

I locked my middle finger and thumb together and snapped hard.

With her vision obscured by piled debris, she couldn’t fully react.

The superheated, compressed air twisted and expanded in an instant, detonating outward and producing a massive shockwave that engulfed her entire surroundings.

Even then, the masked woman wasn’t seriously injured.

But her attacks stopped for a brief moment—and I slowly raised the hand that had been controlling the necromantic mana.

Every region except her immediate territory had already been swallowed by the black mana swamp.

[8th Circle Necromancy]

[Gate of the Dead]

When attacking, I didn’t use the Authority of Death.

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I wasn’t fighting simply to defeat her—I was pushing myself into an extreme, full-contact clash.

That was why I had deliberately limited the battle conditions to elemental and necromantic magic.

From the writhing necromantic swamp beneath my feet, deathly currents surged forth.

At the same time, grotesque hook-chains flew in from all directions, stabbing toward her body.

HISSSSS!!

The spells melted at terrifying speed—but I could see it clearly.

I was slowly forcing her back.

Of course, my own magic was also being corroded and erased.

I couldn’t deal decisive damage like this.

Which was why I finally revealed the last card I’d been holding.

[Overcharge (Realm Overload)]

The circles of necromancy twisted as their output forcibly rose one level beyond their original limits.

The existing eight circles warped and began spinning at tremendous speed, and a newly fabricated virtual ring resonated around my heart, flooding the space with its presence.

[Spiritual Magic]

[Soul Rain]

Drip… dripdrip… drdrdrdrip!!

Green-tinged droplets began pouring down across the entire area like rainfall.

They looked like ordinary rain—but every single drop was an attack spell, imbued with power that shaved away the target’s soul and denied their very existence.

[Spiritual Magic]

[The Name That Calls the Dead]

Behind the ceaseless rain, the sky split open with a CRACK, and dozens of eerie eyes opened, staring directly at her.

This wasn’t mere observation—it was the essence of necromantic magic, shaking the target’s soul itself.

Even with her ability to melt mana, magic of this category eroded far more slowly than ordinary spells.

Faced with an overwhelming increase in attack frequency, her body staggered violently.

Then she dropped to one knee.

‘She’s collapsing here?’

Compared to the Labyrinthos, she wasn’t showing nearly the same resilience.

Unable to endure any longer, the masked woman was crushed by the surge of necromantic mana, her body pierced through—

—and then she shattered into particles of light.

“…Huh. That’s disappointing.”

The woman I met in the Labyrinthos wouldn’t have fallen to something like this.

But any greater clash of power would have exceeded what Utopia could endure, so she vanished instead.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never once seen what’s behind that mask.”

She always died before it broke.

The illusionary space began to crumble, and the original scenery returned.

The hemispherical barrier spell still held firm.

Melissa was crouched in one corner, screaming. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Ashuria, meanwhile, curiously examined the sphere, turning it over in her hands.

“Fascinating structure. This configuration gives it incredible resistance to impact.”

It seemed that, with time having passed, another page from Melissa’s sealed diary had been read aloud through the linked playback device.

Seeing Melissa sobbing in the corner was pitiful enough to sting.

So I spoke to her.

“Melissa.”

“……”

“Melissa.”

When I called her again, she glared at me with tear-soaked eyes.

Looking at her, a sense of heaviness settled in my chest.

‘Did I enjoy her suffering a bit too much?’

Feeling guilty, I comforted her in my own way.

“What are you doing? There are still pages left—no time to rest.”

Hatred and venom flared in her eyes.

Two days later, Melissa and Ashuria managed to crack the barrier spell.

Honestly, I’d thought it would be impossible even after three days.

Maybe her desperate determination to prevent any more dark-history revelations pushed her past her limits.

Or maybe my own body, pushed too hard, began destabilizing the spell’s structural formation.

Either way, it was a significant result.

My body, repeatedly breaking and regenerating, adapted at a terrifying speed—

—and finally prepared itself to form the ninth circle.

* * *

To break the barrier spell, Melissa and Ashuria had no choice but to recognize their shortcomings and compensate for them.

The results were still modest, but they themselves felt it clearly.

The real issue lay elsewhere.

“Leon. If you need to fight a strong opponent, want me to help?”

As I lay with my head resting on Luna’s thigh, my ear pressed against her belly, she stroked my hair and asked.

“…That’s a bit much.”

No matter how you looked at it, attacking your pregnant wife—even in a spar—was insanity.

At my refusal, Luna pouted in disappointment.

“The problem is that most people are awkwardly in-between.”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

There hadn’t been a chain of disasters lately, nor any active enemies.

So if I wanted strong opponents, I’d have to go looking for them…

As I was pondering that, Grivy scampered into the room holding a letter.

Behind her followed the brave chick Sur, the inscrutable otter-like Serqet—

—and, astonishingly, Radon, the golden monster and ancient being who rarely left Arsha’s side.

Grivy’s affinity seemed capable of charming even ancient magical beasts.

“Father! A letter!”

I patted her head and took it.

She hopped onto the bed, pressed her ear against Luna’s belly, and burst into giggles.

“The baby’s excited!”

I had no idea how spirit perception worked.

The letter was from Boscal.

I’d assumed he was busy dealing with the specters after Emperor Credos’s departure—maybe it was just a status update?

But the moment I opened it, I realized just how fast-acting the man was.

“…Conditions for receiving a Star Title. Either obtain approval from a majority of current Star Title holders through duels, or receive unanimous approval in council. Alternatively, accomplish three continent-recognized achievements.”

I snorted as I read.

It seemed that the Star Title Credos had jokingly mentioned was now officially in motion.

Judging by the letter, unanimous council approval was impossible, and continent-level achievements were too ambiguous, so the matter had been postponed.

However, the emperor’s proposal authority still applied—leaving one final method.

Those who currently held Star Titles.

Sword Saint.

Spear Saint.

Light Saint.

Fist Saint.

Bow Saint.

A lineup of absurd monsters.

Prove one’s ability by dueling them directly.

The condition probably wasn’t victory—just demonstrating sufficient capability.

Honestly, I wasn’t interested.

A Star Title would bring nothing but burden.

But—

“…Might as well squeeze some benefit out of it.”

“Planning to really clash with them?”

“It’s about time I did.”

I stood up.

I didn’t care about the title itself.

But if, in the process, I could fight the continent’s strongest figures—

Wouldn’t that be far better training than anything else?

The only Star Title holders I’d personally met were Sword Saint Osberg and Spear Saint Bellion Krevad.

The rest I only knew by name.

But that didn’t matter.

Not in the slightest.

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