The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 432

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Chapter 432

The Elemental King fell.

Those who had been watching the battle between the masked man and the Elemental King held their breath.

“The Elemental King… has fallen….”

The heir of the Marquis House of Belmud was that strong?

From their perspective, the Marquis House of Belmud of Boscal was not a particularly famous place.

How exceptional could an elementalist produced from a place like that possibly be?

But their expectations had been surpassed—by an absurd margin.

A mere individual elementalist.

And not just that—a mutant elementalist, one mocked as a half-breed.

That such a person had pushed an Elemental King, the absolute pinnacle of an element, this far was simply unbelievable.

The shock was greatest for those who had faced him directly before.

Lerban Code recalled the time he had clashed with Corison Jackper in the mountains and been caught in a landslide.

At the time, he had thought the landslide was nothing more than a natural disaster born of coincidence.

But now, he realized it was not.

A catastrophe created by a single human whom they had thought insignificant.

Only then did he understand what might have happened had he actually attacked that man.

“It’s chilling, Eltemion. Did you know about him?”

When Behena Mobierty called out in a stiff voice, Eltemion shrugged.

“I knew he was strong enough to neutralize a high-grade spirit, even if unstable. I figured he was that level of expert. But… even I didn’t know he was this strong.”

He answered while shivering as though goosebumps had run over his skin.

“Could Elder Azure Star do something like that?”

At Behena’s question, he shook his head.

“I don’t know. It’s beyond what I can even comprehend. I’ve always been proud that I’ve never seen a spiritist surpass my grandfather in my life, but….”

After witnessing what was unfolding before his eyes, could he still say the same thing with confidence?

He could not be sure.

And the one who received the greatest shock of all was none other than Corison Jackper.

That worthless bastard from the Marquis House of Belmud.

That nameless half-breed spiritist nobody had ever heard of.

The fact that he had single-handedly suppressed the rampage of the Elemental King was impossible to accept.

Praised as a genius since childhood, Corison had never doubted his own talent.

He had believed that one day he would defeat everyone and claim the title of Azure Star himself.

And since those around him constantly praised him, his pride had grown high from an early age.

Fortunately, his talent truly was real, and he had become known as one of the most promising prospects.

Gradually, he began to look down on spiritists who lacked talent.

Naturally, the final target of that contempt was mutant spiritists—the so-called half-breeds.

—Talentless half-breeds? Forget them. Those obsolete things will only hinder your path.

The Jackper family, in particular, held severe disdain toward mutant spiritists.

And for good reason.

Among the bloodline of the current family head, there had occasionally appeared spiritists contracted with mutant spirits—a rare anomaly.

Infinitely weak, incapable of growth—discarded spiritists.

Such beings could not even be called spiritists.

For someone who had lived his entire life believing that, the masked Cotton Belmud—presumed to be a mutant spiritist—was an existence that completely denied his worldview.

‘There’s no way. That’s obviously just trickery.’

He remembered the moment he had collided with Cotton Belmud while escaping the earth dome he’d created to avoid the blizzard, clenching his fist tightly.

For a moment, he had been so terrified that he could do nothing.

The fact that if the kick the man had swung had struck him rather than the earth wall, he would have died on the spot was unbearably unpleasant and humiliating.

‘A talentless bastard. A mere mutant spiritist.’

If he got the chance, he would show that bastard the difference between a genius and an ordinary man.

No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible for a mutant spiritist to face an Elemental King alone.

He organized his thoughts.

That was a performance.

Something close to fraud.

He would tear off that loathsome mask himself.

That was when—

The Water Elemental King, who had fallen to the ground, slowly rose.

Much of her body of water had lost its shape and turned to droplets, but her gaze was enough to chill anyone to the bone.

—Too late.

With those words, the massive magic circle in the sky rippled.

The mysterious super-giant magic circle that had left everyone speechless had already completed its form and was slowly rotating.

The instinctive fear was not limited to Corison; everyone felt it alike.

And—

Before Cotton Belmud could even draw up elemental mana, Elraim’s chilling voice was heard.

—River Styx.

Plop… glug….

Just one phrase.

Corison felt a horrifying sensation, as if he had sunk deep into the abyss of the sea.

His feet were firmly planted on the ground, and he could still breathe.

But every other sense felt as though it had been submerged underwater.

It even felt as if the surroundings had darkened like the deep ocean.

The spiritists all staggered, struggling.

And before long, their heads began to feel as if they were splitting apart.

“AAAH!! My head!!”

Those writhing in pain rolled on the ground for a long time.

And soon after, the light began to fade from their eyes.

As if something had influenced their minds.

“I’m just trash without any talent….”

“Why doesn’t it work…? Why can’t I do it no matter how hard I try…?”

Most collapsed where they stood, blaming themselves in agony.

Behena Mobierty clutched her head with both hands, trembling in pain.

“I’m sorry. I’ll definitely bring honor to the family name. I’m sorry. I won’t fail….”

Lerban Code screamed.

“I can do it! I told you to trust me!”

The others were all in similar states.

Except for one person.

Corison Jackper silently drew a dagger from inside his coat.

“How dare a half-breed. Talentless trash like you don’t deserve to be called spiritists. You’re one of them too, aren’t you? It makes no sense. How can a half-breed spiritist like you possess that kind of power?”

Muttering like a madman, he summoned his spirits around him and let out a shriek with dagger in hand.

And then—

Without hesitation, he charged toward the man facing Elraim and aimed his blade at his back.

* * *

[You are immune to mental corruption.]

River Styx.

This felt like something even an Elemental King shouldn’t be able to wield.

It looked like water, but it wasn’t water.

Which meant… Elraim had brought these droplets called the River Styx from somewhere else.

Though it appeared to be a white snowfield, this place was already no different from the deep sea.

To the extent that movement itself suffered severe penalties.

In fact, she rushed toward me at incredible speed like a mermaid swimming through the ocean, grabbing my throat and lifting me.

—As long as you’re gone… just a little longer and I can save them.

Madness flickered in her eyes.

I did not resist.

Held by her, I simply looked down silently.

“UAAAAAAAH!!!!”

At that moment, Corison rushed from behind with a mad scream, sword raised.

“Die!!!”

Thud!

He stabbed the knife into my back.

At the same time, the mask on my face fell off with a light tok, its durability finally spent, revealing my face.

No matter now—what use was a fake identity at this point?

“Mind control or something?”

—No. More precisely, it amplifies desires, worries, anger—those emotions lifeforms possess. Honestly, I’m a little surprised. I only gave him a slight push. I didn’t expect him to charge at you with a blade this quickly.

She laughed lightly.

—Guess you weren’t that well-liked?

“Not really.”

—Then why are you fine? The River Styx isn’t something humans can endure.

“Like I said before. It just turned out that way.”

Thud!!

Corison stabbed me again.

His spirits followed up by spewing flames at me.

Still shrieking madly, Corison suddenly froze.

“Why….”

Only then did he realize something was wrong.

He looked at the sword in his hand.

Then at me.

“Why… are you fine?”

The blade he held was bent horribly, as if stabbed into metal plating, and his attacks had caused me no damage whatsoever.

“Sylphid asked me to come find you.”

—…….

“That’s the only reason I came here.”

—Sylphid….

She growled in frustration.

I asked her,

“Do you know your subordinate spirits in the lake are being contaminated and twisted?”

—Just a little longer! If I can just bring them back!!

At her desperate scream, I inhaled shortly.

Then said,

“Yeah. Everyone has their own story.”

[Spirit Fusion]

Explosive elemental mana poured through my entire body.

And—

The body of the heat spirit Sur, which had been dodging the streams of water Elraim created, scattered with a pasasak, then began to seep into my body.

A fairly advanced technique where spirit and spiritist temporarily fuse.

“What….”

[Supernova]

While still held by the throat, I slowly raised one hand, palm facing the sky, and muttered.

At the same time, something colorless and formless began spinning above my palm at terrifying speed.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!

With an enormous noise, the surrounding scenery began to disperse, boiling away like water evaporating under extreme heat.

—Kyaaaak!!!

Elraim shuddered and released me as though she had grabbed something burning hot.

Thud….

Landing lightly on the ground, I said,

“While you were preparing that.”

—…….

“You think I was just standing around doing nothing?”

—What… did you do…?

“Nothing much. It looked like you were trying to do something with all the elemental mana packed into this icy snowfield. So I borrowed some too.”

While she prepared her spell, I had manifested elemental magic I had practiced hundreds and thousands of times in Labyrinthos.

The method to raise the hierarchy of contracted spirits.

Surprisingly, this space had far denser elemental mana and better conditions than expected.

And thanks to the strong resonance between me and Grivy, Sur, and Serqet, it succeeded far more easily.

To be precise, maybe it worked so well because their power had already far surpassed lower hierarchies.

Of course, even now, with hierarchy restrictions gone, spirits like Grivy could still be affected by Elraim.

But hierarchy elevation didn’t just remove limits—it multiplied the spirit’s raw power.

In other words, the strength of my three contracted spirits had become several times greater than before.

[Translator - Night]

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After saying that, I casually turned my back to her.

And my gaze landed on Corison Jackper, frozen with sword in hand.

“I told you before. I spared you because of Emperor Credos.”

If he lived suffering under a curse, I had planned to let him be.

But this was different.

The River Styx had played a large part in him stabbing my back.

But unlike the others who were merely confused, Corison attacked me immediately for one simple reason.

He had always wanted to kill me.

The River Styx simply brought that emotion to the surface and amplified it.

In that case, what I needed to do was obvious.

“W-wait!?”

Stab!!! Pbbbbbuk!

Rock spears erupted instantly from the ground, piercing his heart, kidneys, liver, intestines, and forehead.

His wide-open eyes fixed on me.

I met his gaze directly.

With his vital points and forehead pierced, he was effectively dead already.

But I didn’t stop there.

“Wraithification.”

KRAAAAAAH!!!

With a horrific scream, his body collapsed.

A wraith emerged from his corpse, twisting in agony.

[Gr… gray hair… The Marquis House of Belmud isn’t gray-hai… ]

“That’s right. Cotton Belmud was a disguise. My name is Leon.”

[Grrrk… grrrrk….]

“Leon. Cascadia. But that’s not what matters, is it?”

In truth, it never mattered to him whether I was a son of the Belmud house or not.

He despised me because he thought I was weak.

He couldn’t accept that someone he believed to be a half-breed was stronger than him.

And realizing he had feared me wounded his pride beyond repair.

His arrogance about needing to be the best—I could have overlooked that.

But the moment he tried to compensate for his inadequacy by eliminating others, his fate was sealed.

[Grrk….]

With that, his soul fully became a wraith.

CRUNCH!!

A giant wolf’s maw burst from the shadows, swallowed him whole, and vanished.

With Sur fused into my body, his power moved like my own limbs.

The ultra-compressed sphere of extreme heat gathered in my palm vaporized everything nearby, even erasing the River Styx Elraim had created.

She looked up at me blankly, then desperately reached out.

—Even so, you think I’ll stop?!

She unleashed an unknown power explosively, whipping all surrounding energy into a storm.

—It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll use all the power I’ve gathered and achieve my goal.

It looked like she was trying to complete her plan without proper preparation.

At the same time, a level of power incomparable to before—the full might of an Elemental King—began pouring out.

But—

CRACK!!

With the sound of something breaking, her body collapsed.

—What… is this…?

“Well now. I don’t know what’s going on, but… Glaysia? Doesn’t look like she intends to cooperate with you.”

—That can’t be! She’s the one who called me!

Ignoring Elraim’s shout, the energy sweeping across the snowfield gathered toward the central core, stealing even her power.

At that moment, Lucifer’s voice echoed in my head for the first time in a while.

—Ah. Didn’t I mention? Glaysia is….

Mockery dripped from his voice.

—The first fallen spirit. Pfft.

That bastard.

He hid it on purpose.

Elraim looked utterly confused, unable to accept she had been deceived.

Meanwhile, a mysterious heartbeat began pulsing from the core as it absorbed enormous power.

As though something long asleep was awakening.

Perhaps sensing the ominous cold filling the air, the spiritists freed from the River Styx froze stiff.

Their faces turned pale blue—more horrified than when Corison had suddenly attacked me.

“W… what is this now…?”

“There’s still more?! What now?!”

They had thought it was over after subduing the Elemental King.

The fact that something else remained was absurd.

Ignoring their confusion, I surveyed the surroundings.

The vast amount of water-elemental mana leaking from Elraim was slowly freezing.

At first glance it looked like simple freezing water.

In reality, it was Elraim’s power being suppressed and absorbed by Glaysia.

If left alone, everything would freeze and become the power of the Ice Spirit, Glaysia.

Elraim seemed to have completely lost control over her power.

Watching it drain away, she let out a hollow breath.

—I… I was deceived?

I didn’t know what she had intended to achieve with this ritual, but with this much water-elemental mana….

I moved before thinking further.

The moment I raised both hands, the elemental mana inside me poured out wildly, mixing with Elraim’s power.

Elements.

Rampaging power without a master.

A place overflowing with spiritual energy.

The conditions were roughly satisfied.

What I was about to do had a limit on how many times it could be attempted, so honestly I hadn’t planned to try again.

But the stage was set too perfectly.

Not trying would be a waste.

Whether it succeeded or failed—I would try.

I didn’t even consider failure caused by my own mistake.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Your engraving is flow. Your essence is the rushing current.”

At my voice, Elraim jerked and turned toward me.

—You… what are you doing…?

“What I give you is a chance. What I receive is the flow that carries everything away.”

At the same time, a giant elemental magic circle—similar in size to the one Elraim had created—appeared, and the raging energy began gathering before me instead of the core.

Elraim, as the Water Elemental King, possessed extraordinary control over water.

But the powers she had used here—controlling blood, wielding the River Styx—were fundamentally different from ordinary water.

She must have gathered every possible power for this plan.

In terms of pure potential, she may have even tried to surpass an Elemental King.

Enormous energy?

I’ll borrow it well.

“Your name is Tiamet. Your symbol is the primordial sea.”

I imagined the form of a dragon from memories of my past life.

And as if answering my command, an unstable existence that normally would not even possess a self began gathering.

There was so much elemental mana that such beings were far more numerous than expected.

They gathered together.

Merged.

And formed a single shape.

“I request a contract.”

It reacted to my voice.

Everyone watched blankly.

Certainly, the spirits I contracted were far different from conventional methods.

Even Elraim, a being born as a spirit, seemed unfamiliar with the scene.

—What is this? What kind of lunatic even tries this? Are you trying to become a Spirit God or something?

Lucifer muttered in disbelief.

Well, I was creating a spirit that shouldn’t exist.

Hearing it put that way made me realize how absurd the unique contract method I’d built in Labyrinthos truly was.

—Hey. If you fail, your entire body will explode and you’ll die.

That was fine.

Ordinary beings could not repeatedly practice something that killed them on failure.

But I could.

I had repeated it countless times, breaking through impossible odds to find the method.

“W-what is that…? Is that a spirit?”

“Is he forming a contract? A mutant?”

“No. Mutant spirits don’t look like that… that’s….”

“Creation…?”

I didn’t bother correcting them.

How could giving color to abandoned beings be called creation?

Explaining it would be pointless.

The spiritists who had barely regained themselves stared, frozen.

Even Corison Jackper’s death drew no attention anymore.

No one wanted to make an issue of it.

After all, he had been the one to strike from behind.

How little virtue did someone accumulate to receive no sympathy at death?

Soon, the form stabilized completely.

What appeared before me was a massive white-furred bear.

…Huh?

I imagined a dragon.

Regardless, the spirit named Tiamet rose with its huge body and roared.

The massive chaotic energy that had been rampaging wildly became nourishment for a single being.

Then the creature slowly looked down at me.

And—

Flop!!

It dropped onto its back right in front of me, exposing its belly.

As if asking for belly rubs.

“You… do you maybe like cola?”

At my question, it tilted its head.

Right.

Cola probably doesn’t exist in this world.

I slowly approached it.

My other three spirits had started at lower hierarchy, but Tiamet had been born at upper hierarchy from the beginning.

Because of that, it didn’t feel much weaker than its senior spirits.

While rubbing its belly as it acted cute, I said:

“Alright, Tiamet. First request. Could you break that for me?”

I pointed toward the violently pulsating core at the center of the snowfield.

The core where Glaysia—the Ice Spirit and first fallen spirit—resided.

At my request, it leapt up, cracking its neck side to side.

Then—

It raised its massive claws and slashed through the air.

CRACK!!

The space touched by its claws tore open with a ripping sound.

At the same time, five huge claw marks appeared in the sky above the core, each dozens of meters long.

Water began to pour from the rifts.

And—

That stream formed a colossal whirlpool, striking directly into Glaysia’s core and shattering it.

Whatever kind of spirit Glaysia was, as long as she had not yet revived, the core itself was vulnerable.

Originally, Elraim’s power should have protected it.

But Tiamet intercepted that power midway, creating a fracture.

Perhaps because of that, the core resonated desperately to preserve itself.

Apparently, the method I used was shocking even to a fallen spirit.

Hmm… only that much?

This was already the fourth time.

—Glaysia… Ahaha! So meticulous. Even dead, your obsession is impressive.

Lucifer mocked.

As the core shattered, the snowfield began disappearing from the center outward like paper burning away.

Soon, the true appearance of the Spirit Corridor was revealed, and the ritual barrier that had nearly swallowed it collapsed as well.

Elraim’s ritual magic—Elemental Law—lost the power sustaining it and began collapsing completely from the inside.

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