CHAPTER 291: THE LAST STAND BEGINS

The magic became flames and coating his blade in a bright red glow.

His mission was not to defeat the creature.

His role was to keep it here, so it would not spread out and attack everything.

If he held it in place, Shiao Yi would come.

Shiao Yi would arrive with a way to end this monster.

He would come.

He surely would.

So Dominic had only to believe in Shiao Yi and wait.

One part of th Aeon stretched out like a tentacle.

Looking to the side, he saw Isolde standing there in shock, frozen in place.

Why did she come here?!

He clicked his tongue and charged forward with his sword.

"Arrgh!"

A high pitched squeal like a strangled pig rang out as the glittering overweight man threw himself over Isolde and pushed her down, protecting her with his own body.

A tentacle that had been reaching for the space Isolde had stood in missed and Dominic sliced it off with his sword.

The tentacle tip that has been cut off and sliced by a magic covered blade fell with a heavy splatter and turned into thick black liquid.

So in that way, it was the same as magical beasts. When cut by a magic weapon, it couldn’t keep its shape and died.

"Isolde! Put up a barrier! Don’t let the Aeon escape! Hold it back until the reinforcement arrives!!"

Isolde could use barrier magic and strong ones at that.

She nodded her head again and again.

With her shaking body, she stood up and began drawing the magic circle for the barrier.

Her voice was weak and trembling at first, but as she focused, it grew stronger and clearer.

The overweight man held her from behind as she started to fall over.

It seemed he was giving her his magic power.

With the magic of two people that was much larger than normal, they might barely be able to hold the Aeon in place.

Dominic cut down another tentacle that reached out again, then pointed his sword at Aeon and shouted, "Now then, from here on, I am your opponent!"

...

Shiao Yi returned to Rosaria by teleportation and went straight to meet Lord Quintus.

It was around noon, but the lord had the plates from his half-finished meal taken away and immediately called for Mr. Vundo, the chancellor, and the generals.

The king also came to the meeting room next door and countermeasures were discussed at once.

Everyone’s faces were tight with fear and tension.

"Even the ancient nation, which had such advanced technology, could only seal that monster by preparing carefully and sacrificing everything. So what can we, as we are now, possibly do against it?"

Quintus’s shout was probably the honest feeling of every person in the room.

"Even so, it must be done. I trust all of you."

The king said this solemnly.

It was a short sentence, but the sincerity in his words made everyone bow their heads.

The king who usually looked relaxed and carefree now showed the strength to trust his people completely and stake the entire country on their ability.

Receiving those words, they gained the courage and power to attempt the impossible.

The king of Rosaria showed Shiao Yi what a true king should be.

King Rosaria did not interfere with small political matters. But he had the generosity and spirit to trust his subordinates and give them the authority they needed.

Entrusting everything in a nation to others is actually frightening and not something easily done.

That is why his subordinates worked with all their hearts, trying their best to answer the king’s trust. Shiao Yi thought, King Rosaria is actually a good king after all.

He felt a bit guilty for thinking of him as just a chubby and slow moving king.

"There was a report before, from the hidden village in the north. The people there were a tribe that survived the time when the Aeon was ravaging the world, correct?"

Mr. Vundo asked this as if thinking through the matter.

"Yes. The flow of fire that’s magma ran nearby and the area was sandwiched between layers of dark agate stone. Because of that, it was said to be the only place that Aeon never attacked."

"And why did the Aeon avoid it? Or perhaps I should say... why did it hate that place?"

Those words made Shiao Yi remember something that had lightly caught in the corner of his mind back then.

"Aeon is, in short, a mass of dark magic. It avoided magma, which is the flow of pure light magic... The abundance of light magic must have been something Aeon hated..."

At Shiao Yi’s murmur, Aaron asked, "For the Aeon, light magic is something to eat, right? Then magma should be like a rich river of food for it, shouldn’t it?"

Shiao Yi tried hard to recall what he had studied in his previous world.

He had learned something similar in math or physics, about two opposing forces.

Imaginary numbers, antimatter, particles that appeared and disappeared over and over, maybe something like that.

"When two forces are opposed, if one side is overwhelmingly bigger, the smaller side gets absorbed. But if the two forces are too close in strength to absorb one another, a violent reaction happens. They cancel each other and explode. I think Aeon is the same.

It can take in light magic from living beings, but it seems unable to take in light magic from non living things or from pure energy. And if it tries to swallow too much pure light magic, maybe it gets swallowed instead, or they clash and react violently. In both cases, it would be Aeon’s end. So maybe that is why it avoids magma, which is a pure mass of light magic."

Mr. Vundo nodded deeply.

"I see. The ancient magicians must have noticed the same thing and tried to defeat Aeon by joining their powers. But they did not have enough strength. Driving it into the depths of the earth was the best they could do."