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Chapter 276

This guy has hardly ever fought someone stronger than him as the underdog.

On the other hand, I’ve survived battles against overwhelming foes, learning every trick in the book to make it out alive.

The difference in tactical versatility that results from that isn't something experience alone can make up for.

— Kuh-heok?!

As he bounced off from my attack, I immediately closed the distance.

He reflexively threw a punch in counterattack.

A blast of searing heat erupted from his fist, but Sur devoured all of it, reducing it to nothing more than a powerful gust of wind.

His body rebounded off the ground and floated midair again—into which my fist struck once more.

Realizing he’d left an opening, he frantically tried to block, but my punch was faster than his defense.

In that fleeting moment, everything seemed to slow, as if time itself had decelerated—like the world was moving in slow motion.

It felt similar to the technique I used with the unnamed sword.

Of course, it was a punch, not a sword—so the precision wasn’t as high.

Still, to him, that punch must have felt impossibly fast.

Martial arts, compared to swordplay, covers a smaller range.

But in exchange, it packs incredible impact and speed.

— Guhk!!

“You were born strong, so all you ever did was practice how to win. That’s why this is happening to you.”

The ground shattered beneath us, and we fell into what felt like the bottomless depths of the fortress’s underground.

Without slowing, I used the surrounding walls as footholds, ricocheting around him like a flash of lightning, landing powerful fists and kicks from all directions.

It was as if his body spasmed in midair, convulsing helplessly, and each impact left cracks across his body like a massive boulder splitting apart.

And then—the space that Cthugha had been guarding, the one Nyala had hidden away, was finally revealed.

There stood a massive cross, where someone had clearly once been bound.

But no one was there now.

Instead, off to the side, Diablo, blood-soaked and breathing heavily, was radiating divine power.

There was no point in commenting on a demon using holy energy anymore.

After all, if his true identity was the High Priest, what more was there to say?

BOOOOM!!!

With a thunderous crash that split the ground, Leon slammed Cthugha into the earth.

Instead of speaking to Diablo, Leon focused entirely on stomping out Cthugha’s resistance.

— Guh! Guhk!

Bam! Bam-bam!!

Pinning him in a mount position, Leon drove his fists down like artillery shells.

Each blow caused the ground to quake, shaking the entire area.

Leon’s relentless assault left no opening for counterattack.

Desperate, Cthugha mustered all his strength.

— My consciousness… is fading…

It suddenly dawned on him—he could actually die here.

Fear of death?

He wasn’t sure what that even meant anymore, but he knew one thing: this couldn’t go on.

Still, asking Nyala for help?

No way.

He’d rather die than get help from that vile creature he wanted to tear apart.

— Get off me!!

He desperately tried to release heat to push Leon away—but Sur, waiting for that very moment, opened his mouth and devoured it all again.

Then let out a lazy belch.

— You wretched creature dares interfere again!!

“Hey.”

Leon’s chilling voice made Cthugha freeze in place.

“Still alive, huh?”

He realized too late that he’d let himself get distracted by Sur—and that was a fatal mistake.

In a ground-and-pound like this, even a brief lapse means you can’t block a fatal hit.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Unable to defend, Cthugha’s face was crushed under Leon’s devastating punch.

But just before the blow could land—

A sinister energy surged, and a black shadow coiled around Leon.

In that split-second distraction, someone managed to yank Cthugha away.

With a casual gesture, Nyala used tendrils of shadow, like tentacles, to throw Cthugha to his side.

A chilling trace of nightmare energy.

Leon winced as a fragment of that nightmare briefly seeped into his mind.

“Damn, what a revolting power.”

“Thanks for the compliment. That’s about all I can do right now.”

— Ny…la… You coward… How dare you interfere in our fight…

“That’s your problem.”

Cthugha couldn’t hide his rage—being saved in the middle of a life-or-death fight felt like the ultimate humiliation.

“The plan's gone off the rails. I didn’t expect you, of all people, to fall so helplessly, Cthugha.”

— Shut… up…

Nyala merely shrugged as he gazed down at Cthugha.

“I see no way to win now. We’ll have to retreat.”

Just as he began twisting space to escape—

Shrrrrk… FWWWWSSHH!!!

A lance of holy light shot out from the darkness and pierced Nyala’s body in multiple places in an instant.

— Gah?!

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, he stumbled back—visibly shaken for the first time.

For someone who always shrugged off attacks like nothing, this was a rare sight.

“Still clinging to meaningless resistance…”

He muttered briefly, then turned toward Cthugha after a moment of hesitation.

He reached out his hand.

— Y-You bastard… What are you—GRAAAAAAGH?!

Tendrils of black mist snaked from Nyala’s sleeve and wrapped around Cthugha, drawing a tortured scream from him.

— Nyala!! HOW DARE YOU—

“Leon Cascadia weakening you was quite helpful. This worked out well.”

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— I’ll… kill you—AGHHHHHHH!!!

Cthugha’s body began to break apart, vanishing as if it had never existed.

“Mmm. Tastes excellent. This should suffice.”

A wicked grin spread across the white glow of Nyala’s mouth as he yanked out the spears impaled in him.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Not on your life.”

Leon’s icy voice rang out.

Nyala responded with a gentle smile.

“Oh dear. Isn’t now the wrong time to be worrying about me? Cthugha is gone, and though my objective shifted slightly, I achieved what I wanted. So there's nothing left for me here.”

“Was consuming that thing your goal from the start?”

At that moment, Diablo's muttering could be heard.

"Well now. Let's say that’s half true. I haven’t exactly gotten along with Cthugha for a long time... Leon Cascadia, shall we make a wager? The rampaging archangel will soon break loose and descend to the surface. Once that happens, disaster will unfold. Do you think you can stop it?"

With those words, his body scattered like mist.

In truth, pursuing him any further was impossible—too much energy had been spent fighting Cthugha.

If Cthugha had crossed over with more of his original power intact, things could’ve been dangerous on our end too.

Just after Nyala vanished, what emerged from the darkness was a girl with three pairs of wings and a cold expression.

Her blue hair shimmered in the darkness as though lit by starlight.

Her halo slowly rotated, scattering radiant light like the rings of Saturn.

Her starry eyes, glowing with the light of the cosmos, felt terrifyingly cold.

The archangel who had once been more emotional and human than anyone now appeared entirely mechanical.

"It seems that when her seal was broken long ago, something interfered with her."

That would make sense.

Nyala certainly had many hidden tricks, but even he wouldn’t have the means to reduce an archangel to this state.

"We need to subdue her without killing her, somehow. Can you manage that?"

He frowned at my question.

"That thing?"

"Yes."

"Me?"

"Yes."

A moment of silence followed.

"To be honest, I’m barely holding on as it is."

"Not exactly helpful."

"Haha. Looks like rescuing her is out of reach... why don’t we just take her out?"

"Some priest you are. People will think you’re a demon."

"Even a saint would shake their head at this one."

Cthugha was dead.

Nyala had fled with injuries.

It was a shame we couldn’t kill Nyala too, but cutting off one of the limbs of the Outer God’s network was a significant gain.

The real problem, however, was that deranged archangel they left behind...

"Then there’s no helping it. I’ll have to use my hidden card—even if it comes with a price. Just hold her off for five minutes."

"If I last one or two, I’ll consider that a win."

I hadn’t expected Cthugha to be that strong.

The fire elemental, Sur, had already gorged himself and was clearly in no condition to fight.

The earth elemental, Grivy, wouldn’t be of much help either.

"Do you know anything about what’s going on outside?"

"Do you remember the barrier that surrounded the castle?"

"Yes."

"That was a spell cast by the former Black Tower Master, now a cult executive. Apparently, under Nyala’s orders, they’ve gone out to attack..."

"But with Luna there, it should be fine, right?"

"Yes, her power alone shouldn’t be a major issue compared to the number of combatants outside. However, if she opens the doors between the castle’s underground and the outside, we’ll have a problem."

"The doors?"

"Yes. The moment I realized something had gone wrong with Remiel, I severed the connection between the castle’s underground and the outside world. If she escapes in her current state, a link to the celestial realm will form."

Celestial realm?

"Yes. Simply put, she’s now in a state of communion with the stars—resonating with all the melodies of the universe. If things go wrong, she might attempt to blow the trumpet of the apocalypse—"

Before he could finish, glowing lances of light formed around the once-silent Remiel and flew toward us.

Reflexively, Diablo and I sprang back, and seeing that, the fire elemental Sur opened his mouth, apparently trying to use the heat he’d absorbed—but let out a loud belch instead.

BUUUURP...

"That's enough. You’ve done well, now go rest."

At those words, Sur flapped his small red wings and scurried off to hide somewhere.

Doesn’t want to be reverse-summoned, huh?

Well, he was always a passionate one back in Labyrinthos.

Makes sense.

Still, I didn’t expect him to be born so similarly again.

"Hey, come on. I trusted you. This is what I get?"

"Harsh words. What exactly do you expect me to do with that?"

"You think Cthugha was an easy opponent?"

"If it hadn’t been for that strange elemental absorbing the heat, you wouldn’t have fared any better than I did."

Muttering, he waved his hands and a shield made of holy energy appeared in front of us.

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