Chapter 99
Eye of Aira (1)
There wasn’t any major change. But since I knew the true power of this mark, the feeling was different. I gave a polite bow to Aira.
“Congratulations. You have now completely overco the trial of the pilgrim.”
Aira bowed back and offered her congratulations. Most dungeons in [Difficult Dungeon] required you to accept a quest.
Because despite being dungeons, they selected who they accepted. The quest was ant to grant that qualification. The mark skipped all of that.
“I read the related materials about the Anaye Order not long ago.”
“I see.”
“Yes. Information about all religious orders eventually reaches the Sanctuary as well. Please do not take it too much to heart.”
At Aira’s concern, I shrugged. There was nothing that could be done about that kind of information. It wasn’t anything too important anyway.
“I heard you are still a student. Truly a remarkable junior. Museion Academy holds traces of many religions. That mark will surely play an important role.”
I nodded at Aira’s words. I already knew that well. In [Difficult Dungeon], there were fixed bosses that never changed, like Astral and Bereninche.
And then there were bosses chosen directly by the user. I planned to replace all of those with religion-related bosses. I intended to skip the annoying prerequisite quests with a single Pilgrim’s Mark.
“I would like to receive the Eye of Aira.”
“I see.”
Thinking the conversation had roughly ended, I brought up another topic. At the ntion of the Eye of Aira, Aira widened her eyes before gently lowering them again.
“That too is a token that can only be obtained through a divine trial. You must still be fatigued, having only recently completed your pilgrimage. Will you proceed now?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
I nodded confidently. Aira smiled warmly.
“Follow , O pilgrim.”
Aira rose from her seat first and personally guided the way.
We were climbing, floor by floor, the enormous clock tower where Aira resided.
“A beautiful view, isn’t it?”
“It is. Definitely.”
At the top, the clock tower revealed a breathtaking scene. Massive windows on all sides displayed the wonders of nature within them.
The pleasure of viewing towering snow-covered mountains from a dizzying height. The beauty of seeing every structure in the Sanctuary at a glance.
“Excluding floating islands, this clock tower is the tallest structure in the world. Everything you see from here is part of our daily life.”
Aira spoke with a voice full of pride. I spent a long mont taking in the scenery.
When I turned back, Aira had already pulled a pure white hood over her head.
“The Eye of Aira, embarrassingly, is a precious item nad after . However, it is not sothing humans can easily create.”
I tilted my head at the explanation that followed. Although the Eye of Aira was classified as an artifact, it wasn’t such an extraordinary item.
Even in the ga, it was a common item that almost every religion-related character carried.
“The god you love the most, and the god who loves you the most. We are about to et them. Are you prepared?”
Prepared for what? As I looked at her with a puzzled expression, Aira laughed as if amused.
“That was a pointless question. After all, you are soone who has completed the pilgrimage. Then let us proceed at once.”
“No, wait……”
Aira spoke playfully and lightly tapped my chest. The surroundings began to shine brightly.
“I invite you to a great journey.”
Light began to descend from the sky. The light, which should have been blocked by the roof, passed straight through it and enveloped us.
I blankly watched the light pouring down around . It shone in rainbow colors, bright enough to dazzle, but not to blind.
“Ugh.”
A powerful pressure struck the mont I let my guard down. Under the crushing force of sothing imnse, I was forced to drop to my knees.
Caught off guard, I looked around. The furniture and the building were fine. Strangely, this overwhelming pressure seed to apply only to .
“What is this?”
Aira panicked as she saw suddenly collapse. She fidgeted and examined anxiously.
“Are you alright?”
“Ugh… ah… pre… ss… ure…”
My whole body was being crushed, so I couldn’t speak properly. At that, Aira dropped to her knees and began to pray.
“O Mother of the Seven Gods who embrace the world.”
As Aira’s prayer continued, the pressure eased slightly. I frowned and tried to slowly push myself up.
―Whoooosh.
Suddenly, the Circle of Reincarnation burst out behind my back. Just like with Anash, it began spinning violently, restoring my stamina.
“……!”
Only then did I realize that this pressure was devouring my stamina at a terrifying rate.
After the battle with Anash, while staying in the infirmary, I had figured out how to use the Circle of Reincarnation. I had discovered a very useful function.
‘Already 10%. I didn’t even feel my stamina being drained.’
When my stamina dropped to 10% of its maximum, it would automatically activate and restore it.
Because I trusted this function, I could stand confidently even before assassins like the Duhein Family’s Purge Unit. The fact that the Circle of Reincarnation had activated now ant my stamina had already fallen to 10%.
“O pilgrim! You must trust in the god. The god who is calling you right now has no intention of harming you!”
Aira now spoke as if pleading. She was telling to trust the god and entrust myself. I deeply furrowed my brow.
I had no intention of trusting any god other than Anaye, and beyond that, this damned beam of light was draining the stamina I had stored in the Circle of Reincarnation.
To begin with, this activated automatically, so I couldn’t stop it at will.
“Grr…”
At this rate, the extra life I had painstakingly gathered would all be lost. Under the crushing pressure, I pulled out the Holy Scripture.
Sensing my will, the scripture appeared, emitting a soft glow.
“O pilgrim! If you continue, you will be gravely injured!”
Despite Aira’s attempt to stop , I forced myself to stand. Cursing out the unknown god with fervor, I opened the Holy Scripture.
A familiar lightning burst forth from it. Feeling that imnse heat again after so long, a fierce grin spread across my face.
“You’re… all… dead!”
At the sa ti I pulled out the Lightning Spike of Anaye from the scripture, I swung it toward the sky.
With only 10% stamina remaining, the Lightning Spike surged upward with ferocious montum.
―Kiiiiing.
The Lightning Spike let out a sound as it burned the surrounding air, growing larger.
The massive lightning intertwined with the rainbow-colored light, flickering chaotically. As the light that had wrapped around my body disappeared, my stamina was no longer being drained.
“Administrator.”
“……O pilgrim.”
“This is quite an interesting situation.”
With the summoning of the Lightning Spike, the ceiling of the clock tower had long since been shattered. I looked at Aira coldly before shifting my gaze to the sky.
The Lightning Spike and the light were still clashing fiercely.
“This is going to require a long explanation. You’d better co up with a good excuse.”
With that, I poured my rapidly recovering stamina into the Lightning Spike.
I began engraving the Thunder Horn Mark multiple tis. The Lightning Spike, which had only been spewing energy, gradually began to take shape.
―Kiiiiing.
I hurled the Lightning Spike, now in the form of a spear, with all my strength.
The Lightning Spike deflected the rainbow beam blocking its path and shot straight into the sky. The spear of lightning climbed even higher, pushing against the beam of light.
―Kuuu-rumble.
After watching it rise to a certain height, I snapped my fingers.
A blinding burst of light exploded outward, and the Thunder Horn Marks embedded within the Lightning Spike began to detonate.
“That beam of light just now.”
“…….”
“I died nine tis.”
The intense explosion of electric current finally neutralized the beam of light as if shattering glass. Watching the current spread along the clouds, I lowered my gaze.
Looking at Aira, who seed flustered, I let out a low growl. Nine of my lives, precious as blood, were gone.
***
“Wow. What is that?”
Winter Seraphist only managed to wake up around lunchti. The body that had been pushed to its limits from the mountain trek recovered in an instant.
“How does your body feel?”
Her bursting calves and aching lower back had completely healed. At Aro’s concern, Winter smiled brightly as she answered.
“I’m fine. That’s a relief.”
Leaving the inn with Aro, who welcod her, Winter admired the intense beam of light piercing into the clock tower.
“What kind of light is that, so intense?”
“Hmm. Davide went there.”
“……What?”
The mass of light cascading down like a waterfall had a strange kind of beauty to it.
Winter had been staring blankly at it from the road when Aro’s casual remark made her expression stiffen. She had a bad feeling about this.
“M-my senior is in that clock tower?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
That was all she needed to hear before Winter broke into a sprint toward the clock tower.
Aro, who had settled atop Winter’s head, nearly fell off from the sudden movent but managed to hang on by grabbing her hair.
“W-what’s wrong?! I’m going to fall!”
Despite Aro’s panic, Winter clenched her teeth and ran desperately.
That was a warning sign. It hinted at so utterly disastrous situation about to unfold. Worried, Winter hurried forward.
“Ugh, seriously!”
She wasn’t worried about Davide—she was worried about the clock tower. Davide was a certified human piece of trash, acknowledged by all. Even the professors described him as a beast.
He had improved a lot now, but his rough temperant hadn’t gone anywhere. And that rough temperant never let anyone who attacked him go unpunished.
“Waaah!”
Kiiiiing. The next sound that followed was sothing familiar. The strange noise of intense heat burning the air.
Winter’s face turned deathly pale as she recognized it. That was sothing that should never appear here.
“Hic!”
Then, from the top of the clock tower, a massive bolt of lightning shot upward. Seeing the top of the tower explode along with it, Winter shrieked.
She was so shocked that she started hiccuping. She stumbled and clutched her knee as she fell.
“……What is that?”
Aro, who had fallen with her, quickly checked on Winter. Winter was staring blankly at the clock tower.
As Aro slowly turned her gaze, she saw a massive surge of lightning rising upward, pushing back the beam of light that was being forced away.
“The lightning is overpowering the light. What a truly beautiful sight.”
The lightning shot upward like a spear into the sky. Piercing through the violently descending beam of light, it eventually caused a massive explosion in the sky.
Aro simply admired it, thinking it was just an impressive bolt of lightning.
“Lightning Spike.”
“Lightning Spike? I like that na. It has the scent of my holand.”
Winter muttered quietly as she roughly wiped her face with one hand. Aro found herself liking the na, as it sohow reminded her of words from the Far East.
“That’s my senior’s ultimate technique.”
“Ultimate technique?”
“Yes. It ans his maximum power.”
At Winter’s words, Aro’s expression stiffened. She knew very well what an “ultimate technique” ant.
And she also knew the few situations where such a technique would be used.
“So Davide is fighting sothing? And it’s a strong enough opponent to make him use that?”
“……Probably.”
Aro stared at the fragnts of the clock tower falling down.
“Isn’t that expensive?”
“……Probably.”
“Hmm.”
The sa word surfaced in both of their minds.
This is screwed.
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