Why Did You Mess With Him? He’s the Evil God’s Lackey! Chapter 19

Chapter 19: That Year, Hands in My Pocket

At this mont, Viktor was at the very bottom of the volcano, within the sealed Pocket Dinsion.

His hands were tucked into his pockets, his Coat billowing in the hot current.

A line surfaced unbidden in his mind.

That year, hands in my pockets, I had no idea what a worthy opponent felt like.

A stunning pillar of fire ca surging toward him. Viktor watched it calmly, and a curtain instantly rose from the Magic Formation at his feet, deflecting the attack with ease.

Bolstered by countless Magic Formations, he blinked in and out of position as tidal waves swept across everything.

In his eyes, the massive Boss was nothing more than a sowhat large and very entertaining toy.

Gulton's body gradually reared upward—it was carrying an entire small mountain on its back.

Lava erupted from its body and sent a cascade of gravel and debris surging forward.

The debris tore straight through his body—but struck it as though hitting a curtain of water.

A rush of flowing water fell, and Viktor's figure was gone.

【2nd-Tier Magic: Water Phantom】

The next instant, the real Viktor appeared behind the great beast, a tidal lance forged from a concentrated stream of water in his hand, and drove it straight into Gulton's backside.

By virtue of elental advantage, the damage from the water lance hit Gulton with staggering intensity.

Stung with pain, it raged without end, and lava ca blasting toward Viktor once more.

Watching Gulton's output grow more and more ferocious, Viktor used his invincibility fras from dodging to glide effortlessly past every lethal attack.

The mont Gulton so much as raised a hand, Viktor already knew exactly what it was going to do.

Gulton drove both palms into the ground, and a towering pillar of fire erupted from right beneath Viktor's feet.

Viktor instinctively swept his hand.

【2nd-Tier Magic: Water Curtain】

An instantly-generated azure mbrane blocked the fire pillar's assault.

Gulton narrowed its eyes at Viktor handling everything so easily, deeply aggrieved. It threw back its head and let out a long howl, venting its frustration.

After a prolonged stretch of battle, Viktor remained as composed as when he had started.

Though Gulton's health had barely dropped by a few tens of percent.

Weija, watching Viktor handle everything with such ease, fell into deep thought.

Holding its own against a Calamity like this—was this guy really human?

Unable to work it out, it simply gave up trying and shouted at Viktor.

"Hey, it's been several hours now! Are you really going to keep this up?!"

Hearing Weija say this, Viktor paused to think for a mont.

The first ti he had faced Gulton in the ga, he and a coalition of players had fought it for 3 days and 3 nights.

In that case……

"Let's go another 3 days then."

Viktor cracked his knuckles with relish, deeply looking forward to this thoroughly satisfying battle.

***

【2nd-Tier Magic: Gervaise's Blizzard】

【2nd-Tier Magic: Death Rite】

【2nd-Tier Magic: Still Water】

Countless techniques flowed from Viktor's fingertips one after another. Magic Formations flared in the air in rapid succession, like stars scattered beneath a dark sky.

Weija watched Viktor unleash spell after spell and was utterly stunned where it hovered.

"This lunatic—this guy is absolutely unhinged."

"This is nowhere near the power of a 3rd-Tier Mage."

Countless blasts of varying colors continuously wore down the towering beast.

The surrounding rock walls crumbled and dissolved under the crushing pressure.

Subjected to so many spell attacks, Gulton felt each one like a sharp spike against its body—not fatal, but painful.

It lashed its tail with a violent sweep, and the relatively narrow Crater was sheared in half.

Boom—the severed portion crashed into the lava far below, sending it spraying up to towering heights.

Viktor's feet landed on a black formation and he instantly vanished into black mist.

He reappeared on the other, intact side of the Crater, seized the opening left by the attack, and resud his assault.

Gulton bared its fangs. A blazing fireball built up in its throat like a miniature sun, gathering force.

Boom!

The fireball exploded outward, slamming into the mountain wall nearby.

Rock shattered in all directions, and plus of dust and smoke shot skyward.

Viktor pinched a formation and swapped positions with an ice decoy he had placed not far away.

The ice decoy took the surprise fireball in his place, dissolving into steam that dissipated into the air.

【2nd-Tier Magic: Ice Decoy】

His remaining long-range Teleportation spells were all on cooldown. Viktor had tid the maximum evasion distance of the Ice Decoy to the last ter.

Shards of gravel flew past and grazed the surface of his Coat.

He took not a single point of damage. The Boss's skill missed him by a hair.

Viktor brought his hands together. Behind him, a great gateway blazed with white light.

【3rd-Tier Summon: Pale Malice】

At Viktor's command, the enormous white marble gate behind him slowly swung open.

Billowing mist instantly swept across the entire volcano.

Weija's field of vision was blotted out at once by the white fog. It screeched at the top of its lungs, "Viktor! Viktor! I'm still here! Don't let whatever you summoned attack !"

With Weija's breadth of experience, it knew perfectly well what Viktor had summoned.

Pale Malice. It did not distinguish friend from foe.

Engulfed by the white mist, Gulton thrashed its massive claws furiously, trying to beat the fog away.

But the mist clung to it like a spider's web, impossible to tear away no matter how it struggled.

A pair of long, pale, withered-looking arms reached slowly out and seized Gulton by the head, pulling it toward the gate with relentless force.

But the Molten Fiend's sheer weight was simply too imnse, and no matter how Pale Malice pulled, it could not be budged.

And so the white gate began to buckle.

Pale Malice's body erged head first—or rather, what passed for a head.

7 eyes covered every surface of its skull, and every glance they cast sent violent waves of dizziness crashing through Gulton.

More of its body continued to pull free. Its lower half was like 3 sky-blotting pythons coiled together, blanketing the molten floor of the volcano.

It split the skin at the back of its neck and forced out a 3rd arm from sheer will.

It pulled free its own spinal column and shaped it into a blade, cleaving straight through Gulton's stone armor.

Viktor watched the white gate collapse and could only press a hand to his forehead and sigh.

"This thing is still as reckless as ever."

The summoned creature's strength fell short of his own. Its only redeeming quality was that it could take a beating far better than he could.

With Pale Malice keeping Gulton occupied, Viktor freed himself up and unleashed several dozen debuff spells on the beast, readying his next round of magic.

Viktor reached into his pack, pulled out so materials, and crafted a few magic items on the spot, tossing them at the Boss as an afterthought.

The effect was negligible.

"Still better than nothing."

Weija watched him, offering this self-consoling remark.

Before long, Gulton's health bar had dropped by roughly 10 percent.

The flas in Gulton's eyes blazed brighter. The lava across its body surged and churned at rapid speed.

Both of its hands were enveloped in a ferocious inferno. Stone spikes began growing along its tail.

Viktor's eyes lit up, and a surge of blazing excitent ignited in his chest.

He had rediscovered the feeling of battle he once knew.

That rush of excitent flooded his mind.

In this form, Gulton's defensive capability increased dramatically, and its skills were substantially enhanced as well.

This was the true reason it bore the na Molten Fiend.

Fla turned to lava, and the ground was swallowed entirely—leaving Viktor nowhere to stand.

Pale Malice, too, shrieked in pain from the intensified environnt.

"Since there's no ground left to stand on, I'll make my own."

Viktor said this, then drew a neat square in the air.

A snap of his fingers—and a mass of water vapor condensed into an extrely dense block of ice, hovering in midair.

The battle raged on. Viktor stood atop the ice block and continued casting.

And outside, Mount Vesuvius was presenting a staggering sight.

The Knights had long since gone down to the town at the mountain's base to evacuate residents, leaving only Gwen and a handful of Knights behind, pulled back to the Mid-slope, watching for any further unusual developnts from the volcano.

Just as Gwen's instincts had told her, sothing did happen.

They tilted their heads back, eyes fixed on the volcanic surface gradually turning red. Columns of steam rose from the Crater in great billows, as though the outer shell were peeling away to reveal the true color beneath.

"Knight Commander, the Crater has gotten so hot it's like a sheet of iron!"

One of the Knights with her called out in warning.

Gwen's expression was grave. She turned and instructed the remaining Knights.

"Go! Report to the Royal Capital imdiately! Request reinforcents!"

The Knights nodded, ran toward town, and used Magic Crystals to contact the Royal Capital.

***

Duke's Manor.

Erika was in her room, cradling a bottle of blue potion, sitting on her bed, eyes vacant.

She felt as though every bit of knowledge she had accumulated in her entire life had been for nothing.

If this had been before, she would have thought spending so much money on just a few bottles of potion was absolutely a losing deal.

"A single bottle of this potion is worth 1,000 Geo?"

But now, the only thought running through her mind was:

"This thing only costs 1,000 Geo?"

She stared blankly at the bottle in her hand, her thoughts a tangled ss.

The Duke had gone out on business and hadn't returned ho yet, but she couldn't wait to share this discovery with her father.

"My lord, shall I go notify the young miss that you've returned?"

Hearing a servant speak at the door, she sprang out like an excited young deer.

But Duke Livi's answer left her at a loss.

"No need. Tell her—I have a long journey ahead of and won't be back for the next few days."

Erika, standing at the doorway, had heard every word. She stopped in her tracks.

Duke Livi saw that his beloved daughter had already heard, and a wry smile crossed his face.

"Erika, the Emperor has issued an order requiring urgent reinforcent."

She was deeply confused and couldn't help asking.

"Father, you're a Duke—why do you need to go personally?"

Duke Livi gestured for her to co closer. Erika obediently walked over.

He patted her head gently and explained with care.

"My dear, this is no small matter. Every 3rd-Tier Mage in the Royal Capital is required to go, and 2nd-Tier Mages are naturally included in the roster as well."

"Because you are still relatively young, you won't be summoned by the royal family."

Erika suddenly thought of Viktor, who had set out on a mission just a few days ago.

He was also a 3rd-Tier Mage.

And now her father was being summoned too—could they be heading to the sa place?

"What exactly is happening there? That it requires this many Mages?"

Erika asked the question burning in her mind, and before the Duke could continue his explanation, she cut in.

"I want to go too!"

Hearing Erika say this, Duke Livi's expression grew considerably more serious, and he refused at once.

"No. You're still young, and you still have school."

"I'm not that young. I'm a 2nd-Tier Mage now. If every 2nd and 3rd-Tier Mage in the Royal Capital has to leave, the Academy is no exception—am I supposed to ask the Principal to personally teach ?"

She knew the Principal would not readily leave the Royal Capital, because he was the only 4th-Tier Saint Mage within the Royal Capital's borders, needed to personally hold the city, deterring those lawless elents lurking in the shadows.

As for everyone else—Erika thought with her characteristic proud confidence that no one at the Academy could teach her anything anymore. No one except Viktor.

"Even so……"

The Duke thought it over carefully for a mont, wavering.

As Erika had said, she was no longer so young.

At 17, she would co of age the following year.

He could not keep Erika sheltered in his hands forever. That way she would always remain a fledgling.

Erika had her own dreams. And so when the mont called for it, he had to let go of Erika.

He could not allow his own excessive love for her to clip the proud wings of his daughter.

"Very well, Erika. I'll allow you to co with ."

"Where we're going is Mount Vesuvius. The Royal Knight Company has sent out a distress signal."

"To be precise—Mount Vesuvius may be on the verge of erupting."