LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 250
– Pufffwaaaah!
A massive chill erupted from Isabella’s spell.
Mana particles, possessing extreme low-temperature properties, combined with air particles and spread into the atmosphere.
Because of this, Isabella could control the very air tainted by her mana.
In an instant, she infused the chilled air into the tropical sea to adjust the temperature.
“Ugh!”
However, there was one problem.
The surface area of the sea that needed to be cooled was just too vast.
After all, the volume of liquid Isabella had to cool was about thousands of tons of ocean.
No matter how much of a master of the cooling technique Isabella had become, it was impossible to cool down such an expansive body of water.
– Swish.
At that moment, Edgar, clad in the Doom Suit, took hold of Isabella’s hand.
As a result, the infinite energy embedded in Edgar’s suit began to seep into Isabella.
In an instant, her drained mana surged back, and her labored breathing returned to normal.
‘I just have to play the role of the engine.’
As soon as Edgar provided energy, Isabella released an almost infinite chill.
In this way, Edgar took it upon himself to be the engine.
Just like Iron Man cannot operate without his arc reactor, Isabella was unable to perform such a spell without Edgar, who acted as her ‘arc reactor’.
– Pwaaaaah!
In short, if Isabella was a finely-tuned state-of-the-art output device, then Edgar was the very essence of ‘power’.
And this was also very similar to the relationship between Edgar and the suit.
The reason Edgar was strong wasn’t just because he himself was strong, but because he had developed a fearsome output device through years of anguish and effort.
He attached it to his body and provided the energy.
In other words, the way he became strong was not through training or physical conditioning, but through ‘the development of an output device’.
From a broader perspective, Isabella could also be seen as an output device developed by Edgar.
Through hundreds, even thousands of cycles, he had accumulated merits and connections, ultimately leading to the present form of Isabella.
‘Ed…’
Thus, Isabella’s heart, fueled by Edgar’s almost infinite energy, was swelling with a sense of elation.
The source of the energy Edgar provided was the ‘energy of memories and emotions’ accumulated over hundreds, even thousands of cycles.
Every time Isabella received energy from Edgar, she could catch glimpses of related memories.
Due to the energy being 100% unrefined, fragments of memories that could be called ‘impurities’ also flowed in.
[… Go away. I hate sticky things.]
And within that memory was the cruel version of herself.
A miserable life where she inflicted wounds on everyone just to fill the void within herself, embracing her own unhappiness.
However, Edgar willingly waded into that cesspool of life to save her.
He endured inexpressible vitriol and coldness, reaching out his hand to her until the very end.
Yet the outcome was always the same, clutching her own corpse and screaming.
The foolish and selfish version of herself only realized how to say she loved Edgar moments before her death.
‘I… In this life, I will try to live for someone else.’
Because of that, Isabella’s heart was filled with ‘gratitude’.
Even though the world faced a fate nearing destruction by demons.
Isabella was happier now than in any previous life.
Finally freed from a fate of negativity, she faced a moment where she could fight alongside someone she loved.
– Pufffwaaaah!
Thus, empowered by Edgar, Isabella’s chill began to cool the tropical sea.
As a result, the typhoon, which had been growing stronger with the supply of water vapor, gradually began to lose power.
【How dare you.】
However, the Grand Duke of Hell would not sit idly by.
He immediately stretched out his hands and manipulated the winds to pour all of them onto Isabella.
In addition, he mixed demonic energy into the wind itself, enhancing it to shred everything apart.
As if thousands of blades were spinning in a rapidly rotating tornado.
“I’m not just sitting around, you know.”
But at that moment, Elena cast an ancient spell and unleashed a protective barrier.
The extensive barrier enveloped the entire battleship that Edgar and his party were on, shielding them from the blade storm.
Elena, twisting the corners of her mouth, said,
“Still, I am their guiding professor. I have to protect my kids.”
As she said that, Elena looked at Edgar.
With a gaze that seemed to say, ‘This teacher will protect my disciple.’
Edgar smirked and nodded.
Meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Hell, Baal, let out a hollow laugh, as if he found it absurd.
【You’re firmly mistaken. You think I’m merely handling the winds?】
Baal immediately spread his arms wide.
An immense quantity of demonic energy erupted from his body, coalescing into spheres on his palms.
They looked menacing just from a glance.
【The ancient spell you cast. That spell originally belongs to us. You new humans can’t handle such power properly.】
With those words, Baal hurled the two black spheres floating above his hands.
The spheres shot forth at an incredible speed, rapidly slamming into Elena’s protective barrier.
– Kwaaaaaaaang!!!
A deafening blast that felt like eardrums were going to burst.
Immediately afterward, an enormous amount of black vapor emerged as a consequence of the explosion.
The ‘Corruption Spheres’ shot by Baal had the property to dissolve anything, generating massive smoke from combustion.
【Tear them to shreds.】
Thus, Baal thought Elena’s barrier would be destroyed, and he put more force into the storm of magical blades.
Just being exposed to that storm for even three seconds would leave their torn bodies and blood swirling around like a tornado.
【…??】
However, no bodies could be seen within the blade storm.
Instead, as the black vapor was sucked into the whirlwind, only the intact form of the barrier remained visible.
【…】
Baal looked at Elena, who maintained the barrier without showing the slightest sign of strain.
This led him to one clear conclusion.
【You aren’t a new human, are you?】
New humans.
The new humanity that had settled in the newly created continent by taking everything from the old continent they lived in.
…If Elena had been a new human, she wouldn’t have been able to maintain the barrier created by the ancient spell properly.
After all, the ancient spell was a special power that only the highest echelons of the old empire could use, and the new humans, who were akin to a beta version, could not wield that power.
Therefore, Baal thought Elena was ineptly attempting to emulate the ancient spell.
Of course, Elena was powerful for a human, but she was weak by the Grand Duke’s standards—like a mere fly, really.
【…I was sure of it, but she is indeed of the old human race. The same highest echelon as us.】
However, upon confirming it today, Baal could ascertain that Elena was indeed of the old human race.
New humans inherently struggle to wield ancient spells properly.
This was further evidenced by the four great ducal houses that were hybrids of old and new human races.
While they were descendants of the great Heavenly Beings, those descendants were unable to harness even a fraction of the Heavenly Beings’ power.
Because they had been weakening through thousands of years of interbreeding with new humans.
‘But that girl…’
Yet, in Elena’s case, she showed the performance exhibited by the old human race.
She was perfectly wielding the ancient spell.
This was a massive variable for the Grand Duke of Hell, Baal.
‘An old human who can wield ancient spells… A Heavenly Being. One who can still demonstrate the complete power of the past…’
An old human who could potentially wield the complete power of the past.
Suddenly, Baal felt a chilling sense of danger.
Though he could evade all physical attacks by merging with the wind, if there was someone who had mastered ancient spells, the situation would change.
‘Killing them isn’t the priority. Escaping comes first.’
Thus, Baal finally realized that Edgar had not come to ‘stop’ him but to ‘kill’ him.
He needed to escape from this place.
– Kwaaaah!!!
Therefore, Baal recalled the tornado assaulting Elena’s barrier and immediately targeted Lucas’s barrier.
Furthermore, he released demonic energy in all directions, shaping it like thousands of spears, hitting a specific spot intensely.
Cracks began to form in the barrier as it was being ground to bits.
【Where do you think you’re going?】
But at that moment, Edgar rushed to Lucas’s side.
Lucas, who was struggling to maintain the barrier under Baal’s onslaught, regained his posture.
The barrier, which seemed like it would break at any moment, recovered rapidly and maintained its solid form.
Thanks to Edgar providing energy to Lucas.
– Fwooooosh…
Meanwhile, Isabella’s chill continued to cool the surface of the sea, as the storm slowly began to disassemble.
The convection that had been violently rotating due to the differences in air pressure was gradually stabilizing and losing kinetic energy.
– Huuh!
Sensing the danger, Baal immediately took action.
He disrupted his own form, merging into the wind, and artificially created a powerful gust to approach Isabella at a speed of 230 km/h.
– Whoosh!
Having arrived behind Isabella, Baal thrust a finely honed demonic sword straight into her abdomen.
– Clang!
No, he had attempted to stab her.
He was merely blocked by the wind that Edgar had enveloped around Isabella.
【Grrrk!】
An alarmed Baal distorted his form again, blending into the wind.
At 230 km/h, he was moving at a rate of 63 meters per second—no one in this world should have been able to match that speed.
So how did Edgar Fix react to his attack?
Moreover, since he had melted into the wind, his form should have been invisible, leaving no means for him to deal with it.
‘It must be a coincidence!’
Judging it merely as a coincidence, Baal immediately set up for another attack.
This time he aimed to take out Lucas, who was keeping him trapped with the barrier.
– Clang!
But once again, Edgar surrounded Lucas and effortlessly blocked his attack.
With that, Baal realized that none of this was a coincidence, and he stared blankly at Edgar for a moment.
How was Edgar Fix reading his attack patterns?
‘That expression is something to see.’
Meanwhile, Edgar couldn’t help but smirk at Baal’s bewildered expression.
Baal wouldn’t know the principle behind the thermal detection sensor embedded in the suit, after all, he had no choice but to be flustered.
‘All attacks are anticipated.’
The thermal detection sensor.
This feature played a decisive role in predicting Baal’s attack patterns.
After all, wind occurs due to uneven heating of the ground, and air pressure always moves from high to low, meaning the patterns of flows could be anticipated.
[Brother, the next battle algorithm has been updated.]
Additionally, Edgar wasn’t alone in the fight.
Edgar was always in a connected state with Eve, the super artificial intelligence, who was reading Baal’s emotions and wind directions to update the battle algorithms in real-time.
Thus, they were able to calculate the most probable combat scenarios and produce countermeasures.
He had preset everything in the suit to react automatically based on those calculations.
Thus, Edgar wasn’t merely responding to Baal’s movements; it was more akin to being in ‘auto-hunting’ mode.
Whether Baal attacked to the right or the left, the battle algorithm would automatically calculate the best countermeasure, which the suit would execute on its own.
‘I just have to click.’
Hence, Edgar wasn’t actually doing anything.
He was merely sharing his emotional energy.
In reality, his companions, this suit, and Eve were the ones truly working.
【This can’t be happening…! How could I be here…】
But unlike the relaxed Edgar, Baal was under immense psychological pressure.
Because every single one of his tactics was thoroughly blocked.
His plan to generate a massive typhoon and exterminate humanity had also been thwarted.
His plan to shred them with a blade tornado had also been thwarted.
Most crucially, the damned barrier was preventing him from drawing in exterior winds to fight.
His specialty of brutally assaulting enemies through extensive convection flowing across the earth had been completely obstructed.
‘Could it be that all of this was… planned?’
Suddenly, Baal felt a shiver run down his spine.
Their combat style was analyzing his abilities thoroughly and blocking every conceivable move.
If they had fought without a plan, he would have been able to cut them down while flowing along the vast convection.
Even if that method had been foiled, he could have generated a storm elsewhere and escaped.
【I can’t let these damn pests do this to me…】
However, they moved strictly by their plan, effectively blocking all of his combat patterns.
And Isabella’s chill caused his storm to lose power.
The once arrogant genius who had believed he could end the world with his own power was now feeling the terror of impending doom.
【So, are you finally starting to understand your situation?】
At that moment, Edgar spoke as he observed Baal’s rigid expression.
Meanwhile, the storm that had raged here had weakened to little more than a ‘strong wind’.
Most of the winds Baal could use had been annihilated, leaving him to rely on magical combat.
Knowing that fact, Edgar made a significant statement.
【Let’s settle this. Your mana and my energy. Which runs out first?】
Thus, it became a battle of energy.
The outcome was practically predetermined.
Edgar pressed the button with a ‘click’.