D.I.O - CH 312

“Apollon.”

As the red ray of light hit Leviathan’s body and gave off a booming sound, as if the heavens and earth were collapsing, Leviathan’s body rolled across the ground and fell into the East Sea. Actually, the expression that Leviathan fell into the East Sea wasn’t totally accurate. The East Sea boasted a considerable water depth, but it wasn’t large enough to take on the body of Leviathan, which was huge enough for its body to peek through the clouds.

Rumble!

Like a thunderbolt, Leviathan rose up. That action alone caused a string of natural disasters, from storms and earthquakes to a tsunami.

Leviathan was immensely large.

Even if its mid-level divine status and divine position, and even the superpowers of its divinity were excluded, Leviathan’s physical presence itself was destructive enough to cause human civilization on Earth to perish. Leviathan’s staggering stature, which was capable of containing dozens of cities on its back, possessed a mass commensurate with its size; thus, the power to move such an epic amount of mass couldn’t be explained by the laws of modern physics, as the existence of Leviathan itself escaped the framework by which humans understood the world. This unbelievably large and inexplicable existence was the Demon Dragon of the Apocalypse, Leviathan, Tan’s true body.

However, whether that be the case or not…

“Howling Spell.”

Merlin notched another arrow and pulled back on his bowstring.

“Apollon.”

Giving off a telltale plopping sound, the bow launched the arrow across the air. It was an attack that seemed light and feathery, but… as a large target, Leviathan couldn’t avoid the attack. Moreover, Leviathan constantly consumed an astronomical amount of power just to protect its own body.

Even when Tan tried to take advantage of an opening to counter…

– Oh dear. Aren’t you embarrassed to resort to such trivial tricks, Apocalypse? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, but you’re making me increasingly angry by not meeting me head-on and constantly avoiding me.

The magic power of Tan, who tried to cast an ultimate magic spell from a distance while momentarily disabling his defense, was crushed by an enormous godly power, and soon, Tan’s gathered magic power harmlessly scattered and dispersed. A huge being was burning brightly in front of Tan.

[Sun God!!]

-Ah~ I feel so good. It’s like the glory days of old.

The Sun God gazed up at the sky with an elated expression as he gently soared upward. Earlier, the Sun God had exhausted all his power and finished his momentary manifestation, but somehow, he was recharged with a phenomenal amount of energy, and his withering manifestation, which had started to disappear into the void, was resummoned.

– I don’t know how this is possible… but since the opportunity has come, I should enjoy it, right?

When the Sun God finished speaking, another burst of light exploded, and once again, Tan’s body caught on fire.

[Nonsense! How is this possible!]

Leviathan squirmed and screamed. Tan felt as if he was in a nightmare.

“Howling Spell.”

No, the situation was much worse than any nightmare he could have.

“Apollon.”

The red beam of light was no longer aimed at Leviathan. The subsequent rays of red light flew into the sky, was sucked into the body of Apollo, the Sun God, and transformed into energy that would sustain his divine status.

And Apollo, who received such power, made a bow made of heat waves and flames. It was a waste of energy for him to summon a weapon after being summoned himself, but for whatever reason, his summoner was supplying an unlimited amount of energy. Moreover, the quality of that supplied energy was top notch. If a divine being like him had such resources, there was really nothing the Sun God couldn’t do.

Flash!

When another beam of fiery light was emitted, the sea beneath Leviathan’s feet evaporated and completely disappeared without even the chance of becoming steam, and at the same time, Tan’s body was pushed back dozens of kilometers as if he had been hit by something unimaginably huge. The seemingly simple beam of fiery light contained a spiritual wave, spiritual heat, and even physical force. Leviathan, who possessed phenomenal strength and power, could only defend desperately.

“Wow, wait. This is no joke…”

The girl, who was looking down at the battle from the sky, groaned after sensing the powerful blow that should have only been possible for a high-ranking god.

“Leviathan might actually die.”

It should have been impossible. It was a similar feeling to seeing a world-class martial artist fighting against a 3-year-old toddler and having the fighter’s ribs crack and his intestines ruptured from the toddler’s punch.

The thought of Leviathan’s death never occurred to the omniscient Planet Gods, or anyone else in the universe for that matter. Even the high-ranking gods, who were said to be beings who could see the past and future of the entire universe, had never considered this possibility.

[Hmm, I see… He has that thing stuck in his heart while having to fend off attack after attack… if things progress as they have, it’s fairly likely that he’ll die.]

“Don’t we need to save him?”

Leviathan wasn’t meant to die in a place like this. He was a living part of the universe’s history and had existed since the beginning of time. Furthermore, he was a divine tool of the Creation God, as he directly received and executed the orders of the Creator. However, Tan had fallen from grace and had reached this low point in his illustrious career and life. If he still had the strength and power he had in his heyday, even those with higher divine position would have had a hard time meeting his eyes.

[Hmm, I can answer that question in two words.]

“Two words?”

Looking at the puzzled girl, the penguin answered.

[Us? Why?]

It was true that the penguin had mostly turned a blind eye to the Noblesse’s violence and activities on Earth, even though he was the Planet God where DIO was being operated. In particular, the penguin had just observed Tan’s actions even though they were within the scope of sanctions if the authority of the Planet God were interpreted in a broad sense.

However, the penguin’s lack of action wasn’t because it supported Tan or the Noblesse.

“Hmm… I guess you’ve got a point…”

The two Planet Gods were merely the custodians of their respective civilizations, so they weren’t on anyone’s side. They enforced the rules and laws they were tasked with, so they were more like observers than anything else. If the Planet Gods expanded their authority or wielded their authority at will, many civilizations in the universe would have had to serve the Planet Gods as their masters.

[Well, having said that, I don’t think that huge guy will die.]

“Hmm? What?”

Bam!

The moment the penguin finished speaking, a red line was drawn in the air again, and Apollo’s body, which had been blurry, burned more clearly.

A mythical godly power that was impossible to properly comprehend!

Leviathan possessed great durability, so it would remain intact even after being hit by hundreds of falling meteorites, but currently, Leviathan was taking on considerable damage and would likely perish if things continued as they were. Moreover, the mighty carapace that protected Leviathan’s body had all but cracked and melted, and flames had penetrated and burned his internal organs. Based on the momentum on the battlefield, it seemed likely that things would only get worse for Leviathan.

Possessing the power of omniscience as a Planet God, the girl could tell Leviathan’s condition. If Merlin shot just one more arrow, Leviathan’s existence would be completely erased from the universe.

But at that moment…

“Ah, that’s right. There are those others.”

The penguin laughed after hearing the girl’s words as she spoke and nodded with a realization.

[Yeah, even if they act based on their own goals and objectives, in the end, they’re all still on the same side.]

The penguin’s voice, while speaking the last line, was full of contempt.

But at this very moment, for the penguin at least, the most important thing wasn’t the [eventuality] of the conclusion. The penguin fluttered its wings and looked down at Merlin.

[Anyway, besides that…]

The penguin made a puzzled expression.

[How many damn arrows is that guy planning to shoot?]

***

“Oh my God, get down!!!”

“Oh man! What is this! Dude, in the end, we’re both the same human being, right? But why is his firepower on a completely different scale… Argh!!”

The Masters huddled around the Magic Tower as they screamed and ducked for cover.

Flash!

And again, a burst of light covered the world. The transmitted power was difficult for the Masters to comprehend, let alone measure.

“This is nonsense. No matter how out of the ordinary Merlin is, this is unreasonable!”

Arthur, who had reached the transcendent state after successfully photonizing his body, had also been an unspeakably powerful existence, but the power that Merlin was showing off was on a completely different level.

Whoosh!

Mountain ranges crumbled and the land cracked. Lava rose from the ground, and the sea evaporated without even the chance of becoming water vapor. Soon, the sea bottom was clearly revealed.

It was a battle of truly mythical proportions.

Surprisingly, however, the Masters didn’t face much collateral damage from the fierce battle. This was largely because Merlin’s attacks were not merely explosions of power but [miracles] performed by a being with a divine status.

The force created by a miracle was completely free from providence and law.

That was why the ones who suffered collateral damage from the battle were a completely different set of beings.

“Kyak!”

“Argh!”

“Ack!”

The demonic beasts that were hiding secretly in the dark shadows screamed. Their desperate attempts to hide themselves were all in vain. Soon, all of them evaporated without even being able to muster a proper resistance.

The divine fiery light that covered the whole world represented the divine status of the Sun God.

The light was so intense and powerful that a lowly demon wouldn’t be able to endure it. Within the shadows, there were even beings that were powerful enough to be equivalent to upper-class or top-class demons… but even so, those slight differences meant nothing in the presence of Apollo’s divine status.

“Oh my goodness.”

The observing Masters sighed as they watched the demonic beasts evaporate and disappear.

“I didn’t expect to see Abyss-Class Shadows being massacred en masse like this. Over there, that Drakle… that’s a monster that I can barely manage to defeat 1:1, but…”

Youngmin stared outward with a blank expression while standing close to the Magic Tower. The monsters, each with a fighting power equivalent to thousands of soldiers in a modern army brigade, disappeared as if they had never existed. It was a scene of such tremendous destruction that even the [Great Sage], a transcendent who existed in Youngmin’s dimensional world, wouldn’t be able to recreate.

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“You know those beasts?”

“Of course. I hate to admit it, but Another Plane is like my hometown… huh?”

Youngmin’s words trailed off.

Youngmin had answered absentmindedly, but once he sensed something off, he turned his head to find the speaker. It was a girl who was taking cover next to him. Youngmin’s eyes grew round.

“Choi Baedal, how did you get here?”

“What?”

“Oh, I guess you use a different name in the dimension you’re from.”

“What are you talking about?”

Leaf tilted her head at the sight of Youngmin muttering some incomprehensible words. Leaf had been invited to the Magic Tower, so she had gotten to know Youngmin to some extent. However, Youngmin also seemed lost.

“No, wait, why are you here? You’re not fit enough to be here,” Youngmin stated.

“I was watching from afar, but for whatever reason, I was suddenly dragged here. Anyway, stop being so hard on me; I don’t know why I’m here either!”

Leaf had risen to the level of Master, but that was it. She was just one of many newly minted Masters, and above all, she had not succeeded in changing her DIO occupation, which was a condition a user had to fulfill to be called a [real] Master.

When a user reached the Master level, he or she would receive an occupation transfer quest from the Grand Master of a Holy Land. And the moment he or she cleared the quest, he or she would receive an occupation, a Master Skill, and a challenge qualification to obtain a Master Weapon. One needed to obtain all of these to be recognized as a true Master.

However, as a being from [Earth], Leaf reached the Master level relatively easily, but she didn’t build up the skills and abilities to match her position. Although she was a Master in terms of level, she wasn’t qualified to be involved in a battle with Tan, so she had recused herself and watched the battle from a safe distance on a TV broadcast feed, but then, suddenly, she was dragged into this place.

“Gosh. I don’t even know how to fight.”

Youngmin put on an exasperated expression when he heard her words and saw her sigh.

“… You don’t know how to fight? You, Choi Baedal?”

“Why are you calling me Choi Baedal? Who the hell is Choi Baedal? Also, do I look like a martial artist to you? You may think I can fight because I’m a life force user, but I reached the Master level with [Gathering] and [Transportation]!”

However, despite her unfamiliarity with fighting, Leaf had been thrown into this battle. Although it wasn’t of her own accord, she was somewhat aware of why she was put in this situation.

‘It must be because of my tattoos.’

On both of her arms were written the idiomatic phrases ‘Reflection and Thought’ and ‘Fulfillment after Struggle’. The phrases were written in stylish handwriting, as if a master calligrapher wrote it with a brush drenched in ink.

‘Why did this happen to me?’

Leaf couldn’t understand. She hadn’t met a person with a mysterious background who placed some spell on her, nor had she taken something like an elixir, but all of a sudden one day, these strange letters had appeared and settled on her body.

The tattoos weren’t doing her any harm, but she had no way of doing anything about them, so she tended to ignore them most of the time; however, the tattoos had placed her into this dangerous environment.

Woong!

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Leaf frowned at the strange sensation she suddenly felt on her arms and took off the gown she was wearing. The letters on both of her shoulders, as her shoulders were clearly visible in her sleeveless tee, changed into new phrases.

[Crying and Laughing.]

[Helplessly Spoiled.]

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