Chapter 212: Chapter 212

Chapter 175: The Madman & Monster

I had spent quite a while practising on my own, before and after leaving my domain. Espr had given me many tips on what came as part of the package of being a Spiritual Being, but there was a lot I needed to learn myself.

Being taught about the basics of monster creation but needing to learn how to manipulate in such a way that suited my energy, for instance.

The light around my body quieted down for a moment as the radiated energy eased. Not that it is getting weaker, just being directed elsewhere.

I appreciated being taught what could be done, but I was fundamental–like all non-Dungeon Planet Spiritual Beings–a unique being with my own gears; I needed to learn where and how they worked. There were easy features that felt almost instinctive, but there were facets that required an in-depth exploration inward to understand.

“Everyone, get ready to step back. Looks like he might be launching another wave. Close range fighting retreat to avoid being caught up in what’s coming.”

Lying to the group wasn’t too hard. Well, at least the first part wasn’t a lie.

As the core of energy condensed within me to create a new star, a soft ringing could be heard across the area.

I hadn’t tried doing this before, and I didn’t feel it was worth attempting against the mech. That thing could be dealt with without this, but the longer the head bastard lived, the worse it would be for everything.

Another reason I hadn’t attempted this before was due to believing I wasn’t going to be successful, but the black mana within the air actually provided me with a counter against Existrence’s pressure. As he continued his development, the world around him was changing.

Was it possible to beat him without my current explosive work-in-progress technique? Probably. But I wanted to burn the memory into his final moments.

That his dream never had a chance.

The ringing sound increased as the ground began to melt around me, his black mana in the air burning up as it came into contact with my embers. The energy outside of my body continued to be quiet, but the effects were anything but.

“Take care, Nina, good luck, and have fun watching the firework show,” I replied as I slowly stepped forward, creating a path of molten magma mana.

“Stay safe…” Her words were filled with shock, but she turned around and began pulling people back who shouldn’t be nearby.

Throughout this conflict, which still raged on, numerous people attacked the head bastard from up close and at a distance. His energy reflected attacks, but many managed to slice through his shell.

His metal tentacles whacked someone away, and I watched parts of the person’s armour decay, but he stayed safe. He had been smart enough to prepare countermeasures. Most of the people actively involved in this main conflict were the ones prepared to deal with the threat. The ones whose abilities wouldn’t keep them safe being near the metal man had either moved back to provide range support or died.

Throughout this back and forth, I had done my best to protect others, but it had been draining my energy, and I needed to use that for something else now.

The ringing sound increased again.

The head bastard turned towards me again. His eyes were coated in his black mana. His metallic expression hardened as he felt something ominous coming from me.

I heard his voice. “Take out that woman.”

I felt my madness slowly increase as the power within me swelled. My ability to focus on different things decreased as I spent far too much of my brainpower controlling the boom of energy within me–it would be preferable, after all, not to explode and kill everyone around me.

Power was truly a lovely, intoxicating thing.

My mixture of malice and excitement amplified my energy. Emotions could be such a wonderful thing, especially as a Spiritual Being, where I learned every facet of my existence could be converted into more power, and the best part was that it was possible for me to amplify said emotions. Not exactly a loop; there were limits, but what could I say? I loved burning everything to the ground.

The world slowly began to shift into a world of sparkling flames that consumed his filthy mana.

A large swarm of his goons and constructs rushed towards me, and I laughed.

“Afaird?” I said directly to the man on the throne. His eyes reflected the shock and a hint of fear as my voice echoed in his soul.

Fire burst from my hand as it melted through the body of the hulk and grabbed the woman behind it. Too slow to avoid, her body was left to become ash.

Dozens of black beams of mana came raining down on me, some fired by the lord himself and others from his empowered goons.

“Hahahaha.” It wasn’t intentional, I promise, but my laugh echoed across the battlefield.

They came down as flies attracted to the light. And like mere bugs, they burned to a crisp.

I dash through the battlefield, the heat permanently dyeing the ground in a scorching red. The fools who had chosen to attack me, filled with whatever confidence or commands that came their way, were no match. The blade artefact that one swung was snapped in my hand, another he fired from a distance had its head explode, and all the hulks became a pile of molten metal. The black ground didn’t have enough time to reabsorb everything as I melted into nothingness.

Energy is going down fast, but by the stars, does this feel good~!

My flames engulfed my body, starting from a purplish base, and they flew off as a bright spark. I could still be called human-shaped, but with the sparkling horns of pure light, my body looked like a supernova of flames, and the fact that everything around me was melting. Yeah, mistaking me for a monster was quite possible.

It was hardly worth mentioning, as the rest of the people who came to fight died by the flames. The concern in his eyes only grew, but it felt like it mostly came from my ability to impact his lovely black ground and burn away his domain. He was fearing parts of my abilities and still not fearing me.

We should change that~!

I sprinted forward, and chains of molten glowing Starlight emerged from behind to attack everything around me. Numerous hulks formed, some even in new, larger shapes. My spikes easily broke through the metal frames and tore apart their insides until they were completely unusable. The chains could stretch for as long as I needed them and could be broken at my command if they ever got stuck.

Using his power of creation, I could feel his mana intensify as more warriors were formed. The hulks and now even the shadow constructs of the men who had fallen.  It was almost funny; despite all that power flowing into him, his output seemed almost limited. Creating constructs to fight for him, metal spikes and tentacles to fight, the most effective part of his kit was his passive absorption of everything, ability and nature decay he provided to his enemies. Which sure was powerful, but he still hadn’t learned to direct that power into an attack fitting of his new power.

The artefacts within his body were still calibrating into his being, while he had access to the raw power and mana of those artefacts. Not all the abilities of said artefact had manifested; there were thousands, as the transformation process was impacted by the combat.

He could use many of them, and I felt their power through some of his strikes, but on their own, they wouldn’t be enough. I expected that if he completed his transformation further, he could properly combine the strengths of these artefacts into a powerful ability, but at the moment, all he could do was use the raw power to amplify them on a basic level.

It was similar to me simply increasing the power of an attack by pouring more mana into it, instead of creating a mix of energy that amplified each other.

Leaping forward, I cleave through the metal monsters as if they were made of butter as he created waves of creatures that climbed over each other.

“Ergh! Foolish!” Power continued to swell into him as I got closer.

I jumped back as I felt my own energy suddenly fly to our location.

A beam of crimson red light fell down from the sky, shaking the earth and cracking the ground. Metal went flying, and the limbs of his followers went everywhere.

My sight gave me the answer. Lila, exhausted and fallen to the ground as the Stellaruge Vice faded away, all its energy used up in a final cross-planetary attack. Since it was mostly my own energy, not bound to the mana of the universe, it was deeply effective on the lightning rod.

Haha, what a spectacle.

I would rather she saved the rest of that power for herself, but I respected her decision.

The faux Spiritual Being looked almost dazed as the beam of lightning annihilated so much in the vicinity, though he himself was only slightly damaged. His durability was still far beyond mortal limits.

“You… You think some sneak attack can finish me!” He came to a wrong conclusion, and the metal around his body multiplied, distorting his appearance into something monstrous.

I cackled, “Sure, whatever you think.”