Chapter 174: The Title of the Star

The Title of the Star.

A title granted only to those whose martial prowess has surpassed the heavens and reached the stars.

In the current era, that title had come to refer to only one person.

Sword Saint Vitalianus Mahel.

A great knight who earned the Title of the Star with a single sword.

A perfect warrior, born a hero from the moment of his birth.

To him, a fleeting moment was, with only slight exaggeration, like an eternity.

This was because the world he perceived while standing on it was different from others.

He was a superhuman who had long since transcended the limits of mankind.

After what they thought was the Floor Core suddenly transformed into a Strange Eye.

K-boom!

The explosion occurred, and Vitalianus’s body was pushed back significantly.

All of this took place in a single second.

[0.1 seconds.]

An eyeball completely shrouded in black rolled around.

[0.2 seconds.]

It grinned while looking at the Magician.

If one were to ask how an eyeball could grin, there would be no answer.

However, it certainly wore a smile so chilling that it made one’s muscles stiffen.

[0.3 seconds.]

The time it took for Vitalianus to place his hand on the hilt of his sword.

[0.4 seconds.]

He drew his weapon and lunged forward simultaneously.

[0.5 seconds.]

His body heated up rapidly due to the sudden surge of Aura.

A golden Aura began to coalesce on the fully unsheathed blade.

[0.6 seconds.]

The background stretched like a rubber band.

The distance between them closed rapidly.

[0.7 seconds.]

Holes began to form all over the round body of the eye.

Dozens of holes covered the entire eyeball in an instant.

It looked artificial and dangerous.

Some kind of attack would surely come from those openings.

But that was not a problem.

[0.8 seconds.]

He was already within striking range.

There was no need to exert effort to adjust his direction.

This had been planned even before he drew the sword.

His lunging body itself became a blade, charging forward.

The other knights’ pupils dilated as they finally began to perceive the situation.

They opened their mouths to shout something.

The Magician also stood there blankly, unable to react.

It didn’t matter.

[0.9 seconds.]

Vitalianus’s golden light was already crashing toward the Strange Entity.

Simultaneously, something began to wriggle inside the dozens of holes on the eyeball.

He felt it, but it didn’t matter.

In the next moment, he would cleave the Strange Entity apart.

The sword fell at a speed that even the elite expedition members could not properly perceive.

The Strange Eye was still looking only at Hio Pavlenko.

Vitalianus was certain his blade would be faster than whatever trick it was trying to pull.

And then they reached it.

[1.0 second.]

“!”

An immense sense of wrongness struck him simultaneously.

A massive Killing Intent surged toward his forehead, his throat, and his heart.

Twisting his body in mid-air and redirecting his sword was not a matter of conscious perception.

It was instinct.

A shock rattled his entire body, as if confirming his premonition was correct.

A powerful recoil vibrated through his hands.

K-boom!

A black hand, which had reached his forehead, throat, and heart in the blink of an eye, collided with Vitalianus’s golden sword.

An explosion erupted from the impact.

It was clearly the work of the Strange Eye.

The black hand had undoubtedly been the thing wriggling inside the dozens of holes.

‘Exactly when had it been fired?’

How could it move faster than him, and the power contained within it…

No.

That wasn’t what he needed to think about right now.

There were dozens of holes in the eye.

Only three of those hands had lunged at him.

Then where were the rest of them heading?

The answer was obvious.

The eye had been looking at only one person from the very beginning.

“…Magician!” Vitalianus shouted as he was pushed back by the recoil.

Hio Pavlenko.

Dozens of hands must have lunged at him in a surprise attack.

Vitalianus forced his head up to look through the thick smoke of the explosion.

The blast from the impact had created a massive wind.

Inside it.

[Skill: Blink has been activated.]

Dozens, hundreds of black feathers fluttered.

Space distorted.

Dozens of black hands had erupted from the eye and devastated the area where Hio had been standing, but Hio had already vacated the spot.

He stood with the black wings on his back spread wide.

He left behind only the traces of distorted space from his Blink.

The scene was in shambles.

Feathers fluttered amidst the noise of the explosion, the smoke, the swirling wind, and the distorted space.

As Hio slowly turned around, there was no sign of panic on his face.

His expression was the same as usual, though his eyes were sunken with a deeper sense of gravity.

“M-Monster!”

“Draw your swords!”

“Get it together and pull back!”

Only then did the expedition knights perceive the situation and try to react.

The commanders of each knight order noticed slightly faster, but they were still lagging behind.

If the eye had decided to attack them, they would have died without even knowing what happened.

Nonetheless, they were the leaders of the Empire’s most elite knight orders, veterans of countless battles.

“Fall back! Maintain distance!”

“Be on guard, but do not step forward!”

Even Vitalianus had been repelled by a large explosion.

Though he hadn’t used his full power in the sudden clash and seemed uninjured, the fact itself was proof that the opponent was no ordinary foe.

Thus, the ordinary knights retreated to a safe distance while the leaders stood at the front with their swords drawn.

Their first reason was to protect the most important figures: the Saintess and the priests.

Their second reason was to create space.

K-boom!

So that the Great Star of the Sword, Vitalianus Mahel, could run wild.

Furthermore, he wasn’t the only hero present.

Thump—

The sound of a staff striking the ground at a steady pace.

Simultaneously, everything changed.

[Skill: Domain of the Void has been activated.]

Space itself transformed.

The landscape of the desolate Abyss 58th Floor began to shift.

The pitch-black sky retreated, replaced by a purple universe.

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Compression has been activated.]

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Sever has been activated.]

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Annihilation has been activated.]

***

Dozens of black hands that had been moving at invisible speeds suddenly ground to a halt under the Domain of the Void.

They began to crumple with a creaking sound, as if being crushed by an invisible force.

However, that lasted for only a moment.

They soon shattered the pressure of the Domain of the Void and began to move again.

Of course, as mentioned before, there was another hero here who used even a fleeting moment like an eternity.

Boom!

Vitalianus’s golden sword collided with the black hands right in front of the Strange Eye, causing an explosion.

He poured out consecutive attacks as if he had expected this, but the black hands, numbering well over twenty, were instead frantically driving Vitalianus back.

‘How could this be?’

‘How could a mere monster drive back a great knight?’

And while being hindered by a Magician at that.

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Separation has been activated.]

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Compression has been activated.]

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Movement has been activated.]

Hio also began to utilize the Domain of the Void to its fullest.

He evaded the black hands by moving freely through the Domain of the Void using ‘Movement’ and used ‘Separation’ to divide the space around the eye into hundreds of small squares.

However, none of it worked.

Although the space was separated, the black hands connected to the eye remained unbroken, staying linked to each other even through the gaps.

‘Compression’ only managed to stop their movements briefly, and they resisted ‘Annihilation.’

Using ‘Compression’ and ‘Annihilation’ together did cause them to flinch for a significant amount of time, but his Magic Power drained away just as quickly.

It was strong.

The Domain of the Void, a top-tier auxiliary skill, wasn’t working.

Hio tried firing compressed spells like Ray of Frost or Flare while using ‘Movement’ to assist, but they were blocked by the black hands before they could reach the eye.

It was as if it had resistance to magic; nothing was effective.

In that case, he would just have to push through with even greater power.

[Skill: Thunder Emperor has been activated.]

The radiance of lightning crackled around his body.

Hio’s eyes burned white, and the power of lightning surged in both his hands.

[Skill: Azure Flame has been activated.]

A Blue Sun spread wide above his head, looking down upon the earth.

It radiated intense heat, illuminating everything as if refusing to allow even a single streak of darkness.

Hio transmitted his will toward the Azure Flame.

He commanded it to firmly seize exactly five of those grotesquely reaching black hands.

Understanding Hio’s will, the Azure Flame moved its massive, scorching body and fell toward the eye.

It was a magnificent sight—one that would make anyone standing directly beneath it feel as though the blue sky were collapsing.

However, it was halted by exactly five black hands and could not advance further.

It looked like five hands were holding up the falling sky.

Of course, this was exactly what Hio intended.

Neutralizing exactly five hands—no more, no less.

The Azure Flame, understanding that intent, began to burn even more intensely and push forward.

As long as the Azure Flame existed, at least five of those hands were tied down.

That alone would significantly reduce the burden on Vitalianus.

K-boom!

In fact, Vitalianus was gradually closing in on the eye, parrying all the lunging hands.

The mysterious eye from the Abyssal Depths was certainly powerful.

The number of hands, which were not cut by Vitalianus’s Aura and moved at a speed difficult to track with the eye, had reached nearly thirty.

However, it was a misfortune for the creature.

The great Sword Saint had already adapted to that speed and power.

He deflected attacks much more smoothly than in the first clash and penetrated more sharply.

Even though the vast majority of the hands were focused on Vitalianus, they were barely managing to hold him back.

Furthermore, Vitalianus was steadily adapting even more.

This was the Strange Entity’s first misfortune.

The second misfortune was that Hio Pavlenko understood the situation and immediately focused solely on supporting Vitalianus.

He aimed to reduce the number of hands targeting the knight.

Hio believed that Vitalianus would eventually break through the offensive and shatter the eye into pieces.

Of course, several hands continued to target and lunge at Hio.

They moved at a speed difficult to follow.

Even so, Hio’s Agility stat was no longer as low as before, so he could at least perceive them.

This meant he didn’t necessarily need to track them with his eyes.

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Movement has been activated.]

This place was the empty—or potentially empty—Domain of the Void.

And Hio Pavlenko himself was the master of this domain.

The moment he perceived the attack, he simply had to move elsewhere.

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Movement has been activated.]

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Movement has been activated.]

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Movement has been activated.]

***

Since the hands followed him persistently, he had to traverse the entire space without rest, but it was fine.

He was certain that he could cleave through the creature’s body faster than his Magic Power would run out.

[Skill: Thunder Emperor is currently active.]

He floated high in the sky and dropped bolts of lightning.

Boom!

The strikes that had fallen one by one.

K-boom!

Boom—!

It didn’t take long for them to become dozens, hundreds of bolts.

The sight of them falling upon the eye in a rain of lightning was like a waterfall made of thunder.

‘…As expected.’

Naturally, they were blocked and scattered by the black hands before they could touch the eyeball.

‘I knew that would happen.’

Hio had expected this as well.

Blocking a waterfall of lightning with just one hand was beyond his expectations, but it was still fine.

This was because Vitalianus and Hio were not the only ones here.

The other knights would only be a hindrance to Vitalianus’s movements and Hio’s skills, but one person was an exception.

The most holy woman in the world.

“Irina.”

Hio’s magic-infused voice echoed through the Domain of the Void.

Irina, who understood his intent despite only her name being called, nodded firmly.

She clasped her hands in front of her chest and lowered her head slightly with her eyes closed.

Normally, it would be ideal to perform this at the Sanctuary where the Divine Tree was located, but fifteen high priests were with her here.

“I will cast the protection!”

This was the Strange Entity’s third misfortune.

A pure white light erupted from the Saintess, Irina.

It was transmitted to each of the fifteen high priests, and they acted as more than just a substitute for the Divine Tree in the Sanctuary.

The Holy Power, redefined through each of their divine arts, began to gather above Irina’s head once more.

The pure white light spread brilliantly.

It was a holy light, clearly the divinity of Liphyue.

It was a provision made by the Goddess of Hope before she entered her long slumber.

It was a divine power that bestowed blessings upon allies and severe punishment upon the wicked.

The vaguely radiating Holy Power gathered in front of Irina with a single purpose and soon shot forward rapidly.

It headed toward the place where Hio, the Strange Entity, and Vitalianus were entangled.

And then.

Whoosh—!

Liphyue’s protection poured down, and the movement of all the hands it touched slowed noticeably.

The hands themselves hadn’t grown weaker, but a problem had arisen with the main body, the eye.

Hio and Vitalianus were not the ones to miss such an opportunity.

[Skill: Domain of the Void – Separation has been activated.]

He once again separated the space occupied by the eye and the hands into hundreds of small spaces.

The Strange Entity continued to maintain its form despite the separated space, but its speed was significantly slower.

Then, what if he poured lightning into those gaps?

[Skill: Thunder Emperor has been activated.]

Boom!

Another rain of lightning poured down.

It fell mercilessly between the separated spaces and into their weakened joints.

K-boom!

It was effective.

The movement of all the hands began to stutter as if suffering from lag.

The main body of the Strange Entity, the eye, was overwhelmed by the Holy Power of the Saintess and the high priests.

The black hands were controlled by the Magician Hio Pavlenko using the power of space and lightning.

With that, weaving through them and bisecting the eye was as easy as flipping his palm for Vitalianus.

What was heard next was not the ear-splitting explosion from before, but a single, small, concise sound.

Slice—

Vitalianus’s golden light wove through the black hands and finally cut through the eye.

“He—he cut it!”

“Whoo!”

The Strange Eye split right down the middle with one strike.

There was no scream-like noise common to other monsters.

No blood splattered from the cloven eye.

Instead, what erupted from it…

What exploded outward and covered the space was…

“Wait, what…?”

“Watch out…!”

A thick darkness.

An abyss whose end could not be measured.

Hehehe.

That was the first misfortune to strike the expedition.