Among the Strange Entities that had troubled Hio, there were many that simply ignored the laws of the world. There were those strong enough to make the roach-like entity, which had manipulated the Abyss to flip Hio’s world upside down, look like a joke.
There was a crazy slug-like entity, four meters tall, that moved sluggishly before suddenly folding space to unleash explosions.
There was an immortal entity that plastered itself with the surrounding Abyssal energy, refusing to die even when its entire body was shredded and crushed. There was a creator, a jellyfish-like entity, that swam through the air as if it were an ocean, generating dozens of sharp, thumbnail-sized miniature entities right next to Hio.
Every single one of them was difficult to handle, and he had inevitably faced crises and hardships during their first encounters. But in the end, they all died.
They ignored distance. They flipped space. They did not die. They were nearly infinite. Every one of those entities eventually knelt before Hio.
From the roach entity, he realized how to govern the Abyss in the atmosphere. From the slug entity, he learned how to move by folding the space of the Abyss itself.
From the immortal entity that endlessly drew upon the Abyss, he gained a hint on how to turn the undead into a true Immortal Legion. From the jellyfish entity that created infinite miniatures, he learned how to delicately handle the destructive Abyss.
Thus, all those entities became stepping stones for Hio’s progress and fertilizer for his growth. They provided inspiration and showed him the path forward.
Now, only one remained.
There was one unique entity that didn’t move the Abyss or perform flashy techniques, yet he hadn’t found a way to defeat it—let alone survive it.
He had tried to block off space by manipulating the Abyss and attempted to inflict meaningful damage by concentrating all his mana into a single point, but in the end, he was always left busy just trying to escape.
It possessed an Abyssal body that overwhelmed everything through pure, raw power without any petty tricks.
The Giant Aberration.
He felt a strong intuition bordering on certainty. Defeating that thing was impossible with his current strength. He had to break through his limits and move further.
To do that, he faced the twenty-seventh night once again. The entity pulled itself upright.
*Kieeeek!*
*Kieeeeeeeek!*
The calm silence of the Abyss was shattered in an instant, surging dynamically. The bizarre cries became a rough sea, shaking the World’s End. In the middle of that sea of monsters, Hio stood motionless.
The ear-splitting cries. The presence of the monsters so vivid he could almost touch them. The sound of footsteps shaking the earth. None of it moved Hio.
His mind felt hazy. It was no surprise, considering he had spent twenty-six long nights like this. During those endless nights, he hadn’t taken a single moment of rest. Without allowing even a second of complacency, he had continuously manifested magic, creating several spells simultaneously.
He had struggled to survive by modifying spells to suit the situation and even utilizing ‘Inversion,’ the technique for controlling the Abyss.
The human mind has its limits. A worn-out mind can only recover through rest. But for Hio, there was no rest. Even when daylight arrived, he couldn’t rest comfortably because the Abyss that touched his skin and seeped into his lungs was utterly repulsive.
It felt as if everything here was the eyes and ears of Kreutzvalt. It was difficult to even fall asleep. If there was even a slight change in Kreutzvalt’s mood, Hio would die on the spot. He would simply die in his sleep without knowing a thing.
Even with Theodore by his side, there was no guarantee that an undead like him could buy any time against Kreutzvalt. One gesture from that man, and Theodore would likely crumble to dust. It felt as if his heart and his life were gripped in that monster’s hand.
Therefore, he could not rest with a peaceful mind for even a second. Ever since he left the Safe Zone and met Kreutzvalt again, he had endured each day with that filthy, horrific feeling until he reached this point.
“…”
With hollow eyes, he raised his head and looked at the sky. He couldn’t sense any Watchers nearby. It didn’t matter. If there were no Watchers, he would simply make them come.
As the thought crossed his mind, mana began to seethe and cover his body. It raced through him, ready to be released as magic at any moment. Every Strange Entity in the vicinity perceived Hio’s mana and began to rush him, but Hio’s magic was naturally much faster.
The staff, having drawn power to its limit within each Circle Inscription, began to throb. Amidst that, he added a slight splash of the Abyss’s destructive power. Thus, eight pillars of fire were completed.
*K-Boom!*
Eight black pillars of fire mixed with the Abyss. They erupted all at once as if guarding Hio, bursting the approaching entities. The massive amount of mana released at once spread far into the distance.
*Kiek?*
*Kuaaaaaaa…*
Naturally, more entities noticed Hio and began to swarm toward him. Hio’s staff aimed at them once again.
*Boom!*
It was the start of a very long twenty-seventh night. Less than five minutes after the battle began, a Watcher appeared. As always, every Strange Entity existing at the World’s End rushed in to tear Hio’s body apart, to shred him and swallow him whole.
They were familiar faces. The entity with grotesquely large front paws. The entity that moved underground, making it difficult to predict when it would pop up. The entity that erased its presence and hid within the Abyss, only to appear suddenly like a ghost to take his life.
They were all familiar. Being familiar didn’t make them easy to deal with, but it meant his body had learned how to respond.
The entity with the grotesque front paws would actually strike the ground while pretending to attack directly.
If he prepared to block or counter the attack, he would lose his balance due to the sudden shaking of the ground, and then he would be dragged away by the entity hiding beneath the surface, waiting for its chance. Even if he somehow avoided being dragged away, he would lose his neck to the assassin that appeared like an apparition.
It wasn’t that they were intentionally coordinating, but it was a phenomenon that occurred because there were so many unique types. And there weren’t just one or two of these creatures.
While Abyss Monsters were creatures originally from the world that were corrupted by the Abyss, these entities were beings created from the Abyss itself, existing only for destruction. Naturally, they were faster, stronger, and more unique than the Abyss Monsters outside.
However.
*K-Boom!*
Hio had become incredibly accustomed even to this. He countered every move the entities made. At the same time, he poured magic into the ones rushing in behind them.
He used Shukuchi instead of Blink whenever possible. When that wasn’t an option, he found whatever spare space he could and cast Blink a minimal number of times. Then, he poured magic into the surroundings again.
*K-Boom!*
It was a complex, noisy, and tension-filled scene, yet Hio’s mind was as calm as if it were submerged underwater.
*Kieeeek!*
Even as all sorts of entities rushed in with sharp teeth or claws, and even as he countered them using magic and Inversion, his mind remained quiet. The ringing noise could not penetrate the wall and reach deep into his head. A person walking while looking far ahead does not look at the ground beneath their feet.
‘I must go further.’
There were many reasons to move forward, but the most desperate one right now was to survive. Only by breaking through the wall and taking one more step could this endless night end in some way.
‘How?’
How would he move forward? He had mastered the utilization of mana and magic, even Inversion using the Abyss in the atmosphere, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that these were just minor tricks.
To truly progress, he had to reach the realm of a perfect superhuman—the 7th Circle. After reaching the 6th Circle, he had learned only three spells of that level from Kreutzvalt. Nevertheless, he had to go further. He had to realize it.
‘What?’
What was he supposed to realize? It was Ideation. It was a conviction that he truly wished to achieve. It was a mission for which he could give his life with a smile. He had to realize that.
—Ideation is thought with a purpose.
The Dragon Knight who had protected the dragon for a thousand years, Regarda, had once stood before Hio with a spear.
—Look at me. Look at my Ideation, Magician. What do you feel?
He had seen a dragon. He saw a dragon soaring freely through the sky.
—Find your conviction. That is the beginning.
The scenes in his head blurred. Memories pulled at time, reflecting a past even older than that. The strongest star of the sword on the Continent. He had stood before Vitalianus Mahel.
—Ideation, Ideation. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to teach you that, I couldn’t.
Vitalianus had replied that way when Hio asked about Ideation. At the time, he didn’t understand the exact meaning, but now he felt he knew. If Vitalianus had given him any advice, Hio would have obsessed over it and thought deeply about it, narrowing his scope of thought by that much. Ultimately, it was a problem he had to find and solve himself.
Vitalianus’s Ideation was the Imperial Golden Lion. A roaring lion of gold. The roar of a predator that made enemies tremble at the very front of the legion. The Ideation of a Golden Lion that crushed all enemies and reigned over them. Hio had thought back then that it looked very much like Vitalianus, who had been a hero since birth.
Hio, half-emerging from his thoughts due to a vibration that shook his body, looked slightly above his front.
*Thump—*
The earth wailed at a single step. It was him. The entity he could not rival. The Giant Aberration.
The surroundings had become somewhat quiet because the weaker entities had sensed the colossal abnormality and retreated out of range long ago. The punch thrown by that thing was a catastrophe in itself. Even other entities considered strong were keeping their distance, watching for an opportunity—to devour Hio once he was left in a mess by the coming disaster.
Hio simply stood there, his hollow gaze fixed on the entity. In his mind, the same question repeated endlessly.
‘How?’
How could he overcome that catastrophe? None of the magic he possessed could wound it. He couldn’t block it. He didn’t think he could win even if he used his skills.
In the end, Ideation was the only answer. Sword Saint Vitalianus’s Ideation was the brave Imperial Golden Lion. It was his life, having lived as a hero.
The Head of Black Fang, Atawolf’s Ideation, was the Black Mist itself. It was the anger of one who had lost his direction in life, unable to rely on anything, and had unleashed hatred against the entire continent.
Dragon Knight Regarda’s Ideation was the free green dragon. From birth, the dragon was his everything, and it was the mission of one who had guarded it for a thousand years to make the sleeping dragon fly again.
Then, what was his own conviction? What was the firm heart that he wouldn’t trade for anything?
Memories flashed by rapidly, and before he knew it, he reached the 58th Floor of the Abyss, where he had been in the middle of the final raid before coming to the World’s End. Red-eyed entities had poured out in an instant. He had tried to protect the Expeditionary Force until the end with ‘Celestial,’ but he couldn’t withstand the shock and eventually lost consciousness.
**[The Authority – ‘???’ is growing.]**
Such a message had appeared. Why at that specific moment? Could there be some hint in this? He had thought so for a long time, and he had assumed it was ‘Sacrifice.’ From anyone’s perspective, Hio was ‘sacrificing’ himself for others.
*Thump*