Possessing Nothing

TL: xLordFifth

PR: Yul, Gort

Chapter 382: Descent (3)

Lee Sungmin didn’t believe in the saying, “Being ahead of the enemy leads to victory”.

Simply put, there was nothing he particularly wanted to say to the Queen.

Right after her arrival, the Queen was defenseless, and Lee Sungmin felt no desire to answer her questions, which were thrown at him with annoyance and displeasure.

And Lee Sungmin was fast.

The distance to the Queen… that distance was closed in an instant. The Queen’s eyebrows twitched. Before she could take any action, the spear thrust by Lee Sungmin surged towards her.

Crash!

The spearhead that ripped through space clashed with an invisible wall. Lee Sungmin felt a strong resistance in his arm that had thrust the spear.

The invisible wall that blocked the Queen’s path rippled. The Queen peered into Lee Sungmin’s face, which was now closer. Her pupils quivered.

“Ah.”

She recognized him. The Queen’s face brightened upon recognizing Lee Sungmin. The irritation that had dominated her emotions until then vanished.

Inside Lee Sungmin, Rubia shrunk her stiffened body. The Queen even sensed the presence of Rubia.

Boom!

The space between Lee Sungmin and the Queen exploded. Lee Sungmin stepped back, swinging his spear wide.

“Rubia.”

The Queen’s voice rose.

“My creation. My artificially made spirit. Why are you there? Unable to protect even your pitiful owner, with what face do you stand before me?”

[Squeak…!]

Rubia trembled even more at the Queen’s shouting words. Afterward, the Queen pointed her slender index finger at Lee Sungmin.

“You.”

Joy was embedded in the Queen’s voice.

“It’s you. Yes, if only you weren’t there. If you hadn’t forced that oath upon him…”

The Queen’s voice twisted bizarrely. She clicked her lips, babbling unintelligibly without pause.

Her voice grew louder, and her eyes sharpened. Lee Sungmin could not understand her words, but through the Queen’s pouring voice and her eyes filled with murderous intent, he could roughly grasp the meaning.

[This is… an ancient language of the spirits.]

Rubia muttered, trembling. Rubia could not bring herself to convey to Lee Sungmin the words she understood.

Because she had no confidence to translate the Queen’s mad curse, ranting in the language of the spirits, accurately.

Lee Sungmin frowned at the Queen’s initial words. If only you weren’t there. Indeed, strictly speaking, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Envirus’s downfall was because of his meeting with Lee Sungmin. In the City of Endless Night, Lee Sungmin had asked Envirus to handle the Dragon Heart, to which Envirus had agreed and even sworn an oath upon mana.

Lee Sungmin did nothing wrong. He did his best to help Envirus. He invaded the City of Endless Night’s barrier, defeated Prescan, and fought with Aine.

Rather, it was Envirus who was at fault.

It was understandable from Envirus’s perspective. At the time, Envirus was willing to trade his life to kill Lee Sungmin.

He just failed. Lee Sungmin survived, and Envirus faced the brink of death as a consequence of breaking his mana oath.

Had the Queen of the Spirits not descended and intervened, Envirus’s body would have completely collapsed due to the mana’s rampage.

“Just you.”

The Queen, who had poured out curses in the language of the spirits, squinted her eyes and muttered.

“Had you not been there.”

Honestly, it felt quite unfair. Upon reflection, Lee Sungmin had done nothing wrong. Envirus had made his judgments on his own and betrayed on his own accord.

And paid the price for it. Lee Sungmin had not directly involved himself in what followed.

Rather, was it not Envirus who ruined things? The dimensional connection magic that Abel had spent his remaining lifespan on was ruined because of Envirus.

The one who killed Envirus wasn’t Lee Sungmin either.

Yet, the Queen was blaming Lee Sungmin without question.

“I understand, but…”

With that thought, Lee Sungmin quietly stepped back.

[Now.]

It was because of that signal.

It was an explosion, different in form from any explosion seen before. It wasn’t the eruption of high-temperature flames or light.

The space where the Queen of the Spirits was located condensed into a point and then exploded.

The explosion, which occurred without warning, shattered the Queen’s body. She didn’t spill blood or guts, but her expression was sufficiently shocked.

The magic-created explosion didn’t end with just one burst. Like flames swallowing oxygen, this explosion spread from space to space.

Lloyd stood below, his fingers forming a rectangle with both thumbs and index fingers. The Queen of the Spirits was trapped within the rectangle he had created.”Explode, explode, explode.”

Lloyd murmured, his lips barely moving. Space continuously got swallowed, condensed, and then exploded.

The silent explosion kept consuming the Queen. Her body grotesquely twisted as her limbs bloated and burst, vanishing into thin air.

Yet, the Queen wouldn’t die. Being a transcendent, she existed as an immortal entity regardless of day or night. Attacks of a ‘lower grade’ could not harm the Queen’s being.

Even if her flesh incessantly exploded, her existence suffered no damage and remained unscathed. The Queen’s eyes found Lloyd.

Screech!

The ground shook violently. Blades that sprouted from the earth sought to tear Lloyd apart. Such attacks were nothing to him.

Lloyd silently executed a blink, escaping from that spot. Scarlett seized the opportunity his maneuver created.

Her magic was entirely different from Lloyd’s. Wearing gauntlets, her hand traced rune letters in the air.

Space explosion was not enough to deal a satisfactory blow.

“Flame Curse.”

With the command, the magic unfolded.

Whoosh!

The Queen’s flesh that had scattered from the explosion was entirely consumed by fire.

The dark flames turned the Queen’s flesh into black ash. Only her head remained, showing an irritated expression amidst the flames.

The flames were far from enough to annihilate the Queen’s existence. However, they were annoying and displeasing.

She was the Queen of Spirits. Even in a realm not of spirits and without spirits to swear fealty, her status as a transcendent was not diminished by unfavorable conditions.

Flames?

The Queen let out a hollow laugh, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.

Swoosh!

The entirety of the Queen’s form, her very being, transformed into a massive water droplet. A fluctuating mass of water materialized in the air.

And with that, it crashed down, creating a massive wave that surged through the heart of the forest before Lloyd and Scarlett could react.

“Ha-ha-ha!”

The Spear King laughed boisterously, leaping to land in front of Lloyd and Scarlett.

He swung the spear he had been twirling above his head downwards.

Crash!

The earth trembled, and the ground split open, rising upwards.

The towering wave, seemingly about to engulf everything, was blocked by the elevated ground. As it splashed up, it transformed back into the Queen’s body.

The Spear King’s eyes sparkled as he beheld the Queen’s form composed of water.

“Come!”

He roared, raising both hands. Now, he wielded two shorter spears, having split his longer one in half.

The Spear King leaped, and the fluctuating Queen regarded him with irritated eyes.

To retreat was a disgrace. The Queen transformed back into her original form to confront the Spear King.

Clash, clash, clash!

The Spear King’s arms moved at high speed. His dual spears jabbed, swung, and struck from all angles with various techniques, pressuring the Queen.

The Queen’s method of attack was neither flashy nor beautiful.

Instead, it was simple and brute. She was fully aware of her status as a transcendent.

She knew all too well that inferior attacks couldn’t kill her.

Thus, she minimized evasion. Similarly, her defense was minimal.

To the Queen, the concept of a fatal wound didn’t exist. However, without a head, she momentarily couldn’t see. Without legs, she temporarily couldn’t move.

As for the rest, it was all ignored. A spear grazing her side was of no consequence. After all, she lacked internal organs to begin with.

Thus, it wasn’t considered a wound. Her hand moved forward, undeterred even as the spear shattered it. She didn’t care and continued to advance. Her arm would soon regenerate.

Her hand outstretched towards the Spear King, and just as his spear was about to shatter it again, her hand emitted a light slightly sooner.

Danger.

The Spear King quickly lowered his stance.

Pop. A flash of light flickered once.

Boom!

The space behind the Spear King exploded. Trees and the ground, everything that existed there, vanished without a trace. It was when the Queen was about to make an additional attack.

The foot of the Black Dragon kicked the Queen’s body. Kicked by it, the Queen flew into the air.

Spinning rapidly, the Queen quickly regained her balance. Staring with wide eyes, she launched herself towards the Black Dragon who had leaped from the ground.

Crack!

The ground writhed and then burst upwards. The soil expanded greatly, swallowing up the Black Dragon.

This kind of joint attack was a first. As a result, Lee Sungmin couldn’t find a proper moment to intervene.

In truth, there wasn’t a need to force an intervention. Everyone possessed their own strength.

They complemented each other’s weaknesses. If there was a gap, those who could exploit it would take the initiative to attack.

The Black Dragon tore through the pressing soil, and the Spear King leaped into the air. At that moment, Lee Sungmin also jumped towards the Queen.

Not much time had passed since the battle began.

However, the Queen was feeling an enormous amount of annoyance in the meantime. Among those currently bothering her, none were particularly threatening.

Even if they were magicians and warriors who had reached the pinnacle among humans, they were still just humans.

They were numerous, but not threatening. In comparison, even Wijihoyeon, who had attacked the Spirit Realm alone, was more of a threat.

At that time, Wijihoyeon had transcended human boundaries. That’s why, despite fighting in the Spirit Realm, the Queen couldn’t kill or overwhelm her.

The battle, lasting ten days and nights, pushed the Spirit Realm to the brink of collapse, and the Queen had to hastily attempt a descent to escape the Spirit Realm.

Now, she did not feel such a sense of crisis. Their attacks were not threatening her existence.

Yet, it was irritating. Annoying.

The Queen perceived the Spear King, who charged at her with a scream, as a madman. Delighted by something, he laughed loudly while wielding his two spears as if they were his limbs.

The spears were fast and heavy. She twisted her upper body to dodge the piercing spear.

She didn’t fully dodge, and her chest was ripped open, but she didn’t care. If touched, she was confident she could kill.

It was when she extended her hand forward.

Thump!

The Queen’s vision went dark. Lee Sungmin pulled out the spear he had lodged in the Queen’s head.

“This is my fight!”

“It’s our fight.”

Lee Sungmin responded with a calm voice to the Spear King’s shout. The Queen’s body, which was tilting, trembled.

The Queen’s body writhed and swelled.

Hiss… Hiss…

The sound, like air escaping a balloon, came from the unregenerated neck. And then.

It burst.

The wind, tightly trapped inside the exploded body, burst out. However, neither the Spear King nor Lee Sungmin stepped back, startled by the wind.

Even the Black Dragon, who joined late, tore through the wind with his palm strikes, opening a path and entering.

Lloyd and Scarlett raised their hands, aiming upwards. Their different magics targeted the Queen amidst the storm.

“To think they’re just humans…”

The Queen’s muttered words did not continue to the end. The aggressive Spear King charged in recklessly.

With one spear, he tore through the wind, and with the other, he cautiously aimed at the Queen’s body.

He threw the spear. The thrown spear emitted a bluish light and then exploded.

Crack!

The storm of Qi, bursting from the spear, obliterated all the obstructing winds. Through the crudely opened path, the Spear King charged in.

Rather than wasting energy, the Black Dragon followed the path opened by the Spear King, sticking close behind him.

The Queen was gathering strength, intending to sweep them away in one go, but just having descended and without the assistance of other spirits, her instantaneous firepower was lacking.

The difference was simple and straightforward. The Queen was alone, and her enemies were numerous.

[Isn’t this the first time you’ve been in such a position?]

Heoju chuckled teasingly.