Chapter 112

Is today the day of reckoning? Or did a volcano just erupt?

Everyone who witnessed it was left speechless. Streaks of flame crisscrossed the sky densely, racing diagonally. It almost looked like a rain of fire was falling from the heavens.

It was too absurd to be the work of any living being. Pope Nergal, looking at the cardinal beside him, shouted, “I’ll handle that one. Take over the emergency blessings for me!”

“Old man, you always take the easy jobs!”

The cardinal, suddenly burdened with a heavy responsibility, groaned. But given the situation, he didn’t hesitate for a moment and placed his hand on the celestial stone.

Thanks to the emergency blessings embedded in that stone, the massive Artabus Ship could carry so many people and freely navigate the skies.

Though it consumes an enormous amount of divine power, the airship’s movements are unrestricted. In times like these, such mobility is absolutely essential.

Dodging fireballs in a zigzag pattern, the Artabus Ship made a sharp turn, and from its bow, a beam of light shot out. That was just the beginning, as beams of light began to pour out one after another.

“Ah, if only we could turn that thing into a cripple.”

The mage operating the magical cannon muttered something terrifying.

“With the mass-produced magical cannons from the Magic Tower, it’s going to be tough.”

Originally, these were meant for the city walls of Valles City, but they were hastily brought onto this ship.

They might have been effective against a horde of demons, but against volcanic ash? Utterly useless. So, they were brought along without a second thought.

Now, everyone was regretting lugging those heavy things around. The distance to the Phoenix was too great, making effective shots impossible.

“The cannons aren’t hitting anything! Isn’t there some kind of homing magic on these?”

The Chancellor, his face red with anger, barked out. Was this not some kind of military corruption?

How much budget had been poured into preparing these cannons, yet their accuracy was abysmal.

Of course, the branch manager of the Magic Tower in Valles City had something to say. Fighting off nausea, he retorted, “These are meant to be fired from a stable base! Not like this… Ugh!”

The Artabus Ship rocked violently as it dodged fireballs, and he grabbed onto a nearby handle, momentarily unable to respond.

This ship was originally meant for astronomical observation, not for furious dashes to dodge flying fireballs. Hence, there were almost no safety measures for the passengers, and they had to endure it physically.

“Firing from a moving airship like this, of course, the accuracy is going to be terrible!”

“That thing is just standing there! Why can’t we hit it?”

“We can’t stand still either! In this situation, even if we had a cannon grandpa, we wouldn’t hit it!”

Whoosh! A beam of light timely struck the Phoenix right after his words ended. It wasn’t the result of precise sniping but more like a lucky shot.

Just as the mage operating the cannon was marveling at his incredible aim, the Phoenix swatted away the magical projectile with its talons. It seemed like the creature was sneering at them. The projectile exploded mid-air, accomplishing nothing.

“Hey, you!”

The Chancellor, seeing this, exploded in anger.

“After seeing this, you still deny any corruption? Are you even human? Speak! Who did you bribe? How much money did you pocket to make these cannons useless?”

“It’s a misunderstanding, Your Excellency. Even if we did take some money, we still do our jobs properly.”

The branch manager, grabbed by the collar, shook his head in defense. He genuinely looked wronged. If the cannons were truly made corruptly, the magical orbs wouldn’t even explode.

They did inflate the prices and took outrageous profits, distributing a significant portion to the higher-ups and military of the Citadel Republic. But still, the cannons themselves were not faulty.

They were just overpriced, but the cannons themselves, while not cost-effective, were not defective. The Magic Tower, despite appearances, takes pride in its quality.

So, this wasn’t a problem caused by defects. As if to prove it, the second magical cannon hit the Phoenix directly. This time, it exploded before the creature could deflect it.

But the explosion was pushed back by the heat, not even reaching the Phoenix. It was as if an invisible barrier surrounded the creature, blocking the attacks.

“The sheer power of the flames it possesses is too strong, acting as a natural barrier. It’s the King of Monsters, Your Excellency. If we could defeat it with just magical cannons, our Magic Tower would have conquered the continent by now.”

So, the opponent was just that bad. The opponent was inherently at the top of the ecosystem.

Humans have to train tirelessly to achieve what it can just by growing up and molting a few feathers. It’s an innate unfairness. Even though it’s just standing there as a target, we haven’t landed a single effective hit yet.

“Is it still not over? My head feels like it’s about to explode!”

The Artabus Ship hadn’t taken any significant damage either, but that was solely due to Cardinal Omen’s tearful struggles.

Ignoring the output of the celestial stone, there’s a limit to human endurance. Piloting this massive ship and performing evasive maneuvers isn’t something that can be done for long.

“Wait.”

The Pope dismissed his grumbling—no, his desperate cries—with a single word.

“Wait. Until the time comes.”

“When will that time come? After I’ve gone bald?”

“Well, since you still have the energy to joke, I guess we can wait a bit longer.”

Everything had to be considered. Air. Temperature. Atmospheric flow. The movement of lightning…

The Pope was almost certain. That thing is underestimating humans too much. You can tell by how it’s carelessly spreading its wings and just shooting fireballs.

It’s likely. The humans it has seen so far either flee or die before it. That complacency is our only chance.

Even a cornered mouse will bite a cat. If that thing feels its life is in danger and becomes desperate, what happens next is all too predictable. A wounded beast is scary, but what about a wounded Phoenix?

‘At least the battlefield is uninhabited.’

The fireballs that fell to the ground exploded with loud bangs. The accumulated volcanic ash surged, reaching even the Artabus Ship. If such an attack had happened in Valles City or the Capital, it would have been a living hell.

Even the updraft was part of the Pope’s calculations. After all, everything that rises into the sky belongs to the sky. The Pope recited a prayer towards the surging hot energy around him.

“Heavenly gods above. Our celestial lord who seeks the heavens. Call forth the north wind to drive away the fire demon, and take away this scorching heat. Let the flowing wind find no peace, and let the quiet unease persist.”

As if responding to the prayer, a cold stream of air began to flow down from beyond the stratosphere. The hot air rose upwards. The Pope’s divine power interacted with the atmosphere, and the wind began to howl as it gathered from all directions.

The clash between cold and heat intensified, and turbulence swept through the area. The ash cleared, and the sky turned blue, only to be covered by dark clouds. The dark clouds, swallowed by the warm updraft, began to pour rain and lightning in all directions.

“Weather control?!”

The branch manager, also the chief mage of the Magic Tower headquarters, shouted.

“No, this is…”

Even the highest level of weather control magic can only bring a brief rain to a clear sky. But this was clearly beyond that level. At the center of the thunderstorm, the wind took the shape of a long dragon and rose upwards.

The whirlwind, swallowing the heat from the ground, began to spin faster and faster. The Phoenix finally sensed something was wrong and flapped its wings, looking down at the ground.

“Praise the storm! You wicked thing, be torn apart by the wind!”

A tornado so large it made the massive Phoenix look small erupted. Its diameter was already beyond meters, reaching kilometers. The wind swallowed everything on the ground and sucked it upwards.

All that remained below was ash, which mixed into the wind, coloring what should have been a colorless wind with a dull gray.

The ashen whirlwind trapped the Phoenix entirely, and it could no longer stay in place, swaying as it was swept up by the wind.

“Divine punishment shall descend here!”

The Pope raised his fist and brought it down, and a bolt of lightning shot out from the friction between the rotating clouds. From cloud to cloud. Again, from cloud to cloud.

Each time it passed between the clouds, the lightning grew stronger and thicker. As the lightning grew, the thunder that had been echoing all around began to subside. The smaller bolts of lightning that had been striking here and there also disappeared, their power drained.

“Oh, oh!”

The Chancellor exclaimed in admiration, and the priests of the Aldehir Church looked up at the rumbling lightning in the sky with awe. They saw the pillar of lightning, now large enough to envelop the Phoenix entirely.

Wait, was their Pope such a great man? Everyone looked at Nergal with reverence and respect. Even Cardinal Omen, for once, kept his mouth shut.

“Fall!”

With a roar, the lightning finally struck. It was less of a lightning bolt and more like a divine fist descending from the heavens. The pillar of lightning, resonating with divinity, wrapped around the Phoenix and blazed white. The light was so intense that for a moment, no one could open their eyes.

“This…!”

But at the same time, the Pope clicked his tongue. He muttered bitterly.

“I thought I didn’t let my guard down for a moment, but it seems my power is still insufficient.”

Did it let its guard down? No. If anything, it was the Phoenix that had let its guard down. But even with that opening, I couldn’t destroy it in one strike.

Where the lightning had struck, the Phoenix now glowed white-hot. An energy no one had ever seen before surged from within. The creature was already surrounded by white flames, burning fiercely.

“Is it truly immortal?”

“It’s not unscathed. Your Holiness’s attack did hit it properly.”

Omen, for the first time in who knows how long, addressed the Pope with respect.

However, he didn’t let go of the celestial stone and turned the ship’s bow. They began to move away from the Phoenix as quickly as possible, cutting through the wind.

“The problem is that it didn’t kill it and only made it more cautious. Even if it’s an undead creature… unless its power is infinite, that was a desperate move!”

The next words were drowned out. A sound no one had ever heard before erased all other noises. Everyone felt an intense heat. A wave of heat swept across the world.

Even the tornado was pushed back by the heat, shattered, and disappeared. The clouds evaporated into steam and scattered. The once humid air became as dry as a desert. Moments later, in the place where all light and heat had vanished, a panting bird appeared.

-Gurgle! Gack!

Was it due to the divine protection from the heavens? Or was it because the distance was too great for the full power to reach? Though singed, the Artabus Ship, still intact, fled. The monstrous bird’s eyes filled with rage as it watched.

No one had ever pushed it this far. Such a devastating loss was a first since it grew its feathers!

Groooow…

Smoke rose from its entire body, and the flames extinguished, revealing its feathers. The Phoenix was no longer a burning bird but just a large bird.

The white heat was something even the Phoenix couldn’t use recklessly, as the energy consumption was truly devastating. But even so.

-Croak.

That mutated monkey couldn’t be allowed to look down on it. Absolutely not.

The bird’s venomous eyes, as if waiting for this moment, looked at the woman standing before it.

“Come at me.”

The woman, holding a moon-imbued sword in both hands, was ready to strike at any moment.

Roka no longer runs from any enemy.