A Sorcerer’s Journey

Smack!

One of the giant monster’s thirty-meter long muscular wings swatted Grimm out of the sky like a fly!

“Ugh… Is this the strength that was used to kill Johann with a single swipe!?”

The outermost layer of Grimm’s Explosive Flaming Frost Jellyfish had been fully extended, launching Ice Spikes one after another in retaliation. Even so, his opponent launched relentless attacks like it was nothing. In contrast, Grimm’s defense spell mechanism had completely collapsed from the monster’s single attack.

Grimm’s mid-tier Demon-Hunting Outfit had received considerable damage from that attack. Although its main function was to provide the user with a source of magic power, its defensive capability as a mid-tier outfit was something to be reckoned with.

However, with a loud shatter, Grimm’s mid-tier Demon-Hunting Outfit cracked and burst into tiny fragments, only to be blown away by the wind as debris.

From Grimm’s body on the other hand, having received that near-fatal blow by the monster’s wing, sounds of his bone spurs fracturing and the cracking of his bone armor could be heard echoing through the sky.

With the bone spurs and his outer armor layer breaking apart, Grimm’s body was subjected to immense pressure from the impact, so much so that the pitch-black scale armor that covered his body started falling off, revealing a mess of mangled flesh and blood underneath.

In terms of constitution, the disparity that existed between the two lifeforms of different levels was too great a gap.

And yet, Grimm ignored this fact and despite sustaining such a horrible injury, he roared, “The time is now!”

Underneath the Mask of Truth the diamond-shaped Ice Crystal on Grimm’s forehead glowed a shimmering light and with a loud “crack”, frost formed instantly in the skies around them. The frost then clustered around Grimm and formed into a whirlwind, as if trying to engulf his entire body. Immediately, Grimm felt a sudden burst of Ice Elemental Energy emerging from his body.

In a split second, Grimm seemed to have completely lost control over his own magic powers. He had spent two years collecting Ice Elemental Energy and used an additional hundred-odd years to continuously condense it into what was now the Ice Marrow Crystallization.

Under the majestic wave of magical energy around him, Grimm’s hair fluttered in the air, its golden blonde slowly turning pure white, like that of freshly-fallen snow. As the air around him started freezing, white snowflakes danced around his body as the bitter cold whirlwind continued spinning. As it spun, it created an eardrum-bursting howl in addition to the pressure from the Ice Elemental Energy that was exerted towards every direction.

“Ahhh!”

Grimm bellowed. While using all his might to push against Mount Serpentine’s impulsive force with one arm, he raised his other arm with palms open and directed the Sabbatic Goat Staff to point towards the giant monster still floating in the sky.

“Thousand Bee Frost Burst!”

The frosty wind and ice crystals from the surrounding air merged into one and formed into a hive of Frost Bees whose numbers neared a thousand. Grimm substituted the Frost Birds with Frost Bees, creating a new spell unique to his own.

Each Frost Bee carried remnants of additional power from the Awakening Ray which Grimm had in reserve. This meant that the bees were emanating an unbelievable amount of energy, to the point where Grimm felt a sudden void within him after casting the spell. This was the result of the Ice Marrow Crystallization failing to continuously sustain the large discharge of energy for the formation of Grimm’s attack.

In the blink of an eye, the densely-packed Frost Bees charged in the direction in which Grimm’s Sabbatic Goat Staff was pointing to, like a flowing river of ice. Like a beast with its claws and teeth out, the swarm collided with the monster’s abdomen.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…

The monster was caught off guard by Grimm’s surprise attack. As the swarm of Frost Bees struck its body, it wailed and flinched in pain. Desperately trying to defend itself from the hail of Frost Bees, it summoned the full might of the power of Serpentine. Facing the unyielding attack, it could not help but fly in retreat.

“Ahhhh…”

The billowing sound of the gushing Ice River which measured roughly a dozen meters across, filled the air.

Grimm continued bellowing even though his voice had started to sound hoarse.

His grip on the Sabbatic Goat Staff was so tight that his knuckles were white and he could feel his hands being sprained. It was undeniable that Grimm was quickly approaching his limit.

On the ground, laid before the surviving remnants of Grandalph’s fledglings were the bloodstained corpses of the parasites, dispatched from the abominable giant monster’s body. These fledglings craned their neck and stared in awe at the Ice River which flowed continuously across the sky, smashing against the giant monster.

“Is… Is this Grimm’s true power? It’s truly magnificent! And also, how is he able to move freely beyond the power of Serpentine, among the sea serpent’s pearls?”

These fledglings had finally had a glimpse of the light at the end of their tunnel. The hope of avenging their dead mother had finally arrived!

After all this time, after the deaths of so many comrades, the moment of glory was finally here!

If they could depend on Grimm to kill this giant monster, then all their sacrifices would not have been in vain!

“Ahhhh…”

Grimm’s voice was completely strained to its limits, and yet he persisted. He could sense that at this very moment, he was just stubbornly resisting his defeat till the bitter end, a final struggle if you will.

Finally, Grimm’s body shuddered and his limp body plummeted towards the ground. As the Ice River, which formed the Thousand Bee Frost Burst was no longer supported by a steady flow of magic power, the attack ended there and then.

On the other end of the Ice River, the giant monster had been reduced to a pathetic state. It too, had reached its limits. Though, it was still far from dead. In fact, there were not any particularly alarming wounds on its body yet.

This was because the Thousand Bird Frost Burst itself was not a spell used for killing purposes.

“No!”

“It’s not dead yet! Sorcerer Grimm, please hurry up and kill it!”

“Have we failed?”

The fledglings cried out in despair. And yet Grimm seemed to have reached his limits. He barely stood up with the support of the Sabbatic Goat Staff, gasping for air as he did so.

Despite the fledglings’ cries, Grimm’s eyes were filled with the joy of victory.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

As the giant monster struggled in pain, cracks started forming across the Ice River, which was frozen solid. The scene reminded Grimm of a sealed-off demon finally breaking out from its desolate prison, just like Hill Woods when he had burst into the battlegrounds back during the Holy Tower qualification battle.

Beating its pair of muscular wings, the round meaty body wallowed in agony, as if finally about to give in to Grimm’s fatal blow. Just like after its battle with Grandalph, it made its escape. Perhaps after it had done licking its wounds, it would return for revenge once again.

Suddenly, the giant monster seemed to have picked up something with its senses. Similarly, Grimm’s gaze under the Mask of Truth shifted to the skies above.

“Roar…”

The giant monster roared in despair. In the vision of the fledglings, as well as the monster itself, the Eye of Destruction, which was originally about to close shut had suddenly opened up. As if this was not alarming in and of itself, the bloodshot eyes were staring down right at the monster itself!

Realization finally set in, it had been pushed by Grimm’s Thousand Bee Frost Burst attack beyond the power of Serpentine’s protective barrier.

For a moment, the whole world was quaking. Like the fledglings who were frightened by the sound of thunder during a storm, the monster started crying desperately while choking on its tears.

“Wuuwuwu…”

Zoom!

In Grimm’s vision, a mystical ray of Awakening Ray descended from the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls which was located in the deep reaches of the maze of the sea serpent. Shooting its beam cleanly through the giant monster, it disintegrated into dust which was kicked off by the blowing wind, leaving no traces of it behind.

After waking up “on its own” for a brief moment from its slumber, the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls once again closed up the eternal Phagocytic Shell and returned to its original passive state.

A new dawn had appeared on Mount Serpentine.

“Did we succeed!?”

“Have we avenged Grandalph!?”

“The giant monster is dead, isn’t it!?”

A sorcerer mumbled to himself excitedly. Looking around at his comrades to assure himself of their victory, the answer was in their eyes which were filled with euphoria and shock. As for the star of the show, Grimm, he was desperately running towards the deepest reaches of the sorcerer’s cave.

Grimm stopped when he arrived at the mouth of the Spring of Serpentine altar. His facial expression was incredibly anxious despite being victorious in battle.

He had no idea what the Spring of Serpentine altar looked like in other peoples’ vision right now, but in his own eyes, this ten-meter miniature Eye of Destruction, which used to spin around actively now projected a painful look. Perhaps it was in the middle of a transformation, or was it giving birth to something else? Either way, it had now become stiff and was shivering constantly.

And in the depth of the bloodshot eyes, there was a bunch of faint, yet gently glowing white streaks of light slowly gathering in an intensely shining epicenter, which seemed to represent the captured sea serpent’s pearls from before as well as the Awakening Ray which killed the giant monster from moments before.

Gradually…

Finally, in the moment when Grimm was intoxicated by the allure of the light streaks, a small but concentrated pure white light orb formed in the center of this Eye of Destruction, which remained vibrating at a high frequency.

Seeing this light orb, Grimm suddenly felt that he was somehow looking at the Fragmented Will of a world!

Finally done with a laborious job, this miniature Eye of Destruction was like a woman who had just given birth. It was so weak that it went stiff, and that perfect white orb of Awakening Ray was its newborn baby, which at the moment was slowly sinking into the depths of its mother’s embrace.

But just then…

A palm reached in from the Eye of Destruction’s pupils. After grasping the Awakening Ray orb and making sure there were no mistakes, the hand yanked the newborn baby out of its mother’s arms.

“Run!”

Grimm no longer wished to stay in this semi-Spectral World anymore. To be more precise, he did not dare to remain in this world after what he had just done. While the fledglings were initially taken aback by Grimm’s unexpected announcement of retreat, they quickly regained their senses and followed his lead, escaping as fast as they could from Mount Serpentine and headed for the ground below.

Rumble…

The entire Mount Serpentine shook in anger but that was all it could do. Grimm was ecstatic as he held this orb of Awakening Ray in his hands, intoxicated by its beauty.

“Farewell, Mount Serpentine.”