The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 45



44 – The Tenth Apostle

The team battle had ripened before we knew it.

Boom!

We defeated the 7th Apostle.

Seron and I took the vanguard, while Card and Grantoni supported from the rear.

As a result of our hard struggle, we brought down the 7th Apostle.

“Huff, huff.”

Seron, beside me, was breathing heavily.

Due to the fierce battle with the Apostle, Seron was already in a state of disrepair.

If Grantoni hadn’t patched up her wounds with necromancy, she would have retired long ago.

But considering Seron’s original level, she was doing more than expected.

Seron’s skill level is mid-upper tier.

The fact that she fought up to the 7th Apostle was solely due to her willpower.

Even I, with my good stamina, was out of breath.

Needless to say, Seron was too.

Tick-tock-

At that moment, the sound of time passing was heard.

The time on the ceiling had already reached 25 minutes.

It took us 25 minutes to defeat the 7th Apostle.

The Iris team’s time to defeat the Apostles was only 31 minutes and 21 seconds.

In fact, if we couldn’t defeat the remaining three Apostles within 6 minutes, we wouldn’t be able to take first place.

“Seron, can you hold on?”

“Huff, huff, who do you think you’re calling weak?”

Seron gripped her dual axes tightly, breathing heavily.

It was a declaration that she could still go on.

“6 minutes left until first place.”

Seron bit his lips hard.

He had struggled desperately to reach first place.

But the gap with the Iris team was too big.

It took 25 minutes to catch the 7th Apostle.

The next Apostle would be stronger, and the one after that even stronger.

By the end, even the Iris team took 10 minutes to catch the Apostle.

But even so, Seron did not loosen his grip on the axe.

“Hmph, it’s enough!”

Instead, he snorted and showed his determination.

Seeing this, I raised the corners of my mouth.

“Yeah, well said.”

We had dealt with the Apostles as early as possible for this moment.

Now it’s time to see the fruits of that effort.

“It’s enough.”

Boom!

As soon as I finished speaking, a huge coffin fell from the sky.

Screeeech-

Soon, the coffin’s door opened, and an Apostle in a suit appeared with his hands clasped on his chest.

The Apostle’s face was not visible.

Instead, long fangs were revealed in the only mouth.

The eighth Apostle.

A vampire.

The fierce energy emanating from the Apostle swept roughly over Seron and me.

It was a black killing intent that made the hair on our skin stand on end.

And to me, there was no more welcome killing intent than this.

The previous battles were no different from fighting for this moment.

The vampire opened its mouth wide and tried to spread its wings.

If it flies up into the sky, nothing could be more troublesome.

“Sharin.”

So.

“Yes, finally.”

She prepared her ultimate move.

The staff held at the tip of Sharin’s fingers spun in a circle.

The accumulated magic, which had never been released until now, began to move visibly.

“Wow.”

Card, a fellow magician, gasped in amazement.

The amount of magic flowing from Sharin was an absurd output.

“Neatly.”

The surroundings began to be dyed white.

The earrings on Sharin’s ears shook wildly with the magic.

At last.

“I’ll erase it.”

Sharin’s staff was drawn down.

―――――――！

All the sounds in the area were swallowed.

The incandescent light pierced through the approaching vampire.

It was a fierce light that made even those watching from outside close their eyes.

Boom!

The delayed shock swept through the space, shaking it violently.

I barely managed to hold onto Seron’s neck, who was about to roll away from the impact.

There was a land dyed pure white.

Of course, not even a trace of the vampire or the coffin remained.

Once again, I realized how terrifyingly powerful the magic of Sharin Sazarith, the top genius of magical studies, was.

If I had faced it head-on, I would have gone to the other world without exception.

“Whew.”

Sharin lightly blew on the tip of her staff.

The eighth apostle, the vampire.

Unfortunately, he perished as soon as he appeared.

The vampire was captured in just 50 seconds, including the time of its appearance.

“If you could do this, why didn’t you do it from the start!”

Seron, who had been dumbfounded, shouted angrily.

“No, you can’t be first like that.”

I straightened Seron up and looked back at Sharin.

Sharin’s magic power had been greatly consumed by the recent attack.

Even for Sharin, it took that much power to sweep away an apostle in one blow.

‘Moreover.’

Sssssss-

Sharin’s staff shattered into powder.

Sharin regretfully brushed off the staff and pulled out a new one from her waist.

Modern staffs cannot withstand Sharin’s immense full output.

As a result, Sharin always had to handle less power than her actual ability due to the staff.

‘For a wizard, a staff is like a launch pad.’

No matter how many bullets you have, you can’t fire them without a gun.

Similarly, a wizard faces many restrictions in casting magic without a staff.

Sharin possessed the world’s best bullets.

However, modern staffs couldn’t fully unleash Sharin’s bullets.

‘Those staffs are supposed to be top-notch, though.’

Even so, they couldn’t withstand Sharin’s magic output and broke.

Thus, Sharin’s maximum output magic had its limits due to the consumption of staffs.

She could use magic without consuming staffs, but…

That way, she couldn’t defeat all the remaining apostles within the time limit.

“Grantoni.”

That’s why I formed this party.

With my call, Grantoni’s skull eyes gleamed.

“Your turn.”

Soon, the sky opened.

What appeared from the open sky was an apostle fluttering a translucent cloth.

Among the cloth, numerous long arms wielding ruthless weapons were revealed.

Soon, several eyes appeared inside the curtain.

The ninth apostle.

The Grim Reaper.

An apostle who appeared to take the lives of the living.

The Grim Reaper straddles both the real world and the underworld.

Because of this, it is virtually immune to physical attacks and resistant to magical attacks.

Therefore, the most important thing in defeating the Grim Reaper is someone who has studied divine magic.

Only the blessing of the gods can harm the Grim Reaper.

The Iris team successfully defeated the Grim Reaper through the deputy of divine magic.

Of course, even so, it took quite a bit of time to defeat the Grim Reaper.

Then.

What about us?

“Ah.”

Seron belatedly realized why I had recruited Grantoni.

As she realized, it was for this very moment.

A small shrine.

The spirit sorcerer, Grantoni.

For someone who can traverse the underworld.

An apostle who straddles both the real world and the underworld was the easiest opponent in the world.

Click!

Grantoni’s teeth clashed, revealing his delight.

At the same time, a gray world spread out from under Grantoni’s feet in an instant.

Everything around lost its vitality and light.

The gray world extended further and swallowed the Grim Reaper who had revealed itself.

The underworld.

Grantoni, who had dragged the Grim Reaper into his own backyard, clapped his hands together.

Clang!

At that moment, dozens of chains appeared out of thin air and wrapped around the Grim Reaper.

Although the Grim Reaper was immune to physical attacks.

It couldn’t avoid the chains and was bound.

Boom! Boom!

The underworld jailer, who never thought he would be bound by chains, showed his bewilderment.

But it was still too early to be flustered.

Wooong!

At that moment, the chains began to emit a blue light all at once.

Then, the translucent body of the underworld jailer began to materialize.

“Heheheheh.”

Grantoni started to laugh, grinding his teeth.

“This is my world.”

In the underworld, Grantoni’s authority was much higher than that of the underworld jailer.

The underworld jailer belatedly began to struggle.

But the chains only tightened around him more and more.

The underworld jailer could not escape the chains.

The chains were already tightly binding even the soul of the underworld jailer.

Grantoni snapped his fingers that were exposed outside his sleeve.

“Get out.”

Clang!

A gray fragment broke off from the body of the underworld jailer.

The underworld jailer, who had been straddling the underworld, was expelled.

As a result, the underworld jailer was fully materialized in the real world, not the underworld.

And what greeted the materialized underworld jailer was Sharin’s magic.

A white light once again burst through the sky.

The underworld jailer, who had high magic resistance thanks to his ghostly form.

The fact that his ghostly form was undone meant that his magic resistance also returned to its original, ordinary level.

Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!

Sharin’s magic, which burst forth while sacrificing the highest-grade staff, once again swept through the space.

The underworld jailer, swept away by the magic, shattered into pieces and scattered.

However, this time it wasn’t just once.

Sharin’s magic didn’t stop there. She picked up her staff again and swept through the underworld guards with consecutive strikes.

Crash, clatter!

A small child who had been left among the shattered pieces of cloth was swept away by the intense heat and disappeared.

She had completely eliminated the second life that the underworld guards originally possessed.

“Huuh.”

Sharin exhaled lightly and scattered the powdered staff from her hand.

Sweat droplets formed on her face.

She had used the maximum firepower that the highest-grade staff could produce three times in a row.

Even for Sharin, such a consumption of magic power was exhausting.

“Al, already, the tenth time.”

Seron, who had been in a daze, hurriedly checked the time.

The time it took to defeat the underworld guards was 2 minutes.

The time was 28 minutes and 10 seconds.

The remaining time was only 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

If they couldn’t defeat the tenth apostle within this time, they wouldn’t be able to take first place.

“There’s plenty of time! We have Sharin’s magic.”

“No, Sharin’s magic alone won’t solve it now.”

Seron had already assumed victory.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t agree with that statement.

Crack!

At that moment, the ground shook and split open.

Card used shadow magic to lift us up so we wouldn’t fall into the split ground.

At that moment, a presence revealed itself between the cracks in the ground.

A small apostle with a body as small as a palm, emitting fluorescence, with multiple feathers instead of a head on its elongated body.

Iris, who could be considered the strongest in martial arts, had even received a blessing from the deputy head of the sacred studies.

An apostle that took 10 minutes to capture.

The tenth apostle.

Urese.

He appeared.