Chapter 331

C331. The one who bears the name of Sloth (4)

A monstrous howl that turns terror into reverence rumbles everywhere, and masses of flesh as giant as mountains are crushed.

Even so, that thing raises its only remaining hand to try and attack Basiliora somehow.

In its enormous hand, twisted bones sprout and form a sort of grotesque spine, descending toward Basiliora’s back…

CRACK!

But that hand is blocked with ridiculous ease by a black spine protruding from Basiliora’s back.

CRA-CRACK-CRACK!!

And immediately after, it is completely shattered to pieces.

A monster that lets out a scream capable of threatening everyone…

And yet, a roar that also breathed hope into everyone present, ends up collapsing onto the black territory.

From the dark ground, black threads emerge endlessly, trying to lift the pieces of flesh to reconstruct its body.

CRUUU-CRUCRU-!

Thus, another mountain of flesh begins to rise.

‘Did it start?’

Alon observes what is happening on solid ground and, upon confirming that his attack had worked against the Sin of Sloth, exhales a brief sigh.

In the original work, the Sin of Sloth had a total of four phases.

Phase 1 consisted of relentlessly expanding the black territory without taking damage from anyone, causing everyone who entered its “territory” to kill each other.

If the situation wasn’t resolved quickly, it was impossible to stop the Sin of Sloth.

Based on the world map of Psychedelia:

If the invasion of the black territory reached 30 tiles or more, it was an automatic Game Over without discussion.

Inside the game, spells with a range greater than 31 tiles did not exist.

No, actually, there wasn’t even one of 31. The maximum was 20 tiles. In other words, there was no real way to stop the Sin of Sloth.

The reason the Game Over limit was 31 tiles, with all that absurd design, was divine power.

The formula was complicated, but if one coated themselves with Sironia’s divine power inside the game, they could advance within the black territory ignoring its effects.

Of course, only up to 20 tiles.

From there on, debuffs began to stack until turning you into the same thing as everyone else.

That is how it should have been originally.

‘…I have to thank Heinkel.’

If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have even been able to think of a real strategy to stop the Sin. The world would have been doomed.

But it was too soon to relax.

They had barely overcome the first phase.

Alon lowered his gaze.

Basiliora was surrounded by new emerging masses of flesh.

‘Six… no, seven?’

Depending on the size of the black territory, the number of summoned masses increased.

With a size of 30 tiles, four were summoned.

‘……………As I suspected, this territory is much larger than in the game.’

He thought this upon seeing the number of masses, though even so, he didn’t feel any real danger.

From the ground, seven huge masses of flesh lunge simultaneously against Basiliora.

Even from the sky their size could be felt, to the point that in an instant they surrounded Basiliora.

“What the sh*t…—”

“Shouldn’t we do something, Selaim?! This has nothing to do with the plan we heard! You said there were four, not seven!!”

The soldiers cursed in panic, and Parkline screamed in desperation.

It was natural.

Each of those masses was large enough to crush Basiliora just with its body.

Selaim swallowed hard, resigned, and began to gather mana to deploy magic.

“—”

When the black masses completely enveloped Basiliora, and a handful of monstrous hands with protruding bones rose to the sky to fall all at once—

Alon, as if he had been waiting for that exact instant, formed his seals with serenity.

And then…

“Shadow Tree.”

The soldiers—

And Selaim and Parkline saw something impossible.

From Basiliora’s entire body sprouted…

Trees of a dark black color.

Soundlessly, those trees tore apart the masses of flesh imprisoning him. Covered in dark red blood and green fluids, the trees expanded, devouring the black territory and the sky.

Then they lifted the black masses like heavy fruits and raised them high.

“D-Dragon…?”

A soldier murmured upon seeing the black trees extending like wings.

Everyone, speechless, watched Basiliora’s figure in a trance.

It was overwhelming.

The countless trees attached to his body made Basiliora look even more gigantic.

Natural fear before a living being… or perhaps euphoria. Both emotions settled in everyone’s hearts.

And with another roar from the recipient, Basiliora, the fragmented remains of the flesh masses fall from the sky to the ground.

Unlike the moment when they devoured others’ fear to form themselves, now they collapse pathetically, shattering into pieces.

Torn-off arms, grotesque bones that previously grew ferociously, now break without strength.

And then…

‘With this, Phase 2 is finished.’

Alon confirmed the situation on the ground and prepared for the imminent Phase 3—

‘No… it already started.’

He observed the third phase, which had begun faster than anticipated.

He reinforces his vision with mana and sees a group approaching the Royal Palace of Ashtalon, emanating dangerous power.

Alon identified who they were immediately.

‘Three of the Seven Greats: Dragon Spear, Millennial Ice, and Cliff Sword.’

Phase 3 of the Sin of Sloth.

Inside the black territory, those who died but possessed a certain level of power were turned into puppets.

Although, more accurately, they were “controlled” by the Sin. That is why this phase always generated discussions among players.

The controlled ones were determined at random.

If that random encounter involved characters in the position of “Great Powerhouses”, or Master Knights, the situation became absurdly complicated.

The controlled ones received between +50% and +100% power.

And as a demonstration of that—

The three Greats approaching from afar were so intense that the darkness they emanated could almost be seen.

Millennial Ice, wielding a gigantic weapon, froze everything around him.

To one side, Dragon Spear carried a spear emanating a deadly aura.

And finally, Cliff Sword—

CRAACK— CRRRRRRR!

He destroyed the terrain without effort as he advanced slowly.

A completely senseless act.

But he had enough power to afford that waste.

He only watched that scene for a moment when…

“As I expected, they are coming.”

Alon also saw the countless beings beginning to congregate behind them.

They couldn’t even be called the dead.

Soldiers, knights, monsters.

Everything that was once alive and retained a minimum of form.

They all advanced toward Alon, who was preparing another spell to cast against the Sin of Sloth.

And then, suddenly—

Dragon Spear raises his enormous spear.

KWA-AAAAAAAAANG!!

Overflowing mana exploded violently.

Not caring what might happen to his own body, Dragon Spear adopts a throwing stance, and suffocating mana gathers in his arm.

Without a doubt, his target is Alon.

And not just him.

Millennial Ice and Cliff Sword, who were walking calmly emanating power, began to advance toward Alon’s ship, freezing the air to form steps.

The Greats reinforced by the Sin.

…Those whose bodies retained even a little bit of form.

Everyone launched simultaneously to eliminate Alon.

With a sound like twisting metal—

Dragon Spear’s spear, deformed to the limit, entered Alon’s field of vision.

Even without enhancing his vision, he could clearly see the spear wrapping itself in black mana, swallowing everything.

For that spear, distance didn’t seem to matter.

Upon releasing it, it would reach the ship in an instant. It was indisputable.

But Alon remained serene.

Because all this was foreseen.

Dragon Spear’s spear cut the air, vibrating with a chilling sound.

It pierced the wind, the sound, advancing directly as if to strike down a god in the sky.

Everyone looked at the spear that kept accelerating as if gaining momentum from nothing, piercing the atmosphere.

Then—

BOOOOOM!!

A golden lightning bolt exploded and hit the spear heading toward the ship.

There—

Seolrang, dyed in gold.

With a chilling smile—

Hiijuk-!

She returned the spear toward Dragon Spear, firing it back with brutal force.

PAAAAAAAHHH—!

The spear embedded itself into Dragon Spear, and the ground exploded as if bombarded by a missile.

In the middle of the dust cloud, Millennial Ice, who a moment before had created ice steps in the air, launched himself toward Seolrang…

CRACK!

But his gigantic weapon doesn’t even manage to touch her.

“It’s been a while.”

With a slight smile, Eliban blocked Millennial Ice’s attack without difficulty.

It is impossible to see what expression Millennial Ice made, but he immediately tried to kick the obstacle in front of him—

KWA-AAAAAANG!!

As if he had foreseen it, Eliban brings his sword down violently, and Millennial Ice was thrown toward the ground.

In that instant—

From the dust cloud, Cliff Sword, in a drawing stance, tried to launch a slash.

[-]

But he could not unsheathe.

The swordsman looked for a fraction of a second at the enormous sword stuck in the spot where he was standing, then looked at the sky.

Where before there was only a ship, now in that blue sky—

PAJIK— PAJIJIK!

Cracks began to form following complex trajectories like circuits.

So many that they seemed capable of devouring the whole sky.

And in a matter of seconds, from those cracks, countless weapons began to emerge, and then—

“What fools…”

A voice fell from above.

“For mere shells…”

A silhouette appeared, with all those weapons at his back inside the cracks.

“Do not think you can touch my brother.”

Radan’s voice resonated, looking at the earth with absolute arrogance.