Chapter 458

With a burst of light, Akasha was launched. Her curved body pierced through five rocky mountains in the blink of an eye.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
Akasha sucked in a breath as she stepped out of the sky.
“Huh!”
It was brief, but I lost consciousness.
The mask was creaking and crumbling. The landscape around him was rapidly receding.
It was a shock like nothing I’d ever experienced in my earlier battles with Ronan.
『■■■■—.』
I thought this is what it must feel like to be hit by the fist of the world. My whole body made a noise like cogs grinding together.
I had to find a way to cope. They were about to collide with the sixth rocky mountain. Akasha, her mask back on, sent a shockwave backward. A crater opened up in the middle of the cliff with a bang.
The body that had been flying so fast came to a screeching halt.
“『■■!
Blood gushed from the cracks in his mask.
He staggered, clutching his head with his one remaining arm. It was all he could do not to fall, let alone fight back. The cliffs of the Da Conya Valley stretched out below him.
Akasha, who had somehow regained her senses, was about to make her next move.
Beyond the hole in the rocky mountain he’d smashed through, a red flash flickered.
『■?』
Akasha’s gaze reflexively shifted.
“Where are you going?”
A shadow fell over his face.
When he looked up, he saw Ronan with his sword in both hands.
“『■—!!!
I didn’t even realize it. The sound of ripples tearing through the atmosphere echoed in the distance.
A contrail of life force threaded through the holes in the five rocky mountains. This was where Ronan had been, his thighs bulging as if they would rip his pants off at any moment.
The holy sword was tinted the same dusky golden color as before. Akasha realized at once that the technology was an offshoot of the world. The sunrise landscape of the hills rose like a mirage around Ronan.
“Sunrise.”
Ronan smiled wryly. The light of the sword was becoming clearer and clearer.
The chains crawled out from under her sleeves and wrapped around her body with urgency. This was not good.
Akasha stretched out her five fingers and unleashed her telekinesis.
“That’s a pretty good name, right?”
Ronan swallowed and struck forward with his sword. A circle of light was drawn.
Once again, a bursting sunrise pressed Akasha from above.
『■—!!!』
The telekinesis lost its form and disintegrated upon contact with the light. The chains clattered. Akasha fell down a cliff face, the blood from her body dripping and gushing into the sky.
“『■■—■■!
There were no more options left. Falling, Akasha snapped her index finger with all her might. The rising blood droplets rushed downward in unison.
Chaaaaaah!
When it reached the ground, the puddle of red blood turned to cracks and opened its gaping maw.
『■■. ■■■■■.』
It was a last-ditch effort. Far inside the rift, another rift opened up.
Akasha’s body was about to be swallowed by the rift when a burst of red light exploded where he stood.
Ronan came charging in like a meteor, plunging his sword deep into Akasha’s chest.
『——!』
“I told you I’d finish it.”
Akasha’s eyes widened. Ronan twisted the hilt of his sword, blood spurting once more over Akasha’s shattered mask.
The two men, tangled and falling, disappeared into the rift.
****
The breeze was cool against my forehead.
The sky, visible through my eyelashes, was covered with red clouds.
“——Heh!”
As soon as I opened my eyes, I sat up.
It was a very different landscape from da Conya.
“Forest?
I was standing in the middle of a dense broadleaf forest. Strangely, every tree was either broken or uprooted.
Judging by the way my son-in-law was looking, it was probably dusk.
I muttered, clutching my bangs.
“Where am I?”
I had no idea where it was. I remembered plunging my sword into Akasha’s chest and being swallowed by the rift. The fight with him was an unquestionable victory for me.
It’s a fight, it’s a tangle in the cracks, and then–what happened?
“Kulk! Kulk! Kulk! Kulk!”
Suddenly, a fierce cough erupted. There was a little blood in it, too. His body was weak, as if he had been in and out of water for a long time. Even the life force he had borrowed from Ceniel seemed to be drained.
Suddenly, I glanced down, noticing that my waistband felt strangely light.
“Where the fuck did you go?”
And then he cursed.
Only his scabbard hung loosely from his waist. There was no sword or Akasha in sight.
I quickly whipped out my mana tracker. Luckily, the needle didn’t spin and stayed in one direction.
“I never miss it.”
He gritted his teeth and walked on. The needles pointed to an overgrown forest. He cut down the fallen tree and moved forward.
I narrowed my eyes as I realized there was black liquid everywhere.
“Blood?”
The liquid stretched to form a sticky thread.
Blood. Human blood, too. It was everywhere, scattered throughout the forest, growing in quantity with every step I took. Even the wind that blew through the trees carried the foul scent of blood.
“This is bad.
Something was ominous. Upon closer inspection, there was not only blood, but also bits of flesh and bones that might have been human parts. I quickened my pace.
It was like coming out of a forest that was more red than blue.
“What—.”
The thick smell of blood washed over me.
At the bottom of the slope was a wide-open plain. Or, more accurately, flat land.
Huge craters gaped open across the field, wide enough for a dragon to land in.
“——.”
There was a huge explosion of some sort. I could see why all the trees were lying down. The area around the crater was covered with bodies. There were tens of thousands of them, by my estimation. The needle of the mana tracker was still fixed.
“Oh, my God.”
The sigh came out without resistance. I walked like a man possessed by a ghost.
There were few bodies with limbs intact. A river of black blood formed beneath the torn and gutted flesh. A flock of crows, seemingly from the entire continent, feasted ravenously.
“Is this a hallucination? How could this happen—.
My head was dizzy; I felt like I was having a terrible nightmare. Every step I took was gut-wrenching and gory. I couldn’t hear the voices of the survivors.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that all the corpses were dressed in Imperial garb.
“No way.
I looked back at the nearest crater. The pit was dozens of meters across and deep, and I felt an intense sense of disorientation.
I was once in a place similar to this one.
“Ah.”
The answer came to me out of the blue.
These craters were caused by spears of light thrown by the giants. All the dead soldiers here were killed fighting the giants.
But I killed all the bald ones.
“What the hell—ah.”
It was a car with a head that wouldn’t roll properly.
As I followed the needle, I stopped in front of a pit.
The pit was unusually large and deep, almost impossible to take in at a glance, with a white glow emanating from its deeply shadowed center.
“Found.”
One corner of her mouth lifted in confusion. Akasha lay in the center of the crater. The holy sword was embedded deep in his chest.
Believe it or not, it looks like I made this pit.
“Be a killer.”
I muttered to myself and slid down the crater.
Dirt crunched under her soles. Akasha didn’t move. No more life or mana than Turlough could be felt from the creature lying there, his black hair a pillow.
Akasha is dead.
“—Son of a bitch. You’re finally fucked.”
I drew my knife. I’ve already lost enough blood, and there’s no blood.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I slit its throat. The masked head came off with a softness that belied the effort. I grabbed the head by the hair and lifted it up.
“Let me see your face.”
It had been a long time coming. It would not be too late to see Akasha’s face to find out how this had come to pass. The mask was removed, revealing the top.
“What the—? This guy.”
I frowned. Akasha was a middle-aged woman he had never seen before.
The bushy-bearded man’s face was contorted in horror. No matter how much I tried to recall, I couldn’t recognize his face.
I stare into his face for a long moment, then let out a long sigh.
“Hoooooooo—.”
I sighed, a mixture of frustration and relief.
To be honest, I was worried about what if it was someone I knew.
I was open to the possibility that it could have been a fallen Asel, Erzebet, or Lorhon, but I was glad it was someone I didn’t know.
“I’ll just have to figure out what’s going on and go home.
Mission accomplished. All you have to do now is open the bottle Sarante gave you and go home.
But after seeing the devastation, I knew I had to get to the bottom of it before I could sleep at night.
In the original world, as well as in the other three parallel worlds, giants are extinct.
So where the heck is this place?
“Utscha.”
I toss Akasha’s head and step out of the crater.
Once again, the carnage unfolded. It wasn’t a dream after all. The death in the land was nauseatingly real.
“Damn—.”
It was a sight that made me want to curse. I closed the eyes of the blue, sprawled cub at my feet and walked away. Crows cawed loudly. The car drove by, looking for a clue.
“To save—.”
Through the stale air, I could hear a man’s voice.
“Well.”
My shoulders slumped. Goosebumps crawled up my spine.
It wasn’t far away. I started running in the direction of the voice, forgetting that I was exhausted. The voice calling for help was faint but persistent.
I think I ran like that for about five minutes.
I arrived at the source of the voices. As usual, the place was littered with tangled bodies. The owner of the voice was writhing among them.
The distress calls, now too small to be heard, were scattering on the wind.
“Try ——.”
The footsteps stopped. The survivor was a gaunt, gaunt woman.
A kerchief with the rank of major was rolling on the floor. His black hair was soaked with blood and hung down like a weeping willow. His eyes and ears were bleeding from shrapnel wounds.
But the most horrific wounds were on his legs and abdomen. His intestines, torn from his uniform, were strewn about like ribbons. Both legs had been blown off so badly that it would be impossible to reattach them.
I was within striking distance, but she hadn’t yet acknowledged my presence.
Tears streamed down my stiff face.
“No.”
My legs are weak.
I walked over to her, struggling not to collapse.
“No. No. No. No. No. No—!”
It was a familiar face.
I stooped low and pulled her into my arms.
“Adeshan. Adeshan!”
“Oh…no radishes…?”
It was unmistakable. It was the woman I loved.
Adeshan didn’t even realize he was being held by me, he was just repeating over and over again that he wanted to be saved.
The Academy’s Genius KnifemanChapter 508