Chapter 123: The world will be no more (1/2)

Markus suddenly stopped. Yelna stuck to his back froze, unable to move even a muscle.

”What was that...?” Al asked, already on his knees.

A mere moment ago, all three of them detected a surge of powerful energy. But, while Al only experienced the physical side-effect of such a disturbance, the same couldn't be said about his two companions from the future.

”It's him,” Markus muttered, forcing his stiff muscles to work again. A step forward, then another, and in just a mere moment, he was already running again.

”That we can say for sure,” Yelna admitted before squinting her eyes. ”What worries me is that he used... that.”

******************

Layn's body was burning. Not with something as simple as a fire, but with the overloaded mana. Ever since Layn found his first mana crystal, he infused his body with a small amount of the crystalized mana.

Which was precisely the same element that made his and Irea's ropes so special. And right now, Layn was burning through this crystalized mana, releasing it in its actually usable form.

And even his body, entirely constructed from the mana of the gran arcana, couldn't hold such overwhelming power.

”What are you looking at, you ugly motherfucker?” Layn asked as he dropped down from the kitchen roof, directly into the pool of the monsters crowding below.

But even those evolved monsters that were there no longer posed any challenge to him. In fact, Layn didn't even pay them any mind. Instead, he allowed the ongoing onslaught of mana propagated by his body to melt down any and all opposition on his way.

But the gianormous monster in the distance remained. And now that its house-sized eyeballs were directed at Layn, the clash between the two was inevitable.

Layn raised the shiny part of the rope to his eyes.

”I didn't think I would need to use it so quickly,” he muttered before squeezing the shiny part of the rope.

The magical particles infused into the twig that made up the item were already on the verge of losing their stability. And when Layn used his burning, over-condensed mana, the last signs of stability disappeared from the rope.

There was a massive difference between the number of magical particles in Layn's body and in the rope. While infusing them into one's body was a pretty challenging and even risky action, doing so to an external object was easy in comparison.

And now, Layn released all the energy stored in the magical particles of the rope!

*******

”It's starting,” Markus muttered through his clenched teeth before speeding up his run even more. Running through the desert on a moonless night wasn't the brightest idea, but he didn't really have any say over the matter.

Not with Layn apparently going rouge.

”You know we need to stop him,” Yelna whispered, clearly conflicted over the topic herself.

”Only if he lost his sanity,” Markus replied in an angry tone. ”I know you look at the greater picture, but don't forget that he is our friend!” he protested.

'Brother, hold on just for a little longer!' Markus wished in his thoughts, speeding towards the source of the evergrowing magical disaster.

************

Once the eyes of the massive monster in the distance laid on Layn's shine, it instantly turned all of its attention to the archmage. But before Layn could even get to it, a change occurred to the horde.

Previously, the monsters simply pushed forward as if aiming to populate the entire plain. But now that Layn ignited his magical particles and was in the process of igniting the magic particles in his rope, the whole horde all rushed at him.

”Useless!” Layn shouted, sweeping his hand. The air disturbed by his movement instantly caught fire, showering the horde with the element. Before monsters could get close to the archmage, they would succumb to the intense flames instead.

'Kill,' the thought appeared in Layn's mind, instantly forcing him into the fight for his own consciousness. 'Kill, kill, kill, kill' this single relentless thought accompanied the archmage as he made his way towards the monster in the distance.

”ROAR!” Layn's target released a mighty outcry. Just the sound of its road alone appeared to influence all the monsters in the range of the sound. What's more, as the sound propagated outwards, the fabric of the world itself seemed to crumble under its might.