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Chapter 314: Necronovix, the Four Lords of Hell (3)
Chapter 314: Necronovix, the Four Lords of Hell (3)
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Chapter 314: Necronovix, the Four Lords of Hell (3)
“Ke-Ketal?”
Serena flinched at the name, but Ketal quickly composed himself and addressed her.
“Stand back. It’s dangerous.”
“O-okay!”
Serena stumbled as she moved behind Ketal, who kept his gaze fixed on Necronovix.
Necronovix was simply standing there.
He wasn’t expanding his aura or displaying any hostile intent, yet a shiver ran through Ketal.
The power emanating from Necronovix was palpable.
This was perhaps the strongest entity he had ever faced on Earth—one of a very few in the hell who could even be called equals.
Necronovix, too, recognized this.
[...Barbarian.]
In Necronovix’s eyes, there was an open wariness, and his whole body tensed, ready to respond to any movement Ketal might make.
For the first time, Necronovix acknowledged Ketal as a genuine threat.
“You must know who I am.”
[How could I not? Ketal, the Barbarian of the White Snowfields.]
“And you must be Necronovix, I presume. Would you care to introduce yourself?”
[Not at all difficult.]
Necronovix spoke with respectful courtesy.
[I am the founder of black magic, one of the Four Lords of Hell. I am called Necronovix. It’s a pleasure to meet you.]
Ketal’s eyes lit up.
One of the Four Lords of Hell—a demon ranked just below the Demon King.
Necronovix spoke softly.
[I owed a debt to Materia.]
“Ah, that incident. I remember.”
Materia, the Mother of a Thousand Demons, had once descended to Earth using the body of Floris.
It was then that she had battled Ketal.
Ketal chuckled and asked.
“Are you here for the same reason as Materia?”
Materia had sought Ketal’s offspring, but Necronovix shook his head.
[Hardly. I’m not so arrogant. My reason for being here is simple.]
His voice rang out calmly.
[I came here to kill you.]
A chill shot through Ketal as Necronovix’s murderous intent became unmistakable.
“Ugh…”
The Holy Sword near them paled, paralyzed by fear.
Even though the sword wasn’t the target, its bearer trembled uncontrollably.
Plants withered, grass lost its vitality—the air itself seemed oppressed by the sheer force of Necronovix’s intent.
“Hahahahaha!”
Ketal, who was the target of this killing intent, couldn’t hold back his laughter.
The Four Lords of Hell, beings akin to gods, and here before him was one of them in his true form, not a mere incarnation.
He grinned broadly, his excitement rising, colliding with Necronovix’s intent.
Serena gasped as she withdrew further, unable to bear the clash of their emotions.
The air around them warped from the pressure of their power.
“You’re here to kill me, you say? That sounds interesting. Let’s see you try.”
[Darkness crawled up from the ground and grasped my enemy.]
BAM!
The ground shattered, and hands of darkness rose to seize Ketal’s ankles.
Without a word, Ketal responded to the intent with a smile, gathering his energy.
A massive force wrapped around him.
With a powerful stomp, Ketal disappeared.
The Holy Sword couldn’t keep up with his speed, and the hands of darkness caught only air.
Necronovix muttered as Ketal moved faster than sound, somehow completing his sentence before Ketal could reach him, as though compressing time itself.
[A deep, black shadow allows no one to pass.]
A dark shadow materialized before Necronovix as Ketal swung his axe.
BOOM!
The impact echoed as nearby trees splintered and the ground trembled.
“Oh!”
Ketal grinned.
His attack had been blocked.
Cracks spread across the shadow, but it remained unbroken.
This only thrilled Ketal further as he pressed his feet down harder, refusing to step back.
RUMBLE!
Necronovix was forced back by Ketal’s relentless push, realizing Ketal’s intent.
[You’re trying to drive me back.]
“We’re too close here. Let’s take this further away.”
CRACK!
In an instant, their battle took them beyond the mountain range, to a place untouched by humans.
Necronovix snapped his fingers.
[A heavy pillar shall descend.]
The sky opened, and a dark pillar plummeted downwards, piercing the surface with force and speed.
Ketal flexed his arm and swung.
BANG!
The pillar shattered, scattering debris across the land, leaving the ground cracked and dented.
Ketal laughed with delight.
“I believe this is Ashetiar’s power!”
[Demons wield their power as magic, and black magic also draws from that same source. It’s hardly difficult.]
Necronovix casually summoned more black magic.
[Shadows roared as they churned the earth.]
A wave of shadows swept across the ground.
Ketal leaped, evading the shadowy domain in an instant.
Necronovix narrowed his eyes.
[So you’ve grown even stronger since fighting Materia, becoming far more skilled with mystery than before.]
Ketal was growing more powerful, something that did not bode well for them.
[You’ll need to die quickly.]
Necronovix pointed a finger at Ketal, gathering a horrifically powerful energy.
[Piercing Bullet.]
The bullet shot forward, and Ketal tightened his grip on his axe, swinging it to meet the bullet.
CLANG!
The bullet didn’t retreat but pressed forward, striving to break through the axe’s blade.
But Ketal only laughed, pushing back harder.
CRACK!
The bullet shattered, its force dissipating as it fell to the ground.
“What a peculiar power,”
Ketal said, cheerfully swinging his axe, unscathed by the encounter.
Necronovix clicked his tongue.
The Piercing Bullet was an attack that carried a predetermined outcome—it was meant to have already pierced its target.
Defense was theoretically impossible.
Yet, Ketal had blocked it, thanks to his axe.
[…The Abominable Axe. Even in its weakened form, it’s as vexing as ever.]
Necronovix narrowed his eyes.
‘…I sense something different.’
There was something inside Ketal, something terrible, alien, and faintly familiar, though its true nature was obscured.
Whatever it was, it felt dangerously troublesome.
Ketal took a step, shattering everything around him as he closed in on Necronovix.
Necronovix submerged himself in darkness, jumping through space.
[A dark line spirals as it charges toward its target.]
The high-speed, spinning line of demonic energy rushed at Ketal.
He dodged to the side, but at that moment, Necronovix spoke again.
[There, it blooms.]
CRASH!
The line of energy exploded, sending countless spikes through the air like a sea urchin’s needles, filling every available space.
It should have been impossible to avoid.
[Not a single scratch.]
Yet, Ketal emerged unscathed.
He had observed the gaps within the explosion, dodging with minimal movements to avoid the assault.
CRACK!
Breaking through the spikes, Ketal bared his teeth.
"Very strong!"
Ketal wasn’t responding lightly anymore.
He was fully drawing out his strength to kill Necronovix.
Frankly, if it were Raphael instead of him, he would have been easily overwhelmed by Ketal at this moment.
Above all, Ketal now possessed superhuman-level mystic abilities, and his speed and strength had become much faster and stronger than before.
But despite this, he hadn’t managed to land any effective hits on Necronovix.
It was truly remarkable.
“You’re using an unusual power, unlike Materia! For the founder of black magic, you look quite close to the sacred scriptures! Very threatening, impressive!”
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[If you’re going to say that, I’d at least appreciate it if you’d let a few scratches land on you.]
“You’re the same way, aren’t you?”
Ketal chuckled.
“Why don’t we end this probing? It seems rather meaningless at this point.”
For an ordinary hero class, just being exposed to this recent clash would make survival impossible.
Yet for them, it was simply a probing exchange.
Necronovix’s eyes darkened; he was now on guard.
He was trying to gauge the true power Ketal had shown when he faced Materia, even managing to wound his true self beyond his avatar.
However, it seemed Ketal was also aware of his probing and wasn’t showing his true strength so easily.
[I suppose I’ll have to move first.]
Necronovix made his decision, gathering his power from elsewhere.
Just gathering this strength caused the world itself to seem as if it were about to twist.
Now, it was the real deal.
Ketal grinned, bracing his entire body with power.
[The world shall become night. This place is my domain.]
With those words, the world turned black.
From a distance, the Holy Sword, watching with an uneasy expression, swallowed nervously.
"Th-That…."
A part of the world had transformed into darkness, as if a black box had swallowed up space, painted over the canvas of reality with a dark brush.
Necronovix continued swiftly.
[My world has now become a prison that traps my foes.]
The spread of blackness compressed, swiftly capturing Ketal.
Ketal’s eyes widened as he realized he was imprisoned.
“Oh?”
[I once looked up to the sky from the ground and thought, if those radiant lights illuminate the world, then surely, something as deep and dark must also exist.]
The incantation flowed.
A different, overwhelming power began to gather.
This was dangerous, Ketal’s senses warned him.
He gripped his axe and struck down on the prison confining him.
Boooom!
But even after taking Ketal’s attack, the prison didn’t break, save for a minor scratch, holding its place firmly.
‘It’s solid.’
This wouldn’t break like this.
Just as Ketal was about to summon his mystery, Necronovix finished his incantation.
[Since I have directly visited that place to witness it, I shall call it the black hole.]
Crunch.
And then…
Ketal’s body was swallowed by the black hole.
It devoured air, wind, grass, and sound—everything without exception.
This was an otherworldly phenomenon that existed somewhere in the cosmos, manifested here through black magic.
It was only an imitation, able to summon but a fraction of the true power’s essence.
But that alone was enough.
Crunch!
In an instant, the mountain range itself began to be pulled in, as if someone had taken a bite out of reality itself.
“Good heavens….”
Grombir, watching from a distance, gasped.
Even a hero like him couldn’t comprehend the density of such power.
Ketal seemed unlikely to survive such an overwhelming force.
[He’s probably still alive.]
But Necronovix didn’t let his guard down.
He didn’t believe Ketal would die so easily to this level of power.
But he also knew he wouldn’t escape easily, either.
[With the power he’s shown so far, he can’t break free.]
Ketal would have to draw out his strength.
The power he used against Materia, that could leave scars on the world itself.
That was indeed the manifestation of mystery—Aura.
But, in Necronovix’s assessment, Ketal couldn’t use Aura freely.
Once used, it was expended, closer to a one-time, consumable power.
Necronovix intended to strike when Ketal exhausted his Aura escaping the black hole, quickly gathering his own power.
Shrrk.
Darkness gathered.
This was entirely different from the power Necronovix had wielded so far.
Though formed of demonic energy, it possessed a distinct nature.
It was death itself.
This was the power he had hidden to lull Ketal into complacency, now drawn out for a decisive blow.
Cracks spread across the black hole.
Something writhing within defied the all-consuming pull, shattering it.
And finally—
Booooom!
The black hole shattered.
Fragments of the earth that had been swallowed by the hole burst out explosively.
Ketal’s figure appeared amidst the debris.
“Haha! Hahahaha!”
Perhaps he hadn’t emerged unscathed; his body bore large and small wounds.
Necronovix swung his darkness, as if he had been waiting for this.
Crack!
Darkness, embodying death itself, shot forward.
Not even Ketal could come out unscathed if hit directly by this darkness.
Because this darkness was the concept of death itself, capable of killing even the gods, the most terrible power that had once slaughtered them over and over again.
It was enough to kill even this barbarian.
But when Necronovix saw Ketal charging forward, his eyes shook.
Aura was swirling around Ketal’s axe.
[That’s…]
Aura collided with darkness.
And darkness, literally, was consumed.
Just as an ocean engulfs a lake, the greater concept swallowed the imitation, erasing Necronovix’s death in vain.
“This is delightful!”
Ketal laughed joyously as he charged forward.
Necronovix reflexively swung his arm, unleashing a powerful defense.
But even that defense was sliced through like cheese by the Aura.
At this rate, he couldn’t withstand it.
Necronovix quickly layered and overlapped space hundreds of times, creating an absolute defense.
Boooom!
Even that couldn’t hold, and Necronovix’s body was driven into the ground with a groan.
He was unscathed.
At most, he felt a slight impact.
But that alone was shocking.
[Ha.]
Necronovix let out a mirthless laugh.
How long had it been since he’d taken any kind of damage?
He couldn’t even remember.
Only a handful of the gods once called powerful had ever struck him meaningfully.
But that wasn’t the important part.
[This is… absurd.]
Staggering as he got up, he looked at Ketal.
There was indeed Aura on Ketal’s axe.
And within that Aura was something that deeply unsettled Necronovix.
[Why does that Aura of yours carry that being’s power?]
As he spoke, Necronovix’s eyes fixated on Ketal.
After a brief pause, those eyes widened in realization.
[...Abomination?]
[PR/N: If ya’ll remember, there was that one group of assassins that ketal destroyed who worshipped ‘abomination’, yep the monstrosity and abomination are the same.]
[Translator - Night]
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