Which Would Cause Less Damage?

Finding Yuseong wasn’t difficult.

All she had to do was follow the straight line of destruction that cut through half the city.

Olga’s face turned pale when she discovered Yuseong sprawled in the middle of a crater that looked like it had been created by a bomb.

‘He can’t be dead, right?’

Users were monsters of possibility who could become anything.

Even Three Weak, classified as the weakest, couldn’t be allowed to die, let alone Yuseong who had grown strong enough to surpass Three Weak in less than a year.

Upon confirming that Yuseong’s breathing was so faint it seemed it could stop at any moment, Olga took out a small glass vial containing liquid that shimmered in five colors from her chest.

Though it was a precious item that could literally revive the dead, it wasn’t comparable to a user.

Just as she opened the lid and was about to pour the contents into Yuseong’s mouth, Olga’s movement stopped.

“Mr. Yuseong?”

Yuseong, who should have been at death’s door, had somehow raised his upper body and was blinking his eyes.

However, instead of relief that Yuseong was alive, Olga felt a different emotion.

It was fear.

“……”

A being looking around with empty eyes devoid of any emotion.

It was Yuseong yet not Yuseong.

Something that had put on Yuseong’s shell.

The moment she recognized that being, Olga’s body began trembling like an aspen tree.

If the difference had been like that between a snake and a frog, she might have somehow managed to run away.

If it had been like that between a human and an ant, she might have bitten back out of spite even though she would die anyway.

But the gap between herself and the being inside Yuseong wasn’t on that level.

It was a difference that couldn’t possibly be expressed in language, yet if forced to express it, it would be like that between the universe and a speck of dust.

Swoosh.

Olga couldn’t do anything even as she saw the writhing Thorny Vine from the unknown being’s hand approaching her head.

A being that couldn’t be resisted, and shouldn’t be resisted.

But before the Thorny Vine could reach Olga, an anomaly occurred.

Crack!

Extreme cold arose from Olga’s entire body.

Just as Kasim had cast defensive magic on himself, Olga too had cast a formula on herself that would automatically activate under certain conditions.

The absolute zero cold instantly spread beyond the Thorny Vine to reach Yuseong’s fingers, and at that moment light returned to the empty eyes.

“Urgh?!”

“Haa, haa, haa…..”

Two groans intersected.

One was from Yuseong who was clutching his blackened fingertips that had been touched by the cold, and the other was from Olga exhaling the breath she had been holding.

“Ugh. Oh, Olga?”

“……”

“Wha-what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Nothing could be felt from Yuseong to the point where she wondered if she had imagined that presence from before.

“Mr. Yuseong, have you perhaps made a contract with any strange beings?”

“Strange beings?”

“I mean transcendent beings like gods, demon lords, dragons.”

Yuseong tilted his head at the sudden question, but then his expression hardened as he belatedly noticed the Thorny Vine extending from his fingertips.

The momentarily lost consciousness and involuntarily activated skill, and Olga bringing up transcendent beings.

Of course there was something that came to mind.

Just as Yuseong was about to open his mouth, the city shook with a tremendous boom.

Where Yuseong and Olga’s gazes turned, they saw the lich and Harnak facing off in mid-air.

“Wait, that staff and robe. Don’t tell me that lich is Kasim?”

“That’s right, but I don’t think that’s what’s important right now.”

Kasim unleashing dozens of spells every second and Harnak charging with ominous energy encompassing their entire body.

At a glance it seemed evenly matched, but in reality Kasim was being overwhelmed one-sidedly.

The spells Kasim cast couldn’t inflict even slight damage on Harnak, but each of Harnak’s attacks was destroying Kasim’s body.

Though he was somehow enduring thanks to the characteristics of a lich that couldn’t die unless their phylactery was destroyed and the principles of martial arts, even that had its limits.

“We’ll talk later. Right now helping Mr. Kasim should take priority.”

“Wait. Just wait a moment!”

Olga was about to get angry at Yuseong for holding them back in such an urgent situation, but then hesitated as she recalled the fear from earlier.

During that pause, Yuseong spoke in a calm voice that didn’t match the situation.

“That monster. Is it an opponent we can beat even if we both join in?”

Olga’s lips trembled.

Though she had only received a single blow, she could easily guess how powerful a being Harnak was.

Attack power that could shake even her ultimate defensive skill Eternal Ice Fortress.

Though it was an incomplete fortress where she had barely managed to create just the walls in an instant, the same applied to the opponent.

Moreover, Harnak wasn’t just a being with high attack power.

The defense to receive without taking a single step back against Yuseong’s monstrous strength that could throw flesh golems weighing dozens of tons, combat techniques that could freely toy with Kasim who had learned martial arts even if only at a self-defense level, and magic power whose limits couldn’t be seen.

Harnak was an extraordinary being in every aspect.

As if driving home that thought, Yuseong’s words continued.

“If Kasim is getting beaten like that, I don’t think the two of us joining in would help at all?”

“Kasim is a mage, not a warrior. If we can tie down Harnak’s feet, he should be able to chant high-ranking spells that could deal some damage.”

“This might sound strange coming from me, but I have confidence in my strength and I was blown away without even lasting a single exchange. I don’t know how strong you are but you’re not a warrior type either – do you really think the two of us working together can buy enough time for Kasim to chant high-ranking spells?”

“…So what are you suggesting? This is a situation where we scratched what should have been left alone. Shouldn’t we do something?”

Facing Olga’s glare with both eyes blazing in anger, Yuseong let out a small sigh.

If he had been alone he would have fled without a second thought, but now he had companions.

‘Running away alone isn’t an option. All three of us need to escape.’

The escape itself wouldn’t be difficult.

The three people here now were all users.

If they could create even a momentary opening, they could use their goggles to escape to another dimension during that time.

However, what came after escaping would be troublesome.

Even Lucifer had power that could annihilate at least a small city, and Harnak was if anything even more powerful, definitely not less.

If they disappeared and Harnak quietly returned to the temple that would be fortunate, but if he went outside and caused havoc, the damage would be unimaginable.

Moreover, this was a situation where all users except Nirvana and Carlos who were currently uncontactable, and Sophia who lacked direct combat ability, were scattered across Europe searching for signals.

‘Unless they notice something’s wrong and come right away, even if a whole country was destroyed that wouldn’t be strange at all. And if they start saying unnecessary things like my name while the whole world is watching…’

They absolutely couldn’t just run away.

The best option was to somehow eliminate Harnak here, and if that wasn’t possible, they needed to inflict as much damage as possible to prevent him from acting recklessly.

Though trying to take down or seriously wound an enemy that would be tough just to run from could be called a case of the tail wagging the dog, fortunately Yuseong had gained such power a few days ago.

Yuseong looked up at the ceiling.

The soil had all been blown away by Harnak’s beam attacks revealing the blue sky.

This was a very suitable situation to test his newly gained power, no, weapon.

“Olga, between that monster rampaging and a meteor impact, which would cause less damage?”

“What?”

Yuseong continued his explanation without waiting for Olga’s answer.

Though Olga listened indifferently at first, her expression gradually hardened as the explanation continued until it finally turned to shock at the end.

“W-wait a moment. I think I must have misheard something, could you say that again?”

“You heard correctly. What do you want to do?”

“Of course that’s-!”

Boom!

-Kuk! Olga! Are you still far? I’m almost at my limit!

Kasim’s desperate voice echoing in her head cut off Olga’s words.

Though she didn’t like it, there was no other option right now.

“…You’re sure it will fall exactly here? It won’t fall somewhere strange?”

“Even I don’t know that. But the accuracy probably won’t be very high.”

“In this situation, at least lie and say it will!”

“Alright, now hurry and tell Kasim too!”

After sending Olga off, Yuseong half-opened his eyes and concentrated.

The dragon’s crest that appeared on the back of his hand.

He hadn’t activated the crest to go to Dragonia.

Rather, the opposite.

Yuseong planned to summon Dragonia to Earth.

Flash!

‘It’s here.’

The moment the crest’s light reached its peak, Yuseong could clearly feel Dragonia’s presence.

Sophia would handle what came after this, now there was only one thing left for him to do.

After using Infinite Origin Force at full power to convert all his internal energy and spirit power into magic power, Yuseong channeled every bit of magic power into the ground through his feet.

Grrrrrr!

Could this even be called Thorny Vine?

The Thorny Vine that Yuseong unleashed with all his might was far too massive to be called a vine.

The way the vines writhed as they spread in all directions like living things resembled a giant octopus monster.

Boom!

The power of the giant vines wasn’t very strong.

This was because he had only increased the size with magic power and they were actually empty shells.

However, only Yuseong knew this – to others, these giant vines were monsters exuding an intimidating pressure incomparable to ordinary large monsters.

This was true for Harnak as well.

“Hooh.”

Ignoring Kasim and Olga, Harnak charged at the suddenly appearing giant monster.

‘Though I’ve seen many monsters crossing numerous dimensions, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one this large and peculiar.’

He had roughly gauged the abilities of the lich and the woman who handled cold.

Then it was rational to deal with the unknown being whose powers and abilities were uncertain first.

Crack!

Questions arose in Harnak’s eyes.

This was because contrary to his expectations that it would have considerable strength and durability, the giant vines were disappointingly weak.

When dozens of meters long vines came flying, he had lowered his stance bracing for impact but felt nothing, and with just a slight exertion of force the house-sized thick vines tore like paper.

‘A decoy?’

The moment he realized the giant vines’ purpose, absolute zero cold and numerous binding spells began descending around him.

Harnak didn’t panic and drew up energy to protect his entire body.

However, that was a fatal mistake.

Harnak shouldn’t have stayed still.

He needed to escape this place by any means necessary, no matter what damage he had to take.

“Hm?”

Through his hazy vision due to the cold, he saw Yuseong putting something on his eyes.

Before he could identify what it was, Yuseong instantly vanished turning into particles of light.

It wasn’t just Yuseong.

The lich and the woman who handled cold all followed suit turning into light and disappearing.

Harnak felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

Though he didn’t know what it was, he could instinctively realize that an absurd danger was approaching.

‘First escape into the air.’

After completing calculations in an instant, Harnak was about to kick off the ground to jump but momentarily hesitated.

The city that should have been bright with sunlight pouring down was strangely dark.

When he unconsciously looked up, Harnak doubted his eyes.

A giant fireball large enough to cover the city was falling toward his head.

‘No, this isn’t fire…’

Harnak, who had accelerated his consciousness to stretch an instant into eternity, could identify what that fireball really was.

It wasn’t a fireball at all.

It was a meteor.