Chapter 371: The Witch of Terror (2)
“What is this...?”
Dorneth expressed his astonishment at the transformation unfolding before his eyes.
Even Lily, who had abruptly risen to her feet at the sudden shout of “Let’s eat!”, was bewildered. But what followed was a scene so unprecedented that even he, king of the Dwarves, had never witnessed anything like it.
Moonlight.
As Lily came to her senses, she seemed to commune with the full moon, then began to harmonize with its light, radiating a brilliant yellow glow from her body.
The first to react to the light was Keros.
The moment Moonlight touched him, his small form expanded, and he awakened as a massive beast exuding a crushing aura.
Kuaaaaang—!
“G-get back!”
In the middle of the desert, the now-gigantic Keros towered, unleashing black flames from his twin jaws, incinerating everything around him.
While Keros rampaged across the desert, reducing everything to ash—
Natasha’s transformation reached its end.
With her eyes closed, she assumed the basic stance of Quanru, the martial art of the Giant Tribe. Behind her, wrapped in Moonlight, a colossal giant formed as an apparition.
As she took a short breath and opened her eyes, Natasha softly murmured in awe at the sight of the giant mirage.
“Gereflam...”
The clarity of its spiritual presence was so vivid, she could hardly believe it.
It was the phenomenon of Unification, which occurred when synchronization exceeded 90%.
This was the first time she had ever experienced Unification herself.
Looking around, Natasha noticed the drastic change in Keros as well.
Two heads.
His form was now two to three times larger than his previous awakening state.
It would not be unbelievable to claim that a portion of Cerberus's true body, resting in the spirit realm, had manifested.
‘Moonlight has evolved. It wasn’t like this before.’
Natasha’s gaze turned to Lily, who stood behind Keros, supporting him.
A gentle brilliance, resembling a miniature full moon, softly wrapped around her.
She was also pouring Moonlight onto Darkstorm.
“...Why does my body feel so heavy?”
“Th-the aura… Kugh!”
They reacted as though a powerful unseen force was weighing them down.
When touched by Moonlight, it affected the spirit—for allies, it expanded the vessel of the spirit and raised their limits, but for enemies, it bound the spirit, lowering their cap.
In other words, Moonlight served as a blessing for allies and a curse for enemies.
Boom! Boom!
Empowered, Keros charged forward.
Darkstorm, exposed to the Moonlight, hastily retreated, causing their tight formation to collapse into chaos.
Amidst the frantic battle, Dorneth approached Natasha.
“What’s going on here?”
“It’s the Blessing of Moonlight.”
“The Blessing of Moonlight?”
During the Witch Massacre, Lily, the Witch of the Moon, had been instrumental in overcoming that crisis.
Without the Blessing of Moonlight, all the witches would have either perished or been sold off as slaves.
“The Blessing of Moonlight amplifies the witches’ abilities to the extreme.”
A time when the witches’ power doubled or tripled.
That included their spiritual entities.
Looking up at the unified Gereflam, Natasha smiled.
“But even I’ve never experienced a change this drastic before.”
If Moonlight had always been this powerful, the witches wouldn’t have been hunted down in Hell Grime.
“The effect of Moonlight has increased. Especially in relation to spirit entities, it’s astonishing.”
Natasha's gaze turned to Karl.
He appeared as though consumed by a black slime—his Spectral Form seemed to be reacting to Moonlight and undergoing a transformation.
A being of the spirit realm like Keros, a spiritual entity like Gereflam, and now a Spectral Form…
It was clear that Lily’s Moonlight had a significant effect on spiritual beings.
Something within Lily had changed drastically.
And the source of that change likely came from him.
Arthur Clayton.
The one Lily trusted and followed without hesitation.
“Karl will come to his senses soon. Until then, hold the line.”
“What about you?”
“What do you think?”
To Dorneth’s question, Natasha bared her teeth in a ferocious grin.
“I’m going to end this fight.”
As she raised her fists, the towering Gereflam above her clenched its massive hands.
The final stage of spiritual art—Unification.
Feeling the surge of power, Natasha fixed her eyes on the Sword Demon, Karvas.
‘If it’s now...Could the outcome be different from before?’
Karvas surely had more hidden cards to play.
But Natasha no longer feared him.
“We’ll find out if we clash.”
Boom—!
Natasha’s figure vanished into the air.
Kuaaaaaah!
Black flames scorched the frozen desert, leaving only shimmering mirages in their wake.
An oppressive heat, enough to reduce everything to ash.
Any ordinary soldier would’ve been paralyzed by fear, but Darkstorm was different.
“There’s an opening! Attack!”
They were not easily consumed by the flames.
Abandoning their encirclement, they quickly widened the distance and, becoming familiar with the flame patterns, began targeting Keros.
Their weapons, a mix of looted and mismatched gear, nonetheless radiated fierce energy.
As they got close, Keros bared his sharp fangs.
Crunch—
“Guaaagh!”
“...It’s coming again!”
The two heads of Keros moved savagely, tearing into Darkstorm.
But the enemies did not retreat.
Dozens threw themselves forward, rapidly closing in.
Once they touched Keros’s massive body, they unleashed explosive attacks.
Kuaaaaang—!
A low growl of pain mixed into Keros’s roar.
Fierce assaults that wounded even his spiritual form.
Under the barrage, Keros staggered, both heads thrashing wildly.
Behind him, Lily opened her eyes and reached out.
Flash—
A soft radiance surged outward, sweeping through the area.
Moonlight.
That brilliant yellow wave caused Darkstorm to grimace.
“That cursed light! Spread out!”
Their reaction was swift, but unlike before, the range of Moonlight had expanded greatly.
Some were inevitably caught in the light. Their energy instantly twisted.
Movements slowed like soaked cotton, and the force in their weapons weakened.
Kuaaaaang—!
“Damn monster...!”
Keros lunged into the light and began tearing into them, while they gritted their teeth and tried to retaliate.
But this time, their attacks could not severely damage Keros’s spiritual body.
“...Retreat!”
“Aaagh!”
The area turned into a sea of blood.
From afar, others watching groaned at the massacre unfolding within the glowing light.
Beast and witch.
No one could think of a way to counter their combination.
Then—
“Keros, above!”
Lily urgently pointed to the sky for the first time.
A small shadow had leapt high above the Moonlight.
Yet its presence loomed large enough to dominate all of Darkstorm.
The Sword Demon, Karvas.
His gleaming blade came crashing down, as if to cleave Keros in two.
Crackle—
A red lightning burst from Keros’s massive horns.
Moments later, both horns expelled the electricity, tearing the sky apart.
Kuaaaaah!
A massive red pillar of fire surged up, engulfing Karvas.
Faced with the overwhelming force, Karvas’s response was calm.
He lowered his gaze, lightly swung the sword gripped in both hands—
Ssshh—
It was a simple slash, but the result was shocking.
The flame was cleanly split, then quickly dissipated into the air.
“Hrah!”
Karvas crashed down like a thunderbolt, driving his blade deep into Keros’s head.
As Karvas’s eyes flashed, the sword howled.
Boom!
“...Ke-Keros!”
One of Keros’s heads exploded with a scream.
Landing on the ground, Karvas slashed Keros’s body diagonally.
A leg was severed, and the beast collapsed, howling in pain.
The blade pointed at the one remaining head.
He appeared mostly unaffected by Moonlight.
Crash!
—!
As Karvas leaned forward, his stance faltered. He twisted his sword mid-strike.
Suddenly, a massive giant loomed before him.
Karvas’s eyes slightly widened.
Gereflam roared fiercely, driving down a mountain-like spiritual fist like lightning.
Boom-boom-boom! Crash—!
“Gugh!”
For the first time, a groan escaped Karvas’s lips.
Unified with Gereflam, Natasha bared her teeth and growled at him.
“It’s round two, you bastard.”
As she charged in and delivered a Quanru punch, Gereflam’s fist overlapped and swallowed Karvas whole.
Boom!
The unified spiritual fist was overwhelming.
It wasn’t sliced by Karvas’s blade and even shook his body.
A relentless barrage of Giant Tribe martial arts poured down.
Finally—
Clang!
—!
His sword shattered, and Karvas was hurled into the ground, consumed by Gereflam’s spiritual storm.
Natasha panted heavily.
The advantage was clear.
Yet her expression remained grim, fists clenched tight.
“...What a damn monster.”
She bit her lip watching Karvas slowly rise.
“Fun.”
Karvas grinned wide.
He wiped the blood from his mouth and checked his body. His pure white garments were stained red, and he frowned.
“That was expensive. A shame.”
He tore off the bloodied cloth wrapped around his arms, revealing massive tattoos.
Tossing aside the broken hilt, he fixed his eyes on Natasha.
“It’s been a while… since I used this.”
He clasped both fists together.
It resembled the basic Quanru stance.
Calm.
But Natasha gritted her teeth and rushed in.
That wasn't calm. It was the eye of the storm before an explosion. She had to stop him before he moved.
As expected, the tattoos on Karvas’s arms began to emit a dark glow.
“You’re too late.”
He bared his teeth and smiled savagely.
The moment he spread his arms wide, a white radiance formed in the air before him.
Grabbing it in both hands, the light took the shape of a sword.
A blade beyond mere aura weaponry—formed entirely of pure aura.
Formless Sword.
“Haaah!”
Above, Natasha—her form twisted like a raging specter—drove down a massive fist.
The concentrated spiritual punch was enormous.
Karvas swung his Formless Sword upward.
Crack—
—!
The once-pristine fist crumpled like paper.
A fracture formed.
As she flinched from the impact, the Formless Sword rained down like a thunderbolt.
Ssszzzt!
Chunks of Gereflam’s body were sliced away.
It felt as though his scream echoed through the air.
Too late to dodge.
“YOU BASTARD!!”
Natasha crashed into the Formless Sword like a storm.
But her surge became a mere breeze before the sword, and the momentum reversed in an instant.
Now it was Natasha, bleeding from every limb.
Her spirit, like a tree being chopped down, looked on the verge of collapse.
Flash—
Just then, a soft radiance burst from Karvas’s body.
The glow distorted the Formless Sword’s shape, and Natasha’s punch regained strength.
Karvas, sensing the light on his body, shot a glare toward Lily.
“Moonlight... so it can be used like this too?”
The concentrated beam of Moonlight now rained solely on Karvas.
Focused into a single ray, its power was immense.
Like a curse, it dulled his control of energy, and his body grew heavier.
“This much…?”
For the first time, Karvas’s expression turned serious.
He shoved back the raining spiritual punches with all his strength, then tore away the garments covering his upper body.
Whoosh—
He took a deep breath.
His rock-hard muscles twitched.
Then, from the tattoos covering his torso, a brilliant white light erupted.
The light from his arms engulfed his body, dyeing him white.
Even his pupils turned ghostly pale.
That figure looked just like—
A White Ghost.
A specter wielding a sword.