[Extreme Sword - Holy Heaven Destruction Light Extreme Human Unity]
A sword accompanied by flames so intense they could engulf and burn the entire space.
Rohan felt the distinctive sensation in his hands as he stood within the protective flames.
'It definitely connected.'
It wasn't just about the blade making contact, but reaching the core and essence of what the opponent was desperately trying to protect.
A scar-like mark formed in a diagonal pattern across the corrupt body. It burned with a brilliant golden light.
"Ah... Ah? AH!? â â ?? I aaaam...?"
The creature's voice echoed inside his head. But different from before. Androgynous yet overlapping with multiple voices, making it impossible to understand clearly.
Even the six arms that had been attempting to attack stopped moving.
A fortunate turn for Rohan, who had been prepared to sacrifice his life.
'I'll finish this with a follow-up strike.'
How could he miss this opportunity when the enemy had frozen in place?
Rohan filled his blade with the flames swirling around him, and with muscles working in harmony from his lower body, he swung his sword smoothly.
The golden wound on the creature's chest.
Using the deep, irreparable gash as a foothold, the shell of the ominous being began to turn inside out.
As the human form it had been holding onto collapsed, a malevolent energy that twisted one's insides just by looking at it was released.
"â â ? â ── â â â â â !!!!"
Countless souls poured out explosively through the wound.
FWHAAAAAH!!!
Black-faced apparitions burst forth and overflowed.
These pitch-black, withered souls screamed in agony, crying, lamenting, and raging.
'So this is the creature's true form.'
Tangible yet irregular, similar only to flames in nature.
The malice that filled the sky fell upon Rohan.
Rohan immediately constructed a space to withstand it.
[Fifth Sword - Heaven Sun Light Wheel]
Slashes and flames swept like a typhoon, shooting down the approaching faces.
But the space was gradually being consumed. Subtly narrowing.
─ â â â ...!
─ â â â â ! â !
─ â , â â â .
A force easily exceeding tens of thousands pushed forward, spewing curses. A chilling determination to devour him and make him share their fate ran down his spine.
Without mental immunity, he might have gone mad from the curses ringing in his head.
'This is.'
Dangerous. This was beyond the level of the Void Whale's erosion.
He was certain that being devoured by those evil spirits would lead to something more terrible than death.
The body continued to spew filth from its wound.
Though it had drifted far from human form, it still couldn't shake off the wound left by his final sword strike.
'I need to do something about that portal.'
But how? The moment he released the space, he would be devoured by the evil spirits.
Yet staying still was like slowly letting his neck be grabbed.
'If I could just open a path briefly...'
Various methods flashed through his mind.
Using the store skill to open.
[Remaining Magazines - 1299 magazines]
He poured out the magazines he had stocked with his abundant points all at once.
The magazines from the store met Rohan's flames. The magic explosion rounds detonated simultaneously.
KUUUUNG!!!
Creating a mushroom cloud in the dark world.
It temporarily pushed back the ominous masses that had been flooding in with sheer numbers.
[Foot Candle Flash Step]
Rohan's body flew through the explosion. Naturally, he wasn't in perfect condition.
Though protected by magic, being at the center of such an explosion made injuries unavoidable.
'Still, my limbs are intact.'
Thanks to pushing back the souls with the explosion and diving through, he managed to close the distance.
He could see the body that had lost control and was spilling its vile energy into the world like a mother organism.
The golden wound remaining on the body that had been imitating a human became Rohan's compass.
'I'll end this.'
He flowed through the sword dance his body remembered.
Rather than developing in reverse order to reduce magic waste, he moved toward maximizing power.
[First Sword - Flame Cut]
He cut from left to right. A slash with all his might.
The remaining building foundations in the city were all severed and lifted with a flash.
[Second Sword - Dawn Sunset]
He struck upward from below.
Flames condensed to their maximum erupted like thorns, piercing the enemy.
The two swords combined to create a cross-shaped explosion of flames.
As the sword embedded itself in the body mimicking a human, the evil spirits went berserk and charged again.
[Third Sword - Light Wing Cone]
He gripped the broad side and twisted it.
Concentrating power into a small point.
Rohan added rotational force to his thrust, temporarily pushing back the evil spirits' charge.
Even with their maws filling his vision, he couldn't afford to be hasty. He needed to remain calm.
[Fourth Sword - Red Cloud]
He gathered slashes and flames to create a red cloud as a shield.
[Fifth Sword - Heaven Sun Light Wheel]
He dominated the space for the clouds to roam.
[Extreme - Holy Heaven Destruction Light Extreme Human Unity]
He ignited the flames gathered through the sword dance once more.
The target of his blade was the creature's source.
Remembering the initial sensation, he poured all his magic into the blade with killing intent.
A sharp blade that reached the being's essence.
Another golden wound formed on the corrupt body.
The vile portal that had been spewing corrupted souls broke, and screams echoed throughout heaven and earth.
─ Ah, nooo!!!
─ â â â !
─ I am a great being born from a miracle!
─ â â â ? â â â !?
─ I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!
Various selves responded to the fear with their own answers.
Just as Rohan gripped his sword again to clear the remaining evil in the world, without even catching his breath.
The millions of evil spirits filling the surroundings rapidly swelled.
─ I'll take you as a companion...!
His vision flashed! Flickered.
This time, there was no chance to respond.
..
..
A dimension slowly collapsed from the explosion that used souls as sacrifice.
The fall of a world without living beings was quiet yet destructive.
The ground flowed into an abyss, and the sky churned as it was sucked underground.
And after 300 seconds.
[Unquenchable Ember activates]
Rohan's body regenerated. He immediately jumped up and moved backward.
If the resurrection had been even slightly delayed, he would have been swept away by the collapsing ground.
'...Crazy bastard.'
He thought the creature wouldn't die peacefully. But he didn't expect it to self-destruct.
But it probably didn't think Rohan would survive either.
It seemed to lack even the rationality for deep judgment.
[You have judged the ominous being]
[Achievement: Salvation of Humanity completed]
[You gain a Bright Future as an achievement reward]
'It's dead. Definitely dead.'
They didn't need to give him anything. It was enough that the creature was dead. He was satisfied with having dealt with it.
Nevertheless, the reward he received wasn't an item, but an intangible Bright Future.
This wasn't a reward bestowed by the status window. Rohan felt that the status window was telling him what result his current accomplishment had created.
The realization that a Bright Future was the most valuable thing he had found with his own hands.
Despite his tired body, the corners of his mouth rose involuntarily.
'Time to go back.'
Rohan looked up.
How to return from this collapsing world.
Open a space like Lete? It didn't seem impossible.
But Rohan had another plan.
From the moment he found a path from the Void Whale's maw, he had been thinking of one particular item.
Something he obtained when he encountered Chronos and Hex. He checked the notification window.
[You have encountered Chronos, betrayer of humanity. Achievement completed.]
[You have encountered Hex, betrayer of humanity. Achievement completed.]
[You gain a Transfer Scroll as an achievement reward.]
He claimed the achievement reward.
As soon as he grabbed it, a location came to mind.
Rohan used the scroll immediately.
..
..
Rohan returned to the Void Whale's maw and came out.
Seeing the sun still up, it seemed not much time had passed compared to his intense battle on the other side.
Ichinose, who had been looking at the sea from afar, approached urgently.
She quickly closed the distance, stepping on the floating monster corpses in the sea with tap! tap!
"Ro, Rohan!? Where did you go! Everyone's been searching for you throughout the Sepia Archipelago──!"
Rohan watched Ichinose chattering away with his eyes closed, letting out a sigh of relief.
He prided himself on having gone through his own struggles.
So wouldn't it be okay to pursue his own happiness now? He wanted to be greedy.
He wanted to watch laundry dry in the sunlight with his loved ones, take walks as the sunset fell, and enjoy peace.
He wanted to have meaningless conversations every day and sit together at the dinner table.
Such a bright future.
In the future he painted using happiness as his pigment, none of the women he loved should be missing.
So he felt now was the right time.
For the woman he cherished so much in his heart that he dared not even have lewd thoughts about her out of too much love, a woman who could rival any lover.
Rohan decided to convey his feelings.
"Ichinose. No, Yui."
"Yes, yes!? Suddenly... why are you calling me Yui...?"
Rohan took the hand of Ichinose Yui, who was flustered and blushing.
To the startled and frozen Ichinose, he directly spoke the words he had said to his lovers.
"Let's get married."