The Nebula's Civilization

Chapter 254: Hybrid

On the grip of the dagger held by Sung-Woon's Hierophany body, there were spikes that wouldn't exist on a mortal's weapon. The spikes, sharp enough to pierce the fingers and palms and almost touch the bones, made the dagger look like an artistic representation of absurdity, but Sung-Woon gripped it firmly.

Although the dagger, unnamed by Sung-Woon, was created through consuming Faith points, it easily penetrated Sung-Woon's own Hierophany body with the same Divinity level, causing blood to flow. Sung-Woon's blood, like a scattered cluster of stars, seeped into a tube pierced through the middle of the spikes. This tube passed through a wider conduit inside the handle and then went through a complex network of capillaries branching out like tree limbs, leading to the surface of the dagger's blade.

The blade's surface, dotted with microscopic holes, was already saturated with Sung-Woon's blood from the moment he held the sword. Before the blood could drop from the blade and disperse back into the form of a night sky, it was considered part of Sung-Woon's body.

Therefore, when the dagger penetrated Hegemonia's body, Sung-Woon was considered touching Hegemonia's insides rather than her hard exterior, and so, the light of annihilation, breaking existence, burst out from within Hegemonia.

Whirrr… Boom!

Thin rays of light, directionless and pouring out, found their way through Hegemonia's body and exploded.

***

"Did he win?"

To Lunda's question, Wisdom replied, "No. While Light of Pasa is a powerful attack, Hegemonia likely still has a lot of Faith points left."

The difference in both quantity and quality was great compared to when the Divinity Level hovered around 20.

"So how much more...?"

"It would take about three more strikes like that. But it's unlikely he can land a perfect attack like this every time, so with each miss, the number of hits required will increase."

Eldar said, "But so far, it's been a one-sided fight. Even if it takes thirty times instead of three, it seems like he can win."

"I'm not sure, but it seems like his skills are also advantageously compatible."

Wisdom agreed with Lunda's observation.

Even though Future Sight was not particularly meaningful unless one had quick reflexes and judgment like Sung-Woon, it could be considered a decent counter-skill to Skip.

"But now I'm getting worried."

"...Now?" Lunda asked.

Wisdom, who had been calm when everyone else was worried, seemed to change his attitude as the situation turned in their favor.

Wisdom said, "Hegemonia hasn't shown all her skills yet."

"But it's the same for Nebula."

"Still, the risk in this fight isn't small for Nebula either. We didn't expect Hegemonia to push this far. If Nebula's Hierophany body dies here, and the Rasdasil Ruins collapse, we might start from a position similar to the Union Kingdom, which lost its capital."

The Union Kingdom had lost its capital but had moved most of its institutions beforehand. Considering the symbolic value of a capital, they had made reasonable preparations.

On the other hand, if Sung-Woon's Hierophany body died, even though it wouldn't mean outright defeat, the Pantheon would have to deal with a level drop, which could be even worse than Hegemonia's, who had already lost levels. The battle was getting increasingly difficult.

Crampus hurriedly stood up and pointed at the screen.

"That's...!"

After the explosion of the Light of Pasa, the players of the Pantheon had predicted where Hegemonia would fall. They thought Hegemonia would be thrown to the ground due to the massive recoil of the explosion. After the blast, Hegemonia's magma blood poured over the ruins, covering the ancient structures and creating dark smoke that clouded the sky. However, Hegemonia was not there.

She appeared at Sung-Woon's side.

"...How?"

As Lunda was taken aback, Lim Chun-Sik answered, "She skipped the after delay."

"After delay?"

Wisdom explained, "She erased the process of getting hit, crashing to the ground, and then getting up to rush at Sung-Woon with Skip."

It was a very brief moment.

Sung-Woon, too, anticipated Hegemonia to be pushed back and hadn't taken any defensive action.

Hegemonia seized that opportunity, and despite failing in her last two attempts, she punched again, and this time, she succeeded.

The punch sent Sung-Woon flying as if shot, crashing into the edge of the Rasdasil Ruins.

Hegemonia skipped the distance to where Sung-Woon fell and drove her blade down.

Beeeeeeep!

The plosive sound started as a thin, high-pitched shriek and gradually intensified. Space twisted where Hegemonia's blade passed, and the air screamed in agony. Soon, part of the ground collapsed with a thunderous noise, covering everything.

Sung-Woon's blood, in the form of a night sky, burst out from the ground, revealing that Hegemonia's attack had hit its mark.

Short sighs of despair emerged from the Pantheon.

But Hegemonia raised her head.

-As expected.

In the fissured earth resembling a spider's web, Sung-Woon's blood, evaporating through the crevices, was rising up and forming constellations.

Standing there, Hegemonia looked up at the middle of the sky. There, Sung-Woon was floating majestically.

A sigh of relief came from the Pantheon at the sight.

Wisdom said, "It’s Shedding."

Typically, a Hierophany body comprising three skill sets included one for attack, one for defense, and the last for movement. Shedding, although a movement skill, was closer to a defense or avoidance skill. Similar skills included Swap and Blink, all involving a shift in phase coordinates. They were basic movement skills, but what set Shedding apart was it left behind skin, a replica of oneself, at the original location during the movement.

Lim Chun-Sik looked puzzled. "Why choose Shedding over Blink?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but Shedding costs less than Blink, and it seems Sung-Woon set conditions to minimize its cost."

"Conditions?"

Wisdom pointed at Sung-Woon's Hierophany body. A scorch mark from a fist, still glowing as if burning, remained above it. It was the mark of Hegemonia's previous attack.

"The first strike left a mark. So the skill was used to counter the second Space Cut. In other words...Nebula set it to activate upon death."

Lim Chun-Sik slowly nodded.

"A last-ditch escape, then."

Another Space Cut wouldn't annihilate Sung-Woon's Hierophany body, but a fatal blow would necessitate recovery, consuming Faith resources. Therefore, to avoid using up the remaining Faith points in body recovery after a fatal blow, Sung-Woon set the Shedding to trigger upon such an attack.

Hegemonia seemed to already know all this. She then summoned her Small Areas that were related to earth, rock, soil, and swamp, and extended a path toward Sung-Woon. The collapsed earth rapidly moved at the call of the Angry One.

As the path was halfway formed, Hegemonia, rushing up the incline toward Sung-Woon, skipped the entire process and struck down her sword right in front of Sung-Woon.

Sung-Woon easily deflected the sword, but unlike before, Hegemonia didn't retreat far.

She raised the earth she created through her Small Areas under her feet in mid-air, then powerfully ran toward Sung-Woon.

Sung-Woon blocked repeatedly but couldn't land a proper counterattack on Hegemonia. With each of Hegemonia's attacks, it seemed as though new mountains of rock were rising.

-I finally see it. I see what you've been looking at.

Sung-Woon didn't answer. He understood Hegemonia's words.

Hegemonia understood that her pattern was being read and therefore added a new, unconventional attack.

'Has she grown during the fight? What is she, a protagonist?'

Moreover, by making each attack lighter rather than making wild swings with Space Cut like before, she seemed to be preparing for a longer battle.

Sung-Woon also added new variables. Beyond merely clashing swords, he drew Small Areas into the fight. When distance was created between them, around Sung-Woon's body, circular concentric circles and complex letters and patterns filled the perimeter, glowing brightly.

-...Magic!

Though not as overwhelming as an Hierophany body's power, it was enough to momentarily disrupt the flow.

White cylindrical pillars aimed at Hegemonia, who broke through them with her body.

Sung-Woon noticed this. The dense, cylindrical pillars made of magic sizzled and evaporated before even touching Hegemonia.

'A defensive skill. There are too many varieties to pinpoint what hers is from that display alone.'

Even though Sung-Woon's magic didn't harm Hegemonia, it didn't matter. The brief delay allowed Sung-Woon to block Hegemonia's sword strike and counterattack.

Whirrr!

Again, the ground surged, and magic poured. Lava flowed, and starlight painted the night sky.

Sung-Woon's empty skin rolled around, and Hegemonia shattered the water buffalo skull with her foot as she charged.

Seeing this, Wisdom muttered, "Strange."

"Strange how?"

"Nebula's two confirmed skills don't quite match an escape strategy. Escape skills are typically more Mage-like."

In The Lost World, players commonly set their skills to evade damage or fatal injuries at the moment of impact, and this skill set was so common it was referred to as last-ditch escape. While they could prevent the death of a Hierophany body and be activated at any time as long as Faith points remained, the downside was their lack of proactive use. This meant they were reactive, not proactive, only triggering in response when certain conditions were met.

"Even considering Hegemonia's Skip and her attacks being too fast to perceive, Nebula could have used other methods of defensive skills like Time Barrier or offensive ones like Driving Fist to jab because they could lead to skill combinations. I thought Mage skills suited Nebula more..."

"But he's winning, right? He's using magic, so is it not a hybrid?"

"No."

As Lunda blankly stared at him, Wisdom added, "I’d say his Hierophany body is a hybrid, but we can't simply say he's winning."

Wisdom looked at Hegemonia. "It wasn’t just Nebula playing mind games. With three of Sung-Woon's skills confirmed, Hegemonia will make a move."

"But now..."

"We can't jump to conclusions."

The players of the Pantheon watched the play Sung-Woon executed.

Sung-Woon had summoned dense white stone pillars, forming a circular pattern. These pillars were densely inscribed with ancient languages, noticeable only to Wizards, serving as both a ritual and a massive magic circle for casting spells.

It was only when Hegemonia stood in the middle of this magic circle that she realized the nature of the magic.

-It’s…Meteor Shower?

Hegemonia looked up. Already, several concentric circles had formed in the sky to make one giant magic circle.

The nearest magic circle in the sky acted as a shield. Known as Meteor, this shield served to reduce the damage of the magic. It was impossible to deactivate this shield and cast the spell at the same time, due to the principle of causal constraints.

The damage of Meteor couldn’t escape beyond this first magic circle. The role of the second magic circle was to slow down projectiles, also reducing damage like the first, as the laws of causality didn’t allow for excessive damage caused by this magic. The third magic circle also prevented the damage from shooting up into the sky. These three magic circles, rather than enhancing the damage from the spell, actually weakened it.

The fourth magic circle supported the fifth one above, calculating and adjusting complex cosmic coordinates. And the fifth, the last magic circle, was a dimensional gate. The place connected by this magic circle was not too far in cosmic terms. This gate was linked to the orbit of a ringed planet within the same star system as the Lost World.

Normally, it was a grand miracle that would take a grand Wizard tens of days to accomplish. But Sung-Woon was the god of magic.

Ice and rock forming the rings of the planet passed through the dimensional gate, tearing through the planet's atmosphere, and plummeted vertically.

-...!

A cosmic downpour, too fast for the eyes to follow, poured down in the targeted area.