East Road Quest

Chapter 85: The Light of Annihilation

Jade was flustered.

‘Could it be a demon with a name?’

Even if it was a higher demon with a name, there should have been some reaction. Sparks flying or only the touched part burning.

If completely wrong, there should have been some backlash causing Jade pain.

“What are you doing?”

Sage asked urgently.

‘Maybe I got the lineage wrong.’ Jade read the incantation for the annihilation of a hellfire demon and then touched it. But just like before, it was futile.

The incantation for the annihilation of a spirit-type demon didn’t work either.

“It’s not working…”

Jade muttered.

“What do you mean by that?” Sage inquired.

“I’m not sure…”

Heldra writhed violently once. Jade, who was standing right in front of it, was merely grazed but was knocked backward.

Sage was hit too but managed to balance herself in mid-air and landed properly. However, Jade fell back-first to the ground.

For the first time, the pain in his side, which Sage had been protecting, was transmitted without any reduction. Jade almost lost consciousness again.

“I was wondering what was happening…”

Through his blurred vision, he saw a monster in the shape of a black bull standing on Heldra’s body.

It was Buffalord.

“…So it was that guy. Was he indeed a mage of light?”

Heldra continued to writhe, and each time, the ground shook as if there was an earthquake, and dust filled the surroundings. It was struggling to break free from the invisible net of restraint.

Buffalord stood on the shaking body of Heldra but did not fall, as if his feet were glued down. As he raised his scythe, Sage stepped in front of Jade to protect him.

Buffalord said with amusement, “Who do we have here? Even the Sage of the Dark Forest has been captured.”

Monsters, or Komoras by elven standards, began to appear one by one.

A giant rhinoceros, Rhinodon, was also seen. Given its broken horn, it wasn’t a new Rhinodon but the same one Ruby had knocked down, which seemed to have recovered in less than a day.

Several limbless creatures were visible, indicating that many Komoras had recovered in this manner.

“Kill them.”

At Buffalord’s command, the Komoras charged all at once.

Sage gripped her staff with both hands and raised it high. A blue light spread out from her, pushing the Komoras away all at once.

For a moment, the surroundings were cleared.

Sage lowered her staff and took a deep breath before asking, “Are you okay, Jade?”

Jade was still unable to speak properly.

The shock from the fall was still lingering, making it hard to breathe. The blue sky visible through the gaps in the trees felt incredibly distant.

‘I resent my frail body.’

Jade pressed his hand to the ground and clenched his strength.

“If it’s too hard, just stay down. Forcing yourself up will only strain your body.”

Sage’s voice was still gentle.

“I’m sorry.”

Jade gave up trying to get up and lay back down again.

“Is there a problem? Your annihilation magic seemed to be working fine.”

Sage asked without any hint of impatience.

The Komoras, pushed away by the magic, rushed in again. She swung her staff with her right hand to push away the monsters coming from the right, and with her left hand, she extended her palm without a staff to push them away.

Her movements were light, like dancing, and the monsters were flung farther than when they were hit by Ruby’s forcefully swung chain.

“That’s…

Jade gasped for breath, trying to explain to her, but then closed his mouth.

‘I shouldn’t be thinking of excuses but of a solution.’

Seeing this, Sage nodded.

“Right. Keep thinking. I’ll hold them off until you figure it out.”

Sage picked up her staff again.

Jade lay looking up at the sky and then closed his eyes.

Amidst the screams of the Komoras and the flying debris, he recalled the small room at Zerba Monastery. The sentences he had memorized and studied there came to him one by one, calmly.

‘Sage will protect me. Merald will take care of the back. I just need to do my part.’

A mutant with five heads, each with a different attribute.

Demons with more than two attributes do not exist by default.

‘Heldra was said to be a created being. So, it must have artificially combined attributes. Meaning, this creature isn’t a single demon with five attributes but five demons with individual attributes sharing one body as a root.’

The annihilation incantation always works one at a…

Jade shouted, “Sage, I’ve figured it out!”

At that moment, the lion head of the Hydra charged towards Jade and Sage from above. It was like watching a boulder the size of a house plummeting down.

Jade’s eyes widened in terror, frozen in place.

Without hesitation, Sage raised her staff in that direction. A beam of light struck the lion’s cheek.

It wasn’t the light from Sage’s staff.

The lion’s head was flung aside, crashing to the ground with a thunderous impact.

“What’s the problem, Jade?” came the voice of Merald from somewhere unseen.

Then, the serpent head spotted Jade.

Merald leaped down upon the serpent’s head, driving a dagger into its forehead.

It was as if a beetle, no larger than a thumb, had leaped down to pierce a fishbone. Yet, the serpent head writhed in agony, venom spraying in all directions.

Large droplets of poison fell around Jade. The poison melted the trees it touched and scorched the earth, raising white toxic fumes.

But not a single drop reached Jade. A translucent blue shield created by Sage deflected them all.

“You found out? What is it?” Sage asked.

Jade glanced around to tell Merald as well, but he remained out of sight.

Assuming Merald would hear, Jade spoke only to Sage, “The heads are the real body, not the torso.”

“So, there are five real bodies,” Sage realized immediately. “Lead me to the head.”

Sage stretched out her hand towards the incoming Komoras. Those in the direct line of her reach were swept aside.

They weren’t just pushed by an invisible force. The displaced creatures writhed painfully, engulfed in blue flames—the same color that surrounded the tyrant’s body.

Jade ran through the path cleared by Sage. There lay the Hydra’s lion head, previously struck by the beam of light, now pierced by a sentinel’s arrow.

‘Good heavens, a single arrow had such power?’

Jade recited a verse of annihilation from the dark arts. The lion’s eyes snapped open, its pupils spinning wildly towards Jade.

Without hesitation, Jade placed her palm on the lion’s snout.

A burst of white light erupted, snapping the lion’s head back, and Jade was thrown backward. The shock was greater than expected.

‘Theory fails again. Even for a nameless demon, I thought the recoil would be less, but this is much stronger than with Kraoukros!’

This meant the verse of annihilation had worked.

Jade, having landed on his backside, had no time to feel the pain as he assessed the situation.

A white flame that started at the lion’s snout quickly spread across the entire head. Grey ash scattered around as the flame consuming the neck stopped at the body.

The remaining four heads roared in shared agony.

‘It’s done!’

Jade shouted in any direction of the thicket, “Merald! Can you hear me? The heads are the real body!”

Thinking this explanation insufficient, Jade was about to add, ‘My hand must touch the Hydra’s head,’ when the serpent’s head, positioned high above, crashed to the ground about ten paces from where Jade stood.

The earth shook violently.

Emerald rode atop the serpent’s head. It was unclear what magic he had used, but it appeared as though he had trampled the snake underfoot, causing it to fall.

“What kind of magic allows him to do such a thing? It makes Sage’s magic seem less strange.”

The serpent’s head had lost consciousness, its pupils turned white and rolled back.

When Jade placed the light of annihilation on the serpent’s forehead, she was pushed back by a powerful recoil. Although she was prepared and did not fall, the impact was still significant.

White flames spread, and the serpent’s head and long body were engulfed in fire. The other heads screamed in shared agony as they too felt the pain.

With a stern expression, Emerald watched the serpent’s head disintegrate and asked, “Will the same method work?”

Jade nodded briefly in response, “Three left, right?”

Emerald nodded and leaped up into the trees, releasing arrows one by one.

With each shot, the eagle head and the goat head fell in front of Jade, one after the other.

Jade recited the incantation of demonic annihilation for the eagle head and the incantation of dark demonic annihilation for the goat head, methodically burning them away.

Even as she annihilated the eagle head, Jade was forcefully pushed back several steps, and when she annihilated the goat head, she was flung back, landing on her back.

If Sage hadn’t caught her, she would have hit her back against a rock and died in a most absurd manner.

“The magic has a very strong recoil,” Sage remarked.

“I must be weak then.”

“It’s only natural since a human is using the magic of angels. But it’s a magic worth using.”

Sage examined Jade’s side. The leaves tied in place of a bandage had absorbed blood and turned a dark red.

“You’ll need to be treated again.”

“After this is over, I’ll probably be eating porridge for days.”

“If it’s porridge I make, those days will be happy ones. You can look forward to it.”

“Considering the cookies I tried earlier, I’m not so sure.”

“That was a bit burnt… The porridge won’t be.”

Jade struggled to her feet, waiting for the last, the fifth head.

The skull head was stubbornly resilient. Emerald, too, seemed tired, as his speed leaping from tree to tree had noticeably decreased.

When the skull head emitted purple smoke from its mouth, the Komoras that Sage had barely managed to knock down all rose to their feet.

“Is that their own healing magic? Why didn’t you eliminate that one first?” Sage complained.

“The order was set by Emerald.” At least it was a good hint for Jade.

‘With this, it’s certain that the skull head is of the demonic spirit lineage.’

For Jade, charging towards a head as large as a house was a great risk, so she wanted to handle it correctly without any mistakes.

Meanwhile, more Komoras swarmed in. Sage sighed and raised his staff.

“Are you alright?” Jade asked, concerned.

“Not really. I’m not as bad as you, but my magic has a recoil too.”

“What kind of recoil?”

“I get hungry.”

Sage pushed away about thirty Komoras with his magic. Indeed, he seemed to lack power, as he couldn’t ignite blue flames on their bodies like before.

Emerald must have launched another unbelievable attack, for the skull head fell to the ground. This seemed to be the strongest attack of the five.

The moment the skull head touched the ground, a shockwave rippled through the air as if a building had collapsed in its entirety. Cracks had formed on the skull head as well.

“I hope this is the end. If I have to cast it one more time, something’s bound to break—be it my forearm, shoulder, or wrist.”

Jade pressed the light of demon annihilation against the skull’s head. As the skull ignited, Jade’s body was flung backward.

This time, it was Merald who caught her from behind.

“Well done,” he said in a deep voice.

Jade wanted to collapse in relief, setting aside all concerns, but first, she needed to ensure there was nothing left for her to do.

“Helldra?”

“Dead,” Merald replied.

Beyond her blurred vision, Jade could see the massive torso, now headless, burning white.

Ashes fell from the sky like snow.

“Then it’s over?” Jade asked.

Merald shook his head.

“Strictly speaking, it’s just one of the hundreds of Komoras that’s dead.”

He released Jade and picked up his bow again.

“But your part is done. Rest now.”

Sage approached Merald’s side.

“The Komora brutes aren’t fleeing, even with Helldra dead.”

Sage looked around at the encircling Komoras and said,

“It’s back to square one. We’ll continue this fight to eradicate these creatures for years to come. In the meantime, they might create another Helldra.”

Merald spoke like a worker checking off the tasks ahead.

“At least for today, I can lend a hand here.”

Sage said.

“Think of your age, old woman.”

“I am. That’s why I’ll only go this far.”

Sage raised her staff high and then slammed it down. Blue flames erupted, radiating outwards in a circle from her.

In that moment, Jade realized that all the magic Sage had used until now was merely for escort; this was her true offensive spell.

The area overflowed with blue flames, and Merald, without firing a single arrow, folded his bow.

At least within a half chiffon radius, everything seemed engulfed in a sea of fire. Of course, the grass and trees were unharmed, only the Komoras burned, writhing in agony.

“Ah, I’m hungry. Today’s cooking will be worthwhile.”

Sage said, watching the fleeing Komoras.