‘Is this really the pinnacle of alchemy?’
The Homunculus had a body that was superior enough to withstand Desir’s magic . However, as the attacks continued, the hard body began to be destroyed little by little .
It was far too weak . It was far from being called the pinnacle of alchemy .
[Burst Fire]
*Crash*
The Homunculus’s skin was cracked, muscles were torn, and bones were broken .
It had been thoroughly crushed by Desir’s magic .
Desir decided to end it; there was no need to drag this out any longer .
[Wind Press]
A Second-Circle spell that forcefully restrained enemies with wind pressure .
The Homunculus, whose body had been fractured, couldn’t overcome the wind pressure and flew into the wall .
Desir reached his hand out and aimed his next spell at the Homunculus . The spell quickly arranged itself in front of him .
[Fire Spear]
A fire spear fell down on the Homunculus .
*Baaaaam*
A heavy scream shook the basement . A cloud of dust billowed out . Accompanying the shockwave was a bright light; a sign that the defences of the Homunculus had been annihilated .
Desir turned his attention to Pureus .
“It’s over, Pureus . The Homunculus you were so proud of has been destroyed . ”
Despite the fact that the Homunculus had been completely annihilated, Pureus was still smiling .
“There is nothing you can do anymore . Surrender without resistance . ”
“Hahahaha . Foolish wizard . Do you think you have won? Do you not understand the meaning of eternal life?”
“What?”
Just as Pureus finished speaking, something stirred amongst the dust . Desir turned around to look at it .
It was the Homunculus .
It faced Desir, looking as it did when it stepped out of the coffin at the start of the battle . It was in pristine conditions, looking as if it had never even been in a battle .
‘Regeneration… It doesn’t look like that kind of thing… ’
If it had the ability to regenerate, it would have shown signs of restoring itself as he was attacking it . However, in the battle so far, no such thing could be seen at all .
‘This is something more than regeneration . It must be some kind of psychedelic magic that makes it look like it’s damaged . ’
Desir couldn’t tell for sure, but intuitively knew that there was something afoot here .
Desir reached out to the Homunculus .
While he was not sure, he just had to subdue it again to clarify his doubts .
‘Whether it be a hallucination or something else, I will subdue it again and find out!’
He didn’t know what power it had used, but the Homunculus wasn’t his opponent anyway .
After Desir finished arranging his thoughts, he started to invoke spells on the Homunculus again .
However, in reaction to Desir, the Homunculus’ body seemed to have shrunk . It disappeared from Desir’s sight in an instant .
Before Desir could even react, Desir felt a sharp pain on his left arm . The pain was unbearable, almost as if it were on fire .
*Baaaaam*
Despite feeling a tremendous amount of pain, Desir completed the arrangement of his spell .
An intense shock wave struck the Homunculus and it was blown off its feet by the force, burying itself halfway into the nearby wall .
Desir was astonished .
‘It managed to attack before the spell was activated?’
Its speed had become incomparably fast in comparison to the last clash .
Even with improved reflexes and muscle strength from his strengthening magic, he was completely unable to respond .
The Homunculus pulled itself out of the wall and looked at Desir . It stood still, as if observing Desir .
‘Something has changed . ’
This creature that had just jumped around without thinking before, now had a look of intelligence on its face . As if it were carefully contemplating the best way to attack next .
Desir invoked another spell . Simultaneously, the Homunculus began to move .
It was so fast that it left behind an afterimage, creating the illusion of there being multiple copies of it all over the place .
*Bang*
*Baaang*
Desir’s magic streaked through the air and smashed into the innocent wall .
The Homunculus had been slowly closing the distance before realizing that Desir’s magic couldn’t hurt it .
‘It has the ability to gradually improve its judgement . I can’t take my time dealing with it anymore . Since that’s the case… !’
Desir had internally admitted that he could no longer shoot down the Homunculus with a single-shot magic .
Upon reaching this conclusion, he decided to pour all of his effort into a long-ranged attack that it could not avoid .
[lce Crown]
It was one of the top-class spells amongst those of the Second-Circle .
He was planning to arrange this larger-scale magic while retreating from the Homunculus that would be preoccupied with that spell for a while .
“What… !?”
At that moment, however, the Homunculus rushed towards Desir .
Unexpectedly, it took the attack magic directly and approached him .
The speed it moved at was beyond imagination . It never even gave Desir a chance to unleash defensive magic .
Instinctively, Desir lifted his arms to defend himself .
*Bang*
A tremendous impact sounded .
With it, the mana capacity of the Clothes Line had dropped sharply . As the Clothes Line offset the shock, Desir’s body bounced back .
Immediately after Desir shook his head to clear it, he saw the arm of the Homunculus descending on him to split his head .
[Sigh of Kizard]
Fortunately, Desir was bounced back by the Homunculus shattering the defensive spell he barely got off in time .
Unfortunately, the Homunculus’s continuous attacks did not let up .
*Smash*
*Smash*
*Smash*
Explosions emanated from its simple yet powerful fist swings and kicks .
Moreover, as his vision on his right side was greatly reduced, this kind of close-range combat was very unfavorable for Desir .
‘In order to respond to this speed… ’
Desir remembered the way he handled the Chimera .
A spell arranged itself in front of him .
[Water Wall]
Desir summoned a cylindrical wall of water, blocking him off from the Homunculus on all sides .
[Winter Ice]
The water around him froze immediately as it formed .
*Chkhk*
“Kiaaaaah!”
The body of the Homunculus approached Desir with the exact timing he had hoped for . As it was partially through the water wall, it also froze under the influence of the spell combo .
It was trapped on his right-hand side .
Desir unleashed a spell of the Third-Circle while feeling a bloodcurdling sensation at how close this encounter was .
[Summon Lighting]
So far, with the exception of defensive magic, the only attack magic he had been using was at the Second-Circle to conserve mana .
However, Summon Lightning was a Third-Circle spell . It may not be the pinnacle of Third-Circle spells, but it definitely could not be discounted .
An intense thunderstorm swept the ice wall that had temporarily trapped the Homunculus .
There was a dazzling flash as lighting filled the enclosed room .
Within an instant, an extreme current of electricity penetrated the body of the Homunculus .
Using such a spell while surrounded by water definitely wasn’t safe, but it was certainly effective . As Desir expected, the Homunculus’s face was soon burned black .
The current was so powerful that Desir could see its red and blue blood vessels bursting all over its body .
“Khaaaaaak!
It screamed in pain .
*Crack*
At the same time, the ice sphere that had restrained it was broken, and thousands of shards of ice were flung out .
A blue hand reached through the ice shards and made a swipe at Desir .
‘What the hell is this ability?’
He couldn’t make any sense of it .
It truly felt like he had done significant damage to the Homunculus . The manner in which he had done it was even completely different from last time . How exactly the Homunculus was recovering was far beyond his comprehension and outside of his realm of experience .
Although he couldn’t figure out what it was, it was easy to figure out what it wasn’t . From the amount of damage it sustained and how it seemed to instantaneously revert to a perfect condition, it wasn’t a form of regeneration or an illusion effect .
‘Within a moment, it was back to its original shape . ’
It was as if this was its natural state .
Anyone would be dumbstruck
Desir could only feel bitter at the mana expenditure for such inconclusive results .
[Raise Wall]
A stone wall soared out of the ground to block its path . The Homunculus didn’t care and charged straight through it .
The sturdy stone wall was torn apart like a sheet of paper under the Homunculus’s strength .
“… !”
But Desir wasn’t there when the Homunculus smashed through the wall .
The Homunculus’s eyes swivelled from left to right in search of Desir . Instinctively, it then looked up .
Desir was standing on top of the collapsing wall and had just finished arranging a spell .
[Burst Fire]
Dozens of fireballs, each drawing different paths, rushed at the Homunculus .
The Homunculus kicked against the ground, leaping backwards as it read the fireball’s trajectory, and nimbly escaped . It appeared to be reading the paths as if it were one step ahead at all times . An absolute feat of aerobatic mastery .
Fortunately, with the Homunculus preoccupied, there was a brief respite for Desir to gather his thoughts . This window would be brief though, as Desir had barely managed to distance himself from it .
With how the Homunculus had evolved, Desir struggled to find a solution to his predicament . Before, attacks were easy to get off, but functionally useless due to its healing ability . Now, however, Desir was struggling to find opportunities to attack; even if he did damage, it would just regenerate itself . In effect, any attack Desir could make would be meaningless .
‘But that doesn’t mean that I can solely rely on defensive magic . ’
Defensive magic was not able to respond to the variety and strength of attacks from the Homunculus .
Unfortunately for Desir, the Clothes Line had begun to approach its limit .
[Warning: Clothes Line has less than 20 percent mana remaining . The defensive capabilities have been significantly reduced . ]
Desir’s position could only get worse, the longer the battle went on . It was clear that Desir had lost the advantage .
During the battle, the Homunculus began to handle its power with a higher level of finesse . There were fewer gaps in its defenses and its attacks became even more relentless . Attacking and defending against this creature had become significantly harder .
It was clear now that it would continually evolve .
The more it battled against Desir, the more difficult it was going to be for Desir to handle .
Desir’s mana, on the other hand, became increasingly exhausted . Less than half of his mana pool remained .
‘If it continues like this, it will be rather dangerous . ’
If the essence of Homunculus’s ability was regenerative power, it could be dealt with in the one-go by any attack that had overwhelming might .
If Desir used all of his remaining mana, he might be able to finish things off once and for all .
However, he was not convinced that Homunculus’s ability was regeneration . After hitting it with [Summon Lightning], he was almost certain that the source of its longevity was something else .
Desir’s expression slowly distorted .
“What a pathetic display . ”
Pureus smiled, savoring Desir’s expression .
“It’s very sad that you cannot even comprehend this great wisdom . The truth that your trivial brain dare not even imagine . I at least want you to know what truth is overwhelming you in this battle . ”
Pureus stared at the Homunculus with ecstatic eyes .
“The truth that I have embodied into this creature is not just eternal life . A truth on that level would just allow one to live forever . This is the true pinnacle of alchemy . And that power is… !”
*Baaam*
An explosion shook the room slightly .
Desir had succeeded in blowing an entire arm off the Homunculus using a Third-Circle spell .
However, the fragments of the arm that were scattered across the floor soon re-attached themselves to the stump of its arm and reformed a perfectly functional arm .
Desir couldn’t believe his eyes .
It wasn’t anything like a regenerative ability . It felt like an ability that reversed time, restoring it back to its original state .
“It’s controlling Causality . ”
Chapter brought to you by the Patrons .
ED2: Purplemen101
TLC: N/A
QC: Nhan & Dr Lock