Chapter 49 : Jealousy of INVIDIA(1)

The first thing it felt, upon its birth, was jealousy toward the black-haired girl in front of it.

Her arms and legs, her two red eyes, her skin tissue—everything that made up her being was enough to provoke jealousy from this creature that had nothing.

In a fleeting moment, while briefly making eye contact with her, it began to acquire all sorts of biological information from her. Several divided tentacles twisted together to form human limbs, and in turn, built up an outer skin resembling the girl.

The internal structure and operating principles were different, but the appearance was exactly that of a human girl.

Seeing Invidia transform into my appearance in an instant, I flinched. Why did it take on my appearance? Does it blindly imitate what it sees first?

“Saya, get out of there!”

The one who pulled me back was Cled’s arm. I was pulled back by him, and Cled, with a serious expression, looked at Commander Violet and said.

“Commander, permission to use spells on the personnel…!”

Even Violet was quite flustered by the situation in front of him, and his pupils were shaking slightly. He soon corrected his expression, pointed at Invidia, who had transformed into my appearance, and said.

“Pour fire spells. Subdue it in one fell swoop with an explosion!”

At his command, the Fire Spirit Masters simultaneously created flames at their fingertips. The flames created by dozens of Spirit Masters engulfed Invidia at a fierce speed. However, the real purpose of spewing fire was different.

The fiercely burning flames heated the explosives installed under Invidia and exploded with a tremendous sound. The explosion was so strong that if Cled hadn’t pulled me out, I would have been swept away and disappeared.

“Summon your Osteons!”

At Violet’s cry, the Spirit Masters simultaneously summoned their various Osteons. Because only the elite were selected, it didn’t seem like that many people, but when everyone summoned their Osteons, the inside of the nest seemed full.

“Cast spells by attribute!”

They don’t launch a simultaneous attack with all attributes. This was because when spells of opposite attributes combine, it often has the opposite effect.

“You stand by, Yuri.”

Cled stopped Yuri, who was about to join the other Ice Spirit Masters in casting spells, by grabbing her wrist.

“…What do you mean?”

“Save your strength. If the situation gets out of hand, then lend me your strength.”

Yuri seemed a little displeased that she couldn’t help right away, but she understood his intentions, so she obediently withdrew her hand.

Yuri had a bigger difference beyond simply showing outstanding talent in magic. That is, she accurately understood and used the principle of magic output.

Cled knew that point through me, so he made the judgment to save her strength.

“The guy regenerates even if a little bit of tissue remains. Pour out all your strength!”

Unlike other ancient species Sarkas, there was a reason why Invidia’s survivability was outstanding. It was its ability to mutate, which could control the shape, size, and even the location of the core that was responsible for its life.

Everyone poured out spells for a good 20 minutes. The ground where Invidia stood was destroyed and hollowed out, and the heat was so intense that all the moisture in the surrounding air evaporated, making it so dry that it was difficult to breathe.

“Stop!”

After the spell barrage went through its final cycle, Violet raised his hand and ordered the spells to stop. Everyone, without exception, squeezed out the last of their spells, so they were breathing heavily and their gazes were fixed on whether Invidia was alive or dead in the deeply hollowed crater.

“…”

On the surface, not a single piece of biological tissue was visible in the pit. However, Commander Violet didn’t take his eyes off the crater even for a single inch. Knowing the power of the ancient species, he was reacting sensitively to even the slightest reaction.

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, something powerfully broke through the surface.

“…This monstrous bastard…!”

What had avoided the magic and was in the ground was none other than Invidia’s hand. Immediately after the explosion, it moved its core to its hand and burrowed into the ground, waiting for an opportunity.

Violet quickly fired a Dark Bullet at the hand, but it was already too late to stop it.

Invidia’s two fingers lightly snapped, and a vast curtain of darkness was cast.

‘Is that a Scotadi spell…? What kind of range…’

Judging from the situation, what Invidia used was Scotadi, a basic dark magic spell that blocks the surrounding radius of vision.

It was presumed that Invidia was able to use this spell because it imitated my body, but it was a Scotadi with a range I had never experienced before. A huge dark hemisphere that covered the entire deeply hollowed-out nest of Invidia, as if it were night, swallowed everyone.

At the sudden onset of fear, the battlefield was in complete chaos. They had no choice but to gather and rely on the light of the Spirit Masters who had spells to illuminate their vision.

“It will target the Osteons for recovery! All personnel, release your Osteons!”

As Sarkas are creatures that use Osteons as nourishment, to the ancient species Sarkas, defenselessly summoned Osteons were like a well-prepared feast.

Violet, who calmly delivered the order, shot a spell into the sky.

“Force Photos!”

A lump of light that was almost blinding rose into the sky, and soon spread brightly, clearing away the dark curtain.

‘…Force Photos?’

Force Photos is a basic fire-type spell that means lamp, and originally, Violet, a dark-type Spirit Master, shouldn’t be able to use it.

It is said that dark-type Spirit Masters can steal techniques from other lineages, but that was only limited to primitive basic spells. It’s unbelievable, but no one except me seemed to have any doubts about it.

Everyone on the battlefield was on guard against Invidia, who might attack from anywhere.

“Keep a distance from your comrades! We don’t know which way the guy will come from!”

Following his advice, Luna, Yuri, and Carne quickly joined me and stood back to back. Except for Carne, who lacked combat experience, the other two still seemed to have some leeway.

“Is everyone hurt?”

“Yuri and I are fine. Carne looks a little pale, though.”

At Luna’s answer, Carne shouted in protest.

“Who’s pale! I’m completely normal…?”

“…Your body is shaking, Carne.”

As Yuri said, tremors were constantly being transmitted from Carne, who was standing back to back.

Looking at the situation of other teams, they all seemed to be in a similar situation. Many of the personnel were in a state of panic due to fear, so the atmosphere was not good mentally.

Meanwhile, Instructor Cled, who was standing alone away from the group, caught my eye. There’s no way he didn’t hear Violet’s advice.

He stood alone away from the group as if he had some kind of plan.

I wasn’t the only one who was concerned about Cled, and a Spirit Master called out to him and approached him.

“Instructor, it’s dangerous, so please stick with us…!”

When he approached Cled, who was standing alone, I finally realized. Another Instructor Cled was standing perfectly fine, mixed in with another group.

‘There are, two Cleds…?’

“Hey, that’s…!”

I shouted urgently to let them know, but the situation had already happened.

With the sound of metal slicing through the wind, the man’s neck was instantly cut.

“Inst…ructor?…”

He, who had been cut by what he thought was Cled, knelt down, clutching the spurting blood.

The other Cled cleanly cut off the Spirit Master’s neck with an additional blow from his greatsword, which was terrifyingly large.

“You bastard…!”

The one who immediately clashed with that Cled was the greatsword of the real Cled. He couldn’t completely block the impact of the attack, and his head was hit by the blade, causing blood to flow.

The amazing thing was that blood also flowed from the same part of the head of Invidia, who imitated his appearance. As if to confuse us, it completely matched his appearance. Even the wounds.

A fierce sword fight between the two began, and the Cled who started the attack shouted at us.

“The one who doesn’t speak is the fake! Restrain him with magic from afar!”

There was a reason why everyone couldn’t rashly approach their fight. In this battlefield, there is no one who can beat Cled in close combat, at least. One was fake, but it was Invidia, who showed abilities that surpassed the original, so the only one who could deal with him was Cled.

“Don’t be fooled by Invidia’s words, that guy is the fake!”

‘…Words…!?’

Invidia was not simply imitating, but thinking independently and confusing us.

‘It has that level of intelligence…?’

“What should we do, Violet…!?”

“Ummm…”

Commander Violet was also unable to launch an attack hastily. If they launched an indiscriminate attack on the two, the innocent Cled would die and Invidia would have a higher chance of survival.

The longer the fight was left alone, the more wounds the two Cleds noticeably increased. That meant that real Cled was accumulating more and more damage. I couldn’t just watch, so I took out my dagger.

“Luna, I need your support!”

I said that to Luna and jumped into the fight between the two Cleds.

“Saya!?”

If I clashed with Cled, it would be certain death, but if Luna supported me, I might be able to deflect the attack.

“”What are you doing, Saya…! Get away!””

The two Cleds saying the same thing at the same time made my head dizzy.

‘Here, I should ask something that only Cled knows…?’

I distanced myself and shouted at the two Cleds.

“Cled, what’s your last name?”

At my question, one Cled looked at me in bewilderment, and the other Cled confidently recited the answer.

“It’s Esteban! I took my mother’s last name!”

“Okay. Now I’m a little more sure.”

I raised the blade attached to my elbow guard and charged, thrusting the blade into the neck of the Cled.

The one I attacked was the Cled who said the correct answer.

“Ke… Kehek…”

With the real Cled, I pushed the blade into Invidia’s neck and pushed forward.

“Cled never told me his last name, even when he was dying. Even to the commander.”

“You were sharp, Saya.”

It was a trick that was possible because he was reluctant to reveal his last name, to the point where he only wrote the name Cled on important documents. Cled thrust his greatsword in strongly and turned around and shouted.

“Use binding magic!”

The powerful restraints of the Spirit Masters strongly constricted Invidia, who was in the form of Cled.

Now that Invidia was neutralized, it was Violet’s turn.

“Both of you, get away from there!”

He began to prepare a spell. Violet’s one finger pointed at Invidia, and he closed his eyes and began to concentrate quietly.

‘That technique…’

The sky darkened, and the blowing wind subsided. Pure black darkness, without a single speck of light, slowly gathered at his fingertips.

The ultimate dark magic, Thanatos.

It’s a technique that uses a portion of the user’s lifespan as a price, and drags the target hit by the dark ray fired from the fingertip into eternal death.

The fact that he, who didn’t have much time left, chose this technique was a will to capture Invidia at any cost.

“This is the end, Invidia.”

The dark matter, compressed to the limit to form a single point, aimed at Invidia’s head.

Invidia, sensing the instinctual sense of death, tried to escape from the restraints, but the ray had already left Violet’s hand.

A line of darkness pierced Invidia’s head, and the pierced area began to oxidize in turn.

‘…It’s disappearing…’

The end of the ultimate creature that once brought about the end of the world was met with a futile end.

Violet, who had fulfilled his duty, collapsed and sat down.

“…I’m tired.”

“Commander! You did it!”

A Spirit Master ran out of the group and supported him, and Violet leaned on him. Violet, who looked like he was about to collapse, said to Cled with a tired look.

“Good job, Cled. You have a good student.”

“Save your words. You overdid it, Commander.”

I let out a sigh of relief and approached Cled.

“There wasn’t as much damage as I thought.”

“…”

“…Cled?”

Cled’s expression looked very uncomfortable. I wondered if he was seriously injured somewhere, so I examined his body, but I couldn’t see any major injuries other than a slight injury to his head.

“What’s wrong, Cled?”

“…Something’s off. When I crossed swords with that guy, he was much weaker than I expected.”

Come to think of it, when Invidia imitated my body, the techniques it used were many times more powerful than mine. If it copied Cled’s body, it should have been stronger than him.

“Well, Cled is stronger so…”

“…!”

Cled, who turned around, strongly shook off my hand and ran to Violet.

“Commander, it’s a trap!”

When Cled jumped in, the situation was already over.

The unknown Spirit Master who was supporting Violet stabbed a dagger deep into the gap in his armor with an expressionless face. Cled quickly swung his sword at him, but he twisted his joints abnormally and escaped from the spot.

Violet clutched the wound on his stomach and said painfully.

“It split its core… and divided its body into two…?…”

Invidia, which I thought was completely dead, had actually split its body in two and was hiding among the Spirit Masters.

Invidia, who got Violet’s blood on its hand, licked it greedily. Then, its body began to change rapidly and transform into someone’s appearance.

“…What a good body.”

The one Invidia chose to transform into was Commander Violet.