Genichi gripped the sword in his hand so tightly his knuckles turned white, his eyes locked on the Black Goliath in the distance.
The giant monster's body was covered in countless fine wounds.
Every one of them was shallow. Every one of them was visibly healing.
But they were there.
They were the result of more than an hour of bitter fighting.
For over an hour, he had darted around that monster countless times and swung his blade thousands of times.
Every dodge, every counterattack, had drained his stamina and Mind.
He was tired.
Truly exhausted.
But he could not fall.
There was still one idea he had yet to try.
A scene surfaced in his mind.
The battle between the rabbit and the Minotaur.
That future hero had released magic through his weapon and into the monster's body, destroying it from within and killing an enemy far beyond his level.
He could try that too.
Genichi looked at the countless wounds all over Goliath's body, and a resolute gleam flashed through his eyes.
If this worked, he would not need to use Alfia.
If it failed...
Then he would have to rely on Alfia after all.
He took a deep breath and pulled out another bottle of Earth Elixir from his pouch.
He tilted his head back and drank it down.
The pale golden liquid flowed into his throat and instantly became a warm current that spread through his whole body.
The fatigue that had built up, the countless shallow wounds, the stamina he had burned through, all of it began to recover at high speed.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
He was back in peak condition.
"Apparition."
Pop!
With a sharp crack of bursting air, his figure vanished from where he stood.
The next second, he appeared on Goliath's back.
More precisely, he appeared right above its spine.
Goliath seemed to sense something. Its massive body shuddered violently.
But it was already too late.
Genichi gripped the hilt with both hands and drove the sword down into Goliath's back with all his strength.
The blade cut through skin, through muscle, and plunged deeper and deeper.
Until it struck the hard vertebra beneath.
"ROOOAAARGH!!!"
Goliath let out a shrill scream of agony.
Its massive body thrashed wildly, both hands flailing in every direction as it tried to seize the insect that kept hurting it.
But Genichi did not stop.
He clung to the hilt and began releasing magic.
"Firebolt!"
A streak of flame surged along the blade and into Goliath's body.
"Firebolt!"
Another.
"Firebolt!"
And another.
The greatest advantage of this spell was that it required no chant.
As long as he had enough Mind, he could cast it continuously.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
In just those few breaths, Genichi unleashed nearly a hundred and twenty Firebolts.
That torrent of magic flowed along the blade, along the wound he had pierced open, and madly poured into Goliath's body.
Beneath its skin, inside its flesh, between its bones...
Flames began to spread.
Goliath's struggle grew even more violent.
Its body started to heat up, an eerie red glow shining through beneath its skin.
Scalding white smoke began to rise from the wounds Genichi had carved into it.
It felt death.
It wanted to resist. It wanted to throw that hateful human off its back.
But it was already too late.
"Firebolt!"
Genichi released the final spell.
The next moment...
Boom!!!
Goliath's body exploded from the inside.
The flesh ignited by Firebolt, the organs swollen with magic, the bones roasted by the searing heat, all of it erupted at once.
Flames blasted out from every wound on its body, instantly swallowing it in a blaze bright as day.
In that horrific explosion, Goliath's upper body was blown away into ash.
Only its lower half remained standing where it was.
And...
A massive magic stone.
Jet-black from end to end, giving off an eerie glimmer.
Now it was exposed to the air, while the flesh around it regenerated at a visible rate, trying to wrap around it again.
Genichi himself was blasted away by the explosion.
He slammed into the ground and rolled several times before barely managing to stop.
Puh!
A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.
Pain screamed through every inch of his body.
But he had no time to care.
With trembling hands, he pulled out the last bottle of Earth Elixir from his pouch.
The sixth bottle.
And the last one.
He threw it back in one gulp.
The medicine slid down his throat, and his injuries began to recover.
The effect was not as strong as before, but it was enough to get him back on his feet.
Genichi raised his head and looked at Goliath's lower half, which was still regenerating in the distance.
That massive magic stone was already more than halfway wrapped in fresh flesh.
In a few more minutes, it might fully recover.
He could not let it recover.
Genichi drew in a deep breath and began to chant.
"O cursed root of blessing..."
His voice was low and steady, carrying a strange rhythm.
Magic began surging through his body.
"Devour the half-body, for it is my original sin..."
Goliath's lower half seemed to sense something. The newly formed flesh began writhing madly, trying to accelerate its regeneration.
But it was already too late.
"Unpurgeable, uncleansed..."
Genichi's voice rose higher and higher.
The magic in the air began to gather.
A phantom image of a bell slowly emerged.
It was enormous, radiating a faint golden light from its entire form.
"The sound that echoes across the heavens is my sin..."
Under the pressure of that bell's shadow, Goliath's newly formed flesh began to crumble apart.
But it still struggled.
Still tried to recover.
"Horn of the gods..."
Genichi's voice sounded like a sentence being passed.
"The melody of light is the brand of sin..."
The bell hanging in the air became clearer and clearer.
"O fate beloved by this artificial heaven and earth..."
Goliath's lower half began to tremble.
Its newly formed flesh broke apart faster and faster.
"Shatter into ash, for I hate thee beyond measure..."
Genichi's voice climbed to its peak.
"The price is here..."
He drew a deep breath and spoke the final line.
"Wail..."
"Holy Bell Tower!"
Bwoooong!!!
The giant bell rang.
That sound was no ordinary bell tone, but three layers of world-ending sound waves that seemed capable of destroying everything.
The invisible sound waves became tangible shockwaves, spreading outward in all directions from the bell.
Everything they touched shattered.
The surrounding rock split apart and disintegrated.
And Goliath's lower half, the instant it touched those sound waves, was reduced directly to dust.
Along with that massive magic stone.
It too shattered in that instant into countless fragments.
Boom!
The aftershock struck Genichi and hurled him through the air again.
He crashed heavily to the ground, gasping for breath.
His Mind was nearly exhausted, and his body felt completely hollowed out.
Every breath came with a tearing pain that felt unbearable.
But he lifted his head and looked at the battlefield, where nothing remained.
Goliath...
Was gone.
All that was left were fragments of shattered magic stone and the thick smell of blood hanging in the air.
The corner of Genichi's mouth slowly curled upward.
He had won.
He had won.
Without summoning Alfia.
By his own power...
He had won.
He lay there on the ground, staring up at the dim ceiling of the seventeenth floor, gasping for breath.
(End of Chapter)
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