Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 149

Chapter 149: Collapse

TL: Potato-tan

Proofreader: Asianpotato

The sky was not visible. The swampy ground was sticky. Russell soon found himself back in the forest. But these were not ordinary trees. It was a forest of spires without branches, their tops ending in a point like thorns.

Russell looked back. With each step, he went deeper into the forest. As he breathed in, the air was thick and stinging.

He could now call the place where he stood “another world.” He was rejected by the air and the land. At the same time, it threatened to devour him.

The swamp, which had only wet the soles of his boots at first, now reached his ankles, slowing his steps. It was not just mud, but mud saturated with high concentrations of magical energy.

Breathing was difficult, and his movement was limited.

Russell moved on, breathing as shallowly as he could. In the darkness, his purple irises flickered like will-o’-the-wisps.

The hostile environment continued to distort his spatial perception, twisting the path like a maze. However, such illusions didn’t work on Russell since he had opened his eyes.

Occasionally, demon beasts would appear from the cracks in space and pounce on him, but all of them died with their necks severed or their bodies split from head to groin with a single swing of his sword or an axe.

And Russell reached the center of the space, where all the air and evil magical energy gathered. He tilted his head back.

“Quite big.”

The tree boasted a monstrous height. It must have been over seventy meters tall, and its width was also great. When one thinks of an ordinary tree, one might think of a quiet and still atmosphere, but this otherworldly tree was different.

As if its heart were beating, a regular pulsation of wriggling started from its roots, traveled up its trunk, and moved to the tips of its branches. The bark on the tree’s center then rippled, and soon a large eye appeared.

━. . . . . . You were the one stirring up trouble within me. Human.

Russell looked around, then immediately looked at the tree in front of him. And he immediately threw the Final Frost he was holding in his right hand.

The axe, which flew through the air, bounced off with sparks just before the tree’s eye. Surprised by the sudden attack, the tree shuddered and stumbled back.

━. . .This, insolent! Inferior species!

“Let’s skip the self-introductions.”

Russell, who pulled the Final Frost back with a magical thread and held it in his hand again, stomped on the ground.

━Kardo!

Along with a low, rough voice that echoed through the space, transparent blades flew at Russell from the void. With just willpower, one could easily transform the magical energy flowing in the air into magic, as this space was the domain of the monstrous tree.

Clang!

However, the transparent, bladed projectiles failed to cut Russell’s skin. Russell’s axe, which showed incredible movement even in the air, had successively deflected all the blades.

━Damn it, it’s not ripe yet. . . . . . .

The monstrous tree rolled its eyes, displaying signs of anxiety. It had spread parasites to turn beasts into demon beast, beasts, and monsters, and through them, it had been encroaching on space.

Russell’s sudden intrusion and subsequent slaughter of all the demon beast, and beasts he had created had significantly disrupted the monster tree’s plans.

Immediately, the otherworldly rift that had been spreading from the inside of the forest where the monster tree was located to the outside stopped and began to be restored. The speed was very slow, but it was not something to be taken lightly.

━How did it come to this! You can’t die here in vain!

The tree’s roots rose, wriggling, and the black branches that had been stabbing towards the dark sky shot towards Russell all at once.

Russell, who was still floating in the air as a reaction to destroying the bladed projectiles, stared coldly at all the attacks coming from above and below. As it received magical energy, the final frost clenched in his right hand began to emit a chill.

And just as the sharply rising roots and branches were about to pierce Russell, Russell grabbed the handle of the Final Frost with both hands and threw it down with all his might.

The Final Frost shot into the middle of the roots that were wriggling and growing in size, attacking Russell in a conical shape. At the moment the axe, which was infinitely small compared to the root, touched the surface of the root, a white light and a terrifying chill exploded.

━T, This is. . . . . ?!

Before the bewildered monster tree’s voice could finish, the roots that were rising in a cone shape began to freeze in an instant. Russell confirmed that the axe, into which he had poured all his remaining magical energy, was freezing the roots, and he pulled out Nahilnir from inside his coat and swung it.

The blade cut off the tips of the black branches. However, its momentum did not subside at all, and it shot out again to envelop and kill Russell.

Russell’s Nahilnir began to draw a black line in the void. He wielded the sword with only his body’s strength, without a single ounce of magical energy. A single, simple swing of Russell’s sword cut and parted the branches of the tree that had rushed towards him, as if by some promise.

Russell did not stop. He became the incarnation of a war god—unstoppable—and walked endlessly, creating a path.

His purple eyes had been flashing earlier. Russell wondered at his current state, where he could move his body without getting tired despite pouring out all his magical energy, but he didn’t stop.

The purple light from his irises rotated, illuminating the dark path and suppressing the hostile flow of mana that was wrapping around him.

He found a path, breaking through the wedge-shaped attack of branches and roots that filled the space, and digging through the gaps.

━Kuaaaaa!

Russell was confronted by the monstrous tree of an unknown otherworldly species, which let out a scream. The space was vibrating.

Kikikikiikiki!

The monstrous tree lodged dozens of branches around Russell, resonating and emitting enormous shockwaves. Within the buzzing vibration waves, Russell’s Nahilnir lit up with the moonlight’s energy.

Blue energy flickered like flames on top of the dark sword. The tree monster’s magic, which was supporting the world, melted like snow under the sun, losing its foundation.

Russell was now standing right next to the monstrous tree.

━No!

A flash of light shot out from the monstrous tree’s eye, indicating danger. It was a beam of destruction that shot out at the speed of light, but Russell had anticipated the attack from the moment its eye had focused on him.

The beam refracted and hit the ground with a loud noise. With a roar, the space shook violently again, as if a bomb had exploded.

━W, What. .?

The monstrous tree let out a groan, then fired another beam from its eye. It was an attack that ate away at its own flesh, knowing that both the magical energy that made up its body and the restoration of the encroaching space had stopped.

It had realized that if it didn’t kill Russell first at this moment, all the work it had done so far would be in vain.

However, Russell’s greatsword moved slowly, deflecting all the beams. His cold gaze, glinting in his calm face, read the trajectory of all the beams with an infinitely sharp gaze.

He was just beginning to see it.

The more the monstrous tree’s eye shot out beams, the other attacks directed at him actually paused.

The air that suffocated him was gradually losing its toxicity, and the strength of the roots that were trying to crush his ankles and thighs right now was weakening.

The branches stabbing towards his head grew thinner, losing both their thickness and strength, and the number of bladed projectiles constantly created and aimed at his limbs also decreased.

Even though Russell’s speed wasn’t that fast, the fact that he was walking while dodging all the beams meant that his senses were reaching a higher level.

From some point onwards, magic that should have been depleted was flowing from Russell’s entire body. The key was his eyes. The eyes that saw beyond the senses of the flesh and blood, crossed the walls of dimensions, and were born in a new space where the otherworldly erosion was taking place, were greedily flickering, absorbing everything.

The magical energy and light flowing out of his purple magic eyes were, in turn, devouring and eroding the magical energy of the other world.

Now, he could sense it. The murderous intent, obsession, and emotional waves of this otherworldly species residing in this space.

“Kuhelaumto, that’s your name.”

━H, How did you. . . . .?

“I can see it.”

━What?

At Russell’s sudden words, the monstrous tree, Kuhelaumto, trembled. The tree, which had pierced the sky like the World Tree and grasped the earth with its giant roots, was now utterly insignificant.

Outwardly, it remained a majestic giant, but the true body that made it up had shrunk infinitely.

In the midst of all this, it was only natural that Kuhelaumto’s eyes trembled uncontrollably when his real name was called.

As Russell stretched out one hand, the Final Frost, which had been freezing the roots on the other side, flew in response to his call. The frozen roots shattered into countless pieces, scattering fragments of white crystals.

Zzezezezezezek━

Russell looked up at the loud noise, as if a large piece of glass had shattered. Cracks began to spread across the hemispherical ceiling, previously filled only with gray.

The blue sky beyond the clouds was visible through the gaps every time a piece of the cracked ceiling fell apart.

━T, This can’t be. . . . . .

The monstrous tree glared at Russell with pale eyes, its voice filled with dismay, glared at Russell with its pale eyes.

━If only I had a little more time, just a little more time!

“Shut up.”

Russell stomped on the ground again, facing the rampaging tree. Russell, who had climbed onto the thick bark, ran with a movement that defied gravity. As he ran straight up vertically, the remaining branches stretched out toward him, wriggling like a snake’s tongue.

Russell’s eyes shed red tears as he swung his greatsword so fast that it was only visible as a black afterimage, deflecting all the attacks.

He had kept his ‘eyes’ open for too long.

Russell gritted his teeth and kept moving his legs. If he hadn’t activated his magical eyes in the first place, he wouldn’t have been able to find his way properly in this space that had become a completely different world, nor would he have been able to survive the fight against the demon beasts.

However, perhaps because he had kept his eyes open for so long and accepted the power from the other side, his body creaked and groaned in various places.

The ceiling of the encroaching space collapsed, and the scattered fragments fell to the ground as black crystals. The still-surging black branches trampled on Russell’s vision and rampaged to tear his flesh apart.

Kagagagagagagak!

The movement of the thorns that stabbed from inside the tree bark where he was standing vertically exceeded dozens of times in a single breath, forcing him to defend.

The air he breathed compressed infinitely, trying to crush Russell’s lungs.

Oooooooooo━

The flow of the atmosphere, which had been howling madly since earlier, began to form a whirlwind. A gray wind swirled around Russell, who was climbing the giant tree vertically.

Deflecting, flowing, dodging the incoming attacks with the Final Frost in his left hand and the Nahilnir in his right, and simply hitting the unavoidable square attacks with his body, Russell charged.

━Die now, human!

At that moment, along with the shout, small eyes opened their eyelids and emerged from the bodies of the thick branches. It was a gruesome and eerie sight, as if the eyeballs themselves had squeezed out of the gaps and were looking out.

Jiiiiiiiiing━!

Beams of light shot out of dozens of eyes at once, targeting Russell. He immediately raised Nahilnir vertically and blocked the beams with the sword’s surface.

The heat concentrated on him and pushed Russell’s legs back. To begin with, Russell was standing vertically against gravity, so it was even more difficult to hold on.

Nahilnir turned red-hot, and the smell of burning began to emanate from his right hand, which was the sword’s handle.

“Ha!”

At that moment, a shockwave of magic exploded under Russell’s feet. He had shouted a battle cry. The giant tree vibrated with a loud bang, and the shock penetrated sharply into its interior.

━Gack!

Kuhelaumto gasped as if suffocating, and the beams of light momentarily stopped. At that moment, Russell’s body moved as smoothly as water.

Sweeeeeeeek!

Russell’s two hands, which were still pushing off the ground he was standing on vertically, moved dazzlingly. It cut off all the branches in its path, scattering their debris.

When he had brushed off all the debris, Russell was now standing in the center of the tree, right in front of the large eye. The pupil shook roughly and stared at Russell.

━Wa, wait. . . . . .!

The axe and the greatsword simultaneously embedded themselves in the eye before Kuhelaumto could speak.

Kieeeeeeeeeek━!

As soon as that happened, a tremendous roar erupted and burst through the space. It was a roar, as if the world itself were screaming. The collapse of the ceiling and the waves of destruction approaching from the horizon came towards the center at an incredibly fast speed.

The eye burst open with a pop, and a large amount of blood gushed out. At the same time, the encroaching space completely collapsed.

As the giant tree collapsed, Russell also lost his support and floated into the void. Russell could barely move a finger right now.

An unknown energy was filling his body through the eyes that had been open for too long, and the magic circuits were overheated in the process of converting the energy into magic.

He felt a burning sensation throughout his body.

‘I have to close my eyes.’

Russell tried to concentrate while suppressing the magical energy. Being high up caused a dizzying floating sensation, and he experienced a burning pain from the inside of his skin, as if fireballs were passing through his veins and arteries.

In a situation where it was difficult to concentrate, Russell closed his eyelids tightly and controlled his magical energy. The overused circuits appealed for fatigue and pain, but Russell had a hunch that something terrible would happen if he couldn’t control his magic eyes right now.

There was no signal, but he could tell.

In a cognitive sense, where one second felt like dozens of minutes, Russell did his best to manipulate and control his magical energy. Regardless of his will, the eyes that peered out through his eyelids continued to scan the surroundings.

Even Russell himself was perplexed by the fact that his body was not moving as he had anticipated. And amidst the wreckage of the collapsing space, a faint voice reached him.

━Russell.

With that voice, Russell lost consciousness completely.

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