108 Chapter 108: In the Depths of Despair

The Crastrate leered at me with its eyeless, dome-shaped head, and then hissed ferociously. It took another step forward, its tail rising to pierce me. Even though it should be within range, it didn't strike with its stinger.

Evidently it planned on finishing me off with its inner jaws. I could see the secondary set of jaws sliding outward, dripping with drool.

Disgusting son of a bitch (though, given how his host or "father" was Lin Zhan Long, I guess that was to be expected).

It didn't get very far.

Before, it could reach me with its jaws, giant heavy chains descended from the heavens and wrapped themselves around the stunned Fiend-class monster. The Crastrate struggled futilely, but the chains held firm.

"I might not be able to move my body, but I still can summon Constellation spirits and weapons," I whispered with a sly smile. "Chains of Andromeda."

As my Constellation summoning magic was based entirely on my imagination and interpretation of myths (as much as I wanted to say it was "anything goes", my summoning magic was not omnipotent, and there were still limits to my power no matter how much I wanted to imagine it to be godlike or whatever), I chose to read the legend of Andromeda in a way that benefited me.

Normally, I would be wielding the Chains of Andromeda manually with my hands, but at the moment I was paralyzed. However, that didn't stop me from envisioning my own interpretation of the legend. While the original myth was that Andromeda was chained to an isle in order to prevent her from escaping the sea monster that she was supposed to be a sacrifice to, I had imagined these Chains of Andromeda to be the very restraints used to chain the sea monster itself. Following that characteristic, they should be able to hold down a monster like the Crastrate.

Unimpressed, the Crastrate screeched in fury, fighting desperately against its bonds. I watched with some satisfaction, until I remembered the Crastrate's acidic blood was slowly but surely corroding away the sturdy chains.

Even so, the restraints had bought me more than enough time to finish casting yet another major summoning spell. What, you didn't think I was just lying down idly and watching my Chains of Andromeda bind the Crastrate, did you? I wasn't as stupid as a good majority of readers seemed to think I was (just read some of the comments – according to some, I was retarded or an idiot, depending on the insult of the day).

"Virgo!"

Just as the Crastrate broke free of the corroded chains, a giant coffin the shape of a woman materialized over the Crastrate.

"Iron Maiden," I commanded.

The coffin slammed shut over the Crastrate, entombing it and trapping it within its confines. Inside, dozens of spikes protruded and lanced through the immobilized monster, pinning it further in place. The Crastrate struggled wildly, but only succeeded in splashing more acidic blood over the interior of the trap. Despite its corrosive properties, the blood still needed a huge amount of time to eat through the sturdy deathtrap.

I knew the acidic blood and the Crastrate's own demonic power would allow it to break free of Virgo eventually, but that was fine. All I needed at the moment was to buy as much time as possible. Every second was precious. Every moment counted. As long as I could stall the Crastrate for a few more minutes, I could finish up my ultimate summoning spell.

Time slowly passed, and I took the time to rest and recoup my energies, while preparing yet another summoning spell. Too bad I couldn't accelerate my ultimate summoning spell, but at least I could devote time to completing it. Just like my analogy, I could allow it to download without interruptions without needing to pause it to download other spells to fight the Crastrate.

As I expected, though, the Crastrate finally broke free. Angry holes had been bored through its slender body, courtesy of Virgo's Iron Maiden spell. Acidic blood dripped from its mortal wounds ceaselessly, dissolving the ground beneath it. Yet the Fiend was still not dead yet. It was still capable of moving and attacking.

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Snarling furiously, it began approaching me, hell-bent on vengeance.

"I would watch your step if I were you," I said.

Leo erupted from beneath the Fiend, knocking it high into the air. This time, it was the Crastrate that was sent spinning helplessly in midair, mirroring what it did to me earlier. I couldn't help but savor the irony.

But I had more important things to focus on right now than my personal satisfaction.

As the Crastrate flailed desperately in its descent, I yelled out a single command.

"Leo, Regulus!"

A massive golden beam of light flashed from the majestic lion, engulfing the Crastrate in destructive energies. The monster shrieked in agony as it plummeted down, almost vaporized by the devastating magical force that befitted the King of Beasts.

Boom!

A huge explosion resounded across the entire area as the Crastrate crashed back down to earth with the force of a meteor. Fortunately, I had dismissed Leo immediately before the creature landed, before he could be struck by the resulting shockwaves. I had to summon Scutum Sobiescianum to protect myself from being buffeted by the blast.

"That should have done it," I muttered hollowly, even though I knew it was a faint hope.

A sudden chunk of earth suddenly burst out from the crater, flying over my head and embedding itself deep into the cliff behind me.

"Really? Fucking really?!" I moaned.

The Crastrate emerged from the crater, screeching furiously. Its black skin had turned red-hot from the blistering beam of Regulus from earlier, and an insane amount of smoke fumed from its body. Whole segments of its body were either gone or missing. Yet, it was still somehow able to stand. Hell, I didn't understand how it was still alive.

"What the fuck are you?!" I yelled, more from fury than fear. I still had my ultimate summoning spell, and was so close to unleashing it. Even then, I was still shocked at the amount of punishment the damned thing could take and still stand.

Instead of replying, the Crastrate tilted its head and glanced at the side. How it did that without eyes, I had no idea, but there was no point in trying to understand the logic of monsters. They never followed the rules that humans adhered to. Perhaps they had some sort of alternate optical sensory organ that differed from eyes. Or perhaps they "saw" through pheromones.

I would never know. Nor did I care to know. Well, maybe I did, since I subscribed to the whole "know your enemy" and "knowledge is power" tenets, but at the moment I was more invested in slaying the hideous monster than analyzing how it functioned biologically.

To my immense horror, two more Crastrates suddenly landed next to it. Fully unscathed, yet possessing the same amount of bloodlust, the newcomers hissed delightedly at me. I could see their inner jaws clicking in and out in anticipation.

The three of them seemed to be conversing with each other through screeches, clacks and hisses, their heads turning toward each other. I shuddered at the nightmarish display of intelligence and communication.

These things…they were smart. They could function as a single, cohesive unit, like a pack of Ravagers or Dire Wolves. They possessed a brutal cunning that I had never seen before in other monsters, yet also had brute strength and raw power to back up their intelligence. The Crastrates had been holding back their reserves, waiting until their victims were weakened before sending in their remaining forces to drive me into despair.

But I was not alone.

"White Tiger!"

They paid a price for standing around and talking to each other instead of finishing me off immediately. Without hesitation, I summoned my most powerful class of soul beasts – my Celestial Guardians.

White Tiger materialized in front of me, roaring ferociously as lightning surged outward from his striped body. A violent lightning storm crashed into the trio of Crastrates, knocking them off their feet and electrocuting them. The first one, maybe because of all the accumulated wounds, seemed to have finally succumbed and lay still in the earth, acrid smoke pouring out from its corpses.

However, the other two rose to their feet, merely singed. Snarling, their inner jaws lashing out, they charged at White Tiger.

My Celestial Guardian faced them down valiantly, swiping at the first with his claws. Lightning exploded upon contact, the devastating electricity frying the Crastrate. It screeched as it was sent flying, its body going into convulsions. The second one, however, struck from the flank in a surprising show of tactics, and gouged a huge chunk of flesh out from White Tiger's side.

Bellowing in rage and pain, White Tiger spun around to swat it away. The Crastrate once again demonstrated its amazing speed and effortlessly evaded his retaliation, its tail plunging deep into White Tiger's shoulder and sending the huge spirit spinning.

The other Crastrate had finally recovered from its electrocution, and not wanting to lose to its brethren, disappeared into a blur. White Tiger swatted at it again, but it dodged under his paw and stabbed his chest with its claws.

The second one pounced on top of the howling White Tiger and rammed its inner jaws deep into his back, sending bits of flesh, bone and blood spraying out in a geyser.

If it had been any other Constellation spirit, they would have vanish there and then, unable to withstand such a tremendous amount of damage. Fortunately, White Tiger was no ordinary Constellation spirit. He was the highest class of my soul beasts, a Celestial Guardian. Refusing to bow down to his assailants, he generated a lightning storm that blasted the both of them apart. Both smoking Crastrates landed next to the very first one, their bodies crackling with paralyzing electricity.

"White Tiger! That's enough! Time to go!" I shouted.

My Celestial Guardian turned back to me, scowling in disapproval. I understood his reluctance to leave the battlefield. He wanted to personally destroy the Crastrates.

However, he also knew as well as I did that he probably did not possess the capability or immense firepower required to completely exterminate these foul monsters. It seemed that my Celestial Guardians were not invincible at all.

Under my mental commands, White Tiger leaped to where I was, and picked me up by the scruff of my neck with his jaws. Flinging me over so that I would land on his back, he immediately bounded away before the Crastrates could recover from the paralyzing electricity that continued to immobilize them and hold them in place.

There was a reason why I had White Tiger cast that paralysis electric spell, after all.

Lying on White Tiger's back, I raised my head to glance up toward the cliff where I jumped off earlier, the place where I first witnessed the massacre of my schoolmates from above. Taking a deep breath, I issued an order.

"Scorpio, that's enough. Unleash Antares."

Scorpio emerged from above the cliff. Purple, red and bluish-white mana had been accumulating at the point of his massive stinger this entire time, ever since the beginning. His casting of Antares had finally come to fruition, accumulating into an enormous ball of energy that had been held and contained at the front of his stinger. At my command, he completed the casting of Antares and released the enormous ball of gathered mana into a single large beam of destructive energy that tore through space itself, causing the very air around it to ionize and distort. Even before the colossal beam touched the earth, it was already leaving a trail of red and black molten lava in its wake.

The Antares spell slammed right into the three Crastrates before they could move, and then detonated into a pseudo nuclear explosion that engulfed the entire valley in superheated mana, vaporizing everything that was caught within it. It expanded exponentially into a tremendous sphere of annihilation before blossoming into a mushroom cloud.

White Tiger continued to sprint as fast as he could, doing his best to escape the approaching white-red flames from the devastating explosion that swept toward us. Without my glasses, I could hardly see anything, but all I saw was a wall of flames encroaching toward us. The inferno had covered the entire valley, its range far exceeding my expectations.

I had set out to create a literal nuke spell, and I had succeeded.

"No wonder Antares took so long to complete casting," I muttered to myself. It would certainly be overpowered if I could fire one of those off immediately. Even as White Tiger ran ahead of the pursuing fire, I could still feel its intense heat cooking my skin. Then again, I was already suffering from third degree burns and lost all feeling in my body. Whether it was because my neck was broken or my nerves had been literally incinerated, I didn't know.

I didn't care either. Now that I had achieved my objective, I could finally rest in peace.

Antares had consumed a significant portion of my mana, and I was completely drained. Even now, it was difficult to maintain White Tiger's existence in the material world. Yet I couldn't afford to dismiss him just yet. At least not until we were safely out of reach of the expanding ball of superheated plasma.

It would be the ultimate irony if I nuked myself to death with my very own spell.

Fortunately, the expanding plasma seemed to slow down. White Tiger took a final bound out of the valley and into the cover of the mountains. I vaguely noticed that he was heading toward the direction of Jing Tian City. I wondered if the residents in the city could see the gigantic mushroom cloud that was unfolding over a thousand meters above ground, shrouding even the mountains.

It was as if the heavens themselves had split apart.

My consciousness slowly fading, I closed my eyes. White Tiger's physical form was also growing more intangible, less corporeal. Aware that I had reached my limits, that he didn't have much time left in the material world, and that we were at the bare minimum safe distance from the blast zone, he came to a stop. Stretching his head back, he seized me with his jaws and gently set me down on the ground.

And then he vanished.

And with White Tiger's disappearance, my consciousness departed me too and I sank into an infinite darkness, accompanied only by the roaring thunder of the thermonuclear explosion of my own making.

And then everything went silent.