Volume 3 - CH 18

The Elder Wraith and Cyclo begin their final offensive.

“Damn it! Get off me!”

[Hmph, you can’t do anything by force!]

Cyclo struggles, trying to remove the Elder Wraith that has attached itself to him. The Elder Wraith, however, clings to Cyclo’s body as if it has become adhesion to him and won’t let go.

[Kukuku, at this rate, your body will only be cursed and killed as it is!]

“Damn, then …… [Clock Generation]!”

Cyclo creates a huge ball of light.

He then brings it close enough to hit his own body.

[Guuaaahhhhhhhhh!? You, to take it on yourself!?]

“Let’s do an endurance test then!”

Elder Wraith’s body is burned by Cyclo’s light ball, and Cyclo is damaged by Elder Wraith’s curse in addition to the heat of the light ball.

A chicken race began, with the winner being the one with the most endurance left.

But, as expected, Cyclo’s side had the worse of the two.

The double damage from the heat and the curse caused Cyclo to weaken at once.

“…… Damn it!”

[Guh, but I’m almost there, then I can get into your body! Then it will be impossible for you to attack me again!]

Cyclo realized that more than half of the Elder Wraith’s body was already melting into his body.

“Damn it, I can’t go on like this ……”

Cyclo thinks in his foggy consciousness. He felt the Elder Wraith’s curse or some other power is invading his body.

He wondered if there was any way to expel the Elder Wraith from his body.

“It would only be a comfort, I suppose ……!”

And Cyclo quickly activated the “clock storage”.

From inside the storage space, he takes out the energy cubes that he had stocked up on.

When an energy cube is ingested, it has an effect similar to healing magic, albeit slight.

He thought he could use it to recover his strength and gain the upper hand in the chicken race against the Elder Wraith.

“– Agh!”

He desperately moved his arms, which had already begun to be taken over by the Elder Wraith, and somehow managed to throw an energy cube into his mouth.

Then–an effect came so startlingly that even Cyclo did not expect it.

[Guuuuaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!?!!? What the hell is this!?]

Elder Wraith suddenly screams in agony. It was also the most intense scream ever heard.

[No way,…… is this the …… radiance of life ……!?]

With a groan, the Elder Wraith moved away from Cyclo’s body, which was finally about to be taken over.

Cyclo thought that this is his last chance to attack.

“Disappear!”

With an incredibly strong force, he creates a huge ball of light.

The huge ball of light immediately swallows the Elder Wraith, which is unsteady and has no time to take evasive action.

“Guuuaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!! Damn you! How, how dare you!!”

And then – with a cry of resentment – the Elder Wraith takes the damage from the ball of light and disappears in a puff of smoke.

“…… did I get him this time?”

After that, Cyclo was on the lookout for a while for his surroundings.

But there was no sign of the Elder Wraith reappearing, so he finally exhaled and let his guard down.

“–Ha! That was close!”

Cyclo was regretting intensely because of the unexpectedly hard fight.

If only he had fought more carefully. Or, if he had been alert even before entering the fight, he might have been able to win a little more safely.

In this way, Cyclo understood that he had been quite conceited with the power he had acquired.

“I have to be more careful from now on. There are probably plenty of people who are stronger than me. I mustn’t forget that.”

Muttering this to himself, Cyclo slapped his cheek to get himself fired up.

“–All right! No more reflection! Let’s go!”

Cyclo stands up, extends his body, and stretches.

“Nevertheless …… If it weren’t for the energy cubes, I’d have been in danger.”

The energy cubes were more effective against the Elder Wraith than he had imagined.

The actual energy cubes are like a mass of life energy, so it’s not hard to understand why they were so effective for the Elder Wraith, the same kind of ghosts and such.

Nevertheless, it was almost an accidental idea to take the energy cube in that situation.

Without it, there was a strong possibility that he would have lost.

“Ah, come to think of it, the Elder Wraith were about to take over my body …… There’s nothing wrong with me, is there?”

Suddenly feeling uneasy, Cyclo touches himself to check.

There is no particular discomfort, and he is gradually recovering from the damage thanks to the energy cube.

“I don’t feel any– Whaa!? What the hell is this!?”

Finally, Cyclo used the Orichalcum sword as a mirror to check for wounds around his face as well.

Then – reflected in the sword was Cyclo’s image, whose hair had changed color as if he were a different person.

“My hair has …… turned pure white? Geez, I wonder if it’s because of the curse. I wonder if it can be fixed ……”

While blabbing, Cyclo touches his own hair to make sure. Other than the white color appearing, there is no other abnormality that can be detected.

For the time being, he decided to put his hair on hold.

Worst case scenario, if the hair is just white, there is no real harm. Even if it doesn’t go back to before, it won’t be a problem if there is no other harm.

Therefore, Cyclo decided not to worry about it.