Chapter 192: Mental Projection

The sea began to swirl violently.

It wasn’t simply because of a change in the currents.

The torrential rain that had once poured down with the intent to drown the island was now gradually stopping, and as all the accumulated water-element energy across the land converged into a single point, a vortex began to form.

“What… what is that…?”

No one could answer, but Javier cried out as if in horror.

That was how intense the transformation was.

At the center of it all, Derman who had absorbed an enormous amount of water mana was now completely different from before.

Up until moments ago, he had at least maintained a vaguely human form, but now… not anymore.

“That damned spirit… he’s eaten it all.”

Derman had become a corrupted spirit.

However, he looked quite different from the version Jun remembered seeing in the game.

It was likely because this one had awakened forcibly, before it was fully complete.

The rampage had begun several years earlier than it should have, and naturally, there were consequences.

Was he trying to absorb power that wasn’t his? That form… it looks familiar. Ah—the Poison Master?

Its bones were clearly visible, just like when the Poison Master’s corrupted spirit went berserk.

The difference this time was that translucent chunks of flesh clung grotesquely to those skeletal remains.

And scattered across his body were faintly formed human faces.

The Poison Master… so he absorbed what that thing left behind? Not just that…he must’ve taken in the members of the raid party as well.

The massive figure, now over five meters tall, began to move.

Guuuuuuuuuuu—!

Four huge claws burst out from between his shoulder blades and slammed down into the sea.

In an instant, the waves surged up, swallowing the flames Jun had created earlier.

“Bastard.”

But Jun hadn’t been patiently waiting just to admire the creature’s transformation.

Far from it.

If anything, that oversized body had become the perfect target.

[Volcanic Tornado]

[Ice Break]

[Elemental Fusion]

Before Derman could completely extinguish the fire element, Jun acted first and unleashed a storm of flames.

During the creature’s awakening, Jun had poured all his will into crafting two spells and fusing their attributes together.

Crackle…

The already-dark sky deepened into pitch-black.

Blinding flashes of white light split through the heavens at intervals.

Sensing the ominous energy above, Derman slowly lifted his massive head.

[Unique Magic]

[Thunderbolt]

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

Crackleeeeeeee—!!!

Lightning cascaded in rapid succession like a divine punishment raining down upon the earth.

Perhaps recognizing the electric power hidden within the thunderclouds, Derman opened his enormous jaws wide, and from within, the Claw of Thunder shot out, attempting to absorb the storm’s lightning energy.

Crack!

But having been overused since earlier, the Claw of Thunder let out a wailing screech as cracks began to spread across its surface.

Guuuuuuuuuuuuu—!

At last, it could endure no more. The Claw of Thunder shattered completely, and the final bolt of lightning struck Derman squarely, piercing through his gigantic body.

Blue lightning surged freely inside the creature, writhing throughout its massive frame.

Until now, Derman had been able to control lightning thanks to the Claw of Thunder but no longer.

That meant Jun had successfully created a weakness.

However, as much as Jun gained, the enemy also did.

“His regeneration’s beyond imagination.”

After all, the water element was naturally specialized for recovery.

Even though the Claw of Thunder had been destroyed, the weakened [Thunderbolt] wasn’t enough to deliver a fatal blow.

Looks like this is going to be a long fight. I’d planned to drag him onto land originally.

But Derman clearly had no intention of leaving his element of advantage.

And above all, now that he had undergone his awakening, his methods of battle had become even more dangerous.

Guuuuuuu—

Shaaaaaaaa—!

Derman raised his enormous arms and clapped his hands together. A massive wave of force rippled outwards, pushing all the surrounding rainwater away.

Jun immediately realized it wasn’t a simple shockwave and responded at once.

[Iron Rampart]

[Elemental Conversion: Fire]

[Enchantment Magic: Strength Concentration]

[Shield]

[Enchantment Magic: Strength Concentration]

A double-layered barrier of crimson steel and [Shield] flared to life.

Then, tens of thousands of raindrops struck it with the intensity of countless needles whipping through a storm.

Naturally, a massive chunk of mana drained away, and the two layers of defense wavered as if about to collapse.

Illusia!

Leaving the maintenance of the barriers to Illusia, Jun immediately launched a counterattack.

So he can establish a domain too!

After that last attack, the entire area around Jun was saturated with water-element mana.

Unlike before, the creature now awakened possessed a far stronger command over the elemental field.

At any moment, spears of water could erupt from beneath his feet again, or worse, Derman might start turning water itself into explosive bombs.

[Flame Rage]

So instead of trying to suppress the water mana directly, Jun opted to evaporate it entirely.

Using the fire mana already revolving around his circle, he dispersed the flames of [Flame Rage] and reshaped them into a different spell.

[Mana Guidance]

[Target Lock]

[Fire Arrow]

[Enchantment Type: Flame Invasion]

It was merely a basic second-circle attack spell under normal circumstances.

But with Jun’s touch, the story changed completely.

An overwhelming swarm of [Fire Arrows], enough to fill the entire field of view, shot forth at his command, all aimed squarely at Derman.

In response, Derman lifted his massive arms and slammed them down onto the surface of the sea. A towering wall of water rose before him—

Not mere seawater, but water-element mana, densely condensed and fortified.

Dozens of flaming arrows fizzled out the moment they struck the watery barrier, yet hundreds more remained and they didn’t stop.

After hammering the solid wall repeatedly, the arrows finally broke through, striking Derman directly.

Guuuuuuu!

Once again, he used water mana to extinguish the flames devouring his body, and a tense standoff resumed between the two.

But neither was just waiting for an opening. Both were preparing for something far greater.

At first glance, it might have seemed an even match, but in truth, Jun was the one at a disadvantage.

My heart’s… starting to strain.

A dull ache pulsed through his chest.

According to Marshar, this symptom meant the duration of his mutant transformation was nearing its end.

Just a little longer. Hang in there.

If not, he’d have to use another potion. There was no choice.

Just then, Derman began to move.

But it wasn’t an offensive action.

He’s trying to absorb even more power?

The creature knelt down, plunging both hands into the sea.

Its sluggish, writhing movements made it clear….it was drawing in massive amounts of water-element mana.

What are you trying to do…?

No matter how strong his control over the water element was, there were still limits to how much mana one could handle at once.

So why was he absorbing that much?

To prepare for my next attack? No… that’s not it…

Jun’s mind raced so hard that his forehead began to burn.

He analyzed every possible spell Derman could use, recalling not only Derman’s abilities back when he was human but also the powers of the raid members he had absorbed.

“……!”

Realization struck. Jun immediately opened his spellbook.

Ever since his mutation, he’d rarely needed to rely on it but this time was different.

Fwoooooooooosh—!!

In an instant, two full volumes of the spellbook ripped apart, releasing a torrent of mana.

[Volcanic Tornado]

Among all his fire-element spells, [Volcanic Tornado] covered the widest area of effect.

Now, four of those blazing storms erupted around Jun and started swirling violently.

He hadn’t even taken the time to imprint his will into them. He had simply forced mana into shape.

Because of that, their power was savage and untamed. So much so that even Jun, standing at the center, looked as if he might be consumed by his own flames.

“……!!”

Watching from afar, Javier gasped in horror at what came next.

“Wh-What in the world is that…?!”

Derman’s body, which had just been absorbing mana from the sea, began to transform once again.

Aaaaaaaaah—!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh—!!

Something began oozing out from the hollow cavity in Derman’s chest.

At the same time, the countless human faces attached to his body twisted in agony, screaming in torment.

One after another, their faces were sucked back into his flesh. As if they were being devoured from within.

And then, from inside Derman’s body, something began to swell outward explosively.

It was coral.

A massive coral reef blooming not beneath the sea…. It was rising above the surface of the water itself.

The color of the formed colony was murky beyond belief, but the real problem was that it wasn’t a physical entity.

“Jun…!!”

The creature’s mana erupted all at once, turning into mist that engulfed everything around it.

Recognizing what was happening, Javier let out a scream.

And the last thing he saw was Jun, absorbing something within the storm of flames, being swept away into the mist.

***

Floating weightlessly, the first sensation Jun felt was cold.

Mental Projection.

Similar to a mage’s mental barrier or the will manifestation used by warriors, but fundamentally a different kind of space.

Unlike a mage’s mental barrier, which is crafted through intricate magical formulas and profound inner thought, this place was a dimension forcibly twisted into shape by a corrupted spirit manipulating its host’s mental landscape.

It created a dimension from scratch.

Naturally, that would require a tremendous amount of mana. That was why Derman had drawn mana from the sea.

Can mana still move?

[Tinder]

Fwoosh! A flame ignited before Jun’s eyes.

Good, it’s working.

Seeing that mana responded properly, Jun let out a sigh of relief.

Still, the situation was far from favorable.

So I can’t gain the upper hand with mana output like before.

What he had just felt while casting magic was that his mana didn’t flow according to his will.

It was like pouring sticky glue into a delicate machine. He felt an overwhelming sense of blockage, as if his heart was being choked.

Maintaining the mutant form isn’t possible anymore.

Simply keeping it active consumed too much mana, so Jun decisively abandoned the transformation.

If there was one small relief, it was that his body damaged in the previous fight had fully healed in the meantime.

“Hoo…”

He exhaled and looked around.

No matter where he looked, everything was cold.

So cold and still, it almost gave the illusion of being deep underwater.

“So this is what his mental landscape looks like.”

You could call it a dead sea.

A sea where nothing flows, where everything has come to a complete stop.

But that didn’t mean it was calm.

“What is that…”

Down below.

Something was squirming its way up from the abyss….an abyss so deep it seemed to swallow even light.

“…Not exactly a pleasant sight.”

At a glance, it looked like a sea monster.

It had the form of a shark, but its skin was a fleshy human tone, and its entire body was covered in burns.

So that’s how the burns on his face manifested here?

To make things worse, its teeth weren’t the sharp fangs of a shark. They were human.

Looks like something molded by a demon.

Monsters like that were rising from the depths of the abyss, dozens at a time.

Start with one.

[Lightning Whip]

He struck one of them with a whip of summoned lightning. The creature screeched and its body swelled from the shock.

Then—pop! It burst apart, scattering chunks of flesh in all directions. Watching the scene, Jun’s brow furrowed.

Controlling my mana is even harder than before. The more of these things I kill, the less control I seem to have.

The trigger, most likely, was the death of these flesh-formed monsters.

For now, it was just barely noticeable.

“Haa…”

Beneath him, in the pitch-black darkness and beyond it.…countless blood-red eyes were glowing.