The Book Eating Magician

The roar was heard even in outer space, where sound didn’t echo! Orochi’s roar wasn’t just loud. It also contained a physical pressure. The eight killer bots that got caught in the roar shattered, while the rest had their limbs twisted in a gruesome manner.

In the past, the old gods of Japan needed to work together to beat it. However, this power exceeded Theodore’s expectations.

‘Okay, I can reverse the situation.’

Theodore was shocked by this and smiled. He thought he could use it well if it was only a hydra, but Orochi’s strength was more than a dragon’s. The killer bots harassing it were crushed like cans. Even if another 30 appeared when 10 were broken, it was meaningless in the presence of Orochi. The surface area of one scale was wider than a small mansion. It was like there was a storm swirling around Orochi’s huge body as the bodies of the killer bots were torn into many pieces and thrown out into the universe.

■■■■―?! ■■■■■――!!?

Orochi was confused about being summoned before Wrath in outer space, but Theodore didn’t explain why. No, he never had any intention of holding the reins from the beginning.

‘I would’ve tried if the Heavenly Sword was still intact… but now I can’t afford to deal with Orochi. I will leave it alone to do its work!’

The killer bots were nothing but toys that Wrath controlled. The worst development was not being able to stop the material world from being destroyed by Wrath. Theodore took deep breaths as he rested for a few seconds, concentrating all the magic power of his nine circles.

“Gluttony, number 17.”

-Yes.

A hole appeared in the palm of his left hand, and an artifact in the inventory emerged through Gluttony’s mouth. It was a dagger made of a mysterious metal, with a bright crystal on the hilt. This was the favorite tool of the alchemist, Paracelsus—the Azoth Sword. The Azoth Sword was a legendary tool which omitted all alchemy processes.

「 Substance conversion. 」

The blade which accepted the magic shimmered with light. This was the magic Theodore had used to fight Paracelsus’s creature, Mercurius, a few years ago. The magic consumed the ‘Philosopher's Stone’ set in the hilt and turned any substance the dagger touched into another substance. It wasn’t a difficult spell for Theodore, but the Azoth Sword was being applied to ultimate magic.

「 Ars Magna. 」

At this chant, the blade shone.

「 Become water, Wrath! 」

As soon as the stone embedded in the hilt of the Azoth Sword shone with a golden radiance, a beam of light was fired from the blade. This was the light of the ultimate magic, matter conversion.

Wiiiiing!

Surprisingly, the light worked on Wrath. The wall, which had seemed like an ultimate obstacle, shook and started to boil as it changed into water! It was because the vacuum of outer space lowered the boiling point. The surface of the outer wall evaporated quickly, causing holes that were 100 meters deep and gradually becoming deeper. The result was greater than that of the attacks Theodore had made using plasma and the Heavenly Sword.

■■■■■■■■――!!

As the object beneath it turned into a puddle, Orochi glared at Theodore. It didn’t know what this situation was, but it knew Theodore had called it here.

-Die.

There was no desire to communicate. Instead, poisonous smoke emerged from Orochi’s eight heads. It was a poison that melted away at anything, without a distinction between inanimate objects and living things. This was closer to a ‘corrosive’ breath than poison. It dissolved cell walls, destroyed the molecular structure, and eroded the surface of the target.

“Ick!”

However, despite its lethal force, the poisonous smoke was too slow. Theodore maintained a plasma state and pulled out of the range of the poisonous smoke without difficulty. His nerves were accelerated, causing one second to feel like one minute. It gave him enough time to look at the water and the poisonous smoke.

‘Isn’t it much worse than I thought?’

Wrath’s outer wall and the space in this area were contaminated. Moreover, it wasn’t a material poison but a conceptual poison. Theodore couldn’t completely resist it in his plasma condition. The poison couldn’t be burned with force or blown away with wind. The only way to get rid of it would be to use ‘purification’ or a greater destructive power.

“...Why should I?”

However, Theodore had no intention of getting rid of this poison. Orochi’s poison, which could threaten a god, was melting even Wrath’s outer walls. Wrath would quickly come up with countermeasures but Theodore would let the poison cause as much damage as possible in the meantime. Theodore decided on his actions and extended his feet again.

Pajijik!

He was a lightning bolt of an unidentified color, leaving an afterimage behind him. Orochi’s poison poured toward him, but it couldn’t keep up with the lightning. The outer wall of Wrath was abused as the two transcendent beings played tag. The substance conversion ray caused large holes in Wrath’s outer wall while the poison melted its surface.

[Reconfirming the damage situation. There is an urgent need for exclusion of the object.]

Finally, Wrath came out to counterattack.

[ (Damage 1) 312 meters worth of damage to outer wall due to Ray of Material Conversion. Minimize the interference of the light ray by changing the surface wall to glass. Recover the material lost using the other exterior walls. Emergency restoration.]

[(Damage 2) Persistent damage observed on the outer wall due to the toxic attack of Yamato no Orochi, a serpent dragon type. Remove contaminated areas. Urgent need to isolate the object. The entity is a demonic beast from this material world. Requires a physical attack. Repair.]

The logic circuits thought of an answer in a few seconds.

[Super Vibration Smash]

At this moment, Theodore realized that a reaper’s scythe was descending toward his neck. He predicted the future 0.03 seconds ahead and executed an emergency avoidance, 「―Dimensional Leave! 」

Theodore’s body turned from plasma into a spiritual body.

Wouuuuuuong!

The silver sphere, 3 kilometers in diameter, was now a little smaller and started to vibrate at an enormous speed! The frequency exceeded the limits of what could be measured. It was a super vibration, a vortex of power that crushed all objects it touched. The remnants of the killer bots left on the surface of the outer wall returned to a handful of dust. All the materials in Wrath’s resonance range were decomposed into atomic units.

Theodore and Orochi were no exception.

“Uwaaah!”

The impact of the few seconds it took to change from a plasma body to a spirit body tore at him. After taking a few bottles of potions, the blood rising in his throat disappeared. However, the damage done to Theodore wasn’t the problem.

■■■■■■―!

Orochi was the greatest victim of this destruction.

■■■!? ■■■■■!!!

It was useless no matter how much poison it poured out. Wrath’s outer wall no longer melted. Even if it did attack the vibrating wall, it would only receive a shock back. The body of Yamato no Orochi exploded, with flesh and scales scattering everywhere. The more durable bones and skeletal muscles held out a bit longer.

Peeeeeong!

However, every head exploded, causing a red blood mist to spread everywhere. A demonic beast from myths was destroyed with one counterattack.

‘Crazy...! Orochi couldn’t even last 10 seconds?’

If Theodore hadn’t become a spirit body, he would’ve died too. Plasma wasn’t immune to physical attacks and it was even more vulnerable to attacks that cut off the flow of electrons. Additionally, Wrath followed up with a second vibration attack.

[It has been confirmed that object name ‘Yamato no Orochi’ has been destroyed. Survival of object 1, escape to the Astral Plane. Searching for effective means to attack a spirit body―complete. Performing the wide-range Soul Stake.]

The ability to move between the spirit and reality states was fairly rare, but it wasn’t difficult for Wrath who had destroyed many worlds. If a physical attack didn’t work, Wrath would have to use other means. There were a number of attacks which allowed both physical and spiritual interference.

“What―” Theodore felt an eerie sense of foreboding while he ran through the air just as sharp awls emerged under his feet.

Like the killer bots that emerged from the surface of Wrath, this was a surprise attack that couldn’t be read.

Kkikikikik! An unpleasant metallic sound pierced Theodore’s eardrums.

‘No, it can’t be metal!’

It wasn’t a vibration of air. The noise resonated in the Astral World. The soul stakes clashed with each other, and the wavelengths tore at Theodore’s body. They were very difficult to endure, even if they weren’t direct strikes. Simultaneously, the soul stakes kept on appearing.

Kikikikik―!

The silver spikes were bigger than lances, and they sprang up to skewer him. Theodore read the paths and evaded, but he couldn’t completely avoid a thousand awls springing up from the ground. Blood flowed from his shoulders, thighs, and sides.

“Ugh!”

It was blood, but it was white, not red. This was proof that the damage was dealt to Theodore’s soul. If this damage kept accumulating, restrictions might appear on his magic ability.

‘If I can’t avoid, then I can only attack!'

The translucent Theodore’s body shone brighter as he created two blades in both hands. Soul Calibre. The technique passed down by Reynolds Spencer became much stronger in this spirit body. If it was an object able to interfere with a spirit body, that meant the spirit body could also interfere with the object.

Kiiing――

There was a sharp sound as several soul stakes broke. More than 100 soul stakes aimed for him, but Theodore avoided half of them while breaking the rest. It was a perfect defense. The soul stakes specialized in spiritual attacks and were less durable than the killer bots, making them easier to destroy. However...

[Identifying a unique astral weapon. Please respond.]

Wrath’s database responded even to this.

[Refining a part of the spirit body, raising the durability of the ‘soul stakes’ to a proper level. Searching for defensive means to damage the astral weapon. Complete. Departed Soul Summoning. Release of a spirit corresponding to the target object and homogeneous species.]

Wrath’s response wasn’t a killer bot or a silver stake. Instead, red swords started to emerge from Wrath’s surface. They were unlike Theodore’s green swords. The red swords, dark red like clotted blood, increased endlessly in number. They were evil spirits with human forms. Each spirit was on the level of Hipatia. 10... 132... 487... Theodore stopped counting once it went beyond 1,000.

“Only doing things I hate. Isn’t this a nasty personality?”

He didn’t know. Theodore could exercise physical force as ghosts and undead were vulnerable to holy swords. However, Soul Calibre embodied the soul of a user. If it clashed with the sword of the evil spirit, Soul Calibre would absorb the ‘dirtiness’ or ‘wicked desires.’ It wasn’t a big deal if he was facing a demon like Reynolds had done. The real problem was if Theodore continued maintaining his spirit body.

‘If a sword is stabbed into mud, it will dull and rust.’

Wrath’s move was an excellent counter to Soul Calibre.

‘Should I withdraw? If I use other means―’ Theodore stepped back and organized his thoughts. He still had a lot of means left.

The conversion had damaged Wrath quite heavily. If Theodore didn’t give it a chance to fill up the holes, the damage would accumulate. It was at this moment that...

Kuoooooh—!!

Suddenly, the whole area was covered with bright flames, and Theodore’s field of view became a scene of white. He hadn’t received any impact or injuries, but he had to turn his eyes away from this shocking fact.

‘Flames? The surface is burning in space? No, don’t tell me―?!’

The meteorite was burning wildly because of the friction from the atmosphere. As the meteorite, which had enormous energy, collided with the air resistance of the planet’s atmosphere, it caused a combustion phenomenon. As he looked at the planet they were approaching, Theodore shouted, “Gluttony! Time remaining!”

-11 seconds until the entry of Wrath. Hurry, User, Gluttony said, with irritation rising in its blasé tone.

Theodore couldn’t do anything. As he stared at the evil spirits that filled his vision, he rushed without a chance.

“Shitttt――!”

The destruction had arrived at his world.