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Ian's figure vanished entirely into the absolute darkness. From the outside, it looked like a single drop of water falling into a pool of ink; not the slightest trace of him remained.
Behind him, the monster's deafening roars, the heavy crashes of its tentacles slamming against the boundary, and its furious, unwilling cries of "Join us!" all became distant and muffled the instant they crossed the invisible dividing line. Eventually, everything fell silent. Without using magic to enhance his hearing, he couldn't hear a thing.
The sounds hadn't actually vanished. Rather, this bizarre region of darkness seemed to possess the absolute ability to isolate light, sound, and every kind of energy from passing between the inside and outside. Just as Ian had suspected, it rejected all normal laws.
"It's getting creepier... and it's freezing."
Ian steadied himself, floating in a void where even his own sense of self felt strangely diluted. He raised his wand and quietly cast an all-purpose spell.
"Glimmering Light."
Nothing happened. Not even the tip of his elder wand lit up, as if the darkness had swallowed his magic whole. He tried several other illumination spells, even Dawnlight, a spell infused with holy power. The result was exactly the same. The instant any light appeared, the surrounding darkness mercilessly erased it, leaving not even a ripple behind.
"Absolute darkness... It even rejects the concept of light?" Ian muttered to himself.
He wasn't frightened; if anything, his curiosity only grew stronger. The results matched what he'd predicted. The only thing he didn't yet understand was why this place behaved this way.
Still, that wasn't even the strangest part. When he turned around, he could clearly see the boundary he'd crossed. He could see everything outside. Scientifically speaking, that meant light was still entering his eyes, yet the reality was exactly this bizarre: inside the darkness, no light could exist, but he could still see the light outside.
"Science really does have limits when it comes to magic."
There was no physical wall, only a perfectly straight, unmistakable dividing line. On one side was the Chaos Space he'd just escaped, where the eerie violet glow still illuminated the area, and the gigantic twisted monster continued writhing and roaring outside the boundary.
Countless tentacles slammed against the invisible barrier in vain, unable to cross it by even a single inch. On the other side, where Ian stood, was absolute darkness that swallowed everything.
It felt as though light and darkness had been forcibly separated by some supreme law, forbidden from ever interfering with one another.
"Well, as long as that thing can't get in here, then it'll be alright."
The biggest question had been answered, and Ian finally relaxed. The main reason he'd charged into the darkness so decisively was simple, he didn't want to keep dealing with that monster's endless barrage of attacks. So far, the results couldn't have been better.
As for exploring the darkness itself? Of course not. First, he still had to deal with the monster outside. Not because he held any deep grudge against it, but simply because he wanted to test another theory.
After all, when it came to satisfying their curiosity, there was no telling what bizarre things a wizard might do. Compared to most, Ian was actually one of the more reasonable ones.
He leisurely turned to face the "bright" side of the boundary, and the monster that had fallen into a frenzy after losing its prey. Although he stood in complete darkness, he could still see everything perfectly.
Combined with his powerful mental perception, he had a crystal-clear view of everything happening beyond the boundary.
"Hey, big guy. Mad?" Ian called out cheerfully toward the boundary.
He knew the monster couldn't hear him, but that didn't stop him from enjoying himself. There was something incredibly satisfying about taunting a boss while standing safely inside a safe zone.
"Come on, hit me. I'm standing right here begging for it. Keep trying." He raised his wand and aimed it at the enormous eye the monster had pressed against the barrier, desperately trying to peer inside. "Reducto!"
A tightly focused Reductor Curse shot through the boundary between darkness and light, striking the giant eye dead center.
Pop!
The eyeball exploded instantly, spraying thick fluid in every direction. The monster let out a howl of pain and even greater rage before jerking backward, its severed tentacles flailing wildly. Yet it still didn't dare extend even a single one into the darkness.
"Oh? That got quite the reaction." Ian raised an eyebrow as his wand lit up again. "Flame Burning the Heavens!"
A blazing Fire Snake roared through the air, crossing the boundary to wrap itself around several of the monster's tentacles before bursting into fierce flames.
"ROOOOAR!"
The monster slammed itself against the ground in a desperate attempt to extinguish the fire, but the magical flames clung stubbornly to its flesh, burning it until its skin split open and filling the air with the stench of scorched meat.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Sectumsempra!"
"Bombarda!"
Ian had apparently found the perfect magical firing range. Completely at ease, he leisurely began testing one offensive spell after another from his repertoire. He wasn't even using his improved versions, just the basic spells. As long as it could deal damage, that was enough.
Now that he had complete control of the situation, there was no need to overwhelm it with raw firepower. One colorful spell after another shot out from the darkness, striking the monster's massive body with pinpoint accuracy.
The monster raged outside the boundary. It tried to fight back, spitting corrosive acid, firing energy beams, and even attempting another Soul Strike, but every attack vanished the instant it touched the invisible boundary, disappearing without a trace.
So it wasn't just afraid to enter, it couldn't attack into the darkness either. Not a single one of its attacks could reach Ian.
All it could do was endure Ian's one-sided magical bombardment while letting out furious, helpless roars. Its body was continuously damaged by the spells, only to regenerate and mutate even faster.
Where the Reductor Curse shattered its flesh, hard bone armor grew in its place. Where flames had scorched it, a fire-resistant layer of slime developed. Wounds carved open by Cutting Curses healed over and sprouted razor-sharp bone spikes...
It was like some grotesque metal being endlessly hammered and tempered. Thanks to Ian's "help," it continued evolving into something more twisted, more indescribable.
"Come on! I'm all rested up again!"
Ian kept up the damage rotation for nearly several hours, baptizing the monster from head to toe with every kind of spell he knew. He watched as the thing outside the boundary twisted, deformed, and roared nonstop.
What had started as a lump of rotten flesh had evolved into the ultimate abomination, covered in bone spikes, armored shells, festering cysts, and countless bizarre organs that not even the most deranged painter could hope to depict.
Eventually, he got bored.
"That's enough. Time for another break."
Ian stopped casting and rubbed his slightly sore wrist. The constant, high-output spellcasting was still well within his limits, but even he needed to rest every now and then. He landed within the absolute darkness; beneath his feet wasn't solid ground, but the empty void somehow supported his weight.
Then he did something that would have made any other wizard's jaw hit the floor. Without the slightest hurry, he reached into his magically expanded pocket and pulled out an entire copper yuanyang hot pot.
Then came neatly prepared platters of magical meats, fresh vegetables, and assorted mushrooms, along with his specially made spicy beef tallow broth and a rich mushroom soup base whose aroma would normally fill the air for miles.
"Hmm. I can't smell anything, and I can't see the colors... but the taste should still be there."
Ian casually lit the magical heating runes beneath the pot with his wand. The runes' glow was swallowed by the darkness just like every other light, but strangely enough, the heat remained. Soon, the broth began bubbling merrily. The sound was completely muted by the darkness, but Ian could feel the vibrations.
Relaxing in the endless black, he relied on muscle memory and his magical perception of the food to cook tripe, beef aorta, thinly sliced fatty beef, and one ingredient after another. He ate with obvious satisfaction.
"Heh... Eating in total darkness has its own charm."
He picked up a perfectly cooked slice of marbled beef and popped it into his mouth, happily eating it blind. The tender texture and the explosion of spicy broth across his taste buds made Ian nod in satisfaction.
He even had the leisure to raise his goblet toward the monster still writhing outside the boundary, searching desperately for a way in.
His taunt was delivered with complete sincerity. "Hang in there, big guy. I'll play with you again after I finish eating."
The monster seemed able to vaguely sense Ian's relaxed mood. To a creature driven by madness, that was the greatest possible provocation. It grew even more violent. Its enormous body expanded and contracted erratically, the rate of its mutations accelerating further.
Its flesh even began tearing itself apart and reassembling on its own, as though an out-of-control evolutionary arms race was taking place inside its body.
Meanwhile, Ian calmly enjoyed his hot pot. He even took a fifteen-minute nap midway through the meal. Only after his mental strength and magical power had fully recovered did he unhurriedly clean up the dishes.
"Alright. Time for a little exercise after dinner." He turned back toward the boundary, casually spinning his wand in his hand. "Let's see what new tricks you've come up with."
By now, the monster's appearance had become utterly unimaginable. It no longer resembled a living creature; it was more like a living mountain that writhed, roared, and radiated destruction.
Its body simultaneously contained crystalline armor, flowing metal, decaying flesh, ghostly flames, and countless gaping mouths lined with razor-sharp teeth that opened and closed without pause. Its aura had grown so overwhelming that even the surrounding Chaos Space trembled.
The eerie violet glow around it was being suppressed by an even deeper darkness emanating from the monster itself.
"Come on. One last round."
Ian's expression sharpened. He, too, sensed that something was changing. This time, he began casting even more powerful composite spells and attacks that invoked the power of Rules themselves.
"Nine Heavens Thunder Prison!"
"Eternal Frozen World!"
"Dimensional Exile Slash!"
"Life-Draining Torrent!"
"Paradox: Spiral of Existence and Nothingness!"
Don't ask why the spell names sounded so grand; Ian was a genuine British wizard, so what was wrong with mixing a little dramatic flair into his spell chants?
It wasn't like he was padding out his autobiography, he was simply showing off his excellent casting. Put him anywhere in the world, and people would definitely wonder how his magic was so refined.
"Behold my Divine Might! Nothing can withstand it!"
As long as Ian had time to rest, his magical power recovered remarkably quickly. Brilliant yet terrifying magic burst from the darkness once more, raining down on the monster's already grotesquely evolved body like an endless storm.
The monster let out an earth-shaking roar, a mixture of agony, madness... and perhaps a trace of relief. It desperately unleashed every ounce of its strength to resist and regenerate.
One moment, its body became a dazzling ice sculpture, the next, dimensional rifts tore across its torso.
Then, vast amounts of life force were drained away, leaving it shriveled. Moments later, caught within the Paradox: Spiral of Existence and Nothingness, parts of its body existed while other parts ceased to exist, throwing it into complete logical chaos.
Its regeneration and mutation accelerated to the point where the naked eye could barely follow them. It looked like a lump of clay being kneaded frantically by an invisible hand.
"Looks like you're not Ultraman Zero."
Ian watched calmly. He could sense that the monster's evolution had reached a critical limit. Its genetic structure, its energy composition, and even the fundamental Rules that supported its existence were crying out under the strain.
That's right, it wasn't some invincible superhero, which meant it had limits. How many people in the world could actually follow Ian's line of reasoning was anyone's guess.
"Now."
Ian lowered his wand and stood with his hands behind his back, silently watching. Outside the boundary, the mountain-sized, indescribable monster suddenly froze. The countless flickering ghostly lights, the endlessly writhing flesh, the bizarre organs... everything seemed to pause at exactly the same moment.
Then, pop.
A tiny sound, so faint it was almost impossible to hear, like a bubble bursting. It triggered a chain reaction.
The monster's hardened armor and crystalline structures shattered piece by piece. The flowing metal solidified before crumbling into dust. Its rotting flesh melted away like snow beneath a blazing sun, and the ghostly flames burning across its body silently went out.
Its colossal form collapsed. Like a sandcastle whose foundation had suddenly vanished, it crumbled from the top downward. There was no explosion, no violent surge of energy. Only complete, silent disintegration.
The countless twisted substances making up its body lost every trace of cohesion and vitality. They dissolved into the most primitive, foul black sludge imaginable, cascading downward like a waterfall before pooling into a massive swamp of bubbling, stinking corruption.
The maddening aura that had once smothered everything receded like an ebbing tide. All that remained was a silent, slowly writhing mire of darkness.
The monster was gone. Or rather, its forcibly stitched-together existence, constantly driven to mutate beyond its limits, had finally collapsed under the backlash of its own evolution, reverting to its original corrupted form.
Since these monsters had all once been corrupted ancient gods, their divine authorities had long since been tainted. As a result, Ian's Legendary Status gained nothing useful from destroying it.
Simply put, unlike when he had seized the Power of Paradox, he couldn't claim the divine authority of these monsters. Perhaps that was because their divinity had already been absorbed by another being.
For example, whatever was hiding in the depths of the darkness.
"See? I was right, as always." Standing within the darkness, Ian looked at the Chaos Space beyond the boundary, which had now returned to an eerie calm. A satisfied, just as I thought expression appeared on his face. "Evolution forced through extreme pressure is nothing more than a castle built in the air."
He spoke as though he'd merely finished an interesting experiment. Back when he'd encountered the evil gods in ancient Egypt, Ian had already begun to understand this principle. The monster outside had simply confirmed that his theory was correct.
"So then... if the thing hiding in the deepest darkness is another monster... does it also have a limit? Or... is it unable to move precisely because its mutation has already reached that limit?"
With the corrupted ancient god outside finally dealt with, Ian slowly turned around. His gaze settled on the endless darkness ahead.
(End of Chapter)