Chapter 435: We Might Need Eternal Magic Even More
"Damn it..." Erza Knightwalker writhed on the ground, struggling desperately to stand back up and fight again.
"For the sake of eternal magic, I cannot lose!"
"The eternity you speak of is built upon such a massive sacrifice! Suppressing, plundering, intimidating to take what you want, hating others, destroying others..." Erza could not help but say, seeing Erza Knightwalker still trying to stand up to fight.
"That is what it means to be human!" Erza Knightwalker shouted loudly.
At the same time, she struggled to prop herself up with a magic staff. Clenching her teeth, she slowly gripped the staff bit by bit, rising to her feet unsteadily. Her legs were trembling ceaselessly, and the vast majority of her body weight rested entirely on the magic staff.
"Humans are creatures capable of loving others! They will rise up for those important to them, and draw their swords for those who shed tears! Can you not feel the cries of this world, Knightwalker?!" Hearing Erza Knightwalker's words, Erza immediately retorted without a second thought.
"Of course I feel the cries of this world far more deeply than you ever could! Because of the depletion of magic, I..." Erza Knightwalker argued back.
"Wrong! The 'world' means the people living in it!" Erza instantly interrupted.
"This is a world that is gradually dying! A world heading towards death as its magic dries up! You from Earth Land will never understand! The anxiety, terror, and despair brought about by the disappearance of magic... We must obtain eternal magic in order to survive!" Erza Knightwalker shouted.
Erza was just about to argue back, but Noah interrupted her: "Hearing you say that brings up a question for me. Don't the people of this world naturally lack magic inside their bodies? You don't generate magic internally, nor do you suffer any physical harm from a lack of it. Aside from the Exceeds who can generate magic and the floating islands that require magic to stay suspended, absolutely nothing else needs magic to survive. To you people, magic is nothing more than a tool. Since when does the disappearance of a tool cause a world to die?"
Erza Knightwalker froze upon hearing Noah's words.
"The magic and life force of the people in our world are directly linked. A lack of magic means a lack of life force. For us, running out of magic is a far more severe problem; in fact, we might be the ones who need eternal magic even more. But for you, is having no magic truly as devastating as you imagine? The magic staff in your hand has run out of magic, hasn't it? Aren't you still perfectly alive and well? Your survival has never required the support of magic." Noah looked at the magic staff Erza Knightwalker was using to prop herself up. The staff had just exhausted all of its magical energy and was now nothing more than an ordinary metal rod.
After hearing Noah's words, Erza Knightwalker's pupils dilated, and her mind instantly plunged into utter chaos.
Noah's words seemed to shatter the shackles of her deeply ingrained mindset, making her brain feel like a tangled mess in an instant.
Clatter! Thud!
The single breath of stubborn willpower holding her up leaked away. Her entire body instantly lost its strength, and both the magic staff and she herself collapsed onto the ground.
"Think about it carefully yourself. The disappearance of magic will not cause your world to die," Noah finally said, seeing that her convictions seemed on the verge of collapse and she no longer had any will to resist.
Then, he turned back to Erza and said, "Let's hurry inside. Natsu and the others have already charged in."
With that said, he quickly walked away.
Natsu and the group had charged ahead far too quickly. He highly doubted Natsu actually knew which way to go, so he had to catch up to them fast.
"Even without magic, humans will still strive to live on. Possessing the strength to overcome weakness and fear, that is what it means to be alive! Focus on listening to the voices of the living! You are not alone! As someone who is also named Erza, I believe you can figure this out," Erza spoke earnestly to Erza Knightwalker.
With those parting words, she turned and chased after Noah, who had already gone a fair distance, leaving Erza Knightwalker sprawled on the ground, her mind in complete turmoil.
As Noah quickly chased after Natsu and the others who had run far ahead, he spotted the unconscious Hughes lying on the ground, alongside Sugarboy, who was sprawled out without the strength to crawl back up.
Noah checked on Hughes to confirm he had passed out, then cast a spell to seal his mobility.
He then walked over to Sugarboy. Before Sugarboy could even utter a word, Noah simply knocked him out cold with a single strike and sealed his mobility as well.
When facing Erza Knightwalker, seeing a face identical to Erza's made it hard for Noah to be overly ruthless.
But when it came to these other two Magic Warfare Unit Captains, Noah had zero reservations about being heavy-handed.
After finishing up and continuing just a short distance, Erza caught up with him from behind.
The two regrouped and ran swiftly, knocking down any Royal Army soldiers they encountered along the way.
After turning a few corners, they caught up with Natsu and the others, who were continuously sending Royal Army soldiers flying ahead of them.
"Do you even know where you are going?" Noah could not help but ask, seeing Natsu leading the charge.
"I have no idea! I just saw there were a lot of people over here, so I charged this way," Natsu answered without a second of hesitation.
"Hah?! You literally charged in without knowing anything?!" Gray furiously slammed his forehead against Natsu's, glaring viciously.
"Going where there are more people, how could that be wrong?" Natsu shoved his head back against Gray's forcefully.
Lucy could only sigh. She had seen Natsu run first and subconsciously followed him.
The others exchanged awkward glances. They had also just followed Natsu and his group because they were running ahead.
"I can't say going toward the larger crowd is entirely wrong, but it is still a bit off. Let's go this way." Noah checked their bearings and took the lead, and everyone quickly followed him.
"Are you familiar with this layout?" Ultear asked, noticing Noah confidently weaving through the castle's left and right corridors as if he knew the place perfectly.
"Mystogan drew a map of the castle for me earlier, which is why I am so clear on the directions," Noah replied as he led the way.
"There are getting to be more and more of them," Mirajane threw a sphere of dark magic from her hand, blasting away a few Royal Army soldiers ahead, then looked down the corridor teeming with densely packed troops.
"Of course. The direction we are heading in leads straight to the Dragon Chain Cannon's control room. Naturally, they would deploy massive numbers of troops to block us," Noah answered.
"Roughly how long until the Lacrima Island crashes into Extalia?" Laxus raised his hand, firing a bolt of lightning to strike down the Royal Army soldiers in front, then turned to ask Noah.
"With my interference, it will take about ten minutes or so before impact," Noah fired a beam of light from his right hand, blowing away dozens of Royal soldiers, estimating the time.
"That short?!" Lucy gasped out loud.
"Do you think this is easy? According to them, I am fighting against half of an entire kingdom's magical reserves. Furthermore, I can feel them continuously increasing the magic output. I am constantly releasing my own magic just to contend with them, and this is the best result I can manage," Noah shot back at Lucy with an exasperated tone.
Hearing Noah's words, everyone looked at him.
They noticed an incredibly complex magic circle constantly rotating in the palm of his left hand, and his body's magical energy was continuously flowing into it.
"Is that so? Haha..." Lucy laughed awkwardly after hearing that.
"Is that the Dragon Chain Cannon's control center right ahead?" Mirajane pointed out from the side.
Everyone looked up at the same time. At the very end of the corridor stood a colossal set of doors.
And standing in front of the doors were massive numbers of soldiers, holding up their magic staves and aiming right at Noah's group.
"Attack!" The Royal Army soldiers shouted loudly. Countless magic blasts shot from the tips of their staves, hurtling toward Noah and the others.
Unfazed, Noah and the group raised their hands, returning fire with volleys of long-range magic.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The magic blasts collided with Noah's group's magic in mid-air, setting off a continuous chain of explosions.
The resulting shockwaves flipped a large number of Royal Army soldiers below, slamming them into the adjacent walls. Groans of pain echoed one after another.
Laxus seized the opportunity to raise his hand and unleash a massive wave of lightning, electrocuting a large number of soldiers in front and dropping them to the floor.
"Charge through!" Noah yelled. He took the lead, rushing forward and swatting away the remaining one or two soldiers still standing in his path.
Natsu and the others followed closely behind, blowing away any soldiers ahead or to the sides who tried to attack them.
Bang!
Natsu ran the fastest, overtaking Noah to reach the massive doors first. With a fierce kick, he smashed the doors wide open.
Swish!
Suddenly, a dark shadow whipped out from inside the doors, striking directly at Natsu. Natsu hurriedly raised his arms to block.
However, caught off balance, he was thrown backward by the immense physical force.
Natsu landed and stumbled back a few steps before steadying himself. Looking up into the doorway, his eyes widened completely, and he couldn't help but yell out, "What the heck is this giant thing?!"
By then, everyone else had clearly seen what had sent Natsu flying. It was a gigantic octopus tentacle that had extended from inside the doors to smack Natsu away the moment he opened them.
Inside the room was an enormous octopus-like creature. It had a human head, but the positions where its arms should be were replaced with two octopus tentacles, and its lower body consisted of eight constantly writhing octopus tentacles.
"As long as I am here, don't even think about coming any closer!" At that moment, a booming voice echoed from the creature's head—the human head on the octopus was actually speaking.
"How was this done?" Mirajane said, perplexed. She could tell that this was clearly a human being, but she had no idea what had caused him to turn into his current state.
"Haha! It is an octopus potion! I drank the potion myself, transforming into a giant octopus with incredible strength! None of you will take a single step further!" The octopus laughed heartily.
"Hmph, watch me send it flying!" Natsu immediately felt deeply annoyed hearing the octopus's boast.
Having just been swatted away by it, he desperately needed to get his payback.
He dashed swiftly through the doorway, his flame-wreathed fist violently striking at the octopus.
The octopus raised one of its tentacles and swiped it at Natsu.
Bam!
The fist and the tentacle collided, but Natsu's fist simply slipped off to the side, and he was completely blown away by the tentacle again.
"It's the slime on its body," Mirajane immediately pointed out.
Noah had also clearly seen what happened. The octopus's body was coated in a layer of slime. When Natsu's fist hit it, the punch slipped away against the mucus.
However, Natsu's fire had also scorched the skin on that specific spot of the tentacle black, burning off the slime. If he struck that exact spot again, it wouldn't slip.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu had obviously realized what happened as well. Since fire was effective, he unleashed a massive pillar of flames right at the enemy.
"Waaaahhh!" The octopus waved its tentacles to smash the floor, kicking up the shattered debris in an attempt to block the incoming fire.
But Natsu's flames were too fast and fierce. Unable to block it all, the fire struck its body. Its protective slime rapidly evaporated, and it screamed loudly in agonizing pain.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Seizing the opening, Natsu sprinted right onto the octopus's body and drove a fiery punch straight into its head.
Bang!
The octopus's head was deformed by the impact, and the entire giant creature was sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Following that, the octopus quickly began to shrink, ultimately reverting back into a short, unconscious old man lying on the floor.
"So weak," Lucy couldn't help but comment. She thought there would actually be a bit of a fight, but Natsu defeated him in just two or three moves. With such a massive size, he really was all bark and no bite.
"Transforming into other creatures is an interesting concept. Too bad the chosen form and its effectiveness leave much to be desired. Plus, he completely failed to draw out its proper strength, wasting such a transformation entirely," Noah remarked, looking at the fallen old man.
After turning into an octopus, he had strength but could barely utilize any of it. One glance was enough to tell he had very little combat experience.
Someone with no formidable combat experience yet tasked with guarding this spot had to hold a fairly high status—most likely a purely civil official.
"Yeah, that must be it," Ultear nodded from the side, then pointed at the massive machine ahead and asked Noah, "Is that the control console for the Dragon Chain Cannon?"
Noah looked up and saw the colossal apparatus in front of them. Beneath it sat an operating console featuring a crystal ball, with a giant key inserted right beside it.
Massive amounts of magic were surging through the device, continuously flowing upwards into the giant chains suspended right above the machine.
These were the very same chains they had seen fired by the Dragon Chain Cannon earlier.
"That's right, this is the Dragon Chain Cannon's control console," Noah nodded in confirmation.
"Then hurry up and stop this thing!" Lucy urged frantically.
Noah nodded. He stepped forward and quickly dispatched the Royal Army soldiers still holding their staves and guarding the device.
Then, he summoned his Archive magic and began hacking and decoding the Dragon Chain Cannon.
Laxus and Ultear instinctively formed a perimeter around Noah, ensuring no one would harass him while he was decoding it.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group launched their assault on the remaining Royal Army soldiers in the area, knocking them all to the ground.
"How is it going?" Ultear asked Noah.
"Well, it will take some time. The device is completely locked out. I need a bit of time to unlock it," Noah answered Ultear as his fingers rapidly tapped away on his Archive screens.
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