Silence spread in the swamp, as a heaviness even more primal and deep than Gravity descended around Alnea, bringing everything to a still. Even Alnea himself. The only thing that could move in the still world, was the faint breath that came with the clash of Light and Darkness. From the clash of the silvery white and inky black blobs, that popped into existence all over the swamp.

  Unfortunately for the Phantom Frog, it was not acquainted with the Sorrow that existed at the edge of Night. So, while everything stood still in the awe of the Night’s might, the frog dared to move, and thus, had to bear the consequences. Like a river gushing through a hole in a dam blocking its way, all the black and white blobs, in and above the swamp, rushed towards the frog and sank into its body.

  Moments later, when the swamp became devoid of all the blobs, taking with it the primal heaviness that had suppressed the swamp, the frog let out an ear piercing shriek, and began rolling around in the swamp, sending splashes of mud flying everywhere. Only then, did Alnea allow himself to relax a little. But his work was still not done. So, while the Frog was busy experiencing the Sorrow of Night, he fished out his storage pouch from within the swamp, and took out his Glyph Tools. A Carving Knife, that was barely a little bigger than his palms, and a Glyph Disc to carve his Glyphs.

  Or rather, a Glyph Array. After all, the frog was a Peak Phase Oren Beast. And the only Glyphs he had mastered were of the Intermediate Stage. He would have to cast hundreds of such Glyphs if he wished to defeat the frog by casting them individually. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of Spirit Power such a foolish act would require, if he had the time to carve so many Glyphs, he would have just gone ahead, and beheaded the frog with his sword.

  For the same reason, considering how the frog could get back to its feet at any moment, and the damage that his shield had already taken, he could not waste his time carving a complicated Glyph Array. He would have to make do with a simple one. One that could be carved before the frog could break his shield, but still erupt with enough destructive power to deal a heavy blow to the frog. At least enough to deter it away, if not kill it in one shot.

  Yet just time alone was not enough for him to determine which Glyph Array to carve. He also had to take their environment into consideration. A damp environment meant any Fire related Mysteries would be weakened to a certain extent. Not to mention that there was also chance for the fire to ignite the noxious fog hovering about the swamp. Similarly, standing in the swamp himself, he could not release any Mysteries related to Lightning, or he would end up harming himself…

  Putting away his storage pouch, Alnea glanced at the giant frog in the distance, and judged the strength of the blood red shield standing between them, calculating all the variables he could imagine, before bringing his Carving Knife to the Glyph Disc. One stroke after another, he quickly completed the summoning part of the first Glyph, using its manifestation part to summon the second Mystery, following it up with executing part of the third Glyph, ending it off by connecting the third Mystery back to the first, completing the loop.

  While he had been busy carving his Glyph Array though, the frog had already gotten back on to its feet. After all, even if the Sorrow of Night was a Top Grade Arcana, it was still of just the Advanced Stage, while the Phantom Frog was at the peak phase of its Adolescent Stage. Though the Sorrow of Night was strong enough to restrain the frog for a while, it was not enough to keep it down for a long time. Thus, by the time the frog resumed its attacks, Alnea had carved only half of his Glyph Array.

  Fortunately, he had already laid down the Gravity Field in advance, slowing down the frog’s attacks. And though the Sorrow of Night had not held the frog down for long, the Sorrow that the frog suffered did manage to slow down its attacks even further. Coupled with the frog’s hesitation, and caution after experiencing the Sorrow, the shield of his Blood Spirit Tear held on just long enough for him to complete his preparations. But not long enough to launch his Glyph.

  The moment that he completed his Glyph Array, Alnea saw a pinkish red tongue, thicker than even his thighs, covered with thick layers of greenish mucus, exuding a strong, noxious smell, tear through the blood red shield and come straight towards his head. And though he guessed that the frog would probably just wrap its tongue around his head, and not actually pierce it, he did not dare risk it.

  Cursing several generations of the frog’s ancestors, Alnea held his breath, and dove into the swamp, avoiding the frog’s tongue, while also making sure that he did not inhale any of the strange gases floating over the swamp’s surface. Of course, he knew that just hiding in the swamp was not going to help him. Especially since the blood red fragments of his broken shield were all flying back to him, drifting into his body, submerging into his Spirit, restoring part of the Spirit Power he had lost…

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  This was why he wanted to experiment with the Blood Spirit Tears. It was not the time to worry about the fatal flaw of his creations though. With the blood red fragments leading the way, even if he hid within the swamp, the frog would still be able to find him easily. Not to mention that the swamp was the Phantom Frog’s territory in the first place. It was only a matter of time before the frog came rushing to him.

  Yet, Alnea had no wish of wasting another one of his life saving measures on the first creature he had met in the Final World. So, before the frog could get excited over gaining a small victory against him, and launch an even more fierce round of attacks, he surfaced from the swamp, and activated the Glyph Array he had prepared.

  On the other end, the frog croaked happily when it saw its prey break the surface of the swamp. Tilting its head towards its prey, it opened its mouth, and shot its—

  Defying the Field of Gravity, muddy water from within the depths of the swamp rushed out from its surface, transforming into Heavy Water—a type of Water that became heavier the more destruction it suffered— under the influence of the Mysteries manifesting around Alnea. Yet, it was not just the muddy water defying the Gravity Field.

  Under the influence of the Mysteries, dirt and mud from the banks of the swamp flew towards Alnea, transforming into Desolate Earth—a type of Earth that destructed spontaneously when coming in contact with water— and wrapped around the muddy water the moment it rushed out of the swamp, creating a muddy sphere as large as Alnea himself.

  Large as the sphere was though, it was still incomplete. It was only after the third Glyph came into effect, summoning winds from the depths of the world, transforming them into Winds of the Edge—a type of Wind that became sharper the more destruction it witnessed— before blowing them against the sphere, that the sphere attained its final form, gaining serrated edges, and spinning around with the winds.

  Yet, the Glyph Array was still not done. Rather, the Glyph Array had not even begun to show its true effects. The muddy sphere, spinning in front of him, did look dangerous, but all it had was form. Against a peak phase Oren Beast like Phantom Frog, it would not even be able to break the latter’s skin. For it to work as he had intended, for it to complete its transformation, it needed something more. It needed a meaning, a sense of purpose. It needed an essence it could call its own. And so, the last part of the Glyph Array finally came into effect.

  The Winds of the Edge pushed against the sphere, bringing it straight towards the frog, while also pushing in towards the sphere, causing its outer layer of Desolate Earth to collapse, and meet the inner layer of Heavy Water. Consequently, the sphere began collapsing in on itself, even as it flew towards the frog, becoming a tenth of its size in just a fraction of a moment. And though it became heavier as it grew smaller, its speed only kept on increasing.

  In the meantime, while the sphere was undergoing transformation, the frog had not been sitting still either. Rather, it had already launched its attack the moment it saw its prey break the surface of the swamp. So, the moment Alnea activated his Glyph Array, he found that the frog’s tongue had already reached just a few inches away from him. Unfortunately for the frog, though it took time to carve and launch Glyph Arrays, once activated, they were much faster than Arcanas.

  Thus, just when the frog’s tongue was about to reach its target, it was met with a spinning sphere. A sphere, that had grown as small as his fist, transforming completely into a blob of water, with terrifyingly sharp winds spinning it around, distorting its shape, while carrying towards the frog.

  So, when faced with the frog’s tongue, the Sphere of Heavy Edge just tore its way through, destroying everything in its path, reaching the frog before it could even react to the pain of having the tip of its tongue destroyed. And just as the sphere had destroyed everything in its path earlier, it destroyed everything in its path once again. Or at least tried to.

  No matter how ingenious, and effective the Sphere of Heavy Edge was, it was still just an Intermediate Stage Glyph Array. Even if the synergy of its Glyphs allowed it to display several times their original prowess, carrying enough strength to tear through the Phantom Frog’s ginormous body, the Oren that had activated the Glyph Array could not maintain the sphere for long. It was no wonder then, that the sphere only made it halfway through the frog’s body, before dissipating away, giving the frog a glimmer of chance at making a comeback. But Alnea was no longer worried about the frog.

  On the contrary, he even lifted the Gravity Field he had casted earlier, allowing both the swamp and the fog to rise up once again, and giving the frog its freedom back, not worrying about how it would react. Because before the frog could even react to the pain of the Sphere of Heavy Edge tearing a hole in its body, a pillar of white light came from the banks of the swamp, piercing through the frog’s head, ending its life.