In an instant, the night sky vanished.
As if an artificial sun had been birthed, all darkness previously dominating the space was eradicated, and even the sea of raging flames around me seemed to get blinded, and at the same time, partially evaporated by a powerful shockwave.
It lasted only momentarily, but that was enough.
Shortly after wincing at the light, I squeezed my eyes open again to see darkness, and beyond that, what little remained of the flesh on the Behemoth's head collapsed to the ground, sending a final tremor through the ground and a secondary shockwave as it made contact.
The entirety of the hexagonal rim, as well as whatever it was that made up the inside, naturally got vaporised by the initial blast, leaving only the colossal lug of revolting flesh behind.
Now, all that was left for it was to get roasted by fire until the oil dries up.
'That bullet... Since it was made with the blood of these guys, I wonder what the properties are...'
It was a shame only that one could be made right now―Protagonist's words. Apparently he wasn't yet at the skill level to alchemise such powerful things consistently, which was unfortunate.
Obviously, the bullet worked well in tandem with that supercharged mana crystal, but even still, the resulting explosion seemed far too much for it just to be that.
'Maybe it interacts with magic energy in some way... Iseul did say just earlier that they're instinctively attracted to magic energy for sustenance, so...'
Anyway, I guess it didn't matter anymore.
Now that the Behemoth was dead, there was just one last thing for me to do here.
"Damn, that was smooth! Nice job out there!"
Behind me, the Protagonist's voice resounded, and as I turned to face him, I felt something off watching him walk through the lingering blaze unconcerned.
Tilting his head as if he noticed my apprehension, he seemed to quickly realise what it was.
"Ahh, right. Don't worry, I just drank a quick potion for fire resistance so I could make it out here. There's a higher success rate of getting a super high-quality mana crystal the closer to death I make the extraction."
Listening to him as he passed me, I followed him quietly towards the body of the Behemoth. Soon arriving, he wasted no time.
Behind him, I stood patiently, observing in silence, a bright blue haze washing over the alien's immense size.
This one was quite the big boy, so I wouldn't be surprised if the extraction process took a while.
Partway through the process, I sensed an approaching presence behind me.
It was Iseul, halting her feet right beside me, too watching the Protagonist before us in the midst of "Extraction".
"It wouldn't have been possible without your plan."
"Does that mean I can partake in the prize?" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⦿fire.net
Glancing at her, I was momentarily confused if she meant she wanted part of the mana crystal as a reward.
'I don't really want to give it up, but... I guess it's just fair. I never would've been able to get it by myself, anyway.'
"Would splitting it in half work?"
"That would be fantastic."
'We'll do that then.'
Leaving it there, we maintained silence for the remainder of the process.
At some point, the Protagonist abruptly shouted, clenching his fists and seemingly about to jump for joy.
Before him, a massive mana crystal comparable to a beach ball was formed.
"With these, we can--"
Before he was able to turn around and face us, I quickly pistol-whipped him with the Black Wisp, knocking him effortlessly to the ground.
I wasn't sure how long the buff would last for exactly, but before it ran out and weakened me severely, I wanted to wrap everything up here.
'She said it was around here.'
Dismissing the Black Wisp, I turned the Protagonist's body over, rolling him onto his back and gruesomely digging a hand into his chest. Feeling something unusually hard around his heart, like a stone that obviously didn't belong, I ripped it out, causing blood and guts to spill out.
Immediately thereafter, the Librarian's voice resounded.
[The Protagonist, 'Yoon Seong-ho, the Transmigrator', has been dispatched.]
Opening my closed palm, I found a red crystal roughly the size of an average pinky finger.
Of course, whether it was something that was red because of the blood that smothered it or because that was simply its natural colour, I couldn't be sure until I washed it.
"He once mentioned it was just a fragment of a larger whole, and I don't know how it works, but I'm almost certain it isn't related to the apocalypse beasts."
Listening to Iseul's brief commentary, I deposited the crystal in Storage, planning to look at the description as soon as I returned.
Before that, however, I turned to the giant mana crystal, and using what was undoubtedly the final moments of my super-enhanced strength, split it in two, a jagged crack running down the middle.
I was a bit worried about splitting it into uneven chunks, but it was surprisingly easy.
Depositing one half to the Storage and laying the other on the floor before her, I wasn't sure what exactly she was planning to do with it, or even just what she could do, but that wasn't my job to concern myself with.
Hearing her ask that just as I was about to address the Librarian, I glanced at her.
"I see... If we ever meet again, let us continue to get along. And thank you again."
"...I'm not sure if it's even possible to meet again, but sure, let's get along. If we meet again. And you're welcome."
Not wasting any more time, I casually waved Iseul goodbye, who I had only really interacted with today since coming here about a week ago.
'Librarian, let's go.'
[Yessir! Transporting...!]
The last thing I saw before the world around me distorted was the infected young woman's cursed eye, staring intently at me all the whilst.