CH 364

There was no doubt that they were facing a time crunch. The distance between the Land of Whirlpool and the Franklin Dukedom, where Yeon-Hee was located, wasn’t very far. Since there was an enemy that Joshua and his attack squad couldn’t deal with, I had to intervene.

Tat!

[* Storage box]

[Odin’s Golden Armor has been removed.]

[Zeus’s Thunder Spear has been removed.]

[Ra’s Sun Cape has been removed.]

This was along with the other A-class items I had taken from Cat Food Warehouse!

[You have used Odin’s Wrath.]

[Target: Zeus’s Thunder Spear]

A vigorous power wrapped around my chest, back, and hands. At the same time, I propelled myself towards the varied sensation at the edge of time and space, into another dimension, diving head first.

As the gate shut, the radiance emitted by the LED lights in the room dimmed. Suddenly, the expanse of outer space unfolded before me, expanding and unfurling all at once. The vast area was saturated with green clouds, and I could even see the backs and sides of those who were fleeing.

When I felt a squishy sensation underfoot and looked down, I noticed a lifeless body on the ground. The individual’s eyes were open wide as though they were still in disbelief that he had died. His face was not only affected by the plague, but also coated in thick green mucus. Also, most of his limbs were gone as they had been chopped off by sharp objects, and there was a palm mark on his neck as if it was held by a strong force.

It appeared that Joshua had taken his life while restraining him with his summoned object. The hole in the body’s chest was just large enough for an adult’s hand to pass through, and it seemed he had died when his heart was either compressed or squeezed. Blood, broken pieces of ribs, and fluid were sticking out of the hole.

This body was the remains of Holy Knight Caldoran.

Meanwhile, my body was impatient to activate the Man Who Overcomes Adversity as soon as I entered the space. Just as white blood cells worked, my body recognized the plague in the air as enemies.

[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity has been activated.]

Upon entering, I immediately noticed a pair of strikingly red eyes glaring at me through the green clouds. That individual stood atop a heap of corpses and seemed to have just charged forward as the gust that accompanied him dispersed the verdant haze around him.

I now was able to see him better. He was definitely staring at me with a pair of eyes that reminded me of a hell gate that was situated in a pit of fire. He was around my height, and his hair was as red as his eyes. His face was sharp, and the longer he stared at me, the more prominent the blood vessels that were engraved on his forehead appeared.

Without a doubt, he was filled with fury. However, he appeared to have the same hesitation as I did, leading us to stare at each other with the sense that we were the same kind, the strongest of the strong. The only difference was that he was mad while I was just suspicious. Although he appeared to be a human, he definitely wasn't.

The child in Jessica’s womb had a rapid, yet feeble pulse that was noticeably distinct from the typical cardiac rhythms of humans. Similarly, this man’s heart didn’t beat like that of an ordinary person. Also, it didn’t beat as rapidly as Jessica’s unborn child or our kind, the Awakened.

At first, I wondered whether his heart had ceased beating, leading me to consider the possibility that he was akin to ghouls, despite his outwardly pristine appearance. However, my suspicion was put to rest when his heart finally began to pulsate.

Thud.

His heartbeat was indeed slow, but once it began pounding, it circulated blood all over his body with unbelievable pressure. His heart was moving like a bell that only rang once in a year.

He wasn’t an ordinary alien. Rather, he was simply donning the exterior of one as a disguise! Fortunately, he was alone. If there was another guy like him, then I instinctively knew that it would have been hard for me to confront them.

Since I was in an unknown region of space, my familiarity with the surroundings was limited. Therefore, I made the choice to exert all my strength by utilizing Odin’s Golden Armor to bolster my lightning bolts, rather than creating the Absolute Warzone.

[You have used Odin’s Golden Armor (God of Storm).]

[‘Odin’s Wrath’ has been transformed into ‘Odin’s Thunderstorm.’]

A tempestuous thunderstorm, accompanied by frenzied bolts of lightning, began to take shape from within the core of my body. The pestilent mist, which had been obscuring my sight with a green glow, and the fused clusters of melted plague particles flew together. The particles around me turned into a thick fog and flew in all directions. A considerable amount of them flew toward him.

The protruding blood vessels on his forehead undulated vigorously as if it was attempting to detect any signs of parasites coursing through them. He rapidly acted, raising a shield and unleashing an explosion simultaneously.

However, the force didn’t pour into me. Instead, scarlet beams shot up from his head towards the sky, creating a domed barrier that enveloped his surroundings. It was similar to my Absolute Warzone. He was faced with a life-or-death choice. If he completed the barrier before me, then he would safeguard a portion of the world that would otherwise be ravaged by our battle.

This was my first time facing this guy, but his gaze was filled with the long-cherished desire to kill me and vigilance. His boundary was completed in a very short time. Did he do it because he didn’t want to be disturbed by others? Or was it because he judged that narrowing the space for us to fight was more advantageous for him?

The boundary was merely a few paces behind me, yet I refused to remain still once it materialized. My relentless attacks hurled towards him as the lightning spear that tore through the void towards his position.

Zing!

Then, I used Indra’s Sword.

Bziiiing!

As the electric energy surged in a straight line, carried by unruly winds, Indra’s Sword coiled around the straight beam of lightning power, preparing for a simultaneous assault. Indra’s Sword sped up and rushed towards him. In case he was able to control the space like the Guide did in the Final Stage, I focused on the flow of the space around me.

Despite the immense power of the lightning strike, I could only sense the surge of energy, while he remained rooted in place.

Nice.

He was a beat behind. He released unusually strong energy because he definitely thought it was too late to avoid my attacks. He created a clutter of flames, united by the cosmos-destroying conflagration at the close of a kalpa[1]. It coursed into my attacks and threw flames in advance.

The fiery sphere collided with my lightning in front of him, causing the bolts of lightning power to shatter and fuse into his own flames. Despite this, Indra’s Blade endured until the end, piercing through the inferno and impaling the guy.

Bang!

In a manner reminiscent of Shiva’s Sword, his fireball detonated, unleashing a surge of heat and shockwaves that stirred up a feverish commotion within the boundary. Fragments of the ruptured earth were flung in every direction.

He showed up faster than they did as his face zoomed into my vision out of nowhere. Indra’s Sword was still stuck in him, but his face was filled with more rage than pain. He was definitely trying to narrow the distance between us. I didn’t know how confident he was, but I had no intention to dance to his tune.

As I shot up from the ground, he followed. At that moment, the pieces of flames that were torn apart were scattered into the air.

Sheeeek-!

I thrust my spear towards his face, but it was the lightning energy discharged from the weapon that made contact with him, rather than the spearhead itself, as he had altered his trajectory in mid-flight.

He might have thought he had escaped the attack, but the real assault was just beginning. The focal point was the very tip of my spear, where the force of Odin’s Thunderstorm was concentrated! Rather than resembling a natural thunderstorm, the lightning energy erupted from the tip of the spear, writhing like a handful of vicious raptors.

This was the most powerful attack when Zeus’s Thunder Spear and Odin’s Thunderstorm were combined. Of course, he couldn’t avoid it. Even if he tried, there was no space left to avoid it.

That’s why you shouldn’t have gotten closer to me. You should have thought about removing the boundary and pulling yourself out first!

The world inside the boundary seemed overwhelming just by the movement of large streaks of lightning. In the meantime, Indra’s Blade was still connected to his body, like a tube.

Before I knew it, all the plague clouds left behind by Joshua had already dissipated, and there was no trace of the flames this guy had unleashed in his initial attack. He was twisting his entire body in the air as the thick streaks of lightning intersected and fluctuated.

He was writhing in agony, seemingly unable to command his own body, and the cries he screamed were far from human. His shield had lost its radiance, and the time had come to sever his neck.

[You have used Seth’s Nail.]

My free hand raised the energy of death.

[You have used Hanuman’s Tail.]

The blazing tail exuded the same ferocity as a tiger who had given his all in the hunt.

[You have used Hera’s Lunacy.]

I raised the attack ability to the maximum and thrust at his throat.

“...!”

But to my surprise, I failed to sense the expected feeling upon contact.

***

With each motion of the writhing, thick lightning bolts, the residual streams of electricity crackled and shimmered. Additionally, the remnants of his fireball detonation were also intermingled within the mix.

It was difficult to find a flat surface anywhere on the four sides of the land that had been overturned, cracked and dug. The spot I landed on had turned into an endless cliff. It was where he crashed when I struck him with Seth's Nails.

It was then…

Thud.

I could hear the beating of his heart, indicating that he was still alive. In fact, his heart was pounding even more powerfully than before, albeit at a slower pace. I wondered if he had a trait similar to the Man Who Overcomes Adversity.

I gazed intently at the location where the signs of him lingered. The lighting power continued to discharge in a steady stream from the tip of my spear. Similar to bullets being expelled when the trigger was pulled, the dense streaks of lightning crackled with liveliness, their trajectory guided by my Sixth Sense.

Dddddd-

As the lightning bolts rained down upon the cliff, the ground trembled violently, with countless streaks of lighting bursting forth like molten lava from a volcano. The lightning energy then began to spread, engulfing the nearby terrain and causing the very earth to convulse in agony. Despite this, his soul remained the same.

[You have transformed Indra’s Sword into Shiva’s Sword.]

Kali's Sword and Shiva’s Sword both had the same explosive flame attribute, but Kali’s Sword targeted multiple people whereas Shiva’s Sword was best for a ranged attack. I shot it with the intention of burying him at the bottom of the world. The lightning-powered raptors were still chasing him and nibbling at the crust.

BAAAANG-!

I had already taken to the air prior to the detonation. The terrain below disintegrated completely. The sound of his heartbeat was drowned out by the deafening roar of the ruptured earth’s crust.

Yet, I couldn’t be certain that the blast had killed him. The shattered crust had come to a standstill and fell silent, but soon began to rumble and convulse once again, this time with even greater ferocity.

He was coming up from the bottom! I shot another lightning bolt at him, but eventually one of his arms appeared on the land.

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The arm wasn’t that of a human, resembling instead the limb of a reptilian humanoid, similar to the ruling class of the Barba Corps. However, it was longer and thicker, and its skin was covered in dry, scarlet scales, while its nails were sharp and pointed.

Did he shed his skin?

That battle with him was merely the opening as the boundary was still intact.

1. The "cosmos-destroying conflagration at the close of a Kalpa" refers to a catastrophic event in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology where the universe is engulfed in an all-consuming fire, leading to its destruction and the beginning of a new cycle. ☜