Chapter 222 Odysseus [4]

"I'm not the real Nathan, or the earrings wouldn't be missing." 'Nathan's' fingers ran on his earlobes. "After all, every time those earrings are removed I have to go through that 'hell'."

Accepting the fact that he was not the original Nathan, he didn't dwell deeper.

"Oh, well, this would explain how they were hoping to kill the Abomination."

The canyon shook heavily, signaling the oncoming Jörmungandr.

Picking a random stone, 'Nathan' spoke.

"Stretch"

Bang-! Bang-!

The two edges of the stone stretched horizontally and stuck into the valley walls.

Flicking his wrist while touching the stone slab, 'Nathan' commanded the stone to stretch again, but this time vertically.

The stone slabs extended almost instantly.

Tremors ran through the walls of the valley as the stone broke through its surface. By the time 'Nathan' stopped, a stone wall was blocking the path between them and Jörmungandr.

"Acquired Skills are really overpowered. Just [Pierce] can do this much if I use it at my discretion."

He picked Leon and Anna and put them on a stone plate he found. The stone plate then stretched towards the sky and grew into a long pillar.

'Nathan' stopped increasing the stone pillar's size when they were out of the valley and jumped back at the surface.

Looking around, 'Nathan' felt the presence of the monsters and decided to kill them before Jörmungandr came out.

"Fifth Technique: Spirit Awakening."

Nothing happened.

Blinking with a stupid expression, 'Nathan' used his other abilities.

"Zero Maximus"

…Nothing happened again.

Calling out the names of the techniques wasn't necessary, but something ingrained in his spirit because of the 'hell' he went through in the memory world.

Scratching his head, an imaginary light bulb appeared over 'Nathan's' head and he coughed in embarrassment.

"Cough cough..right, I can't use my art without ether and since I'm not the original soul, I don't have Seed of Chaos to create the [Chaos] energy without ether."

Booom-! Booom-!

HISSSSS-

A massive shadow fell over the jungle and Jörmungandr came out of the valley.

"How big is it…?"

The part of Jörmungandr's body out of the valley was easily 200 meters long, but the monster's entire body had yet to come out.

Without waiting for a moment, 'Nathan' jumped toward the monster.

As his feet landed on its thick scales, he ran and jumped on the other side of the valley.

"It would be a problem if Leon or Anna dies as collateral damage. I should take the monster away from them."

In the memory world, Nathan melted his ears to see what would happen if he removed his earrings quite a few times. He would then have to go through 'hell' as punishment.

His current abilities were what he cultivated and learned in that 'hell'.

"I'm here, you overgrown snakey!"

Taunting Jörmungandr, he ran at his top speed to pull the monster away from Leon and Anna.

"Those damned earrings." He cursed under his breath. "What is the point of making me go through that 'hell' if all my memories will be sealed when I come out of that 'hell'?"

The only reason Nathan stopped burning his ears, even after losing his memories every time, was because the fear and pain of the 'hell' was etched into his soul, making him unconsciously stop doing it.

But he shook his head shortly.

"It's not my problem anymore, though! It's Nathan's! Sucks to be you!"

…This 'Nathan' was also goofy.

He learned a lot from the master of the 'hell', fought a lot, and died a lot too.

Thinking back, it was weird because Nathan would never gain those memories until he removed the earrings. But then, as punished for losing the earrings, he would go through 'hell' and after coming back, ultimately lose his memories again.

So, the combat experience he gained in his soul form was useless.

It was nothing but an irony of fate that the "new" 'Nathan' was using those memories.

Suddenly, intense tremors surged. 'Nathan' looked back and found Jörmungandr glaring at him, but the monster wasn't moving.

As he thought of the source of tremors, the ground beneath him broke and he was flung into his air.

"Tail…?"

Coming out of the ground beneath him was the massive tail of Jörmungandr. The monster broke the terrain to get him in one hit without moving from its place. As the king of the valley, Jörmungandr was aggravated that it had to come out of the valley, but its pride wouldn't allow it to take one step further.

Not like it had feet to take any step.

As 'Nathan' fell back to earth under the influence of gravity, the monster flung its tail again and hit him with a clean attack.

Baangg-!

Baangg-!

Baangg-!

Baangg-!

'Nathan's' figure blew through the jungle while destroying several small hills in his path. His body flew at an extremely fast pace and did not show any sign of stopping.

BOOOOOM-!

Finally, after covering several dozen kilometers he crashed into a massive temple in the middle of the jungle and came to a halt.

HISSSSS-

Jörmungandr hissed condescendingly at its show of might. As if a puny portal could survive its attack.

The snake was able to see everything in several kilometers easily. It was waiting for the dust to settle and mock the squashed human before returning.

"Zero physical damage. Abominations are something else."

Cranking his neck, 'Nathan' stepped out of the dust. His clothes were also made from his 'skin' of Abomination, so, at this moment, he looked nothing like someone who had been blown several kilometers away and survived the crash.

"I can use my stigma [Iridescence], System skills, my acquired skill from [Pierce] and I have an indestructible body at this moment."

He counted on his fingers.

"And I can't use [Chaos] energy and my art, both of which are my main fighting abilities, nor can I attack physically myself."

Enraged, Jörmungandr slithered toward 'Nathan'. Every time its massive body moved, it left disaster in its wake.

"Oh, well, it would take longer to defeat it." He smirked. "5 minutes should do."

*

Grrrr-

The temple in which 'Nathan' crashed was the nest of the chimera, the top predator of the jungle.

Nevertheless, it hid in fear when it sensed Jörmungandr coming out. It may be a higher rank than Jörmungandr, but the two were no match.

One was a decent Tesla-rank monster with above average [Traits], while the other was among the strongest monster with [Traits] that earned it the name World Eating serpent. Even if Jörmungandr was a replica in Enma-rank, it was leagues above the chimera.

The chimera had no choice but to hide from the apex predator.

At the same time, a 'human' who should have better intelligence than the chimera was doing exactly the opposite.

He ran toward the gigantic snake monster without hesitation!

"Dark World"

With Nathan as the center, a black sphere with a 100-meter radius appeared. Jörmungandr lost its vision as its head was in the range.

But the monster wasn't helpless in front of the same trick again.

BOOOOOOM-!

Its tails struck the ground inside the sphere!

It couldn't see inside the sphere? Then it will kill everything in the area! There was no need to hold back, anyway!

The black sphere dissipated. 'Nathan', who was covered in a golden shield, waved at Jörmungandr teasingly.

"I'm alive!"

The snake was momentarily stunned.

There were too many 'Nathans'! At least a few hundred!

It hissed angrily. How did the human not die but rather multiplied in numbers?!

Opening its maws, green gas poured out.

It sucked the life out of everything that touched the gas. The ground shriveled, the trees withered, and the monsters died without knowing what hit them.

But even then, the hundreds of 'Nathans' stood unperturbed.

Jörmungandr's ruthless attacks rained. But nothing worked.

The monster used a more potent poison. It dived headfirst and created another explosion from the impact, and the pieces of rubble kept attacking like projectiles.

Nonetheless, all the attacks did was flickering the figures of 'Nathans' slightly. Like a mirage, the 'Nathan's' figure would quiver for a moment when an attack passed through them before returning to their normal state.

As if they were an army of immortals, they stood in their position with a smirk.

Jörmungandr didn't stop, however. Its vigor only increased when it realized that the human wasn't dying.

Suddenly, a mocking tone echoed.

"tsk tsk, for a replica of World Eating Serpent, you certainly are stupid." The air above Jörmungandr's head distorted. "You can't even realize that they are only illusions."

The colors in the air contorted and 'Nathan's' figure sitting atop Jörmungandr's head was revealed.

The army of 'Nathans' disappeared in an instant, and the colors rushed back to 'Nathan'.

HISSSS-

Flinging its head, the monster threw 'Nathan' into the sky. At its actions, 'Nathan' sighed. "Predictable"

He took out a stone from his pocket and used his acquired skill.

"Expand"

[Pierce] was a System skill that allowed the user to extend the tip of the weapon. But as an acquired skill, the limitations on the length of the extension, the 'weapon', and the 'tip', everything was decided by the user.

Earlier in the valley, 'Nathan' designated the stone's edges as 'tips' and extended them. He used his skill similarly at this moment, but this time the 'tip' was the entire surface of the stone.

"Meteor Impact"

The stone expanded without limits and grew to the size of several hundred meters.

In an instant, it returned under the influence of gravity.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM-!

The earth quaked and the terrain was turned upside down.

These were the abilities Nathan gained after challenging and dying at the hands of the master of 'hell' thousands of times. Even if he couldn't use his art and [Chaos], he wasn't someone who would be defeated at the hands of mere Enma-ranks.