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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 21: Broken World (3)
Summon Flame Chariot.
An A-rank skill acquired from Apollo.
While it consumes a significant amount of mana, I wasn’t planning to ride it anyway.
As soon as I attempted to use the skill, I instinctively understood its mechanism and the casting process.
I looked at the area in front of the wall where ladders were being thrust in one by one.
Summon it there.
Whoosh.
Flames flickering in midair quickly gathered to form a shape.
A fiery horse and the chariot of flames connected behind it.
Compared to what Liana summoned, the horse was much smaller and less impressive, but its mere presence instantly burned through nearby ladders.
Burning one or two ladders wasn’t enough.
It moves.
With my current mana level, I can only choose either the left or right side.
Looking over the battlefield, the left side seems to have more ladders.
Run, Flame Chariot.
Burn all the ladders connected to the wall.
Charge straight ahead!
"Neighhh!"
The fiery horse raised its front legs high and dashed through the air.
Running even faster than a car, the airways it galloped on burned with flames.
As the distance grew, mana depleted rapidly.
My heart ached a little, but I endured it.
It must run just a little farther.
"Aaaahhh!"
"Fire! It’s fire!"
"Get off the ladders!"
The trail of fire blazed long, as if guarding the wall.
All the ladders connected to the wall were engulfed in flames.
The orcs on the ladders were also consumed by fire.
However, the flames didn’t spread to the top of the wall.
They devoured only the ladders and the orcs, like the chariot of the Sun God.
Magnificent.
Glorious.
This is what an A-rank skill should be!
Thump.
Ugh… Is my mana completely drained?
My chest hurts.
The left side is more or less cleared, but…
"There’s the Apostle of Order!"
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
The right side is still left.
The Uruk forces are charging while mowing down the soldiers of the Order faction on the wall.
"Protect the Apostle!"
"Gather, now!"
Our forces try to rally, but perhaps because defeat seems imminent, not many gather.
No, there weren’t many soldiers, to begin with.
They’ve mostly been killed.
I drew a two-handed sword from the sheath on my back.
The black blade shimmered with a pure white light.
Oh… Is this divine power?
Athena, I love you.
Whoosh.
The Uruk forces at the front charged and hurled their hand axes in unison.
Ah, the same axes that gave me so much trouble during the promotion trial.
But now, they look slow.
As if I’m watching them in slow motion.
"Blessing of the God of War."
A skill granted by Ares, the God of War.
All ranged weapons miss their target.
Strength and stamina increase, and my skin hardens like armor.
The axes’ trajectories subtly twist.
At the same time, my body was further empowered.
With heightened senses, everything appeared even slower.
I’m sure of it now.
I’m no prey.
I’m the predator.
I charged into the Uruk forces.
The axes skimmed past me as if avoiding my body.
An Uruk tried to smash me with a heavy iron club.
But they’re slow.
In this slow-motion scene, I alone move at normal speed—no, at superhuman speed.
Slash!
"Aaaaah!"
With a single horizontal slash, an Uruk is cut down in one stroke.
Piercing the chest of another, I drive the sword straight down.
A torn abdomen.
Spilling intestines.
Red blood drenches the wall.
"Die!"
The sluggish attack didn’t even trigger my danger sense.
I dodged them all easily, but then a thought crossed my mind.
Do I even need to dodge?
From mere prey like this?
I gripped the sword in my right hand and caught the iron club with my left.
Hephaestus’ Armor.
Perhaps thanks to the Blessing of the God of War, my hardened skin didn’t feel pain.
"What… what kind of power is this?!"
I snatched the club, leaped into the air, and struck the Uruk’s neck.
The severed head flew as a spray of blood burst forth.
But my leap didn’t stop there.
"Ugh, a powerful apostle!"
"Be careful! Maintain formation!"
Uruk's massive iron club.
This thing could be used as a throwing weapon.
Just as my leap stopped and my body began to descend, I caught sight of a ladder.
Yeah.
Let’s destroy that.
Boom!
"The ladder! They're targeting the ladder!"
"Kill them quickly!"
The Uruks approached in a dense formation.
With four large-bodied Uruks maintaining their front line, the wall felt completely blocked.
They still don’t know why I’m breaking the ladder.
It’s to stop you from escaping.
Even if you hold your formation, you’re just a flock of sheep.
Slash!
With a single swing, an Uruk's body was torn apart and split in two.
"Th-this can’t be happening."
Boom! Boom!
I picked up a club with my left hand, shattered their legs, and smashed the heads of the fallen Uruks.
Smash!
"Kill them, no matter what!"
"No! We... we must retreat!"
Crash!
When the iron club broke from striking too hard, I simply kicked it outside the wall.
"Run!"
Covered in Hephaestus's armor, my entire body was drenched in the enemies' blood, surrounded by Uruk corpses.
Kill or be killed.
Until the blessing of the God of War ends.
"He's an apostle of the God of War! Retreat!"
Crack!
I hurled the club, shattering the head of a loudmouthed Uruk, and rampaged like a madman.
The once-confident Uruks now threw themselves off the walls in retreat.
I slaughtered countless enemies, cutting down those fleeing with regret.
Then it happened.
[The blessing of the God of War has been lifted.]
My strength drained away.
A wave of exhaustion washed over me.
Not surprising, considering I’d killed over a hundred Uruks in that short time.
I had focused excessively, trying to kill more than one enemy with each move.
Now, their attacks no longer seemed as slow as before.
Though I could still kill them, I couldn’t perform the same solo massacre anymore.
Time to catch my breath.
My mana must have recovered, too...
[The effect of Infinite Stamina has restored your stamina.]
Suddenly, energy surged through my body.
I felt as ready as I did at the start of the battle.
The muscles strained from the blessing of the God of War recovered instantly, and my vision cleared.
Not bad.
The bloodlust clouding my mind subsided, and I began to think clearly again.
Let’s assess the situation.
After defeating this many enemies, I must have collected a significant amount of SP through soul plundering.
If I reinvest it into my stats, I might regain the power I had during the blessing.
My neutral faction SP was at an impressive 511, and my physical stats had improved to C++, with an additional +.
The enemies were weaker than ogres, but killing them up close must have yielded more SP.
I stepped back and looked at the Uruks.
Seeing me pause, they hesitated, unsure of what to do.
Time to allocate my stats.
Let’s focus on physical enhancement for today.
Raising it to C++++ cost 30 SP, but beyond that, even as I boosted the stats, the rank didn’t increase. At C++++, SP consumption rose to 40 but didn’t yield further upgrades.
Was there a rank limit?
Still, I kept pushing, spending 40 SP four times, until I couldn’t upgrade anymore.
[You have reached the maximum potential for this rank.]
The notification appeared.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
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So it cost me 190 SP to reach the max level of C++++ from C++.
I had 321 SP left.
Upgrading all stats to C++++ cost another 140 SP, leaving me with 180, which I poured into mana.
Now, my physical stats and mana had reached their limits, while skills and luck were at C++++.
I had 21 SP remaining.
For ability points, I gained one from reaching level 26, giving me two points total after accounting for the one lost from a level down.
I decided to save them for now—SP wasn’t too hard to earn.
[Name: Kim Jiho
Class: Soul Reaper
Guardian Deity: Aurelia, Goddess of the Volcano
Title: None
Level: 26
Stats: Physical: C++++ (Max), Mana: C++++ (Max), Skills: C++++, Luck: C++++, SP: 21.7]
With my boosted stats, my power didn’t feel much different from when I used the God of War’s blessing.
In fact, the enhanced mana and skills made me feel even stronger than before.
“He must’ve run out of power.”
“Now’s our chance! Take him down!”
“Kill him!”
The Uruks, emboldened by my inactivity, charged once more.
The soldiers of the Order faction moved to protect me.
"Defend the Apostle of the God of War!"
"The number of Uruks is dwindling—we can win this!"
The soldiers, who had regained their morale compared to earlier, raised their voices.
Still, it would be wasteful to sacrifice troops unnecessarily when I could handle this myself.
Besides, these guys are mine to deal with.
I picked up Uruk's club that had fallen to the ground.
"Everyone, please defend the other side. I'll take care of these guys."
"Messenger! You're safe!"
"Yes. The other side is likely in danger too, so please defend there."
After issuing instructions to the soldiers, I charged straight into the horde of Uruks.
The Uruks, who had charged at me confidently, faltered and tried to defend themselves.
But with my enhancement complete, there was no way they could stop me.
"Urgh…"
I swiftly cut down every last one of them and flicked the blood off my sword.
It’s still not enough.
I can still fight more.
Thanks to the Infinite Stamina skill, even as fatigue accumulated, it quickly dissipated, keeping my entire body full of energy and vitality.
I didn’t realize how useful this would be.
I should’ve used it earlier...
[Pollux smugly remarks that you've finally understood.]
This time, I’ll acknowledge it.
When I looked below the wall, the orc army was still intact.
Should I jump in?
With Infinite Stamina and how weak the Uruks were, orcs should be even easier to handle...
"Messenger of the Goddess! The eastern gate has requested aid. They're on the verge of being breached!"
A human messenger ran toward me, shouting urgently.
Hmm. Fine.
Let’s focus on defending the wall first.
Taking on the entire army would be risky...
Still, I’ll regain mana on the way.
"Peep, let’s destroy a few more catapults before we leave."
"Peep!"
Summoning my bow again, I burned ten catapults in an instant.
Has my phoenix gotten stronger because my mana has increased?
After clearing this much, there were no catapults visible nearby.
Feeling that this wall was secure, I decided to head east.
Following the direction the messenger indicated, I ran.
With each step, the ground gave way beneath me, and my body surged forward.
Like the wind, I sped ahead and soon reached the eastern wall.
The top of the wall was filled with orcs, nearly matching our forces in number.
I leaped straight from the ground.
My body vaulted over the wall and landed atop it.
It felt like flying in an instant.
"Fireball. Fireball."
The fireballs I conjured in both hands had grown so large that a person could now fit inside them.
As I landed toward the orc horde, I hurled the massive fireballs.
Boom!
"Graaaah!"
Orcs exploded and ladders burned in flames.
But there were already too many ladders set up against the wall.
"Peep, can you go intangible and burn only the ladders?"
"Peep!"
Peep flew toward the ladders.
While flying, it turned intangible to evade the orcs' attacks.
Then, in front of a ladder, it breathed fire, igniting it before becoming intangible again.
Smart!
It’s probably only possible because there aren’t any magic-using monsters among the orcs.
"The ladders are burning!"
"Protect the ladders!"
"You guys should play with me!"
The orcs, smaller and scrawnier than the Uruks, were cut down in an instant with a single horizontal swing of my two-handed sword.
"Kill him!"
Clang!
I didn’t even bother dodging the enemy's attacks.
Their strikes couldn’t penetrate my armor and just bounced off, feeling like a mere tickle.
While taking their attacks head-on, I spun my sword like a windmill.
The orcs’ bodies were torn apart in every direction.
By the time all the ladders had burned down, the orcs on the wall had already been annihilated.
I slaughtered them like a machine, without exhaustion.
I don’t feel like myself.
"Messenger! The western wall is...!"
Ugh!
Busy, busy.
Without Infinite Stamina, I’d have collapsed by now.
While I’m at it, I’ll destroy the catapults here and head west again.
As I ran to massacre the orcs, an SOS call came from the southern gate, which I had just defended.
It felt like a game of Whack-a-Mole—every time I dealt with one crisis, another popped up.
Until dusk, I kept running around nonstop.
South to east.
East to west.
It was a fixed pattern of emergencies.
Thankfully, the north wasn’t a route for invasions.
Fortunately, even the strongest monsters climbing the walls were only Uruks.
By now, I was wielding my two-handed sword with one hand, using my left hand to throw any weapons I found lying around to focus on the slaughter.
After defending each wall three times, it seemed the enemies were running out of ladders and slowly retreating.
As the enemies withdrew, the soldiers on the walls—regardless of race—collapsed, gasping for breath.
Honestly, I should’ve been the most exhausted one, but thanks to this skill, my body was still bursting with energy.
I feel like I’m not human anymore...
I’m not tired at all, but the constant killing is making me weary.
I want to turn off the skill and sleep.
But I can’t rest comfortably since I don’t know how the situation might change.
"Messenger of Minerva, the fortress command has sent a formal request for your presence."
An elf messenger, covered in blood, knelt before me, speaking with deep respect.
His demeanor exuded reverence.
Following his guidance, I headed to the so-called fortress command.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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