Chapter 1074 – 1074. God’S Atlantis
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 4]
I beheaded the assassin aiming for Li Mei.
“Foolish. What’s so important about that woman?”
I felt the condensed killing intent and power from the Blood-Soaked Lord behind me.
‘My back is completely exposed. This is impossible to deal with. I’ll die once and take his life.’
I finished preparing to use Full Recovery.
Li Mei, who was suffering from the effects of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, suddenly lifted her skirt. White panties with clear axe marks were revealed. The Blood-Soaked Lord’s momentum faltered. Li Mei had charmed him. He was a man, after all.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 3]
I turned around and swung my sword to attack. The Blood-Soaked Lord hurriedly took a step back, but the tip of my sword grazed his side. A fishy smell of blood wafted.
“Damn it… Subdue that woman first!”
The Blood-Soaked Lord cursed and shouted. The hidden assassins deliberately revealed themselves. Seeing that I was trying to protect Li Mei, they openly targeted her, aiming to distract me. Half of the masked assassins were women. It was to counter Li Mei, who had the unique trait of charm.
“Heavenly Demon, you don’t need to worry about me.”
Li Mei stood up.
“It was quite dangerous just now, though?”
“I had a headache. And now… I’m used to it.”
I decided to trust Li Mei. She was a member of the Black Blood Alliance. Not an ordinary woman. Her agility was almost on par with mine. She wasn’t weak enough to be taken down by ordinary assassins.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Heavenly Demon Sword (天魔劍) Demonic Wind (魔風).
A black wind flew towards the Blood-Soaked Lord. The black wind would tear his body to shreds.
“Kuaaaaaaaak!”
The Blood-Soaked Lord screamed. The black wind disappeared, and my ears went numb. It wasn’t an ordinary scream. He had infused mana into his voice.
I approached the Blood-Soaked Lord and swung my sword. The Blood-Soaked Lord’s movements, injured in the side, were slower than before. If I pushed him like this, I could win easily.
After a close fight, an opening appeared in the Blood-Soaked Lord’s defense.
‘I’ve won.’
Confident in my victory, I swung my sword. An assassin jumped out from the side and interfered. He blocked my sword with daggers in both hands and flew backward, crashing to the floor. The assassin, whose arm was bent 180 degrees, fell and groaned.
Annoyed, I threw my sword at the fallen assassin. The sword pierced through the assassin’s body.
“Like with Li Mei earlier… you’re emotional. Emotion is unnecessary in battle.”
The Blood-Soaked Lord charged at me.
“I did it because I had the leeway.”
I reverse-summoned the sword from the assassin’s body and summoned it back into my hand, countering the Blood-Soaked Lord.
“Now!”
Two assassins aimed for my back. I created a clone of Stormbreaker in my left hand and rotated my body. The blade cut through the assassins’ bodies and deflected the Blood-Soaked Lord’s glaive.
“You came out so confidently, but you’re acting cowardly.”
“There’s no such thing as cowardice in battle. Winning is all that matters. Winning.”
The Blood-Soaked Lord’s eyes gleamed with killing intent.
I quietly observed the Black Blood Alliance leader. He was still sitting on his chair. Whatever his purpose, he didn’t seem to have any intention of moving right now. Li Mei was doing well. She was pretending to run away from the assassins and then counterattacking, using charm at the right moments. She didn’t seem to need my help.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Black Flame Demonic Dragon (黑炎魔龍).
Black flames soared from the tip of my sword.
‘Even though it consumes a lot of mana, it’s better to end the battle quickly.’
I swung my sword at the Blood-Soaked Lord. The Blood-Soaked Lord’s forearm twitched. His glaive, filled with his power, deflected my sword. Three assassins rushed in at the right moment.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Black Flame Demonic Dragon (黑炎魔龍) Explosion (爆).
Kwaang!
Black flames exploded in front of me. The assassins’ bodies burst. Amidst the scattering blood and flesh, the Blood-Soaked Lord approached. A twisted smile appeared on his usually serious face.
“I’ve won!!”
I chuckled. I knew he would come in like that. To the Blood-Soaked Lord, the assassins were expendable. From the beginning, he was aiming for a single moment of opportunity.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 2]
I barely dodged the glaive aiming for my neck. My neck’s skin was cut, and blood splattered. Even with Flash, it was like this. If I didn’t have Flash, I might have died from this attack.
‘But I survived.’
The counterattack came immediately. My sword grazed the Blood-Soaked Lord’s neck. The Blood-Soaked Lord’s head fell.
Six assassins, prepared to die, charged from all directions.
‘Stormbreaker.’
The sword disassembled and instantly transformed into full-body armor.
Clang! Clang! Clack! Kiging!
The assassins’ attacks couldn’t pierce the armor. Their attack power was insufficient.
Thud.
I grabbed the head of the assassin on my right and crushed it, then moved my foot to shatter the leg of another assassin.
‘Bastards. If I leave them alone, they’ll be annoying again. I’ll kill them all.’
I killed the assassins with my hands and feet. The assassins released poison smoke and created distance. The helmet transformed. It completely blocked my mouth and eyes, preventing the poison smoke from entering my body. Of course, the eye area was transparent, so I could see outside.
I created and threw Stormbreaker’s clone swords and spears at the assassins fleeing from me. The assassins died. I also killed the assassins who were targeting Li Mei.
“Li Mei. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt. I have combat recovery, so this level of poison smoke is nothing.”
Combat recovery had such an ability? I took off the Stormbreaker armor and changed it back into the form of a sword. Stormbreaker’s power source was my mana and stamina. If I kept the transformation going, my mana would continue to be consumed.
“You were running away in a hurry.”
“…I wasn’t just running away.”
Li Mei threw a dagger at the wall. The bead embedded in the wall shattered.
「The effects of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation have disappeared.」
The debuff disappeared. It felt like a burden I had been carrying on my back had been lifted.
“Good job.”
I praised her and looked at the Black Blood Alliance leader, Wang Xu’an. Wang Xu’an was still sitting quietly on his chair.
“Amazing.”
“The Blood-Soaked Lord? He was quite useful.”
“Oh, it seems you’ve misunderstood. I wasn’t talking to you.”
His gaze turned to the side. The space next to Wang Xu’an rippled, and a man appeared. He had a shaved forehead and a braided queue. His face was weasel-like. He exuded a sinister and vile aura. He seemed to have his eyes closed, but if you looked closely, you could see that he was squinting.
I knew he was the vice-leader and Wang Xu’an’s right-hand man, Qing Guoli.
‘…It’s not space teleportation magic. Was he there from the beginning?’
He had hidden his presence by some means, whether it was magic, a barrier, a skill, or an item. He was not someone to be taken lightly.
“Guoli. Once again, things have turned out as you said.”
“Of course. Li Mei is a smart woman. She wouldn’t have started if there was no chance of winning, and she must have been confident in that chance with Helten’s help.”
“To even predict Helten’s movements… your strategy has reached the heavens.”
“You flatter me. Now, leader. Let’s finish the remaining work.”
“Indeed.”
Wang Xu’an rose to his feet.
I looked at Li Mei.
“How is it?”
“…Neither of them are affected by charm. It seems they have no sexual desire at all.”
Li Mei bit her lip slightly. The original plan was to charm Wang Xu’an, get what they could from him, and then kill him. That was the best way to maximize their gains.
“Don’t panic. Charm didn’t work on that Chink from before either.”
“…I’m Chinese too. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
“Chink and Chinese are different.”
Wang Xu’an’s appearance began to change.
His skin turned red, his mouth tore open, and his large belly grew even larger. The mass of flesh opened its mouth wide.
「The King of the Demonic Sky smirks.」
“It’s a magnificent sight as always, leader.”
Qing Guoli was impressed. His voice was mixed with mockery and sarcasm.
“Hungry… hungry….”
Wang Xu’an muttered. The monster Wang Xu’an staggered towards the corpses of the assassins. And then he chewed them. Crunch, crunch. The sudden cannibalism startled me and Li Mei.
“Li Mei. Wasn’t that pig’s ability to change parts of his body?”
“Y-yes. I didn’t know he could turn into a monster… This is the first time I’ve seen it.”
“No. No matter how you look at it, that’s not a transformation, it’s him revealing his true form. He was a monster from the beginning.”
I tightened my grip on my sword. Black demonic energy surged along the blade. I swung it at Wang Xu’an. The sword energy flew and cut through Wang Xu’an’s body. But not a single drop of blood fell from Wang Xu’an’s body.
Instead, a pale ghost appeared. The ghost screamed, “Kiyaaaaaaaaak!” and then disappeared.
“Haha. Another pitiful soul has been annihilated. Heavenly Demon, was it? Just like your name, you’re cruel. You have just annihilated a human soul.”
Ignoring Qing Guoli’s words, I unleashed sword energy at Wang Xu’an, who was tearing apart the corpses. Again, a ghost screamed and disappeared. I swung my sword several more times. The result was the same.
Wang Xu’an was getting closer to us, eating the corpses nearby.
“Hungry… hungry…. Thirsty. When will this hunger disappear…?”
Wang Xu’an mumbled. His mouth was covered in blood and flesh, and bone fragments were stuck in his teeth.
“He’s like… a hungry ghost (餓鬼).”
“A hungry ghost?”
“You don’t know about hungry ghosts?”
“I know. They’re monsters in hell. Monsters that are always hungry no matter how much they eat.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Tap.
Qing Guoli closed his fan. His thin lips formed a curve.
“As expected of Li Mei. You recognized his true nature right away. Well, I think anyone who can’t recognize him is an idiot.”
“You bastard. Are you calling me an idiot right now? Die.”
I swung my sword at Qing Guoli. Black sword energy flew. Qing Guoli didn’t react at all. A barrier surrounding him blocked the sword energy.
“So you’re not a sorcerer, but a mage.”
“Unfortunately, I have no talent for sorcery.”
“And a black mage at that. A necromancer, I presume.”
“Did you deduce that from the corpses? You’re quite capable of using your head.”
Qing Guoli was still relaxed.
I glanced at Wang Xu’an, who had turned into a hungry ghost.
“Did you make him like that?”
“Yes. The leader wanted power, and I gave him power by any means possible.”
“Bullshit. You used him as a lab rat.”
“Fuhuhuhu.”
Qing Guoli laughed strangely.
I sighed.
“Gothwal, then.”
The smile disappeared from Qing Guoli’s face. He opened his fan again, covering his mouth, and asked me.
“…You know about us. No, you’re Helten, so it’s natural. How much do you know?”
“I know as much as I need to know.”
Gothwal.
They were a faction that appeared in the latter half of the original story. Their goals were the opposite of Helten’s.
Helten’s ultimate goal was to end Atlantis so that it would never rise again. In other words, to kill the gods. As long as the gods existed, Atlantis would continue.
Gothwal were those who sought to become gods. They aimed to become gods through unrealistic methods, such as conquering all of Atlantis and making a wish. They sought to become gods through other powers and methods.
‘Conquering all of Atlantis depends on contribution. The wishes you can make vary depending on your contribution. And above all, there’s a higher chance of failing to conquer it all.’
That’s why they were trying to become gods through other means.
Wang Xu’an, who had turned into a hungry ghost, was just a test subject.
One question arose here. Why did the system and the gods leave humans who dared to become gods alone?
‘Because they’re arrogant. They’re saying, “Go ahead and try.”’
Did Helten not know about Gothwal’s existence? Even if the other executives didn’t know, Samuel, the boss of Helten, knew about Gothwal’s existence. He knew, but he left them alone.
‘He might be hoping to find a way to kill the gods by using them.’
I laughed at them inwardly. Becoming a god, killing a god. Both were surprisingly simple.
“Heavenly Demon! The hungry ghost is getting closer!!”
Li Mei said urgently.
