Chapter 138
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: 13th Floor - Lv. 1620 Incarnation of War
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Descending as an incarnation is no trivial matter.
Even from a god's perspective, it consumes a tremendous amount of power, and if the incarnation falls, the loss is even greater.
Faith gathered from believers is a god's resource—and a surprisingly precious one at that. It's practically a gamble.
Moreover, descending into someone who lacks exceptional faith or an official position in the church is inefficient.
It's hard to fathom why the God of War made such a judgment.
Even if the reason he stated was true, it felt like he wasn't telling the whole story.
It was the exercise of truly emotional power.
But whether exile or god, no one can always remain perfectly rational.
Ultimately, all beings who were once human retain their humanity.
It's not strange to surrender to impulse.
Especially with a suffix like "Beast" attached—it only makes them more impulsive.
I left my judgment at that. What mattered was that it had already happened.
Control of my body passed to the goddess.
The Incarnation of War wielded the rocket hammer with expert skill, bringing it down toward my body just as it descended.
The speed was horrifically fast, the power immense enough that even the Girl couldn't block it head-on.
It carried the raw strength to dent a space battleship.
It was little more than a cryogenic missile in melee form.
Wait, rocket hammer—doesn't that disqualify it as a cryogenic weapon? Tricky.
Watching this, the body that had once been my Vampire Lord pulled its fist back with all its might.
And thrust it forward.
The vampire flesh shattered upon colliding with the hammer.
But the thick violet divinity infused in that fist repelled the enemy's flames and weapon.
Vast divinity erupted like an explosion. The surrounding red beasts were pushed back once more.
Glimpses of the deep craters gouged into the earth by the hammer were briefly visible before being covered again.
The Incarnation of War couldn't hold its ground and was hurled back.
It took no direct hit, but the attack had failed.
But it wasn't over. The rocket hammer ignited.
Using the recoil from being pushed back, it spun dramatically, converting momentum into physical force.
With masterful redirection, in just one breath, the hammer came flying toward my flesh again.
The goddess used that single breath of respite.
To change her form.
'No! Hold on, what the hell are you doing?!'
「How am I supposed to fight well in someone else's body? Just bear with it.」
To be precise, vampires are a race that can alter their own appearance.
But only into bats or wolves—they can't impersonate others through vampiric abilities alone.
The goddess accomplished it through divine power.
My former flesh crumbled like shed skin and reformed into something else.
Shorter than the Girl's original height, with long, curly purple hair cascading down.
A girl who looked far from mature—right in the prime age for mischief—appeared.
Her outfit was a flashy dress.
Incredibly, it resembled cosplay garb adorned with frills and ribbons.
「Hey now, this was my everyday wear before becoming an exile. Cosplay? That's a bit much, don't you think?」
'No, that's not the point right now! You're going to change back to normal, right?'
「Of course. It's a nice sight for sore eyes. And if I stayed like this, wouldn't that kid get sad?」
'Don't smack your lips like you're disappointed while saying that crap.'
「Ha, our great warrior treats gods so casually.」
'This is driving me insane.'
Though the exchange seemed long, mental communication was faster than vocalizing through imperfect vocal cords.
Everything happened in an instant.
My flesh—no, let's call it the Incarnation of Chaos now.
The Incarnation of Chaos gripped a spear forged from blood, compressing immense divinity into its tip.
Even if the Grand Saintess returned now, she'd backpedal in shock, grimacing fiercely.
The acrobatically incoming hammer blazed with divine flames at their peak.
The Incarnation of Chaos thrust forward.
She simply jabbed the spear straight ahead.
It was an utterly mundane motion.
But since it was my body, the goddess's skill activation messages appeared for me too.
[Battleship Impact]
[Monster Hunt]
[Planetary Strike]
[Longinus Spear]
[Expanding Ripple]
[Song of Annihilation]
Unique-class skills, each worthy of a gold border like [Blood Lord]
Every one was a main skill fit for top rankers in a kingdom.
Absurd.
I quickly calculated the points needed to unlock them all.
How many levels does this goddess exile even have?
The youngest realized she could now bash ogres or trolls aside with her shield like swatting people.
That meant she no longer needed to just stand by protecting others.
A tank with power became a living tank rivaling the Greenskins' mass, rampaging freely.
A human her size was plenty large, but to ogres or trolls, she was still a child.
So they never imagined she'd push them back on impact.
She sent them flying with a boom, throwing off their balance. Into their gaping, shocked maws flew thick blue plasma.
Utterly efficient work.
The youngest battered the massive Greenskins, and the Hunter finished them with precise shots, ejecting them from the living world.
No matter their horrific regeneration, pulverizing the brain first nullified it.
Tubes from trunks fed them fake miracle spring water, but it was useless.
The imitation Healing Spring was weaker than the real deal.
The genuine article could drag you back from the underworld if you hadn't signed the registry.
As things ran like clockwork, experience poured in.
But the Hunter wasn't entirely satisfied.
He was falling behind in the power creep, despite being an exile.
Truth be told, he'd never imagined the Labyrinth's inflation would escalate this far.
Compared to first-run or outright NPC party members, he knew plenty—and that very knowledge led to his misjudgments.
On the other hand, he was grateful.
He would end his exile life.
Return quietly to the family he'd gained here and live out his days there.
He couldn't miss this final opportunity.
A girl shot in like a rocket, kicking a charging troll beside him to the ground.
The troll tried to shake it off incredulously and rise, but a dagger to the skull left no choice.
Blood already splattered her body. She wiped the blood from her face and beamed.
Still acting like she was on a picnic.
"I don't know what's going on, but things seem to be working out, right?"
The Hunter glanced around at her words.
This was the enemy's rear.
To Greenskins, "rear" just meant a brief pause before charging.
Naturally, waiting troops weren't numerous.
This was an isolated unit on the planet to begin with.
"Seems to be going according to the leader's plan."
The empire's true elites descending from capsules had mostly met their ends at the Girl's hands.
She was too small and too fast for their massive frames to target properly.
The moment they dismissed her as a goblin, the drop trooper's life was over.
Meanwhile, the federation's elite drop troopers landed safely and provided fire support.
The vanguard wouldn't suddenly wheel back for a rear assault. So this local battlefield was stabilizing—
No, victory was in sight.
Of course, the front lines they'd bypassed were another story.
Things there were probably grim.
On the big picture, ground defeat was nearly certain.
Watching the Girl rampage sparked a bit of hope that it might work out, but with airships and tanks in play, it'd take ages.
Common in games: against quantity-over-quality monsters, chipping away was the only answer.
The Girl started to glance back, then asked, her face paling slightly.
"That weird red thing behind us is gross—I can't look. Uncle's okay, right?"
"What can't the leader do?"
"That overconfidence might be the problem. Even the best can slip. He might need help."
The Hunter was skeptical, honestly. Crisis? For that man? Hard to picture.
The fight with Trdongt was probably the biggest peril he'd faced.
He checked the ground.
Blood from battlefield corpses flowed unnaturally, defying gravity, sucked toward the rear.
A swelling red monster was encroaching from behind. Already too dense for saturation bombing. No horizon visible on the plain.
Hadn't it proliferated enough?
Even some goblins were now exposed to the danger.
"All hands! Mount up! We're pulling out of here!"
Major Spencer, mid-mythic spectacle, issued the retreat.
Cheers erupted from goblins everywhere at the de facto victory report.
The few remaining enemy soldiers made the minimal tactical call their training demanded.
Outnumbered? Charge the rear.
That was their original front anyway—and the bigger battlefield.
Not glorious, but their service proved they were trained troops.
Party members took seats in the vehicles.
The dark crimson monster writhed, encroaching everywhere.
No telling when it'd surge like a tidal wave.
If they escaped and linked up safely, no issue.
Few variables.
But war itself was a massive lump of chaos. Variables incarnate.
War and chaos.
Come to think of it, this war carried that meaning too.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, an terrifying power erupted from the rear he'd glanced at but ignored.
His mind registered it as "power." Even to the Hunter, lacking mana talent, the intangible aura was vivid.
Violet symbolizing chaos mingled with crimson war flames, spreading out.
His body just felt a massive explosion.
Armored cars and tanks rocked. One on uneven ground flipped.
The shockwave alone expelled air from his lungs, crushing inward.
Some wounded might've died from it.
Exile instincts rang alarms. Massive danger nearby.
The Hunter shot up, eyeing the power's origin.
Smoke rising? No. Different.
Power was rising.
Divinity had materialized like dense purple mist, blazing.
Red beasts fled in fear.
What now? The Hunter sighed.
"All hands to hatches! Get fully inside the vehicles!"
Major Spencer yanked him amid screams over comms.
Why became clear instantly.
Red monsters hurled from the blast scattered from the horde.
He knew what touching those meant.
"Run!"
The Girl in the next vehicle pondered, then leaped up.
"That wasn't in the plan! I'll go check!"
As sub-leader, he should stop her. But the Hunter just nodded.
He couldn't picture the Girl dying anywhere.
It wasn't a javelin throw, but the spear thrust pierced clean through the earth.
Meaning the power bursting from the tip truly skewered the planet's crust, emerging far away.
The neat hole briefly revealed the opposite sky before collapsing.
The ground caved in.
The Incarnation of War...
[Hah, there's an issue with the incarnation's performance.]
The goddess replied mildly.
[Making excuses again, rookie?]
[You're the one who descended into the Great Warrior. Can't compare.]
[Kekekeke. Jealous? Should've brought your own Great Warrior. Got one in this era?]
[We'll see on the level after next.]
Its form barely held. It hadn't taken the Incarnation of Chaos's frontal thrust directly.
The goddess knew and had projected just enough power for a lethal show of force.
Divine power ebbed away.
Now just a single ogre warrior remained.
"Kuhuhu. Useless after all. The God of War is worthless to the empire."
[Not much of a devout follower, then. Ogre.]
"Chaos—no, exile... I hate you all. Truly irrational beings. Vile parasites devouring this world."
[......]
"Kuhuhuhu. Empire... please... endure forever......"
No dramatic blood-coughing finale.
The ogre simply closed his eyes, never to open them again.
[By other servers' fates, this place is blessed. He should know that.]
The goddess muttered half to herself at the corpse.
Chaos divinity drained from the body.
"Goddess? Time to change back?"
「Was keeping it longer in case you jumped runs. Later.」
I knew it wasn't a joke the instant she said it.
The burden on the incarnation's flesh varies with the descended divinity's strength.
The goddess... was far stronger than I'd thought.
No need to check. Mana depleted, everything gone. Body creaking everywhere.
My flesh hadn't met the minimum requirements for the skills used.
"Couldn't you go easy?"
「Thought one big hit would hurt less. Was gonna call help, but your wife's incoming. Told her location. Can't even open her eyes?」
"Urk. Not my wife."
If undead, one potion fixes it—but being alive made it inconvenient now.
As red beasts slunk in, control fully lost, the Girl arrived via [Dash] spam.
"Huff huff, too far here. Urgh. Scary."
Poor thing, tears streaming, trembling violently.
I pondered why, then surveyed the mess.
Randomly sprouting limbs, teeth, fur, etc.
Writhing entrails, foul bloody sludge—grotesque enough to rival the Abyss.
"Hate iiiit......"
She hugged me and fainted.
"...You sure she came to help?"
「Fresh blood, no?」
"Fair. Only her or the old man could reach here— he's an orc."
I sighed, then sucked blood.
From the nape, as desired.
No harassment worries.
My flesh was the goddess's form now.
Minimal abilities recovered in the battered body. I turned to bats and flew up, carrying the unconscious Girl in several.
Seemed I could reach the rendezvous.
Skies showed space battle won. Head up.
Ground boiled with dark red beasts.
No control left, so instinct drove them toward more life.
Toward the battlefield we'd bypassed via Sylph.