Chapter 154
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: 15th Floor - Lv. 3211 Incarnation of War (1)
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From a distance, the moment he detected the ripple of red divinity, the God of Nature stepped aside with a casual remark about enjoying the show.
I paused weaving my spell and asked the Goddess.
"Wow, what the hell is that?"
「It seems it's finally descended. But honestly, at this point, who cares what happens to the Empire?」
"Do you have some kind of grudge against her?"
「Kukukuku. The grudge is yours, isn't it?」
Hmm. All I'd done was mess with the Empire a little.
And even that had taken a full 500 years of effort to pull off, so it wasn't exactly groundbreaking.
This server wasn't the only source of faith in the world for them anyway. There had to be some other reason they were paying this much attention.
If I were a god, I'd have cut my losses ages ago.
Maybe they genuinely harbored some deep-seated resentment, or perhaps there was a hidden honey pot I didn't know about.
The latter seemed unlikely. It was hard for even a god to know things I didn't.
There was a chance it was an Exile with a gamer tag for the God of War, but I couldn't rule out possibilities if I wanted to move forward.
Slim odds? Ignore them.
That left personal feelings getting in the way somehow.
Of course, I had to ask the Goddess.
"Can you do another incarnation? We've got to deal with that spiteful interloper somehow."
「Nothing stopping me. You should probably just hightail it back to the kingdom while you're at it.」
If they were going this far, our side would suffer more losses.
The Goddess might have fervent support on this server, but it was still faith limited to one server.
Having started from zero, she couldn't suddenly sprout believers on other servers now.
They were probably trying to bait us into a war of attrition, throwing powers around without restraint...
The side with smoother faith generation would win in the end, sure—but the God of War was burning through massive amounts too.
Did the math even add up? I had my doubts.
The Goddess agreed.
But what could we do when a lump of divine power was already hurtling toward us like a meteor?
"Let's check my status first."
Could I handle something that big in one shot like last time? It depended on the state of their incarnation, but either way, it'd strain my body badly.
And since they'd been gearing up for this, they'd probably scrounged up a proper great warrior somewhere.
If I had to fight with gimmicks just to match specs, I'd be at a disadvantage.
If the God of War wasn't an idiot, they'd have a thoroughly prepped incarnation waiting.
Dangerous. Way too dangerous.
「You've already hit record-breaking levels during the kingdom relocation phase... but yeah, still nowhere near enough to serve as a vessel for incarnation. You did explode in levels after smashing that Dark Spirit King, though.」
"I'm at 3212 right now. Just give me a sec."
I had no choice but to dump everything into physical enhancement.
[Blood Lord] was a powerful unique skill, but it focused on strengthening independent summons and blood dominion rather than the main body—pure mage territory.
Survivability got boosts from things like [Blood Spring], sure, but that didn't translate to raw physical durability.
In this run, my character's build had covered weak physical stats with regeneration and experience.
Everything else went into firepower to balance the insane difficulty.
If some off-spec interference forced a head-on slugfest, I'd be in trouble.
「Should we try negotiating with that lunatic?」
"You think that'll work? They're already charging in like they want to die."
「I'm a senior warrior to them. Might carry some weight.」
Oh, I knew it. That unspoken jock fraternity vibe among Exile warriors.
Warriors were the types who loved that stuff anyway.
Mutual respect thrived most in that class.
"Won't fly. Let's drop it. We'll do the incarnation, but hand me the reins this time."
「You? You're a mage.」
"I'm just the best at magic."
The Goddess looked like she had a lot to say, but she went along with it.
The God of War respected the Goddess of Chaos as a warrior.
When he—a mere Exile—reached the kingdom during its pioneering days, she had already been a goddess.
And for a time, the God of War had been her devotee.
Like all veteran Exiles, he initially saw faith as just a business transaction.
His views changed during a kingdom invasion on one of those servers back then.
The Goddess of Chaos's incarnation, descending to defend the kingdom... captured a troll who wasn't even a god yet in a single move.
The great warrior of Chaos at the time was a mage—and a fairy, no less.
A total mismatch against a pure warrior goddess, without even decent physical stats.
Yet she casually snatched a spear enshrined as a holy relic from the temple of Chaos.
And with a mage's body, the incarnation of Chaos pulverized the invaders.
The God of War, who fought in that defense, was electrified by the sight.
Bathed head to toe in blood, perched atop a mountain of corpses. Leaning on a spear jammed haphazardly into the pile, boredly awaiting the next foe.
What if that flesh had been a proper Greenskin warrior?
What if it had been a troll, physically overwhelming?
Envy and rage surged together.
If a fairy mage body could pull off that performance, what could the goddess's true form do?
Learning her true race was demon only fueled a new resolve.
He couldn't lose—not to a demon, not as a warrior.
It was competitive spirit, a burning desire to reach the same heights.
A troll's pride wouldn't allow lagging behind a demon in warrior prowess.
From that day, the God of War's goal became the Goddess of Chaos.
Even his original drive to clear the Labyrinth had faded by then.
Forget hopeless clears—a new aim: earn recognition from the greatest warrior he'd ever seen, the Goddess of Chaos.
Doubts and lethargy that had crept in vanished in an instant.
So the God of War never settled for mere top ranker.
Undeterred by warnings, he challenged endlessly, striving for that glimpse of transcendence before his lifespan ran out.
By then, his Exile expiration date had long passed.
Finding true death again, he rampaged across dimensions. Other rankers called him insane.
He didn't care.
Aspiration, ambition, warrior pride, hunger for strength—all mashed together into a force that feared not even death.
By the time "broken troll" became his nickname among rankers, the troll dreaming of greatness ascended to godhood.
Troll physical age: sixty. Time to retire or switch to a longer-lived race.
The fool already on the throne of War? Easy pickings—an ancient orc not worthy of the warrior title.
He regretted not finding the throne of Chaos, but for a troll, War manifesting was natural.
Now immortal, equal in status—he could challenge her anytime.
And the troll-turned-god began relentlessly challenging the goddess.
He remembered every bout.
0 wins, 796 losses.
Before that tally grew, the goddess vanished.
Her church disbanded itself; all intervention and contact ceased. She went into seclusion.
Whispers called her mad, but soon...
The Goddess of Chaos became a figure remembered only by long-lived rankers and gods.
Yet no new Chaos emerged.
The altar still stood in the pantheon—no dissolution.
So the God of War was pissed.
Furious at her sudden disappearance.
Furious at her return.
Furious she didn't remember him.
Furious at the weirdo punk clinging to her.
Didn't we have an understanding through ironclad clashes?
Furious that a great warrior who should stand higher was goofing around with some vampire magic swordsman.
Why were her great warriors always mages?
She needed to clash with me. Fight me.
I alone could be her rival.
If she'd ignited that admiration in me from the start, she should at least wait until I win once!
Emotions exploded for the first time in ages.
He nearly smashed his throne.
Only hurt his fist, of course.
Through that twisted process, his conclusion was equally warped.
Fine. First, I'll smash her shiny new church to bits.
I'll conquer you!
Like a true God of War!
From then on, he played sly like a throne-sitting troll should.
Incarnating into an ogre lieutenant general to draw out Chaos's incarnation? Ecstasy.
The vessel's performance was iffy, ending in one shot—but it had been ages since they'd crossed blades.
Warriors speak with fists.
From now on too.
And while at it, kill that vampire. Then she could get a real warrior great warrior, not some mage.
At some point, the Empire stopped mattering to the God of War.
That dead ogre lieutenant was right.
Gods, Exiles—they live by their desires.
I opened the mind map, ran through scenarios, and invested my stats.
Luckily, magic swordsman was nominally a dual-class riding both strength and intelligence lines.
Heavy on mage, but the warrior path was at least open for more investment.
I needed every strength-related passive tied to physical prowess.
For good measure, I shaped my blood into a pretty spear to appeal to the Labyrinth—maybe snag spear mastery.
Even crunching probabilities, I had points to burn.
Already up ~100 levels; point bombing would cover the basics.
No mastery, sadly, but I could fake a novice magic swordsman vibe.
Spear jabber? Spearman, whatever.
The Goddess descended into me—and fretted.
「Synchronization's too low. You gonna go clanging around with that guy like this?」
"Just checking your skills. Hang on. And we'll win with magic anyway. Your body's magic—what can you do?」
「I've got zero mage skills.」
Obvious from the skill setup. Mind map nowhere near intelligence tree—pure strength and agility dump.
If anything, agility warrior, but twisted toward burst DPS over tanking. Pervert build.
Bad news.
Meant the Goddess crushed with overwhelming physical DPS like a little girl berserker.
Our sync was abysmal.
Fatal flaw in equal incarnation duels.
"Can't tank head-on—how many times have I said that?"
「Got a clever trick up your sleeve then. I'll expect great things.」
Truth? No tricks.
Just technique.
Was that a trick?
Depending on perspective, maybe.
Back in runs aiming for Labyrinth clear from the throne, incarnating into great warriors with bad sync happened often.
We'd rotate proxies on short notice as needed.