Chapter 99
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: 10th Floor - Lv. 335 Imperial Guard (4)
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The God of War was furious.
Furious, and furious again.
For a berserker like him, anger was as natural and familiar as breathing.
A massive arm gripped the armrest of his throne.
Of course, it wasn't something he could destroy.
The God of War truly hated that fact.
He rose from his seat.
The room felt stifling. If he'd known being a god meant dealing with this, he never would have done it.
He pounded the wall with his fist.
Once, twice, ten times, twenty times.
Even when his fist was mangled down to the bone, it regenerated in an instant.
It was the power of a troll that had reached a level one could call immortality.
There was no way out of this damned throne room.
It wouldn't open unless a challenger arrived.
And even if one came, that was a problem too. He'd have to fight.
He could hand over the throne willingly, but then what would the other gods think of him—him, whom they'd thoroughly mocked?
That he was no longer a god, just a mere troll warrior.
This was a prison.
No one knew why gods were first called prisoners or who started it.
But anyone who experienced it knew it wasn't a lie.
Of course, the God of War knew.
Even if a challenger came, he wouldn't hand over the throne easily anyway.
There was too much at stake for that.
There were plenty of frustrating times, but the throne was a position everyone coveted.
With the 100-year deadline long past, there was no reason to step down.
Unless he'd lived as long as Chaos and gone mad from it.
But the current owner of that throne, whom he'd forgotten about, was sending him a message full of mockery.
Kyakyakyakya, you pathetic Uncle lol! How's our great warrior tasting? Can't pull yourself together, huh?
Oh, forgot to mention—the High Priest is him too! ?('???)?
Where the hell did that ragamuffin learn to use emojis like that?
He'd thought the guy was dead. There'd been no news for far too long.
It had been ages since he'd threatened suicide and abandoned his cult. He couldn't even remember when.
Chaos was a god who'd existed long enough to go mad, and the throne was perfect for driving one insane.
So he'd been glad when he seemed to go quietly.
Probably all the gods had.
But to drag some horrific exile out of nowhere and suddenly reappear like this.
And why was he so damn thrilled about it?
Such thoughts brought various possibilities to mind.
The God of War was arrogant like the mighty troll he was, unyielding.
He'd been that way since first becoming a god. He was a top exile who'd reached the peak, fearless of the world.
That's why he'd thoroughly pissed off that ancient god of Chaos.
But that was ancient history. Why still hold onto it?
Ha.
His opponent's excessive glee only made him cooler-headed.
The God of War sat back on his throne.
His current foe wasn't the ancient goddess.
It was her minion rampaging in the server's most vital ruin.
Though no doubt the goddess was scheming something behind the scenes.
By the time the game's progression had ballooned to this scale, the foes I needed to worry about weren't the Greenskins right in front of me.
Up until now, things had been on a smaller scale.
The damage I could inflict had been minor too.
Even if I'd wiped out the Lava Hammer Brigade with my own hands, it wouldn't have been a loss the vast empire couldn't bear.
But the ancient [Hero Units] were different. If they only lost their Greenskin heroes, maybe—but now the fairy royalty we'd turned hostile were being freed.
The Greenskin god wouldn't want that.
Shifting perceptions was key.
The God of War was undoubtedly watching this place with every sense on high alert.
From now on, every enemy decision had to be treated as a directive from the god himself.
Commands from the pinnacle exile who'd completed a 100-year journey, ascended to the throne, and spent several times that in power.
No one but the Emperor himself could debate a god as an equal.
If the god raged and issued forceful orders, the troops would obey.
But this choice to scatter and awaken heroes first was a mistake.
If they'd all gathered to attack me, I'd have been in real trouble.
The environment was extremely favorable to me, an undead, but the Imperial Guard no doubt included modern [Hero Units] mixed in.
Securing an easy win against that would've been tough.
Dragging it out like that would've multiplied the variables.
If something big went wrong, I could die here—or lose the kid, or the Girl could perish.
There were plenty of risk factors.
The God of War's judgment was a safe bet that simplified the problem.
But at the same time, it conveniently simplified things for me too.
I won't say it was intentional up to this point.
My performance might've been impressive, but I hadn't expected even that mad berserker troll to fold like this.
Still, for a god to cower before a single exile and pull back? That was odd.
As if he was more wary of something else than me.
"But that doesn't matter. Gotta crush 'em all first."
The kid glanced up at me briefly. Curious about my sudden mutterings?
No, not that. She lost interest right away.
She's got so few words. Back from the future, she was chattering nonstop, but I guess I haven't earned that much trust yet.
Judging by how she treats me, maybe like a distant relative uncle.
Better than a total stranger, but not like she clings to me.
Anyway, I scooped up the kid first.
She looked puzzled as my hand crossed her magic barrier and lifted her up.
"Gonna run. Hold on tight."
Vampires are fast. Not standout compared to the speediest races, but maintaining full sprint without tiring is insane on its own.
The living couldn't run easily in this heat. It'd be like sprinting in hazmat suits.
I could. Sure, my hair singed a bit, and my skin blistered from burns before healing, but whatever.
The path ahead was unobstructed.
Even after a thousand years, its durability had been tough to breach—but now it was gone.
The magic circle had overloaded, shutting down every trap system connected to it.
The reinforcing forces on the walls were naturally gone too.
Still not ordinary stone walls, but infusing them with mana and smashing made them shatter easily.
Greenskin heroes dotted the path now and then as I ran.
Warriors frozen in time were immune to all attacks.
Just like the griffon statue on the 2nd floor that shrugged off all but the heaviest hits.
This was even higher-grade magic.
And their surroundings were soon within the God of War's line of sight.
The kid kept up nonstop mana detection, clinging to my back and focusing solely on that.
Tracking enemy movements was crucial.
A few enemies turned toward the central plaza.
That was the final battlefield. Where the most heroes were frozen.
Waking them first would be as good as victory. But unsealing there took time too.
I didn't bother intercepting. We'd be faster.
In the God of War's view, the plaza's situation was visible too. The Greenskin warriors slumbering there had been swinging their weapons right up to falling into the fairy king's trap.
There were already dozens of them. Like a single vivid painting of a dynamic battlefield.
The god growled from his throne again.
A few arrows shattered the walls and flew in.
Soon after, that exile's allies appeared.
Unfamiliar faces. Fairies. Archers with bows drawn.
Fast. Too fast.
Even assuming the goddess of nature was backing them, they knew this labyrinth's layout far too precisely.
The God of War only knew the rough structure.
So he'd just picked a direction and planned to break through.
He hadn't even expected that exile to show up here.
It wasn't a space an exile could enter easily.
This server hadn't been open long.
Had the kingdom already obtained a [Key Item] to access such a vital spot?
Impossible. It couldn't be.
This server was brutally tough. Almost no exiles passed the space theme.
Even the God of War's followers in the kingdom couldn't intervene because of it.
For a single exile to have this much prowess wasn't normal.
Then a grim thought struck him.
That guy... hasn't passed through space yet?
The ruins were, strictly speaking, in the north. The empire's northern frontier—the land where they'd driven out the fairies after victory in the last war.
Where the final resistance had unfolded.
Still within the snowfield theme.
To enter a stage like this without a [Key Item], it had to be a boss floor.
An even-numbered boss floor.
Then... he's on the 10th floor.
The God of War twisted his lips. The cunning, seasoned troll turned to other concerns.
This might not be just this server's problem.
No telling what that Chaos was up to.
Planning to swallow the kingdom again?
Like in the old days.
The goddess had no particular thoughts.
She just enjoyed watching the God of War—who'd been a constant annoyance—get thoroughly screwed over.
They might think it was the god leading things, but in reality, it was closer to her followers jerking her around.
Still, it felt less like a hierarchy and more like they were in the same party.
Making a god feel this way wasn't easy. Veteran gods among veterans were picky; few exiles met their standards. Naturally, since gods judged by their own measure.
This guy's just too good.
The goddess muttered that as she issued rapid orders.
She'd experienced stages like this before.
Fairies resisted this way often. Time magic ignored magic resistance.
No skill could escape it.
The ultimate trap. Whether history flowed that way or the labyrinth forced it, she wasn't sure.
Anyway, this situation was familiar to her.
"Vanguard's pretty much wiped, so he's gotta be shitting bricks. Dumb troll. Hehehe."
They were powerful forces. Fitting for an insane-difficulty boss floor.
Stuff comparable to Kacrish everywhere.
Then a message popped up for the goddess of Chaos.
A reply to the deal she'd relayed to the God of Order right after entering the 10th floor.
We've passed the dangerous phase now. With momentum on our side, we'll send the Saintess. She'll arrive shortly.
It was the God of Order. He'd resolved to fight the God of War in this server but wouldn't move lightly.
If they handled it themselves, no issue.
Especially since he had a Saintess.
Human [Hero Units] were on another level among countless heroes.
No matter what, one cult was expendable; the cost-benefit didn't add up.
So he just watched.
Handing over the Abyss Relic had been smart.
His divinity was order, his suffix money—once paid, he couldn't renege. Pure business.
Even pricing the risks of deploying the Saintess was influenced by the throne.
That was the nature of that throne. Good thing she hadn't sat on one like it.
[Saintess wasn't far off, huh?]
[I trust my judgment. Moved her ahead expecting you'd pull it off.]
The God of War issued a command.
To all the Imperial Guard waiting outside the ruins.
The shamans sprang into action. The internal situation had been relayed via divine oracle.
An irresistible order.
The Emperor in the distant imperial capital spoke up.
A low, thick, warrior's gravelly voice.
But for an orc, intensely intellectual.
"My god, is something amiss? Even the Guard isn't enough?"
「That exile has appeared again.」
"How long since last time—such a tenacious grudge. Maybe I should've just gone and smashed him myself."
The Greenskin Emperor had no demon lord hobby of waiting for heroes to grow.
He'd charge in and pulverize the annoying exile.
Effortlessly.
But the God of War frowned, deep in thought.
In the future, no War followers had reached it yet.
Same for this server's kingdom arrivals. None had touched civilization.
The future was sensitive.
Without proper [Key Items] and [Race Main Stream] progress post-kingdom, you couldn't observe future faction layouts.
It had always been that way. A law of the labyrinth.
So this server's future wasn't set.
A sudden surge of unease.
What if that Emperor dies? If the exile survives and that future unfolds?
The god pondered briefly but shook his head.
Of course, the Emperor—the Greenskin Empire's Emperor.
Was the seat of the mightiest warrior.
「Next time, I will.」
"The throne's as dull as a god's seat, they say. I'll look forward to it."
「Hmph.」
With that, the Emperor went silent. Something else must've come up in the capital.
No time to monitor it. He'd abandoned other servers too.
New server. New pie. He'd spare no effort to devour it.
The goddess of nature reported in.
The split party had reached the plaza.
First to awaken: the fairy king and queen.
The Hunter and elder had already arrived at the plaza.
Along with other fairies they'd awakened in the meantime.
The plaza was the epicenter where the time magic had detonated. Seals lingered thickly, still hard to dispel.
Much denser than the faint ones at the edges.
The elder began pouring in every ounce of his mana.
The awakened [Hero Unit] fairies handled the incoming Imperial Guard.
I stopped there.
Shaman spells were incoming. Spamming mana detection while dashing made our position crystal clear.
The imperial shaman in ornate Guard robes was high-level.
At least 200, probably nearing 300 since he'd made it this far.
The empire was massive, so maybe higher.
But no need to nitpick. No reason to. This situation was made for exactly this.
A scorching hell extremely favorable to a vampire.
I countered with a massive explosion, offsetting the attack.
I was shoved back heavily.
Strong.
But I ignored it. Activated [Dash] and charged. Moving fast overwhelmed the protective magic.
The angel-feather padding held, but my body didn't.
Even as it burned, I pressed on, raining mana-charged punches. The shaman struggled but fell short.
Once his protective spell shattered, he couldn't breathe, his body cooking in the heat.
He collapsed with a pathetic groan.
The direct damage I dealt was just peeling his barrier, but it counted fully as exp.
Very juicy exp. Maybe higher level than I thought.
Trdongt was named, always similar level, but random shamans could be stronger depending.
A fair fight would've been rough? Sweet.
While constantly disrupting like that, good news came.
Nature's God reports finding an ice mage on the Girl's side.
Of course a named NPC would show up in a labyrinth crawling with [Hero Units].
There was a fixed ice-element specialist fairy mage.
Time to cool this place down a bit.
A spiritist would be nice too. Borrow their mana, and I could summon a Spirit King.
A hero-level spiritist could sustain it for 10 seconds.
Those nameds were usually tucked in some remote corner.
Hope the Girl's searching well. Things'll get easier.
Then the kid reported.
Mana detection picked up new forces.
Not certain before, but not all troops had entered the ruins.
They'd rushed reinforcements from those holding the entrance.
The God of War was getting desperate.
Good call summoning the Saintess just in case.
The 10th-floor stairs were outside. Time to owe another favor.
No issue since it was a clean, no-strings trade.