Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: An Obvious Region Name
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The place that appears and disappears has an obvious, obvious region name.
'No.'
However, the revealed scenery was anything but ordinary.
'What is this...?'
I lightly opened my mouth and tried saying a few words, but the sound didn't spread into the atmosphere.
That's because this was a place without any atmosphere to begin with.
'Space...?'
To be precise, it was a satellite without an atmosphere. If I were to compare it to Earth, it would be like the Moon.
'No... the scale just jumped?'
When I lifted my head and looked up at the sky, a massive [World] sprawled out before me.
A world incomparable to something small like Ardenia—no, not even comparable to Earth.
'Ah... insane....'
Standing on the gray ground, I stared blankly at that world.
If I were an ordinary human, I might have just thought, "Oh, there's a planet far away." But with my superhuman senses, I could roughly grasp the scale of that world and the distance to it.
'It's too big....'
That's right. The [Planet] visible in the distance.
Was larger than the [Sun].
[Intruder]
At that moment, a heavy psychic wave pierced into my consciousness like a stab. When I turned my head, I saw a skull clad in gray robes.
Elder Skeleton (Myth).
'It showed up.'
A Myth-grade regular monster. As I drew Hyperion, it chattered.
[What is it? Just some worthless skeleton?]
Just as she said, it looked utterly worthless. It was only about 170 centimeters tall, with no particular armament. The clothes it wore were just rags.
However.
Flash.
I didn't even perceive its attack.
Thud---!
A soundless shockwave kicked up dust. It didn't hit me. Its attack was so fast that with my current agility, I couldn't even register it, but thanks to inexplicable combat foresight, I was able to evade the situation where I would take the hit.
Clang--! Clang--! Clang---!
In an instant, dozens of exchanges flew back and forth. Despite its unremarkable appearance and brutish combat style, it was no pushover.
'Even rotten, it's still Myth-grade...!'
Absurdly, it had ripped off its own left arm and was swinging it like a club. It was a stupid fighting style that left its left upper body completely exposed, yet the speed and power were no joke, leaving no opening to exploit.
If monsters of this level invaded Ardenia, even just five of them would wipe out any Myth-grade castle or whatever in the blink of an eye.
'But... it's dumb.'
For example, its combat pattern was way too simple.
Thud-!
A heavy thud echoed as bone and sword clashed.
I pressed my body close to Hyperion and shoved forward.
The key was stance.
Even if their power received an unfathomable correction, my own strength was no slouch. Using its arm as the fulcrum and Hyperion as the point of application, I pushed hard, and the sword effortlessly shoved the bone aside and plunged in.
[Intruder!]
The Elder Skeleton's body tilted, so it abandoned defense entirely and grabbed onto me. In turn, the dark energy swirling around its body clung to my skin.
It was trying to tear my body apart... but it couldn't do a thing to flesh tougher than the outer armor of a space battleship.
In the end, its flailing only exposed a complete opening. Right in front of it, I flexed my muscles hard.
Crunch.
Hyperion's pommel shattered its skull.
[Level Up!]
"Oh! One shot!"
A massive influx of experience points poured in, and my level, which had been stuck for a while, rose. Since it was a Myth-grade enemy, I'd expected a longer fight, so this had me grinning involuntarily.
But when I saw the dropped item, my expression hardened automatically.
[Top-Grade Health Potion]
"No, insane."
A curse slipped out. I'd killed it with Hyperion, which had five layers of golden enhancements, and this was the drop? At least it dropped a lot of gold—78,000 gold coins—but gold was already overflowing, so it meant nothing.
'Still, it was easier than expected. Most importantly... I took it down in one hit without even using Sword Aura or Heaven-Earth Sword. That's encouraging.'
Its reputation for terrible drop rates held true, but that could be solved by farming more, and if I hunted elites or bosses...
That was when it happened.
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
As if sensing the battle, Elder Skeletons swarmed in from all directions.
I didn't panic. I'd expected this fully, and it was exactly what I'd been waiting for.
"Logout."
In a world without air, my words didn't spread around, but it didn't matter. As long as I could say them, that was enough.
Flash!
Back in my one-room apartment, I formed hand seals. I loaded a few spells and circulated my inner energy.
Hum.
15 years' worth of inner energy surged from the Great Vessel. It wasn't much yet, but that was fine.
The element of [Martial Arts] had converted the mana in my status window into inner energy, boosting my power.
"What to name it... Since it's a one-strike kill containing everything, let's keep it simple: One Mind."
Han Jaeyeon's unique sword stance. One Mind starts without gripping the sword.
I sat cross-legged on the bed and meditated for 30 minutes.
I specialized all available inner energy into the unique technique, then meditated another 10 minutes to refine it.
In that state.
"Login."
I entered Ardenia. Then I charged at the foremost of the 200 charging Elder Skeletons.
Flash!
Once again, an imperceptibly fast club beatdown rained down.
Having foreseen it smashing into my skull.
"Rigid Qi."
I activated the Myth skill.
Great Vessel Late Bloom. Unique technique.
One Mind.
I'd slammed in all my inner energy, and...!
[Heavenly Sword - Hundred Man Slash] & [Sword that Parts Heaven and Earth]
Activated class skills.
Cold Qi. Light. Wood. Wind. Fire. Earth. Poison. Lightning.
Wise Gate. Open.
Attribute Attack. Eightfold Stack.
I even burst my chakra.
A insane combo that took 1 hour 20 minutes just to prepare. A single strike packing every ability I could muster!
Thud!
As the Elder Skeleton's left arm clubbed my skull like a mace, Hyperion struck its cranium.
'Ugh...!'
Taking a Myth-grade enemy's attack defenselessly made my head ring.
However, my skull, with 999 vitality toughness, withstood the massive blow without issue.
Crack!
The Elder Skeleton's skull could not.
"Got it!"
I shouted, but the result was unexpected.
Crash!
A hundred skeletons rolled on the ground. The problem was, only the one hit by my sword—and the one right behind it—had their heads split, dropping items. The remaining 98 Elder Skeletons weren't dead.
Of course, they weren't unharmed; the fallen ones had their skulls cracked full of fissures. But the issue was they didn't die, so the Heaven-Earth Sword's damage propagation didn't trigger.
And beyond those fallen Elder Skeletons.
[Attack.]
[Attack.]
[Attack.]
[Attack.]
Even more enemies swarmed in.
'No, why?'
In shock, I still scooped up the Elder Skeleton's humerus (Legend) from the ground. The moment I slotted it into my inventory, the enemies' attacks poured down.
Boom! Clang! Crunch!
I parried, counterattacked, grabbed, and smashed.
The Elder Skeletons' techniques were crude, but despite having no muscles, they possessed absurd strength.
The dark energy swirling around their bones granted them transcendent power!
But the biggest problem was speed.
Thud!
Even with combat foresight showing me every assault clearly, coping was overwhelming.
It's an age-old truth that one hand can't handle multiple hands.
I smashed three more Elder Skeletons, but in exchange, I got thoroughly pummeled by them.
"Logout! Ha! Hoo... Argh!"
Whenever I tired, I returned to Earth for rest.
With my Extreme Intent Body complete, my stamina was superhuman, but even that couldn't keep up with the transcendent muscle drain.
Without login & logout, I wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes before dying under the clubbing.
"No, what is this... They're too strong?"
One-on-one was relatively easy, but in a group fight, the situation flipped entirely.
Above all, Hundred Man Slash and Heaven-Earth Sword not working was huge.
"It doesn't seem like they're not activating at all...."
In fact, 100 Elder Skeletons had taken head blows and rolled on the ground.
The problem was, unlike the first one that died instantly and the one that received its damage, the other 98 survived despite the hits.
To figure out why, I moved after a brief rest.
"Login."
"Logout."
"Login."
I went back and forth between Earth and Ardenia, continuing the fight. In the process, I took down three more Elder Skeletons.
But I took a lot of hits too.
Drip.
"Hoo...."
A direct hit to my arm bone broke my nose bone, blood flowing.
Crunch.
Of course, the injury was momentary; the broken bone soon realigned on its own, and the flowing blood rewound through time, sucked back into my nose.
"Now I get it."
I drew Hyperion from my inventory.
[Demon Sword. Hyperion (Level 22)]
Physical Coefficient 6.2
Mana Coefficient 7.3
[Zodiac 12 Palaces (Epic)]
[Demon Sword Soul (Epic)]
[Golden Stack], [Golden Stack], [Golden Stack], [Golden Stack], [Golden Stack].
Even looking again, it was a flashy item description. Two Epic-grade traits and five sockets.
"But the real cheat was something else."
That's right. The true power was elsewhere. The problem was.
"That cheat... the coefficient... it doesn't apply to Hundred Man Slash or Heaven-Earth Sword."
A coefficient is the constant multiplied in front of a formula. In other words, Physical Coefficient 6.2 means physical damage is boosted 6.2 times.
Chanting chakra spells, 30 minutes of meditation, adding Myth-grade Sword Aura....
All meaningless. A futile ass show.
Because my transcendent muscle power was increased 6.2 times—no, 12.4 times by the power of Sword-Mind Unison.
"No, just... just plain hitting is stronger?"
Absurd, but true. The martial arts element hadn't reached transcendence, and while the Great Vessel was an amazing bioreactor, the accumulated inner energy was only 15 years.
The eightfold attribute attack was flashy and amazing, but it was still Wise Gate level—Master-grade at best.
The reason smashing its head with the pommel up close shattered the Elder Skeleton's skull wasn't because it had a soft head for a Myth-grade... but because the 12.4x amplified physical force was terrifyingly strong.
Even in games, a 12% damage boost would make you change classes, but 12 times? Utterly insane.
"Now I'll have to rethink my combat style."
Of course, going full physical nuke would be disastrous. There could be enemies with physical resistance or immunity.
"Login."
I transferred to Ardenia.
Boom! Clang! Crunch!
I fought more earnestly using my flesh. Parry, counter, grab, smash—a barbaric brawl.
It was satisfying, pushing myself to the limit, but sadly, I couldn't keep it up.
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
"Ah, enough...."
The Elder Skeletons kept multiplying. They were coming faster than I could kill, piling up to hundreds of Myth-grade monsters in no time!
And that wasn't all.
[Intruder confirmed. We will exclude you.]
[Huh! You look fun!]
Elite monsters like Luna Death Knight (Myth) Namgung Hyun-a and Demon Lich (Myth) Saruman started popping out.
No matter how good my vitality and recovery, or my login-logout ability... persisting here would end in death.
"Ha."
I glanced back at the massive planet in the distance.
I wanted to know what that place was for... but with my current abilities, escaping this satellite wouldn't be easy.
No need to even jump and try.
'I can feel this satellite and that planet are clearly in separate dimensions.'
To go there, I'd probably have to conquer this satellite somehow.
Now for the most important issue remaining.
Boom!
Dodging the charging Myth-grade monsters, I reached into my inventory. And just like that.
Flash!
I arrived at the Earth Citadel. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew. Was worried it might not work, but good."
"Oh! Haven't seen a recall scroll in ages... Whoa!? Your Majesty the Emperor!"
"His Imperial Majesty!"
"Your Majesty! Ooh... so close...!"
I waved appropriately at the imperial citizens bowing in surprise and leaped to the guild tower in one bound.
Right then.
[Edward from the Citadel of Light has acquired Paladin (Hero)!]