Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Chapter 57 The Dwarf King
Naturally, the battle ended in our victory.
The enemy had ignored the existence of close-range dealers and only prepared for black magic and spirit arts, so they had no choice but to be helplessly defeated by me, a martial artist of Realm of harmony.
'Actually, it would be impossible to prepare for all this.'
If they had the ability to prepare for and respond to all these situations, the elves would have already died out long ago.
Rather, it was remarkable that they had brought countermeasures against black magic in such a short time.
[Current power status: Elves 60 : Dwarfs 40]
If the front line had been restored, it should have been 50-50, but the dwarfs had invested quite a lot to defend this place, so now it was a definite advantage for the elves.
However, my interest was focused more on the qualification for the second Transcendence rather than the fact that the elves were winning.
Looking back at the information I had heard from Estelle in the past, there were a total of three types of qualifications for Transcendence.
The first was for the body to escape the limits of mortality.
I had already achieved this state at the 35th year of the tutorial, and thanks to that, I was able to raise my stats beyond the limits of the tutorial.
The second was for lifespan to move toward infinity.
To become an infinite being who no longer dies from natural causes.
This was the qualification I had achieved this time.
The last was for the size of mana to infinitely expand beyond innate limits.
If I succeeded in achieving even this, I could become an existence equal to the transcendents watching over me, not just a simple human.
I had no idea what I needed to do to achieve it, but in the first place, I hadn't succeeded in the first qualification or second qualification because I knew the method.
If I just kept doing what I had to do, I would eventually obtain the third qualification too.
Of course, unlike the first one, I really had no idea why I obtained the second one.
'Ryeon... surely it's not because of you?'
I had heard before that the name of the guild she had created in the first round was the Yeong-min Cult.
But what if that wasn't just creating a guild named after her master, but really creating a group that worshipped me?
I think that in the first round, I had already almost filled the necessary faith, and the elves delivered the finishing blow.
However, asking about this required tremendous courage.
Would it honestly make sense to ask my disciple, 'Did you by any chance create a religion that worshipped me in the first round?'
It would be a problem if it was true, but if it wasn't, I wouldn't be able to hold my head up.
'Let's not open Pandora's box unnecessarily.'
I decided to be satisfied with having obtained infinite lifespan.
Since we won this time without any particular damage, there was no particular need to collect relics, and I could just recover the dwarfs' equipment and make new equipment for them.
Thanks to this, the already strong elves' firepower became even stronger, and this time I headed to the second line of defense, looking forward to seeing what strategy the dwarfs would show.
Would they really be able to prepare to face spirit arts, black magic, and even a martial artist of Realm of harmony as a Blacksmith?
If such a thing were possible, I was seriously thinking of making the dwarf my master.
At least it was impossible within my common sense.
However, the answer the dwarfs brought was completely different from my expectations.
At the second line of defense, there wasn't an army with the will to fight to the death against us, but only a single dwarf standing there.
"That one is... the Dwarf King?"
"Why is he here without even his subordinates..?"
Seeing the elves' reactions, it seemed the Dwarf King had personally entered the field.
If he was a king, he should naturally be at the main base like Iraniel, so I became curious why he was standing here alone.
And the moment we reached the vicinity, he used mana to speak in a very loud voice.
"I am Gromdain, the Dwarf King born from the Heart of Stone! I have something to say to the demon that the elves are said to have summoned! If you are truly a man among men, come forward!"
'The beginning and end of his words are different. This fellow.'
What kind of case was it to call me a demon in front, then tell me to come out if I'm a real man behind?
To be honest, it was such a childish provocation that even a passing dog wouldn't fall for it.
It didn't make sense to ruin an already won war due to personal emotions.
There was no need to respond to such provocation and give him an opening.
"Such childish provocation unworthy of a king of a race."
"To come all the way here alone just to say such things... If we capture or kill that one as a hostage, it seems we could win the war more easily."
The elves were also treating Gromdain like a fool.
"After seeing the warrior's martial prowess, he might have lost his mind."
"How could he be so stupid."
But I liked that sight.
At least he succeeded in arousing my interest.
"Wait until I give you a signal."
"I'll go and come back."
"War... Warrior?"
Leaving behind the elves trying to stop me, I stood in front of Gromdain.
He looked at me and grinned.
"You were called a demon, but you look more normal than I thought."
"And you're man enough to accept such a proposal with nothing to gain."
"What's your name?"
Well, I'm not a demon, and it's true that I am a real man.
"I am Han Yeong-min."
"I'm curious about the reason you called me."
"It seems you came alone without a single subordinate."
Even when I looked around with Enhanced Energy Sense that had been further strengthened through passing the 5th floor, there were no hidden people around.
The Dwarf King was really alone in this place.
"A king can't just watch his people die meaningless deaths."
"If even half of the rumors about you are true, our defeat is confirmed."
Unlike Iraniel, who stayed by the World Tree until the end even when overwhelmingly pushed to 20 vs 80, Gromdain was a king who knew how to sacrifice for his people.
"Are you saying you came here to die by my hand?"
He shook his head.
"No."
"I came to fight."
"As a dwarf, as a king, it's impossible to surrender without swinging a hammer even once."
"Those equipment the pointy-ears are wearing, you made them, didn't you?"
"The soul contained in iron doesn't lie."
"You are a warrior."
"A true warrior who can carry out his will without borrowing the power of black magic."
Seeing him suddenly worshipping me, he was begging me not to use black magic.
Looking at his equipment, it seemed he had prepared only for close combat.
If I suddenly used black magic here or the elves launched spirit arts, he would be helplessly defeated.
"The conclusion is that you want to fight me."
"Right?"
Even without beating around the bush, the meaning had already been conveyed.
What he desired as well.
"Yes."
"If I lose, the remaining dwarfs will no longer resist and surrender cleanly."
"Instead, promise me."
"After you kill me, you'll guarantee the survival of the other dwarfs as much as possible."
While saying he didn't come to die, he was already speaking as if he were dead.
It seemed he had already read my momentum and realized he couldn't win.
Gromdain was also an outstanding warrior, though not as much as me.
I had two choices.
One was to completely ignore his proposal, turn back, and launch bombardment with the elves.
The dwarfs who lost their king would become even more disorganized, and I could clear the trial several times more easily.
The other was to accept his proposal and have a duel.
There was no need to comply, and it was a stupid action with no particular return even if I did.
Victory was already confirmed even without accepting the proposal, so doing such a thing just to obtain surrender was an extremely inefficient act.
A foolish deed with nothing to gain except romance.
'But... romance is enough, isn't it?'
A true warrior who applied for a duel with a hero(?) with an unwavering stance to save even one more of his people.
For such a warrior, I could sufficiently perform such an inefficient act.
"Alright."
"I'll do as you wish, so come at me."
I yielded the first move to him, who was inferior to me.
He didn't do the foolish thing of missing the opportunity due to pride, and immediately struck down at my head with his hammer filled with reinforcement Qi.
THUD!
When I lightly blocked it with one hand, he immediately started using all the skills and buffs built into his equipment and began raising his level, as if he knew this would happen.
"As expected of the strongest warrior I've ever seen! Let's go for real!"
He struck down with his hammer once more with overwhelming power that was at least twice as strong as before.
BANG!
Thanks to that, the next hammer strike unleashed such intense power that it was difficult to block with one hand.
I immediately covered both hands with reinforcement Qi and blocked it with all my might.
'He's already thinking only of dying. This fellow.'
The reason the Dwarf King could show such an absurd stat increase rate.
It was because he had simultaneously overlapped several effects that would burden the body even if used alone.
Thanks to this, at this moment, he had obtained overwhelming power that he could never reach even if he trained for a lifetime, but the moment the effect ended, his body would collapse from the recoil.
Whether he won or lost, only his destruction remained at the end of this fight.
Nevertheless, Gromdain swung his hammer and laughed.
As if decorating his life's finale, his last battle, with a fight against me was infinitely satisfying.
As a martial artist myself, it was impossible to face such an opponent half-heartedly.
I extended my fist with all my might and confronted his hammer.
Whether my fist broke or his hammer broke, we didn't care and competed in strength.
If my fist broke, I could just regenerate it, and if his hammer broke, the dwarf immediately repaired it as if he had some emergency repair skill.
Without any hesitation, just power against power.
A primitive fight between men to see who was stronger.
Since this was my first time with this kind of battle, it was truly enjoyable.
We didn't engage in tactical fighting.
It was a match where whoever destroyed and pressed down the opponent first would win.
My bones broke several times.
The number of times my flesh was torn was meaningless to count.
The palm holding his hammer was also covered in blood, and the more this happened, the stronger we swung our arms than at first.
We didn't want to be pushed back by our opponent.
And at the end of that bloody battle, the victor was... me.
My fist destroyed his hammer beyond repair and made a hole in his abdomen as it was.
"COUGH... UGH..."
Gromdain's short legs, which seemed like they would never fall, knelt on the ground, and blood flowed endlessly from his mouth.
"As expected... you're strong."
"There's no way an artisan and warrior who creates such equipment could be weak..."
He was the first person to call me an artisan and warrior instead of calling me a monster.
"You were strong too."
"I was just a little stronger."
My fist was also almost completely destroyed, so if the hammer had held out just a little longer, it might have smashed my head before I could break my hand and regenerate.
'The problem is that I'm not a body that dies from having my head smashed with a hammer...'
It was impossible to kill me unless the entire body collapsed in one blow.
"Your words are appreciated... but while we exchanged blows, I could roughly feel how many things... COUGH... are sleeping inside you."
"Nevertheless, thank you for giving me such a wonderful fight... UGH..."
His vomiting blood became more severe.
Death was imminent.
"This is... repayment for that... and... please take care of the dwarfs... COUGH... I can't trust the pointy-ears..."
He passed away while handing over an item from his subspace pocket and asking me to take care of the dwarfs.
Although it was just a past event implemented in the trial, I thought I would do so as I confirmed the relic.
'A metal? I've never seen this before...'
[All beings in Pandemonium and Pantheon are astonished.]
A metal that surprised even the transcendents.
What on earth was this?
A name began to appear before my eyes.
[Ur (Legendary)]
A crazy metal that was treated as a Legendary-grade artifact even though it was still unprocessed had appeared.
'What is this. Really?'
It seemed like an existence that threatened the position of my best friend, the Black Dragon, had appeared for the first time.