Chapter 245
Chapter 245
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 245
Chapter Title: Essence of Corruption (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Affinity. The way for the weak to defeat the strong, a law of the world akin to how fire can never overcome water.
But that only held true when both sides were somewhat evenly matched.
What meaning was there in splashing a single bottle of water against flames that incinerated and erased everything they touched? It would be fortunate if it didn't just stoke the blaze higher.
And unfortunately, they had thoroughly ignited Rokan's fury.
"Bombardment! Chains of Annihilation!"
The Chains that Seal Destruction, unusable for a moment while sealing the power of corruption, now unleashed their full might.
Like a storm, they swept through, striking and shattering every enemy of Ragnarok within range.
[The special effect of the Chains that Seal Destruction activates.]
[Additional damage is applied to beings possessing powerful corruption.]
"......!"
In that instant, Rokan's movements halted briefly. Even he was stunned by the completely unexpected effect.
"What the hell did you do?"
Why was the power of corruption in a user's body?
In truth, there was no need to question it. They'd received it through some method, so of course it was there.
"Gah!"
"M-My strength is draining......"
As a result, they truly became Rokan's prey.
No matter how much they'd strengthened themselves through corruption, the spec gap was overwhelming, so the losses piled up one-sidedly on their side.
No, some of their attacks even landed on Rokan, but they meant nothing.
Massive damage poured in, but so what? During the duration of Gale Incarnation, he was an immortal being anyway.
"Take him down somehow!"
"Mana Burst!"
The desperate foes emptied their entire arsenal, but Rokan's gaze grew only colder.
Because the skills they used reeked of corruption.
"So that's how it was."
Anyone else might not have realized, but Rokan grasped it immediately.
How they'd grown so quickly, to the point of rivaling his past life, and acquired such immense power—even after he'd stripped them of so many items and achievements.
'Pathetic.'
These were the ones who'd grown under the "Patronage of Corruption."
Just as shadows exist where there's light, for every hunter of corruption, followers were bound to emerge.
It had been naive to assume that The Lord, which organically evolved and generated quests, would only offer quests pushing in one direction.
He felt like a fool for not considering this possibility himself.
Of course, he'd never thought of it because no one nurtured by corruption's patronage had ever stepped forward—but the disappointment matched his surprise.
'I thought that guy who dragged me down so low had real strength to match his power......'
The King of Genesis, who had crushed the once-mighty King of Violence with sheer force, turned out to be a hack relying on cheat-like power.
He'd just walked an easy road paved by their information and support, unknown to anyone.
To Rokan, who had walked a thorny path alone and believed that was the only way to true strength, it was a shock and a hollow revelation.
After regressing, he'd charged ahead like mad, far outpacing others, yet held back from crushing Ragnarok head-on in hopes of clashing once more with a fully grown King of Genesis like before. Now, rage seeped into his eyes.
There was no reason to hold back against them anymore.
"Rampaging Chariot!"
"Leap Attack!"
"Hyper Acceleration! Time of Madness!"
Enraged, Rokan turned astonishingly cold.
He no longer saw them as opponents—just scarecrows, clumps of experience points.
He used only mobility skills. Everything else, he handled with basics and pure control.
His body, capable of surpassing skill effects without even using them, smashed, crushed, and pulverized.
Even as other Ragnarok members, who had left the elves to deal with the rampaging World Tree and joined late, arrived—they couldn't blunt his momentum at all.
Instead, an irresistible terror spread among them like a contagion.
"How do we even beat this......?"
"No way he's already a High Master, right?"
"Whether he is or not, this is...... already a monster."
Thud!
With every swing of his battle axe, skills shattered and heads exploded.
With every strike from his left fist wrapped in chains, their power sources crumbled, the corruption mana within them burning away and scattering.
Even staking their lives, all they could do was buy a little time—no one landed any meaningful blow on Rokan.
"Almost there! Just hold on a bit longer!"
"Last one minute!"
Yet Ragnarok pressed on relentlessly, swarming like moths to a flame, clinging tenaciously.
Unable even to inflict proper damage, they threw away their lives like weeds, diverting his attention and stalling for time.
"Cute."
At first, he'd thought they were prepping some devastating one-shot. A master skill to decapitate him or burst his heart and silence him. He'd scanned the surroundings quickly.
Others could hide and defend while one cast.
But when his all-seeing eyes caught nothing, he finally confirmed it.
They were simply planning to stall until the duration ended—an complacent ploy.
That made him want to torment them more. Drown them in despair.
"30 seconds!"
"20 seconds!"
"10! 9! 8! 7......!"
Creation, combination, master skills.
Rokan absorbed every debuff and attack skill with his body and still had strength to spare, leaving only a handful of Ragnarok members alive.
The survivors were the true elites among elites.
The leadership, including Odin, waited for Rokan's post-transformation cooldown.
The rest: annihilated.
At this point, even if Rokan died, they could claim victory—but Rokan had no intention of letting them off that easily.
"Time Reversal."
The moment they counted down their final second, Rokan's body vanished as if by lie.
He reappeared in the distant sky, in the form he'd had before activating Gale Incarnation.
"Don't let him escape!"
"We can't let him get away!"
Seeing this, they misunderstood. A escape skill, they thought. As they'd predicted, the duration had ended, leaving him weakened.
[Space Interference activates.]
[Space-type spells are sealed within a certain area.]
That was why they'd used the priceless Space Interference scroll preemptively.
Assuming Rokan would flee after the skill ended.
Unaware it would hobble them instead.
"You dared block our path—you're dead!"
"Do you have any idea how much we've lost because of you......!"
It was laughable.
"Gale Incarnation."
Who was fleeing?
Rokan activated Gale Incarnation once more.
As the giant of mingled gold and crimson madness, he swept away those who'd hung back with folded arms.
They'd flinched and retreated at his mere approach—now they were right in his face, so he had to return the courtesy, didn't he?
He fed them lavish skill combos, starting with Wild Dance, and cut them down.
"You're a real monster, Rokan."
Blocking his path was Odin.
Rokan smirked.
Arrogance mixed with tension in that stance—it drew a laugh from him.
Amid the one-sided slaughter verging on massacre, how had he survived unscathed?
Because he was stronger than the others? Skilled enough to handle Rokan?
No. Purely because Rokan had let him be.
"What're you waiting for? Come on."
But it wouldn't be one-on-one. Not yet. They were same master level, but the tiers differed.
Odin knew it too.
That's why he charged with Ragnarok's core five comrades.
Ssssh.
One vanished first.
Loki.
Like every Ragnarok member, he'd taken his name and concept from the god of lies and mischief.
An exceptional assassin and mage both—his intent was obvious.
"Let's see what you've got!"
The first to charge was familiar too.
The one using the ID Thor.
True to the name, he boasted immense physical prowess, with lightning strikes that temporarily paralyzed on hit as his concept—but he was also bluntly reckless.
Fitting the concept, sure. But not enough against Rokan.
Boom!
Battle axe clashed with battle hammer.
In such clashes, hammers usually held the edge over slashing weapons—but only when strength was equal.
"Guah!"
Thor, charging confidently, flew backward headfirst, rolling disgracefully across the ground.
Outmatched in raw muscle.
"Next!"
"Tidal Wave!"
Next came Poseidon and Zeus unleashing their power.
Mythologically separate from Odin's Norse pantheon, they drew from Greco-Roman chief gods—but laughably, Ragnarok mixed Norse and Greek gods' names.
Yet that also meant they were strong enough to dare claim those names.
Ruuuumble.
On the barren plain, a tsunami surged out of nowhere.
Using it on dry terrain guzzled mana, but he'd bet everything on this one shot.
The raging wave crashed toward Rokan.
"Rampaging Chariot."
Rokan, eyeing the assault that dwarfed even his giant form, erupted with power in an instant.
He charged straight into it himself.
"Gale Slaughter."
As the wave's momentum threatened to slow his charge, a lethal slash that cut and killed all things cleaved the tsunami apart.
Splash!
He burst through and reappeared before them.
"Thunder of Divine Punishment!"
But it didn't end there.
Poseidon and Zeus were a team.
Electricity synergized perfectly with water-soaked targets—it was basic logic.
Zeus's master skill pierced Rokan.
With force to shatter Gale Incarnation instantly, it severed his neck, dropping body and head.
"We won......"
"Hyper Acceleration! Time of Madness!"
The unbelievable happened.
They'd confirmed the decapitation, yet Rokan charged at them intact.
Spurt!
To wield great power, sacrifices were necessary.
Unlike the myths, mere "concept zealot" Zeus in magic couldn't stop Rokan after exhausting his master skill.
He dumped combo and creation skills in panic, to no avail. Rokan blocked retreats with Bombardment and killed him before he could even dodge properly.
Mana-dry Poseidon after forcing his master skill went without saying.
In a flash, six became four.
"Festival of Death!"
Then, Hades—who'd watched quietly—unleashed his power.
Festival of Death.
Hades's master skill raised user and NPC corpses in a radius as soul bodies, mimicking their original abilities perfectly.
Like doppelgangers copying skills, items, and styles, it was notoriously tricky against strong foes with many deaths.
Ssssh.
"......"
But it didn't go as planned.
Rokan hadn't even acted.
The World Tree.
Its Corruption Fruit greedily absorbed Hades's "power of death" master skill.
Soul bodies rising scattered back to the netherworld as lost souls, and Hades drew the World Tree's ire, coming under attack.
"Next."
Rokan's eyes turned to one man.
The last, most tantalizing prey he'd saved.
Odin bit his lip and drew his sword toward Rokan.