Chapter 259
Chapter 259
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 259
Chapter Title: Heavenly Realm (3)
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Boar humans charging on all fours. Rokan immediately realized this wasn't normal.
The ones he'd fought moments ago had walked on two legs.
It seemed like some special skill—rushing toward him like a bull charging a matador, with such ferocious momentum that even Rokan hesitated to block it head-on.
If judging purely by destructive power, it would far surpass an elite cavalry charge.
Even for Rokan, who trusted his strength, clashing with raw force felt a bit daunting.
“But what about this?”
*Whish. Boom!*
In that instant, a massive pillar crashed down onto the earth.
Earth Shaker. The hammer's earth-shaking force overturned everything around it.
“Pfft, looks like they're floundering.”
Seeing them flipped belly-up and thrashing about was downright comical.
On top of that, the lingering tremors kept them from regaining their footing.
Rokan wrapped up his brief observation and leaped toward the nearest one.
“Slaughter Strike.”
*Splat!*
The thick hide of the boar human tore open viciously.
He churned its insides, and it went limp. Then he bounded to the next one.
Repeating the process, he cut down about half of them.
As befitting high-level monsters, they healed quickly, but Rokan's speed and attack power outpaced it.
*Squeal!*
The boar humans shed their beast forms and rose on two legs, charging at Rokan with renewed vigor.
Their hot snorts and the power surging from their taut muscles were genuinely threatening, but in a contest of pure strength, Rokan wouldn't yield to anyone short of a Grand Master.
“Steps of Fighting Spirit!”
The skill he'd only used for instant dashes up to now was employed differently this time.
[Steps of Fighting Spirit][Lv 1]
A footwork skill usable in both instant and sustained forms.
It could explode with power for an instant burst of movement or boost attack power with every step taken—though the effect vanished the moment you stopped.
Used as an instant skill, it was just a quick dash. In sustained form, the effect was entirely different.
With every step Rokan took, immense power infused his Battle Axe. It smashed, repelled, and toppled everything it collided with.
No matter how much boar strength they possessed, Rokan had long surpassed his species' limits.
The skill didn't allow backpedaling by nature, but the foes weren't clever enough to flank him from behind, so overwhelming them was simple.
*Squeal!*
Unable to withstand the mounting power with each step, they soon became corpses.
“Whew!”
When Rokan halted, nothing remained alive around him.
The one downside was that Karocl wasn't in the group—but he hadn't expected to resolve things this easily anyway, so no great disappointment.
He looted everything worth taking and pressed further up the mountain, where a village exuding an ominous aura came into view. This must be the slash-and-burn settlers' village.
'Hm?'
As Rokan moved to enter, something felt off. Even in this cursed land, there were no signs of life from within.
'No way...'
Had they all died in the meantime? With growing unease, he stepped inside—and sure enough, no living beings.
*Clatter clatter.*
“Eek!”
“A human!”
“...What?”
Oddly enough, it was they who spotted Rokan first and fled in panic.
Their identities: undead.
The villagers were undead.
'Ha, this is...'
He'd seen the general store owner, but it was still hard to get used to.
'Come to think of it, this makes sense?'
On second thought, it wasn't strange for them to be undead. In this cursed land where the curse struck even if you just stood still, you'd need to be undead to survive.
It seemed adapting to this heavenly realm would take more time.
Steadying his startled mind, Rokan mentioned the wanted quest and finally calmed them down.
“You're really here to catch Karocl?”
“Yes. Who is he? I know he's something like the boar human boss.”
“Ugh, a horrific beast. He swings a massive hammer and storms in whenever he pleases, smashing our bones to bits... Even in this blessed land where regeneration happens over time, every rain after one of his visits makes our joints ache.”
“Of course, thanks to his blessed hammer, it sometimes feels refreshingly good when he hammers away...”
“But when he beastifies, he tramples everything without the hammer...”
He gathered information. The undead villagers called it a “blessing,” but Rokan caught that it was just another word for curse—fitting for people who described this land as “blessed.”
A difference in perspective had flipped the word's meaning entirely.
'A hammer warrior with curse options...'
Not a bad type. It had to be a power build, and he was confident in strength contests.
He even had counters for beast-form charges like the minions'.
But there were definite annoyances.
'I just need to watch for minion summons.'
Minion-summon skills were typical for bosses of pack-based races, and if it called a boar horde like before, even Rokan would have a headache.
But if he ended it first?
'Still, better play it safe.'
Having heard all the explanations, Rokan immediately began combining a skill he'd been saving.
[Please name the combined skill.]
“Mark of Madness.”
It was utterly unlike any skill Rokan had used before.
Mark of Madness.
A debuff that targeted a single foe, plunging them into fear and stripping all enhancements for the duration. For spellcasters, it also delayed casting speed and raised failure rates.
Of course, it was useless against fear-immune targets—a highly limited ability. But when Rokan used it, things changed.
The Man-slayer title stripped away fear immunity.
In other words, unless it was some outlier beyond Man-slayer's reach, no one could escape the Mark of Madness.
Plus minor stat reductions—it was unmatched in one-on-one fights.
“Perfect.”
Confirming it had turned out as planned, Rokan left the slash-and-burn village in satisfaction.
“Wing mode.”
He spread his wings and took flight.
Summoning Kai was an option, but if Kai got affected by madness, confusion, or fear, it could backfire—hence the wings.
“There he is.”
Karocl kept shifting positions, but in this modest mountain, the likely spots were obvious. Finding him wasn't hard.
Rokan spotted him at the same moment he was spotted—but so what? Without hesitation, Rokan plummeted straight down.
“Red Meteor!”
Igniting himself into a blazing meteor, he hurtled toward Karocl and his trailing boar humans.
“Tempest Incarnation!”
*Boom!*
With his body swollen to enormous size, Rokan was a meteor incarnate.
The massive impact rocked the earth. It might draw other boar humans, but he ignored it.
As long as he finished Karocl first, the minions would be no issue.
“Madness Proclamation! Whole-Body Invincibility!”
[The Boar Human Boss Karocl feels fear from your madness.]
[Boar Human Boss Karocl's all stats decrease.]
[All enhancements on Boar Human Boss Karocl are removed.]
[Boar Human Boss Karocl cowers, unable to properly use his abilities.]
The effects hit directly.
With Madness Proclamation, the title-derived buffs and debuffs enveloped Rokan and Karocl.
Karocl—who could have at least traded blows with Rokan—had his abilities largely sealed and reduced to scraps.
“Steps of Fighting Spirit!”
Rokan surged forward to take his neck.
Power stacked and amplified with every step, carving through the boar humans in his path.
Karocl's personal buffs were weakened, but his special ability to buff the group remained. Still, even before mastering skills, Rokan had crushed them effortlessly.
Their resistance only sprayed blood, making Rokan stronger.
[Blood Slaughter effect activates.]
[Attack power and vitality amplify.]
That was why Rokan deliberately drew more blood.
He could have killed cleanly, but Blood Slaughter truly shone at level 5 and above.
'If it recovers HP too, it'd be true invincibility.'
At level 5, Blood Slaughter let him absorb vitality just by contact with blood.
Paired with Blood Mark's high absorption, gaining recovery from Blood Slaughter would make him unstoppable.
It enabled even rougher, bolder combat.
So Rokan gladly bathed in blood. Bonus: it leveled the skill.
*Groan! Whoosh!*
Karocl swung his massive hammer wildly in resistance.
But it was just panicked flailing.
Rokan didn't bother dodging—he met it head-on.
“A strength contest?”
*Boom!*
Battle Axe clashed frontally with the massive hammer.
But the hammer flew away. The recoil was so fierce that Karocl's grip tore open, blood gushing from shredded flesh.
[Afflicted with Weakness Curse.]
[All incoming damage increases for 3 minutes.]
Rokan couldn't avoid the curse either, but it didn't matter. In his current undying state, extra damage changed nothing.
“Gigantify!”
In that moment, Karocl hastily lowered his stance. Instead of chasing his flung weapon, he bulked his body into its primal form.
*Snort!*
He attempted a close-range charge. Even without a leap, the colossal power from his enlarged frame hurtled forward with devastating force.
“Hup!”
*Boom!*
Rokan's sudden close charge made him drop his Battle Axe.
He took the charge to the chest and seized the thick waist with both hands.
Gigantify had bulked him up, but charging low on all fours made him smaller than Tempest Incarnation Rokan.
It looked almost comical—a boar cradled in a human's arms.
“Hyah!”
Rokan hoisted him high and slammed him headfirst into the ground.
If there'd been an effect, stars would be circling his head.
“Strike of Ruin!”
A blow too powerful for a mere rap landed on his dazed skull.
The harsh impact shattered the ground around it.
His head was too tough to burst open, but one side caved in, and Karocl howled in agony.
“I'll finish you!”
Rokan nimbly leaped to retrieve his Battle Axe.
“Mad Slaughter.”
He whirled the Battle Axe in a cannonade of strikes, shredding Karocl.
[You have defeated Boar Human Boss Karocl.]
[This news reaches Karocl's owner.]
[Caution. Karocl's owner feels hostility toward the one who killed their pet.]
“...Crazy, there was no message like this!”