Chapter 281
Chapter 281
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 281
Chapter Title: Gaokan (2)
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“He’s probably… the God of Massacre. I’ve heard he was a Giant Hunter before he obtained his divinity.”
“The God of… Massacre? That god?”
“Yeah. Not omnipotent, but a god on the same level as those Heavenly Gods or Demon Gods.”
“Damn it…”
Suddenly a god. It was ridiculous, but the sense of difficulty hit first.
The whole reason for seeking Gale Wind was to complete the quest.
But if it was a god, how the hell was he supposed to meet one? Even the Heavenly God of this sector, who could be considered the god of the area, hadn’t shown himself in ages, according to him.
Whether he sensed Rokan’s thoughts or not, Gaokan grinned.
“A god, but not as grandiose as you might think. If you want to get technical, it’s just the realm right after Grand Master. Actually, more precisely, the one after that. It splits one more time depending on whether you gain divinity or not.”
“Ah…?”
It felt like he half-understood, half-didn’t.
The realm after Grand Master.
There was one more stage between Grand Master and godhood, and it didn’t seem like something you could just grind levels for casually. But technically, that’s how it was.
Rokan only had about twenty levels left until Grand Master. So maybe it wouldn’t be as hard to meet him as he thought?
As he harbored faint expectations, Gaokan delivered one more piece of good news.
“And it’s not like there’s no way to meet him at all.”
“What’s that?”
A way to meet Gale Wind even without reaching the same divine seat.
“Titan hunting.”
“…!”
“They say to meet a divine being, you need a sacrifice worthy of them. In that sense, to summon the God of Massacre, kill some Titans and grind up their hearts as offerings. One probably won’t cut it… Three to five ought to do the trick.”
“Titan…”
Rokan’s eyes narrowed at the word.
He’d heard there were Titans in the heavens too, ones with various attributes and traits like the Frost Titan, but he had to hunt those? It wouldn’t be easy.
Sure, he could unseal his weapons against Titans only, and awaken the ultimate technique of Gale Wind’s Battle Axe, but even so, Titans were never easy opponents.
Not to mention, this wasn’t about pulling out Titans weakened from eons asleep in glaciers—this was hunting proper, full-powered Titans. That made it even more dangerous.
‘No other way.’
But there was no alternative. He’d have to give it a shot.
Right now, even in its sealed state, it boasted plenty of attack power, but there were weapons in the heavens far superior to the sealed Gale Wind Battle Axe aplenty. And after dragging this quest along for so long with such difficulty, just dropping it now would be too regrettable.
Plus, if he met him, he might get another clue to his growth.
Rokan hardened his resolve.
Titan hunting.
Hell with it, he’d do it.
“Oh, right. You got that thing too, didn’t you?”
“That thing?”
“Yeah. Since we took down the Black Dragon together, you should have it by now.”
“Ah…”
At that moment, Gaokan reminded him of something he’d momentarily forgotten.
Dragon Slayer.
The thing that could be completed by slaying dragons of all seven attributes had opened another path forward for Rokan.
“Yes. You mean Dragon Slayer? If I may ask, how far along are you, Gaokan?”
“Me? Heh heh heh! I’m almost done. Just one trial left, but I’ll clear it soon enough. In that sense, you’re pretty lucky. If it’d been after I pulled off my big move, I wouldn’t have shown up here. I’d probably be something like the ‘God of Dragon Slaying’ by now.”
Rokan nodded at what wasn’t quite bragging but close enough. It seemed he’d hunted down about five more after that.
One more to go, and the quest would be complete.
Of course, no guarantee that alone would elevate him to godhood, but it sure looked like it would unlock another realm by then.
“In that spirit, I’ve got some time to kill. Want a hand?”
“Yes? Of course I’d be grateful, but…”
“Heh heh, good? Then it’s settled.”
Gaokan’s smile as he said it was downright shady.
Rokan felt an inexplicable unease, but whatever his ulterior motive, it wouldn’t be bad for him, so he nodded despite his hesitation.
“Then let’s kick off hell tra… no, special training!”
“Yes? You mean helping with the Titan hunting…”
“Why the hell would I bother with that?”
The next instant, Gaokan’s answer was unexpected. Wasn’t “helping” supposed to mean helping with the hunt?
In that brief moment, Rokan’s expression stiffened as memories flooded back from his past life—memories of this man’s training methods.
The type who taught with his fists.
Beat you until you learned, until you got good.
His body shuddered at the recollection of that brutal training style.
“Damn it…”
“Huh? What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“Then let’s go. You don’t need to pack anything, right?”
Gaokan half-dragged the reluctant Rokan along to his dwelling.
With a gate powered by shattering three whole heavenly runes, he led Rokan away and vanished.
* * *
“You’ve got good power and skill, but you rely on them too much.”
“Confidence is great, but skills aren’t a walk in the park.”
“Right now, you’re fine. Immortality ability, and your powers balloon depending on the situation.”
“Against average Joes, you look invincible. But what about foes stronger than you? Especially tricky ones with crowd control and mobility? You think their attack power’s any weaker than yours?”
The special training—no, hell training—that began with nagging wrecked Rokan day after day.
As if their previous spar had been a handout, Gaokan switched up his combat style and skills like he was a different person entirely, pounding Rokan mercilessly.
He managed to cover some ground with his raw power, technique, physical specs, and what they called control, but Gaokan—unlike the Lion King who swept enemies from the frontlines—tormented him in petty, sneaky ways, sometimes downright dirty.
‘Nearly died for real.’
And yet, he always stopped just short of killing him. Once, he even halted with 10,000 HP left.
Of course, it was thanks to a “Power Control” skill, but he pushed Rokan to the absolute brink, where a single drop of water could’ve finished him.
What if he’d popped Berserk? He’d have been beaten to death until the duration ran out.
Hell, he even knew about the magic heart somehow, and it’d been destroyed a few times.
‘Loves combat sims way too much.’
No matter how he sliced it, that wasn’t training. Sadist. It felt like a full-on masochist venting his urges.
To fight back, Rokan moved with utter desperation.
He switched strategies, altered his combat style, even swapped out skills entirely.
As a result, his one-on-one combat prowess improved dramatically.
He ditched all the AoE skills he’d picked up for mass slaughter and recreated single-target specialized ones several times over.
By turning the things he’d handled purely through control into skills, he gained counters for magic or ranged attacks galore.
‘Guy really was a king.’
It was all thanks to the skill shops in the Lion King’s territory, where he could procure everything he needed.
He blew through every last coin he had, but by selling off loot from hunting celestials and demons, he scraped by somehow.
“Thank…you.”
And when he figured he’d been tempered enough, he bid Gaokan farewell.
“Where you headed, scrub?”
Of course, after saying that, he got grabbed once or twice more and beaten soundly.
He’d sacrificed all his leveling time, but in the end, he became a true master even Gaokan had to acknowledge.
“Now get lost and descend! I’ve got work to do.”
Whether it was genuine satisfaction or just burnout, Rokan couldn’t tell, but the fact that he let him go meant his personality wouldn’t have allowed it otherwise.
Thus, a massively powered-up Rokan hightailed it out of Lion King territory. Just in case he changed his mind.
“But first, gotta hit the surface.”
Straight to gathering Titan intel or hunting them was impossible, though.
He was flat broke on coins.
He’d withdrawn earnings from a demon territory that hadn’t been hit yet to scrape together some usable coins, but it wasn’t enough for proper resupply.
So his decision was to descend to the surface.
Withdraw the massive pile of territory funds there, head back to the heavens, and convert to coins.
That way, he wouldn’t have to worry about coins for a good while.
“Rainbow Transfer, was it? Lame name.”
The Rainbow Transfer Tower was far grander than the name suggested.
Not quite on the level of the airship dock, but it happened at the top floor of a proper tower.
The cost wasn’t cheap either: 10 million coins to send to the surface, and 5 million for the “Rune” to return to the heavens.
For Rokan in dire straits, it meant scraping the absolute bottom and hunting a few monsters on top.
[You have paid 15,000,000 coins.]
[You have acquired the Rune of Heavenly Leap.]
[Rainbow Transfer commencing. Please stand still and wait.]
Once he paid, the transfer ritual began right away.
Seven-colored energy converged on the tower, focusing on the magic circle where Rokan stood.
‘That’s why they call it rainbow.’
Yielding his body to the force, he felt himself floating up.
It started as slowly defying gravity and ascending, then rocketed faster than the heavenly cannon ride, piercing the atmosphere.
Wyvern flocks circling the skies? Missrallsorum? Trifles like that couldn’t even approach, warded off by the overwhelming aura protecting him.
It wasn’t mere flight—it skipped through space like stones on water, guiding him to another world.
[You have entered the surface.]
It took less than five minutes to even think, *Ah, I’m back.*
“Territory management.”
Before he could fully get his bearings, Rokan mechanically opened the territory management screen.
As the one who’d ascended to emperor before heading to the heavens, the number of sub-screens that popped up was no joke.
With familiar motions, he tapped through them to withdraw a suitable chunk of territory funds, then headed for the imperial palace.
His main goal was converting gold to coins, but since he’d made the trip down, why not check the situation?
“Serves ’em right.”
First up was news on Odin and the Ragnarok Guild.
The ones who’d grown under the Fallen’s patronage.
They were still powerful even after Rokan butchered them, but since they’d nearly ended the world, every race was hunting them down.
Some hadn’t been seen in ages—maybe they’d deleted their characters and rerolled, or quit the game entirely.
Self-inflicted.
Rokan felt zero sympathy.
Hell, if they dared show their faces and act up, he’d personally go smash them.
“These fuckers?”
Next was the war situation.
With Rokan gone to the heavens, the races had slipped into an unspoken ceasefire and were back to bickering and skirmishing like in the game’s early days—but imperial palace intel had picked up something odd.
After combing through the info meticulously, one piece of news caught Rokan’s eye.
With Rokan out of sight, the Black Dragon Legion was gearing up for a counterattack.
As Rokan pulled out that intel and read through it, his eyes gleamed coldly.