Chapter 301
Chapter 301
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 301
Chapter Title: The Veteran's Guerrilla Warfare (1)
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[The Heavenly God expresses disapproval of the current situation.]
[The Demon God gazes at you with a sticky smile.]
“Huh?”
The Land of Judgment, where everything had burned pitch-black. Rokan, standing tall there alone, glanced up at the sky while picking up the scattered items on the ground.
The Heavenly God and the Demon God. Were they watching him?
After all the celestials who had followed Rokan were wiped out, they had sent these indirect messages.
‘Can’t blame them.’
He found the situation rather amusing.
Though he had received the Heavenly God’s blessing, Rokan wasn’t affiliated with the heavens. In fact, he had slaughtered every last celestial from the grand temple, the heart of the celestial realm.
All thanks to the special terrain effect of the Land of Judgment.
Not only had he annihilated them, but he hadn’t done it alone, so the Heavenly God had every reason to be troubled.
On the flip side, the Demon God, who harbored deep grudges against the Heavenly God, was delighted.
“Well, they were made to be killed anyway, right?”
But Rokan felt no remorse or guilt.
In the end, celestials or demons— to players, they were just monsters designed to be hunted.
In that sense, both celestials and demons were nothing more than excellent experience sources for a neutral like him.
“Truly a goldmine.”
And as a result, Rokan had finally reached level 398.
“Just one level short.”
Unfortunately, he fell one level shy of his goal of 399, but it wouldn’t take long to close the gap.
Once word of their annihilation spread, the celestials would surely make a move.
[The Heavenly God says they’re at a loss now.]
[The Heavenly God has given up on mediation.]
[The Heavenly God says the winners are our side.]
On top of that, he received these messages.
“It’s not just me, right?”
If the celestials had received similar oracles or messages, they’d be desperate to hunt him down.
They had hesitated before due to the Lion King’s prestige and the Heavenly God’s wrath, but after an incident like this, even the Lion King would have no pretext to intervene.
An investigation into whether it was a fair fight would come first, but in the end, they’d surely send a massive celestial army against Rokan himself.
An outrageously powerful force that even he would have to risk his life against, backed by countless troops.
“But just one more level, and I’m set.”
Rokan wasn’t overly worried about death or level loss.
Once he hit 399 and claimed the Grand Master quest, his level wouldn’t drop during the quest.
The best outcome would be reaching 399 before clashing with them, of course.
[The God of Massacre has heard the rumors and is peeking in.]
[The God of Massacre is looking down at you.]
“Huh?”
As he devised his plan, someone neither the Heavenly God nor the Demon God peered down at Rokan.
The God of Massacre.
The being known on the surface as the Mad Wind had revealed itself.
“Damn it, can’t you come down? Mad Wind! Can you hear me?”
In his impatience, Rokan shouted the god’s name at the top of his lungs.
Rumble.
But it was futile. Thunder filled the space, drowning out his voice.
[The God of Massacre says to seek the Altar of Massacre if you wish to meet him.]
“The Altar of Massacre?”
Yet it wasn’t entirely pointless—a response came soon after. The god had read Rokan’s desire to meet and provided the way.
The Altar of Massacre.
A place he’d never heard of, not marked on any map, but that was enough. As long as it existed somewhere, he’d find it eventually; it was just a matter of time.
“Alright. I’ll come find you.”
With a satisfied smile, Rokan finished collecting the spoils from the celestials and headed to the demon realm.
“I’m putting out a bounty on the Altar of Massacre.”
Out of fear of the celestials’ assault? Hardly. He knew those stiff-necked celestials would take time to act directly, so this was to locate the altar.
A bounty of 100 million coins.
Declaring he’d pay that sum to whoever found the Altar of Massacre drew demons like flies. 100 million coins was enough to live off for quite a while.
“Guess I just wait now.”
At this point, Rokan didn’t even need to move himself.
He’d cleared all known titan locations and filled the slots for the angler that ate hearts. Meeting the Mad Wind would sort itself out with time.
The Heavenly God’s and Demon God’s blessings? He’d gotten lucky finding them back-to-back, but hunting without hints was impossible.
The last quest left was Dragon Slayer, which even the Lion King hadn’t completed.
It was out of reach for now.
So what next?
“Leveling up, of course.”
In the end, Rokan turned to his level. He’d pursued short-term power boosts so far, but weren’t those all means to faster leveling?
Going from 398 to 399 required massive experience, but it had to be done eventually.
“But even hunting high master peak monsters... it’ll take forever.”
The problem was, even slaughtering those at the cusp of high master, filling the exp bar could take ages.
Without hunting level 400+ monsters that gave huge exp, quick leveling was tough.
“Level 400... level 400, huh. Wait.”
Then, a thought flashed through Rokan’s mind.
A way to hunt multiple level 400 monsters.
A way to sweep up masses of high master monsters too.
Didn’t he already know it?
“Heh heh heh. This’ll be fun.”
Rokan quickly formulated a plan and put it into action.
First, buying materials to send to Droxy.
It might delay things a bit, so he stocked extra materials and retrieved the items already made.
Filling his inventory with materials, Rokan visited Droxy first to exchange them for the crafted items.
[Red Axe Droxy][Lv 397]
“Oh, epic grade now? Good work. Keep it up.”
“Huh?! Again?”
Before the fine materials, the craftsman’s spirit blazed—Droxy looked a mess.
He’d crafted so much his level had risen another notch; at this rate, he’d hit 399 just from crafting.
Probably thanks to producing epic-grade items.
‘Win-win, right?’
Of course, he was in overwork territory, but seeing Droxy’s eyes gleam at the even taller material piles eased concerns.
Crunch crunch.
So Rokan just fed the items he received into the Demon God’s Fang Belt one by one.
[The Demon God’s Fang Belt grows one stage via Predatory Growth.]
[The Demon God’s Fang Belt grows one stage via Predatory Growth.]
Some were too good to feed the belt, but its frenzy left no choice.
As a result, the Demon God’s Fang Belt advanced two whole stages.
[Demon God’s Fang Belt][Godly]
A belt made by the Demon God himself from part of his fangs.
It seems like it could chew and swallow anything.
-Defense: 6,666
-Durability: Indestructible
-Strength +500
-Vitality +500
-[Predatory Growth] Available
-Additional Defense +3,000
-All Stats +200
-Movement Speed +10%
-[Evil Spirit Domination] Available
No telling how many more stages it could grow, but this was already insane. Extra defense, stats, and speed boosts.
Plus, a new skill: Evil Spirit Domination.
[Evil Spirit Domination]
Corrupts and dominates the minds of spirit-type entities within range.
-No item or experience gain from dominated monsters.
“Oh?”
It couldn’t summon evil spirits directly, so limited, but in areas with spirit monsters, it’d be near-invincible.
Being Demon God power, it couldn’t be stored, and sadly, no exp from kills.
“Still, it’ll come in handy.”
The boosted options alone satisfied him fully.
He needed every bit of power now.
“Shall we go?”
Fully restocked, Rokan opened the Heavenly Rune Book with gleaming eyes.
Teleporting back to somewhere in the demon realm.
***
“Here?”
Back in the demon realm, Rokan immediately gathered the vampires and werewolves he’d been powering up.
Leaving only the bare minimum to preserve their races, he led them all on a stealthy march somewhere.
Sharlock’s vampires could only move properly at night, causing a slight delay, but prioritizing full strength, they reached the destination.
“We attack at nightfall.”
They hid in nearby hills overlooking the enemy territory’s border, waiting for night.
A full moon rose tonight.
Perfect conditions for vampires and werewolves alike to unleash max power, yet they moved cautiously.
Their foe was a high-rank demon, after all.
‘Beast Tamer Gromtan.’
The guy who kept level 400 monsters—ones Rokan had killed multiple times—as pets.
Thanks to that, he was fully hostile to Rokan, rumored to track his whereabouts. Now, Rokan had come for him first.
‘Better to strike first than get backstabbed.’
Leveling in a hunting ground was fine, but a fatal mistake could cause irreparable damage.
If he released level 400 pets freely, his surroundings would teem with similar beasts.
That’s why Rokan’s forces couldn’t breach his city in one go.
The moment they crossed the border, swarms of beasts would block them.
‘Good chance to level fast too.’
But that also meant this was prime spot for Rokan to power-level.
Level 400 monsters were rare anywhere in demon or heavenly realms, and rarely grouped.
To level quickly, he judged ‘war’ necessary. Most high-level monsters and demons served under ‘noble’ demons.
‘It’s starting.’
After two hours of bated breath, the sun set and the moon rose.
“Awooooo!”
The werewolves couldn’t resist instinct, howling as they unleashed surging power.
Tension rippled instantly from beyond the territory border.
“Let’s go.”
Rokan’s command rang out.
With the werewolves’ silver wave, the night sky darkened under a swarm of bats.
They began their assault on the earl-rank demon’s territory.