Chapter 388
Chapter 388
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 388
Chapter Title: Fire and Ice (2)
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Rokan gave up on nothing. He couldn’t.
It was thanks to absorbing the blood of two gods, but he had harbored both divinity and demonic energy in one body. Surrender to something as trivial as the powers of fire and ice?
Not even out of sheer spite.
Instead of surrendering his body to the pain and the clash of the two powers, he planted his own will deep within.
‘Fine, if you two cause trouble, I’ll crush you all!’
He stirred up his defiance and malice, but it was like a shrimp’s back exploding in a battle between whales.
In the face of the absolute freeze and hellfire that he himself was emanating, it could do nothing—forming only to vanish again and again.
But he didn’t break. He didn’t stop.
Each time he was trampled, Rokan raised his power even more tenaciously.
He drew together every ounce of power dwelling in his blood, flesh, and soul.
He forged the power of his soul into something colder than absolute freeze and hotter than hellfire.
Patsutsutsutsutsut!
In that instant, a savage energy began exploding from Rokan’s body. It burst apart the red dragon’s flesh that had buried him and shredded its scales to rags.
The shockwaves from the clash of the three powers alone warped the terrain and overturned the heavens and earth.
“Krraaaaaargh!”
Rokan unwittingly unleashed a roar of madness.
As if on that signal, the history he had built began to coalesce into one.
The souls he had slain, the blood he had bathed in—they all propped up the frenzied power of his soul.
Among them were even those of the white dragon and red dragon, the original owners of the two warring powers.
And the void.
It—the thing that devoured and digested everything—wedged itself in.
If the void power Rokan harbored had been just a little greater, it would have rampaged at that moment to seize everything he possessed.
But it was too small for that. His unyielding will blocked the void’s energy, which should have burrowed in from the spirit first.
The void, which should have operated organically like a single lifeform, was stripped of its power and function, reduced to a mere lifeless object.
That sparked the change.
The law of absolute opposition, where they could not coexist. The void gnawed away at it.
It disabled the safeguard meant to prevent the destruction of body and mind.
And so, at last, it became possible to harbor two powers that should never coexist in one body.
“Mere power like this!”
The moment the law shattered, the balance of power broke as well.
Human strength—human will—surpassed what the dragon had accumulated over thousands of years.
It was possible only because he had abandoned persuading and harmonizing the two powers, instead crushing them by force.
The violent energy, mirroring its master, subjugated the two powers through violence.
Kwaang! Kkwaang! Kkwaang! Kkwaang! Kkwaang!
Thanks to that, searing pain erupted within, and his body repeatedly swelled as if it would burst. But Rokan now bore the authority of immortality.
No matter how much life force was whittled away, it couldn’t drag him to death.
As if trusting in that very fact, Rokan’s energy forced the two powers to submit. It compelled their obedience with merciless violence.
[Feat transcending laws! You have united two powers at the pinnacle of antagonism.]
[Acquired title ‘Song of Fire and Ice.’]
[You are the first to acquire this title.]
[Song of Fire and Ice][GOD]
You have united two powers at the pinnacle of antagonism. This is an act that defies the laws of the world.
You are the first to acquire this title.
[Effects]
-All attacks gain 120% additional ice and flame attribute attack power
-On being hit, [Frost] and [Hellfire] effects activate simultaneously
-[Frozen World] or [Hell Flame] effect selectable for use
-Water(水), Ice(氷), Fire(火) attribute attacks nullified
-Divinity resistance strengthened
-Special skill [Song of Fire and Ice] usable
[Song of Fire and Ice]
Clash antagonistic powers to wield a force unknown to the world.
-All stats 2.5x
-[Frost] and [Hellfire] effects 2.5x
-All skill damage 2.5x
-Flame or ice skill damage 4x
-Life force decreases by 500 per second
“……Crazy.”
Even as pain blurred his mind, Rokan let out a voice thick with dismay.
Weren’t Legend-grade titles supposed to be the pinnacle? Yet a God-grade title had appeared out of nowhere.
And its effects lived up to the name.
The Legend-grade frost power had merged with the hellfire power and grown even stronger.
The frost that triggered on being hit now activated simultaneously with the new hellfire, and the special skill-class Frozen Field had upgraded to Frozen World—not as an activation skill, but as an aura effect.
But what truly made “crazy” slip out was the addition of the cheat skill called Song of Fire and Ice.
All stats amplified 2.5 times? Damage too? Rokan already wielded destructive power that made even Majesty Master flinch. This was no exaggeration—planetary devastation-level attack power.
‘Life force drain? Meaningless.’
It came with a penalty of 500 life force per second, but that held no significance for Rokan.
Five hundred per second was an insane figure—even for someone with world tree-level life force, it wouldn’t last long. But he had berserk-based skills that let him rampage freely even at zero life force.
In fact, using it during Gale Incarnation or Berserk would rapidly deplete his life force without needing to take hits, triggering Unyielding Will’s effects.
That would double his stats again.
Factor in various title effects, and his combat power ballooned by several times—no, dozens of times. Counting it would be impossible.
“Huhuhuhuhuhuhu!”
Lying atop the lava zone like it was an ondol room, the red dragon’s corpse draped over him like a blanket, insane laughter poured from Rokan’s mouth without end.
It felt like the system’s blessing to solo the whole thing.
Just four levels left.
The Majesty Master realm was right around the corner.
***
“Ugh.”
Rokan, giddy at the thought of gathering his power and smashing the remaining dragons to complete the Dragon Killer quest, let out a dying groan.
He had gathered his power, but the aftereffects were no joke.
[Body Stabilization: 187 hours 38 minutes]
A full 187 hours. Nearly eight days of being completely immobilized.
With only twelve days until the auction he’d promised with the kings of the fame realm, this was a real headache.
His body itched, and he was dying to move, but there was nothing he could do. The system had warned that any reckless use of power would cause it to rampage again.
Even Rokan couldn’t ignore the system’s warning this time.
His stats were inflated by various title effects, so he could’ve farmed petty experience from decent monsters, but his condition was too wrecked for even that.
“Tsk. Guess I’ll make some money.”
With no choice, Rokan turned his attention to money-making, which he’d neglected for so long.
He diligently stocked goods by visiting shops across the mortal world and heavenly realms, and gathered any useful information along the way.
“Trouble’s finally erupted.”
Word was, the illusion demon realm had plunged into full-scale war. Like a domino effect.
With the King of Nothingness, Carlton, toppled and vanished to recover his strength, the King of Demonic Arts and the King of Ferocity eyed his throne. Seizing the opening, the King of Survival and the King of Illusory Dreams targeted their territories.
It was unfolding exactly as the King of Illusory Dreams, Azar, had planned.
His newly gained territory wasn’t all that vast, but he seemed content with weakening his rivals and slightly expanding his own domain and divinity—for now, he was hunkering down.
But anyone could predict he’d one day unleash his stockpiled power to become the one and only king.
Whether he’d meet Rokan and his allies as a friend or foe then? Who knew.
“Nothing much to see in the fame realm.”
Meanwhile, the fame realm was in a standoff, all pining for Rokan while eyeing one another warily.
His choice would decide the auction winner and tip the balance of power, so he suspected secret alliances or pacts behind the scenes—but that was for the cards to reveal.
“The spirits got the real haul?”
In that sense, the ones who’d profited most solidly were the spirit realm.
Thanks to commissioning Rokan to spread world trees, they hadn’t expanded their territory, but the quality of their power felt transformed.
Spirit levels had risen across the board, and the divinity radiating from the greater spirits had grown in stature.
Rokan, now able to sense divinity even if he couldn’t wield it, was certain.
“The celestials…… still pulling their petty tricks.”
And the celestials.
Having ousted and framed Rokan, Lafuze had smoothly ascended to the top of the first-class celestials.
High celestials had banded tightly around him, dismissing the rumors of celestial truth Rokan had spread as mere gossip until they faded away.
But it was undoubtedly a powder keg waiting to ignite.
Rokan ground his teeth and kept the info-gathering reins tight on them.
To respond instantly if they came for him.
Demons? No real news.
He’d kept an eye on the vampire lord’s movements, but info was scarce to begin with, and there’d been no provocations since deploying Sharlock—so he decided to watch and wait.
Even a full-on war with them right now wouldn’t guarantee his dominance.
“Balance is insane.”
After days of tending his shops, a staggering fortune had piled up in his inventory. Enough to build not just a city, but a nation.
Even after pouring plenty back into reinvestments.
Places to spend were scarce, but he was earning faster than he could burn through it.
The chaebol life everyone dreamed of.
But Rokan wasn’t satisfied. There was still too far to go to rest on his laurels.
Wary of upstarts charging fiercely from behind, he sought ways to use his time more efficiently.
“Full army, charge!”
Namely, hiring mercenaries and soldiers. And proxy hunting with them.
The experience was pathetic compared to hunting personally, but free experience was profit enough.
The costs were massive relative to the soldiers’ quality, but Rokan no longer cared about expenses.
Like grinding coins into experience, he maxed out soldiers and mercenaries, then sent them charging into hunting grounds.
He’d spent those three days productively enough when unexpected news arrived.
“……They’re doing this?”
A world event announcement in the global notice.
It was a world event unheard of in The Lord.