Chapter 400: Two Swords (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 400: Two Swords (1)
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Name: Yamata no Orochi
Gender: Male
Age: ???
Level: ???
Strength: 245 | Agility: 215 | Stamina: 236 | Mana: 101
Available Stat Points: 0
Inherent Holy Spear: Eight Swamps
Unique Ability: AoE Petrification
Skills: 'Yata's Mirror' Lv31, 'Enlargement' Lv31, 'Spiral Hallucination' Lv30, 'Deadly Mana Poison' Lv29, 'Hell's Grip' Lv29
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[Copy Condition: Yamata no Orochi, one of the deities belonging to the great upper-floor faction, 'The East'. Facing this deity while his powers are currently sealed is nothing short of suicide. However, if you can overturn this overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation, land a critical blow on this deity, and send him back to his original floor, you will be able to copy one of his inherent Holy Spears, inherent abilities, or skills.]
A deity from Japanese mythology.
Indeed... His aura was as terrifying as his name suggested.
If his true body had manifested without any restrictions, he would have filled this entire area, not just the tent.
"Kroooo!"
"Sssss!"
"What a delicious-looking human. I want to swallow him in one bite."
"Hehe. Patient, now. Eating him here won't do any good."
"When you finally reach our floor later, we'll devour you for real then, brat."
His breath, heavily laced with venom, slowly began to corrode the inside of the tent.
Sizzle!
[Yamata no Orochi activates Lv31 'Yata's Mirror'!]
A power that induces hallucinations and optical illusions.
Jinhyuk's vision instantly blurred.
Effects forced through breathing are among the highest tier of mental-type abilities.
Right. Since he had such a trump card prepared, it made sense why Oh Ji-won was so confident.
It was somewhat understandable why he had been staying here alone.
"It's a holy relic I barely managed to borrow after making a contract with the Japanese side. No matter how strong you are, you won't be able to face this deity bare-handed."
"I suppose so."
No matter how high his adaptive stats were, he couldn't defeat a manifested deity.
However, he seemed to be gravely mistaken about something...
"You're not the only one receiving the unsealing effect."
The 'Circus Zone' affected every player present.
Snap.
Jinhyuk lightly snapped his fingers.
Then, as if they had been waiting, multiple status windows cascaded down.
[The deity 'Rotting Heart' shows intense hostility toward the one who dared touch his apostle candidate!]
[The deity 'Black Hound' quickly responds, stating he has found an opportunity to earn a favor.]
[The deity 'Howling Thunder' grips Mjolnir!]
Rumble, rumble!
A shower of blue sparks.
Because multiple high-ranking deities were trying to manifest all at once, the weather on the first floor was on the verge of changing.
"W-what is this? No, how on earth..."
Oh Ji-won't pupils dilated in sheer shock.
These were existences he hadn't dared to even imagine.
The highest-ranking deities, whom he thought he might only meet someday in the distant future, were revealing their presence right here, right now.
"What kind of... human is..."
Even Orochi could not hide his fluster.
There was a clear hierarchy of power even among deities.
To the deities of the East, whose power was relatively weak, the deities of the Demon World, Egypt, and Ragnarok—who had accumulated countless achievements—were nothing short of disasters.
Moreover, there wasn't just one, but three of them.
Three deities were scrambling to step forward just to protect a single human...
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.
[The deity 'Rotting Heart' asks if he should step forward and turn the snake into snake wine.]
[The deity 'Howling Thunder' chimes in, suggesting that roasting it whole wouldn't be a bad idea either.]
[The deity 'Black Hound' has finished preparing to move.]
Crackle!
The storm of mana grew even more violent.
A massive light flickered in the sky, forming a single sphere.
They were coming.
The ones who resided at the very top of the Tower.
[Three deities are manifesting!]
The tent vanished entirely.
* * *
Three deities appeared before the giant serpent.
"My, we have quite a few competitors. I'm sorry, but that boy is my apostle."
Veliel sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"The Demon World and Ragnarok... You've been busy wandering around while I wasn't looking. You two might not know, but we were the very first to form a bond with that guy."
Anubis growled, holding his long scythe.
"I owe that man a great debt. I have only come to repay his grace."
Lastly, Thor stood holding his dripping, blood-stained hammer.
As if he had just come from a fierce battle, his armor was also drenched in blood.
Watching these three gathered together was a magnificent sight.
Of course, that was assuming they would actually work together.
"It's absurd that you weaklings are trying to contract with my apostle."
"What did you say? Who exactly are you calling weak! You're just a Demon King who looks like a gigolo. I could wipe out the likes of you all by myself if I wanted to."
"Haha. That's amusing. Why don't you go ahead and try?"
"I just might."
Veliel and Anubis channeled their mana.
Naturally, these highly prideful beings belonging to different factions were never going to get along.
"Wait! Let's not fight among ourselves. How about we decide on a single task, and the winner gets priority? Fighting among ourselves will only end up harming the human."
"Hmm. That makes sense. To contract with a talented player, one must prove they are a deity worthy of him."
"So we're choosing the strongest? Fine. I shall participate with the pride of the great demon race on the line."
"Then, the one who crushes that snake wins."
Everyone's wrath turned toward Orochi.
Orochi flinched and instinctively took a step back.
However...
"It's fine. There's no need for that."
Jinhyuk stopped them all.
This was merely a performance to break Oh Ji-won's spirit.
There was no need for multiple deities to step forward just to catch a single snake that was embarrassing to even call a dragon.
Step.
Jinhyuk slowly walked forward.
"What... do you think you're doing?"
All of Orochi's heads turned to look at Jinhyuk at once.
"What do you think? The audience is packed, so I figured we should have some proper fun too."
"Are you out of your mind? You're going to face me alone without the deities?"
"Yeah. That's the plan."
"...Even if you won't die, your arrogance pierces the heavens. No, seeing how you leap off a cliff instead of grabbing the lifeline thrown to you, perhaps you are simply foolish."
The venom flowing from Orochi's mouth grew even thicker.
To dare face him bare-handed...
There was no need to hesitate.
He would swallow him in one bite and plant the true meaning of terror deep into his bones.
Rumble!
Orochi's body slithered sideways in an instant.
It was an astonishingly fast speed, completely unbefitting of his massive build.
Approaching from the flank in the blink of an eye, Orochi threw his jaws wide open.
"Die!"
Crunch!
His jaws snapped shut.
However, the message announcing elimination did not appear.
Nor was there any sound of a scream.
"For someone who calls himself a deity, that was a pretty cheap ambush. Tsk, tsk."
"...You reacted to that?"
A mere human who couldn't even use his abilities?
...It was a fluke!
No matter how restricted he was by the event, there was no way a human could evade his noble attack.
Orochi's heads moved even faster and more erratically.
Snap!
Crunch!
His jaws snapped shut as if to swallow his prey whole.
Yet, no matter how many times he repeated it, nothing changed.
Jinhyuk slipped away like an eel, maintaining a razor-thin margin of distance.
'As expected, this is why experience is so important.'
If this had been his first time facing this guy, he would have fallen to the very first attack.
He was incredibly fast, and ambushes aimed from blind spots were almost impossible to react to.
The only reason he could evade them so perfectly was because he knew one specific strategy.
Jinhyuk focused all his senses.
Sound.
The faint, distinct 'whoosh' of wind right before an attack indicated which direction it would come from.
And exactly 0.3 seconds after that sound, the attack would land.
Crunch!
Once again, fangs clashed against empty air.
Since he had dodged this much, it was about time...
Just as he thought that.
"Aaaaargh!"
"Stop running around like a fly!"
"Annoying, annoying, annoying!"
Orochi's patience had reached its limit.
As if dying of frustration, he thrashed his entire body around, venting his rage.
This was his limit.
Whether his pride was hurt or not, he was now determined to use his full power to grind the human into dust.
[Yamata no Orochi activates his inherent ability 'AoE Petrification'!]
Hummmmm!
Jinhyuk's body froze on the spot.
Following 'Yata's Mirror', he was now hit with 'AoE Petrification'.
He had been hit with multiple overlapping crowd control skills.
"Ugh...!"
At most, he could barely move his hands.
"Muhahaha! You look like a bug caught in a spiderweb!"
He could end this in a single blow right now.
To put it bluntly, even a simple whip of his tail would turn the human into a bloody pulp.
However, Orochi had absolutely no intention of ending it so easily.
He had to crush him completely.
Only then would the human remember this terror when he eventually climbed to the upper floors of the Tower.
[Yamata no Orochi activates his inherent Holy Spear 'Eight Swamps'!]
Crackle!
Eight green spheres began to gather within his eight mouths.
While a typical dragon's breath was discharged in a straight line, Orochi's breath scattered particle-sized poison in all directions.
The goal was to sacrifice destructive power to drastically widen the area of effect and maximize its efficiency.
Hence the name, 'Eight Swamps'.
The acidic mists of varying concentrations were no different from a massive swamp from which one could never escape.
Right then.
Jinhyuk thrust the sword he was holding forward.
He had been waiting for this exact timing.
The very moment Orochi became certain of his victory upon activating his inherent Holy Spear.
As his mana concentrated on unleashing the breath, the 'illusion' and 'hallucination' effects had relatively weakened.
[The special ability of 'Red Lotus' is unlocked.]
What bloomed amidst the thick green mist was a tiny spark.
A mere handful of flame, so small that one would miss it without looking closely.
However, it took only a few seconds for that tiny spark to transform into a massive, devastating fire.
"An AoE breath versus a single-point breath... I don't even need to say it, but you know which one is more powerful, right?"
There was no need to hear an answer.
Orochi's eyes, wide with horror, spoke for him.
[The breath of the Red Dragon 'Vesilmikan' is activated!]
BOOM!
A crimson line cut through the air.
The breath, completely incinerating the toxic mist, pierced straight through Orochi's chest.
"Kieeeee!"
"My body... my body is burning!"
"Aaaaargh!"
Screams of agony echoed.
Orochi, who had always melted others with his poison, had never experienced such horrific pain.
If there was any consolation, it was that Vesilmikan's breath was even hotter than he could have imagined.
"How... how can a human use a dragon's bre...ath..."
Before the pain could prolong, Orochi's avatar turned to ash and scattered away.
[The holy relic 'Serpent's Shed Skin' has been destroyed.]
[You have successfully copied the inherent Holy Spear 'Eight Swamps'!]
[The main event 'Plunder War' has ended.]
With this, the battle was completely over.
Of course, there was still someone who couldn't accept the reality.
"No... this can't be... How did I get this... Haha. Right, this must be a dream. It has to be. I need to wake up. I'm the prince who will inherit the Empire. If I just handle today's matter well, everything will go... haha... exactly as I want. Yes. Of course it will. I just need this holy relic. As long as I have this holy relic..."
Oh Ji-won clutched the burnt shed skin with trembling hands.
It was a loan, not a transfer.
Therefore, the destruction of the holy relic meant he would be left with an astronomical debt to Japan.
A debt so massive he could never hope to repay it.
But...
"Why are you tearing up already? Seeing you cry like that is almost making me feel soft-hearted."
Oh Ji-won's misfortune was not over.
It had only just begun.
"Now then, shall we start settling the score between us?"
Jinhyuk pressed his two daggers against Oh Ji-won's throat.