Chapter 141
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Not Your Opponent
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Bellos's main skill, 『Legalism』.
It was one of the world's most powerful unique skills, comparable to the absolute skills of monarchs.
However, 『Legalism』 was ultimately a skill he'd obtained after killing the Court Archduke.
In other words, he had another skill that had originally been his mainstay—one capable of slaying top-tier players like the Court Archduke.
And at this very moment.
He was activating his first unique skill, using Yujin's heart as the sacrifice.
You have selected the heart of a descended constellation as the sacrifice.
The sacrifice meets the minimum value requirement.
Unique skill 『Sacrifice Ritual』 activated.
You may petition a reward worth 97% of the sacrifice's value from the constellation. However, sacrifices offered without consent are reduced to 9.7% value.
Please select your reward.
"Com... Red. You..."
Yujin spat up a gush of blood.
Bellos flashed her a cold smile and selected one of the options floating before his eyes.
"Reward selection: 『Constellation Transplant』."
Thump.
The moment Bellos opened his mouth.
The heart he clutched in his grip began to throb.
Yujin writhed in an attempt to resist, but it was futile.
In the end, all she could do was watch helplessly as her heart gradually dissolved into motes of light and was sucked into Bellos's hand.
"Resistance is pointless. When you acknowledged my command authority, didn't you hand over your life and death to me?"
Bellos whispered mockingly into her ear.
That was when the change began.
The more light motes he absorbed, the faster Bellos's battered body recovered.
Conversely, Yujin's complexion—which had remained unfazed through any mortal wound thus far—rapidly paled.
And finally, once her heart had fully melted away.
Bellos pulled his hand from her hollowed chest and sneered.
"Why didn't you just obey my orders from the start? Then this regrettable mess wouldn't have happened."
"......"
Was it because remnants of her immortality lingered?
Even with her chest torn open and heart ripped out, Yujin refused to die, glaring ferociously at Bellos.
But that was all she could manage.
Her wound showed no sign of closing.
Thus, as she knelt powerlessly and glared at him, Bellos snatched the hammer from her grasp, a savage smile curling his lips.
"Don't be too disappointed. I'll make sure to put your constellation to good use."
Creak, clang!
After Bellos hefted the hammer.
The mechanical gauntlets and boots Yujin had been wearing detached on their own, layering atop the Greek-style armor Bellos wore—as if swapping out obsolete parts.
It wasn't a fusion so much as a crude overlay.
Like forcing mismatched toy components together, the result was grotesque and haphazard.
But he paid it no mind.
He even superimposed the lawbook he held onto the armor.
And the moment the lawbook—broken down into countless gears and mechanical parts—was absorbed into Bellos's armor.
Corrosion rate rising sharply!
Star Spirit Engine durability dropping rapidly.
The vessel-less 'Raging Immortal Giant' rages in fury.
『Constellation Descent III』 and 『Constellation Descent V』 overlap, causing powers of different constellations to clash.
If 『Constellation Descent』 is not canceled or 『Constellation Transplant』 revoked, corrosion may exceed Star Spirit Engine limits.
Crimson messages flooded his vision.
The system was warning him of the dangerous stunt he'd pulled.
In truth, Bellos felt a burning fury alongside an explosive pressure building in his body with every heartbeat, as if he might burst at any moment.
Even for a grand duke-level player, descending two constellations was beyond his flesh's limits.
All the more so since he'd forced it with a skill.
"Great Giant, be patient."
Even amid this, Bellos laughed.
He had anticipated this outcome when using 『Sacrifice Ritual』, and the solution was already prepared.
"Unlike that unruly sacrifice of mine, I'm giving you a chance to rampage to your heart's content."
With that low murmur, Bellos lifted the box he'd clutched like his lifeline even as everything fell apart.
The moment he reached for the lid of the tightly sealed box.
Bam!
"Tch, why the hell did you twist up a perfectly fine space like this...?"
Rimon, who had burst through the labyrinth wall Bellos created, trailed off.
The instant he spotted Yujin slumped like a corpse and Bellos's utterly transformed appearance.
Rimon sprang into action.
In three strides, he closed the distance to Bellos and swung to sever his neck.
From his vast experience battling villains and dark wizards, he'd learned it was best to kill suspicious foes first.
Slash.
And Rimon's blade, swift as his judgment, cleanly decapitated Bellos.
"Too late."
Two problems.
Bellos didn't die.
And even headless, his hand was opening the box.
Thus, as the sealed lid popped open and Bellos seized the Heartblack Violin within.
"『Special Performance Act, Enacted』."
Vreeee.
The violin sang on its own.
Belching a chilling melody.
Bellos's armor shuddered violently.
As if dozens of disparate instruments were harmonizing into an orchestra under a conductor's baton.
The crudely overlaid gauntlets and boots began resonating with the violin's tune, fusing seamlessly with the armor.
Internal wiring connected.
Components interlocked.
Even the gauntlets merged fully.
By the time countless transformations concluded.
Bellos's gauntlets and boots had melded perfectly into the armor, as if they'd always been one.
And the violin's melody affected more than just the exterior.
A rough yet stable pulse of power.
And a satisfying rage.
Grinning savagely at the results unfolding as planned, Bellos activated another unique skill newly etched into his heart.
"『Avatar of Wrath』."
『Avatar of Wrath』
Power stabilized. Rage amplified.
Kaboom!!!
It happened right after.
Bellos split vertically.
Exploiting the transformation gap, Rimon slashed him—but got sent flying by the hammer.
On the surface, mutual destruction.
Bellos should have been bisected from crown to groin, and Rimon smashed to instant death by the hammer.
But what unfolded was no bloodbath of corpses.
Rumble!
As if the cleaving had never happened.
In the blink of an eye, Bellos regenerated fully and slammed his hammer into the ground.
From that point, fissures spiderwebbed forward as hundreds of rock pillars erupted like spears.
And Rimon sliced through the hundreds of pillars like weeds, closing in to behead Bellos once more.
This time, he wouldn't settle for mere bisection.
His blade whipped out at light-splitting speeds, thousands of times, shredding Bellos's body into tens of thousands of fragments.
But only for an instant.
Before the flurry even ended, the revived Bellos's hammer cleaved the air.
Rimon smashed Bellos's knee with his sword to disrupt his balance, then swung again through the hammer's gap.
『Sword and Blade Possession Prohibition Act, Legislated』.
His sword grew impossibly heavy, nearly slipping from his grasp—he forced it down.
Severing the intangible law binding his blade took a split second.
In that brief window, the cannon-like hammer grazed his chest, but Rimon didn't dodge—instead, he swung languidly.
Like slicing a petal on water.
His elegant stroke bisected Bellos, but the direct hammer hit sent Rimon flying like paper.
Thud!
He'd reeled back on impact, deflecting ninety-six percent of the force.
Yet the remaining four percent hurled him twenty paces to smash halfway through the wall, where he wiped his mouth with one hand.
Seeing the blood on it, he scowled instantly.
"What the fuck?"
As Rimon cursed.
Bellos charged, hammer raised.
Simple as a wild boar, but terrifying strength and speed shattered the floor with each step. As Rimon clicked his tongue to counter.
"『Hit Correction』, 『Projectile Acceleration』, 『Weapon Materialization』."
Boom!
A calm voice echoed through the air.
A thick shell blew Bellos away.
Lee Cheongi, finally breaking through the maze, had fired a skill on the spot.
Hitting Bellos—who charged at invisible speeds without aiming—a monarch's divine technique.
"You idiot...!"
But Rimon spat curses instead of praise.
Right then.
Bellos appeared behind Lee Cheongi and swung his hammer, with Rimon diving between them.
Rimon's sword parried the hammer as softly as a butterfly stilling a storm.
Then the hammer rebounded twice as fast the other way, pulverizing Bellos's own skull.
Kwang!
The redirected blow must have been massive.
Even as his head regenerated in seconds, Bellos staggered, unable to act immediately.
Rimon seized the opening with one move.
He grabbed Lee Cheongi by the collar and hurled him straight at the timely arrival of Youin and the Silent Dragon Squad.
"Sword Duke?"
"What the hell is this?"
Whether Lee Cheongi—caught off guard—and Youin—who caught him—were stunned or not.
Rimon said coldly.
"Don't interfere. This isn't for you to handle."
"......So you're saying we'd just get in the way, and to stay back?"
"Yes."
Youin and the Silent Dragon Squad couldn't hide their bewilderment at the immediate, unwavering reply.
Anyone else, maybe.
But treating a monarch—one of this era's absolutes—as sidelined was hardly sane.
Lee Cheongi took it calmly, or another monarch might have exploded in rage.
"I get that his aura is unusual right now, but I don't think I'd be a hindrance."
Not fully convinced.
Lee Cheongi raised a calm objection.
He was confident he could've blocked Bellos's earlier sneak attack himself.
"No. You would."
But Rimon asserted firmly.
It wasn't to insult Lee Cheongi out of distaste.
He was certain: without his intervention, Lee Cheongi would've died—or at least suffered grievous wounds.
Frighteningly amplified power and speed?
Immortality surpassing Yujin's?
Madness-glazed eyes and ferocious presence?
All factors, sure.
But Rimon's wariness stemmed from something else.
Something others wouldn't notice even seeing it.
Only he, with his long life and experience slaying dragons and demon gods, could perceive it—and it enraged him.
"Those who've never fought a god are all greenhorns."
Growling as he eyed Bellos, who emanated clear divinity beyond mere constellation power.