Chapter 601: Chaos Purification (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 601: Chaos Purification (5)
‘Did it just… laugh?’
He had seen it clearly. Though its face was anything but human, the creature wore an expression of pure malevolence.
However, Jin didn’t have the luxury of wondering what kind of monster he was dealing with. In that single moment, the power he had spent his entire life tempering had vanished.
His Aura and Mana, which had been nearing the 10-star rank, were gone without a trace. It was as if they had never existed in the first place.
“The sense of loss must be great, Brother Jin. But you simply have to take it back from the Chaos.”
Naturally, that was easier said than done.
Yet, instead of despairing, Jin raised his head and glared at the creature.
‘It’s not like I have a choice.’
Come to think of it, the situation wasn't entirely terrible. If he had arrived at Laprarosa a moment later, he would have been struck down by that monster of Chaos without ever knowing why.
Though he had lost his Aura and Mana, most of the powerful enemies Jin had fought had possessed strength far greater than his own.
Fighting against those stronger than himself and somehow snatching victory was one of the things Jin did best.
The manifestation of Chaos had already wiped the sneer from its face and was now watching Ban warily.
‘It’s terrified of the Fighting God. And it’s making it obvious, with its eyes darting all over the place.’
Fear was a weakness. In that respect, the Chaos appeared utterly immature to Jin. The creature saw Jin as Ban’s weakness, but Jin now saw the creature’s own vulnerability.
“Fighting God. This is definitely purification, not training, right?”
“That is correct. I am not tricking you for the sake of training, Brother. Neither I nor the other brothers can do anything about that thing for you.”
“Yes, I wasn't asking because I thought you were deceiving me.”
“Then why?”
“Since it’s not training, I was wondering if the brothers could help me in an emergency.”
Ban nodded.
“Of course.”
Sshhh…
The straps of the extraction assist device tied to Jin’s head unraveled. Jin slowly stood up and drew Sigmund.
Habit was a terrifying thing.
He instinctively tried to coat the blade in lightning, but nothing happened. Without the Aura that always reinforced his body, even Sigmund felt heavy in his hand.
At that sight, a sneer returned to the Chaos’s face.
“In other words, there’s absolutely no way I’ll die while fighting that thing.”
The Pluto Tribe couldn't strike the Chaos directly, but they could save Jin at any moment if he was in mortal danger.
“Not only that, you won't be crippled either.”
“And if, by some chance, that thing harms me beyond recovery… the brothers will surely take revenge.”
“I will personally oversee every fight between you and that creature, so such a misfortune won’t occur. However, if it kills you through some method we cannot interfere with… then we will have our revenge.”
The corners of the Chaos’s mouth, which had been twitching with a sneer, stiffened.
‘It has the intelligence to understand speech, but its reasoning only extends to what’s right in front of it. It keeps revealing its shallow thoughts.’
Jin didn't yet know the full extent of the creature's power, but the energy it had stolen from him was equivalent to the 10-star rank. Furthermore, with its own chaotic power, it would have been a formidable opponent even before Jin had lost his strength.
The fact that the creature’s intelligence was so low was a stroke of luck.
“Do you intend to fight it right now?”
“I do, Fighting God.”
As Jin began to approach, the Chaos spread its wings and rose into the air. Its shadow loomed over both him and Ban.
‘The pressure… is no joke.’
It felt even more intense now that he was powerless. He felt a chilling certainty that if the creature simply raised a forepaw and crushed him like a bug, it would all be over.
A hollow laugh escaped him at the sheer, shuddering helplessness. The martial prowess that had allowed him to engage in sleepless sparring matches with the Fighting Kings of the Pluto Tribe just thirty minutes ago had vanished without a trace.
However, the confrontation unfolded in a rather bizarre manner.
The closer Jin approached, the more the creature backed away. It wasn't afraid of fighting Jin, of course.
It was because Ban was standing about five paces behind him, ready for any contingency.
‘So this is what it feels like to have someone watching your back.’
Ban’s eyes radiated a burning murderous intent toward the Chaos. Her gaze seemed to scream: Sit still, take your beating quietly, return all of Brother Jin’s power, and then die.
Jin grew frustrated as the Chaos constantly widened the distance. For the Chaos, it was pure agony.
“Hmph.”
Ultimately, Jin was the one to charge first. The Chaos tried to retreat even faster, but with Ban’s blazing glare fixed on it, it seemed stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Jin was shocked once again by how ‘slow’ he was. A body without the reinforcement of Aura was barely at the level of a low-ranking warrior.
Regardless, Jin thrust his sword with all his might.
Since he couldn't leap high enough to reach the creature's head, his target was its forepaw. He tightened his core, let out a shout, and brought his sword down in a vertical strike.
Tink!
The sound wasn't a clang, a boom, a crack, or a slash. It was a dainty little tink that made Jin’s heart crumble in despair once more.
And that wasn't the end of it.
Even though Jin was the one who had attacked, he was sent flying backward by the recoil from the shield the creature had instinctively deployed.
“Cough!”
*
Surprisingly—or perhaps, pitifully—it was a full day later when Jin finally opened his eyes. To him, it felt as though he had only blinked.
“Sigh…”
A sigh escaped him the moment he woke up.
Jin immediately grasped the situation from the worried faces of the Pluto tribesmen looking down at him.
“Brother Jin! You’re awake. Are you feeling all right?”
“Whoa, don’t try to get up yet. Your bones haven't fully set.”
“Bones? I broke my bones?”
“About seventeen of them… Normally, with your Steel Body, they would have mended instantly, but right now, you’ll need some time.”
Thanks to his blessed physique being tempered to its absolute limit, the damage had been limited to broken bones and internal injuries. Any other low-ranking warrior would have been killed instantly by the shield’s recoil.
For Jin, it was one shock after another.
‘I didn't even perceive the moment I lost consciousness? Me?’
He recalled the countless desperate battles he had ultimately won. He had memories of enduring through sheer willpower in any situation, yet here he was, suffering such a pathetic defeat.
“What happened to that thing?”
“Well…”
“No, it’s fine. I asked the obvious.”
The Chaos was sprawled out in the middle of the training ground, sleeping. The shock it had suffered would, for a human, amount to less than losing a single strand of hair.
‘This isn't a situation that can be overcome with mental strength or will.’
It was like an ant trying to defeat a tiger through sheer determination. The gap between Jin and the Chaos was just that massive.
Lying down, he clenched and unclenched his fists, checking his condition once more.
He could sense an extremely faint trace of Aura and Mana. But without the fine control that had once allowed him to move his energy at will, it took considerable time just to perceive that much.
‘Do I have to build my energy back up from scratch to face that thing? No, if I do that, three years won't be enough.’
Since he had walked the path once before, he could reach his destination faster this time. But three years was still nowhere near enough time.
Just as he began to worry, the door opened and Ban entered.
“Fighting God.”
Unlike the gloomy and serious Jin, she had a faint smile playing on her lips.
“I didn't know you had such a foolish side, Brother Jin.”
“It was a pathetic defeat. I’m embarrassed.”
“I didn't mean it that way.”
As if she couldn't hold it in any longer, Ban burst into a fit of giggles.
Jin didn't mind her teasing. In fact, seeing such a simple, human side—something rarely seen in transcendent beings—was a relief.
‘I suppose since Ban is immune to Demonization, her heart doesn't grow cold like my father’s or Ron’s, even after reaching the ultimate stage.’
Ban shifted her gaze to Bradamante, which lay beside Jin’s bed.
“It was a bit strange from the moment you instinctively chose Sigmund instead of Bradamante before charging. It seemed the brilliant Brother Jin was overlooking something very simple.”
“What do you mean… Ah, could it be?”
“Yes. You only lost your Aura and Mana. Your Spirit Energy is completely intact.”
In an instant, Jin’s face turned beet-red. The other Pluto tribesmen either stifled their laughter or failed to, making Jin feel even more embarrassed.
He had been so fixated on the loss of his Aura and Mana that he had completely forgotten about his Spirit Energy.
‘How could I be so stupid? I forgot that?!’
“I thought you were pretending to have lost your Spirit Energy as well, just to catch it off guard like you always do,” Ban said.
A ball of Spirit Energy formed in Jin’s palm as he lay there. He let out a hollow laugh as he stared at it.
“If I had fought with the Spirit Sword…”
“The result would have been the same, but the process would have been different.”
“I’ll fight it again as soon as I’ve recovered. I couldn't even get a real measure of its strength in that last fight.”
“Right. And while it’s invisible to me and the other brothers, you should be able to feel the power that thing stole from you.”
The key was to reclaim those powers while fighting. As Jin regained his original strength, the creature would naturally grow weaker.
His recovery was complete five days later. Jin once again took up his sword and sought out the Chaos, which was lazing about the training ground under the watchful eyes of the brothers.
The creature looked up reluctantly, as if Jin were a massive nuisance.
It was so relaxed for two reasons.
First, Jin was ridiculously weak. Second, the Pluto Tribe had not retaliated even after it had inadvertently harmed him.
Therefore, the Chaos planned to continue delaying its own extinction by simply knocking Jin unconscious every time he attacked.
[Yaaaawn.]
The Chaos let out a long yawn and then tried to take another nap behind its shield.
‘Does it not know I have Spirit Energy, or does it know and just think it’s not a threat?’
Either way, he was about to find out.
Jin strode toward the creature and struck the shield with all his might, his blade, Bradamante, wreathed in Spirit Energy.
[Screeech!]
The moment the Spirit Energy touched the shield, the creature bolted upright, its eyes wide with shock.