The Lightning Fool and the Point Farm
Alexis was sent flying from the Black Tortoise Emperor Rock and skidded across the ground on his left knee.
A long gouge was carved into the floor as he fought to regain his balance, but he somehow managed to endure or deflect the force of the Black Tortoise Emperor Rock and steady himself.
“Hoh, so you used lightning to correct your posture even while being repelled.”
The blackened ground was proof of the lightning-attribute mana he’d received from contracting with Zeus. The fact that he’d reacted, even if a beat late, showed he possessed skill worthy of a Divine King’s contractor.
Yeah. It’s just that his opponent is bad news.
“Wow. Superhero landing.”
“You… insolent bastard!”
“Am I more insolent than the guy who starts pointing fingers the second he sees me?”
“Khh, O Great Constellation. I shall immediately make up for my recent mistake.”
Alexis shouted while looking up at the sky. Having fallen so pathetically, he must’ve been too embarrassed to face Zeus.
But here’s the thing.
“It’s troublesome if you take your eyes off me.”
I activated Cloud Flow Steps and a full-power sprint at the same time. The distance between us closed again in an instant.
“You think I’ll fall for the same trick twice?!”
“Yeah. You will.”
Blood Intoxication
Alexis, who had been about to spread both hands, staggered as his stance collapsed. It was an aggro skill that pulled every living thing within range toward me. Depending on how it was used, it could also disrupt an enemy’s posture like this.
A bundle of lightning surged from the tips of his fingers.
Dark Dominion
I struck the lightning bundle away with Polar Night and slipped into Alexis’s range.
“Ugh!”
“That last attack was just a greeting.”
Black energy gathered at my fingertips. Using Lightless Westward Strike, I drove them deep into his chest.
At that moment—
Crackle!
His entire body transformed into lightning. The lightning coiled around my fingers like an anaconda wrapping its prey.
Without panicking, I deployed Polar Night and Metal Reflection Gauntlets, channeling the lightning clinging to my body into the ground.
“Partner, are you unharmed?”
“As you can see.”
I shook my hand and answered.
The incarnation of lightning. It was one of Alexis’s skills I had encountered before my regression. A crisis-escape technique that created a lightning dummy of himself while simultaneously swapping positions. The lightning itself, modeled after the user’s body, was also incredibly powerful, making it an excellent skill that served both offense and defense.
“My fingers are tingling. Not bad for a cheap trick.”
I looked in the opposite direction. The Alexis who had been standing there moments ago had already moved behind me.
“You’re completely fine even after taking my lightning head-on?”
“Don’t get cocky over something as weak as static electricity.”
“You… insolent bastard!”
“Is ‘insolent bastard’ the only thing you know how to say?”
“It seems I’ll have to let you properly taste the power granted by the Divine King before you come to your senses.”
Sparks began flying from Alexis’s hands, feet, and hair.
Right Arm of the Thunder God
Left Arm of the Thunder God
Lightning expanded to five meters in size, maintaining the shape of human forearms. Alexis kicked off the ground, releasing lightning to accelerate as he threw a lightning fist.
His instantaneous speed was comparable to Cloud Flow Steps. Among the various attributes that make up nature, lightning was the fastest and most powerful. Aside from being difficult to control, it had almost no weaknesses.
Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword
Dark Dominion
I materialized a black sword with Polar Night and sliced through the fist of Alexis, who had boldly challenged me to a head-on fight.
A sword that could even cut lightning. With Nyx’s power and my internal energy combined, the strike caused Alexis’s lightning to lose its form and scatter in every direction.
A long gash was carved across the back of his hand.
“H-how?!”
Even while panicking, Alexis swung his left arm. What had been destroyed was the Right Arm of the Thunder God. The lightning dwelling in his left arm was still intact, but—
“You think that was a coincidence?”
Slice!
The result was the same. The lightning severed by the Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword hadn’t been as badly injured since it was farther from the arm controlling it.
“Damn it!”
Alexis staggered backward.
Footprints of the Thunder God
Even while fleeing, he was embedding lightning into his footprints. It seemed the combat style he’d shown before my regression had already been established at this point.
“Actually, thanks.”
I kept roughly two meters of distance from the footprints as I chased Alexis. When I circled around and closed in on his back, his eyes filled with panic.
“Why? Something not going your way?”
“Son of a bitch!”
“Can’t you say anything besides curses?”
Steps of the Thunder God
Alexis’s body flashed pure white. It was the precursor to teleportation. Though the principle was different, it was a powerful movement skill that crossed space just like Shrink.
Thousand Eyes
Shrink
By reading the waves of magic power, I could tell exactly where Alexis would reappear. I used Shrink at almost the same moment.
It sounded simple, but since I had to operate two skills immediately after Alexis used Steps of the Thunder God, the difficulty was insanely high.
I grabbed the nape of Alexis’s neck the instant his body finished reconstructing.
“Guh—?!”
“You don’t even know how to dodge, huh?”
I slammed his head straight into the ground. A dry, choked scream burst out.
The moment I gripped his neck with monstrous strength, his body turned into lightning once again. The cooldown was already over.
Metal Reflection Gauntlets
Blessing of Greed
I reinforced the metal armor with Blessing of Greed and endured the lightning on the spot.
“Like a slippery loach.”
“It won’t last forever.”
My body trembled slightly. Even with the reinforced Metal Reflection Gauntlets, I couldn’t completely shake off the lightning, so part of my nervous system had gone numb.
“You… monster.”
“We’re fighting on equal footing and you’re calling me a monster?”
“Insolent bastard. To think you’d toy with me.”
Alexis’s face twisted with humiliation and rage.
I let out a deep sigh, then grinned.
“You finally noticed?”
Throughout our entire exchange, I hadn’t taken a single hit. Alexis was also mostly uninjured, but the decisive difference was magic power consumption.
Steps of the Thunder God. Shadow of the Thunder God. Spatial movement. And creating lightning clones. All of them were skills that devoured enormous amounts of magic power.
In just one minute of combat, nearly half of Alexis’s magic power had been drained.
“When you spam powerful skills, there’s always a price.”
“O Constellation! Grant me power!”
“Constellation my ass. Go cool your head.”
Blood Intoxication
Alexis’s body was violently yanked forward. He tried to raise his lightning, but my hand was faster.
Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts - 5th Form
Lightless Westward Strike
Five fingers pierced through his heart. Alexis’s body twitched intermittently before crumbling into dust.
Divine Proxy
📍 Progress: Yu Jinho 1 : 0 Alexis Papandreou
Thank you for your sponsorship, dear Constellations.
Thank you in advance.
Gulp.
* * *
The core of the Silver promotion match was base management.
The bases scattered across Erdel Island. Occupying them was as simple as stationing people there, but the important part was protecting the bases you’d acquired.
Points increased every hour based on the number of bases held. No matter how many bases you captured, it was meaningless if you couldn’t defend them.
“Then why are you occupying bases at all?”
“A show of force.”
Western Erdel Island.
I toured the bases located near the Greek starting zone.
Occupying Small Base - Magic Academy
Remaining Time - 00:03:25
The only bases I could capture alone were the small ones. Right after defeating Alexis, I used Cloud Flow Steps to capture the small bases in western Erdel Island one by one.
It was about time for some bites.
“There he is!”
“How dare you steal our base, you arrogant prick?”
“There’s only one. Let’s take him down together!”
Five Greek players approached the small base.
Ice Spear
Blessing of Greed
I fixed a bundle of ice spears in the air and waited for the group of players to approach. One of them pointed at me.
“Wait. If he’s a Korean player… isn’t he the hero of the Spice Archipelago?”
“Now that you mention it…”
“Hoh, even foreigners recognize you now.”
“How annoying.”
I’d hoped it would be easy, but the Greek players who had been approaching casually were now staring with wary eyes.
“Well, it doesn’t change anything.”
I released all the ice spears I had held in the air with Blessing of Greed at once.
Shwaaaa—!
The fiercely sharp ice spears flew toward the Greek players.
“Double Barrier!”
“Stay calm and block them. Ice spears are nothing…”
Crash!
The sharply forged ice spear pierced the barrier and penetrated the vitals of the supporter behind it.
My magic power stat was higher than that of most mage-class players. On top of that, I’d amplified the power with Blessing of Greed. It would be a mistake to think my magic was just ordinary ice spears.
“Run!”
The four remaining players gave up on fighting and scattered in every direction.
Pretty quick judgment.
“What a pain.”
I controlled Blessing of Greed. Although the ice spears normally flew in straight lines, those stained with the power of greed could change direction to some extent.
The ice spears that had been flying straight altered their trajectories. The spear tips chased after the fleeing players from behind.
“This is impossible…”
“It is.”
The moment I answered, the ice spears pierced through the players.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just switch to being a mage?”
“No. There’s no satisfaction in it.”
“You’re so picky.”
I’d answered Nyx casually, but magic really didn’t suit me. Thanks to quickly obtaining the Dragon Heart during the tutorial, my magic power stat was the highest, so it only looked efficient. Eventually, as I devoured more essences, my own body would become the strongest weapon.
It was only useful in limited situations or when using Demonic Power to display its true strength. Even including the skill Solar Explosion created with Fusion Qigong, magic was still one step short of being my main focus.
“Enemies aren’t going to wait politely while I cast spells.”
“Hehe, since you have spare time, don’t worry.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Do you truly not trust me?”
“Of course I trust you.”
“Your voice doesn’t sound sincere at all!”
“Yes, yes.”
I calmed the whining goddess and focused on capturing the bases. One by one, the bases turned to our side’s color.
Due to the personnel limit, I could only control the small bases. The problem was the players coming from the main camp to claim the medium bases nearby.
The moment they entered my line of sight, they were annihilated on the spot. Since they couldn’t even occupy the empty bases, there were almost no Greek-occupied bases visible on the map.
The Greek side must have realized I had joined the fight. Instead of capturing bases in small groups, they began moving in one large cluster.
When I looked beyond the hill with Thousand Eyes, there were at least several dozen of them.
“Time to withdraw.”
“With your ability, couldn’t you handle them easily?”
“I have my own circumstances.”
It would be troublesome if the mission ended this quickly. The factory district in the center of the island needed those guys to work a little harder to activate.
I had to give them at least a sliver of hope so they’d keep moving, right?
“How cruel. Those poor souls dancing in the palm of your hand.”
“Then go help them.”
“They are not my contractor, so that is not possible.”
How boring.
After confirming the Greek players’ group movement, I crossed over to the eastern part of the island.