Chapter 136
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: Sea King's Spear
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-Uwaaaaaah!
The infantry unit, wielding massive shields and sharp spears, advanced with a thunderous roar.
The ground trembled beneath their footsteps, and the air quivered with their shouts.
Truly, their momentum was in no way inferior to the empire's hundred-thousand-strong army I had faced in the past.
It felt like I'd stepped into one of those classic movies from old TV channels long ago—a thrilling excitement raced up my spine.
"Still, enemy territory really is enemy territory."
Scanning with my senses, Theseus's forces numbered exactly around six hundred.
Even accounting for this being an event-style short decisive battle with no need for supply units or miscellaneous troops, it was an impressively small force.
'No, is my sense of scale off?'
In the Central Plains martial world, armies always came in units of ten thousand or a hundred thousand at minimum, so facing a war where the soldier count was only in the hundreds felt strangely off-kilter.
But their small numbers didn't mean I could let my guard down.
For one, as heroes from the Mythic Age, their base specs were far superior even by martial world standards, and commanding them were strategic geniuses who could be considered precursors to Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi.
Considering the individual prowess of each soldier and the synergy from their commanders, the legion's true strength couldn't be measured by headcount alone.
In fact, their advance through the landslide(?) I unleashed at the battle's outset—without a single straggler—left even me in awe.
-Clap, clap, clap.
"Good. You're passing so far."
Applause for these later-generation disciples of the era, who had sweated blood over the past month to hunt me down.
Atalanta, whom I'd personally trained, aside—blocking my Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon without a single dropout, when it would have wiped out half a force even in the martial world, was undoubtedly a feat for the ages.
Of course, I'd held back on power, but you had to factor in that these were ordinary folk who didn't even know the first thing about martial arts.
As my assessment of Theseus's army wrapped up,
the vanguard of their forces—reenacting a movie scene—had closed to within five paces.
"Uwaaaaaah!!"
"Tsk, tsk."
The vanguard captain aiming his spear at me from the forefront was none other than Theseus.
Even through his Athenian helmet, his eyes blazed with murderous intent—I clicked my tongue.
The aura Atalanta had shown moments ago.
The small riddle I'd posed before the war began.
Ignoring what those meant entirely, his eyes brimmed only with black jealousy and hatred—no longer those of a hero, but of a beast.
Theseus charged at me with a hyena-like shriek of rage.
I gladly welcomed his spear.
-Clang!
"Huh?"
The spear that would have pierced my throat if I'd lingered a second longer flew off in the blink of an eye, but Theseus probably wasn't shocked by that.
He knew my prowess exactly, so he wouldn't be surprised just by his attack rebounding.
His eyes widened in horror at something else entirely: the single spear in my hand.
A black spear forged by the divine authority of artifact creation.
Based on a qi spear formed from Reverse Heaven Art's demonic energy, I'd fully materialized it—this spear was no different from another arm or leg.
The time it took to create? Exactly 0.5 seconds.
The fruit of one-on-one training with the Sea God, who chided me that a direct descendant of the Progenitors couldn't be clumsy with artifacts.
It never took long before, but now I could wield them as naturally as breathing.
"Polioikia! Polioikia!"
While Theseus gawked at my spear, Jason took command from the rear, observing the situation.
As he swung his banner and bellowed, the steel wall surging toward me split left and right, thrusting spears in unison.
"Oh!"
It was as if a wall had sprung up before my eyes in an instant.
Hundreds of spear tips protruded from it, all lunging at me without exception.
-Argh!!
Brow, eyes, nape, collarbone, shoulder, elbow, wrist, chest, abdomen, thigh, knee, and more...
It was a tactic fueled by the single-minded intent to land even one wound on me.
They even minimized friendly fire with towering tower shields and long-spearmen poised behind shields, ready if I leaped over to split the legion.
It felt like facing not hundreds of soldiers, but an army as a single colossal organism.
"At this level, they could stand toe-to-toe with the Imperial Guard's ten-thousand elite."
Among the legions I'd faced, the most dangerous was the Imperial Guard's ten-thousand—dispatched by that psycho Zhuge bastard to capture me.
An elite among elites, forged from the hundred-thousand Imperial Guard who answered only to the emperor, specialized for superhuman foes.
When peerless masters like me, wielding near-solo-army might, rebelled against the throne,
this ten-thousand-strong force was created to eliminate them—and it was a martial artist's worst matchup.
Equipped with thousand-year cold-iron armor and weapons to counter auras as standard,
they ghosted in to encircle, then unleashed qi-scattering poison, cannons, and long-range sniping in rotational barrages.
If a master closed distance, they bombarded with bizarre siege weapons and massive cold-iron shields.
Then reformed their ranged encirclement for another qi-draining rotation.
And there were ten thousand such specialists.
Surrounded by them, enduring poisons, cannons, and hidden weapons, even a Profound Realm master would collapse exhausted.
Of course, they'd take losses too.
But trapping one Profound Realm expert with just ten thousand? A steal for the throne.
Theseus's army, a collaboration between Jason and Theseus, lacked the varied siege weapons or qi-scattering poisons of the Imperial Guard,
but overwhelming soldier quality more than compensated, surpassing those gaps effortlessly.
The spear-tip frenzy lunged at me in slow motion, disrupting my accelerated thoughts.
At this level, holding back would insult their strategy and soldiers' sweat.
Like my spear arts master Mad Wind Divine Spear had shown, I kicked off the ground and spun like a pro ballerina.
Simultaneously, my whirling black spear swept all around like a windmill—truly like black dragon coils rampaging everywhere.
-Shraaaaaak!
"Kuhk!"
"Ugh!"
Spear tips caught in the black vortex sparked and burst outward like fireworks.
Soldiers grunted as rebound force surged up their shafts, but their assault didn't falter.
"Machete! Machete!"
At Jason's roar to keep attacking, new spears shot from beneath the deflected ones.
Broken ones were retrieved by mid- and rear-line soldiers for replacement; intact ones were recovered for immediate follow-ups.
"Unus! Octa! Septim! Novem! Deca!"
-Kagagagak!
When I spun my spear straight for a thrust, Theseus instantly caught it and ordered the shieldbearers to bolster defenses.
Even attacks meant to shove shields aside were nullified as four or five burly men clung to them.
"Art! Pure art!"
-Tadadadang!
-Kagagagak!
It was like watching a perfectly choreographed dance—a flawless rotation.
Amid the relentless assaults blanketing every direction and my quivering spear dance flickering before my eyes, the steadfast soldiers earned my praise.
From time immemorial, men can't help but cheer for sturdy armies and warriors.
How many men's hearts were set ablaze by Romance of the Three Kingdoms' Tiger Guards and Western Liang Cavalry, Sparta's Three Hundred, or Star Wars' space fleets?
This legion of heroes still showed signs of inexperience and had a few shortcomings, but it stirred a small sense of emotion in my chest nonetheless.
And I planned to express that emotion to them without holding anything back.
In the most Demonic Cult way possible.
"Hic!?"
"...Huh?"
"!!!"
Oh dear.
It seems the emotion overflowing within me showed on my face.
The soldiers who glimpsed my joyful(?) smile recoiled in shock.
"Kuhhuhuhu!"
But fire trucks don't stop at red lights, and once a gale hits, it never bites backward.
They had to face the Heavenly Demon’s overflowing emotion head-on.
-Shwaaaaa....!
The mad raging gale shifted momentum, its fierce rush turning heavy and turbulent like deep-sea pressure crushing my body.
In the abyss of that pressure, clashing spears with Cronus's son who ruled earthquakes and tsunamis—I had newly forged a variation of Mad Wind Shredding Horn Spear.
A heartfelt insight gained from my clash with Poseidon of the Three Great Gods—perfect for expressing the surging emotion in my chest.
"I dedicate this spear dance to the blue steed that summons tidal waves."
The massive gale soon whipped up tidal waves, rampaging in all directions.
-Shwaaaaa....
Riding fierce winds, it soared bearing tsunamis, then crashed down.
Like a tsunami piercing the heavens, it gathered ambient qi waves, rocketed skyward, and plummeted.
Dragging colossal waves behind it.
-Aaaaaaaaah!
A roar like millions screaming, or crashing waves—it swept everything.
Just as Poseidon showed me at our first meeting, I too had brought tsunamis to this land.
Its form rivaled the Sea God's spear.
In tribute to the god who infused gales with waves, I named it Mad Wind Sea King Spear.
Mad Wind Sea King Spear - Mega Kyma (μέγα κύμα)