Post-Battle Cleanup
I was indeed drawing the attention of the gods. Whether my life was being serialized or not, they were watching with interest. Thanks to that, I was stacking up powers like privileges, karma, and synergies. I still didn't know how to use karma, but I could feel myself growing stronger just from the single privilege called God's Herculean Strength.
But a level up here? It was such a clichéd trope—not just stale, but one rarely used even in novel settings—and now it popped up out of nowhere. No matter how I thought about it, the only explanation was the Sky God Jupiter.
My surroundings were already overflowing with enemy corpses, and the survivors were trembling as they backed away.
"Status window."
"……."
I'd shouted it with some expectation, but it betrayed me utterly. How embarrassing to yell at the sky for nothing. No status window appeared, but I could sense that my level had gone up.
So, assuming there were stats, I decided to consciously allocate points to strength and agility. Fitting for a knight called Herculean, my strength was overflowing, but it seemed I'd need to invest in agility going forward too.
Shuuuaaaak!
"Urgh!"
My body shuddered once. Along with a pleasant euphoria, it felt like my flesh was being reforged. My bones and muscles strengthened, becoming more supple. My power surged, like I could blast into the sky.
Paht!
I swung my fist at the retreating enemies.
Kuwaaaang!
With a deafening whoosh, I blew off the heads of dozens. White brain matter and red blood sprayed out, and only then did I feel the change in my body.
Stronger! Faster! Drunk on the mad euphoria, I lost myself in the battle.
[God of Destruction and Regeneration Mahadev is watching you.]
[Goddess of Love Venus is watching you.]
[Goddess of Abundance Demeter is watching you.]
[Sky God Jupiter is watching you.]
[Jupiter has shown you favor.]
[Thunder God privilege unlocked.]
[Synergy privilege: Thunder God's Fist activated.]
The aura of the Thunder God descended upon me. I felt lightning surging inside, and I channeled it into my fist before swinging.
Kwagwagwagwa!
Flash!
"Gaaahhh!"
Hundreds of soldiers were electrocuted, burning to death on the spot.
"……."
Even if it was god-given power, specialized for battle via synergy privilege, this was absurdly overwhelming. So why was I laughing?
"Kuhuhuhu!"
Yes, this was the mad protagonist I'd designed. The empire's notorious trash, a herculean monster who instilled terror in enemies—his whole body!
Euphoria flooded me. I felt like I could clean up the entire battlefield alone, and I unleashed Thunder God's Fist in all directions.
Kwarururung!
In the command camp of Count Asics, the nobles watched their allied soldiers die by the hundreds, their legs trembling.
These lords had participated in the Espado Kingdom conquest wars but had been in different legions from Baron Blaine, so they'd never seen him fight firsthand. They'd dismissed the daily reports of impossible victories by the commoner knight Aron as exaggerated propaganda to boost peasant enlistment.
But seeing Aron now, they wondered if those reports had actually downplayed the truth.
A mad force cutting down thousands single-handedly! And Baron Aron seemed to grow stronger the longer he fought. Considering their own battlefield experience, it was no stretch to call this a monster's descent—not human at all.
"Ugh!"
"Th-that mad monster……."
Now they understood why the empire's nobles avoided Baron Aron. Why even the imperial court had washed their hands of him. Why no one wanted to cross him.
The 12,000-strong alliance had marched in high spirits, but the moment Aron charged, they crumbled into a rabble. Even these self-proclaimed elites couldn't hold and became routed remnants.
Then Aron's encirclement formation turned into a disaster. Some broke through the net and fled, but panic caused a bottleneck, trampling countless to death on the ground.
Count Asics stared blankly at the scene.
"The War God's descent……."
Yes, that wasn't human. Challenging a god as mortals? Being crushed was inevitable.
Then the War God's roar echoed.
"If you don't wanna die, kneel, you bastards!"
"Uwaaaah! Monster!"
Thud!
Clatter!
Three thousand had fallen to Aron's hand, but three times as many survivors couldn't conquer their fear and knelt. The nobles' knight orders were annihilated, high officers slaughtered—only common soldiers remained.
And at some point.
Kuwoong!
The sky-flying monster landed, kicking up dust. The ground cratered, and blood from Aron's armor splattered everywhere.
The blood-soaked God of War.
"Ugh."
He'd killed so many, yet wore a refreshed expression.
"What about you nobles? Surrender, or die here? Personally, I'd prefer the latter—easier that way. I'll put your territories' folk to good use as slaves."
Thud!
The nobles knelt instinctively. Resisting here was dumber than eggs against rock.
"Hah, we surrender!"
"Heh heh heh, yeah, surrender if you wanna live. So, what terms?"
"U-unconditional surrender! Please, spare our lives!"
And so the war ended.
Splash!
Cold water poured over me, finally cooling my head. After roughly washing off the blood, I headed to the negotiation tent. But first, a chat with my advisor.
To figure out how much to squeeze from them.
Step step.
"Chwung! Greetings, my lord!"
Soldiers and knights—discipline was razor-sharp. Even I thought my battle self was insane. Drunk on combat, I'd acted like a maniac.
Of course, our casualties were under a hundred dead and wounded combined. Incredible, considering over half were green recruits.
The gods, enthralled by my madness, showered karma—even the prideful Jupiter had to give favor.
And it wasn't over. No status window, but the level up solidified my growing power.
Post-massacre, I wasn't unscathed, but holy water healed the wounds easily.
"My lord! You summoned?"
Kainus showed no emotional fluctuation. Dragon or not, after seeing my mad rampage and destruction, he wasn't fazed. Who knows inside, but outwardly, same as always.
"Yeah, time for negotiations. As my advisor, how much should we take?"
"Hohoho! That depends on your will, my lord. They've lost their main force. Nearly 10,000 soldiers are our demoralized prisoners. Unless we return them, they can't even fend off beasts—bandits will swarm everywhere. Do as you wish."
"Oh ho, so I can take it all?"
"……Pardon?"
"Can I swallow all three territories?"
"Ahem, that might be excessive."
"You just said do as I wish?"
"Well... this is unauthorized territorial war. Wiping their lines could cause backlash. And checks from all sides—rebellions might erupt."
"For 'do as you wish,' that's a lot of caveats. Can't I just smash 'em all?"
"You need a pretext too."
"That damn pretext."
"Even you can't face the whole empire, my lord."
He didn't hesitate with words that'd get others' heads smashed. That's Kainus's strength—dragon, immune to my madness and aura. He speaks freely and advises. Handy to have. Though someday I'll teach him who's boss... for now, I can't beat him, so I'll hold off.
"Fine, give me a compromise."
Splash!
Kainus unfurled his signature fan, waving it gently.
"What you want is this vast Erdene Plains, right?"
"Obviously. Reclaiming it means massive yields."
I was already planning post-Giantkin conquest. Now building views via thuggery over development, but later, invest in territory growth. Essential for future rebellions or whatever.
War isn't solo, as Kainus said.
Flutter!
Kainus, prepared, spread a map. Red-marked areas including Erdene Plains—ample population and land, cleverly sparing the three core territories.
"Heh heh heh, perfect. I'm satisfied!"
"But will they accept?"
"Leave it to me. That's my specialty."