“I can understand why you sisters became demons. You are better than these guys.”
Seuron grinned as he plunged his sword into the neck of the first Valkyrie that collided with him and pulled out its soul. He blatantly laughed at the bloodied Valkyries who were swept away by the thorny path created by the souls.
“I never thought this to be the actual power of heaven. If it was me, I would’ve rather grabbed the rotten rope of hell.”
Seuron wasn’t an all bark and no bite type of person. To show the true meaning of his words, he constantly followed through with actions. Blood magic was activated via the blood shed by the Valkyries. Magic explosions engulfed the area, and the Valkyries reeled away from the red-flashing blasts.
Seuron approached the Valkyrie who had suffered the most damage. He twisted his sword, piercing her abdomen, and pulled out both the intestines and her soul.
It was a high quality soul.
Seuron threw the spear made from the newly acquired soul, and a large amount of blood rose from the chest of the three Valkyries that it pierced through.
Once again, Seuron’s blood magic was linked. It became a stepping stone for collecting new souls.
The Valkyries around Seuron turned into rags before they knew it.
“What…?”
“T-This… You’ve become very strong.”
Soul Predator.
As Seuron grew more powerful, so did the performance of his class.
Currently, Seuron was able to unconditionally steal a portion of a soul every time he attacked the target’s weak point or reduced their health by a certain amount.
The stolen soul then became a resource for class-specific skills, so Seuron became stronger as his target became weaker. Furthermore, the higher the quality of the seized soul, the stronger the power of the skill. This meant Seuron’s power also increased in accordance with the enemy’s level.
Most importantly, Seuron had become a vampire.
He absorbed blood from his target to restore health, increase stats, or used it as a resource for blood magic. He inflicted even more damage onto a target that was already weak from losing its soul. Seuron himself became stronger, because this effect stacked on himself.
Simply put, the match between the Soul Predator and a vampire was unequaled.
In fact, Seuron had been deeply grateful to Grid for some time.
So what about a widespread sense of injustice?
He became a supreme being thanks to the guy who opened up content for different races.
…The fear he felt for Katz still clearly remained, but it was true that Seuron had become stronger.
“I like it because it gives an amazing amount of experience.”
Seuron felt ashamed as he recalled how he couldn’t even raise his voice in front of Katz. This made his actions become a bit more radical.
He roamed around the battlefield, using souls and blood to create and wield all types of weapons to slaughter his enemies. He was ready to leave behind a mountain of corpses.
It was a spectacular sight.
Valkyries might have been weaker than angels, but it wasn’t easy to deal damage to them because of their equipment. However, Seuron attacked the target’s body and soul at the same time, ignoring some of the Valkyrie’s advantages.
“Don’t let your guard down. They are just scouts,” Knight warned as he cut down the souls of the Valkyries with a scythe and placed a restraint in a wide area around them.
The characteristic of Knight’s Death God was his ability to strike at the soul of a target directly. Therefore, he completely ignored the Valkyries’ armament.
‘He is even more impressive than the rumors make him out to be. As expected of someone belonging to the Overgeared Guild.’
Seuron clicked his tongue and looked up at the sky.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
There was the sound of an earth-shattering march that shook even the heavens.
The main army of the Valkyries remained unfazed even though dozens of them had been killed. They appeared quite relaxed as they boldly stepped down the cloud stairs. Some of them were keeping an eye on Seuron and Knight, but most were looking only in the direction in which Hayate had taken off, who had already become a dot in the distance and almost disappeared.
[You shall deal with them.]
Suddenly, someone’s intent was engraved onto the surrounding space.
Seuron’s complexion, which had been relaxed the whole time, suddenly paled.
[Dominion, god of war, has descended.]
“Wow, this opponent is a bit…”
Now Seuron wasn’t even given time to properly complain, because the movements of the scouts had become more agile the moment the god’s intent was engraved on the space.
Even worse, hundreds of Valkyries charged, breaking off from the main army formation and attacking Seuron. Each one was so powerful that the scouts’ strength paled in comparison to that of the Valkyries’.
In particular, a captain-level Valkyrie with feathers on her helmet severely wounded Seuron the moment she appeared. She closed the distance between them using her spear, then she easily lunged for his chest, cutting at his waist with her sword.
‘Damn.’
It would be difficult lasting for more than five minutes given the state of things.
In an instant, Seuron’s facial expression darkened as he looked at the Black and White sisters and Knight, who had retreated in a defensive position.
It seemed that there would be no problem if he sued the Overgeared Guild for damages. The problem was that he was unable to drive back Dominion and the rest of the main army who had started tracking Hayate.
Didn’t this mean he was useless after all…?
He was afraid Katz would break their agreement because of this.
“Hey, can I grab some stars and eat them?”
Stars.
The most powerful souls wandering around hell.
If he was able to consume them, Seuron would feel like a fish in water for a while. He couldn’t do anything about Dominion, but in this way he could at least deal with this feathered enemy in front of him and deal a blow to the main army.
“It isn’t possible.”
Knight’s answer was a reasonable one. There were several problems involved. First of all, there was the political issue. Hell had become the realm of the Overgeared World, but that had happened through fusion, not conquest. At the moment, hell was ruled by both Eligos and the Overgeared Guild. The Overgeared Guild needed to ask for Eligos’ permission before carrying out anything in hell.
This was easier to understand if one took into consideration the nations in the East Continent. It was similar to the way the Overgeared Guild couldn’t run wild in the Cho Kingdom without the permission of the Cho King.
Of course, no matter what the Overgeared Guild members did, no one would carelessly criticize or resent them. However, there was the possibility that people might start regarding the guild as untrustworthy.
Knight had been working as an inspector, witnessing complaints from local nobles, so he was more sensitive to this.
Finally, the moral problem was the biggest issue. The souls of hell could be seen as inhabitants of the region. So hurting them at will and taking their power? What if Eligos showed up on the surface one day and harmed Reinhardt’s people out of necessity…? Would the Overgeared Guild understand him if he did that?
“Tsk, I know.”
Seuron was someone who wanted to build a household. He was also the leader of a large guild. He felt frustrated, but he understood the Overgeared Guild’s viewpoint.
‘In any case, if things go wrong, only the Overgeared Guild will experience a loss. Let’s just give up our goal and gain some experience, at least.’
Seuron occupied such a high rank within the game’s hierarchy that it was hard to find beings stronger than him. Ever since turning into a vampire, he considered finding a worthy opponent among other players difficult.
Therefore, he deliberately focused on targeting the dimensional gaps. The captain-level Valkyrie had formidable skills compared to the monsters in the dimensional gap. It was a good opponent to gain experience from, and the rewards for successfully completing this raid would be bountiful.
The moment Seuron focused his mind and was about to use up the souls he had stored as resources, he heard a voice.
“”You are being pointlessly cautious.””
A hollow voice, carrying unreadable emotions or thoughts, echoed throughout the battlefield.
The presence was formidable.
He could feel the eyes of the main Valkyrie army, which had already left the battlefield in pursuit of Hayate, focusing in the direction of the voice.
“”Emissary of the human world. Hell has long sworn allegiance to your master. I, the new ruler of hell, have decreed so. Why do you hesitate?””
The dark armor of the Black Knight Eligos was in direct contrast with the brilliantly shining Valkyries. He was a being who had become the new symbol of hell.
He stormed into the battlefield while riding the huge Cerberus like a horse, trampling on Valkyries as he approached Knight.
Several stars were hovering around him. A more accurate description would be that they were being dragged by an invisible chain.
“”These are the souls of the wicked. They aren’t allowed to reincarnate according to the laws I have established. You can have them.””
Seuron didn’t hesitate at all.
He was deeply grateful for this strange connection that had formed between them, and that Eligos had recognized his value, and absorbed the five stars.
[You have absorbed the soul of the nameless Sword Demon.]
[You have absorbed the soul of the nameless cannibal.]
[You have absorbed the soul of the nameless bomber…]
……
…
[All stats are greatly increased until the absorbed souls disappear.]
[Some of the absorbed souls’ skills have been temporarily activated.]
The effect was temporary.
Seuron rode the black horse that had been left aside for a while and quickly charged into the battlefield. The Valkyries tried to stop him but Leraje, who appeared after Eligos, hindered them. Every time she swung her fists and kicked with her feet, the armor of the Valkyries exploded violently, causing gray pillars to soar.
Eligos stared down at the captain-level Valkyrie, who was squirming as she was being trampled by Cerberus’ paw, and spoke to Knight.
“”You take care of this trash.””
Then Cerberus leaped high into the air.
It instantly soared over the head of the horse carrying Seuron and soon caught up with the main army of the Valkyries.
“”You dogs of Asgard. Pay the price for daring to invade my hell.””
The days when Baal distorted hell, Black Knight Eligos had ignored the great demons’ ranking battle and had instead decided to stay at the river of reincarnation. He felt no interest in the battle for hell, nor did he feel the need for one, because he considered it distorted and worthless.
His greatest ambition was to become a symbol of the hell that had regained its true form. At that moment, his pride didn’t allow him to stand by and watch invaders dare defile hell.
He used bizarre swordsmanship that took control of both the ‘trajectory’ and the ‘surface.’ Eligos’ swordsmanship was tricky to defend against or dodge. Every time he released energy from his black sword, the Valkyries’ necks and wrists were cut off along with their helmets and shields. As such, a path through the battlefield opened instantly.
Seuron arrived at the scene a bit later and burst in.
He used the souls of the dead Valkyries as resources and activated the bomber’s ultimate technique, laying waste to the enemy camp. Cerberus joined in by breathing fire and poison.
The Valkyries’ ranks collapsed. They were in such a terrible state that they could no longer even be described as an army.
It was to the point where Dominion had to pause from where he was, despite the distance he’d covered.
[Ignore them and chase.]
Dominion’s command strengthened the Valkyries’ leg strength.
Every time their feet hit the ground, they were able to leap great distances forward.
They started to outpace Eligos and Seuron, the speed at which the Valkyries were moving considerably faster than before.
“These guys…”
“”Don’t act rashly.””
Eligos warned Seuron, who panicked and was about to chase after the Valkyries.
[Be buried here.]
Dominion’s spear struck the two of them. Because of Judar’s newly developed blessing, dimensional restrictions no longer applied and were promptly ignored. The sheer power of Dominion’s spear was unimaginable.
Seuron narrowly managed to dodge it, and was on the brink of death just by being swept away in the aftermath of the explosion. Cerberus screamed as well. Even the grand illusion filling the sky was dealing extra attacks. It was Dominion’s ability to add splash damage with every attack.
There was an ear-splitting roar, causing the ground to sink.
Seuron almost fainted.
Even worse, he was afflicted by a stun, and became the target of the next spear that would be thrown by Dominion.
‘Shit.’
The golden spear flew toward him like a flash of lighting, almost slashing Seuron’s brow.
Then someone’s sword appeared and blocked the spear.
[Did you get your body back?]
The contact between the sword and the spear caused gusts of wind to swirl around, wildly ruffling the white coat of the blond-haired man.
Dominion instantly recognized the identity of the elegant man, who didn’t quite seem to fit the battlefield.
[Dragon Slayer.]
“I realized along the way that I didn’t need any special process to regain my body.”
The spirit that dwelled in the soul.
Hayate’s body, which was sleeping on the surface, had been called by his soul and descended here. Finally, it had been returned to its master.
Dragon Slayer Hayate had now been revived.