Chapter 1285 |
“What?!”
“Whoa!”
“Ah...!”
Every single soul on the battlefield was shocked by what they witnessed.
Siegfried had become so popular now that almost everybody on the continent knew who he was and what he was capable of doing, so nothing he did surprised them anymore.
He was the Saint who saved the world multiple times and a Grandmaster.
To the NPCs, he was a hero, while to the Adventurers, he was the best pro gamer.
Siegfried had reached a level where he stood uncontested at the pinnacle of BNW. Most people would no longer be impressed by any miracle he displayed, but this time was an exception.
The sight of him massacring a whole line of clones with just a single thrust of his lance left a powerful impression on everyone.
‘W-What was that? Was something like that even possible? But that was just a basic attack…’ Siegfried thought, flabbergasted by what he did.
There was nothing special in what he did aside from just thrusting the Annihilation’s Grasp once.
A basic attack—nothing more and nothing less. All he did was thrust the Annihilation’s Grasp forward, yet it unleashed a vortex so powerful that it swept away every single one of Duke Randoll’s clones in its path.
Even if some of the Primordial Force lingering in his palm could have amplified the lance's power, the fact that it caused such destruction was simply stunning.
At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed Siegfried’s mind, ‘Hold on… How powerful will this thing be if I use my skills with it?’
He couldn’t begin to imagine just how powerful it would be.
If he infused his Primordial Force into the Annihilation’s Grasp and used his skills with it…
‘Holy…’ Siegfried shuddered at the thought.
Just imagining the destruction he could cause with this Universal-rated weapon sent a chill down his spine.
The Annihilation’s Grasp whispered, ‘Did you see that? That’s what I’m capable of. I’m a being that can bestow you powers beyond your wildest imagination. Well, you couldn’t even use ten percent of it, so I doubt if you’re truly worthy of—’
‘Will the third-rate evil spirit please shut up?’
‘W-What did you call me?!’
‘I repeat. Do you want me to beat the shit out of you again? Do you wanna experience death?’
‘...’
‘I’m busy, so just shut up and behave.’
‘Y-You dare…!’
‘A slave should work like a slave. Don’t get on my nerves and just do your job, slave.’
‘You dare call me a slave?’
‘Hmm… I think you need some re-education after we’re done with this.’
‘Huh? Re-education…?’
‘You’ll see soon enough.’
That was it…
Siegfried blocked the whispers coming from the Annihilation’s Grasp. The battle was still raging, so he did not have the luxury to listen to the yapping of some third-rate evil spirit.
Hamchi approached him and asked, “What in the world is that weapon, owner punk?”
“I have no idea. But one thing’s for sure… It’s capable of helping us win this war,” Siegfried replied.
“Show me what it’s got.”
“Yeah, I was planning on doing that.”
Siegfried gripped the Annihilation’s Grasp once again and prepared for battle when—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Another fleet of the Marchioni Empire’s battleships appeared on the horizon, bombarding the battlefield.
Reinforcements…
The new battleships created with the combined technology of the Proatine Empire and the Coral Race had destroyed nearly half of the Marchioni Empire’s Immortal Fleet.
At this rate, the Marchioni Empire was surely going to lose control over the skies, meaning that the Proatine Empire would have free rein to bomb the battlefield.
Thus, the Marchioni Empire deployed thirty additional battleships.
However, the countless disasters and wars had been taking their toll on the empire, so these thirty battleships weren't Immortal Battleships. Instead, they were just ordinary battleships.
‘As if I’d let you,’ Siegfried thought, glaring at the battleships.
The Proatine Imperial Army was minutes away from completely destroying the Immortal Fleet and seizing air superiority, but the arrival of reinforcements would delay that.
For every single second the aerial battles dragged on, more and more of Siegfried’s troops would fall.
Thus, Siegfried had no plans on letting the thirty battleships get anywhere near the aerial battles.
‘I’ll deal with the air first,’ he decided.
He raised Annihilation’s Grasp behind his head and threw it as hard as he could.
Shwiiiiiiiiik!
Annihilation’s Grasp cut through the air at terrifying speeds, making it look like a missile rather than a lance.
Whiiiish!
Siegfried gathered all of his focus into the Annihilation’s Grasp and controlled it with the Flying Sword skill.
Wooong!
Annihilation’s Grasp moved according to Siegfried’s will, creating another miracle.
Bam!
Annihilation’s Grasp struck one of the battleships on its hull. It pierced it and exited from the other side.
And that was just the beginning...
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Universal-rated weapon went in and out of the battleships, and the battleships pierced by the Annihilation’s Grasp exploded at once.
“I-Impossible!”
“W-What did I just see…?”
“Oh my god!”
“Did he just… shoot down battleships using a spear?”
Everyone who witnessed the sight was shocked beyond words.
But that was not the end of it…
Chrwaaaak!
The Universal-rated weapon pierced the remaining battleships, shooting them down one by one until every single one of them was no longer in the skies.
In less than five minutes, all thirty battleships were shot down.
The fact that an individual managed to shoot down a battleship was already impressive, but shooting down an entire fleet was something nobody thought was even possible.
At that moment, Hamchi called out in a low voice, “Hey, owner punk.”
“Hm? What?” Siegfried turned around and replied.
“I’m not…”
“Huh?”
“...Going to mess with you anymore.”
“Eh?”
“I don’t wanna die yet.”
Siegfried doubted what he had heard just now.
Why? Well, in his true form, Hamchi was the very definition of arrogance.
However, Hamchi was actually being serious here. After witnessing just how powerful Siegfried had become after obtaining the Universal-rated weapon, Hamchi vowed never to mess with him ever again.
‘Tsk… The monster is using a monster as a weapon,’ Hamchi thought, staring at the Universal-rated weapon in Siegfried’s hand. The sight of them was akin to the neighborhood's most mischievous prankster running into the biggest bully in town.
Except this time, the bully was holding a nuclear bomb.
***
Siegfried’s intervention put an end to the aerial battle, giving full control over the skies to the Proatine Imperial Army.
Now, the battle had entered a new stage.
With the skies firmly under their control, the Proatine Imperial Army’s fleets unleashed a relentless bombardment on the backlines of the Marchioni Imperial Army.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Kaboom!
The Marchioni Imperial Army suffered massive casualties from the relentless bombardment unleashed from above.
No matter how vast the battlefield was, there was no way millions of troops could fight all at once at the frontlines. While the fighting on the frontlines continued, the other troops were on standby at the back, waiting for their turn to be deployed to battle.
Whenever one side of the frontlines suffered enough casualties, the commanders would deploy a fresh set of troops to fill the gaps.
Thus, those at the front were at the biggest risk of dying, while those at the rear were relatively safe until they were deployed to the frontlines.
However, the Proatine Imperial Army had gained air superiority, and their next target would obviously be the rear of the Marchioni Imperial Army.
The frontlines were a gigantic mess of troops from both sides mixed together in a chaotic brawl. Theoretically, the Proatine Imperial Army could bombard the frontlines, but there was no reason for them to bombard their own allies when a better target existed.
However, the troops in the rear were a different story.
The Proatine Imperial Army could unleash a merciless bombardment on them without any worries. Not only did they not have to worry about hitting their own allies, but they could also bombard them for days without being contested at all.
This was the price the Marchioni Empire had to pay for giving control of the skies over to their enemies, and that price was paid by none other than their troops on the ground.
‘Let’s go!’ Siegfried charged toward the swarming clones of Duke Randoll.
“Ack!”
“Aaack!”
“T-This monster—ack!”
The clones of Duke Randoll couldn’t stop Siegfried now that he wielded Annihilation’s Grasp.
Aside from holding Siegfried back using their overwhelming numbers, there was nothing else they could do to him. Dozens of them would die the moment Siegfried unleashed his Invincible Spear Art, so bringing him down was virtually impossible.
This was the reason they opted to focus on holding him back while the Four Heavenly Kings slaughtered the Proatine Imperial troops and allied troops.
However, holding him back was no longer possible.
Their overwhelming numbers couldn't hold back a Grandmaster wielding a Universal-rated weapon.
To begin with, the Attack Power of Annihilation’s Grasp was beyond absurd.
[+10 Sky Piercer]
[Attack Power: 17,000 + 5,000]
The attack power of his weapon, +10 Sky Piercer, was an astonishing twenty-two thousand. However, the gap between it and the +0 Annihilation’s Grasp was like the gap between heaven and earth.
[+0 Annihilation’s Grasp]
[Attack Power: 70,000]
The Universal-rated weapon boasted an Attack Power of seventy thousand even without any enhancements.
That was a difference of almost fifty thousand! Even if Siegfried somehow managed to enhance his +10 Sky Piercer to +16, it would not do much to close that gap.
In other words, +10 Sky Piercer would have to reach at least +20 to have any chance of matching the Attack Power of the +0 Annihilation’s Grasp.
Thus, it was only natural that the clones of Duke Randoll could no longer hold Siegfried back.
Ironically, Siegfried no longer had to break through the swarms of clones.
Flash!
Annihilation’s Grasp suddenly unleashed a flash of light, and the scenery around him changed.
‘This is…!’
Siegfried realized that the Universal-rated weapon had the Teleport ability.
He also obtained Teleport after becoming a Grandmaster, but this came with the limitation of travelling short distances while having a long cooldown.
On the other hand, the Teleport ability of Annihilation’s Grasp was completely different.
Though it required quite a bit of Primordial Force to use, it had a short cooldown while allowing him to travel long distances.
***
Siegfried teleported past the clones of Duke Randoll and appeared right in front of one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
“...!”
The only female one among the Four Heavenly Kings, Circe, was shocked after seeing Siegfried appear right in front of her. She was an artificial human being created from Emperor Stuttgart’s DNA, programmed to wield the same power as a Grandmaster.
“Siegfried von Proa!” Circe exclaimed.
“It’s time to pay,” Siegfried growled.
“Ha! This lowly dog dares to talk to me like—”
Siegfried ignored her rambling and swung Annihilation’s Grasp.
Swoosh!
He swung it like a saber and unleashed the Sword Emperor’s ultimate skill—Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade.
“...!”
Circe’s eyes shot wide open in shock.
“H-How… is… this… p-possible—?”
A red line appeared on Circe’s waist.
“Eh?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.
He was certain that he swung Annihilation’s Grasp and struck Circe using the shaft, but the impact he felt was akin to cutting something instead of hitting something with a blunt weapon.
‘Did I cut her?’ he wondered.
It was then.
Thud… Thud…!
Circe was cleaved into two.
‘What in the…? How did it suddenly cut through the target? Isn’t this a blunt surface?’ Siegfried wondered, baffled.
He racked his brains for a second and realized that one of the weapon's materials was the Omnipotent Mechanical Gear.
‘Did it use the Omnipotent Mechanical Gear to switch into a blade? But how did it do that in that split-second?’
He suspected that Annihilation’s Grasp had transformed into a blade and reverted back into a lance before even he noticed it. Compared to the transformation speed of the Vanquisher’s Grasp, the transformation speed of Annihilation’s Grasp could only be described as lightning quick.
On top of that, it managed to inflict enough damage to cleave a Grandmaster in half.
‘This guy… is quite scary…’ Siegfried thought.
However, he did not have the luxury of staying surprised. Three of the Four Heavenly Kings still remained, and he had to kill all of them to bring this battle to an end.
‘Let’s go.’
With that, Siegfried teleported to the remaining Four Heavenly Kings and brought them down one by one.
Ten minutes was all it took for him to take down the Four Heavenly Kings.
Even though the Four Heavenly Kings were on the level of Grandmasters, there was nothing they could do against Siegfried, who was a Grandmaster wielding a Universal-rated weapon.
After defeating the Four Heavenly Kings, Siegfried thought, ‘Hmm… I’m still not sure how powerful my skills are, so I can’t go around unleashing them. I should target the places where there are no allies around.’
He couldn’t risk unleashing his skills at places where his allies were fighting. The vortex unleashed by the Annihilation’s Grasp ripped everything in its path without regard for friend or foe.
If even his basic attacks were this deadly, then there was no telling how powerful his other skills would be.
‘I’ll try fighting alone.’
With that thought, he teleported straight into the backlines of the Marchioni Imperial Army.
‘Time to test what this thing is really capable of.’
He slammed the Annihilation’s Grasp into the ground.
Splitting Heaven and Earth!
The skill that turned the ground upside down was unleashed.
Ruuuuumble!
The ground trembled violently.
Shwiiiish…!
Small tornadoes formed around the Universal-rated weapon, and they grew bigger and bigger as they fanned out.
Shwiiiiiik!
The tornadoes grew stronger and stronger, swallowing every single enemy soldier who dared to stay in their paths.
It was the birth of a new skill—Splitting Heaven and Earth: Dragon Rising.
Tokki's Thoughts
Tokki’s Thoughts:
Author-nim seems to be rushing the story a bit. But fear not! I’m trying my best to make sure everything links up instead of scene jumping.
Hurrah for Tokki-nim! Three cheers for the wabbit!
Okay, I’m just kidding—or not.