Chapter 498: The Raiders

NPCs and players reacted to rumors quite differently in Athenae. For Athenae players, all they needed to do to verify any rumors was to search the person involved or watch Ztube videos related to them.

This was the case with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

When they were still Legend Guild, the players had repeatedly watched the videos of their legendary battle in the Continent Cloud. There were also videos of their battle against Black Dragon Vormon and Great Demon Verus.

Most of the NPCs, on the other hand, could only listen to stories and they did not have any way to confirm it. They did not have a way to watch videos like the players, which was why the other kingdoms and empires labeled the rumors surrounding Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as fake.

An intellectually disabled boy was the Sword Saint? A best-selling author of erotic novels was strong enough to crush legends? Also, the Great Demon had become jealous when the Lesser Demon had decided to follow the Beyond the Heavens King, so he had staged an attack?

Just listening to any of these was enough for the NPCs to label these news as exaggerated rumors that were created by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom! They all assumed that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was spreading nonsense as legends so that other kings and their subjects would not ignore the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, the stories that surrounded them were completely beyond anyone’s common sense.

But right now, Count Forlo’s thoughts were about to change. A tiny human was pressing down on a mountain-sized dragon, stepping on the dragon’s head with his boots. Moreover, the man was just a passing fisherman.

“How, how can this…” Forlo mumbled, his body trembling from shock.

As for Dragon Arcana? His entire body was covered in shame and disgrace, a feeling that he had never felt in his entire life.

‘

How dare a measly human put his muddy boots on my head?!’

“How dare youuuuuuuu!!!” Arcana roared out in anger, a series of explosions blooming around his body.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

But what happened next was even more shocking.

“Hey, f*cking pint-sized lizard…”

The man had just called a dragon, one of the largest beings on Earth, ‘pint-sized’. Was that expression even appropriate? But seeing the man press down on Arcana with his feet, Forlo could not deny his words.

Then, the man continued his words, spitting out coldly, “…shut up.”

Crack—

The man, who ignored the explosions that ravaged his surroundings, lifted his foot and stomped it down on Arcana’s head again, causing the dragon to plunge deeper into the ground.

“Grrrrrrrrrr!” Arcana growled angrily, but for some reason he looked pitiful, with his head buried in the ground as he sent out another wave of explosion. However, the man just waved his arm nonchalantly and summoned a huge barrier made of water. He easily fended off the explosions that appeared around him once again.

Suddenly, another explosion, this time a thundering one, bloomed from Arcana’s body.

“Ugh!” The man groaned as he flew back from the impact. Despite being caught unaware, the man was able to easily regain his footing in the air.

Arcana, who pulled his face out of the ground, was extremely furious. He had been in a daze for a moment because the sight of fish had muddled his head, his eyes blinded with greed. That was why he did not care about the man and had only sent a nonchalant attack toward the man.

In the end, Arcana was bitten by his own carelessness and was caught offguard, the man easily forcing his head into the ground. But not anymore—he was now free from the man’s hold, and was cautious and vigilant.

“Graaaaaaaaaaa!” Arcana roared as hundreds of spells came to life around him and shot straight at the man. A dragon’s magic could easily ignore their opponent’s magical defense. That was why it was far more powerful than other magic.

‘Yeah. If you got struck by that magic then…’

Count Forlo believed that the crazy fisherman bastard would be burned to ashes and disappear from this world.

But then, at that moment, a gigantic long chain appeared on the fisherman’s left arm, while a huge curved sword appeared on his right. Fisherman Gorfido’s chains were made from the world-renowned ‘Ten-thousand-year-old Cold Iron’, a material that had a ridiculously high durability and could endure anything for a long period of time. It also had an unbelievable amount of magical defense that could allow Gorfido to ignore and nullify all of the magical attacks sent his way.

Rattle—

All of the magic that had appeared in the air was absorbed into Gorfido’s chains the moment they made contact.

“…?!” Arcana looked at the scene in doubt.

The reason why Great Pirate Gorfido had been able to torment Baal, the first ranked devil, in the past was all thanks to the chains in his hands. Gorfido found the name of his chains annoyingly long so he just named it ‘Ten Thousand Chains’. It was an item that had the effect of absorbing the enemy’s magical attacks, special attributes, and abnormal states.

It also had a paired item with an equally annoying name, which Gorfido had conveniently named ‘Ten Thousand Sword’. This sword had the effect of sending the absorbed power, multiplied by 1.3 times, back to the one that had sent it.

“I’ll give it back to you.”

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

When Gorfido, whose hands were occupied with his chains and sword, sent back the attack…

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

…a more powerful magic bombarded Aracana, which promptly sent him flying into the skies.

“Hiiiiiiiiiiik!” Count Forlo shrieked, his legs stepping back from the scene. However, the attack was not yet over.

Gorfido was hailed as the Sea Demon because his swordsmanship was both cruel and vicious. However, he was very lazy, so he named his attacks with whatever came to his mind.

“Tidal Knife.”

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—

A gigantic blue tidal wave soared and devoured Arcana, who fell down after being hit with the magic attack. More than five hundred blades hidden in the depths of the tidal wave wreaked havoc and tore the scales off of Arcana’s body.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

“Aaaaaaaaaargh! Ugh! Aaaaaaaack!”

The once blue tidal wave was now dyed red. It did not matter who saw it, the scene would forever remain grotesque and gruesome.

Gorfido approached Arcana while swinging his sword as he pressed the dragon down again.

“*Pint-sized dragon bastard. Go to hell! Go to hell! Kahahahahaha!”

Count Forlo, who watched everything happen, could not endure it and vomited at the gruesome sight, “Urrrk!”

‘Who in the world is that fisherman?!’

Of course, Arcana was not the only one that received damage. His physical damage reflection and AOE magic attacks also affected the man. But the man continued to press Arcana down as if he did not feel any pain.

‘We—we need to get it together,’

Forlo thought, despite the chaos brought about by the mysterious fisherman.

From the way things were going, it was nigh impossible for them to help those that sneaked in Valencia. However, the mission would still be successful. The fisherman in front of them was just one miscalculation on their part. No matter what happened here, the Undefeated Knights and the 300 elite knights that raided the other areas would have most definitely turned the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom into waste.

‘Even if I die here… the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would collapse.’

At that moment, the bead in Count Forlo’s hand vibrated fiercely. The bead was a ‘War Communicator’, a device that could allow troops separated by a distance to share a few words in between them. After the words were transmitted, the bead would then be destroyed. This was so no one else could hear what they were talking about.

‘Right. Of course. We succeeded…!’

Originally, Count Forlo and Arcana would bomb the capital once they received the signal. Then, there was a buzzing sound that rang from the War Communicator.

[This is Arca. The First Elite Troops that I am leading have been wiped out. I repeat. The First Elite Troops have been wiped out. And from what it looks like, I’m also going to die under the spear of Ghost Spear Ben. Glory to Lumae Kingdom… hiss, hiss, hisss—]

“…?!”

Count Forlo was shocked.

‘Im—impossible…!’

The Warrior’s Nation’s Sir Arca might only be one among the countless talents in their kingdom but he was a rare genius that almost reached the ranks of the Sword Saint. But, he was defeated and killed by an old man by the name of Ghost Spear Ben?

Then, another transmission came through the War Communicator…

[Hiss, hiss, hisss— This is Bent, the commander of the Third Elite Troops. The Third Elite Troops have been annihilated… The Third Elite Troops… have been wiped out by an intellectually disabled boy…]

[Hiss, hiss, hisss— This is Armstrong, knight of the Second Elite Troops. The Second Elite Troops have been wiped out. Sir Rudel, the commander of the Second Elite Troops, has been killed. I believe I will soon follow Sir Rudel. Glory to Lumae Kingdom…]

[Hiss, hiss, hissssss… wiped out. Wiped out…]

[We’ve been wiped out…! Retreat. The legends about Beyond the Heavens Kingdom… hiss… they’re… true… hisssss.]

“…!”

Count Forlo’s expression turned ugly at the words he heard. “They’re… all true?”

‘Those ridiculous legends?’

Then, at that moment…

Baaaaaaaang—

The loud thud of Arcana’s body slamming down on the ground filled the area. Then, the Ten Thousand Chains in Gorfido’s arm stretched out and wrapped around the collapsed dragon.

“Hmmm~ I wonder if His Majesty would like to eat dragon meat.”

The fisherman literally fished Arcana. He was also aware of Count Forlo’s existence, so he slowly approached Forlo.

“I—I won’t say anything. Just kill me!”

At this moment, Count Forlo believed that he would be taken in as a prisoner of war to get as much information that they could get from him.

“Right.”

“…?”

But Gorfido was someone that never took in prisoners of war. Hearing his light-hearted reply, Count Forlo felt his confidence waver. But then, at that moment, the War Communicator sent its final message.

[Hissss— This is the warrior’s disciple, Renzie. I have succeeded in capturing the hatchling and the Food God’s aide, Haze. I am now on my way to Crazy Tyrant Akhan.]

“…!”

A delighted smile sprang in the count’s face. Most of them have been wiped out, but Renzie, the only warrior’s disciple and the one that moved alone, was able to succeed. He was able to take the hatchling that had hatched from the Dragon Lord’s egg. They had originally only meant to take the hatchling, but they were even able to take away the Food God’s aide!

“Keuha… hahahahahahaha!” Count Forlo burst out in laughter after knowing that they had succeeded in the most important part of their mission. However, his laughter slowly died down after realizing that there was a cruel slaughterer standing in front of him.

Thump—

Count Forlo’s head rolled on the ground as Gorfido rushed back to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with all his might.

‘Haze and Luna have been kidnapped…?!’

The biggest crisis since the founding of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had fallen upon them.

***

Ghost Spear Ben was certainly blessed with a strong body and a strong will, but he still collapsed on the ground and gasped for his breath after cutting down Arca and the rest of his troops. He literally did not have any power to move his finger, let alone his whole body, anymore.

But then, he saw a horse rushing from across the field. On top of the horse was a woman whose face was covered in black cloth and a wriggling bag. When the horse passed by, he was able to get a glimpse of the badge on the woman’s chest. That badge represented the woman’s position as an aide.

That woman was none other than Haze. Then, the wriggling bag also cried out, “Hiyeeeeee~?”

The voice sounded both pure, innocent and happy. At that moment, Ben realized who the owner of the voice was. He did his best to squeeze out the last of his strength. However, out of stamina, he ended up losing consciousness for about thirty seconds.

Even though he fainted, Ben was still able to awaken with his strong will and mental power. He immediately staggered to his feet after recalling what he had seen. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was now in the middle of a war. All of the troops were busy and no one was aware of what happened here. Also…

‘It will be too late if I go ask for help.’

It would take him around three to five minutes to get support. By that time, they would have already lost them. Ghost Spear Ben staggered to his feet, grabbed a bucket of water and poured it over himself.

“Puhaaa!”

The red blood that covered his body was washed away by the water. After slinging three spears behind him, he gulped down the strongest and best potion with him, before tying his Terrius-like black hair.

‘Another minute has passed by.’

The gap between him and the kidnapper that took Luna and Haze was two minutes. He had to narrow that gap somehow.

“Hiya! Hiyaah!” Ghost Spear Ben, now riding on a horse, galloped across Valencia Capital in pursuit of the enemy.

On this day, the myth about the bloody veteran soldier that fought tens of thousands of enemies alone to protect his loved ones, the story of a demigod becoming a Spear God, had begun.