Chapter 207: War of the Gods (5)

"Shouldn't we be there?"

"Us going there would only be a distraction."

A man wrapped in bandages was lying in the hospital bed.

"But this battle is on a whole different level."

And the person sitting next to him said while peeling an apple.

They were watching the broadcast of the war in Elder Lord through a screen mounted on the wall of the hospital room. Light and flames flickered across the screen, dazzling the eyes. Amidst it all, the slaughter of killing and being killed continued.

And what the screen focused on was a single orc.

Their respected warrior, Crockta.

"That’s that, but..."

The man lying in the hospital room scratched his head and asked,

"Are you sure it’s okay for you to visit like this every day?"

"It's fine."

The one peeling the apple shook their head.

“My schedule’s free. Why? You don’t like it when I visit?"

"No that’s not what I’m saying..."

There was an awkwardness in the air.

Only the sounds of war from the screen and the apple peeling resonated in the hospital room.

Then, the hospital room door swung open, and even more visitors appeared.

"Hey! Shin Ja-Hu! What are you doing?"

"Model citizen! You haven’t died yet, have you?"

"Jia-Hu, Jia-Hu, Jia... huh?"

They paused.

They were coworkers who worked with Shin Ja-Hu at the same Chinese restaurant.

As soon as they entered the room, they couldn't help but stop upon discovering someone sitting quietly next to Shin Ja-Hu's bedside, peeling an apple.

Long, neatly arranged black hair, flowing down to their neck.

Skin so pale, contrasting the black hair.

The long eyelashes and beautifully double-lidded eyes were revealed as they turned toward the visitors.

A beauty they had never seen before was sitting by Shin Ja-Hu’s side.

"W-who..."

"G-girlfriend...?"

Though they were rugged men who battled flames and heavy woks in the kitchen, they turned into meek sheep in the presence of such beauty.

They couldn't even properly meet the eyes of the mysterious beauty.

"Uh..."

"Eh..."

Shin Ja-Hu came to their rescue.

"Oh, hey guys."

"Yeah, we thought we’d visit since it’s been a while... but eh..."

Sensing their awkwardness, the beauty stopped peeling the apple, neatly placed the apple and knife on the table, and stood up.

"I was just about to leave."

"Oh, right..."

"I have to get going but please enjoy your visit."

The beauty left with a faint smile, and a fragrant scent lingered in the spot where she had been sitting.

As soon as the door closed, Shin Ja-Hu's coworkers fired questions like a machine gun.

"Who the hell was that? Who is she? Who the hell is she? Tell us right now!"

"You bastard! This guy has been doing this kind of crap behind our backs!"

"Girlfriend? Is she your girlfriend? If she's a relative, could you introduce me..."

Shin Ja-Hu sighed.

"No, it’s not like that..."

"What do you mean it's not like that? Why else would she be visiting and peeling apples for you!"

Instead of answering, Shin Ja-Hu silently switched the channel on the hospital TV with the remote.

The live feed of the war in Elder Lord switched to a music program.

Well-dressed idols were dancing and singing in unison.

"What are you doing? Why are we watching this all of a sudden..."

Then, his coworkers froze.

On the screen, the stunning beauty they had just seen peeling apples for Shin Ja-Hu was smiling and dancing.

An idol.

That was the identity of the beauty they had just seen.

"A-a-are you dating a celebrity?"

"How the hell did you manage to..."

Shin Ja-Hu pointed at the bottom of the screen.

After following his finger and looking at where he was pointing, the coworkers all fell silent.

There was a description in front of the unfamiliar group name: a boy group.

Not a girl group, but a boy group.

"......"

"Uh..."

"Ehem..."

The hospital room went quiet.

Shin Ja-Hu switched the channel again.

The live feed of Elder Lord appeared. Crockta was clashing swords with a man. According to the amped-up commentators, the opponent was the War God, and he was the key figure behind the organization of the expedition. It was a clash between two titans, Crockta and the War God.

Every time they exchanged blows, they shook the entire battlefield.

"..."

"..."

Meanwhile, the hospital room remained silent.

Shin Ja-Hu broke the silence as if exploding.

"Long live Crockta!"

The idol visitor was a friend Shin Ja-Hu had made while campaigning 'Praise the Orc.’ When he had an accident and couldn't hop on the game for a while, the idol asked for the hospital’s address to visit him, and Shin Ja-Hu gave it to him without much thought.

"Go Crockta! Win!"

As Crockta's greatsword plunged toward the War God, Shin Ja-Hu raised his hand again.

"Long live Crock... kugh!"

Who could have known?

That Gilgamesh, the player so stubborn and immature, was actually an idol in real life.

And not just any idol, but a flower-like, beautiful boy idol at that!

He visited Shin Ja-Hu's hospital room daily, claiming it was off-season for his activity, and as time passed, Shin Ja-Hu found himself increasingly unable to concentrate on Crockta's war videos. Even as he watched those dangerous battles, he could hardly immerse himself.

Just why? What could possibly be the reason?

Shin Ja-Hu closed his eyes. Suddenly, a line from a classic Korean noir he used to enjoy, 'A Bittersweet Life,' flashed through his mind.

「On a clear spring day, watching the branches sway in the wind, the disciple asked,

“Master, is it the branches that are moving, or the wind?”

Without even looking at what the disciple was pointing at, the master laughed and answered,

“What truly moves is neither the branches nor the wind, but your own heart.” 」

Shin Ja-Hu shook his head and glared toward Crockta. Crockta's greatsword struck the War God repeatedly. The War God's feet dug into the ground. It was an immense, monstrous strength.

The fight grew fiercer. Desperately summoning the machismo within him, Shin Ja-Hu shouted,

"You got this, Crockta!"

* * *

Tiyo rolled forward to dodge an enemy's attack and silenced them with quick, targeted shots.

"These are gonna hurt a bit today!"

Until now, Tiyo's General was not really considered adequate for killing.

It was more for temporarily stunning or paralyzing, shocking the enemies to hinder them rather than killing.

But today, things were different.

"I told you, hehe."

Tiyo murmured as he watched his enemies crumble after being shot by him.

Today, the General's output was at its maximum.

Tiyo had activated the so-called ‘killing mode.’

"Hah, you guys just keep coming, don’t you?"

Despite his attacks, the enemies kept rushing in. Instead of fearing his attacks, it seemed like they were being filled with rage to eliminate a feeble, tiny gnome that was giving them a hard time.

It was a misjudgment on their part.

"If that’s the case..."

Tiyo gripped the General's handle tightly.

Then, the General began to transform. The rifle shortened, and new barrels grew as if it was proliferating. Two became four, four became eight. The General was no longer a gun.

It was a Vulcan cannon.

The Vulcan cannon in Tiyo's hands began to rotate furiously.

The greatest mercy Tiyo could offer those rushing toward him was a swift and painless death!

"Yaaaah!"

Magic bullets blasted away from the General, mercilessly pounding the advancing expedition forces.

With each hit, the bodies of the expedition forces trembled as if they were being electrocuted before crumbling to the ground.

Such attacks, thousands, tens of thousands of shots!

As the General's output overloaded, Tiyo’s fatigue accumulated, but he clenched his teeth and maintained his aim at the enemies. The Vulcan cannon's rotation did not stop.

By the time the General's rotation finally ceased, there wasn’t a single soul standing before him.

The enemies were all scattered on the ground, emitting a pungent smoke. Some that hadn't died twitched, and Tiyo turned the General into a musket, delivering death to each one of them.

But just like how the atmosphere gets drawn toward a vacuum, more expedition forces gathered over the land massacred by Tiyo. The soldiers, armed with divine power, knew no fear.

They were all puppets.

Tiyo twisted his lips.

It was a contemptuous expression he seldom showed before.

"Controlling their people like this... The gods really can’t be trusted."

The number of the gods’ puppets approaching him was even greater than the last wave.

"Sir Tiyo! Fall back!"

"We'll hold them off!"

Orc warriors ran to Tiyo's side.

"It's fine!"

Tiyo shook his head.

"My friend right here will take it from here."

The orcs turned their heads. There stood a half-dark elf with cut ears and dark skin.

He had yet to show his power since stepping onto the battlefield. Therefore, most of the expedition did not feel any sense of threat coming from him.

What power could this slender dark elf possibly wield?

"Sigh... I didn't want to do this."

Anor closed his eyes.

A dark aura began to boil from his body.

His bubbling power soon overflowed and dripped to the ground. It spread sideways, expanding across the battlefield. Like a plague crawling on the ground, it spread endlessly in all directions.

And those that became infected by that power and twitching were the dead.

The dead began to rise.

"W-what is this?"

"Arghhh!"

"The corpses are getting up! Oh god, oh god!"

The expedition soldiers, who were advancing with the power of the gods, quickly became horrified.

Dead comrades and the orcs killed by them rose and grabbed them by their ankles. Corpses craving life from the pit of death rose and preyed on the flesh of the living.

"They’re biting! They’re biting!"

"Argh!"

The armed corpses swung their weapons, cutting through them, and those without intact limbs crawled on the ground, biting.

The expedition, which had previously suffered at the hands of the ghouls due to the collaboration of Zankus and Tashaquil, was once again terrified by the appearance of these terrifying beings. Not even the blessing of the gods could overcome the primal fear.

"You are running rampant with your disgusting power!"

An old man floating in the sky grimaced and yelled. The old man, who was supporting the expedition soldiers with his power, now began to shoot light at the undead.

The undead crumbled helplessly as they were touched by the opposing holy power.

"Darkness cannot overcome light!"

He shouted loudly again, scattering the light once more.

Although there was a moment of chaos, ultimately, the undead would all return to dust.

But at that moment, his vision went dark.

He grimaced.

"Who is it?"

Who could it be?

"Tashaquil, is this your doing?"

There was only one being with power strong enough to isolate this old man in another dimension.

The response came from below.

‘This isn’t Tashaquil’s doing...'

He turned his gaze down below. Then, he felt a sudden chill down his spine and shuddered for a moment.

Beneath him, there was a vast darkness. So dark that no one could tell how deep or how wide it was.

An infinite abyss.

From within, an unpleasant laughter that sounded like bugs crawling echoed.

“Keheh... Heh!”

* * *

An unfathomable battlefield.

Where gods conjure radiance, the sun dies, ghouls appear, meteors fall in a shower, and the dead rise to prey on the living.

Where never-ending inferno engulfs people and immortals and mortals clash, shaking the earth.

But here, the most intense battle was being fought with an opposing pair of swords, two pieces of cold steel.

"Damn orc scum————!”

The War God attempted a counterattack, but he was a beat too late.

An opening was created.

Crockta grinned.

"Relax a bit."

Through a slight gap split open between a shield and sword, and from above the helmet, where the War God’s eyes blazed, God Slayer struck down like lightning.

Boooooom!

It was an explosion.

As God Slayer split the War God, flames burst forth. It was the power of a god-killing weapon, forged in the ‘Eternal Fire’ of the Temple of the Sun God.

Crockta bounced back, avoiding the flames.

"..."

He definitely felt a sensation of cutting something.

But the fight was not over yet.

He knew it instinctively.

"Not bad."

The War God strode out of the flames, taking one step at a time.

His helmet was gone, and his physical body was split vertically from the crown of his head to his abdomen.

But instead of blood, flames burned at the cross-section.

It was the fire of war.

With that strike, Arcran had died, but the War God, with the flames and power of war, had reattached his torn body. Though the owner of the body had died, the body itself continued to fight under the control of the War God.

"Crockta."

The enraged War God's body burned even hotter. Now, he looked like a fireball in human shape.

Within it, dazzling eyes glared at Crockta.

"I acknowledge you."

Out of nowhere, something flew toward the War God.

It was an arrow.

The War God raised his hand to catch it out of the air and then snapped it in two.

"You or me. One of us has to die."

He reached his hand toward the sky.

Then, an unknown force began to envelop him and Crockta. The expedition forces and orcs that had been surrounding them were pushed back. An intangible and unapproachable energy unfolded.

The divine power of the War God.

The Colosseum.

Now, no one, not even another god, could interfere in this fight. The entire world was made a spectator.

Crockta grinned.

"That’s an interesting ability."

No coincidence could interfere with their duel. Only the inevitable clash of sword against sword remained. In this intangible prison, neither of them could leave until one of them died.

"So, all I have to do is just kill you?"

"Exactly."

Crockta and the War God looked at each other.

Though it was hard to see any expression in the fiery figure, Crockta knew he was smiling.

"If it weren't for the Ashen God, I would have made you my apostle."

"And who said I’d listen? You think I’d follow someone like you?"

"Mortal. Do not think you are the only one fighting an honorable war."

The War God, holding a sword and shield, asked.

"You fight to protect your kin, is that correct?"

“Correct.”

"We fight to..."

At that moment, the War God seemed somehow weary. His body wavered for a moment as if the sword and shield were a heavy burden.

He continued.

"We fight to protect this very world."

The War God forcefully lifted his sword and shield again.

Then, he charged explosively.

Crockta wanted to ask what he meant, but the descending shield forced him to set aside his thoughts.

Swords and shields clashed. Sparks flew.

The pressure was immense.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Burnnnnnnnnn!"

The two swung their swords at each other. Blood splattered.