Chapter 282
“Stand down! Our Great Masters have activated the God Investiture Pagoda!”
The Hunters of Mount Kunlun all quickly retreated.
In the meantime, the particles of light that had appeared from the shattered Terracotta Soldiers and You Guais were all sucked into the distant pagoda.
That was not all. The bodies of the dead Hunters were also being sucked into the pagoda as particles of light. As they gathered and gathered, they formed what looked like clouds of light around the pagoda. It looked dreamy and mysterious, but everyone present knew that this was not good news for the Korean forces.
“Prepare to fire!”
“Preparing for long-range attacks!”
The Hunters quickly prepared to use their ranged attack skills.
The South Korean army also began to transform the crawling robots into tanks and self-propelled artillery once again.
In a matter of seconds, they began to fire.
“Fire!”
The self-propelled artillery fired Space Shattering Shells. Space warped at the point of impact, sucking in and destroying everything around it.
Above the artillery, Hunters’ long-range attack skills rained past them and toward the enemies. Lightning bolts the thickness of a tree trunk cracked down on them and fireballs the size of houses exploded everywhere.
In order to defeat the monsters traveling south from North Korea’s Manaforming Forest, Korea had developed cooperative techniques, including long-range combination attacks. Thus, the attacks on the distant pagoda were powerful enough to reduce entire cities to ashes.
Woong~
To the attackers’ shock, the pagoda of light was still glowing. If anything, it was glowing even more intensely.
Just then, the mountain peak where Ji-Cheok and his team members were fighting exploded, revealing a giant monster.
? ? ?
The creature still looked like Xing Xing in a way, but also completely different from Xing Xing at the same time.
They had grown to over thirty meters tall, but their skin was covered with faces that Ji-Cheok had never seen before.
Their long, golden hair hid these faces from view, but every time they moved, these faces were revealed, and they looked absolutely repulsive.
Their head, which also grew massive at the same proportion as the body, still had the previous four faces.
The number of their arms had increased to six; two of them were bare, but the other four held a greatsword, a trident, a whip, and an axe.
‘What the… What am I supposed to call this creature?’
[Apostles_that_became_immortal]
It became increasingly clear to Ji-Cheok that this God was much more powerful than the Slow Forest Shade he had faced before!
[You shall not walk!]
[You shall not speak!]
[By the name of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai and the Army of the Eastern Peak, your movement shall be restrained!]
[By the command of the Vajra, you shall not harm me!]
[Right here and now, the Power of the Flame shall unfold!]
As soon as it appeared, it unleashed its skills on Ji-Cheok and the team. Each of their faces began to spew out skills.
‘That thing is crazy!’
“Everyone! Take cover!” Ji-Cheok shouted as loud as he could —not telepathically, but with his physical voice—as he summoned every single shred of power that he could muster.
He channeled his Mind Sword to power his blades and coated them with Augmented Qi. In addition, he also channeled his will as a God.
‘I need something more than this…’
He even used his Likes to make the swords more powerful.
‘If you, bastard, fight with the strength gained through countless human sacrifices, I will defeat you with the support of my people and everyone around the world!’
Ji-Cheok advanced, and every step took him closer to becoming one with the swords. He could see the dozens and even hundreds of skills the creature had already used against his teammates also striking at him.
However, those skills were useless against him.
He had already become a sword, one that could cut through everything.
Slash!
The God’s power, strength, and skills were sliced in half.
Yet, even having cleaved his way forward through the God’s attack, Ji-Cheok knew that this opponent was far stronger than any of those he had faced before.
Before he knew it, the God was blocking his swords with their trident and greatsword. ‘Holy shit! It blocked my attack!’
[You… You have been taught by the God of War!]
[But we, too, have been practicing cultivation for thousands of years…]
[You are not the only one who has received the teachings of the God of War!]
[This time, feel the wrath of my cultivation!]
Their massive arms struck down, forming the shape of a dragon and a tiger, respectively.
They were lightning-fast, and they were much bigger than Ji-Cheok!
‘As if you can hit me with that weak-ass attack!’
Woong~
Ji-Cheok twisted in midair, using the power of Soul Telekinesis, and easily dodged the two hands. Then, he thrust his swords like a bolt of lightning at the nearest arm.
Boom!
The blades did not cut completely through, but the wrist was still halfway severed.
[ARGH!!]
While they were screaming in pain, Ji-Cheok’s team members began to move.
“Rise, Mother Earth!”
The mountain peak was a complete wreck, but in mere moments, the space where Ji-Cheok could barely stand on his feet was instantly transformed by the command of Ji-Byeok. A huge area of flat terrain that looked around the size of ten football fields had just been created under his feet!
Ji-Cheok was shocked at the speed of the transformation…and so was his opponent.
[What kind of power is this?! No way! Is this the power of the Goddess of Earth?]
“Stars, condemn the wicked!”
A massive arrow of light fell from the sky. It was more like a missile or a pillar than an arrow.
The God struggled against it.
[Come forth! Purple-Weave Eight-Trigram Immortal Robe!]
A robe with the Eight Trigrams embroidered in gold instantly wrapped around their massive body, with a flash of light, and helped them withstand the power attack of Ha-Na.
‘What is that?’
?That is a Treasure item, Master! In System terms, Treasure items are in the S Class or higher, so it makes sense that it is hard to penetrate.?
‘So it’s sort of like my Guardian of Hope!’
Just as he was thinking that, the God rushed at him like an arrow, using the entire momentum of their gigantic body to thrust their spear at him.
Boom!
Ji-Cheok parried the spear with his sword and moved closer to the God.
Their other arm swung the greatsword, but the Mana Bullets from Mu-Cheok struck it down.
Ji-Cheok was now very close to his foe’s head, and he saw a meteor falling at them from the sky. He also saw Ji-Byeok rushing toward their feet.
‘Ji-Byeok from the ground, a meteor from the sky, and me in the middle… Try and block all three attacks, you giant ape!’
[I will fold the Earth.]
At that moment, the God disappeared into thin air and reappeared about fifty meters behind its original position.
‘This asshole can teleport across short distances?’
As soon as they reappeared, they swung their whip. The powerful, tens of meters long whip struck Ji-Byeok like a dragon.
Boom!
Thankfully, since she was a Tank, she did not have a hard time blocking the attack.
At the same time, the falling meteor actually changed its trajectory and hit the robed ape square!
Boom!
It seemed that while the robe could offset the blow to some extent, it could not absorb the full impact, and the ape was blown back by the meteor.
Flash! Various items appeared around the God. Some looked like bells, some like flags, some like scissors, and some like hammers and nails.
Ji-Cheok’s Divine Intuition rang the warning bells.
‘Wait, all those items are S-Class or above!’
The God picked up a bell and started ringing it.
Ring! Ring!
Rumble!?
Human-shaped stone statues rose from the ground.
At the same time, the effects of dozens of skills became obvious all around the God. A talisman appeared, a cloud formed one hundred meters above them, and a round shield appeared in the air and started to move around the sculptures.
‘That’s so overpowered!’
[Good! I will use everything within my power to destroy you all!]
They stood up.
‘This bastard can use the skills of the Hunters and the summoned beings it sacrificed to the God Investiture Pagoda, as well as the S-Class Treasure items, at the same time? What is this… It’s like I am fighting against an entire army instead of a single enemy!’
Gritting his teeth, Ji-Cheok also got faster and faster. His Mind Swords were flying all over the palace, smashing through the skills that the God threw at him. At the same time, Mu-Cheok took out dozens of cannons and unleashed an artillery barrage at the enemies.
Above Mu-Cheok, Seong Kwang spread his holy wings of light and waved his staff, summoning a pillar of holy light from the sky.
Ji-Cheok watched in awe as the skills of the [Apostles_that_became_immorta] were extinguished by the pillar of light.
‘A skill that can erase other skills?’
They were not the only ones attacking. Ji-Byeok stomped the ground to gain momentum and rushed at the enemy. She pushed onward, her body bearing both the brunt of the enemy’s skills and the power of her own God that poured into her. Ha-Na soared into the sky, dropping arrows that resembled meteors.
And yet, [Apostles_that_became_immortal] continued to use their powers and skills, unscathed. At the same time, the items around it unleashed bizarre and mysterious abilities, destroying their surroundings.
In response, the team also unleashed all of their skills.
Yet, even though they vastly outnumbered the God, it somehow felt as if they were losing.
No…they were losing.
The God was stronger than their combined strength and was using skills just as strong, more often. By the time the team used a hundred skills, the God used two hundred!
‘Damn it! I guess a God is a God. It is definitely stronger than us.’
It was not the same as when they fought Slow Forest Shade.
‘But… I am also a God. I am a young God, but I am still a God. If you’re going to use all your abilities, I will do the same!’
Right now, Ji-Cheok had 390 million Likes at his disposal. He put all the Likes he had gathered into his body and his swords.
Roar!
He felt his rank rise, and his body and soul boiling with power. With that done, he now also saw the path ahead more clearly.
“Retainers. I command you to come here.”
He was now using his divine right as a God, and he could feel the causality links between him and the others. His Likes became his power, and that power instantly called on his retainers from across space.
A vortex of light arose around him, and the people of the Tama Clan appeared.
“Our Lord calls, I will offer my life to sing his glory!”
“We have answered your summon, Hunter Ji-Cheok.”
“Oooh. Looks like this old man has some work to do~”
They were all top-tier Hunters, armed with abilities under his power. They, too, earned Likes and had them exchanged for skills.
“Grow!”
“I am here to purify the wicked!”
“O, great sky and mighty bird!”
Plant stalks grew from the ground and grabbed the God's feet. A part of the sky warped and struck down on them like a hammer. A dark green glow arose, fighting against their power.
‘Yet I still don’t see Reable anywhere… What the hell is that Demon doing?!’
[What?! How can a young God wield such power?!]
“You might be able to find out when you have done some good deed.”
[You! How dare you mock me!]
“I am not mocking you. It is just the truth.”