Chapter 334. Mjölnir (3)

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“Karhal! Focus!”

“Damnit! I’m as focused as can be!”

-Boom!-

Karhal screamed as he beat at the crazed dog.

He’d thought that it would be a comfortable fight since it was just a clone.

But what the hell was this?

This crazed dog was not at all simple.

‘Damn… Is this the difference between 1 and 2 stars? To the point of needing two people for just a clone?’

And it wasn’t like they could escape.

Since everyone running away right now would just become its food if he fled.

-Booom!-

Karhal, who had just smashed away the dog as it leapt towards him again, looked shocked at the rebound force he’d just felt in his hands.

‘It feels weaker?’

Karhal then looked towards the mountain range, at the giant bolts of lightning shooting down on it.

***

-Booooom!-

“Uaaaahh!”

The Ark Roa roared out in pain from being smashed over and over again by a giant hammer.

-Boom! Boom! Boom!-

Countless spikes rose up everytime the Ark-Roa smashed down with its feet, causing lightning, fire, and poisonous clouds to rise up.

Hundreds of meters of land around it had melted down.

But-

-Boom!-

-Kaduduk!-

“Roaaar!”

The Ark-Roa absorbed the impact of the hammer with its body, and then attempted to retaliate.

-Crunch!-

-Rummmblee-

The sky continued to split apart as lightning crackled from above.

-Boom!-

‘Ah… Ahh!’

The Ark-Roa couldn’t even scream out loud after being hit by this lightning, and instead screamed inside its mind.

Because it had skills to control lightning, it had some natural resistance to lightning itself, but this thing was on a whole other level.

It felt as if its entire body was burning up.

The moment it was hit, every nerve fiber on its body seemed to scream with pain.

His central nervous system, and even his muscles were paralyzed in an instant.

And soon-

“Uaaaaah!”

-Booom!-

The Ark-Roa could not withstand the power of the hammer, and it was flung back into the mountain in the distance.

-Rummmble!-

Hansoo smiled as he looked at the hammer that had sent the Ark-Roa flying.

‘It’s more than I expected.’

He’d known it would be quite useful once fused.

Since each of those artifacts were incredibly powerful on their own.

But after using it in its fused state, the Forked Lightning was nothing compared to this.

Even though he couldn’t even use it to its full potential, it was still showing such a tremendous amount of strength.

So he became even more curious of its origins.

‘This definitely isn’t something the humans of the past could make.’

He was certain that this wasn’t made by the Empire.

He suspected that it might be the apex of technology of the ancient humans, but he’d come to a realization after using the hammer and seeing its design.

That the ancient humans hadn’t made it.

An alloy that even a transcendent could freely utilize wasn’t something that was easy to make, even for them. And there was no reason for them to make such a close-combat weapon like this.

Why would they, who had made countless long-range skills, make a weapon like this?

‘What did… Kiriel see?’

But Hansoo decided to ask these questions later.

Since that wasn’t the main issue.

‘Yeah, you should be hungry by now.’

-Boom! Boom! Boom!-

Hansoo started to chase after the Ark-Roa, which had stomped off towards the War Fortress.

***

‘Hungry. Hungry… HUNGRY.’

-Boom! Boom! Boom!-

The Ark-Roa’s expression was full of pain.

Though its body was regenerating quickly, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t suffering.

The Ark-Roa looked furious as it suppressed the pain that was rising up from all over its body.

How had the situation turned out like this?

Not only was it shocked at being tricked by a human, it was now being beaten to death by another.

That weapon.

That mysterious weapon was too terrifying.

It felt like it had seen the weapon before, but couldn’t quite remember.

Chills ran down its back and its teeth clattered.

The Ark-Roa ran, gritting its teeth.

There was only one reason why it had become so miserable.

‘Strength… I’m not strong enough.’

This was all because it hadn’t eaten enough.

This wasn’t the time to pick out the tasty meats.

It needed to devour everything and anything.

The Ark-Roa glared furiously at the War Fortress in the distance.

As well as at the two transcendents fighting with its clone.

It would become even stronger with two more pieces of food.

It felt the aura of that man chasing after it, but the Ark-Roa smirked.

That man would not be able to catch up to it.

-Booom!-

The skill, <God of the Skies> activated, and its movement speed rose up explosively.

The man chasing it from behind had fought well.

It respected him to a degree.

But his bodily abilities were inferior compared to itself, and he didn’t have any movement skills.

By the time that man arrived, everything would have ended: it would have devoured everything.

‘I can win… Eat. I can eat.’

He had only obtained a new weapon; his body was still damaged.

It just needed to become a bit stronger.

Actually, just absorbing the clone itself would be enough.

‘I’m going to… shred you apart!’

It was going to destroy everything.

Him and his entire race.

Arriving at the War Fortress, the Arc-Roa extended its arm with a gleeful smile.

-Swoooosh!-

He activated Hephaestus’s skill, <Body Extension>, making its arm spread out hundreds of meters long.

Towards the two who were looking at him in shock.

‘Devour!’

But then-

-Boooooom!-

A loud noise was heard: its hand was blocked.

-Kiiriririk-

‘What?!’

The Ark-Roa was at a loss for words.

The only thing that could block it was still far away behind it.

And the two it was aiming for were way too weak to block its attack.

“Phew. Safe!”

A woman’s voice could be heard from the dust cloud rising up from the collision.

And the moment it heard the woman’s voice…

“Damn it!”

-Boom!-

… The Ark-Roa’s expression turned ugly as it charged towards Athena who’d managed to stop it.

There was no time for something like this.

It needed to quickly devour those two people, and its clone, to regain its strength.

-Boom! Boom! Boom!-

Kiriel and the Ark-Roa started to fight each other.

‘Ugh… Just a musclehead.’

As she fought without her weapon, Kiriel frowned at the pain she was feeling from all over her body.

The Ark-Roa’s attacks were not easy to defend with just her unprotected body.

Each attack felt like she was being smashed with an iron hammer.

The pain drove all the way into her bones.

Plus the Ark-Roa’s strange skin kept creating mouths to bite her.

-Crunch!-

-Gnaw, Gnaw-

The Ark-Roa successfully bit a chunk of flesh off, and looked at Kiriel who was now frowning in pain.

‘It hurts…’

Kiriel frowned at the pain from her arm, but then smiled at the Arc-Roa.

“Are you sure you have time for this?”

The moment the Ark-Roa saw Kiriel’s expression, it woke up from its gluttonous stupor.

But it was too late.

-Swooosh!-

“Where are you going?”

Kiriel quickly hugged the Ark-Roa, which had attempted to dash backwards.

And at the same time, Kiriel’s body turned extremely heavy.

To the point that it was unable to carry her and run away.

“Ahhhh! Damn it!”

It wouldn’t be able to run away like this.

-Booom!-

The Ark-Roa felt danger, and released an endless torrent of flames and clouds of poison.

To melt down Kiriel.

‘Die.’

Roooaaar!

The hunting dog that was supposed to return to it was now being held back by the two trancendents as well.

At this rate it really was going to die.

Only by killing this girl would it have a sliver of a chance to live.

But at that moment, a small voice came out from Kiriel.

“Do I pass?”

And an answer came from behind the Ark-Roa.

“For now.”

-Boooooooooooom!-

“Kuaaaaaah!”

The Ark-Roa’s head exploded with a tremendous amount of pain, and it was flung away in agony.

Of course, it didn’t get far.

Hansoo caught the Ark-Roa with his already-regenerated left arm, then smashed it into the ground, muttering quietly as he stepped onto its back.

“Try withstanding this.”

-Crackle-

‘…’

The Ark-Roa caught sight of the hammer as it struggled to escape.

Bolts of lightning struck down around the hammer.

And only at the gate of death did the Ark-Roa remember where it had seen this before.

The weapon it had forgotten about, along with the disappearance of its power.

‘Ah… The Abyss…’

From above the Ark-Roa…

-Swooosh!-

… The hammer in Hansoo’s hand began to descend.

***

-Boom!-

-Booooom!-

‘Ahhh… Are there no crystals or anything? Will that be destroyed too?’

Kiriel frowned at the Ark-Roa, which was currently being turned into a paste of meat, and backed off.

There was nothing else for her to do, and there was something she needed to think about.

She thought back to when she’d been forcibly sucked into the past.

‘Nepallem… Who the hell are you?’

Nepallem.

The one who had dragged her consciousness into the past against her will.

And the original owner of the hammer.

-Boooom!-

While the Ark-Roa was being pulverized, along with half a mountain range, Kiriel frowned as she thought back to what she had seen in that memory.