Yuma instinctively sensed the sky path as he gazed upward.
This path was definitely one he could ride upon.
He petted the griffin Ethan and said,
“I’ll be back, so you wait here.”
The chance of not being able to step onto the sky path and instead plummeting to the ground?
Well, there was a chance, no doubt about it.
If that moment came, it was true that he believed Ethan would instinctively catch him.
Hwhoosh—
He stepped onto the sky path.
Fortunately, there was no situation that required him to hurriedly retake the reins of Ethan.
Analyzing…
Whirl—
Yuma and Bell landed on the sky path, wrapped in divine power.
The flow.
Yuma felt the intangible energy swirling around him and Bell.
The energy seemed to push Yuma and Bell upwards, as if they were shining with divine might.
Bell effortlessly wielded the divine power engulfing her body like flames.
Now that the number of times she had bestowed divine power upon Yuma was gradually increasing, she was almost fully adapted to it.
Yuma felt like he was riding an escalator in the real world.
“Waaaah!”
Upon reaching the end of the sky path, their speed accelerated sharply, causing Bell’s bangs to fly back dramatically like a lion’s mane.
Bursting through the blue sky and clouds, the two soared upward.
*
Whoosh!
A fist.
Seiavern knew exactly what the unidentified attack charging straight at her was.
Without a doubt, it was a fist. But an extraordinarily ferocious one.
Swooom!
The space twisted and warped in circular waves.
The blind half-elf Seiavern felt a deep sense of helplessness for the first time in ages.
Barely dodging the unidentified god’s fist, Seiavern thrust her sword into the ground to stabilize herself.
The white-haired god, Duke of Steel and War, gazed upon the shattered half-dark elf Melek before him.
Melek trembled all over. His upper body was completely shattered, and pain was creeping up his lower half.
“Grrgh…”
A shallow, pitiful groan escaped his lips—one he hadn’t uttered in years, even forgetting it himself.
Thud—
Melek barely managed to lift his upper body and stared at the approaching being.
“What the hell are you?”
Melek, despite the shadow of death looming over him, couldn’t suppress his insatiable curiosity.
“What’s this? You’re not just a god; you’re a bizarre, fused-weird-god, aren’t you?”
Melek’s words crushed the Duke with gray hair into a tight frown.
“You little bug! You’ve barely reached demigod status and dare to speak like you’ve figured out all of my divine body?”
The Duke glared at Melek with a face full of fury.
In an instant, the Duke’s face distorted hazily. From his right side, another face that wasn’t his own suddenly popped out.
The Duke’s mouth wide opened.
“KRAAAK! You damned pests! This isn’t your body! This is the Duke’s physical form—!”
Visages resembling humans and monstrous shapes repeatedly appeared and disappeared all over the Duke’s body.
It looked as if other selves within the Duke’s body were trying desperately to swallow the current self.
The Duke’s nasty, bulky body became even more colossal.
KWA-A-A-A-AK!
Red steel formed over both of his hands.
The Duke, with crimson light glowing from his eyes, swung that spear horizontally.
A bright red crescent covered the sky of the Skyland continent.
That red crescent was an attack that surpassed all reasonable understanding.
The blind elf swordsman, Seiavern, dodged the red crescent with her eyes closed.
Kyiing!
Sparks flew from the blue flames created by the friction.
Seiavern’s feet slid on the ground.
A red current erupted from the Duke’s entire body and spread outwards. Seiavern raised her right hand forward with a flick.
A golden shield barrier unfolded in front of her palm.
Barely managing to block the red thorns with the shield, Seiavern broke a sweat and leaped back.
“You little rats.”
The Duke’s voice split and continued.
“Playing with you, and you’ve become so arrogant!”
The Duke stomped angrily down onto the ground.
Divine proclamation.
<Red Steel>.
A broad red landscape spread out across the floor. The red steel began to cover the ground of the <Skyland continent>.
Kugugugugugugugug!
What effects did this red steel bring?
Those who had reached demigod status immediately realized what it meant.
The movement of the entire body.
A meaningful restriction was imposed on their range of action. They felt the magical energy swirling around them diminish as well.
“Become my sacrifice.”
A fierce claw made of steel slammed hard into the ground beneath the Duke’s feet.
The ground was struck fiercely.
Fragments of bricks shot up into the air like confetti.
“God of War, the sacrifice to complete the power to kill that bastard…!”
Horns made of steel erupted all over Duke’s body.
It seemed to be a side effect of not being able to fully control the power that had entered his true form yet.
Duke took another step forward, still grimacing like a demon.
Woosh!
“AAAAAAAH!”
It was the scream of the half-god dark elf Melek. His upper body was completely impaled by Duke’s foot.
Melek’s vitality was drained by the black claws at the tip of Duke’s right foot. The dark elf Melek’s black body became a pancake on the ground.
Just hours ago, Melek had been training in a small room, and now he was dead.
A being that had already reached half-god status was killed so easily.
One of the three who had fully stepped into the half-god realm on this land, the Sky Continent.
Join Tribe half-god Kiryev looked at the elf half-god Seiavern.
“You’ll need to put in some effort if you want to survive, elf.”
Swish!
Kiryev barely dodged Duke’s relentless attacks, feathers flying in all directions.
Seiavern closed her eyes and struck the ground endlessly. Her mind’s eye could perceive the countless forms of the deadly strikes.
In that moment when both half-gods drew Duke’s attention,
Someone quickly charged in behind Duke.
Whoosh!
A beast.
Though she had yet to reach half-god status, she was undeniably beyond Grand Master level—Lycanthrope Kesylvia.
The gray female Lycanthrope extended her right hand as if to kill Duke.
With a punch born from a century of solitary creation, she struck at Duke’s head.
Her long, snow-white hair fluttered more brightly than Duke’s own pale skin.
‘I hit it.’
It was the moment a confident smile faintly appeared on Kesylvia’s lips.
Screech!
“Ha…!”
That smile quickly turned into a hollow laugh.
Her right arm was spinning and soaring into the air.
Kesylvia realized the wall between Duke and herself due to the result of what had just happened.
Immediately, she gave up and shot her body back.
“That was close…!”
Her right arm had been cleanly severed.
Kesylvia gathered the deep blue energy to stem the fountain-like flow from her shoulder wound.
“Now, it’s starting to get tiresome.”
Duke decided it was time to activate his divine power, [Crimson Steel].
I made up my mind.
It was to annihilate the four remaining strong beings still alive on the Continent of Celestial.
The entire [Continent of Celestial] was engulfed in red.
On the arid land, endless flowers of red steel spikes bloomed.
The power of Duke’s divinity [Red Steel], recreated not by a single god but through a fusion of five gods, was beyond imagination.
The red steel surged endlessly from the ground in the shape of sharp lances, targeting survivors as if they had individual consciousness.
Damage occurred immediately.
“Khakk!”
Fwooosh!
One of the ancient races, the Sun Tribe, and its last survivor, Clem, couldn’t evade the oncoming waves of red steel and was oxidized on the spot.
Dark Elf Melhem died.
Clem died.
Now, only three inhabitants remained on the [Continent of Celestial].
The Grand Elf, Seiavern, still closed her eyes and thought.
‘Am I dying?’
Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-kang!
Her mental state was surprisingly calm for someone expecting death. Seiavern endlessly slashed at the red steel with a sword in each hand.
Join Tribe Kiryev and Lycanthrope Kesylvia were also struggling to survive.
All three were covered with countless wounds.
Death was breathing down their necks.
Even that statement felt utterly insufficient at that moment.
Hoo-whaaaa!
A fierce wind surged.
“Uaaaaah!”
Suddenly, a woman’s scream echoed from the sky.
It was Bell’s scream.
Next to her, Yuma floated in the sky as if he had done this a thousand times before, looking carefree.
Yuma gazed down at the Continent of Celestial from above as if he was buoyant.
To be precise, he was looking at [God of Steel and War], Duke.
[Lv.894]
‘…894?’
It was hard not to have doubts.
The [Eight Evil Gods] didn’t exist in this Intermediate World right now.
The deity that appeared on the list of gods was undoubtedly [God of Steel and War].
And at that time, his rank was marked as Rank 2.
Yet now he had a higher level than Barbatos, who was at level 792.
“God of War… Yuma.”
Duke and Yuma’s eyes met.
Yuma soon dismissed his doubts about Duke’s level.
“Declaration of Divinity.”
It was just a matter of killing and being done with it.
“Life-and-Death Battle Ground.”
Boom.
A white ripple began to stir in the world of [Red Steel].
