Chapter 142

[Level 22]

The Sword King Hyperion, the final boss of Blade & Magic, stood before him.

It’d already be tough at level twenty, but level twenty-two?!

In the macrocosm, where leveling up had become commonplace, the difference between levels nineteen and twenty was akin to that between heaven and earth. It was the chasm separating mortals from Transcendents, humans from gods. Countless individuals remained stuck at level nineteen until death, unable to overcome the barrier to transcendence.

Chairman Il-sung Bae Jaesuk, Mage Girl Kang Boram, Dragon Warrior Kim Dongmin—all prime examples.

Moreover, even surpassing level twenty didn’t guarantee continuous growth. In fact, most Transcendents never breached level twenty-one throughout their extended lifespans.

Reaching level 22 meant surpassing this limit and starting to ascend towards ‘Supreme’. It signified that they had fully adapted to being Transcendents, becoming true monsters capable of single-handedly crushing lesser civilizations!

‘Fortunately…’

In the Magic World of Earth-34, even Transcendents were subject to arrest by police if they broke the law. Although there was no standing army, numerous elite combatants and advanced equipment were available within this region.

Thud!

A bullet as large as a human head ricocheted off and rolled across the ground. As Hyperion hesitated before launching his charge, a glowing sphere appeared right in front of him and exploded.

Bzzz!

It emitted a peculiar sound, indicating it wasn’t a physical explosion but rather a magical effect.

Ping!

However, its effect couldn’t be determined because it was split apart by a dark energy moving like lightning. The Heavenly Horse Energy, which I had only heard about, made me nervous when Boram’s voice entered my ears.

“Your strengths and weaknesses. Quickly!”

I quickly replied, “Fast regeneration, strong attack power, endless stamina. The weakness is low defense.”

“Then I’ll be the tank! You will be the support dealer!”

Thud!

After flying through the air, Boram landed next to me. I turned slightly and became confused.

”…The outfit?”

“Don’t mention it. It has improved this much thanks to fighting against that perverted Golden Dragon God.”

Boram was both a national MC and one of the elders among elders. However, her appearance looked late teenage at most, with some people seeing her as early twenties at best.

With her petite stature barely reaching five feet and youthful appearance, she looked more like a girl than a woman. In that sense, her attire was rather revealing for someone of her age.

“How is there armor that covers less skin than it exposes? Can you even tank in this outfit?”

“I told you not to mention it!”

Boom-boom-boom-boom! Kaboom!

Another barrage of artillery fire erupted from behind them. jae-yeon discreetly glanced over his shoulder to see several gigas clustered together firing cannons. Hyperion immediately charged forward as if irritated by the bombardment. Despite martial artists generally having inferior mobility compared to others, Transcendents could easily cover a kilometer with one leap.

In one leap, he could reach the base camp and slaughter Giga along with its staff amidst their bombardment. That is, if Boram didn’t block his path.

Kwak!

The barrier shattered instantly. However, unlike my Moonlight Defense which merely deflected the attack, she completely absorbed it.

“Oh?”

This surprised Hyperion slightly, causing him to widen his eyes briefly.

“Don’t underestimate me! If not for the severed connection, I could handle you alone!”

Ignoring her defiant cry, Hyperion responded by unleashing another sword force enveloped in dark energy.

Crackkk!

The barrier broke again. Although Boram managed to stop it once more, her face turned pale, indicating the considerable impact on her.

“Log in.”

I transferred to Ardenia, recharged Moonlight Defense and formed the chakra hand seal.

“Bless!”

“Strength!”

“Fast Move!”

Flower and other priests cast buffs on me. Honestly, their effects were mediocre at best, but we had to try everything available under these circumstances.

“Log out.”

When I returned to Earth, I immediately charged towards Hyperion’s back.

Crack!

The ground buckled as I concentrated my Inner Force into my steps and unleashed Land Breaker. The sword dropped by the Knight of Death descended upon Hyperion like lightning, yet he didn’t even bother turning around.

‘This…bastard?’

His intention was clear: even if he took one hit from me, he would first eliminate Boram! In that instant, Hyperion decided to forgo attacking me and instead continued his strike on Boram while activating Purest Sword Force behind him.

It was a reasonable decision. Although Land Breaker possessed terrifying physical power, Purest Sword Force was a transcendent skill. As such, it was nearly impossible for any physical-based technique to penetrate Purest Sword Force, which could block even a falling meteorite.

Even though taking a single blow might not feel good, once he dispatched Boram, he could slaughter the remaining humans within ten seconds before returning to battle the dragon.

However, making rational judgments often leads to complacency.

“Look behind you.”

[Heavenly Sword - Gwanmongga (Piercing Moon).]

[Sword that Divides Heaven and Earth.]

Kwadeok!

Everything seemed slow. The sword pierced through Purest Sword Force and advanced towards me.

Puk!

In an instant, Hyperion blurred like an illusion before taking the blow on his shoulder instead of his head.

’…Ah! I should’ve aimed for the head to trigger Shadow Twice with a fatal damage judgment!’

However, there was no time to regret it as Death Divination appeared. Instead of cutting Boram, the sword strike was directed at me! In a moment, I saw myself dying as my heart was pierced by heavenly horse energy.

[Moonlight Defense!]

[9:59]

Clang!

The defense barrier shattered immediately upon appearance but at least the death divination disappeared.

‘Damn, too fast…’

In this slow world, only Hyperion’s black sword seemed to accelerate as if time was compressed. Even with my extremely heightened Perception Authority, his sword strike moved like lightning!

“Lo…”

Logging in and logging out were invincible escape methods but no matter how fast I spoke, it took more than 0.2 seconds. It was impossible to call Moonlight Defense multiple times during such intense combat! I raised all my inner force to block the sword strike.

Crack!

“Gr…!”

My sword broke due to the sword energy. However, there was still some impact from the collision, causing the sword strike aimed at my heart to completely miss.

‘Good. Blocked it…’

Shwip!

The lightning-like sword cut off my right hand. At that moment,

“…in.”

I entered Ardenia.

Chwahk!

“Ack! Your Majesty?!”

“My arm…”

Hearing my scream, I took deep breaths.

“Pant…pant…I almost died, really.”

One strike, one incredibly brutal strike…

“Needle! Hold His Majesty’s right arm tightly!”

“Yes, Chief Steward!”

While I was gasping for breath, the surgery proceeded. Flower, who had caught my hand before it hit the ground, used thread and needle to stitch up the severed area.

Papapap!

In an instant, she stitched the cut on my arm. It was stitching at a near-master level!

‘Come to think of it… Healers invest in Agility stats.’

Ardenia was closer to reality than a game, so naturally, the direction of stat investment differed from games. In a game, focusing solely on mana and magic power would suffice, but that wasn’t possible in reality.

For doctors who performed surgery as well as healing, agility was essential for finesse and dexterity of their hands.

“Great Heal!”

“Great Heal!”

“Great Heal!”

Flower and two maids accompanying her poured out heals, but even so, the wound on my arm didn’t easily heal.

‘The power of strong energy is indeed hindering recovery.’

Fortunately, my current recovery rate had reached around 800 thanks to the Songpyeon buff, otherwise this level of healing wouldn’t have worked at all.

Pahat!

With repeated healing, the evil aura of Cheonma Divine Art dissipated. I watched as thread emerged from my healed arm and said, “It’s fast. Your surgical skills have greatly improved?”

”…Your Majesty.”

“It can’t be helped. It couldn’t be avoided.”

”…I’m sorry. Your Majesty didn’t intend for this to happen.” With slightly reddened eyes, she wiped away the blood and tidied up the area.

As I picked up some weapons, I thought:

‘The Heaven and Earth Sword works. Seeing it penetrate Purest Sword Force…it should be able to withstand even when colliding with strong energy.’

Considering my chakra ability at level six, stats far exceeding any boundary, martial arts elements reaching the human stage, etc., I estimated my overall power to be around levels 17-18.

‘Boundaries are important but so are stats. If I face that Hyperion bastard in terms of strength alone, I will definitely win.’

However, it wasn’t just that. I also possessed login/logout capabilities and a Myth class.

‘Ultimately…my level should be considered as approximately level 19.’

Logging in/out provided resilience that instantly recovered from any injury. With the buffs from Flower, other priests, and Songpyeon, I could fully recover unless it was an instant kill! Additionally, the attribute ‘Transcendence’ of the Myth class along with the job skill ‘Ten Directions Splitting Sword’ gave me attack capabilities against even Transcendents.

In other words, there were adjustments for both defense and offense.

‘The power of the Heaven and Earth Sword is much stronger than usual.’

It was natural. Instead of using Hundredfold Massacre as a wide-range skill, I combined it with Gwanmongga, which had a single target effect.

[Heavenly Sword - Gwanmongga]

When the skill is activated, additional damage amplification of 1000% (calculated based on final damage) will be applied to one enemy. Defense, evasion, or counterattack isn’t possible.

Whether due to Heavenly Sword or Gwanmongga’s effect, it pierced Purest Sword Force. Additionally, Kang Boram could tank at least two hits for jae-yeon.

This should be an interesting battle.

“Flower, we have a sudden off-site errand.”

“What do you mean by ‘off-site’?”

“Now.”

[THE SWORD THAT PARTS THE TEN DIRECTIONS]

When a fatal strike is successful, one stack of Heavenly Sword is saved. These stacks cannot decrease through normal methods, and once 100 stacks are accumulated, the skill can be activated.

Upon activation, the total damage from 100 fatal strikes will be dealt to an enemy. If that enemy dies, any remaining damage will target another enemy within ten meters. This process repeats until all damage has been expended.

The Heavenly Sword was both a cheat-level area-of-effect skill and a single-target attack simultaneously.

If one enemy takes all this massive damage, it’ll likely kill them instantly, but if they don’t, any remaining damage will target nearby enemies.

However, such an overpowered skill naturally came with limitations—the requirement of stacking critical hits.

I need to fill up on monsters.

With high-level players swarming around every corner on Earth, she couldn’t accumulate Heaven and Earth Sword stacks here. Thus, Haein ventured outside the castle accompanied by Flower and three selected disciples. They ensured their supplies were stocked tightly within their inventories and the land worm’s passenger compartment.

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

They traveled along the vein riding the land worm. This time, instead of moving underground, they stayed above ground, slaying monsters as they encountered them. It also served as cleaning up the area surrounding the Human Empire.

Once her stack was complete, she charged her chakra technique…

“Log out.”

[Moonlight Defense!]

[09:59]

The sword force shattered Hyperion’s defenses as it connected with his body.

Bam!

With an explosive impact, Hyperion was thrust backward.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Surprisingly, he only retreated four steps despite the attack being powerful enough to send him flying kilometers away. Yet, Hyperion was the one taken aback.

”…What? I shouldn’t have been pushed back like this. Did you enhance your strength somehow?”

“Log in.”

Ignoring Hyperion’s chatter, jae-yeon logged into Ardenia.

“Your Majesty… Your arms!”

“At least they didn’t get severed this time.”

His arms were crushed from countering the impact, but unlike before, they weren’t severed by the energy surge. A quick heal spell fixed them right up.

“Log out.”

“Log in.”

I moved around the field, slaughtered monsters, stacked up my stats, then transferred to Earth to unleash the Heaven and Earth Sword.

“Right leg severed! The left shinbone is also broken!”

“Suture immediately! Treat the left leg bone too!”

Every time I got injured, surgery was performed within the land worm’s pilot seat.

Slash!

The sword cut through the bones as usual, but this attack held special significance. It was because my sword finally managed to sever his bones!

“Grrk! This…strange fellow…” Hyperion, who had initially been relaxed, now growled like a beast. He clutched at his half-severed arm.

“You! You possess time-related abilities!”

“Well, it seems that way indeed.”

Even I thought it was unreasonable to claim that limbs cut off by sword force instantly regenerating was just simple regeneration ability. In fact, login/logout abilities could be considered somewhat related to time manipulation.

Kwah-gwang!

During the battle, endless support continued from the rear with various spells and bombardments pouring down like curses and sniping fire! Normally, Hyperion wouldn’t have been affected by these attacks, but with its mobility restricted by Boram and me, it had to muster energy to block them.

“Trash!”

Ku-chung!

Hyperion fired sword forces remotely, but they were blocked by a massive barrier surrounding the base camp. Several gigas infused spiritual power into some equipment while hundreds of people behind them poured mana into it.

The people were desperate. There hadn’t been any major damage yet, but they knew that if the tide turned against them, they would be annihilated immediately.

“Jae-yeon-ssi! Two-fold distortion field!”

As Taesuk spoke from where he was hanging on my back, a translucent membrane covered my body and the world slowed down. It was a type of acceleration barrier!

Crash!

I charged straight ahead.

Zing!

“Uwah…! Hurts! It hurts! Cheonma Divine Art is annoying!”

At this moment, Boram received the attack. Unlike me, her face didn’t look good due to continuously consuming mana and stamina. However, she wasn’t reaching the worst-case scenario thanks to long-distance healing magic.

“Log Out.”

However…

“Log In.”

As the battle continued, the burden on my body started to increase.

“Log…Ahhk!”

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty! Are you okay?!”

With Flower’s support, I leaned back in my seat. When I coughed again, black smoke emerged from my mouth. Despite having endless healing and regeneration capabilities that could even recover after decapitation, it was impossible to completely cleanse the heavenly horse energy.

“Ah, there are still 40 minutes left of the Songpyeon buff…”

Feeling disappointed, I lost consciousness.