Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-548

After receiving blessings from both Asgard and Olympus at the same time, Thor seemed invincible. On the other hand, those fighting him had lost all their connections to outer Channels. Their abilities didn't activate, and they couldn't use their holy power properly. Their strength was nearly halved, but that didn't mean their pride had grown weak as well.

『You dare.』 Agares, who was second to none when it came to pridefulness, was especially furious. He rolled in the sky and quickly regained his balance, pulling his demonic energy storm in. Kookookoo. Heaven and earth shook massively as the demonic energy storm began to gather in the air around Agares.『Lower.』 Agares slammed his hand down and the condensed demonic energy storm exploded and spewed hundreds of black arrows.

Fhoow! Each arrow was stuffed with demonic energy, containing a destructive power that could easily smash through space and dimensions. They could even destroy the beings' existences.

Spark, spark! However, Thor generated a large amount of lightning again and swung Mjolnir. Golden bolts webbed around him and flung away the black arrows as dozens of dense bolts shot from the sky to Agares' head.

『Argh!』 Agares' face twisted and he spread his immense black wings, which almost covered the sky. As they tore through the heavy black clouds in the sky, Thor prepared to attack again. The ground rumbled from the lighting, preventing Prince Nezha, Erlang Shen, and Fenrir from approaching Thor, who was activating Lightning Path once more.

Whoosh! It was a skill that temporarily transformed his body into lightning so that he could move at the speed of light to crush his opponents with a mighty force. Thor's target changed from Erlang Shen to someone else: Yeon-woo.

『You rat. So this is where you were hiding!』 Thor smiled coldly, encircled by golden lightning. He generated more lightning than before with Mjolnir to pay back the humiliation that he'd suffered.

Yeon-woo had been studying Thor's fighting style with his Draconic Divine Eyes and quickly released his strength.

[6th-step Dragon Body awakening]

[All powers have been released.]

Yeon-woo brandished the Magic Bayonet with his scaly arm. Sword energy danced down the blade and sparkled ominously with a blackish-red color that clashed with the golden lightning.

Bam! Bam! Bam! The first clash ended in Yeon-woo's defeat. The golden bolts swept through the black-red waves and pushed Yeon-woo back, leaving furrows in his wake.

『I'll kill you!』 Seeing that Yeon-woo was weaker than he expected, Thor stepped on Lightning Path again and closed the distance between them as he hurled Mjolnir.

However, Yeon-woo didn't seem too concerned even though he'd just been trounced in a battle of strength. He took a calm step forward and swung the Magic Bayonet up. Although his holy power was being restricted like Agares and the others, he had a card that could turn the situation around.

[Eight Extremes of Sword Thunder]

It was the technique the Monkey King's exuviae created exclusively for him!

Rumble! The Magic Bayonet released sword energy so intense it almost destroyed the blade. The sword energy blocked Thor's attacks and the besieged Thor.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

『What…!』 Thor's eyes widened in disbelief as Mjolnir was blown hundreds of meters away. His arm felt numb, and Mjolnir trembled like it would shatter at any moment. If it weren't for the blessings, Thor's arm would be destroyed by now.

The area around Yeon-woo and Thor was devastated by the lightning. Thor couldn't understand what had happened. How did the mortal who had difficulty creating sword energy just moments ago managed to summon so much strength? Thor didn't know that the Eight Extremes of Sword Thunder became more powerful when sword energy sparked on itself inside Yeon-woo's body. Instead, he believed that Yeon-woo had been hiding his strength all along, and he found Yeon-woo impossible to understand.

And yet, things like this had happened before. A being had once tried to invade Asgard, and Thor kept the memories of this entity locked away—and yet Yeon-woo's image seemed to overlap with the intruder. 『Impossible. Great S…!』

Before Thor could even finish speaking, Yeon-woo had already activated Blink to appear right in front of him with the Magic Bayonet.

Fourth Extreme. It was currently the most powerful level of the Eight Extremes that Yeon-woo could use. Thor instinctively felt that retreat would be difficult, and there was only one thing he could do: face Yeon-woo directly!

Thor still remembered the humiliation he and his companions had endured, and he resented Yeon-woo even more for reminding him of that entity. However, he tried to maintain his composure. As a god of war, he had to completely defeat his opponent, and he gripped Mjolnir. Spark, spark. When he pulled in all the blessings of Asgard and Olympus, the golden lightning turned into bright waves. Spark!

〈Hammer of the Thunder God〉

The power that Thor had once given Yeon-woo in the past when they were still friendly activated, and the world split apart. Boom! Chhhhhhh. Golden waves and a black-red storm crashed into each other ferociously. Neither of the combatants were pushed back, and it seemed like they were on equal footing—but no, Yeon-woo prevailed. If his holy power weren't constrained so much, he would have won this easily.

Crack! Cracks began to appear on the Magic Bayonet's blade, and it shattered. Pew! It was probably fated to happen. No matter how outstanding a blacksmith Henova was, it was impossible for the Magic Bayonet to withstand a high-level divine being and hold a huge amount of energy at the same time. Also, it had already clashed with one of the strongest holy artifacts of Asgard, Mjolnir, several times.

It was unfortunate that it had finally broken in the middle of Yeon-woo and Thor's fight. Yeon-woo had already exhausted his magic power, and the Fourth Extreme had taken a toll on him. He instantly felt dizzy from the sudden loss of control, and there was a ringing sound in his ears.

Thor didn't miss his opportunity. Boom!

At the last moment, Yeon-woo managed to pull himself together and pull out Carshina's Dagger to fend off Mjolnir. Dududu! A massive column of light connected heaven and earth, and intense aftershocks rippled through a huge chunk of Tartarus at an extreme speed.

Ssss. Carshina's Dagger also cracked into pieces like the Magic Bayonet, turning into that scattered in the air. Yeon-woo had no weapons left. He would have used Vigrid, but there wasn't much he could give the Demonism in exchange. 'I still don't understand why he took the Crawling Chaos' ego…'

At the time, he hadn't thought too much about it because it was impossible to know what the Demonism was thinking, and he would gain the holy power in exchange. However, he still felt uneasy about it. He didn't want to use Vigrid without a safety mechanism in place.

『Keke…you're overthinking things. What does any of it matter if you die here? This isn't the time to think. And your magic power won't recover like it usually does here.』 As if he had read Yeon-woo's thoughts, the Demonism whispered in his ear.

Yeon-woo's eyebrows furrowed. The Demonism was right. The constraints on his holy power were slowing the recovery of his magic power. It would be suicide to continue to battle Thor. He couldn't stretch this fight out any longer. He needed to end it with overwhelming firepower quickly.

In the distance, Thor already seemed to have healed, judging from the intense lighting he was generating once more. It was an unbelievable recovery rate.

'I have no other choice.' Yeon-woo needed to bite into the apple despite knowing it was poisoned.

『Good call. Keekeekeek!』 The Demonism's laughter bothered Yeon-woo. It seemed like he was going along with the Demonism's plans, but Yeon-woo had no alternative. He opened up emptiness and loosened Vigrid's chains. 'And I need to uncover the item that the Titans and Gigantes are after.'

What was the reason they had left this battlefront to their lesser forces and Asgard? Why weren't they using their full strength? Were they aiming for something else? Or were they planning to send their forces out in waves? 'Or…a battle on two fronts?'

Swish. He drew Vigrid out, and as he combined with the Demonism, his consciousness expanded infinitely. His empty Philosopher's Stone and Dragon Heart filled up once more, and his exhausted body felt refreshed.

Whoosh! A strength that was on par with that of the Crawling Chaos shook Tartarus just with its presence alone. Fortunately, the being's consciousness was closer to Yeon-woo's. The overwhelming power easily shrugged off the various constraints of the holy territory.

『Impossible…!』 Thor gritted his teeth at the aura of the creature that looked like Yeon-woo. It seemed to be on par with the power held by Odin, his father and Asgard's superior god. It was beyond belief. Even though Yeon-woo had borrowed the strength from some strange tool…could this really be the strength of a player? What would happen once he exuviated and transcended? It just didn't make sense. However, Thor quickly put his thoughts aside when he sensed Agares and the others preparing to attack again. 'Those rogues…!'

He gritted his teeth. He hadn't wanted to go this far, but he couldn't take care of everything on his own. He had no choice but to call for support.

[The godly society <Asgard> sends their forces at Thor's request!]

[Large portals open for the allies of <Olympus>.]

Countless large portals appeared in the sky, and the Asgardian soldiers who had been waiting behind them descended. At their vanguard were their greatest warriors, the Valkyrie and the soldiers of Valhalla.

Dis Pluto stopped battling the Titans briefly and looked up.

「Seems like more fun is coming. Don't you all agree?」 Lam clenched her teeth as she looked at the Asgardian soldiers and raised a corner of her mouth. Her blue eyes flashed menacingly.

As he looked at the battlefield, the thing that looked like Yeon-woo realized what his enemies were after. "Is the army of Titans and Gigantes attacking the base of the resistance…?"