Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-618

When Sixth Extreme of Sword Thunder fell on the Sword God’s head, he was not too concerned even though it was unexpected. This was his Illusory World, and it was a space where he could recreate his illusions. No matter how many times he died here, as long as his Consciousness remained, he could be revived.

The Illusory Change the Sword God learned from the rabbit in the Demonic Sea was a turning point in his development. The power that the otherworld god had left in the Demonic Sea was truly incredible. Furthermore, Thor was protecting him.

However, the Sword God could not wrap his head around the fact that the youngest disciple of the Martial King had grown so strong. Yeon-woo possessed a power comparable to that of a god. The Sword God believed that Yeon-woo would even be able to contend against the Martial King, a being who was so powerful that it was hard to believe he was a person. ‘Soon, it will all be over. If only I could defeat Master and take his achievements. However, it’s not unreasonable to think that I can pull this off! And if I add his youngest disciple…!’

The Sword God felt that it was inevitable that the Martial King would fall. The Martial King was like a fly caught in a Venus flytrap. Moreover, the gods of Asgard were reviving over and over. Nocturne had awakened as a new Allforone, Gaia’s Curse was slowly suffocating the Martial King with each passing moment, and the air of the great holy territory was gradually eroding the Martial King’s inner energy. Everything was leading to the Martial King’s eventual death.

Anyone who died in this place would become a new member of Faceless’s family. That meant the Sword God’s power would rise over time, and as his abilities grew, he would be able to fully utilize Gungnir and the other things the rabbit had given him. The Sword God’s spirit tingled with anticipation and glee as he imagined how much growth he would achieve through his Cannibal skill. Additionally, Yeon-woo possessed a power that even made Asgard wary of him. Since Yeon-woo and his familiars had stepped foot in this place, they would not be able to escape. They would also belong to the Sword God.

The Sword God was imagining how he would become the king of the lower world, defeat Allforone, and become the first to step foot on the seventy-eighth floor in a long time. After that, he would also put the heavenly world beneath his feet. By reigning over the world of the Tower, all the wishes that he could not fulfill in the past would come true. ‘I’ll be the first to gain the achievements of a god through the accumulation of martial arts…!”

『Argh!』

‘Thor…is screaming?’ However, the Sword God’s daydreams were disrupted, and he snapped back to reality when he heard Thor’s scream. Although Thor had been killed several times by the Martial King, Thor had never uttered a sound, even if he did clench his teeth. Screaming was beneath a lofty being who was supposed to lead Asgard in place of Odin. Thor was too proud to do anything that would hurt his image, and yet he had screamed as though he’d received a direct blow to his divinity.

‘That’s impossible, isn’t it?’ At that moment, the Sword God felt the Pairing between him and Thor break. Thor was returning to the heavenly world. The Sword Thunder had cut off all connections to his incarnation, sending Thor back to the heavenly world, suffering damage to his spirit. Since his descent had been forcibly terminated, Thor paid a huge price. He might have even suffered a hit to his divinity and perhaps fatal injuries. This was so unexpected that the Sword God was confused.

How did Yeon-woo see the Pairing? How did he see through the core of the barrier? The Martial King couldn’t even do it! The Sword God wanted to scream, but there was no time. If Thor’s connection to his incarnation could be cut off without even a chance for him to resist, what would happen to the Sword God, who served as his incarnation vessel?

The Sword God tasted the pain of his spirit being ripped to pieces, a pain that was beyond the one he’d endured at the Summer Queen’s hands. The Sword God did not realize that Yeon-woo possessed the incredible superpower known as Perceiving the Heavens. The Sword God also did not know that Yeon-woo had already visited the Demonic Sea long before he did and learned Illusory Change. Moreover, Yeon-woo had undergone intensive training to make Illusory Change his own and thus had countermeasures in case others used Illusory Change against him. As a result, the Sword God’s Consciousness was being dismantled.

‘N-no…!” This was the last scream that the Sword God would make.

***

[The core of the Illusory Barrier has been forcibly removed!]

[Caution! You must return the core to its original position quickly, otherwise, it will not function properly. The absence of a core will result in the degradation of the components of the Illusory World.]

[Caution! Replace the core. If the core does not exist, all functions granted to the Illusory World will immediately stop working.]

[Caution! Immediately replace the core…]

『W-what’s going on!』

『Thor! Where did Thor go?』

With the death of the Sword God, all Illusory Changes stopped. It was an utter disaster for Asgard. They had fought recklessly and without care because they were relying on the Illusory Change to revive them. As cracks and rifts appeared in the Illusory World, all the protection and blessings that had been supporting the gods of Asgard ceased.

[The function of the great holy territory has been weakened!]

[The function of the great holy territory has been weakened!]

…

[Protections will disappear.]

[Blessings will disappear.]

[The law of causality is being implemented to create a heavenly environment!]

…

[The scale of the great holy territory has been reduced and downgraded to a holy territory.]

[The function of the holy territory has been weakened!]

…

[Pairing with Thor has been disconnected.]

[Reverse summoning shall begin!]

To prevent this situation, the Sword God had entrusted Thor with the Illusory World’s core. The gods of Asgard were shocked when they realized that Thor had been hurled back to the heavenly world, and panic ensued.

「Sweep them all away!」

「For our god! Fight and death!」

The Ghost Giants did not skip a beat and took full advantage of the opportunity. They were all fiercely loyal to Yeon-woo, and they did not approve of Asgard’s underhanded machinations. Besides, didn’t the giant race always have a hostile relationship with the heavenly gods? The Ghost Giants were eager to sweep away the gods and trample on them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Bam! Bam!

The Ghost Giants smashed down, using the weapons in their hands to crush the gods. And from the sky…

Whoosh! The dragon of death, Kalatus, swooped down and covered the battlefield with fire to destroy the gods.

『Everyone, calm down! Form a formation for defense! They’re scum that we have already exterminated once! Do we want to be remembered as fools trampled by such unworthy things?』

Amid the chaos, the god Heimdall tried to encourage his fellow gods. Their confusion was mainly due to the sudden shaking of the holy territory, not because they lacked power. Thanks to Gungnir, the holy territory remained, so not all of the blessings and protections disappeared. Because of this, the gods of Asgard quickly gathered into a formation to defend and attack at the same time.

[The spring of death is spinning faster!]

Yeon-woo wasn’t about to let the gods do whatever they wanted, and he sent out a flurry of Sword Thunder strikes.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Boom!

Each time Vigrid swung, thunder rumbled as though it were tearing everything apart. The blackish-red thunderbolts fell like droplets of rain on the heads of Asgard’s gods.

Bang!

『Ugh! Damn it!』

『Ahhh!』

『Tyr! It’ll be dangerous if we’re summoned back to the heavenly world like this! Tyr!』

The gods had already seen Thor suffer a forced disconnection, so they did not easily give up their own Pairing connections. Whenever a Sword Thunder strike flew towards their Pairing, the gods tried to minimize the damage by twisting their bodies and shielding the Pairing. However, their range of movement was limited due to the Ghost Giants. In the end, those who could not avoid the Sword Thunder strike were forced back to the heavenly world. As the Pairing connections were severed, the gods disappeared from the battlefield one after another.

Pew! Pew! Pew! The beams of light that Yiyeh fired approached Yeon-woo from all sides. Yeon-woo changed the direction of the Sword Thunder strikes that poured down on Asgard. Soon, the Sword Thunder strikes slammed straight to the ground.

Boom! In an instant, a crater appeared, forcing up a dense plume of dust that obscured Yeon-woo. Beams of light carved out countless holes in the wall of dust. From a distance, it looked like a beehive. However, Yeon-woo was nowhere to be found inside.

Crack!

“Jang Wei.” Yiyeh felt a biting shock when he heard Yeon-woo’s voice behind him. Yeon-woo had fooled Yiyeh’s senses and moved behind him. It had been a long time since he’d been tricked like this, and Yiyeh was thrilled and infinitely happy to face off against such a strong opponent. His fighting spirit and strong desire for victory as a warrior emerged.

On the other hand, Yeon-woo did not care what Yiyeh was thinking, nor did Yeon-woo know what the Sea of Time was up to. Yeon-woo was fully consumed with the thought that he had to immediately get to the Martial King. “I have a lot of things that I need to talk with you about. But now’s not the time.”

Yeon-woo was speaking to Jang Wei, who had killed Yeon-woo’s lover. There was a mountain of things Yeon-woo had to resolve with the guy who had turned a five-year-old child into an orphan. However, at this moment, Yeon-woo had to put all that aside. His grudge with Jang Wei was rooted in the past. However, his relationship with the Martial King was the present.

Whoosh! Clang!

“Unfortunately, my Apostle said that I shouldn’t let you go. He mentioned taking revenge for his sister.” Yiyeh quickly twisted his body back and blocked Vigrid with Justice. His squinted eyes seemed to challenge Yeon-woo to escape this predicament.

Jang Wei, Yiyeh’s Apostle, was praying earnestly to the god he worshiped, asking Yiyeh to kill Yeon-woo and avenge his sister’s death. However, Yiyeh did not try to kill Yeon-woo right away. To do that, Yiyeh had to be prepared to take on a lot of damage. Furthermore, there was a chance that Yiyeh himself would be the loser. Yiyeh realized that Yeon-woo was a strong being, and he couldn’t guarantee victory.

Of course, Yiyeh was obliged to comply with his Apostle’s request. Yiyeh had chosen Jang Wei as an Apostle in the first place because Yiyeh had seen the secrets of the heavens at the time, not because he particularly liked Jang Wei. His purpose was to hold Yeon-woo back, and he thought that this would be enough.

Yiyeh had been a hunter, and he had led a warrior’s life, traversing the entire universe to seek his enemies. He was such an incredible fighter that even the Jade Emperor and the Chan Sect gushed over his achievements. Prince Nezha, who was one of the Chan Sect’s three leading gods, had once been Yiyeh’s disciple. Thus, Yiyeh was planning a hit-and-run strategy to buy some time until all the plans that he and the Sea of Time had put into motion were completed. However…

“If you want to try hanging onto me, try.” Yeon-woo snorted and suddenly let go of Vigrid. Yiyeh’s Justice involuntarily moved forward. Yeon-woo took that moment to contort his body, and he narrowly escaped the area. Vigrid fell to the ground.

[Unity has been canceled.]

[The spring of death has stopped operating.]

Not knowing what Yeon-woo was up to, Yiyeh quickly turned his head, filled with foreboding. However, Yeon-woo’s gaze was not on Yiyeh, but on the Martial King, was battling Nocturne. Soon, a chain separated from Vigrid and shot upward. Yeon-woo quickly grabbed the end of the chain and linked it to the pocket watch he had just pulled out of his pocket.

Click!

[Connected with the spring of time.]

[The spring is in a state of disrepair. Many features are unavailable.]

[With divine power, some of its functions have been restored.]

Crank! Crank!

And with the sounds of broken cogs turning…

[The spring of time is operational!]

[Turning at double speed. The speed of light has been achieved.]

Poof!

Sss!

Yeon-woo was completely separated from the real world, and the time in his immediate vicinity accelerated rapidly. He turned into a black-red beam of light, and in an instant, Yeon-woo shot towards the Martial King and Nocturne.

Yiyeh couldn’t catch the beam of light. By the time he noticed it, it had already disappeared from his sight. “Ugh!” Yiyeh sighed in despair.