Chapter 191: Emotion
Chapter 191: Emotion
Boom! Boom! Boom!
An ogre appeared on the battlefield with footsteps that shook the ground. Although it was hard to say that she was still a hideous monster now that her appearance had changed so much, the ogre seemed aptly matched with her nickname, the berserker, on the battlefield.
“Ooorah!!!”
[<The Prince on a White Horse> watches the battlefield.]
Dudun! Dudun!!
Although it had taken them a while to realize it, maybe because the princess was special or because of her identity as a Familiar, the princess had gained another ability after her growth. When <The Prince on a White Horse> watched over the battlefield, her fighting power would double.
“Oooorah!!!”
[<The Prince on a White Horse> reveals his true name.]
[<Ogre Prince Siegfried> watches over the princess.]
Especially as <The Prince on a White Horse> had an attentiveness that matched his title.
Dudun! Dudun!!
Although she had grown and evolved through the journey, gradually becoming more like a human and learning the human language, the princess was exhibiting a completely different side at the moment.
“Ooorah!!!!”
She had become a complete monster. No, in fact, by inheriting the power of Siegfried, who was said to have torn dragons to shreds in legend, she had become an ogre.
“Huff!!”
She was massive, with red eyes and muscles that seemed ready to explode at any moment. The princess exploded forth with unimaginable power, rushing at Odin and colliding with him.
Boom!
She collided with Odin’s green storm. Red and green light blended together as their manas entangled.
BOOM!
The collision caused an explosion as the Hunters, who were watching it all unfold, muttered to themselves quietly, “How insane…”
Who could have imagined that they would be born into this world and face a battle of this intensity? They were Hunters too. While there was a difference in weight class between them, the difference here was to a ridiculous extent.
The princess was just someone’s Familiar. Even so, the storm created by her was shaking the entire battlefield.
Woosh!!
“Princess!!”
Jeong In-Chang also joined the princess belatedly. The massive greatsword that appeared in his hand began to fuse with his arm as if it had become one with him. The two symbolized their Sponsor’s power: the body of the ogre hero who killed the dragon and the weapon of the ogre hero who killed the dragon.
“Gr-am!” shouted Jeong In-Chang. A bright light began to emanate from his greatsword. He lifted Gram without any hesitation and threw himself into the blending mix of red and green light.
Boom!
Soon after, another explosion occurred, which always happened during pure clashes of strength.
Shhhh!
A gap appeared within the gushing heat and dust, and their faces were revealed once again.
“Gasp… gasp…”
The princess and Jeong In-Chang took a step back.
"That fu…”
Odin was looking at them from the same spot with the same gaze. Although they had met him with great force, nothing had changed.
“All we did was just damage his collar a little…?” Jeong In-Chang muttered in disbelief.
“Hoho…”
However, Odin seemed rather surprised by Jeong In-Chang. His single eye turned to the torn hem of his coat. It was slight, but it had clearly been torn.
“That’s better than I had expected,” he said, completely serious in tone.
Odin was sincerely admiring the efforts of Jeong In-Chang and the princess, who had succeeded in tearing his coat ever so slightly. He was using the power that he had hidden away all this time now as it was a power that no one in the world could have even guessed the extent to which it reached.
With two Sponsors, Odin’s power was easily one of the strongest in the world.
“If it’s this much… It should be okay for me to stretch a little,” he said to Jeong In-Chang and the princess as if he was showing a little mercy.
Thud!
He took one step forward as the storm of green light moved along with his steps. Although he was stepping on air, his footsteps continued to shake the ground.
“Ugh!”
“Ooorah!!”
At the same time, a huge pressure began to smother Jeong In-Chang and the princess. The two began to find it impossible to move their bodies, but then the sound of a series of things shooting through the air was heard.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
It was coming from behind Odin’s back.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Acupuncture needles so thin that they were almost invisible to the naked eye danced through the air, flying toward Odin. Tens of thousands of acupuncture needles shuttled through the air, like raindrops defying gravity.
Odin’s opponents weren’t only limited to Jeong In-Chang and the princess.
“Ha-a-eup!” Won-Hwa shouted.
The needles acted as if they were being manipulated by invisible threads. Solid lines of tangible mana, controlling the tens of thousands of needles, cut through everything in its path as they rained down on Odin like overwhelming weapons of death.
Squelch!
However, in response, Odin just held out his hand.
Thud!
The needles that seemed to ignore gravity suddenly ran into something.
Thud, thud, thud, thud…
The needles fell to the ground. At the same time, Won-Hwa fell to his knees as well.
“Ahem!”
They were violently overwhelmed. This was a strength that didn’t belong to a human. It was a different feeling from what they had seen in Lee Jun-Kyeong. The man in front of them was a complete monster, and it was impossible to see him as a human in any way.
“He really is a god…” a Hunter muttered in terror.
Their front line was broken, as there was no distinction between friend or foe in this battle any longer. Everyone had been caught in the storm, and everyone was pulling back as the tense battlefield soon reached a ceasefire.
This all happened because of only one man.
“I am Odin.”
***
Tap, tap! Tap, tap!
The sound of hasty footsteps echoed through the halls. Then, a huge explosion occurred.
Boom!
“Please…!”
Ungnyeo was running down the halls at full speed. She had been trying to free herself from Odin’s restraints all this time, but her struggles had been in vain as the Hunter had simply just freed her.
She knew that the man had some ulterior motive for doing so.
‘I can’t just stay still.’
There would be nothing more foolish than staying here, holding her breath in fear of Odin’s ulterior motives. Her companions were fighting, for her, for those that they held sacred.
When she had been freed by Odin, she had the chance to jump out the window and fight with her companions. However, Ungnyeo had made a different choice.
–HOWL!!!
She went to where a mighty roar could be heard. It was a place where the sound of a beast echoed through the sky.
“Fenrir…!”
.
She was running toward Fenrir as he was still chained in this chaotic situation. If the wolf was unaware of the situation outside, then it was just somewhat painful and frustrating for him to be trapped.
‘But there’s no way he wouldn’t have realized it!’
Even Fenrir in that state would be able to feel the situation outside. There was a massive collision of mana and a hurricane of mana unfolding outside. He could hear the screams of people. Fenrir must also be feeling that things had gone underway, which was why he was howling with all his might.
–HOWL!!
He likely wanted to fight alongside them as there was no way he would want to be so helpless.
Tap, tap! Tap, tap!
Ungnyeo ran through the hallway, reaching a long path where Fenrir had been imprisoned. Finally, she had arrived.
“Fenrir!”
She could see the wolf, whom she had occasionally visited and checked in on for a while now.
“U… Ungnyeo…”
Shedding tears of blood, Fenrir was gritting his teeth and calling out to the woman standing in the doorway. His eyes were overflowing with anger, and his entire body was soaked in blood.
Rattle. Rattle.
The damage to his body seemed to have been caused by several attempts to break Odin’s chains, Gleipnir, by force.
Drip. Drip.
Ungnyeo didn't even think to wipe away the tears falling down her cheeks as she slowly approached Fenrir. Although his eyes were half-closed out of exhaustion, she could feel something from him.
“U… Ungnyeo…”
Volcanic anger welled up in his eyes.
“I… have to get out…”
She said, “I know…”
“Have to go…save friends…”
“I know…”
“Jun-Kyeong is…”
“I said, I know!”
Ungnyeo approached and hugged Fenrir. As she hugged him, she could feel it more clearly.
“Your body…”
Fenrir's body was a mess. There weren’t just the wounds he had endured trying to break free of Gleipnir. No, there was something much different from that.
“Have you been tortured?” she asked.
There were signs of torture. She hadn’t been able to see them whenever she had visited, but she could feel it now that she was holding the boy like this. His entire body was almost tattooed with the scars of relentless torture.
“Get me free…”
Fenrir's eyes began to close a little more. The bleeding was too much. Ungnyeo quickly spread her hands out and released her aura.
Shhhh.
The aura of nature and her healing powers fused together and began to cover Fenrir. As it began to take effect, Ungnyeo was relieved to see that he was getting his color back slightly.
Rattle! Rattle!
She put him down, still hazy from the pain and blood loss, and moved over to find a way to break the damned chain. Fenrir couldn’t break it, so it was obvious that it wasn’t some common piece of metal.
‘I still have to find it.’
But she couldn't give up. She had to free Fenrir from this dog-like leash. Ungnyeo pulled out her bronze sword from her bosom as a bronze mirror and a bronze bell appeared out of thin air.
“Just be…a little more patient…” Ungnyeo said to Fenrir, swallowing the rising anger and tears.
“I… Ungnyeo…”
Fenrir, still hazy and weak, spoke carefully.
“I believe.”
***
The situation on the battlefield hadn’t changed much. Well, there was something that had changed. Following Jeong In-Chang, Won-Hwa, and the princess, Hyeon-Mu and Hel also started supporting the Hunters from a distance as they protected Lee Jun-Kyeong and Sangun.
“Aaaaaah!”
Moreover, the Hunters had gotten over their fright by the enormous power and had realized that the target of their rage had appeared, so they began to join forces as well. Of course, their aid didn’t help much.
BOOM!
Thus, the situation on the battlefield had stayed the same. Odin, wrapped in green light, was leisurely dealing with everyone. He would just nonchalantly wave a hand or put his foot down.
BOOM!
Then, an explosion would occur. People were swept away and screaming while Odin was arrogantly ignoring everything around him. The more they fought, the more they could feel it. This wasn’t the strength of a human.
‘This is inhuman.’
This wasn’t something a human being could control. A human couldn’t, wouldn’t, do something like this. Even though Lee Jun-Kyeong’s strength also had reached this level, his actions still contained a hint of humanity whenever he went to battle.
However, Odin was different. He seemed to genuinely consider himself a god with every action marked with arrogance and without mercy.
“Ha-a-eup!!”
Everyone on the battlefield was just throwing their bodies away, interfering in an impossible battle. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t thought of this possibility before. They all knew everything had changed in the cataclysm. The monsters had gotten stronger, and the Hunters had grown in return.
‘So this is what they call Odin…’
However, this was the same fundamental truth. Even before the cataclysm, Odin had occupied the throne of the world with his monstrous power. Moreover, Odin was also a Hunter.
‘He also became stronger because of the cataclysm.’
It was a given that he would have grown stronger from the effects of the cataclysm. Although they all tried to find some way to deal with it, using skills here and there and changing their movements, that ridiculous green light protected Odin like an impenetrable fortress.
“Damn it!!!” Jeong In-Chang screamed as he plunged Gram into the ground. The power that he had shown before was a dangerous power that was still unfinished. However, it was a power that he had no choice but to use.
“Step back!”
Alongside his shouts, the ground began to split open.
Crack!!!
The crack in the ground spread over toward Odin, the broken earth splitting open as if to swallow the Hunter.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
However, all it received in response was a simple gesture.
Zzt.
Making a pushing gesture with both hands, Odin deflected the earth that was supposed to bury him alive.
Cough!
His attack was blocked, and Jeong In-Chang faced a backlash, vomiting a handful of blood and flesh. As they all struggled to find an answer to Odin, they heard someone scream.
“Mr. Kim!!”
It was Kim Su-Yeong, who was protecting Sangun and Lee Jun-Kyeong.