Translator: HunterW

Editor: RED

==[You have obtained 0 golden rings for defeating a powerful enemy.]==

That was the eighth time already!

“Graaah! I’ll tear you to pieces! I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I’ll do!” Angel roared as he attacked like a rabid beast. His entire body was completely red now, including his pupils, but I’d come too far to be intimidated by a parlor trick.

I stared right back into the reds of his eyes. “I’d like to see you try! But I might kill you first!”

“Argh! Pierce the heart of my enemy, Multi-Tentacle Spear!”

A volley of tentacle spikes flew my way and as I deflected them with my spear, I noticed that they carried a lot more force than before. Angel did say that he grew stronger every time he died, and he wasn’t lying. It’s just that there wasn’t a pattern to his growth rate. There were times where he was stronger only by a fraction and other times where his power jumped immensely.

Angel cackled when he noticed my befuddled expression. “50%. I’m 50% stronger than I was before.”

“Is that right? Then I guess I do have to kill you another twenty times for this fight to get a bit more interesting.”

“Keep running your mouth like that, and see what happens!”

“Huh? Do you still think you have the advantage? You’re the one who died eight times already, and are about die again,” I said before charging in again.

“Rise! Reinforced Tentacle Bundle!” Numerous sharp tentacles shot my way at high speed.

“Blink 2.”

“Fuck!”

==[Your opponent has been struck by Powerful Shock. 100,000 points of damage has been inflicted. For three seconds, your opponent’s movement speed, attack speed, DEF and MDEf are lowered by 80%.]==

A bolt of red lightning struck Angel and for a moment, slowed him down. I took that moment to stab him twice in the chest.

“Fuck! Hardened Tentacle Armor!” In a split second, thick tentacles wrapped themselves around Angel, forming a makeshift suit of armor. It felt like Angel just didn’t get how strong I was, no matter how many times he died to my attacks. I showed him plenty of times already that no form of shield, wall, or armor could ever hold up against my attacks. It didn’t matter how strong or thick he made them; they were all like paper to me.

I slashed at his armor twice to make a hole and stabbed him through the chest. Angel couldn’t see it, but my spear had pierced deep into his body and out through his back.

“Gah!” Angel spat and coughed out blood. “Fuck! Fuck! This isn’t fair! You’ve got to be cheating!”

“Cheating? Are you dumb?” I sneered as I raised my spear with Angel still impaled on it like a kabob. I raised him up as high as I could before slamming him to the ground with all my might. Angel was flung away like a ragdoll from the force of the blow and rolled across the ground several meters away. I leaped off the ground right away and landed right on top of his body and stabbed him multiple times. After the fourth stab, the message appeared.

==[You have obtained 0 golden rings for defeating a powerful enemy.]==

That was his ninth death, but it still wasn’t the end to him.

“Hah… let’s not get hasty. As long as I have him focused on me, it’s fine. It’d be better if he actually dies, though.” I couldn’t help but occasionally turn my attention to the battle going on around me. My army was fighting an army twice its size, and against elite soldiers at that.

Thankfully, my soldiers were pushing ahead and with high morale. The fact that I was beating Angel in one-on-one fight gave my men hope, despite his ability to come back to life each time I killed him. It was getting frustrating, however, that Angel was still growing stronger and that I couldn’t see an end to his resurrections.

-Shit!- I couldn’t help but frown and swear to myself. I couldn’t even use Altered Equality or any of my combat buffs, because I had no idea when this fight was going to end.

—

Soon, Angel revealed himself once again. I quickly wiped away my frown and put on a relaxed expression. “I thought I was going to fall asleep waiting. Did you die so many times that you can’t resurrect in a timely manner anymore?”

“Son of a bitch, I’ll cut out that insolent tongue of yours!”

—

“That’s his ninth one, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Damn it! Things aren’t going well, are they?”

“Fuck. One person is giving us all this trouble…”

The deities and devas of the invading Crootian army were starting to panic. Angel, their commander, was chosen by Claudia herself to lead this army. He was that strong, among all of the deities of the High Council. It just didn’t make sense that someone like Angel was getting pushed around by a mere deva like that. They had expected Angel to die a few times to fool the enemy and then suddenly grow stronger to throw the enemy into a reversal, but this was already far beyond what they had planned. Angel was dying and resurrecting over and over again, which seemed to only serve to boost the enemy’s morale.

Their plan was in shambles, all because of one person.

“This is the most times Angel’s died now. We’re approaching unfamiliar waters. There’s a chance he might actually die for good next time!”

“Quiet! Stop overreacting. Nothing’s decided yet. Angel has never revealed his limit of deaths to anyone. He might have more chances than we think.”

“Shit. This isn’t right!”

“Instead of wasting your time panicking, tend to your soldiers. This battle isn’t over yet.”

“Yes sir!”

—

“Extend and shackle my enemy!” At Angel’s order, multiple tentacles shot out at me as if they had a mind of their own and moved to wrap around me. In order to see how much stronger he became this time, I slowly retreated and swatted away at the tentacles. Angel, on the other hand, matched my pace and charged in at me.

“Die! Die! Die!”

Not only did Angel grow stronger each time he died, he also grew angrier and angrier. I changed directions and headed for the Crootian army, curious to see how he would react. If my assumption was correct, he might just end up screwing himself over.

“Stop running away from me!” he roared. Good. He was completely focused on me.

“What…what the-?”

“Why are they headed this way?”

“Shit!”

I sped up and made sure to stick as close to the Crootian soldiers as possible, causing them to panic. Many of them quickly reacted and attacked to push me away, but their skills and spells just bounced off my skin. I ignored their attacks and moved deeper into the ranks of the Crootian army, cutting down anyone foolish enough to get in my way.

==[You have obtained 50,000 golden rings.]==

==[You have obtained 90,000 golden rings.]==

==[You have obtained 130,000 golden rings.]==

It didn’t matter if they were tanks; they all fell from just one attack. And I wasn’t their only problem. Angel’s tentacles, which could only scratch the surface of my skin, were finally piercing through bodies; bodies of his comrades, not mine!

“Gah!”

“Oh, shit!”

“Run…run away!”

“Get back here! You won’t get away from me!”

I chuckled. He was blinded by his desire for revenge. “Oh no! You’re so strong now. No, get away from me,” I said in a monotone voice. I wasn’t sure if my shoddy acting would work, but it was enough for Angel.

“Gahahah! You’re going to run now? I won’t let you! Crush him! Tentacle Prison!”

Numerous tentacles came down upon me in a wide array ,but I wasn’t the only one affected.

“Fuck! Run away!”

“Why the fuck are they fighting over here!?”

I had already gotten out of range of Angel’s attacks, and he only managed to kill dozens of his own soldiers. The fool. I kept running, cutting down more enemy soldiers as I ran past and moved even deeper into the enemy’s ranks. It did seem a waste to have Angel kill all those soldiers when I could have had their EXP and golden rings instead, but I continued on. If it meant one less enemy for my soldiers, it was worth it.

—

“Fuck! Now what’s going on?”

“Why do they have to fight there, of all places?”

Things were turning for the worse for Croot. After dying nine times in a row, Angel had lost a good chunk of his sanity and all he could think about now was revenge. He no longer saw anything around him except for his target. He didn’t care if his own soldiers were getting caught in the crossfire.

The Crootian deity officers did not know what to do. If they tried to intervene, they risked being killed by either the enemy deva or by Angel. They could only watch as the two laid waste to the Crootian army, and the Crootian soldiers quickly lost the will to fight.

—

“Fissure!” I threw all of my combat skills at Angel whenever they were off cooldown. I even Summoned my Sand Warriors, even though they probably couldn’t do much. Then, I had an idea.

“Huh? Where am I?”

“Hi there. Sorry but you don’t have time to just stand around dumbly. Hurry up and attack.” I used Call and summoned Zulova the Slayer here. I quickly pushed him towards the enemy and went back to attacking the enemy soldiers and Angel.

“What the crap? What’s going on?” I heard Zulova from behind. It made me laugh for some reason.

“What do you think is going on? I brought you over here so you can level up some and earn some golden rings. You don’t have to thank me now. You can always pay me back later.”

“What?” Zulova asked as I ran past him and attacked Angel.

Angel didn’t back down and attacked me as hard as he could, but I was still stronger than him.

“Fuck!”

“It looks like you’re not strong enough. Come back when you are.” I stabbed him straight through the head, killing him for the tenth time. My Comm Link rang right at that moment, as if someone was waiting for Angel to die. I picked up right away.

“Who…”

“It’s thirteen!” Alpha shouted before I could finish. I knew right away what he meant. That was Angel’s limit. I had no idea how Alpha found this out, but I didn’t ask. The Gnosis Guild was reliable enough.

“Thank you,” I said before hanging up. Now that I knew what the end was, it was time. “Warrior’s Brave Spirit.” I saved Howl of the Wolf for now. I felt confident enough that I could kill Angel three more times with just Warrior’s Brave Spirit. If I couldn’t, then I could use Howl of the Wolf to fall back on.

I turned back to Angel, who had just resurrected, with a real grin on my face.