༺ Nuada Airgetlam (2) ༻
Great Warrior Sreng.
He was the mighty hero of the Corca, who managed to cut off one of the arms of the King of Gods, Nuada, during their decisive battle against the Danann.
Although he was later defeated in that battle and Sreng lost his life at the hands of Nuada, he was one of the few people who left a great flaw on the king’s body.
As a result, due to the traditions of the Danann that ‘only those with a perfect body can inherit the throne’, Nuada stepped down from his position and succeeded the throne to someone else.
“Kuuk…!”
Losing my left arm, I had to fall back for a bit. Then, I carved a rune letter onto the injury.
My plan was to sear the wound with Kenaz, the Rune of Flames but…
The soaring flames were extinguished before long. Due to the Blessing of the Sun, the absolute immunity to flames even ended up absorbing the flames that I had created in order to stop the bleeding.
“Tch…”
Clicking my tongue, I held onto my spear with my remaining arm because sulking over a lost arm wasn’t going to do anything.
Firstly, I had to overcome this trial and keep my life intact. My fury and sorrow could be left for after I finished off the enemy in front of me.
‘My regeneration speed is too slow. It’s not closing the wound. Is it a cursed sword? Or perhaps an enforcement of destiny like Lia Fail?’
Whatever the case, there was no denying that I couldn’t attend to the bleeding wound on my left arm. Even though Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior was supplementing the loss of blood by pumping new blood into the system, a similar amount of blood was still flowing out of my left arm.
I wasn’t expecting there to be such a demerit to obtaining the Sun.
“KUAHHHH…!”
Along with a deafening roar, Sreng swung the greatsword in his arms. Then suddenly…
…As I was trying to somehow block the attack with my spear, the surroundings changed. It reeked of water as people screamed from every direction.
“…”
Traumatic memories of the past… It was an essential part of the trial that made the player remember certain failures of the past.
“Right. Now this is more like a trial.”
The trials given by the gods weren’t there to crush and ridicule its challengers. They were beings that welcomed, taught, and guided the new heroes, including the player in the game.
However, it was still surprising to see that they would treat me, a half-assed player, like a proper one.
[Help!]
[Somebody! Please…! Help—]
It was like a pandemonium on earth, that stunk of water and blood mixed together. Houses were flowing down; people were screaming for help on top of the roofs but what they invited weren’t rescuers but water demons.
I still remember this tragedy like it was yesterday.
Tragedy of Roteon River.
It was a massacre that happened during the process of annihilating the water demons. The dam burst forth and a whole village got swept away along with the water demons.
[Bro…! The dam broke!]
And the main culprit behind that massacre – Park Sihu. It was an evil plan forged by that wicked villain who created a kill log of a hundred thousand people, but I couldn’t figure it out until the end.
Thousands of people were killed in that tragedy, but Roteon River wasn’t the only one.
When Adelene, the Lord of the Tower of Mages, activated the Hell of Steel,
When Dumnorix, after synchronizing himself with the World Tree, reduced the western region of the kingdom to a mere wasteland,
And when I lost my comrades to Fermack Daman and watched Dun Scaith devour a whole city…
I was there in the midst of countless sacrifices and tragedies, and yet I failed to notice the comrade right next to me, who was rejoicing all by himself from all that wicked profit.
[Knight… Korin.]
The surroundings changed yet again. It was a shivering cold mountain. The storm and blizzard that froze the land nearby were threatening to freeze a woman on top of that.
[Bro, we have to hurry up. The Frost Giants are on their way. Just throw that thing away.]
Resting in my arms was a foolish lady whom I couldn’t protect, whom I ended up having to kill with my own hands.
[You were too late… in realizing my fate, but…]
A villainess who until the end couldn’t change her fate… the poor lady who diverged onto the crooked path from hatred and couldn’t come back was slowly turning colder and colder.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Hoh. You knew already.”
The golden god caressed his beard while watching me from behind, as I held the dying corpse of the crimson venomous serpent. Even though I knew this was fake and that this was just a replay of my memories, I still couldn’t let go of her cold corpse.
“You seem remorseful of what happened.”
“There are a lot of things I have lost, but for some reason, there are a few that I just can’t seem to forget.”
Master and Princess Miru were such examples.
Maybe it was because I was a guy that was no different from everyone else.
“It is natural for the memories of lost women to remain behind as remorseful memories in the minds of heroes.”
“That’s quite sexist.”
“The standard of your era has nothing to do with me.”
After staring at the bitter cold wasteland for a while, Nuada waved his hands and changed the surroundings.
It was a dark city. A boy was carefully walking down the streets away from the eyes of everyone else, and following behind him was me.
This… was the memory from the night before the regression happened. I could still vividly remember that day.
“Well, although disgusting, there is no denying that the ways of that evil boy had been efficient.”
“But in the end, he lost.”
“Yes, in the end. However, can you say with certainty that you are stronger than that boy?”
“…”
Park Sihu’s growth was exponential.
In this iteration, I started off much quicker than him at the beginning and was stronger, but it was nothing compared to the exponential growth of Park Sihu’s power later down the line.
It was because he possessed a mana pool that was at the level of the gods.
Would I ever be able to become stronger than Park Sihu in terms of stats? Of course not. That was simply impossible.
-Guwooooo…!
The dimension that had been created by the god to provide a leeway disappeared, as Sreng reappeared before my eyes. He was marching at me with a roar.
“You want to defeat our avenger? Do you believe you can replace Justice and the hero? How pathetic. How about you defeat this warrior in front of you before all that talk?”
As if representing Nuada’s will, Sreng choked me by the throat. His arms were so thick and muscular that choking me to death wouldn’t even begin to serve as an issue.
“I.. probably won’t be as powerful as Valtazar or Park Sihu for the rest of my life.”
“If so, why do you wish to replace him? Even though you are fully aware that you will be weaker than him?”
My neck was being crushed. Theoretically, it should be nigh impossible to let out a voice but surprisingly, I could speak without that big of an issue.
“But if we fight, I will win. My definition of power and strength is different from what you and Park Sihu think of it.”
“…!”
In retaliation, I grabbed onto Sreng’s neck. He faltered for a bit, but upon seeing that I couldn’t even wrap my hands around his thick neck, he floated a smirk.
Let’s see how long that smile can stay on your damn face.
❰Sun Concentration❱
The mana of the Sun swirled above. Swallowing the mana inside my body, sunlight emerged in the sky above.
It wasn’t enough.
❰Sun Manifestation❱
The accumulation of mana manifested itself in the form of a large sun.
The Sun, Claiomh Solais.
It was one of the strongest abilities in this world – one that was far too extravagant for someone like me, who couldn’t even maintain it for over 10 seconds without the backup of the system.
“The Sun, huh? But what will you do with that? Do you believe you’ll be able to stay alive until you manage to drop that Sun?”
❰Sun Compression❱
“What?”
Nuada’s flustered voice reached my ears from afar. That was only natural because the enormous Sun in the sky was being compressed down into my arm.
“I don’t even need 10 seconds. 1 second is more than enough.”
Right now, even though I was being weighed down by someone much stronger than me, my arm was around his neck due to his self-conceit.
The power of the compressed sun resting in my hand had the ability to scorch everything I touched into ash.
-Kuhk?
It was just 1 second.
The compressed heat of the Sun touched Sreng by the neck. Instinctively, he tried to throw me away but that short period of 1 second was detrimental for both of us.
-Jiiik!
His neck was scorched and melted, and so was my arm.
‘Compressing the Sun’ meant an absurd density of mana had to reside in my bare arm. This was why Sun Compression was a suicide move without Airgetlam, an item that could hold an infinite amount of power.
“Krrrh…!”
His skin was scorched, revealing the bones of his neck but Sreng was still alive and breathing.
“Krrh, kura… Kuraagyahhh—!!”
Despite having trouble enunciating words, Sreng nonetheless raised his sword. Right – the fight wasn’t over just yet.
“Are you still going to fight?”
“Of course. I lost both my arms but so what? I still have my legs.”
Each and every one of them didn’t have the guts these days. If I was going to give up just by losing my arms, I wouldn’t have even gotten started on the fight to save the world.
“Huu…!”
Once again, I settled the Aura Core in my body and embedded the aura from Sebancia’s Aura Core into my right leg.
I couldn’t even balance myself properly after losing my arms, and the severe loss of blood that couldn’t be supplemented, even with my regeneration ability, made my head turn dizzy.
However, it was still okay.
One attack was going to be enough. There was no need to keep my balance nor be afraid of falling down after my attack. My hazy eyes and the jolt in my brain did not matter in the slightest – all I needed to do was focus on just one more attack.
■■■■■■■■■■■——!!
Unfazed by the absence of flesh around his neck, the great warrior unhesitatingly kicked off the ground.
Along with a deafening roar, he jumped in, trying to cut me down into pieces.
Sebancia Duke’s Second Demonic Move Korin Style Falling Heaven on Five Dragons
If this power, which had even killed the mighty dragons was real… then a monster like this was nothing.
“Whatever it is, things will work out somehow if a man puts his life on the line.”
Sreng slashed his greatsword down, but I didn’t even bother registering that in my brain. The only thing that was at the end of my gaze was, from beginning to end, his wobbly neck and nothing else.
I twisted my body.
Every single bit of power was embedded into the kick. A slight step forward from the center of balance, followed by the acceleration with the left leg acting as the pivot, and a simple spinning kick.
Spinning Hook.
This simple and straightforward kick that anyone who spent their childhood days in Korea would learn was my finishing blow.
-Kwaa!
The greatsword was falling down at a rapid speed, so fast that it could shatter my body into pieces. Naturally, my legs couldn’t physically reach the neck of the enormous giant and therefore, it couldn’t be just a normal kick.
“Kuhk?”
Sreng paused in confusion.
By the time he noticed it, his eyes were rolling across, taking turns viewing the sky and the ground. Soon, he closed his eyes upon accepting the situation.
The second stage of using Sebancia Duke’s aura.
Aura Release.
The movement of a greatsword was physically directed by the hands compared to my attack which emitted aura like an arrow.
It was pointless to question which of them would have landed on the enemy first.
-Flop!
Due to having no arms and thus no way to balance myself, I fell on the ground after the kick but still gazed at the upside-down golden Danann with a smile.
“You never know what the outcome of a battle will be until you end it.”
Just like that, I had passed the third trial.
***
By the time I realized it, the barren wasteland where I had fought against Sreng had turned into an evergreen land of grass.
Mag Mell.
It was a wide plain of grass in paradise, Tir na Nog. It was one of the locations composing the paradise.
This was the land of the deceased, and a paradise among paradise for the select few.
“Huhahahaha…! You’re one incredible youth! Erin seems to have chosen the right man!”
Dagda Mor, the father of Oengus and the owner of Undry.
“You should be more mindful of your body. I will stay faithful to the promise Nuada has made with you and heal you back.”
The Danann of Healing, Dian Cecht, restored my arms and the leg that got lost during the battle.
“That was remarkable, young hero! This Manannan Mac Lir heavily appreciated your fighting spirit!”
And after them was the owner of this Island of Treasures. Although he wasn’t an Ard Ri, he was the son of the ocean and one who ruled over the seas, Manannan Mac Lir.
“Hmph.”
“…”
Lastly, there were 2 more Danann that were gazing at me from a slight distance.
One of them enveloped in gold was Nuada Airgetlam and the other… was one of the characters that came out in the game; the master of the Spear of Light, Lugh Lamhfada.
The Danann of Light and the strongest of them all.
All the powerful Danann that could be encountered by the player in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ were gathered in one spot with their eyes focused on me.
‘This is… something I’ve never seen both in the game and the last iteration.’
The god you met changed depending on the item you possessed, but there wasn’t an event where you could meet all the gods.
Whosever trial it was that you took, it was possible for the player to choose their reward anyway so…
“Korin Lork. This Manannan shall represent the gods that have entered a deep slumber in Mag Mell and give you our blessing.”
Especially, Manannan Mac Lir was incredibly amiable and friendly, but it was hard to tell why he was this way.
“Not sure if you are aware, but I am the master of this Island of Treasures. Besides… I am also the wealthiest of all the Danann and possess the greatest amount of treasures.”
“I am… aware.”
“And I praise thee for thy bravery and courage! This Manannan Mac Lir will gladly present you, brave hero, with my greatest treasure!”
“Sorry? Wait, I would like to receive Airgetlam…”
“Hmm? You seem to have misunderstood my words.”
“Pardon?”
“My gift has nothing to do with the presents that you will be receiving from the other gods. And this is a common sentiment that we have all come to except for Lugh.”
“…What?”
Uhh… so you mean…
Four of the five Danann here will be giving me a treasure, right?
One each?
“J, jackpot.”
I unconsciously let out that forbidden word.
