Chapter 211 – Last Stand (1)
There was a loud bang every time the shield and greatsword met. In the meantime, the war god stabbed at him. There was a slight gap in his defense as the shield and greatsword hit each other. It was simple for the war god to squeeze his sword through the gap.
Kwaaaaang!
The greatsword descended, causing the war god to hold up his shield and sword again. It was the sword of the war god, who had waged many wars. It cut Crockta’s neck. Blood was scattered. Crockta flexed his body and moved God Slayer. There was a blast of wind.
Crockta turned his head. Crunch, there was the sound of bone breaking. Crockta extracted himself and got back into position. It was a small thing that the audience couldn’t see properly.
The two of them stared at each other before moving again. The war god and Crockta disappeared, leaving only the explosive sound of weapons colliding and after images.
Hwaruruk!
The sword and shield hit, causing flames to break out. The flames from God Slayer struck the body of the war god and filled the Colosseum. The flames encountered an invisible wall and faded. Such a phenomenon was repeated every time the two people exchanged attacks.
The body of the war god was burned by the fire. The battlefield was filled with flames of the sun god and the war god.
The fierce battle continued.
Crockta grabbed the shield and struck at the war god’s sword. Then he kicked the staggering body of the war god. The war god was pushed back before fixing his posture. Crockta wielded his greatsword again. It hit the shield. The war god lost his shield.
Once the shield covering his body was gone, he was full of gaps. He could stab anywhere he wanted. Crockta wielded God Slayer. The blade tore through the air and headed towards the war god. Two flames burst out at the same time.
The two people were engulfed by the flames and became less visible.
At that moment. The world stopped.
……
……
The sound of footsteps was heard in the silence.
Thump, thump, thump.
The war god was walking through the still world. It was an extreme acceleration that changed the concept of the Pinnacle. An unknown terrain that couldn’t be called the Pinnacle. He walked forward and looked at Crockta.
The orc’s hands grasped his greatsword, wielding it with his entire body. In a world where everything was static, Crockta moved. Slowly, slowly, the sword moved so slowly it seemed like it would take a day to move forward.
It seemed like he would cut the war god at any moment. However, the war god jumped out before the blade touched. He jumped out of the world of the Pinnacle, expanding the moment into eternity and becoming the master of time.
It was such an absolute acceleration that Crockta couldn’t understand what happened. This force would behead Crockta.
“Phew.”
There was no strength in his hands. To exert such a power, the war god overloaded his body. In addition, the gods were distributing their power to maintain this world. Thanks to that, the orcs could fight against the countless gods.
The war god lifted his sword and recalled the past: a disastrous fight where numerous gods had died.
He then realized that sympathy and compassion were feelings that shouldn’t be allowed. They were gods and had to maintain the order of this world. If they allowed any gaps in order due to emotion, the ravenous wolves would pounce and the world would collapse.
‘I’m sorry. But I have to do it.’
The grey god had whispered to him as she wriggled on the ground. The world was collapsing. If the other gods didn’t risk their lives, the world would’ve perished at the hands of the grey god. Therefore, he would kill this warrior and destroy the orcs. At a minimum, he would take away their power so they couldn’t fight as the grey god’s servants.
Perhaps they really didn’t have a relationship with the grey god.
“It can’t be helped.”
It was better to not take any chances and give her room for her to return. He would make certain to eliminate all uncertainties, even if it meant genocide of an entire species.
He looked at Crockta. A great warrior. Based on Crockta’s deeds, he truly was a great warrior. However, this guy had the scent of the grey god on him. He was associated with her. The scent of ashes was unforgettable.
“Great warrior.”
The types of warriors most favored by the war god, those with the willingness to die in order to complete one’s ambition. The greater the will, the greater the strength, and the greater the fight would be.
That was war. He had been present throughout history. What a waste.
“Great warriors will eventually die on the battlefield.”
It was regrettable if the grey god was just taking advantage of Crockta. Mortals caught in the circumstances of the gods always died tragically. Therefore, the war god would end him directly. That was the best honor he could give him.
“I am alive.”
His blade descended. The poor orc warrior who believed he had cut a god. The great warrior would experience death during his triumphant moment.
“……!”
The moment his blade was about to reach Crockta’s neck…
Crockta’s eyes stared back at the war god.
***
He wielded God Slayer towards the body of the war god who lost his shield. The war god had a confused expression.
Crockta cut off all possibilities by exerting the power of causality in the Hero realm. All possibilities converged towards the war god’s death. Therefore, this blow would undoubtedly split the war god apart.
God Slayer slowly moved towards the body of the war god. Above all, this was the fastest realm. A realm of transcendence that replaced all possibilities with his own will. There, the enemy was waiting for his blade.
A strong feeling of victory passed through him. But at that moment. Crockta suddenly saw something. Darkness started to descend from the top of his eyelids. It slowly invaded from outside his field of view until everything became dark.
It was dark. Crockta was aware that it was death. He struggled to control his body, but he couldn’t control the power of this realm. Crockta’s blade converged towards the enemy, and this would lead to his own death.
Causality was running amok. The world reversed. Right and wrong in the world became scrambled. In it, only one thing was clear.
Death.
It was something no mortal could avoid. Crockta realized it. His sword wouldn’t reach the war god. The enemy was a god who watched the world through numerous wars. Crockta believed that he could beat the war god, but that wasn’t the case.
Death was approaching.
‘Are you alive?’
Someone asked. He didn’t know whose voice it was. No, it wasn’t a sound. It was something beyond his five senses, from his soul.
‘Honor.’
The voice stopped. His vision was now completely dark. But Crockta suddenly found something. It was beating with a slow tempo.
A line. It was a color that was hard to describe. The color of a faraway world that he had never seen. That line was penetrating the world. It penetrated the spot where he boiled coffee as Ian on Earth, or when Crockta was chatting with his colleagues.
It maintained its slow pulsing even when the world was accelerated to the extreme in the realm of the Pinnacle. Despite being in the domain of transcendence where the laws of the world were tangled, the line kept its constant state and connected the worlds.
Past and present were on the line, and even the future was dancing on the line. What was that line? In addition, the color as well. Why was it so radiant? Crockta realized that the line was penetrating everything, even himself. A slow beating sound was heard.
Duguen.
Duguen.
A brilliant color that didn’t need light. The color shone brightly in the darkness, disturbing Crockta’s eyes.
Duguen.
Duguen.
The line slowly tilted. The world tilted. He was in Elder Lord as well as watching the landscape of the Hero realm. He saw the reality of death coming down as a black curtain. The past was zooming by. The potential futures appeared in front of his eyes.
Escaping from the world of death, death and death. There was one rotation and he returned. It was to the present day.
‘Hey Apprentice.’ A familiar voice was heard in Crockta’s head. ‘Where are you looking? Warriors never take their eyes off the enemy.’
He grabbed Crockta’s hair and slowly turned his head. Crockta had no strength as his head turned.
‘Remember it carefully.’
There. The blade heading towards him and the face of the war god looking down on him.
***
The blade sliced Crockta. Blood splattered. Crockta twisted and avoided the attack, but the blade still sliced his face. A part of the helmet was split and a stab wound occurred on Crockta’s face.
At the same time, God Slayer struck the war god’s chest. Flames and blood appeared on both sides.
“Why?”
The war god was shocked by this situation. He healed the wound on his chest and withdrew. Crockta also wiped out the blood flowing down his face. Crockta laughed at the war god through the broken helmet. He didn’t care about the wound on his face.
“This is one more medal of honor.”
“How did you avoid it?”
They were still in the domain of the Pinnacle. In this still world, the two of them faced each other.
“How can a mortal accelerate up to that point? This is the ultimate realm.”
“Let’s see…” Crockta shrugged.
He had seen death. Then he saw something in there. It was something he only witnessed when he fought Adandator. That was when he was alone against the empire. Today, it saved him again.
A line of indescribable color that beat slowly. Crockta could still see it.
“Let’s talk about it after the fight.”
Slowly, the world returned. The stationary world started to turn again. The last thing that audience saw was Crockta getting rid of the war god’s shield and pointing the greatsword towards him. Even the gods couldn’t properly recognize what had happened.
Something flashed and they were both standing separate again. There was a wound on Crockta’s face and one on the war god’s chest. Setting aside winning and losing, the fight alone made people feel awe.
Outside of the Colosseum, someone was watching the fight from beside Hoyt. It was Tashaquil who summoned the demons to massacre the expedition troops.
Hoyt nodded lightly at him, “Are you okay?”
“It has been a long time since I’ve used such magic, so I’m just tired. However…I have to acknowledge it now.”
“What?”
“That Crockta.” Tashaquil grinned. “That silly apprentice is now the strongest warrior of this era.”
Hoyt nodded. Not just them, but all the orcs and beings here felt it. Crockta was the only one capable of fighting against the war god, no one else.
“What will happen if Crockta is defeated?”
“Maybe the orcs will be trapped in an underground purgatory, under the surveillance of the gods. It will be in a place where the grey god can’t reach. The gods will resist the collapse of the world and kill us all.”
“Can he win?”
“I don’t know and the gods don’t know. Just…”
Crockta and the war god raised their weapons again. This was now a battle filled with damage, as blood and fire flashed every time there was an attack. Increasingly deadly blows were being exchanged.
Tashaquil continued speaking, “A pleasant wind is blowing.”