Chapter 40: Heroic Shield, the Wall of Despair (6)

Heroic Shield, the Wall of Despair (6)

-Kwaang!

The moment the giant sword cut through the body of the monster and cleaved into the ground, a terrible tremor ran through the earth. Everyone on the battlefield hit the ground, unable to move. No one could understand what just happened. The monster, which had been running amok, was pierced through by a huge sword that suddenly fell from the sky. What could this be, if not a divine event?

-Vwooom.

The Godslayer, having cut through the entirety of the monster with a single blow, cried out loud as if it were happy to be active after such a long time. The Heroic Shield shone with jealously in response. Kang Shin-hyuk stood up with a bitter smile, unable to enjoy the evolved characteristics of his sword.

"Yes, good job."

-Vwoom.

The sword vibrated low with joy, returning back to Shin-hyuk's grasp. Because it had exhausted his spiritual power, the sword was once again bound to the laws of the world and reduced in size.

-Vwoom.

"Uh..."

"It's dead."

"That huge monster is dead!" Only once the sword that had been supporting up the monster's body disappeared, and it fell to the ground did people realize it was dead. They had succeeded in slaying this absolute evil, which overwhelmed humanity at its strongest.

"It is God." One of the soldiers cried out, realizing the sword that had killed the beast was now in Shin-hyuk's hand.

"He is an apostle of God!"

"Oh, God!"

"We're sorry!"

"Forgive us...!"

"I will never kill again..."

Kang Shin-hyuk, who had apparently become an apostle of God, looked around in embarrassment and saw everyone looking at him. Objectively, he just appeared out of nowhere and shrunk their fortress wall. He then threw a sword and enlarged it to destroy that monster. Having deciding not to deny it, Kang Shin-hyuk chose to act as if he were an apostle of God, at least just for a moment.

-You have suppressed the ones that were harming the order of things. You have received a bonus due to your membership level! You have received 30,000 HP. AS a VIP bonus, you receive an additional amount of HP equivalent to 50% of the reward, for a total of 45,000 HP.

-The dimensional quest has been resolved perfectly. The synchronization rate has accelerated to 10.4%. The light and tile functions of My Room has been unlocked. You have received a 20,000 HP bonus for overachieving on the quest. The choice of new dimensional quests has been expanded.

The message from the administrator hit his vision. The HP he had just acquired was nothing compared to the HP he recovered before, but at least it was something he earned by himself.

"The reward is big."

-Because you did a great job. I can't say anything about your choices, but if you wanted me to share my personal impressions, you also looked great.

"Thank you..." After seeing the administrator's message, Kang Shin-hyuk was relieved. His eyes that had been shining gold had returned back to their original state now that the battle was over. The fact that he had just unlocked the lighting and tiles of the room made him think he should quickly increase the rate of synchronization. But first, he had to help the survivors of this messed-up battle.

***

It took a long time to clear out the battlefield. There had been many causalities in the original skirmish, and several had been devoured by the monster. Thanks to the Godslayer sword being dropped on it, however, some of them could be saved. Mainly, it was thanks to the abilities of the sword.

[Godslayer]

[B Rank]

[Special Abilities: Edged Predation, Regression]

[Open special ability: Flesh Control]

* Flesh Control: The sword will only cut and kill what the sword's master wants to.

'Now it's actually worthy of its name.' While the new ability wasn't focused on attack power, it was a rare and useful ability that would give him a tactical advantage going forward.

-Vwoom.

"Yes, you're a lot stronger now. It's a shame I couldn't rely on that javelin, though..."

-Vwoom!

Although the spiritual power imbued in it was temporary, it was thanks to that, that the sword was able to regain some of its lost abilities. In the process, its condition had been restored to near perfect. The empty space in the crossguard was still there, but it looked brand new. The sword was acting the part as well, and Kang Shin-hyuk let out a laugh as he sheathed it. The sword wasn't the only thing to evolve, however, as did his abilities.

[Kang Shin-hyuk: B rank] (10.4% synchronization rate)

[Characteristic]

Golden Eyed Dragon (S): Unable to deal with mana, but will master all kinds of martial arts very quickly. It can greatly amplify the effectiveness of self-learned martial arts and the performance of weapons under its influence.

[Physical ability]

Force: C- → C+

Agility: B- → B+

Health: C+ → B

[Special ability]

Spiritual power: C+ → B-

Regeneration: E- → D-

[Skill]

Dragon Fan Dance (S+): B- → B

Metallurgy: C-

All of his physical abilities had grown two stages, and his spiritual power had grown one. Regeneration, however, had grown three whole stages. Shin-hyuk could already feel his fatigue recovering, confirming it did get stronger. Even his sword dance skill evolved as well. All of it was only possible because he didn't run away from that monster. Shin-hyuk couldn't help it, but he happy he could stay true to his desires.

"Good..."

"Anvil!" As he was drunk on checking out his new status, a voice called him from behind. He looked around, quickly finding Milan. The prince did not think Shin-hyuk as an apostle of God, though his respect for him had grown.

"That was really...amazing."

"Is the clean-up done?"

"Yeah, thanks to your help. Thank you for everything." Milan was still wearing his helmet, though Shin-hyuk could tell what sort of expression he was making. He shrugged, tapping the sheath that Godslayer was in.

"It wasn't that impressive. Just like that shield had grown big, so did the sword. It was so hard I'll probably never do it again." That was partially a lie. If his spiritual power kept growing, he could probably pull it off again. But he was afraid they might start expecting more things from him, so it was best to try and deceive Milan.

"I have no doubt it took a tremendous amount of skill to pull it off, but thanks to that, many people were able to survive. Once again...thank you very much."

"Don't worry about it. It was necessary when recovering the shield. It looks like this guy suffered a lot at that damn bug's hands."

-Vwoom.

Milan couldn't say anything while he watched the Heroic Shield vibrate in response to Shin-hyuk's words.

"Then, now you have the shield back. Are you heading home?"

"Well...what should I do..."

-Since you've completed the quest early, you can still stay here until the originally scheduled deadline. That would be more convenient.

Kang Shin-hyuk nodded at the message and decided to accept it. They considered him to be an apostle, so they wouldn't have any problems with him staying here in the future. Milan, for his part, seemed delighted that he would be staying another ten days.

"Milan, the survivors of the Alliance are looking for you." Zeke came up as they were talking, delivering a brief report to the prince.

"Did you gather them all together?"

"Yes." They had all unified to fight the monster, but they had just been fighting a fierce battle against each other just before. Neither Kang Shin-hyuk nor Milan thought they would try to keep fighting, however.

"If we had a lord like you..."

"Please, give us a chance. If you lead us, we'll never betray you!"

"...We were desperate to survive. We have no excuses." The group of survivors from the Survival Alliance handed the Water Orb to Milan, declaring these things in unison. Milan accepted their offering.

"You will be my servants from now on. We will live together in this dying land, and we will surely survive and sprout new life."

"Thank you!"

"Sir!" At their core, humans were simple. They were able to reconcile after fighting together just once. In this world, that simplicity might be integral to survival. Kang Shin-hyuk took a step back with such thoughts in mind, not wanting to interfere as he was just a guest.

"Hey, Anvil."

"Yes?" It was Zeke, pointing toward the destroyed battlefield. Kang Shin-hyuk glanced over, seeing that he was pointing toward the remains of the monster.

"We've cleaned the body, so please take the remains of it. You finished it off by yourself, so it's all yours."

"Oh, I see. You did all of this?"

"It's the least we could do." He had hunted monsters before, but he hadn't thought of saving the corpse. Kang Shin-hyuk's jaw dropped as he examined the remains of the monster that had accumulated. Sharp teeth, eerie chunks of flesh, pieces of black shells, and a huge mana stone. It was the largest mana stone he had ever seen.

-It will be difficult to sell without authenticating your identity first.

"What should I do with it?"

-It would be best to use it as materials for metallurgy. Using it to make an enchantment would be best, but you probably can't handle that right now.

Kang Shin-hyuk didn't know how to use mana stones in metallurgy, just as the administrator had said. But he thought to ask Lee Manwoo about it next chance he got. At least, he could do something with the carapace and teeth in the meanwhile.

'If I go back with this, will it suddenly become huge?'

-If your metallurgy reached the extreme, it might be possible to create something like that. But now, don't worry. It won't get any smaller either.

'But how will I collect all of this?'

-Don't worry! Among the items that you can now purchase on the trading board, there is the Hero Universe service system. Among these services, there is an inventory feature! It is a sub-space like the shop inventory.

Thinking back, Shin-hyuk did remember Claire pulling things out of empty space. That must've been her personal inventory.

-That's right. With no volume limitation, you will receive an inventory that can hold up to 200 kilograms per compartment at the VIP 50% special discount of 1.5 million HP!

"..." Shin-hyuk trembled. Even with the discount, it was so expensive, which meant it was originally three million HP per slot? And two-hundred kilograms...that wouldn't be enough to store all of these materials.

'I'll buy...three spaces.'

-Please note that the purchase price becomes more expensive after five slots!

'Alright, hand them over quickly.' He could immediately tell that he had gained access to the inventory. It felt like he had access to a personal drawer that only he could tell was there.

'But I can't take everything.' He took the remains he had in hand and pushed them in his inventory, and then wrapped up the rest in a cloth to put in his backpack.

"You can have the rest."

"Well, there's not much we can do with it..."

"I see..." Kang Shin-hyuk let out a sigh.

"I will process it somehow, so leave it be then. Please move it to the barracks if you would."

Only

"Certainly, Apostle." Seeing that what he wanted was done, he gave a bloody smile. He planned to spend the remaining ten days practicing metallurgy non-stop.

Ten more days passed, Kang Shin-hyuk was steadily devoting himself to his training. He made weapons, primarily in the form of javelins, for the people who were treating him as an apostle.

-Metallurgy has grown to C rank. Strength has grown to B rank through skill growth. Your resistance to heat has increased. Working speed will increase by 30% in the future.

Through this way, he reached the skill of C rank he had been aiming for.

-As today's log in bonus, you have received a monster attraction system (C+ grade)!

The day had come for him to finally return to Earth.