Chapter 440: Unreaching Voice (3)

"You bastard..." Thor trembled in shock.

There was something severely broken about the human— no, the being wearing human skin.

"..."

Thor remained silent as he frowned aggressively. He clenched Mjolnir harder as blue lightning enveloped him.

"I am Thor." He raised Mjolnir; black clouds formed over him and a blue lightning bolt struck him. "Son of Odin, and the God of Thunder!!"

Rumble—!

Waves of power spread throughout the area as the earth shook. Kang-Woo twirled Ingrium and smiled.

"I am Oh Kang-Woo." He then raised Ingrium and continued, "Son of... wait."

'Shit, I'm an orphan.'

Bauli had revealed himself to be Kang-Woo's mother, but it was ambiguous to say that he had been born from the Demon God. Kang-Woo grimaced.

"You son of a bitch... How dare you mock me?"

"What?" Thor asked perplexedly.

"Do you have any idea about the sorrow and isolation that comes with having no parents? Huh? Do you?! And you have the gall to brag about your dad in front of me? You scumbag..."

Kang-Woo bit his lip. He felt as if an old wound that he had stuffed deep within him had resurfaced.

"Unforgivable." Kang-Woo clenched Ingrium tighter and glared at Thor.

"Crazy son of a..." Thor stared at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly with his mouth agape. He could not help but think that Kang-Woo had gone insane. "Hup!"

Thor took a deep breath and clenched Mjolnir harder. His bursting muscles swelled even more and ripped his clothes.

Rumble—!

Thor jumped into the air and pulled his arm back. He swung the hammer like a windmill and threw it at Kang-Woo.

Crackle—!

Kang-Woo deflected Mjolnir with Ingrium, his arm numb from the powerful impact.

"Slushy."

"Grrrk!"

A black lump jumped out from the Key of the Demonic Sea. Slushy jumped up and down as it opened its massive mouth with hideous teeth within it, completely unlike its cute appearance.

"Buuuuuurp!"

Hundreds of swords, spears, and axes shot out of Slushy's mouth like cannonballs and at Thor.

"It's futile!" Thor extended his arm in midair, summoning Mjolnir back to him after it was deflected by Ingrium.

Rumble—!!

He aggressively swung the hammer and deflected the weapons that Slushy shot out. The weapons fell to the ground, turned into black mucus, and oozed back into Slushy.

"It's not bad as a way to keep the opponent in check." Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction as he stared at the hundreds of weapons.

He had found it a waste to leave Slushy as simply a Divinity converter and had found an effective way to use it after many trials. He patted Slushy on the head to praise it.

"Burp! Buuuuurp!"

"But the sound effect is a bit..."

Slushy was practically burping out various weapons that had been stored within the Key of the Demonic Sea through demonic energy, so the sounds that Slushy made were very unpleasant.

"Kuh!!" Thor grimaced as hundreds of weapons continuously shot at him. He clenched his teeth and raised Mjolnir. "Thunder!"

Rumble!

A giant black cloud formed in the sky and shot down a tremendous lightning bolt. The weapons being shot at Thor were reduced to ashes in a flash. Thor did not waste the opportunity and charged at Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo smiled. "He's better than Zeus."

He had heard that Zeus and Thor were similar in power, but he had to give the edge to Thor.

"Well," Kang-Woo expressed as he ducked to dodge Mjolnir and then did a backflip to kick Thor's chin. "Not that it changes anything."

"Kurgh!"

Thor was blown back from the kick. Kang-WEoo got back on his feet and extended his left arm to the side.

"Chaos, Thread."

The Chaos energy took the form of silk threads and spread like a net. Likely due to the influence of Kang-Woo's Deific Essence of Splendor, the Chaos energy that was usually gray was shining gold. The gold threads filled the entire area like spider webs. Thor made contact with one of the gold threads as he was being blown back.

Boom—!

"Kurgh!"

The electricity protecting Thor was blown away as the part that made contact with the thread exploded. Thor quickly swung his arm to get away from the threads. Kang-Woo quickly ran up to Thor in the meantime and swung down Ingrium in a reverse grip.

Stab!

"Urghhh!" Thor grunted as Ingrium pierced his shoulder.

He bit his lip and swung Mjolnir upward.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" Thor screamed with his arms spread widely.

Crackle—!!

A blinding lightning storm thrashed about. Thor's eyes shone blue as the mountain began to be destroyed as lightning poured out of him like a tsunami.

"Whoa." Kang-Woo's eyes shone as he stared at the mass destruction.

Unlike his battle against Zeus, which had been nothing but a friendly duel, Kang-Woo could feel a sense of danger now that Thor had unleashed his full power to kill Kang-Woo.

'Yeah.' Kang-Woo smiled and licked his lips. 'This is more like it.'

His heart beat rapidly as hunger and thirst took control of him. He bared his teeth ferociously as he glared at Thor like a starved beast.

"Thor, God of Thunder, commands you!"

Thor stomped his foot aggressively and raised Mjolnir high. Black clouds covered the entirety of Seoul— no, possibly Korea itself. The blue lightning storm enveloped Thor.

"Storm Bringer!"

A lightning bolt struck down from the black cloud and a sound so thunderous rang out as if the sky was falling.

"Heh," Kang-Woo chuckled as he stared into the sky and opened his mouth.

The lightning bolt struck him.

Crackle—!!!

The destruction was on par with a natural disaster. Kang-Woo felt immense pain as the lightning burned through Kang-Woo's Deific Essence protection.

'More.'

This was nowhere near enough; his thirst scratched at his throat and his hunger strangled his stomach. He recalled his battle against Tai Wuji.

'More, more, more.'

Kang-Woo wanted to experience that feeling again. He stared at Thor ecstatically and with hope. Thor was beginning to pant heavily as he was summoning the lightning.

'Keep going just a little longer.'

Kang-Woo stared at Thor in desperation. He felt like he would be able to experience the feeling from back then again with just a little more.

Spark—!!

Thousands of lightning bolts struck Kang-Woo one after another. His Deific Essence protection fell apart. He created a shield using the Authority of Invulnerability, but the lightning pierced straight through the golden shield. His skin was burnt black, white smoke rising from the burnt areas. He could barely see because his eyes had burned as well.

"Huff, huff, huff!" Thor panted heavily.

He had squeezed out all the Divinity he possessed with that last attack. His vision blurred and he swayed from loss of strength in his legs as he stared at the God of Splendor, who had become nothing but a pile of ash.

'Damn it.'

Thor bit his lip regretfully. "... I guess talking is out of the question now."

He had killed Gaia's retainer. Since Gaia treasured her retainers as much as her children, Asgard would not be able to avoid a frontal battle against Olympus. Ragnarok, the war of gods, was near.

"Haaa," Thor sighed deeply.

He turned around and shook his head, thinking about why things had escalated to this extent.

"Where are... you going?"

Just then, he heard a voice that he should not be hearing.

"... What?" Thor turned around in shock.

He saw the God of Splendor's ashen corpse— no, he had only thought that it was a corpse.

"You were... so... close." Kang-Woo sighed in disappointment. "You won't... do."

Crack, crack.

The God of Splendor slowly moved around.

"I wonder... how Odin will... be? Hm? I can look... forward to it... right?"

Kang-Woo smiled crazily in anticipation like a predator with defenseless prey right in front of him.

"...!"

A chill ran down Thor's back. He was left immobile from fear.

"You..." Thor slurred with his eyes widened.

He could instinctively tell that the being in front of him was not the God of Splendor.

"Who... are you?" Thor asked.

"What's wrong?" Kang-Woo opened his mouth to bare his teeth and stuck his tongue out. "You shouldn't doubt the light."

Fwoosh.

Gold and black flames enveloped Kang-Woo's burnt body.

***

An old man was sitting on the throne of a giant palace with its walls covered in murals. The old man had a bushy beard, white hair, and was wearing a black eyepatch over one eye. He stared with his one remaining eye at the woman kneeling and bowing in front of him.

"Has there still been no contact from Thor?" Odin asked.

"N-not yet, Lord Odin."

Odin was a Top-rank god who led Asgard, a faction as powerful as Olympus. An intense aura was pouring out from the old god who had once battled the Demon God by himself. The kneeling and bowing woman subtly trembled.

Boom!

Just then, the palace door swung open, and entered a man with a pale expression.

Odin slowly looked up and asked, "What is it Heimdall?"

"L-Lord Odin..."

The man referred to as Heimdall walked up to Odin as he trembled. He closed his eyes and handed Odin a box.

"... What is this?" Odin asked.

"Lord Thor... Lord Thor has..." Heimdall lowered his head without being able to finish his sentence.

Odin's eyebrows rose. He felt a chill run down his back. He took the box that Heimdall handed him and opened it with trembling hands.

"A-Aaaahh." Odin's eyes widened as he groaned. "Thor... Thor..."

Thor's severed head was inside the square box. From the way that his eyes were still open, it seemed like he had died in terror.

"My son..."

A message was written on Thor's forehead.

- I see that you tried to mess with my child.

- Hear me, Odin.

- Only death awaits those who disobey me, Gaia.

Slam!!

Odin clenched his fist and swung it down on the ground.

Rumble.

The entire palace shook.

"Gaia..." Odin muttered resentfully. Flames of animosity filled his one remaining eye. "Gaiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Odin's rageful screams echoed throughout the palace.