The two swords collided, and an explosive crack reverberated through the air amid a spray of sparks.

Crack… Kwachak!

Helkin’s sword broke, scattering fragments all over the area. However, Helkin showed no hesitation as he changed the trajectory of his sword and swung it in a diagonal sweep. The old knight’s sword was as sharp as it had previously been, even though it was broken in half.

Right as the jagged edge of the broken sword was about to strike Kang Yoon-Soo’s neck…

Clang!

Pieces of metal scattered across the air like snow.

Helkin kicked up the metal fragments on the ground, but Kang Yoon-Soo instantly blocked them with his sword. While Kang Yoon-Soo was blocking the fragments, Helkin readied his half-broken sword once again and rushed in through the opening that presented itself.

Although the old knight’s sword had been ruined, it was still a deadly weapon that could at least crush someone’s shoulder in Helkin’s hands. However, Kang Yoon-Soo stepped back and caused Helkin’s attack to barely miss. Subsequently, Helkin threw the half-broken sword away.

“What an excellent sword you have there,” Helkin said as he unsheathed another sword. He added, “I also have a sword as good as yours.”

It was a sword with edges that exuded a dazzling shine. Helkin grimaced while grabbing the sword’s hilt, saying, “This sword is screaming so loudly right now. It seems that it really wants to cut you down. Are you a god or something? Well, I suppose I will get to know once I cut you down.”

The God Breaker was a special weapon that could only cut a god.

Kang Yoon-Soo had felt his strength being sucked away the moment the edges of the old knight’s sword started to shine, and it was not just his imagination.

[You have met the natural enemy of a god, the God Breaker.]

[The God Breaker is a weapon created to kill a god.]

[The God Breaker has unleashed its true abilities.]

[All of your Authorities have been sealed!]

[You will have to destroy or seize God Breaker from its wieder.]

‘The natural enemy of a god?’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. All of his Authorities had been sealed! That cut him off from his main abilities as a god.

Helkin did not give Kang Yoon-Soo time to think of a strategy and immediately attacked. The old knight moved much more quickly than he previously had. Kang Yoon-Soo readied his Immortal Sword to defend against the attack.

Just as their swords were about to collide, however, Helkin’s sword passed directly through Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword.

Sukeok!

Kang Yoon-Soo bit his lips. He tried to evade the old knight’s sword, but it was impossible to perfectly avoid it without getting cut. The God Breaker left a deep wound on his abdomen. He felt excruciating pain that made his vision blur for a second, which should not have been possible for such a wound to cause regardless of how deep it was.

[You have been cut by the God Breaker!]

[You cannot heal injuries caused by your natural enemy.]

[A deep wound caused by the God Breaker will make you lose Divine Power.]

[You will continue to lose Divine Power unless you quickly stop the bleeding.]

‘Damn it…’ Kang Yoon-Soo cursed inwardly as he staggered backward. However, Helkin did not give him any room to breathe.

Right as Helkin was about to unleash a barrage of attacks at Kang Yoon-Soo, a sickle connected to a chain flew toward the old knight—it was Shaneth’s new weapon. Helkin tried to swat the chain and sickle away, but it passed through his sword instead.

Kang Yoon-Soo clearly saw what was happening. The old knight immediately twisted his body to avoid the sickle, but while Helkin was distracted by Shaneth’s attack, Kang Yoon-Soo quickly retreated.

The other Imperial Knights launched a joint attack at Kang Yoon-Soo the moment he widened the distance between himself and Helkin.

As the knights were about to simultaneously swing their swords, however, Shaneth suddenly shouted, “Inextinguishable Flames!”

It was the Red Tyrant’s unique skill!

A vicious pillar of flame shot up from the ground the moment Shaneth used her skill. The knights hurriedly retreated from the flames, which were not diminished even in the humid fog. In fact, the flame pillar actually devoured the dried leaves on the ground and burned even more powerfully.

Shaneth urgently whispered, “The flames will die out the moment I run out of mana. You have to hurry!”

“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea for us to retreat for now,” Henrick said as he tried to carry Kang Yoon-Soo on his back.

However, Iris carefully pulled Kang Yoon-Soo toward her and said, “I will carry him, since I am stronger.”

“It’s nice to see you take the initiative for a change,” Henrick said before stealing a glance at Helkin. Shaneth’s flame pillar separated him from the party.

Helkin shouted, “Henrick, this is a royal command from her majesty! I will spare you as long as you pass that doppelganger to us!”

Henrick replied with the utmost respect in his tone, “I apologize, sir, but may you please shut up?”

“You have changed. You were never someone who would sacrifice himself for others,” Helkin said.

“You’re not nice enough that you would spare me just because you said you would, right, old man?” Henrick retorted.

Helkin’s expression suddenly turned cold as he said threateningly, “You will end up dying.”

Henrick pointed at his companions with his chin and said, “That’s better than these guys dying.”

As the two men stared each other down, a large, burning tree fell between them and blocked their view.

The party supported Kang Yoon-Soo, who was bleeding heavily from his abdomen, and escaped from the area.

“Kang Yoon-Soo is bleeding too much!” Shaneth exclaimed urgently.

However, they could not stop and set him down due to the flames and smoke filling the area.

“Let’s find somewhere to take refuge for a while. The fire has spread all over the mountain!” Henrick called out.

“The things that have caught fire won’t be extinguished even after I use up all my mana!” Shaneth responded.

The knights would rush over to their location upon seeing the thick smoke rising from where they were, and there was no way that the blistering heat would do anything good for an injured person.

Kwachiiik!

Another burning tree fell and blocked their path, but Shaneth, who was immune to fire, destroyed the tree and led the party onward. She called out, “Hurry up!”

As the flames spread further, the smoke mixed with the mountain fog, making it impossible to see what was up ahead. On top of that, several burning trees kept falling and blocking their path.

Iris felt her back becoming drenched in Kang Yoon-Soo’s blood, as the bleeding showed no signs of abating. Soon, he would end up in critical condition.

“Kang Yoon-Soo is bleeding too much! Should I fly up and escape with him first?” Iris asked.

The fact that Kang Yoon-Soo was about to die was a bigger problem than the fire surrounding them. Shaneth was immune to fire, while Iris had her dragon scales. Henrick was the only one at risk of burning to death, but he did not hesitate and immediately replied, “Alright! Let’s get that guy out of here first!”

Iris spread her wings and flew upward while hugging Kang Yoon-Soo. However, as she was about to reach the open air, she found that an invisible barrier prevented her from traveling any further

[A barrier created by top-tier alchemy has been placed.]

[Nobody will be able to leave this place for 72 hours.]

A top-tier barrier had been cast over the entire mountain, and that meant it would be impossible for them to evade pursuit for four whole days. Iris mustered all her strength and smashed the barrier with her fist, but it did not budge at all.

Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo’s complexion was starting to become ghastly pale from blood loss. Iris started to burst into tears, at a loss for what to do. At this rate, Kang Yoon-Soo would just end up dying.

In the end, she only had one hope remaining. Iris desperately pleaded, ‘White Shadow! Please! Please…!’

She begged the existence within her to save Kang Yoon-Soo, but the White Shadow did not respond to her at all. The thick cloud of smoke rising up from the mountain had begun to burn her lungs, and she could sense that Kang Yoon-Soo’s breath was growing weaker and weaker by the second.

At the moment when the situation seemed to be at its worst, the White Shadow suddenly conveyed something to Iris. It said, ‘Right road. Left from the blue rock. Tunnel at the foot of the cliff.’

Iris quickly descended.

Henrick asked while coughing and wheezing, “Why did you come back?”

“I could not escape because there was a barrier, but I found somewhere we can take shelter in!” Iris exclaimed before starting to run while carrying Kang Yoon-Soo.

Shaneth cleared away any burning trees that blocked their path, and they soon reached the foot of a cliff. She exclaimed, “This is a dead end!”

Iris examined the cliff walls, and she noticed a bush resting near the leftmost part of the cliff face. She went over to it, and felt a breeze coming from behind it. She cleared the bush away and found a hidden entrance to a cave leading inside the cliff. She called out, “Over here!”

The party members rushed over and hurriedly crawled into the hole. The entrance was very narrow and small, but the interior of the cave was quite spacious. Additionally, the flames and smoke did not seem to reach the interior.

“Potions! Take out everything you have!” Henrick yelled urgently while setting Kang Yoon-Soo down on the ground.

Iris took out all of the healing potions they had. Meanwhile, Henrick took off Kang Yoon-Soo’s shirt, and found that the gruesome wound on his abdomen looked more severe than they had expected it to be. Shaneth applied the most expensive healing potions they had in their possession to Kang Yoon-Soo’s wound, but it did not show any signs of recovering at all.

“Damn it! Why won’t it heal?!” Henrick cursed.

“How would I know?! Be quiet! You’re distracting me!” Shaneth snapped back.

“Both of you calm down!” Iris shouted angrily.

The entire party was on edge. However, even though the healing potions had failed to heal the wound on Kang Yoon-Soo’s abdomen, they managed to somehow return him to consciousness.

“Kang Yoon-Soo?” Shaneth called out urgently.

Kang Yoon-Soo slowly turned his gaze toward the wound on his abdomen that even healing potions could not close. He murmured laboriously, “Shaneth…”

“Yes, I’m here,” Shaneth replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo gasped for breath before saying, “Cauterize my wound.”

“Huh?” Shaneth muttered in disbelief, doubting her ears.

“You have to stop the bleeding,” Kang Yoon-Soo continued. Shaneth bit her lips hesitantly, but Kang Yoon-Soo’s voice cracked as he urged her, “Hurry.”

“It’s going to be painful… I’m sorry…” Shaneth said before moving a hand enveloped in her flames,toward Kang Yoon-Soo’s wound.

Kang Yoon-Soo let out a cry that revealed the excruciating agony he was going through, writhing in pain as his wound was closed up with fire. It was a degree of pain that made him feel as if he were in hell.

The bleeding stopped by the time Shaneth removed her hand, leaving a huge burn mark in its place.

Kang Yoon-Soo sat up and said through a ghastly pale face and lips, “Thank you.”

“Really, you…!” Shaneth exclaimed before hugging him.

Henrick and Iris let out a sigh of relief when they saw that Kang Yoon-Soo had escaped from the grasp of death.

“Can you stop worrying us?” Henrick grumbled.

“It is a huge relief that you did not die!” Iris cried out.

The bleeding had stopped, but Kang Yoon-Soo still needed to rest, as he had lost a huge amount of blood. He moved his frail, weak hands toward Shaneth’s shoulder and called out, “Shaneth…”

“What is it?” Shaneth asked in response.

“Give me blood,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Shaneth was taken aback by his request, but she closed her eyes and nodded. Kang Yoon-Soo wrapped his arms around her and bit her smooth, white neck, sucking some of her blood to replenish the blood he had lost.

‘Now I feel much better,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He could once again think clearly after sucking Shaneth’s blood, and he began pondering the situation. ‘God Breaker…’

It was the natural enemy of a god!

He could not recall ever having seen or heard about such a sword even in his previous lives, so how had Helkin managed to get his hands on such a sword?

That was not the only thing that was strange. Iris had mentioned that a top-tier barrier had been cast over the entire mountain.

“We will not be able to leave this place for at least four days,” Iris said.

“Then I guess we can’t flee from the mountain until then,” Henrick grumbled.

The Imperial Knights would not be able to find the cave so quickly, but they would certainly begin narrowing the perimeter until they reached it. The knights’ goal for the expedition was to arrest Iris and kill the rest, based on what Helkin had said.

It was only a matter of time before the Imperial Knights found them. Therefore, they had to kill the demon that appeared on the mountain and escape to the Colossi’s Magic Tower.

‘Things have gotten difficult again,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

Another variable had appeared in his final life that drove them into a corner and nullified his godly powers. It was not as if they had no chance of winning against the Imperial Knights, as Kang Yoon-Soo could summon the Deathless Dragon by using the Immortal’s Sword ability, but he absolutely had to save that ability for the Colossi’s Magic Tower.

Kang Yoon-Soo could sense that the suspicion he had felt at the royal palace had turned out to be correct. He thought, ‘There’s something going on at the palace that I’m not aware of.’

He had fought against Helkin at the royal palace when he should not have had to, and now, it turned out that their encounter had not been a mere coincidence after all. He was now certain that whatever was driving him into a corner was hiding among the ranks of the Imperial Knights.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo was not scared at all. In fact, he welcomed the change, thinking, ‘I can finally face it.’

He was certain that the variables that had appeared in his final life and the numerous secrets he seemed to be unaware of were all somehow related.

‘So, I should take care of my natural enemy first,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

God Breaker! He had to take care of that sword first if he wanted to retrieve his sealed godly abilities.

Kang Yoon-Soo extended his right hand and muttered, “Summon Sharp.”

A brightly smiling Light appeared, holding Sharp’s hand tightly. She exclaimed, “Wow! I was dragged along by Sharp today! Congratulations, Sharp!”

“T-To think that you would summon a useless spirit like me… Thank you very much…!” Sharp exclaimed, seemingly moved.

Kang Yoon-Soo took out the Sword of Hemoptysis from his backpack. It was the sword he had obtained as one of the rewards after killing the Dragon of Destruction. He called out with the red sword in hand, “Sharp.”

“W-What is it…?” Sharp replied nervously.

“Prepare to fight,” Kang Yoon-Soo said before slamming the Sword of Hemoptysis into the top of Sharp’s head.

Kwachik!