Chapter 231
Once Lee Shin realized that this woman standing in front of him was the God of Blessings, Lee Shin locked on to this target and summoned a thunderbolt from the sky.
The next moment, hundreds of branches of lightning cascaded down like a net. The power in each individual lightning bolt paled in comparison to the True Thunderbolt, but these were enough to restrain the movements of his opponent.
However, the God of Blessings was not one to passively accept her fate. Bathed in her golden divine power, she leaped, forcefully grasping the lightning bolts to break free from the encircling trap. Her tough and relentless movements in the battle contrasted greatly from her outward appearance.
The net of lightning bolts continued to entangle Lee Shin’s opponent, Bamak, preventing his attempts at recovery. Bamak screamed and writhed on the ground due to the excruciating pain; however, neither of the two combatants, Lee Shin and the God of Blessings, paid any attention to his cries.
Her relentless onslaught descended upon Lee Shin, giving him no respite. Since she preferred close combat and had attempted to close the distance between them, she could not pierce through the shield that unfolded right in front of her.
Babababam—!
Shockwaves radiated with each punch against the shield. Unlike the intense heat and passion emanating from between the two combatants, the corpses laid on the battlefield were rapidly growing cold. Lee Shin and the God of Blessings clashed even harder, as if trying to bring up the temperature.
The Corps of Immortality did their best to make as much headway as they could in their offense to minimize casualties. However, it was still not enough to stop the Apostles now that the gods had descended into them.
Lee Shin had grown significantly compared to his old days when he had struggled so much to confront the gods, but even so, he could not protect everyone on the battlefield.
"Hmm, you must be feeling nervous, aren’t you?” the God of Blessings asked Lee Shin.
A smirk appeared on her face. She still could not break through Lee Shin’s defense, but she knew that Lee Shin had others whom he had to protect. The next moment, the God of Blessings extended her golden divine power in all directions, bestowing blessings upon the Apostles.
"Your comrades will soon all die," said the God of Blessings in a mocking tone.
"Ha! Will they?" Lee Shin replied as if he was not bothered by what she had just said.
Bang—!
Amidst the chaos, there was a sound of a gunshot. At the same time, Lee Shin compressed the mana in their space to its densest, momentarily suppressing the movements of the God of Blessings.
Crack—!
Baaaam—!
With the sound of an explosion, the God of Blessings was sent flying into the bamboo forest as Lee Shin glared at her. Blood dripped onto the ground. It was a brief but powerful strike. Perhaps even the God of Blessings had never experienced such a bullet before.
‘I had a hunch, but I can’t believe he actually pulled it off.’
Lee Shin looked in amazement at Laurent, who was hiding in the distance with a rifle sticking out of the tall grass. A quivering wisp of smoke rose, and his thumb peeked out from the grass.
"You madman," Lee Shin muttered, looking at Laurent.
- Wow, to land a critical hit on the God of Blessings, what kind of ability is that?
"He is skilled in attribute transformation," Lee Shin replied to Gene Ebrium.
When Laurent had fired the Demonbreaker bullet at Lee Shin, that was when he started thinking that it might be possible for him to break through divine power. And he turned out to be exactly right.
The bewildered God of Blessings trembled, unable to quickly restore her health.
- With such a frail body, it must be difficult for her to withstand such damage.
"Yes, that’s right," Lee Shin replied.
The physical body of the Apostles were not particularly impressive. It was the divine power they possessed and other unique qualities that made them exceptional.
- But we are different.
“Yes, that’s right,” Lee Shin replied.
Recently, Lee Shin had completely unlocked the seal on his body and acquired the [360 Mana Vessel Manifestation] with the help of Gene Ebrium. Thanks to this, Lee Shin had experienced a rapid improvement in his abilities. Instead of selectively opening the three hundred and sixty mana vessels within his body, he could now open them all at once and create connections among them.
It was a technique at its peak of perfection, developed through Gene Ebrium’s relentless research. One could not attempt to use this skill without exceptional mental strength and control to forcibly pierce and connect all the mana vessels at once.
Moreover, this skill also demanded a deep and fundamental understanding of one’s own body to know where each mana vessel was. Lee Shin recalled the abilities of the [360 Mana Vessel Manifestation].
[360 Mana Vessel Manifestation]This is a miraculous blood mana technique discovered by a highly skilled necromancer after extensive and lengthy research on the human body.
# Mana Sensitivity +100%
# Mana Absorption +100%
# All Stats +100% (excluding special stats)
# Once opened, it remains in effect permanently.
Lee Shin need not exert any effort to open all of the three hundred and sixty mana vessels. To Lee Shin, who had already pushed his stats to the limit by clearing the Tower through his incredible achievements, this ability was an invaluable asset. Now, the Apostles, who had simply relied on their innate abilities and divine power to become stronger, just could not compare to Lee Shin’s physicality anymore.
The God of Blessings got up and stared at Lee Shin. Her simmering rage was palpable. Meeting her hostile gaze, Lee Shin immediately activated his mana. A long spear of lightning formed on his palm. He then pulled his arm back and hurled it toward his target.
Woong— Pizz!
The spear of lighting, which surged through the air like a missile, was caught by the God of Blessings. Her hand trembled slightly, likely because she had not fully recovered from Laurent's bullet that had shattered some of her divine power.
As he released the spear, Lee Shin took another step forward and yet another spear of lighting was formed in front of him. This time, he did not even have to do the throwing motion. A mere flick of his index finger was enough to send the spear of lighting shooting like a missile.
"Keugh…!" A faint groan escaped from her mouth.
This showed that she was not in a good condition. However, the battle was not over yet.
Pizz— Pizz— Pizz—!
In rapid succession, dozens of spears filled her field of vision, rotating in a circular formation, then shot out like a machine gun.
"Kahak! Kaaak!!" The God of Blessings shouted in panic.
Desperately, she tried to gather her divine power to defend against the spears of lightning, but it was in vain. Eventually, after getting shot by multiple spears into her body, she shook uncontrollably.
Her current appearance was far from the confidence she initially displayed. Just a few years ago, she could have easily torn Lee Shin, who had destroyed her altar on the fourth floor, apart with a flick of her finger. However, in this short amount of time, Lee Shin had caught up to her. Reflecting on this, Lee Shin gulped.
- It seems like she's finished.
"But the Corps of Immortality has also suffered considerable losses. Dealing with the gods' arrival, even though they're not in their true forms, is still challenging," Lee Shin said to Gene Ebrium.
- The Gate is slowly opening up, so hurry up.
As Gene Ebrium had said, the seven gods who had incarnated into the bodies of Apostles were pretending to focus on the battle but were simultaneously trying to open the Gate to another dimension. The reason why they could not easily open the Gate was because of Metatron, who was interfering with the dimensional energy of Earth from the Heavenly Room.
However, Metatron could not hinder the creation of the Gate endlessly. Therefore, Lee Shin needed to deal with them before anything bad happened.
Rumble— Rumble—
Once again, Lee Shin gathered the lightning energy in the sky and used his psychokinesis to pull Baek Hyun away from a blinding flash that came from his opponent and was about to engulf him.
Baek Hyun, still out of breath, sighed in relief, but it was too early for that. From next to him, a punch was breaking through the heated air and coming headlong.
"Tsk." Lee Shin clicked his tongue, looking at the situation.
The original Baek Hyun would have sensed it and reacted, but his current physical condition was in complete disarray. As he looked at Baek Hyun, Lee Shin thought that if he was tired, he should know when to retreat.
Lee Shin clicked his tongue and activated his psychokinesis to the maximum and tore the air apart.
Woosh!
Lee Shin twisted the thick wrist of the Apostle and changed the trajectory of the punch. However, due to the shockwave, Baek Hyun was sent flying and rolled on the ground.
Then, Lee Shin dropped the thunderbolts that he had prepared onto the Apostle, who was frustrated by the unexpected interference.
Baaaaam—!
This was the fourth one. After Lee Shin confirmed that the giant Apostle, who had been scorched, was writhing on the ground, he immediately extended his shadow under it.
Swoosh—!
An Undead emerged from the shadow, slit the Apostle’s throat, and disappeared into the shadow again.The subsequent battles were no different. The Corps of Immortality, who had battled the gods incarnated into the bodies of the Apostles, set the stage for Lee Shin to finish them off one by one. There were many casualties, but in reality, these tasks were not particularly difficult for Lee Shin.
- It seems like they are all just the Apostles of mid-ranking gods. If there had been at least one Apostle of a high-ranking god, it would not have been this easy.
"I agree with you," Lee Shin replied.
Even the Apostle of the God of Destruction was a challenge that Lee Shin did not believe he could defeat before he had cleared the ninetieth floor.
‘Although it would be different now.’
After dealing with all the Apostles, Lee Shin could feel the deep anger of the gods in their final moments. It was obvious in the eyes of the Apostle lying beneath his feet.
"You seem rather taken aback," Lee Shin said, looking at the Apostle.
“Do you really think that there was no one like you in the past?” the Apostle replied.
“Making such a taunt in your current state is not very convincing you know?” Lee Shin said.
In response to Lee Shin's provocation, a golden glint flickered in her eyes as she narrowed her eyes.
"You will cry out in desperation..." Lee Shin muttered, looking at her.
Lee Shin, who had been monitoring her condition using his mana detection, stiffened his face and drew all the mana and engulfed her. While engaged in battle, Lee Shin had been analyzing the structure and behavior of her divine powers and realized that they were quite similar to mana in many respects.
The crucial difference was the source of the divine power. Although he could not use it, he could adapt to counter it to some extent. Lee Shin’s vague understanding of divine power was now becoming somewhat clear.
The Apostle’s divine power intertwined with itself in a grotesque manner, colliding and creating counterforces. The flow within her body was implosive.
Using his tightly woven mana, Lee Shin eliminated any wasteful leakage and concentrated his mana to control the flow. He pushed the divine power that was spreading uncontrollably into a single spot and reduced the counter forces.
Baaam—! Pizz—!
As the Apostle’s eyes shone brighter and brighter, reaching its peak, the golden divine power flashed throughout her body. Then, the Apostle’s body imploded into a cloud of dust and vanished in an instant. A slight shockwave radiated outward, but the damage was minimal.
[You have defeated an opponent with a divinity class of 10 or higher.]
[You have partially fulfilled the conditions of The Path to Become an Adversary.]
Lee Shin watched the disappearing figure of the Apostle and then turned around to look at his comrades. Most of them were still unable to release the tension in their bodies and stood stiff as a board. Among them, Para McMatain, Laurent, Yu Jia, as well as Cha Yu-Min who had arrived late, had finally finished assessing the situation and were catching their breath.
"Are you alright?" Cha Yu-Min, who approached Lee Shin, asked.
His face clearly displayed his sincere apology for being late. In fact, Cha Yu-Min had been busy dealing with the Gate that appeared in Japan.
"Yes, I'm fine," Lee Shin replied.
After saying that, Lee Shin gazed into the distance at the approaching helicopter. Most likely, the recent battle was being broadcasted worldwide. Lee Shin thought that the WCA would need to quickly treat the casualties and stabilize the situation here.
- It's a bit unfortunate that you could not increase the number of your subordinates through this battle. But at least you’ve partially met the conditions to become the Adversary, so that’s good.
"Yes, I’m almost getting there," Lee Shin replied.
Lee Shin felt a slight headache from the never-ending series of battles. He had felt fatigue before, but this battle seemed to have compounded his exhaustion for some reason.
- You don't seem to be in a good condition. What's wrong?
"I think I’m a bit tired," Lee Shin replied.
- Well yeah, that's understandable. But you know, people like you and me can’t get rid of this fatigue just by resting.
Gene Ebrium smiled faintly as he looked at Lee Shin, as if he too had experienced such fatigue. Lee Shin, in agreement with Gene Ebrium’s words, nodded slowly and then looked at Samuel, who was approaching them.
"I could not see it in person, but I did not miss a single moment," Samuel said, looking at Lee Shin.
Samuel extended his hand with an impressed look on his face and Lee Shin shook his hand.
"Thank you so much. You did really well. And I'm sorry for burdening you so much. It must have been tiresome," Samuel said to Lee Shin.
"No, not at all," Lee Shin replied.
Soon, another figure approached Lee Shin from behind. It was Sikael, who was severely injured and could not move his right arm. He gripped his spear with his left hand and slashed through the air.
"Metatron wishes to meet you," Sikael said, looking at Lee Shin.
Lee Shin wondered what Metatron, who had been observing this situation, was thinking. He was curious and felt fortunate that Metatron wanted to see him. With that in mind, Lee Shin entered the Heavenly Room.