The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 159

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

A Mad Swordsman Returns – Chapter 159

[Heart of a Lord (Mythic)]
· The heart of a Lord who fell in defeat at the end of war. It contains immense power and still beats fiercely as if alive.
· Upon use, upgrades a desired skill to SS-rank. Additionally, the Lord contracted with the user absorbs the power contained in the heart, and gains the ‘special blessing’ that the heart’s former owner possessed.

Han Yu-sung gazed at the heart and fell into brief contemplation.
Which skill should I upgrade? Among my S-rank skills, which one do I use frequently and would benefit most from an upgrade?
The answer came quickly.

[Using Heart of a Lord.]
[Blood Sea Inferno Surge (S) has risen one rank!]
[You have acquired the special blessing, Pathfinder!]

The Heart of a Lord scattered into light.
Part of that radiance settled upon Han Yu-sung, and part upon Kakasha.
Han Yu-sung exhaled as he felt the surging power coursing through him.

[Blood Sea Inferno Surge (SS)]
· Classification: Active.
· Releases vital energy to fire a shockwave composed of blood and raging flames.
· Upon direct impact with an enemy, violently shakes their body.
· Can absorb blood from the surrounding area to strengthen the skill.

[Pathfinder]
· A blessing possessed by the Lord of War.
· Increases ‘experience gain’ of oath-sworn followers below the Apostle’s level by up to 20%. The greater the level difference, the stronger the effect.
· The more oath-sworn followers affected by Pathfinder, the more the Apostle’s ‘experience gain’ increases by up to 10%.
· As experience accumulated by oath-sworn followers affected by Pathfinder grows, the blessing develops and various effects strengthen.

Han Yu-sung smiled with satisfaction upon confirming the strengthened Blood Sea Inferno Surge, but his eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw the blessing called Pathfinder.
Kakasha felt the same way.

[You, you obtained this heart from…?]
“Yes, the Sunken Treasure Vault.”
[You mean you simply kept something like this stored away without using it…?]

To think they stored a heart brimming with such grace in a vault.
Did that mean the Lord who possessed it was that formidable?

[This is a grace even named Lords would covet. I suspect there’s something we don’t know about this situation….]
“The problem is, we have no way of learning what that situation might be.”
[Ugh, how curious. So very curious!]

Kakasha fidgeted restlessly, his feet tapping against the ground.
Perhaps this heart was something of great importance to the vault’s owner. It could have been the heart of a Lord with whom they were acquainted.
Perhaps that’s why they kept it stored in the vault like this.
Or perhaps.

‘It could be the vault owner’s own heart.’

Just as Kakasha had hidden within a sacred relic to await an opportunity for resurrection, the vault’s owner might have done the same.
Either way, it’s something we cannot know now.

“Regardless, we’ve obtained a wonderful grace thanks to this.”
[I’m dying of curiosity, but I suppose this is the only way to settle it.]

Further deliberation would be meaningless.
What’s certain is that this grace will prove extraordinarily useful.

‘The experience gain isn’t that substantial yet. But….’

This grace is growth-type.
The experience gain will increase as time passes.
It will aid my Sworn in their growth, and it will be invaluable when recruiting those eager to advance rapidly into my service.
And.

[I’ve found another reason to expand my Sworn. Shouldn’t I accelerate this grace’s growth?]
“No. Have you already forgotten?”

Growing this grace might be easier than I initially thought.
Kakasha tilted his head curiously, gazing at Han Yu-sung.

“I already possess an enormous number of Sworn.”
[Ah! The Draken Tribe! How could I forget they exist!]

What had been my greatest gain from the Hero’s War?
Forging contracts with every member of the Draken Tribe as a Covenant Bearer.
Their numbers alone reached roughly ten thousand. With the ‘Pioneer’ effect applied to all of them, the rate at which experience accumulated would be absolutely staggering.

[Kufufu, that war never gets old no matter how many times I recall it!]

The sentiment rang true.
Han Yu-sung didn’t stop there and activated another item.
【Shattered Sacred Relic】.
An item used for crafting or enhancing sacred relics.

[【Shattered Sacred Relic】 enhances the ‘War Banner’.]
[The rank of ‘War Banner’ rises by one tier!]

The maximum rank that could be enhanced with Shattered Sacred Relics was A-grade.
Since it couldn’t be used on the Flames of War or the Thunder God’s Spear, I decided to enhance the War Banner—the most useful sacred relic among those remaining.

‘No new effects were added.’

Instead, the existing effects grew considerably more potent.
The banner would grant far stronger buffs when activated.
And there were two more items obtained from the vault.

[What will you do with these?]
“Sell them. I’ll need funds for various expenses moving forward.”

One was a sword, the other armor.
Legendary-grade items. Among them, S-grade items whose performance could justifiably be called top-tier.
But they were unnecessary to me, who possessed even better equipment.

“I should rest for a while and dispose of these items. Maybe purchase a building too.”
[That’s quite a lot of activity for someone claiming to rest.]

Han Yu-sung rose from his seat.
It wasn’t that demanding. Once I listed the items on the Dimensional Trading Post, people would naturally compete and drive the prices up themselves.
What truly weighed on my mind was something else entirely.

“It’s time it came to light.”

It was news from Japan’s side.
A week had passed since the Sunken Treasure Vault was conquered.
Until now, there had been no word. Linjo’s associates were doing their best to conceal news of his disappearance while searching for his whereabouts.
Now it was time for the truth to slowly come to light.
The truth that Maezato Rinzo was dead.

“Achiros, I’m curious to see how that bastard reacts.”

Han Yu-sung smiled as he walked forward.

* * *

Maezato Rinzo had gone missing.
The Zanwol Guild was the first to grasp this fact.

“How long has the chairman been gone?”
“It’s been a week today. But there’s been no word at all….”
“What about the guild members who went with him? Didn’t he take only his most elite?”
“There’s no word from them either.”

Linjo had set out to sea with only his most trusted elite.
He moved in absolute secrecy without revealing his destination.
That was the problem.

“We need to find out where the chairman went! Hurry!”
“I’ll try to contact the Lords! If we inquire with the Lords of the chairman or the members who went with him, we’ll get some information…!”
“Hurry! We don’t have time!”

Before leaving, Linjo had said he would return within three days at most.
But not only had three days passed—it was now the seventh day with no word whatsoever.
The Zanwol Guild began frantically searching for Linjo’s whereabouts, and the Maezato Group, who learned of the situation belatedly from them, joined in the search.

[Maezato Rinzo’s whereabouts must be found.]

Before this situation spread to the outside.
Before it shook all of Japan, he had to be found.
It was around that time when news of the disappearance reached the Lords.

“My Lord. Maezato Rinzo has gone missing. He led hundreds of players and moved in secret, but he’s simply vanished.”
“The Apostles from Japan’s side are asking if you know anything.”

The news reached Achiros as well, who was recovering his lost coins.
Had it been an ordinary Apostle, he would have dismissed it.
What happened to a mere Apostle was far too trivial for the Star Lord to concern himself with.
But Maezato Rinzo was different.
He wielded considerable influence in Japan and was an Apostle who devoted much to Achiros.
That’s precisely why he had been granted a ‘sacred relic’.

[Hmm….]

For a Lord, locating an Apostle’s position was no difficult task.
So that must be why the Lord had asked Achiros about Linjo’s whereabouts.
But this time, something was different.

[I cannot sense Linjo’s presence….]

Had he entered a Difficult Realm beyond the Lord’s reach?
No, even then, a faint presence could be felt.
Now, there was no presence at all.
As if Linjo’s existence had never been part of this world.
The meaning was simple.

“My Lord, regarding Maezato Rinzo’s whereabouts….”
[“Go to the East Sea. There lies the Difficult Realm he intended to conquer.”]
“The East Sea, understood. I will move immediately.”

It meant Linjo was dead.
Achiros sent Apostles to the Difficult Realm that Linjo had reported before his departure.
Members of Zangetsu and the Maezato Group did the same.
What they found upon reaching the hidden Trial Island in the East Sea was.

“Th, this is….”
“…A complete wasteland. Was there a battle here?”

The Trial Island lay in complete devastation.
As though an unstoppable calamity had swept across it.
And at the heart of that destruction lay the source of the catastrophe.
The Difficult Realm—obliterated.

“This is… all that remains of the Difficult Realm. What on earth happened here?”
“Did they fail to clear the Difficult Realm?”
“Does a Difficult Realm ever collapse like this from a simple failure? Besides, didn’t we send only the Guild’s elite? The fact that not a single survivor emerged, that they all perished within the Difficult Realm itself… it doesn’t make sense.”

The players wandered in confusion, unable to comprehend what had transpired.
But Achiros was different. The moment he laid eyes upon the island, he understood everything.

[The Difficult Realm’s rampage.]

There were unmistakable traces of everything on the island being drawn into the Difficult Realm.
This was the landscape that manifested when a Difficult Realm spiraled into chaos. If that were the case, then all the players in this vicinity would have been pulled into it as well.
Maezato Rinzo would be no exception.
Yet there remained aspects that this explanation could not account for.

[A rampage would have shown warning signs…]

When a Difficult Realm was about to spiral into chaos, there were always precursors—the entrance would expand grotesquely, for instance.
But Linjo’s report contained no such details.
He had merely described it as an unstable Difficult Realm.
Maezato Rinzo was, after all, merely human. A dull creature.
Yet was he truly so foolish as to overlook even his own peril?

[…]

Achiros’s gaze swept across the entire island.
He had lived through countless ages and witnessed innumerable events.
He had seen many Difficult Realms, and in other worlds, he had witnessed their chaotic spirals unfold multiple times.
And so he could discern the truth.

[Someone deliberately triggered the rampage.]

A faint trace lingered at the point where the Difficult Realm had stood.
It bore the mark of a Lord—or something presumed to be one—exerting their power.
In that moment, everything became clear.

[“Linjo is dead.”]
“W-what?! Dead? How is that even…!”
[“He must have fallen into a trap. Those who came with Linjo likely perished as well. There must be a traitor among your ranks.”]

Linjo had embarked on his assault of the Difficult Realm in absolute secrecy.
So desperate was the situation that even Zanwol and the Maezato Group, unable to locate Linjo, had appealed to the Lords including Achiros.
Yet someone had ensnared him in a trap.
It would be impossible without an internal traitor leaking information.

“A-a traitor? That’s…”
“Who could it be? Who would possibly…?”

The players descended into chaos.
A traitor within their own ranks—it was far too sudden, too shocking.
Yet it was equally undeniable that no other explanation fit the facts.
Then the course of action was clear.

[“The internal structure requires… cleansing.”]

A purge in blood.
Both the Zanwol Guild and the Maezato Group.
The traitor who had leaked information had to be found and eliminated.
The players felt their bodies tremble with dread as they sensed the Lord’s will.
And the very next day, breaking news erupted across Japan.

[Maezato Group Chairman ‘Maezato Rinzo’ Dead!]

It was a bombshell that shook not only Japan but Korea as well.
The Korean Player Alliance was stunned by the sudden announcement, and Park Yu-ha, who had been showing Han Yu-sung a building, was no exception.

“Maezato Rinzo is dead? What in the world is going on…?”

Park Yu-ha’s face filled with bewilderment.
After excusing himself to Han Yu-sung, he began making calls in all directions, attempting to grasp the situation.
Han Yu-sung watched him silently.
A faint smile playing across my lips.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————