The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 198

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

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A Mad Swordsman Returns – Chapter 198

Trial of God, 【The Pinnacle of Evolution】.
Shouts and screams erupted across the Twisted Land where the trial unfolded.
Players hunted monsters to evolve.
And the sounds they made—killing one another in the process.

“Ugh, ahhhhhhh!”
“No, no! That bastard, he’s…!”

Among them, one place screamed louder than the rest.
The North of the Twisted Land, the Rampaging Forest.
Deep within its darkest reaches.
Countless players clashed there in a chaotic melee.
Then, an enormous surge of mana converged above their heads.
That mana transformed into a colossal pattern of terror flame.

Boom!

It began pouring something onto the earth.
Flames.
Countless fireballs rained down like a deluge.
And as if that weren’t enough, the fireballs plummeting at tremendous speed exploded the moment they touched the ground, unleashing infernal heat.
The players screamed, their eyes fixed on the culprit who had unleashed this calamity.

“Damn it, Han Yu-sung…!”

Han Yu-sung burst forth through the flames engulfing the ground.
Following in his wake were countless shadow blades.
Obedient to their master’s command, the blades shot in all directions, targeting the enemies’ lives.
The players parried the incoming blades, grinding their teeth in fury.

“This bastard! Why the hell are you interfering in our fight!”
“Whether it’s him or you, we found it first, and you’re trying to steal it…!”
“Damn it, are we really going to lose it like this?!”

Of course, the enemies had no intention of accepting their fate passively.
The players who had been fiercely battling over the ‘something’ in this place exchanged glances, and without anyone needing to speak first, they nodded in unison.
Fighting amongst ourselves here would be suicide.

“There’s only one enemy! Han Yu-sung—there’s no one else!”
“This isn’t the time to be fighting each other! We need to kill him first!”
“There’s no guarantee we can escape by retreating. So then…!”
“Wind, grant us passage!”

The players made their decision swiftly.
They had no choice. The Lords had selected players of high level and considerable skill from among their sworn followers to participate in the Trial.
Having experienced much, their judgment on what needed to be done came naturally.

Whoooosh!

A fierce wind conjured by the mages swept across the earth.
In an instant, the players who had been fighting to kill each other moments before joined hands and redirected their focus toward Han Yu-sung.
Simultaneously, they began activating the ‘unique factors’ they had obtained.

“Grrr… Graaahhh!”
“Kill him!”

The unique factors transformed the players’ bodies.
Some swelled with astonishing musculature, others sprouted hardened carapace, and still others gained remarkable speed.
The distance closed in an instant.
But it was too late.

Eternal Permafrost.

Crack!
Centered on Han Yu-sung, a devastating chill erupted, instantly freezing everything in the surrounding area.
The Twisted Land, the enemies charging toward Han Yu-sung—all of it.
The eyes of the enemies, their entire bodies encased in ice crystals, trembled like aspen leaves.
What entered their vision was Han Yu-sung flicking his fingers.

Crackle!

Ice that blanketed all directions detonated in a violent explosion.
Countless ice crystals pierced through the enemies, and simultaneously, shadow blades shot forth to cleave them all asunder.
The enemies who had charged at Han Yu-sung fell in that instant.
Literally, in the blink of an eye.

“….”
“….”

The players who had witnessed the spectacle were struck with horror.
They were the ones in the Rear attempting to support their allies with magic. But before they could even complete their incantations, all their allies had perished.
Yet that was not what truly shocked them.

‘What… what is this scale of magic…’
‘Consecutive spells, and completed without any notable casting time?’

It was already common knowledge that Han Yu-sung was a warrior proficient in magic.
The players naturally knew this as well.
But this was absurdly fast.
Even they, mages themselves, could not keep pace with such speed, nor could they dare attempt to imitate it.
How on earth had he managed this?

“Ugh, uuugh….”
“Aaaaaaaah!”

No, this was not the time for such thoughts.
Han Yu-sung was approaching. They had to survive this.
The remaining players unleashed their magic in unison.

Screech!

“Kuh, haaack…!”

But a single blade of sword light shot forth first.
Followed by countless waves of sword energy.
That was the end.
The players, their lives extinguished in an instant, collapsed all at once.

“There are more enemies than I anticipated.”
[It seems the other Lords have sent many Oath-bearers to participate.]

The 【Twisted Land】 was quite an expansive battlefield.
Yet with every step forward, I encountered enemies—a testament to how many Contractors had joined this trial.

“Well, it’s not unwelcome.”

This situation was favorable for Han Yu-sung.
Separate from the fact that combat continued relentlessly.

[The ‘Evolution Factor’ absorbs the factors from fallen enemies.]

In this trial, combat meant evolution.
Crimson threads emerged from my body.
They extended toward the fallen players scattered in all directions.

*Crack, crackle!*
“A sight too gruesome to witness with open eyes…”

I tore the ‘Evolution Factor’ from the players and absorbed it.
The absorbed factors merged with my own.
Immediately, transformation occurred.

[‘Evolution Factor’ has absorbed a substantial quantity of factors.]
[‘Evolution Factor’ level increases by 3 stages!]
[One unique factor has been absorbed!]

[Evolution Factor (Lv.4)]
[Strength +15%, Agility +15%, Vitality +15%, Mana +15%.]
[Body has evolved to be suited for ‘close combat’. (Lv.4)]
[Unique Factor: 【Unbridled Belligerence】.]
[Unique Factor, 【Strength Enhancement】: Strength is momentarily amplified. The power of the next physical attack skill deployed increases by 1.5x.]

A rather decent unique factor had arrived.
Though 1.5x was somewhat disappointing.

‘I recall that unique factors also grew according to their level.’

Based on my memories from my past life, that’s correct.
This time shouldn’t be much different. As the evolution factor grows, the numerical value of my unique factor ‘Strength Enhancement’ will increase as well.
It was a fairly decent unique factor in many ways.
But that’s not what matters right now.

[Your Majesty, there is something over there. Perhaps….]
“The Hidden Piece I’ve been searching for.”

Han Yu-sung had only one reason for coming to this place.
To find the Hidden Piece that ‘Trial’s Blessing’ had guided me toward.
This trial had one notable difference from all the previous ones.

“Well, I suppose I’ve found the closest Hidden Piece for now.”

There wasn’t just one or two Hidden Pieces.
In fact, multiple arrows floated before Han Yu-sung’s eyes.
It meant that several Hidden Pieces were hidden throughout the Twisted Land.
Han Yu-sung decided to search for the one closest to him first.

– Grrrrr….
– Gaaarrr….
– Gruuurrrrgh….

Beyond the fallen players, monsters came into view.
They were the very monsters the players had been hunting moments before.
Then another group of players must have heard the commotion and come searching.
They competed over the monsters, ended up fighting each other, and were hunted down by Han Yu-sung, who had come to find the Hidden Piece.
In any case.

[How peculiar, Your Majesty. Perhaps it’s merely my impression, but don’t those creatures…. all look remarkably similar?]
“I was thinking the same thing.”

The monsters looked like wolves.
If there was anything distinctive, it was how remarkably alike they appeared.
It wasn’t simply that they looked similar because they were the same species.
It felt as though the same creature had been duplicated multiple times over.
They watched and eyed Han Yu-sung warily as he drew ever closer.

– Ahhhhhhh!
[Oh, oh! Behold! Those creatures…!]

One entity unleashed a ferocious roar.
The monsters surrounding it surged toward the roaring creature, and soon they began merging into one.
As if returning to their original form.
And, moments later.

– Krrrraaaaaahhh!

An astonishingly massive ‘giant wolf’ emerged into view.
Han Yu-sung’s eyes gleamed with intense fascination upon witnessing it.

“Does it possess a special factor? Well….”

Han Yu-sung grasped his blade with a dark smile spreading across his face.

“I’ll know once I’ve dealt with it.”

* * *

Whoooosh!

The battle with the monster ended before long.
Han Yu-sung stood before the corpse of the monster, its body carved with countless wounds.
Then red threads emerged from his body once more.

[The ‘Evolution Factor’ absorbs the factors from defeated enemies.]
[Congratulations! You have acquired a rare ‘Special Factor’!]

[Special Factor, 【Fission】.]
[You can create up to 5 fission bodies. They possess no combat ability by default, but you can distribute your power to them according to your will. However, if you distribute power excessively, your main body’s combat strength decreases.]
[Your main body can ‘share’ the vision that the fission bodies see.]
[By consuming a fission body, you can transfer to that fission body’s location. The fission body used for transfer cannot be created for a certain duration.]

Han Yu-sung’s expression became peculiar upon witnessing this new special factor.
He had suspected as much while fighting the monster. The sight of the monster ‘fissioning’ into multiple entities and then merging back into one had been the clue.
Yet the ability proved far more exceptional than he had imagined.
Han Yu-sung tilted his head curiously and activated 【Fission】.

Clang!

“Ugh….”

Something erupted from Han Yu-sung’s body and flew away.
It was an incredibly tiny form.
What should I call this?

[It appears to be shaped like a miniaturized version of you.]

Kakasha was right.
If I were to become a miniature doll, it would probably look like this.
The ‘Splinter’ that landed on the ground lifted its head and gazed up at me.
As if asking for my command.

[Kuhehe! I never thought I’d find myself calling something that came from you cute…!]
“….”
[….]

Kakasha fell silent, reading my expression.
I sighed and issued a simple command to the Splinter.

“Walk.”
– Pitter-patter….

The Splinter began walking in obedience to my command.
But its speed was disappointingly slow.
How could I improve this?
As I pondered briefly, I recalled the passage stating that I could ‘share power with the Splinter’.
And I even remembered the method of how to do it.

[You have shared a certain amount of ‘speed’ with the Splinter.]
“This time, try running.”

The Splinter nodded and pushed off the ground.
Then.

Whoooosh!
[Hmm… You’ve gotten considerably faster.]
“This much should be fine, right?”

The split body charged forward at a speed that exceeded my expectations.
Even though I hadn’t distributed that much speed to it, the velocity was remarkable.
I fell into thought as I watched the split body dart around the surroundings.

“So I can share its vision and use it for teleportation as well.”

In simpler terms, I could use it as a ‘scout’.
The Twisted Land contained several hidden pieces scattered across different locations. Finding them all would require considerable time.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t have been a problem.
But this trial was different.

‘I need to complete my preparations before Lee Su-ho launches his attack.’

A time limit had been imposed.
But with these split bodies? I could drastically reduce that time.
I could send them to locations with hidden pieces and teleport there myself.
That wasn’t all.

“I’ve been concerned about Lee Su-ho’s movements anyway…”
[Indeed. You intend to use it to surveil him.]
“Exactly. And it’s conveniently small in size too.”

If used well, I could monitor Lee Su-ho without being detected.
A smile played across my lips as I contemplated the applications of the split body.
At first, I thought I’d obtained a peculiar ‘hidden piece’.

“It’s no wonder it’s a hidden piece.”

I’d acquired something far more useful than I’d anticipated.
Now, what I needed to do was simple.

“Let me gather every hidden piece I can get my hands on.”

Before Lee Su-ho launches his full-scale assault.

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

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