The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 317

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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 317

Whoooosh!

The terrifying inferno that Berias had unleashed consumed the entire Domain.
According to his plan, the Execution Ground of Malice would burn to ash, and by absorbing the magical power contained within it, Helud’s Domain would unfold—overwhelmingly stronger than ever before.
Devastatingly powerful.
But.

[Laughter echoes from the Mask of Hwanrak.]
[The Veil of Hwanrak deploys.]

That never came to pass.
Helud’s Domain, which should have roared with raging flames, never manifested.
The terrifying inferno that had been consuming the Execution Ground of Malice vanished without a trace.
As if it had never existed from the start.

‘What in the world just happened?’

Helud furrowed his brow and glanced around.
Nothing but impenetrable darkness greeted him.
He could see neither Berias, who had been charging at him, nor any of the other Demon Forces.
Instead, he heard sounds.

– Hehehehe…
– Hahahaha…

Malicious laughter.
Someone was laughing as if this situation delighted them immensely.
That only made Helud more displeased.

‘Is this Berias’s Domain? No… this is different.’

It was unmistakably different from the Execution Ground of Malice.
Most notably, the execution devices were nowhere to be seen. The same applied to Berias and the Demon Forces that followed him.
His Domain possesses no ability to conceal allies.
Above all else.

‘I would have devoured Berias’s domain with my inferno.’

This was a situation I had foreseen.
That’s why I had prepared to reverse the process and consume Berias’s domain instead.
My unique ability possessed an effect that could ‘devour’ an opponent’s skills, and I could use what I consumed as power.
Of course, there were limitations.

‘I cannot devour skills imbued with overwhelming power.’

Skills containing power I couldn’t handle could only be weakened to a certain degree.
Knowing this, I had obtained a special item from Salseong.

[Karmic Flame Crystal (Mythic)]
· A crystalline structure infused with potent karmic flame.
· Enhances the user’s power for a set duration. If the user possesses flame-related abilities, the item’s effects are further amplified. Additionally, it grants special effects when using flames.

The plan was simple.
I would use the Karmic Flame to strengthen my power, then use that enhanced strength to devour the domain Berias had created.
Then I would unfold my own domain once more to hunt him down.
But before that could happen, Berias’s domain vanished.
To be precise.

‘It was overlaid.’

I looked around at my surroundings.
This was neither Berias’s domain nor mine.
An unknown, third party’s domain had unfurled across this space.

– KRAAAAAAAGH!
“That sound…!”

In that moment, a scream echoed from somewhere.
It was less a scream and more a wail—a sound like a final death cry.
Yet somehow, that voice felt familiar.
As though I had heard it recently.

‘Someone is here. Berias, and an unknown third party.’

Helud turned toward the direction of the sound and ignited his terror flame.
Intense fire erupted across his entire body.
It was a terror flame infused with power sufficient to incinerate any foe that might appear.

“….”

A brief silence descended.
It was a silence short in duration yet eternal in feeling.
The surrounding area grew quiet, as if the scream from moments before had been nothing but a dream.
Helud’s face taut with vigilance, he surveyed all directions.
His senses, honed to razor sharpness, probed the vicinity.

Whoooosh!

“Who goes there!”

His heightened senses detected movement.
From the west. Something was hurtling toward him.
Helud twisted his body in an instant, launching his terror flame in the direction of the movement.
An overwhelmingly massive terror flame surged forward, incinerating the darkness.
It consumed whatever had been flying toward him.

Crackle and roar!

A sphere engulfed in flames fell before Helud.
Upon identifying its nature, his eyes widened with horror.

“What…?!”

It was Berias’s head.
His eyes remained open, as if he had endured unspeakable agony.
The head rolled across the floor before coming to rest directly before Helud.

‘Berias… is dead?’

Or was he seeing an illusion?
The situation was so unbelievable that such thoughts naturally arose.
How long had Helud been in this Domain?
I couldn’t know for certain, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.
To lose his life in that span of time.

‘Is such a thing even possible?’

Berias is a Demon Force of Earl rank.
While not comparable to Helud, he possesses enough strength to crush most demons beneath his power.
This meant he was not an opponent who should die so easily.
It was something even Helud, who prided himself on being stronger, could not accomplish.

‘…If this Domain was created by another, it could be an illusion.’

That conclusion came naturally.
Berias could not have died so pathetically. That bastard would have struggled tenaciously, and there surely would have been great chaos.
This was an illusion woven by the creator of this Domain.
Helud calmed his mind and peered beyond the darkness.

“Enough games…. Show yourself!”

Blazing demonic power surged forth.
The surrounding area was engulfed in flames, illuminating the darkness. Then the figure hiding within the shadows became dimly visible.
Helud’s brow furrowed.

‘A demon? I’ve never seen this one before.’

Between the rising flames, the demon’s form was revealed.
It was a demon of remarkably ordinary appearance.
So utterly unremarkable that one would forget them entirely after a single glance. Moreover, their presence was extremely faint.
Without careful observation, it was difficult to even perceive their existence.

‘What is this sense of discord?’

That left Berias with an intense sense of discord.
One might call it excessively artificial.
That ordinariness, that forgettable presence—it all seemed intentional, as if orchestrated by someone’s design.
The demon met Helud’s gaze, filled with suspicion.
With a faint smile, the demon tossed something toward him.

“…A body, is it? Hmph, another illusion.”

It was Berias’s body.
Terrible wounds were carved across every inch of it.
Meanwhile, the demon’s body bore not a single scratch.
That certainty settled upon Helud.
All of this was an illusion.
There was no way Berias could have suffered such a fate at the hands of this demon.

“Who are you? What are you after…!”
“Does it still look like an illusion to you? Or do you simply wish to believe it is?”
“What?”

Helud’s face twisted at the demon’s words.
A trivial provocation beneath his notice. Helud dismissed the remark and summoned an even fiercer conflagration.
He did not know who this creature was. But his task remained simple.
Slay the demon and destroy this Domain.

“You know well enough whether this is illusion or reality.”

The demon spoke thus while touching his own face.
His utterly ordinary visage began to melt away, revealing a grotesquely crafted mask that slowly emerged beneath.
Soon even the mask grew translucent.
The face hidden beneath it was laid bare.

“…You!”

Helud’s eyes widened at the sight of that face.
The demonic visage had vanished, replaced by a familiar one.
More precisely, a face he could never forget.
It was Han Yu-sung’s face.

“A human…?! No, that’s impossible. How in the world…!”

Helud found himself at a loss for words.
The situation left him no choice. This was the Trial of God—a place bound by restrictions that only allowed Demon Forces to participate.
Other races, including humans, could neither participate nor even perceive the existence of this trial.
They couldn’t even know that the trial had opened.

“You—how are you even here?! A mere human, not of the Demon Forces, participating in our trial…!”
“There’s a way, so I came. That’s all.”

Han Yu-sung gestured with his chin toward the corpse lying before Helud.
The body of Berias, who had died without mounting any meaningful resistance.

“Does it still look like an illusion to you?”
“….”

Helud stared at Berias’s corpse.
The demonic flames he had summoned were consuming the body, along with what little of Berias’s power remained within it.
And through that, he could tell.
This was no illusion.

“…You killed him?”
“Yes. I eliminated him the moment I entered this place. Didn’t want him interfering when I dealt with you.”
“Berias….”

He could only swallow hard at that answer.
It wasn’t that Helud lacked confidence in defeating Berias himself.
But to kill him this swiftly, so completely one-sided—that was beyond his capability.
A chill ran down his spine.

A deafening roar tore through the air!

Without hesitation, Helud stamped the ground beneath him.
Massive fissures split the earth, and from them erupted torrents of flame that transformed into countless serpents of fire, crashing down upon Han Yu-sung.
Simultaneously, the sky above ignited with roiling clouds of embers.

A thunderous rumble shook the realm!

Countless spheres of terror fire rained down upon him.
This situation made no sense.
How this man had arrived here, how he had killed Berias in a single stroke—none of it was comprehensible.
Yet one thing was certain.

‘If I don’t kill that monster, I will die.’

Helud gritted his teeth and kicked off the ground.
Terror fire bloomed from his form, wrapping around his entire body. As his demonic skin split open, molten terror fire poured through the cracks like lava.
Transformed into a creature of flame, Helud charged toward Han Yu-sung.

The inferno roared.

“Krraaaaaaagh!”

Helud’s roar shook the heavens.
In response to his cry, the surrounding area erupted in flames, and from those flames, creatures of terror fire began to surge forth.
By any means necessary, he had to eliminate this man.
Helud closed the distance, drawing all his terror fire together.
And in that very moment.

A sharp tearing sound.

“…!”

The sky split open.
A massive gash was carved into the terror-fire-covered heavens, and from the crevice, viscous blood cascaded down like a waterfall.
The blood spread across the surrounding area, consuming the terror fire as it advanced.
Soon, the entire world was drenched in crimson.

【Blood Domain】.

Helud drew a sharp breath, shielding his body with terror fire.
An instinctive sense of danger had gripped him.
In his eyes, a blade wreathed in dense blood energy cut through the void.
And countless sword strikes descended upon him.

The deafening crash of collisions.

“Ugh, uuuugh…!”

The sword energy was overwhelming in its sheer magnitude.
The creatures Helud had summoned were swept away in an instant by the torrent of blade force.
He gritted his teeth as he struggled to block the incoming onslaught.
This was different from when we had met at the Star of Struggle.
Back then, I had been constrained by item restrictions and couldn’t fight at full strength.

‘Could I win now?’

The problem was, the same applied to Han Yu-sung.
At the Star of Struggle, I hadn’t even managed to face him properly before losing. Would things truly be different now that I could use items?

‘This is dangerous. This situation doesn’t favor me.’

I needed help.
Helud made a swift judgment and found someone who could aid him.
There was no question who that was.

“Salseong! You’re watching, aren’t you! Give me your strength! The power to crush that bastard!”

He was making a demand of his contracted Wanderer.
This trial had been designed so that the Lords couldn’t intervene freely. But a Wanderer could circumvent such restrictions to some degree.
Of course, there were risks involved, but that was preferable to his own death.
So Helud called upon the Wanderer for aid, and yet—

“….”

His plea went unanswered.
No response came from Salseong.
To be more precise—

‘I can’t feel Salseong’s presence.’

The connection had been severed.
The reason was devastatingly simple.
Helud’s trembling eyes turned toward Han Yu-sung.

“…You, what have you done?”
“I’ve blocked external interference. Neither my Lords nor yours can intervene here. I simply didn’t want my existence revealed.”
“That’s impossible…!”

Han Yu-sung sneered at the astonished Helud and extended his arm.
The void split open, and a torrent of fearsome flame poured forth.
And through that inferno, something revealed itself.

“Time is running short.”

A sacred relic—the Spear of Divine Annihilation.
Grasping the spear, Han Yu-sung was suffused with the formidable power of a Fire Dragon.
A strength so overwhelming it made even Helud’s body tremble.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

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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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