Chapter 57

“Curse of Weakness!”

“Great Fatigue!”

“Vitality Collapse!”

The enemy spellcasters covered Ska’dur in several debuffs, significantly lowering his attributes and reducing his combat effectiveness by half.

“Annoying,” Ska’dur scoffed and raked a claw across his right arm. Sickly black blood gushed out of his wound, signifying that his skill Exsanguinate activated and cleared all his current debuffs. The spellcasters tried again, but Exsanguinate remained active as long as Ska’dur had the bloodloss effect, making their efforts futile. Of course, he constantly lost health as a consequence.

As the demons and orcs crossed fifty feet with every step, Ska’dur stood fearless with a solemn glint in his eyes, and it was only when a hundred feet remained that he moved. Adjusting his posture, Ska’dur’s Life Energy erupted before converging on his fist. Emitting a low growl, he punched forward. “Earthshatter!”

Physical force transformed into a terrifying shockwave that blasted forward, lifting the ground wherever it passed. The shockwave covered the demons and orcs in an instant and sent them flying while the weakest ones directly exploded. Screams of horror and despair erupted in the large army at the back when the shockwave reached their position. Not boosted by war arrays, they were defenseless before a Life Energy infused Earthshatter, and their casualties quickly reached tens of thousands.

Everyone suddenly stopped moving.

Nobody expected Ska’dur to unleash such power, not even the man himself. Earthshatter was a Mythic grade skill comparable to Small Meteor, and Ska’dur poured 50% of his Life Energy reserves into increasing its effectiveness by around 1,000%. As a result, it briefly rivaled a skill well beyond Ancient grade.

A few moments later, Vikaros revealed himself as he lifted a rock the size of a small house off his back and tossed it aside. Wiping the blood from his lips, he looked around and froze when he saw the state of his people. Tens of thousands of unrecognizable bodies lay motionless on the ground, with streams of blood flowing into the cracks in the earth. It was like a scene from hell.

“Damn it!” Vikaros ground his teeth together and looked for his fellow war array recipients, only to see around 50 of them still breathing. He was horrified. How could this happen? How could a level 500 defeat so many level 600+ people with a single blow? It was unimaginable.

While everyone was struggling to cope with the situation, Ska’dur saw the countless corpses in the back and felt sick to his stomach. He was disgusted with himself. All he wanted was to kill the 100 war array recipients in a show of force, not massacre half a hundred thousand weaklings. Unfortunately, he drastically underestimated his current strength after receiving the reward from the System for going above and beyond on his quest.

Ska’dur glanced at his fist in a daze. During the tribe wars, he only killed less than a thousand, but now he took the lives of so many with a single skill. It was too casual. Too simple.

Margaret, the current orc chieftain, held her broken chest as she shouted in terror, “W-we surrender!”

Countless others followed in her stead. “We give up!”

“I admit defeat!”

Ska’dur sighed when everyone looked at him like he was a monster. Feeling complicated, he turned around and leaped through the barrier encompassing New Dawn, which had returned to its transparent state after the Blood Oil ran out. Ska’dur landed next to Luca, who had seen everything with an ocular skill. The elven general spoke solemnly, “It needed to be done. Many more would’ve died if word of the Innate Dimension spread.”

When Ska’dur remained silent, Luca continued, “I hope you don’t consider those demons innocent. The Sin Dimension’s culture lacks any respect for life. Sacrifices, slaves, torture. They do anything in their pursuit of power. Killing scum like that is a good deed.”

“Is that your justification?” Ska’dur smirked. “I admire your ability to make mass murder sound so pleasant.”

Luca shook her head and didn’t respond. Nothing she said would convince Ska’dur in his current mood. Instead, she turned her attention to the demons outside New Dawn. They were in a state of retreat, their heads low.

A moment later, a young soldier hastily ran up to Luca and saluted, “Ma’am, a report just came from the advance party.”

“Oh? Tell me.” Luca turned to the messenger and furrowed her brows while Ska’dur’s ears perked up.

The soldier gave a wide smile. “After a preliminary sweep, we’ve found no signs of enemy combatants near the gateway. Serenity Canyon appears to be in the same state as when Yara found it.”

“Good. Great.” Luca relaxed and spoke to several high-ranking officers standing behind her. “Protocol 3 is a go. You know what to do.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The officers were visibly excited as they headed toward their divisions, ready to push through the gateway now that Luca had given the go-ahead.

Right after, another soldier ran up and reported, “Word came in from Major General Frod – Elaine is dead!”

Luca held back from showing joy and asked solemnly, “How many casualties were there?”

“Reporting!” The soldier’s voice fell a few notches. “1,125 deceased, among which were master class experts Major General Batch and Major General Mackay.”

Luca clenched her fists as she processed the message. So many died, but her rationality told her the result was better than expected. Projections said they’d lose at least ten thousand experts and five master class experts. It seems the battle went well.

Luca glanced at Ska’dur and forced a smile, “Are you ready to see the Grandsky Realm?”

Ska’dur took a deep breath and looked over at the gateway in the distance with a determined gleam in his eyes. The moral anguish he currently felt wouldn’t hold him back now that the moment he’d been waiting for had finally arrived.

It was time to see what the Grandsky Realm was all about and, of course, to go beyond level 500!