Chapter 2686 – 2686. God’S Atlantis

The dueling arena was in the middle of space.

A simple arena made of stone slabs. Roman and I stood facing each other there. There were no spectator seats, but countless stars twinkled, watching this place. I knew that each of those stars was a god’s seat.

I reflexively tried to move my hand, but realized I couldn’t move, held by an invisible force. I couldn’t control my mana as I wished either. All I could do was move my eyes.

「Duel」
「Kill the duel target.」
「The duel is only completed when one of the two dies.」
「The duel winner will receive 5% of the AP at stake, an SS-rank random reward box, and a bonus stat of 3.」
「The stake in this duel is 170,445,200 AP. Winning will earn you 8,522,260 AP.」

Being forcibly dragged into the arena made me realize once again that Atlantis was a playground for the gods.

Most of the gods still regarded humans as toys.

‘There was a duel scene in the original story too.’

Special conditions were required for a duel to be established. First, there had to be a 1-on-1 combat confrontation between contractors. Second, before the fight began, the gods had to open a betting board, and the total stake had to reach over 100 million AP.

‘I never thought a duel board would open here. It’s a bit unpleasant that I was dragged here forcibly.’

But it wasn’t entirely bad.

I was going to kill the opponent anyway. It just turned into a death match recognized by the gods.

‘If I win, I get a lot. A large amount of AP is secondary, but an SS-rank random reward box and a bonus stat of 3. I can get rewards that are hard to come by just by killing the enemy. It’s totally lucky-bicky.’

Even now, the stakes were rising. The gods’ betting wasn’t over yet.

「Betting is over.」
「The stake in this duel is 221,724,146 AP. Winning will earn you 11,086,207 AP.」

The system message didn’t end there.

「Duelists can forfeit the duel.」
「If a duelist forfeits the duel, the duel will not take place.」

Atlantis’ last vestige of conscience gave the exiles a final choice.

There was no system penalty for forfeiting the duel.

But the gods were different. The gods who missed the chance to recharge their dopamine would be disappointed. Especially the contracted gods, who were likely to feel ignored by their contractors.

‘The relationship with the contracted god will be shattered.’

In severe cases, they could even be cursed by the gods. Even if that didn’t happen, there would be fewer opportunities to be involved with the gods. It also meant fewer opportunities to grow stronger. Most gods despised cowards.

The force that had been binding my body disappeared. Instead, an invisible wall appeared around my body. The same was true around Roman.

I grinned and said.

“Forfeit? There’s no reason for me to forfeit when I’m going to win. I’m going to win this duel.”

「The King of the Heavenly Sky is delighted! He shouts to kill that fly bastard quickly!」
「The majority of the gods cheer at your declaration of victory!」

Even if I was ready for the duel, it would be all for naught if Roman forfeited… but that wouldn’t happen. We were going to kill each other from the start. It meant that nothing would change just because it became a duel.

Roman also had a smile on his face. It was the smile of a victor who had no doubt that he would win.

「The duel has been established.」
「The predicted win rate is 61 for Sung Yu-jin, and 39 for Roman Calps.」

Roman’s face crumpled when he saw the predicted win rate. I also frowned.

My win rate is only 61? It should be at least 70.

‘Those gods are all blind.’

「The duelists’ will has been confirmed. The duel has been established. The duel will begin in 3 seconds.」
「3」
「2」
「1」

The wall disappears.

I clenched my right fist. Black demonic energy flickered like flames, compressed into my fist.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Dragon Fist (竜拳).

The compressed demonic energy shot out in a straight line towards Roman.

Roman drew his sword from his waist and deflected the demonic energy. Red demonic energy flickered from his blade.

Wiiiiiiiiing.

Flies.

Thumb-sized flies appeared around Roman. Their numbers grew rapidly from thousands to millions.

‘Even if bugs gather, they’re still just bugs.’

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Demonic Monarch’s Step (天魔君臨步) Wave Form (波形).

Kooong!

A black wave spread out, reaching the swarm of flies. I had no doubt that the flies’ bodies would explode, wiping out the entire swarm. But the result was that only about 20% of the flies’ bodies exploded and disappeared. Even then, new flies appeared, filling the empty spaces.

“…The moment they touched the wave, they ate it?”

It couldn’t be explained by that alone. The first flies that touched the wave died. But the flies that touched it after that survived, even eating the wave of the Demonic Monarch’s Step.

“They’re devourer bugs. They’re demonic insects that eat anything that exists, whether it has a form or not. Once they eat something, they temporarily develop resistance to it. Your attack won’t work on the devourer bugs.”

Who would be stupid enough to believe the enemy’s words? I took another step forward.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Demonic Monarch’s Step (天魔君臨步) Wave Form (波形).

The wave spread, and the swarm of flies rushed in. Some of the flies died. In terms of percentage, it wasn’t even 1%.

‘…They didn’t die from the wave’s effect, but rather from being swept away by the wave’s pure physical force. Was it true that they developed resistance?’

Millions of devourer bugs flew in to tear me apart. Wiiiiiiiiing. The sound of their wings was annoying.

‘I can’t control the space because of these fly bastards.’

First, I activated my protective aura, covering my body. But the swarm of flies didn’t stop, sticking to the protective aura and starting to eat it little by little.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

“They’re even eating my aura?”

“There’s nothing the devourer bugs can’t eat. They’re not easy to handle because I have to pay a price for them, but as you can see, they’re tremendous. Farewell. Thanks to you, I’m going to gain a lot.”

Tsk.

I opened my mouth and took a deep breath. Then, I exhaled with all my might.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Demonic Roar (天魔吼).

“Scold! (喝)!!!”

A sonic wave with physical force blew away the swarm of flies. As expected, they couldn’t eat pure physical force.

Hundreds of thousands of devourer bugs exploded and died, but hundreds of thousands more appeared from somewhere, forming a swarm.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Black Flame Demonic Dragon (黑炎魔龍).

I created black flames, intending to burn the entire swarm of flies, but the black flames were eaten before they could even burn half of them.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Freezing Wind Demonic Dragon (朔風魔龍).

The black wind was the same. It was eaten and disappeared before it could exert its full power.

“If you like eating so much… fine. I’ll give you food.”

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Poison Cloud Demonic Dragon (毒雲魔龍) Thousand Transformations of Ten Thousand Poisons (千變萬毒).

Black mist flowed out of my body. The endless changing poison, recreating and combining the poisons I had taken so far. Millions of flies fell to the ground in an instant, just by touching the poison that would kill an ordinary person.

Dead, or writhing without dying.

‘Because of that resistance, attacks won’t work over time. Even if I kill them, they’ll appear again from somewhere. And this poison isn’t good for me either.’

[Absorbed poison. Resisting poison.]
[Self-generated poison. Life force and mana are not restored.]
[Absorbed poison. Resisting poison.]
[Self-generated poison. Life force and mana are not restored.]
[Absorbed poison. Resisting poison.]
[Self-generated poison. Life force and mana are not restored.]
…….

Thousand Transformations of Ten Thousand Poisons was an endlessly changing poison. That meant it could also transform into a poison that had no resistance.

I had poison resistance, so the situation was better, but poison resistance wasn’t a complete immunity to poison. The poison accumulated in my body like rain soaking clothes.

‘It’s not to the point where I need to use full recovery. Even if it’s an endlessly changing poison, the devourer bugs will eventually develop resistance. I need to finish this quickly.’

Roman hadn’t moved since earlier. It must be a condition for controlling the devourer bugs.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Demonic Monarch’s Step (天魔君臨步) Shift (換位).

I created more than 10 afterimages and rushed towards Roman. Roman’s eyes spun wildly.

“Is that the real one? The movements are slightly different.”

He swung his sword at the real me. I summoned the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger from my inventory and blocked his attack.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Poison Cloud Demonic Dragon (毒雲魔龍).

The pitch-black poison generated from my body seeped into Roman.

Poison wasn’t my preference, but it was incredibly powerful against living things. Instead, it consumed a significant amount of demonic energy compared to other techniques.

“Poison doesn’t work on me. Rather, this poison gives me strength.”

Roman’s body swelled up as he absorbed the poison. And then came the counterattack.

I unconsciously used a moment because of his absurd speed.

[Using a moment (刹那). Remaining stacks: 11]

I blocked the first attack. The problem was the continuous attacks that followed.

[Using a moment (刹那). Remaining stacks: 10]

[Using a moment (刹那). Remaining stacks: 9]

[Using a moment (刹那). Remaining stacks: 8]

‘If I use a moment, I can definitely react to his attacks. But the continuous attacks are the problem. I can’t counterattack.’

I couldn’t use all my moments here.

‘He can’t swing his sword indefinitely at this ridiculous speed…!’

[Using a moment (刹那). Remaining stacks: 7]

I gave up my left middle and index fingers to change the trajectory of the sword and retreated.

“Amazing. You’re the first person to react to this speed besides Ban Ray. Ban Ray is such a monster, so it’s understandable… Your power is somewhat different.”

“That’s what I should be saying. What power makes you suddenly faster?”

“Ah. It’s nothing much. When I devour a target, I gain stats and nutrients. There are several conditions for stats… but not for nutrients. And I can store nutrients and use them when I need them.”

“Are you temporarily strengthening your body with those nutrients?”

“That’s right. Then, how much nutrients do you think I’ve accumulated so far?”

Roman appeared in front of me. His sword was hanging over my neck. Space movement? No. He simply moved faster than my dynamic vision.

Clang!

His demonic energy-filled blade didn’t pierce my neck. My skin was slightly cut, and blood was seeping out.

Demonic Heavenly Art (天魔神功) Diamond Demonic Dragon (金剛魔龍).

I grabbed his blade with my left hand. Blood flowed from my left hand.

“You use strange techniques. Were you predicting my attack?”

“If I can’t avoid it, I have to block it.”

I swung the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger. Roman let go of the hilt and dodged the Fire Lotus Flying Dagger. I immediately kicked Roman in the abdomen with my right foot. Roman flew backward and rolled on the ground.

“Cough…!”

Roman coughed up blood.

“Judging by your appearance, it seems you can only enhance one physical ability with those nutrients. Did you maximize your agility?”

“You saw right through me… There are quite a few restrictions on this side too.”

Roman stood up. He spread his palm. There were my middle and index fingers. He put my middle and index fingers in his mouth and chewed.

Crunch, crunch.

“Ah. I expected it… but it’s really delicious. It’s overflowing with life force…. How delicious would it be to eat your heart…. I can’t stop drooling.”

“You’re a creepy bastard. I’ll smash your head.”

Just as I was about to clench my fist and move, a familiar black aura flowed out of Roman’s body. It was demonic energy.

“Ha, hahahahahaha! Power is overflowing from my body!!”

Roman’s voice was a mix of a child’s, a woman’s, and a man’s.