Chapter 103

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 103: Soul Sword Summoning (2)

What's a soul sword?

It didn’t react until now, but it’s responding once I reached A-rank.

Let’s activate it.

“Activate.”

[Consumes 50,000 SP.]

50,000?

That’s a lot!

Suddenly, a brilliant light rose from the iron rod.

It formed a sword of light just over one meter in length.

Uh... what is this?

A lightsaber?

The pure white sword of light began to burn, similar to the white flame that erupted when using soul energy emission.

Ah... so that’s why it’s called a soul sword?

I need to test its power.

“Throw spears!”

Spears flew straight toward me this time.

Twenty-four spears.

They all approached at the same speed, charged with mana.

“Stop.”

The spears slowed down immediately when I issued the command with dragon words.

But is it because of the limits of a 6-circle user?

They didn’t stop completely.

I held the soul sword and pushed through the front.

The spears, which seemed to fly slowly in my eyes, were easily sliced by the sword and engulfed in white flames.

Just holding the sword forward makes them disappear.

“The spears gifted by Lord Ares…!”

“This is bad!”

Ares, the War God.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name.

I considered using the blessing of the War God, but held back since the Olympians are watching.

One step, two steps.

My movements accelerated as I walked forward.

“He’s so fast…!”

The enemies raised their shields in surprise and prepared more firmly.

Their shields and spears glowed with blue mana.

But if this soul sword’s power is similar to soul energy emission, it won’t be able to block it at all.

I brought the soul sword down on the shield, slicing through it like tofu.

And the person behind it as well.

“Argh!!”

The warrior screamed until his face split in half and was consumed by white flames.

The remaining warriors, alarmed by the attack, tried to break formation and put distance between us.

But it’s too late.

When I blocked their attacks, the spears ignited.

When I struck, their shields were instantly destroyed.

Every time a shield was split, another warrior burst into flames.

“The mana shields were destroyed in an instant…”

In a flash, I cut down twenty of them.

The remaining four turned their backs and ran.

“Run! We need to alert the scouts!”

But soul arrows quickly pierced their backs and legs.

As they fell and stopped moving, I chased them down and cut them all.

The battle was over in no time.

[Soul Sword duration: 12 minutes remaining.]

Twelve minutes left?

I think it took about three minutes to subdue the enemies.

So from the start, the total duration is 15 minutes?

Fifty thousand SP for 15 minutes?

Fwoosh.

When I looked at the soul sword, the white flames burned even brighter.

This is definitely soul energy emission.

I can use it on a regular sword, so why does it need a special mechanism like this?

“Hmm… can’t I turn it off?”

I examined the sword handle.

If there were a button, it seems like I could just press it to turn it off, but there isn’t one.

“Turn off.”

I try giving the command, thinking it might respond to verbal instructions, but instead, my words are classified as dragon words, causing mana to stir.

The soul sword, rather than extinguishing, burned even more intensely.

As I stood there uncertain, a message appeared.

[If you wish to deactivate the Soul Sword, please issue the command: ‘Deactivate Soul Sword.’]

“Deactivate Soul Sword.”

The sword of light disappeared with a whoosh.

[Deactivating Soul Sword. Remaining duration: 11 minutes and 24 seconds.]

[Reactivation will reduce the remaining time by 1 minute.]

Looks like turning it off and on consumes energy.

I gazed at the now completely deactivated iron rod.

It was one of the items sent by Future Jiho, whose purpose I couldn’t figure out.

Who would have thought it could generate sword energy similar to soul energy emission?

But I can already use soul energy emission—so what’s the point?

The SP cost is low.

50,000 SP for 15 minutes with no additional cost during use.

Compared to the 100,000 SP I used fighting the Hero last time, it’s pretty cheap.

Even so, aside from SP efficiency, there doesn’t seem to be much merit.

“Jiho, are you okay?”

Diana was sprinting toward me at full speed.

Elprian was following leisurely behind her.

I saw Diana running toward me and handed her the iron rod, the soul sword.

“Diana, try using this.”

“Okay.”

When Diana grabbed the soul sword, it crackled in her hand and was flung back to me.

Diana frowned briefly and spoke.

“A message appeared saying, ‘Not a soul awakener,’ and it bounced back.”

“Really? I guess regular classes can’t use it.”

“Can I take a look too?”

Elprian approached with curiosity, gazing at the soul sword.

Then she tilts her head in confusion.

“I have no idea… but I sensed soul energy in the sword energy earlier.”

“Really?”

“Let’s talk while we run.”

True, more enemies could be on their way.

Elprian led the way, and we followed as we continued the conversation.

“Jiho, do you know how gods fight when they reach divine rank?”

“They split the sky and earth, lightning strikes everywhere, and fire erupts, right?”

Zeus would probably throw lightning bolts from the sky.

The Dragon God might unleash a flame breath.

If Hercules swung his sword once and split the world, I’d expect divine beings to fight with that level of power.

“That’s just the gods showing off to scare mortals.”

“Then what?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“They fight as soul forms. You know soul form, right?”

Soul form?

Of course I know.

When I think about soul form, my body instantly turns transparent.

In the past, I had to manipulate mana, but now it happens just by thinking about it.

“You’re quick to transition to soul form. When divine beings fight each other, they do it in that state.”

“Why is that?”

“You need to be in a soul form to use SP and attack.”

Attacking while using SP, huh…

I can’t quite grasp the concept.

“Think of it as imbuing SP into your authority. Zeus, for example, shoots lightning that drains SP. Drakia’s breath is imbued with soul energy.”

“Hmm. Then it’s not much different from energy projection, is it?”

“Are you referring to Hercules’ energy projection? Ah, now I remember where I saw that sword aura—it resembles the energy projection of Olympus’s criminal, Hercules.”

Elprian nodded as if realizing something and continued.

“The only similarity with energy projection is that it hits the opponent’s SP. Even if we soul-imbue our attacks, all we can do is seal beings like gods. It’s not capable of annihilating an existence like energy projection can.”

“I see.”

“And from what I’ve heard, energy projection is extremely powerful relative to the SP consumption. That’s why Hercules, despite being a mid-level god of SS rank, became a target of suppression by the other gods.”

“He’s allied with Chaos now, though.”

“Really?”

Elprian looked relieved.

“I was worried because Olympus’s overall power has increased, and if Hercules had grown stronger, it would have been too much. That’s a relief.”

So Hercules being able to use energy projection is a really unique case, huh.

In any case, it seems that battles between gods happen in soul form.

“So, in the end, whoever has more SP is at an absolute advantage?”

“Yes, of course.”

So SP is the most important thing… No wonder soul-type awakeners are so valuable.

If you earn SP peacefully as a soul mediator and excel in battle using the soul reaper’s skills…

This is totally broken!

Well, the key is leveling up to a similar tier first.

“There are enemies ahead.”

The wind soul returned as Diana issued a warning.

“No matter which direction we turn, we’ll be surrounded by enemies. Let’s just break through. With that sword, it should be possible.”

Agreeing with Elprian’s opinion, I drew my sword again.

Soon, I could feel a massive flow of mana.

A figure dropped from the trees above.

“Of all places, you had to come this way… How unlucky. This is the end, goddess.”

A middle-aged warrior with an imposing shield.

It wasn’t a round shield but a large rectangular iron shield that completely covered his body.

In his other hand, he held a spear over 2 meters long.

He looked much stronger than the other enemies.

He scanned us and smiled confidently.

“Two demigod-level warriors. A strong challenge for most squads. But…”

Whoosh.

Suddenly, five spears shot up into the air.

They moved on their own from behind him and aimed straight at us.

“This is the end. Die.”

The five spears shot at us like cannonballs.

Their speed couldn’t even be compared to the spears of previous warriors.

“Stop.”

I activated my soul sword while using dragon words.

The five spears hesitated for a moment before breaking through the binding and flying toward us.

I had only bought 1 or 2 seconds.

But that was enough time to activate my soul sword.

Fwoosh.

White flames flickered along the blade.

I strengthened my physical abilities using mana from the dragon heart and stepped forward.

Observing the spears’ trajectories, I parried one, causing it to burst into flames.

Without stopping, I lunged at the enemy.

Diana should be handling the other spears!

“Hm…? You’re quite skilled!”

The enemy’s shield turned bright red.

It was infused with highly condensed fire mana.

It didn’t seem much weaker than my power, which was boosted by the dragon heart and dual status effects.

This guy was definitely at the demigod level—and one of the strongest at that.

But there’s no way he can block this soul sword!

Sizzle!

“What…? Lord Hephaestus’s shield…!”

Surprisingly, the shield blocked my soul sword’s path.

When the sword touched it, intense flames erupted, and the shield began to melt.

However, the enemy’s mana seeped into the melted area and repaired it.

So this is Hephaestus’s work?

That guy sure loves scattering weapons around!

Whoosh!

Sensing danger, I ducked my head.

A massive spear grazed past.

I thought I dodged it, but the spear twisted like a snake and aimed at my head again.

What kind of movement is this…?!

Clang!

I parried it with the soul sword, but this time the spear didn’t catch fire and just bounced off.

Previous enemies’ weapons burned and disintegrated just by touching the soul sword, but this guy is tricky.

We exchanged blows rapidly.

The spear moved unpredictably, striking from all directions, while flames surged from his shield.

I ignored the flames and focused on blocking the spear.

The spear, once surrounded by blue mana, began to weaken with every clash against the soul sword.

“This is annoying!”

Noticing this, the warrior changed tactics.

He avoided full collisions with my sword, deflected it, and summoned spears made of mana to hurl at me.

Spears launched from close range.

They were deadly enough from afar, but the closer range made them even more dangerous.

Barely dodging one after another with danger sense, I moved in closer.

But the warrior kept a frustrating distance and continued firing spears.

If only I could use Aegis’s shield, I wouldn’t have to worry about the spears… This is annoying!

Fwoosh!

I swung my soul sword to block the spear, which burst into white flames.

The flames caught my attention.

An energy attack that consumed 50,000 SP.

It wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, but it lasted 15 minutes.

Hmm, could I enhance this with energy emission?

“Energy Emission.”

White flames suddenly erupted from the soul sword and shot forward.

The flames instantly clung to the warrior’s body, including his shield.

Unlike the fierce battle earlier, he was now rapidly consumed by the fire.

Hephaestus’s shield and the spear that had been troubling me disintegrated in an instant.

The warrior looked at me in disbelief.

Soon, he let out a scream of agony.

“This power… Could it be… Hercules’s… Aaaaagh!!”

The warrior burned to ash.

Even a warrior on that level couldn’t withstand energy projection.

He seemed even stronger than the A-rank heroes I’d faced before, but even he couldn’t stop energy projection.

This really is the ultimate attack.

Whew…

But I must’ve used a ton of SP.

I had already burned through a lot as a hero, and this guy was even tougher.

My heart pounding, I checked the system window and saw multiple messages.

[Energy projection output is enhanced by the soul sword. Efficiency is increased.]

[You have annihilated the demigod Ajax. 40,000 SP has been consumed.]

[The soul sword absorbs consumed SP and restores 50% of it.]

[Hephaestus’s shield has been destroyed. 5,000 SP has been consumed.]

[The soul sword absorbs consumed SP and restores 50% of it.]

[Hephaestus’s spear has been destroyed. 5,000 SP has been consumed.]

[The soul sword absorbs consumed SP and restores 50% of it.]

[You absorb part of the soul destroyed by energy projection. Soul Absorption is triggered.]

Enhanced energy projection efficiency, SP recovery from consumption.

And I could now partially absorb souls, which hadn’t been possible before.

Wow, this sword is incredible!

As I admired the system window, one final message caught my eye.

[You have annihilated an opponent of a similar rank. The soul sword is slightly strengthened.]

[The soul sword is now Grade A.]

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]