Chapter 157

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 157: Artemis (2)

Zzzzzap.

The path the soul sword cut through began to burn.

Artemis’s head slowly fell.

Thud.

Her severed head was quickly engulfed in pure white flames and vanished.

Her head was cut off, but she’s a substitute.

Doesn’t seem like she’s going to die from just that…

Huh?

Wiiiiiiiing.

Where Artemis’s head had fallen—

A massive black vortex, about the size of my own body, was spinning.

At the center of that vortex, a single green gem was glowing.

A vortex instead of a head… what the hell is this?

Whoosh.

Suddenly, the vortex disappeared.

In its place appeared the head of a beautiful elf woman—blonde hair, blue eyes.

The neck was that of the elf with pale white skin, but the body beneath it was still that of the Black woman from before.

Both were beautiful on their own, but mashed together like this, the result was grotesque.

“You… saw it, didn’t you?”

The newly-headed Artemis looked at me with a blank expression.

Her voice was no longer seductive.

It was chillingly cold.

Before I knew it, the area around me was filled with icy moonlight.

“Saw what?”

“Shut up. I’ll kill you.”

I tried to feign ignorance, but it didn’t work at all.

The light that once illuminated the world now stood against me.

Looks like I touched a nerve…

For now, I need to keep attacking.

Fwoooosh.

I closed the distance.

Before the moonlight could swallow me whole, I brought the soul sword down from above.

Artemis’s body was cleaved in two, and the white flames completely incinerated her.

But then, darkness erupted and devoured the flames.

As the fire died down, what was revealed was a beautiful woman with a Latin look.

Seriously?

Her body parts come in different ethnicities?

Whoosh.

Artemis, now fully transformed into a copper-skinned beauty, retreated.

She glared at me with murderous intent—

A complete 180 from the seductive aura she had before.

“Moonlight, extinguish the god of souls.”

She commanded the air and the light to erase me.

Immediately, the atmosphere changed, and the entire world turned blood-red.

Danger sense activated at maximum level.

“Soul Barrier. Aegis Shield.”

I cast a barrier and summoned my shield.

What began as a small round buckler was soon bathed in light, transforming into armor that covered my entire body.

Does this mean the threat is coming from all directions?

I layered the soul barrier over the armor-like shield and charged toward Artemis.

If she were confident in close combat, she wouldn’t have retreated!

“Pathetic!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Everywhere the barrier touched moonlight, explosions erupted.

I had barely taken a few steps when cracks started forming in the shield.

Wow.

That power is insane.

This isn’t the level of a mid-tier god… should I run?

I checked my SP—1.1 billion remaining.

I came in with 1.5 billion, so I still have plenty left.

That should be enough to keep fighting.

Not that Artemis would let me leave even if I tried.

I have to do some damage.

“Soul Barrier.”

“You bastard…!”

I poured SP into the barrier and advanced toward Artemis.

As I approached, she kept backing away, firing moonlight at me.

But the distance between us neither widened nor shrank.

Ugh.

If this keeps up, I’ll be the one at a disadvantage.

In that case…!

“Dragon’s Power.”

It’s SP-inefficient and weak in terms of damage.

But for now, I just need to close the distance.

That was my aim in using Dragon’s Power.

Flames gathered at Artemis’s location and exploded.

But she grimaced and caught the flames in her hand.

Clenching her fist, she extinguished them.

“Tch. Is that all you’ve got…?”

I didn’t expect much from Dragon’s Power anyway.

It was just a distraction to slow her down for a moment!

“Soul Release!”

Fsssssssh.

The blade of light turned into pure white flames and shot forward.

Artemis hurriedly dodged, but the blade’s speed was faster.

Slice.

“Gah…!”

The soul sword pierced straight through Artemis’s chest.

Her body was engulfed in pure white flames.

The fire spread completely, but once again was swallowed by surging darkness.

Her head and neck disappeared into the flames, and a vortex appeared briefly.

Within it shone a strangely glowing green gem.

It was so mesmerizing, my eyes were drawn to it on instinct.

But the gem quickly vanished, replaced once more by a human head.

This time, it was the face of a beautiful white woman.

Seeing that face snapped me back to my senses.

“Hoo…”

Damn.

Now’s not the time to space out.

The gem’s charm was too strong—it messed with my head.

“You bastard!”

“Yeah? Let’s see how long you can keep coming back.”

She shouted at me in rage, but her body once again tried to retreat.

Can’t let that happen.

Now that I’ve closed the distance, I won’t waste this chance.

“Soul Release!”

Before her legs fully regenerated, I unleashed my second and third strikes.

Fwoooosh.

With every slash, her body ignited.

“Y-You… bastard…!”

But her regeneration was just as fast.

Not only did her human form keep regenerating, but she kept swapping out different racial features.

Just how many bodies does she have?

The distance wasn’t increasing anymore, but it was hard to tell whether I was actually damaging her.

Rather, Artemis’s gaze grew more vicious every time her body burned and her head changed—it was chilling.

Slaaash!

I slashed her again.

And again.

Artemis’s physical body had already changed dozens of times.

This time, when I sliced through an elf-shaped body vertically, a familiar vortex and green gem were revealed again.

As soon as the gem appeared, my body froze involuntarily.

“Light, destroy my enemy!”

Now seemingly unable to flee, Artemis shouted a command to the moonlight every time a new head grew.

My soul barrier was breaking down faster and faster.

Damn it.

It seemed the only fundamental way to truly subdue her was to land a hit when her entire body had burned away and she was in a presumed soul state.

But due to the green gem that appeared every time her neck vanished, I couldn’t land any attacks while Artemis was in soul form.

And every time the gem showed up, I froze like I was being locked in place.

Even though I’d seen this dozens of times, the moment it appeared, I couldn’t escape its power.

The only fortunate part was that Artemis kept trying to hide herself in a physical form.

If she had just kept attacking in her soul form, that gem would’ve made her almost impossible to deal with.

—Beware of Artemis’s "eyes." There is special power in them.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Athena had warned me that anyone who met Artemis’s gaze would be completely immobilized.

I had managed to restrain her using a tendril that hadn’t met her gaze, but when the gem popped out, even the tendrils wouldn’t move.

Looking back, Artemis’s eye powers probably had something to do with that gem too.

“Go ahead, keep trying to kill me. My physical body is endless. When your SP is all gone, I’ll devour your soul without leaving even a speck behind.”

Artemis hurled another insult as her neck flew off again.

Checking my SP, I only had 800 million left.

That meant I’d already used up 300 million.

Cutting through her physical forms hadn’t consumed that much SP, but the moonlight attacks she launched were a different story.

My soul barrier was breaking faster and faster, and I was barely keeping up by pouring SP into it.

Even with Aegis’s shield helping defend, the power was overwhelming.

Without a solution to that gem, I couldn’t destroy Artemis.

When I cut down her 51st body, a message popped up.

[The grade of the Soul Sword has risen to SS.]

The Soul Sword had ranked up.

Maybe because I’d kept slicing through the body of a goddess.

After countless slashes, I finally got the upgrade message.

[SP absorption efficiency of the Soul Sword has greatly increased.]

[Skills related to the soul are enhanced.]

[Some of the Soul Sword’s seals have been released. A special effect is now activated.]

A seal?

I didn’t know this was a sealed sword.

I thought it was just a growth-type weapon...

Anyway, I expected another bump to skill efficiency and SP absorption, but this time, a special effect too?

That’s a godsend in this situation.

Slaaash!

Another neck gone, and Artemis’s body vanished in white flames.

Thanks to the sword’s upgrade, her body disappeared much faster than before.

I could definitely feel the power increase.

Then the vortex and the green gem appeared once more.

And once more, my body froze as I laid eyes on it.

Her physical form began regenerating from head to toe, but—

There was something strange at her feet.

“Not darkness?”

Her soul form was always completely shadowy, like a silhouette.

But this time, her toes looked different.

Instead of shadow, pristine white toes had broken through the darkness.

“Ugh... What is that sword!?”

Artemis had noticed too.

She stared at my sword in panic.

This time, she had the appearance of an East Asian woman.

Seriously, how many beautiful women have I had to cut down today?

“Soul Release.”

Anyway, something was clearly different this time.

It felt like I’d finally landed a real blow—time to keep going...!

[We can’t let this go on.]

A chilling voice echoed across the land.

It was impossible to tell whether it was male or female.

But the moment I heard it, I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

My whole body weakened, and I struggled to stay conscious.

Boom!

A powerful shockwave erupted between me and Artemis.

My soul barrier ignited in flames instantly.

This was a level of power I had never experienced before.

Even as I poured SP into the soul barrier, it barely held.

Yeah... I need to fall back for now.

Retreating my soul form, I checked the front—Artemis’s body wasn’t intact either.

She’d been caught in the shockwave too and was blown back.

It was such a massive blast that her entire body had shattered.

Splat!

Blood sprayed everywhere, and pieces of flesh scattered in all directions.

Her head, however, flew into the air, intact.

A floating head—it was like something out of a horror movie.

[That sword... left an impression. We’ll meet again, Soul God.]

Her head flew higher and higher, disappearing into the sky.

I tried to follow it, but the sky had turned blood red.

Her head had escaped, but the moonlight attacks continued?

...Guess chasing her isn’t an option.

That head was flying way too fast anyway.

[Let’s retreat.]

Drakia urged me to fall back.

Checking my status window, I only had 300 million SP left.

But I’d somehow reached level 197 in the Chaos status window.

Even though I was just cutting down physical forms, they were goddess-tier, so... a level explosion.

Only 3 more levels till Chaos A-grade...

I was tempted to keep going, but let it go.

With a shady new enemy showing up and low SP, retreat was the right move.

“Understood. I’ll fall back.”

[Good. It seems Artemis’s power is even affecting portal summoning. Once it opens, use Heimdall’s Return inside the portal. You’ll need both to escape.]

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

The moonlight kept hammering my soul barrier.

Was it even interfering with teleportation?

Maybe it was actually lucky the enemy decided to back off.

As Drakia opened the portal, light gathered around it and made it flare brightly.

Then the portal started shrinking rapidly.

If I hesitated even a little, the portal might close.

“Heimdall’s Return.”

I used the return skill the moment I entered the portal.

Unlike last time, though, a crushing pressure pressed in from all sides.

Good thing I’d preemptively activated Aegis’s shield and my soul barrier.

My vision went black... then slowly lit up again.

Now I was back in Elprian’s hideout—a second home by now.

Relieved to have made it back safely, I finally checked the message I’d missed during the fight with Artemis.

And there it was—something I couldn’t believe.

[A quest has been granted by the Moon Goddess Artemis.]

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]