SFRW-Chapter 243

Ch. 243 Sword God From The Ruined World

“Die! Die! DIE!”  

With a grotesque distortion of its pitch-black pupils, the sky rained down endless black lightning. Each strike carried enough force to obliterate anything in its path—yet, soaring blue-white bolts clashed against them, annihilating the darkness in a relentless counterattack.  

BOOM! BOOM! CRACK!  

The deafening collisions between the opposing storms of lightning shook the world as if tearing apart the heavens and earth themselves.  

“Fighting lightning with lightning… That’s badass.”  

Choi Kang-soo couldn’t help but admire Shinjo, who slashed his sword to summon thunderbolts with every swing. He was so impressed that he even asked the Divine Sword if it could do the same—only to get cursed out in response.  

While the others were fixated on the battle between Rebley and Shinjo, Kusak was scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes.  

“What are you looking for?” Choi Kang-soo asked.  

“Rebley’s true body.”  

“His true body?”  

“It has to be somewhere. Rebley isn’t a god—hell, he’s not even a Transcendent. You think some random bastard can just summon lightning from thin air? Don’t make me laugh.”  

At first, Kusak had been startled, but now he was certain Rebley was using some kind of trick. The problem? No detection magic could locate it.  

“If it’s not invisibility… then there’s only one answer.”  

His gaze locked onto the floating black eyeball in the sky.  

“Let’s test it!”  

Without hesitation, Kusak hurled a fireball straight at the eye.  

BOOM!  

The flames exploded against an invisible barrier just before reaching their target.  

“Oh? Look at that.”  

A smirk curled Kusak’s lips.  

“WHO DARES?!”  

Rebley’s furious voice boomed as he redirected his attention—and his black lightning—toward Kusak, abandoning his duel with Shinjo.  

“You saw that, right?” Choi Kang-soo grinned.  

“Yeah! He’s panicking!”  

“Let’s attack that eye.”  

“Got it!”  

Just as Choi Kang-soo reached for his sword—  

“Hey, you two! How about giving me a turn this time?”  

Veronica stepped forward, flashing them a smile before raising her blade.  

Her sword aura, now resembling flowing water, lashed out like a whip toward the black eye.  

BAM!  

Like Kusak’s fireball, it crashed against the unseen barrier.  

“You little—!”  

Rebley’s voice trembled with rage as the eye came under direct assault.  

“He’s basically admitting it’s his weak point,” Choi Kang-soo snickered.  

With Shinjo intercepting the black lightning and Veronica hammering the eye, the tide of battle shifted instantly.  

“I’LL KILL YOU ALL!”  

Rebley’s thunderous roar summoned dozens of black lightning bolts raining down on the group.  

Seo Do-jun prepared to intervene—but he wasn’t needed.  

Gloria nocked an arrow.  

Hyun Joo-yeon and Choi Kang-soo raised their swords.  

Kusak erected a wall of fire.  

Rakun lifted his shield.  

Koroka unleashed her breath.  

Grichuk and Rahf summoned dark holes and shields.  

Not a single one of them flinched.  

Seo Do-jun chuckled and sheathed his sword.  

“YOU PATHETIC INSECTS!”  

Rebley’s eye trembled violently as his attacks were effortlessly blocked.  

CRACK!  

The invisible barrier protecting the eye shuddered under Veronica’s relentless strikes.  

“BREAK ALREADY!”  

Standing atop a surging water pillar, she slashed down with all her might.  

One strike. Two. Three—  

“YOU WRETCHED BITCH! YOU THINK THAT’LL WORK?!”  

Rebley tried to stop her, but Shinjo intercepted every bolt.  

Seeing Veronica struggle, Seo Do-jun silently swung his sword.  

His blade’s aura, layered multiple times in an instant, shot toward the eye.  

“NOW BREAK!”  

Veronica’s water blade struck at the same moment—  

CRACK!  

The barrier splintered.  

“IMPOSSIBLE—!”  

Before the eye could flee, Veronica’s attack split it clean in half.  

“NOOOOO—!”  

Rebley’s scream echoed as the eye exploded, silencing his voice and ending the storm.  

“Heh. Serves you right.”  

Rixis, still pinned under Seo Do-jun’s foot, laughed mockingly.  

***  

POP!  

The black orb shattered in Rebley’s hands.  

His face paled.  

Then—  

POP! POP-POP-POP!  

Dozens more orbs exploded in rapid succession.  

“N-No…”  

His short legs gave out as he collapsed to his knees, staring blankly at the destruction.  

The black orbs were his everything.  

Bestowed by Barhaut, they granted him godlike power within Bartloma.  

He had guarded them obsessively—never leaving their side unless summoned by Barhaut himself.  

Though they appeared as separate objects, they were all connected.  

Destroy one, and the rest would follow.  

A fatal flaw—but one he never thought could be exploited.  

The orbs’ true forms were hidden deep underground, in the heart of Bartloma.  

The only way to destroy them was to lure out their manifested form—the black eye.  

Rebley had been certain Barhaut’s divine barrier would protect it.  

Yet now, they were all gone.  

“H-How…?”  

Tears streamed down his twisted face.  

Rebley was no warrior.  

He was a dwarf—a genius of Bartloma, once the ruling class who bred and engineered monsters.  

But when Barhaut invaded, their frail bodies doomed them.  

Impressed by their monster-taming skills, Barhaut spared Rebley, making him the ‘Monster Legion Commander’.

To compensate for his weakness, Barhaut gifted him the black orbs—imbued with a fraction of the Gem of Authority’s power.  

For years, Rebley had served faithfully as Barhaut’s right hand.  

Now, he had failed.  

“B-Barhaut…”  

He knew the consequences.  

Without the orbs, he was just a weak dwarf hiding in a hole.  

As despair consumed him, Seo Do-jun’s group began their final task—  

Cleansing Bartloma of monsters.  

***

“W-What kind of monsters are you people…?”  

Rixis could only watch in stunned silence as Seo Do-jun’s group slaughtered the endless hordes of Bartloma’s monsters.  

To him, a few monsters were mere snacks—but the sheer scale of Bartloma’s legions was beyond comprehension.  

Yet the group tore through them like a storm.  

“Still nothing to say?” Kusak sneered.  

Rixis snorted.  

“Threaten me all you want. I won’t betray Rebley.”  

Even in defeat, he refused to sell out his comrade.  

“Noble. But what’s the point? It’s only a matter of time.”  

“Heh. Then take your time. While you waste it here, Barhaut won’t stay idle.”  

Kusak’s patience snapped.  

THUD!  

He kneed Rixis in the face—only to wince as his own knee throbbed in pain.  

“Tch. Your damn bones are hard.”  

A flame ignited in Kusak’s palm.  

Rixis’ eyes wavered for the first time.  

“Hah! Scared of being roasted alive? Can’t blame you—burning’s a nasty way to go.”  

Veronica joined in, forming a water bubble.  

“What if we dunk his head in this? Wonder how long he’ll last?”  

“Or we could call Shinjo. Burn him, freeze him, then electrocute him.”  

Rixis shuddered.  

But the true terror stood silently above him.  

Seo Do-jun’s cold gaze locked onto his third eye.  

“Last chance. Where’s Rebley hiding?”  

At this crossroads of life and death, Rixis faced his hardest choice.