SFRW-Chapter 261

Ch. 261 Sword God From The Ruined World

Since ancient times, people have always been curious about who the strongest is and have idolized them.  

The world’s richest person, the world’s most powerful figure, the world’s strongest fighter, the world’s greatest gamer, the world’s best…  

Especially since the beginning of the Age of Rifts, people have been endlessly curious about who the world’s greatest Hero is and who possesses the most formidable power.  

Everyone had their own criteria, arguing that their chosen one was the strongest.  

Who was stronger in long-range combat? Who was stronger in close-quarters? In prolonged battles? In short skirmishes? Under specific conditions? And so on.  

But when Seo Do-jun appeared, all these debates became meaningless.  

Because no matter the condition or situation, Seo Do-jun demonstrated overwhelming power that surpassed any other Hero.  

The most powerful existence in human history.  

A one-man army—no, the only being capable of surpassing the might of an entire nation with just his individual strength. That was Seo Do-jun.  

When Seo Do-jun left for another planet through a rift zone, people once again began debating who the current strongest was.  

Though the ranking disputes would become meaningless if Seo Do-jun ever returned, people still wondered who could possibly succeed him as the strongest.  

And the answer lay with the Casserian Guild.  

“Wouldn’t Cain Lester be the strongest? Before Seo Do-jun appeared, he was the world’s most powerful Hero, wasn’t he?”  

“You could think that, but… wouldn’t Jung In-joo, a founding member of Casserian and its second Guild Master, be stronger?”  

“Exactly! Even a B-rank Hero who joins the Casserian Guild becomes an S-rank Hero in no time. If Jung In-joo was chosen as the second Guild Master despite being a founding member, doesn’t that mean she’s effectively second only to Seo Do-jun?”  

“But there’s still the matter of base class! Before Seo Do-jun, Cain was the strongest in the world, and even if he joined the guild later, wouldn’t he still be stronger than Jung In-joo? Did you see that magic Cain used in Texas last time?”  

“That spell that looked like it could turn the whole world into a sea of flames?! Hmm… Yeah, that was insane!”  

“If we’re going by that, we can’t ignore Capmore either! Remember how he single-handedly held off thousands of monsters in Dubai? After that day, no one dared call him a drug addict anymore.”  

“Cain, Jung In-joo, Capmore… It’s hard to rank them, isn’t it? Anyway, the current strongest must be one of those three, right?”  

“Definitely!”  

“Of course!”  

Like them, even those who called themselves Hero experts were convinced that one of these three was now humanity’s strongest, in the absence of Seo Do-jun and Casserian’s Three Generals.  

Of course, the truth was different.  

BOOM—  

“…Ugh!”  

Park Seung-ho bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, not from the pain of his organs twisting, but from staring at the fine cracks forming on the shaft of Maharunta’s Spear.  

“Damn it…”  

Though not publicly known, Park Seung-ho was, in fact, the strongest Hero after Seo Do-jun and the Three Generals (Hyun Joo-yeon, Gloria, and Shinjo) had left.  

Of course, part of it was due to his possession of the somewhat cheat-like weapon, Maharunta’s Spear.  

But Park Seung-ho himself had also trained relentlessly to prove his worth in wielding the spear, surpassing not only Jung In-joo, Cain, and Capmore but also other guild members.  

He didn’t care that people didn’t recognize him.  

Like the saying, ‘In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’, being called humanity’s strongest in a world without Seo Do-jun? He knew how hollow that honor was.  

All he had ever worried about was how to wield Maharunta’s Spear more effectively, how to push its abilities to the limit…  

“Dammit!”  

Clutching the spear shaft, Park Seung-ho staggered to his feet and glared at the red-haired man standing before him.  

“You blocked that?”  

Contrary to his words, the man’s face—more perfectly proportioned than a sculpture—showed no expression.  

Park Seung-ho exhaled sharply and glanced around.  

Over a hundred people lay scattered in disarray.  

French Heroes.  

No—among the fallen Heroes, four were even members of the Casserian Guild.  

Some were dead, others barely clinging to life, but one thing was clear: despite over a hundred people charging at him, not a single one had even managed to touch the red-haired man’s clothes.  

And, much to his wounded pride, Park Seung-ho was no exception.  

He had been hunting monsters in England when he received an emergency alert about strange occurrences in Paris and flew there immediately.  

The French Hero Association had even dispatched Alphonse, an S-rank Hero, but shockingly, even he was incapacitated by a single punch from the red-haired man.  

Seeing that Alphonse, France’s representative Hero, wasn’t even a match for a single strike, Park Seung-ho had mustered his strength and charged—only to be met with a crushing defeat.  

“Let’s see you block this one too.”  

The moment the red-haired man vanished, he reappeared to Park Seung-ho’s right and extended his leg in a simple side kick.  

WHOOSH—  

‘Wh-what the hell?!’  

An incredible gust of wind pressure wrapped around Park Seung-ho’s entire body.  

This was an unavoidable kick—he had to block it no matter what.  

Gritting his teeth, Park Seung-ho raised Maharunta’s Spear once more.  

CRACK—  

“…Ghk!”  

Sent flying backward, Park Seung-ho tumbled across the ground before vomiting blood.  

Crack— creak.  

The fine cracks on Maharunta’s spear shaft had grown thicker, now clearly visible.  

It looked like it could shatter at any moment.  

“Aaaaaah!”  

Overwhelmed by frustration and self-loathing, Park Seung-ho roared as he forced himself up.  

Even if he blocked just one more attack, the spear would break.  

And even if he attacked instead, the result would be the same.  

Still, Park Seung-ho gathered every last bit of his magic.  

“A last-ditch struggle?”  

The red-haired man didn’t even flinch as deep blue magic surged from Park Seung-ho’s spear.  

An attack that could obliterate even a massive monster in one strike flew toward the red-haired man—  

THUD THUD THUD THUD—  

Only to shatter pathetically against a transparent barrier in front of him.  

“…Th-this can’t be.”  

His all-out attack—one he had risked breaking Maharunta’s Spear for—had been blocked so effortlessly.  

To the red-haired man, Park Seung-ho’s strike was nothing more than an annoying fly buzzing around.  

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”  

With another roar—or perhaps a scream—Park Seung-ho kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.  

He scraped together every last drop of magic left in his body and channeled it into Maharunta’s Spear.  

Creak— crack.  

The cracks in the spear shaft widened further, screaming as if at their limit.  

Ignoring it, Park Seung-ho hurled the spear with all his might toward the red-haired man.  

SWOOSH—  

Piercing through the air, splitting space itself, Maharunta’s Spear flew with more perfection and power than any attack Park Seung-ho had ever unleashed before.  

At the very least, it should shatter that transparent barrier.  

Maybe even tear the man’s clothes and leave a tiny scratch?  

That was the hope he clung to.  

THUD— CRACK!  

But it was all in vain.  

Maharunta’s Spear was stopped by the barrier, the force of its thrust clashing against the resistance until—  

SHATTER—  

The spear shaft splintered into pieces.  

The blade remained intact, but even it had suffered severe damage, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.  

Thud.  

Watching Maharunta’s Spear break, Park Seung-ho couldn’t hide his despair.  

The red-haired man was a wall.  

A wall unlike any he had ever faced before.  

No—the only one who had ever given him such a feeling was Seo Do-jun himself.  

‘To think there’s a monster on par with the Guild Master…’  

There was no winning against such a creature.  

He should have realized that from the start and turned tail immediately.  

“Is your struggle over?”  

The red-haired man approached Park Seung-ho, who was slumped on the ground.  

Though he seemed defenseless, Park Seung-ho knew better—he couldn’t even twitch a finger.  

So this is how I die.  

Well, ever since he became a Hero, he had expected that one day he’d meet an opponent he couldn’t handle.  

No regrets.  

The man had even let him give it his all—there was no room for resentment or remorse.  

“The price for opposing me is your life.”  

As the red-haired man raised his hand lightly to strike down on Park Seung-ho’s head—  

SHIIING—  

A single arrow, accompanied by a monstrous gale, shot toward the red-haired man.  

BOOM—  

“…….”  

The red-haired man, no longer paying attention to Park Seung-ho, turned his gaze toward the direction the arrow had come from.  

ROAR—  

A massive whirlpool of water spiraled toward him.  

RUMBLE—  

This time, the attack carried real force.  

The barrier trembled under the water’s pressure, but the red-haired man frowned not at its power—but at the energy imbued within it.  

Before he could speak, a colossal flaming dragon charged at him, intent on swallowing him whole.  

And this time, the barrier—already on the verge of breaking—shattered completely.  

CRASH—  

The red-haired man swiftly raised his left hand, drawing a circle in the air, and a shimmering, circular shield—one that seemed capable of reflecting all light—blocked the flaming dragon.  

“…Absolute Shield?”  

The one who had conjured the flaming dragon let out a voice tinged with shock, but the red-haired man ignored him.  

“Haaaaaah—!”  

A burly man, shield raised, charged forward with a thunderous battle cry.  

A reckless tackle?  

As the red-haired man frowned and raised his right hand—  

STOMP—  

The charging man suddenly stomped the ground, causing the earth beneath the red-haired man’s feet to tremble before exploding violently.  

Forced to leap back, the red-haired man scowled—  

WHOOSH—  

At the same time, the shield in the man’s hand spun wildly and shot toward him like a deadly disc.  

Caught off guard mid-air, the red-haired man kicked the incoming shield away—  

But the real attack was something else.  

A single sword, moving at the speed of light, shot toward him.  

Upon closer inspection, a woman was gripping the hilt—her speed and unity with the sword so intense that even the red-haired man momentarily lost sight of her.  

And most importantly—  

‘A light spirit?’  

The Spirit of Light imbued within the blade was no ordinary force.  

‘A mere human… wielding a light spirit? No—more than that, what kind of power is this? Could it be… the Seed of Radiance?’  

Not only a light spirit, but also the Seed of Radiance within it?  

For the first time, the red-haired man swung his right hand through the air with genuine intent.  

A massive sword materialized in mid-air and clashed violently with the incoming blade.  

SCREEEECH—  

“Gyaaaah!”  

The woman, still gripping the sword, was sent flying, tumbling across the ground.  

“Die, you bastard!”  

“You damn monster!”  

“Haaaaaah!”  

Pillars of water, dragons of flame, and a massive greatsword’s charge—  

Veronica, Kusak, and Rakun, seeing Hyun Joo-yeon being effortlessly repelled, gritted their teeth and unleashed their strongest attacks.  

At the same time, from above the red-haired man’s head, a single arrow—spinning like a drill intent on piercing through anything—descended toward his crown.  

Even Gloria had poured everything she had into this strike.  

But—  

“Fools.”  

The red-haired man spat those words dismissively before spreading his arms wide.  

The circular shield expanded like an igloo, effortlessly blocking every incoming attack from all directions.  

And that wasn’t all.  

As if to ensure they never forgot the audacity of attacking him, the red-haired man conjured crimson arrows in mid-air and fired them.  

THUD THUD THUD—  

Kusak—left shoulder.  

Veronica—right abdomen.  

Rakun—thigh.  

Gloria and Hyun Joo-yeon—shoulder and stomach.  

Each was sent flying back with grievous wounds.  

An overwhelming difference.  

Faced with such insurmountable power, they could only feel terror and helplessness.  

“Koroka! You bastard! What the hell are you doing?!”  

Kusak, clutching his nearly torn-off shoulder, screamed at Koroka, who stood frozen in place.  

While everyone had fought with everything they had, Koroka alone had remained still.  

But Koroka didn’t even hear Kusak’s shout.  

Because Koroka was…  

“…H-how… Why… are you here…?”  

The red-haired man, who had sensed Koroka’s presence from the beginning, looked at him and smiled emotionlessly.  

Pfft—  

“I didn’t expect to see a filthy half-breed in a place like this.”  

Filthy half-breed.  

A derogatory term for Demi-Dragons.  

And the only ones who could say such words so casually were them.  

“…I… I greet the Great One.”  

Shiver shiver shiver.  

Koroka pressed his face to the ground, prostrating himself so hard his entire body trembled.  

Like a mouse before a cat.  

Like a frog before a snake.