SFRW-Chapter 270

Ch. 270 Sword God From The Ruined World

“…The only answer for me to become a Transcendent is divine power, right?”  

『You’re asking something so obvious I don’t know how to respond. It’s like asking if fish need water to live…』  

Even faced with the Divine Sword’s mocking reply, Choi Kang-soo didn’t flare up in anger as usual.  

Instead, he just wore a gloomy expression.  

『What? Are you that envious? When you’ve been luckier than anyone else? Wow, you really have no conscience!』  

Despite another taunt, Choi Kang-soo answered honestly:  

“It would be a lie to say I’m not envious.”  

His gaze turned toward Grichuk.  

Having absorbed an even more powerful Death Knight’s Essence, Grichuk had become a Transcendent as Rahf desired.  

While becoming a Transcendent didn’t change Grichuk’s fundamental nature, his ascension as an undead was undoubtedly monumental.  

Until recently, Grichuk, Choi Kang-soo, and Shinjo had all possessed similar levels of power.  

They had been evenly matched, with no clear superiority. But now that Grichuk had become a Transcendent, even if Choi Kang-soo and Shinjo teamed up, they couldn’t hope to match him.  

『Don’t waste your energy being jealous. Nothing is more honest than divine power. It’s something that only manifests true abilities after accumulating over long years.』  

In short, it was telling him not to dream of getting lucky like Grichuk again with another divine power crystal.  

When you thought about it, Choi Kang-soo reaching his current level was only possible through immense luck.  

Just obtaining the divine power crystal left behind by an otherworldly God was equivalent to using up all the luck he’d have in his entire lifetime at once.  

So the Divine Sword’s sincere advice was not to harbor futile hopes of immediately becoming Grichuk’s equal, no matter how desperately he wished for it.  

Choi Kang-soo knew this even without being told, so he just made a bitter face.  

『It feels odd for me to say this… but be content with gaining such a powerful ally.』  

As a Divine Sword that purifies impurities, Grichuk’s existence was hardly welcome. But against an absolute evil like Barhaut, they couldn’t afford to be picky.  

The Divine Sword never imagined it would be in such a position, so its voice sounded utterly drained.  

“Right.”  

Choi Kang-soo replied but couldn’t shake the tightness in his chest, sighing deeply as he looked up at the sky.  

Why was the sky so clear when his heart felt so heavy?  

Just as Choi Kang-soo was about to frown—  

“…Huh?”  

Flash.  

Something glinted in the sky.  

In broad daylight, under a perfectly blue sky, something sparkled like a star. As Choi Kang-soo narrowed his eyes—  

The twinkling light began growing larger.  

“…What the—!”  

A spear.  

A single spear was falling like a meteor.  

“Everyone, dodge!”  

While shouting this, Choi Kang-soo reflexively drew his Divine Sword and created a shield using divine power.  

BOOM—  

“…!”  

His divine shield had blocked every attack until now, at least once.  

It had even briefly stopped Vampica’s mighty strikes. But this time, it shattered instantly.  

“This—this is insane!”  

Startled, Choi Kang-soo urgently tried to summon more divine power, but Grichuk moved first.  

GROOOOOWL—  

A massive vortex of darkness erupted from Grichuk’s sword tip and swallowed the spear whole.  

CRACKLE—  

The spear trapped in the dark vortex unleashed violent thunderbolts, scattering bright white light in all directions.  

『This… this power…!』  

The power emanating from the spear struggling to break free was, surprisingly, divine power.  

And not just any—divine power so potent it must have accumulated over an extremely long time!  

KABOOOM—  

Finally, the dark vortex shattered like glass, and the spear resumed its meteor-like descent toward the group.  

A massive wave of sword energy surged upward to meet it, colliding head-on.  

CLANG—  

The spear that had pierced both Choi Kang-soo’s divine shield and Grichuk’s dark vortex finally lost momentum against Seo Do-jun’s sword wave and was deflected.  

THUD—  

Vibrate—  

The spear embedded itself in the ground about forty or fifty meters ahead, shaking violently.  

Only then could the group properly examine the suddenly fallen spear.  

The pristine white spear’s material was unidentifiable, its shaft intricately engraved with unfamiliar characters.  

In form, it was the most basic spear—just a simple shaft and blade combined.  

However.  

『A spear imbued with immense divine power!』  

You could call it a divine spear.  

Whether it had a consciousness like the Divine Sword was unknown, but it was undoubtedly a relic worthy of being called sacred.  

“…That’s it.”  

Choi Kang-soo muttered, half-entranced as he stared at the spear.  

『Don’t tell me you’re…』  

“That’d be enough, right? No—even if it’s not enough, it’s something that could vastly enhance your abilities, isn’t it? Right? Say I’m right.”  

Choi Kang-soo was practically drooling.  

With the Divine Sword’s abilities, it could absorb other relics. And improving the Divine Sword’s power was equivalent to strengthening Choi Kang-soo himself.  

After all, he was the only one who could wield the Divine Sword and fully utilize its abilities.  

“Let’s… take it.”  

Choi Kang-soo no longer cared who owned the spear.  

It was outright theft, an unethical act—but he didn’t care.  

『Idiot! Snap out of it! You can’t just recklessly touch a relic of unknown ownership—especially one containing such immense divine power!』  

The Divine Sword scolded him angrily, but Choi Kang-soo kept staring at the spear as if hearing nothing.  

Since this was a planet abandoned by even the Gods, reduced to Barhaut’s guardian world, he figured there’d be no issue taking it.  

As the Divine Sword kept trying to dissuade him, Choi Kang-soo, already entranced, began approaching the spear.  

Just as the distance was closing—  

SWISH—  

This time, a sword came falling down.  

Faced with a sword radiating divine power as potent as the spear’s, Choi Kang-soo’s jaw dropped, and Seo Do-jun had to block again.  

The sword now planted beside the spear also boasted a pure white hue, its slender form striking.  

“Wh-what windfall is this…?”  

The spear alone would’ve been blessing enough, but a sword too?  

With half-lidded eyes, as if lured, Choi Kang-soo quickly stepped forward.  

“Wake up! Choi Kang-soo!”  

At Seo Do-jun’s shout, a massive wall fell from the sky with earth-splitting force.  

Positioned to bisect Choi Kang-soo, Seo Do-jun swiftly yanked him back.  

KABOOM—  

A gigantic white rectangular shield now stood guarding the spear and sword.  

“…A shield too?!”  

Choi Kang-soo trembled uncontrollably, unable to hide his ecstatic expression.  

Spear, sword, shield.  

Any single one would’ve been a godsend—but all three appearing at once made him feel this must be divine will.  

While silently thanking Mute in his heart, Seo Do-jun warned in a low voice:  

“Choi Kang-soo, get a grip.”  

No sooner had he spoken than a strange figure dropped from the sky.  

A handsome, expressionless man about 180 cm tall with a well-proportioned build.  

Clad in white armor and helmet, it was obvious he owned the spear, sword, and shield without asking.  

One oddity—while the armor, weapons, and shield radiated powerful divine energy, the man’s body emitted the opposite.  

The relics gave off warm, gentle energy, but the man felt cold, sharp, ruthless—even cruel and savage.  

The Divine Sword noticed this most acutely.  

『A paladin. But… a fallen one. Corrupted for a very long time.』  

“A fallen paladin?”  

Choi Kang-soo blurted out, and the handsome man’s eyes gleamed as their gazes met.  

“A paladin?”  

“A sacred knight.”  

At Choi Kang-soo’s reply, Gettis lightly nodded.  

Whether called paladin or sacred knight made no difference—just semantics.  

“You possess a relic far too grand for you.”  

While Mute’s armor was impressive, Gettis particularly recognized the Divine Sword at Choi Kang-soo’s waist.  

Just as Choi Kang-soo had, Gettis didn’t hide his greed for it.  

Noticing this, Choi Kang-soo subtly shifted his stance, face twisting.  

His body language clearly conveyed: “This is mine—you’re not taking it.”  

Gettis smirked at this and began scrutinizing the group one by one.  

He barely glanced at Rahf, slightly frowned at Shinjo, grimaced at Grichuk, and when his eyes met Seo Do-jun’s—  

“…You must be the one who killed Vampica?”  

Gettis’s face hardened more than expected.  

Seo Do-jun’s aura felt stronger than anticipated.  

‘Should I contact Luam?’  

He briefly considered but shook his head.  

While Seo Do-jun was strong, Gettis judged he wasn’t unbeatable.  

More precisely—  

Between Shinjo’s Thunder God power, Seo Do-jun’s Fallen Angel relic, and Choi Kang-soo’s Divine Sword—  

He had no intention of sharing these three prizes with Luam or others.  

The problem was Grichuk.  

‘An undead? But how does he possess such massive magic…?’  

Clearly inferior to Seo Do-jun, but Gettis sensed he could be an unexpected variable.  

Meanwhile, hearing Vampica’s name from Gettis, Seo Do-jun roughly guessed his identity.  

‘The Six Seats.’  

Only one of the Six Seats could face Seo Do-jun’s aura head-on and casually mention Vampica.  

“You know I killed Vampica, yet you’ll face me alone?”  

Seo Do-jun checked for other presences but sensed no other Transcendents.  

“You seem more impressive than I thought.”  

As he spoke, Gettis leisurely pulled the embedded sword from the ground and sheathed it at his waist, then slung the shield on his back.  

When he finally grasped the spear—  

FLASH—  

An explosion of blinding white light and immense divine power erupted from his entire body.  

“…Ugh!”  

The one most affected was Rahf.  

As a dark mage, the divine power felt like being flayed alive, making him vomit blood.  

Grichuk was equally uncomfortable.  

As an undead, the divine power made his whole body feel sticky, like caught in spiderwebs.  

Shinjo wasn’t harmed but lost fighting spirit realizing Gettis’s strength.  

As for Choi Kang-soo…  

“Not… bad?”  

He found Gettis’s divine power oddly warm and comforting.  

『The divine power in relics is completely different from a fallen paladin’s. These… don’t belong together.』  

Though initially warning against coveting the relics, the Divine Sword subtly changed its tune upon confirming Gettis’s corruption.  

“So I should take them, right?”  

Choi Kang-soo immediately caught on.  

Since Gettis wasn’t a proper Holy Knight, the Divine Sword saw no reason to stop him from taking the relics from a fallen being, staying silent in acquiescence.  

With this implicit permission, Choi Kang-soo beamed.  

“Hey… Uncle.”  

He sidled up to Seo Do-jun and whispered while Gettis was distracted:  

“The Divine Sword says it can absorb all those relics.”  

Though not entirely accurate, the sword didn’t correct him.  

“The Divine Sword?”  

“Yes! So…”  

Understanding, Seo Do-jun nodded slightly.  

With his approval, Choi Kang-soo giggled excitedly.  

“Thank you!”  

He bowed quickly and retreated.  

Though he wanted to fight alongside Seo Do-jun, Gettis seemed terrifyingly strong—better to support from behind.  

“The ability to absorb relics… How fortunate for me.”  

Having apparently overheard, Gettis gazed at the Divine Sword with even greater greed.  

“That won’t happen.”  

At Seo Do-jun’s words, Gettis gave a dry smile.  

“Let’s see the skill that killed Vampica.”  

White flames instantly erupted across his body.