Han Yuseong let out a deep growl and gripped his sword.
A dark smile naturally spread across his lips —
A smile filled with excitement, anticipating a bone-immersion battle.
"You think I can't?"
The moment Galbeon looked at him with confusion,
Han Yuseong's figure vanished.
Transformed into a fierce gust of wind, he instantly appeared before Galbeon and unleashed a devastating sword technique.
First, Halden-style Sword Technique, Second Form: Destruction.
KWA-MA-MA-MAAAA!
The sword scraped violently across the ground,
Its force surged toward the barrier.
Fragments imbued with magical energy blasted forth and engulfed the shield.
KWA-DU-DU-DUK!
"...!"
Galbeon's barrier shattered.
A flash of shock crossed Galbeon's face at the sight.
But before he could even suppress that shock, a barrage of follow-up strikes rained down on him.
Halden-style Sword Technique, First Form: Crush.
"Fast. And—!"
A blade imbued with powerful sword energy struck Galbeon's armor.
Galbeon possessed a skill that drastically enhanced his defense using divine power—
It was armor infused with the holiness of gold.
However—
"Kh…ugh!"
He couldn't withstand it.
At the moment of impact, a crack formed in the golden armor.
At first, it was a small fissure, but with the next strike, it expanded beyond control.
As if the armor would shatter at any moment—
He couldn't afford to let that happen.
PWA-MA-MA-MAT!
Galbeon gritted his teeth and hastily summoned his divine power.
Holy energy gathered at his core.
As the divine force surged to its limits,
He flipped his sword into a reverse grip and drove it into the ground.
Then, a radiant magic circle etched itself onto the earth—
KWA-MA-MA-MANG!
A divine lightning strike slammed into the ground.
Like judgment cast from the heavens, bolts of lightning ruthlessly scorched both monsters and Han Yuseong.
The monsters were obliterated before they could even react.
Han Yuseong barely managed to dodge the lightning,
But Galbeon, unwilling to let him escape, summoned divine power once more.
Countless blades of holy light materialized and shot toward Han Yuseong.
"Too little time to block them.
Too many to dodge.
In that case—"
Han Yuseong quickly assessed what he had to do.
From the ground, shadows surged upward.
Shadow weapons, moving according to his will, clashed head-on with the divine blades flying toward him.
At the same time, Han Yuseong weaved through the pillars of light, rapidly closing the distance to Galbeon.
And once again, he began unleashing his sword strikes.
KA-MANG! KA-DU-DU-DUK!
A fierce exchange erupted.
Han Yuseong rained down relentless attacks without even pausing to breathe.
Galbeon barely managed to fend them off.
Sword against sword, magic against magic—
It was a chaotic clash, and wounds began to carve themselves into Han Yuseong's body.
Holy blades sliced into him, and radiant energy scorched his flesh.
Yet Han Yuseong didn't flinch.
'This guy's movements… are slowing.'
Instead of retreating, he pressed Galbeon even harder.
In fact, the more his body was wounded, the more blood he shed,
The faster Han Yuseong became.
So fast, in fact, that Galbeon began to struggle to keep up.
But what truly unsettled Galbeon—
Was the smile on Han Yuseong's face.
A smile as if he was savoring every moment of this deadly struggle.
"W-What?!"
That moment of confusion created an opening.
A surging Moonshadow Blade.
The blade, carrying dense sword energy, struck precisely at the point where Galbeon's weapon had already begun to crack.
And at that moment, the sword imbued with divine light—
began to shatter.
Paa-s-s-s—
As if it could no longer hold together, the divine glow trailed behind—
And then:
KWAJIK! (CRACK!)
Han Yuseong's sword pierced through the curtain of light like a bolt of lightning.
His blade ruthlessly tore through Galbeon's armor without mercy,
each slash deepening the existing cracks.
"The divine armor is collapsing. Now's the time—!"
Galbeon realized he had to fall back and regroup.
With that decision, he unleashed a burst of divine energy.
A radiant shockwave exploded outward from his body, forcefully blasting Han Yuseong away.
Galbeon took the chance to retreat—
But in that very moment:
FWOO-OK!
"Kuh…! H-Hrgh?!"
A sword thrown by Han Yuseong shot through the air like a flash of lightning,
and punctured Galbeon's armor.
It landed exactly at the gap—
Right where the cracks had reached the critical breaking point in the golden armor.
That moment marked the limit of the divine shell.
SAAA-MA-MA-MAA…
The armor protecting Galbeon shattered—
disintegrating into dust and fading away like a vanishing light.
KWA-MAK!
And as if lying in wait, something slammed into Galbeon's body.
It was a dagger.
[All stats decreased by 5%.]
The cursed blade had pierced Galbeon in an instant and inflicted a debuff.
Galbeon felt his body grow heavier—
His expression twisted in alarm.
From beyond, Han Yuseong was approaching, cloaked in a swirling storm of blood.
'This is dangerous…'
Galbeon felt it instinctively.
This was a crisis unlike anything he had ever faced.
He realized—this was not an opponent he could overcome by fighting the way he always had.
"Golden Dragon! Unleash your breath!"
—KRRRRRRRRRR…!
Just in time, the Golden Dragon's skill cooldown had ended.
Galbeon commanded the dragon's breath to be released,
while simultaneously drawing out every last bit of divine power left in his body.
He was granted a power—
A gift from the Eye of Light, which had long watched over his talent.
A skill he was told to use only when his life was truly in danger.
A skill that could be used only once,
with a long casting time, but power strong enough to turn the tide.
'With this… I'll overturn everything.'
Radiant light began to rise from Galbeon's body.
Monsters across the battlefield all turned to look at him.
They could feel it—
A terrifying force was gathering.
A force powerful enough to threaten their very existence.
They wanted to charge at Galbeon, to stop him—
But they couldn't.
—HWAMAMAMAK!
—KHA-MAMAMAAA…!
—GUUU-MUHMUH-OOOH…!
It was the Golden Dragon's breath.
The dragon exhaled a ferocious torrent,
as if declaring that no one—not the monsters, not Han Yuseong—would be allowed to come near.
Its will manifested in the sheer force of its breath.
And that moment—
"It's here."
It was exactly what Han Yuseong had been waiting for.
He unleashed a Gale Step, dashing headlong into the space between the dragon's breath.
Just before he was caught in the blast—
"Dragon's Roar."
—KYURURUK… KAAAA-MAMAMAA!
KWA-MAMAA!
The Dragon's Roar triggered by Hatchling exploded,
flooding the entire space with a wave of force.
The Golden Dragon flinched—its breath, which had been building in its maw, scattered and collapsed.
Caught off guard, Galbeon grimaced in frustration.
Two things entered his vision.
[Dragon's Roar reduces your stats and speed.]
One—was the debuff applied by Dragon's Roar.
And the other—
"You… bastard…!"
Han Yuseong surged through the collapsing breath of the dragon.
The distance between him and Galbeon rapidly closed.
Galbeon, in a panic, summoned blades of divine light to block his path—
But it was a meaningless defense.
Han Yuseong, surrounded by a storm of blood, cleaved through the blades and accelerated even more.
KU-WOOONG!
Han Yuseong's foot slammed into the ground right in front of Galbeon—
KWA-MA-MAANG!
"Guh—KAAH!"
A spectral Blood Dragon Fang slammed into Galbeon's chest.
The tremendous shockwave didn't just crush what remained of his armor—
It struck straight through, blasting his heart.
Galbeon, coughing up blood, lifted his head.
And in his blurred vision, he saw it—
Another dragon's fang, bathed in blood, rushing in.
KWAJIK!
"Kh… Kghrrrk…!"
The Blood Fang sank into Galbeon's throat.
It was the fatal blow.
KUH-OONG!
Galbeon collapsed without resistance.
With his heart pierced, he could no longer move.
Bloodshot eyes glared at Han Yuseong, who stood before him.
"You… I… can't… die… like this…"
Slash!
But Han Yuseong had no intention of listening to Galbeon's final curse.
With Moonshadow Point, he severed Galbeon's neck mid-sentence.
The now masterless body collapsed to the ground in futility.
Han Yuseong turned away, as if it no longer held any meaning.
"A satisfying battle."
Galbeon is dead!
The guardians who witnessed the unbelievable moment were left stunned, speechless.
"N-No way…"
"G-Galbeon… is… gone…"
Who was Galbeon?
A man once called not just a prodigy, but one of the future representatives of America's elite players.
And yet, that very player—
Had been slain by a player they didn't even know the name of.
"R-Retreat! Run!"
"Wait, we have to avenge Galbeon—!"
"Avenge him? How do you expect to fight someone who killed Galbeon?!"
"Don't break formation! If we fall apart now—!"
But it was too late.
One by one, Galbeon's soldiers—stripped of their will to fight—began to flee.
Some cried out for revenge, but it was a meaningless cry.
No one was in the right state of mind to hear it—
And in truth, running away now was not a good choice either.
—KHEUHHHMUHMMM!
"Gah…!"
The battlefield was still teeming with monsters on all sides.
Those who had broken formation and fled didn't make it far—
They were brutally torn apart.
The remaining ones had no choice but to abandon the idea of escape and fight where they stood.
Meanwhile, the one who had become the object of their terror—Han Yuseong—
[You have successfully defeated an exceptional opponent.]
[You have met the conditions to activate the Unique Ability: "Battle God."]
[Additional rewards granted.]
[You have acquired the skill "Divine Judgment (S, Lv.1)."]
He was calmly reviewing the rewards he had obtained.
In his previous life, during the divine trial known as
it was the Destroyer faction that claimed victory.
The Guardian faction had suffered massive losses, but Galbeon had survived until the very end,
and went on to become a major force.
This meant that Galbeon had left a defining mark in the original timeline—
a true top-tier player.
[Divine Judgment (S, Lv.1)]
Type: Active
Effect: Delivers holy lightning imbued with divine wrath upon enemies who defy the gods.
Targets: All enemies within a certain range.
Cost: Consumes a massive amount of mana.
Cooldown: Very long.
Special: The skill's power scales based on your relationship with the contracted deity.
It was only natural that such massive rewards would be granted.
A top-tier skill—Divine Judgment, ranked S.
It was the very skill Galbeon had used.
However, one detail stood out as particularly unusual.
["'Your relationship with your patron deity'? What a curious condition this skill has. Kuhuhu… but we're bound by fate, aren't we? I have a feeling the skill will become much stronger!"]
Kakasha chuckled, amused.
Well, there was only one way to find out—test it.
As Kakasha muttered in his mischievous tone, Han Yuseong turned to the dragon soul drifting near Galbeon's corpse.
Watching it brought a thought to his mind.
"Didn't they say the potential Lords tend to appear from gold or red dragons?"
["Indeed. But only one among them will awaken as a Lord. Still, I doubt that golden dragon was one of destiny. Then again… gold-colored dragons are powerful by nature."]
"True. It was S-rank, after all."
But that wasn't the focus right now.
What mattered was something else:
Among Guardians, it was possible to steal or absorb another Guardian's dragon soul—
if you were the one who killed them.
And now, that condition had been met.
[You are absorbing the soul of the Noble Golden Dragon (S).]
[Pet Hatchling has gained a massive amount of experience!]
The golden dragon's body dissolved, and its soul was drawn into Hatchling.
There are two major benefits to absorbing a dragon soul.
First: Experience.
The higher the soul's grade and level, the more experience it provides.
And the second—
[You have acquired the skill 'Dragon's Breath (S).]
[Dragon's Breath (S): Unleashes a powerful breath attack from the dragon soul. The breath's power and area of effect scale with the soul's level and stats.]
There was an extremely low probability of stealing a skill from the opponent's dragon soul.
So low that most considered it nearly impossible.
However, the higher the soul's rank, the better the odds.
And with an S-rank soul like this one, the chance was more than just theoretical.
[Pet Hatchling has reached the maximum level for its current rank.]
[Effect of Evolution Trait has been activated…]
[Pet Hatchling (B) has evolved into an A-rank dragon soul!]
[Stats have increased and new skills have been added.]
Thanks to the enormous experience gain, Hatchling had evolved.
Breaking out of its shell once more, it had grown significantly.
At this point, it resembled more of a young dragon than a hatchling.
—Kkyururuk.
["…Still sounds the same, despite how it looks."]
Just as Kakasha pointed out, its chirping hadn't changed—
but the newly evolved Hatchling now looked up at Han Yuseong with far sharper, more intelligent eyes.
Han Yuseong gave a slight chuckle and turned his head.
"Good. Now then—"
He had earned a major victory, but the battle wasn't over.
Countless monsters still roamed the field.
Players—Guardians and Destroyers alike—remained locked in combat.
And now, monsters that had recognized Han Yuseong all turned toward him—
and began charging in unison.
Han Yuseong raised a finger.
KWA-MA-MA-MAAAA!!
As if waiting for the signal, Hatchling exhaled its breath.
A sweeping blast of Dragon's Breath surged forward.
Monsters caught in its devastating flames screamed in agony as they were engulfed—
and in moments, reduced to a handful of ashes, scattered by the wind.
From here on out, the task was simple.
"I just need to clean up the rest of the monsters."
Absorbing blood to heal his wounds, Han Yuseong turned his gaze toward the Guardians still fighting,
focusing in particular on Galbeon's remaining subordinates.
"Let's finish this quickly."
He would spare those worth sparing,
and kill those who weren't.
Gripping his sword, he launched off the ground.
A few more battles followed.
Han Yuseong fought his way through, sparing most Guardians aside from Galbeon's loyalists.
And at last, he brought down the final monster.
At that moment, a message appeared before his eyes:
[The ordeal has ended.]
[You have proven yourself worthy of entering the Divine Sanctuary.]
[The altar holds the power to grant your dragon soul the 'Blessing of the Lord.' This blessing's effects vary depending on your contracted deity. Additional blessings from other Lords may also be granted.]
It was a message declaring that he had overcome the trial.
The altar, now soaked in Han Yuseong's blood, began to emit a mystical glow.
Wiping the blood from his clenched fist, Han Yuseong stepped forward—
toward the altar.
The players nearby watched in silence.
Guardians and Destroyers alike.
None of them made a move to interfere with Han Yuseong as he walked toward the altar to claim his reward—
nor did they even consider trying.
"He's a monster."
"Who the hell is he? Never seen that face before, but…"
"From Galbeon to everything that just happened… how do you even touch someone like that?"
Even after witnessing it with their own eyes, his combat ability felt unreal.
Unlike the exhausted players around him, Han Yuseong showed no signs of fatigue.
In such a state, no one dared to intervene.
"Hatchling."
—Kkyururuk.
Hatchling approached the altar.
As if in response, the light gathered around the altar began to shift, slowly drifting toward Hatchling.
[If desired, you may use the remaining divine energy in the sanctuary to pray to uncontracted celestial Lords.
If they respond, the 'Blessing of the Lord' granted to your dragon soul will be greatly enhanced.]
[Note: This process will require the deity to spend Coins.]
"Prayer, huh…"
In other words—he could reach out to other stellar deities and request additional blessings for Hatchling.
But to Han Yuseong, this felt like a rather pointless message.
[Hmph. What deity would ever answer the prayer of an uncontracted supplicant?]
"Well, usually, yeah. That's true."
[And they'd have to spend Coins too! Forget it, forget it—just leave it to me. I'll use the power stored in this altar and—!]
"But trying won't cost me anything, right? No harm done if nothing happens."
[…Tch! W-Well… I… I didn't really hear that… or anything…]
He wasn't wrong.
There was no cost, no penalty.
No reason not to try.
Han Yuseong closed his eyes—
and thought of the names of the celestials he would call upon.
'The Lord of Discipline. The Deity of Revelry. And… the God of Shadows.'
In that moment—
Light surged from the altar.
So radiant that it filled the room—
blinding, consuming, divine.
And Han Yuseong felt it.
The gaze of transcendent beings—
watching him.
[Your prayer has been answered by the Celestial Lords.]