Chapter 1201

Chapter 1201

“Start preparing. The empire will provide whatever you will need,” Emperor Stuttgart said, promising full support.

“I am immeasurably grateful for Your Imperial Majesty’s grace,” Lee Geon replied, accepting the emperor’s favor.

The full support promised to him by Emperor Stuttgart ranged from supplying him with various elixirs that helped with leveling up to extremely rare items.

No matter how high Lee Geon’s pride was, there was nothing bad about accepting something willingly given to him.

‘

I’m really screwed if things go on like this.’

However, he was not at ease deep inside. His ultimate goal was to destroy the world, which was the complete opposite of the Marchioni Empire’s goal. The Marchioni Empire wanted the world to exist for as long as possible under the world order led by them.

To Lee Geon, the Marchioni Empire was also an enemy he needed to crush in order to achieve his goals.

‘

Tsk... Things just got more troublesome.’

If Siegfried and the Proatine Empire were destroyed, then that would be a serious problem for him.

Attempting to crush the Marchioni Empire alone was not going to be easy, which meant that achieving his ultimate goal would only become harder.

From his standpoint, Siegfried and the Marchioni Empire needed to fight till the bitter end in order for him to benefit the most. However, a massive storm set to devastate the Proatine Empire was not something he had expected.

To make things worse, there was no way to stop it.

‘

Damn it... That bastard, Han Tae-Sung, is absolutely no help.’

Cursing Siegfried, Lee Geon withdrew from Emperor Stuttgart’s presence.

‘

I’ll have to revise my plan. I need to settle things with Han Tae-Sung anyway, so let’s push my stats to the maximum.’

Lee Geon decided to focus on first preparing for his rematch with Siegfried.

According to Emperor Stuttgart's words, the Proatine Empire would be laid waste in three to four days, so the chance to face Siegfried would come in as little as a week or at most within a month.

‘

I’ll clearly show him the gap between us this time.’

Resolving to teach Siegfried the difference between them, Lee Geon went to prepare for their rematch.

***

Meanwhile, Siegfried put on a fierce offensive against Gricale, as though he intended to settle things from the very start, but...

Whoosh!

The +10 Sky Piercer cut through nothing but air.

“What?!”

Siegfried was shocked when his attack ended up missing.

‘

H-How did he dodge that?’

He had no idea how Gricale even managed to avoid his attack. Had he teleported away? No, that was not the case, and neither was his Movement Speed unbelievably high.

It was more like he was a ghost that couldn’t be touched.

“I told you it’s pointless. I’m not someone you can do anything about,” Gricale said, appearing right beside Siegfried.

“What...?”

“I am the incarnation of the wind, a form of destruction itself. To stop someone like me is impossible, so stop wasting your strength and go back.”

Gricale did not even try to kill Siegfried, and neither was there a hint of hostility coming from him.

Why?

It was all because Gricale was, by nature, not a living creature. He was something like a natural phenomenon, a mistake of the Creator, and his raison d'être was to cause widespread destruction using his winds.

Therefore, he felt no killing intent toward Siegfried, as such an emotion was nonexistent in him. The only thing he was concerned about was raising storms to sweep the world away.

“That’s not happening. You’re not going anywhere near my empire,” Siegfried growled in response.

“Your empire? Do you honestly think I’m after your empire? I destroy everything around me. I hold no malice toward you or your empire.”

“That’s none of my business. I just don’t like what you’re doing.”

With those words, Siegfried once again swung his +10 Sky Piercer at Gricale.

“I already told you it’s futile,” Gricale said, looking exasperated as the attack slipped by him once again. Then, he asked, “Do you really have to die here? Wouldn’t it be better to go back and spend a little more time with the ones you love? Why not just accept destruction when it comes knocking on your door?”

“Don’t pretend to care about others,” Siegfried retorted, activating Embrace of Despair.

“

Ah,

you don’t get me at all,” Gricale said with a sigh, shaking his head in resignation.

As the slowing debuff pressed down on him, Gricale suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Whoooooosh!

Then, a violent wind surged and swept Siegfried off his feet.

“

Argh!”

Siegfried resisted the winds and tried to attack Gricale, but he couldn’t do so.

Shwiiik! Shwiiiik!

Right after the winds, sharp wind blades rushed toward Siegfried from every direction.

“Hamchi! Buff me!”

“Got it!

Kyuuuuu!”

Siegfried endured Gricale’s attacks using the Shield of Malice, and then he attempted to counterattack.

Unfortunately, hitting Gricale proved to be immensely difficult.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Gricale unleashed one shockwave after another, forcing Siegfried back whenever he tried to close the distance. Fortunately, the Shield of Malice provided him with the Hyper Armor effect, which rendered him immune to knockbacks.

Without the Hyper Armor, Siegfried would have been blasted away.

‘

Is this guy some kind of phantom?’

Siegfried felt as though he was taking swings in the air. The wind attacks were quite powerful, but the exceedingly high evasion rate was the real problem here.

‘

I have to close the distance between us somehow. Then, I will drag him into my World of Despair.’

That was the only strategy Siegfried could come up with against Gricale.

This World of Nothingness was an area ruled by Gricale, so fighting him here would only put Siegfried at a disadvantage.

Thus, he had to change the battlefield by dragging Gricale into the World of Despair, but closing the distance was essential in order to do that.

Even though it was a targeting skill, the World of Despair required him to be within at least five meters of his target.

Frustratingly enough, closing in to even within ten meters was a struggle, as the winds constantly blew at him, keeping him at bay.

‘

I’ll use teleportation to close the distance.’

Siegfried decided to close the gap between them using the privilege of Grandmasters, teleportation.

“I won’t allow you to bother me any further,” Gricale said in a slightly irritated tone.

Whooooooosh!

Right afterward, what looked like millions of small whirlwinds appeared, and they all went flying toward Siegfried at terrifying speed.

“

Kyuuuu!

Watch out, owner punk!” Hamchi shouted urgently.

If Siegfried were swept up by the millions of whirlwinds, he would be shredded into fine dust. It would be like he was thrown into a blender. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to dodge, as the oncoming attack was simply unavoidable.

It was a guaranteed killing blow, and surviving it without using any powerful defensive skill was simply impossible.

‘

Not yet!’

Siegfried waited until the countless whirlwinds were just about to crash into him.

“You have brought this upon yourself. Don’t resent me for it,” Gricale muttered, convinced of Siegfried’s inevitable demise.

Poof!

In that instant, Siegfried teleported directly in front of Gricale.

Shwoooosh!

A surge of dark energy rushed out from him, and he dragged Gricale into his domain, the World of Despair.

***

“Where am I...?”

Gricale was visibly taken aback after being dragged into the World of Despair.

Since he was born, never had he once left his domain, the World of Nothingness. From within his domain, he stirred up winds that caused widespread destruction until he destroyed that world.

Ironically, he had never stepped a foot outside of his domain, so he had never clapped his eyes on the things he was destroying. Hence, the fact that he was transported to a completely different place outside the World of Nothingness was a massive surprise.

Something so basic as moving to another location was something so foreign to him.

“Where is this place?” Gricale muttered, looking around with eyes full of curiosity.

Siegfried appeared and said, “This will be your final resting place.”

“What...?”

“Time to die.”

With those words, Siegfried unleashed all of the debuff skills in his arsenal, afflicting Gricale with debilitating debuffs.

“

Arghh...!”

Shwiiiiik!

Not giving him a moment of respite, Siegfried charged forward and unleashed a barrage of attacks with his Invincible Spear Art.

However, Gricale was no pushover. He evaded every single one of Siegfried’s attacks with the same ghost-like movements he had shown before.

“You are making me...

really

angry!” Gricale roared, unleashing a storm of wind blades.

The vicious winds shrieked as they headed straight for Siegfried, but he remained calm and composed, not flustered one bit.

‘

You can struggle all you want, but you’re now in my domain. This is my world and I’m the one in control here,’

he thought with a smirk.

With a wave of his hand, the World of Despair shrank, devouring the wind blades and sending them into the void.

Siegfried could expand or shrink the World of Despair at will, so even someone as powerful as Gricale was under his mercy while inside the World of Despair.

The World of Despair shrank until it became barely big enough for a person to move around.

“...!” Gricale’s eyes widened in shock. Naturally, Gricale could no longer maneuver around with his ghost-like movements in such a cramped, narrow space.

“Let’s finish this.”

With those words, Siegfried thrust his +10 Sky Piercer, stabbing Gricale seven times on the chest in mere seconds.

Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!

Puk! Puk! Puuuk!

The attacks were so fast that they happened in the blink of an eye.

“

Arghhk!”

Gricale groaned in pain. No blood was spilled, and only hollow holes were punched straight through his chest, as he was not a living being.

“Do you honestly think you can defeat me with just this?!”

Puuuk!

Siegfried ignored Gricale’s ramblings and thrust his spear for the eighth time.

And then—

[Gricale of Annihilation]

[HP: □□□□□□□□□□]

Gricale, who had once destroyed the world with his vicious winds and now sought to destroy yet another one, met his demise.

The Eight Steps to Invincibility, the ultimate technique of the Invincible Emperor, could kill even entities that couldn’t be killed otherwise, in just eight strikes.

As a result—

[Alert: You have killed Gricale of Annihilation!]

[Alert: You have leveled up!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 530!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 531!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 532!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 533!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 534!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 535!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 536!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 537!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 538!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 539!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 540!]

Siegfried obtained a massive amount of Experience Points and leveled up ten times in one go.

“

Phew...

That was sweet!”

Siegfried invested the skill points he had obtained into Eight Steps to Invincibility.

Now at Level 540, he could finally level it up.

[Alert: The skill Eight Steps to Invincibility has leveled up!]

[Alert: The skill name has changed to Seven Steps to Invincibility!]

Siegfried finally managed to reduce the number of required strikes from eight down to seven, bringing him a step closer to his ultimate goal of achieving true invincibility.

“

Kyuuu!

Owner punk!”

Just then, Hamchi came running toward Siegfried with a blue orb in hand.

Inside the orb were endlessly swirling winds, as though a storm could erupt from it at any given moment.

[Eye of the Storm]

[An orb containing the terrifying power of a storm that can sweep everything away.]

[It is the very essence of destruction.]

[Type: Energy Core]

[Rating: Mythic]

[Note: Controlling the energy stored within it will not be easy.]

‘

This is it!’

Siegfried exclaimed inwardly.

He took the blue orb, the Eye of the Storm, from Hamchi and stored it safely in his Inventory.

[Alert: You have obtained Eye of the Storm!]

At long last, he had obtained the final piece of the puzzle needed to complete the final masterpiece of the Legendary Blacksmith, Herbert.

Now that he had all the materials needed, he could commission Quandt to craft him the Universal-rated weapon.