The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2

***

***

Fundamental Divine Arts: Annihilation God’s Secret, Ice Heaven Sword Rain.

Seong Jihan’s Eclipse froze in his grip.

Swoosh!

The sword left his hand and soared autonomously into the sky.

“What are you trying to do!”

The chieftain charged at Seong Jihan, who was now without his weapon.

Flash!!

Before he could reach him, from the Phoenix Flag in Seong Jihan’s hand, a Crimson lightning burst forth, completely incinerating the chieftain’s body.

Demonstrating superior power than the basic moves of Triad of Martial Mastery, the lightning attack annihilated the chieftain’s form.

However, a fiercer gray light burst from the sky and the obliterated chieftain soon reappeared.

“…You truly extinguished me completely.”

He looked incredulously at Seong Jihan and then toward the heavens.

“But as long as the ancestors’ blessing is with me, I will not die… Huh?”

Just then,

the supportive gray light from the sky quickly faded.

At the same time,

Crackle… Crackle!

Around the Eclipse in the sky, the heavens rapidly began to freeze over.

“You fool… You think you can freeze the sky? Do you think that’s even possible?”

The chieftain scoffed outwardly, but unlike before, he refrained from charging recklessly at Seong Jihan.

Instead, he observed the waning gray aura for a moment and began to retreat hastily.

He made a cold judgment: without the ancestors’ blessing, he was no match.

“How can it continue…!”

The sky was freezing faster than the chieftain could flee,

Thunk! Thunk…!

From the frigid heavens, massive entities began to descend one by one.

“What is this…?”

“Are those… swords?”

Column-like shapes of ice and water, resembling swords, the Ice Heaven Sword Rain landed directly onto the gathered Orc warriors behind the chieftain.

“How do we block this!”

“Throw your bodies! Protect the circle’s center!”

Trying to maintain formation despite the overwhelming force disparity, the Orc battalion bravely hurled themselves against the giant ice swords.

But before even touching the ground, their bodies were frozen solid.

Thud!

As the pillars of swords anchored into the earth, the Orc battalion was crushed, and the frozen heavens descended, shattering the firmament.

“Gr, Grr…”

“The formation maintenance is impossible. Evade…!”

“…The heavens are falling, where should we escape?”

“And the ground’s frozen over. Can’t even lift my feet!”

As the ground was skewered by Ice Heaven Sword Rain, instantly froze over, and the firmament above descended squarely upon the Orc battalion,

it was a disaster they simply couldn’t stand against.

Thump…!

The skies and the earth merged into ice.

The Orcs, caught between, were obliterated without a trace.

“I… How could a mere player do this…”

“Hmm.”

As the chieftain stood alone, having barely escaped the range, he shivered, looking back at the devastation

.

“How could a single player… accomplish this?”

Yet, despite the chieftain’s horror,

Seong Jihan, upon using Ice Heaven Sword Rain for the first time, seemed dissatisfied with the result.

‘Is it because it’s my first time using it? It seems Ice Heaven Sword Rain targeted the wrong entity…’

It was fine until freezing the sky and diminishing the Orcs’ ancestral power.

But why Ice Heaven Sword Rain targeted Orcs behind the chieftain instead of him remained a mystery.

Was it a lack of control over the fourth Annihilation Technique, a skill yet new to him?

As Seong Jihan contemplated Ice Heaven Sword Rain, a realization dawned.

‘Aha.’

Noticing a distinct change in the aura around the retracted chieftain,

“The power from your ancestors… has markedly diminished.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“With Ice Heaven gone, the gray energy should be resupplying you from the sky. But it’s not regenerating you, it’s waning, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Looking back, the Orc warriors’ formations were strange.”

The Orc warriors had gathered in circles of a hundred each, spaced far apart.

It mirrored the past life, raising questions about potential bonuses for the Orcs.

“So the power came not from ancestors but from them, did it?”

“…Grr.”

The chieftain’s power was undeniably formidable, even overpowering in its capacity to regenerate and grow stronger after injury.

If this had not been ‘Seong Jihan,’ the hidden boss himself might have stood a chance given prolonged combat…

‘Dungeons maps couldn’t deploy a thousand warriors at once. So that level of regeneration was impossible. That’s why the hidden boss failed.’

Ice Heaven Sword Rain then must have precisely struck the true source of power.

Could the feature of Ice Heaven Sword Rain be to attack the source of power?

Seong Jihan reflected on the deployment of Ice Heaven Sword Rain that fused heaven and earth.

‘Drawing upon the source to strike… is that Ice Heaven Sword Rain’s characteristic?’

Still not fully understanding the fourth Annihilation Technique despite having wielded it, Seong Jihan concluded further study was needed, then slowly approached the chieftain, standing still.

“…You, what’s your name?”

Defeated in spirit, the chieftain enquired with resignation.

“You needn’t know.”

Swoosh!

With a casual slash, Seong Jihan beheaded him.

Thud!

With a roll, the head and body separated, spilling blood across the soil, but considering he regenerated from total deletion before, this injury should not have been fatal.

Yet now,

no gray light descended upon the chieftain’s head,

“…I have lost.”

Closing his eyes at that declaration.

[The second match concludes.]

[Humanity has won the match.]

[Player Seong Jihan is named the match MVP.]

The game was over.

* * *

=Uh…

=The game is finished! Humanity is victorious!

=Player Seong Jihan accomplishes a solo 1000 kills!! Stronger than ever!

Match two…

For humanity, the game began inauspiciously.

Not only was it on the Orcs’ favored map, but the Sword King Yoon Sejin also faced a ban.

Nonetheless,

The outcome was entirely unexpected.

-Is Seong Jihan a god?? Is Seong Jihan a god?? Is Seong Jihan a god??

-Not even joking, but like seriously, he’s god at this point;

-That’s why he just keeps getting stronger every game lol lol lol

-Wow, the second match ended even faster than the first o_o

-Ordered chicken, but the Space League is about to end before it has even arrived….

While Seong Jihan’s power was always a spectacle, no one could have predicted he’d solo defeat 1000 players in the opponent’s strongest arena.

-Why is he ranked 11th then? lol The ranking system is a mess –

-Good thing he’s 11th, he won’t face a ban lol

-The enemies will probably just ban the 1st rank from now on, if it’s Seong Jihan they’re up against, so terrifying!

With the dominating victory, the chatroom overflowed with a festive air.

Unlike national confrontations, the Space League united humanity in this collective fate.

People of every nationality savored the overwhelming triumph as if in another world.

-What will the countries of the Northeast Asia League do now?

-Just fall one rank down, lol

-Seong-nim (Seong Jihan) will ensure the Space League rank, so no worries about regional league demotion lol

-The Sword King wouldn’t have stood a chance anyway lol. Already those from the same league as Korea assumed a step down as given.

Coach Davis grinned ear-to-ear with the second easy victory,

‘With him doing all the work, it’s certainly easy for a coach… I’m so grateful he’s on our side!’

Whether against the elves or now,

Seong Jihan singularly carried the matches with crazy prowess.

Coach Davis indulged freely in the antics as humanity’s team representative.

Meanwhile,

“…That player from earlier, what’s his name?”

From across the table, the chieftain who had lost his head in the second match asked Davis with an aged expression.

The chieftain’s fixation on the name had been persistent.

Davis, with a sneer, replied,

“Think I’d tell you? Just throw out your card, chieftain.”

“Sigh… What’s the use anyway? There’s a crazed monster among you.”

For the selection and ban of the third match, the chieftain carelessly threw out a random card.

Such behavior as a representative was unthinkable, but the blow of his recent defeat led him to an almost game-throwing surrender.

Yet then,

[‘Orcs’ 1 to 10 ranked players will receive a ban on 3 of them.]

[Players ranked 3, 4, 5 are banned and won’t participate in the third match.]

[‘Humanity’s’ 1 to 20 ranked players will receive a ban on 5 of them.]

[Players ranked 1, 6, 10, 11, 19 are banned and won’t participate in the third match.]

“…Huh?”

Perhaps tossing it absentmindedly, he threw a card that, instead of the usual 1-10, banned 5 players from 1-20.

“…A pit fight? Ahh, against that monster again… Huh? Rank 1 has been banned?”

And then,

brightening upon viewing the system message,

“Forewent, yet rank 1…!”

The third match beamed to life.

“This time it’s my turn.”

“If the chieftain comes out, wipe out the Orcs behind him first. They are the source.”

“Okay, brother-in-law.”

Humanity’s players, with Yoon Sejin replacing the banned rank 11 Seong Jihan,

“…Ohh!”

The chieftain, participating in the third fight, looked around at his foes with a radiant smile.

That monster, Now that the 1st rank was banned, he’s gone!

“Now, things are different…!”

Charging fiercely toward humanity,

“Let’s start with the Orcs in the back!”

Humanity, though lacking Seong Jihan, followed his hint, targeting the Orcs rather than the chieftain.

In the all-position Arena map, the human mages poured firepower towards the circular Orc warriors,

“What? They looked so weak before…!”

“Surprisingly sturdy, aren’t they?”

Orc warriors, a stark contrast from their last match’s display,

“Grrrrrr!!”

The chieftain, trampling the warriors blocking his way, rampaged through humanity’s backlines,

“I’ll shred you all!”

He unleashed a brutal slaughter, vengeful for the second match’s disgrace.

=Ahh, no one can stop the chieftain!

=Was he always this strong??

=The Sword King trying to mark him but… the chieftain utterly ignoring the attacks, focusing solely on decimating the magic forces!

=Ah, the Sword King, conceding it’s futile, changed direction. Now he’s aiming to break the Orcs’ formation!

=But… before that, our side will be annihilated first! The chieftain, he’s insane!!

The chieftain was formidable only when Seong Jihan was absent.

Now banished, he seemed to fly.

“Kukh…”

“You are fairly strong. But…”

Yoon Sejin held his own, fighting fiercely against the chieftain,

“I AM UNMATCHED!”

Boom!

Eventually, he couldn’t counter the chieftain’s fist.

=Match three… We lost.

=How could the chieftain be so powerful?!!

With that, the third Arena match went to the Orcs,

seemingly reinvigorated, the chieftain sat triumphantly back in the representatives’ room.

“Haha. You humans… without that hidden boss, you’re not much, now are you?”

The chieftain, with arms crossed, looked down on Coach Davis with arrogance.

“One strong player… then the solution is simple.”

Ssshh!

He pulled out a ban card, placing it on the table.

[‘Humanity’s’ player ranked 1st is banned. Will not participate in the fourth match.]

“Now, I shall turn the tide.”

The chieftain laughed confidently.

And Coach Davis,

“Ck… damn it…”

Struggled to hold back his twitching lips, trying desperately to keep a serious face.

-Rank 1 banned lololololol

-Check out the coach’s acting skills lolololol

-Why do I feel bad for the chieftain having fun lololol

“Warrior’s Valley! My luck is good today!”

So began the fourth game on the same map, Warrior’s Valley.

“Hello?”

“…”

“Let’s end this one even quicker.”

Seong Jihan waved at the chieftain before sending his sword into the sky.

“What, what’s going on? You… Why are you here? You were banned!”

“Yeah. Good job.”

The fourth match followed the same pattern as the second.

Thunk!

The chieftain’s head fell even as he wondered,

“Didn’t I ban the 1st rank…?”

And following the end of the match,

[…I enjoyed watching your game.]

The Disciple of the Martial God, Pythia, contacted him.

***

***