Chapter 542
Chapter 542
Even at the very end, Elthemis still tried to deny Kanzaki Rei’s victory. If Rei’s win were truly invalidated... then he would have no way to use this battle as the foundation for advancing the Warrior class.
Unfortunately—
That final trace of lingering obsession was nowhere near enough to shake Rei’s will.
Did he fail to defeat her head-on?
Did he exploit an opening while she was vulnerable?
Was the battle lacking in honor?
Perhaps another warrior might have wavered a little. Perhaps they would question whether their victory had been imperfect.
But Rei’s combat philosophy had never been about direct clashes of strength.
Even back when he advanced to Level 6 Warrior and fought Haruyama, Rei had never chosen to rely solely on the Warrior class in a frontal confrontation.
Instead, he adapted by combining multiple classes together, using every method available to suppress his opponent.
Battle existed for the sake of victory.
No matter what method achieved it, victory was still victory.
And that was also the meaning of foresight.
Rei glanced at his current body.
Right now, he was an infant.
But an infant’s body was simply too inconvenient...
The infant Rei slowly closed his eyes.
In the next instant, the body from his previous life reopened its eyes once more.
A "Second Self" was essentially no different from his real body.
Rei returned to his original form once again.
As for that infant body...
Sigh.
Truthfully, he still felt somewhat conflicted about it.
After all, he had only just come out of the womb. The healing mage who delivered him hadn’t even had the chance to hold him yet. His father hadn’t even seen his face before he had already flown into the air, shattered space itself, and gone off to fight Elthemis.
Reconstructed Samsara allowed endless reincarnation.
But when situations like this actually happened, it still felt awkward.
And how exactly was he supposed to compensate that family?
There was no way he could suddenly go back and acknowledge them as his parents. Rei himself couldn’t get past that mental barrier.
But if he simply left like this, they would also lose a son.
And if he reincarnated several more times...
Wouldn’t that mean he’d end up with parents all over the world?
That was also why, despite possessing this talent, Rei still hadn’t casually thrown his life away to reincarnate over and over again.
"Forget it."
"The world is already chaotic right now. I’ll see whether they need money. If some gold coins are enough to compensate for the loss, that would be best..."
"And if they truly value me that much, then protecting them while I’m still alive in this chaotic era should count as some form of consolation."
In the end, he was still too soft-hearted.
If it had been someone like Anzu, he probably wouldn’t have cared about this sort of thing at all.
Depending on his mood, he might even kill his own parents the moment he was born.
There was still plenty of aftermath left to deal with.
Rei extended his senses toward his storage ring again.
Inside the ring capable of storing living beings were Shumi, whose body had been twisted into ribbon-like strips, and Elaria, who had only half her body remaining.
It was a horrifying sight.
Once upon a time, even Level 8 class-advancers had seemed like unreachable existences in his eyes.
And now, he was the one who had to save them instead.
As for the people hanging beneath the tree, Rei had rescued them as well...
Fortunately, they had merely been sealed, not truly killed. They were all "bait" meant to lure him here.
Thinking of that, Rei couldn’t help but feel a trace of concern.
Yogg had used him to draw Elthemis here, while Kuromironi seemed to have been found only because Rei himself wanted to search for her.
Within this space, the answers were not limited to locations alone.
The answers also existed between people.
Swish—
Huang Minzhi was released by Rei. He was also one of the people Rei had rescued.
"Rei... you won."
Rei asked, "Did you know Elthemis was coming for me?"
Huang Minzhi shook his head.
"No. I didn’t know. I only knew I was supposed to guide you to these people and help you uncover the truth of your origins."
"I didn’t know who you would meet, nor whose answer you would become."
Rei stared into his eyes, peering directly into his soul.
He wasn’t lying.
Huang Minzhi continued:
"This was Yogg’s arrangement. Yogg only allows us to know what we are meant to know. Elthemis probably communicated with Yogg privately. They are gods... realms far beyond anything I could ever touch."
Yet as he looked at the surrounding husks still writhing like colossal serpents, continuously crumbling into ash—
Even though Huang Minzhi’s tone remained calm, deep inside, he could not suppress his shock.
Rei had killed a god.
...
Kuromironi walked among the starlight.
BOOM!
Countless flesh husks surged past like mountain ranges in motion.
Kuromironi frowned slightly, but before the massive tide of flesh could approach her body, it immediately decayed and withered away, transforming into rotten fragments that continuously rained downward.
"Elthemis?"
"Why is she here?"
"Rei!"
Kuromironi looked back in alarm—
BOOM!
In the next instant, terrifying elemental fluctuations erupted outward. The roaring surge of elements caused the entire space to tremble. Even though those Ninth-Tier elemental spells were confined to only a small region, Kuromironi could still feel the overwhelming aftershocks radiating from them.
Seeing this, Kuromironi immediately turned around, intending to go back.
But the rotten flesh behind her suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"Kuromironi. That boy is very strong."
"I know. But he’s facing a god."
Kuromironi slapped the hand away and still tried to return.
But in the next second, countless masses of rotten flesh piled themselves into a wall before her.
"You don’t have time, Kuromironi... trust that boy. He can handle it himself."
BOOM!
The two exchanged only a few words. In less than two brief seconds, the endless elemental turbulence suddenly fell silent...
And then—
The surging flesh rapidly aged and withered, like the skin of an old man decaying away.
Did Elthemis win?
Kuromironi’s heart froze for an instant.
But the wall of rotten flesh before her spoke in an emotionless voice.
"It seems... it’s over."
"Elthemis... is dead."
CRASH!
The flesh that had just withered suddenly erupted into violent movement once more, but immediately afterward, multicolored flames spread across every piece of it.
Those flames were not merely elemental fire.
They were soul fire as well.
Burning everything at once.
"Elthemis is dead?"
"Then... what about Rei?"
The rotten flesh replied:
"I told you. You should trust that boy... he’s still alive. He won’t die."
"He killed Elthemis. A mere Level 6 class-advancer killed one of the gods of this world... I truly can’t imagine what kind of existence he’ll become once he fully grows."
"What an incredible feat."
"A god has fallen. News of this... will likely spread across the entire world very soon."
"Go now, Kuromironi..."
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