The colossal insect lifted the boulder of ice encasing Sarasa with one of its legs, then opened its chitinous underbelly to reveal ten more.
Amidst winds swirling as if to engulf the entire audience chamber in a tempest, Sungchul could see another message flash before his eyes from the insect.
[Father of a girl]
Deckard, who was erased without even leaving behind his name, flew out of the audience chamber, daughter in his arms, breaking through the walls.
The earth greatly shook once more, but Sungchul could tell from the Transcendent Senses that the disaster brought forth from Deckard would be far smaller and weaker than that of Horneko.
The black beetle flew across the city like an artillery shell and crashed into the residential area on the lower levels.
Countless homes were destroyed and demolished, and the dust cloud it kicked up concealed the beetle.
“What’s going on?” Daincraft shouted toward Sungchul.
“Order of Extinction’s objective,” Sungchul replied. “Consider yourself lucky. This entire city might have been instantly erased the moment you accepted that scroll.”
After saying that, Sungchul looked up at his true weapon, Fal Garaz, hanging above the throne, a trace of regret in his eyes.
Just when I need Fal Garaz the most.
But it was already returned.
Noticing Sungchul’s gaze on the hammer, Daincraft immediately ordered his subordinates to cover Fal Garaz with a cloth
Sungchul didn’t linger on this. He immediately ran toward the location where the black armored insect had fallen, through the giant hole it had created and left behind in the audience chamber.
The ancient city of Daintite built high upon the mountains, was engulfed in bloody chaotic war without a front or rear.
Even now, fearsome barbarians, either individually or in small groups, were moving around causing indiscriminate destruction and looting, and hundreds of dwarves were setting up defenses at key passages to counter them.
In this extreme state of chaos, the advent of the unidentified, black, armored insect further fueled the turmoil in Daintite.
The beetle pulled itself out of the ground and once again revealed its wings hidden under the outer shell before flying up and dropping down in an arc like an artillery shell once again.
This time, the place where it fell was the district densely packed with dwarven factories.
The whole area smelled strongly of metal, where blast furnaces boiled red-hot, liquified metals.
The black beetle stood back up from the wreckage of the factory and moved toward the giant pillar that was closer to a tower, a massive structure named the Pillar of Dainite. As the name suggested, it was the core structure supporting the city of Dainite, built within a common area with five total pillars: north, south, east, west, and center.
The black beetle, like a termite, began to chew on the all-important Pillar of Dainite.
“Yanke! Yanke!”
Below the pillar, the group of barbarians who were looting weapons and armor screamed in shock and fled upon seeing the black beetle, seeming to know its identity.
Sungchul observed all of this as he descended down to where the beetle was.
From a distance, the sound of magical bombardment could be heard.
It appeared that the Sylphid, close enough to touch the ceiling of the cavern, was bombarding a group of Barbarians.
Sungchul approached the black armored bug, scanning his surroundings. There was no sign of Sarasa Xero anywhere.
Has she already fled?
Perhaps she was hiding somewhere beneath the city.
But having lost her once, finding her again would not be easy.
Right now, a far more obvious and urgent problem needed to be addressed first.
The issue of the black armored bug, once known as Deckard Xero.
The black armored bug was devouring the pillar at an unbelievably fast rate, and by the time Sungchul reached right below it, more than half of the pillar had already been consumed.
What to do.
The black carapace, seen up close, indeed looked formidable. The gleaming chitin of its black shell seemed impervious to any sharpness of a blade, and it appeared as though it could easily deflect any magic no matter how powerful.
“Hey, Krumbui. Do you think you can cut through that?” Sungchul asked his now-primary weapon.
“Honestly, it’s going to be tough.” Krumbui was an honest sword.
Sungchul decided to give Starlight a try as a test.
After a long incantation, a massive beam of light erupted explosively from the tip of the black staff, striking the black armored insect.
However, when the beam hit the black carapace, it bent off to the side and ended up damaging the innocent ceiling instead.
Magic reflection. How inconvenient.
One silver lining was that he hadn’t used the multicast or echo.
That meant there was only one method left for him.
A head-on direct attack.
God-like power coursed through Sungchul’s body, and he leapt, swinging Krumbui like lightning toward the black carapace.
The resulting sound and feedback from the sword was wholly dissatisfactory. Krumbui’s blade slid across the surface of the black carapace, failing to even scratch the smooth shell.
“This thing, it’s incredibly tough. Its entire body seems to be made of metal akin to adamantite. I can’t cut through it,” Krumbui said with a dismayed voice.
It was a troubling situation.
Meanwhile, the insect finished eating through the entire diameter of the first pillar.
Boom!
The moment a pillar connecting the ceiling and the surface of Daintite snapped in half, the entirety of Daintite trembled.
Sungchul’s Transcendent Senses reacted.
This level of quake was not possible for the loss of a single support pillar. Unlike what it seemed, the pillar of Daintite was supporting something far more crucial than merely the ceiling.
It was Float Stone densely embedded beneath Daintite. As the pillar collapsed, cracks formed, and the suppressed Float Stone burst forth, showering the ceiling of Daintite.
From afar, it looked like an upside-down rain. But for those beneath it, this was a death sentence. Mixed with the shattered Float Stone were fragments of rock that poured down like rain once more. The area surrounding the pillar, spanning several hundred square meters, was directly exposed to the shower of rocks.
Many dwarves were crushed to death, and countless homes were destroyed. Even the barbarians were not exempt from the calamity caused by the Lesser God.
“Ugh!” A barbarian, possessing the physical prowess of the Thirteen Champions of the Continent was pinned under a rock the size of a house.
Though he tried to push the boulder off, another rock fell directly on his head this time.
The barbarian let out a mournful scream as he was slowly killed. It would have been better to have died instantly.
Having successfully destroyed a pillar and plunging one of Dainite’s areas into chaos, the black beetle’s carapace opened up once more to spread its wings again and gracefully flew toward the next pillar.
Sungchul realized what the Lesser God wanted to accomplish.
That monster. Since it can’t destroy the city with its own power, it’s trying to cause the collapse of the city to force the dungeon to become exposed instead.
Although Sungchul now understood what the beetle wanted to accomplish, the monster was impervious to sword and magic.
Sungchul had to find a way somehow despite this, and he raced ahead of the black armored insect, spotting a small head attached to a round, bulbous body and immediately charged forward, swinging his sword.
But as Sungchul swung, the black armored insect curled up like a ball, wrapping its entire body.
Krumbui’s blade failed to inflict even a minor scratch once again.
After deflecting the sword, the insect shook its body vigorously, flinging Sungchul off, and then unfolded four massive wings from its closed shell. Beneath the shell, a glimpse of pale flesh was visible.
Four wings moved explosively in a cross generating wind, and at that moment, from Sungchul’s fingertips, chain lightning targeted the wings, aiming for the softer parts of the insect.
The lightning struck after the black insect had leapt into the sky.
“Screeeee!” The insect, shot like a cannonball, emitted a strange cry.
It was effective, but Sungchul wasn’t so naïve to think that a single spell would be enough to kill the insect.
He flew once more toward the landing point in pursuit of the insect, which lay motionless, curled up into a ball on top of the rubble of a shattered building.
Sungchul found himself unable to strike from any direction while the armored bug maintained its defensive stance, and he felt helpless as he waited for the creature to come out of its defensive stance.
However, after a moment, the bug moved. It remained curled into a ball and began rolling toward the next pillar.
Damn it.
It rolled on, destroying houses with its massive body, reached the next Dainite pillar, and unrolled its body.
A sweet, burnt scent came from the shell where the wings were, carried by the wind. The Chain Lightning had some effect.
Sungchul made a quick decision. He had no choice but to give what he couldn’t protect, but planned on trying to make use of any opportunity he could find and deliver one decisive blow.
The armored insect began to devour the second tower. Suppressed Float Stones rose into the sky, shaking the ceiling and causing the earth to quake terribly, leading countless fragments to pour down like rain.
Sungchul, with an expressionless face, deflected the falling fragments with Krumbui, waiting for a gap in the insect’s defenses to reveal itself.
Eventually, the insect spread its hard shell to the sides to unfold its wings, and at that moment, Sungchul’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.
The interior of the black insect, previously protected by its shell, was also emitting a black hue like its exterior. The wings, too, were emitting a strange glow, different from before.
In such a short time, the black armored insect had already altered its body composition to the extent that it could withstand all of Sungchul’s attacks.
But Sungchul had no intention of letting this rare opportunity slip away for free.
Holding Krumbui, he leapt into the sky like an agile tiger and dived down, thrusting Krumbui with all his might into the flesh beneath the creature’s outer shell.
And this time, there was a feeling of penetration, unlike before.
But it was shallow.
Damn.
In the next moment, the insect’s wings moved too fast to be seen, generating a fierce wind.
Sungchul was swept through the air, unable to open his eyes against the wind, dangling from a sword alongside an armored bug.
It felt like riding a roller-coaster, a sensation of being pulled followed by floating weightlessly, until a massive shock erupted from below.
Amidst the darkened vision filled with dust and debris, Sungchul noticed the wings and exoskeleton of the armor bug closing in.
Staying put would mean being trapped inside.
With Krumbui plunged in, Sungchul launched himself off the back of the armor bug.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Krumbui cried out sadly, but Sungchul had a plan.
If Krumbui could pierce slightly through the inner layer and remain fixed in place, maintaining its shape within the exoskeleton, then striking it down like a nail could drive it deeper into the armored bug, inflicting further damage.
But Sungchul’s hopes were crushed along with the metallic sounds of Krumbui being dislodged by the closing exoskeleton.
Is there no way?
Amidst the thick dust, Sungchul reminded himself once again that there was only one way to overcome this.
However, it was far away in the audience chamber, and its owner would ever permit Sungchul to use it.
It was then that a deep, resonant chorus echoed through the dust.
“Grant the hammer to the warrior.”
It was the voices of the dwarves.
The fog began to lift.
Surprisingly, it was coming from the center of Daintite, the royal palace of the dwarf kingdom.
The black armored insect had flown Sungchul all the way to the fortress palace to devour the pillar of Daintite that stood right above the palace.
“Grant the hammer to the warrior!”
The warriors of the palace, who should have been guarding the king, were surrounding Sungchul and the black armored insect, chanting in unison.
They, too, were watching.
They had witnessed the struggle of Sungchul, the only warrior standing against the unidentified black armored insect that was destroying the very foundation of their homeland. The Lesser God, impervious to any weapon or magic.
The only means to destroy this monstrous being was giving off a shining, noble light atop the throne in the audience chamber.
The hammer forged from the fragments of the sky itself.
A black beetle, interested in nothing but the pillar, diligently moved its six legs, crawling beyond the audience chamber toward the pillar.
“Grant the hammer to the warrior!”
The warriors chanted in unison.
At the center, the face of the king of warriors turned pale.
Passing the dwarven relic to an outsider was unthinkable. Protecting the sacred hammer, which was the very representation of their race, was one of the most sacred duties of the dwarf king.
The king ignored the chants of the warriors.
Sungchul stood before the king and gazed into his eyes.
He had an uncharacteristically sincere expression.
But the king ignored Sungchul’s gaze.
“Grant the hammer to the warrior!” the warriors chorused once more, but the king remained unmoved.
Sungchul didn’t rebuke the king. He already knew what kind of man he was. He simply sighed with regret as he passed by the king.
However, just as he was about to pass by the anxious Daincraft, a clear metallic sound echoed from the throne above.
It was coming from the direction of Fal Garaz. The clear metallic sound continued to resonate from the hammer, which was still wrapped in thick cloth as ordered by the king.
As everyone’s gaze turned toward it, the cloth covering Fal Garaz suddenly fell away. Only then could the people see. Fal Garaz, hanging from the ceiling, was trembling. But this was not due to the vibrations caused by the Lesser God.
The fragments of the sky that sealed Fal Garaz bound it so tightly without a single gap, leaving no room for it to move even slightly.
Despite that, Fal Garaz was moving.
No one could have dared imagine such a thing possible, signaling the start of a new chapter in history.
“L… Look!”
“Fal Garaz is moving on its own!”
The dwarven warriors were seized with fervor, witnessing an impossible spectacle unfolding before them.
The shackles of sky fragments that bound Fal Garaz began to melt, and in that miraculous scene, all the dwarfs and Sungchul, doubted their own eyes.
But the miracle was indeed taking place.
The self-melted fragments became part of Fal Garaz, creating another, new hammer.
The sky fragments were forged not by the dwarfs’ proud smelting technology, nor the heat of a furnace, but by the sheer wishes of warriors.
The newly reborn Fal Garaz plummeted beneath the ground with a crashing boom.
Seeing this, the dwarf king could no longer ignore the voice within.
One miracle begets another.
The self-erected walls within Daincraft’s heart crumbled.
The dwarf king hoisted the significantly enlarged hammer with both hands.
It was indeed a heavy, massive, and beautiful hammer to behold.
Then Daincraft walked toward Sungchul, holding the hammer.
Sungchul stood still, watching the king approach.
Finally, the king stood before Sungchul, extending a hammer with both hands as he spoke with fervor. “Grant the hammer to the warrior.”
From hand to hand, the hammer forged from the fragments of the sky was passed.
After their brief parting, the touch of the hammer once again reunited with Sungchul felt warm and incredibly welcoming.
The warrior, holding the hammer, gazed at the enemy ahead with a resolute, cold expression. More than ever before, the God-like power surging within Sungchul’s body coursed stronger and more intensely.
Tomorrow or the day after next 3 chapters will be out which will complete book 5 of mchhs. 1 more book to go everyone for the series completion. The kindle and audible version of book 5 will be out on 3rd December which is Tuesday. Do support us. You can get the book here:
Thank you!
“Grant the hammer to the warrior.”