CHAPTER 91
An Unreasonable Demand

He hadn’t said it just to provoke Gractar. The words “it’s mine” had come out of Jinwoo’s mouth naturally.
Memories and skills from his past life. Before, even when he acquired them, he felt no particular connection. It was like watching fragments of a stranger’s life from offstage.
But at some point, he had slowly begun to integrate them.
‘Did my past self intentionally arrange things this way?’
The change was so gradual that it wasn’t jarring or unnatural.
He didn’t know exactly who his past self was, but he was no ordinary being. Every one of his abilities was extraordinary; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a transcendent being.
If such a being had forcefully imposed his will, the ego of “Kang Jinwoo” would have vanished long ago.
But there was no hint of such violence. The memories were not just fragmented but broken down into particles, entering him bit by bit, allowing Kang Jinwoo to accept them naturally as he grew.
“For a human who’s just a little strong, you talk big.”
Gractar’s nostrils flared as he spat out the coarse words.
Jinwoo’s words weren’t meant as a provocation, but to Gractar, they were nothing but.
In his eyes, Jinwoo was just a thief who had rampaged through the empty Sky Temple and stolen a divine artifact.
Strong enough to cause a ruckus, but in the end, just a mere human.
“My axe won’t be as easy as the Sky Temple!”
Gractar raised his axe. He was more than twice Jinwoo’s height, and his bulk was even greater.
His massive frame blotted out the sun, casting a long shadow. In place of the sun, the axe he held radiated a blinding light.
BOOM!
C-C-CRACK!
The axe fell like a guillotine, striking the spot where Jinwoo had been and cracking the earth.
Jinwoo dodged backward, watching the lingering afterglow of light.
The light that had enveloped Gractar’s axe now covered his entire body, exuding a ferocious aura.
‘Is that an aura? It feels somewhat similar to the energy from the glass bead.’
The energy itself wasn’t the same. Compared to the orc’s rigid and martial aura, the World Tree’s glass bead radiated a more fluid and all-encompassing energy.
The similarity was only that their power originated from a similar world.
In other words, the power of the Spirit Realm.
“Kuhahahaha! Is dodging all you can do?!”
Gractar wasn’t just swinging his axe. From his black subspace, swords, maces, spears, and sometimes even shields shot out, all aimed at Jinwoo.
The way he used a shield not for blocking but as a bludgeoning weapon was, in many ways, impressive.
‘He’s very different from the minions that fell to Earth.’
The presence emanating from Gractar was completely different from any servant he had fought before. Power aside, it was more direct.
‘He’s openly radiating an energy completely different from his own. Is this the aura of the Lord of War?’
It was one of two things. Either this creature was of greater interest to the Monarch, or the Monarch’s power was descending more directly because he had already half-conquered this 3rd Floor.
Or perhaps it was both.
“Jinwoo!”
Rona must have also sensed that Gractar’s aura was unusual. She jumped in to save Jinwoo, meeting Gractar’s axe with her blade. But…
CLANG—!
“Ah!”
Her sword shattered in a single blow. It wasn’t just snapped in the middle; the entire upper half of the blade, from the midpoint to the tip, disintegrated into dust.
Rona’s palm, gripping the hilt tightly to keep from losing her sword, was torn open, and blood flowed. Still, she didn’t let go, and the leather of the hilt became soaked in red.
‘Rona’s sword was also wrapped in aura, yet this happened.’
An aura wasn’t simply a sharp energy made of condensed mana.
It was the essence of martial arts, containing all the enlightenment of that swordsman or warrior. For it to be broken so easily meant there was a vast difference in their level of power.
However, unlike the disparity felt in their auras, the difference in their actual skill didn't seem that great.
“Kuhahaha!”
“Kuh!”
Gractar attacked Rona, and Rona, with her half-broken sword, somehow managed to hold on and look for a chance to counterattack.
Judging by how their auras clashed, it wouldn’t have been strange for Gractar to win in less than three exchanges. But Rona, though pushed back, was somehow enduring.
It was because Gractar’s aura wasn't the essence of his own skill, but power borrowed from his Monarch.

The thought of it being cowardly didn't cross Jinwoo’s mind. A fight was about using every means at one’s disposal.
And Jinwoo also had such a being on his side.
[The God of the Moonlight Forest urges you not to lose.]
A faint light enveloped his sword. He suddenly remembered holding a similar sword long ago. Not in his past life, but in his current one.
‘The sword I borrowed from the God of the Ice Valley was like this.’
He had wielded a sword like this when he fought Johann and the dragon soul he controlled.
The difference was that back then, he had borrowed the sword itself, but now, he was borrowing only the energy and overlaying it onto his own sword.
By then, Rona’s sword had completely shattered. Gractar’s smile widened as he aimed his axe. His target was Rona, who had lost her sword and her stance.
In that unavoidable moment, the axe, carrying a fatal force, swung down. Rona tried to pull another sword from her subspace, but it was too late, and even if she blocked it perfectly, she couldn’t stop it. Her aura was no match for a Monarch’s power.
Jinwoo slipped in between them and swung his sword.
KWAAANG!
The sound was an unbelievable shockwave, far too powerful to be the mere clash of metal.
Jinwoo’s sword was blocking Gractar’s axe. The sight was clearly imprinted in Rona’s eyes.
She had almost died just now, saved by a paper-thin margin. Yet, even in such a critical situation, Rona couldn’t take her eyes off Jinwoo’s sword.
“You…!”
Gractar’s eyes widened as he growled.
His expression seemed to say, How dare you block my axe?
“I’ll crush you to death right here!”
The orc’s forearms bulged as he pressed down with his axe, intending to overwhelm him with pure strength.
As strong as Jinwoo was, he couldn't match Gractar in terms of raw physical power. The sword was gradually pushed back, the axe blade drawing so close it nearly touched his brow.
If Gractar put just a little more force into it, Jinwoo's skull would be split in half.
Gractar’s lips curled up, anticipating victory. But Jinwoo wasn't looking at his face.
No, from the very beginning, Jinwoo had been looking at only one thing. The pitch-black flame blooming inside the orc. His greatest power, received from the Monarch of Erosion.
The axe failed to break the sword and slid off along the blade. With so much force behind it, the loss of balance caused a severe wobble.
In contrast, Jinwoo’s sword slid past the axe, accelerating further as it cut into Gractar. The sword aimed for and headed toward only one thing—the black soul—but it didn't end with just a clean cut of the flame.
It sliced through the heavily muscled forearm, cut through a pectoral muscle thicker than armor, and split bone and heart in two. The Black Flame was also bisected with perfect neatness.
“This… is…”
Gractar couldn’t even utter a final word before falling backward. THUD! Given his size and weight, the sound of his fall was immense.
Only that sound echoed in the silence. Not only Rona but also the orcs and the elves in the forest were rendered speechless.
They all doubted their eyes, and Rona’s astonishment, in particular, was beyond words. Having faced him directly, she had felt Gractar's strength firsthand.
To think he could cut down such a being so easily, after just a brief exchange…
‘It’s not over yet.’
Jinwoo, on the other hand, did not lower his guard even though the battle was over.
He had cut Gractar’s flame. But there was another flame that still remained.
The blood the orc had spilled began to move bizarrely, like worms or snakes. It spread through the air, drawing a blood sigil that adorned the space around them.
And then, the air split open.
‘…Never an easy day.’
He was reminded of when the Sky Lord descended upon Grisella. The situation was identical.

As the dimension tore apart, a storm of heat leaked out.
To say it merely “leaked” was an understatement; its force was so great that all the nearby orcs were swept away and sent flying.
The powerful orcs were tossed and tumbled, unable to control their bodies. Meanwhile, the Moonlight Forest was not safe from the aftereffects of the heat either.
“W-What is this?”
At the unfamiliar sight, Rona raised her sword again at Jinwoo’s side.
She was full of vigilance, but also filled with confusion at what was happening.
Jinwoo had no proper explanation for her. He didn't know the principle, the purpose, or what would emerge from within that rift.
If he had to guess…
“The Lord of War seems to have collected quite a few divine artifacts.”
The Lord of War’s dream of gathering all the divine artifacts to descend directly upon the lower world seemed to be quite close to fruition.
The rift in the air looked unstable; a complete descent still seemed impossible.
A full descent required all the divine artifacts, but since Jinwoo held one of them—no, one and a half—it could never be completed.
Conversely, it was precisely because 1.5 of the artifacts were here that the entity was forcing an unstable descent.
“Something’s coming out!”
Just as Rona said, the rift opened, and something emerged.
It was an arm.
The arm of a dark brown giant. The muscles covering it were more than just chiseled; they were like a rugged, rocky mountain, and its wide-open palm seemed large enough to cover the sky.
The unstable rift didn’t open any further, and nothing more than the arm emerged.
He didn’t know whether to call this a relief or not.
“L-Let’s run, for now!”
Rona shouted. He didn’t need to be told. Before the ‘r’ in ‘run’ was even out of her mouth, Jinwoo had already grabbed her and started sprinting.
The orcs were no exception. The very god they had on their backs had appeared, yet they were fleeing in terror—an utterly irreverent sight.
‘I can’t believe he appeared directly!’
Jinwoo hadn’t expected this.
Considering the case of Grisella and the Sky Lord, he had anticipated that the Lord would at most descend into the dead body of Gractar.
BOOM!

KWAGAGAGAGANG!
The arm slammed into the ground and then swept across it. An arm like a giant rock mountain moving like that was a disaster in itself.
Countless orcs who couldn't escape in time were crushed into pulp, dying like insects.
Meanwhile, Jinwoo and Rona had joined the elves from the forest and were also trying to escape. The elves were already busy preparing to flee, carrying those who had lost consciousness or were too injured to move.
Just then, the arm lifted, opened its palm wide, and struck the ground.
But there was no sound, and the ground didn't shatter. The arm passed through the earth like a ghost, reaching deep inside.
“W-What is it?”
“What is it trying to do!?”
The elves, who had been in a state of panic since the arm's appearance, let out groans that were close to screams.
Meanwhile, the arm, having reached deep into the earth, finally pulled out a sword.
A sword drawn from deep within the ground, as if pulled from a star. Like the giant arm, it too was colossal.
Jinwoo, remembering how he had blocked Gractar with the power borrowed from the God of the Moonlight Forest, asked:
‘...Any chance I can borrow the power to block that?’
[The God of the Moonlight Forest shouts.]
[RUN!]
It seemed it was an unreasonable demand.