CHAPTER 99: It Didn't Happen
A torrent of light swept through the path between the cliffs. The sturdy cliffs didn't break, but Vertus was helplessly caught in the blast.

Kalesian snorted at the sight, but a moment later, Vertus reappeared in mid-air, completely unharmed. He hadn't blocked Kalesian's breath, but it seemed he had managed to dodge it.

"I am often told that I talk too much for an orc."

Seeing his composed demeanor, Kalesian's face twisted in annoyance. At the same time, magic circles enveloped Vertus, forming a sphere that blocked him in from all directions to prevent his escape.

A fireball shot out from it and struck him directly.

"Keuk…!"

This time, it was a direct hit. His entire body was covered in horrific burns, and smoke billowed from his mouth. For a normal person—no, even for a normal orc—the shock from the burns alone would have been instantly fatal.

But the next moment, a black energy flickered, and all his wounds healed. Seeing this, Kalesian clicked his tongue.

"Tsk, right, he was a healer."

Vertus was a very famous healer on the 3rd Floor. He had established a clinic and treated the injured free of charge, earning the gratitude of many.

Seeing his current healing speed, simply wounding him wouldn't be enough. Unless he could be killed in a single blow, he would be difficult to take down.

Just then, Jinwoo felt a strange sense of unease from the orc's flame.

‘It changed.’

The shape of Vertus's Black Flame had shifted slightly. It wasn't a major change, but it was too distinct to be a natural flicker.

The next moment, the Black Flame moved again. A chilling sensation washed over Jinwoo, and he shouted.

"Kalesian! Dodge!"

"…!"

Kalesian flinched at the sudden cry. Still, his reaction wasn't slow, and he quickly pulled back with Mahiri.

But he was a little too late.

"Kuaaaargh!"

Half of Kalesian's body was covered in burns. He hadn't been engulfed in flames, yet his scales turned black and his flesh cooked solid underneath.

It wasn't a fatal wound for a dragon, but considering he was in a hatchling's body, it was a serious injury.

‘That wound is…’

Jinwoo had seen the burn Kalesian suffered before. He didn't have to look far—it was just moments ago. It was an exact replica of the burn Kalesian had inflicted on Vertus.

"You have good instincts. How did you know?"

Vertus looked at Jinwoo with curious eyes.

His ability, the authority granted to him by his Lord, had no particular tell. It required no incantations or actions to heal or harm an opponent.

If he had to name one, it was the line of sight or presence he used to confirm and set the range of his authority.

But he didn't necessarily have to see his target, so until now, no one had ever dodged or blocked this power.

‘But how…?’

For the first time, someone had appeared. A man who knew his power was in motion and warned another.

"Kang Jinwoo. There is something I wish to discuss with you, and you alone."

"…I don't have anything special to say to you."

Jinwoo said, wary of Vertus. More accurately, he was wary of his flame.

Vertus's flame had returned to its original state. It had changed slightly when he healed his own burns, and it returned to normal after inflicting the burn on Kalesian.

This meant that his power, his soul—the Black Flame—was deeply involved.

"Don't be so cold…"

Vertus glanced at Jinwoo's surroundings. Kalesian was busy healing his immediate burns. Mahiri was clearly a woman who could do nothing; she seemed to be a familiar who assisted Kalesian.

But the one Vertus was most wary of was the light near Jinwoo.

"Let's talk for a moment."

He snapped his fingers. The thick fingers of the orc made a dull sound that echoed through the cliffs.

A barrier unfurled, swallowing both Vertus and Jinwoo. It was the Lord of War's barrier that had originally covered this path.

Although Jinwoo had distorted the entrance to reach this path, he had, quite literally, only broken the entrance, not the barrier itself. To destroy the barrier, he would have to steal the Lord of War's sacred object.

Swept into the barrier, Jinwoo witnessed a scene far more overwhelming than anything he had seen before.

"This is…"

A barren wasteland. As far as the eye could see, where the horizon should be, was a sea of green.

Orcs, ogres, goblins, and other green-skinned races. Their eyes glowed red, and they growled like beasts from their mouths. Above all, their numbers were staggering.

Jinwoo had seen plenty of monster hordes before, but never one so numerous that it took his breath away. Perhaps this was what those who had witnessed the million-man armies from history books felt.

"Kang Jinwoo. My god desires one thing from you."

Unlike the green horde covering the wasteland, Vertus, who was in the sky, showed no distinct killing intent.

He wasn't particularly trying to kill Jinwoo. Because his god did not want Jinwoo's head.

"You have the scabbard you took from the Sky God's temple, don't you? My god desires that item above all other sacred objects. If you hand it over, I will let you go peacefully."

Vertus raised his hand. With just a signal, the green wave would crash down upon Jinwoo.

He knew Jinwoo was strong, but there was a limit. The strength of a single individual could not stop this tide.

Jinwoo replied.

"Get lost."

Simultaneously, the green wave surged toward him.

The orcs and ogres flooded in like a tidal wave. Many were crushed to death by the pressure of their own comrades, but they didn't stop.

The green horde, trampling over the corpses of their fallen allies, was filled with madness. The smell of their comrades' blood only excited them further as they charged.

‘Tsk!’

Jinwoo clicked his tongue and cut them down. One strike, one kill. Every time his sword flashed, an orc's head flew.

Individually, they weren't difficult opponents. They were foes he could kill with a simple flick of his wrist.

But there were just too many. Their numbers were so great that a single sword couldn't handle them all, forcing Jinwoo to constantly retreat while swinging his blade.

‘What should I do? Do you have any good ideas?’

[The God of the Moonlight Forest shakes her head.]

The power of blessing flowed from the glass bead, assisting Jinwoo, but she had no brilliant solution.

If she could wield her power to the extent Chartia could, it would have been a great help, but all she could do was use her blessing to maintain Jinwoo's vitality.

That was a big help, but it wasn't a way to deal with the wave right in front of him.

‘And I can't even see the Lord of Light.’

It seemed he was the only one dragged into the barrier, as the cluster of light that had been following him was nowhere to be seen. He was truly alone.

‘If I can just take care of Vertus, I can manage somehow.’

But how could he fight his way up this torrent to kill him?

Once, Jinwoo stepped on an ogre's knee and landed on its shoulder. From there, he attempted to approach Vertus by jumping to the next ogre's shoulder.

But Vertus didn't just stand by. As soon as Jinwoo showed signs of approaching, his Black Flame would invariably flicker.

‘It's coming…!’

When that happened, Jinwoo had no choice but to retreat again. As he pulled back, the shoulder of the ogre he had just been on split open, and blood shot into the air.

This happened several times. Jinwoo was gradually getting a grasp of his opponent's ability.

‘If it were something like a flying sword aura, I could have deflected it.’

Vertus's ability manifested across space. It was more fitting to say it "appeared" rather than "flew."

And based on Kalesian's case, the attack he unleashed was likely one of the wounds he had healed in the past.

‘Can he manifest a healed wound directly onto an enemy?’

It was a rather annoying ability. He wasn't cutting himself, but recreating a wound that had been inflicted in the past.

Furthermore, Vertus showed no tell when he used his authority. There were no incantations, no glances, no hand or foot gestures.

If it weren't for Jinwoo's ability to see the Black Flame, he would have been hit without knowing what happened.

"Amazing! How on earth are you dodging? Is it some kind of wild instinct?"

That was why Vertus was all the more impressed.

How does he know and dodge it? Is he reading the timing of the attack and moving his body?

If that were true, it meant his opponent had completely seen through his psychology. To have such observational skills after only a short confrontation…

‘But there must be a limit.’

In short, he was continuously winning the psychological battle. But he couldn't win forever. If he kept attacking, a moment would come when he misread, and that one moment would be enough to inflict a fatal wound.

‘I have plenty of leftover wounds, anyway.’

The wounds he had stored up over his long years as a healer were more than enough. He had enough to fight thousands more battles like this.

Having confirmed that Jinwoo was good at dodging, Vertus changed his strategy altogether and began to scatter wounds everywhere his will could reach.

Orcs and ogres were caught in the crossfire, spewing blood as they fell without knowing why. On the chaotic battlefield where a constant spray of blood erupted, Jinwoo had to keep moving without a moment's rest.

If he stopped for even a second, Vertus's authority would fly at him instantly.

‘What do I do…?’

Jinwoo pondered as he dodged. To approach his target, he had to break through the horde of orcs and continuously evade his authority.

Even while thinking, Jinwoo didn't stop his sword or his feet. Vertus, too, continued to track Jinwoo by scattering his authority. The only ones dying in between were the orcs.

‘…To counterattack, I have to take a hit once.’

In a situation where he was completely on the defensive, he needed to receive an attack to launch a counter.

If it were a normal sword strike or magic, he could have somehow deflected it while approaching, but his opponent's ability was not that kind.

‘In that case…’

Having made up his mind, Jinwoo drew the sword he had received from Bulkar. The sword was in the Sky God's scabbard, and for a moment, Vertus's eyes gleamed.

The scabbard his god, his lord, desperately desired.

Jinwoo drew the sword and unleashed Kanok's spell. Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang! Lightning struck down, and a blinding light flashed for an instant.

Using that brief flash of light, Jinwoo ran, stepping on the charred corpses of the orcs.

When the momentary light faded, from Vertus's perspective, it was as if Jinwoo had teleported right in front of him. Still, he didn't panic. As if he had predicted it, he unleashed a fatal wound in Jinwoo's path.

Normally, this would be the timing for Jinwoo, having read the activation of the authority, to dodge back or to the side. But Jinwoo pushed forward instead, and at the same time, Vertus's eyes flashed.

‘You madman!’

Did he know what kind of wound he had unleashed, to charge in so thoughtlessly?

Jinwoo's intention was clear. He was banking on being able to land a counter if he could just endure it once.

But among the wounds he possessed, there were countless severe injuries that would render a person immobile the moment they were inflicted. And the one manifesting now was the wound of a soldier who had been stabbed in the heart with a spear on a past battlefield.

As a round hole opened in Jinwoo's chest and blood seeped out, Vertus's eyes curved into a smile. His gaze focused on the wound. A piercing wound that would tear through flesh and skewer the heart.

However, what he was anticipating did not happen.

His authority tore through Jinwoo's flesh, severed his muscles, and broke his bones, but it failed to pierce his heart.

The authority that reached the heart could not penetrate the golden energy protecting it and ended up only destroying the surrounding area.

Thus, with a hole in his chest but his heart protected by the power of the Golden Apple, Jinwoo succeeded in approaching Vertus.

"What the—!?"

As Vertus hastily tried to dodge, Jinwoo sliced his neck in a single blow.