◈ Episode 556. The Contract

The God of War.

To put it another way, it is a martial god.

No man, not even a god, could touch his power.

It was a kind of common knowledge. Surpassing a god who rules over martial arts would be impossible even for the Weapon Master of the Arcana Continent, who is said to have mastered all weapons.

But.

“……!”

Something outside of common sense was happening.

To be precise.

Beings outside of common sense were on the rampage.

“Ugh.”

God of War did not lose. He hadn’t allowed a single attack from the nine of them, and even when they were in the midst of a fight, he’d cut them down several times.

And yet.

“It’s a damn ignorant power, really?”

Creeping.

No matter how many times I cut and sliced them, they revived. It was constantly charging at him, shedding dark shadows in place of the blood that had already drained away.

The God of War gritted his teeth.

‘Half-penny bastard.’

So much for wasting away in the Shadow Corridors.

Think about strategies and tactics.

You don’t have the ability to devise a plan that I can’t foil.

‘The miracle of resurrection is not something that can be performed by someone like you.

Bang.

“I broke my hair because of you, bastard.”

Dudeuk.

“What the fuck, you broke it again?”

I snap the man’s neck again and think to myself.

I have to do something.

How can I crush these nine scum once and for all.

‘A shadow contract, I see.’

It’s not a half-penny for nothing.

His lack of deity means he can’t be worshipped by anyone. Therefore, he must have made a ‘contract’ with them. And according to the terms of the contract, they’ve gained powers they don’t understand.

tug.

“Gee, I wonder when they got here.”

Quack.

With a light push, Wolfe’s arm holding the crossbow is ripped away.

To get a better look at the enemy.

He squeezes his severed forearm and examines it.

Seuseuseu.

The forearm becomes a shadow, slips through his grasp, and returns to its original position.

The God of War watched, then thought.

‘The contractor, Halfpenny, is already dead.’

A contract cannot be honored when the contracting party is dead.

So why is their contract still being honored?

My rapidly spinning brain came up with an answer.

“Haha, you crazy bastard.”

The God of War burst out laughing.

“You have surrendered your godhood to a mere mortal.”

Have you truly surrendered your godhood to a mere mortal?

If so, the answer is simple. The human, the one who hasn’t been in combat since earlier, must be the owner of the contract. Tear her apart and all questions will be answered.

‘I had a bad feeling about this.’

The silence of the relic.

Karma.

The Shadow God’s will.

“It was a transition in its own way.”

It cleared up a lot of clutter in my head.

I felt slightly refreshed.

The God of War didn’t think complicatedly.

‘Even if our karma is similar.’

It’s just as well, because if I kill this man, I can earn more karma without much effort. In a battle of martial arts, I would never lose.

‘If that happens…….’

King of the Demon World.

I will have the power to counter even Bael, the first of the thrones, a demon of unrivaled power. The God of War, his eyes glowed with a maddening light.

‘I am the one who stands at the end of it all.’

kkug.

“Kugh, why did the great God of War capture me while I was still quiet?”

The woman, Kichi, asked while being held by the neck. The God of War did not speak. All that mattered was confirmation. Then, with a snap, Kichi’s neck snapped.

Judging by the sound.

Nine’s shadows were instantly dispersed.

It had to disperse as a broken contract.

A sneer in his ear.

“By the way, how about……?”

“…….”

“Wrong, right?”

Bang.

The God of War stomped the ground.

The Pantheon shatters, its shards rising into the air.

With a single willpower, he scatters the shards in all directions.

“You crazy bastard……!!!”

If killing them one by one didn’t work, then killing them all at once would. Some would say it was impossible, but to the God of War, it was perfectly possible.

Swoosh.

The spear crashes through the debris.

pupupupupug.

Nine popping sounds.

At the same time, the spear, thrown like a thunderbolt in a parabolic arc, was caught in his grasp. The God of War pauses for breath. Not because the battle is daunting. He breathed to calm his rage.

“Whoa.”

But nothing changed.

A stuffy chest.

Boring scenery too.

Not even the smug voice.

“No matter how hard you try, it’s the same story. You’re just a nuisance.”

“You can’t get away from us. Do you understand, asshole?”

“That’s what our contract is.”

I know.

Contracts are heavy.

Especially when God is involved.

‘That’s why.’

That’s why his servant, Guyver, was able to handle the relic. A weak, frail creature whose body would normally have oxidized just by touching the relic.

‘However, if the person bound by the contract dies, the contract is forfeited.’

No one can deny the rules.

What tricks were hidden in the contract.

There was no point in speculating further.

There was only one way to find out.

Let them speak first.

The God of War smiled crookedly.

“Torture is an integral part of war.”

.

Suddenly.

“Holy shit!”

Rockid yelled.

The fucking heat was unbearable, more so than the pain. He realized that he must have run from him dozens of times, but he hadn’t gotten to him once.

“Does this bastard not even know business ethics? If it’s that big, you should at least slow down. What can you do if your strength is so strong and so fast……?!”

Poof.

Of course, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

The God of War swung his spear.

It was Rockid’s turn to be decapitated.

Thud.

Wolfe prepared to fire from a distance.

His bolts never hit the target.

Wolfe’s expression wasn’t too bad.

“You’re glad, aren’t you, Captain?”

“Sseub. I’m dying from pain, what?”

“That we can keep a monster like that on a leash.”

Kichi shrugged.

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

God’s omnipotence?

It was Kichi that she had come to realize when she took over a part of her godhood through the Shadow God. The Shadow God, he was truly an imperfect god.

“It’s a monster, really.”

Kichi’s lips twitched.

“That’s why I can’t give you the essence, because I made you an insane offer. Who knew there was such a crazy monster waiting for you?”

Tsk.

Kichi added, holding up his hand in disbelief.

“So……. I’m sorry, everyone.”

Some might call it power.

The ability to die and come back to life.

It was literally an incredible ability.

It was what allowed the Shadow Mercenaries to become the big shots of the underworld.

To be able to succeed in impossible missions.

All because of this power.

But Kichi’s thoughts never changed.

“To knowingly be drawn into such a terrible curse.”

The inability to die is a curse.

Kichi had felt it more than most.

This time, Wolfe, who had been listening in silence, shrugged.

“Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but Rockid looks like he’s having fun.”

“……I’ll leave that idiot out of it, then.”

“And I don’t feel bad about it, actually.”

“Are you crazy too?”

“No, I’m just feeling lucky, just like the captain.”

Wolfe, he too was strategizing.

“I can keep that thing out of the hands of the commander-in-chief.”

The quote was already in her head.

Even if we could revive indefinitely, we could not defeat the God of War. But we can keep the God of War on his feet while reviving indefinitely, the calculation goes.

“He’s not fighting at full strength, and yet he’s tearing us apart, analyzing us coldly, and the risk is too great to send him to the Commander in Chief.”

Wolfe adds.

“In many ways.”

Kichi understood immediately.

“Exactly, Wolfe.”

Commander in Chief Lee Hoyeol.

It didn’t mean he would fight the God of War and lose.

What will happen during the battle?

It meant that no one could guess.

Yes, they had witnessed it on Jeju Island, where Paimon had appeared.

Hoyeol’s ‘Infinitely Deep Darkness’.

A severe injury.

They hadn’t been able to attend the meeting afterward, but they’d read it in the atmosphere.

The concerned glances were directed at him.

‘To him in such a situation.’

I had no intention of throwing that monster at him.

In a way, I’m glad I didn’t.

I don’t know what happened.

Suddenly, the voice of a Shadow God spoke.

-“This contract is subordinate.”

“For He is great beyond measure in so many ways.”

-“I serve him, which means he is the master of this contract.”

The Shadow God.

I never thought I’d hear him say he serves Hoyeol himself.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it.

What the hell was going on in the Shadow Corridors?

Even as she wondered sincerely, Kichi sobered.

‘Even if he can’t be defeated, we must hang on to him desperately.’

Closer and closer.

Rockid’s escape time was getting shorter.

It was not they who were adjusting to this battle, but the God of War.

“Well, let’s go again.”

Someone would look at this and say, Isn’t this a pointless fight?

A pointless fight.

But that’s exactly what Kichi wanted.

Keeping the God of War in the Pantheon, no matter how pointless, because there’s no telling what the consequences of letting him loose on the Arcana continent and the world of adventurers might be.

The price of preventing an uncertain future was too low.

Their own deaths.

Technically, suffering to the point of death.

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, infinitely.

‘Is this a good deal?’

The former leader of the Shadow Mercenaries concluded.

A deal with nothing to lose, surely.

But that Kichi’s wish did not come true.

“……Why?”

Because it wasn’t a contract that ‘someone’ would tolerate.

ttogag.

The sound of footsteps was too loud to ignore.

The God of War, he turned his head first.

The troupe members locked eyes with their master, the owner of the contract.

Kichi’s pupils fluttered wildly.

‘……Dangerous.’

The God of War never stopped killing, not even for a moment.

If he rushed at the Commander in Chief like that, he might not make it out alive, even if he was the Commander in Chief.

But.

“…….”

Kichi was wrong again.

Despite making eye contact with Hoyeol, the God of War did not charge.

Instead, he took steps.

……seug.

One step, two steps, three steps.

It was even stomping backwards.

What the hell is going on?

It wasn’t easy to figure out why.

As with anything, you only see what you know.

Kichi and the rest of the troupe couldn’t see it.

A halo of fiery Karma.

God of War.

He thought as he unconsciously took a step back.

His mind, skilled in strategy and tactics, spun.

‘……I can’t even begin to fathom the karma.’

An immeasurable karma that not one, but all the worlds, could not acquire in a single moment was flowing from a mere mortal man.

At that sight, the God of War realized for the first time in his life.

At this moment.

[The God of War experiences a status abnormality, ‘Fear’].

I was faced with terror.

.

[Karma: 6,424]