CHAPTER 227. GOD-GRADE WEAPON
As soon as Round 13 ended and Ryu Min opened his eyes, the first thing he did was go find his younger brother.
“You were eating breakfast?”
“Huh? Hyung! You made it back safe again. Thank goodness. I was worried because you wouldn’t wake up no matter how long I waited.”
It was already 10 a.m., and since Ryu Min still hadn’t opened his eyes, Ryu Won—hungry—had belatedly prepared and started eating breakfast.
“I told you. You don’t need to wait.”
“But how can I not worry? If I wake up and you’re still not awake, I keep going into Plgael and refreshing to see if other players have woken up.”
Plgael was an anonymous community where people posted about players.
For ordinary people, there was no better place than this to get information about players.
“So that’s where you get info. To check whether it’s time for me to come back.”
“Yeah. Ordinary people like us can’t know when the round ends.”
‘Right… the end time is different every round, so ordinary people have no choice but to wait without knowing how long.’
Ryu Min understood his hardship, but that didn’t mean he could tell him when the next round would end.
If he messed up, the existence of the Prophet could be revealed to the world because of his brother.
“You’re not posting anything about me on the community, right?”
“Of course not. I’ve never even written a comment.”
Seeing his brother speak as if he were wronged, Ryu Min relaxed.
“Good. Anyway, don’t worry about me. Does it even make sense for the Prophet to fail to clear a round?”
“Still… you fight monsters a lot, so I can’t help worrying.”
“Did you forget? A year ago, I took down that bully Bang Tae-gyu with my bare hands.”
“He was just an ordinary person. The posts on the community say monsters are so strong you can’t even imagine it.”
“I’m strong too.”
“Still… has it really been a whole year since that happened?”
Ryu Won suddenly felt strange.
Back then, when 1.8 billion people were taken, the whole world had gone insane—yet now they were adapting like it was nothing.
He was the same.
At first, because he was worried about his brother, he stayed up all night with his eyes open—now he slept and ate.
He still worried he might get hurt, but…
‘Who’s worrying about who, seriously.’
Reading his brother’s thoughts, Ryu Min let out a small snort of laughter, then reached out with a serious face.
“Hold on. Don’t be startled.”
“Huh? What is it?”
Light poured from Ryu Min’s hand, then was sucked into Ryu Won’s body as if being absorbed.
“What did you do?”
“A kind of protective device.”
He had placed the Hero’s Protection on his brother.
With this, even if his brother was ambushed by a suspicious person, Invincibility would trigger for ten seconds, and an alarm would appear for him as well—so he could rest easy.
‘I’ll have to stack the Rune of the Hero again. There’ll be an opportunity in Round 16, so it’s not urgent, but still.’
Smiling, Ryu Min sat at the table.
“Get me a meal too. Let’s eat together.”
“Okay.”
After finishing the meal with his brother, Ryu Min returned to his room.
He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling as he organized his plans going forward.
‘The mercenary corps rank is raised up to Master. That means preparations to hunt a dragon are complete.’
After killing archangels, with the time he had left, Ryu Min continued the subjugation quests.
As a result, he was able to raise it to Master, but there wasn’t enough time to hunt a dragon, so he had no choice but to leave it for later.
‘The round where I can go to a fantasy world is Round 17, so I’ll have to hunt the dragon then.’
After that, he thought about what he had to do in the real world.
What came to mind right away was combining a God-grade weapon.
‘Since I’ve thought of it, I’ll start right now.’
He opened the combination window and placed the materials one by one.
[Main Material]
- Corrupted God’s Scythe
[Sub Materials]
- Condensed Ether
- Condensed Ether
- Black Iron Powder
- Adamantium Iron Plate
- Core of Mana
‘Good thing I bought God-grade weapon materials in advance from Heimer.’
And, as if on cue, two archangels had appeared, giving him the Ether he needed as well.
‘Can things really go this smoothly?’
With a brief grin, he pressed the combine button.
[Combining a God-grade item.]
[It will be converted into an item suited to your current profession.]
[Combination successful!]
[You have created ‘Thanatos’ Black Scythe.’]
[Thanatos’ Black Scythe]
- Category: Weapon
- Grade: God
- Attack Power: 4,444
- Effect: The scythe’s width can be increased 5x, and its length can be increased up to 20x. However, the damage is distributed among the number of targets within range. In addition, magic damage equal to 100% of Intelligence is granted to the weapon.
- Durability: 20,000/20,000
- Use Restriction: Master rank or higher
- Description: A weapon made using the divinity of Thanatos, the god of death. When set items are equipped, additional effects are granted.
It felt like a straight upgrade of the Corrupted God’s Scythe he’d been using.
‘It’s way better. Before, the attack power was only 666, and the size only expanded 5x.’
This time, the attack power was an absurdly high 4,444.
And since the scythe could extend up to 20x, if you assumed the scythe’s length was 2.5 meters, he could stab and kill an enemy 50 meters away.
It was also good for widening the scythe’s surface area and sweeping away many enemies.
‘The damage will be distributed accordingly, but that’s actually better. Right now, I’ve become ridiculously strong.’
Compared to the previous run, Ryu Min had become incomparably stronger.
After killing the archangel Remiel, his growth curve shot sharply upward.
Maybe because of that, he felt a bit of regret.
‘If I knew it’d be like this, I should’ve tried killing archangels much earlier.’
This round was the first time he’d killed an archangel.
He hadn’t known he could pile up this much profit through Demon’s Blessing.
‘Back then, the goal was clearing the rounds. I didn’t have any spare room to pick a fight with an archangel.’
More than anything, the first archangel he’d encountered was someone presumed to be Michael, the current 1st-ranked one.
Of course he hadn’t even dared to challenge him.
Because Remiel appeared as a variable, he ended up killing him because he had no choice, but…
‘The water’s already spilled. I can’t avoid fighting archangels. But I can’t just act like “whatever happens, happens,” either.’
Since this was his last chance, he had to be careful with every action.
- Thanatos’ Garment Set Effect (5/5)
- 2-Set Effect: Resistance +20%
- 3-Set Effect: Skill Damage +10%
- 4-Set Effect: Damage Taken -30%
- 5-Set Effect: All set equipment options +10%
Checking the 5-set option effects, Ryu Min let out a satisfied smile.
Just like the equipment Russell had enhanced, he could see the options improved by 10%.
‘And if I receive Russell’s equipment refinement on top of this?’
With multiplicative calculation, the improved options alone would become 32%.
That level would be a huge help.
‘With this, I’ve obtained all God-grade equipment. God-grade accessories can be acquired later by hunting bosses… so now, in the real world, is what I need to do rune work?’
There were a total of five runes he could obtain in the real world.
He had obtained three of them, and only needed the remaining two.
‘Those can be obtained in Round 16, so that’s not urgent. What’s urgent right now is gathering the players.’
Even though the number of players had decreased, there were still about 5,000 players left worldwide.
Among them, there were still human trash who threatened ordinary people.
‘There are definitely countries where players have seized control of the military by force, acting like they’re kings, and enslaving ordinary people.’
If he crushed the trash in those countries and returned freedom to the nation?
He could gain not only the public sentiment of other countries, but also his own country’s—and raise the value of the name Black Scythe.
‘If I do that, I can bring uncontrollable players under me. If they’re controlled, I can save as many people as possible in Round 15.’
Furthermore, if they moved under the name of the Reaper Church, its prestige would spread widely as well.
‘This time, unlike when I dealt with IS, I won’t move quietly. I should publicly announce that I’ll help countries in need, take reports, and then move.’
That was why he had laid the groundwork.
As a squad leader of the C.P.F., as a righteous judge who executed IS.
Now was the time to move above the surface.
‘I’ll need the president’s help.’
With a faint grin, Ryu Min rummaged through Lostyak’s phone to find a number.
It was the Blue House number—the one he had refused not long ago when he’d been offered a presidential commendation.
[Where is Michael?]
[He went into the Akashic Records to hear the news. He told us to wait just a little.]
At Raphael’s words, Gabriel nodded.
A moment later, Michael appeared in the conference hall along with light.
[You have arrived, Michael.]
[Have you been waiting long?]
[Not at all. More importantly, the news is—]
Michael shook his head, acting out a grim expression.
That gesture alone was enough to make Gabriel and Raphael recoil in shock.
They had never even considered the possibility that the assassination would fail.
[Even Raguel and Uriel failed…….]
[I-is that certain, Michael? Could there be some mistake—]
[Certain? Of course it’s certain. I just came back after personally seeing the record in the Akashic Records of how Raguel and Uriel died. They fought an evenly matched battle, but in the end, they lost.]
“Evenly matched” was a lie.
‘They were overwhelmed. Even I didn’t expect that level of combat power.’
Black Scythe was stronger than expected.
And yet, Michael concealed the fact that the archangels had been overwhelmingly defeated.
If he said it out loud, it would be troublesome if they insisted he needed to step in.
‘It’s better to say it was close. If I step in, I’d have no choice but to kill Black Scythe.’
If possible, he shouldn’t be the one to move.
He still had no desire to cut open the belly of the goose that laid golden eggs.
Michael continued, still wearing a grim face.
[Not only those two, but 200 angels of the 5th rank also died.]
[5th-rank angels? Did Uriel and Raguel bring soldiers with them?]
[They probably intended to solve it between themselves without telling us. In the end, they were wiped out to the last.]
[He was unexpectedly strong. Black Scythe.]
As he said that, Gabriel sank deep into thought.
It looked like he was devising a breakthrough.
‘This is bad. No one can withstand Gabriel’s schemes.’
Even if Black Scythe had overwhelmingly defeated archangels, if Gabriel moved in earnest, it would inevitably become dangerous.
After all, it was Gabriel’s brilliant stratagem that led them to victory in the Fifth Cheonma Great War that happened 200 years ago.
‘I played a big role too, but in a way, you could say the main figure of that war was Gabriel.’
The higher-ups were watching closely, expecting Gabriel to shine in the upcoming Seventh Cheonma Great War as well.
He was a talent who carried that much expectation—so if he truly stepped in, Michael might no longer be able to protect Black Scythe.
‘Who would’ve thought things would reach a point where Gabriel steps in? Black Scythe dealt with the archangels too quickly, faster than expected.’
He needed to find a way.
A way to stop Gabriel from stepping in—another method.
That was when Raphael broke the silence.
[Michael. This can’t go on. I think it’s our turn to move now.]
[So it seems.]
[How about we don’t drag it out—how about we go down to the human world all at once and kill Black Scythe?]
[Even me?]
[Yes.]
At Raphael’s suggestion, Michael deliberately put on a dissatisfied expression.
[For the sake of catching a mere bug, must I step in? I, who am the heaven above heaven?]
[But it may be difficult with just me and Gabriel, so—]
[How shocking. To think the 2nd and 3rd ranked archangels are frightened of a single human.]
[We are not frightened. It is simply in the interest of tying things off for certain that I make this suggestion.]
[Even so, my pride will not allow me to step in.]
[But—]
[Enough, Raphael.]
Gabriel, having finished his thoughts, cut Raphael off.
[There is no need for Michael to move. And it’s not necessary for the two of us to move either.]
[What are you saying? Gabriel? You won’t move?]
When Michael asked with startled eyes, Gabriel explained the stratagem he had come up with.
Hearing it, Michael had to control his expression as best he could to hide his shock.
That was how effective it was—and how fatal a scheme it would be for Black Scythe.
‘This is bad. If they really use that operation, Black Scythe will…’
Round 14 might bring the curtain down on everything.
[What do you think, Michael? Shall we begin the operation at once?]
[Hmm. It’s not a bad operation.]
[I’ll take that as acceptance and proceed.]
[Fine. I will speak with Nemesis.]
[Thank you.]
‘Haah… this is a mess. This time, it really might be dangerous, Black Scythe.’
The other archangels did not see Michael’s troubled expression.