Chapter 372: Luke Finally Responds to the ‘Puppet of the Gods’ Accusation!

Meanwhile, Emberlyn’s icy-blue draconic eyes remained fixed on the battlefield, and the surprise on her face became harder and harder to conceal, because she had already known Luke was strong for his rank, but seeing him physically overpower a B-Rank Orc using a transformed battle state still felt absurd.

’He was not this stable before...’

That was the part that drew her attention the most, because Luke was not flailing around with borrowed strength, nor was he pushing himself recklessly for a single clash, and instead seemed to be growing more precise with every exchange, as though he were gradually adjusting his body to a new and more dangerous standard.

So seeing this she became confused, because she didn’t know, that Luke was using inner cosmic system.

Yarvokh clearly realized it as well, which was why his anger became more violent.

"ROOOOAR!"

The phantom lunged forward and threw a barrage of punches, and this time Luke did not meet every strike directly, but moved into the attack pattern itself, slipping past one fist, deflecting the next with his forearm, ducking beneath a sweeping backhand, and driving an elbow into the giant arm joint before spinning out of range and kicking the phantom’s knee.

BAAAM! THUD! KRAK!

The phantom staggered half a step, and before it could recover, Luke pivoted on his heel and launched a roundhouse kick into its ribs with enough force to unleash another shockwave across the battlefield.

BOOOOM!

Several nearby trees snapped from the pressure alone, while others bent sharply before collapsing sideways into the fractured terrain.

Yarvokh snarled, then suddenly clasped both hands together and brought them down like a giant axe strike, forcing Luke to cross his arms and block. The impact still pushed him backward this time, dragging his boots through the dirt for dozens of meters, yet even while sliding, Luke remained balanced, and the inner cosmic system within him continued rotating with cold efficiency.

SHRIIIIK!

His feet carved two long lines across the ruined ground, and once the backward momentum weakened, he pressed down, halted instantly, and burst forward again.

FWOOOSH!

He crossed the distance in a breath and seized the phantom’s forearm with both hands. The moment his grip tightened, the miniature celestial bodies inside him shifted again, causing the muscles of his arms, shoulders, and back to tense under a fresh surge of force.

Yarvokh’s expression changed.

Because Luke did not merely stop the arm.

He twisted it.

KRRRRRK!

The red energy limb warped unnaturally, and cracks of unstable light spread from Luke’s hands along the phantom’s arm all the way to the shoulder.

"GHHHAAAH!"

Yarvokh’s pained roar echoed from within the chest of the giant phantom, and before he could pull away, Luke stepped in and slammed his forehead into the phantom’s face.

BAAAM!

The head jerked backward, one horn partly fractured, and Luke immediately followed with three brutal body blows, each one landing lower than the last.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!

The first crushed the chest inward.

The second made the torso convulse.

The third sent a wave of crimson cracks racing through the phantom’s entire frame.

At this point, even the C-Rank Orcs could no longer hide their alarm.

"It is breaking!"

"Lord Yarvokh’s ancestor form is breaking!"

"How can a D-Rank body endure this?"

Their voices carried panic now, because the battlefield had long since expanded beyond the initial area, with torn trenches, shattered boulders, and uprooted trees already stretching well beyond a hundred meters, while several heavier collisions had sent damage rippling across nearly five hundred meters of land, and although Yarvokh’s attacks were powerful enough to leave deep marks across the battlefield, the wider destruction was clearly being driven by Luke’s side of the exchange.

Yarvokh himself felt it more bitterly than any observer.

Every time he struck Luke, the giant either endured it as though it were tolerable or redirected the force before countering with something heavier, sharper, and more punishing, and the longer the fight continued, the more he felt as though he were not battling a normal giant at all, but some compact monster wearing the giant skin.

"No..." Yarvokh growled through blood-stained teeth. "No, this should not be possible..."

Luke did not answer immediately, because in the middle of battle, he had no interest in wasting his breath on words that would change nothing, and after avoiding another clawed swing from the phantom, he stepped inside its reach, drove his fist upward into its chin, and then spoke only once the giant body reeled backward.

"It is possible," he said calmly, "because you are not the only one getting stronger."

The next instant, Luke bent his knees and exploded upward.

BOOOOM!

The ground beneath him collapsed in a burst of dirt and rock, and he rose high enough to reach the phantom’s upper chest before drawing back his right arm, while inside him the inner cosmic system rotated to a sharper rhythm, causing the aligned force of his body to condense into that single fist.

Even Nyx’s expression shifted at that.

Caelith’s gaze sharpened.

Sevaroth fell silent.

And Emberlyn’s breath caught for a moment.

Luke’s punch came down.

BAAAAAAAAAAM!

The blow landed directly against the center of the red phantom’s chest, right where Yarvokh’s body was fused within it, and the impact this time was different from the previous ones, because rather than merely knocking the giant backward, it sent a dense wave of force straight through the entire construct.

For half a second, everything seemed to freeze.

Then the cracks spread.

KRRRRAAAAAK!

They raced from the point of impact to the shoulders, down both arms, across the torso, through the legs, and up toward the horned head, until the entire fifty-foot phantom became a web of crimson fractures.

Yarvokh’s eyes widened.

But Luke did not stop.

With his left hand, he caught the giant by the neck, pulled the collapsing phantom slightly forward, and then drove a final punch into the already-broken chest.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The ancestor phantom exploded.

A storm of shattered red energy erupted across the battlefield like broken glass made of light, and the blast flattened the remaining trees closest to them while loose boulders were hurled away and chunks of earth rolled across the ruined ground.

At the center of that destruction, Yarvokh’s real body was blasted out of the phantom’s chest and thrown through the air like a broken rag, his entire frame bloodied, his skin cracked in multiple places, and his mouth spilling a spray of blood before he crashed across the torn battlefield.

THUD! THUD! SKRRAAAK!

His body bounced once, then dragged violently across the fractured earth before finally coming to a stop amid broken stone and uprooted roots, while the last fragments of the destroyed phantom dissolved into the air above him.

---

"Ugghh... It can’t be..." Yarvokh muttered in disbelief while clutching his fractured, bloodied chest, struggling to comprehend how he had been defeated so thoroughly.

"I was meant to be supreme."

His breathing grew increasingly ragged as blood continued leaking from his wounds, yet the unwillingness in his eyes remained.

"I was supposed to bring glory to my tribe."

THUD.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps reached him, and Yarvokh slowly raised his head, finding Luke approaching through the ruined battlefield.

THUD. THUD.

With each approaching step, different emotions passed through Yarvokh’s bloodied eyes as he stared at the twenty-foot-tall armored figure.

’If I had been as strong as him, would we still have been forced to flee our home?’

Unfortunately, no matter how much he wished otherwise, the reality was already before him, and realizing how powerless he had been against Luke, Yarvokh couldn’t help letting out a self-mocking laugh.

"Heh... The puppets of those gods really are strong."

"COUGH! COUGH!"

Before he could say anything further, another violent coughing fit seized him, causing fresh blood to spill from his mouth while his already deteriorating condition worsened.

THUD.

Luke continued approaching without showing any concern for his condition, and after finally arriving before the wounded Orc, he stopped and looked down at him.

"I don’t know shit about these puppets of the gods," Luke said casually, making Yarvokh raise his head to look directly at the armored giant towering above him.