Chapter 458

The problem was.

'Only exactly one works.'

The amount of divine power he had gathered through gritted teeth so far was at a level where casually churning out a regular divinity would be a joke.

To think that even pouring out all those massive resources, the limit was paying for exactly one person's portion.

'Then again.'

Thinking differently, it was a matter of elevating a Lord-class status to the next level.

He might actually have to be thankful that such a thing was possible with merely consumable materials like divine power.

As for divine power, wouldn't it eventually become a stockpiled currency as the number of believers increased anyway.

'Then, who should I choose?'

Stroking his chin gently, Kim Minwoo looked behind him.

The four Legion Commanders.

The possibility of promotion Kim Minwoo muttered had already clearly pierced their ears as well.

The first to break the silence was, as expected, Merhen, who boasted a blind affection and possessiveness toward her master.

— Minwoo! Minwoo!

Seureureuk—!

Flying in like leaping through space with her silver hair fluttering, Merhen tightly linked her arms with Kim Minwoo's, looked up, and sparkled her eyes.

— You're giving it to me, right? I use magic really well these days! I got an Ice Domain too, and I seal magic amazingly well!

Merhen clinging to him while confidently puffing out her chest.

However, before her aegyo-filled appeal could finish, a heavy and dry voice cleaved the empty air.

— What a joke. The vanguard of the grand legion is, as it has always been, the role of this Cedric.

Cheolgeureok—!

Clashing his bone armor engraved with golden dragon scales, Cedric stepped forward.

The blue eye glints inside his empty skull were burning more fiercely than ever.

— The one who opens the gates of the battlefield is me, the shield and the spear. Master, if you grant me a status one step higher, I will pierce through everything blocking our path in a single breath.

— Ha! What is the skeleton saying! A shield? What a joke!

Kwaaaaang—!

This time, a massive black flame exploded, and Vulcan abruptly cut in.

— Master! The battlefield is ultimately firepower! If a status one step higher is added to this Vulcan's black flame, the destructive power of the entire legion will be on a different dimension! Let me do it first!

The sight of the three Legion Commanders surrounding Kim Minwoo, each raising their voices to appeal their utility value.

The 4th Legion Commander Olivia was looking at that pandemonium with languid sunset-colored eyes, leaning diagonally in the shadow.

"Everyone is just ignorantly showing off their strength. How noisy."

Olivia let out a cynical chuckle and flicked her long, pale fingernail.

"Necromancer. You like rational things. Ignorant area-of-effect skills or tanking like that are overflowing even with their current specs. What is truly efficient is an assassination that cleanly lops off the enemy commander's neck without shedding a single drop of blood. Give it to me."

— How dare a rookie who hasn't even been here long!

— Olivia, you stay in the back! Minwoo unconditionally goes with me first!

— If we're going by order of hierarchy, it is naturally my turn first.

Cedric growling at each other, Vulcan spewing flames, Merhen raising her parasol, and even Olivia being sarcastic.

The four transcendent monsters who shook the Demon Realm and the Heavenly Realm began to bicker and engage in a battle of nerves like fierce beasts begging their owner for snacks.

Watching these four quietly, Kim Minwoo pressed his forehead as if he had a headache.

'Not a single one of them is wrong.'

All four had a valid point in what they were claiming.

Cedric, the tanker who will open up the battlefield and hold out.

Merhen, who collapses the magic ecosystem itself.

Vulcan, of overwhelming firepower.

Even Olivia, who guarantees confirmed kills from the shadows.

No matter who he grew first, there would be no tactical regrets.

He would elevate the status of all four eventually once divine power was gathered again anyway.

It was merely a difference in the order.

Of course, that order was a very important matter to the Legion Commanders' pride, but.

"……Haa. Let's just go fairly."

Kim Minwoo said, tapping Hell Rhapsody on the floor with a tuk.

"I'll do it for all of you anyway, so don't fight. The order is decided by luck. Play rock-paper-scissors."

— ……Rock-paper-scissors?

"…… Necromancer, you're going to decide this great leap in status with such child's play?"

"Yeah, if you're annoyed, draw the last number ticket."

At Kim Minwoo's firm declaration, the Legion Commanders went mute as if they had eaten honey.

Eventually, the four transcendent monsters reluctantly gathered in a circle. A rock-paper-scissors matchup that would astonish the entire universe had been arranged.

"Now, shoot. Rock, paper……."

『Freeze.』

The moment a chilling heavenly word flowed out from between Merhen's lips.

Jjeojeojeok—!

Before Cedric and Vulcan could even extend their hands, their wrist joints were tightly frozen by absolute zero cold and forcibly fixed in the shape of a fist.

— What?

— Hey! What kind of bullshit is this!

[Cedric activates Dragon Strike!]

Pachang!

The split second Cedric forcibly exploded Drakan's dragon scales to shatter the ice and was about to throw scissors.

Kim Minwoo's chilling voice cleaved the training ground.

"Magic forbidden, martial force forbidden, do it purely with your hands. If you use gimmicks to cheat again, I'll immediately fix your turn as the very last."

— ……Tsk.

Merhen pouted her lips and withdrew her staff, and Cedric and Vulcan also huffed and withdrew their magic power.

A fair physical rock-paper-scissors.

A match dominated solely by psychological warfare and luck.

"Rock-paper-scissors!"

Tak.

Four hands cleaved the empty air simultaneously.

"……."

"……."

"……."

Rock-paper-scissors.

Cedric's fist.

Vulcan's fist.

Merhen's rock.

And.

"Oh my, it's paper?"

Olivia alone was smiling languidly with her hand spread out as paper.

"I won."

Her sunset-colored eyes curved into half-moons annoyingly.

— Th-this is invalid! That mosquito definitely played a trick!

— Minwoo! I can do really well! Can't we just do it one more time?!

— ……They say luck is a skill too, but this is deplorable.

Ignoring the Legion Commanders jumping up and down, unable to accept the result, Kim Minwoo gestured toward Olivia.

"Come here, Olivia. You're the first one."

Curling up the corners of her mouth longly, Olivia walked lightly toward Kim Minwoo's front.

"An excellent choice, Necromancer."

Slamming Hell Rhapsody onto the floor, Kim Minwoo concentrated his consciousness through the Crown of the Supreme Sovereign of Death.

He tore off a massive chunk of the pure divine power of a Higher God that had filled his soul vessel and poured it toward Olivia.

[Crown of the Supreme Sovereign of Death — Divine Creation activates!]

[Consumes massive divine power to overlay the designated target's status one dimension higher!]

[Target: 4th Legion Commander Olivia]

Paaaaaaaat————!

Something began to drain from deep within Kim Minwoo's soul vessel.

Quietly at first.

Then rapidly.

The massive divine power he had scraped together, squeezing it out drop by drop while stirring up all dimensions until now, flowed out as if a massive dam had burst.

The crystallization of the prayers, dedication, and fanaticism of believers.

The essence of faith that flowed in from numerous dimensions emptied out at a rapid pace.

Seueueu…….

Eventually, around the time the bottom of the vessel was exposed.

"……Huh."

Kim Minwoo unconsciously let out a hollow laugh and clicked his tongue.

'It's really taking everything completely.'

The soul vessel was so empty that it even felt a chilling cold. It was the moment he physically felt what it meant to raise a status by one level.

To think taking in this much resources only accounts for one person's portion.

How much more did he have to gather to raise the remaining three in the future.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

His loyal salespeople scattered far and wide across all dimensions.

'Guys, I'm counting on you.'

Work hard for me.

Send me lots and lots of divine power.

Before long, a massive pillar of light fusing blood-red and pitch-black swallowed Olivia's body whole.

"Eueueuk……!"

From the mouth of the always languid and bored Olivia, a bizarre groan as if her soul was being split and reborn burst out.

[Olivia's status leaps one level higher!]

[The Blood Core is reconstructed!]

Bizarre and captivating pitch-black runic letters began to be engraved over Olivia's pale skin.

Absolute shadows from which not even light could escape swayed like massive wings along the hem of her dress, and the bloody water boiling up from beneath her feet spewed a coercive pressure that seemed to corrode even the surrounding space and time.

The leap into the true Monarch of Shadows who swallowed death and the bloodline.

Kugugugugung—!

As the cluster of light cleared, Olivia slowly opened her eyes.

Her sunset-colored eyes had now changed into an inorganic and captivating bloody abyss capable of erasing the very existence of a living creature.

[Legion Commander Olivia's status has stepped one dimension higher!]

[All of Olivia's stats escape the system's limits and are readjusted!]

[The inherent authority Formless Sword upgrades to Concept Severance!]

[The inherent skill Bloody Banquet (SSS) acquires the True Ancestor's Bloodline: Dimensional Domination ability!]

[The Shadow Stealth ability evolves into Existence Erasure!]

"Haa……."

Olivia clenched and opened her pale hand, letting out a deep sigh.

The shadow swaying at her fingertips danced sharply as if cutting through space.

The corners of Olivia's mouth twisted up into a dizzying predator's smile she had never shown before.

"It truly feels amazing, Necromancer."

She whispered captivatingly while licking her fangs with her tongue.

Watching that overwhelming demonstration of martial prowess right before their eyes, jealousy and fighting spirit were literally burning fiercely in the pupils of Merhen, Vulcan, and Cedric.

— Aah! Me too! Minwoo, raise my status quickly too!

— Master! Next is unconditionally me! It feels like my black flame will burst right this second!

— ……I am envious. Master, when will the next divine power be gathered.

Looking at the clamoring Legion Commanders, Kim Minwoo rested Hell Rhapsody on his shoulder with a tuk.

"My divine power is depleted right now anyway, so even if I wanted to raise you more, I can't. We either have to refill the divine power or find the remaining legacies to continue reorganizing the new order."

His gaze headed toward the empty air.

Out of the 10 legacies of the Death Lord, he had gathered 5.

Half of the legacies resonated and their seals were undone, but the remaining 5 legacies were still sleeping somewhere in the universe.

And just a moment ago, as the true power of the legacies unlocked, a new resonance phenomenon was updated on the system window.

Ttiring—!

[The 5 legacies currently possessed resonate with each other and detect the wavelengths of the remaining legacies!]

[The location of the closest legacy of the Supreme Sovereign of Death is faintly pinpointed!]

[Destination: Northwest galaxy group based on current coordinates.]

"Northwest, huh."

Kim Minwoo twitched his eyebrow.

Specific place names were still blurry, but the direction and coordinates were being caught clearly.

If it's an item on the level of a legacy, there must be guardians too.

'If they're hostile, whatever. I just have to slice them.'

"Mary."

At Kim Minwoo's call, Mary's hologram, synchronized in the control room, responded immediately.

— [Yes, great Lord. Destination coordinate reception complete. I will immediately turn the mothership's bow to the northwest.]

It was time to go find the next legacy.