Chapter 226: Dividing the Loot

“The loot isn’t bad. Two Red Scrolls and two Red Orbs dropped from that bastard.”

Cain chuckled as he looked toward everyone gathered near the crater.

The exhaustion on several faces faded when they heard him.

A Red-rank reward was still something none of them could casually ignore, since most people had never even seen such items.

Most of the valuable resources they had gathered until now had come from lower-ranked Orbs and Scrolls, with truly precious rewards appearing only under special circumstances.

Yet Serath had dropped four Red-rank rewards by himself.

Cain opened his Inventory briefly, allowing the four objects to appear before everyone.

The two Scrolls gave off a deep crimson radiance noticeably denser than anything below their rank. Beside them floated two Red Orbs, their surfaces nearly opaque except for faint currents of light moving within.

Several people stared at them with obvious interest.

Once the initial excitement faded, another problem naturally appeared.

How were they supposed to divide them?

The battle against Serath had involved several groups, and everyone standing here understood the value of the rewards in front of them.

Nobody spoke first because claiming more than what they deserved after fighting together until the end would only create unnecessary conflict.

Cain noticed their expressions and stepped forward.

“Our group will take one Scroll and one Orb.” He said with a calm expression and there was no hesitation behind it as if it was something that had already been decided beforehand.

That left exactly one Red Scroll and one Red Orb for the other three major groups.

Cain did not consider himself greedy.

His group had contributed heavily throughout the battle, and Cain himself had been responsible for killing Serath after the Youngest Prince used the Nether Emperor’s Resurrection.

Even before the final fight, his attacks had repeatedly pressured Serath’s defenses and forced him to spend enormous amounts of energy recovering.

Ron and Elara had played major roles in breaking through those defenses, while Evelyne had continuously supported the frontline whenever someone suffered serious injuries. Sonya had also taken part in it.

The others clearly understood the same thing.

Aurelia looked at the rewards for a moment before nodding.

“That’s reasonable.”

Viktor did not object either.

Mo Xuanye merely glanced toward Cain before shifting his attention toward what remained.

“I’ll take the remaining Scroll.”

Aurelia’s eyes moved toward him.

Viktor also looked over.

Neither immediately argued as they knew that Mo Xuanye had fought Serath longer than almost anyone else present.

Before Cain entered the main battle, the Heavenly Demon had been one of the people directly holding the Youngest Prince back, and he continued fighting after Cain joined them.

Among everyone other than Cain, his contribution was difficult to dispute as everyone knew that his contribution was second only to Cain.

Even so, slight dissatisfaction appeared in Aurelia’s expression.

Viktor looked no happier either.

Mo Xuanye noticed their expression.

“If one of your groups doesn’t receive the Orb, I’ll compensate that group separately.”

The dissatisfaction on their faces instantly disappeared.

Aurelia smiled faintly.

“That’s acceptable.”

Viktor nodded in agreement.

Only one reward remained to be decided.

The final Red Orb floated above Cain’s palm as Viktor and Aurelia looked at one another.

Neither seemed particularly interested in starting an argument over it.

Cain thought about the situation before raising the Orb slightly.

“Since it’s an Orb, we don’t even know what’s inside.”

Everyone looked toward him.

“The result is random, although we’ve already seen that whoever opens an Orb can influence what comes out to some extent.”

Cain turned the Orb between his fingers.

“So why don’t we open it first? If the item clearly suits one group more than the other, that group takes it and gives the other side compensation worth part of the Orb.”

Aurelia considered the suggestion.

A Red Orb was enormously valuable, but whatever came from it would not automatically be useful to everyone.

If the Orb produced something completely incompatible with one group’s fighters, forcing them to take it merely because of a random division would be wasteful.

“That’s fine with me,” Aurelia replied.

Viktor nodded shortly afterward.

After another brief discussion, Aurelia looked toward Viktor.

“You contributed more during the battle. You open it.”

Viktor accepted without unnecessary politeness.

Cain tossed the Orb toward him.

The large man caught it with one hand before tightening his fingers around the crimson sphere.

Crack!

The Orb shattered.

Dense crimson light spread between Viktor’s fingers before expanding outward.

Something long began taking shape inside the radiance.

Cain raised an eyebrow.

A dark shaft appeared first, followed by a massive blade at the end.

When the light disappeared, Viktor was holding a halberd.

The weapon was large even compared to his body. Its shaft was formed from a dark metallic material Cain did not recognize, while faint markings stretched along its length.

The broad blade carried a heavy silver-gray appearance, and the surrounding air compressed faintly whenever Viktor moved it.

Viktor inspected the weapon with interest.

Cain was also curious, golden light appeared within his eyes as he focused on the halberd.

Information appeared before him.

[Heavenbreaker Divine Halberd]

[Grade: Divine]

[Attribute: Force]

[Current State: Second-Echelon Release]

[Most of the halberd’s true power remains sealed. Further power will be released as the wielder advances through the Echelons.]

[Current Stat Increase: Strength +200 / Physique +150 / Mana +120 / Magic +100]

[Effects: Heavenbreaker, Unyielding Momentum]

[Skills: Heaven-Crushing Execution, Sundering Horizon]

[Heavenbreaker]

[Greatly increases the destructive force transmitted through every physical strike. When an attack successfully strikes a target, part of the Force generated by the impact penetrates beyond the point of contact and damages the structure beneath external defenses. The effect becomes significantly stronger according to the wielder’s Strength and the momentum behind the attack.]

[Unyielding Momentum]

[Continuously accumulates Force while the wielder moves, accelerates, swings the halberd, or performs uninterrupted attacks. The greater the accumulated momentum, the more difficult the halberd becomes to stop through direct physical resistance. The accumulated momentum greatly increases the force and destructive power of subsequent attacks. Accumulated momentum is significantly reduced if the wielder’s movement is forcibly interrupted.]

[Heaven-Crushing Execution]

[Concentrates tremendous Force Mana around Heavenbreaker while locking the weapon’s accumulated momentum into a single devastating attack. As the halberd descends, the concentrated Force generates overwhelming pressure throughout the immediate path of the strike, making movement and evasion significantly more difficult. Upon impact, the compressed Force collapses toward the point struck before violently erupting through the target. The attack possesses extraordinary destructive power against heavily armored enemies, reinforced bodies, Mana barriers, defensive Skills, and large creatures. The destructive power increases tremendously according to the wielder’s Strength, accumulated momentum, and the amount of Mana supplied.]

[Sundering Horizon]

[Compresses Force Mana along the blade of Heavenbreaker before releasing it through a powerful horizontal swing. The swing produces a massive crescent of concentrated Force capable of traveling across the battlefield and crushing everything within its path. The power, range, and density of the released Force increase according to the wielder’s Strength, Magic, accumulated momentum, and the amount of Mana supplied.]

[Additional abilities remain sealed.]

Cain finished reading before his attention shifted toward Dmitri.

Force Mana, momentum-based abilities, and a halberd.

The compatibility was difficult to ignore.

Dmitri was already staring at the weapon.

Cain chuckled before looking toward Aurelia.

“Unfortunately for you, this thing seems perfectly suited for Dmitri.”

Aurelia sighed softly.

For once, genuine disappointment appeared on her face.

A Divine-grade weapon was not something anyone could dismiss easily, especially one capable of releasing more of its true power as the wielder advanced.

Still, the disappointment lasted only briefly.

She smiled faintly.

“I suppose the Orb wasn’t meant for us, then.”

Mo Xuanye glanced toward her.

“I’ll compensate your group as promised.”

Aurelia nodded.

That settled the matter.

Viktor turned and held the halberd toward Dmitri.

“Take it.”

Dmitri accepted the weapon with both hands.

The moment his fingers closed around the shaft, Force Mana reacted inside his body and a faint vibration traveled through the weapon.

His expression changed as its information appeared before him.

The excitement he tried to restrain was obvious.

Cain left him to inspect the weapon and turned toward Mo Xuanye.

“There is something else.”

Mo Xuanye looked at him.

Cain pointed toward the crater.

“Do you want Serath’s corpse?”

Cain knew that in Mo Xuanye’s eyes a corpse like Serath’s definitely something he cherished.

Mo Xuanye thought about the offer before shaking his head.

“It won’t give me anything particularly special anyway.”

Cain raised an eyebrow when he heard the rejection. He thought that Mo Xuanye would be happy in taking it, that was precisely why he left the corpse and just took the loot.

Mo Xuanye glanced toward the crater.

“You killed him. So just keep the corpse yourself.”

Cain shrugged.

“Alright then.”

He certainly was not going to refuse.

Even if he currently had no use for Serath’s body, throwing away the corpse of someone possessing two Origin-rank Talents would be incredibly stupid.

Because who knows? The corpse might be useful for him in the future.

Cain looked around the battlefield afterward.

Hundreds of valuable resources remained scattered throughout the ruined Central Base.

The ordinary Zombie Race soldiers mattered less, but the numerous 2nd Echelons were different. Serath’s dead subordinates were even more valuable.

Cain raised his voice.

“Everyone who can still move, start collecting the Cores and Blood Crystals.”

People farther away turned toward him.

“Don’t leave anything useful behind. We don’t know when we’ll get another opportunity to gather this many resources.”

Everyone immediately understood the assignment.

They had already seen what purified Cores and Blood Crystals could do.

Groups quickly spread through the destroyed Central Base and began gathering anything valuable from the corpses.

Cain then looked toward the main fighters who had participated in the battle against Serath and his subordinates.

“We’ll destroy the World Gate Core while the others collect everything.”

I’m finally back, guys… and this time it’s for real because my body is finally almost fully recovered.

After being hospitalized for 4 days, I thought my body could already handle me sitting at my desk and working again.

But apparently not, because I literally fainted while writing and woke up in the hospital again LMAO

So yeah… after that, I decided to actually take a full rest until I was genuinely almost fully recovered.

And now, I finally am.

LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO!!!