Chapter 222

Chapter 222
## Chapter 222

Transcendence (2)

The Elven Kingdom had successfully averted the total collapse of the land, a triumph achieved solely through the actions of Harris. Even so, the residual consequences of that crisis were immensely severe.

The losses incurred from the onslaught of the Lycanthropes and the giant hordes were staggering, and the nation was now forced to address the countless abyssal cracks tearing through its outer territories.

Yet, the situation was not entirely hopeless; a newly ascended transcendent High Elf now stood guard over the World Tree, and the neighboring countries were offering assistance to seal the fissures tearing along the international borders.

The true catastrophe was not unraveling in Enamel, but across the Ion Continent.

This was the realm of humanity, and it was gradually crumbling into oblivion under the unrelenting campaigns of the Immortal King.

Boom—! Crash!

Blazing infernos erupted across the settlement, accompanied by shattering detonations.

“Aaaah!”

“Flee! We have to escape the perimeter… Urgh!”

“Mama… Mama!”

The populace scattered in blind panic, while…

Clang! Shhhk!

[Skreeee!]

Snap—!

Hordes of the undead flooded the settlement, butchering the remaining defenders who were desperately trying to hold the line.

It was a horrific spectacle, yet it had become a common sight across the Ion Continent.

Even with the Saint accurately predicting where the enemy would strike next, it was impossible to shield every territory.

The unending tides of the undead eventually shattered the defensive lines, particularly within the weaker nations.

Pushed to the brink of total annihilation, the three western kingdoms cast aside their pride and forged an alliance with the Talia Kingdom, begging for the intervention of the vampires.

Naturally, this forced them to yield immense political and territorial concessions.

Yet, while the rest of the world floundered in despair, a single faction was achieving unparalleled triumphs…

These deliverers were riding a wave of unbroken victories, serving as the beacon of hope for the entire mainland under the guidance of the Saint of the Main God Church…

Kaboom—!

[Gah!]

“Ahahaha! Rot in hell!”

…The hero party.

Deep within a warzone crawling with the walking dead…

Harley stood proudly at the epicenter of a massive crater, a savage grin on his face as his bare hand pulverized the skull of a Death Knight.

[Grah… Improbable… My greatsword… merely left a scratch…!]

The Death Knight shrieked in outrage, channeling its dark magic toward Harley in an attempt to rot his flesh.

It was a malevolent force capable of slaying an ordinary mortal with a mere graze, and even a master-level warrior would suffer a debilitating curse without the active protection of an aura.

[How are you doing this… with nothing but your bare fists…!]

Yet, such malice was entirely futile against Harley, whose physical form had broken past all mortal restraints to become the Ultimate Evolved Lifeform.

His overwhelming vitality and absolute madness shattered any hostile forces below a particular threshold.

“Ha? No, don’t say that! You did great! I honestly didn’t expect you to actually break my skin! Hahaha!”

Even though this Death Knight held the rank of a lesser executive, he was still a high-ranking commander sent directly from the Immortal Fortress.

He was a master-level entity who had been devastating the southern territories of the Lesque Kingdom, summoning endless reserves through his own essence and completely annihilating their primary objective single-handedly.

Yet, his grand achievement against Harley amounted to nothing more than a few superficial marks, which had already mended themselves entirely.

It was a humiliating outcome given his terrifying legacy.

Crunch!

Harley tightened his fingers, imploding the Death Knight’s helmet.

Not even a weapon reinforced by aura could endure his monstrous physical might.

[Grrr… You… Scion of Madness! The Immortal King will grant you no…!]

“Nah, you’ve got it all wrong.”

Snap!

Shards of metal erupted from Harley’s clenched fist as he closed his fingers completely.

The helm, which had once resembled a skull, was reduced to a mangled clump of metal tossing onto the dirt.

“That’s enough out of you.”

He effortlessly tore away the Death Knight’s breastplate, crushing its unholy heart to pieces, before rising to his feet and wiping his hands clean.

The surrounding minor undead were hurled away like ragdolls as he casually flexed his muscles.

He batted them aside with effortless strikes, grinding them into dust, and then licked his lips as he watched his allies mop up the remaining monsters.

‘That guy provided a little amusement, but… it’s still not satisfying.’

His primordial drives, which had grown exponentially louder following his transcendence, were ravenous.

He yearned for only a few specific things now.

A bloody conflict against a truly formidable foe, a mountain of rich and empowering flesh to consume, the impulse to shatter everything in his sight, and the longing to display his supremacy before the entire world…

‘Hold on, is that more than one thing? Eh, who cares!’

Though his impulses were being met to an extent, it wasn’t nearly enough.

He was barely maintaining his composure, gripping onto the absolute edge of his sanity.

‘I want to march right into the Immortal Fortress! There are so many powerhouses gathered there, it would be an absolute blast! And that King’s core… it tasted pretty decent. It would have been way better if I had hunted him down and claimed it myself. Come to think of it, my stash of dragon meat is running pretty low… Are there any dragons lurking around these parts? Maybe I should try my hand at dragon hunting?’

Erratic notions, fueled by his wild animal instincts, drifted through his streamlined consciousness.

And as he remained trapped in his internal musings, his eyes shifted toward the boundless wasteland stretching into the distance.

‘When are we finally heading south…? That High Chieftain fellow, he’s bound to be a monster, right? And that old crone is still waiting for me… Huh? What if she assumes I got scared and fled the continent? Oh, absolutely not!’

Their current position was the outermost southern border of the Lesque Kingdom.

Which meant…

They were standing right on the doorstep of the Tribal Federation.

‘…Maybe I should just slip away… ’

The moment that realization struck him, his inner beast roared to life.

His self-control, already strained by the lingering echoes of his alternate personas, snapped completely.

Harley smiled, exposing his razor-sharp teeth.

—

Deep within the grim halls of the Immortal Fortress, preparations for the upcoming offensive were moving forward.

However, the commander of the Immortal Army sat idly upon his dark throne, entirely absorbed in his own contemplations while leaving the logistics to his generals.

-Heinrich: Hans! Where do you think you’re going?! I explicitly commanded you to bide your time!

-Harley: Khahaha! I’ve held back for long enough! I’ll return once I’ve severed that bastard’s neck!

-Heinz the Second: I wish I could unravel all my problems with such simple violence. Those Obaifo bastards have woven such a tangled web of alliances that I can’t even determine the proper thread to pull. If I simply purge them all, it triggers a catastrophic global conflict.

-Hubert: It appears that Brokoslack’s successful coup over the Talia Kingdom created quite an impact. He’s showing a far greater level of intellect now. He must have spent his time in hiding buried in strategy texts.

-Hugo: Everyone, shouldn’t our absolute priority be restraining Harley right now…?

-Howard: Hmph! That brute is practically untouchable at this point. It makes no difference. But as long as he’s wandering down there, command him to secure a shipment of Detrium! It’s entirely native to the southern desert, and Hubert is currently cut off from acquiring it due to the trade blockade.

Their individual voices clashed and echoed within his mind.

In the absence of their core consciousness to guide them directly, they were forced to converse through this mental network…

It had already been more than twenty-four hours in Earth time.

Based on the medical assessment provided by Hugo, it would take roughly three days for the main body to awaken, meaning he would likely regain full awareness in about two weeks within this realm.

[Hmm, a fortnight…]

The Immortal King Hannibal Strauss weighed that timeline and fell into a state of profound introspection.

He had been deeply affected by the recent catastrophe in Enamel, which had brought about a stark realization.

‘…I have accomplished nothing of true significance. I have grown far too complacent. I convinced myself that I was driven solely by calculation, yet it appears the sentiments of my past existence are still diluting my actions.’

He had merely been deploying his foot soldiers to cause superficial devastation across the lands…

Meanwhile, the Oath of Heaven’s Defiance, an organization he had dismissed as a mere irritation, had actively attempted to submerge an entire continent beneath the waves?!

They had come terrifyingly close to succeeding. Had it not been for Harris, who commanded the absolute blessing of the World Tree…

The sheer volume of Karma they could have harvested…

Snap!

Hannibal closed his fingers tightly, splintering the arm of his skeletal throne.

Though his form lacked physical musculature, he could manifest catastrophic power through the channel of dark magic.

‘This is an absolute disgrace. To think I am being outmaneuvered by those pathetic worms!’

He respected the scale of their malice, but his pride refused to accept it.

He was the ultimate director of this world’s destiny!

He had consistently crushed the designs of the Oath of Heaven’s Defiance… He had even broken and enslaved the majority of their high-ranking officers.

‘…It was an error to treat them lightly. They were the architects who tore open the void and unleashed absolute madness. I should have eradicated them with absolute seriousness.’

The time had come to completely alter his strategy.

He wanted nothing more than to disregard his prior commitments and launch a full-scale apocalypse, but such an action would likely trigger severe backlash once his primary self awoke.

He needed to continuously advance to offset the squandered windows and assets… yet his primary persona would never permit an unbridled global war.

‘Yet I lack the luxury of time required to draft a completely original strategy. They have reportedly been orchestrating this layout for at least a generation.’

He searched through his intellect, hunting for a viable path forward.

The unshackling of madness, the coordinated strike on the royal heir, the Lycanthrope onslaught against Enamel, the sudden hostilities declared by the Tribal Federation, the subversion of the Republic by the Obaifo Clan…

Given the staggering magnitude of their historical operations, their impending phases were guaranteed to alter the world fundamentally.

And then a thought struck him…

‘I shall simply usurp their entire design for myself.’

Naturally, because Karma was strictly bound to the laws of cause and effect, he would reap very little reward by merely sabotaging and stealing their blueprints.

It would still surpass total inactivity, but… he desired to execute this flawlessly.

-Heinrich: Hans! What are you planning?! This has already crossed the line! You are going to trigger an even greater catastrophe…!

His irritatingly moral and meddlesome alter ego, Heinrich, began to vocalize his objections…

-Hannibal Strauss: Allow me to correct your perspective. I am not Hans; I am Hannibal Strauss.

-Heinrich: I thought we had mutually resolved to abandon that title…

He completely blocked out the internal bickering of his mind and scanned his surroundings.

The luminous moon and stars blanketed the midnight sky, casting a silver glow over the rolling sand hills, and…

A massive settlement loomed in the distance, ablaze with the light of thousands of torches despite the midnight hour.

This was the domain of the Tribal Federation, the exact location Harley was marching toward.

And more precisely…

It was Beorsen, the central fortress of the High Chieftain and the absolute heart of the rebellion, according to his intelligence networks.

Clang, clang, clang—!

“Intruder alert! Intruder alert! All battalions to the walls!”

“Mobilize the Berserkers this instant!”

Hummmm—

They were highly alert, a trait befitting such a critical stronghold.

The entire settlement was instantly shielded by an exotic magical barrier the exact second his presence was detected.

[Khehehe— This is magnificent! It has been quite some time since I last walked the mortal realms. I look forward to tearing these fragile walls to pieces.]

The Immortal King had descended upon the southern lands.

And he was fully prepared to reshape the entire world order.