Chapter 351

The quest that appeared before Theo’s eyes was brief yet profound in its weight.

[Bring an end to the war completely.]

Short, yet unambiguously clear.

However, the meaning behind those words carried an overwhelming gravity unlike anything he had encountered before.

Theo paused, taking a deep breath as he began to calmly observe his surroundings.

In that moment, a wry laugh escaped his lips.

‘That?’

The oppressive weight pressing down on him felt as though a boulder had been placed atop his chest, leaving him breathless.

The searing heat of the battlefield radiated through his skin.

Majestic.

That word alone could not begin to capture the scale of the battlefield laid out before him.

A roar erupted, shaking the heavens and the earth.

The ground itself split open, while the skies became filled with bolts of furious lightning.

On the battlefield below, massive beings of inconceivable size hurtled toward one another.

‘Colossal war machines?’

He had heard stories of them before.

In the mythic age—eons past—there were said to be giants so large they could dwarf mountains.

Their immense arms could tear the heavens asunder, and a single swing of their mighty limbs could obliterate everything in their path.

Their skin resembled iron, harder than the toughest steel, and the magical energy coursing visibly through their bodies shimmered vividly.

Boom! Boom!

Each step they took reverberated through the ground, a destructive force that left the very earth trembling.

The winds raging around them became literal storms, reducing trees and stones to nothing more than flying debris.

Rumble!

Above, the relentless onslaught of lightning rained down, bringing destruction with every strike.

But these bolts were far from natural phenomena.

If they could wield even lightning as a weapon, these beings were godlike—perhaps gods themselves.

When one giant’s enormous strike tore the earth apart, another answered by commanding the sea to rise in a tidal wave of retribution.

The resulting shockwaves sent massive plumes of water spiraling into the sky.

Words like "majestic" seemed woefully inadequate.

Tidal waves surged, boulders flew like cannonballs, and lightning poured down like torrential rain.

It was as though Theo were witnessing the end of the world itself.

The sight of the war machines, their limbs ripped apart only to regenerate moments later and charge back into battle, was nothing short of harrowing.

Theo stood frozen, unable even to blink, his breath catching in his throat only when he was on the verge of suffocation.

Unconsciously, his hand gripped the hilt of Caliburn so tightly that his fingers throbbed in protest.

He could only watch in silence.

Awe? That emotion was absent.

He clung desperately to his focus, doing everything he could to avoid being utterly overwhelmed.

Everything he had ever heard or known about gods and divine power now felt laughably insignificant.

He had never experienced—let alone imagined—warfare of this magnitude.

‘Unbelievable.’

A dry chuckle escaped his lips.

Whether he joined one side or the other, could his sword truly make any meaningful difference here?

Every single move these beings made seemed on par with the divine aura that Kyle had unleashed when he last stood beneath the Sublimation Gate.

‘So now I have to figure out how?’

The only comfort he found was in knowing the quest system never imposed the truly impossible—no matter how daunting or transcendent the challenge seemed.

Even so, it was hard to shake the feeling that the difficulty had suddenly skyrocketed.

The metallic tang of blood in the air brought Theo’s focus back to the present.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He still wasn’t entirely sure what choices lay before him.

At that moment—

Boom! Boom!

A sound like the heavens being torn asunder reached his ears.

Theo’s eyes widened.

Amidst the war machines, mere pawns in this grand battle, there were others—beings whose majesty and power were unparalleled.

In the very center of the left flank stood a massive figure clad in armor that flowed like an endless blue tide, its chest adorned with a radiant sapphire.

The water wasn’t merely a flowing current but a force of immense and unrelenting power, swirling violently within the armor.

With every swing of its arm, waves surged forth, threatening to consume the earth itself and obscure all vision.

Opposing it, another giant roared, raising a sun-like orb above its head. Swinging a colossal staff embedded with a fiery red gemstone, it unleashed heat that exploded outward like a volcanic eruption, clashing with the tidal waves.

Crash!

The deafening roar of their collision reverberated, as the opposing forces of red and blue intertwined and combusted in a grand spectacle.

Hisss!

Blistering heat surged outward, spreading across the battlefield.

Even watching from a considerable distance, Theo’s skin felt as though it were burning, and his senses screamed in protest. Reacting instinctively, he encased himself in a protective barrier of mana.

For a brief moment, he forgot entirely that this was an illusion.

The clashing forces transformed into steam, and the battlefield was quickly engulfed in an opaque, searing mist.

Anyone else in such heat would have been cooked alive.

In the midst of the inferno, an intense, sharp aura swept through, scattering the mist momentarily.

Theo took a deep breath, his eyes fixated on the two titanic beings.

‘End this war?’

The scale of their battle was staggering.

It was a clash that made a mere human feel utterly powerless—a visceral reminder of his insignificance in the presence of true gods.

Yet, amidst it all, Theo couldn’t help but feel a strange exhilaration.

‘This is not the flailing of pretenders, but the power of those who have fully ascended to true godhood!’

The awe that struck him was even more profound than when he first witnessed Kyle’s divine light.

Having assumed that he’d never again experience anything so shocking, Theo found himself equal parts mesmerized and terrified.

He alternated his gaze between the two colossal entities.

Their overwhelming presences clashed, their enmity so intense it seemed as though their very existence demanded the other's annihilation.

The sheer malice emanating from both was palpable.

‘I want to see more.’

He found himself yearning to get closer, though instinctively he knew better.

The closer he approached, the clearer it became that death would be instantaneous.

It wasn’t just a difference in scale but a fundamental chasm in the essence of their power—something beyond the reach of humanity.

This was the true power of the gods, an unknowable force that threatened to crush him entirely.

‘Which side should I choose?’

Both factions seemed evenly matched in their armies and commanders.

Unless a third force intervened, it appeared to be a stalemate.

‘That third force is supposed to be me, isn’t it?’

The realization filled Theo with unease.

Choosing a side was secondary to the sheer fact that he would have to confront these beings.

‘My head hurts.’

The dilemma gnawed at him, spiraling into an unbearable tension.

He couldn’t even figure out where to begin untangling the problem.

It was at that moment—

Boom!

A monstrous roar erupted, shaking the earth to its core.

Chills ran down Theo’s spine.

For a fleeting moment, it felt as though a massive boulder had materialized directly in front of him.

As thoughts began to coalesce in his mind, his vision abruptly turned white.

“Wha…?”

In the blink of an eye, the overwhelming presences of the two titans vanished.

More startlingly—

‘This scene…’

The battlefield before him was identical to the prelude he had witnessed before the two colossal entities had revealed themselves.

Confusion clouded his thoughts as he tried to comprehend the situation.

‘…!?’

Before he could think further, a wave of vertigo crashed over him, leaving him unable to steady himself.

“Urk… Ugh!?”

Unable to suppress the nausea, Theo doubled over, vomiting onto the ground.

He was shocked at his inability to control such a basic bodily reaction.

Trembling, he placed a hand on his chest, channeling mana to assess his condition. What he discovered left him in utter disbelief.

‘Was I dead?’

His mana circuits—every single one—had been severed and then reconnected, as though they had been destroyed and reformed.

They now felt uneven, with mana flow disrupted at irregular intervals.

When had it happened?

‘Was it then?’

He recalled the overwhelming wave of power he had sensed just before his mind went blank.

A shiver ran down his spine.

For mana of that magnitude to have been gathered and released so quickly that he couldn’t even perceive it—it was nothing short of divine.

‘No wonder my body’s in shambles.’

Judging by the state of his mana circuits, he could only imagine the extent to which his body had been torn apart.

The only solace was—

‘Does this mean I return to this moment upon death?’

Even if his body had been obliterated, his weapon had remained intact, a small comfort amidst the chaos.

‘If so, then this isn’t an impossible miracle.’

The real question was how long it would take to succeed.

As these thoughts swirled in his mind—

‘Hm?’

An odd sensation caught Theo’s attention.

His body was recovering rapidly, bolstered by the effects of his innate regeneration. Yet, there was a subtle, nagging unease that he couldn’t quite place.

Shaking it off as a trick of his mind, Theo refocused his attention.

Boom!

The battle resumed.

This time, Theo scrutinized every detail of the unfolding conflict.

‘Is there no pattern?’

The clash mirrored the one he had seen earlier.

If there was any solace, it was in the familiarity of the scene.

Theo quickly began running simulations in his mind, formulating potential strategies to intervene.

Yet, he soon realized that the war machines themselves were not the key to deciding this battle’s outcome.

And then, the two titans emerged once more.

Their divine auras, even more palpable this second time, served as stark reminders of his own insignificance.

Merely observing their clash sent shivers down his spine and drenched his palms in sweat.

‘Now.’

In the tense standoff that followed—the calm before the storm—Theo braced himself for the attack that had killed him earlier.

Pouring all his mana into his defenses, he gripped Caliburn tightly, preparing to endure for even a fleeting moment.

He activated Dragon Form, channeling every ounce of power he had to fortify his sword and body.

Boom!

As the overwhelming pressure bore down on him again, Theo’s eyes lit up with determination.

‘This feeling!’

The unmistakable sensation of death loomed.

This time, Theo refused to succumb without a fight.

Gripping Caliburn with all his strength, he resisted with every fiber of his being, determined to glimpse the shape of the attack that had felled him before.