REAPER SCANS
The Martial God Who Regressed to Level 2
[Translator – SCM]
[Proofreader – ilafy]
Chapter 259
Those chosen for humanity’s starting roster were all ranked between 1st and 3,000th. Most were renowned individuals from all over the world, so they had a strong sense of pride. Though they believed in JiHan, they didn’t like the idea of sitting back as he did all the work.
They knew they couldn’t compete with him for the spotlight, but they at least wanted to help support him. Unfortunately for them, the gap in strength between humans and adult dragonkin was immense.
"It… it wasn't like this during the rehearsal…!" Baron bit his lip as he watched his Absolute Shield melt away beneath the dragon’s fiery breath. The dragons in the rehearsal had been strong, but they hadn’t been on the level of what he was seeing.
He’d only been thinking of the hatchlings and thought he’d grown enough to fight the dragonkin on equal ground—he hadn’t considered how much stronger the adults would be, which was why the fiery breath was proving to be too much for him.
Meanwhile, JiHan remained untouched by the flames and smirked when he heard Baron’s complaint. "You wanted to fight because you thought it would be like during the rehearsal? Those dragons were in Platinum. Just as you've gotten stronger, the dragons have, too."
"Still…” Baron argued, “I didn't expect them to be so much stronger…!"
"You must always expect the worst."
Baron's barrier quickly disappeared beneath the onslaught. Just before the flames swallowed him, he looked at JiHan in disbelief when he saw that not a single piece of the man’s clothes was even burned amidst the fire that seemed to consume the world. It was like JiHan was in a completely different realm.
"How are you unharmed…?" Baron asked.
JiHan shrugged and said, "I have my ways."
Swoosh—
A purple light flickered around JiHan's body, and the fiery breath dissipated without being able to reach him. The void-manipulating Purple Cloud Divine Arts he'd learned from Dongfang was proving to be quite useful, though he couldn’t fully control the purple energy.
'The Purple Cloud Ki is acting as a barrier.' The unrefined energy hovered around him and perfectly blocked the fire. If he had spread the Purple Cloud Ki, he might have been able to save several others from being burned, but…
'If I were to cover players who don't have the void with the Purple Cloud Ki, things could backfire, and they could end up being consumed.' There was a chance the purple energy was fatal for ordinary players.
JiHan took his eyes off of the purple energy and spoke to Baron again before the man died in the fire. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to controlling this power yet, so I can only use it on myself."
"You have no reason to be sorry… It was me who wanted to fight…!"
"Really? The truth is… I'm not sorry at all. Next time, listen to what I say."
"Ugh…!" Baron gave a bitter smile and burned away. After that, all of the other top-ranked players who’d been summoned in the area also died before they could even witness the dragon itself.
= O-one of the groups was wiped out by the fire breath!
= Only 500 have fallen so far. No, wait, 499! JiHan is still alive!
= As expected of JiHan! He endured that huge fire attack!
= What was Baron thinking? If he was going to die so quickly, then he should have quietly accepted JiHan’s carry and sat back.
= C-Christoph, your mic is on!
= Ahem. I'm sorry! I got a bit emotional!
Christoph ended up revealing his honest thoughts in the middle of the broadcast.
- He's dissing America's top prospect, lol.
- Baron deserves to be dissed. He acted all high and mighty and ended up dying in less than 10 seconds.
- Christoph said that on purpose, lol.
- Yeah. He doesn't seem to care anymore. Isn't he earning good money thanks to his supporting Gift?
- We can't always let JiHan carry us. The players have to find a way to fight…
- Are you planning to take responsibility for humanity falling in the rankings?
- People will only come to their senses when a dungeon appears near their houses, tsk tsk.
Maybe things would have been different if humanity's players were able to survive a bit and fight, but the fire had swept them away so easily that most had a negative opinion of them. On top of that…
= Humanity's team is still okay. If we put JiHan at the center of our plan, we can win! Only 499 have died so far… Ah, th-the casualties are increasing!
= More fire is pouring down across the Battlefield of Chaos’s skies!
= Where exactly are the dragons? They’re so high up that we can’t even see them!
= Ah. 3,000 casualties! More than half have already fallen!
The overall situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable for humanity.
'As expected. This map is hard.' JiHan looked into the sky. Though the streams of fire weren’t continuing in places they’d already swept through, the fire continued to pour down wherever there were human survivors.
'Judging by how it all happened at once, it seems that 10 dragons were summoned in similar areas. Even if I had used the Ten Thousand Ghost Seal, saving a thousand people wouldn't have been easy.' He decided to accept that first game as a harsh reality check for the human team.
He looked up into the sky. 'Still, I have to take down at least one dragon.'
Swoosh—!
He leaped into the air in search of a dragon and passed through the clouds.
[Over 80% of human players have perished.]
[The game is ending.]
'Already?' Even if the breath was strong, that was too much. He used his footwork techniques to the fullest in pursuit of at least one dragon, and he soon saw a huge figure in the sky.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
One of the massive red dragons appeared before him after he passed through the clouds and soared upward. The dragon flapped its wings and had its eyes closed. As soon as JiHan appeared, the dragon slowly opened its eyes and gave JiHan a calm look.
"…"
= Ah… is that a dragon?
= It's huge…
= It seems that the dragons we saw in the rehearsal game were just babies.
People instinctively trembled when they saw how massive the dragon was, but JiHan was filled with a desire to fight. 'Let's try to cut him.'
Swoosh—
Eclipse appeared from his left arm, and he channeled his energy through the sword. 'Since the first game is already lost, there's no need to go all out… I'll just lightly attack.' He was worried that he’d attract unnecessary attention if he gave it his all and instead thought of future games as he drew a vertical line with his sword.
Combined Origin Divine Arts Three Talents Technique: Mount Tai Crush.
Tss—!
Many barriers appeared and were destroyed in front of the dragon’s forehead as his attack smashed through the being’s defenses and cut into the dragon’s skull.
Whoosh—!
The dragon’s blood fountained in every direction, disappearing into smoke soon after it touched the air.
'Combining it with Purple Cloud Ki increased the damage output more than I thought it would.' JiHan had intended to land a light jab, but he ended up inflicting a critical wound.
[The game is ending.]
[You'll now be logged out.]
Flash—!
The red dragon stared at the place where JiHan had just been and mumbled, ‘The species is insignificant… but that one seemed interesting.’ A light flashed in the dragon’s eyes, who’d been indifferent until then. ‘On top of that, he used the void, huh…? Perhaps…’ The dragon sounded excited.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - SCM
Proofreader - ilafy
Join our discord for updates on releases!!
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= W-we lost the first game. It ended in an instant…
= The dragons showed a performance worthy of the 2nd-ranked species…!
That game instilled a strong sense of powerlessness in humanity.
- The game ended after the team was hit with breath from the sky…
- Even if the numbers were 500:1 instead of 50:1, we would have still lost.
- The bans were good, and JiHan survived, but we lost in such a one-sided way… Is there any hope for this match?
Though JiHan had survived and harmed a dragon, it had been too late for them to win. No matter how Battle Net adjusted the balance, the difference in average power just seemed too big.
'They're too strong…' Coach Davis entered the room with a darker expression. He’d expected the dragonkin to be strong, but he hadn’t expected such an overwhelming defeat after his ban card worked perfectly. How were they supposed to fight enemies like that?
'I have to make JiHan the center of our strategy…' Unlike others, JiHan had withstood the breath in the first game. Humanity had no chance of winning without working with him as the center. 'Although we can't keep going with this structure forever…'
Relying on JiHan wouldn’t work in the long run, but it was all that humanity could do at the moment. The coach stepped back onto the clouds and decided to keep prioritizing Valhalla. 'I'll go with the same cards as before.' He used the same ban and priority cards.
“You insignificant being.” The opposing side, which had remained silent during the first game, suddenly spoke. As he did so, Coach Davis fell to the ground in surprise.
- Why does the coach keep falling over?
- It seems he got scared because the dragon coach suddenly spoke to him.
- Ah, but of course he knows how to speak.
- Insignificant…? It saddens me that I can't say anything to argue based on what I saw in the first game.
"Wh-what?" Coach Davis quickly got up and hastily answered. He pretended not to be overwhelmed, but he couldn't do anything about how shaky his voice was.
The dragon looked down at him and spoke again. “Call forth your true representative. I wish to speak to him.”
"Our true representative…?"
“The one who wounded us. The irregular born from your insignificant species.”
Was he talking about Sung JiHan? Unable to understand the dragon's intentions, Coach Davis frowned. 'JiHan's our core player. It would be troublesome to bring him here and have them find out more about him. There's no need to entertain the enemy.' He was planning to refuse when the dragon made an offer.
“If you bring him out, I'll let you win the second game.”
"Wh-what…?" Coach Davis stuttered.
“Is it not enough? I’ll let you have the third game as well.”
They were going to give up two games? Coach Davis's eyes trembled. "H-how can I believe that?"
“I swear by my name as a dragon. I will also accept the creation of a system contract.”
"Th-that…" Were they going to give them two games just to speak with JiHan, and it was going to be guaranteed by Battle Net? Coach Davis gulped. The dragonkin had proven to be difficult to defeat, but who would’ve guessed they’d give up on two games just to speak with JiHan?
"F-first, we'll proceed with the contract." Unable to believe in such favorable terms easily, Coach Davis insisted on having the system guarantee it.
“Good.” The dragon coach immediately accepted the proposal and proceeded with the process.
= What's going on…?
= Why is he interested in Sung JiHan?
Things were going in an unexpected direction, and both the commentators and the viewers were confused. Once things were finalized through the system, though, they had no choice but to proceed.
"JiHan…"
"Understood,” JiHan said. “They're offering two games, so I'll go and see what they have to say." Thus, JiHan replaced Coach Davis and stepped onto the clouds.
Flash—!
“You're more powerful than I expected.” The dragon's eyes flashed. “You… How about you join our species?”
"What…?" JiHan hadn’t expected to encounter a scouting proposition.
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