Ch.151151. The Extreme of Divine Punishment

The golden chains that Hermecus manipulated and spewed from all directions were made of a metal called orichalcum, or divine metal.

The ends had parts resembling arrowheads or spear tips, making them sufficient not only for binding but also for launching as weapons.

With hundreds of these chains being created and flying toward him, Bjorn was doing his best to cut through and block each one.

Slash! Slash! Slash!!

To the casual observer, the chains seemed to be sliced through as easily as butter with a butter knife, but considering the durability of orichalcum, known as the gold of the gods…

Given the transcendent strength and durability of orichalcum, it was actually strange how effortlessly he was cutting through them.

This was especially remarkable considering these chains were blessed with enhanced durability through divine power and imbued with all kinds of magic.

Meanwhile, Bjorn’s approach was extremely simple.

Cut, cut, and cut again.

The blessings and magic were destroyed by the dispelling power bestowed upon his aura by the amulet, and then he simply cut through the relatively softened chains.

《—Get away, scram!!》

Recognizing that Bjorn’s charging momentum was dangerous, Hermecus tried to create distance by flying around using the retrieval speed of his chains.

But Bjorn, the Avenger, ignited black flames throughout his body and pursued him.

Thus began a tedious chase in this underground human farm.

With neither able to use their greater techniques for fear of collapsing the underground structure, the two fought by alternately closing and widening the distance between them.

However, it was clear even from the outside that Bjorn was moving more aggressively, and furthermore, was launching counterattacks at every opportunity.

《Hee, heeek…!!》

Naturally feeling his life threatened, Hermecus began to flee while letting out an unseemly scream with a terrified expression.

And as Hermecus became increasingly desperate to escape, Bjorn, whose irritation had reached its peak, finally rushed in to end it—

《—Got you.》

[……..Ugh!!]

The very next moment, just as Hermecus suddenly turned his head toward him, Bjorn felt his body being restrained by something invisible.

‘….Hands? ……Invisible hands?’

Based on the sensation against his body, Bjorn deduced that these were hands—hands large enough to grab someone of Bjorn’s stature, which exceeded two meters.

It appeared to be Hermecus’s power, “Invisible Hand.”

《Haha, what a ridiculous sight.》

Clatter!!

Hermecus, openly mocking Bjorn, began binding him with chains.

Naturally, Bjorn tried to respond to Hermecus’s words but then quietly began to wait, squirming within the restraints.

《Look at yourself, lowly barbarian. How disgusting are you?》

Staring at Hermecus who was sneering and spitting out insults that weren’t particularly offensive, Bjorn endured and endured.

Letting the words go in one ear and out the other, he continuously waited for Hermecus to come closer—

《Your beloved mo—》

[—Got you!!]

—KWAAAAAANG!!!!

Bjorn, who had been watching Hermecus without missing his opportunity, instantly exerted force, broke free from the invisible hands, and—swung his fist.

CRACK!!!

《AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!》

As Hermecus screamed after taking a direct punch to the face, Bjorn quickly infused the chains restraining him with the power of chaos.

The chains, which had begun to change color, soon became completely subordinate to Bjorn, who then wrapped them tightly around himself, leaped forward, and—

[—Die!!]

KWAAAAAANG!!!

Starting by completely crushing the already bleeding nose with his fist, Bjorn began to beat Hermecus using the iron chains he had taken control of.

Since the chains were corrupted by the power of Chaos and could move according to Bjorn’s will, using them to pummel Hermecus looked like a scene from a spectacular action movie.

He pounded with the chains as knuckles, pulled them back when they flew away, tied them up and swung Hermecus like a wrecking ball against the surrounding walls, and slashed with his sword wrapped in chains.

The extremely violent process of beating, pounding, crushing, and smashing continued.

By connecting the iron chains to the sword handle to extend his reach, this one-sided violence eventually reached a point where it resembled a splatter film.

Bound in iron chains with his limbs gradually being severed, Hermecus was finally finished when Bjorn magnificently retrieved his sword by pulling the chains and swung it with all his might—

Moments later, the severed body of the god fell to the floor with a thud.

Coincidentally, it landed right on top of the woman’s corpse from which he had first emerged.

※ ※ ※

‘You’re doing well, our Bjorn.’

Meanwhile, at the same time.

As I watched Bjorn tearing apart and killing gods while looking down at the ground with my eyes, I briefly smiled contentedly before—opening my mouth.

I needed to absorb the souls of the gods that Bjorn had not yet absorbed.

The parts Bjorn absorbed were those that had lost their divine omnipotence, and I absorbed the parts that were destroyed in the process of the pleasure deity forcibly falling away.

Originally, even Bjorn’s body couldn’t contain the full caliber of a god’s soul; if he had truly absorbed a god completely, his soul would have been shattered as well.

As I absorbed the soul fragments, I looked at Bjorn and fell into thought—thoughts about the magnificent achievement Bjorn had accomplished this time.

In fact, normally, even if they were killed within that barrier, the main gods of the pantheon would have returned to their divine territories due to their immortality.

Indeed, Justitia-Astraea, who was killed by the apostle of the evil god of conspiracy, and Iris, who was killed by Phobos whom Horus controlled, both returned to their divine territories.

However, experiencing death once seemed to have a greater spiritual impact than expected, so while they were unable to act for a while, we secured an invasion route by killing their apostles.

The original plan was to kill the 12 main gods with the help of the 7 evil gods.

But when Bjorn accidentally acquired the “Power of Chaos,” which transformed his divine energy and gave him the ability to break down and absorb souls instead of his original abilities.

This plan was completely destroyed—in a good way.

There was no need to go through the trouble of finding and killing each apostle.

We just needed to prevent them from escaping while they were severely weakened by the birth of pleasure, and then have Bjorn cut their throats.

This operation was finally carried out successfully after long preparation, and as a result, Bjorn had killed six out of the ten gods who descended to earth.

《……..》

[Die!!]

KWAAAAAAAAANG!!!

Currently, he was attempting to behead Plutos, the last god remaining on earth.

Being a god of death, Plutos was quite powerful and had transformed into a giant reaper with a scythe, but…

Well, at this rate, it would be over in 10 minutes, so I decided not to worry about it.

Anyway, as I contentedly observed this brilliantly successful plan, a certain thought naturally began to creep into my mind.

Come to think of it, did we really need the help of the evil gods in the process of invading the divine territories of other gods?

It was I who sealed off the entire capital city of the Rom Empire, and if we’re being strict, it was Bjorn who killed the gods—they did almost nothing.

Of course, they did cause disturbances and chaos on earth, so strictly speaking, they should have their fair share.

But… do we really need to take care of the evil gods?

If we examine it closely, most of what has been done in the evil god council meetings was led and guided by me.

Moreover, what remains to be done doesn’t require much help and is all relatively easy, which is another main reason.

The divine territories of the gods killed by Bjorn’s hand would still remain but with only gods left in them, and the other gods would have suffered comparable damage, making them easy to deal with.

The main force of the Rom Empire, which was returning at full speed to reclaim the capital, with numerous divine apostles in its ranks, might be a somewhat difficult opponent, but…

In fact, once I finished dealing with all the divine territories, there was a high possibility that I could handle them alone.

Therefore, I finally made a decision.

It’s just that the conditions for ascending from high-grade to top-grade haven’t been met yet. Once I can ascend to top-grade, there’s no need to be bound to this world anymore.

So I’ll monopolize the pantheon and the capital, and let the rest handle things on their own.

That was the new decision I had made.