Ch.2727. Rematch

The fact that the Wolf God was actually female was enough to shock me as much as finding out that the protagonist of the movie “The Throne” dies before even watching it.

‘…Well, female is female.’

In short, I wasn’t shocked at all, nor did I particularly care.

Though she might have been male in the past, all that remained of that was perhaps an aesthetic sense, and it seems her emotional structure had been twisted when she became a deity, significantly altering her feelings from before.

Therefore, since it felt awkward to leave her completely naked, I had her dressed in a loose black garment resembling monk’s robes, and only then did I resume handling my affairs… or so I would like to say.

‘Is there… anything I can do right now?’

With the divine system becoming more structured, I’ve processed all tasks with superintelligence and parallel thinking in mere tens of seconds, and I’ve already resolved all immediate issues.

It’s fair to say there’s almost nothing left for me to personally handle.

If I were mortal, I might train, but training as a deity yields almost no change. My desires have grown faint, and my thought structure has become rational, so I don’t feel like indulging in carnal pleasures like those madmen in the pantheon.

So, within the boundaries of the plans I’ve already established, what I can do is…

‘Ah.’

Come to think of it, there might be one thing.

※ ※ ※

Since the day he took Hastein’s head, Bjorn had become somewhat brighter and more passionate.

“10074, 10075, 10076… 10077!”

—Slash!

In truth, saying he was bright and passionate meant that having actually achieved his revenge, he was in a good mood, and he participated enthusiastically in training with a smile on his face at the thought of being able to kill his other revenge targets…

But at least on the surface, that’s how he appeared.

So as Bjorn was swinging his sword like his life depended on it, tearing all the muscle fibers in his body and repeatedly recovering with divine power while enthusiastically bulking up, a spiritual voice echoed in his ear.

《It is tonight. Prepare yourself.》

‘…Yes.’

Realizing that what he had occasionally experienced since obtaining the divine weapon Blood Demon Sword would happen again today, Bjorn quietly answered and then put down his training sword, scooping water with a basin and splashing it over himself.

Splash!

Though he had obtained a private training room due to his improved treatment for becoming more diligent in the Colosseum and putting on more spectacular matches…

The irony was that his newfound diligence was for the sake of training for Him, and the more spectacular matches were largely the result of collusion among gladiators.

Anyway. Having finished training early to prepare for “that event” tonight, Bjorn was now concluding his day with a light full-body massage.

‘…What a magnificent sunset. It’s like…’

After muttering those words while looking at the setting sun and twilight visible through the bars of his private training room,

Bjorn descended from the gradually darkening training room, took a deep breath, and entered his cell.

Click, bang!

Looking pensively at his cell, which had been upgraded from a pigsty to something more like a stable, he climbed onto the wooden bed fixed to the wall with chains, covered himself with a blanket, and after taking one last deep breath, closed his eyes—

Similar to his previous experiences, his mind and body(?) had somehow been transported to the front of an elaborately carved stone door located in some cave.

“Have you arrived, Bjorn?”

“…Yes, His messenger.”

As Ma-Duk’s messenger, who appeared as a woman more mature than the red-haired wolf beastkin who had nursed him before, welcomed him as usual,

Bjorn bowed at the waist to her—or more precisely, to the authority of Ma-Duk that she represented.

And immediately after that,

Bjorn, having prepared for battle once again by taking out His red armor and the Blood Demon Sword stored in his bracelet, opened his mouth—

“I am ready.”

“Yes, Apostle Bjorn. I wish you luck.”

With a beautiful yet utterly rigid and businesslike voice, the stone door opened,

and the being beyond it was—an Ogre Bear, which he had barely managed to defeat previously by channeling divine power.

This creature, which looked like an ogre’s upper body mounted on a giant bear’s torso, was not only fully armored with a massive hammer like before,

but its eyes were steeped in madness, seemingly filled with nothing but desire and impulse for destruction.

Judging by what appeared to be madness caused by Ma-Duk’s curse or blessing, and the momentarily blurred connection with Him, Bjorn could somewhat predict Ma-Duk’s intentions.

In short, He—Ma-Duk—wanted Bjorn to defeat an enemy he couldn’t overcome before, using his body now trained through regular experiences.

It was a clear manifestation of the intentions of Ma-Duk, who was not only the god of revenge, blood, and wolves, but also the god of war and violence.

‘Is the divine weapon… not working either?’

So Bjorn briefly looked at his dimming amulet and Blood Demon Sword, then shook his head vigorously to cast aside any lingering attachments—

“KUOOOOOOOOOOO—!!!!!!”

“■■■■■■■—!!!!”

Whoosh—CRASH!!!!

Avoiding the hammer swung by the Ogre Bear that charged at him with a monstrous roar,

Bjorn surrounded the Blood Demon Sword with aura—which, though its transcendent cutting power and special abilities were sealed, still retained its basic performance as a weapon—and prepared to counterattack.

His target was the joint areas where the armor was relatively thin—specifically, the elbow of the ogre’s upper body.

Even a mighty Ogre Bear couldn’t coat its entire armor with magical power or aura for protection, so the possibility was more than sufficient.

With a feeling of crushing rather than cutting, he concentrated aura on the blade and attacked the elbow of the Ogre Bear as it tried to pull its hammer out of the ground.

Crunch—CRACK!

“■■■■■■■■■■—!!!!”

With the Ogre Bear’s painful scream, the left elbow of the ogre body became dangling and loose, and the creature, with bloodshot eyes, moved its bear-shaped lower body.

Clang! CLANG!!! Zing……!!

Though the bear’s claws made a metallic sound against the sword as if coated with aura, that didn’t last long.

Bjorn, who had experience hunting giant bears many times, skillfully deflected the claws and then thrust his sword, concentrated with aura at the tip, into the belly and slashed, tearing open the relatively thin and unarmored stomach.

“KUOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Beyond simply having its belly cut, its intestines were sliced and blood began pouring out, suggesting that vital organs or important blood vessels had been severed.

Naturally, any normal beast or living creature would flee or cower in fear after such an injury…

Was it due to Ma-Duk’s direct intervention?

The Ogre Bear, still burning with madness and killing intent in its eyes, stood firmly despite injuries that should have felled it immediately, staring at him.

Then with another roar—this time without even wielding a weapon, as if intending to engage in close combat—it tried to kill him.

Bjorn dodged the armored bear’s charge with a roll, then deflected the incoming claw attack before pushing off the ground to retreat backward…

CRASH!!!

With a sound loud enough to create a boom, he leaped into the air and attacked the Ogre Bear’s intact right shoulder with a ranged slash using aura and magic.

Of course, the Ogre Bear wouldn’t simply take such an obvious attack and defended against the slash by surrounding its particularly thick shoulder plate with magic…

But Bjorn hadn’t launched that attack with the real intention to kill.

The Ogre Bear overreacted to the attack that was merely meant to create a small opening, and it actually showed that opening.

Judging that a creature consumed by madness wouldn’t deliberately create a feint, Bjorn kicked the air with his magic-infused legs and charged toward the Ogre Bear’s head.

The Blood Demon Sword, looking twice its normal size from the amount of aura infused into it, mercilessly split the Ogre Bear’s head diagonally like the blade of a falling guillotine—and that was the end.

The bear portion, which could be considered the lower body, had already collapsed from excessive bleeding and couldn’t move. The Ogre Bear, whose head was severed by the Blood Demon Sword along with its helmet, ended its brief life in vain.