Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
We purposefully took our time walking, because there was a chance the enemy would charge at us the moment they saw us. But the endless sea of enemy soldiers did not make a move as we approached. It was like they were telling us to do our best, because it wouldn’t be enough to defeat them!
When I halted my army and had them stand in formation, someone stepped forward from the enemy army to address us. It was Claudia, the Time Controller.
“I was beginning to think you were going to hole up behind your walls like rats, but I see you all finally managed to crawl out.”
“We were thinking about it. We’re the ones who won three times in a row. We were going to just sit comfortably on our thrones and wait for you, but it looked like you guys were frozen in fear. You guys just didn’t seem to want to come any closer, so we decided to come down ourselves,” I taunted as I stepped forward to meet Claudia halfway. There was no way I was backing down from this battle of nerves.
“Hah…” It looked like it worked, as Claudia struggled to find her words. “You’re insane!”
“What do you mean? You already lost three of your Sections, while we haven’t lost a single one. We also won every single battle against you. Isn’t that why you’re here? To take revenge?”
“Grr! Let’s see how long you keep talking like that! Listen up!”
“Yes ma’am!”
“Slaughter these pigs you see in front of you! Spare no one! Kill them all and show them what it means to anger us!”
“Yes, ma’am!” The Crootian soldiers replied as one, so loudly that the ground rumbled beneath me. From that, it was clear that these soldiers carried more confidence than the past enemy soldiers. But they weren’t the only ones.
“Empire!”
“Yes, sir!” My soldiers shouted their replies so loud that it put the Crootian army to shame, even though they outnumbered us by at least three hundred thousand.
“Victory today will be ours, just like before! I will fight on the front lines, just like before! Believe in me and follow me!”
“Yes, sir!”
“We will follow you to the ends of Hell, sir!”
This battle was the deciding battle of the Judge’s Continent. There was no need to say anymore. Claudia and I both returned to our respective armies.
“Activate: Create Critical Weakness. Activate: Ripped Advance.”
==[Create Critical Weakness has been activated.]==
==[Ripped Advance has been activated.]==
“Mana Conversion – Ice. Warrior’s Brave Spirit. Howl of the Wolf.”
==[Mana Conversion – Ice Level 7 has been activated.]==
==[Warrior’s Brave Spirit Level 2 has been activated.]==
==[Howl of the Wolf has been activated.]==
After activating all of my buffs, I opened up my Stats Menu.
==[Name: Lee Jiwon
Level: 1349 Death Count: 0
Title: Earth’s First Deva
HP: 99,991,200/99,991,200 MP: 7,399,600 /7,399,600
Strength: 256,402 + 8,127 Agility: 177,202 Vitality: 181,002
Willpower: 73,936 Intelligence: 72,456]==
My Stats were the highest they had ever been. I turned towards the charging enemy soldiers and shouted, “Attack!”
“Raaah!”
“For Earth! For the glory of the Empire! Attack!”
My priority target was obviously Claudia, and I was confident I could defeat her, even if she was surrounded by enemy soldiers. But Claudia was quicker than me.
“I command the time of this world to bend to my will! SEVERED TIME!” In an instant, a curtain of white light erupted from Claudia and enveloped the entire land. It shot past the battlefield and headed for the horizon.
“Cooommmaaaanderrr Leeee!”
“Whaaat’s goooing oooon?” I heard voices call out to me from behind and turned my head towards them. What I saw was a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie. My soldiers were clearly trying to take a step forward, but their feet kept returning to their original positions. It was like they were caught in an endless loop caused by a broken tape.
“Eeeeach sseeecooond iiisss reeepeeeating Iiitseeeelf buuutt oouurrr mmiinnddsss rreemaaiinn thee ssaaamme.”
“Buuut whyyy iis thee commaannderr unnaffffeeected?” Madun, Song Haechang, and Arthur Lucas all turned to look at me in shock. But every time they turned their heads, their heads snapped back to their original positions.
So this was Claudia’s ability to control time. She trapped my soldiers’ bodies in a timeframe of one second while their minds remained unaffected. Her soldiers were caught in her ability, too. Both armies had stopped mid-charge and were standing still. The only people unaffected were Claudia and I.
We both looked at each other in confusion. I could understand why Claudia was surprised, but I was just as shocked. I could walk normally. Was it because of my Unrivaled skill? No, there were plenty of Unrivaled devas in my army, but they were caught in her time web as well.
“Lee Jiwon… you… what timeline do you even exist on?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I had no idea what Claudia was trying to say. I didn’t even get a message explaining why her ability didn’t work on me, so of course I had no idea why I was unaffected.
“Why… why do you exist on a different timeline?”
“Go ask the Devil instead!” I was curious too, but I couldn’t figure that out, just like her, so I charged at her instead, activating Altered Equality at the same time.
==[You have activated Altered Equality – Altered Equal Stats on your opponent.
Your opponent’s base Stat points, Stat points increased by skills and items and Stat points granted by specials will all be redistributed.
Calculating all Stat points…]==
==[Your opponent’s Stats have been redistributed.
The effects of Altered Equality will last for the next 24 hours and you must wait that time before using Altered Equality on someone else.
Stat points received for Kiran will be set to 0 as payment for using Altered Equality.]==
Claudia continued to stand there with a dumb expression on her face, even after Altered Equality had worked her over. But that was all the better for me.
“Judge’s Gavel. Blink 1. Blink 2.”
—
Claudia was horrified as Lee Jiwon moved freely through her Severed Time.
There were three timelines that flowed here on the Judge’s Continent. One belonged to the Continent, one belonged to Croot, and the other belonged to Earth. Because those three timelines were too tangled up with one another, it was impossible for Claudia to synch with them separately. So, she had decided to synch with all three timelines at the same time.
It required a lot more time to do so, and forced her to remain deep behind Croot’s defenses until the synchronization completed. Still, she managed to succeed, and gained control of Earth’s time. She was able to bring the two million Terran soldiers to a halt… but somehow, Lee Jiwon was unaffected, even though he was a Terran, too!
“Is he… not from Earth?” Claudia asked, but she couldn’t find the answer to the question as Lee Jiwon suddenly disappeared from view. She knew enough about Lee Jiwon’s combat style and reacted instantly.
“Protect me! Time Barrier!” Claudia formed a barrier around herself because she had no idea where Lee Jiwon was going to reveal himself next. She was confident that her Time Barrier was strong enough to withstand Lee Jiwon’s attacks. It boasted a higher DEF Stat than even the strongest Earth-type barrier spell. She had even poured thirty years into her Time Barrier to fully level it up.
The next thing Claudia heard was her Barrier shattering into pieces around her, just before she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder. Claudia cried out in pain and looked over. Lee Jiwon’s famed red spear had cut cleanly through her Barrier.
Claudia felt panic creeping through her. Nothing was going as she had planned. Even her own soldiers were caught in her Severed Time and couldn’t move, just like the enemy soldiers.
Her soldiers were closer to the source and would regain their control over their own time sooner than the enemy. To be more precise, they would have a 20-30 second head start, but that was enough to kill countless enemy soldiers that couldn’t defend themselves. It was all thanks to this overpowered ability that she had defeated Adora, Skyla, and even Dunia, and given her control over Croot.
This was the first time her abilities had not worked on someone!
“Fuck! This…this just doesn’t make sense!”
—
“Tsk!” Judge’s Gavel did manage to break through her Barrier and inflict severe damage, but it only half-worked.
“Are you really a Terran?”
“Of course I am, you idiot. There are two worlds on the Judge’s Continent, Earth and Croot! If I’m not a Terran, does that make me a Crootian?”
“But how…?”
“But what? If you don’t know, then how am I supposed to know? Scorched Rage!” Claudia might be my priority target, but there were helpless enemy soldiers all around me. It was the perfect chance to use my strongest AoE skills. A massive spear appeared in the sky and came crashing down. Weirdly enough, the enemy soldiers did manage to react.
“Shieeeld.”
“Meeega Shieeeld.”
“Bliiiink.”
“Bloooock iiiit.”
“Shiiiiit.”
The soldiers drawled out their spells like they were in a slow-motion film, but their spells didn’t even activate and the giant spear crashed down uncontested.
==[You have gained a level.]==
==[You have gained a level.]==
==[You have gained a level.]==
Like always, I gained three more levels for each level-up. The level-up messages were then followed up by countless messages that appeared so fast that I couldn’t keep up with all of them.
==[You have obtained 160,000 golden rings.]==
==[You have obtained 120,000 golden rings.]==
:
:
==[You have obtained 230,000 golden rings.]==
==[You have obtained 180,000 golden rings.]==
From the golden rings I was obtaining, I could tell that all of the enemy soldiers I had just killed were all elites, but in the end, they were all nothing more than cannon fodder.
“Titan Stomp! Fissure!” I used my other two AoE skills, as they would inflict maximum damage against defenseless devas.
“Summon: Sand Warriors. Call: Zulova!” I summoned my Sand Warriors and even Zulova to get some more help, but that was a mistake.
“Whaaat’s gooooing ooon heeerrre?”
“Huh… I guess Summon Creatures and newcomers are also affected by her ability.” From that, I realized that Claudia’s Severed Time ability was a truly powerful skill. I had a guess as to why her ability didn’t work on me: I had come back to the past. Claudia had asked why only I existed on a different time, and it was the only explanation I could come up with. I really did exist on a different timeline, because I was sent back in time. I wasn’t sure if that really was the explanation, but either way, I had the advantage.
I tightened my grip on my spear, and charged at Claudia again.
“Gaaaahh.”
“Noooooo.”
I made sure to also cut down as many trapped enemy soldiers as possible on the way!
