Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 273: Onwards!

Normally, Isaac borrowed Yoo-jin’s ability to generate frozen fortifications via the [Round Table], but that was a known trick. So for this fight, he’d switched out that [Skill] for Arthur’s [Heavy Plate Armor], which allowed him to freely move wearing heavy armor and compensate for all the limitations.

Including when badly formed armor locked up in places. In those cases, it would become more like rubber and both pieces would mold past each other, which meant that the massive series of metal slabs that currently wrapped around Isaac would not limit his movement in the slightest, and he was strong enough to mostly compensate for its weight as well.

Well, material fatigue would rapidly become a problem as the armor kept being reshaped by a fairly low-rarity [Skill], but it didn’t have to last for more than the next few minutes.

It would also only work once before his enemies prepared for it, but as long as it worked that one time, he’d be fine with it.

[Wave Charge] sped up his fall, his momentum growing to insane heights. The [Aura of the Eternal Warrior] wrapped his sword and both fists in power, the remainder manifesting as a series of razor-sharp projections around him.

And then, the two of them collided in an explosion of fire and storm.

A pillar of tearing wind capable of reducing a mountain to mere gravel appeared around them a split second before the impact as War triggered his [Axis Mundi], enough to let the man dodge Isaac’s sword, but not avoid his other hand, which closed around his leg, locking there with an iron grasp.

It was easy to forget how strong Isaac was, considering how much higher his other Stats were.

But while he might not be able to crush someone’s skull in his hands or punt people over mountains the way Fenrir or Arthur could, he was still perfectly capable of holding himself up by a single hand even wrapped in multiple tons of metal.

With a startled yelp, War began to fall, activating the “Wings of Ruin” ability in an attempt to stay airborne. But while they might be devastating weapons, they weren’t meant to carry as much weight as was currently put upon them. They kept falling as projectiles bounced off Isaac’s armor, but he dismissed his sword to allow him to haul himself upwards and grab onto the Horseman’s shoulder, and suddenly, Isaac was almost on top.

His normal mobility might be reduced by his armor, and he couldn’t pull off half the stunts he normally did, but he was also insulated against attacks that would normally tear him to shreds.

And the armor was so incredibly thick that even the centimeter-thick gouges that were being torn out of them didn’t reach his flesh.

War tried to get out of the death grip, not wanting to end up pancaked between Isaac and the ground, throwing the two of them into a spin. Until, for one lone millisecond, his head was right between Isaac’s hand and the ground. Sure, they were still a full kilometer up, so it would normally be an utterly inconsequential mistake.

But Isaac had [Grave of Swords] and activated it at its smallest size.

They hit the suddenly appearing ground with an ugly series of crunches and cracks, Isaac’s shoulder exploding in pain as his arm was dislocated, but War was decidedly worse off … and locked in a small room with a person he could barely move.

And that was the end of the fucking road. The Juggernaught Suit had been utterly ruined after being worn for less than a minute, but it had done its job and the instant War’s headless body hit the ground, Isaac switched over to his standard armor.

Human (Lv. 132 Aspirant for the Mantle of War) has been slain 20,000 XP gained

Lv. 132 Aspirant for the Mantle of War has been added to the Grave of Swords as a potential training target/power source

Another one for the collection.

The [Grave of Swords] let him out at ground level thanks to its 3rd threshold ability to let him alter the exit’s location.

“If that was your big trump card, feel free to just surrender now,” Isaac announced, pointing a still blood-stained Balmung at the largest concentration of foes, “A trial in a court, or a trial by fire. Your choice.”

Flames began to lick up from his empty hand until his entire left arm was ablaze and half his face was illuminated by fire while the other was cast in shadow under the night sky.

Through serendipity or proper preparation, Isaac wasn’t sure, Fenrir chose that moment to crest the nearest mountain, spattered with blood that clearly wasn’t his.

Several immediately surrendered, throwing down their weapons before diving for cover, proclaiming their surrender in the hopes that someone on Isaac’s side had a [Skill] that could determine said surrenders were genuine.

The others decided to turn their focus on Isaac.

A blast of Prometheus’ Wrath flew in the direction of the biggest concentration of enemies, and then he triggered [Dragon’s Heart]. It was a [Skill] that had all the power of a cooldown [Skill], but drew upon his actual resources, not a separate mana pool connected only to that [Skill].

But even with his mana potion-induced regen-reduction, his pool would fill more quickly than his cooldowns would recharge.

A titanic blast of flame wiped the attackers from existence and then, most of the people who remained saw the wisdom in putting down their weapons as well.

At that moment, Isaac was really glad he didn’t have to work out the logistics of taking care of that many high Level prisoners.

Time to call in the investigators, make himself scarce so he could rightfully say he hadn’t seen Jason when he snuck in, and then check if he could help somewhere else. Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone anywhere near as smoothly elsewhere.