Divine Nation – Part 1
A black dome split open.
The buried city rose into view like it had been hiding beneath the surface.
At its center stood the Artisan Village.
The place where a hidden Shadow Temple lay underground.
“Teacher! Look over there!”
Baek Sorin pointed toward the Artisan Village.
But the village itself didn’t matter.
What truly stood out was the black-gold dimensional gate perched above it, like the pupil of a reptilian eye.
The dimensional gate spun slowly, like a waterwheel.
It towered proudly, overwhelming the surroundings.
“Hm.”
The Legion Commander grunted.
“Something feels off…”
A sense of alienation.
Or maybe discomfort.
That was the only way to describe the sensation crawling down my spine.
Choi Sunsoo scratched the cheek where his prosthetic had once been.
“What is this? It’s like a ghost city. Where is everyone?”
“Ah!”
He was right.
Not a single person in sight—not even a dog or a cat.
Not even a sparrow, or those cursed pigeons everyone calls flying rats.
But that wasn’t all.
I focused my gaze deeper into the city.
Sunlight streamed down.
Dust particles floated gently where the light touched.
Normally, there’d be swarms of germs writhing in that light.
But here, there were none.
No bacteria, no viruses, not a single microorganism. Only dust drifting in the air.
‘This… is impossible.’
The power of a god had erased all life.
Only now were microorganisms beginning to drift in on the breeze.
Suddenly, chills ran down my spine.
The Saintess—no, my old father—hadn’t just devoured humans. He’d annihilated all life in Gwangju!
“Let’s go in.”
“Sir, wouldn’t it be wiser to move cautiously? Scout first, check the other side of the dimensional gate—”
“There’s no need.”
I snapped, my eyes gleaming.
[Bright Eyes] ]] [Clairvoyance] [[ [Sixth Sense]
A strange sensation.
As if I were a third-person observer, gazing down at myself.
Not just at myself, but at the entire world.
Beyond the dimensional gate—
I could see what was happening inside the Divine Nation of my old father.
[Prepare yourselves!]
[The external barrier has been breached!]
[The unbelievers will attack soon!]
[Attack the moment they enter!]
[Kill them all!]
A defensive perimeter.
No—an encirclement.
The defense force was even stronger than the one during the previous Gwangju Campaign.
High-level superhumans had established an impenetrable defense line.
It wasn’t just that they were linked to the Divine Nation—they were already inside it.
This wouldn’t be easy.
“I’ll go in first. Then those at level 8 should follow, then levels 7 and 6, in that order.”
I assigned positions on the spot.
Strictly by level—for maximum efficiency.
Once level 6 and above had entered, we’d deploy in unit formations.
I drafted a map and augmented reality guide right away.
Most people here had AR devices, at least.
With arrows and numbers clearly displayed, no one should get lost in formation.
[Leave it to me. I’ll handle coordination.]
The tiny goddess of the Sky River, perched on my shoulder, spoke.
Right. If it’s her, I can trust her.
Not just the supercomputer power within the Sky River, but she herself was arguably the strongest magical spirit on Earth.
The Tower Master smirked as he reviewed the map and AR guide.
“So, you can see what’s inside the gate, Sir?”
“Of course.”
“Heh. How? Even a holy-attribute mage couldn’t do that.”
“Hehehe.”
The Legion Commander’s mouth twitched with laughter.
His cheekbones were practically levitating.
“Ahem! Of course he can. We’re talking about him here. Not even Leviathan or Merlin could match our Sir. Isn’t that right?”
“Enough with the nonsense. Let’s go in.”
The Blood King’s eyes flashed.
And it wasn’t just him. The Divine Army Commander and the Elder were bloodshot, their eyes blazing red.
The other cultists were the same.
Gripping the Heavenly Demon Sword, I strode forward.
“I’m going in. Just follow the guide.”
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s finish this!”
A deep breath.
And I stepped into the dimensional gate.
A flash brighter than the sun itself greeted me.
“Die!”
“Drop dead!”
A bombardment of starlight.
It was truly a starfall.
Magic surged from every direction, 180 degrees of concentrated mana.
No room to dodge.
The old me would’ve crouched down and taken it all.
That would’ve landed me on death’s doorstep, forcing me to use the Golden Fleece’s immortality and the Ambrosia magic chip from the Armory to survive.
But now, things were different.
[Nephilim Sword] ]] [Godslayer] [[ [Master of the Blade]
I fused the two traits.
The world trait transformed into [Godslayer], establishing itself firmly.
That freed up five trait slots, which I immediately filled.
[Nephilim Sword][Master of the Blade]
[Mana Soul][Thor Cultivation Technique][Sacred Knight]
Power surged into me.
And that wasn’t the end.
The Heavenly Demon Sword hummed as it poured out its energy.
From it, the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique manifested in the form of a concrete sword technique that etched itself into my brain.
The barrage of light was already right in front of me.
My skin prickled. My stomach churned.
One misstep and I’d be caught in the blast.
But my mind was calm, like a moonlit lake.
I drew my sword.
Deep to the left.
I focused.
Sank deeper, loading a single, absolute thought.
And then—one slash.
Wuuuuuum…
A buzzing like a swarm of bees rattled my eardrums.
Moments later—
The world split.
The horizon cracked. Sky and earth were forcibly torn apart.
Silence fell.
A painful, bitter silence that settled like a scar.
But it didn’t last long.
Groans and screams erupted from all around.
“Gah!”
“Uuuugh!”
“Cough! Hack!”
“T-This can’t be real!”
“The Demon King! That’s the Demon King! It has to be!”
The world had split.
That wasn’t a metaphor.
It was no exaggeration.
Steel walls, defensive magic, containment barriers, interception facilities…
All of them were cleaved in two and left scattered.
Every superhuman below level 5 in the defense line had been annihilated.
Only those of level 6 and above had barely survived—and now they stared up at me in sheer terror.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
“Fall back to the second—no, the third line!”
Eventually, they began to pull back.
There was a second defense line ten kilometers behind them.
That line had already been half-destroyed by my attack as well.
So now they were retreating again, another ten kilometers back, to the third line.
“Well, damn.”
The Legion Commander, who’d just stepped through the gate, clicked his tongue.
“Really now? You’re going to hog all the good stuff for yourself?”
“There’s still plenty left.”
Now that I was inside the dimensional gate, it was clear.
There were ten defense lines total.
The one I just shattered wasn’t even 20% of the whole.
“This is…”
Shingun’s eyes trembled.
“Don’t tell me you did all this with a single strike?”
A master like Shingun could see it.
He could tell exactly what method had caused this overwhelming destruction.
Heavenly Demon’s Heaven-Cleaving Sword.
It might be different from the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique passed down from the actual Heavenly Demon, but this scene of utter devastation had to feel familiar to him.
Step, step, step.
The army began passing through the dimensional gate.
Some on foot.
Others aboard massive flying ships like the Sky River.
Still others simply flew through the sky under their own power.
It took less than ten minutes.
For over a hundred thousand troops to enter the Divine Nation.
That was only possible because the goddess of the Sky River was managing the flow, and because we utilized the dimensional gate in a three-dimensional way.
[KRAAAH!]
I soared into the sky riding Red.
From the heavens, I looked down upon the world.
Twenty kilometers away, the Cult Army had already formed up.
They were focusing their mana and activating magic circles in preparation for our assault.
I observed them for a moment, then turned to look behind me.
The Allied Forces—dozens of factions gathered together.
Their formation was a mess, but their momentum was overwhelming, enough to pierce the sky.
We’d finally made it here.
Suppressing the swell in my chest, I swapped traits.
[Dragon’s Roar] ]] [Dragon Monarch’s Command] [[ [Wish]
After using a hybrid fusion, I filled the remaining trait slots.
[General][My House][Sacred Knight]
[Close-Combat Mastery][One-Man Army]
And then I activated Dragon Monarch’s Command.
“[All buffs will be maintained until the battle ends.]”
My command pierced the world.
The army-wide enhancement effect granted by [General] was now applied to every single member.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were empowered at once.
A radiant torrent of light rained down like a storm.
“Huh? H-Hey!”
“What the hell is this?”
“Wait, our sub-commander’s not a warrior? He’s a priest?”
“No priest can do this!”
“I heard he hit level 9… No way, is that true?”
This was just a pre-battle buff.
I turned my gaze back again.
It looked like the Cult Army had also finished their preparations.
A black-gold buff had descended like constellations from the sky.
I twisted my lips.
[Dragon’s Roar] ]] [Heavenly Dragon King] [[ [Dragon Knight]
I sat firmly in the saddle.
I gazed down at the world.
It wasn’t just my vision.
My mind was now linked with the ancient dragon, Red.
Through four eyes—transcendent eyes—dragon’s eyes, I beheld the world.
“What…”
“O-Oh…”
I could feel it.
The Cult Army was being swallowed by fear.
Because of the oppressive aura radiating from me, the majesty of a Heavenly Dragon King bearing down on the world.
If this weren’t the Divine Nation but Earth instead, microorganisms, bugs, and even plants would’ve withered and died on the spot.
“[Shatter!]”
I shouted the draconic word, powered by support traits like [Mana Soul] and [Thor Cultivation Technique].
And I combined it with the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.
The Heavenly Demon’s might crushed the mana.
It warped space itself and obliterated completed spells.
As a result, defensive magic shattered into pieces, and the Cult Army’s superhumans coughed up blood.
“Guh!”
“Urgh!”
“W-What is this?! Guh!”
[KRAAAH!]
Red flapped his wings.
Now transformed into a lightning dragon, Red crossed twenty kilometers in a flash.
He skipped the act of inhaling.
Didn’t need to gather mana, either.
Because I was supplying it all directly.
[Supreme Flame] ]] [Primordial Fusion] [[ [Ultimate Ice]
He opened his mouth.
This wasn’t the golden breath of Supreme Flame I once knew.
Now, it shimmered with a clear, translucent radiance.
And then—he unleashed it!
FWWWWOOOOOM!
The breath struck like a hammer of broken space.
Pure and absolute power of the highest dimension.
No barrier or ward could endure it.
They shattered like twigs and melted like snow, ending in utter annihilation.
[You’re not going without us, Elder!]
[We’re coming too!]
[Humans! Taste the wrath of dragons!]
The dragons finally joined the fray.
Silver Dragon, Blue Dragon, White Dragon, Sea Dragon.
Breaths of ice, lightning, wind, and tidal waves struck the defense lines one after another.
“Hah! I won’t be outdone!”
“I’ll avenge my master!”
“My turn now?”
“Ultimate Flame, descend!”
Even the level 8 superhumans began to unleash their power.
The Black Tiger’s Sword Force rained down, followed by a barrage of characters.
The three martial elites of the Demonic Cult unleashed their arts while Poka erupted like a volcano.
The Tower Master floated a blazing Ultimate Flame like a second sun, and the Shinwha Group Chairman bombarded from afar with missiles.
BOOM! BOOM!
But that still wasn’t all.
The Sky River fired her Supreme Flame main cannon.
Her four disciples rampaged like tigers.
Mutants, fish-men, and other non-human races charged in too.
Everyone was fighting brilliantly.
But even combined, none of their feats compared to mine.
[Mars Swordsmanship] ]] [Heaven-Slaying Sword King] [[ [Kalaratri]
I leapt off Red.
Straight into the heart of the third defense line.
Right where dozens of level 7 superhumans were clustered.
TATATATANG!
Bullets flew instantly.
“How dare you come here!”
“Kill him!”
“Feel the heat of our fury!”
This was inside the Divine Nation.
Each bullet carried the divine power of my old father.
Even for me, taking them head-on would hurt quite a bit.
That is…
If I intended to let them hit me.
[Master of the Blade][One-Man Army][Finishing Strike]
[Thor Cultivation Technique][Mana Soul]
I swung my sword.
A slash descended from sky to earth.
“Huh?”
“What…?”
It was a single strike—but not just a single strike.
The moment I brought my blade down,
every superhuman around me was sliced clean in half.
Even the sky and space were being torn to shreds.
It looked like just one swing,
but using the power of the Heaven-Slaying Sword King,
everything had already been obliterated.
“This… this is insane!”
The Archbishop, who had been far off, screamed in shock.
“You! You’re doing this again—!”
He raised his staff high.
The surrounding priests did the same.
They were about to cast some grand spell or miracle.
“Heh.”
I scoffed.
My hand brushed the Armory.
[Lightning Slash] ]] [Hammer of the Thunder God] [[ [Master of the Blunt Weapon]
Mjölnir flew through the air.
It punched through dozens of layered shields as if they were nothing.
And then something horrifying happened.
KRAAA-KOOM!
A lightning storm exploded forth.
Not just where the Archbishop and his priests stood.
It surged outward—farther, and farther—consuming everything in its path.
At least several dozen kilometers.
Not only the third defense line, but the fourth and fifth as well.
And this wasn’t ordinary lightning.
It was lightning the eye couldn’t even perceive.
No thunderclap. Only the shockwave erupted into a deafening explosion.
Annihilation Thunder.
Even the Pontiff of the Thor Cult had to gather power to unleash a storm of Annihilation Thunder.
But I had caused it with a single throw of Mjölnir.
“A m-monster…”
Elsewhere—
A Holy Mage carving a black-gold constellation muttered.
He was level 7 himself.
Leading a company of over a hundred Holy Mages.
And yet, he looked completely overwhelmed.
But I had no intention of forgiving—or waiting.
I hurled myself forward with full force.
[Heavenly Wall] ]] [Absolute Barrier] [[ [Master of the Shield]
Aegis deployed.
It glowed milk-white, then shifted into radiant gold.
With Aegis in front, I dove straight downward.
A pale, terrified face rapidly filled my vision.
[Earth][Giant’s Strength][Vajra Body]
[Sacred Knight][Close-Combat Mastery]
And then—suddenly—a thought came to me.
Annihilation Thunder was ultimately the compression and detonation of lightning to a transcendent degree.
So what about Earth?
The trait I received from Gaia—couldn’t it do something similar?
Wooooom.
In the brief moment of descent,
I amplified Earth.
Poured infinite mana into Aegis and condensed it.
Cubic layers stacked and stacked—until they became one solid mass.
A single point of volume.
But a mass approaching infinity.
As if I’d crammed a mountain into it!
KWAAAAANG!
The weight alone smashed into the land.
The Holy Mage company?
They tried to react—too late.
Every barrier was crushed. The entire defense line shattered.
No—it went even further than that.
The surface of the earth flipped completely,
and massive cracks spidered out in all directions.
Over dozens of kilometers.
Like a miniature nuke had gone off.
“Unbelievable!”
“Thor above…”
“It’s the Celestial Ascension! Sir, you’ve reached level 9!”
The defense lines up to the fifth were now destroyed.
Half remained—but they meant nothing now.
As soon as I charged forward with Aegis in hand, they were reduced to dust.
‘I’ll call it Limitless Mass.’
A technique using the Earth trait to amplify weight.
Theoretically, it might even be able to create a black hole.
[Unbelievable.]
[Is he even human?]
[You might as well call him level 9 now.]
[No wonder the Old Father called him the world’s savior, light itself, and a fragment of his own being.]
The point where I had broken through the defense lines—
A wasteland of black sand grains.
The true Divine Nation began here.
Not on the surface, but in the skies above.
An army spread across the heavens.
Angels and demons.
The Four Archangels and the Four Demon Dukes.
They bared their gleaming teeth as they looked down at me.
–TL Notes–
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holyyy op