[Luciana has followed you]
[Arminius has followed you]
The moment the two vampires swore their faith to him, Rohan immediately bestowed upon each of them a Ring of Storm.
As soon as the rings were given, he assigned them two missions. First, if they survived the battle, they were to help convert every vampire within the underground hall into followers of the Storm God. Second, they were to remain by the side of a devout believer named Rohan for an entire year.
This was a decision made for his own benefit. Because having the two vampires follow him would be a massive boon to his chances of survival.
After giving the orders, Rohan turned his attention to the battlefield inside the underground hall. As he observed the chaos unfolding before him, a sense of unease settled in. Too much was at stake, and he could not afford for the operation to fail.
To increase the chances of success, there was one more thing he could do. He could personally join the fight. Since it was already past midnight, he could use the Armor of Asgard and the Lightbringer.
However, doing so would reveal his trump card to Tiara and Diana, and possibly to Merlinda as well if they reported it to her.
Rohan hesitated for a moment as the thought lingering in his mind. 'But she isn't my enemy. And unlike Rin Carmelia, she does not know my origin.'
'Besides, I have grown stronger now. There is no longer any shame in revealing myself as the Oracle of the Storm God.'
'And not only that, I'm a bit annoyed right now. The way they treat those vampires is far too cruel. They don't even give them anything to wear.'
'I just feel like smashing the head of whoever is responsible for that place.'
With resolve, Rohan finally decided to join the fight. Without giving Tiara and Diana any warning, he rushed toward the underground hall.
At first, his speed was no greater than that of a horse at full gallop. However, the moment the Armor of Asgard materialized, covering him from head to toe, his speed multiplied several times over.
Tiara and Diana were stunned. They could feel that Rohan had transformed into something entirely different, far stronger than before. And they also struggled to keep up with his speed.
In less than two minutes, he arrived at the entrance building that led to the underground hall.
But just as he reached for the door, he sensed someone approaching.
He turned his head.
A man stood there, somewhere in his forties, with streaks of gray in his hair. His eyes burned with wild intensity, his expression twisted with barely contained rage.
"Hey… hey!" the man snapped, his voice erratic, almost trembling with anger. "Was that you? Huh? You think you can just walk in here and screw with my business?"
Through his helmet, his eyes glowing blue in the dark of night, Rohan stared at him before speaking.
"What's your name? I need to know who's responsible for this place."
The man let out a sharp, unhinged chuckle.
"Whoa, whoa… you got guts, I like that." He tapped his chest with a quick, twitchy motion.
"You really wanna know, huh? You really wanna stick your nose in my business?"
His grin twisted as his excitement and rage mixing together.
"Listen carefully. When you drop, when you're bleeding out and begging, you remember this name." He jabbed a finger forward.
"Goretzka."
"And when you hit hell… you tell them I sent you."
After Goretzka finished, his body was suddenly enveloped in thick shadow.
Above him, rows upon rows of pitch-black spears formed before launching at high speed toward Rohan.
At that moment, Rohan sprinted to the side to avoid them.
The spears slammed into the ground with a series of heavy thuds, each impact sending up bursts of dust and debris. Some of them managed to graze his armor, while the rest missed him completely.
Not far from him, Diana and Tiara stood, watching the fight unfold.
He knew they were not here to help him. They would not involve themselves unless the matter concerned the Lastbender family. But what if they were attacked by an enemy? Would they remain still? Would they join the fight?
However, Rohan held back the urge to drag Tiara and Diana into the fight. Despite how shameless he could be at times, he did not want to endanger them by force. Their deal was only to help against the Lastbender family, and he intended to keep it that way.
Not far from him, Goretzka continued his assault. High above Rohan, countless orbs the size of a human head formed, then plunged downward like a storm unleashed.
Rohan braced himself, relying on the resilience of his armor and his sword to endure the barrage and lessen the damage.
Seeing his attacks fail to bring Rohan down, Goretzka let out a low chuckle. "Heh… not bad. I'll give you that."
A moment later, a pitch-black hand burst from his back, each one shooting toward Rohan at extreme speed.
This time, he could not react in time. The shadowy hand seized his head and slammed him into the ground, then into nearby boulders and trees. Again and again, it struck him without pause.
The relentless assault lasted for over a minute before Rohan finally managed to free himself. With a swift motion, he raised his sword and severed the shadowy hand gripping him.
When he looked at himself, his armor was already battered, and he suspected that some of his ribs were fractured. If it had not been for the armor, his body would have been reduced to a pulp.
However, to his surprise, the limb split apart a few seconds after it was cut. From the ends of the severed halves, new hands emerged.
And the more he cut, the more hands appeared.
Worse still, each one carried the same terrifying strength.
'This is really bad…" he thought, just before countless hands slammed him into the ground once more.
At that moment, using Lightbringer, Rohan unleashed four consecutive lightning strikes at the hands piled on top of him.
BOOM!
But to his surprise, it barely destroyed a few of them.
'So tough... completely different level of durability compared to Ron.'
Unlike his previous fight with Ron, there was no sea or lake nearby. And when he's left with no choice, Rohan decided to take extreme measures. He had been saving the Divine Steel of Storm to reward his followers in the future by upgrading the Rings of Storms.
However, he regrettably had to change that plan. Instead, he would use it on his Armor of Asgard.
And just as he retrieved the steel from his inventory, a notification suddenly appeared.
[Warning: Foreign divine authority interference detected]
[Divine Steel of Storm has been assimilated into the Soul of Leviathan]
[Divine Decree: The Soul of Leviathan is hereby designated as property of the Storm God]
Rohan cursed the instant he realized what had happened. "Stupid sword! You stole my steel!"
Then, without warning, a torrent of information surged through his mind, revealing everything about the Soul of Leviathan, its origin, and how it could be used.
As the knowledge settled, so did his anger, replaced by a growing awareness of the sword's true worth.
Without further delay, Rohan immediately whispered beneath his helmet.
"Devour"
In an instant, all the shadows were absorbed by the sword, as if they were being pulled by an intense current.
The sword's main purpose was not to cut, but to absorb any tangible and visible form of a spell.
In the distance, Goretzka frowned as he noticed his shadows being forcefully pulled by something. Even worse, he could not dismiss the spell.
The shadowy hand connected to his back kept getting dragged away. And as time passed, the pull only grew stronger.
Before he could even understand what was happening, a searing pain erupted in his heart as his essence was drained dry in less than ten seconds.
But Goretzka did not even have time to fall to his knees before ten consecutive lightning bolts descended from the sky.
BOOM!!!
Using the absorbed essence, Goretzka's former power as fuel, combined with the remaining soul essence of the Armor of Asgard, Rohan unleashed ten most powerful lightning strikes he had ever created as the ground trembled and shook under the might of the super lightning strikes.
After a while, Rohan arrived at the scene. A giant crater had formed, with Goretzka's body lying at its center.
He noticed that Goretzka was still alive, although barely.
'Well... you won't be for long.'
He jumped down into the crater and landed near him. But just as he was about to stab Goretzka with the sword, Rohan slowly shook his head. The sword then faded as he stored it in his inventory. Now that it had become the property of the Storm God, Rohan was finally able to free himself from the sword.
He then sat on top of Goretzka's body and began punching.
BANG!
"Someone like you doesn't deserve a quick death..."
BANG!
"And this is for smashing my head against a massive boulder!"
BANG!
"This is for slamming my body into countless trees!"
BANG!
At that moment, Rohan heard Goretzka's voice.
"Please... spare my life..."
Rohan stared at him for a moment before grabbing his head and leaning in close, whispering into his ear.
"When you arrive in hell, tell them the Storm God sent you."
After that, Rohan continued his barrage of punches. He kept striking Goretzka's face until the Armor of Asgard disappeared.
And at that moment, a notification appeared.
[Emergency Quest Progress: 1/3]