The Gods’ Gacha Game: Return of the God-King

An intense wave of magic power flooded my body, as if my body had become a conduit for something ancient and boundless. My mind felt weightless, my vision sharpened, and complex magical formulas danced in the corners of my sight. Knowledge I had never studied came rushing into my mind like a torrent, and I grasped it effortlessly.

Raising my left hand, I traced a glowing sigil into the air with practiced ease—Merlin’s ease—while holding the wooden, gnarled staff of the shaman from before. Spirals of red light unfurled from my fingertips, locking together into a complex, three-layered rune circle that hovered before my palm, humming with searing heat.

“{Flame Spear},” I invoked, and the rune ignited.

A spear of pure fire coalesced in front of me, nearly two meters in length, swirling with molten energy and its tip sharpened to a blazing point. The surrounding mist recoiled from the heat, hissing and evaporating, as the heat distorted the air around it. Even at just 0.3 percent of Merlin’s full power, the magic was overwhelming and roaring with vitality.

I locked eyes on the charging head shaman, still speeding toward Michelle’s tree with alarming speed, and hurled the blazing spear with every ounce of force I could muster at it. It screamed through the air like a meteor, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The shaman barely turned its head before the spear struck it square in the chest.

Boom!

A fiery explosion engulfed the area, sending a shockwave tearing through the forest. The blast sent several nearby monsters flying and scattered flaming debris in every direction. One unfortunate creature was charred and thrown backward, skidding across the ground before crashing into a tree trunk.

You have hunted [Grovedweller Lv.30].

You have gained 400 EXP.

You have leveled up.

You have hunted [Grovedweller Sprout Lv.18].

You have gained 180 EXP.

You have hunted [Grovedweller Lv.27].

You have gained 370 EXP.

As expected of the power of intermediate Pyro Magic enhanced by Merlin’s skills and knowledge… It’s truly second to none, I thought, impressed.

Despite all that, I noticed that I didn’t receive a kill notification for the head shaman, which meant it was still alive… hidden within the smoke.

Michelle looked down from her perch, wide-eyed. “What the hell was that?!”

“Magic,” I said simply before shifting my stance.

Regardless of the head shaman’s condition, it was clear the spell had at least incapacitated it for a while. So, I didn’t stop with casting more spells. That single strike had shaken the battlefield—now it was time to tip it fully in our favor.

Stretching out my hand, I called forth a familiar yet reliable spell.

“{Fireball}.”

The rune circle flared to life, and a blazing orb formed at my fingertips. But I wasn’t finished with just one. With Merlin’s arcane knowledge flowing freely through me, I began weaving multiple casting threads at once. One by one, fireballs materialized—three, five, seven in total—spinning around me like miniature suns.

I swept my arm toward the village’s interior—toward the densely clustered hollow treehouses where dozens of monsters had regrouped. Immediately, the fireballs soared through the air. A second later, they slammed into the wooden dwellings in rapid succession.

Explosions rocked the center of the village as fire erupted across the structures. Flames quickly spread from treehouse to treehouse, feeding on the dry bark and vines that lined the wood. Screeches and panicked howls erupted as the tree-like monsters scrambled to escape the spreading inferno. Unfortunately for them, they were composed mostly of wood, thus easily catching fire and turning to ashes.

You have hunted [Grovedweller Lv.27].

You have gained 370 EXP.

You have leveled up.

You have hunted [Grovedweller Brute Lv.42].

You have gained 520 EXP.

You have hunted [Grovedweller Shaman Lv.45].

You have gained 550 EXP.

You have leveled up.

…

Even though the fire was spreading rapidly throughout the village and claiming one monster’s life after another, I caught sight of Boris charging in from the opposite side. Like an unstoppable train, he barreled through the chaos with his iron transformation skill active—his entire body a gleaming wall of metal. He targeted any enemy that hadn’t yet been caught in the blaze, ruthlessly cutting off their only escape route.

It was a flawless pincer attack.

From above, Michelle continued to rain arrows down on the scattered monsters that broke formation. Her precision was as sharp as ever, each shot felling targets before they could regroup or retaliate.

As for me, I couldn’t keep up with my possession any longer, so I canceled the skill soon after.

The possession has ended.

Your power has returned to normal.

Mana Sense has leveled up.

Mana Sense has leveled up.

You have acquired a skill: [Mana Manipulation Lv.1].

Your Mind has increased by 2.

Your Magic Power has increased by 3.

The boundless well of magical knowledge and magic power that had flowed through me vanished like it had never been there. I could no longer cast any magic spell, as all the relevant magic skills were gone. Nevertheless, even though the possession had ended, I gained a new skill, leveled up my Mana Sense twice, and earned permanent stat increases.

Even so, I could feel a slight mental exhaustion from this skill; it truly wasn’t something that I could keep up for long.

You have used up 153 Plausibility for the possession.

You must be fucking kidding me! The possession didn’t even last three minutes, and it had already consumed over 150 plausibility?!

With the amount of plausibility I had left in my possession, I probably wouldn’t be able to maintain the possession for more than ten minutes total. And the cost would only increase as I borrow a larger percentage of the legendary figure’s power…

“Seriously, I must find a way to gather even more plausibility,” I muttered, clenching my fists.

Just as the words left my mouth, a chill crawled down my spine, and my hair stood on end. A sudden rustle cut through the thick smoke behind me. Instinctively, I leapt to the side as my passive movement skill kicked in. A split second later, a thick black vine erupted from the ground where I’d just been standing.

I turned to face my assailant, and through the veil of ash and flame, I saw it—the head shaman. Its body was charred, and though burned, those malevolent green eyes still burned bright, filled with hatred and vengeance. Despite the earlier {Flame Spear} blast, it had survived with just a moderate wound.

“Hmph. I’ve been expecting you!” I smirked, tightening my grip on my sword.

The shaman hissed in response, raising its staff again as more corrupted vines exploded from the scorched earth, writhing like serpents and converging toward me. In response, I dashed forward and swung my sword, slicing clean through the roots as I pressed the assault. Smoke billowed around us, and embers floated in the air like fireflies as the fire around the area spread to the surrounding forest.

When I was about five meters from it, the head shaman suddenly thrust its staff forward and fired a stream of acidic liquid straight at me.

Corrosion magic? I immediately activated Wind Rush and dodged to the side. The acid narrowly missed, splattering onto the scorched earth beside me. The ground hissed and sizzled where it landed, melting away dirt and even stone in seconds.

Getting hit by that was clearly out of the question.

I closed the remaining distance with a burst of speed, ducking low to avoid a swipe of its staff. The shaman spun and tried to backpedal, but I was already inside its reach. I slashed at its midsection, and though it raised a clawed hand to block, my blade carved through it, thick green blood spurting from the wound. Ugh, its skin is even harder than the brutes!

“GRUHH! GRRUUHH!” it screeched, twisting with surprising speed for a creature of its size. In the same instant, it summoned more vines from the ground, these ones laced with sharp thorns. I raised my buckler just in time to absorb the impact as the thorny whip-like roots slammed into me.

The impact rattled my arm, and a few thorns grazed my side, their barbs digging in as the vines tried to entangle me. Pain flared, but I clenched my teeth and pushed through it despite realizing that the thorns were poisoned.

Before it could conjure another attack, I pivoted to the left and used Heavy Slash, sweeping my sword upward and slashing across its torso. The force of the strike staggered it. I didn’t hesitate—switching my grip, I drove the blade straight into its shoulder, pinning it in place.

[Desperate Willpower Lv.5] has activated.

Your overall combat power has been temporarily increased by 18%, and your resistance to pain and mind-affecting status effects has been increased.

“Damn you! Die!” I shouted, pushing the blade in deeper.

The shaman snarled, writhing in pain, and released a burst of corrupted mana to force me back. I leapt away just in time as black tendrils erupted around it in desperation. Not stopping there, the shaman cast a spell and blanketed the whole area with a poison cloud.

Despite the thick, deadly, poisonous air before me, I wasn’t done and didn’t back away.

I pulled my spear from my inventory mid-movement, jumped toward it, and shouted, “Heavy Stab!” midair.

To boost my strength, I instantly invested twenty of my free attribute points and switched my title back to The Unyielding Survivor.

Strength: 82 → 102

The shaman raised its staff in a desperate attempt to block my attack, but it wasn’t enough. Empowered by my boosted strength and the momentum of my leap, my spear crashed into the staff with a thunderous impact. Cracks splintered across the twisted wood as it buckled under the force, and it broke in two, shattering into pieces that scattered across the ground.

The spear’s momentum didn’t stop as it drove forward, piercing into the shaman’s chest and slamming it down against the blackened earth.

“GRRHHAAAK!” it screeched in rage and agony, vines flailing wildly from its limbs in a last-ditch effort to resist. One managed to wrap around my ankle, trying to drag me down with it.

I yanked my leg free with a grunt and twisted the spear violently, causing a fresh spray of greenish blood to spurt from the wound. The corrupted light in the shaman’s eyes began to dim, but still, it wasn’t dead yet.

Persistent bastard.

Fine. Let’s end this.

I pulled the spear free and flipped it in my hands, aiming for the throat. With a final thrust, I drove it down into the shaman’s neck. Its body convulsed once before falling still to the ground.

You have hunted [Dark Grovedweller Shaman Lv.58].

You have gained 680 EXP.

You have leveled up.

You have earned a new title: Grovedweller Hunter

Grovedweller Hunter

Rank: Uncommon

A title granted to those who have hunted at least one hundred Grovedwellers or one leader of their tribe.

• Grants +5 Mind and +5 Magic Power.
• Slightly increases damage dealt against tree monsters.
• Causes all tree monsters to feel slight fear toward you.