Chapter 74: Blackwind Falls, A Warrior Rises
Arthur Thorne: ???
His ultimate had been negated. He stared in disbelief, his mind racing. What kind of god-tier skill was that?
Liam didn't give him a second to process it. He turned tail and vanished in a blur of motion.
Watching his ultimate go to waste made Arthur’s blood boil. He gritted his teeth, his face contorting with rage, but he was utterly helpless. Liam was simply too fast; there was no catching him.
With a movement speed of forty-five, Liam felt like he was flying just inches above the ground. This was faster than anything he had achieved in his previous life, where his speed had peaked around twenty—roughly where Arthur Thorne sat now.
Arthur relied on his Galewind Wings to boost his speed to thirty, using additional skills to push it even higher, but he still couldn't close the gap.
That AP was worth every damn point, Liam thought, a grin spreading across his face as he kited and attacked on the move.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed. He realized he would never catch Liam. If this continued, Liam would just keep whittling away at the City Guard until Blackwind City fell.
Changing tactics, Arthur turned and lunged into the Night-Walkers’ ranks. He fought like a god of war descended from the heavens. With every swing of his weapon, at least one Night-Walker fell. When he unleashed his area-of-effect skills, he cleared dozens, sometimes hundreds, at a time. The Night-Walkers were being mowed down like grass before a scythe.
Liam let out a sharp laugh. Quintuple Shot. A hundred arrows per second.
While maintaining his DPS, Liam leveraged his insane movement speed to begin… Scavenging!
Every Realm War was a goldmine for ordinary players. Participating meant earning AP for every enemy unit killed. But beyond the points, there was another massive draw: the gear and Skill Tomes.
Realm Wars weren't usually driven by players; they were massive conflicts between NPCs and monsters. When these high-level entities died, they dropped equipment and Skill Tomes. With casualties reaching the hundreds of thousands, the sheer volume of loot was staggering.
Liam’s speed allowed him to cherry-pick the best drops. He prioritized the Skill Tomes first. Aside from the rare Unique or Divine-Tier pieces, most gear was just transitional. Skill Tomes were different—skills could be upgraded. Even if a skill was trash and Liam had no use for it, he could hand it off to the rank-and-file members of his guild.
At every stage of the game, there was always a demand for skills. Liam’s own output relied mostly on his Basic Attack, so he was picky. Skills that merely added a bit of flat attack power or damage were useless to him; too many mediocre skills just cluttered his rotations. He wanted power, not filler.
When it came to slaughtering troops, Liam was every bit as terrifying as Arthur. Not a single City Guard could survive a single arrow. At a hundred arrows per second, the guards were dying in droves.
And that wasn't all. The collateral damage from his passive skills, Chain Lightning and Skyfire Meteor, was horrific.
Arthur watched the carnage with mounting horror. The frustration of wanting to crush Liam but being unable to even touch him was becoming unbearable.
Suddenly, a dagger lunged toward Liam’s back.
Torzel had made his move.
Liam’s expression shifted. He twisted his body mid-stride, his high speed allowing him to narrowly evade the strike.
Torzel didn't miss a beat. As Liam repositioned, the assassin flicked a thumb-sized metallic bead toward him.
BOOM!
The bead exploded instantly. The force of the blast sent Liam reeling into the air.
"Now!"
From a distance, Archmage Abyr swung his staff.
"Terravolt Surge!"
"Seismic Pulse!"
Two Airborne skills hit in rapid succession.
Simultaneously, Flynn blurred into motion, charging forward to chain the crowd control. Upward Slash, Triple Slash, Cross Slash—he kept Liam suspended in the air.
"Damn it, don't let him land! Bury the bastard!"
Seeing Liam finally pinned down, Arthur’s face twisted into a sadistic grin. He charged forward, unleashing everything he had.
"Venom Drake Drill!"
"Phantom Berserker Frenzy!"
"Whirlwind Sweep!"
"Throat-Lock Skyward Smash!"
One Airborne skill after another slammed into Liam, shredding his HP while keeping him helplessly suspended. Three Level 100 Gold-Grade bosses and Arthur Thorne were all pouring their highest damage rotations into him.
"Finally! Die!!" Arthur’s face was contorted with manic joy.
Being led around like a dog by Liam earlier had nearly driven him insane. Now that he finally had the chance, he wasn't going to pull a single punch. He wanted Liam erased.
Liam, however, didn't panic. He’d been careless—the sudden surge in speed had made him feel like he could dodge everything with just his Basic Attack movement, so he’d stopped being as erratic. That was the opening Torzel needed.
But it didn't matter. The true despair would only begin after they "killed" him.
Lunar Purge was already off cooldown, but Liam held it back. He knew the Realm War hadn't officially started because these people still believed that killing him would change the outcome.
Fine. He’d let them have their kill. Then, he’d take away their hope.
"Is it finally over?"
In the distance, Misty Snow’s brow furrowed. She wasn't the only one thinking it; many onlookers shared the sentiment. Liam’s strength had been beyond anything they could imagine.
"Even the undefeatable myth has to end eventually," Berserk muttered, a smirk playing on his lips. It was almost a relief to see Liam wasn't actually a god.
CRUNCH!
Arthur Thorne landed a Lethal Strike. Liam’s body collapsed.
"Phew… finally killed that god-awful prick."
Arthur let out a long, relieved breath. He turned to his troops, voice booming. "Follow me! Counter-attack the Demon's Den! Leave none of these Night-Walkers alive!"
Arthur led the charge, crashing into the Night-Walker lines.
Then… three seconds later, Liam triggered Instant Rebirth. He stood up and immediately resumed the slaughter.
"Arthur! Over there! He's back!" Abyr shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief as he stared at the resurrected archer.
Liam was now Level 49, proof that he had indeed died. But he should have respawned in the Capital or his own fiefdom. Getting back here should have taken time. How the hell was he back in the fight already?
Arthur looked back and saw Liam. He let out a primal roar of fury. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you a thousand times over!!"
This time, Liam didn't give them a single opening. He kept moving at maximum velocity, reaping the lives of the City Guard without pause. He constantly shifted his direction, making his path impossible to predict.
Arthur watched the kill feed, a cold chill running down his spine. Liam’s clearing speed was terrifying.
"Is there really no stopping him?" Arthur balled his fists. Liam’s sheer brokenness continued to defy logic.
He pulled out a Message Talisman.
"Your Majesty… your servant is incompetent. Please, trigger the Realm War."
A few seconds later, a Server-Wide Broadcast thundered through the air.
[Server-Wide Broadcast: Due to the massive invasion by the Demon's Den, the Astral Kingdom Realm War has begun! Adventurers will receive massive rewards for slaying the Night-Walkers. Protect the Kingdom!]
[Astral Kingdom Realm War Rewards:]
Slay a standard Night-Walker: AP +5, Gold Sovereigns +20.
Slay an Elite-Grade Night-Walker: AP +10, Gold Sovereigns +100.
Liam raised an eyebrow. Finally.
"Barney, support Monty in the war," Liam messaged.
"On it."
Monty was vibrating with excitement. Killing a single standard Night-Walker was practically equivalent to gaining a whole level’s worth of AP. Under normal circumstances, this would be a struggle, but with the massive amount of AP Liam had helped him secure earlier, his stats were already formidable.
Furthermore, Barney was now soul-linked to both Liam and Monty. His total HP was actually higher than Liam’s, and with the armor and magic resist he gained from Monty, Barney was arguably the tankiest player in Twilight of the Gods. Liam had the HP, but his resistances were lacking. Barney, on the other hand, had also started with three Dual-class skills that boosted his combat viability.
"Kill!"
Barney and Monty charged into the fray. With Aegis Ward active, Barney was an immovable mountain. Monty, meanwhile, was a whirlwind of destruction—his movement speed, attack speed, armor, magic resist, HP, and physical penetration were all through the roof.
With an attack power exceeding fifty thousand, Monty only needed two basic attacks to drop a standard Night-Walker. If he crit, it was an instant kill.
His attack speed had already surpassed twenty, making him even faster than Liam in that regard. With Barney acting as his meatshield, Monty danced around the tank, systematically deleting every Night-Walker in his path.
"Those two… they're monsters!" Abyr shouted, a glimmer of hope returning. "With Adventurers like that on our side, the pressure is lifting!"
Barney’s Mirror Plating reflected damage to everyone around him, softening the Night-Walkers up just enough for Monty to finish them off.
At Monty’s speed, he was killing nearly ten Night-Walkers every second. That was fifty AP per second. The sheer influx of power made Monty ecstatic.
The joy didn't last forever, though, as Elite-Grade Night-Walkers began to notice them, moving in to tie them down.
Liam didn't care about the small fry. He focused entirely on the City Guard. The battle reached a fever pitch.
Between Liam and Arthur’s respective rampages, both sides were suffering catastrophic losses. However, high-level reinforcements from the Demon's Den soon arrived to intercept Arthur and the bosses. Freed from their interference, Liam’s clearing speed—boosted by Lightning Leap and Skyfire Meteor—began to outpace everyone else’s.
Watching from the sidelines, Potala wore a serene, satisfied smile.
"The Frost Monarch is truly a man of his word. To orchestrate such a grand event…"
As the number of "souls liberated" skyrocketed, the monk’s smile widened.
Liam’s actions had shifted the fates of many—Barney, Monty, Berserk, Bulwark Pagoda, and certainly Potala. Without Liam, the monk’s quest to liberate a hundred thousand souls within a month would have been an impossible dream. Now, it was nearly complete.
With the Demon's Den powerhouses keeping Arthur occupied, Liam began to push the line forward. It was slow going, however, as a flood of players had joined the Kingdom’s side to defend the city. The battle entered a brief, bloody stalemate.
But the stalemate couldn't last.
Most players were only around Level 30. They didn't have the god-tier attributes of Monty or Barney. After two failed charges against the Night-Walker line, the players began to fall in droves.
Liam led the charge, a dark tide of Night-Walkers behind him, and breached the gates of Blackwind City.
Balthazar, the Castellan, looked on in horror. "It's over… everything is lost. Blackwind City has fallen!"
Liam remained composed, a faint, indifferent smile on his face. The city’s collapse was inevitable now. The Night-Walkers swarmed in, dismantling the remaining resistance with clinical efficiency.
As the city was occupied, Liam quietly slipped away. The political aftermath didn't interest him. He went to find Potala.
"Well? A hundred thousand. That should be enough, right?"
"Amitabha," the monk said, bowing his head. "It is enough. Thank you. As promised, here is your reward."
Potala handed a card to Liam.
Liam’s smile widened. Finally, he could unlock his second main class!
Playing as a pure Archer was starting to feel restrictive. If it weren't for his insane movement speed, he never would have survived Arthur Thorne’s onslaught. Now that he had the choice, Liam thought it through.
His mana pool was an issue, so Mage was out.
Assassin? High burst, but did Liam lack damage? Clearly not.
He needed a class with the highest margin for error. He needed a Warrior.
If he could advance into a Bladedancer—specifically the Spectral Blade Sovereign path he’d seen back in Eventide Town—that would be legendary. The image of summoning ten thousand spectral blades to fill the sky was a beautiful one.
A single call, and ten thousand swords fly.
Of course, that was a future goal. The Warrior class had several branches. The Berserker path, which the Spectral Blade Sovereign fell under, sacrificed defense for overwhelming offense.
Then there was the Guardian, who relied on shields and high defense to deal damage through reflection.
And finally, the Knight—the balanced option with a sword and shield, though their true strength relied heavily on their mount. A dragon rider was a very different beast than a horseman.
Liam tapped the Class Advancement card and made his choice without hesitation.
[Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully acquired your second main class: Warrior.]