Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1522. Letʼs at least loot

Ortega could have easily ended the Seventh Young Master, too. The reason he didnʼt was that he didnʼt have to. The only people who definitely couldnʼt be allowed to escape were those of the Nascent Soul Realm.He had helped bring the seed inside the barrier and was one of the few prominent members of the association who were confirmed not to be part of their deeds on Urth. Since Ortega didnʼt have to kill him, he simply didnʼt.

Instead, he dropped their name, so it could spread properly. The bull had heard this world had a vivid revenge culture, but he wasnʼt worried about the young man thinking of revenge. For one, they had nothing to worry about from someone not even lv.90, and on the other hand, the Seventh was like an abandoned child in the Association. He had nobody to take revenge on, after all, he ran off with his mom.

After taking care of the runaway Nascent Soul Guy, Ortega returned to the branches of the Guardian Tree. He watched the group of cultivators attack the gargantuan tree. He had to admit that these guys in the Soul Severing Realm were quite strong.

“Mountain Splitting Whirlstorm!” one of them cried out and managed to cut deep gashes into the tree trunk and even sever some of the thicker branches. the power behind those strikes were trmendous.

“Divine Spider Poison Rain!” Another exclaimed, making several hand seals as he formed a cloud of glowing globules that shot at the tree. The apparent poison surprisingly managed to eat away at the tree and create temporary patches of rotting, sick wood.

No wonder the Covert Ops barely managed to make it out when one of them caught their trail.

Using various weapons and skills like spears, or weird techniques like the Divine Thunder Finger, the elder of the Shadow Mountain Association managed to build up quite a bit of damage. The problem was that it was all superficial and temporary.

Only the uncontested powerhouse among them, the Association Leader, managed to deal some serious-looking damage, clipped main branches, and carved huge trails through the crown. He was a whole realm above them, and it showed. If Ortega had to fight that guy, he wasnʼt sure whether he would be able to take him down. Not without suffering a lot.

Good thing that was not his job here. The tree had already taken hold of the Spirit Vein inside the mountain and was draining thousands of cultivators. It kept healing and striking back at incredible speed. Unless it was a legend or an immortal, they wouldnʼt be able to defeat the Guardian Tree Sapling. Safe to say, the Shadow Mountain Association had no immortals.

Ortega was here for the moment when they realized that resistance was futile. He was the shepherd dog that led them to slaughter and made sure the little sheep didnʼt escape the pen. Standing atop the aerial striker among the branches, he kept watch of the various battles in the sky.

“This is really more of a job for Lydia or Archer...” he mumbled to himself, as another left his hands, piercing the back of a cultivator speeding toward the edge of the volcanic crater.

The work would have been easier if he shared it with the golem knights in his inventory, but Ortega was biding his time, in case a greater danger cropped up. He also wanted to raise his proficiency with his recently unlocked holy skill.

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If it wasnʼt for him unlocking a ranged holy skill, he might not have been sent here in the first place, but to a smaller organization with fewer high-level targets. Although it was not easy to admit, he needed to rely on the tree to make this a safe fight, while someone like Mike or Faenys could have probably fought all of these guys on their own.

Although Ortega was the Chosen of Montu and was given a full legendary set, his level stagnated since he hit 100. It was quite hard for him to distinguish himself among the other members of Minas Mar.

He didnʼt really get the chance to go on adventurous journeys like Mike, so he was only on the cusp of lv.115. After this mission, he seriously considered traveling to system worlds like the others to continue further on the Path to Legend and catch up a little.

“You beast! How dare you attack me from behind!” a cultivator who turned to run exclaimed when the superheated spear of light came aiming for his life. The bull has already downed a couple of cultivators in a single strike, and this was his first miss.

What surprised him was the reaction of the cultivator, who actually stopped his escape to turn around and threaten him! Only to get caught by the vines in this moment and vanish into the darkness of the crown.

Since Ortega was alone in this place, he had chosen this method. Even if the target put up a fight against him, it didnʼt matter. With the tree backing him, he didnʼt actually have to challenge individual fights, just create a chance for the damage dealer to strike true.

This way, the Lord of Slaughterʼs effect of his armor kept stacking nicely, as he farmed a kill streak without much effort by assisting the tree. That wasnʼt all the armor did for him. Despite being a new skill and only lv.2, he was able to reap the lives of how high-level opponents thanks to the power-up of divine skills through the armor.

There were also buffs like ʼForeign Lordʼ, which raised his defense in foreign lands, or ʼLionʼs Maneʼ, which improved light attribute damage. Then there was ʼAttackerʼ, which raised his damage against natives by 75%, almost doubling all the other effects once again.

With all this, it would have been a wonder if he wasnʼt able to deal with a couple of Nascent Soul guys that were around his level. Well, technically, he wasnʼt killing them, since they had this weird Soul Evacuation Move that could allow them to escape by sacrificing their bodies. The tree had to take care of that headache.

Despite having a relatively easy job at this point, Ortega stayed vigilant. He had heard from the cultivators of the Soaring Eagle Sect that there was always a chance for a hidden expert or ancient ancestor to appear in places like this.

Yet, his vigilance turned out to be unwarranted. By the time the sun was rising, the city below was empty, and the only one left fighting was the Association Leader. After the guards and mercenaries, the elders fell one by one in the storm of vines and branches.

Whenever they ultimately turned to run, they would be mysteriously struck by a ray of light before being caught by the sapling. In all this time, nobody had come to help them. No mysterious villain appeared to allow Ortega to farm the Power of Existence in this world.

Even the Association Leader, weakened from fatigue, finally went out like a candle with a silent puff of smoke. Watching it was really anticlimactic. Having stayed vigilant the whole night and increasing his power with the kill streak, ready for some unknown interference, only for things to end like this...Ortega felt a little empty inside.

The plan went smoothly, without a single hitch. But was this a blessing or a curse? All his efforts and preparations were for naught in the end. He was so sure someone would appear in the last minute and force him to fight in a final battle over Shadow Mountain.

He sighed. Nothing of the like happened. Standing on the aerial striker, he flew down to the foot of the mountain, where the remnants of the palace were strewn about. With a simple hand movement, dozens of armor golems appeared.

“Oh, well, letʼs at least loot...” he mumbled, hoping the treasures of the city of pleasure and sin would help improve his mood.

“Bring me anything that looks remotely valuable.”