Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 178

One-Sided Hunt

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Silence fell.

Only the fierce wind and the sound of fragments falling carried through the air. No one dared to speak. Even the two dragons locked in battle above paused, their gazes drawn downwards.

The Human Emperor stood amidst the stillness, meeting their stares.

– That monstrous bastard…

The peak had vanished. From the mountainside to the summit, it had disappeared as if it had never existed. The Old Gods shuddered at the sight.

They were capable of such feats, of course. They weren’t called gods for nothing. Erasing a mountain was no great challenge. But they couldn’t erase a mountain so cleanly, so instantly.

They couldn’t erase a mountain with a single slash like the Emperor.

– Did you know, Ethemos?

The Old Gods’ gazes turned to Ethemos.

– Was that Emperor such a powerful being?

– I can’t believe it… Why have we been watching him all this time, underestimating him?

He was the only one among them who had fought the Emperor and survived. But Ethemos remained silent, ignoring the expectant gazes of his companions. He stared at the Emperor with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Gnash…

He bit down hard, grinding his teeth.

Down there, there should have been a mountain, and upon it, his creations would have been surging forward. Now it was all gone. His creations had disappeared along with the vanished peak.

‘My creation…’

Ethemos was in shock.

His painstakingly crafted work, vanished in an instant? He wouldn’t have been so stunned if he had fought the Emperor’s creations and lost. It would have been preferable to be overwhelmed by a subordinate.

But the opponent wasn’t a subordinate, and there hadn’t even been a fight. The moment it appeared, it turned into dust with a flash of light. Ethemos felt a maelstrom of emotions.

Dismay, emptiness, humiliation, and rage.

“Edar… Lundringgen.”

He spat out the names one by one, his voice thick with anger. The murderous intent he unleashed was so intense that it startled the Old Gods around him, but the Emperor didn’t even glance his way.

“…”

The Emperor looked down at the hilt of the sword. It was no longer a sword. The blade had disappeared, leaving only the hilt. It had reached the end of its life after containing the power of a god.

He set down the hilt and looked ahead. The mountain had disappeared from the point where he had plunged the sword, so the place where he stood was now the summit, a sharply cut surface.

Thump—

A hand reached up from the opposite side of the summit. The outstretched palm was larger than the Emperor. The hand gripped the cut surface and pulled its body up to the summit. A dozen monsters appeared behind it.

– You had an interesting trick, human.

The monster that climbed back up the mountain was an Old God.

An Old God who had been mixed in with the waves created by Ethemos’s monsters had fallen below and climbed back up. As an immortal being, he bore no physical wounds.

– It’s the first time I’ve felt my body disintegrate.

– I thought I was going to die.

The monsters that reached the summit all had bizarre appearances.

A monster with multiple legs like a spider, but the legs were hands with eight fingers each; another with a head adorned with several skull-shaped faces held in its hands.

The largest of them, an Old God, stepped forward.

It was a monster with a centipede’s body and three melting faces. He stood tall, tapping his countless legs, and stood before the Emperor.

– But that’s all you’ve got.

– Yeah, not enough to kill us.

– The successor is no different.

The Old Gods surrounded the Emperor and sneered.

– Why are you so quiet? Are you scared?

The spider monster reached out to grab the Emperor. But the moment the monster’s fingers touched the Emperor,

Sizzle—

Flesh burned.

“Keeaaaaaak!”

The spider screamed and stumbled back, falling on its back.

– What are you doing?

– Are you crying over a little fire on your hand?

– Idiot!

The Old Gods burst into laughter at the unsightly scene. They had no camaraderie. They had only united against a common enemy, so they genuinely enjoyed the spider’s pain.

The spider clutched its wrist with three hands and shouted.

– M, my hand isn’t healing!

Thud, the laughter stopped.

– What?

They looked at the spider’s hand. It was slowly melting even though it had been removed from the Emperor. The Old God’s healing power wasn’t working.

– What…?!

This had never happened before.

The immortality of the Old Gods affected not only their souls but also their bodies. Like the Lord’s body that Karkas had taken, wounds should have healed immediately.

– What did you do?

The Emperor slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

“I erased the basis of your arrogance.”

He raised his right hand. The magic power gathered at his fingertips was directed at the spider.

“Nothing is eternal. Not even your immortality.”

Crack—

A sound of something being crushed was heard. The spider covered its face with the hand that had been holding its wrist. Its face was distorting. The Emperor’s magic power was crushing its face.

The spider struggled to shake off the magic power covering its face.

– H, help me!

Only then did the Old Gods, realizing the urgency of the situation, move at the desperate thought.

However, the Emperor’s gaze swept over them, and their bodies froze. They didn’t even twitch, as if bound by invisible chains. Their souls screamed to move, but their bodies trembled as if terrified.

The Emperor turned his gaze back to the spider.

– Ugh, ugh…!

He clenched his outstretched hand. Now, not just his face but his entire body began to contort.

Crack, crack— Crack——

It was as if there was a dot in the center, and his body was being sucked into that point. Blood dripped as if squeezing a towel, and his thoughts screamed.

– Save me! Please!

The Old Gods do not die.

Therefore, there was no reason to scream for help. He kept spewing thoughts begging to be saved. The other gods had dismissed him as being dramatic, but soon they realized why he was wailing so much.

The spider monster became a sphere.

It was a small, black sphere that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. Who would believe that it was once a spider monster with a diameter of over ten meters? The sphere landed on the Emperor’s palm, and

Swish—

It seeped into his hand.

– Th, that…

The Old Gods swallowed.

– A seal?

– No, it’s not a seal!

They realized why the spider had wailed for help and why their bodies had trembled in fear. They had realized it instinctively: that the Emperor could kill them.

– He swallowed it! He killed Belung!

– No way…

– Can’t you believe what you see? Look closely!

The Old Gods, while exchanging thoughts with each other, remembered something they had forgotten. What had happened to those who had infiltrated the Empire? They hadn’t been defeated and sealed by the Emperor, but had met the same end as the spider monster.

And the Emperor’s magic power, which had absorbed the sphere, increased in an instant.

– Good heavens.

How could the Emperor have grown so much?

The secret was revealed.

– He can kill us! He’s going to kill us!

The gods felt an emotion they had never felt in their lives: the fear of death. An emotion they had thought they would never experience.

– Kill him!

– We have to stop him now!

A fear greater than being trapped in the abyss again arose. The reason why the beings called Old Gods could be arrogant was because of their immortality. Because they wouldn’t die, they thought they could get away with anything.

As they lost the source of their confidence, their thoughts wavered.

– Catch him before he escapes!

Now was the chance, with them all gathered in one place. The Emperor’s creations were few, so he was as good as being isolated.

– We have to kill him now!

The Old Gods from the sky and the ground rushed towards the Emperor.

The Emperor lowered the hand that had absorbed the sphere to his side. The hilt he had put down flew into his hand, and fire ignited. The blazing fire replaced the blade.

Whoosh—

He swung the sword of fire.

The blade stretched out, extending from the left end to the right end. Since the body of the sword was fire, it was as if the Old Gods rushing towards the Emperor were covered in flames.

– Keuaaaaak!

The monster that had been rushing fiercely on the ground stopped. It flapped its body to shake off the flames that covered it, but the fire did not go out and spread throughout its body.

– G, get it off! Quickly!

– My body… is disappearing!

While the beings who could not fly cried out in pain, hostility rushed in from the sky, aiming for the Emperor.

– He’s the Lord’s successor!

The first monster to reach the Emperor was a winged demon. It was four times taller than the Emperor, with red skin, white horns, and perforated wings. It was an Old God.

– You can’t kill us!

The demon held a greatsword befitting its height. The greatsword chuckled at the Emperor. The sword was also an Old God. It spoke curses full of desire, wanting to dig into the Emperor’s flesh and taste his blood.

Clang!

The mountain shook as the Emperor’s sword and the demon’s sword collided.

– H, hot! It’s hot!

The demon strained its arms to push back the Emperor’s sword, which was merely a mass of magic power. However, as the sword moved forward, fire enveloped the blade, and the sword screamed.

“I told you. I erased the basis of your arrogance.”

The fire melted the sword.

The demon lost its weapon in the blink of an eye, and as it panicked and tried to retreat, the Emperor lunged forward.

Stab—

“Kuh, heoeok…”

The Emperor stabbed the demon’s chest with his sword.

Sizzle, the sound of flesh burning was heard. The blade that pierced the demon did not come out through its back, but burned its insides. The demon spat out smoke from its mouth.

– G, get away!

The demon pushed the Emperor away and stepped back. But its insides continued to burn. Even though the hilt had fallen from its chest, the fire inside did not go out.

Soon the demon turned to ash, and its soul came out and was sucked into the Emperor.

Another Old God had become his prey.

– M, monster…

– We have to run! At this rate, we’ll just be eaten!

– Where to? We’ll just die even if we run!

The Old Gods were at a loss at the successive deaths of their comrades. In the face of the danger of death they were experiencing for the first time in their lives, their composure disappeared. Their arrogance also disappeared.

– Surround him! Attack him all at once!

The Old Gods numbered in the dozens, so they surrounded the Emperor on all sides. But no one could inflict even a scratch on the Emperor. It wasn’t because he was wearing armor.

The Emperor was not wearing armor. He had only covered his body with a white cloth like a monk. The Old Gods couldn’t even touch the thin cloth that couldn’t even block the cold wind.

It was a one-sided hunt.