The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns
Chapter 254

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Chapter 254

* * *,

Cultists.

These bastards had tried to contact me before, through Isna.

While they were still clashing with the Moon Watchers, their objective was clearer than I expected.

To gather and secure the vast hidden powers that exist in this world.

I still don’t know what their ultimate goal is, but one thing was clear: these guys are obsessive collectors of destructive weapons.

The lich sealed in the dungeon.

The kraken, once feared as a creature of terror.

Even that incident at the academy.

Whatever the case, they were undeniably a menace—but strangely, they were now making me, their biggest obstacle and enemy, an offer.

“Those things follow no logic. We don’t wish for a cataclysm that ends the world.”

“So, what are those things?”

“We call them beings that should not be known. Uncontrollable, and once you perceive them, your mind breaks—you bleed, go mad, and die.”

The Red Moon?

I’d already heard from Isna that the Red Moon implants seeds into humans to turn them into its puppets.

“If things go the way those beings want, none of us will survive. They’re trying to rip the world itself apart.”

He threw me a vial, tension thick in the air.

“Take it. It’s a drug that can weaken that monstrous weapon. Just scatter it when you see the thing.”

He withdrew without hesitation.

“Our goal this time isn’t to trap you. It’s to prove our good faith through cooperation. If things go well, we’ll contact you again.”

He meant we’d talk more when the time came.

Afterward, he handed me a large stack of documents.

They were nothing less than strategic maps and detailed intelligence reports about the Coral Kingdom’s movements.

“These guys… Their intel is better than I thought.”

“If they’re usable, use them. The cultists are definitely insane, but even they want nothing to do with the Outer God.”

Even in a continent where they’re hunted as lunatics, these people were willing to completely disassociate from the being known as the Outer God—just how dangerous must it be?

I could only laugh bitterly.

Thanks to Luna and me stirring up Coral across its entire territory, their warfighting capacity had dropped drastically.

“Only one thing left now.”

Even they didn’t have infinite supplies.

After I boldly broke through one of their traps, I kept raiding their supply convoys, and now the frontlines had been turned around—the Coral forces were being invaded instead.

The Bata Kingdom’s army created a special detachment to burn down Coral’s supply depots.

With no weapons or food, their troops were starving and unable to even fight properly.

In desperation, they tried sending supplies down multiple alternate routes, but…

“Damn it! He’s here! Retreat! RETREAT!!”

Teleportation gates weren’t exactly common, so they had to rely on overland routes—which were inevitably slow.

Even if they did manage to slip supplies past my surveillance, it was never much.

Their only remaining option for bulk transportation was by water, but that route had long since become a death trap.

Every time I spotted their transports, I drowned them under massive torrents of water.

The war had long become a one-sided beatdown.

And at this point, something felt off.

In this situation, they should’ve focused their full strength not on the frontlines, but on me.

So why weren’t the main forces of the Eastern Continent moving yet?

What strategy were they hiding?

I tried to check this through Melissa and Bata’s intelligence services—but they couldn’t find out either.

Still, one thing was certain: whatever it was, they’d soon start moving.

Time was always on our side, not theirs.

And since Luna and I hadn’t even bothered to hide our trail as we rampaged through Coral, it wasn’t hard for them to find us.

Throughout the dark forest, I sensed a tremendous number of presences.

It felt like they’d been baiting me this entire time just to gauge my strength—now that they had, they were ready to finish things.

This time was different—the sheer scale of it all was overwhelming.

It felt like Coral’s actual main force wasn’t even on the frontlines, but rather converging on Luna and me.

I relayed this to Melissa, and she told me it was time to pull back.

I didn’t listen.

When have I ever done what I was told?

“In terms of sheer firepower, they’ve basically gathered enough to wipe out a whole country.”

There were more than six Master-level warriors, including those who had previously fought me and fled.

Even beyond that, I sensed more than ten high-level Experts, moving with chilling precision.

But the most disturbing thing…

Amid the encirclement closing in on us, something deeply grotesque and unnatural lurked.

Coral’s final secret weapon, crafted from the parasitic organism that the cultists had handed over.

It had begun to move.

“If we wipe out everything converging here, Coral and the Eastern Continent will lose all their military strength.”

They knew it too.

Which meant this time, they’d come fully prepared to eliminate us.

At the same time—

A thick, unnatural barrier expanded over the entire forest.

It was like they were building a magical prison around me.

Then, from the far end of the forest, the night sky lit up—

Thousands of flaming arrows began raining down over the entire area.

Not to kill me, but to burn the entire forest to the ground.

Luna and I had recently raided a nearby supply convoy.

Clearly, they had predicted our movements and turned this forest into a massive trap.

I blasted out pressure waves to scatter the flaming arrows so they wouldn’t hit us directly—but the barrier-trapped forest had already become a sea of fire.

The blaze spread instantly.

This wasn’t normal fire—created through some specific magic, it turned entire trees into ash in seconds.

And then—

Through the smoke of burning flame, the real assault began.

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“Alright then. Let’s see what the Eastern Continent’s got.”

As I taunted them, attacks poured in from four directions, aiming for my vitals with terrifying speed.

They knew full well how dangerous I was and came in seriously.

Aura, magic, necromancy—even Utopia.

They had clearly received confused intel that I held multiple powers no mere human should possess.

And yet, this was the key to their strategy.

Because at that moment—

A massive magic circle activated over the entire forest, suppressing both my aura and mana.

They were trying to kill me.

I knew from the start that they had lured us here on purpose, and that they had set a trap in this place.

Even so, we walked in confidently.

Because we had our own objective.

With one hand in my pocket, I slowly lifted one foot while surveying the surroundings.

And then—

KWAANG!!!!

I stomped down with full force, concentrating an immense shockwave at the tip of my foot and sending it rippling through the ground.

GURRRRRNG!!!

As the earth shook violently with a deafening roar, the presences that had been charging toward me suddenly stopped their attack and pulled away.

Cautious, huh.

If they'd come just a little closer, something interesting would’ve happened.

Of course, real experts wouldn’t be shaken by a simple shockwave or tremor.

But that wasn’t what I was aiming for.

That stomp just now had softened the hardened ground.

The entire area trembled, churned, and circulated.

A particular energy that had spread from my foot evenly permeated the whole area.

This should be enough.

“Let’s form a contract.”

Before coming here, I had chosen the cleanest and simplest way to catch them off guard.

By downloading a memory from the Labyrinthos.

‘Gain a heart under my will, and bloom new life beneath the pulsing earth.’

I don’t know what normal spirit contracts are like.

The spirit I know is different from conventional ones.

That’s why even the method of forming a contract breaks the standard mold.

‘I name you Grivy. Your element is earth. Your essence is pure childlike wonder.’

A name, an element, and an essence—bestowed one by one.

‘Welcome to this new world.’

Currently, I can retrieve only one memory from the Halls of Labyrinthos.

The Hall of Spirits.

Honestly, when I first received it, I didn’t realize just how powerful the spirit I had contracted was.

I just thought, It must be decent if it fought and defeated those ancient god-like monsters.

But when I laid my cards on the table—I realized.

The spirit I contracted was nothing like the commonly known ones.

Mounds of earth began to squirm before me, and soon took the shape of a small child.

A pretty girl with long hair, wearing a vacant expression.

Her unkempt hair swayed as her dull, lifeless eyes met mine.

Normally, earth spirits known as gnomes appear in forms very different from humans—usually as old men.

But this girl was far taller than a gnome and instead resembled a shabby, ragged little human girl.

“How should I help you, Daddy?”

Moreover, lower spirits like gnomes usually communicate through actions rather than speech, yet this one spoke to me with clear pronunciation.

“Wanna play with dirt?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

Grivy, the spirit formed from earth in human shape, was undeniably humanoid.

A form entirely foreign to most spirits—imbued with an unfamiliar energy.

“A fascinating spirit. Completely different from ordinary ones.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

What I wanted was a being I could talk to.

Maybe… that’s what I wished for in the Hall of Spirits.

Then Grivy raised one hand high.

She wasn’t a naturally born spirit—she was a twisted one, born from my will and nourished by my spirit mana.

She had no rank or classification.

Instead, her strength depended entirely on the power of my spirit mana.

“Mr. Mole, Mr. Mole… I’ll give you an old house… so give me a new one.”

Though she patted the ground with her tiny, adorable palm…

…The result was anything but light.

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