Ding!

[You have killed "Vessel of War (???)" and gained 10,000,000 experience points.]

[You have killed x262 "Imperial Guard" and gained 5,240,000 experience points.]

[100% Drop Rate has triggered, items have been automatically placed in your storage space.]

[Storage space is full, items will drop on corpses.]

"Damn," Leon muttered under his breath, his eyes scanning the notifications that flooded his vision, the sheer volume of experience points and drops almost overwhelming.

Leon felt the power course through him as all the experience points from the vessel and guards poured into his body, the energy surging through his veins like a river of pure power, warming him from the inside out.

Ding! Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 94 + Level 95.]

[All your attributes have increased by 2,000 and you have gained 2,000 free attribute points.]

Leon received the notification for his [Celestial Hand] several times, but he didn’t even bother to use it on the fallen guards scattered across the ruined chamber.

It only activated on the guards anyway, and as said before, their items were completely useless to someone of his caliber and fighting style, not worth the effort of collecting.

Leon was more-so interested to know what the [Vessel of War] had dropped, as he could see five items shine on its body, each glowing with a different color that pulsed with energy.

And as for Leon’s level, he opened his status panel to check his progress and see how far he had come.

[Level: 95 (5,230,000/9,200,000)]

’Goddamn, almost 10 million experience points needed for the next level, huh,’ Leon thought, his eyes widening slightly at the staggering number.

At level 93, he needed 4.4 million experience points to level up, and it added 1.6 million for level 94, then 3.2 million for level 95, the requirements growing exponentially with each level gained.

It seemed like each level doubled the amount of experience points added to the requirement, making progress increasingly difficult as he climbed higher.

Meaning that the next level would add 6.4 million, and the one after that would add 12.8 million, and so on, the numbers becoming astronomical.

And at this rate... Leon could only imagine how much experience points he’d need at level 99 to be able to level up at 100, the final threshold before the Eternal Battlefield.

It would be over 100 million, wouldn’t it?

If his calculations were right, and the pattern continued, reaching level 100 would be an enormous grind that would take weeks of constant fighting.

Actually, it advantaged him significantly; as it meant he didn’t need to worry about leveling up too fast and he could grind for essences and other valuable items without hitting the cap prematurely.

Leon felt in no hurry to head to the [Eternal Battlefield], especially after what happened today with the god’s attack, he needed to grow stronger and prepare himself for the challenges ahead.

Regardless, Leon dropped all of the useless imperial guard items onto the ground in a clattering heap, freeing up space in his inventory, and focused on the one given by the [Vessel of War].

He crouched down to pick each of them one by one, examining them carefully as he held them in his hands, feeling their weight and power.

[Vessel of War Essence: Consuming will increase Strength by 10,000, Agility by 8,000 and Constitution by 7,000.]

[Sub-Talent Scroll: Supreme Strength Enhancement+ (SS-Level)]

[Skill Book: War Cry (Epic)]

[Skill Stones x50]

[War Claws (Legendary Material): Could be used to make a piece of equipment which significantly boosts its owner’s strength during war.]

"Pretty damn good," Leon nodded, a smile spreading across his face at the impressive haul, "Appreciate all the items, God of War."

Leon consumed the essence immediately, feeling the power flow into him like a wave of heat, and poured his mana into the sub-talent scroll to learn it, the energy integrating with his soul and expanding his capabilities.

Ding!

[+10,000 Strength, +8,000 Agility, +7,000 Constitution.]

Ding!

[You have evolved "Supreme Strength Enhancement (S-Level)" into "Supreme Strength Enhancement+ (SS-Level)"]

And with that evolution, his power grew even further, his muscles tightening with newfound strength.

[Supreme Strength Enhancement+ (SS-Level): Permanently increases strength by 300%.]

Leon’s strength had risen even more dramatically, and he could feel his muscles burn with newfound power, ready to smash through anything that stood in his path without hesitation.

He stored the skill stones and material for later use, tucking them away safely in his inventory for when he needed them, and turned toward the last item, the skill book.

[War Cry (Legendary): Cry loudly to alert your companions of your location and significantly boost their strength if they arrive.]

’Interesting,’ Leon thought, examining the skill’s description carefully.

It worked extremely similarly to the [Warrior Roar] skill that Leon had kept in his storage space all this time, but seemed more powerful and versatile.

[Warrior Roar (Epic): Roar loudly to boost the strength of your companions. Requirement: Have a party.]

Except War Cry seemed to genuinely simply be a superior version than the former, offering better boosts and more utility in combat situations.

Leon saw no reason to learn it himself, but perhaps if he gave it to one of the girls, they could use it if they were ever in danger and needed to call for help.

’Yeah, that’s good,’ Leon thought, ’This should be useful for them in the future if they’re on their own.’

With that done, he opened his [World Map], noticing that the three girls were still soaring through the domain toward the stronghold, their icons moving steadily across the map.

’I guess I could message them that its over now but... we’ll meet there anyway, so there’s no need to interrupt their journey,’ he decided, closing the map.

The moment the [Vessel of War] died, pretty much every imperial guard suddenly regained consciousness, their eyes clearing from the crimson haze that had clouded them.

They stopped their carnage in the kingdom and instead aimed to help as many monsters tried to breach the walls, defending the city they had been destroying moments ago.

As for Iris, she simply watched as her guards finally came back to life, relief washing over her features as she saw them return to their senses.

Zarek, her most loyal guard and the commander of the imperial army, had also been transformed during the attack, and he had caused a lot of damage while under the god’s control.

Iris had managed to hold him in place with her magic, restraining him, and as he woke up, she looked at him with a mixture of concern and relief.

"What happened, why did you do this?" she asked, her voice soft.

"Gr..." Zarek groaned, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

"Hm," Iris seemed to understand what he was saying, and she nodded, "Alright, we need to be careful, then."

She went around to make sure everything was fine, checking on the wounded and comforting the survivors, but once it was over, she turned her gaze toward the imperial castle.

’How the hell did the human kill that thing, even though even I wouldn’t be able to kill it?’ she thought, ’How... strange and impossible.’

Teleport!

She teleported from her current position and appeared right in front of Leon, her eyes filled with a mixture of curiosity and awe at his accomplishment.

"Hey," Leon grinned, "Sorry, I had to kill a lot of your guards, you can take the items if you want them."

Iris looked around at the carnage, her expression darkening at the sight of her fallen soldiers, but she simply nodded in acceptance of the situation.

And then her gaze fell on the Vessel of War’s corpse, decapitated and lifeless on the ground, its body already starting to fade.

It was indeed, truly dead, Leon had actually killed it against all odds and expectations.

"Incredible..." she crouched next to the vessel, examining the wound, "You beat something even I couldn’t... were you hiding your true strength in the arena?"

"Who knows," Leon shrugged, a mysterious smile on his face, "Its done though, right? So can I get my reward now?"

Iris blinked as she heard that, her eyes widening slightly at his casual tone, then oddly laughed, "Haha, yeah, there was a reward, I’ll give it to you soon, but before then, I have one more thing I need to do."

Using the mana she had left, Iris floated into the air and into the sky above the kingdom, her figure rising above the chaos.

Then she released a massive shockwave of mana through the kingdom, the energy spreading outward like ripples in a pond, touching every corner of the city.

And above the imperial kingdom, a massive holographic image of her appeared, created from magic, towering over the city with majestic presence.

At that moment, everyone in the kingdom, including Leon from the broken castle’s walls, looked up, and the transparent giant Iris spoke.

"People!" she roared, her voice echoing across the city, "Today might be the worst event in the history of this kingdom, the chaos that has erupted will be remembered for decades."

"It is the gods who have attacked us, more precisely, the God of War!"

Iris seemed to already know a lot about what happened even when Leon didn’t tell her, which was good, as she could explain the situation to her people.

"And though I would love to say that we won thanks to imperial army’s power and mine, it is not true."

"The one and only person we vow our lives to is... CELESTIAL!"

Leon’s eyes widened as he heard his ID being called out, he actually didn’t expect that she would announce his name to the entire kingdom like this.