NOVEL NEXT Chapter 167: Useless Yet Useful Reward
Azel blinked as the glow of teleportation faded and the world came back into focus.
His boots crunched into snow, and at once his senses were drowned in noise.
They were in a wide clearing, the kind of battlefield where hundreds could clash at once.
And they were not alone.
Dozens of warriors were already there, locked in combat against something that made the ground tremble with every movement.
Shouts rang across the field, blades clashed, spells roared, and above it all echoed the chilling cry of a monster that seemed carved out of a storm itself.
Snow whipped sideways in violent gales. Ice cracked under the weight of enormous steps.
A swirling blizzard centered around a colossal form that towered over men and trees alike.
Azel's gaze snapped to it.
The monster was like a golem, if a golem had been given the size of a mansion and the fury of a winter god.
Its body was sculpted from jagged ice, each shard glinting like glass, and every breath it exhaled birthed a storm.
Around it spun a ceaseless snowstorm, the winds cutting like blades.
He didn't move at first.
His legs still felt heavy from the endless nightmare of the hive, and his chest rose and fell like he had run for miles.
Medusa and Veyra had clung to him during the teleport, but now they pulled away.
Veyra bit her lip, eyes narrowing as she spun her sickle.
Then, without hesitation, she rushed toward the monster.
"Master, please stay still. You've done enough… it's our turn," Medusa said quickly.
Her eyes gleamed with a sharp light, he swore he could see her eyes gleam orange and then she turned away and ran into the battle.
And just like that, he was alone again.
Azel sighed.
His body ached to rest, but his mind turned to something more pressing: the reward.
The trial hadn't been for nothing.
He had slaughtered over a thousand monsters.
Surely, the System wouldn't insult him with scraps.
[You killed 1050 Monsters…]
[You are being rewarded.]
The words floated before his eyes like sacred scripture.
His breath caught.
[You have received Unique Item: Kyone's Earrings]
Two small earrings materialized in his hand.
At first glance they looked simple, even crude, like something carved by mortal hands with limited skill.
But as the snowlight touched them, they revealed their true beauty.
They were shaped like snowflakes, intricate and flawless, and they seemed to shimmer with a quiet grace as if winter itself had chosen to crystallize its soul into jewelry.
Azel turned them over slowly, his thoughts conflicted.
…
[Item Name: Kyone's Earrings]
[Item Rank: SSS]
[Item Description: These earrings were once a gift from Kyone's father, a family heirloom woven with divine intent. They were made only for her, and for the man she would one day choose as her partner. To wear them is to gain her ear beyond the trials. If you speak with courage, and if you shape your heart with care, perhaps she will give you more than her voice. Perhaps she will give you her love.]
…
The words dripped with poetry.
They promised not power, not wealth, but a chance at something far stranger — affection from a goddess.
Azel pressed his lips into a thin line.
"…The System's fucking with me."
That had to be it.
After everything he had endured — venom, swarms, near-death fights… the prize he got was jewelry that maybe could make Kyone like him.
She was already married to him for fuck's sake.
'Besides Kyone giving herself to any random guy because they gave her a set of earrings?' He thought.
He doubted it.
Kyone wasn't someone who would fold over trinkets, no matter how divine.
Still, he slipped them into his storage ring.
Beautiful or not, frustrating or not, they were his now.
And besides, it wasn't useless he wanted to see her reaction.
He stretched, his joints popping, his bones creaking after the hours he'd spent climbing, planting bombs, and burning the hive.
His eyes lifted again, this time locking fully onto the Frost Juggernaut.
Even from here, he could feel the cold radiating from its body.
[Frost Juggernaut]
[Rank 2]
The sight made his stomach tighten.
Rank 2 monsters weren't enemies — they were calamities.
Creatures like this could topple empires if left unchecked.
No regular weapon could cut them, no ordinary army could defeat them.
To destroy one outright required either years of preparation… or power that belonged only to the highest of mortals.
And yet, strangely, Azel didn't feel fear.
He felt tired.
Almost too tired to care.
Compared to the hive, compared to the endless swarms and toxins and burning trees, this monster almost seemed… simple.
It wasn't that the monster was but he was simply too tired to even bother.
'What a drag, I probably won't even need to do anything,' he thought.
And then his father moved.
Azariah's voice thundered across the clearing.
"Out of the way!"
He stomped once, and the ground shattered.
It didn't crack… it shattered entirely.
Splits spread outward like lightning bolts through stone and snow, even reaching beneath Azel's boots.
It wasn't even an attack.
That was simply what happened when Azariah walked at full power.
The warriors who had been standing too close leapt aside without hesitation.
Nobody questioned him.
Azel's eyes widened as he felt it — a sudden, violent swelling of energy that made the air itself heavy.
"Final Strike…"
Azariah's muscles bulged, doubling in mass.
His already monumental body grew impossibly more imposing.
Veins rose across his arms and neck like rivers of power.
His eyes darkened, swallowing color, and the very air bent around him.
The wind screamed, a wild storm born from his aura alone.
Azel staggered as the force pressed against him.
Even standing dozens of feet away, the sheer weight of it pushed his chest down.
Snow lifted into the air like ash, trees bent as though bowing to him.
He caught a glimpse of Veyra being thrown into the sky by the sheer pressure.
Even Medusa's feet skidded against the ground as she tried to resist the gale.
Warriors dug their weapons into the snow just to keep from being blown away.
It was terrifying.
It was awe-inspiring.
'So this is the power of a Patriarch…' Azel thought, his heart pounding.
The title of Patriarch wasn't given lightly.
Although the game developers didn't specify it, they gave little information.
To earn it, you had to be the strongest.
To be above fifty in age, but still burning brighter than men half that.
To stand not as a warrior but as a pillar of nations.
He knew if Kyone was here, she would have told him to watch and he wouldn't want to miss it..
Azariah raised his blade.
The clearing fell silent for a single breath, as if the world itself feared what was about to happen.
And then his voice boomed.
"World Cutting Slash!"
The sword came down.
And Azel's vision turned white.