Grinding to Become the Master of the Universe-Chapter 68 - 56: I Was Once a Soldier

Kro ignored them and didn’t bother finishing off the students who were already down.

He just stood there, dragging his enormous scrap-metal War Axe, his hollow eye sockets sweeping over everyone present.

"Do you... know?"

His voice grew increasingly fluid, carrying a deep-seated hatred that was etched into his very bones.

"Once, I too was a loyal soldier of the Emperor, a heavy weapons operator in a Cadian shock troop regiment. I bled for the Empire! I lost a leg for it! But in the end? What did they give me? A cheap medal and a disability discharge paper. Then, they tossed me aside like garbage onto this godforsaken, sunless planet to become a damned miner!"

He pointed his enormous War Axe at the mutated corpses they had cut down.

"They were miners, too! The very bedrock of the Empire! They worked eighteen hours a day, breathing in lethal dust and eating synthetic nutrient paste that tasted like shit! Their only hope was that their children could join the army and escape this fate!"

"My three sons all joined the Star Realm Army! They were good boys, all of them! But... they’re all dead! They didn’t die fighting the Alien Race! They died in a power struggle between this planet’s Governor and his goddamn nobles! Used as cannon fodder and sacrificed!"

Kro’s roar, like that of a wounded Beast, echoed throughout the entire mine pit.

"The Empire! The Emperor! Fuck the Emperor!"

He roared with abandon, his voice filled with infinite despair and venom.

"This Empire is rotten to the core, from top to bottom! The nobles wine and dine, while we, the scum at the bottom, have to slave away for them like animals until we die! Why?!"

"Lord Nurgle... is merciful..."

His voice gradually grew fanatical and strange once more.

"He gave us new life... gave us eternity... In this garden full of love and warmth, there is no pain, no oppression... Sickness, death, decay... this is the ultimate beauty of the Cosmos... We... are so happy..."

He looked at these "chosen ones" before him, clad in fine power armor with boundless futures, as two streams of murky pus trickled from his hollow eye sockets.

"And you... will enjoy this new life with me..."

...

Kro moved again.

This time, his target was Shi Potian, who had just struggled back to his feet.

A look of grim resolve flashed in Shi Potian’s eyes.

The blade of his saber lit up with a blinding, lightning-hued glow, a sign of highly condensed Spiritual Energy.

"HYAH—"

He let out a low roar and, instead of retreating, advanced. He met the oncoming Mountain-Opening Giant Axe with the strongest slash he could muster.

CLANG—!

The saber and axe collided.

This impact was far more violent than any before it.

A turbulent Energy Shock Wave erupted from the point of impact, spreading madly outwards and kicking up a sky-full of dust.

Shi Potian’s Long Saber had successfully blocked the giant axe.

But that was all it did. It only blocked it.

CRACK!

A crisp cracking sound rang out.

A clear crack appeared on the blade of the grade-I standard-issue Alloy Long Saber.

Kro’s strength was simply too terrifying.

"’Ninefold Thunder Saber’... A pity. You’re still too green..."

Kro roared and put more force into his arms.

The crack instantly widened.

BANG!

The entire Long Saber in Shi Potian’s hands exploded into countless metal shards.

Its momentum undiminished, the giant axe slammed viciously into Shi Potian’s chest plate.

PTHOO—

Shi Potian violently spat out a mouthful of blood. He was sent flying backward like a kite with a severed string. A terrifying gash, deep enough to reveal the bone beneath, had been carved into his power armor’s chest plate. Sizzling sparks continuously erupted from the wound.

Another one down.

The Battle had started less than two minutes ago.

Chu Lan, Qian Duoduo, Shi Potian... The top Combat Powers in their class had been crushed, one by one, by Kro in an almost casual display of overwhelming force.

He hadn’t even dealt a killing blow. He simply used the cruelest methods to shatter their weapons, tear through their defenses, and destroy their confidence.

It was like he was toying with a group of ignorant children.

The entire battlefield fell deathly silent.

All the surviving students stopped in their tracks, staring in absolute horror at the invincible, Demon God-like figure.

Despair spread rapidly through their hearts like a plague.

After defeating Shi Potian, Kro didn’t move.

He stood in the center of the battlefield, dragging his giant axe. His decaying body heaved slightly as a satisfied, guttural wheeze emanated from his throat.

Just then, the sound of steady footsteps, completely out of place with the despair-filled atmosphere, rang out.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

Carrying the three-meter-long, iron-gray Long Spear, Qin Feng emerged from the dust, one step at a time.

His power armor was completely unscathed.

Through his T-shaped visor, his gaze was icy and focused.

He walked until he was ten meters from Kro, then stopped.

He slowly raised the Long Spear, resting its tip on the ground, assuming the standard "Coiled" stance of the Thousand Army Spear style.

Every eye on the battlefield focused on this last standing figure.

Kro’s hollow eye sockets turned toward Qin Feng.

"Oh? Another one who isn’t afraid to die."

He sized up Qin Feng and the Long Spear in his hands. "A spearman... the most useless type of soldier in the Star Realm Army... Have you decided how you want to die?"

Qin Feng didn’t answer.

His actions were his answer.

WHOOSH!

Without any warning, Qin Feng moved.

The engine of his power armor let out a low roar.

His body dipped slightly, and then he shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, hurtling toward Kro.

The three-meter Alloy Long Spear in his hand traced a straight, precise arc, aimed directly at the enormous, writhing wound on Kro’s abdomen!

That was his weakest point.

"Naive!"

Kro let out a contemptuous hiss. He swung the giant axe in his hand horizontally, like a door panel, intending to swat both Qin Feng and his spear away.

However, just as the giant axe was about to strike the spear’s shaft...

Qin Feng’s wrist suddenly flicked.

The straight-thrusting Long Spear suddenly seemed to turn into a boneless Spiritual Snake. The shaft bent in an unbelievable arc, dipping down to graze perilously past the flat of the axe head.

Immediately after, the spear’s trajectory changed again!

Using the momentum from the slide, the dipping spear tip flicked sharply upward!

"Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion!"

A beam of spear light, condensed to its absolute limit, erupted from the tip. Like a crescent moon, it slashed viciously toward the wrist of the hand Kro used to grip his giant axe.

The entire sequence of moves was as smooth as flowing water, executed in a single, seamless motion.

Fast! Precise! Vicious!