Chapter 65 – Fourth History Alteration

Three days had passed since the Hundred-Man Slaughter began.

During that time, Lee Hanseong had continuously engaged in Life-and-Death Duels without eating, drinking, or resting.

Yet, he was still in perfectly good condition.

“…Don’t you ever get tired?”

His opponent, facing death by his sword, looked at Lee Hanseong with eyes as if seeing a monster and asked.

“It’s not that I don’t get tired. I just last longer than others.”

The Vampire’s True Blood regenerated his stamina by absorbing the enemy’s blood.

The Devouring Heaven Demon Sword maintained his Transcendence by absorbing the enemy’s power.

The Eightfold Annihilation continuously drew Starlight from within, providing him with boundless magical power.

Still, he couldn’t prevent the accumulation of mental fatigue.

‘…How many opponents has this been?’

He couldn’t clearly remember the events of the past three days.

Even if it seemed he killed his enemies easily, achieving such results required extreme Concentration, so…

He had no room to think about anything other than how to kill his opponent.

Throb!

Maintaining extreme focus in every Life-and-Death Duel and continuing to fight left him with no mental energy to spare.

One thing was certain: all the Mid-Rank Awakeners of 4-Star Rank who coveted the Heavenly Demon Medallion had either lost their lives to his sword or given up on the medallion.

Because the opponent who had just appeared was a Mid-Rank Awakener of 5-Star Rank or higher.

Meaning there were no more opponents weaker than that.

‘From now on, it won’t be so easy.’

From 5-Star onward is the stage of creating a Treasure Vessel.

Those who have contracted with High-Rank Spirits usually make the Spirit’s Treasure Vessel their own.

In that case, the Contractor’s Treasure Vessel and the Spirit’s Treasure Vessel exist separately, and the two fuse to surpass their Grades.

In other words, it meant all Mid-Rank Awakeners of 5-Star Rank could use Divine Artifact Awakening.

‘Fighting them in my current state isn’t confidence; it’s arrogance.’

Growing in the face of death is only possible when you have the capacity to grow.

Unlike the explosive growth during the first three Life-and-Death Duels at the beginning of the Hundred-Man Slaughter, the growth achieved over the next three days was almost negligible.

There was only one newly integrated Skill.

[Conditions met. <Puppetry art> and <Driving> are integrated.]

[Unique Skill <All Things Control> is formed.]

Other changes amounted to little more than becoming familiar with newly acquired Skills.

At least his Swordsmanship was slowly but steadily improving, likely thanks to invoking the Sword Demon’s abilities through the Sympathy Spell.

But even his Swordsmanship seemed to be entering a plateau, stuck in a rut.

‘To grow further here, I need new Skills.’

No matter how much the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi adapts to the opponent’s abilities, if there’s a lack of Skills to serve as integration material, Skill integration won’t occur.

‘I need to use Historical Alteration.’

If I use the Stigma of Historical Alteration, I can possess a time period detached from reality, so using it should allow me to rest sufficiently.

Having made up his mind, Lee Hanseong immediately activated Historical Alteration.

Ziiing.

Time paused briefly, and a single option appeared.

[To possess the history recorded by the Sun Constellation for the completion of Spirit Pheidippides’s (★★★★☆) Promotion.]

[Remaining achievements will be consumed to activate Historical Alteration. Current number of remaining achievements held: 9.]

No new options appeared.

Because while using Eightfold Annihilation, he could use his Vocation Awakening Skill without Life Consumption, so he hadn’t separately shared Transcendence with the Spirits through Colonization.

‘Well, it’s not that there’s no way to promote other Spirits, though.’

Perhaps due to the Skill integration from Primordial Chaos Gang Qi, the connection between Pheidippides’s star and the other Spirits had deepened.

If he utilized the connection points with other Spirits during Pheidippides’s Historical Alteration, a Joint historical alteration might be possible even without a separate option being given.

And, just in case, he checked the reaction of the Legendary Equipment.

Unlike before when he was about to cross into history, it was quiet.

‘Hmm. It seems replacing achievement consumption with Legendary Equipment was a one-time thing.’

Since the records of the Legendary Equipment have already been added to the history of the related Spirit, it likely means that possessing the Legendary Equipment again won’t change anything.

Confirming there were no other options, Lee Hanseong consumed the ‘Grand Formation Construction’ achievement and possessed the records of the Sun Constellation.

* * *

Blink.

When he closed and opened his eyes, Lee Hanseong was possessing Pheidippides’s body.

Whoosh.

He quickly synchronized with the body’s memories using Primordial Chaos Gang Qi to grasp the current situation.

‘About a year has passed since the Battle of Salamis.’

The time was August 27, 479 B.C.

It was the moment about a year after the Battle of Salamis in September 480.

Emperor Xerxes, who led the second Persian expeditionary force, despairing over the great defeat at Salamis, had returned to his homeland after handing over command of 300,000 land troops to Mardonius, son-in-law of Darius I.

Mardonius, who had retreated to the Thessaly region afterward, finished harvesting military provisions and began the conquest of Greece again this year.

‘Pheidippides has been busy moving around too.’

Athena had once again evacuated the city and summoned forces to Salamis, requesting aid from various parts of Greece, and most of those requests fell to Pheidippides.

Especially in the case of Sparta, as slaves showed signs of rebellion taking advantage of the Persian War, Pausanias, who held command, was in a situation where he couldn’t easily send support.

‘Pausanias. The regent for Pleistarchus, son of Leonidas.’

Pheidippides requested reinforcements by recounting how he fought alongside Leonidas at Thermopylae and guarded his corpse, but Pausanias only continued to ponder without giving a definite answer.

Thus, Pheidippides applied Six Harmonies Communication to change his voice and impersonated an oracle.

=Avenge Leonidas.

He drew out Sparta’s support with an irrefutable justification.

Afterward, memories of major events flowed into his mind: the Spartan army joining the Greek allied forces, engaging in skirmishes with the Persian army, and so on.

‘Mardonius sent cavalry to provoke the Greek allied forces, attempting to lure them onto the plain.’

‘Failed due to the death of the Persian cavalry commander Masistius.’

‘Morale-boosted Greek army advances to Plataea. However, they do not fully descend from the high ground.’

‘Both sides wait for the other to attack first, resulting in a ten-day standoff with the Persian army.’

These were pieces of information about the Battle of Plataea, which was unfolding similarly to the Battle of Marathon, a war of nerves.

And just last night, decisive news arrived to end the standoff.

“Urgent report! The Persians have blocked the Gargaphian Spring!”

During the standoff, Mardonius had continued to employ cavalry, disrupting the Greek allied forces’ supply lines.

Perhaps because the effect was better than expected, they eventually blocked even the Gargaphian Spring, the sole water supply source.

“If this continues, we’ll die of thirst. We must quickly reclaim the supply route. Let’s retreat for now.”

“Withdrawing at night is no different from fleeing, a dishonorable act. Sparta will remain here until dawn.”

It was a situation where they had to retreat to the rear to prevent being cut off from supplies and secure water.

However, a certain Spartan squad commander opposed the withdrawal and blocked Pausanias, so Sparta could only begin its final withdrawal after dawn today.

And Mardonius did not miss the confusion among the Greek forces due to the withdrawal.

“The Greeks are fleeing! All troops—! Pursue them—!”

In the Aerial View Skill’s sight, Mardonius was captured giving the pursuit order to all troops.

Fortunately, the Athenian and Megaran armies, concerned about the isolation of the Spartan army, were still deployed at Plataea.

But the other polis armies in the center had retreated, leaving only the right wing’s Sparta and Tegea and the left wing’s Athens and Megara on the battlefield.

A situation with a clear numerical disadvantage to stop the Persian army, said to number 300,000.

Thud thud thud thud thud!

With the earth-shaking sound of galloping hooves, the Battle of Plataea, which would mark the end of the Second Persian War, raised its curtain.

* * *

Meanwhile, a battle similar to Plataea was also beginning at Mycale.

A few days before the battle began, the Spartan and Athenian fleet led by King Leotychidas, who had visited Delos, heard news of the rebellion on Samos against Persia and headed there.

“Samos’s rebellion will now be supported by us Spartans!”

“It’s the Spartan and Athenian fleet!”

“The War God of Salamis is coming! Flee!”

The Persian forces, remembering the great defeat at Salamis, abandoned the defense of Samos and joined the garrison at Mycale, which was guarding Ionia under Emperor Xerxes’s orders.

The Spartan and Athenian fleet landed right at Mycale and confronted the Persian forces preparing for battle, which was the current situation.

The brave Spartan warriors at Plataea have defeated Persia!

Even before the fighting began, King Leotychidas spread false information that the Battle of Plataea on the Greek mainland had ended in a Greek victory, boosting his allies’ morale.

Since it was a message delivered through Pheidippides’s mouth, who frequently traveled between the Greek mainland and Mycale via Shrinking Earth, the soldiers did not doubt the news.

Having confirmed even that memory, Lee Hanseong blinked his eyes wide.

‘Participating in both the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale simultaneously?’

No wonder the scenery seen through Aerial View seemed like two places.

With Shrinking Earth and Aerial View linked, the left eye’s field of view provided an aerial view of the Battle of Plataea, while the right eye’s field of view provided an aerial view of the Battle of Mycale.

Currently, Pheidippides, as the commander leading the Athenian forces that landed at Mycale, was advancing along the coastal plain toward the Persian main camp.

Advance!

[Pheidippides’s <Command> and <Formation> control the allies.]

[《Six Harmonies Communication》 responds to <Command>, applying 【One Heart One Body】.]

[《Eight Gates Evasion》 responds to <Formation>, applying 【Perfect Order】.]

He issued the advance order according to the role Pheidippides was playing.

Simultaneously, he kept an eye on the situation at Plataea, ready to issue orders to Pausanias by claiming oracles at any time.

Only now, after checking all the memories, did he realize that Pheidippides’s Grade wasn’t simply 5-Star (★★★★☆).

Grrrrrr—

Similar to Lee Hanseong before possessing history, a continuous torrent of Starlight surged from within.

The Ultimate Technique of Eight Gates Evasion, Eightfold Annihilation, was already deployed on Pheidippides’s body.

Because amplifying power was necessary to relay news between the Greek mainland and Mycale across the sea.

But according to Pheidippides’s last clear memory, even considering the amplification of Eightfold Annihilation, it should be at the 6-Star level, yet the power he felt now wasn’t at that level.

‘It’s higher than 6-Star. At this level, it’s Half-Step 7-Star, isn’t it?’

A Grade at the bare minimum 7-Star level, without having comprehended a single Polarity Reversal, was felt from Pheidippides’s body.

His Grade had risen even though he hadn’t specifically used Transcendence.

To clearly understand the cause of this change, he examined his own status.

【Pheidippides (★★★★☆☆) (Guarantee of the Righteous Will applied)】

General Skill: <Fatigue Ignore>, <High-Speed Dash>, <Lung Capacity Enhancement>, <Vocalization>.

Rare Skill: <Persuasive Speech>, <Command>, <Aerial View>, <Formation>.

Unique Skill: <Two Hearts>, <???>, <???>, <???>.

General Awakening Skill: 《Shrinking Earth》, 《Six Harmonies Communication》, 《No Retreat in Battle》, 《Eight Gates Evasion》, 《???》.

Vocation Awakening Skill: 《???》.

【Lee Hanseong (★★★☆☆) (Transcendence, Guarantee of the Righteous Will applied)】

Rare Skill: <Stamina Major Enhancement>.

Unique Skill: <Unyielding Indomitability>, <Prayer of the Phoenix>, <Geass>.

Legendary Skill: <Primordial Chaos Gang Qi>.

General Awakening Skill: 《Transcendence》, 《Consecutive Transcendence》, 《Group Transcendence》

……

‘It was because of Guarantee of the Righteous Will.’

The Folklore Treasure Vessel bound to the soul, Guarantee of the Righteous Will, was still applied even now during possession, promoting both Pheidippides and Lee Hanseong by one stage.

Moreover, there was more to note.

‘…The Skills I can use have also increased?’

Originally, all Skills originating from other Spirits were unusable, but now, aside from Primordial Chaos Gang Qi, which was uniquely his, a few other Skills, though only some, had been unlocked.

The unlocked Skills were all those that had served as material for integrated evolution among Pheidippides’s General Skills.

It seemed that the higher-level Skills that evolved using Pheidippides’s Skills contained within them as keys had also become usable.

‘The Skills of other Spirits contained within those Skills are also significant in meaning.’

Since the traces contained in the Skills can be applied as powerful connection points linking to them.

This would become a clue for a new Joint historical alteration.

“Then, shall we properly complete the 5-Star Promotion from the start?”

Perhaps because Mirinae was asleep.

The clue messages that used to show him the direction he should take during each Historical Alteration showed no reaction, but he could still roughly guess how to change history.

‘The first clue would be the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale.’

Judging by the role Pheidippides was playing at the moment he possessed him, it seemed important to be active in both battlefields.

‘The second clue would be what fills the Unique Skill <???>…’

That would likely Bloom naturally during the process of intervening in the two simultaneous battlefields.

‘The final third clue would be creating a Treasure Vessel, the Prerogative of a 5-Star Spirit itself.’

A 5-Star Spirit without a Treasure Vessel is like a steamed bun without red bean paste.

He would have to sublimate one of the items Pheidippides possessed for a long time and suited him into a Treasure Vessel.

Glancing at the gear Pheidippides was wearing, he decided on the equipment to make into a Treasure Vessel.

‘Then, this should be it.’

A Treasure Vessel must become the activation weapon for the First Awakening Skill.

Only this equipment suited Shrinking Earth.