CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 65: THE POWERFUL [WAR GOD] SKILL

A biting wind howled, quickly cooling the blood on the ground until it clotted.

Amid the swirling white snow, Ethan slowly ended the Bloodthirst effect of the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife].

His health is down to five percent now. Basically, if anyone lands a hit on Ethan right now, it would kill him instantly.

Outside the snow-white exit of Safe Zone 9527, the "blood flowers" blooming across the snow and the bodies of class-changed players everywhere made the man in the black coat—missing one arm—tremble all over. Any thought of resisting was gone.

His eyes were full of nameless fear and blankness as he watched Ethan walk toward him step by step.

Player [19110536] instinctively backed away a few steps and said in a shaking voice:

"You—you actually killed them all!"

Ethan answered, puzzled: "Weren’t you watching the whole time? Enough talk. You’re the last one."

Player [19110536] hurried to say: "Wait, you might not know which organization I’m from. Let me tell you—"

Before he could finish, Ethan’s long knife swept across his neck, drawing a graceful arc in the air.

A moment later, his head hit the snow with a dull sound, rolled across the ground, and finally stopped at [Grinning Ghost]’s feet.

[Grinning Ghost] glanced down at the head, chuckled, and kicked it aside. Then he slowly looked up at Ethan and said:

"I didn’t expect a player like you to appear in such a remote place as Safe Zone 9527."

"But it seems you’ve forgotten something—right now, you don’t have the strength to keep fighting, do you?"

His smile was wide, his eyes narrowed to slits, and he looked almost friendly.

Ethan walked over to the bodies he had just killed, not in a hurry. He used the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife] to flick up the loot dropped by those class-changed players.

[Grinning Ghost] wasn’t in a rush either. With a big smile on his face, he quietly watched Ethan pick up the spoils.

After about three minutes, Ethan finally looked at [Grinning Ghost] and said slowly:

"Oh? You want to make a move?"

[Grinning Ghost] smiled and replied, "Not really. I’m just curious—if I did, what would you do right now?"

"You seem very confident. Do you still have a trump card you haven’t used?"

Ethan glanced at his wristwatch. After killing eleven class-changed players, he had unlocked the second skill of the [Berserk Blood War God] class: [War God].

[Berserk Blood War God]

[Tier]: 1

[Skills]:

[Bloodthirst Rampage]: Costs 3 Energy. Ignites the body’s instinctive bloodthirst. Grants a bonus based on class tier. Currently: +3 Strength, +3 Speed, +3 Defense. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour. [War God]: Only the undefeated can be called a god. A true War God fills enemies with fear even in death. When the player’s HP drops to 0%, War God state triggers automatically. HP is restored to 100%. Strength, Speed, and Defense are increased by 500%. Immune to control effects. Duration: 1 minute. After War God ends, the player dies and the level resets to 0.

[Note]: No one wants to mess with a War God unless they’re a fool.

A 500% boost to Strength, Speed, and Defense—what does that even mean?

Just now, Ethan’s peak stats were 27 Strength and 26 Speed.

So when his HP hits 0%—the first time he gets killed—[War God] will trigger. At that point, his Strength, Speed, and Defense will jump to five times their values: Strength 135, Speed 130, Defense 45.

What does that even mean?

Most players now have less than 20 points in Strength, Speed, and Defense. It’s rare for any single stat to go over 20.

But in [War God] state, Ethan has 135 Strength, 130 Speed, and even his lowest stat, Defense, is 45.

So once [War God] is active, Ethan really is a war god to other players.

No one can beat him while it’s on.

The catch is, when [War God] ends, Ethan pays a huge price: his level drops straight to 0.

For normal players, dying cuts their level in half. Ethan’s penalty is much worse.

The later the game goes, the scarier [War God] becomes—but the cost gets higher too.

For Ethan right now, at only level 10, dropping to 0 isn’t a big deal. Even if he died normally, he’d revive at level 5.

The gap between level 0 and 5 isn’t that big. He can make it up by killing a few monsters.

So at this moment, Ethan has no fear.

[War God] only lasts one minute. But that one minute is enough for Ethan to kill all his enemies.

With [War God] as his trump card, Ethan walked up to [Grinning Ghost]. He looked at him calmly, with cold eyes, and said:

"What you want is on me. And my HP is only 5% right now. Any hit that lands will kill me."

"You should have that special item that lets you pick from a dead player’s storage, right?"

The smile on [Grinning Ghost]’s face slowly faded. His expression went blank, and a deadly air spread from him. Even the wind and snow around them seemed to go quiet.

Ethan still didn’t look away. He just stared at [Grinning Ghost] and took another step forward.

[Grinning Ghost]’s pupils suddenly tightened. The next moment, he smiled and said:

"I’m a bit more interested in you than in a potion recipe."

"This item isn’t very useful. Just crush it, and I’ll sense it. Then I’ll send you a friend request."

"One last reminder: hide your identity. As long as that potion recipe stays on you, people will keep trying to find out who you are."

"Oh, and I didn’t send anyone to threaten your friends."

He said a lot in one go, grinning as he held out his hand. In his palm lay a white, pinecone-like fruit.

Ethan thought for a moment. The [Ghostfang] group must know how to make the best use of the [Blue Ice Potion Formula].

He might need to deal with a group like that later.

So Ethan didn’t refuse. He took the white fruit, put it into his [Inventory], and checked the details.

[Sensing Pinecone]

[Quality]: White

[Requirement]: None

[Effect]: Crush it to alert the "mother" that created these sensing pinecones.

[Note]: Looks useless, but it does have a small use.

After Ethan checked the [Sensing Pinecone] details and confirmed it had no other use, he nodded to [Grinning Ghost].

In the blowing snow, [Grinning Ghost] left the area near Safe Zone 9527 with the other two.

Now, outside the exit of Safe Zone 9527, only Ethan was left—along with blood and bodies everywhere.

He turned his head without thinking and glanced at the exit, just in time to meet a cold stare aimed at him.

It was Evan’s gaze.

Ethan saw Evan give him a tiny, almost hidden nod, like he was approving him.

Ethan just parted his lips and silently mouthed back:

"Are you nuts?"

That kind of approving look made no sense.

To Ethan, Evan wasn’t a normal guy at all, and he didn’t care to deal with someone like that.

So Ethan looked away and walked toward Lucas, Lucian, and Sylvan, who were covered in snow like snowmen.

They hadn’t moved the whole fight.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help—Ethan really didn’t need them, just like he’d said.

Seeing Ethan walk over, Lucian swallowed and slowly turned his head, snow falling from the top of his head.

He glanced at the silent crowd of players, then looked back at Ethan, soaked in blood like a war god.

Lucian took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and muttered:

"Holy crap, that was insane. If I were Ethan right now, I’d be going crazy with joy!"

"Damn, forget chasing actresses and influencers. I want to show off like Ethan, in front of everyone!"

Sylvan’s eyes burned as he watched Ethan. As someone who refuses to be average and hates a dull life, what Ethan just did was exactly what he longs for.

Only Lucas wasn’t excited. He felt a bit heavy.

In a low voice, Lucas said to Lucian and Sylvan, "You saw that fight. I don’t know what item Ethan used, but anything that boosts stats that much has a big price."

"He did all that for us."