Chapter 125: Heaven Comes to Take Someone

After reaching level nine, Garen gained a new skill:

【Ragnarok】:
"Removes all crowd control effects and grants immunity to all movement-impairing effects for a duration of 6 seconds. Garen also gains a 70% movement speed bonus when moving toward enemy targets, lasting for 3 seconds."

Ragnarok was the ultimate ability of the champion Olaf in the game.

Unlike the original version:
The skill Garen acquired only retained the crowd control immunity and speed boost; it lacked the passive defense bonus and the attack power boost provided by the original skill. The only compensation was that the duration of the speed boost was extended to 3 seconds.

Even so, the manifestation of this skill in reality was terrifying.

Setting aside the immunity to crowd control, the 70% movement speed bonus alone allowed Garen to move with the speed of lightning, which proved even more crucial in situations requiring the pursuit of an enemy.

Another benefit of reaching level nine was:
The physical enhancement brought by the level jump meant that the "Moonwalk" technique, which Garen had previously been unable to fully utilize, now came to him as a matter of course.

Garen stared intently at Miss Valentine, who was flying higher and higher, and unleashed his newly acquired skill:

"Ragnarok!"

As 【Ragnarok】 was activated, a surging aura of blood suddenly erupted from Garen’s tall frame, and his skin began to glow with a brilliant red light.

That crimson blood-aura swirled around him, seemingly causing the surrounding air to ignite. From a distance, Garen looked like a roaring human furnace, as if he had unleashed the Eight Inner Gates.

"Moonwalk!"

Garen’s feet struck the air with violent force, emitting visible shockwaves.

His glowing crimson body used this recoil to rapidly ascend into the high altitude, chasing after the fleeing Miss Valentine like a rocket.

Garen’s pursuit immediately triggered the 70% movement speed bonus provided by 【Ragnarok】. This sudden sense of weightlessness transformed him into a red streak of lightning leaping upward through the air.

Miss Valentine had already reached an altitude of one hundred meters. Her initial panic had subsided, and she was merely waiting for the enemy below to leave or for the wind to carry her to a safe location.

However, just as she was busy wiping the cold sweat from her brow, she heard a series of abnormal, explosive booms from the air beneath her.

These continuous, thunderous sounds echoed in the sky, becoming closer and clearer to her ears.

Before Miss Valentine could even look down to see the source of the noise, her floating form was knocked off balance by a violent gust of air rushing up from below.

"Get down here!"

The sharp command had barely reached her ears when Miss Valentine was startled to see a red phantom rise from the wind right before her eyes:

It was that terrifying enemy, like the Grim Reaper himself.

"You..."

Before the look of horror could fully form on Miss Valentine's face, she felt her arm gripped tightly by a hand as strong as an iron pincer, leaving her unable to break free.

Then, an irresistible force surged from that massive hand, making it impossible for Miss Valentine to maintain her buoyancy, and she plummeted heavily toward the ground.

Garen, who was holding onto Miss Valentine, felt a sense of wonder:
Dragging this woman down felt as if he were pulling a weightless balloon; there was practically nothing there.

But Garen’s own weight was more than sufficient, and both he and Miss Valentine fell from the high altitude like a meteorite.

Garen had no desire to experience the damage of a free fall from a hundred meters, so just before hitting the surface of the sea, he used Moonwalk to decelerate and stabilize his descent, then slammed Miss Valentine into the wooden deck of the damaged ship.

Garen did not hold back; the force of the throw embedded Miss Valentine deep into the wooden planks.

"Ah!"

Miss Valentine let out a cry of pain, her face twisting in agony as blood began to seep uncontrollably from the corner of her mouth.

But it was not a fatal injury; Miss Valentine quickly regained her clarity from the haze of pain.

However, the sight of Garen and the broadsword in his hand, glowing with golden-red flames, plunged her back into an abyss of endless fear.

"No, don't kill me..."

In her desperation, Miss Valentine could only plead weakly:
"I’m willing to surrender! I’ll do anything you want!"

Miss Valentine was, by nature, a stylish beauty with a striking appearance, and the look of panic on her lovely face would naturally evoke a sense of pity in others, making them hesitate to harm her.

But Garen paid little heed to her pleas and silently raised his massive sword.

Immediately after, a brilliant golden blade of light descended from the heavens.

"90%..."

Garen shook his head helplessly:
"What a waste of that face."

"Someone who can do what you did to your own partner without hesitation is, unsurprisingly, not a good person."

Miss Valentine’s face turned deathly pale, and the pleading look in her eyes quickly shifted to despair.

As if to defend herself, or perhaps to vent her terror, she shrieked hysterically:
"I—I had no choice! She wanted to drag me down to death with her!"

"I was just trying to survive, what is wrong with that?!"

"I understand all of that."

Garen held the tip of his broadsword pointed at Miss Valentine’s cheek, the flames swirling around it making it difficult for her to breathe.

Garen continued calmly:
"Until that critical moment arrives, no one knows what they might do."

"Even someone like me, who absolutely detests such behavior, cannot guarantee what choice I would make when the time comes."

"However..."

Garen’s gaze did not waver in the slightest: "That does not mean that doing so is a matter of course."

Hearing the increasingly evident killing intent in Garen’s words, Miss Valentine’s emotions became even more agitated, manic, and uncontrollable.

She bit her blood-stained lip and snarled through gritted teeth:
"This—this is all because of you!"

"You murderer, by what right do you judge my actions?!"

"I did nothing wrong!"

"By what right?"

Garen said with a hint of amusement:
"By the right that I am stronger than you, and because I deem you wrong, you have no choice but to listen."

"My sword detected a 90% damage amplification, which means you have killed many innocent people in the past, and you actually enjoy the sensation of killing."

"When you killed those weaklings, did you ask them by what right you were doing it?"

"You..."

Miss Valentine’s eyes widened, her face too pale to speak.

As a professional assassin, someone who completely disregarded life, she naturally understood this logic.

In the end, the propaganda in the recent Alabasta newspapers had been so effective that Miss Valentine had actually begun to believe in Garen’s persona as a "Knight of Justice," and could not help but harbor a fantasy that she could confuse him with words and escape.

And this "Knight of Justice," Garen, seemed to have read Miss Valentine’s thoughts, as he said in a low voice:
"Although I call myself a Knight of Justice, my justice is judged solely by my sword."

Garen slightly raised his broadsword as Miss Valentine’s eyes lost their light:
"So, strictly speaking..."

"I am not killing you because your actions are incorrect, but because..."

"I want to kill you."