Ryan couldn't help but sigh in the end. While one thing led to another, he should have understood that from the beginning… he could counter Hephaestus's skill by using the Mana Barrier. If his own barrier protected him from Vengeful Explosion, it was only obvious that would be the case.

Once Ryan found out the weakness of that skill, Hephaestus surprised Ryan. From the very beginning, he didn't have to make the swords fall… he could make them appear and fly toward the enemies from all directions. The very moment he used that for the first time, Ryan felt shivers when he saw Femradiel and Alissa surrounded by dozens of them. Fortunately, Femradiel had some crazy reflexes and used Teleport before they could get pierced by all of the projectiles.

​​

"It seems that you aren't bothered that your friend is intervening now," Ryan said.

"This is a war, not a duel," Tyr said. "It is different from before."

"It sure is," Ryan said and then summoned the Vengeful Sea Crossbow.

The same way Hephaestus attacked those two, Ryan attacked Tyr. He saw himself surrounded by dozens of water bolts and then moved his arms to protect his vitals. As much as that annoyed Ryan, it actually worked since he was also wearing another armor made of mithril. However, Ryan used his previous tactic while Tyr wasn't looking at him. He used Power of Money to damage his armor in a single point without letting him notice it.

Alissa and Femradiel noticed what I did and then approached Tyr in the blink of an eye. Feramdiel made a massive ice hammer fall on his head, and then he was forced to block with his arms. At that moment, Alissa punched his left side, and the damaged part created by Ryan broke. Thanks to that, her punch hit Tyr's left side and broke several of his ribs… before he fell on the ground and broke the others from his left side.

Ryan smirked, and then Hephaestus looked really annoyed. Suddenly, he stopped using those weird swords and then left the barrier, and that was weirdly unexpected. Due to the surprise, all of those three forgot to attack Tyr once again. Hephaestus was unarmed and didn't have armor either, but he sure looked like he was about to fight. Then when Ryan, Femradiel, and Alissa were about to attack him, his body began to grow. He grew and only stopped when he was like one thousand feet tall. The ground cracked under his feet, but then he began to levitate. Soon after, Hephaestus made a full plate armor made of mithril appear, and he wore it… that was going to be tough.

Out of nowhere, a big rock appeared and then fell toward Hephaestus' feet. Still, then he kicked, and Ryan was instantly sent flying backward for hundreds of kilometers. Before, Alissa and Femradiel could do anything. Hephaestus disappeared, and Tyr showed up to block their path.

"Ah, I wished that I could see this," Tyr smiled. "I never saw him fighting, but he sure has the skills to smash your friend like an ant."

At the same time, Ryan was almost smashed by the rock and against a mountain. In fact, he probably only survived the attack because he got Draconic Skin the previous day. When Ryan healed his body and moved away from the rock, he saw Hephaestus' feet about to finish the job. Ryan escaped by using Teleport, but he teleported instinctively to behind Hephaestus, and thanks to that, he got punched. Hephaestus turned so safe that Ryan didn't even have time to think of dodging. Such was his speed…

Congratulations! The skill Pain Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Pain Immunity has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Ryan fell on the ground this time, but the pain wasn't anything less annoying than when he hit the mountain. Once again, he got as fast as possible when Hephaestus was about to crush his head with his feet.

This time, Ryan escaped to the distance, but then Hephaestus quickly followed him by using Teleport. Ryan faced plenty of massive opponents that could move at speeds that it didn't make any sense considering their bodies. However, Hephaestus was a cut above them. Ryan grew tired pretty quickly of being beaten one-sidedly, so he used a cheap trick, he summoned Vengeful Sea Crossbow again, and they bombarded Hephaestus's face with water bolts.

"Hephaestus, free me and together we can crush this worm," Poseidon said.

Ryan knew that Poseidon would say such a thing. After all, they were uncle and nephew. Still, much to his surprise, Hephaestus didn't even blink and completely ignored Poseidon's words.

"At least answer me, your dirt blacksmith!" Poseidon shouted.

While he was protecting his eyes, Hephaestus approached Ryan to kick him, but then when Ryan was about to fly away, he suddenly felt a change in the air, something was about to happen, and he successfully discovered what was about to happen… Hephaestus created another big rock and kicked toward Ryan. However, this time, the projectile split in half when Ryan used his crossbow and aimed at the center of the rock. Even Hephaestus frowned since he didn't expect that Ryan could react and cause damage so fast.

"Come to think of it… you guys have a history, right?" Ryan asked. "Among one of the many men Aphrodite cheated on you, Poseidon was one of them."

It looked like Ryan stepped on a landmine. The look in Hephaestus' eyes changed. He looked pretty calm until now, but now his eyes were as vicious as his actions. Using his whole body, Hephaestus dashed toward Ryan, and thanks to a miracle, Ryan reacted on time to dodge and move to high in the sky.

"Although I got mad when I saw Mia and Daniel that day, but even though we were in the same situation once, he is far angrier," Ryan said.

Hephaestus burned everything on his path with his speed alone. For a second, Ryan thought he was Hermes instead of Hephaestus. That speed was just that crazy.