Sometimes, when you encounter someone truly extraordinary in your youth, their impact can haunt you for life.
This holds true not only in romance but in idolizing someone, in desiring to follow or even surpass them.
Young Marius had taken Lista Night as his goal…
But as he grew older and joined the military, he discovered that every step forward was grueling, especially as a commoner facing Rome's class barriers.
After Lista Night's rise from humble origins had struck such a devastating blow to the Senate, they became even more wary of talented commoners.
Although they still supported some promising individuals, they sought to control their rise, fearing another "Lista Night" might emerge.
The "Last Hero of Rome"—this title had become a curse, a barrier no one could break through.
When Night left the simulated universe…
Rome, now missing his presence, left Marius to grow alone.
The dream of catching up to his idol slowly turned to despair as he realized that he would never reach that distant figure from his youth.
If Night had remained, perhaps things would have been different.
But in his absence, Marius was left pursuing a ghost, an ideal that seemed impossible to attain.
This left a deep scar on him.
As one of the most tenacious figures in history, Marius had the pride to match his talents.
Yet this pride was crushed, as he continually found himself struggling under Night's shadow.
This childhood trauma compelled Marius to imitate Night's fearless demeanor, but he never managed to truly embody it.
Night had once thought that the difference in Marius's age had been the reason for his slow rise and eventual struggles against Sulla.
But in truth, this was only part of the cause.
The greater obstacle was that Night himself had unwittingly created an insurmountable peak in Marius's mind.
Unable to confront Night directly, Marius could only measure himself against hus past deeds.
Yet just the fact that Night alone had managed to cow the entire Senate was something Marius could only dream of achieving, causing him to doubt his own abilities—preventing him from reaching his full potential.
Unaware of the impact he had left on Marius, Night led his army across the Ebro River after days of travel, finally reaching the Spanish front and joining forces with Scipio Aemilianus.
In history, Scipio alone had been enough to keep the Spanish rebels in check, but with Night, a complete one-man army, by his side, the pace of suppression accelerated.
For three months, Night transformed into an unstoppable force, relentlessly honing his dual-spear technique on the battlefield.
At times he wielded a spear in one hand and a sword in the other, or even two swords simultaneously—
Training to use two weapons with precision, he innovated and refined his style until his movements became sharp and efficient, fluid and deadly.
On the battlefield, many enemies only saw a flurry of swift motions.
His weapons struck from impossible angles, cutting them down with terrifying precision.
In the beginning, his spear and sword tore flesh, shattered bones, and spilled blood.
But as his technique reached new heights, and internalized the combat instincts of Achilles, Hector, and himself, fusing them into a new, unique style, his fighting style grew more savage, defined by his own distinct flair…
Now, when his spear struck an enemy, their organs would often explode on impact.
Unknowingly, he was training against the hypothetical threat of another "invulnerable" being like himself—a rival with an unbreakable body.
Having such abilities, Night understood the power of an indestructible physique.
If he were to face an opponent with similar invulnerability, the only effective tactic would be to bypass the armor of flesh and attack from within.
Even better, if possible, would be to develop attacks that strike directly at the soul and spirit, or even unavoidable curses.
As for the latter, the current Night clearly does not possess such conditions.
He could only continuously hone his skills.
When he thought of the way in traditional martial arts where force is delivered into the enemy's body to cause internal damage, or similarly using weapons to create shockwaves that bypass the enemy's body to strike directly at their internal organs.
Although this combat technique might not be effective against heroes whose internal organs are also freakishly strong, it is still much better than having nothing or not knowing how to do it.
Thus, in the end, he unconsciously completed the deduction of this incredible technique.
Without any guidance from anyone, it was entirely Night's own combat instinct that he realized, combined with his exceptionally gifted and powerful five senses, which allowed every strike of his to keenly target the enemy's weaknesses.
Internal organ explosion plus weak point strikes, ultimately resulted in a truly horrifying scene on the battlefield.
Killing from one end of the battlefield to the other, wherever he passed, it was like a large slaughterhouse, a scene of hell.
Everywhere was filled with shattered flesh and blood, the brutal and ferocious posture made the numerical advantage meaningless.
For the enemies, Night killing a dozen people was far more terrifying than others killing hundreds or thousands.
At least others' fights would not create such a horrifying scene.
This is not "Rome's Last Hero", but clearly a demon king from Rome!
Because there was a large army covering him, Night, who didn't have to worry too much about physical exhaustion, also completely let go and engaged in the slaughter.
This truly demonstrated the terrifying extent of his power.
As mentioned before, heroes generally recover their stamina and speed very quickly.
Although Night, because of his late development, certainly couldn't compare in overall physical fitness to the Greek heroes who had been training and tempering their bodies since childhood, his recovery ability far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Only in high-intensity slaughter would the recovery not keep up with the consumption, leading to a strenuous situation, and now Night was immersed in the highest intensity of killing and combat.
In such a combat mode that completely disregards physical stamina, the human spirit begins to tire first.
By the end of the fight, he sometimes even showed obvious signs of distraction, his pupils dilating.
Yet his body was still moving on instinct——!
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