Chapter 22: The Staff of Orcus! [Requesting Recommendation Votes]
The battle continues.
However, after the King of Ghouls fled the scene, what remains is the harvest of the Abyss Legion.
Orcus’s power is incredibly strong, but even the previously strongest two-headed baboon, Digomorgen, could not simultaneously contend with three deities of medium divine power. Thus, Orcus’s injuries worsen, and the Princess’s Ice and Snow Domain significantly reduces Orcus’s speed and reflexes, while the harassment from Vivian and Lilian continually hampers his recovery ability. Soren, as the main combat output, moves unpredictably, and even though Orcus was once one of the three greats of the Abyss, he can only hold out for about ten minutes under the assault of two divine spellcasters and a divine combat rogue before Soren pierces his heart with a silver flow of light.
Roar!
A roar of unwillingness echoes.
Orcus’s remaining vitality dissipates with Soren’s final blow, followed by many divine lights scattered across the battlefield.
However.
In the hazy distance, an invisible shadow appears, and it immediately attempts to burrow underground.
It is automatically returning to the Bottomless Abyss.
A bit of divine light scatters across the battlefield; naturally, Soren harvests the most, followed by Vivian and Lilian, and surprisingly, the Fallen Witch, who did not participate in the direct battle, ranks third. In contrast, the combat-focused Princess absorbs only a tiny bit of divine value, and Gloria similarly gains just a little.
Golden points of light divide into more than twenty portions scattered across the battlefield.
Some integrate into the escaping high-level demons, while others fall into the bodies of professionists in Modo. A giant with half Mud Giant blood receives a wisp of divine value.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Soren sees the escaping shadow, but oddly enough, neither Vivian nor the Princess seems to notice it.
It appears that only those who wield the power of Death can see Orcus’s soul, and when Soren opens the Death Domain to trap the soul before him, he immediately feels a strong struggle.
This is a very peculiar soul.
It is protected by the chaotic power of the Bottomless Abyss; Orcus’s physical body is merely a shell, and the soul before him is everything. As long as this soul is not destroyed, Orcus can still be summoned back to life.
Thud.
The Staff of Orcus falls to the ground.
As Soren traps the soul before him, he is unexpectedly met with the fact that Orcus’s soul has the power to resist the God of Death profession.
“It seems that the legend of Orcus being the first undead in this world is true!”
Strangely enough,
Soren is unable to suppress this soul, and faced with Soren’s advancing approach, Orcus’s soul clenches its teeth and desperately breaks through the defense, then flees into the interior of the Staff of Orcus!
A flash of divine light shines.
Then, the Staff of Orcus emits a faint glow, and Orcus’s soul completely hides within the artifact.
“Hey? You think hiding inside the artifact means I can’t do anything about you?”
Soren gestures, and the Staff of Orcus falls into his hand; this +5 level artifact is quite famous. However, it seems that every time Orcus revives, it is related to this artifact. This is already Orcus’s third revival; he cannot possibly resurrect every time, and Soren believes the reason for Orcus’s continuous revivals is definitely within this artifact.
“Can’t suppress it!?”
Soren channels divine power, attempting to invade the interior of the artifact before him, but everything feels like sinking into the sea, with a frown on his face as he observes the Staff of Orcus, muttering, “Why is this thing so heavy? Something is off! Could this artifact be made of Annihilation Material?”
“Hiding inside is useless! I have plenty of ways to deal with you slowly!”
The weight of the Staff of Orcus is terrifying!
According to Soren’s estimation, the true weight of this staff should be over one ton, but it is enhanced by spells, seeming to allow authorized individuals to wield it.
However, the actual weight is over one ton, only Orcus, the most powerful in the Bottomless Abyss, could easily use it. No wonder Soren spat blood after a hard clash when he first faced him.
A series of data appears before him:
“Killed the Abyss Overlord [King of the Undead] – Orcus!…”
“Extracted target soul energy!…”
“Target soul energy dissipated! … Extracted part of the soul! … You gained 3,250,000 points of Killing Experience! …”
“Target possesses divine value! …”
“Extracted target divine value! … You gained 85 points of divine value! …”
“Target possesses divinity value! …”
“Extracted target divinity value! … You gained 10 points of divinity value! …”
……………
“Extracted [Death] domain! … Compatibility 100%! … Your [Death] profession has been enhanced! …”
“Extracted [Evil] domain! … Compatibility 72%! … Your [Evil] domain has been enhanced! …”
“Your [Hand of Death] ability has been enhanced! …”
……………
A great deal of golden divine light merges into Soren’s body, but lamentably, even though Soren gained nearly a hundred points of divine value, the quantity of divinity value gained remains very scarce.
This is a common issue in the Bottomless Abyss; there are many beings with divine value, but very few possess divinity.
Even the three greats of the Bottomless Abyss share this trait; Orcus indeed holds immense power, but still predominantly contains divine value, possessing a pitifully small amount of divinity value, and each resurrection, Orcus regains strength by killing and devouring other powerful demons and undead, which also seals the possibility of accumulating much divinity value.
In fact.
Soren has already gained enough divinity value because this time, the God of Death – Naraku is secretly controlling Orcus’s resurrection, which is why there is so much divinity value.
Otherwise, the amount of divinity value Soren would have garnered might have only been a single digit!
Looking across the entire Bottomless Abyss, among all demon lords, only a few can provide a decent amount of divinity value, likely just the Succubus Queen controlling taboo, love, desire, ethics, etc. And the recently escaped King of Ghouls should possess close to weak divine power levels of divinity value, while the King of Werewolves should have a trace of weak divine power’s divinity value.
In the Bottomless Abyss.
Finding a high-level demon with divine value is easy, but finding one with divinity is quite difficult.
After all, divine values are often innate, while divinity values are mostly condensed later, which determines the difficulty of acquiring divinity values is much higher than that of divine values.
The Staff of Orcus.
The soul of the former Abyss Overlord has fled into this artifact; Soren attempts to suppress it but receives no response. This artifact seems somewhat special because it possesses the power of death and appears to gather a wisp of the divine profession of death within it.
Incredible!
This artifact seems to be even more formidable than Orcus himself!
…………… (To be continued ~^~)
