Chapter Ninety-Five: God-Slaying
2015-10-18
Author: Floating Tower
Qi energy surged.
Accompanied by a strange, silver-white radiance stirring a fierce wind, the God of the Hunt – Mara’s divine power shield shattered like an egg shell. In an instant, with Soren’s terrifying attack speed, the opponent’s divine power shield was breached. In terms of speed, the God of the Hunt could not outperform Soren, who mastered Dual Wielding; in terms of evasion, it was also impossible for him to surpass Soren’s accumulated dodging skills. His greatest advantage lay in his significantly greater toughness compared to Soren, conservatively estimated to have around 800 vitality points.
Without the Pale Justice in hand, Soren would almost have no chance of defeating him in a head-on confrontation.
The reason is simple.
The opponent’s lethality is very strong; his fearsome power is enough to compensate for his speed deficiencies. If the battle came down to a test of vitality, undoubtedly the winner would be the God of the Hunt – Mara.
However, with the Pale Justice in hand, the outcome is entirely different.
Five strikes to break the shield.
Pale Justice possesses terrifying attributes – “+15 Sharpness, +13 Piercing, +15 Toughness, +13 Armor Penetration, +15 Holy Damage.”
To describe such attributes in one sentence: cutting through a dragon’s scales is as easy as cutting through tofu.
Pale Justice is one of the sharpest weapons in the Material Plane, as it was originally crafted with a perfect blade, and that was before being empowered by divine power.
When the weapon has absolute advantage and the wielder’s attack speed is even faster.
Soren almost unleashed over double the damage compared to the God of the Hunt – Mara, with each attack exceeding a hundred points of explosive strength. After withstanding approximately 600 points of damage, the divine power shield finally exploded in a spray of silver-white radiance.
—”Heavenly God Descends!”
A trace of terror emerged on the face of the God of the Hunt – Mara, as he felt death approaching.
Thus, he did not hesitate to activate his last life-saving card, the special power granted by his divine ability – Heavenly God Descends!
Significantly enhancing his saintly form. Temporarily restoring part of his divine form’s power.
Enhanced physique.
Enhanced strength.
Enhanced resilience.
Immunity to spells.
The body of the God of the Hunt – Mara was enveloped by a surge of divine power, resembling the state of a true god. The true god form is completely energy-based and is not limited as the saintly form is. At this moment, he approached about one-third of his divine form’s capabilities, and the immunity effect from his divine power allowed him to completely ignore cold, fire, acid, toxins, lightning, and other damages while greatly enhancing his damage reduction against physical attacks.
If it were someone else facing this situation, it would basically be helpless because elemental damage would be largely ineffective, and physical damage reduction would exceed 90% (equivalent to a demigod lich’s damage reduction), making any spell damage ineffective against him.
In such a situation, there’s basically no chance to fight back!
…………
Clang, clang!
Soren’s figure retreated in quick succession, one hand holding Gisz Silver Blade, the other holding Pale Justice, his gaze heavy as he watched his opponent.
“I must drag this out until the effect of Heavenly God Descends ends.”
As a legendary wanderer who experienced the most turbulent times of the Saint’s Cataclysm, Soren knew very well that when ‘Heavenly God Descends’ is activated, there is basically no one who can directly defeat a god head-on. The opponent was now approaching a divine form, and throughout history, there have been very few instances where a mortal has slain a god. Though Soren is also a divine being, the Saint’s Cataclysm has left him with only the most basic saintly form. This gap is impossible to bridge; the opponent has immunity to most elemental attacks while possessing 90% damage reduction from the divine form.
If facing head-on, the only one to be worn down would be Soren.
Even holding Pale Justice wouldn’t help; the damage reduction is too high – capable of breaking defenses but not delivering a heavy blow to the opponent.
Only by waiting for the duration of ‘Heavenly God Descends’ to end can Soren take the opponent down.
Fortunately,
In the context of the Saint’s Cataclysm, all divine powers have been significantly weakened. Even beings as mighty as the Spider Queen can only sustain ‘Heavenly God Descends’ for a short period.
The situation of the battle was suddenly reversed.
Soren became the one who constantly distanced himself to buy time, while the God of the Hunt – Mara seemed to chase him like a madman, as if falling behind even for a moment could lead to a disastrous end.
The power of a god is fleeting!
According to Soren’s estimate, the God of the Hunt – Mara, having lost his divine power shield, could only maintain Heavenly God Descends for about thirty seconds.
After thirty seconds, it would be the time to determine the victor.
—”Shadow Hide!”
—”Shadow Leap!”
Wanderers have an innate advantage in survival; if Soren did not want to confront the God of the Hunt – Mara head-on, he could always find a way to shake him off and create distance.
Anxiety spread across the face of the God of the Hunt.
If Soren were a warrior, he could kill the opponent in three seconds. But Soren is precisely a wanderer, a damn wanderer with high agility, high evasion, and high stealth.
Time ticked by second by second.
No one dared approach the God of the Hunt in his Heavenly God Descends state, but as time passed, the scales of victory gradually tipped towards Soren.
Divine power was burning!
The God of the Hunt – Mara’s divine power was nearly exhausted. The princess remained on the battlefield’s periphery, waiting for an opportunity. As an immensely powerful spellcaster, she had no fears of the God of the Hunt being able to slay her in an instant.
This is the confidence of a top-tier spellcaster.
In the most supreme battles, the strongest output will never be from a spellcaster, but no one can match the spellcaster’s control.
The primary damage output will always be melee classes; pure elemental mages find it hard to survive to the legendary domain.
Tick-tock!
In that moment, Soren even felt he could hear the ticking of time.
The instant the God of the Hunt – Mara’s divine form ended, he traversed shadows, reappearing beside him.
Heavenly God Descends has concluded.
Now it was his turn to strike with full force!
Just as Soren rushed toward the God of the Hunt – Mara at high speed, the princess quickly approached, completing her casting action with incredible speed, and then a giant hand appeared above the God of the Hunt – Mara’s head.
—”Bigby’s Grasping Hand! [7th-Rank Spell]”
God-slaying spell.
A look of shock flickered in Soren’s eyes. However, there was no hesitation in his actions; in an instant, he swept his sharp blade.
The third strike of Bigby’s Five-Fingered Hand.
Although not the most powerful legendary spell, Bigby’s Grasping Hand still has a significant advantage in controlling enemies.
These five spells by the battle wizard have always been referred to as the true ‘God-slaying spells’.
In terms of battle application, their effects are vastly superior to the lower-ranked Mayoufu Meteor, which can only barely break defenses, while the former can even control divine beings in their saintly form.
A huge energy hand seized the God of the Hunt – Mara, temporarily restraining him in place.
“Bigby’s Grasping Hand [7th-Rank Spell]: Bigby’s Grasping Hand can directly grasp the opponent with a giant hand of energy, with the grappling bonus equal to your caster level plus your Intelligence modifier (for wizards), Wisdom modifier (for priests), or Charisma modifier (for sorcerers). The base strength of this energy giant hand is 35, and the grappling power bonus cap is 12; the grappled enemy must make a strength check to determine if they can break free – enemies with too great a strength gap will be directly crushed.”
God-slaying spell!
As a not very high-level 7th-rank spell, Bigby’s Grasping Hand can summon a giant hand of energy with a base strength of 35 to grasp the opponent; calculating by the sorcerer’s standards: with 10 points in Charisma, every 2 extra points of Charisma grants an additional 1 point to the grappling strength check. Soren wasn’t sure about the princess’s Charisma attribute, but it was surely over 30 points.
Therefore, calculating with thirty points, this spell’s contested strength value would reach a staggering 45 points!
45 points of strength.
In the entire Material Plane, how many could achieve that?
One might say that weaker enemies would be directly crushed, and even those with sufficiently high strength would surely be held for a time.
This is how the reputation of god-slaying spells came about!
Dealing with such spells cannot be met with brute force. One can only rely on various means to evade, or bolster immunity to energy-based and force-field spells.
All five of Bigby’s Hand spells are energy force spells.
“No!!!”
A desperate roar erupted as the God of the Hunt – Mara discovered in sheer terror that he could not break free from the control of Bigby’s Grasping Hand. (Strength check exceeded 45 points.)
If it were just the princess present, he would have enough confidence to rely on his powerful immunity and elemental resistance to withstand the spell until it failed.
But if Soren were added into the equation, his chances of survival would plummet to near zero!
A fierce wind swept in.
Soren transformed into a multitude of afterimages, showcasing the capabilities of Dual Wielding to the fullest in an instant. Blades slashed down upon the God of the Hunt – Mara, leaving countless scars on his body in the blink of an eye.
—”Sword Intent [Decapitation]!”
—”Spinning Slash!”
With blood gushing forth, the head of the God of the Hunt – Mara flew off in the cold light of the blade, followed by his massive body crashing to the ground. In the final moment before death arrived, he slowly uttered a sentence: “The hunter ultimately became the hunted!…”
A surge of divine power burst forth!
Visible to the naked eye, divine power exploded into golden radiance. Unlike any target Soren had slain in the past, the power of the God of the Hunt – Mara did not all flow into him alone.
Divine fragments.
The power of a true god causes an explosion upon death; the divinity they hold directly forms divine fragments, only powers suitable for Soren can be absorbed by him.
For instance, powers of evil, hunting, tracking, and so on.
However, if it were a power of the domain of Chaos, it would scatter across the battlefield, and the domain of Chaos would also coalesce into a corresponding divine fragment.
Such power is something Soren cannot absorb, as doing so would have a significant impact on him!
The sky was filled with golden brilliance.
A substantial portion of the divine power surged into Soren’s body, while a smaller portion flowed into the princess’s body.
This divine explosion was filled with randomness.
Even non-legendary figures on the battlefield found themselves blending in 1 point from the God of the Hunt due to some unknown compatibility. This point of divinity might not significantly enhance their power, but it could certainly change their destiny.
The power was divided into three streams.
The largest share surged into Soren’s body because he had an excess of compatible abilities.
Hunting, tracking, evil, strength, and more.
The princess absorbed only a small portion of the divine power; she selectively integrated part and discarded another.
If one is incompatible, divine power does not necessarily mean more is better.
A faint silver-white glow!
From the corpse of the God of the Hunt – Mara emerged another large proportion of divine power, which was not absorbed by Soren but flew towards the battlefield’s edge.
Beastman divine profession.
Moon domain.
The significant proportion of the God of the Hunt – Mara’s divine profession and domain power vanished, integrating into a body that suddenly appeared at the battlefield’s edge.
—Lady Silver Moon!!!
Soren turned his head, his expression seemingly quite dissatisfied, casting a glance at the divine avatar shrouded in silver-white light outside the battlefield.
She had taken a portion of his spoils.
Even though this portion of the spoils was not compatible with him, that act of taking without earning still left him feeling displeased.
……………(To be continued ~^~)
