Ch.162Chapter 162. Ancient Serpent (3)

Chapter 162. The Ancient Serpent (3)

Whoosh-!

After seeing MeleeSpy deflect the black panther demon, one of the high-ranking demons—a bizarre creature with a goat’s head and an ape’s body—created a sphere-like object with its fingertips and shot it toward MeleeSpy.

What is this, Baphomet or something?

“It’s fine. I’m a hard tanker.”

As Lakye and Dina tried to block it, MeleeSpy held them back and stood at the front.

“Celestial Armor.”

The black armor MeleeSpy was wearing became enveloped in white light.

It’s a level 7 skill, an advanced version of the level 2 skill “Light Tempering” that infuses equipment with divine power. I heard it increases equipment durability by three to four times.

The sphere exploded upon contact with MeleeSpy’s body, but he remained unharmed. Only a scorched mark was left on his armor.

That wasn’t the end.

“Shock Reflection.”

MeleeSpy’s level 5 skill activated. It’s a skill that reflects damage received back to the opponent for a certain period of time.

Kyaaaa-!

The goat-human demon, who had been staring blankly at MeleeSpy who remained unscathed after taking a fireball head-on, exploded.

Stat-boosting skills, defense buffs, and damage reflection skills. He’s definitely a well-built tanker with a good skill tree.

Among our allies, he might be the toughest after me.

“If you won’t step forward, I’ll make you.”

After glancing at the Seven-Headed Dragon and the dragons who were just watching, Dina flew up into the sky.

“Celestial Wings.”

A level 7 skill that summons wings made of light.

After rising high, Dina called out the name of her most powerful skill.

“Goddess’s Wrath!”

This is the skill Dina learned after reaching level 9 during the battle with the dark cloud demon.

It’s a skill that shoots pillars of light from the ground, right? As an area-of-effect skill, its single-target damage might be weaker than her specialty “Celestial Light,” but its battlefield control would be several times greater.

Boom-!

Light erupted from the ground, striking the demons. Low and mid-tier demons hit by the light began to melt.

Even the elephant-hippo demon that was fighting the stone giant faltered after being hit by the pillar. Taking advantage of the opening, the stone giant smashed its jaw.

Clang!

The elephant-hippo demon’s jaw shattered from the powerful iron punch and flew off, crushing the demons that were hesitating below.

Giant monsters are really good at team-killing.

Anyway, it was a powerful skill that could even sting high-ranking demons. “Normal” high-ranking demons, that is.

Bang! Bang!

Despite being hit by several pillars of light due to its enormous size, the Seven-Headed Dragon didn’t even flinch. This was in contrast to the dragons standing with it, which stomped on and blocked the light pillars.

“Celestial Light!”

Unable to bear its nonchalance, Dina unleashed her skill at the creature.

It’s not a waste of skill. It’s an opportunity to measure the Seven-Headed Dragon demon’s defensive abilities or defense power.

Whoosh-!

The Seven-Headed Dragon, watching the approaching light as if it were a nuisance, flapped its wings once.

Green flames arose with the wind and spread.

Swish-!

The flames, spreading violently like a tsunami, completely eliminated both the light pillars and the celestial light. Literally, they were annihilated at once. Without causing any harm to the allied demons.

The wave of flames didn’t stop there. The rapidly spreading flames rushed toward Symphonia.

It was a fire that might devour the Tribal Alliance fortress in one bite. It might be a power that only a divine rank could block.

– Hmm.

Not yet. I can’t use divine manifestation yet.

I need to save divine manifestation until the Seven-Headed Dragon demon or the dragons step in. If I engage after eliminating the mobs, the cooldown might end during the battle.

There’s one more reason. I haven’t revealed my divine rank or energy yet. Unlike that creature, which transmitted it through the wind.

I won’t let it gauge my level.

– Lakye.

But it’s still okay for now. I’m not the only one with a divine rank.

“I’ll handle this.”

Lakye jumped down from the fortress wall. Doing a really cool flip in mid-air.

“Hmm… that level…”

MeleeSpy seemed to think it was cool too, grumbling.

Lakye becomes stronger when she’s with me. I moved my consciousness to Totem 3.

“Huu…!”

Standing in front of the gate, Lakye drew upon her divine rank. A golden divine energy enveloped her body.

Just as the wave of flames reached her, she stomped the ground with her right foot. Golden light emanated from her body.

Bang-!

The golden divine energy, spreading like ripples from Lakye, transformed into a massive barrier and blocked the flames.

The stone giant, which withstood the flames with its thick armor, was a bonus. Being the ultimate weapon of civilization, it seems capable of enduring this level of area damage.

As the flames subsided, the barrier that had served its purpose disappeared. Taking advantage of the gap, demons rushed in.

They were still swarming like sewer rats. But they weren’t the only ones riding the momentum.

“Guardian Lakye blocked the flames!”

“Uooo!”

The excited warriors began their attack. They had been waiting for the distance to close with the demons. Ballistas and catapults fired at them.

Flying demons that barely avoided the projectiles attacked the warriors on the fortress wall, but Kanto and Isaac appropriately checked them.

“Mere mid-tier!”

Kanto’s double-bladed axe cuts an eagle-like mid-tier demon in half.

Having received MeleeSpy’s “Celestial Domain” buff, Kanto could now easily handle most mid-tier demons.

Additionally, Isaac, who had also received my “Enhancement Tattoo” buff, was flying around.

“High-speed Wind Thrust!”

He’s busy piercing demons while muttering something.

“Tuntun!”

Squeak~!

Paya and Tuntun also began their attack, not to be outdone. The small fireball spat out by Tuntun burns a demon.

At the front gate were Lakye and the stone giant. On the fortress wall were MeleeSpy and Kanto. In the sky were Paya and Dina.

Everyone was fighting the endlessly approaching enemies from their respective positions.

I turned my head to look at the Seven-Headed Dragon demon. It was still standing in a line with the dragons, watching.

Its eyes were as calm as a river and burned quietly like embers.

Is that the look in the eyes of someone waiting for a worthy opponent?

Are you waiting for me to join the battle? By sacrificing all your subordinates?

This cunning bastard. It’s a good strategy. It’s as if you know there’s a time limit on my divine manifestation.

Of course, it probably doesn’t know the exact details. It probably just knows that I, as a god, have some constraints on my power.

I can’t use divine manifestation, but I can use other simple blessings. Following the “Healing Totem” I cast earlier, I also used “Malak’s Domain” and “Zombie Control.”

Swoosh!

Blue clouds rain down, binding the demons’ feet. Demons whose hearts were pierced by Lakye’s meteor sword all became my minions.

“Grrrr…!”

The Asha zombie, the strongest among my zombies, came down from the wall, pushing away demons trying to climb up.

I ordered Asha to command the demon zombies. As a priestess in life, a leadership position, she would understand my orders perfectly no matter how harshly given.

I moved between various totems to check the battle situation. As expected, the base of the fortress wall looked most precarious.

Although Lakye and the zombies were working hard to block them, there were too many demons. Some demons even rushed at Lakye like meat shields, grabbing her.

Demons usually don’t fight to the point of sacrificing themselves. You can tell just by how they only use coordinate transmission at the cost of their lives when they’re truly about to die.

The fact that they’re going this far is probably due to the Seven-Headed Dragon demon’s berserker buff.

“Tch!”

Lakye quickly swung her meteor sword, bisecting their bodies.

She was only held for a very brief moment, but it was enough time for the demons to advance.

Demons with extremely hard exoskeletons forming their heads, like Pachycephalosaurus, went to the fortress wall and simultaneously headbutted it.

They judged it more efficient to break a part of the wall than to penetrate the reinforced iron gate.

The fortress wall shakes slightly.

– Dina’s special forces. Can you take care of the base of the fortress?

Hannah, who had just cut off the head of an approaching demon, nodded. Hannah, who had grown incredibly strong very quickly, became the field commander of Dina’s special forces.

I heard she defeated SamuraiJackson, the former second-in-command of the special forces before Hannah arrived, in a one-on-one duel. Despite lacking skill and experience, she somehow held on and seized an opportunity to win.

Hannah’s unique tough and rough tenacity shone through.

“Let’s go.”

“Right.”

SamuraiJackson, Ppuppupung (Gukbap), and the Bella sisters followed Hannah down the stairs. Four level 7 users should be able to stop the demons’ march.

“I’ll protect the totem.”

The Fallen Power Knight, who reached level 7 during the dark cloud demon subjugation, stood in front of Totem 1. This guy, like MeleeSpy, focused on defensive skills.

Though strong at level 7, he lacks experience fighting in coordination like the special forces, and he’s not strong enough to fight one against a hundred like Lakye, MeleeSpy, or Dina, so he naturally took on the role of protecting my totem.

Good. Things are going well.