Martin looked at his UI. This was probably going to be a rough fight, but he hadn't had the opportunity to test out his abilities since he got here.
Health 34/34 Energy 5/7
Since the creature was attacking him so openly, he assumed that it had overcome his Lord of the Wild power.
Lord of the Wilds [https://files.catbox.moe/mqj98m.jpg]
He jumped in place a little to limber up and reached up to the catapult on his right shoulder. He pressed down the wooden mini siege engine with his hand, and it became obvious how impractical it was to shoot with it mounted on his shoulder.
Before letting go, Martin activated his power: "The Seeking Flight" targeting the Mana Muncher. As he did, he had the power open to read over it.
The Seeking Flight [https://i.postimg.cc/wTZyz6By/image.png]
Martin smiled as he was more than happy to dedicate Energy to targeting the Mana Muncher.
Energy 4/7
With that, he let his first attack fly. It wasn't a good shot. In fact, Martin was barely able to aim the catapult. Still, with his Domains powering his attacks, it flew easy and true, hitting the massive hydra mosquito dead on.
The attack took off one of the five heads without any trouble, and Martin grinned.
The Mana Muncher was fast, though, and with a furious buzz, it dove for the god, only to be interrupted by a determined voice. "Oh no, ya don’t". Before the massive beast could reach Martin, a black barrier sprang up in front of it.
Martin recognized the description of the spells used by the seven folded veil, and if he remembered correctly, the barrier would mean instant death to the creature. That wasn't what he was looking for, and he was about to tell Jasmine to hold the spell back, but the massive mosquito hydra pushed one of its face-needles into the barrier and with a greedy SLURP, the magic winked out.
The sound reminded Martin of someone drinking the last bit of liquid in a cup through a straw as dark mana poured into the creature's abdomen and the stump where the head had been shot off instantly grew two new heads.
Then the Mana Muncher reached Martin, and its attack was vicious.
Each head tried to pierce Martin, hammering against his steel-wood skin. Most of them glanced off, hammering into the ground around the ork, though two hit him hard and deep, before starting to draw Energy from him.
Health 28/34 Energy 2/7
The Mana Muncher was too close for Martin to fire his ranged attacks. However, he wasn't out of ideas or options, far from it. Pulling upon his Plant Domain, he used his Grow the Garden power.
Grow The Garden [https://i.postimg.cc/DyDLBQkX/image.png]
Thick vines shot up from the ground, threatening to wrap around the Mana Muncher and tie it down. Thorns and hungry mouths were all over the vines, tearing into the massive beast. However, before it could be tied down, the Mana Muncher took to the sky with a heavy buzzing sound.
The Bearshark jumped after the flying creature but only managed to tear off a leg, which didn't really seem to bother the newly freed Mana Muncher.
Martin moved. He was coming to the conclusion that standing still wasn't going to help him fight off the creature, and as he narrowly missed the massive mosquito hydra's follow-up dive, he looked over at Jasmine, who was readying another spell.
"STOP CASTING! YOU ARE JUST FEEDING IT MANA!" He yelled at the top of his lounges while the Bearshark managed to distract the boss monster.
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Jasmine paused, clearly frustrated that she wasn't much help, but she didn't cast any more spells.
Martin readied another shot from his shoulder-mounted catapult. Even with the awkward weapon and while dodging, he found that his projectiles practically homed in on his target thanks to his power. He didn't have to worry about range thanks to his other power, "None Beyond Reach."
None Beyond Reach [https://i.postimg.cc/YSw-v4bYt/image.png]
Martin was impressed by how much damage each of his shots dealt, slowly chipping away at what he suspected was considered a creature that would win against most gods.
Finally, it seemed that the Mana Muncher realized that no matter what it did, it was being outmanoeuvred. It flew high, though since Martin could still see it, he could continue to pepper it with damage. The beast was regenerating whenever it could, using the stores in its abdomen to heal any wound that Martin made. Each time it regenerated a head, it would create two.
The Mana muncher was sporting 15 heads at this point, but its abdomen seemed almost empty of mana.
Martin's Beast Domain told him that the hydra mosquito was running out of options and getting desperate. Using the muscles in its abdomen, the Mana Muncher unleashed the last of its stored mana in heavy glops. Spraying them over the battlefield.
To any mortal, the overload of mana would probably fry them. However, not only wasn't Martin mortal, he was also the Lord of All Which Falls.
Lord of that which falls [https://i.postimg.cc/7LgTXpwC/image.png]
The glops of mana stopped mid-air as Martin dedicated Energy to the power.
Health 28/34 Energy 1/7
Instead of directing the mana droplets back at the Mana Muncher, the orkish god of artillery made them scatter far and wide, throwing them even from the continent's mainland since he had no restrictions on range.
With Martin's combat-leaning build, defeating the Mana Muncher had been reasonably easy. With the last of its weapons nullified by the god literally controlling any ranged attacks, it was clear that the battle was over.
The multiheaded mosquito soon drifted to the ground, landing in a cloud of dust before the ork moved over to it and placed a heavy foot on its back.
"I am in control now." He stated simply.
The hiss of the Mana Muncher could be heard through the multitude of mouths. Still, it was coherent and speaking with an intelligence that befitted someone with so many heads.
"Yes, Master. We will serve." The beast said, not fighting against the foot that pinned it down, despite being much larger than Martin.
All thanks to the "Conquer the Beast Within" power, the boss monster would now fall under Martin's command as if it were a critter.
Conquer the beast within [https://i.postimg.cc/Y91dwn7Z/image.png]
With a nod, Martin let it go and leaned back. He felt incredibly spent. He had no idea that people could get this tired from using a Virtual Reality system, but then again, it was running at a far higher rate than was technically legally allowed.
The Mana Muncher didn't rise. Instead, it was just lying on the ground, trying to recover from the fight. Martin looked at it, honestly a little confused.
"How could you have been trapped in mana? You live off the stuff." He asked, spotting Jasmine running towards them in the distance.
The boss monster gave an annoyed buzz with its massive wings. "I was full of mana. The solid mana is very rich, and without anything to spend it on, I had no choice but to wait until I was hungry. I would have been out in due time, but not for years upon years."
Martin nodded along, though it was pretty hard to understand the beast as its multiple heads, with no mouths, communicated simultaneously. Martin was sure that the only reason he could understand the oversized bug was due to some Divine shenanigans.
"Welp, I have some good news for you... You are going to be conquering the world." He said with a wide grin. "But first we need a rest."
Martin looked around for Jasmine but couldn't find her anywhere. She must have left in the middle of the chaos. The god didn't mind. He knew that she had issues that she needed to deal with.
The sun was starting to break through the sky. The fight had taken up most of the night, and what had felt like a couple of moments of fighting had apparently been hours of intense combat. Divine combat truly did function on another scale than mortal combat.
As the sun crested the horizon, the god felt his body renewed. A quick look at his stats showed that he had healed his level, and all spent Energy had returned, except the three he had dedicated to controlling all ranged attacks around him and manipulating global wealth.
Health 34/34 Energy 4/7
Martin cursed a little under his breath. "Jasper, I swear that I am going to kick your butt for tying something this important to the movement of the sun."
However, before Martin could plan his revenge further, a new pop-up appeared in his vision. Martin had never seen anything so magnificent before, and he almost cried just staring at the beautiful message.
Ancient Evil Freed [https://i.postimg.cc/J7bRkV6n/image.png]
20 Worship was nothing to sneeze at. It would definitely let him create a dungeon for his new friend.
With a long look at his improvised bed, Martin sighed and slowly started to flex his divine powers. He could feel the harmony thrum between his powers and with little hesitation he started to pour his will into creating a dungeon.