They were fifty kilometers from Windemere's border walls. Not the city, the country.
That would be a tough fight. Not only they had a God on their side, causing the army's morale to become suicidally fanatical, but they also had a God on their side. I would pull no stops on this one. Everything and the kitchen sink I'd throw on them. I felt a wall break as I flew faster than the sound barrier. Nephele wasn't lying. I was flying ten times faster. Given that I had double to all movement and a needletail swift flew at a hundred klicks normally, I dove at a speed close to Mach two.
I touched down in the middle of the army, diving into the ground. I took some damage from breaking through the grass but earth and stone were like water to my deep eleon's perk.
Inside the ground, I dumped a million MP into {Spread Blight} and turned on the Manastorm without the cleansing feature. As I prepared to surface, I shifted into a mighty dire jaguar but kept my snake tail with the rattle. Finally, I assumed my ice elemental form and returned to the surface with my ice aura at full throttle.
With {Polyfonic Voice}, I used both {Keening} and {Wail of the Banshee} through my rattle. Without wasting a single moment, I dove into the scattered ranks and started to claw head and limb alike, abusing {Vorpal Claws} whenever I got a critical hit. With them stunned by the wail, it was a given. I aimed for the priests first as they had the power to dispel my blight.
With my violent assault and four damage auras active, the soldiers started to die within minutes. The first ones to go were the hybrid or low-level spellcasters without {Pinnacle of Magic}. The Manastorm burned them from inside out.
"WRETCHED ABOMINATION! FIGHT ME!" Bundeus bellowed. His avatar was three meters tall and clad in a Roman toga. his sword was too big for his own good.
I paid him no mind as I decimated his army. The Exp was negligible without stacking bonuses but that required precise manipulation and focus I couldn't spare. Pouncing between groups of people, spreading more blight, and removing the priests was my main focus.
Instead, I led Bundeus in a reverse cat-and-mouse game as I went away from him but into his army's clusters. The soldiers were making it easy for me. With a fanatic's drive, they rushed toward me, sparing me the trouble of chasing away stragglers.
My MP and SP went only to spreading more blight. The damage was small but it ticked every second and would remain where it was until cleansed. Plus, it healed me. Extra regeneration was never bad.
The soldiers were from several countries. I think the churches of Bundeus pooled their recruiting efforts. They were strong but not elite by any means. But this many combatants with whatever blessings Bundeus gave them would cause serious damage in Windemere.
The last priests were in a cluster of spellcasters, using some sort of shield spell to ward off my auras. The blight and frost didn't cross into their position. I ran toward them and jumped as high as I could, vaulting over their barrier by dozens of meters. On the peak of my jump, I took Bundeus' cathedral from Rerin out of storage and let the building drop on them.
The Exp notifications that came as they were crushed by tons of stone confirmed what my {Detect Favored Enemy} told me. In raising barriers against the elemental and magical effects, they didn't put much effort into blocking physical objects from crossing.
I took the rubble back in storage along with the bodies. The battlefield was conspicuously clear of these as they were automatically stored if they died in range.
"BY ALL THAT IS HOLY, FIGHT ME!" The God whined as he kept chasing. He pointed at a group of elite warriors coming my way. "Hold that beast!"
I finished clawing off the heads of the last priests and spellcasters as the elites caught up to me. Once this group was done for, the army would no longer be a problem.
The frost aura slowed them by a small margin. They must've had some cold protection. I ducked under a sword swing and raked the soldier's legs as I walked past him to reach the second row. Getting behind armored slow enemies was a good thing because they wasted more time turning around. Putting these soldiers between me and the angry God was also a good thing.
One of them struck my flank with a shield, tossing me to the side and breaking some ice off of my body. As I spun to recover my balance, I threw a {Force javelin} at him.
"{Glorious Charge}!" Another one used a Perk before I landed. His upward swing lifted me, shaving three hundred thousand HP even after all my mitigation.
"{Relentless Pursuit}!" Other elite knight dashed in a blur to beat me sideways, keeping me from landing. Without making contact with the ground, I was limited in my options. Another {Force javelin} but that was deflected by a tall knight's tower shield.
"{Shield Rush}! {Shield Bash}!" The other one struck me with a tower shield, sending me back to the middle of the group.
I got it now. That's how these guys hunt monsters. Keeping the beast from engaging any one of them for too long, chaining their strikes to whittle down the monster. Well, that only works on mindless beasts.
"Do not move!" I applied a {Royal Geas} on them. Of the twelve knights, two resisted and two were royalty themselves. The others fell down twitching as they took heavy damage from disobeying the geas. A quick check told me I had SP to keep them from moving before they died.
With their hot potato monster game ruined, I focused on the four still standing. I issued a challenge on one of the princes and charged. The guy, motivated by an inflated sense of pride told the others to stand back and prepared to strike me. As I leaped to pounce him, I shifted into the water elemental form. The sword cleaved through me, splashing water away but doing little real damage. I engulfed the prince.
"I GOT YOU NOW!" Bundeus' gigantic sword crackling with arcane power came down and crashed over me.
> Bundeus slashed you for 1,696,887 HP of damage. Mana shield burned 565,640 MP. Magic Gourmet restored 325,037 MP. (Base 246 (-37 prismatic skin) x4 Strength x4 Size x5 Skill x30 Arcane Smite x3 Enchantment x3 Mana Strike x2 Grandmaster Greatsword x3 Mighty Strike x0.6 Magic Eater x 0,75 favored defense x0.55 Water Elemental (halved) x0.75 Magic Resistance x0.6 Honorable Duel x0.75 Avenger's Resilience)
Holy motherfucker!
I clawed the prince's neck, making him vanish and dyeing my water in pink. With my attention on him, I dodged the next slash and bounced up the god's arm, climbing him as my elemental form wrapped around his limb. I could feel his divine energy siphoning away. That's what I had to do to win! Drain him dry!
"{Healing Water}!" Nenandil fixed part of my HP by manifesting inside my elemental form.
"{ARCANE STORM}!" Bundeus conjured arcane lightning from the sky to hit both him and me. He found one thing I was not nigh-immune to and was abusing it. Three bolts struck us.
> Spell learned: Arcane Storm
>
> Arcane Storm hits you for 483,352 HP. Mana shield burned 161,367 MP. Magic gourmet restored 56,667 MP. (Base 5,000 (-750 prismatic skin) x2 Arcanology x10 Spell Smite x5 Health Sacrifice x4 Overcharge x0.6 Magic Eater x 0,75 favored defense x0.54 Lightning Resistance (halved) x0.75 Magic Resistance x0.75 Avenger's Resilience)
>
> (2x)
Lightning struck both me and the God three times. he didn't come unscathed from the ordeal but he obviously had a high resistance to it. I kept draining his divine power. He felt weaker than last time. But what were these crazy multipliers?
"GET OFF OF ME! {REPULSION}!"
A field of energy burst from him, pushing everything away violently. {Absolute Clinging} was put to the test as the energy tried to push me away, dealing a big amount of damage. I'm going to call anything in the six digits ballpark as big. But I couldn't be removed and the energy had to move me. The result came as the chunks of god I was touching peeled off. A terrifying sound came out of Bundeus' body along with his scream. Whole sections of his skin were forcefully removed, flaying his upper body.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
{Repulsion} pushed me, the terrain, the corpses, trees, the river water, everything away from Him. I tumbled along with the debris as everything was pushed for a kilometer. In the middle of a clear field of dirt, the god screamed in pain. As I tumbled and splashed around, I felt this elemental form was too vulnerable to soaking in the dirt and reverted back to my original lamia shape.
I ordered my item box to take everything around me and I used Nenandil's magic to heal my wounds, sparing my MP. A pillar of light descended on Bundeus, illuminating the countryside for as far as the eye could see.
I stood up on a wobbly tail. All my body ached and I had over a hundred percent pain resistance. The material pushed away became a dirt rampart of sorts, circling the makeshift arena. Bundeus didn't move, the white light regenerating his body. The silence was disturbingly eerie. No insects, no animals. No river. Although if I focused, I could hear the water gurgling in the distance. It seems his stunt shifted the water's course.
Not a single sentient being remained in my detection range. The callous God finished the job I started and exterminated his own army. I recovered my HP and control of my body. I still trembled but that was from pure hatred.
That gave Bundeus time to heal. He spun around and pointed his massive sword to me. A chunk of his scalp was still missing. A stream of blood oozing from his many open wounds painted his body red and created a pool on the ground.
I changed forms, becoming Lily once again. "You killed your own army! Your devout followers!" I shouted at him.
"MERE TOOLS TO AN END. THEY GLADLY TOOK THEIR OWN LIVES TO FURTHER MY GOALS!"
"And what about the people you enslaved to STEAL their prayers? Worshippers of the other Gods? Do your fellow deities know that? Are you watching now, Galbarar? Is this allowed?"
"SILENCE!" He shouted, annoyed. I might've hit a nerve.
I felt divine presences appear around us. They WERE watching, after all. The Gods appeared around us but outside the crater. A lot of them. The whole pantheon. No deity said a word.
I stopped a hundred meters from Him.
"SLANDER!" The God of Butts retorted as he noticed his fellow divinities. "YOU SPIN LIES."
"I have proof. Eyewitness. Souls of the very people working for you, here with me. The dead has no reason to lie."
Bundeus' attention was away from me. He huffed. "YOU DIE TODAY, ANOMALY. NO MATTER WHAT, IF I REMOVE YOU FROM THIS WORLD, EVERYTHING I DID WAS WORTH IT. I HAVE A SPELL TO TRAP YOUR SOUL ONCE YOU DIE. JUST AS YOU DID TO MY FOLLOWERS."
When I got his attention, only one line was adequate.
"My name is Lily of Tambrillia. You killed my mother. Prepare to die."
Bundeus screamed and charged. I shifted back to my lamia form and prepared to strike. I coiled my tail beneath me, assuming my {Snake Fortress} stance. Ready to pounce. As he approached, I spat a mouthful of venom in his face.
> Bundeus is immune to poison.
Of course, he is. But his avatar needed eyes to see. Temporarily blind he missed his swing, carving a furrow on the dirt of the makeshift arena. I threw a handful of overcharged {Force Javelin} his way.
> Force Javelin dealt 5,371 HP of damage. (Base 200 x2,52 Willpower x2,96 Skill x3 Overcharge x2 Avenger Strike x3 Mana Strike x0.25 Resistance x0,8 Armor (halved))
>
> (x4)
Force resistance isn't even in the list to pick from.
His sword came down and I had no room to bitch. Gotta dodge that gigantic cleaver.
----------------------------------------
Loki stirred in his lounge at the sudden influx of divine energy through the siphon. What was happening, he mused. Was that the agent he sent to Yznaria? Indeed it was, he smirked. That little soul must be very lucky or very insane - maybe both - if they're going head to head with a God. However fifth-category they might be, in Loki's opinion.
He got barely noticeable trickles of divine energy, not worthy of note here and then. He knew there would be a conflict between his agent and those jealous gods. Unlike Loki, they didn't know the notion of sharing. One the Asgardian was eager to teach to everyone so they could share with Him.
But it would be too boorish if he was only a taker. A hoarder Loki was not. He deserved his due rewards and those were too long in the making. People that could not see beyond their navels couldn't appreciate a truly learning, growing experience.
Like that Pantheon of Yznaria. How boorish, how stagnated would be their world without his gift? Their System was a horrendous and gruesome piece of crap in which no mortal would ever attain true power without a lifetime of toil. A young {Hero} would never obtain enough Experience to reach the so-called "Rank-Ups" necessary to fight dragons, kill demons.
Speaking of the denizens of the underworld, that's why they are so keen on getting there. Yznaria was ripe for the taking. They had nothing to fear. The one incursion where his agent wasn't nearby claimed a sixth of their civilized world. Dozens of millions perished that day when the "Second Demon Lord" died. The other half of the continent would've been destroyed had his agent not sacrificed themselves to kill it.
And what do they get for their constant toil? Scorn and spite. That caused Loki to feel sympathetic toward his current study subjects. Maybe he should pay them a visit. After all, the siphon was a tether between that closed-off world and his own domain. One he could travel at his own leisure.
----------------------------------------
Wyxnos, God of Logic, Science, and Craftsmen, watched the duel along with his peers. The lamia stood her ground against Bundeus, both entities exchanging blows that would kill lesser creatures, both entities with enormous powers of regeneration.
But there would be only possible two outcomes.
As Bundeus stated if he managed to rid Yznaria - as the elves called the world and the word caught - of the Anomaly, his crafty ploy to supplement his meager supply of Worship with slavery would be forgiven but not forgotten. They would have to dismantle all the collars and forbid him or anyone else from crafting more.
But if the Anomaly killed Bundeus, the era of Humans would come to a close. Without a patron deity, they would lose much of their privileges.
The latter was but a remote possibility. Although Bundeus was cut off from His supply of Worship by a craft ploy by Yznera, He still had enough strength to finish the Anomaly. He would be weakened for centuries, though. Just getting this Avatar manifested already used a sizeable portion of his reserves.
There was a problem, however. If the Anomaly managed to kill Bundeus, the System would lay upon her feet the rewards. That was inevitable. The System prized balance in its own way and they couldn't mess up with that, or the whole world would come undone.
Even this Age of Eclipse, as the mortals put it, wasn't the end of the world because of the System. It only re-balanced the whole "game", giving some entities a benefit to compensate for the environmental changes. It wouldn't be enough if not for Yznera's efforts, and that's why Wyxnos wouldn't call her on her ploy to undermine Bundeus. There was more at stake and he wasn't the God of Justice.
That's when He heard a chuckle by His side. Spinning to look, he saw the Asgardian Loki, the instigator of their current predicament right there. It should be impossible but it obviously was not.
Wyxnos quickly calculated the scenarios. Of course, the Anomaly. They stole energy to send to Loki. The tether worked both ways.
"Don't get weird ideas, Wyxnos. I'm still a greater deity and able to wipe your little pantheon with a snap of my fingers. And by what I see, your little 'God of Butts' down there is doomed. Now, your peers can't know I'm here. Let's have a chat."
----------------------------------------
Wyxnos indulged Loki, for he knew the Asgardian's threat was real. And worse, the Aesir was not a pantheon to let grudges slip. A reckoning as punishment for imprisoning and draining Thor's powers was in the future. Wyxnos only hoped they would be strong enough by then to endure the storm. Maybe the Anomaly was said punishment. But no. As Loki explained part of his intentions, it became clear that Wyxnos and his fellow deities were being played with. Like children do to their toys and adults do to children, they were just being played with in a bad way.
Loki's proposal was even more daunting. Was he deliberately curbing by half the growth of his own envoy? What did the Anomaly mean to Loki? Were his assumptions wrong? Yes, the proposed changes to the System were possible. He could see how it would give people an edge to grow. And yet that would cut off the Anomaly from half their power growth.
"I can't believe it. What's the catch?" Wyxnos replied, wary of the Asgardian.
"Simple. There's no catch. You can let my 'envoy' grow in power until there's nothing you can do to stop her. You did well in earning her enmity, not even I was so relentless in harassing someone. I mean, come on, turning her innocent mother into stone? A fabulous exercise in cruelty, I must say. But tagging her and murdering everyone around her birthplace SIXTEEN times? That's a work of art that would make the Lords of the Underworld blush. You can do nothing and watch your future fate as that one down there perishes...
"Or you can do as I suggested, and get some peace of mind. The choice is yours. I'm activating my 'envoy's' hidden and dormant {God Slayer} Perk I gave her so long ago. There are two others, can you figure out what they are, dear Wyxnos?"
Wyxnos didn't reply. He clenched his teeth. After all the effort to convince the System to close all possibilities, to forbid all mortals from achieving Demi-Godhood, Loki was still one step ahead of Him.
"It's done," the Asgardian happily chirped. "I'm sorry for your loss. Bundeus won't be missed, I guarantee you. Do give my suggestion some thought, will you, Wyxnos? I know you are one to give it an unbiased look. But I gotta go now. Happy Godding!"
Just like that, Loki was gone. What was more annoying, Loki was right. Wyxnos was giving his proposed changes some unbiased thought.
----------------------------------------
Things were looking dire for me. Bundeus had stronger regeneration powers than me. And he was geared to defend against everything I had. His Avatar was level two hundred and I couldn't get a read on any of His features.
After half an hour of fighting, I was sitting at half my HP pool and three quarters of my MP and SP. Exhaustion was already seeping in and slowing my reactions. Fortunately, Bundeus' {Smite} abilities either had a long cooldown or a high cost as he didn't use it on every strike. I would be dead by now if he did.
He brought his massive sword, glowing with the telltale light of his {Divine Smite} times-thirty strike. I put all effort into dodging and getting away from Him. I tossed a {Fireball}, paying ten times the cost to {Overcharge}, at him and was astonished by the result.
> Your {God Slayer} Perk was unlocked. The Perk was improved to {unique} rarity as you are the only one to hold it.
>
> God Slayer (unique): Your attacks against Gods deal four times normal damage and drains an equal amount of their GP. This damage takes ten times longer to regenerate. One attack every minute ignores all of the deity's defenses.
>
> Your fireball burned Bundeus for 45,965 HP. (Base 250 x4 God-Slayer x2,52 Willpower x3,04 Skill x3 Overcharge x2 Avenger Strike - defenses ignored)
Bundeus screamed in pain. Forty-five thousand shouldn't cause such a reaction. What was "GP", anyway?
I stopped to wonder. I had a locked Perk? And {God Slayer}? I felt a shiver pass through me as if a ghost had crawled through my body. The siphon line that connected me to Loky became taut for a moment right after that and then returned to normal. A quick glance at the Gods hovering around the clearing showed they were none the wiser and some were even surprised at the development. Only Wyxnos had concern in his face. He knew something.
But I couldn't waste my concentration worrying about them. I had a God to kill.