Then, just as suddenly as they had crashed onto me, all my fear and negative thoughts disappeared from my mind and I was able to move again. So powerful was the adrenaline coursing through my veins that it took me a moment to realize that part of my thigh was missing—though my level was high enough to protect me from bleeding to death like a mere mortal anyway.
I glanced around and saw Aphrodite, who had now been cornered by the two monsters, throwing a rock straight at Artemis’s head. The huntress, who was standing upright with her eyes closed and her bow still in her limp hands, woke instantly as the rock bounced off and caused a trickle of blood to run down from her temple.
She jumped to the side and directed her bow at one of the monsters, instantly releasing two arrows.
“Heal yourself or slay him!” she shouted.
Aphrodite had managed to wake Artemis up long before the spell duration had ended, and right when my second debuff dropped. Though she still wasn’t able to cast any spells to heal me, I had two seconds to act. My HP was only around the twenty-five percent mark, but I didn’t have a way to heal myself at that point.
The choice was easy. I turned to the still-stunned angel and hit him repeatedly, plunging my spear under his shoulder blade, twisting it as I retrieved it and triggering my offensive skills. As expected, I wasn’t able to take him down just yet but he certainly looked like he was beginning to worry about his predicament.
Once his stun wore off, he tried to escape into the air, but I was expecting this move. I slashed at his wings in such a way that he lost his balance and then kept attacking him, even though I knew it likely still wouldn’t be enough. All I wanted to do was to earn some time for Aphrodite. As we fought, the angel started casting a spell. It was in situations like this that I wished my Divine Smite ability was available in enclosed spaces.
In another stroke of luck, and partly due to my increased critical hit rate, I managed to interrupt his spellcasting. This time though, I wasn’t able to keep him from launching himself away. Now all I needed to do was goad him into trying to kill me, instead of using more debuffs against Artemis and Aphrodite.
I turned my back to him and started running toward the two raid bosses, hoping he’d see me running away as a chance to attack. They looked like they were already having a bad time against just Artemis, who was kiting them while Aphrodite waited patiently for her debuff to finish. The huntress shot one arrow at each raid boss, sending gore flying from them, and then ran off to put some distance between them before repeating what she’d just done.
“Coward!” Belial growled, and he started casting another spell. There was a certain beauty in fighting powerful creatures that were also incredibly stupid and simplistic in the way they thought. I watched Artemis’s slender body with pride as I felt a powerful blow on my back that sent me face-first to the ground.
“I still need a few seconds before I can heal you, damn it,” Aphrodite screamed in the guild chat, still unable to say it out loud.
My HP bar flashed red, now well below ten percent. Which was just where I wanted it to be.
“You should have critted me,” I said as I picked myself up, and activated my trump skill.
* * *
Name: Thunder Strikes Twice
Level: 1
Type: Active
HP Consumed: 0
MP Consumed: 25
DP Consumed: All available (Minimum 1)
Power: 0
Range: Self
Precondition: Only usable when HP is lower than 10%.
Description: The sheer power and determination of the thunder god is enough to bring him back from the verge of death. All available Divinity Points are consumed as lightning strikes new power through his body, restoring his HP completely.
* * *
My favorite divine skill, and the one I’d received when I hit my current level, was an absolute tide-turner. And the naive angel had fallen into my trap like a dragon going after an unprotected pile of gold.
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I felt the electric current rush through my veins, sparks escaping from my fingertips and I was raised a few inches off the ground, my eyes flashing with power. Belial could have been begging for his life for all I knew—the only thing I could hear was the static of my regained power. I sprinted toward him with everything I had and took another of his attacks straight in the chest.
As I was facing him, I was able to see that what he was attacking me with was a bone fashioned into the shape of a large spike, but it wasn’t enough to slow me down.
“Time to return to your realm, angel,” I said, slashing him with my spear.
Each attack I managed against him was countered by one of his spells and I quickly saw my HP bar falling again. Soon, however, there was a radiant pink explosion behind me, which notified me that Aphrodite had regained her spellcasting abilities.
“One down,” she said in the guild chat.
“Go aid him,” Artemis replied. “I’ve got this one myself.”
Belial had now switched from focusing on damaging me to striking me with spells as he looked around for possible ways to retreat. His eyes opened wide as Aphrodite’s healing light showered over me, bringing me close to full health again. It was at that point that he made his worst, and last, mistake.
Instead of casting a debuff to help himself escape me, he chose to shove me back and flap his wings to try and get away. The first part of his plan proved successful as I was thrown off balance and was forced to take a step back. But as soon as he was airborne, Artemis struck.
“Where do you think you’re going, prey?” she said in a cold voice, shooting an arrow through the angel’s belly with her glowing bow.
Belial fell limp to the ground, stunned for a second time by the huntress.
“I hope your siblings keep you in jail this time instead of throwing you out of their heaven again,” I said, and plunged my spear repeatedly into his torso.
I knew that killing him would not be final. Killing such powerful creatures rarely was. It was more likely that his death would send him back to his original plane, meaning one of the heavens. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the torture he might meet there upon his return.
Once I was sure the fallen angel had expired, I dismissed a flashing notification from my peripheral view and turned around just in time to see Aphrodite send her radiant light at the last raid boss. It exploded in a flash of blood, flesh, and pink light.
Immediately, Artemis fell on the ground exhausted. “I hate necromancers,” she said.
“He was a life-bestower,” I said mockingly, and tried to wipe away some of the blood and gore from my face. “The bastard was a smooth talker initially too.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if angels convinced the mortals that they’re creatures of rightfulness to be honest,” Aphrodite said, coming toward me.
“Mortals can be dumb,” Artemis said, “but come on. Not that dumb.”
“I don’t know,” she said and shrugged. Then, she stopped suddenly. “Um, where’s the fallen angel we just killed?”
I turned around casually, assuming that she was making a joke, but Belial was gone and in the place where his body should have been was now just the outline of a humanoid with spread wings painted on the ground instead.
“You got the XP from killing him, right?” I asked, and looked at my own consolidated XP logs.
* * *
You have gained 2,316,590XP (including 65% party bonus) for killing Ghoulish Hive Flesh Amalgam.
You have gained 33,000,000XP (including 65% party bonus) for banishing Belial.
You have gained 2,316,590XP (including 65% party bonus) for killing Ghoulish Hive Flesh Amalgam.
* * *
“Fucking crows, we got thirty-three million XP just for him,” I said, and quickly looked for the flashing notification that I’d initially swiped away.
“We did, but the Dark Energy prompt says that we only banished him,” Artemis said, disappointed. “Have you had that happen to you before?”
“Not me,” I said, and opened a notification the likes of which I hadn’t seen for centuries.
* * *
Congratulations. You have advanced to level 56.
You have 5 skills ready for upgrade.
* * *
“I gained a level,” I said, quietly at first but then loudly enough to hear my voice echo in the cavern. “I gained a fucking level!”
“I leveled up too,” Aphrodite said, “but you don’t see me screaming.”
“That makes me the fun one then,” I said. I minimized the skill upgrades for a bit later, even though I wanted to look at them then and there. “What about you, Artemis?”
“Still fifty-six,” she said, her voice calm. “Should we be worried that the angel didn’t die?”
“Probably,” I said, and pursed my lips, “but such is the way of life as a god, no? At least now we’ve got the mountain to ourselves.”
“I was hoping we’d get some good loot from him,” Aphrodite said, looking around the angel’s outline. “Looks like he took everything with him.”
“Not quite everything,” Artemis said. She moved toward the dais.
On the top of the throne of bones rested a humanoid skull that looked in all aspects ordinary, save for the fact that it had a third eye socket in the middle of the forehead. I moved closer and examined it, surprised to find that it registered as an item.
* * *
Item: Siphon of Life
Type: Minor Magical Artifact
Durability: 312536/1000000
Rarity: B Grade
Weight: 40st.
Description: The skull of a god whose name has been forgotten in the ever-spinning wheel of time. This deity was the personification of life and able to create life by sucking the death out of creatures. Their death will forever remain a mystery, but their remains will forever hold significant power. Once per day, the skull can be used to drain the life of all living things around it and redistribute the life force as the wielder chooses.
Unlocked Ability: In the hands of an ascended being, this item can be used to drain the life of all living things around it and return it to the user in the form of XP.
* * *
“Looks like we found the source of his power,” I said, smiling at the possibilities this item might open up for me.
Artemis eyed it warily. “The source of his corruption, you mean.”