During the time we had to prepare before combat, we had countless discussions."Elemental clones from splitting? Destroy them with temperature differences between hot and cold."
"Diamond-like impenetrable body? That"s possible. Adjusting his own elemental structure and transforming into a harder substance seems likelier and likelier the more I think about it. What should we do in that case?"
"Diamond-like structures are actually easy to deal with. Their solid structures also mean that they"re more afraid of structural change. Temperature differences will change the structure, as it typically won"t be able to stand up to high heat. We"ll just have to bake the entire battlefield. I"ll go find the goblins and prepare some extra top-level oil."
"Is transforming into a tremendous giant possible? Don"t the final bosses in stories always suddenly have a bigger form at the end…"
"Reyne, you should really read less of those unreliable books about Legends and knights. Although larger bodies can increase physical power, speed and reaction time will definitely be decreased. Suddenly enlarging himself on the battlefield will only make him into a bigger target, and if the total physical ma.s.s doesn"t change, it will take a huge amount of energy to recreate and reshape the body. Just how foolish would someone have to be to do this… but just for insurance, let"s install a self-destruct mechanism on the Ultimate Yellow Duck. Let"s leave the self-destruct mechanism up to the goblins as well."
"…I feel that he might have the ability to move at high speed within the ground. There are spells that resemble Dimension Doors in intermediate earth magic."
"Okay, then let"s prepare some extra goblins mines, as well as inject large amounts of lead bromide and mercurous sulfide into the ground where the Earth Elemental G.o.d will move within."
"Is that useful?"
"Extremely useful. Anything that comes into contact with lead bromide will be unable to use any type of dimensional magic. As for mercurous sulfide, it has the nickname of "Poison of the Earth." Just a single gram can decompose an earth elemental. If Emordilorcan really intends to move through an area of ground that"s filled with mercurous sulfide, heh heh."
"What other abilities could he possibly have? Let"s consider it some more…"
"…Oh right, can we prepare an anti-gravity trap? We have tons of earth mages anyways, and as long as we can reduce gravity to zero, with Emordilorcan"s huge ma.s.s, I refuse to believe that he"ll be able to stand anymore."
If it was a warriors" discussion, it probably wouldn"t take even ten minutes before the discussion devolved into "Go slice that b.a.s.t.a.r.d up," "Let"s go over there to slice that b.a.s.t.a.r.d up," and "After killing him, where should we all go to celebrate—a bar or a barbeque?" They wouldn"t even consider what to do in case they lost: "What, you"re asking what to do in case we lose? You dare to shake our morale? Execute him!"
"Strength and glory, blood and thunder! By the way, is this slogan really fine? It sounds like the slogan for feeding.[1]1At the very least, add in something strategic that uses brains."
And if it was a group of mages having a discussion instead, then the discussion would actually take far longer than the actual length of the battle they were planning for. It was very common to prepare for at least two weeks for a single battle, and while the endless discussions were rather boring, they were typically quite effective.
As long as the enemy was confirmed and there was plenty of time available, they would research everything about their enemy"s weaknesses and strengths, making several or even dozens of plans against their enemy. If they met the enemy as planned at the location and time that they wanted, then the result was usually a foregone conclusion.
Before us, currently, was such a typical battle of mages abusing a melee warrior.
"Ah, that guy really did go underground!"
"He ran into all the goblin mines—look—he came out! Haha! He"s green and black all over from the lead bromide and mercurous sulfide, so pitiful."
"…He changed his form! His white jade transformed into diamond. What a pity, why is it black diamond? As expected, all those that act like rich pay-to-win players will turn into poor free-to-play players in the next second, those rich pay-to-win players should all go die… You don"t understand? There"s no need to understand, it"s professional vocabulary."
"The anti-gravity trap has been activated! Wow! He actually flew up into the sky like a balloon."
"He"s dropping, he"s dropping, hurry up and have the cannon fodder escape!"
"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s about to use instant movement again! Use the 200 dimensional anchors on him, fire!"
"Haha! That guy only managed to teleport his upper half, he"s now in two pieces!"
"Oh, he actually managed to put himself together again. He"s as disgusting to deal with as a lizard."
Reyne was breaking out into a cold sweat all over as she listened to these mages joyously discussing the calamities that befell Emordilorcan. For the first time, she wondered if she had chosen the wrong job cla.s.s. Emordilorcan, who was basically undefeatable in melee combat, was actually being toyed with like this. At this moment, she couldn"t help but think of some cla.s.sical phrases in this world.
"In mages" eyes, there are only two job cla.s.ses in the world. Mages, and cannon fodders A, B, C, and D."
"Never ever fight a mage in a battlefield where he"s had sufficient time to prepare beforehand. Otherwise, you won"t even know how you died. Pay special attention to this part—never attack a mage"s personal mage tower. With all his resources available and dozens of years of preparation, he"ll easily be able to have over ten times his normal combat strength at his fingertips!"
"As a pure warrior, the first reaction you should have upon seeing an enemy mage is to rush him and slice him to death. Either cut him down instantly or be toyed by him to death after he recovers from the attack—it"s your choice."
"Mages are just like firstborn sons. It"s unfair? I"m sorry, there has never been anything such as fairness in this world. Why don"t you consider how it"s many times, even dozens of times tougher for mages to level up compared to other job cla.s.ses? And do you think that obtaining knowledge in order to level up is the same difficulty as wielding your fists to level up? Do you know how many mages get stuck at Silver rank? Over 99%!"
"You want to defeat a high-ranked mage? Change the combat situation to an ambush or guerilla warfare. You want to rush him from the front? What"s your name? Why am I asking your name? Well, I was considering what to write on your tombstone—how about "The one thousand and eighth idiot who rushed to his death?""
In fact, at this moment, Reyne even wanted to ask Roland to help her change her job cla.s.s. After all, Roland had succeeded before in cultivating across both these job cla.s.ses.
After some hesitation, she finally recalled another incident where she asked Harloys to teach her magic in the past, but helplessly gave up almost immediately.
"You want to learn magic from me? Okay, as long as you pa.s.s this test, I"ll teach you. Try some high-level math with this calculus and derivatives. If you don"t understand, you"ll understand as you look through it. Relax, it"s not that difficult. Roland was the one who invented it, and he often uses this to train his logical thinking ability. We also intend to spread this through the entire magical world, and it"s being received quite well. As long as you can understand calculus and derivatives, it"s evidence that you have the necessary talent, and I"ll teach you real magic."
At first, Reyne was filled with hope as she took two cla.s.ses which filled her head with numbers and symbols, and the more she listened the dizzier her head got. In the end, she even fainted in cla.s.s, right in the middle!
"…What a waste of my time. To use that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Roland"s quote, "Idiots who don"t even have 9 Intelligence should have some self-awareness and just go serve as cannon fodder.""
Harloys" a.s.sessment of Reyne had made her quite displeased at the time, but she felt that she would rather continue practicing the sword than start learning magic with that ridiculous math. Besides, the power of Chaos wouldn"t be weaker than the power of mages. It was, actually, the opposite; the power of Chaos came straight from the source and was maybe even stronger.
However, right now, as Reyne watched Roland, Amelia, and the other mages having fun with their discussion, she felt an inexplicable pang of displeasure. Her heart suddenly trembled as the tremendous power of Chaos ran through her bloodstream.
"Indeed, I have no need to be jealous of them. I have my own path as well. Demons look down on using traps and investigations, and they are still undefeatable, anyways."
Karwenz"s teachings suddenly rang in her ears.
"From the very moment that logic was used to explain elemental power, elemental magic was destined to have nothing to do with Chaos. Controlling Chaos never required logic to begin with. Willpower is the important part. Er, you can think of its power as your citizen, and all you need to do is utilize your will as a Chaos Lord. Who cares what the citizen thinks. I can observe it, so it exists. I want this to happen, so it did. As for why? It was never important to begin with. The more stubborn and resolute someone"s personality is about this, the more suitable they are to control Chaos, which is why Roland is no good. He"s too logical; he has to research everything about everything, but you"re similar to me. You seem to be the logical type, but you"re actually incredibly selfish and willful, the perfect natural-born type to become a Chaos Lord, the perfect natural-born type to control Chaos!"
Reyne clutched her hands as the Prince of Chaos gave her the special ability to control Chaos, and the endless void furnished her with limitless power. Pitch-black corruption seeped out through a dimensional tear—that was the most basic source of power for all the planes. The original power of Chaos began distorting this s.p.a.ce.
Under the mysterious guidance of her willpower, Reyne began muttering an incantation in a low voice as she glanced over at Emordilorcan"s children that had already perished.
"…Pitiful children, I can feel your rage and helplessness. You were stripped of your right to survival right as you were born; could there be anything crueler in this world? Getting devoured instantly by your father after being born in this beautiful world, could there be anything reviled more in this world? I, Reyne Qin Mist, representative of Chaos, shall give you all one more chance. Become my slaves for a chance at revenge! Come, children! If you"re unwilling to remain like this, give over your souls filled with rage and unwillingness to me. Let Chaos build new bodies for you."
Reyne"s hands descended; not a single speck of light surrounded them.
At this moment, some certain natural laws had begun to be distorted. The SemiG.o.d mages instantly looked at her in astonishment. Since they were abnormally sensitive to the Elemental Tide to begin with, how could they possibly not notice this obvious power of Chaos?
Reyne finally regained her senses and rubbed the back of her head, not knowing what to do or what an incredible thing she had accomplished.
"Ah, what did I just do?"
Nevertheless, the power of Chaos had twisted the natural laws of life and death. These elemental children should have turned into elemental shards and returned to the Earth Elemental Plane, but instead, they now gathered together again. Their tattered bodies began piecing themselves together with each other, and those souls, which filled with hatred, combined with the power of Chaos and revived those souls that had already perished. The distorted, rebellious children of the Earth Elemental G.o.d managed to stand up again.
Judging by their physical appearances, they seemed to be stone giants that were haphazardly pieced together. Their bodies were filled with triangular snow-white crystals, and each of them had been pieced together using at least two or three of Emordilorcan"s children"s bodies. Having a distorted shape, like six hands or eight legs, was common for them, and all the numerous elemental eyes on their bodies were wide open. Deep hatred shone from within their dusky yellow eyes, as if they couldn"t accept their deaths.
Reyne"s pure power of Chaos had only acted as the glue and catalyst. What helped these un-existable existences return to this world were these "children"s" hatred and rage at Emordilorcan and by extension, this world.
"I hate you! I hate my father! I hate everything in this world! I curse this world that gave me my life!"
Just looking at them would cause words of hate to furiously roar in one"s mind, and mortals with weaker willpower would instantly become insane. These seven pieced-together, mixed giants were now living embodiments of hatred.
The entire continent was shaking as if it was making sounds of grief and pain. Thunder gathered in the clouds as the furious Earth Elemental Plane began cursing what had just happened. Pitch-black clouds covered the lands—it was as if it couldn"t bear to witness this; it was unable to tolerate its own favored child transforming into an existence that was cursed by all the G.o.ds.
"This is the reaction of distorted divine power, which, according to the dimensional encyclopedia, is known as negative divine power. This power can only exist in one type of life form." Margaret adjusted her eyegla.s.ses, but her expression was filled with astonishment, which was incredibly rare for her. She immediately sent Adam a message to immediately retreat back to us. If her expectations were correct, the upcoming battle was going to be far more dangerous, even more so than facing Emordilorcan head on!
Actually, Adam didn"t need her command; he had always possessed sharp combat senses. When he saw Emordilorcan turn around and run off like a frightened rabbit, Adam instantly ran away at a speed faster than even the Wind Elemental G.o.d.
"Amazing! I"m actually able to meet such a rare species! Where"s my notebook, I need to record this!" Amelia"s reaction made everyone feel as helpless as usual. "This is wonderful! I"m having so many ideas now for the birth of my new Seven Virtues!"
Fine then, let us ignore this maniacal witch who had exposed her true form and couldn"t stop herself from cackling.
"…No matter what, Emordilorcan counts as a G.o.d, and these children are divine children that did not want to be born. Under the influence of the power of Chaos, their divine power has become negative, and all the conditions have been met. There"s no mistaking it. Just like "Shadow," they are a new species of creature cursed by all the G.o.ds—Divine Sins!"
Divine Sins were mistakes that shouldn"t exist and were created from unexpected side effects of divine power. As souls that had already perished, Divine Sins continued to live. They absorbed nutrition using their negative divine power empowered by pure hatred for their G.o.d ancestors and everything natural. The uncontrollable Divine Sins were cursed and hated by the G.o.ds… as well as feared!
Yes, they had power that even their ancestors, the G.o.ds, feared, and in fact, they even had powers that countered the G.o.ds they came from. When facing a True Divine Sin, please treat it as an existence on par with a True Evil G.o.d; otherwise, one would be certain to die.
As the result of Emordilorcan"s self-deserving actions and the guidance of the will of Chaos, these so-called "rebellious children of the Earth Elemental G.o.d" Divine Sins came into this world. All of their gazes locked on to their own "father," eyes filled with hatred. Their wide-open mouths were evidence of their desire for "delicious food."
"Divine Sins are mistaken existences that shouldn"t exist. All mages not at the SemiG.o.d level retreat right away. If any of them see you, it"ll be too late already. Luckily, there is an almost zero chance to meet one, and if you really do, well, that"s just too bad for you… I finally understand why the monster compendium said that about them. This species is just too dangerous!"
Unlike normal elemental creatures, which received support and replenishment from the Earth Elemental Plane, the Divine Sins obtained elemental power through heartless robbery. All the earth elemental creatures in their surroundings were beginning to naturally disappear, with the tall tower giants instantly becoming shattered heaps of rubble. Even the powerful Sand Dragons became nothing more than dried salamanders. Who knew what other powers these Divine Sins possessed, but just their very existences had the side effect of becoming the natural enemy of all earth elemental creatures.
They were born due to their hatred for Emordilorcan, and had the same source of power as Emordilorcan. As the Divine Sins born from him, they were doubtlessly Emordilorcan"s greatest natural enemy.
The instant they appeared on the battlefield, all the Earth Elemental Lords began to escape at top speed. That was the fear that frogs would instinctively have for snakes. In front of their natural enemy, they were nothing more than potential food.
The next moment, those raging seven Divine Sin brothers began a life-and-death battle with their father.
"Hey, Roland, even such a thing has come out. How do you intend to clean up afterwards? These things are even more dangerous than Emordilorcan. Shall we escape together back to the mortal plane as soon as we finish this battle?"
"Don"t interrupt my thinking. I"m considering something really important right now."
"Hmm? Do you have a way to control Divine Sins? This is a new topic that n.o.body has ever succeeded in before. Should I apply for research funds and a cla.s.s on this topic from the Truth Symposium?"
"…No! Who could possibly control those things? I was just thinking about what name to give them. What do you all think of the "Seven Brothers of the Gourd?" The one with eight eyes will be the big brother, the one with the s.h.i.+niest eyes will be the second brother, the one that seems incredibly hard will be the third brother, the one that"s been roasted red will be the fourth brother, the one with traces of water still on him will be the fifth brother, the smallest one that seems to lack presence will be the sixth bother, and the one with a gourd-like rock on its back will be the seventh brother—hey, why are you all leaving? You don"t like these names?"
[I won"t even bother making fun of you here. Do you really think that the residents of this world can understand your jokes from China of your original world? These jokes are too old, anyways. You"re exposing your true age with how ancient they are.][2]2
"I wasn"t joking around! I was being serious."
[…Then that"s even more pitiful—no—even scarier. Your talent for naming is just as garbage as it"s always been.]
"Shut up! Someone who can"t carry a tone doesn"t have the right to hog the microphone!"
[…Brothers of the gourd, brothers of the gourd! Seven flowers growing on the same vine! Whether the wind blows or the rain falls, they fear nothing, lalalala…]
"Ahhhh! You"re completely off tune! Are you trying to force me to death due to obsessive-compulsive disorder? Just kill me already!"
Note:
1. Game vocabulary that means to give the enemy many kills due to a lack of skill.
2.The Seven Brothers of the Gourdis a several-decades-old Chinese children"s story.Game vocabulary that means to give the enemy many kills due to a lack of skill.The Seven Brothers of the Gourd is a several-decades-old Chinese children"s story.