Chapter 178. Going Smoothly

Karupedan’s face was flushed red, and her expression told me that this was just the start.

I had already defeated half the gods I needed to defeat, and all I had to do was defeat three more to finish my deal with Karupedan.

I didn’t think of the aftermath following the defeat of the gods.

If even the power of Karupedan was inherited by me, allowing me to become a peerless existence, then would I be also subjected to the immortal life that she is living right now?

I didn’t have a choice to go against the Unrivaled God in this situation, but I also couldn’t help but feel worried.

As I was being guided by this god and walking alongside her, there was something that didn’t sit right with me.

My body was affected by the inability to heal effect from Gera’s retaliation.

I tried using Status Denial to return myself back to a state before the attack, but even that was impossible.

I had used all of my available power, but even still, it was impossible.

I was reminded once more just how the power of the Piece of Space and Time was absolute.

I think I understand now why Karupedan didn’t just want to give away this power to anyone.

After all, no matter what attack was used, it would leave a wound and debuff that would never fade for an eternity.

I called for Karupedan, who was walking ahead of me.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“The wound that I received from Gera. Why don’t you heal this for me?”

“Eh? Weren’t you just trying to lecture a god just a moment ago, but now you’re asking for help? Don’t you have any pride?”

“It wouldn’t be a fair fight otherwise, would it? After all, I am facing against multiple opponents. Even though you don’t want a predictable one sided ending, wouldn’t this benefit you as well?”

“Hm….. That’s the power you wield right now. Do you finally understand just how powerful the power you obtained is?”

“Hm. Somewhat? But I became sure of one thing.”

“Hm?”

“Instead of leaving shallow wounds on my enemies, I rather kill them off cleanly.”

“Wow! How brutal of you. So cruel.”

“No. You won’t be able to call it cruel at the end. Rather than living the rest of their lives in untreatable death like pain, my opponents would thank me for granting them a clean death.”

“…..”

“Now. How will you do it? Hurry up and return me back to my original state. You also want to be entertained, right? With the fights I’ll be partaking against the remaining gods, that is.”

“Well, yeah. Then……”

-snap.

With a snap of her fingers, the debuff that prevented healing disappeared.

Since it wasn’t that deep of a wound, it didn’t feel as good as a rotten teeth being pulled out, but I did feel a sense of relief.

If the healing negation was left as it was, it would’ve been quite the headache.

Right now, I was currently afflicted by the debuff. No matter who’d attacked me next, I wouldn’t be able to heal myself.

Even if the attacks that followed didn’t have the powers of the Piece of Space and Time behind it.

This meant that fundamentally, recovery of any kind was impossible.

The damage I received would only rack up, resulting in a pitiful death.

“Who is my next opponent?”

“Dehaka.”

“What does this god rule over?”

“Oh…. You sound like you know your way around the celestial plane, you know?”

“It hasn’t been a day yet, but with this much, you could say that I know somewhat.”

“Hehe. Light and darkness. And death. What do you think is left?”

“Life and earth. Something like that?”

“Oh oh! Dehaka is the God of Earth. The last god that you missed is the God of Water.”

“So excluding you, this would mean that Dehaka would be roughly in the 3rd place in terms of power?”

“You really have become a denizen of the celestial plane.”

“But you know, just when are you planning to get there that you’re traveling this slow? You could just snap your fingers and get there, but it seems like you’re just wasting time!”

“Then shall we stop now?”

“What? You mean to end it here?”

“Pfft. What! I already told you. Dehaka is the god of the earth. Even now, I can call him right away. Even on the ground that you currently stand on, he exists.”

“……”

“What? What’s with the sudden scary face?”

“You think that I’m satisfied living my life here, but that’s a big mistake. Why did you tell me now…. Whew….. Enough. Dehakan or whatever that god’s name is, hurry up and call him.”

“Hehe. Then……”

****

Karupedan instantly hid her presence.

She didn’t teleport me to another place nor guide me to the exact location where the God of Earth, Dehaka, resided.

Unlike before, she had left me in this empty vast plain and disappeared.

“What is she trying to do…..”

Looking around, it happened the moment that I took a step forward.

“Is this…. Bind?”

Due to a hand rising out of the ground, both my legs were bound.

Despite having an immortal body, it wasn’t easy to get free from a bind with so much force behind it.

Of course, I wasn’t using all of my strength right now.

I wondered if the Bind spell I used was made based on this.

With my feet caught by Bind, I stood still.

It wasn’t as if I was taking any damage or in a situation to take any significant damage, so I stood still and waited for Dehaka’s appearance.

As I had hoped for, Dehaka appeared.

“Who is this? A stone golem?”

“Huhu. Human can’t move.”

“What. Why are you talking like that?”

“Huhu. Turn you to dust at this rate. Turn to dust and become a part of the earth. The power of earth is great.”

“Are you talking about this?”

Tearing open the ground and climbing out, a giant stone golem appeared.

Dehaka’s appearance looked familiar, as if I’ve seen it somewhere before.

He was massive in size, and he seemed sturdy to the point that not a dent could be made to his body.

It was true that the Bind that the God of Earth made was powerful.

However, if I focused all of my mana to my feet and released them all at once?

There was no way that he could hold me with such a weak Bind.

Kicking it in one go, I turned the Bind to dust.

“Huh? Stone fist broke.”

“You were trying to hold me down with a cheap trick like this? I can’t believe it.”

“Huhu. Mistake. Catch again. Catch human and crush.”

“Oho? Really. Are you planning to use the same attack? Are you pretending not to know, or do you really not know? At this point, it almost feels like you’re putting up an act.”

-crack!

“Bingo.”

“Huh?”

“Guess you don’t know the ability that Gera possess? Ah. Is it because your head is made of stone as well? Dumb shit. Stay flat against the ground.”

“Hu! Kill.”

He had casted Bind again. However, rather than my feet being bound, it was Dehaka who was bound instead.

Gera’s ability had activated.

It was an ability that reflected any attack that I had received previously before.

Not only was I returning Dehaka’s attack, it was a counterattack that included my mana, magical energy, and the power of the Piece of Space and Time.

It really was returning the favor severalfold.

With his feet tied down in place, Dehaka couldn’t move at all.

It was enough to make me wonder if he really was the 3rd most powerful god.

The way he spoke and his actions, along with thoughtless attacks…

I didn’t know what his combat capabilities were, but it was evident that he was severely lacking in the intelligence department.

I didn’t take long looking at how pathetic he was. Walking closer, I lifted up my sword.

“Huhu. Human cannot kill Dehaka.”

“Is that so? Do you think that I broke free of your Bind from pure luck alone?”

“Not die. Huhu. I am not a hurdle a human can get over.”

“I’ve heard enough of that from the light and dark god to have it become stuck in my head.”

“How did you come to agree with the complete annihilation of humankind with a skull like that? Did you just follow along after seeing everyone else do it? Being foolish is a crime. Remember that well.”

My Formless Sword Aura’s reckless attacks began.

I was moving at a speed that was nearly impossible for the naked eye to track.

On top of that, other than the Butcher’s Sword, I was holding another sword with my other hand.

It didn’t make any sense.

The Butcher’s Sword was a two handed sword.

Of course, you could wield a two handed sword with one hand if you trained enough. However, you still couldn’t use the stats and power of the other sword in the other hand.

It was only but a decoration that filled an empty slot.

However, the sword in my left hand right now told a different story.

A form of a sword covered in blue flame. It was made from mana and magical energy.

It wasn’t as if there was a set stat for the sword, but the power behind it was enormous.

With my limitless mana, I condensed it the maximum, and I had even empowered the body that swung the sword, so what more do I need to explain.

And since this new weapon wasn’t classified as a sword, even though I was holding a sword in each hand, it was serving its purpose just fine.

In all honesty, you could say that the Butcher’s Sword has lost its value.

It was a sword that only absorbed the stats of the Awakened humans.

I haven’t had a need to use it for quite some time.

The reason why I carried it around with me after I obtained such massive power was simple.

I just had to infuse the sword with the same power that I used to create the sword in my left hand.

I had already far surpassed the realm of the humans.

It was amazing enough that I took control over the demonic realm and learned how to use magical energy, but now I had even obtained powers of gods.

I had become an existence that could do the things which most wouldn’t even be able to consider.

It was enough to make me scared of myself.

The continued Formless Sword Aura eventually went into overdrive.

I swallowed a marble as red smoke rose around my body.

Overdrive and the marble both lasted 1 minute.

This was a course of action I took after considering that I could lax on the defense in order to focus on only attacking, raising my offensive capability to its maximum at the same time.

The God of Earth, Dehaka, could not even put up any resistance and was cut apart.

Due to chipping away at his body countless times, the area around was covered in thick dust.

His body that was as big as a house shrunk slowly in size, and after the Overdrive, had shrunk quite a lot.

Other than casting Bind at the start, all that he did was to get beat up one sidedly.

With how much he was chipped apart, there wasn’t much of his body left.

It didn’t take long for a stone that could be considered his core appeared.

With a half transparent jade color, it seemed far sturdier than the ordinary.

Holding both my swords with one hand, I struck down that core.

Contrary to looking too tough to penetrate, the swords went through cleanly through his core.

Holding tightly onto the swords, I released all the condense power on the swords at once.

With that as a finisher, I thought that another god had been annihilated.

However.

-crackle.

“I guess he’s third place for a reason? How annoying.”