179. God of Earth, Dehaka

Dehaka’s cored shattered into pieces, just like that.

The moment that I penetrated his core, the compressed power exploded, causing his jade core to disperse into dust.

His body that was the size of a house had turned into finely powdered dust.

But that wasn’t the end.

It seemed that the title of the third strongest wasn’t just for show.

As if an earthquake was happening, the ground of the celestial plane shook severely.

However, the area at the edge of my vision wasn’t shaking in the slightest.

A strong earthquake was occuring only around me.

As if trying to prove that he was a God of Earth, he shook the ground around me with great force.

Almost as if being hit by a cannon barrage, the earth around me crumbled in shambles.

“Hu hu, don’t die. Don’t die. I!”

“Enough with the nonsense……”

I could hear Dehaka’s voice from thin air.

Just listen to his crude and dumb way of speech.

It made me think that he’s speaking a lot of bullshit.

Kicking the ground that was rupturing below me, I soared up into the air.

Casting many Icebergs on top of each other to use as a platform, I landed on it.

From up high, I observed the chaos down below.

It was similar to when I faced off against the Goddess of Light, Lai Yanta.

Despite being way up above the chaos down below, I felt my body heat up as if it was put in a burning kiln.

Even though I had swallowed a King’s Marble, it felt as though I could melt if I went down there.

It could be me just imagining it, or it could be my growth halfway between human and god that allowed me to sense that danger instead.

“Is that his real form?”

“Hu hu huh. Do not die! I am strong!”

“……”

Dehaka resurrected.

Not only did come back, but he came back looking much stronger than before.

You could say that he evolved alongside the massive earthquake from his previous sturdy regular stone golem form.

His current form oozed sticky lava like sweat.

On top of that, he had become large beyond comparison from before.

In the celestial plane, all the scenery looked small like rice grains, but this form was huge as though I was looking at him from up close.

I could mistake him for a mountain that rose out of the ground.

And unlike his form that was intimidating enough to fit the role of a gatekeeper for hell, magnificent wings had sprouted on his back.

The wings were similar to what one would imagine when they think of angels.

The upper half resembled the appearance of a stone golem before, but the lower half didn’t even exist.

Below his waist was fully connected to the ground.

His head was vastly small in comparison to his body. And near his body, an orb the size of a baseball was orbiting him.

As if the orb had been made from magical energy, it was emitting a dark purple light.

“Hu hu hu. Come here. Human. I kill!”

“I guess I know exactly why your head is so small. If you were me, would you come?”

“I am a god. You are a human. Humans can never beat a god.”

“The only thing that changed was your form. You think that you won’t die and endure if I keep hitting you in a frenzy?”

Unsummoning the numerous Icebergs at the same time, I fell towards him at great speeds.

My method of taking him down didn’t differ from before.

King’s Marble. Formless Sword Aura. With these two, it was enough.

If I cut and tear countless of times, then no matter how strong he had become, he would be reduced to rubble and scatter into oblivion.

“What! I definitely consumed a Marble…..”

“Hu hu hu. Die. Human will die.”

It happened the moment that I brought close both the empowered swords in each hand close to his body.

He stretched out his hand towards me and sent multiple of those orbs at me.

Flying towards me with a muddy sound, dozens of those projectiles struck me dead on.

Despite trusting the marble I consumed, I casted Mana Shield out of an uneasiness I felt.

Even though the shield blocked most attacks as if nothing, it was torn apart like paper before his attack.

Mana Shield should regenerate endlessly with my limitless mana.

However, for some unknown reason, the shield that had received his attack did not regenerate.

Despite not having a cooldown or a cast time, my Mana Shield wasn’t activating.

Was it because I was lacking mana? Not even funny.

There was no way that was the case. There was no reason for the Unrivaled God to suddenly take away the power that she had bestowed on me.

It seemed that it had something to do with the attack that he just cast at me.

Since he was a god, it seemed that he had a secret skill after all.

It took a long time for me to figure out Gera’s ability before.

Since she stood on the side of humans, she did not attack besides retaliating.

Until I found out the answer on my own, she waited in silence, receiving my attacks without complaint.

It was the same as giving me hints until it led to her defeat.

However, this wasn’t the case with him.

Even now, he was being anxious because he couldn’t kill me right now.

‘The purple orb. Do I just need to avoid those?’

More purple orbs kept being made.

I couldn’t help but think that being hit by those things sealed away abilities.

If I eat my King’s Marble and it hits my body while I’m in my invincible state?

It could seal away the power of the marble, removing my invincibility status.

This was just a theory, but the one thing that I was sure of was that I needed to do everything I could to avoid them.

After all, carelessness born from complacent thoughts could lead to an irreversible defeat.

I made as much distance I could between him and me.

The orbs were flying towards me from a point blank distance. It was akin to trying to avoid being shot with the gun already at your head.

Basically it was near impossible.

If I increased the time it took to reach me, then it would be much easier to avoid them.

I even removed the mana and magical energy condensed on my weapon.

It was because I realized that my chances of winning in a close quarter combat was nil.

From now on, I had to take him down using long ranged magic instead.

As expected, he continued to fire those purple orbs at me.

Thankfully, it was moving at a speed at which I could confirm with my eyes.

Avoiding those projectiles filled with killing intent, I casted Reflect Shield that I learned as an Awakened.

If even a single one struck me, it would mean that I would lose the invincibility status my body currently possessed.

My skills would continue to be sealed away one by one as the battle continued, and would pose a great risk towards me.

However, I could ask Karupedan to return them to me after I defeated this god.

Since he observed my battles with much amusement, I was positive that he would do so.

Do skills really matter right now. A much greater crisis was before me.

‘Iceberg…. Damn it. I don’t think I should?’

Thinking about it, I couldn’t block his attack with my skills either.

It was because any skills that made contact with his attack would be sealed away immediately as well.

Dodging. I had no choice but to avoid his attacks.

There was the option of using the ability that I had obtained from Gera to allow his attack on me once more so that I could return his attack back.

However, this ability only allowed me to return back attacks that I had received while in the same state.

This meant that I would be able to return back the attack if I was attacked again with my Mana Shield up, but since I was using Reflect Shield to defend myself, I wasn’t in the same state, and therefore didn’t meet the conditions to activate the ability.

And as I’ve witnessed already, his ability activated with even a single hit.

He was definitely a difficult opponent.

‘That attack completely seals away Awakened skills. Mana? Magical energy? What about them?’

“Kill. Return you back to a powerless weak human.”

“I’ll be the one to kill you. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you and your empty head!”

Drawing out my mana in an instant, I created a Mana Spear and scored a direct hit on Dehaka’s projectiles.

Colliding at great speeds due to both the spear and projectiles charging at each other, a massive explosion that let out a deafening sound occurred.

The explosion was so strong that it shook the earth to its core.

It seemed that the force behind his projectiles wasn’t that great.

Of course, this was from only considering the destructive forces behind each of the attacks.

Then what about the abilities? Did one of the many methods of using magical energy become sealed?

“Damn it……”

“Hu hu hu. Remove the overflowing powers that do not fit the bowl. Return back to inconsequential existence.”

I tried using Mana Spear again, but it wasn’t possible.

It was the same feeling as forgetting a popular song that you would hum to yourself on a daily basis.

No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t remember. It was a frustrating situation like that.

With this, I had confirmed that even mana becomes sealed away by his attacks.

There were only two options left.

Magical energy. And an attack that infused both mana and magical energy.

“Hu hu. Continue to make new things. Remove them all.”

“Tsk…..”

It was the same with using magical energy.

I was pretty much at the end of my rope.

I was even resentful towards Gera, who had said that I would need her ability to defeat the gods I would be facing after her.

If he even negated my attack that was infused with both mana and magical energy, then that was the end of the road for me.

Almost as if enjoying the situation, he continued to fire projectiles at me from the same spot.

It seemed as though he was waiting for me to become powerless after he had stolen all of my power.

He was trying to turn me into a powerless weak form that was akin to what the gods thought humans were like.

I felt a deep rage for a brief moment before being interrupted.

His attack continued again.

“Huh?”

“……..”

The shockwave of sound from the explosion this time was different from before.

Unlike the massive explosion that was caused from mana and magical energy colliding with his projectiles separately, when the attack that infused both collided with his projectile, attacks from both sides had become completely negated, similar to how Meteor and Iceberg cancelled each other out.

Only now did I feel strongly that things were going in my favor.

I wasn’t the only one feeling this change.

Losing his unique idiotic laugh, Dehaka was tilting his head to the side.

I immediately checked if I could cast my infused attack again.

“Hu? Didn’t lose ability. Strange. Wasn’t able to steal human’s power.”

“The tables have turned, you boneheaded piece of shit!”

As if stuck in disbelief, he stood absolutely still for awhile.

‘No. You should not think about this. You won’t come to any conclusions with that stupid head of yours, right? Hurry up and attack. Launch your projectiles again! If it meets my infused attack one more time….. I shall return it with an attack stronger by a thousand fold, ten thousand fold stronger.’

I felt happy as though I had found rope at the edge of a cliff.

Finally, I was able to create a condition where I would be able to receive his attack, allowing me to create an identical state.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he moved his body to attack again.

Then.

Like an idiot, he sent out his projectiles once more.

He had already forgotten that his own Bind had taken a hold of him recently.

Despite witnessing Gera’s ability firsthand, he had made the same mistake.

“Stupid shithead. Now it’s done. The tides have turned!”

“Hu uh? Lost ability. No. This cannot be.”