Chapter 180. 2⁄3rds Completed
I perfectly reflected Dehaka’s attack right back at him.
I knew that if he was hit by his own projectile, his ability would be sealed and he wouldn’t be able to use it again.
And my reflected attack did not merely return back the same amount of damage, but was infused with plenty of mana and magical energy, dealing incomparable damage.
The reflected projectile that directly struck the orbs floating around him let out a deafening noise as it exploded.
It was similar to when I had lost my skills.
With that, one of his abilities, the projectiles that sealed away powers, disappeared in a blink of an eye.
He had been done in by his own ability.
This meant that I would be able to attack him from both range or close quarters as I pleased.
Thankfully, the number of abilities that were sealed were but a few.
Other than Mana Shield, these abilities were created from my ability to manipulate mana and magical energy, and they were basic low tier skills to boot.
Confirming this new turn of events, I was about to materialize two swords to begin my close quarter combat once more.
Almost as if someone had sent me a telepathy, I felt that something was off.
It was almost as if I heard that the choice I was about to make was wrong.
I stood dazed and still for a bit. Putting away my swords, I made distance once more.
There was a chance that my hidden fear was making me hallucinate, but considering that Dehaka could be possessing other abilities, I decided to use magic from a range instead of engaging in melee.
“For a heated sauna, Sikhye with ice cubes are the best.” 1
“Hu huk! Ability gone! Ability sealing orbs……”
“Blizzard, Iceberg, Glacial Field. And even Frozen Orb! I’ll pour down all the attacks I have!”
“Hu uhu! Dehaka melts all! Dehaka is hot. Melt all.”
An attack that was made from compressing all of the powers I possessed.
On top of that, 3 skills were casted simultaneously, waiting for my command to shoot forward.
This was a display of skills far beyond that of what an Awakened could.
With the combination of the ethereal bright blue light of mana and the dark thick essence of magical energy, the Awakened skills I used had transformed into something completely unprecedented.
On top of that, the size and destructive force behind those skills had increased exponentially.
Just from looking, one could feel just how strong these skills were.
All the skills that I had casted were frost type attack skills.
Skill levels and their ranks no longer mattered anymore to me, but in terms of what skills humans could obtain, you could say that they were one of the strongest skills you could get.
The ranks of these skills were S to S+ ranks, and while they weren’t skills beyond ranking, the destructive force behind them wouldn’t lag behind any.
His giant form was made up of hot lava.
Almost as if trying to do his title of being the God of Earth justice, he must’ve made his body by pulling up magma from the ground.
Then it would only be right to answer in kind with skills that were the polar opposite of his element.
After using the skills, the first thing that caught my eye was the surrounding scenery.
The field that had been destroyed by the earthquake that Dehaka had caused was similar to where the Goddess of Death, Gera, had been, with red lava flowing out all over the place.
The lava that flowed out from his body only added onto that.
Now, however, Glacial Field covered well beyond the range of Dehaka’s destruction with chilly air.
Fierce winds accompanied by a wave of coldness changed the landscape.
Previously, this skill was used to slow down the movement of my opponents.
Now, however, it had such a powerful effect that it was enough to be considered an attack skill.
In the area that Glacial Field covered, you could see the lava slowly cool and harden. Just from seeing that, you could tell just how powerful this skill had become.
Almost as if flash freezing hot food, the area surrounding us was rapidly losing heat.
“Hu uu hu! Cold. Weakening. Human is strange!”
“It’s only at the stage of a refrigerator right now. You’ll be soon in the freezer. Just a bit longer and you’ll be frozen solid as if you had been hit by liquid nitrogen. I like winter more than summer, after all.”
“Hu uhh! Not die like this. Kill human! Human cannot win against gods!”
Giant meteors fell from the sky.
One might mistake them as many casts of Meteors, but it was actually the skill Blizzard.
Blizzard only rained down shards of ice.
But right now, these shards looked more like meteors.
Unlike Gera, this god did not just stand there and take the attacks.
Seeing my follow up attacks, he poured out far more lava from his body and pointed towards me.
Unfitting of his massive size, it was a very fast attack.
However.
“Hu uu? Huahh!”
While his attacks flew towards me, I formed dozens of Icebergs.
Similar to how a martial artist breaks wooden boards, the lava broke through the Icebergs one by one and flew towards me at great speeds.
However, due to the powerful Icebergs putting up a fierce resistance, the lava stopped dead at some point, hardening into cold stone.
Not letting this chance go, I cut his arm off with a single swing.
His arm that had turned from sticky goo into hardened stone, easily being cut apart in a single strike.
“HUAHAHCK! HURTS. HURTS!”
“Hurry up and give up your next appendage. I can already tell. You’re going to use the lava that has filled your body to the brim in order to regenerate your arm, right? Until your entire body that’s the size of a mountain shrinks into nothingness, that is.”
“Hu uh hu uh! Hu eet!”
As soon as I finished my words, he had fully recovered his arm.
Due to having faced all sorts of enemies, I could guess somewhat what they would do from how they appeared at this point.
Of course, I wasn’t able to predict their powers and abilities though.
It would take awhile until he would be completely obliterated.
I would have to freeze all of his giant body and smash him against the ground.
****
“Whew……”
With labored breathing, I cooled the smoldering red sword that had heated up from cutting him up by covering it with mana.
His corpse was piled up on the floor, almost making up a small island.
Like that, the God of Earth, Dehaka, was defeated after a battle that lasted over 2 hours.
It would be more accurate to call it a one sided attack more so than a battle though.
At the same time that Dehaka lost his life, I absorbed his ability.
The Goddess of Light, Lai Yanta. The God of Darkness, Hai Yanta. The Goddess of Death, Gera. And lastly, the God of Earth, Dehaka as well.
The gods that died at my hands were four.
Each had their own special abilities, and all of them had been absorbed by me, allowing me to use them as I wished.
I had no idea if I would be using these four abilities outside of the celestial plane.
However, it was absolutely true that I would need them for the coming battle against the remaining two gods that I had to face.
Out of the 6 gods, I had taken down 4, which was more than half.
I had made it 2/3rds of the way.
The only gods left were the God of Water and the God of Life.
Since they were higher ranking than the gods that I had faced so far, it would also make sense that they would be just as strong.
As expected, Karupedan appeared with a satisfied smile after having observed me from an unknown location.
“Kehehe. This battle was really exciting!”
“Whew…. I’m exhausted, so let me rest a bit before going onwards.”
“Right, right. I found Gera giving up her life to you to be strange, you know? But I found out the reason why! I think I understand now! It’s to gift me with joy like this. Right?”
“Tsk….. Think as you will. There are only two gods left, right?”
“Yep! Next is! You’ll be meeting with the God of Life, Wheatgrass.”
“The God of Life…. I expect that they possess some special ability too, right?”
“Hehe. That’s for you to find out! Until now, I’ve been quite amused as you figured that very same question with the other gods. I don’t want to tell you! You seem to deal with it a lot better than I expected though, hm? Did I put in that much effort when I made you humans?”
“……”
“I understand that I created humans with the most amount of effort out of all….. But I can’t remember what I was thinking when I did so…. All I remember is that I created them….. Isn’t that a bit strange? Hehe.”
“Hm…. That’s a separate story. So you won’t tell me in the end? I didn’t even have hopes for it, really. Instead, I’ll ask for the same thing as before.”
“Ah ha. The abilities that were sealed away? I already returned them back.”
“Hm?”
Almost as if knowing what I was going to ask for, this god had already undid the sealing of my skills from Dehaka’s ability.
Casting the abilities with both hands to confirm that it really was true, I continued speaking.
“Where do I need to go?”
“Are you planning to go already? Weren’t you going to rest up first before going? You know that, even in human time, a day hasn’t passed right?”
“Is that so….. But for some odd reason….. I don’t feel sleepy or hungry.”
“Kehe. That’s because this is the celestial plane.”
“……”
“And on top of that, you’re not human anymore, you know?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you so surprised? It’s obvious. When you kill a god, you inherit their abilities. And you have killed four of them already. All their abilities have gone to you.”
“……”
“But you still think of yourself as a human? Pff. Are you naive? Or just stupid?”
I blankly stared into emptiness at what Karupedan had said.
It was true what she said.
Until I came here, I was a human, or of the demonic race.
After I conquered the demonic realm and became the demon king, it was true that I was having a bit of an identity crisis.
But right now, I was even aiming for the seat of a god.
Well, it didn’t really matter what my identity was.
I only had power as a goal, worried for those around me, and needed a higher goal to aim for.
While I was lost in my thoughts, Karupedan continued to speak.
“So what will you do? Are you going to rest in the celestial plane before going? Or go right away…..”
“I don’t have time to rest. But even still, can you spare me some time to do so?”
“Of course. What do you need? What do you want to see? Just say the word. Since there wasn’t anything that has given me this much amusement until now, I can give you at least that much as a reward.”
“Barub…. I was to go visit the tunnel of time and space for a bit.”
“Huh? You’re going to that tunnel of time and space just to meet the guide? I’m shocked… How foolish are you, human. Look. There is nothing in the celestial plane that you could not do. You can eat what you want, take what you want, and do what you want. Whatever you fantasize about, it will no longer remain as just a fantasy.”
“I know. I do not look down on the powers of a god. But you know. Won’t I be able to enjoy them as much as I want after I kill you? Since all of your abilities would become mine.”
“That…. That’s right…..”
“Why? Are you suddenly scared of dying?”
“No! What nonsense are you saying? Tsk! I’ll send you to the tunnel of time and space.”
“Pff. Okay.”
-snap.
“Why are you here already, human.”
“Break time?”
“…….”