The dark Divine Power not only prevented the angelic girl from unleashing her ultimate move but also left her utterly defenseless, allowing the ordinary power of the Divine Flame Drive to burn her to death effortlessly.
Under normal circumstances, she could have easily resisted some of the flames' power simply by channeling her body's energy...
But the appearance of this Divine Power left Sterl with no joy in defeating such a formidable foe.
He felt as if he had fallen into an ice pit!
No kidding, being happy would be insane! Sterl had been urgently trying to enhance his Law Power and Divine Power but was always careful not to attack other players. Why? Because he feared attracting the attention of that goddess!
At this moment, his mind was a chaotic mess.
Although Sterl had a trump card that could temporarily ascend him to godhood, whether it could withstand an attack from an ancient deity was still uncertain.
Moreover, Sterl initially thought the greatest significance of this trump card was to face demigod-level enemies or to temporarily save his life when confronted by a deity.
He never intended to use his godhood to directly confront the Dark Moon Goddess! That would be pure suicide! His godhood only lasted for a few moments!
His mindset was crumbling!
But Sterl was a battle-hardened veteran and knew that panic was the most useless reaction. He needed to retreat immediately!
Fortunately, legendary souls didn't drop much besides shattered legendary crystals. This time, the angelic girl didn't drop a crystal, so Sterl didn't have to waste time collecting items.
The next second, he successfully recalled his Star Radiance Dragon and prepared to flee into the distance.
Wait? Successfully recalled?
Sterl was stunned for a moment, then noticed an incredibly eerie scene.
As he had just killed the angelic girl, the legendary soul that had been on the checkpoint wall had already flown nearby, ready to join the ground-based legendary soul in killing Sterl's pet.
However, they were now similarly immobilized, entwined in dark purple energy, and appeared to be in extreme pain.
Bear in mind, two full seconds had passed since Sterl killed the angelic girl, and these two legendary souls still couldn't move...
Sterl was dumbfounded.
Everything had happened so quickly earlier that he didn't have time to think. Now, he realized something was amiss. If it was truly the goddess intervening, why would she harm her own subordinates?
Sterl hesitantly released a Star Point Finger. The blue light beam pierced through the forehead of one legendary soul, shattering his body into fragments.
One-shot kill!
The surroundings remained calm. No powerful deity suddenly appeared to attack...
Sterl hesitated for a moment, waited another second, and activated his energy restoration potion. His mana replenished, and he unleashed a Celestial Star, killing the last legendary soul as well!
The entire process was as easy as drinking water, except that the remaining two legendary souls didn't drop any crystals either.
After slaughtering his enemies, Sterl broke into a cold sweat, realizing he had been a bit greedy, delaying for a few extra seconds...
At this point, he was terrified!
What if he had lost his chance to escape because of those few seconds? Wouldn't that be game over??
Sterl immediately activated a series of acceleration skills, including Bloody Rush, Teleport, and Divine Flame Drive, and dashed away at full speed! He fled frantically!
He had no idea where to run, using Void Form and Star Insight to conceal his form and disguise his information, while randomly altering his escape route.
[Emergency Escape Scroll]
[Category: Consumable]
[Effect: Tearing this scroll grants you two seconds of invincibility (not guaranteed to hold against attacks from demigods or higher)]. Simultaneously, you can teleport to any previously visited location (takes one second), limited to the entire crystal wall system.]
Although Sterl had no idea what a "crystal wall system" was, he sensed that he could directly teleport from the Netherworld back to Advanced Base 113. The two seconds of invincibility were also quite valuable, as the teleport itself only took one second, leaving an extra second of safety.
A top-tier lifesaving item! This was the true value of the skill point system!
Meanwhile, Sterl also sorted through the rewards from killing the three legendary souls.
The final result left him almost dumbstruck!
With the legendary points he had previously accumulated, his balance now stood at a full 20 points!
This meant he could theoretically max out a newly acquired gold-quality skill in one go, or he could fully upgrade his Divine Flame Drive. As for Star Point Finger, Sterl decided against spending his legendary points on it for now, preferring to max out three gold skills worth 20 legendary points each first.
After tallying up the rewards from his battle with the three legendary souls, Sterl was elated and headed to the checkpoint to await the arrival of other players.
Unbeknownst to him, far outside the Netherworld, the Dark Moon Goddess had opened her eyes again. A trace of confusion appeared on her flawless, moon-like face.
"The Restriction I set on the legendary souls was triggered."
"What happened?"
"Wait, all three souls outside the third Netherworld Water are dead??"
"What on earth is going on...?"
"Wait! Why did I set the Restriction in the first place?"
"What was it for?"
The goddess pondered for a moment, growing increasingly confused.
Fortunately, under the influence of her own psychological suggestion, she soon closed her eyes again.
"The most important thing now is to obtain the object that emerged when the Netherworld collapsed. Other matters can wait, to avoid disrupting the plan."
...
At this time, Sterl had no idea that his smooth slaughter was actually thanks to someone silently bearing the burden.
The Dark Moon Goddess was almost driving herself insane...
Sterl hid with great interest in a watchtower on the checkpoint wall, having already replaced and disguised the NPC soldiers.
He was waiting for the players to come and meet their doom!
His wait wasn't long. After practicing his arcane skills for half an hour, Sterl opened his eyes.
In the distance, a player squad of about 30 had arrived, riding their mounts in a standard boss-raiding formation.
In [Transcendence], there was a system similar to most MMORPGs—mounts. The rarer the mount, the higher the movement efficiency it provided.
Of course, given the struggles of Earth's human race, no one could afford such luxuries.
Watching the players on their mounts galloping toward him, Sterl couldn't help but comment, "That lion looks pretty cool, and this tiger isn't bad either."
"The deer mount is quite elegant. Should I grab a couple to give to Linna and Rayna?"