Chapter 464: A False Child of the Goddess

(TL: Previously, the author did not use a gender-specific term to address Mo Ke so I used his, him, son, etc. The author was very specific in using daughter in this chapter so I will stick to that from now on.)

The gigantic Minotaur had a running speed leagues above its smaller brethren. In the moment it took to breath, it had already reached the three surrounded Seven-star Fire Elementals, and with a swing of both its mighty weapons, a pitch black wave of energy slashed outwards, splitting two of the Fire Elementals in half along their waist. At the same time as that, its mighty axe came swinging down on the last Fire Elemental, splitting it in half lengthwise.

Yet Fire Elementals, being made up of elements, did not have a fixed weak spot. Unless you destroyed their Elemental Core or expanded their mana, they would never die. Furthermore, unlike ordinary Fire Elementals, the Elemental Core of my Fire Elementals were in the bracelet on my left hand. The ordinary Minotaurs naturally wouldn’t be able to reach their cores, neither were they able to expand all of their mana. That was the reason why my Fire Elementals lasted as long as they did.

Having been severely damaged, the three Fire Elementals began to reform their husks. But before they could do so, the giant Minotaur smashed his two weapons violently together, causing an explosion of mana that sent shockwaves ripping through the battlefield and even disrupting dimensional space for the briefest of moments.

Battered by the shockwave and the disruption in space itself, the three Fire Elementals exploded in a shower of fiery motes…

Eight-star! That giant Minotaur had to be at the peak of Eight-star!

With an unstoppable force, the giant Minotaur then lumbered towards us. Each step it took caused the ground itself to groan from the weight of its massive five-meters tall body, crowned by a thick pair of horns that were only outmatched by its thighs that seemed more like pillars than anything else -the very definition of brute strength. Its bovine nose started spitting out white fumes and sparks could be seen soon after… is it going to breath fire?!

“Blood Drake Riders! Charge!” Zurnalin raised her Dragon Spear up high for a second then brought it swishing down, pointing right at the giant Minotaur. “To victory!”

“To victory!”

The other Blood Drake Riders cheered in response. A portion of the Blood Drake Riders that managed to free themselves from their opponents started to charge at the giant Minotaur with suicidal abandon.

“Your holiness, there’s been a sudden change in the battle. For your safety, I request that your holiness leave immediately.” Instead of charging ahead like before, Zurnalin hurriedly turned around to address me. “The Alpha Minotaur ahead might be of the Overlord-tier. I cannot guarantee our victory at this point!”

As she said that to me, some of the faster Blood Drake Riders had already made contact with the giant Minotaur. They raised their Dragon Spears, capable of piercing through rock like butter and glittering in the light of their Aura, and charged towards the gigantic monster ahead in what was most likely the last charge of their lives.

Faced with what were obviously feeble attempts at stopping it, the giant Minotaur merely revealed a humanlike sneer then swung its gigantic axe behind itself. That simple swing easily sent the Blood Drake Riders flying over a dozen meters away, finally stopping when they collided with a Minotaur. Naturally, that unfortunate Minotaur wasn’t getting up at that point, but neither were the Blood Drake Riders…

As more Blood Drake Riders charged in, they were all met with the same fate as their brethren. A simple axe swing and they were sent flying away like flies.

Seeing how cruelly strong the giant Minotaur was, Zurnalin tried once more to persuade me. “Your holiness, please leave immediately!”

“Leave? I haven’t encountered a battle that I have to flee from yet.” As I said that, I gently fingered the Gem of Authority hanging on my neck. I coolly looked her in the eyes and said, “The battle is only just beginning.”

I was already preparing to summon the Devil King Idol at this point. The tides of war weren’t favouring us at all, and while I still did not know exactly how strong Zurnalin was, I didn’t harbor any illusion of her being able to defeat that monstrosity tearing through the Blood Drake Riders right now. No matter whether they were Five-star, Six-star or Seven-star, all were swatted aside by an axe swing of that monster. To that giant Minotaurs, they weren’t even targets to begin with.

Too strong… that’s not even flesh and blood anymore! That’s a fudging Gundamn!

“Mo Ning, Jezsere, help me convince her holiness!” Realising that she alone wouldn’t be able to change my mind, Zurnalin tried to rope in those beside me as well.

However, Mo Ning knew about how strong my Devil King Idol was so she had never considered retreating in the first place. Jezsere, on the other hand, was more than terrified and was very willing to leave right this instant. However, her own older brother was still leading the fight against the Minotaurs, so no matter how timid she was, she wasn’t going to abandon this fight either.

In the end, Mo Ning merely smiled at Zurnalin to show she wasn’t going to help her while a pale Jezsere gently shook her head, lips still quivering and eyes almost watering. “Jezsere… Jezsere is going to stay with master and her big brother…”

What was supposed to gain her allies ended up gaining her betrayal instead. With no other choice left, she could only try to force out another attempt at persuasion. “Your holiness! You need to leave now, it’s too dangerous…”

At this point, she had already seen through the fact that I wasn’t planning to retreat. On the contrary, I was even planning to participate myself. This time, she did not try to persuade me any further but was already about to snatch me herself. Unfortunately… it was too late.

“Holiness? When did the Shadowhunter Clan change their faith?”

Amidst the chaotic battle, a disembodied voice came echoing from above, coming closer to us by the second. While there were clearly more pressing matters to attend to right now, the scorn in that voice quickly drew my attention. I looked upwards in time to see a dozen Dark Elves jumping down from the ceiling, dressed in the typical garb of an Assassin.

“Your holiness, watch out!” Zurnalin’s reaction was a lot quicker than my own. While I was pondering why there were Assassins above me right now, Zurnalin had already ridden her Blood Drake in front of me. Having never been more focused, she raised her Dragon Spear up high and practically bellowed out a chant, “Barrier!”

However, there wasn’t enough time for her to project a sturdy barrier. All she could manage was create a flimsy, transparent dome above us.

“Pointless!” The Assassin leader grandly announced her arrival in your typical villain style. The leader of the Assassins then took up a plunging stance with both her daggers, her swift descent enhancing those already deadly daggers of hers as she viciously stabbed into the magical barrier. A second later… the barrier had completely shattered into sparkling fragments and began to dissipate.

“Your holiness!” Zurnalin desperately wanted to save me, but she was easily blocked by the Assassin leader who had just made her landing after breaking the barrier.

Seeing Zurnalin so distraught, the Assassin leader couldn’t help but taunt her foe. “Has the Shadowhunter Clan fallen so far? To actually address a Fallen Angel as the child of their goddess. Have you all forsaken the goddess Lolthe for the Devils?”

With a dagger that was most likely dripping with poison pointed right at my neck, Zurnalin’s voice was already hoarse with anxiety as she half-yelled, “We would never forsake the goddess. You all had better let go of her holiness right now, before the goddess bestows her wrath upon you!”

Hearing that, I felt the dagger pressed against me quiver for the briefest of moments. Clearly, Zurnalin’s words were having an effect on the Assassin leader.

I say, lady, I suggest you listen to Zurnalin, and can you hold that dagger a little firmer? You know what, take it away… just don’t shake it about like that when it’s so close to my neck…

With how sharp the ends of her daggers were, I had no doubt in mind what would happen if she were to even scratch me with them.

“You can’t fool me, why haven’t I ever heard of the goddess ever having an offspring?” At this point, the Assassin leader was beginning to sense the doubt in her army. She quickly tried to calm them down once more. “How many years has it been now? I have never heard of the goddess ever having a child. To impersonate the child of the goddess is blasphemy!”

Hey, hey hey… you’re free to come up with whatever theories you want, but how about you calm down first… and get those pointy daggers away from me… and stop shaking…

Dagger stuck to her neck, Jezsere mumbled with tears in her eyes, “Master…”

“Dearest…” Mo Ning had a dagger stuck to her throat as well.

Whether Elf or horse, both were now subdued by the Assassins. The Dark Elves were famous for their poisons in the entire Western Human Realms. There was no one more proficient in poisons than them -they were like those rogues in RPGs who maxed out their poison skill for obviously nefarious reasons. In other words, if any of us even dared move, we might just die a second later…

At this point, Zurnalin’s eyes had already turned red with the sheer effort it took to restrain herself in front of these Assassin who still did not fully believe that I was the child of the Lolthe. “She is truly the daughter of Lolthe. The goddess has only recently recognized her as her goddaughter!”

“Lies. If you truly care about her that much, let’s see you surrender then. I will give you ten seconds to consider. Once the time is over, I will start killing.” Having said that, the Assassin leader threw Zurnalin a scornful look as if to say, let’s see you try and bluff your way out of this now. You either surrender right away or this false holiness of yours is going to kick the bucket.

“Stop! Everyone stop at once!”

Under the disbelieving eyes of the Assassin leader, Zurnalin immediately gave the order to surrender without even waiting for a second to be over.

With her mana boosting her voice, Zurnalin’s voice easily spread across the entirety of the battlefield. Those who were familiar with her voice immediately broke away from their opponents. However, the Minotaurs weren’t ones to just stop because their opponents said so. Rather than stop, they began to chase after their fleeing opponents with renewed vigor.