Badge in Azure

Chapter 1506: Monkey (Part 1)

As the Heretic God flung his arms about, his formless dagger cut numerous cracks on the cage. Both the general and the grandmaster had finished conjuring their weapons and were waiting for the Heretic God to break through its cage and attack.

Saleen had steeled his mind. He had one chance to attack the Heretic God once it was out. He couldn’t use the Crystal Finger because it was simply too dangerous. He would have to use his family badge.

The attack he planned to pull off with his family badge had to be aimed at the Heretic God’s tail to cause the most damage.

The third eye on Saleen’s brow continued to blink to find out how the Heretic God moved about, as even level 18 beings would have traceable rules.

The more he looked, the more shocked he felt. The Heretic God never repeated the moves with those daggers even once. The way it cast its powers was never the same. That kind of technique was absolutely not something that could have been learned but something honed from having fought countless battles.

When swordsmen practiced, they had to begin by repeating the same moves over and over, but with the Heretic God it was entirely different.

Saleen, however, realized something else. Even when the Heretic God absolutely never repeated any of its moves, he was able to see the rules nonetheless, or else the abilities of the three-eyed people far exceeded his imagination. The movements of the Heretic God began to be influenced by the ability of the three-eyed people. Although there were no repeated moves being executed, rules were nonetheless becoming traceable.

Saleen was a level 14 mage. If he was able to affect a level 18 god, that would be attributable only to the power of the three-eyed people, which was something that exceeded level limitations. Although the Heretic God had indeed been injured, it nonetheless retained the ability to manipulate rules.

The light flashes seen in the red cage were the result of the power of light element that Saleen sent into the Heretic God’s body, which was then forced out. Thick black mist shot all over the place, and the cage split with a crack in the middle. The general cast a charging skill of the warriors, making it to the Heretic God’s side within an instant.

The shield in his hand banged hard onto the body of the Heretic God, immobilizing it as the 12 pointy spikes on the shield stabbed it.

The 12 spikes represented the 12 highest rules that the general had developed in his training.

The general brought the flail on his right hand down hard onto the Heretic God’s head, smashing it open.

The Heretic God shrugged and yet another head emerged from his neck. The new head was huge, and the Heretic God’s entire body expanded with it.

Having been severely injured by the general, the five-foot-tall Heretic God grew uncontrollably, reaching a height of more than 30 feet. Its new head looked like that of a gorilla but with protruding tusks and a curly head.

Saleen was baffled. “This thing has actually turned into a monkey?” he thought.

He had no idea of the Heretic God’s origins. It had originally been a rare, peculiar magic beast that was of mixed blood. It was by pure coincidence that it had become a god. It had once saved a hunter who had brought bad luck for worshipping the magic beast all those years ago and the Heretic God today as a god. The Heretic God had acquired the power of faith as a result, which set it on a path from which it was unable to return.

There was no way the gods would have allowed a magic beast to become one of them. The Heretic God had experienced things that were hundreds of thousands of times more horrifying than what a mage like Saleen had experienced. The Heretic God had become a god who went out to slaughter gods at later stages, making it totally different from that simple-minded, naive magic beast all those years ago.

It would have encountered believers, however, who resembled that hunter back then, and it would have bestowed such people with powers and eternal life.

For the past several billion years, it was only that bit of warmth and that face of a devout that could have calmed the Heretic God.

It wondered just how long it had been since it had last used its own godly body. The Heretic God had little wrath to speak of. It had long gotten used to being attacked by humans and laughed at by the gods after enduring it for so many years.

“What a beautiful monkey,” the goddess uttered in a spiteful tone.

The general backed away as a force burst through the Heretic God’s body, preventing it from attacking again. Six level 18 spells were cast from the grandmaster’s magic book, but he himself disappeared from the place he had stood, which had been less than three feet away from the Heretic God.

Saleen saw the power of rules permeating the Heretic God’s surroundings, which were those of the void.

All attacks were completely nullified, and nothing was around anymore. Only those two long daggers could be used for attacks. One dagger was thrown at the general’s heart while the other at the grandmaster’s head, and both hit their respective targets.

The bodies of both beings burst and disappeared without a trace and returned to their respective graves.

The Heretic God turned its naked body and eyed the Goddess of Myers with lust.

“Monkey, huh? Hehe, you’re right.” The Heretic God’s body grew yet again, reaching 60 feet. Its 30-foot-long golden hairs billowed in the wind, appearing smooth and silky. Saleen, however, sensed that every hair on the Heretic God was like an incredibly sharp dagger capable of cutting through refined steel.

The horns on the Heretic God’s head shrunk and looked unassuming. The beams of light that shot from its eyes as they opened and closed were like those of high-level martial artists.

Saleen took notice of the tail behind the Heretic God. The weakness was still there, and a purple gash could be seen between the golden hairs.

Both the general and the grandmaster returned to their graves, making Saleen realize that if those heroic spirits were to be killed entirely they would have to be completely removed from their graves, as though they were signing a contract with him to allow them to leave their graves.

Their graves were prisons, yet they were also the heroic spirits’ best means of keeping themselves alive.

Saleen had been able to kill all 24 of those heroic spirits, because they had lost the protection of their graves. He began to feel a degree of fear. If he were to begin plotting to kill the heroic spirits and rob them of their energies, it would only be a matter of time before he ended up being killed by the general.

That one strike from the general was something that only the likes of the Heretic God could withstand. If he was the one getting hit, his brains would be crushed, and there was no way he could stay alive. Under the rules of the general, not even his Figure of Fate would have been able to save him.

After he had gotten a clear idea of just how fearsome level 18 professionals were, Saleen backed away again.

He no longer bothered concealing the Lightning Magic Book in his hand. He glared at the Heretic God, waiting for it to attack.

That red bangle on the goddess’s wrist split apart like the Thunder Dragon Bangle. A rain of flowers appeared above the platform, and every single petal quickly wilted.

The Heretic God laughed as it pointed at the goddess, saying, “You think those kinds of rules could kill me? I am the highest god, I can live forever, and I don’t have any weaknesses!”

“Is that so?” The goddess remained unfettered. The holy prose in her hand was finished being laid. Tens of thousands of lightning ravens shot outside of the Lightning Moon over his head.

Saleen’s heart twitched. He could sense from the emergence of those birds that more than half the energies stored in the Lightning Moon were extracted, as if the Lightning Moon was no longer to keep itself in one piece.

The goddess chuckled and let Saleen summon the construct back to him. She even said to him through their connections at their souls, “Saleen, the Lightning Moon is almost done for. But then again, it was something handed over by the emperor himself, and I leave it up to you to deal with it. If you are able to restore it, then it shall be yours from here on out.”

A bitter smile appeared on Saleen’s face. He knew that the emperor of the First Dynasty would have left troublesome parts in that equipment. Saleen had initially thought that because the emperor was not well versed with lightning magic that he had simply left the Lightning Moon laying around. Saleen also thought that the King of Glory wouldn’t have been able to change the internal structure of such powerful lightning equipment, so there could not have been traps in them.

According to what the goddess was saying, though, she was being quite clear that the Lightning Moon would have gotten him into huge trouble sooner or later.

Be it a god at a class like Myers or just regular mages, none would have lied about things like that.

Saleen put the Lightning Moon away in the Ring of Cosmos but against his own will. The Aqua Fulgur stored within the ring ceaselessly surged into the Lightning Moon. The internal structure of the Lightning Moon was indeed beginning to degrade, and that was something that could not be changed even with the surge of Aqua Fulgur.

The unique rules with the Ring of Cosmos, however, began to rework the internal structure of the Lightning Moon instead.

That reworking was different from the original internal structure of the Lightning Moon. The only similarity was the material used, and the attempt crafted new rule powers for the Lightning Moon.

A dark point of origin within the core of the Lightning Moon suddenly imploded, and the Aqua Fulgur within the Ring of Cosmos surged into it in a frenzy, turning the black point into a violet color. The Lightning Moon used that point of origin as its center. Countless lightning magic patterns extended outside of it, gradually forming a translucent structure.

After absorbing huge amounts of Aqua Fulgur, the violet point of origin finally turned blue.

The blue point of origin now spread out to form a nebula. Lightning of massive energy unceasingly sparked within the nebula. Almost one-tenth of the Aqua Fulgur found within the Ring of Cosmos had been absorbed into that blue nebula.

That was a result of the devoured Lightning Constellation emerging, which changed the structure of the Lightning Moon throughout.

The equipment truly became Saleen’s, and there were no longer any dangers lying within.

Saleen was unbelievably quick to repair the Lightning Moon. The Goddess of Myers attacked when the Lightning Moon was being put away, and the equipment was already completely repaired while she was still at it.

He felt impressed at Lex’s sense. She had been the one who had told him to trade the Mark of the Six-Winged Flying Snake for the Ring of Cosmos, and he had absolutely earned a great deal from that trade.

He wondered, though, “What is the actual level of the Ring of Cosmos, given how it was actually capable of repairing something as high level as the Lightning Moon?”

The goddess’s Withering Dance was extremely masterful. Saleen felt nothing despite being caught within the skill’s range of attack, and that had been the result of the goddess’s impeccable control with the skill.

Tens of thousands of bolts of lightning ravens pounced on the Heretic God while the Withering Dance was still in full effect.

Because the Heretic God was not killed by the Withering Dance, it was also incapable of escaping its range of attack, so much so that it was not even able to move quickly. The power contained within the Lightning Moon could have been used in a cyclic manner. The way the goddess had unleashed its power made it so that the attack seemed unceasing.

The golden hairs all over the Heretic God were now charred within mere moments.

Saleen felt a sense of dread. If the lightning ravens could enter the Heretic God’s body, then it would have been killed by the goddess regardless of how powerful it was. The damage seen at the moment was only on the surface, and the conjured ravens disappeared as soon as they touched the Heretic God’s skin.

Tens of thousands of attacks were carried out in fewer than 10 seconds, and the Heretic God only ended up severely injured in that span of time.

“Is Myers running out of tricks already?” Saleen wondered.