Chapter 109 - A God Made by Receiving (4)

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■—!!!!

Trees were crushed as the god, slammed into the ground, let out wild, hideous screams.

Yet the man who had brought the god low gazed at the fallen creature as though entirely unmoved.

Jenira stared blankly at the man, whose eyes held something immense and sacred.

"Pull yourself together."

"Ah—"

At the man's words—no, Marquis Pallatio's—she gave a startled cry.

"Can you stand?"

"Ah, um—yes."

"Then go down from the altar now. Your sister will be waiting."

"Um, what are you going to do...?"

He looked at Jenira without expression, then bent down to pick up the frozen apple she had dropped earlier and handed it to her.

"Deal with that thing before I come down, naturally."

With that, he turned his gaze away as though he had nothing more to say.

Then—

"Jenira!"

"Sister!"

Unable to bear waiting below the altar any longer, Sircal climbed up.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Take her down quickly."

As soon as she hurried away with her younger sister,

'Wow. I knew it was big, but it's fucking enormous.'

Watching Basiliora the Receiver thrash wildly, he clutched at his pounding heart.

If not for Deus, he would have been swallowed along with Jenira.

But he dwelled on that only briefly. Taking a mana potion from his waist and pouring it into his mouth, he looked at the iron spear lodged in the roof of Basiliora's mouth.

'The surprise attack worked. Phase one is complete. What matters starts now.'

He shifted his gaze below the altar.

Basiliora the Receiver let out a monstrous shriek whose fury was unmistakable.

■■■■■■■■■■■■—!

The shriek made his entire body tingle.

That chilling scream felt like icy raindrops battering every inch of him.

Then—

["What the hell are you?!!"]

Words rang inside his head.

It was the voice of Basiliora, which had gained intelligence along with its divinity.

The rage was unmistakable.

And yet...

'... Fear?'

There seemed to be a faint trace of that emotion in Basiliora's voice as well.

KRRRRAAACK—!

The creature began coiling its way up the altar once more to finish Alon off.

Basiliora charged upward with such force that it smashed the altar's edges to pieces.

The sight was enough to send a chill through even Alon.

Unfortunately for the creature, however, it never reached the top.

■■■■■■■■—!

Violet threads had already wound tightly around its enormous body and were dragging it back to the ground.

Then—

"You think I'll let you reach the marquis?"

Deus struck down on its rising head, and the Thunder Serpent's god fell to the ground once again.

####

Reinhardt was certain Marquis Pallatio could not possibly be sane.

Every word out of his mouth was something no person in their right mind would ever say. In other words, the sort of thing only a madman would say.

Yes.

That was certainly what he had thought.

Until he saw it for himself.

"Ha."

Reinhardt stared at the distant scene, unable to close his gaping mouth.

There, the Thunder Serpent's god—so immense that the mere sight of it had made him shake his head in dismay—was falling to the ground.

The sight of a human seemingly casting a god down to earth sent a thrill through even Reinhardt's twisted heart.

And that was not all.

'... That's Deus?'

It had not been that long since he last saw Deus, yet the boy had grown stronger than he could have imagined.

BOOOOM—!

Reinhardt clearly saw the enormous creature's tail strike Deus and send him flying.

He smashed through every tree in his path.

Despite the rain, a great cloud of dust billowed up as though a massive spell had struck. It suggested that Deus had taken an attack that even a Swordmaster could not possibly emerge from unscathed.

In fact, it could have killed him instantly.

"..."

Yet Deus stood before him looking perfectly fine, merely covered in dust and mud.

'His unique ability?'

Reinhardt readily realized what Deus had done and gave a disbelieving laugh.

At the moment the god's attack struck, Deus had wrapped himself in the threads of his unique ability, shielding himself from the blow.

Seeing that, Basiliora charged wildly to finish Deus off.

KRRRRAAACK—!

The calamity advanced, making a noise like disaster sweeping over the world simply by crawling across the ground. It thrust its body forward as though to crush Deus outright.

But the next instant, Deus stopped the calamity.

He lashed it to the surrounding trees with a tangled web of violet threads.

Then, winding threads around his own body to block its advance, he drew his sword and swung, even diverting the calamity's course.

KRRRRAAACK—!

Basiliora shot away in a direction entirely different from the altar and crashed into a towering cliff.

Goosebumps rose all over Reinhardt's body.

'Just how much has he grown?'

He had thought he himself had made great strides.

Yet the person he had set his sights on had already climbed far higher.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■—!

As the calamity charged at Deus again with another spine-chilling shriek, Reinhardt could only look appalled.

After all, aside from losing part of its upper jaw to Marquis Pallatio's initial attack, Basiliora had suffered little real damage.

Basiliora the Receiver charged at Deus once more—or rather, at the altar.

Deus readied himself to stop the calamity again, but now he seemed to be struggling.

"Tch."

Clicking his tongue, Reinhardt moved, arriving in front of Deus in a single burst.

"I was saving this for my final trump card!"

With that brief complaint, he took his stance before the wildly charging calamity.

Right foot forward and left foot back, he raised his right hand, which held the scabbard.

CLICK—!

Reinhardt gripped the sword with his left hand.

GRIND—!

Clenching his teeth, he drove strength into his right foot.

CRUNCH!

His foot dug into the earth.

Then, as the calamity came right up to him—

"Secret Art—"

Reinhardt slashed his sword downward, unveiling the ultimate technique he had developed during his time in the jungle.

—Meteor Sword.

ROOOOOAR—!!!

As he drew the sword forward and slashed down toward the ground, everything around him began to be crushed.

The soil.

The trees.

The pebbles.

Even the rain falling from the sky.

Everything shattered beneath gravity that had instantly intensified nearly dozens of times over.

■■■■■■■■■■■—!

The enormous calamity heading toward the temple was likewise slammed into the ground by gravity.

Then—

"Preparations complete. Everyone, move as planned."

Marquis Pallatio's voice brought it all to a close.

####

Alon's thoughts were equal parts surprise and concern.

'... I didn't ask them to go that far to stop it.'

From the outset, he had anticipated that Basiliora the Receiver would climb the altar to some extent.

His plan had assumed that Deus would stop the calamity-like Basiliora's advance only once or twice at the start.

He had not thought Deus could hold it back any longer than that.

So he was genuinely astonished that Deus had managed to stop the god to this extent.

Beast though it was, it had fed on faith for so long that, even if it was not a true god, it could at least qualify as a guardian deity. Stopping such a being's attacks was no easy feat.

Moreover, Basiliora's body had the property of reducing damage from anyone without divine stature, which must have made holding it back all the harder.

Thanks to that, however, Alon had easily finished all his preparations. After confirming that Deus and Reinhardt had swiftly withdrawn from the battlefield, he let out a sigh.

"Whew..."

He watched Basiliora the Receiver charge once again toward the altar where he stood.

■■■■■■■■■■■—!

Perhaps because its attacks had already been stopped so many times, Basiliora charged without another word, shrieking madly. It was truly a calamity.

But at the sight, Alon merely formed a hand seal.

"Single Point."

He recited the phrase.

There were three preparations Alon had needed to make, which was why he had been buying time ever since his first strike against Basiliora.

First, restoring his mana.

His abysmal mana reservoir had lost most of its contents to a single use of magic, so he needed time to replenish it.

"Expansion."

Next, he needed to cut off the faith flowing to Basiliora while buying time for the debuff he had asked the Thunder Serpent tribe to apply to take effect.

Basiliora had already accumulated so much faith that cutting it off would not do much harm, but the debuff the tribe cast through its shamanic arts would certainly help.

And—

"Vibration."

Finally, he needed to let his artifact, the Eye-Eater's Necklace, find Basiliora's weakness.

With those preparations complete, at the very moment Basiliora hauled its body up to climb the altar—

"Destruction."

Alon cast his magic at the altar.

And with it—

KRRRRRAAACK—!!!

The enormous altar, already cracked, collapsed.

ROOOOOAR—!

Water began bursting out.

A colossal flood poured forth, not merely sweeping away everything nearby in an instant but engulfing half of Basiliora's body as well.

Even amid the sudden crisis, Alon did not panic.

Destroying one of the dozens of Rain Altars responsible for the Jungle Floods he had experienced so often while playing Psychedelia had been the final step all along.

Alon looked down.

Every preparation was complete.

Basiliora the Receiver was now under the Thunder Serpent tribe's debuff.

Its body was submerged in the flood.

And lodged in the mouth of that so-called god was an enormous spear, reforged through magic with the Thunder Serpent tribe's help, which would serve as a lightning rod.

All that remained was to deliver the final blow.

"Arrangement of Thunder."

He murmured softly.

At that moment, Deus and Reinhardt, who had followed Alon's instructions and retreated to high ground in the jungle beyond the flood's reach, witnessed it.

Beneath the darkened, ash-gray sky, a vivid light burst from Marquis Pallatio, standing at the center of their view, as though splitting the world in two.

"Holy shit—"

Reinhardt swore, his face filled with shock.

"..."

Once more brimming with reverence, Deus gripped his sword's hilt.

Then, behind Marquis Pallatio, who bore the pure white light that had split the world in two, a pair of eyes appeared as though branded into the air.

Radiance cleaved through the gray and descended.