Chapter 544: Divine Self-destruction

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Napus, the God of Discipline. He was a Low God who could only be considered a third-rate God among all the Order Gods. Still, Napus was the main God worshiped in the Sala Dukedom.

Worship was the equivalent of nourishment for the Order Gods. Smaller countries had weaker Gods. That was the unwritten rule of the world. Also, the rise of a new mega-empire or new species would always represent the ascension of a new powerful God, such as Wumianzhe from back in the day. Wumianzhe was now not only the God of Hell, but he was also the Guardian God of the Mist Alliance. He had come a long way from being only a weak God in the Underground.

While there were examples of successful Gods, there were also plenty of examples of Gods that went too overboard with their newfound power, such as Lorci or the Queen of Storms, who were both now dead.

According to the Holy War’s tradition, since the Sala Dukedom was Napus’s territory, he would be considered the guardian of this country. If the forces of Chaos attacked the forces of Order here, Napus should have been the first to respond and defend his people by leading the members of his church.

Yet, by the time that he reacted, it was likely that the Undead Calamity would have spread already, together with a great population reduction of the Sala Dukedom. It was likely that Napus might die due to not having enough belief before he even gathered enough forces to stop the Undead Calamity.

This was why the Low Gods, who relied entirely on power of belief to sustain themselves, had such a difficult time surviving Holy Wars. Although Low Gods were far above ordinary mortals, they also greatly relied on mortals, and the moment that war broke out, it was the Low Gods who would be leaving the stage first.

From a certain standpoint, Roland had greatly helped out Napus. The end result of a battle between a Low God and an Undead Emperor with a Main God’s power level would be a foregone conclusion.

Right now, Napus was likely panicking more than anyone as he observed the scattering undead.

Far off in the distance, Napus’s knights had erected a defensive campground. It included a very hastily assembled altar, where a once-proud head priest was kneeling and praying with his hands clenched together.

It seemed that the God up above heard his prayer as the clouds suddenly opened up and a beam of light descended right upon the head priest, igniting him with a holy fire.

“A sacrifice…”

It was well known that hosting a God’s power would be no easy task. I highly doubted that a random head priest in such a small country would be capable of being a host for a God’s Descent. In that case, this meant that the head priest would have to sacrifice his life, body, and soul in order to perform the God’s Descent for Napus.

Also, a vessel that wasn’t sufficiently powerful and had low synchronization with the God would also affect the God’s power in the vessel. How many seconds the vessel would last was also another problem.

“Well, if he can finish casting at least one Divine Art, it will probably help the situation.”

Soon, I didn’t need to guess anymore…

A three-meter-tall knight of light riding on a white horse suddenly arose from the pillar of light which had descended upon the now deceased head priest. This was the human form of the God of Discipline.

The knight powerfully swung around a snow-white spear, seeming like he was angrily roaring something…

*Boom!*

Alright, as expected, he directly self-destructed. With him at the center, the entire horizon was lit up by a brilliant white light.

The power of a True God’s incarnation’s self-destruction could be considered one of the strongest possible attacks in the mortal plane. Forcefully descending upon a vessel that wasn’t suitable for a God’s Descent and then self-destructing the incarnation would mean that a Low God like Napus had likely lost more than a hundred years’ worth of accumulated power.

Still, a God’s incarnation’s self-destruction would have tremendous power even if it was only from a Low God. A powerful white light illuminated everything as the horizon was washed over with the positive energy of the God’s power. All the undead caught within the explosion were ignited and howled in pain as they were vaporized.

Perhaps Napus wasn’t a powerful God. However, his Divine Concept was Discipline, a pure power of Order. He was also one of the God of Holy Light’s Follower Gods, meaning that his powers would naturally be the greatest threat to all undead creatures.

The unluckiest of all was probably a lich Undead Lord that flew using his magic powers. Originally, he should have been one of the likeliest to escape as he was flying at high speed. However, he ran directly into this positive energy explosion that was impossible to dodge, yet his body was filled with powerful negative energy.

The lich Undead Lord’s crown and staff were instantly destroyed. His bones, which had been wrapped in a pitch-black magical aura, were illuminated by white light as positive energy poured out of his eyes and mouth. The frightening lich’s skeleton actually transformed into a beacon of Holy Light that let off brilliant light from all of its orifices.

That ridiculous sight lasted for only an instant before the lich exploded into nothingness in the next moment.

Huge swathes of the undead died instantly. In front of such a large area-of-effect forbidden spell, survival depended on luck, and even more on your power level. The weaker the undead, the more impossible it would be for them to survive.

Everywhere that the Holy Light shock wave traveled, zombies became meat, skeletons became spare parts, ghouls became barbequed, bone dragons became lanterns, and banshees vanished into bubbles just like how a certain little mermaid would.

“How many times have forbidden spells been used here now…”

In a way, even I felt rather helpless now. Whenever top-level fighting strength appeared on a normal battlefield, things would always end up in a contest between forbidden spells and self-destruction. There would be explosions everywhere, meaning that being a normal melee combat unit was a pitiful experience. Even if you were as strong as Myth rank, it was quite possible that a mage or a priest could kill you without your even realizing it.

The divine self-destruction shock wave didn’t only affect the ground. The wood spirit aerial knights were not far away from the explosion as they had been hunting the undead. No matter what type of magical plant or apparatus they were using to fly, they were all knocked down by this powerful shock wave.

Fortunately, wood spirits were flesh and blood living beings that also possessed powerful positive energy. Since their magical plants and machines took the brunt of the positive energy shock wave, there wasn’t much damage to the wood spirits’ physical bodies. They all recovered after momentary dizziness.

The gnomes’ parachutes were standard equipment for all aerial knights. I saw numerous white flowers blooming in the skies as the wood spirits activated their parachutes. But, judging from how the wood spirits were all waving their tiny fists at the sky, they weren’t in any way thankful to the God that knocked them down.

The wood spirits were on the outskirts of the self-destruction’s shock wave. However, Napus’s knights who were protecting the head priest were right at the center.

Even after the head priest had completed the God’s Descent, not a single one of his protecting knights retreated. Thus, they were all swallowed up by that fatal white light.

With how powerful a God’s incarnation’s self-destruction would be, it was impossible for there to be any survivors among Napus’s knights. But judging from how his knights had fearlessly remained behind, facing their certain doom, they had long prepared to sacrifice themselves there.

“This is their home. They’re defending their families and people…”

Compared to long-lived species, humans were short-lived and lacking in talent. Humans had many worries and desires. Humans seemed like they were shortsighted and wasted their lives. But when faced with danger, there would always be heroes. Perhaps it was precisely because they had many worries and responsibilities that they knew the value of life and how necessary it was to make some sacrifices at a critical moment.

I had seen far too many warriors and defenders like this so far…

And, their sacrifice had bought enough time for the head priest to complete his God’s Descent for the God’s incarnation’s self-destruction. This indeed obtained massive combat results. More than 80% of the scattering undead had been killed by the explosion. The remaining undead were all injured. Once the wood spirits’ second wave of aerial knights arrived, hunting down the undead would be far easier for certain. Perhaps a few undead would still manage to escape their hunt, but the few that escaped wouldn’t cause nearly as much devastation as the original number of scattered undead would have.

I was finally able to rest slightly assured after seeing how terrible the undead were doing. I could now finally focus on the ruins—Timlad had yet to contact me after his first message asking for assistance.

“He won’t really die there, will he? I think I should probably go check things out.”

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