Chapter 1669 - A Preliminary Victory (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The relentless barrage lasted for about thirty minutes, or maybe much longer. As the blinding light disrupted everyone’s senses, the powerful energies distorted the space-time continuum around the epicenter of the explosion. Hao Ren only found it to be a long process, and this time around, there were no more doppelgangers. The goddess of annihilation was out of unpleasant surprises.
It seemed like she was either so badly suppressed by the blast that she could not budge or she had been totally annihilated.
To be honest, he did not think that such an attack could kill off a being who was considered a real god, even if said entity had been greatly weakened in addition to a bonus internal injury courtesy of Lil Pea. The best idea Hao Ren could think of was to severely injure the evil goddess to buy time for the rest to retreat, then come up with a plan to use the World Tree’s powers against her.
However, after the bombardment went on for a while, he started to have an unlikely hope. Perhaps he had hit the jackpot and could actually kill the goddess of annihilation right there and then? That would get him at least three-years-worth of a bonus!
Just as he was entertaining those nonsensical thoughts, the bombardment ceased.
It was not due to the starship’s weapon systems overheating or their ammunition depleting. Rather, it was because the dimension’s endurance had been pushed to the limit. The Umbral Realm was originally located in a very weak location by the edge of the world barrier and the void, the battle here had greatly weakened the order of the area, and if the bombardment were to continue, the entire zone of order may be pierced through, and trigger a catastrophe called the ‘Void Reflux’.
That will cause everything within the Umbral Realm, including Hao Ren and his team who had yet to retreat, and L’Haronne to be dissolved into basic information units, and could even damage the already fragile world barrier of the Plane of Dreams and drag a good part of the universe into the void storm, and send Raven 12345’s bonus for the latter part of her life down the gutter…
Everyone focused on nervously at the scene within the universe as the energy wave created by the barrage quickly faded away. And as the scorching dimension finally cooled down and once again visible, Hao Ren found it empty.
The pale evil goddess was nowhere to be seen.
A swarm of bats fluttered over to Hao Ren’s side as quickly reformed as Vivian. Her face was pale, and her eyes tired, but she still came to give Hao Ren a helping hand at the first opportunity. “Are you alright? Sorry, I couldn’t help you earlier. Got tangled up with that doppelganger…”
“I’m okay, all things considered. Got a few broken bones, and my heart stopped for a bit. They’ve regenerated, but it still hurts like hell.” Hao Ren hissed through his teeth as the pain, which he had suppressed by sheer will earlier, started to rear its head. That left him feeling like part of his body was no longer his own. “Ouch… some that b*stard’s attacks pierced through my shield… probably divine energies…”
Vivian frowned, clearly pained at Hao Ren’s condition. “Told you to spend more time studying the divine arts. Raven 12345 is a pretty decent person, plus it’s not like you need to pay anything to believe in her…”
“Bloody hell, it’s because it’s free that I cannot take it seriously.” Hao Ren clicked his tongue as he slipped in vulgarities. “‘Getting strong without whaling’ is actually a line printed on the latest edition of the scripture. Forget about reaffirming my faith, me not laughing outright is already testing the limits of my will…”
Badmouthing his goddess was the best stress reliever, and after that rant, he actually felt much better. Heaving a deep breath, he looked on at the flickering dimension ridden with lightning arcs. “say… did we actually took her out?”
A heavy footstep rang out from behind, as Y’zaks in his flame demon form walked over. His rock-like body had many wounds oozing lava and flame, but otherwise, he looked pretty stoked. Probably it was a while since he had to go all out with an equal foe, and today’s battle allowed him to move those old bones. Upon hearing what Hao Ren said, he thundered, “Probably done for, I cannot sense her presence anymore. And at that sort of bombardment… who can possibly survive that?”
“She also ate a similar barrage at the start and walked out unscathed before slapping us in the face with a wave of doppelgangers.” Hao Ren was dismissive. “Don’t look down on a real god’s vitality. That firepower earlier would merely be a scratch wound for a real god in his prime…”
“Your concern is well-founded.” Before Hao Ren could finish, the goddess of creation’s voice came from the side. “She’s escaped.”
Compared to the regal serenity she had when she woke up, the goddess was in a very sorry state now, and much weakened too.
Hao Ren was slightly stunned before his expression turned grim. While he thought that killing off the goddess of annihilation in this encounter was not probable, he did hope for it. But now that he got a clear answer from the goddess of creation, it did not feel good at all.
“Are you sure?” Hao Ren smiled bitterly at the goddess before shrugging without letting her answer. “All right, you’re definitely sure. She’s a part of you anyway…”
The goddess of creation was not bothered by Hao Ren’s reaction. She continued, “She did not run off herself. She was dragged away.”
Hao Ren’s eyes widened, as he and Vivian concurrently went, “Dragged away? By whom?”
“…It’s difficult to explain, and I might be wrong.” The goddess of creation pondered for a bit before she cautiously said, “You can take it as she was spirited away by the Mad Lord. But given that the Mad Lord does not have an objective consciousness, she was actually pulled away by the ‘natural phenomenon’ of the Dark Abyss.”