Chapter 1361 - Collaboration 1 (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the pitch-black Abyss
“Ann, everything’s been properly arranged,” said a blonde-haired woman dressed in red softly, floating in front of Ann.
“Are all the fifteen nodes we set up in the north complete?” Ann’s back was facing the woman as she played with a dagger with a black handle that glowed with a faint silver light. An indiscernible red light flashed across the dagger occasionally.
“It’s complete. Each of the fifteen nodes will be guarded by a Demigod,” the woman replied hurriedly.
Ann turned around, frowning.
“It’s too bad that you’re the only one under my wing that I can use, Mura and the others left too soon… They couldn’t even wait for my reappearance.”
“Even with your mighty abilities, milady, there’s no way you could have saved them. That’s the inevitability of time…” The woman’s expression had a hint of melancholy as well.
Ann was the leader of the strongest Dragons of Disaster, the Three Monarchs, so she would naturally have extremely powerful forces under her command. At first, she had five Dragons of Disaster with the power of Lower Gods as her generals, but now this woman was the only one left. The incomparably powerful and glorious sect from back then was now reduced to slightly over twenty Demigod-level powerhouses. As for those below Demigod-level, they were practically negligible.
“I’ve contacted some people, it all depends on how the general situation goes. Even if I don’t have many people, I still need to make my move. This is the best time right now,” said Ann calmly.
“The time?”
“One week from now…” Ann raised her head and looked at a certain direction. Her gaze seemed to penetrate countless barriers, finding a powerful being hiding in the darkness. “He can’t escape…”
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Garen woke from his immersion.
He glanced at the time, and the timekeeper in his Willpower Neuroprocessor told him that it had been more than ten days since he began his immersion.
Without knowing it, he had noticed that black circle of light that grew ever more complicated and sophisticated at the back of his mind. It was something like a ring of light, and inside it, there was a large amount of data and many runes, flowing, moving, and computing. The carving of most of the patterns and runes around the ring of light had been completed, but there was still a small section that had yet to be done.
“A Decay Divine Persona, is it?” Garen reached his senses toward the thing his Willpower Neuroprocessor had created using that wisp of Divinity. He had never seen a Divine Persona before, but that did not mean he could not find out what ring of light actually was.
He used more than twenty years and most of the computing power in his Neuroprocessor, and now that he had finally gotten this thing as a result, it had to be related to a Divine Persona somehow.
“A Divine Persona is the final product of Divinity lit up with sacred fire, and it can use the Divine Domain to convert Divine Power. It requires the input of everything, the soul and the Willpower. Right now, I’m still a single independent unit, so I clearly don’t count as a Divine Persona. In that case, what is this thing?” Garen observed the black circle of light behind him, somewhat confused.
This thing was emitting many black silk threads, absorbing a special something that felt like Soul Energy from the Void surrounding him, as though they were so many tree roots.
The thing that was being absorbed came with hints of terror, fear, hatred, antagonism and other similar emotions. Clearly, this was the power of fear and respect unique to Dragons of Disaster.
“What do I represent?”
Garen frowned slightly.
“What do those who treat me as their enemy see me as?”
As soon as that question rose from his heart, it was as though he could instantly hear a great many different voices.
“Cold Winter Dragon, I curse you! May you be confined and tortured forever in the bottomless Abyss.”
“The Lord of Hell will someday tear off your skin and flesh, drying them out the gates of hell!!”
“I will get my revenge! Someday, I’ll kill you!!”
“Cold Winter Dragon, I want your life in exchange for my son’s!!!”
Countless voices surged up from the bottom of his heart.
Garen watched these voices quietly. It was strange, to be hated by so many survivors. It was his first time feeling something like this.
Other than that, there was also the power of worship from those who feared him. These beliefs were much simpler, mostly they just involved praying that he would not appear and spread the Wintry Death.
“Looks like this thing truly is a semi-completed product. It’s just that I’ve yet to properly decide what I represent.” Garen understood now.
Ann represented time and shadow, so her Divine Persona will convert all the power of fear and worship into Divine Power of time and shadow, or rather, the power of Disaster.
“The Divinity and Divine Persona I have constructed are based mainly on Decay, so I’ll temporarily set my position as Decay for now.” Garen mused over it for a while, and directly decided on this rarer Divine Doman.
‘Confirming the Divine Domain… Initial determination — Decay. Includes rotting, wasting away, and can extend to aging and death as a result of the passage of time.’
The Willpower Neuroprocessor instantly gave him a response.
The instant he decided on his Divine Domain, Garen abruptly felt his body shudder. The ring of black light behind his back began to tremor abruptly, rapidly finishing up the remaining incomplete patterns and runes. Within a few dozen seconds, the whole circle was utterly complete.
Once the ring was complete, it looked just like a wheel of burning flames wrapped around a large ring. Many dots of black light spread and scattered from the edges of the ring. It looked eerie and creepy.
Mysteriously, Garen could vaguely feel a powerful gaze staring at him from across the endless distance.
That gaze was icy cold and emotionless, and carried with it the aura of death. Even the faraway distance could not hinder its penetrating stare.
“The God of Death… Did the overlap in our Divine Domains result in a conflict over the worship power?” Garen’s heart gave a jolt. He knew that the Divine Domain he had settled on probably overlapped with that of the God of Death, and in that case, there would surely be a divine battle to fight over that Divine Domain.
“I just only determined my Divine Domain and I haven’t accumulated enough Divine Power yet. Looks like I’d better stay out of the way for now…” An intense wariness rose in Garen’s heart.
The God of Death was a true Higher God, in name and in power, and was one of the more formidable presences even among the Divine Systems. Going head-on against him would not end well at all.
When that thought occurred to him, the ring of black flames behind him automatically hid itself, but he could still feel those many root-like black threads connecting him to those lives and souls that feared or hated him. They were still providing him with an endless supply of that immense worship power.