Chapter 10: Unfinished Apotheosis

“A good staff not only helps a mage channel magic elements but also amplifies the effects of cast spells.”

“Most importantly, it eases the burden on the mage’s body caused by the massive amount of magic elements when casting large-scale spells.”

“The pure gemstone embedded in her scepter is a top treasure of the Church of Light, the only one of its kind on the entire continent,” Samir happily explained to Mary.

“With this gemstone, Aude could cast Forbidden Spells as if they were fireworks every day without any problem.”

Mary looked down and focused her attention on the magnificent scepter held across her chest.

The shaft was nearly two meters long, forged from silver metal, with a base cast in gold at one end and a gemstone larger than an adult man’s fist embedded at the top of the other.

The seemingly transparent gem still shimmered with brilliant colors even in the dim light.

Mary didn’t understand the difference between this scepter and the staves used by other mages; after all, the number of mages she had seen in her first dozen or so years didn’t add up to as many as she had met in the past two days.

She had no way of knowing anything about this specialized mage equipment.

She simply felt that Aude’s scepter was not only beautiful but also perfectly matched Aude’s temperament.

Mary gently hoisted Aude up on her back, adjusting her posture.

“So the reason Lord Aude can’t stand up is…”

“Purely because she’s lazy,” Samir exposed her directly.

“I am very tired,” Aude replied.

“But your legs aren’t broken!” Samir remarked sarcastically.

“My legs are weak,” Aude explained.

“Actually, I can carry her,” Mary cut in weakly.

“Besides, it’s good news that Lord Aude is okay!”

After Mary finished speaking, she gave a relieved smile.

No matter how powerful a mage was, they were still ordinary people made of flesh and blood who would feel exhausted; she had plenty of strength, so carrying her wasn’t a big deal.

“…”

“…”

Samir rolled his eyes at Aude and said, “Forget it. Since the matter is resolved, let’s pack up and head back!”

Just as he finished speaking, a dark shadow leaped out from beneath the vines and took a swipe at Jack, who happened to be standing there pointing and gesturing.

Jack caught the dark shadow out of the corner of his eye.

His brain hadn’t even reacted yet, but his hands had subconsciously raised his long blade, and his body naturally stepped back.

The long blade blocked the sneak attack, sparks flying where the sharp claws met the surface of the blade.

Having failed to land the blow, the dark shadow didn’t linger.

As Jack was forced back, it immediately turned and used the vines to accelerate its climb upward.

“Damn it! What was that?” Jack steadied himself and looked up to search for the target.

“Goodness, what is this thing?”

The three people who had been chatting were startled by the attack and hurried to gather around Jack.

They all saw the dark shadow climbing the vines.

The shadow was pitch black, covered in a charred, hard crust formed by the flames.

As it crawled, its limbs moved with great range, pulling the crust apart to reveal shrivelled, dark-red muscles mixed with yellow grease.

The shadow seemed to have lost all sense of pain, crawling faster and faster.

The crust on its body was crushed into even finer pieces, and tiny debris along with ashes from the vines began to fall away.

“It’s the Hunter Rat King! It’s not dead!”

Although its form was shrunken and twisted by the fire, the way the shadow moved was very familiar.

The four people standing beneath the vines had all fought it before and quickly recognized its identity.

“It’s trying to…”

“It wants to devour the divine energy ball! Stop it, quick!” Samir shouted urgently.

He exerted his strength and fired three arrows in rapid succession toward the top of the vines.

Every arrow pierced the Hunter Rat King’s body, yet they failed to slow it down.

Jack kicked off with his long legs, leaped onto the vines, and used both hands and feet to chase after it.

Aude jumped off Mary’s back and raised her scepter toward the retreating back of the rapidly climbing Hunter Rat King.

She fired light bolts instantly, but the Hunter Rat King didn’t dodge; it simply accelerated abruptly.

The light bolts all landed behind the beast.

In the next second, the Hunter Rat King reached the very top of the vines and lunged with all its might toward the divine energy ball in mid-air.

Its entire body merged into the sphere of light and vanished.

“It disappeared?” Mary asked.

“This is bad.”

Samir tried firing a few more arrows at the divine energy ball, but the cold, glinting arrowheads vanished into the sphere of light just like the Hunter Rat King had.

“It’s trying to gamble on the path to godhood! We must stop it!”

A ripple of emotion finally appeared on Aude’s frost-cold face as she stared into the air with a deep frown.

The rest of the personnel from behind gathered around after the sudden turn of events.

The mages all tried throwing magic at the divine energy ball, but the sphere of light only rippled slightly before returning to its original state.

The mages were responsible for long-range attacks.

However, Jack, who had also climbed to the top of the vines, found to his disappointment that the divine energy ball was still a distance away from him.

He had no way to launch an attack.

“Get a swordsman up here! Only swordsmen can attack by releasing sword qi!” Jack steadied his body and shouted loudly as he clung to the edge.

“Listen to him, go!”

After Aude nodded her approval, York quickly arranged for several swordsmen to begin climbing the vines with him.

During their ascent to the top, the mages below never stopped their attacks.

The situation changed once the swordsmen joined the battle.

Holding their swords, the swordsmen stood on the narrow peak, treading on the few footholds available.

One hand gripped a crevice tightly to stabilize themselves while the other slashed forcefully toward the divine energy ball from a distance.

Invisible sword qi flew in the direction of their strikes.

The divine energy ball began to ripple violently.

“Keep attacking, don’t stop!”

Aude raised her scepter once more, and the pure gemstone atop it pulsed with a dazzling halo of light that enveloped everyone.

Mary felt the exhaustion from the past few days of long-distance trekking vanish instantly.

She thought this must be the healing magic from the stories.

After the halo of healing magic faded, the attack speed of the mages and swordsmen increased significantly.

Under the barrage of attacks in such a short time, the divine energy ball even began to lose its perfectly spherical shape.

Finally, the moment before dawn broke, the divine energy ball dissipated.

The vanished Hunter Rat King reappeared in mid-air, and new flesh actually began to grow on its previously charred body!

The Hunter Rat King let out an angry roar.

It was all because of these damned humans that the divine energy ball had vanished prematurely.

It had been so close, just a little more, and it could have used that power to break through its limits and become a new god!

The Hunter Rat King leaped to the top of the vines, and the impact of its landing knocked several swordsmen off.

The wind mages quickly waved their staves, and a gale caught the falling swordsmen.

Meanwhile, York and Jack, relying on their exceptional arm strength, gripped the gaps between the vines tightly, quickly adjusted their stances, and attacked the Hunter Rat King.

The Hunter Rat King swung its sharp claws to defend, but it was no match for the strength of the two men.

York and Jack noticed the beast’s lack of strength and instantly realized it was just a facade; the divine power had not fully restored its strength!

Strike while it’s down!

Jack swung his long blade with a chilling wind, bold and powerful.

York’s sword danced with grace and agility, swift as a passing shadow.

The Hunter Rat King was already being forced back step by step, and coupled with the unfavorable terrain, its hind leg accidentally slipped.

Its massive body plummeted downward.

Seeing this, the knights who had been waiting for a long time surged forward on their steeds, raising their lances to strike the falling Hunter Rat King squarely.

Falling from a great height and unable to control its body, the Hunter Rat King could only watch helplessly as its body was pierced through!

Bright red beast blood quickly coated the lances, and the knights exerted force in unison, tossing the Hunter Rat King onto the ground.

Blood quickly soaked the ground.

As the Hunter Rat King struggled to stand up, it was met with a wide variety of spells from the mages.

It dodged with great effort, but it was ultimately futile.

Having lost too much blood, the Hunter Rat King knew it wouldn’t escape death today.

It had never expected to lose so quickly and so painfully!

When bound by the soaring blood-sucking vines, it had never given up on saving itself, finally gnawing through the vines only to find the humans casting a Forbidden Spell.

The moment the celestial fire descended, it had struggled to hide among the other Magic Beast Kings, using their bodies to shield itself from the terrifying high temperatures, enduring bitterly until now!

It had even successfully devoured the divine energy ball!

It should have become a god!

The instinct etched into its body, its bones, and the very genes of a magic beast told it that after absorbing enough divine power, it should have become the new ruler of magic beasts!

No, it was unwilling to die at the hands of these humans!

Dodging the sword qi of the swordsmen, the Hunter Rat King gathered its last breath and awkwardly channeled the power it had just acquired in its body.

Its crimson eyes stared fixedly at Aude.

It was this human who had released the Forbidden Spell, causing its injuries to be so severe that half the power in the divine energy ball had been used just to repair its body.

But the remaining power was enough!

The Hunter Rat King’s skin began to crack, an ominous red light shimmering within the fissures.

“It’s going to self-destruct!”

“Get back!”

Without time to think, Mary immediately tackled Aude to the ground, attempting to use her own body to block the danger.

The others scattered to take cover.

Unexpectedly, the Hunter Rat King’s move was a feint; it took the opportunity to smash through an opening and flee once again!

“We’ve been played by this beast again! Everyone, chase it!” Samir was practically fuming with rage.

He had never seen a magic beast so good at running!

Mary also scrambled up and joined the pursuit.

Before running very far, the Hunter Rat King was forced to slow down.

The wounds pierced by the lances were still bleeding; it was simply too heavily injured.

And the humans were chasing it once again.

The Hunter Rat King stopped moving.

Samir also came to a halt and signaled for the others not to act rashly.

Having let the Hunter Rat King escape time and time again, even the less intelligent among them had learned their lesson.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Sure enough, in the next second, the Hunter Rat King’s broken body was torn apart by a majestic and violent power.

Samir, being the closest, was knocked off his feet by the force, stopping only after slamming into a tree trunk.

He stood up unsteadily and coughed heavily several times, spitting out blood; his internal organs had been injured.

The others didn’t fare much better; some were blown away while others were knocked unconscious.

Several others were also injured and spitting blood.

“Such powerful energy!” Mary, who was the furthest away, was only knocked back a few steps.

“It’s the divine power that wasn’t digested or integrated,” Aude said, arriving with her scepter and standing behind Mary.

The divine power swirled above the Hunter Rat King’s corpse, refusing to dissipate.

It tried to return to the body several times but found no way.

Seeing this, Aude thought for a moment before having an epiphany.

“This power is searching for a vessel to contain it!”

Mary didn’t quite understand how power could search for a vessel on its own.

Had the divine power come to life and gained a mind after being absorbed by the Hunter Rat King?

“Can divine power think?” she asked Aude.

“In principle, no,” Aude said, her eyes fixed on the swirling divine power.

“When a god falls, the divine power dissipates. That is the natural law.”

“The divine power in the Misty Forest refusing to dissipate all these years was already abnormal.”

“The Goddess once revealed that it’s because the Protector’s divine power was too strong,” Samir said, clutching his chest as he approached.

“The Hunter Rat King and the other eight Magic Beast Kings are all dead, and there are no other magic beasts nearby.”

“Cough, cough…” Samir coughed up more blood, and Mary quickly helped him sit down.

“Everything will be fine as long as we wait for this energy to disappear,” Samir finished speaking while panting heavily.