Chapter 439: Ninety-Second Floor, The Feast’s End (5)

[Eliminate the third-class god ‘Eternal Feast’ alongside the other apostles. Time remaining: 47 hours 15 minutes.]

I was certain that dragging out the fight would eventually tip the battle in my favor, but that didn’t ease the tension. I had more factors to consider. One was the traitor the tower had warned me about. The other was Eternal Feast’s true strength.

So far, we had clashed twice, and both times he had utilized a similar strategy.

Hiding a secondary blast in a larger beam.

The first had erupted from the front of his strike, the second from its flank. That couldn’t be the full extent of his power. It had caught me off guard at first, but once I accounted for it, the attacks were easy enough to dodge.

Now, Eternal Feast finally drew a sword and whip.

Just as I thought, dodging while conserving strength isn’t going to be enough.

The traitor could also become a more serious variable than expected. Of course, that assumed there was a traitor, but it was better to plan as if one existed. What mattered most was the role they would play when the moment came.

The apostles themselves were not a threat to me one-on-one. There was no way the tower had assigned four apostles to me merely because Eternal Feast had two.

If they turn against me, it will certainly be troublesome.

I doubted it would end with a mere backstab, though, and it all came down to their timing. The traitor remained an unknown, just like Eternal Feast’s full power. Still, I had acted arrogantly to draw out more of Eternal Feast’s strength. Whether the taunt actually worked was another question.

Hmm.

Sword and whip in hand, Eternal Feast looked ready to leap at me, yet he remained atop the skyscraper. From on high, he stared down at me with imperious eyes. My provocation had failed to move him.

Is he letting me come to him?

If so, he was acting strangely for his position. Normally, one would treat the high ground as an advantage.

Moving upward will leave me open to attack. Considering that, then why not at least support his apostles?

Even assuming there was a traitor, having my four allies join me would make the fight far easier. It would also help wear down Eternal Feast’s power. As if reinforcing my assumption, the moment I unleashed lightning toward his apostles, he attacked. Eternal Feast hurled his burning gold whip.

That was right, he didn’t swing it—he threw it.

What?

It was far too clumsy to be a proper attack. It shot toward me quickly, but for a god of his caliber, it felt weak. As I had suspected, he wasn’t trying to hit me. It halted above my head, rippling in the air like a serpent.

Crack—!

Then the eight-meter length began to stretch endlessly. It extended at a terrifying speed while folding and turning in midair, then lengthening again. It remained suspended in midair, though it wasn’t anchored to anything. Golden lines crisscrossed around me, not aiming to strike me directly, but to pen me in. In the blink of an eye, whiplines spread out in all directions.

It wasn’t a simple trick.

As I prepared to use Flash Strike to escape the enclosure, Eternal Feast leapt from the skyscraper, holding another whip. A second blazing golden streak fell toward me with incredible speed.

I calculated fast, but the whip was already whipping through the space around me.

Shit, there isn’t a better option.

Eternal Feast reached me faster than I could escape with Flash Strike. Rather than let myself get caught in an awkward position and face him poorly, I decided to stand my ground. Of course, I didn’t know what would come next, other than the fact that Eternal Feast wanted to keep me trapped.

I swung my axe to meet the oncoming sword.

Clang!

The impact rattled my hands, and without giving me room for a counterattack, he followed it up with a slash, which I barely blocked with a twist of my axe. I barely bore the brunt of a third-class god’s frontal attack.

I was clearly driven back. Stepping backward, I let the force slide off to my side, all while gauging the gaps in the lashes. He didn’t give me a moment’s rest, however, and launched strike after strike. Metallic clashes rang one after another.

I pushed his blade upward, then, taking advantage of our positions mid-air, drove my heel toward his chin.

Eternal Feast snapped his neck back. I hadn’t expected the kick to land anyway. Using my momentum, I twisted and vaulted over a section of a whip behind me. He stabbed at me while I was still vaulting backward, but I knocked his sword aside.

His strikes lacked true killing intent. He wasn’t trying to finish me, just pin me down. After only a few exchanges, the space around me became a chaos of whips.

I was enclosed within a giant cube formed from blazing crimson-gold lashes. It felt as if I was trapped in the center of a vast, tangled spiderweb. Even within the cube, the whips filled the space and even threaded through buildings.

At that moment, the lashes surged powerfully as causality and divinity fused.

What is this?

It resembled a domain, but there was a clear difference, as it was lacking something. Whatever it was, it was no ordinary trap. Infused with his divinity and causality, it became something greater. My domain still functioned within the cage, which confirmed my suspicion.

Not a domain, but it isn’t to be taken lightly.

It was like the lashes sought to bind me, and that sensation didn’t just come from how many there were. As I clashed with Eternal Feast, my eyes roved ceaselessly over the space around me. At random moments, the whip lashed out, although to be fair, that was their intended purpose.

Unlike how much the whips impeded my movement, they shifted aside whenever Eternal Feast advanced, opening the way for his attacks.

Another lash flew toward me right as Eternal Feast struck with his sword, and I brought my axe up before sweeping it in front of me. Metal clanged as weapon met weapon. Having knocked his sword aside, I searched for an opening.

The whips formed a dense lattice, twisting and rearranging with every movement he and I made. Predicting a route in advance was nearly impossible. Still, that was no reason to let myself be cowed. I had already evaded the maze’s strikes on the ninety-first floor. Lines that could be seen could also be avoided.

As I reassured myself, one of the whip sections behind me tightened. I shifted half a step to the side, but it tracked me relentlessly.

The same was true of Eternal Feast’s blade.

I threw myself to the floor and rolled forward, then rose and swung my axe to meet the incoming whip and blade.

A third-class god is still a third-class god.

Though not a battle-hardened god, he was undeniably experienced. Finding an opening proved difficult. Again, I narrowly slipped past the lashing whips and countered his sword. The instant his weapon struck mine, it rebounded, and a flare burst behind me. One of the lashing whip sections had just fired a beam.

Huh?

It was the same attack from before. Slightly less powerful, perhaps, but its proximity made it far more dangerous.

I instantly layered Flash Strike.

However, one meter was just too close. Unable to dodge, the beam drove toward my chest. At the same time, Eternal Feast thrust straight toward my heart. One strike would obliterate my lungs while the other would pierce my heart. Both were lethal, and I couldn’t evade them both, at least, completely.

Of the two, the sword presented greater danger.

Damn it.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

I couldn’t simultaneously twist my torso and legs without breaking my stance, leaving me unable to fully deflect the blade. Instead, I flicked my wrist, angling my axe. Soulbound crashed against the side of the stabbing sword. The instant the axe knocked it aside, I twisted my torso as much as I could.

Zzhing—

The beam tore through my left side, and I could vividly feel my flesh rend and burn within moments. Eternal Feast pressed forward unceasingly, bearing down with merciless force. I tried to parry again, but now that my stance had faltered, my defense was compromised. I abandoned my attempt to retain my footing, and the blow sent me flying. A second or so later, Eternal Feast caught up with me.

I need to focus.

Even my landing spot was filled with thrashing whip segments. Expanding my senses, I twisted to dodge the lashes coming my way. I weaved through the curving lines like a tightrope walker.

The beams were another matter altogether, however. Before they could hit me, I wrenched open a portal, but right as I was mostly through it, a ray pierced my right calf, and a lash struck my back.

It hollowed out my calf, leaving it seared and raw. Thankfully, the lash across my back was less severe. It hurt, but my armor was holding. Still, it felt like it had churned my insides. The portal closed behind me just in time, though the force from the lash hadn’t disappeared.

Even as I landed and rolled outside of the cube of whips, I skidded nearly twenty meters before coming to a stop. My calf muscles quivered violently, but I didn’t have the leeway to linger.

I pressed a hand to my side. Blue-gold radiance spread across my body, but I was recovering more slowly.

Is it because it was a god’s strike? This isn’t a joke.

Perhaps I had been too optimistic about the restrictions placed upon him.

I had measured him against Endless Furnace, a former third-class god whose full strength I had never seen—they had been fifth-class during our fight. However, his strength far exceeded my expectations. No wonder it took centuries, even millennia, for a god to ascend a single rank.

Well.

I had believed that conserving my strength and gradually wearing him down would ensure my victory. Unfortunately for me, Eternal Feast wasn’t a fool. Naturally, he would aim to finish me before he ran out of strength.

Even as the thought formed, I felt the space around me warp.

In an instant, the world shifted. It felt as if my mind had lagged behind my body during the teleportation. Once again, I was inside the lattice of whips.

Eternal Feast’s blade slashed toward me. I jerked my head back and reflexively swung my axe. His whip coiled like a serpent to catch my weapon. I wrenched my wrist and slipped free, stamping backward. A gap opened between us.

My side, my calf, and my back throbbed.

Eternal Feast sneered. “Who dares leave my Banquet Hall without permission?”

Banquet Hall... so that is his ability.

It fit him well.

I clenched my teeth. That suffocating sensation I had felt earlier wasn’t a mistake. Once trapped here, there was no escaping. If I had known, I would have taken more risks to escape when it first appeared.

A cry tore across the battlefield.

“

Guhh!

”

I recognized Wan’s voice. Making sure not to turn my back on Eternal Feast, I flicked my gaze sideways.

Fuck.

Skyalf had struck Wan with his magic, sending Wan sprawling onto the ground. Above him, Eternal Feast’s apostle drove his spear down.

Now that I was bound within Eternal Feast’s Banquet Hall, the traitors acted.

However, that wasn’t the only thing that made my stomach drop. Sdeeka was trapped as well, imprisoned inside a massive floating water sphere.

Fucking hell.

So there wasn’t one traitor. There were two.

Unbelievable.

Why hadn’t the tower pluralized “traitor” during its explanation? I shoved the complaint aside as regret was useless now. I had simply failed to anticipate the situation. If anything, I was fortunate that they weren’t all traitors.

Once again, Eternal Feast surged toward me. The battle resumed without giving me a moment to breathe.

Wan bellowed and unleashed his power, “

Raaaghhh!

”

The vibration thundered through the ground.

I pressed forward, meeting Eternal Feast’s blade head-on as I expanded my focus. Sdeeka had broken free of the water prison, though he had lost an arm. A shadow arm replaced it.

For now, they had staved off the crisis. I didn’t have to be a seer to know the two of them wouldn’t hold out for long. It had already been grueling enough to wear down Eternal Feast. Now, I was effectively fighting three versus one.

As long as they could endure, victory was still possible. Before it slipped away entirely, I had to fight with everything I had.

I stirred the causality coiled within my heart.

Thump—

With a single pulse, I connected to Seorden’s Forest and Natalie’s world. Saving Wan and Sdeeka was now my top priority. I called for Poong-Wol and Gehenna. Across the gray city’s sky, a pale-silver thread shimmered. It was the same light I had glimpsed while falling into Saboden’s abyss.

Above it, a colossal pillar of flame crashed down.