Chapter 777 Amaterasu

“This… what is going on here? Senior Xiaolian, Great Teacher!”

Nagase Komi was the first to turn around, a look of utter shock on her face.

She did not think that she would see such a prompt.

This was completely incomprehensible.

Right after she said that, a new prompt appeared in their personal systems.

[Prompt: Tsukuyomi has been killed. According to the degree of contribution for the kill, you gained 0 points.

[Current number of major Gods of Heaven still alive: 1/12

[Current list of survivors for the major Gods of Heaven: Amaterasu.]

Eleven from the Gods of Heaven’s faction had already died. Amaterasu was the only one remaining.

Even Sawakita Mitsuo’s face had a puzzled look.

This made no sense.

With the exception of the five of them here, the other surviving participants should all be in the Gods of Heaven’s faction.

They had no reason to attack the formidable NPCs that were on their side.

Moreover, the difficulty level of this instance dungeon was very high.

By Sawakita Mitsuo’s estimate, back when they were facing Divine Master Amago Kimihisa, who was possessed by Takemikazuchi in Izumo-taisha, even if Chen Xiaolian had not taken action, his team of three should be able to – by going all out and risking severe injuries to themselves – score a narrow victory.

However, that was not a complete God of Heaven. It was just possessing the body of a normal human.

After Okuninushi and the other Gods of the Land had their bodies reformed, they had never truly displayed how strong they were. Even so, just the atmosphere of might that they were exuding was enough to tell that they were far stronger than the possessed Divine Master Amago Kimihisa.

By looking at the number of Gods on the two sides, it was possible that the Gods of Heaven – with whole bodies – may be individually weaker than the Gods of the Land. Even so, they were still not existences that the Divine Masters could match up against.

The main characters in this instance dungeon were neither the Players nor the Awakened ones. Rather, it was the monsters in the two factions. The participants were but assistants here.

At present, however, those from the Gods of Heaven’s faction were already almost wiped out?

“Chen-san…”

Sawakita Mitsuo turned his head and saw that there was a puzzled look on Chen Xiaolian’s face as well.

“This feels… strange indeed.”

Chen Xiaolian rubbed his nose and smiled awkwardly at the others.

Given his current level of strength, this instance dungeon was not difficult.

He was certain that even the God of Destruction, Susanoo, who was beside him, would be no match for him.

However, it was because he had received the angel wing from Du Wei and read the information within it, giving him the ability to ‘modify the rules’.

He was no longer standing on the same dimension as the other Awakened ones and Players.

At present, though, a participant who could easily kill off Gods had appeared in this instance dungeon.

Apart from Du Wei, Shen and the other monster-level characters, Chen Xiaolian – despite racking his brains – was incapable of figuring out who could possess such abilities.

But those fellows should still be confined within Zero City’s collapsed space right now. It was impossible for them to enter this instance dungeon.

And now, only Amaterasu was left. If she was killed as well, this instance dungeon would end on the spot.

Before entering this instance dungeon, Chen Xiaolian knew that, given his current strength, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this was a casual trip.

But he had yet to take action.

This was truly, a casual trip.

“Chen-san… what do you think we should do now?” Sawakita Mitsuo pondered for a moment before turning towards Chen Xiaolian.

“Nothing. We’ll just wait here.” Chen Xiaolian pondered for a moment. “According to the description of the fourth phase’s quest, we are to accompany the Gods of the Land and wait for the Gods of Heaven’s attack. That’s why we are not given the location of the Gods of Heaven. Even if we want to attack, we do not know where to begin. This instance dungeon covers too big of an area.”

“Chen Xiaolian is right.” Miao Yan nodded. “Although we do not know who killed the other 11 Gods of Heaven… honestly, that doesn’t have much to do with us. After he kills off Amaterasu, this instance dungeon will end and we will be able to leave.”

Sawakita Mitsuo and Nagase Komi looked at each other. Slowly, they nodded.

Although he was still feeling confused and curious, he knew that this was not the time to be satisfying his feelings of curiosity.

At present, the best course of action was to stay here with Chen Xiaolian and wait for the last God of Heaven to be defeated. Then, the instance dungeon would end.

“How unexpected. I joined an instance dungeon, but in the end, I spent most of the time waiting.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head and smiled. Then, he brought out a handheld gaming console from his storage equipment. Turning it on, he began playing it.

…

Shizuoka Prefecture, Fujinomiya City…

As its name would suggest, this was the town closest to Mount Fuji.

At present, the entire town had fallen into a state of chaos.

One hour ago, the ground had begun shaking slightly.

For the Japanese people who were already used to earthquakes, they had – in the beginning – not cared much about it.

Judging by the intensity of the quakes, this was just a small and ordinary earthquake, something that would occur every now and again in their daily lives.

Immediately after, that, however, even Mount Fuji that was covered in snow all year began releasing an abnormal rumbling sound.

Next…

Eruption!

Rolling hot lava erupted from the mouth of the now-volcanic mountain, flowing down the mountain.

Amidst the thick smoke atop the mountain, dazzling radiance would flash out from time to time.

In addition, there were faint… peculiar roars, like the roars of wicked ghosts from Hell.

Some of the people there desperately ran away, either with their own legs or some vehicle, in an attempt to leave the town. Some others stood dumbfounded on the street, looking up at Mount Fuji. Some even knelt down and bowed, praying to some deity.

Atop Mount Fuji…

A figure covered in knightly bronze armour was floating in mid-air. His face was covered as well and there was no way to tell how he looked like.

In his left hand was a knightly sword while his right hand held onto a man.

The captured man was as tall as two people combined, possessing a body covered in fat and muscle. It was a giant man that was as strong as a boar.

The knight in bronze armour was tall by common human standards. But when compared to the man in his grasp, he was like an ant holding onto a grain of rice.

And yet, the giant man was held up by his neck, seemingly as light as the wind. The effort did not appear strenuous for the knight at all.

The giant man was practically naked. There was only a white loincloth wrapped around his lower body part. The bare parts of his body, however, were covered in wounds, both large and small.

Flesh hung out from the wounds, but the blood flowing out from the wounds was not red in colour. Instead, it was faint golden.

“Ame-no-tajikarao, right?”

The cold voice of a middle-aged man rang out from the helmet.

As he spoke, he abruptly exerted force through his right hand, resulting in a loud cracking sound.

The giant man had been on the verge of dying earlier. And now, his neck bone was suddenly twisted, causing his whole figure to jerk. After that, his head and limbs fell limp.

The knight in bronze armour released his grip and the giant man’s corpse fell towards the mouth of the volcano below.

The mouth of the volcano was filled with boiling magma and it churned without respite. After falling down, the corpse of the giant man did not sink into the magma, neither did it burn. Instead, it simply buoyed up and down with the flowing magma.

In addition to the corpse of Ame-no-tajikarao, there were nine other corpses floating on the magma.

“You… just who are you?!”

A loud and hoarse voice rang out.

There were two other figures hovering in the sky in front of the knight in bronze armour.

One of them was a female in shrine maiden garb, sporting a face covered with white powder and two black dots on her eyebrows.

The other was a male wearing a garment sewn out from a single piece of cloth and a puttee on each leg. His hair was pulled into two buns on either side of his head.

At that very moment, there were both shock and fear covering their faces.

Those expressions should not have appeared on their faces.

They were two of the Three Precious Children in Japanese mythology, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi!

Amaterasu did not understand what was happening.

Her younger brother, the violent God of Destruction, Susanoo, had died back in the ancient age of myths.

As for the seedlings he left behind, the Gods of the Land, they had been – throughout the years – defeated and sealed away. They should never have awakened again and sleep forever in the darkness.

However, a group of humans of unknown origins and possessing strange powers had suddenly appeared. They wanted to break the seals, snatch the magatama containing the mitama and free the Gods of the Land.

It was a futile attempt. After being sealed for so long, the strength of the Gods of the Land had long since weakened to the lowest point. Unless the five highest-ranking Gods of the Land were reunited to revive Susanoo, there was no way they could pose a threat to the Gods of Heaven that had reigned over this land for thousands of years.

The Gods of the Land had been defeated once before. This time, they will be defeated once again.

After Amaterasu gathered all the 12 major Gods of Heaven, they had been preparing to head out and wage a decisive war against the Gods of the Land when this man in strange armour suddenly appeared. She had never seen this type of armour before.

Takemikazuchi, Kagutsuchi, Shinatsuhiko, Yamato Takeru, Oyamatsumi, Kukunochi, Ame-no-Tajikarao… one by one, all of them died to this man. They couldn’t even put up a fight against him.

The Gods… dying to a mortal?

More, he did it so easily.

Even her younger brother, Susanoo, could not do this.

“Who… am I?”

Words rang out from the helmet again.

This time, in addition to coldness, there were also other emotions, such as hatred, fanaticism and piousness.

The knight raised his knightly sword and his voice was suddenly raised as well. “I… am a mendicant of the Lord on this land! All false Gods who profane the glory of the Lord will be purified in the name of the Lord!”

“False Gods?”

Tsukuyomi’s face twisted. Uttering a sharp cry, he folded his hands and the phantom image of a full moon swiftly formed before him.

Before he could fully form the full moon, however, the bronze-armoured knight’s sword slashed down.

Back when the bronze-armoured knight raised his sword, there had been a distance of hundreds of metres between the two. But when the sword slashed down, the very space between the two seemingly disappeared.

The edge of the sword easily overcame the phantom silhouette of the full moon to hack down against Tsukuyomi’s head, cleaving him into two.

“In this world, there is only one God.”

The bronze-armoured knight looked coldly at the severed halves of Tsukuyomi’s corpse as they fell down to the magma-filled mouth of the volcano. Slowly, he raised his head to look at the last God of Heaven, Amaterasu.

“No… no… no!”

Amaterasu released a heart-rending cry. But before she could make a move, the bronze-armoured knight had already appeared before her. His left hand shot out to grab her throat.

The screaming sound came to an abrupt halt, like a duck that had its neck stepped on.

“Don't worry, I'll let you live a little longer.”

The bronze-armoured knight’s head was completely masked behind a helmet. Thus, it was impossible to see his expression or eyes. However, that only terrified Amaterasu even more.

The knightly sword was raised high, aimed at Amaterasu’s shoulder.