Chapter 302: Retaliation

Under the immobilizing effects of the wax and the vines, Yamata no Orochi was completely rooted to the spot, unable to put up any resistance.

Meanwhile, Artemis's arrow was only becoming brighter and brighter.

Adam stared at the arrow through narrowed eyes, and only after it had become as bright as the midday sun did Artemis finally release the bowstring.

A ball of scintillating white light descended out of the heavens toward Yamata no Orochi, and it was as if the sun had fallen from the sky.

The arrow was still far away from Yamata no Orochi when its radiant heat began to melt away wax and scorch Yamata no Orochi's scales. As the arrow continued to draw closer and closer, Yamata no Orochi's fortress-like scales began to split open, following which the transparent arrow plunged into its body without any effort.

Only after Yamata no Orochi's body had been completely devoured by the radiance released by the arrow did Adam open his eyes up wide again, waiting to see the outcome of the attack.

However, even after several seconds had passed, there was still no reaction.

Adam was rather perplexed. While it was true that the arrow had managed to pierce into Yamata no Orochi's body, given the serpent's enormous stature, such a wound was absolutely tiny and insignificant, and it seemed like Artemis had spent all that time charging up her power for nothing.

However, in the next instant, the arrow finally made its full power known.

First, a resounding boom rang out within Yamata no Orochi's belly.

The sound was extremely loud, so much so that it sent violent tremors running through the ground. It was as if a nuclear bomb had been detonated within Yamata no Orochi's body, following which scorching white light erupted out of all parts of its body.

Cylindrical pillars of light erupted out of the countless holes that had been punched into Yamata no Orochi's body by the storm of golden arrows, and it didn't take long before scintillating light was radiating out of its mouth, nostrils, and even its eyes.

In the end, all of the dazzling radiance gathered together to create an even more violent second explosion.

Boom!

All of the buildings in the area quickly collapsed as if a level eight earthquake had struck, and massive fissures began to appear on the ground.

This was only the effect caused by the shockwaves from the explosion.

Having bore the majority of the brunt of the explosion, Yamata no Orochi's entire body was riddled with wounds.

Countless massive scales had been sent flying through the air, smashing through the ruins of the surrounding buildings.

Beneath those scales, Yamata no Orochi's body had been reduced to an enormous, gruesome mass of flesh and blood, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.

"That was amazing, Aunt May!" Adam exclaimed in shock and awe. "If I had known you were this powerful, I would've been happy to serve you for free if you didn't come on this mission! Hold on a second, something doesn't seem quite right..."

Adam was initially ecstatic to see May and Wax Figure dominate Yamata no Orochi so easily, but he could tell from the grim look on Artemis's face and the fact that she was flying rapidly higher up into the sky that things weren't going as well as they seemed.

Indeed, if it were so easy to kill Yamata no Orochi, then May wouldn't have been so wary of it in the first place.

Despite the incredible power that she had put on display, even May was only confident in her ability to keep Yamata no Orochi occupied until Mechguard reinforcements arrived, and that was only with the assistance of Wax Figure.

Adam initially thought that May was being excessively cautious and was overestimating Yamata no Orochi's powers, but as it turned out, that was a false assessment.

After being severely wounded, Yamata no Orochi finally flew into a thunderous rage, unleashing several forbidden techniques in rapid succession.

The first one was the All-encompassing Furnace that Adam was familiar with.

As the forbidden technique was unleashed, the entire area was transformed into a fiery hell, and the air temperature was rising at an alarming rate.

In the span of just a few seconds, all of the nearby trees and cars had burst into flames.

A few more second passed, and all of the buildings began to melt away. The wreckage of the buildings left behind by the violent tremors from earlier began to flow down in molten form like strands of melted cheese.

Under the intense heat, all of the wax and vines on Yamata no Orochi's body quickly disintegrated.

Wax Figure's body dissolved into wax as he burrowed his way beneath the ground, while Artemis flew even higher up into the sky to avoid the subsequent attacks.

She knew that this still wasn't Yamata no Orochi's full power, so there was definitely more to come.

Sure enough, Yamata no Orochi unleashed another forbidden technique on top of All-encompassing Furnace, this one by the name of World's End Lightning.

Bolts of lightning as thick as water tanks appeared over the entire sky, connecting heaven and earth like pillars of violent energy.

The combination of the bright red sky, the molten earth, and the forest of lightning created a truly doomsday-like image.

At this point, all of the pedestrians in the area were already long dead, and even Adam could only just barely cling onto life as he hid within Sludge's body.

Not far away from him, Diana was also only just getting by.

Ever since she began visualization training, she had obtained some of Níeh?ggr's powers, granting her unprecedented technomantic resistance.

In the face of the intense heat and storm of lightning, the layer of faint light shimmering over her scales withstood the majority of the damage for her.

In terms of pure technomantic resistance, Diana was superior even to Artemis and Wax Figure.

In the sky above, Artemis's body had transformed into a streak of light once again as she dodged the bolts of lightning raining down from above, but this time, she wasn't so fortunate. The feathers on her wings had been set alight by the scorching heat, and even though she was able to put out those flames, her speed was significantly hampered.

Furthermore, the World's End Lightning was not as easy to evade as Yamata no Orochi's previous technomantic attacks.

The bolts of lightning were so dense that a sea of lightning had taken shape, and there was simply nowhere for Artemis to run or hide.

Finally, she was engulfed by the sea of lightning, and her armor, skin, feathers, and hair were all being charred black by the immense heat and lightning blasts.

Compared with her incredible speed and offensive prowess, it was clear that her defenses were sorely lacking.

"We have to help her!"

Even Adam could tell that Artemis was in a world of trouble.

It was clear that she was beginning to sustain severe damage from Yamata no Orochi's forbidden techniques.

Thanks to her divine power, Artemis was still able to persevere for now, but Yamata no Orochi was already beginning to prepare a third wave of attacks, and that was undoubtedly going to be terrible news for Artemis.

After unleashing those two forbidden techniques, Yamata no Orochi raised all eight of its heads and aimed them in Artemis's direction, while all types of energy began to gather in its eight mouths.

"She's preparing more attacks! We have to stop her!"

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

With all eight of Yamata no Orochi's heads accumulating power at once, if those attacks were to land, then May would be instantly killed on the spot for sure.

With that in mind, Adam knew that he had to intervene, and he immediately instructed Sludge to charge at Yamata no Orochi.