Chapter 220: A Great Path Has No Gate (3)

The battle began abruptly.

Artillery rained down from the sky. There were shells filled with the Ashen God's energy and they poured endlessly, causing explosions at every turn of their path.

From there, bizarre monsters appeared.

They were monsters with deformations, imbued with the power of the Ashen God. They resembled the ghouls that Tashaquil had summoned in the previous battle against the gods.

“These are the remnants of the perished demons,” the War God exclaimed, cutting through the monsters with his sword.

“The influence of the Ashen God is too strong here. We cannot exert our full power. Dammit, if only we could use our true power...”

“Is there no way you can do that?” Crockta asked the War God.

“If we do, the world might collapse.”

“That wouldn’t be very nice.”

The gods, who must uphold the world with their true power in order to protect it, and the Ashen God, who sought to destroy the world to start anew. The battle between those two opposing sides felt unfair.

The Ashen God, with the balance and stability of the world not even in her consideration, unleashed her power without holding back.

Although the gods turned the monsters to ashes with magic and divinity, the monsters empowered by the Ashen God rose again without dying.

“They keep coming back to life.”

“What dreadful creatures!”

And behind them, there was a demon commanding the monsters.

It was a being that Crockta had seen before.

“Abaddon!”

Abaddon, a survivor of the demon race Crockta had met before the battle with the gods in the swamp of the Great Sea. He was the kind demon who had offered Crockta and his companions his perfected spicy noodle dish and even revealed the truth of the world.

He was about to share even more information but was summoned by the Ashen God before he could. Now, under the Ashen God’s command, he stood in their way. He no longer resembled the friendly figure from before. As he entered his battle mode, he glared with red eyes, exuding murderous intent from his entire being.

Every time he made a gesture, the monsters slashed through the forces accompanying Crockta. Gods of a lower rank and mortals gradually died.

“This is as far as you go. You cannot go any further.”

His voice was imbued with the divinity of the Ashen God.

Wrapped in the power of the Ashen God, he now had almost as much power as a demi-god. Moreover, they were standing in the realm of the Ashen God where Abaddon was much more powerful than the gods who could not exert their full strength.

Even the gods could not advance any further and stopped.

The War God murmured.

“This place is practically the Ashen God’s fortress. Bringing mere mortals here might have been a mistake. This is an absurd battle to be fighting.”

The battleground was already a scene of chaos.

The strong ones who had survived the huge battle between the orcs and the expedition force, the lower gods, and the champions of entire continents and regions who were all capable of defeating a knightly order on their own were falling apart like they were some average mortals.

“Damn you, monsters!”

The one shouting was a renowned wandering knight. A master of the sword who had wandered around the world defeating strong foes. His skills were sufficient to serve as a city lord or a knight commander in most places without trouble.

The knight swung his sword wildly. The deformed monster was sliced by his sword aura, losing its form and crumbling. But the monster was already deformed to begin with.

“What the!”

The monster, now on the ground, crawled and coiled around his legs, pulling him into a swamp that devoured him.

The knight’s body melted away as he screamed for salvation.

An elf wizard nearby exerted his power. He was a great wizard who had spent his life honing his abilities at the top of a magic tower, and his magic seemed to be removing the monster from the wandering knight.

But a shell that came out of nowhere struck the elf mage, blowing him up.

Without even a scream, his body was ripped into pieces, scattering as flesh. The knight was then completely devoured by the monster, which then rose to seek its next victim, looking around.

It was a death too vain for them to meet.

The gods faced the same fate. While higher gods like the War God and the Goddess of Magic could exert their power to eliminate foes, the lower gods were quickly devoured by the enemies, losing their physical forms, and returning to Olympus.

Crockta shouted toward the War God.

"We have to keep moving forward!"

"We don’t have a way."

The War God swung his sword out of anger, slicing through a monster. His warfire turned the monster to ash.

"We need to stop that bombardment coming from the rear. It's under the influence of the grand spell of the cycle cast by the Ashen God. It’s drawing power from that dreadful sphere in the sky. It's a bullshit weapon that would tear even the gods apart."

"If we gather a few and somehow get to their rear..."

"Yeah, that demon over there would definitely let you do that," the War God retorted.

He pointed at Abaddon, who seemed to be smiling as if he had been listening in on their entire conversation.

"Dammit..."

Even as they spoke, shells flew toward them, exploding nearby. The divine power of the Ashen God burst forth with the explosion. Another god of a lower class was withdrawn from the battlefield.

"What is the Goddess of Magic doing? Couldn't she use the Meteor Shower again to blast them away?"

"She exhausted her power trying to get rid of that barrier earlier..."

"So she just wasted her energy for nothing."

Before Antuak could dismantle the barrier, the Goddess of Magic had summoned her meteor shower in effort to bring it down.

As seen in the earlier battle against the orcs, it wasn't a spell that could be used indefinitely.

Watching another god fall, Crockta laughed hollowly.

"Are those shells really that powerful?"

There was a sense of reassurance fighting alongside gods. But even though they were only at the entrance of the Ashen God's domain, those gods were falling helplessly.

The one who had just fallen was the God of Radiance, who had shone brightly and buoyed the expedition’s spirits in the battle against the orcs. Struck by a shell, his physical form turned to ash, and his divinity returned to Olympus.

Why did those who seemed so strong in the war appear so futile here?

"Fortunately, since the weapon draws on the power of a grand spell, the more intense the bombardment, the slower the spell's completion."

"That's hardly comforting."

Shells rushed toward them as they spoke.

Crockta and the War God dodged in opposite directions, avoiding the attack. An explosion erupted where they had just stood.

Crockta rolled on the ground and got up.

As he dodged the shell, a monster targeted him, closing in.

These creatures barred their approach seemingly endless. Moreover, the monsters were hardly affected by the bombardment as if they were being protected by the Ashen God. If they were caught in the bombardment while entangled with the monsters, they would be the only ones harmed.

Crockta lifted the God Slayer, slicing the monster in two.

Had it been a normal attack, the creature would have regenerated, but his weapon was imbued with the power of the Sun God. The monster was incinerated by the ‘Eternal Fire.'

"I'll go alone if I have to."

The allied forces were hesitating, unable to advance any further.

As the bombardment continued, their numbers dwindled.

In the distance, Tiyo resisted, firing the General. At this rate, they would be annihilated without getting to even face the Ashen God.

Crockta started running diagonally.

"Bul'taaaaaaar!"

Sprinting, he dodged through the barrage of shells, cutting through the monsters in his way toward Abaddon, and the demonic cannon that was behind him.

Explosions erupted on either side of him. Debris was embedded in his flesh, but he paid no attention to them.

A single orc charged through the smoke of the battlefield toward the enemy's heart.

"Abaddooooooon!"

At the end of his furious charge was Abaddon.

Their eyes met.

Without any exchange of words, Crockta's blade soared vertically toward the top of Abaddon’s head.

Abaddon dodged, but a giant sword mark was left where he was standing. Crockta pulled his blade from the ground.

"We meet again," Crockta spoke.

"I’m sorry it came to this."

"I wanted to taste your top noodle dish again..." Crockta said and grinned.

They had first met in an abandoned temple in the swamp, where he had been treated to Abaddon’s noodle dish which he had perfected.

Those were the good times.

"... but what use would that be in a life-or-death situation like this?"

"Everyone dies eventually. Death is not the end. The true end is far more profound..."

"Let’s not do all that right now," Crockta cut the demon off short.

Their swords clashed.

Now, it was a matter of which side would break first. The nature of their blades or how they were forged were all irrelevant.

They merely sought to break, rather than be broken.

"This will all be over soon, anyway," Abaddon added.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know how you managed to break the barrier, but it would have been better if you hadn't."

Abaddon stepped back as he spoke. The aura of the Ashen God flowed from his body.

"Once that thing is activated, every single one of you will burn to ashes."

Crockta looked at it.

Weapons that continuously spewed the divinity of the Ashen God were installed on the high ground, and among them was a cannon unlike any other, massive in size.

It was a long barrel, an enormous muzzle.

A cannon of monstrous proportions, seemingly out of place even in the world of Elder Lord, and unimaginable even in the modern era.

It was absorbing the world's magic, coiling into the ‘grand spell of the cycle.' He could feel the power gradually condensing inside.

This cannon was not for launching something like a cannonball. Crockta knew that instinctively.

Immense power was harbored within it.

Once activated, the land in front of the muzzle would be utterly obliterated.

Total annihilation.

"I will not let that happen!"

Crockta slashed at Abaddon, whose form blurred and retreated.

Crockta kept attacking. God Slayer sliced through the air, and Abaddon continued to dodge his attacks in bizarre ways.

Then, the moment Abaddon stepped away to the side,

Crockta charged toward the cannon.

He intended to ignore Abaddon and destroy the cannon.

However, he found himself before Abaddon once again.

"What the...!"

"Do you think I would just let you go?"

Abaddon was smiling.

"Let's just talk some more instead."

"Enough with your cheap tricks!"

Crockta attacked Abaddon again to push him back and tried to run toward the cannon.

But, as if space itself had reversed, he was running toward Abaddon yet again.

"Shit!"

It felt like he was fighting a ghost. How could he escape someone who controlled his movements and never got hit by his attacks?

Crockta stood dumbfounded in his place.

The demonic weapon was about to be activated. Everything in front of it would soon be reduced to ashes.

"Rest assured, as there will be no pain. Once it's activated, even the earth beneath your feet won't be able to withstand it and will melt away."

Crockta couldn't decide whether to continue his last struggle or turn back to evacuate at least some of them.

"There is no time to run, either. Accept it."

He remembered the future shown by Antuak. Without Antuak, they would have been stopped in front of the barrier by it, unable to do anything as they perished along with the entire world. That was why he was so determined to seize the opportunity given by him.

But, in the next chapter of their quest, they found themselves powerless yet again. The power of the Ashen God was so great that the gods were overwhelmed, and mortals couldn't overcome their might.

He gritted his teeth.

The cannon started to shake, and a light began to gather at the muzzle. Magic that was nearby swirled around it.

This was a battlefield where gods and heroes died like mere average mortals.

Crockta himself was no exception.

Soon, their lives would fall to ashes, and the Ashen God would achieve her will.

Despair was about to settle in his heart.

At that moment, they heard the sound of wings flapping.

At first, he assumed it was the sound made by a bird. But it was too loud and magnificent for that. Each flap shook the atmosphere.

Crockta looked up.

There was a giant black figure soaring in the sky.

An entity he had never seen before.

Yet, Crockta felt he knew what it was.

Abaddon spoke in a trembling voice,

"W-why... is he...?"

A black dragon was flying through the vast sky.

The dragon, which Crockta was seeing for the first time ever, was an elegant and beautiful being. He could understand why they were said to be the most carefully and meticulously created creatures by the gods.

The dragon, as if the sky was its domain, freely circled before stopping in midair to look down at the ground.

It slowly opened its maw.

Power gathered.

Abaddon let out a deep sigh.

"Why on earth is he attacking us?"

The dragon, the most powerful being among all entities in the world.

The ‘Breath’, their strongest weapon.

It poured down.