Chapter 212: Revealing Secrets

“No wonder this guy could become a Sea Lord—turns out he’s also a divine being!”
When the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish used its divine power to repel the Bronze Dragon in order to escape its claws from Nozdorm, Donald immediately recognized its true identity: it was another being that had acquired divine bloodline and thus became a divine creature.
Using divine power like this posed a huge burden on the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish; it was a last-resort survival tactic used only when absolutely necessary. After all, it was only of the Golden rank and should theoretically not be able to control such a high-level force. Yet this guy had stolen some divine power through other means and stored it within his body, allowing him to unleash attacks or defenses far beyond his actual strength at critical moments.
The effect was similar to Donald using the Book of Truth to unleash divine power, but without a divine artifact to sustain it, this method imposed an extremely heavy strain on its body, reducing its effectiveness significantly. If it were an ordinary creature without a divine bloodline, it might be torn to pieces by the sudden surge of divine power. Even a Golden-ranked divine being could only withstand it a few times before its body collapsed.
Seeing that Tuue couldn’t escape through other means and facing the attack of both Donald and the dragon, the Devourer once again unleashed its divine power, pushing Donald and Nozdorm away. Then, taking advantage of their injuries, it dived into the harbor waters with a few jumps.
After shaking its head to clear itself, Nozdorm let out an angry roar and also flew into the sea, attacking the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish, whose speed had been greatly reduced due to its injuries. Having escaped its claws twice in front of its master, the proud Nozdorm resolved to skin and gut that damned fish!
Donald, protected by the Book of Truth, wasn’t affected by the dizziness but was thrown hundreds of feet away, failing to stop the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish from escaping into the water. After Nozdorm chased after it, Donald hurriedly flew above the harbor waters, using his superior vision to observe the battle below.
He saw that the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish’s combat ability had increased by at least 30% after returning to the water. But due to its previous severe injuries, its speed and agility had been greatly reduced, so it still couldn’t escape from the pursuit of the Golden and Bronze dragons, let alone its opponent.
Tuue, the Devourer, could only release large clouds of mucus to protect itself and block its opponent’s attacks.

If it were a human gold-rank warrior, even at the peak of their strength, fighting against a bottom-dwelling demon fish and being struck by its tentacles while covered in its viscous mucus would surely result in a tragic end. Only by using healing spells could one recover from such a mutation caused by the demon fish, but on the battlefield, situations change rapidly—there’s no time to fight enemies and defend oneself, let alone cast healing spells on oneself. Unless there are teammates to assist.

However, as a gold-bronze dragon, Nozdorm’s physical resistance far exceeded that of beings with divine bloodlines of the same rank, thanks to the dragons’ inherently strong bodies and defenses. Thus, the two most relied-upon abilities of the Devourer of Thues had no effect on Nozdorm at all.

Moreover, bronze dragons are aquatic creatures, and Nozdorm was not afraid of fighting in water. Although the demon fish’s mucus was thick and slippery, Nozdorm, relying on his dragon instincts and superb hunting skills, kept the opponent at bay, able to deal with one side while ignoring the other.

It should be noted that although bronze dragons don’t live directly in water but mostly inhabit clean caves accessible only through water, as aquatic giants who prefer deep waters and coastal areas, they are not only skilled at swimming and diving but also feed on aquatic plants and seafood, especially shark meat. Occasionally, they dive deep to eat shellfish and pearls.

The fact that they can hunt agile and fierce sharks in water and dive to the seabed to collect pearls shows just how adept bronze dragons are at naval battles. The bottom-dwelling demon fish’s plan to take advantage of the water environment to shift the battlefield to its familiar territory and escape failed completely.

After struggling for another two minutes, realizing it was in a desperate situation, the demon fish wizard immediately prepared to unleash all its strength in a self-destructive blast, determined to make its enemy pay even in death.

But this evil monster’s plan didn’t succeed. Just as the divine power within it began to change violently, Donald detected it and immediately summoned a projection of the Book of Truth, releasing divine light that captured the divine power inside the creature in an instant.

As for why Donald dared to use a divine artifact in broad daylight, he had the confidence to avoid exposure. The location was more than two or three miles away from Leighton Port and others, so ordinary eyes couldn’t see what was happening there. Moreover, Leighton Port didn’t have any powerful priests.

So the only witness was the bottom-dwelling demon fish, but it was already on the verge of death. Donald had no intention of letting it go!

Although the divinity of this bottom-dwelling demon fish appears formidable, its strength pales in comparison to the primordial evil divinity in the Wolf Statue. The two are worlds apart—this fish was easily captured and bound by the divine light emitted by the Book of Truth. Without divinity as its greatest source of power, how could it even possess the ability to self-destruct? Tuue, the Devourer, immediately shrank visibly, as if aged by hundreds of years.

When Nodzdom broke the surface, flapped its wings, and dragged the giant body of the bottom-dwelling demon fish onto the harbor shore, Tuue the Devourer let out agonized cries before begging for mercy. “Pardon me! I know the secrets of the Lord of the Falling Star Sea…”

Hearing the words of this sea lord, Donald stopped the spells he had prepared. “That deep-sea monster? Tell me, and if your secrets satisfy me, I might spare your life!” “If you swear to any true god not to kill me, I can reveal all the important secrets I know. As a mage, you should be able to distinguish truth from falsehood. I know not only that secret but also how to become a god in a mortal body and how to wield divine power…”

Donald immediately cut him off, speaking disdainfully, “It’s nothing but stealing faith to become a false god. Only someone like you would consider that a precious secret. What interests me is information about that sea monster. If you can’t satisfy me, you’re dead! Don’t expect your soul to escape—even the most skilled lich in manipulating souls would be at my mercy!”

“No! This secret is too crucial; even the gods would want to know it. I need a guarantee before revealing it. Otherwise, if that being senses it, not only you and I, but everything in this human port city will be erased!” Hearing the cowardly caution of this fear-driven monster, Donald grew even more interested in the great secret it mentioned. He then had an idea.

“Then I can swear to the great Goddess of Agriculture that if I’m satisfied with the secrets I hear later, I won’t kill this creature before me!” After making the oath, Donald looked at the bottom-dwelling demon fish with a smirk.

Hearing this oath, the Devourer of Tuo found no flaws in it and finally relaxed. It first cast several low-level healing spells on itself to alleviate the weakness resulting from the loss of divinity and to heal its severe wounds. Then it said, “Although I won’t mention the names of those involved in this secret, given how sensitive the matter is, some true gods skilled in prophecy and powerful seers might be able to sense parts of what I say from afar, even determining our location. So be prepared—leave immediately after speaking, without wasting a second, to avoid being captured by those powerful beings!” Seeing how seriously the bottom-dwelling demon fish took this, Donald also became serious. A faint divine light began to emanate from his body, quickly enveloping an area of a hundred feet around them. “Now you can speak. With this barrier in place, even if you curse the higher gods, they won’t feel anything!” The Devourer of Tuo stared in astonishment at the barrier surrounding it, unable to believe that a mere human mage could create such a barrier capable of blocking powerful divine forces. But then recalling how this seemingly kind-looking villain had previously taken away its divine essence, it felt a surge of fear. A few minutes later, Donald removed the barrier, his mind in turmoil as he pondered the secret revealed by the bottom-dwelling demon fish. Indeed, as it had said, it was a major secret of interest to the gods, and it involved that deep-sea monster. With his limited wisdom, perhaps he could even profit from it! Seeing the human mage’s reaction, the Devourer of Tuo grew uneasy, fearing he might break his oath and kill it outright. It now regretted it deeply. If only it had known this wasn’t an ordinary human mage but someone even more terrifying than a golden dragon! Why had it become its enemy? It should have returned to its lair in the sea long ago and stayed there. It had lost a child, but it could still have more! Since this person could steal divinity at will and block even the detection of powerful divine forces like those of higher gods, perhaps he had some means to break or block oaths, allowing him to violate previous vows without punishment! Noticing the demon fish’s uncertain gaze, Donald smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my promise. I definitely won’t attack you again!”

After saying that, he turned around, faced the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish, and gave Nozdorm a wink. The bronze dragon immediately understood his master’s intention and glanced at the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish with malicious intent, looking just like a wolf who had caught a sheep!
Tuu, the Deceiver—a cunning underground monster who had spent his life plotting schemes—also fell victim to the linguistic trap of humans. After hearing the human mage’s assurance, he felt relieved and relaxed, only to see the bronze dragon’s face with a ferocious smile approaching, after which he knew nothing anymore.
“Good job!”
Donald praised Nozdorm before collecting the corpse of the Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish.
Having witnessed his own use of a divine artifact to capture divinity, how could he let such a huge threat escape? He didn’t spare even this creature’s soul, which was absorbed by the Soul Sphere. Since it was an intelligent being and a gold-tier spellcaster, its soul power increased by nearly ten thousand at once—this was even after the monster’s divinity had been stripped away, weakening it greatly.
This shows just how powerful the soul of a fully intact golden Bottom-Dwelling Demon Fish is. No wonder such monsters are as notorious as the Heart Stealers, famous for their ability to deceive and enslave intelligent beings.