Chapter 708: Battle Against the Tentacle Monster
It must be said that Anim, having inherited the innate brutality, selfishness, and evil nature of creatures like the Heart-Thief Demons, found it difficult to get along harmoniously with other true gods. Coupled with its monstrous origins, it was shunned by the gods. Among the Pantheon, only a few true gods had ever dealt with this merchant and god of monsters, and Anim rarely sent its will into the Pantheon.
This meant Anim was relatively isolated from outside news, and even its temporary allies were unlikely to kindly bring it the latest updates. If Anim had known more about the natural gods, it could have identified the invading true gods right away, rather than guessing blindly as it did now.
Of course, this was also related to Nozdorm not revealing its dragon form; otherwise, even if Anim was isolated from news, it would have guessed the identity of the Bronze Dragon King.
“Stupid incarnations of lower gods—just entering the great Anim’s divine realm! It seems there will be a hefty reward today!”
It was not the first time that outsiders, lost and accidentally arriving here, mistook it for an abandoned divine realm or treasure trove and came to explore. So Anim didn’t immediately suspect their intentions.
Most of the previous visitors had been legends or semi-godly powerhouses, not the incarnations of two true gods as in this case. But Anim was confident that its own powerful status as a mid-tier god would allow it to completely suppress these invaders. Thus, after the initial surprise at the true gods invading its realm, it felt no worry or fear—only excitement.
Two incarnations of lower gods would be a useful addition to it. If they also possessed divine artifacts, that would be even better!
At this point, Anim hadn’t realized that one of the invaders was not an incarnation but the true god in person—otherwise, it would have been even more surprised.
The King of the North and the Bronze Dragon King walked side by side through this bizarre divine realm. Not only did the realm look ugly from the outside, but its internal environment was equally dreadful. Along the path to the center of the realm, disgusting monster creatures appeared from time to time to attack them.
Yet these, even the strongest of which were only at the Golden Strength level, were nothing worth their attention. Even if their strength was greatly suppressed, they were still mere insects that could be eliminated with a wave of the hand.
It wasn’t until they ventured deep into the realm, not far from the center, that they encountered their first significant obstacle.
This was a rare legendary Heart Thief Elder. Its powerful mental blast attack caused Nozdorm to suffer some minor losses as well. Unfortunately for it, the Heart Thief failed to target the right person. The soul of the Bronze Dragon King was naturally a hundred times stronger than that of an ordinary human, and now, as a true god dragon, even when restraining its dragon power, it was not something that a legendary warrior’s mental attack could shake. The legendary Heart Thief Elder felt as though its powerful mental energy had hit a massive mountain, only to vanish without a trace. Realizing the opponent was not easy to deal with, the cunning Heart Thief Elder tried to retreat immediately after the attack, but Nozdorm, feeling offended, would not let it go so easily. The Bronze Dragon King snarled, sending a wave of pressure back in the direction of the mental blast attack, followed by a splashing sound ahead. The legendary Heart Thief Elder clutched its head and screamed mentally—its divine-level dragon power had shattered its mental barrier, causing severe brain damage and blood to spray from its mouth and nose. It had almost been killed by that dragon power. In terms of mental abilities, though dragons were not as skilled as evil races like Heart Thieves, who were born to manipulate the minds of intelligent beings, their dragon souls were extremely powerful, ranking among the strongest among all intelligent races. They didn’t need much skill—simply unleashing their dragon power was enough to suppress most creatures weaker than them. Although the Heart Thief’s mental power was strong, its rank was far too low compared to the Bronze Dragon King, which is why it was severely wounded by Nozdorm’s attack. Of course, if this legendary Heart Thief Elder had known in advance that its target was a powerful dragon god, it wouldn’t have dared to attack even if it had tripled its courage. Severely wounded, the legendary Heart Thief Elder lost any chance of escape and was smashed to pieces by the approaching Bronze Dragon King. Having dealt with this obstacle, the two true gods continued on their journey. In the core of the divine kingdom, Anim became furious upon learning that invaders had killed one of its legendary followers. With a shriek, it dispatched its true form along with its demi-god avatar remaining in the divine kingdom. As an established mid-tier god, Anim didn’t have as many avatars as those more powerful mid-tier gods, who usually had three or more, but it had created at least one lower-tier god avatar and one demi-god avatar, giving it strength far beyond that of ordinary lower-tier gods.
At this moment, the true form of the mid-tier god and its demi-god avatar appeared in a fit of rage, instantly triggering powerful energy fluctuations throughout the divine realm. Within the endless black radiance, Anim’s true form and avatar emerged. Even though the King of the North and the Eternal King, two true gods, were mentally prepared, they were still disgusted by Anim’s true form. The demi-god avatar was still acceptable—similar to the previous lower-tier god avatar, it often appeared in its usual form; although it had some non-human features, it at least appeared human on the surface. But Anim’s true form was completely different—it was a thirty-foot-tall humanoid monster, with greenish-white tentacles resembling snakes growing above its shoulders and between its legs. Their slippery mucus made them extremely unsettling and terrifying. Anim’s head, still retaining a human face, resembled an octopus, with eight slender tentacles and a soft, jelly-like tongue that looked like a transparent straw. If Donald were here and saw this scene, he would surely exclaim that this creature must be a tentacle monster from some evil comic from his past life! “Damnous invaders! You’ve enraged the great Anim! I will…” Before the merchant and the strange god could finish speaking, they were interrupted. “Attack!” The King of the North shouted and took action first, conjuring an ice spear in his hand and throwing it at Anim’s chest. At the same time, a powerful dragon’s aura was released, causing even Anim’s true form and avatar to pause. Within the golden-gray radiance, Nozdormu instantly appeared in his majestic form as a bronze dragon king. His dragon head opened, and a powerful linear lightning bolt shot toward the merchant and the strange god’s head. It was this lightning bolt that interrupted Anim’s declaration of dominance. Even as a true god, it didn’t want to risk swallowing lightning! Moreover, what the opponent had unleashed was clearly not an ordinary lightning spell but a powerful innate ability of a giant dragon—lightning breath. The breath of a divine-level dragon was something even the true form of a mid-tier god wouldn’t dare to withstand without preparation. The speed of this linear lightning was second only to the speed of light; even true gods might not be able to react in time, especially those gods who relied on spellcasting. With the influence of that powerful dragon aura as well, Anim had no time for any other reaction and could only immediately rely on his most instinctive domain power to try to block the lightning.
However, Anim clearly underestimated the power of Nozdorm’s lightning breath. It managed to penetrate his domain shield and strike his chest. Fortunately, due to the weakening effect of his domain’s power, the lightning breath was already quite weak, only causing a burn on his chest and a tingling sensation in his upper body—no serious injuries otherwise. But Anim had no time to get angry, as another invader’s ice spear soon arrived, aiming straight at his chest. A scream was released, and the powerful, sharp mental repulsion force caused even the two deities, Charlie and Nozdorm, to pause in their actions. The ice spear aimed at Anim’s true body’s chest even deflected slightly, turning toward the cluster of tentacles on his left arm. It turned out that Anim’s demigod avatar had reacted from its state of awe and intervened in time to save its true body from this crisis. Even though it didn’t hit the chest, the Ice King’s ice spear still inflicted serious damage on the tentacle monster. After hitting its target, the ice spear exploded, with tiny pale blue ice crystals scattering into a cloud of light mist. Starting from his left arm, including the tentacles and shoulders, half of Anim’s body was covered in pale blue, slowing down his movements immediately. The tentacle hit first was frozen into ice crystals by the extreme cold, shattering into countless pieces with the slightest movement. As the Ice King who wielded control over ice, Charlie’s attack wasn’t just a physical strike with an ice spear but also carried strong elemental power. Although Anim was a mid-tier god, his innate racial weaknesses meant he couldn’t fully resist cold damage, resulting in severe injuries. After that strike, the Ice King didn’t stop. He conjured another ice spear and said to Nozdorm, “I’ll deal with the avatar first; you hold off the true body!” But Nozdorm shook his head and said, “This guy is disgusting! I’ll take care of the avatar!” Without waiting for the Ice King’s approval, he released a faint stream of air at the tentacle monster and rushed straight at Anim’s avatar. The Ice King, somewhat helpless, threw his second ice spear at Anim’s true body and then produced a blue short spear wreathed in icy light, leaping at the tentacle monster.
Hit head-on by that gust of wind, Anim’s true form had to take three steps back before it could stabilize. At that moment, two attacks—first a long spear and then a short spear—reached it in quick succession, forcing Anim to let out an angry roar in frustration. Its powerful mental repulsion stopped all of the King of the North’s attacks, allowing it to break free from the barrage.