Chapter 244: Uniting to Slay the God (II)

When two moons rose high in the sky, all the indigenous inhabitants of Wu Yu Island were already fast asleep. In such a barren and backward fishing village, there were hardly any forms of entertainment; people would go to bed right after dinner before night fell, at most engaging in some light exercises beneficial to their bodies and minds.

As for the two moons, creatures in this world had known since birth that there were two moons in the sky—one pale red and one silver bright. However, in recent years, the silver moon had become increasingly brighter, while the red moon grew dimmer, showing signs of moving closer to merge with the silver one.

There was an ancient legend on the Totem Continent predicting that when the two moons merged, the world would face disaster as well as renewal. Yet for thousands of years, no changes had occurred in the moons, and most people regarded it as just a baseless tale. Little did they expect that changes in the moons were indeed happening now. But this prophecy was only known among a few powerful individuals; ordinary people were unaware, so the changes did not cause widespread panic on the continent.

As the two moons in the night sky grew increasingly aligned—around 10 p.m. in this world—two powerful auras suddenly emerged on the beach to the west of Wu Yu Island. Such auras were barely detectable by ordinary sleeping people, but to some powerful beings, they were as conspicuous as fireworks in the darkness. As the earth god who ruled this land, the Guardian God of the Thorn Bird Tribe, sensed the two provocateurs appearing at the edge of his territory immediately.

A flash of light appeared in front of the totem pole, revealing a strange man with a body similar to that of ordinary indigenous people. He was bare-chested, with a tan chest and arms covered in strange patterns. His cheeks were gaunt, and he wore a headdress adorned with colorful bird feathers. If it weren’t for his golden eyes glowing like flames, indicating his extraordinary status, his appearance would have easily made him mistaken for a member of some primitive tribe.

The Thornbird God is the weakest among the three gods of Uyu Island, so its status has always been the lowest. Though it is called one of the three gods, it is essentially like a servant to the Uyu God and the Greenfish God, tasked with all the dirty and unpleasant work, while the benefits go solely to the Uyu God and the others. Occasionally, when they are in a good mood, they might give it some leftovers, which has filled it with deep resentment over time. Due to its inferior strength and territorial limitations, it lacks the ability to lead its tribe to migrate away from Uyu Island, meaning it will eventually be swallowed up by the Uyu God and the others.

Not long ago, the Thornbird God contacted a tribal guardian god on the mainland across the sea, who was much stronger than the Uyu God, hoping to become that god’s subordinate and thus escape their oppression. It even aimed to overthrow both the Uyu God and the Greenfish God to become the new guardian of Uyu Island, which then would be called Thornbird Island.

The Thornbird God waited eagerly for a reply, but days passed with no response. Although it appeared calm on the surface, it was growing increasingly anxious inside. That day, it had suffered some humiliation at the hands of the Uyu God, which was common, but it didn’t expect to be provoked at night. The Thornbird God didn’t suspect any other motives and thought it was just another group of mortal strongmen trying to challenge the gods for divine status—a situation that often occurred on the Totem Continent, with the usually weak gods like itself being the targets.

Fueled by anger and unable to vent it, the Thornbird God smirked viciously before transforming into a beam of golden light and appearing above the beach on the west side of the island. It sensed that there were two opponents: one with only silver-level strength, insignificant, and the other at the early gold level—still easily manageable within its own domain. Since the Uyu God and the Greenfish God were powerless to fight back, having these easy targets made dealing with the two provocateurs a trivial task.

“Another pair of mortals trying to become great gods. Will you come one by one or all at once?” Uther and the Sword Saint Abel, as outsiders, naturally didn’t understand what the Thornbird God was saying. They didn’t need to either. Before the Thornbird God could speak again, they suddenly launched an attack.

Interrupted by the attack from the two mortal challengers, the Thornbird God, which had intended to tease them, grew annoyed and furious. It spread its arms wide and instantly transformed into a bird-man without arms, with powerful wings where its arms used to be. In this form, it resembled a monster from its home world—a harpy, also without arms and only wings.

Having advantages in both the air and combat strength, a cruel glint appeared in the Bird-Slayer God’s eyes. His bare feet transformed into sharp claws, which he used to strike toward Uther and the other man’s heads with great speed.

Although he had been a god for decades and usually moved in human form, the Bird-Slayer God still retained his fighting habits from his mortal days. Some innate habits are hard to change—just as humans walk on two legs, it would feel extremely awkward for them to crawl on all fours.

Just as the Bird-Slayer God’s attack reached the two men’s heads, a holy light suddenly emerged from Uther, clad in silver armor. A faintly golden shield enveloped the two of them. When the god’s sharp claws struck the surface of the shield, it was as if he were trying to grasp a smooth glass ball in oil—slippery and with a slight rebound force.

“What kind of power is this?”

Seeing that his attacks, fueled by divine power, failed to break through their defense and that he was sent flying with each failed strike, the Bird-Slayer God wondered in confusion.

Just as he was about to attack again, he suddenly felt a pounding in his heart. He raised his head and let out a screech before turning into a beam of golden light and disappearing in the direction of the island.

Uther and the Female Sword Saint exchanged a glance, realizing that battle had already begun there. Without wasting any time, they both chased after the Bird-Slayer God’s retreat.

The Bird-Slayer God’s screech was as unpleasant as the sound of a broken gong. Though not loud, it was very clear, audible in three villages belonging to the Bird-Slayer tribe nearby. Even people in villages of the Farmer Fish tribe, further away, were awakened by it.

Donald, Vincent, and Carlisle, who were attacking the Bird-Slayer tribe’s totem, naturally heard the sound as well.

Earlier, they had seen the Bird-Slayer God leave the totem and assumed battle had started. So they suddenly appeared and attacked the totem.

Just as they had predicted, as soon as they launched their attack, the Bird-Slayer God abandoned the two provocateurs and rushed back as if his home were on fire.

In his own domain, the Bird-Slayer God possessed powers granted by the laws of that realm. Different from Donald’s teleportation technique seen in Nozdormu, his ability was more like rapid movement. It took him less than a second to travel from the western beach to the valley where his totem stood. Seeing three mortals recklessly attacking his sacred totem, he roared in fury and charged at the human mage who seemed the weakest among them.

“Just in time! Law? Deterrence!” Faced with the fiercely attacking totem god, Donald raised his hand and pointed at it, instantly casting the pre-prepared eighth-level spell Law? Deterrence upon it.
Unlike destructive spells such as Fireball or Death Cloud, Law spells are effects that cannot be avoided by conventional means. However, since divine bloodlines generally exempt them from instant-death effects, Donald did not use the even more powerful Law? Death, as it would have been better to defeat the opponent in one go.
Although the effect of Deterrence was not as strong as Law? Death, even a semi-divine warrior without protection would be stalled for a moment if struck by it. In a battle between experts, that single moment is enough to do many things.
Moreover, the Bird-Stabbing God was merely a gold-tier earth god, while Donald, the caster, also possessed divine bloodlines. Fundamentally, though Donald was still an ordinary human, his divinity was stronger than that of the Bird-Stabbing God, who had lost his totem. Thus, the totem god suffered the effect of Deterrence for a full three seconds.
“Attack!”
Before Donald could finish speaking, Carl already plunged his sword into the chest of the Bird-Stabbing God, who had stiffened due to Donald’s spell. Meanwhile, the Storm Sword Saint Vincent unleashed his signature Storm Sword Energy. The violently erupting golden sword energy instantly tore through the divine barrier outside the altar. By then, Donald had already summoned an invisible phantom of the Book of Truth, using its divine light to envelop the totem on the altar and trap it.
“No…”
The Bird-Stabbing God, now recovered from the state of deterrence, realized the desperate situation he was in. Ignoring the sword stuck in his chest, he struggled to rush at Donald, who was targeting his totem.
Because the totem was now half of his own soul, losing it meant losing his divinity and power. Without anyone else intervening, his spirit would begin to disintegrate due to the loss of its foundation. He was not one of those totem gods who became divine while alive; rather, he was an animal spirit that became an earth god after death through human worship and natural recognition. Even if an earth god lost its divinity while still alive, it could retain some divine power and would not die as long as its lifespan continued.
But how could Carl let his prey escape? He was known as the Demon Sword not only because he often lost control to his bloodline curse and went on murderous rages but also because he had developed several unique innate abilities from the power of his bloodline, such as the Blood Ban power he was using now.

Once pierced by a sword stained with his own blood, the cursed bloodline would unleash its immense power, completely trapping any target whose strength was not much greater than Carlisle’s. The Body of the Bird God was formed from divine power and soul; although it was not a true physical body, it was still subject to the trap. At this point, blood-red veins covered the surface of the Bird God’s body like a spider web. Cut off from communication with its totemic divinity, it lost most of its remaining strength and failed to break free even after several attempts. In just a few breaths, Donald lifted the towering totem and stored it in his storage space. Then he approached the Bird God and once again enveloped it with the illusion of the Book of Truth. After seizing the two most valuable items, Uther and the other two, who had served as bait, also arrived. Donald gave a soft command, “Go!” and then he and the four people gathered around him disappeared in a beam of light.