Chapter 581: The Withered One

Despite possessing formidable strength on par with that of lower gods, this hybrid-blooded Hundred-Armed Giant failed to break through to the level of mid-tier gods. Thus, faced with three goddess avatars whose wisdom and power were all supreme, it was completely at a loss, unable to utilize even 60% of its strength. Relying only on its thick skin and the fact that the three goddesses had left no survivors, it avoided using its ultimate attacks and managed to hold on until now.

The three goddesses took it upon themselves to deal with this strongest among the invading abominations—the Hundred-Armed Giant—solving Donald many troubles. If he used all his strength without revealing those two high-tier artifacts, Donald was confident he could eliminate this incomplete Hundred-Armed Giant.

However, such exertion would likely cost him dearly, even for someone who didn’t lack sources of faith power.

Therefore, Donald was very grateful for the three goddesses’ help. With his hands free, he turned his attention to another abomination with notable strength—the Withered One.

All abnormally divine creatures born from true gods due to twisted divinity could be called abominations. Systematically, abominations generally originated in three ways. The most common were deformed offspring born from the gods, while the other two were rare but often more powerful than the first type.

One type was powerful divine beings created by true gods for specific purposes. For example, the Hundred-Armed Giant was a destructive weapon said to have only been created by an ancient pantheon for use in wars against rival pantheons.

The other type arose from mistakes during the process of becoming a god or ascending to a higher divine rank, resulting in the lack of a complete divine flame but still possessing some degree of immortality. Examples include the Withered Ones—incomplete deities that obtained enough divine flame to become immortal but failed to fully become true gods, thus transforming into divine undead.

Some Withered Ones could freely traverse dimensions, while others were discovered by true gods and sealed in various realms or buried beneath the ruins of the Land of Death.

Due to their tragic fates, the Withered Ones, like other abominations, harbored extreme hatred toward all gods, including demigods who had not yet attained divinity. They were unfortunate creatures mocked by fate, and their existence only brought destruction and despair to everything around them.

The withered being before Donald resembled a mummy wrapped in burial shrouds. Unlike mummies, its shriveled organs still existed, having transformed into entities that secreted terrifying necrotic toxins.

Any withered being possessed power on par with that of a demigod from the moment of its birth, especially if its strength in life exceeded that of a newly ascended god. These immortal divine beings became even more powerful after transformation.

The one before him was a withered being at the peak of demigod strength, meaning it must have had the power of a lower god in life. It likely suffered some mutation while attempting to ascend to a higher godly rank or rule over a kingdom.

To be safe, Donald deployed his most powerful lower avatar—the Avenger of Damnation. The Wrath of Nature in his hands emitted a greenish glow.

Any abominations born in violation of nature suffered damage from the power of damnation, which carried the will of natural wrath, just as fiercely as the chaotic creatures of the abyss!

The withered being, locked in the light of damnation, felt extreme discomfort due to the intrusion of this foreign force. It let out eerie cries, waving its floating burial shrouds that emitted a pale green light as it rushed toward Donald.

These burial shrouds were the withered being’s divine artifacts and its most potent attack method—Death Shrouds. The withered energy contained within them caused severe effects such as slowing, paralysis, corrosion, and life-drain through negative energy and harmful wills!

For the withered being’s immortal allies, however, these Death Shroud energies could restore vitality.

Donald didn’t want those shrouds to wrap around him. Even if they might not cause direct harm, and despite lacking any particular cleanliness standards, the thought of dead people’s shrouds touching his skin would surely send any normal person into horror and disgust!

So, before the withered being’s true form could be revealed, Donald unleashed the Thunder of Damnation, turning the approaching Death Shrouds into scattered fragments.

Clearly enraged by the destruction of its Death Shrouds, the withered being let out furious cries and summoned several powerful immortal allies.

Since they were ultimately beings at the level of true gods in life, the Witherers might be the most powerful type of undead in the multiverse. Thus, they hold great authority in the realm of the undead and can generally gather a group of undead followers, usually consisting of a small squad of Abyssal Ghoul or powerful warriors like Death Knights and Terror Knights. Additionally, powerful legendary undead such as Vampire Lords, Liches, and Dragon Liches may also become allies of the Witherers!

The Witherer summoned a group of Death Knights at the Silver tier and two legendary Vampire Lords.

“Uther!”

These allies posed little threat to Donald, but when combined with the Witherer, they could disrupt his combat rhythm. So Donald also summoned his own allies, leaving the rest to the summoned creatures while he focused on dealing with the Witherer.

Apart from Donald taking on the Witherer alone, with the assistance of several legendary strongmen, Charlie and Ciri joined forces to deal with the two Blood Demons. Amps and Uther faced the skilled but relatively weaker Star Divers, while the Three-Godded Giant was dealt with by three goddesses. Thus, the crisis posed by this wave of divine attacks was essentially averted.

The abilities of the Holy Light Angels perfectly countered these undead, and among the Star Divers, they had the weakest direct combat strength. Better at covert assassinations and ambushes, they had little chance of turning the tide under the combined efforts of the demi-god demons and the quasi-semi-god sword saint, Calair. With Uther busy setting up defenses for the others in battle, he was relatively idle!

So Donald summoned him to his side to deal with that group of undead.

Although Donald, who held the role of a summoner, now had significant enhancements from using the summoning powers of the Book of Truth, the energy required to summon troops of various tiers was reduced to 50% of what it was before he became a true god. This allowed him to summon a group of powerful summoned warriors without much concern for his divine energy consumption.

However, the summoning list in the Book of Truth was generated based on the previous life’s games, with the Gold-tier troops being the strongest available. In battles at the true god level, they were hardly useful. As a result, Donald rarely used his summoning powers in combat anymore!

Donald had indeed developed more powerful summoned creatures, but those required some preparation time, and his main domain of expertise was not summoning. Thus, this ability became rather useless after he became a true god!
However, those items and creatures related to magical beasts still gave him a significant advantage in terms of creation, even for a true god. At the very least, Donald would not lack guards for his divine kingdom, nor would he lack protective forces if the churches in the main world tried to stop him!