Chapter 709: Breath of Aging

Bronze dragons are born with two types of breath abilities: Lightning Breath and Repulsion Breath. The former is a powerful offensive force, while the latter is a coercive magical effect that affects both the mind and body. Those hit by the conical stream of repulsive force emitted by a bronze dragon will be instantly pushed away if they cannot resist, leaving them unable to do anything other than retreat from the dragon’s vicinity.

As a dragon deity, Nozdorm’s breath abilities are naturally far superior to those of ordinary dragons. Their power is comparable to the powerful spells of true gods of the same rank, and as long as the dragon is not exhausted, it can repeat these abilities!

However, as the God of Abominations, Anim possesses extremely strong mental defenses. Thus, although he was pushed away, he did not fall into a state of intimidation and instead faced an immediate attack from the King of the North.

Abominations, who excel in mental abilities, usually have very weak physical combat skills—though this is relative to their peers. After several exchanges, Charlie and his group confirmed that both the tentacled monster before them and its avatar were physically inferior to them. They took full advantage of this weakness, launching close-quarters attacks to prevent their opponents from casting powerful spells, forcing them to rely on their rapid mental abilities to cope with crises.

“Ah…”
Being beaten so badly by the incarnations of two lower true gods—especially by opponents whose power was suppressed by the rules of their divine kingdoms to that of demigods—Anim didn’t even have time to think. He suffered continuous losses without any chance to catch his breath, his anger reaching its peak.

Without hesitation, he unleashed one of his most powerful abilities: Mental Explosion. Unlike what the legendary Heart-Thief Elder had used before, as a mid-tier deity, Anim’s destructive mental power was terrifying once unleashed.

Although Nozdorm and his companions were well aware that their opponent’s abilities were mostly focused on the mental realm and had prepared accordingly, they were still stunned by this intense mental assault, their minds going blank and nearly causing them to faint.

Yet, instead of taking the opportunity to counterattack, Anim vanished in a flash, using his mental power to teleport to a distant place. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fight back; rather, his current condition was poor. He feared that attempting to eliminate his opponent might instead awaken them, resulting in mutual destruction—a outcome that would be counterproductive.

The most explosive ability within this mental spell, Mind Blast, cannot be used at will—even Animus himself cannot cast it more than three times in a day. Moreover, each use requires a certain cooldown period. The stronger one’s power, the more restrictions they face, as this ability places a severe strain on the caster’s brain tissue. If used beyond limits, it may harm the caster first rather than the opponent. If one loses combat effectiveness without dealing sufficient damage to the enemy, they become vulnerable to being defeated.

Nozdorm actually came in his true form. As a dragon god, his spiritual strength far exceeded that of ordinary gods, allowing him to recover from the effects of Mind Blast first. Although he still suffered from severe headaches that impaired his concentration and hindered his spellcasting, as a dragon reliant on physical combat strength, he lost little of his combat power. With a roar, he charged at the tentacled monster.

To be honest, Animus’s strength far surpassed theirs both, especially since they were suppressed by the rules of their divine kingdoms and couldn’t fully unleash their abilities. Their earlier defeat was simply due to carelessness, catching them off guard. Now that some distance had been created, Animus no longer underestimated his opponent just because this was his own divine kingdom’s domain. Without waiting for the opponent to close in, he used his cunning mental powers to repeatedly thwart Nozdorm, preventing him from advancing.

The long-range attacks of the King of the North, who recovered slightly later, were also neutralized by the coordination between Animus’s transformed form and his true form, failing to achieve the same effect as before.

“It’s time!”

Seeing that Animus intended to steadily hold his advantageous position to defeat them, Charlie and Nozdorm exchanged a glance. They had no hope of defeating a mid-tier god on their own. Then, Charlie raised his hand and sent a glimmer of dark golden light toward Animus. Thinking it was some attack from his opponent, Animus activated his mental domain powers to defend against it. Suddenly, with a loud roar, a 25-foot-tall Destroyer Golden Body appeared.

“What is this?” Animus was shocked when his mental powers touched the entity but had no effect on it.

The giant dark golden puppet with nine heads and eighteen arms was already attacking him. Only then did Animus realize that his opponent was a puppet creature—no wonder it could resist his mental powers. Puppet creations and undead creatures were the two things that Heart Stealers hated the most, as both possessed immunity to mental powers.

This was an unforgivable sin for those heart-devouring demons who brutally treated all intelligent beings as slaves and food. As a half-heart-devouring demon, Anim shared the same mindset, so upon seeing this puppet, he immediately felt a sense of foreboding. Under the control of the King of the North, the Destroyer Golden Body unleashed a destruction field spanning thousands of feet, clearly demonstrating the power of a mid-tier god—this only deepened Anim’s worries. However, this merchant and the god of anomalies did not sit idly; he immediately united with his own avatar and summoned the guardians of his godly realm. These guardians were beings whose minds had been controlled by Anim, losing their own identities—among them were human demigods, legendary void creatures, and even a dragon. Yet these guardians posed no threat at all to the mighty Destroyer Golden Body and were not even a match for it. Charlie and Nozdormu also joined forces with the Destroyer Golden Body in attacking Anim. Nozdormu opened his mouth once again, releasing a pale gray stream of energy aimed directly at Anim’s demigod avatar. This was the first time he had used the power of the time domain against an enemy since gaining control over time and the bloodline of the Time Dragon. This breath, called the Breath of Aging, was the third breath ability Nozdormu acquired by combining the power of the time domain with his Time Dragon bloodline. Due to his imperfect mastery of the time domain, it only caused aging and slowness in the targeted creature. But once a demigod was struck by it, unless they had a lifespan of over a thousand years, they would quickly die of old age. Even for immortal true gods, this breath possessed a powerful slowing effect. Despite the barrier formed by Anim’s mental domain, the Breath of Aging passed through instantly, making Anim feel as though time around him had slowed down, and his body’s reaction speed could no longer keep up with his consciousness. At that moment, a giant claw covered in bronze scales pierced through Anim’s avatar’s chest, tearing apart its body and extracting a divine core the size of a head.