Lucius felt an intense pain—not the pain of a specific body part, but the agony of his very soul being torn apart. His soul hadn’t actually been ripped asunder, yet the sensation was undeniably real.
‘I absolutely cannot fall into this unknown entity’s hands.’
Lucius thought this, and he wasn’t without means of resistance.
As one blessed by the All-Father, Lucius possessed considerable talent in wielding the Church’s Holy Light. He could often achieve incredible results with remarkably small amounts of it.
Take now, for instance—his soul still retained a final wisp of Holy Light.
Using that power to injure this nameless entity was, of course, impossible. Even at his peak, he couldn’t accomplish such a feat.
But it was more than enough to self-destruct.
As the Head Paladin, Lucius’s soul was far stronger than an average human’s. If he used his own soul as a weapon and completely detonated his soul power, even that being from the high heavens would be caught off guard.
Seeing himself on the verge of being captured by the unknown entity, Lucius steeled his resolve. He was about to use his last strength to detonate his soul.
He would rather die than become a defiled existence!
“Wait! Aren’t those the two big human tin cans?”
A clear, melodious voice rang out, followed by five beams of divine light shooting into the sky!
Lucius felt the presence of the All-Father once again!
The blasphemous entity from the high heavens recoiled its tentacles as if pricked by a needle. Lucius’s yanked soul immediately returned to his body.
Astraea, bathed in radiance, stood beside him and Maximus, cleansing the surrounding monsters. Amid the eerie screeches, the paladin reopened his eyes and saw Luo En, wreathed in dazzling five-colored divine light, swinging his longsword in relentless combat.
Lucius had barely uttered a single word when a cry of “You—!” came from the high heavens. His body remained frozen in place. The paladin’s face shifted dramatically as he desperately tried to stand, but his strength was spent.
Astraea heard the screech and looked up at the sky. The pitch-black clouds were now dyed in five-colored divine light, and from time to time, new roars or curses erupted from above.
‘Looks like things are heating up up there too.’ Astraea extended her longsword and immediately began constructing a magic circuit.
“Cure!”
An intricate magic circle emerged from the longsword, and a vast torrent of mana poured into Maximus and Lucius’s bodies. In an instant, Lucius felt his body lighten considerably.
Astraea increased her mana output. Though the ambient elemental particles in this space were extremely scarce—forcing the little elf to sustain the spell with her own mana—she was currently in a state blessed by the Four Deities. Even with mana output at maximum, her consumption couldn’t match her recovery rate.
So Astraea poured out mana without restraint, using a single basic healing spell to restore the two great knights to near-full condition.
It wasn’t that Astraea deliberately wasted mana on a basic cure spell. The basic version was simply sufficient for most needs, and she hadn’t researched the advanced healing spell upgrade circuits yet.
Besides, pushing her mana output to the limit also trained her mana core. In other words, she was grinding proficiency through mana usage to raise her maximum mana pool.
In short, with nearly infinite mana at her disposal, Astraea could splash her magic around freely.
Within five minutes, Lucius—whose body had recovered considerably—stood back up. His longsword on the ground had deteriorated beyond recognition, so he pulled out Maximus’s sword instead. It wasn’t like Maximus would be regaining mobility anytime soon; borrowing his blade wouldn’t hurt.
“Thank you.” Lucius expressed his gratitude toward Astraea, who was still channeling mana, then hoisted Maximus onto his back.
“Save the thanks for later—right now, we need to run.”
Astraea ceased her spellcasting. Noticing that Luo En was about to be swallowed by the horde of monsters, she rummaged through the pouch at her waist and pulled out the few seeds she had left.
“Entangle!”
She hurled the seeds, and mana flowed into them.
The seeds rapidly sprouted, their roots digging into the monster corpses.
Under the magic’s catalysis, the tiny shoots quickly grew into thick vines. These vines wrapped around Luo En’s waist and yanked him back.
Astraea traced another magic circle, and where Luo En had been standing, a towering pillar of fire erupted. Every monster within ten meters caught flame, tumbling to the ground and writhing.
“Damn, infinite mana is so satisfying!!”
The little elf exclaimed, then grabbed Luo En and sprinted back the way they came.
Infinite mana was indeed satisfying, and going full rampage mode wasn’t bad either—but her own life was still the most important thing.
Astraea knew this power didn’t truly belong to her. The gods hadn’t actually set foot in this strange place, and there was no way they could destroy that blasphemous entity—who had home-field advantage—with just the power they’d managed to push through.
So once the divine battle in the high heavens ended, Astraea’s infinite-mana trial card would expire. The little elf figured it was best to get out of there ASAP.
So what if she was a cowardly lizard? Cowardly lizards lived longer, and she had that privilege!
“Run, dammit!”
Lucius, who had come to cover Luo En, stared in bewilderment as the blue tin can—one arm held by the little elf—shot past him. As Astraea’s drawn-out shout echoed behind, Lucius snapped to his senses, cast Holy Light Protection on himself and Maximus, then sprinted after the little elf.
Earlier, it had been impossible to see the path back here. The black miasma everywhere interfered with perception. But not anymore. The Four Deities’ divine power was like a lighthouse in the dead of night—you could spot that shimmering five-colored glow from miles away.
Astraea could sense the path with her eyes closed, which was why she could run without worry.
“Freeze, impact, repel—ahhh, let’s just do all of them!”
Even while running, the little elf was haphazardly flinging various spells. She didn’t even care whether her magic circuits were constructed correctly—as long as the spells hit the surrounding monsters and dealt damage, that was enough.
For a time, Luo En—being dragged along—could only watch in awe as the little elf transformed into a living artillery platform, hurling spells at the monsters like they cost nothing.
The spectacle around them was something else. One moment there was fire, the next a torrent of water. Anyone watching would think a natural disaster had struck.
With no monsters left to cut down, Luo En holstered his sword and followed Astraea’s example, frantically constructing all kinds of magic circuits. As long as a circuit connected without short-circuiting, he was willing to try it. As for the results—well, the monsters around them would serve as the test subjects.
Luckily, they weren’t far from the exit. Even with Astraea’s stubby little legs, it wouldn’t take long to reach it.
But the blasphemous entity in the high heavens briefly spared a moment to observe the situation below and let out a furious roar. It tried to extend a tentacle to snatch the four fleeing figures—only for the four phantoms opposite it to lunge forward and attack.
The high heavens blazed with divine light of every color. Unable to break free from the battle, the blasphemous entity could only watch helplessly as those four delicious souls stepped through the portal and vanished.
The moment Lucius passed through the portal, the blasphemous entity roared and stopped holding back. It recklessly hurled itself at the four phantoms obstructing it.
“Heh, finally getting serious?”
The golden phantom smiled. Since Astraea and the other three had already left, there was no reason to keep wasting time with this thing.
Outside, their true bodies exchanged glances. Having understood each other’s intent, all four phantoms charged simultaneously at the blasphemous entity.
The entity was insane, sure, but not brainless. Seeing these four hostile projections not dodging its attacks but rushing straight at it, it understood their intention in an instant.
Too late to evade. The entity could only unleash an even more frenzied barrage at the four phantoms.
The Four Deities didn’t dodge. They let the attacks land.
They were just projections of power anyway. Their main goal was to spite that nameless existence.
Boom!
A golden radiance blazed outward. The All-Father’s golden avatar detonated upon colliding with the blasphemous entity, dyeing nearly the entire sky gold.
Then came green, then blue, and finally a light pink mixed with pale green.
This space flickered like an LED light show. The black-miasma-spewing monsters on the ground were scorched to death in droves by the residual light from the high heavens.
Chunks of flesh rained down from the sky, accompanied by black rain that extinguished much of the five-colored flames.
As the lingering light faded, the entire space fell silent. Few monsters remained on the ground, and only the occasional “crackle” of five-colored flames consuming monster corpses could be heard.
It wasn’t until an unknown amount of time had passed that a somewhat weakened voice echoed down from the high heavens.
“Revenge…”
—
After successfully passing through the portal back into the familiar sewers, the little elf warily glanced back at it. The clashes between gods were far beyond her concern—these matters weren’t for a little elf like Astraea to worry about.
Thankfully, no monsters had followed them through the portal. Instead, after a sudden burst of five-colored divine light on the other side, it simply closed.
She had no idea what kind of nonsense those gods were pulling, but as long as it didn’t threaten her, she didn’t care.
Relieved, Astraea retracted her longsword and planted her hands on her hips, surveying their current party’s condition.
One little tin can with no damage, two big tin cans barely able to fight, and finally herself—yes, one mighty elf.
“Alright, so what’s your plan now?”
Astraea, who didn’t want to use her brain, shamelessly stopped thinking and tossed the question to the knights present.
Thinking was better left to other people~
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