Chapter 707 14: The Pull
The gaps in the red-black giant dragon scale armor resembled cracked earth, spewing forth scorching dragon flames.
The power that had been held in reserve now burst forth without hesitation, igniting even the divine realm shrouded in a layer of green mist in an instant.
The searing high temperatures filled the entire world of the divine realm.
In the incredulous eyes of the Minotaur God, the giant dragon directly pinned Its divine body to the ground, pressing its horns with its claws, while an intense red flame erupted from its gaping maw.
Impossible.
How could you escape Anubis's judgment!
Anubis, in Egyptian mythology, was the god of death with a jackal head, serving under the Netherworld King Osiris, which is why It could borrow power from Him. In Its calculations, even the ancient dragon couldn't escape this without severe damage or the destruction of its soul.
Yet Losa seemed unaffected, not only breaking free from Its magic but also tearing apart the Anubis silhouette It constructed, causing It significant backlash.
The Minotaur God saw a streak of fiery light reflected before Its eyes.
The light rapidly expanded in Its view.
Boom!
The terrifying flames poured onto Its head, and that indestructible divine body turned red-hot, with edges starting to melt.
It must be noted, this was not Its true divine body of the past. Its essence was merely a caster's body modified by divine power. No matter how omnipotent divine power is, transforming a mortal form into a divine body in such a brief time is impossible.
The giant dragon, now in a position of dominance, showed no intention of holding back. The dragon flame, which once would have exhausted all its power in one breath, now seemed to continue pouring as if it required no effort at all.
Losa himself felt the scales around his nostrils become red-hot, with his body's temperature soaring to a new peak in an exceptionally short time. His flesh felt as though it were built from molten lava.
Yet, the output of the dragon flame never ceased.
Any other ancient dragon, without his near immunity to all flames, would never be able to sustain such a degree.
Simultaneously, a golden radiance flew from beyond the divine realm, landing on him, restoring a substantial portion of his almost depleted energy. The effect was immediate, far surpassing the spiritual recovery potion Anna once gave.
Not only did his Power of the Dragon Descendant and spiritual power rapidly recover, but even his dragon flame's output efficiency increased further, with the dense red-black color disappearing in an instant, becoming a semi-transparent hue invisible to the human eye.
But visibly, all plants within the Fertile Divine Realm erupted into ash with a boom, as a mushroom cloud rose.
When the dragon flame finally dissipated.
The Minotaur Giant God, once grand and imposing, had completely vanished, leaving only a dim flame. From this flame, new flesh rapidly regenerated.
"Vile blasphemer!"
With wrathful fury, the giant Minotaur God Apis sought to re-manifest Its body. Its newly acquired body had been destroyed, wasting the divine power It had invested, thwarting Its ambitions to become one of the Nine Pillar Gods, and ruining Its resurrection.
Indeed, It couldn't even afford to return to slumber now.
"That's the divine fire of Apis!"
Losa immediately realized Apis's intent; this being was preparing to fight to the death!
But at that moment.
Clutching dual swords and appearing as a tiny insect compared to the giant god, a young girl manifested from nothing, her sharp aura inducing a foreboding sense of death in Apis, who was desperately unleashing Its divine power.
Clang—
The storm-like sword Qi enveloped the divine fire.
Executioner trait applied.
Forced execution of enemies with less than ten percent life value.
The final trump card had yet to be revealed.
This temporarily resurrected ancient god bellowed with unwillingness as the sword Qi cleaved through Its divine fire effortlessly.
Accompanied by a piercing boom.
That seemingly eternal divine fire was extinguished.
The dragon transformed back into human form, landing on the waiting Eclipse in the distance.
"Is that guy dead?"
Cherinita abruptly appeared behind Losa.
"Probably."
Losa heard the system notification sound at his ear.
With the experience points received, even an ancient god such as Apis, stubborn in death, was likely completely obliterated this time.
Unfortunately, there were no special rewards; it just leveled him up twice, granting ten attribute points, all of which he allocated to Spirit, enhancing his casting ability.
The milestone of god-slaying had already been achieved when he killed the Crocodile God Sobek, earning him the Dragon Bloodline.
Honestly, this ancient god Apis was quite formidable, far superior to the Crocodile God Sobek he defeated in Montreal, akin to an ant compared to a dragon.
But actually, although the Crocodile God Sobek wasn't particularly renowned and wasn't part of the Nine Pillar Gods, It was the primary god of the Fayoum region and considered the guardian god of the Nile River, holding a status just shy of the Nine Pillar Gods. In the divine hierarchy, It evidently surpassed Apis, at the very least equaled It.
But Sobek's situation was evidently much worse.
This is what makes sense; the era of the gods has long passed, and the remaining Ancient Gods should be like Sobek, barely surviving, with power less than that of a mid-to-high-level Caster.
So this Apis is quite suspicious.
Losa immediately recalled the cuneiform clay tablet in Rashid that consecrated the Ghost Dragon. If Shemir truly had a way to perfectly resurrect the Ancient Gods, it would pose a huge threat.
Apis is merely a God of Fertility and restrained by Losa's attributes. Just attempting to kill him required so many strategic cards. If faced with a god like Anubis, who wasn't restrained by Losa's attributes, winning would only be more difficult.
Not to mention the true Nine Pillar Gods.
"It seems our showdown with the Saracens is not entirely assured,"
At present, Losa's strength can only see improvement in the short term if he completes the "simulated battle" scenario that he had set aside due to insufficient power.
In fact, he is almost at full level and can undergo Elite transformation.
But unlike his followers, even after Elite transformation, all Losa would unlock is a new Talent and wouldn't be able to upgrade to Tier One full level just by spending money. This kind of improvement is not significant for him.
Moreover, the Talent unlocked after Elite transformation with the Sun King Template, named "Well-Trained," is evidently a troop enhancement Talent, offering limited combat power increase.
Nonetheless, Losa has no absolute certainty in completing the simulated battle. The Hundred Years' War is close in time proximity to the year of Constantinople's fall, but the Ottoman Empire isn't like the European Countries, where all Extraordinary individuals are under the Crusaders or Holy Church's jurisdiction, and not allowed to participate in internal Catholic wars.
Who knows how many powerful Extraordinary individuals serve under that Conqueror's command? At the very least, they won't be weaker than the Walas of the same era.
Can he really save the crumbling edifice with just his own power?
Cherinita looked at Losa's serious expression, somewhat puzzled: "My lord, did we not win?"
"We did win, but the victory wasn't easy."
Losa pointed overhead: "Someone's watching our performance, and I revealed too many strategic cards. I actually didn't want Lavinia to display her power under these circumstances; the more strategic cards the enemy discovers, the smaller our chances of winning in the decisive battle."
Cherinita was somewhat puzzled: "No battle is guaranteed. Looking at it now, our strength still seems to have the upper hand. Even the two Kings have Caster powers alongside them."
Losa looked at her confused face and instinctively raised his hand, tidying her messy hair: "Turns out I lack the warrior's awareness."
A warrior's death in battle seemed to be a common and rightful occurrence to them.
As long as victory is ensured, losses are inconsequential.
"But I don't want to be crying while holding any of your bodies someday."
Losa chuckled, being a warrior, Cherinita only needs to think about how to fight, but he couldn't possibly consider just that; if only a sea of bodies and bones of those around him could forge a throne, he'd rather abandon it.
"I've always been greedy, wanting not just to win, but to win beautifully, joyfully, and without regrets."
As he spoke, he lightly urged his horse forward.
Sun Chaser galloped away rapidly, winking at Cherinita as it left.
The wolf race girl pondered for a moment in place, then followed after.
"My lord, indeed, seems to like me a bit."
Upon returning to the castle.
Under the gaze filled with reverence from the crowd, Losa suddenly remembered something:
He hadn't used his weekly card draw yet, having saved up ten draws due to a long period of not receiving anything good.
But Losa didn't hold much expectation.
After all, he still remembered that the last card draw yielded purple lace panties, and before that, an exquisite Knight's saddle—the one currently on Sun Chaser. While it might seem useless, it actually had value.
At least, under the dual flame of Sun Chaser and himself, that saddle remained as sturdy as new.
With such a relaxed mindset.
Losa casually drew.
Ten cards rapidly spread out before him, flipping open one by one.
A purple lace bra, an everlasting pipe, a finely crafted Guardian Pendant, the central fountain of Schönbrunn Palace...
Customary blue skies and white clouds.
Rarely, a tint of cyan (Four-Star) appeared, that finely crafted Guardian Pendant capable of erecting a protective shield.
Losa continued flipping.
Still the blue skies and white clouds.
Until the very end.
Having given up hope on receiving anything, he half-heartedly flipped one last card.
Immediately, a golden radiance flooded his consciousness sea.
Amidst it, a card emanating brilliant golden radiance floated prominently, with an intricate decoration of a black Giant Dragon poised to fly embossed at the top of the border.
Indeed, a rare find!