Chapter 562
The air shimmered violently from the sudden displacement, a vacuum created by the land’s insatiable hunger. Once devoured, the churning water underwent a horrifying transformation, solidifying into a thick, viscous body of black sludge.
From within this malevolent sludge, the demons who managed to survive and was not crushed by the wave began to reform, their grotesque bodies slowly emerging from the murky, black mass.
As for the three Sixth-Tier Mages, the sight of Ikenga immediately quelled their rage. It wasn’t fear that gripped them, but a profound unease. Ikenga had proven himself to be an enigma, a force beyond their current comprehension, and the grim reality was that three top-level mages had already fallen by his hand.
By this point, the viscous black sludge had mostly dissipated, its last demon climbing out as the corrupted land below reverted to its previous, albeit scorched, state. The mages exchanged a final, hard glare with Ikenga, then cast their eyes over the devastation below. A portal shimmered open behind them, and without a word, they retreated through it, leaving Ikenga alone on the transformed battlefield.
Ikenga stood amidst the remnants of the scorched earth, a thoughtful expression on his face. His appearance wasn’t solely to aid Zarvok; he had a deeper, more personal agenda. He’d come out this time because he wanted to experiment with something new.
Ikenga’s last battle against the mages was a brutal awakening. While he barely survived, he emerged with a crucial insight into their greatest vulnerability: ignorance. The mages, so confident in their arcane might, were utterly reliant on comprehensive knowledge of their foes. If they knew nothing of their opponent’s abilities, weaknesses, or even their very nature, they couldn’t formulate countermeasures or strategic plans. This meant that, despite their power, they could be caught completely off guard. Their rigid adherence to preparation became their Achilles’ heel when faced with the unknown.
Ikenga also confronted his own critical weakness during that battle: a limited well of divine power and a crippling lack of ambient nature to draw upon. This was a dire situation for a god whose essence was intertwined with the natural world.
In a stroke of desperate genius, Ikenga expended a significant portion of his divine power to manifest his own localized pocket of nature on the barren world. A fundamental act of creation. The artificial environment, brimming with his divine essence, immediately began to replenish his spent power, creating a vital feedback loop. This self-sustaining nature not only revitalized him but also leveled the playing field, transforming a losing battle into a desperate struggle for survival for the mages.
Crucially, this audacious maneuver was only possible because of the barren nature of the planet they fought on. Devoid of any existing flora or fauna, it offered no conflicting natural energies for Ikenga to contend with, allowing his self-created nature to flourish unopposed. Had there been a vibrant ecosystem, his efforts might have been diluted or even actively resisted by the existing natural order as an instictive act to preserve itself which Ikenga understood as his action ruined the world itself.
Ikenga knows that the mages are meticulous analysts. Once they dissect the remnants of their last clash, they will undoubtedly pinpoint his dependency on nature and the critical role of the barren environment. Their next move is predictable: they will deny him any access to a planet. Instead, they will force the inevitable final confrontation into the empty void of space, where no nature exists for him to connect with or create. This strategic move will aim to cripple him before the battle even begins, turning his strength into a fatal liability.
As the origin god of nature and curses, Ikenga has always understood that he was never destined to be a conventional "fighting god." His power lies not in raw destructive force, but in adaptation and growth, mirroring the very essence of nature itself. This innate adaptability is his greatest asset.
Now, facing the prospect of a battle in the absolute void, Ikenga is not despairing; he is curious. He is keenly interested to observe how his divinity will inherently react to being forced to fight in the barren, lifeless expanse of space. This isn’t just about survival; it’s about the evolution of his own divine essence, pushing the boundaries of what the origin god of nature can achieve when stripped of his most fundamental connection.