803 Ancient Immortal God
“Grr…” The big white winged-tiger dragged a battered young man with several claw wounds.
“My Draco! You damned executioners!” The battered man cursed as he looked at his tamed beast, already lying on the ground as if it was no longer alive.
“It was just a big lizard, and we just knocked your big pet unconscious. We are the peacekeepers, and you are the troublemaker. Now receive your punishment.” Elysia glanced at Rhea.
Rhea nodded and took the chess piece from the battered man’s spirit.
“Argh!” The battered man was screaming in pain reflexively only because he couldn’t do anything but stare at someone suddenly stabbed right through his chest.
*Slap*
Rhea slapped the man’s battered face, right on the bruised cheek. “It doesn’t hurt, and you don’t have to scream into your lungs like you’re dying. The retribution will come to you soon.”
Vanessa left the battered man on the ground and returned to her master’s side. She received some head pats from her beloved master, of course.
“Ouch!” The battered man clutched his head that hit the ground. He immediately checked his chest and heaved a sigh of relief after making sure it wasn’t hollow like a doughnut.
“Where did they go? Already gone? Those executioners are really merciless. So that letter wasn’t just an empty bluff. They could only come ganging up on me. Ugh, my whole body hurts. Mommy…” The man was battered, moaning in pain. He didn’t want to admit defeat even though he and his tamed beast were defeated only by a big white tiger.
On top of a hill, Elena landed with everyone. They would start their deity hunt using chess pieces to track the big prey.
Vanessa transforms into her human form and puts on her clothes behind a tree. She then came back and asked. “Master, with this, we have obtained the tenth chess piece. We are only aiming for the pawns for effectiveness, which are effortless to beat. Are we going to hunt down the evil deities now?”
“Yes, we will hunt them soon. Sora, Stormy, how are you? Can you track down the nearby evil deity for us?” Elysia raised her palm for the two nature spirits to land.
“Sure, it’s an easy thing. Give us the chess pieces.” Sora is ready to carry out her duties at any time.
“Leave it to us! They won’t be able to escape or hide from our accurate tracking.” Stormy feels confident in her abilities.
Rhea took out all the chess pieces from the dark pouch and made them float around Sora and Stormy.
“Hmm, ten pawns from seven different factions. The closest evil deity is in the southeast… They’re hiding quite a distance from their team, huh.” Sora looked up at the southeast night sky.
“Mm, about seven thousand kilometers from here. Two of the seven are in the same place. So, they’re probably in an alliance to welcome us hunters. They’re probably around the Himalayas.” Stormy tried to analyze further.
“Yup, that’s it. We’d better go there now. The day will turn to morning again when we get there due to the difference in world time.” Sora nodded in confirmation and looked at everyone.
“Seven thousand kilometers, huh… If it’s around the Himalayas, then we’d better teleport to Japan and departed from there for a shorter travel distance.” Elena nodded in understanding and asked everyone to gather.
Elysia took out a teleportation talisman to return to their temporary base. After that, they flew towards the west at high speed.
They covered a distance of four thousand kilometers in just a few minutes to arrive at one of the highest peaks in the world. A mountain range that traversed five different countries, and it was still partially covered by snow.
“Yes, they are at the top of the temple over there.” Sora turned into an arrow sign pointing to a place in the distance.
“In that mountain-top temple? It would be troublesome if they involved many people like the monks.” Elena put her hand to her chin while considering a few things.
“That’ll be fine since I have a plan. They haven’t noticed our arrival because your invisibility magic is incredible. We’re a few steps ahead of them.” Rhea smiled sweetly behind the shadow mask. She then elaborated her plan to everyone.
The plan was immediately agreed upon by everyone. However, one would come like an uninvited guest, and the others remained invisible until the right time came.
“Hmm-mm~” Rhea hummed sweetly as she casually flew towards a small hut at the highest point of the temple grounds.
At first glance, the place looked like a Buddhist temple where hundreds of monks practiced. However, Rhea could see some of the uniqueness and the oddities the closer she got.
By the time she got there, she was standing a few meters from the door as if waiting for something. Her arrival was unknown to the monks practicing at the temple but not to one person who happened to be climbing the hundreds of stairs up there.
“What are you doing in the cultivation room of the Grand Masters, suspicious visitor?” The monk put on his stance with his flagship iron-wood stick.
“…” Rhea decided not to answer because she didn’t know what the other party was saying.
‘Sorry, I’m only proficient in a few languages.’ Elysia apologized. She knew it was Chinese, but she was not proficient in Mandarin.
‘Worry not, Master Elysia. We don’t need to understand everything other people say because we can detect fluctuations in their aura and emotions to determine our next action.’ Rhea shook her head slightly.
Rhea proceeded gently push the door with the help of the wind. The door was not locked at all and opened quickly. Yet, she had already predicted what was waiting for her, and because of that, she immediately stood aside.
*Swoosh*
A strong gust of wind blew through the door, sending the poor monk into the sky without prior notice.
“Waaah!” The poor monk screamed, but he was already blown away by the snowy mountain.
“I have been waiting for your arrival, the executioner.” An unusually burly topless man with long spiky white hair clasped his hands behind his back. He greeted in English with his back to his guest.
“You sent your disciple flying far away. Hm, this is weird… I thought you would set up a trap formation or something like that.” Rhea checked all corners of the room thoroughly.
However, she still couldn’t find any traps, and she could confirm that with confidence which was quite strange. Not to mention, there was only one person even though there should have been two.
“Such a shameful thing is only done by a loser. Unlike the others, I actually feel enthusiastic about your arrival. Because of that, I sent that monk away. Please come in.” The topless burly man turned around and allowed the guest to enter his humble abode.
“Heh, this is interesting. You don’t have a king piece in your spirit. What’s really going on here? Are you a newly eliminated participant or a naughty deity wanting to get involved?” Rhea just realized something strange. The other party’s spirit was still pure and fresh, without the slightest sign or trace of the king piece.
“You can see it easily? Who would have thought that one of the executioners was a Powerful Goddess.” The topless burly man grinned widely.
“I presume you already know a lot of things. May I know why the tracking of chess pieces actually led us here?” Rhea tried to scan the entire room and went inside. She consulted about a few things with Elysia, but the other party just told her the answer.
“Oh, that… it’s probably because of these chess pieces?” The topless burly man opened an old wooden box and revealed a complete set of chess pieces.
“You didn’t use that to participate in that game? That doesn’t make sense. We tracked down two deities’ whereabouts here because of their pawns. That can’t be you.” Rhea shook her head.
“Oh… They are the challengers who failed to beat me. My former disciple is the one over there, and the other is probably his friend. That poor fellow is currently in a miserable state after receiving my beating some time ago.” The topless burly man pointed to two stone coffins at the corner of the room.
‘That’s right… They are there in such a sorry state. They’re completely battered even though they’re at deity-level with a king piece power boost.’ Elysia scanned the two stone coffins with her sacred vision. She could faintly see the whereabouts of the two people.
“Why don’t you take your teammates out? I know you didn’t come alone. Don’t worry. You can eliminate them and take this set of chess pieces. I didn’t need it. That person was so pushy to give it to me last month.” The topless burly man turned around while looking at the clear cloudy sky in the distance.
‘Perhaps, he is a Mountain God and knew of our arrival from the moment we arrived in his territory. Either way, he’s powerful, Rhea… Much stronger than any deity we’ve ever faced.’ Elysia tried to see that topless burly man’s status. She gulped her saliva as a result.
“Why did you refuse to participate in that game? You might have won the competition quickly before we came if you put all your strength and potential into it.” Rhea went to approach the stone coffin without hesitation since her back was already protected.
The coffin was an artifact with a strange disguise effect. No wonder she wasn’t aware of its contents beforehand.
“Listen here, lassie. The real power doesn’t come from someone born strongest, fastest, or smartest. It only comes to someone who started everything from scratch and put in all means to reach the pinnacle.” The topless burly man responded like an old sage with countless years of experience.
<| Lv. 201 | Ancient Immortal God | Zhao Fu | Male (N/A) | HP: 266,000 / 296,900 | EP: 92,400 / 98,200 |>
<| STR: 97 | AGI: 56 | VIT: 56 | INT: 54 |>
Elysia shared the status screen information with Rhea.
“…” Rhea was surprised. All the power holders on Earth were only half of Vrelenia’s standard power ranking. However, this deity was almost on par with the weakened Oceanid based on the data she received via mind sync.
Stats were subject to change at any time, but the level was a stable value. This deity was already at God’s level, even in Vrelenia.
“What do you want by waiting for our arrival and keeping the two battered deities here, Ancient Immortal God, Zhao Fu?” Rhea opened both stone coffins at once with magic.
“Your partners sure are scary. They can tell my former title even though there is no information about me in this mortal world. They can reveal the secrets of heaven that even Earth cannot access?” The topless burly man felt slightly surprised, but he soon regained his composure.