Chapter 18: Fighting Against the God of Suffering.

"The God of Fiction is quite creative, huh! But since there are so many characters, why not include the Gods themselves?"

"This is the move list... Huh? This can even go online?"

The God of Death saw this feature for the first time. He turned his head and saw that the player next to him was the Dog-headed Person he was very familiar with.

Wasn't this guy supposed to be applying to the Magic Academy? Why is he still here playing games?

With that attitude, he's likely to turn in a blank paper in the first round of exams. The God of Death thought this, distaining the Dog-headed Person for his lack of ambition, and then issued him a battle invitation.

"Wanna bet on something?" The Dog-headed Person looked at the God of Death with hopeful eyes, knowing that this boy in the black suit and top hat was a wealthy big shot, and not an ordinary person at that—perhaps an Alchemist or something of the sort.

Such people have a few fixed traits: first, they're wealthy; second, they've got even more money; and third, their money is more than they could ever spend.

"Bet a Gold Coin. I'll win, you know. Do you have money?" the God of Death asked, and the Dog-headed Person suddenly wore a complacent expression.

Last time this young man declared his victory just like this and ended up being brutally beaten by an AI.

The two began their online PvP, and other players at the machines, seeing their moves, followed suit and started looking for opponents to duel.

The list of Gods in the character selection was much smaller than the number of real Gods, and it lacked the nineteen Gods. The God of Death thought briefly and selected the mightiest God from his memory.

Among all the subordinate deities under God, the mightiest was not the War God. Although the War God boasts a comprehensive set of moves including Charge, Cyclone Slash, Skull Cracker, Leap Strike, Anesthesia Fist, Heart Evisceration, Amputation, Charged Strike, Unlimited Combat, Cross-Knife Strike, and so on, his actual job is "healing," which is why the symbols of the War God hung above the hospitals, and they were named "War God Medical Association."

In the past, once a deity was defeated in battle, their domain would gradually be taken over by the new deity.

The new War God also holds a priesthood similar to that of the Healing God... He is different from the God of War of the olden times who oversaw large-scale combats.

The full title of this new War God is the "God of Battle and Resurrection," abbreviated as the "War Recovery God," and further shortened to "War God."

Thus, he possesses various medical skills like those of the Healing God, though influenced by the combat priesthood, these healing arts have undergone certain changes.

It's akin to turning "drinking potions" into "surgery," moving from internal medicine to surgery.

This has led to Divine Arts of surgery such as "Battlefield First Aid," "Excessive Blood Transfusion," "Precise Strike," "Anesthesia Fist," "Hormone Fury," "Bone Setting," "Brain Nerve Reconstruction," "Smooth Delivery," "Ultrafast Suturing," "Sterile Field," et cetera, greatly advancing and developing the medical field.

So, this new era's War God isn't the mightiest, nor is he necessarily a guarantee for your victory... Of course, the God of War from the old times didn't offer such a guarantee either.

War is only concerned with starting battles, not winning them.

So the deity chosen by the God of Death at this moment is:

[Deity: The Last Serpent.]

The God of Death pressed the button to confirm.

In the real universe, The Last Serpent holds dominion and power over "seizing victory"! Its divine symbol is the "Serpent Ring of the Victor." Its divine form is that of a massive king cobra, symbolizing all things "final."

Those who worshiped it were often the weakest or the last-ranked among people. Praying to it in times of crisis would be met with a response, and they would immediately be saved, transforming from the weakest to the strongest, thereafter seizing the fruits of victory they could never have achieved otherwise!

However, ultimately, the victor would be defeated by someone stronger. Thus, the price The Last Serpent demanded was to take the victory from others, then to have everything of theirs taken away by someone else; it was almost certain that the moment you seized victory, an even more brutal defeat was predestined. But even so, most people remained devout to this deity.

Because most people can't even win once.

Therefore, the God of Death believed in this long serpent, trusting that it would bring him victory in this game.

The game quickly entered the loading screen, and the God of Death saw the deity chosen by the Dog-headed Person, he couldn't help but laugh out loud:

"God of Suffering? Indeed, you really should experience more of the deities out there. How could the God of Suffering possibly be a match for The Last Serpent?"

The God of Suffering was one of the four mainstream deities of the Grey World, presiding over the Church of Suffering, with the duty of eliminating the day-to-day suffering of people.

There were many sources of suffering, including physical pain, mental distress, torment from certain environments, sadness from unfulfilled desires, despair from shattered hopes, or the imbalance of jealousy. All these fell within the realm of suffering.

The Church of Suffering would eliminate, or rather "pluck out," people's suffering and then offer it to the God of Suffering.

However, continuously plucking out suffering would eventually lead to a state of "emotional numbness" in those treated. Of course, numb emotions could be revived with just some stimulating events, and it wasn't permanent. The God of Suffering didn't exert any further influence on this state either, also for the sustainability of "harvesting" their worshippers.

If everyone could no longer feel pain and stopped enduring hardships, then the God of Suffering would perish.

And such a deity, compared to The Last Serpent, was vastly inferior in power.

The game entered the battle interface, with the God of Death choosing the factory district of the Grey World as the battle background. Gears turning and steam puffing jumped out on the screen as the characters God of Suffering and The Last Serpent began their fierce PK!

"Light punch, heavy punch... huh, why does The Last Serpent use its head to hammer people for light and heavy attacks?"

"Let's try using a skill... →↓→+A....."

The God of Death, controlling The Last Serpent, suddenly spat out a stream of venom. The venom instantly splashed on the God of Suffering, and the Dog-headed Person controlling the God of Suffering was immediately knocked down, emitting a chorus of anguished groans.

But right after that, even though the health bar of the God of Suffering had clearly been reduced, when he stood up again, his health bar started to regenerate!

"... Forgot, the more you hit this thing, the more it suffers, and the happier it gets. In this game, it actually has a blood return phase after getting hit?"

That was the nature of the God of Suffering.

The God of Death cried foul, while the Dog-headed Person had by now become familiar with the basic controls. He controlled the God of Suffering to unleash skills aggressively, and the God of Death quickly got the hang of the controls as well, once again pushing the Dog-headed Person into a dire situation!

"Time for a killer move... →↓→←AC!"

"Victory reversal!"

The three Divine Power bars of The Last Serpent were now full. The ultimate move, when used while at a disadvantage in health, would swap the health bars of both players and paralyze the opponent for 1.2 seconds, creating an opportunity to turn defeat into victory.

If the health bar was at an advantage, it would deal massive damage to the opponent and steal one Divine Power bar from them.

Seeing that the health of the God of Suffering, controlled by the Dog-headed Person, was flickering like a candle in the wind, almost depleted, the God of Death started taunting, "Your moves are too weak; the God of Suffering can never beat The Last Serpent."

But the Dog-headed Person was not panicked, partly because his mental capacity was rather limited and he didn't always understand why he should be worried.

However, when God closes a door on you, he inevitably tears down a wall for you.

Controlling the God of Suffering, the Dog-headed Person executed two small skills, firstly using "Feel the Pain" to stun The Last Serpent for 0.5 seconds, then immediately used "Pain Elimination" to enter a 2-second invincibility state. Under the God of Death's watchful eye, the Dog-headed Person, controlling the God of Suffering, took advantage of those two seconds of invincibility, and, with those long legs of the character, seized an opening and kicked The Last Serpent up into the air.

Following that, the Dog-headed Person intuitively executed a set of classic moves— a combo of crouching kicks and consecutive corner kicks!

The God of Death frantically twiddled the joystick, but the Dog-headed Person's combo was so fluid that The Last Serpent was kicked high into the sky and couldn't come down until its health was almost gone!

The God of Death was dumbstruck for a moment before jumping up as the Dog-headed Person demanded Gold Coins, getting so angry that his top hat fell onto the screen.

Damn it, couldn't take it anymore, he was ready to go all out against the God of Suffering!

Two seconds of invincibility, what the hell, what kind of absurd character is this!