"Finally, I've found you."
The demon's glowing red eyes were locked onto Rod.
The massive demonic shell bent low, as a monstrous hand reached out toward him.
Shush, shush, shush!
Countless red tendrils spread like a net, covering the sky and ground.
"You think wearing a shell makes you a real demon?"
Rod pulled the divine axe Rhitta from behind him and swung it effortlessly.
In an instant, scorching flames consumed everything before him.
Boom!
Rod's toe barely touched the ground as his body soared into the air.
Hovering a hundred meters high, he looked down on the massive creature.
"You can only move by absorbing others' life and souls."
"A mere puppet. Who allowed you to look down on me?"
Rod raised the divine axe, the radiant flames on its blade burning as bright as the sun.
"Turn to ashes!"
With a mighty swing of the axe, the sun itself seemed to explode.
A violent wave of energy was unleashed without restraint.
In a single moment, all the red tendrils connected to the humans were incinerated.
The demonic shell, having lost its source of life and soul energy, stood frozen like a powerless toy.
And the life force and soul energy that had been drained from the people returned to their bodies.
The crowd, now free from the illusions, erupted in panic.
They fled in every direction, terrified.
"Such a powerful human!"
Inside the palace, a three-tiered demonic altar emanated a vile and blood-soaked aura.
Around the altar, a mountain of corpses—noblewomen in lavish gowns, fully armored guards and knights, as well as countless slaves and peasants—lay stacked.
Each face was twisted with pain and terror.
Blood pooled at the base of the altar.
Tormented souls writhed in agony, trapped around it.
The tailor, his eyes bloodshot, stood at the foot of the altar, his expression shifting between shock and fear as he gazed at the reflection in the blood.
This human was far stronger than he had imagined.
The demonic shell he had painstakingly pieced together over so long, a creation that even a legendary warrior couldn't easily defeat, couldn't withstand a single strike from this man.
"Too bad. You have no idea what you're up against."
In the past, he might have felt fear.
But now was different.
The great one was about to descend, and soon, the entire world would kneel under his radiant glory.
"The sacrifices may be few, but they are enough for my master to channel a portion of his power."
A crazed look spread across the tailor's face.
Holding a cursed dagger in his hand, he knelt devoutly.
"Oh Master! Your humble servant offers these bodies and souls as sacrifices. I beg for your descent!"
Pfft!
The dagger pierced his chest, and black, sludge-like liquid poured out.
Boom!
Thunder roared.
A pitch-black vortex began to form in the sky.
"Soon, the world will be enveloped by my master's glory!"
The tailor's face contorted with fanaticism.
"Summoning an evil god from the Abyss... where do these lunatics come from?"
On the streets, the giant demonic shell had already been reduced to ash by the power of the sun.
Rod stood atop the demon's decapitated head, one hand on his hip.
He used the divine axe to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight, gazing at the swirling vortex in the sky.
The terrifying, evil energy darkened half the sky.
The Abyss was the origin of all corruption, birthing not only demons but twisted evil gods as well.
These gods were inherently chaotic, with distorted minds and evil beyond comprehension.
If demons were mere butchers, driven by slaughter and destruction, then the evil gods were madmen, consumed by chaos, with no logic or reason.
Their very existence defied all normal understanding, representing the height of madness and distortion.
Unlike demons, who formed hierarchies and armies, evil gods worked alone.
Some of the more powerful ones could even rival actual gods.
Even the demon lords of the Abyss avoided dealing with them.
These lunatics didn't understand the concept of allies.
You could be working together one moment, only to be stabbed in the back the next, and they wouldn't stop until you were dead.
Typically, these gods stayed deep within the Abyss, in the most corrupted and twisted corners.
However, on rare occasions, their power would seep through the boundaries of worlds, corrupting ours.
Any creature tainted by an evil god's influence would undergo irreversible changes, both in mind and soul.
They would become fanatical followers of the evil god, doing whatever it took to summon him into this world.
They called this spreading 'glory.'
In reality, once summoned, the evil gods only brought endless devouring of all life around them.
Their very presence was like a spreading contamination, warping the land and making it uninhabitable for humans.
The damage from their presence could take hundreds or even thousands of years to fade.
And even then, the land would remain barren, cold, and inhospitable.
The evil god's instinct drove them to endlessly drain the world's power, inflicting permanent scars.
If Rod had a choice, he would rather face a powerful demon lord than an evil god.
Though a demon lord was strong, at least they had some sense, and more importantly, they could be killed.
But evil gods? They were different. They were creatures from the deepest Abyss, with bodies and souls twisted beyond recognition.
Defeating one was one thing; killing one was a completely different challenge, with the difficulty multiplied tenfold.
Roar!
A haunting, overlapping echo reverberated in Rod's mind, like a soul in the throes of madness.
A massive green tentacle emerged from the black vortex, stretching hundreds of meters long, covered in twisted, bloodshot eyes.
Thick veins pulsed around the eyeballs, and thin tendrils of flesh slithered from the corners of the eyes like writhing snakes.
The moment he saw the tentacle, the name of the evil god flashed in Rod's mind.
The Lord of Pain, @#¥%...
An incomprehensible jumble of symbols and sounds flooded his brain, making his head throb as if it might burst.
Creatures of this caliber, akin to gods, were manifestations of chaos and law.
Unnameable, indescribable.
Merely mentioning their names drew the Abyss's gaze and brought endless terror.
They were terror itself.
Rod glanced at the sun above.
It had reached its peak.
Even the divine axe could barely suppress the overwhelming power coursing through his body, like a river threatening to break its dam.
Rod loosened the hold on the divine axe, his body expanding, muscles bulging unnaturally.
With the power of the sun amplifying him, his already two-meter-tall frame shot up to a towering five meters.
He clenched his fist, and a surge of explosive power radiated from him.
The very air seemed ready to ignite under the intense heat.
Rod looked up at the sky, where lightning flashed and thunder rolled as the world's will instinctively fought to repel the evil god.
It was trying to force the god back.
But the summoning had progressed too far to be stopped now.
"One minute."
Rod muttered to himself. After all, the being descending wasn't a true god.
With his current power, one minute was all he needed to resolve this issue.
He had to send it back to the Abyss before it fully arrived.
"Under the gods, I am invincible. Against the gods, it's one-for-one."
Rod's cold, confident gaze brimmed with arrogance.
After all, he was the one blessed by the sun.
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
Support the Translation! 🌐✨
20 Advanced Chapters are currently available in Patreon, make sure to visit and support our team.
patreon.com/Immortal_author
https://ko-fi.com/immortalauthor
https://discord.gg/KscfBegBPT