Chapter 46: Divine Heart
A metal giant hammer with a head alone reaching ten thousand meters in length—its destructive power was unimaginable, not to mention that this giant hammer was also imbued with Realm Lightning.
Before the hammer arrived, the wind pressure fell first, causing cracks to appear on the surrounding city walls of the Dead City.
Thump~!!
A deep, ear-shattering sound spread. Su Xiao, standing on the dragon's back, looked down and saw the ground that had taken this blow. It was like a water bag that had been forcefully pressed. The surface first surged outward like a wave, then, with the subsequent kinetic energy, the earth burst apart with a roar.
The city walls around the Dead City, several hundred meters high, all exploded and scattered after this hammer fell, turning into rock fragments that splashed outward. The World Giant's thunderous hammer strike was incredibly shocking, as if it had smashed the Dead City to pieces in one blow.
Rumble~
A dull sound came from under the giant hammer. The hammer trembled, and then...
Boom!
The erupting force came from under the giant hammer. The Divine Being Incarnation, standing in the huge crater, punched the giant hammer back up. Surprisingly, its size had grown much larger than before, increasing from over ten meters to a hundred meters.
Even so, it was still insignificant compared to the World Giant. The giant hammer was raised again and then smashed down.
The earth-shaking loud noise made the Divine Being Incarnation once again submerged by the giant hammer. But suddenly, the falling giant hammer was lifted slightly. Beneath it, tilting its head, bracing the giant hammer with its shoulder, and pushing up with both hands, the Divine Being Incarnation roared in fury once more. Looking again, its size had reached a full kilometer.
Dragon wings tore through the air. Su Xiao stood on the back of the Storm Flame Dragon, now in Dragon Rider form. The root-like [Thunder Spirit] clung to his right forearm. As he raised his hand, a dazzling golden Realm Lightning struck down, forming a lightning spear in his hand.
The wind howled past his ears, blowing Su Xiao's hair. He crouched low, his vision filled with black clouds. He controlled the Storm Flame Dragon to lower its flight altitude. After descending through the clouds, the Divine Being Incarnation, supporting the giant hammer, came into view.
As the Storm Flame Dragon flew, Su Xiao pointed the lightning spear in his hand at the Divine Being Incarnation. A bolt of Realm Lightning struck the Divine Being Incarnation, scorching its gray-white fur and causing it to stagger.
Su Xiao noticed that after this attack, the flesh of the Divine Being Incarnation surged, its bones seemed to emit a dull, angry roar, and its size actually increased after enduring an attack that could threaten it.
The World Giant's giant hammer was raised again. The Divine Being Incarnation had grown larger, but it also took the hits harder. The giant hammer fell unstoppably. The Divine Being Incarnation was hammered to one knee, blood splattering everywhere. Starting from its left shoulder, its body began to shatter, and its head was dented in half.
The more it was injured, the faster the Divine Being Incarnation's size grew wildly. If the size difference between the World Giant and the Divine Being Incarnation had been like an adult and an ant before, now the Divine Being Incarnation's size was almost up to the World Giant's knee.
A blood energy phantom appeared behind Su Xiao. A soul greatbow was formed. He tossed the lightning spear in his hand upward, where it was caught by the blood energy phantom and used as an arrow for the bow.
Crack, crack, crack~
The soul greatbow was drawn. The lightning spear shot out, piercing through layers of spatial barriers, leaving rings of airwaves in its wake before plunging into the Divine Being Incarnation's neck. It entered from the left side of the neck, carried by its powerful penetrating force, and exited from under the right ribs. It embedded into the ground with a loud crash, sending mud and rock flying over a kilometer high.
The Divine Being Incarnation staggered a few steps to the side. It clenched its hands and squeezed, forming an air cannon that turned from translucent to pitch black. It crushed this black light mass. Gravity first burst outward, then began to contract inward. A powerful suction force caused the Storm Flame Dragon to lose balance and be pulled toward the dark vortex.
Seeing this, the World Giant swung its giant hammer, smashing the dark vortex with a boom, and shattering a small part of the Divine Being Incarnation's body. The Divine Being Incarnation had powerful self-healing abilities. The moment its flesh shattered, new flesh regenerated with an unstoppable, overwhelming force.
Because the World Giant's hammer strike was too fierce, shattering nearly half of the Divine Being Incarnation's chest, Su Xiao, watching from above, saw the huge, beating golden-red heart inside. The moment he saw this thing, he confirmed it was the Divine Being Incarnation's power source. Without destroying this thing, there was no way to kill the Divine Being Incarnation. This guy's health recovery speed was such that it would drop by 10% and then fully recover in a short time.
Even worse, as it kept getting injured and recovering, the Divine Being Incarnation's height was now almost up to the World Giant's shoulder. This also meant that the Giant Brother's next hammer strike was blocked by the Divine Being Incarnation raising its left arm.
Boom!!
The shockwave sound traveled far. After the Divine Being Incarnation blocked the Giant Brother's attack with one arm, it clenched its right hand into a fist and punched at the Giant Brother's lower jaw.
Dragon wings tore through the air. The soul greatbow's string vibrated. A bolt of Realm Lightning arrow shot out, exploding the Divine Being Incarnation's right forearm, turning this punch aimed at the Giant Brother from a threat into a weakness.
The Giant Brother was also experienced in battle. Although his movements seemed slow due to his huge size, he had seen Su Xiao in Dragon Rider form from the corner of his eye and guessed that Su Xiao would help him counter this attack. So he didn't waste time defending. Instead, he raised the giant hammer again. The Giant Brother, holding the hammer handle with both hands, burst with golden light. He let out a battle cry and swung the giant hammer sideways at the Divine Being Incarnation.
Bang!!
Under the Giant Brother's powerful attack, the Divine Being Incarnation's upper body shattered. Its lower body also flew off, leaving only a huge, golden-red heart suspended in midair.
The soul greatbow's string vibrated repeatedly. Under Su Xiao's control, three Realm Lightning arrows shot out, all hitting the golden-red heart, or rather, the Divine Heart.
Under such attacks, although the Divine Heart was damaged, its healing speed was astonishing.
Su Xiao's guess was correct. This was the Divine Being Incarnation's power source and the reason it could exist from the First Era to the present.
At the beginning of the First Era, it was the Age of Gods. A key point was that the divine blood back then was different from what it is now.
Current divine blood is formed based on the rules of the Star Realm, especially the divine blood of friendly factions, which is gentle and warm. In contrast, the divine blood of the First Era was something that the Eternal Light, Sun, and Ancient Dragon factions—who were at war with the gods—found particularly troublesome to dispose of.
At that time, divine blood was born from the [Abyss] or [Element] systems. It was either so dark and evil that it made one's scalp tingle, or so sacred and absolutely righteous that it was devoid of any emotion—a merciless sanctity that would purify and evaporate anyone for the slightest mistake.
Back then, the Eternal Light, Sun, and Ancient Dragon factions spent over 30% of their war expenses on sealing divine blood. It wasn't until the gods suffered a crushing defeat that they used their [Existence] as a price to gather all divine blood, giving rise to the Divine Being Incarnation.
From that moment, the ancient pantheon was destroyed. The so-called "using [Existence] as a price" meant sacrificing everything to ensure that the Eternal Light, Sun, and Ancient Dragon factions would die without a burial place. It could only be said that the gods of that time, despite their arrogance in looking down on all others as ants, were truly ruthless.
Therefore, the gods of today are different from the ancient gods. They are practically two different power systems. The only ones still bearing the prestige of the ancient gods among the divine systems are the Ancient Gods. When the ancient pantheon used "[Existence] as a price," the Ancient Gods didn't flee from battle. They endured it, completing their transformation in a hopeless situation.
As a result, in the subsequent two and a half eras, the Ancient Gods brought pain and despair to too many races. Coupled with the standard [Sucking] world ability of all Ancient Gods, such a formidable posture was only worthy of a divine system that had survived the First Era's Twilight of the Gods.
The roar didn't stop. One after another, Realm Lightning arrows hit the Divine Heart, but its recovery speed was too fast. Seeing this, even the Storm Flame Dragon, Dis, spat out dragonflame.
The Giant Brother raised his huge hand and grabbed the Divine Heart. With his immense grip strength, the Divine Heart turned from golden-red to blazing red, as if it were about to explode. At that moment, the Divine Heart's regenerative power suddenly surged. Starting from this point, the Divine Being Incarnation's torso, limbs, and head regenerated in the blink of an eye.
Because the Giant Brother's hand was holding the Divine Heart, his left hand was embedded in the Divine Being Incarnation's chest, firmly fixed by bones. Even worse, due to enduring a large number of attacks, the Divine Being Incarnation's size was now similar to the Giant Brother's, only half a head shorter.
With a snap, the Divine Being Incarnation grabbed the Giant Brother's left arm. Its faceplate shattered, revealing a huge mouth full of fangs. Its jaw opened wide, and a small black gravity ball appeared in its mouth. As it charged up, the size of this gravity ball skyrocketed.
'Super·Blood Smoke Cannon.'
Boom!!
The Divine Being Incarnation staggered. Taking this opportunity, the Giant Brother's giant hammer had already swung. With one hammer strike, flesh scattered like a curtain of rain. A small part of the Divine Being Incarnation's body shattered, and the Giant Brother took the chance to pull out his left hand.
The Giant Brother gripped the hammer handle with both hands. The hammer head was covered in cracks. As the external metal rust and dirt fell off, the true form of this weapon was revealed. This was no giant hammer; it was clearly a golden battle axe. More precisely, it was called the Star Radiance Battle Axe, forged by the Star Clan of the Void. Although the Star Clan is low-key now, they were once glorious in the First Era.
Puchi!
The battle axe cleaved down, but only embedded into the Divine Being Incarnation's left forearm. Compared to before, the Divine Being Incarnation's physical defense had skyrocketed by a tier. This meant that it was gradually awakening its power through battle.
In a little while, the Divine Being Incarnation would reach a level where even the Giant Brother would find it hard to break through its defenses. But this had both pros and cons. The bad news was, of course, that the Divine Being Incarnation's strength had greatly increased, making its body indestructible. The good news was that no being could gain power out of thin air.
The Divine Being Incarnation's current change meant that its body was drawing power from the Divine Heart within, distributing the ancient divine blood throughout its body. Once the Divine Heart lost too much ancient divine blood, it could be completely destroyed, unlike before, when it had powerful regenerative abilities.
Was the Divine Being Incarnation voluntarily weakening its survivability? Of course not. Being repeatedly shattered like before also consumed divine blood. Rather than wasting divine blood on recovery, the Divine Being Incarnation chose to use it to form a stronger body.
With a crackling sound, a Realm Lightning arrow nearly ten meters long hit the back of the Divine Being Incarnation's neck. This time, it only slightly scorched its gray-white fur. Of course, this was also related to Su Xiao only using elemental affinity to attract lightning, rather than using the double boost of soul strength + elemental affinity. If he used that kind of Realm Lightning to enter Dragon Rider mode, Su Xiao would be the first to die.
The Divine Being Incarnation was hit and tilted its head slightly. In that opening, the Giant Brother had already swung the battle axe down. With a boom, the axe was blocked by the Divine Being Incarnation's arm, but the Giant Brother's other hand delivered an uppercut to the Divine Being Incarnation's jaw, sending it flying up a bit. The accompanying impact dispersed the clouds above.
Although the attacks of the Divine Being Incarnation and the Giant Brother were both simple and unadorned, this was because both were power-type. They had strong attack power and high defense. Moreover, both now had strength between Absolute Strength and Supreme, making them the bane of all flashy abilities.
Su Xiao controlled the Storm Flame Dragon to climb in altitude. In this battle, he absolutely could not be hit twice by the Divine Being Incarnation. With its size and terrifying attack power, he could withstand at most two hits. As for the Storm Flame Dragon, although it had been promoted to the Overlord tier in the Wind Sea Continent, it would definitely be one-shot by the Divine Being Incarnation.
The Divine Being Incarnation, which had crashed to the ground, looked at Su Xiao. Compared to the World Giant, who had a stronger physique and was a head taller, it decided to deal with the Law Destroyer and the flying dragon first.
The Divine Being Incarnation, with its exaggerated size, rose from the ground and crouched with an agility that didn't match its huge form. The next moment, it disappeared.
Whoosh!!
A fierce wind came head-on. The Divine Being Incarnation reappeared high in the sky, in a pouncing posture, its claws spread wide, clearly intending to smash the Storm Flame Dragon to pieces.
Under this claw strike, the space touched by the Divine Being Incarnation's claw tips shattered, leaving large black cracks. The usually proud Storm Flame Dragon, Dis, now had its vertical dragon pupils constricted. It flapped its wings with all its might, but unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid this attack.
With a snap, layers of air explosions spread in the sky. The expected scene of the Storm Flame Dragon being smashed into a blood mist didn't appear. Instead, Su Xiao was sent flying, turning into a diagonal line that crashed into the ground below with a boom, causing the earth to crack for dozens of kilometers around, as if it had been hit by a cannonball.
If time were rewound to one second ago, it would be seen that the Divine Being Incarnation's claw had passed through the Storm Flame Dragon, Dis's body, hitting Su Xiao, who was crouching on the dragon's back with one hand on the dragon's back, activating the Dragon Shadow Flash ability. That's right, Su Xiao used the Dragon Shadow Flash ability to put the Storm Flame Dragon into a space-penetrating state.
Taking this opportunity, the Storm Flame Dragon, Dis, quickly distanced itself from the Divine Being Incarnation. Just as it flew away a certain distance, a gravity shockwave occurred in the space around the Divine Being Incarnation. If the Storm Flame Dragon hadn't flown away in time, it would definitely have been shaken out.
The Giant Brother's huge hand scooped through the ground where Su Xiao had crashed, rescuing him from underground. As he felt the rising sensation under his feet, Su Xiao took a deep breath, suppressing the pain all over his body. He leaned back, slipped through the Giant Brother's fingers, and free-fell for a distance before the Storm Flame Dragon swooped by, carrying him onto its back.
The wind howled past his ears. Su Xiao pressed one hand to his chest and took another deep breath before his vision stopped doubling. After enduring that attack, his strongest survival ability, [Blood Master], had been triggered. Fortunately, the recovery from the Adventure Group skill and the Wild Hunt Night long leather coat brought his health from 1% to over 90%.
Boom, boom, boom...
The clash between the Giant Brother and the Divine Being Incarnation could only be described as earth-shattering. The problem was that the Giant Brother had lived from the First Era to the present, while the Divine Being Incarnation had been sealed from the First Era until now. The former's body was already scarred and battered, having previously carried the Black Mist Island and suffered from dark erosion. The Divine Being Incarnation, on the other hand, seemed to grow stronger the more it fought.
Thump~!
The Divine Being Incarnation delivered a heavy punch to the Giant Brother's head, shattering nearly half of his cherished metal headgear, revealing the Giant Brother's rough but somewhat honest face.
The Giant Brother roared, raised his battle axe high, and erupted with golden power. As the last World Giant, he was an orthodox user of golden power. However, he used it, while the Deer God could absorb it. These two situations were very different.
Puchi.
The battle axe embedded into the Divine Being Incarnation's shoulder. It staggered a few steps to the side, but then its two hands grabbed the Giant Brother's head.
'Super·Blood Smoke Cannon.'
A Blood Smoke Cannon blasted the Divine Being Incarnation's right eye, accompanied by a Realm Lightning spear aimed at its left eye. The Divine Being Incarnation tilted its head, and the Realm Lightning arrow hit its forehead, causing a surge of Realm Lightning.
This gave the Giant Brother another opportunity. It could only be said that cooperating with Su Xiao was very satisfying for the Giant Brother. Although Su Xiao didn't output continuously, every attack he made was crucial.
Taking this opportunity, the Giant Brother raised his battle axe again and delivered another heavy chop to the Divine Being Incarnation's shoulder. The Divine Being Incarnation's body was too tough, so he had to aim at the spot where he had previously chopped, trying to deepen the wound.
Hit by another battle axe chop on the shoulder, the Divine Being Incarnation roared in fury. Its heavy fist, wrapped in black gravity, slammed into the Giant Brother's face. The force of this punch was so powerful that it sent the Giant Brother flying backward a distance before he crashed to the ground.
'Super·Fury·Blood Smoke Cannon.'
The injuries Su Xiao had just suffered had already maxed out the 2.45 million rage value limit. A massive amount of blood energy gathered at the index finger of the blood energy phantom. Due to the intense compression, from a distance, the tip of the blood energy phantom's index finger emitted a chilling crimson, forming a huge halo cross in the sky.
Sensing the power of this attack, the Divine Being Incarnation's right fist was covered in black exoskeleton armor as it punched upward.
There was no immediate roar. Instead, there was a brief silence, followed by the explosion of the surrounding space. The surging impact spread outward, flattening the earth for hundreds of kilometers around.
After blocking this attack, the Divine Being Incarnation tore off a piece of [Space] with a crack. It clenched its hand, compressing this piece of [Space] into a spatial aggregate, and then threw it.
With a hum, this spatial aggregate flew over Su Xiao's head. Although it didn't hit him, he felt a twist in the surrounding space, like standing in seawater with a current rushing toward him.
This battle had to be finished quickly. The Divine Being Incarnation's aura was becoming more and more wrong, showing signs of returning to the Supreme level.
The Giant Brother seemed to notice this too, but he needed an opportunity. Before he could look at Su Xiao, Su Xiao had already controlled the Storm Flame Dragon to fly at full speed. When the Storm Flame Dragon swooped in front of the Divine Being Incarnation, Su Xiao on the dragon's back leaped forward, only to be met by the Divine Being Incarnation's claw.
The Divine Being Incarnation slapped away the Blade Demon Spirit with one palm. As for Su Xiao, he had already appeared on the Divine Being Incarnation's shoulder. He took a few steps to build up momentum, then delivered a straight kick, hitting the Divine Being Incarnation's side neck.
Seeing this, the Giant Brother, whose metal headgear was half-damaged, was a bit confused. He thought Su Xiao would use his longsword to slash. But in the next second, the scene before him made the Giant Brother's eyes widen.
Boom!!
With Su Xiao's straight kick, the Divine Being Incarnation, with its astonishing size, immediately changed its posture. It felt like an enemy of the same size had kicked its side waist, causing it to almost bend into a C shape and fly sideways.
With a loud crash, the Divine Being Incarnation landed. The Giant Brother took a few big steps forward and delivered another axe chop to the wound on the Divine Being Incarnation's shoulder, bringing the wound closer to its heart.
The Divine Being Incarnation's heartbeat pounded violently, causing blood to fill its eyes. The next moment, its aura suddenly surged to the Supreme level. Its claw stabbed out fiercely.
Puchi!
The claw was stained with blood, piercing through the Giant Brother's chest. Even worse, the claw that emerged from the Giant Brother's back held a huge, beating golden heart.
With a squelch, the Divine Being Incarnation crushed the golden heart in its hand. The Giant Brother didn't fall. Instead, he grabbed the Divine Being Incarnation's throat with one hand. As a World Giant, he had two hearts: one golden heart and the other his giant heart. Now that the golden heart was crushed, it meant he would soon be unable to gather and use golden power. At the latest, by tomorrow, he would permanently lose the ability to sense golden power.
Just as the Divine Being Incarnation was about to easily break free from the Giant Brother's grip, the dim sun in the sky unexpectedly shone down. A pillar of solar flame fell from above, blasting the Divine Being Incarnation to one knee.
Seeing this solar flame pillar, Su Xiao immediately thought of someone: the Sun Scholar, Rimans, whom he had met twice before.
This solar flame pillar was not only powerful but also had a sealing effect, temporarily suppressing the Divine Being Incarnation, whose aura was about to return to the Supreme level, down to the Absolute Strength level.
The Giant Brother, facing the surging solar flame, roared and charged forward a few steps. His arms and battle axe were filled with golden power. At the same time, Su Xiao on the dragon's back pointed a lightning spear downward. A bolt of Realm Lightning struck the battle axe, imbuing it with Realm Lightning attribute attack.
The battle axe tore through space, leaving a black scar in its wake. The Giant Brother's full-power strike caused all the blood vessels in his body to turn golden, making him look like a golden giant god of war with mysterious patterns on his upper body.
One axe chop landed, still on the shoulder that had been attacked multiple times. This chop, with the Divine Being Incarnation immobilized by the solar flame pillar, forced it to one knee. However, as a cost, the Giant Brother's battle axe shattered, and his arms were covered in cracks.
The Giant Brother's attack wasn't over. His hands, covered in cracks and looking like they were forged from brilliant gold, grabbed the edges of the wound on the Divine Being Incarnation's shoulder and tore it open to the maximum extent, revealing the beating Divine Heart inside its chest. The Divine Being Incarnation naturally wouldn't sit idly by. One of its claws had already grabbed the Giant Brother's head, squeezing it with a cracking sound.
A piercing sound of breaking air came from above. The Storm Flame Dragon launched a full-speed assault. When it was still a hundred meters from the Divine Being Incarnation, Su Xiao, standing on the dragon's head, used the Storm Flame Dragon's high-speed momentum to accelerate further through a charge. Holding his longsword, he charged toward the Divine Being Incarnation's heart.
'Extreme Blade: White Night.'
In an instant, most of Su Xiao's technique-derived protective energy was consumed. With a hum! The Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand erupted with golden light. Unlike the golden light corresponding to gold and the sun, this golden light was more condensed and had powerful attack power.
The blade's might spread, preventing the Divine Being Incarnation, which wanted to counterattack, from standing up. With the Giant Brother's suppression, it could only kneel on one knee.
Su Xiao charged into the Divine Being Incarnation's chest and slashed down with his sword. The world fell silent. The Divine Heart, containing a vast amount of divine blood, completely shattered.
If someone had been watching from a distance, they would have seen a particularly spectacular scene. While the Divine Being Incarnation and the Giant Brother were locked in a struggle, a golden afterimage descended from the sky, entering the wound on the Divine Being Incarnation's shoulder. The next second, a vast amount of divine blood gushed out from the wound on its shoulder. Exposed to the air, this divine blood soon began to evaporate into blood mist.
The Giant Brother's already cracked arms could no longer hold on. They shattered. Covered in blood, he crashed to the ground with a boom.
Back then, the Giant Brother had also participated in the siege of the Divine Being Incarnation. So, to this day, he had two wishes. One was to permanently close the [Special Abyss Hole] on Black Mist Island, which had been achieved. The second wish was to kill the Divine Being Incarnation, which was now also fulfilled.
The Divine Being Incarnation's massive body began to turn into ashes and sparks. Su Xiao landed amidst the flying embers and sparks. As soon as he landed, he found himself surrounded by phantoms. These were the consciousnesses of the gods from the First Era, coldly looking down at Su Xiao.
'Blade Dao Sword: Demon Blade·Slay.'
Su Xiao slashed diagonally. With a whoosh, a black flame chain shot out. The [Slay] enhanced by the Demon Blade produced a large chain filled with tiny black sparks.
After this slash, the surrounding divine consciousnesses were instantly annihilated.
The Divine Being Incarnation had been slain.
The embers and sparks flew around. An ancient metal giant door gradually appeared ahead. Seeing this, Su Xiao took out the [Witness Key (World-Class Item)], which he had obtained earlier from the ancient tower.
The metal giant door in front began to blur, seemingly only existing for a few seconds. He inserted the Witness Key into the keyhole. The metal giant door opened. The entire door and the Witness Key shattered together, turning into a spinning vortex. When the vortex stopped, a crystal core the size of a fist, with flame patterns inside, appeared ahead. Su Xiao grabbed the crystal core with one hand.
[You have obtained the World Core (Blazing Sun Star).]