"Ah... Who exactly am I... Hircak...
Along with Hircak's roar, terrifying divine power swept outward in all directions. The mere shockwave reduced Malik to nothing, his body melted into oblivion, his soul utterly annihilated.
Perhaps, for this believer, this was also a form of mercy — he would not have to witness the scene that followed.
A dark crimson light completely enveloped Hircak's true form.
Then, the [Book of Truth] condensed into a single point of starlight, igniting the radiance on Hircak's body and transforming it into dark crimson flames.
Crack!
Within the flames, Hircak's divine true body was violently torn apart, and another being stepped out.
It was a ring of distorted shadow, its edges filled with all manner of irregular shapes, exuding the eeriness and power of a
As an existence at the pinnacle of the Eighth Level, the Shadow of Distortion was virtually immortal and indestructible. How could it have left only a single resurrection contingency?
In truth, back when Hircak had slain it, the Shadow of Distortion had already deposited a trace of its origin power within Hircak's true body — as both a seed and opportunity for resurrection.
And so, although Leilin had destroyed portions of its will, the Shadow of Distortion's remaining soul fragments still successfully deceived the High Priest and Malik, tricking them into bringing the counterfeit [Book of Truth] to Hircak's side!
Now, tens of thousands of years of painstaking planning had finally borne rich fruit!
Born from a powerful deity, stripping its host of everything — the Shadow of Distortion had now directly recovered the strength of a peak Eighth Level Wizard. Though still somewhat short of its former heights, compared to those ancient Wizards who possessed only will, it held a clear advantage.
"This time... I will not fail!"
The Shadow of Distortion shrieked, its entire body exploding into a sky full of dispersing shadows.
"What?"
The God of Murder had fallen. The High Priest stared at the crumbling divine statue before him, and his body went limp as if every bone had been pulled from him...
"The Shadow of Distortion... actually resurrected from Hircak's body..."
Leilin, deep in Hell, also received this news. The very instant the other party revived, he felt a wave of hostility descend upon him from seemingly nowhere.
Obviously, the Shadow of Distortion had no intention of letting go of this Wizard who had once destroyed portions of its will and repeatedly thwarted its plans.
"I have no intention of letting you go either... A freshly resurrected peak Eighth Level — is that supposed to be impressive?"
Leilin flicked his fingernail.
Hum... The entire divine domain suddenly erupted with a layer of golden light that radiated outward in all directions. Occasionally, a wisp of shadow would shriek and retreat.
"Damn it... This is the power of the Path. He has already found his own Path — becoming one of our kind is merely a matter of time..."
From the endless void, the Shadow of Distortion sent out several bursts of exasperated thoughts.
At the same time, it scrutinized with gravity a ball of planetary lava before it, upon which an eyeball-shaped bead materialized.
"Shadow of Distortion... It seems you have some unpleasant history with a certain existence in our Wizard World..."
The vast voice of the Heart of the Earth Mother echoed forth, and the surrounding space gradually solidified, suffused with a terrifying majesty.
As a fellow peak Eighth Level Wizard, the Heart of the Earth Mother and the Shadow of Distortion should have been evenly matched. But the Shadow of Distortion had been sealed for tens of thousands of years, and even after blood-sacrificing a powerful deity and recovering most of its strength, the gap between it and the Heart of the Earth Mother remained enormous.
"Heh heh... I don't need you to mediate..."
The twisted shadow roared with strange cries, then directly self-destructed and scattered. The Heart of the Earth Mother let out a sigh, and earth-yellow flames swept across the area in an instant, clearing away all the shadows. The Shadow of Distortion had already vanished without a trace.
"This is going to be troublesome..."
The Heart of the Earth Mother's avatar tore through the void and arrived directly within Leilin's divine domain: "You truly are a brat who keeps surprising me..."
"Great Heart of the Earth Mother..."
Leilin had long sensed her arrival and came in person to receive her.
"I know everything that has happened. Unfortunately, the Shadow of Distortion refuses to accept my mediation. Its reputation dates back to the ancient era — a byword for madness and ruthlessness across the entire Astral Plane..."
A thought transmitted from the Heart of the Earth Mother's avatar.
Then, numerous plant roots slowly crawled up from the lava and sank into the surface soil of Leilin's divine domain, as if completing some form of exchange.
"You are impressive... truly impressive..."
The Heart of the Earth Mother nodded repeatedly, expressing strong approval of Leilin's progress: "Not only did you successfully ascend to godhood, but you have also found your own Path. Among the future ranks of beings such as us, a seat is assured for you..."
This was precisely why the Heart of the Earth Mother was willing to help Leilin. Regardless of anything else, if the Wizard World could gain one more peak Eighth Level Wizard, that would only be a good thing.
"All things arise in accordance with fate. I am beginning to believe, Leilin — your existence will be the key to the conflict between the Wizard World and the
As a veteran peak-level Wizard, the Heart of the Earth Mother had clearly sensed something.
"Whatever the future holds, I am still a Wizard, and the Wizard World is my home..."
Leilin pledged.
"Very well..."
A thought came from the Heart of the Earth Mother's avatar, and the two Law Wizards reached an agreement in an instant.
The Heart of the Earth Mother's avatar extended its tendrils across the entire landscape, then began to push deeper into the lower layers of Hell.
Before Leilin conquered all of
With her protection in place, Leilin believed that even the Shadow of Distortion would find it extremely difficult to cause him any trouble.
Boom!
A layer of soil suddenly exploded outward, followed by a distorted tendril of light being viciously yanked out by plant roots.
"That's a Seed of Distortion," the Heart of the Earth Mother explained calmly. "The Shadow of Distortion's standard trick..."
But Leilin let out a deep breath of relief. The Shadow of Distortion had actually planted its observational power directly within his divine domain — an almost inconceivable feat, possible only for a peak Eighth Level Wizard.
Had he been careless, he could have suffered a devastating blow from this in the future.
"Divine domains, though powerful, are overly restrictive. We Wizards have already learned the lessons of the last Final War — our goal is no longer to seize the divine domains of Gods, but rather to shift our focus to the Material Plane..."
The intelligence revealed by the Heart of the Earth Mother prompted Leilin to nod repeatedly.
Under the suppression of the World of Gods, rashly declaring war on the Gods — or even directly invading their divine domains — was simply courting death!
But starting from the Material Plane, striking at the very root of the Gods' faith — now that was well worth doing.
Ordinary mortals were far easier to deal with than Gods. Moreover, with the advanced technology in the Wizards' hands, creating a plague or disease was trivially simple — even the Goddess of Plague would have to step aside.
Just as Leilin had once done on Bankes Island.
And once the ordinary mortals were struck and the source of the Gods' faith was cut off at its root, the unsupported divine domains might very well plummet straight from the Heavens!
Over-reliance on faith made one vulnerable to targeted attacks, with no effective defense — this had been one of the reasons Leilin originally decided to abandon the path of divinity.
"Of course, for now it would be best not to make any moves, and observe how the other Wizards fare..."
The Heart of the Earth Mother cautioned.
"Of course. Before my Path is complete and I advance to the peak of the Eighth Level, I do not intend to participate in the Final War..."
Leilin understood the Heart of the Earth Mother's meaning perfectly: "After my main body departs, I entrust this place to your care..."
Boom!
After the Heart of the Earth Mother made her promise, Leilin's main body instantly departed the divine domain and descended into the sixth layer of Hell, carrying the
The original Devil-hunting army had already established a foothold here, and Leilin's arrival threw all the Hell Lords into a state of fury and alarm...
Inviting the Heart of the Earth Mother to stand guard was naturally the result of Leilin's careful deliberation.
Firstly, the Heart of the Earth Mother had no prior friendship with the Shadow of Distortion from the ancient era — they had even been somewhat hostile.
Secondly, they were both at least inhabitants of the Wizard World, bound by the power of covenant.
And finally, Leilin had struck a deal with the Heart of the Earth Mother and added supplementary terms to their agreement. He believed that what he had offered was enough to ensure her diligent protection.
"I no longer need to worry about the divine domain. Whether it's the Shadow of Distortion or any other God, the Heart of the Earth Mother will block them on my behalf... At worst, the Chip avatar is still there..."
...
Just as Leilin was aggressively conquering Hell and perfecting his "Path of Original Sin," in a certain hidden spatial rift, a ring of distorted shadow let out a terrifying roar.
"Damn that... Heart of the Earth Mother, how dare she oppose me — the Lord of Distortion, who once annihilated five world empires and three Wizard alliances..."
The Shadow of Distortion roared, but could do little about it.
The current Heart of the Earth Mother was still not an existence it could afford to provoke. Even Leilin himself was no longer someone to be trifled with.
After all, Leilin had also comprehended his own Path and had even developed a nascent framework of it — his combat power was infinitely close to the peak of the Eighth Level!
Meanwhile, the Shadow of Distortion had only just revived and was in a severely weakened state. Even if the Heart of the Earth Mother didn't interfere, it had little confidence in defeating Leilin. To say nothing of the fact that all these Wizards were supremely cunning, with countless escape routes and contingencies prepared — truly eliminating any of them was an extraordinarily troublesome proposition.
"First, I must deal with the other Gods and recover my strength... Additionally, I must create obstacles to the perfection of his Path..."
Creating obstacles, of course, meant getting to Hell Lords like