The Fury of the Spirit Goddesses
In the Great Forest War, the High Elf Queens' ferocious charge was halted by the Sun Spirit Goddess. At once, countless spirit arrows infused with the power of ice streaked from the High Elf archers positioned behind them.
They came in the hundreds of thousands, enough to blot out the sky entirely. The sight of so many arrows raining down while the Sun Spirit Goddess held their full attention looked like pillars of ice forming in the heavens and plummeting to earth. Yet the Sun Spirit Goddess simply covered her mouth with her fan, smiling with amusement as she gazed at the Silver High Elf Queen.
“How admirable that mere sentient beings could survive within the domain of my solar authority. It has been so long since I received such a perfect chance to improve my karma. What a delightful battlefield this is. With over a billion apostates, I can raise my karma plenty while enjoying the fight to my heart’s content. Ohohohohot—!”
She truly believed it was the perfect battlefield. The other spirit gods felt exactly the same.
“Clear the trash.”
The sound of a foot kicking empty air rang out, but the result was catastrophic. A colossal tornado ten kilometers wide swallowed every ice arrow, hurling them aside before smashing straight through the center of the High Elf legion. The mere aftershock of that single kick sent hundreds of thousands of High Elves flying, slamming them into the giant World Tree.
The enormous World Tree groaned and shuddered as if it might snap in half. While countless leaves swirled through the air, a brown-skinned woman behind the Sun Spirit Goddess raised her long, slender right leg high and shouted.
Her voice created vibrations across the entire space as though a massive cannon had been fired. The overwhelming killing intent of the spirit goddess drove the entire High Elf army backward.
The Red High Elf Queen, stunned by the merciless strike and the suffocating aura, unconsciously asked the Fire Spirit King, “Are all spirit gods aligned with the demonic faction? Their killing intent is even worse than a Demon King’s.”
“I don’t know either. Ask no more, Contractor.” The Spirit King’s voice was filled with fear and drained of strength. The reason stood right before them—the spirit goddess whipping up violent gales of fighting spirit and murderous intent.
“If you will not come, then I will go to you.”
The air around the brown-skinned spirit goddess distorted. Her body gradually turned transparent. And the nightmare began.
“All apostates, perish miserably.”
Invisible blades of wind shredded the space. Ancient trees were sliced apart at random as though by enormous invisible swords. The arms, legs, and heads of High Elves were severed and sent flying skyward.
The High Elf Queens, veterans of countless battles, instantly understood. Something invisible is moving at ultra-high speed!
The now-transparent spirit goddess was carving through both the trees and the High Elf forces like a knife through paper. The strict discipline of the High Elf army collapsed. Screams and blood from those struck by the unseen goddess began to soak the earth.
As their formation descended into pandemonium, the sky suddenly darkened and the Spirit King’s scream-like voice struck their ears. “It’s coming again! Run forward with everything you have—!”
A giant mass of rock slammed into the ground behind the High Elf Queens who had reflexively leaped forward, shaking the earth. Then the mass lifted once more, threatening to crush them. Only after they had poured all their strength into creating distance did they realize what it truly was.
A rock wolf far larger than the World Tree was glaring at them with a savage howl.
“Rock Wolf—!”
“It is the Earth Spirit Goddess! No—her subordinate god, the Wolf God. It possesses fire immunity and the God-Slaying attribute, so avoid it at all costs!”
“God-Slaying? I thought these were spirit gods?”
“Why would something that isn’t a demonic god have the God-Slaying attribute?”
“I don’t know the deeper reasons either. Just run!”
The giant wolf made entirely of rock howled as it rampaged through the High Elf army, crushing countless trees beneath its bulk. Its eyes were locked solely on the High Elf Queens. It moved like a predator that had scented its true prey.
Incredibly, despite its enormous body composed of house-sized boulders, it matched the High Elf Queens’ speed while turning the surroundings into a wasteland. One queen seized an opening mid-movement and struck the wolf’s ankle with all her might. A small amount of rock broke away.
Yet an aura strike capable of slicing ordinary rock like paper had only peeled away a thin layer of its skin.
“What kind of rock is harder than steel?!”
Shocked by its transcendent defense, the High Elf Queens prepared to attack with full power when the giant rock wolf suddenly leaped high into the air once more. They readied themselves to dodge what they assumed was another aerial assault—only to freeze.
The ferocious giant rock wolf that had been attacking so relentlessly had turned tail and was fleeing with pitiful yelps. In its panicked retreat, thousands of High Elves were crushed and screamed. Once it had gained some distance, the giant rock wolf lifted its slightly injured ankle to its forehead and whined pathetically.
“Whine—! Yipe—! Yelping—!”
It looked exactly like a pet dog begging its master to treat a wound. Then came a tremendous impact.
The giant wolf’s head suddenly dropped and slammed into the ground. An infinitely cold voice echoed across the battlefield.
Silver divine power exploded outward from the Wolf God’s head like a bursting star. A goddess appeared holding a massive silver bow larger than her own body. The spirit kings’ screams followed immediately.
“Aaaagh—! It’s really the Divine Wolf Moon Goddess, Lady Artemis!”
“How is she here? How in the world did you form a contract with her?”
The spirit kings grew frantic as the silver-haired spirit goddess’s hair began to glow with power. “She’s using her full strength from the very beginning!”
“Run! No—keep your heads down—!”
The silver-haired spirit goddess drew her bow until it bent like a full moon, then released. Light arrows exploded from the tip like a torrential downpour.
Everything around the spirit goddess was pierced with fist-sized holes, turning into a honeycomb. Ground, rock, and trees all disintegrated in perfect circular patterns. The destructive force came from arrows made of divine power. No object could endure more than a single hit before becoming riddled with holes and vanishing completely.
In the center of the annihilation, the goddess could be seen nocking and firing her bow with blinding speed. Vast amounts of divine power poured endlessly into the weapon, transforming into arrows of light that rained destruction.
The spirit kings, recognizing the attack, shouted warnings. “Those are God-Slaying arrows that can erase an Intermediate God in one strike. Any sentient being hit by them will be completely obliterated!”
“The closer the target is to godhood, the greater the damage. Never raise your heads—avoid them at all costs!”
The God-Slaying arrows were a nightmare for the High Elf Queens, who were essentially avatars of Granzoa.
“Why is there God-Slaying again—! Aren’t these spirit gods?”
“That’s simply how they are.”
Everything around the giant rock wolf lost its life and collapsed. The wolf howled loudly once more and charged toward a different section of the battlefield. Though it had clearly seen the queens, it deliberately hurled its massive body in the opposite direction to attack the main High Elf army instead. It was obviously avoiding danger and targeting only easy prey—or acting as a lure.
“That damn wolf—!”
In the midst of the horrific scene where rapid-fire God-Slaying arrows had turned several kilometers of the surroundings into a honeycomb of ruin, the High Elf Queens survived through the spirit kings’ assistance and their own combined strength. Yet the excessive use of spirit power left their entire bodies screaming in agony.
Then a voice that was extremely gentle and overflowing with maternal warmth reached them.
“How pitiful. Contractor, you really are too much. No matter how angry you were, to unleash these wild children like this…”
A soft rustling sound spread as they realized a massive wall of snake scales had somehow coiled around them. The High Elf Queens stared in horror at the upper body of an even larger woman looking down at them from atop the wall of scales that now imprisoned them.
Is that the Naga Goddess?
No! It’s far too large.
Then what in the world is she?
The snake goddess enclosing them was hundreds of times larger than any jutsu-enlarged naga. Her body measured over three kilometers in diameter and more than ninety kilometers in length—a horrifyingly massive serpent coiled around the High Elf Queens.
Above the wall of scales appeared the upper body of a graceful noblewoman dressed in elegant palace robes, her hair coiled high with refined dignity. She looked down at them with an expression full of maternal love.
The spirit kings, who had feared exactly this, screamed.
“It’s really Lady Nuwa—!”
“We’re dead… No, this is far worse than death.”
Despite the snake goddess’s benevolent appearance, the spirit kings were gripped by even deeper terror and despair than when they had faced the Sun Spirit Goddess and the Wind Spirit Goddess.
The snake goddess tilted her head, a question forming on her face as she looked down at them. “Who are you? Ah—! You are the spirit kings of this Main God Star.”
For spirit kings to challenge a spirit god was suicide. Realizing they had resolved to share their contractors’ fate, the snake spirit goddess praised them.
“To cherish your contractors enough to rise up against your own god? What good and steadfast children you are.”
Yet she had no intention of forgiving them.
“You need not worry about what comes after. Stronger and kinder children of yours will carry on in your place, so rest easy and disappear.”
The spirit kings, panicked by the horrifying punishment that matched every rumor, desperately tried to explain themselves.
“Aaah—! This is not an uprising!”
“We never imagined Lady Nuwa herself would appear! Aaaaagh—!”
Suddenly the atmosphere itself transformed into water, wrapping around the High Elf Queens and the spirit kings. The space enclosed by the serpent’s body had become an entire lake. Those who could not react in time were submerged at once.
She changed the air into water!
Material conversion? One of her authorities?
But this water feels wrong.
It doesn’t hurt… it feels like it’s healing me.
A caring voice like that of a gentle mother flowed into their ears.
The High Elf Queens, whose eyes had been slowly closing, snapped awake at those words.
Bearing good children?
Mothers of many children?
Sensing the terrible threat, they poured every ounce of their power into their connection with the World Tree, shattering the water and shooting into the sky. The spirit kings, faces pale as though they had barely escaped death, hurriedly shielded them.
“Thank the heavens. We must leave this place at once, Contractors—!”
“What the hell is that giant snake—! What kind of creepy attack was that?”
The spirit kings answered the High Elf Queens’ frantic shouts with bloodless faces, their own premonition of the horror they had narrowly avoided still fresh.
“Lady Nuwa is the Water Spirit Goddess who governs the birth and evolution of life. The water she blesses will heal your body and bring tranquility.”
“Then why does this water feel so wrong?”
“It heals, but it gives me chills all the same.”
The spirit kings trembled as they watched the blessing water continue to multiply.
“If you drink too much of Lady Nuwa’s blessing water, you will inevitably become pregnant.”
“What—?”
“Pregnant?!”
“Yes! The pregnancy granted by her blessing water does not discriminate between male or female, young or old, god or demon or spirit!”
“If you don’t want to get pregnant, get out of here right now!”
“Kyaaaaah—!”