The Relentless Pursuit of Defective Spirit Gods
On the screen watched by the Cyber Gods before the Spirit Realm War, the Dimensional Lord led from the front, advancing through spatial teleportation as he chased the former Origin of the Omnipotent Divine Race. He ground his teeth in pure frustration.
“Grind! What a vicious stealth authority. Just how thoroughly have they analyzed my Dimensional Authority that detection is this impossible? If it’s this bad even at close range, there’s no countermeasure at all.”
He could clearly sense the presence of the Otherworld spirit gods growing stronger, yet no coordinates would lock. Even the repeated spatial jumps of the Spirit God Kings in the distance barely registered. If they were this difficult to perceive even at visual range, the situation was truly dangerous.
If the stealth authority of the Otherworld spirit gods is this potent, one solid hit and I’m finished. Even Granraha in her Lord Slayer assassin form isn’t this extreme. I can’t even guess what kind of authority it is.
He had expected them to grow powerful once they regained physical bodies, but the reality far surpassed any prediction. Despite the countless spirit gods of the Spirit Realm searching, not a single trace had been uncovered. When he inquired with the Cyber Realm out of caution, the response was simply “search unavailable.”
It feels like the administrator has changed, but I don’t have time to worry about that now. If not for the Omnipotent Divine Race who can copy identical authorities, I would have lost them completely.
There should have been no reason for the Dimensional Lord to pursue them with such desperation. Having fled the Spirit Realm with physical bodies, they were now fugitives, not spirit gods. The real problem was that they had fled without terminating their contract with him.
They only helped once—during the fight against the apostate High Elf Empire—yet they’ve absorbed an enormous amount of vitality. Even at the moment of desertion, they’re maintaining the contract to suck up as much as possible. It looks like they plan to reach the Otherworld while keeping it active, which will make tracking them far more difficult.
On top of that, because they were his spirit gods, every incident they caused would be pinned squarely on him, the contract holder. It was enough to drive anyone insane.
Couldn’t they just return to their original world and live quietly? The Creator God there couldn’t destroy them because their authorities were too strong, and since they kept causing trouble, the goddesses sent them here to this prison for gods.
The Dimensional Lord, bound to them by contract, had gained the same level of knowledge and information after they learned his authority and magic.
They were existences that would immediately rush to kill the Creator God of the Otherworld the moment they returned.
Of course, realizing they couldn’t do it alone, they seemed to have united in purpose. That was why they were even performing this harmonious group escape.
“Why do you keep absorbing vitality while refusing every summons? And why form barriers that prevent tracking on top of it? Are you determined to suffer no loss whatsoever while tormenting me? If you’re going to leave and cause trouble, at least terminate the contract first—! Then I’ll send you off nicely—! You defective spirit gods—!”
Shouting at the top of his lungs in rage as he pursued, the Dimensional Lord finally spotted the barrier wall of the Spirit Realm in the distance. He could definitely feel their presence nearby.
No matter how much they reinforce the barrier, as long as I am the contract holder, they cannot ignore the tether of our contract.
The Spirit God Kings of the Omnipotent Divine Race, realizing the Dimensional Lord had drawn near, hurriedly bowed their heads and made their report. The other Spirit God Kings were scouring the area, while the Lord Gods of the Giant Race had completely covered the damaged section of the barrier with their colossal bodies.
Now that they understand the usefulness of my magic authority, it seems they’re finally working properly.
The impeccably polite tone of the Omnipotent God-Emperor’s report was extremely pleasing to hear. This was why competence mattered even after rising in status.
“Confirmation here. They partially damaged the barrier, noticed our approach, and immediately entered stealth. However, we will locate them shor—ugh—!”
Sensing danger, the Spirit God King of the Omnipotent Divine Race hastily shifted his divine form, but divine blood erupted from his right shoulder.
The Dimensional Lord immediately slammed the entire area with a wide-range authority.
BOOOOOOM!
CRASH!
From the shockwave, a goddess with brown skin briefly appeared in midair. She wore an extremely short white dress that only just covered her round, modest breasts and hips. But her figure blurred again instantly, and recognition faded.
Storm Annihilation Enlil—! I can’t perceive her even at this distance? What in the hell is happening?
The goddess who had been struck ground her teeth slightly in the empty air, and her voice rang out.
“So it’s you. The god who dares imitate my unique authority to track us down—! Die—!”
Papapapa—!
Transparent attacks erupted in rapid succession. The reaction from the Omnipotent Divine Race’s Spirit God King was equally fierce. Having his newly regained physical body bleed caused such pain that rage failed to surface at first. Then, along with his counterattack, thick curses burst forth.
“You… you rotten, twisted bitch—! A mere trash minor god exiled from the Otherworld for committing crimes dares to wound me, a noble Origin of the Omnipotent Divine Race?”
In the Spirit God Realm, he was the senior, so his retort was equally merciless. Noble past statuses were thrown into the trash bin without discrimination; mutual slander was simply daily life. Though they were sealed, there was not enough mercy to let the loser’s consciousness rest comfortably. Having witnessed them return in such a miserable state while fully conscious and completely immobilized, the fury only grew, and so did the curses.
“Die shamefully by your own unique authority—!”
BAAAAANG!BOOM!RUMBLE!
The Spirit God King’s form soon vanished from perception as tremendous roars began echoing through the empty air. Both sides were concealing their presence with stealth authorities and hunting each other.
Yet because the authorities were identical, neither could sense the other. When additional members of the Omnipotent Divine Race joined in, it turned into a chaotic melee.
RUMBLE!CRAAAAASH!
Only the sounds of attacks grazing one another could be heard in the void.
The Dimensional Lord paused, unsure how to intervene, when the earth itself began to shake.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
An enormously large silver wolf glowing with divine light burst from the ground. Having absorbed the Dimensional Lord’s vitality to regain its body, the wolf god’s size now surpassed even the Lord Gods of the Giant Race.
GRRRRRRRRRR!
Revealing its true form, the wolf god glared with eyes overflowing with killing intent at the Giant Race Lord Gods blocking the barrier. Over ten kilometers long, a creature that seemed capable of anchoring itself among the clouds stretched its neck toward the sky and howled.
AWOOOOOOOOOO—!
Papapa—!
In an instant, the bodies of the Giant Race Lord Gods and surrounding Spirit God Kings stiffened. It was the overwhelming pressure of the wolf god that possessed the God-Slaying authority and had even devoured Lord Gods. Even Lord-class deities had their bodily freedom stolen for a moment.
Ridiculous. No matter how generously you evaluate it, the authority of a mere Lord God-level wolf is unconditionally restricting the movements of high gods.
This spoke volumes about how much the authorities of the Otherworld spirit gods—who had now become fugitives—had evolved and strengthened.
“Tsk—! Does God-Slaying now encompass Lord Slayer authority as well? You’ve already surpassed the power you originally possessed. I should have noticed when the vitality consumption for contract maintenance increased so rapidly—!”
The Lord Gods of the Giant Race, the highest order of material lifeforms, and the Spirit God Kings who had fully regained their past strength with bodies even stronger than before, were helplessly suppressed even if only temporarily. The Dimensional Lord could not hide his astonishment.
On top of that, an illusion of a massive full moon rose above the wolf’s forehead. An enormous silver bow was drawn to its limit, and an arrow of light was loosed.
SHAAAAAAAAAAAA—!
BOOOOOOOOOONG!
A light arrow several kilometers long split apart in the air and flew at the speed of light toward the vital points of the Giant Race Lord Gods. It fired countless arrows in rapid succession.
Papapa—!
It is the maximum-output rapid-fire attack that only the Moon Goddess, who guarantees infinite divine power, can display.
Combined with the divine skill of long-range attack, the arrows poured down on the Giant Race Lord Gods like a rain of light.
Yet that level could not deliver a fatal blow to them.
That was a mistake. You underestimated the Giant Race too much. Against ordinary enemies it would have been fatal, but the opponent was simply too bad. Those Lord Gods of the Giant Race are ultra-high-ranking material lifeforms naturally born from the Lord God Star overflowing with vitality. They are not merely a hundred times larger than ordinary giants; every ability exceeds that scale, especially their resistance to divine power and authorities—their primary weaknesses—which surpasses imagination. Even excluding physical attacks, defeating them with divine power is nearly impossible.
They were caught off guard by the unknown authority for a moment but can shake it off and defend immediately.
UWOOOOOOOOOO—!HAAAAAAA—!
As expected, the Lord Gods of the Giant Race roared, drew their weapons, and struck down every arrow of divine power without exception.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!CLANG CLANG CLANG!
The divine-power resistance on their weapons shattered the light arrows into fragments that obscured vision like fog.
And they were not mild-mannered either. Harsh curses flew out.
“You arrogant son of a bitch and that ill-mannered little goddess bitch—! What kind of ambush is this from the back?!”
“There’s no chance from the front anyway.”
“And it’s not even a soul strike but a wide-area attack—! Who the hell do you think you’re looking down on—!”
“At this level, we don’t even need to defend!”
Papapapa—!
As the light arrows shattered and scattered, the cunning wolf god could be seen leaping backward in a hurry to escape.
The Dimensional Lord suddenly felt a strong wave of ominous foreboding.
That wolf is indeed a cunning beast that would flee the moment it feels disadvantaged, but Artemis, the God of Surging Waves and Moon riding on its head, is absolutely not like that. That narcissist who lives for her own superiority would never run away just because she’s slightly at a disadvantage.
She was the spirit god sent here for the crime of charging alone into enemy lines, becoming isolated, and ultimately causing her body to go berserk in a suicide explosion that annihilated both the planet’s moon and the enemy army.
With her personality, as long as she rode it, unconditional retreat was impossible.
Uuuuuuu—
Yet the light arrows shattered by the Giant Race’s weapons were glowing faintly. No—the authority arrows that should have vanished upon destruction were spreading like fog around the Giant Race Lord Gods, as if meeting activation conditions.
And from atop the wolf’s head as it leaped backward, she who had drawn the moon’s divine power to its absolute limit was aiming. But her target was not the Giant Race Lord Gods. It was the bow fragments that had fallen to the ground and the earth itself.
Moreover, divine light shone from the wolf god’s body, vibrating the land.
“Could it be a joint attack authority? Dimensional Net—! Condition: authority spatial movement—!”
SHUUUUUUSH—!
The fragments of the light bow that had been thickly scattered around the Dimensional Lord as well were all sent flying into the distant void. When another light arrow was loosed, they chased the fragments through spatial movement and flew into the far distance together.
BAAAAAAA—!
It was not spatial movement but dimensional movement. By adjusting time simultaneously with space, it created an inescapable zone of destruction.
Unless it is a higher level of Dimensional Authority than mine, the binding force makes movement of the authority impossible. Just how much of my Dimensional Authority have they mastered? To combine such complex dimensional authorities like this…
A moment later, a roar erupted in the distant sky.
RUMBLEEEEEEE—!
Blindingly intense light and explosive sound detonated in the far void. The aftermath slammed down onto the ground as crushing pressure. The shock was enough to shake even the Giant Race Lord Gods for a moment.
“A wide-area joint technique combining the wolf god’s divine power, her own divine power, the God-Slaying authority, and even the Dimensional Authority? Even a highest-ranking Lord God wouldn’t survive that power. And it’s clear she targeted me, the contract holder, as well. The fragments of the light arrow were blown toward me and included in the explosion zone.”
The Dimensional Lord’s gaze caught the giant silver bow being nocked with another arrow. Above the wolf god’s head, a goddess with brilliant silver hair grown to her toes clicked her tongue in clear disappointment.
“Tsk—!”
“As expected—! Even I, who became a highest Lord God of Light, you tried to kill!”
The sound of her tongue clicking made veins bulge on his forehead involuntarily.
Just as I thought. They were planning to escape by any means necessary for the sake of revenge.
They had long thrown any sense of etiquette or morality toward the contract holder who supplied their vitality into the trash. Instead of consideration, they tried to kill him simply for blocking their escape.
As expected of the Otherworld spirit gods exiled by the Creator God of their original world because he could no longer endure them.
The Otherworld spirit gods originally possessed karma inclined toward evil. Since they were in a contracted state as spirit gods, karma wasn’t directly added, allowing them to run completely wild. Once they left this universe under his domain, there would be no karma restrictions at all, so it made sense.
But I must survive here no matter what. What kind of tyranny is this? I was barely accepted into the Divine Realm and became a Creator Candidate. If I go to the Otherworld, I’ll have to start over from the beginning. No—the probability of being laughed at for a dark mage becoming a god of light is extremely high.
The Dimensional Lord had somehow ended up in this position, but objectively speaking, it truly was laughable.
Therefore, he still needed to capture them, forcibly terminate the contracts, and drag them back to the Divine Realm.
If they return to the Otherworld and cause chaos using the Dimensional Authority and magic they learned from me, I cannot imagine how much negative karma it will add. Even if I claim they are no longer my spirit gods, if my Dimensional Authority appears this clearly, there will be no room for tolerance.
The problem was that two were here, but where were the other three? They would likely be near Enlil, who was using the wide-area stealth authority, but he could not confirm their locations.
If I suffer another ambush, it will be truly troublesome. I need to find them quickly. And I’ve also realized why I cannot detect them.
He would leave the suppression of these two to the Giant Race and focus on the search.
“Please be careful. They possess the Lord Slayer authority as well. Letting your guard down will be dangerous.”
“My apologies.”
“Instead of helping, I ended up being the one helped.”
The reply came immediately. Had the Dimensional Lord not sent the arrow fragments flying first, they would certainly all have been injured. For ten Lord Gods of the Giant Race to fail to capture even one Lord God on a planet—no matter how strong the opponent—was a serious blow to their pride.
Watching the aerial explosion in the distance, they fully activated their bodies that had stiffened from the wolf god’s roar. They raised their mountain-sized weapons high and began swinging them.
WHIIIIIIING—!WHIIIIING—!
The wind pressure generated by such enormous weapons became an attack in itself, binding the wolf god’s feet. But when the divine power of the moon above its head flashed, the restraint was instantly released, and it began moving at tremendous speed.
Once again, an enormous number of moon-powered arrows swarmed toward them.
It was the combination of the wolf god’s mobility and defense with the Moon Goddess’s offensive power. As expected, when the wolf god and the Moon Goddess complemented each other, suppressing them was extremely difficult.
But that was all. Inflicting fatal wounds that surpassed the divine-power resistance of the Giant Race Lord Gods born from the Lord God Star was impossible.
“Hoo—! This is impressive. To oppose our group of ten? With both of them together, we should view them as at least highest-ranking Lord Gods. We cannot underestimate them.”
“As an apology, we’ll skin that wolf god and present the pelt.”
“We’ll pull out its teeth and claws as well. Let’s feast on wolf meat today.”
BOOM—!BANG—!CRASH—!
Having suffered light wounds from the Dimensional Lord’s wide-area and continuous attacks, their thunderous, rage-filled footsteps shook the earth as the Giant Race Lord Gods charged toward the wolf together with their colossal weapons. The slightly frightened wolf began leaping around desperately to avoid them.
Of course arrows continued to rain from above, but since it was an authority they had already seen several times, it had little effect. They were even dodging them now.
It would take some time, but the prediction that suppression would proceed without issue was confirmed. The Dimensional Lord turned his attention to locating the remaining Otherworld spirit gods.