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182. Wheatgrass, Just Who Are You……
Wheatgrass’s form was half transparent.
They looked similar to how a ghost would be portrayed in a TV series or a movie.
Wrinkles that would only form from many years of hardships and countless scars over their body laid bare without a single cloth covering it gave off a tough impression.
A bandana was fashioned around their head, and a short sword as thick as a wrist and pistol hung on each side of their baggy pants.
This god looked like a seafarer, but instead of looking like a regular fisherman, they looked like a pirate.
I could not sense any emotions from Wheatgrass, who was slowly coming towards me.
It wasn’t because of the wrinkles or the thick skin formed from weathering the coarse sea winds.
This god was definitely different from the others.
I could somewhat read the mood of both the God of Earth that had taken the form of a golem and Gera, who had her entire face covered by her robe.
However, it was different with this god.
Wheatgrass, who had met my eyes with their own and came slowly towards me, like a wind up doll, was devoid of any semblance of life.
“To be called a God of Life…..”
“……”
This god’s domain was life. It was also over resurrections as well.
All creations that perished went to the God of Death, and those that had met Gera were given new life by Wheatgrass.
I shouldn’t judge a person or a god only by their appearance, but it was true that the other gods I have met so far had their appearance match their domains.
However, this god did not in the slightest.
Instead of life, it would be more fitting to call this god a God of Death.
On top of that, out of the 6 gods, this god was the second strongest.
I couldn’t even begin to fathom what powers they carried.
“Nice to meet you?”
“……”
Their appearance made it hard for me to address them casually, but nevertheless, they were the same as the others.
They were a bystander that hid their cruelty.
I didn’t even have a smidgen of respect towards them.
I spoke to Wheatgrass, who had come right in front of me, but they did not reply.
All I could hear was the sound of their breathing, which sounded as if their throat was clogged with bile.
Consuming a King’s Marble, I casted Mana Shield.
After that, I covered my entire body with mana and magical energy.
With my movements that signaled the start of the battle, Wheatgrass grasped the short sword and old pistol in each of their hands.
Just from looking at how they reacted, it felt as though a hand to hand combat would break out at any given moment.
However, it didn’t take long to find out that my prediction was far off the mark.
“Hm?”
“……”
They swung their sword through thin air and shot at the sky with their gun.
I could only see it as a ritual one would do before battle.
A ritual to raise the morale of allies.
For someone standing alone, what they did didn’t fit the situation.
I felt as though what they did just now was pointless.
However…
“Ugh! What is this…”
“….”
Only a couple seconds after Wheatgrass used their sword and gun, the effect appeared.
There was hole the size of a fist in my shoulder, and a deep cut from my left chest to my lower right rib appeared.
The wound was severe enough that, if I was a regular human, it wouldn’t be odd for me to faint on the spot.
However, I only felt the signals of pain coming to my brain, and couldn’t see almost any bleeding from my wounds.
That was because my mana and magical energy was preventing it from doing so.
I was wearing armor, but before their attack, it was ripped apart like paper.
Due to the pain that I haven’t felt in a long time, I gritted my teeth.
“Is my King’s Marble only a decoration at this point!”
“…..”
“Is this why you told me not to become arrogant from trusting in the power of the marbles…. Karupedan…..”
“…..”
I had thought that the King’s Marbles would be the answer to both the offensive and defensive capabilities I needed.
However, I had come to the realization that I could not 100% rely on it other than with the fights to take down the Goddess of Light Lai Yanta and the God of Darkness Hai Yanta.
Almost as if mocking the meaning of invincibility, it was allowing me to still receive all the damage from these attacks.
Gera and Dehaka. Now Wheatgrass as well. I had thought that it was an absolute rule made by a god, but my enemies were attacking me by getting around that rule with ease.
Recovering from my wounds, I tried to think.
Just like before, I was once more in a situation where I’d have to solve another puzzle.
Was it because their attack was so quick that I wasn’t able to see it coming?
Then what about the marble? Was there something that was nullifying the effect of the King’s Marble?
All they had done was to swing their sword and use their gun while standing still.
However, that damage dealt by them was on my body, despite being far away from them.
‘As expected, is offense the best defense? I’ll back up another step. It’ll be the same attack again. I’m sure that Gera’s ability will activate. After that, I go on the offensive.’
While I was in the middle of thinking, their attacks continued.
Without emotions on their face, they were swinging their sword and shooting their gun with reckless abandon.
I could tell that the amount of times and the strength behind their attack were more than before.
Unlike the beginning of the fight, I swallowed the marble after I heard the noise and casted the shield to protect my body after as well.
Not only that, but I left my current position with as much speed as I could muster.
I was sure that there was a weakness in their power.
Even if they were a god, there was no way there wasn’t a blindspot.
It happened when I had made nearly enough distance for Wheatgrass to disappear from view.
“Ugh! You crazy pirate bastard!”
Sadly, the results were the same.
I may have not lost my life, but it wasn’t as if the pain went away or I didn’t feel it.
My body was being cut and punctured, so how could I not let out pained moans.
I was surprised that their inexperienced movements could cause such a huge injury on me.
Not only that, but this time, they had aimed accurately at my vitals.
I could see the 3 bullet wounds that had appeared on my left chest accurately.
Thanks to having an insane amount of stamina stat, and my mana and magical energy blockin the damage, it seemed that I was able to avoid lethal injuries.
It took only a few seconds for me to completely recover from my wounds.
The insanely quick recovery was only possible because of combining all of my power with Mega Cure.
When the pain began to fade and I was able to regain my rationality, something I hadn’t noticed before from the first attack caught my eye.
It was that the marble’s effect that caused my body to turn black like soot had disappeared.
It was obvious that my shields had been shattered from the damage received, but it was suspicious that the marble’s effect disappeared before its duration.
Never before have the marble’s effect disappeared while I was receiving the attacks of the other gods.
Of course, I wasn’t sure of the outcome if I had received Dehaka’s sealing attack with my body.
My questions didn’t end there.
I had inherited Gera’s ability wholesale.
This meant that if I had received the same attack twice, it should’ve been reflected.
Their attack still landed a direct hit on me.
Didn’t that meet the requirement of receiving the same attack again?
I was sure that I had received the attack with the same shield and same body.
It even made me wonder if Wheatgrass’s ability was to ignore all forms of defensive capabilities.
The one saving grace was that they weren’t dealing that much damage to me.
I was able to endure it with my healing skills.
The pain would repeat itself, but it was brief. If I was able to hold out for those few seconds and kept on pouring down my attacks?
It was the same as breaking the spear before my shield was penetrated.
“Backing up twice was enough, right? Now I charge. Haa!”
Casting all sorts of buffs on myself, I charged at Wheatgrass.
The colors of the swords in each of my hands were stark contrasts from each other.
I had used this before during my fight with Dehaka, but unlike the the Butcher’s Sword, I created a sword by combining mana and magical energy.
But this time, I had also combined it with the powers of light and darkness that I had obtained from the other gods.
The power the sword would release would be the exact same powers I’ve obtained from Lai Yanta and Hai Yanta.
I didn’t have the slightest doubt about that power that was difficult to even imagine.
King’s Marble may have lost its defensive capabilities, but the offensive buff should work fine as intended.
Two times the offensive capabilities. A 100% success rate with attacks.
It was enough to make me think that I might execute them with a single strike.
It didn’t take long before I stood right in front of Wheatgrass and swung my sword.
“Argh!!”
It wasn’t Wheatgrass who screamed, but rather I instead.
My sword aura had struck my target dead center.
However, the moment that my sword struck their form, the light and darkness that perfectly encased the sword disappeared, and it was the same with both the mana and magical energy that was woven in.
One fist swung at thin air, and the other hand struck them with a Butcher’s Sword that had lost all its power.
On top of that, all my buffs and shields have been dispelled, as well as the effect from the King’s Marble.
It was as if I was dreaming.
I even considered the possibility that I was under hypnosis.
Why was it that they were able to hit me with attacks defying common sense, but my powerful attack wasn’t reaching them.
And why did the empowerment put on my body and weapon become undone.
It was definitely a strange situation.
The right hand that had held the Butcher’s Sword was now filled with holes.
After my hand lost the strength to keep its grip on the sword, the sword had fallen and was stuck in the ground.
The pain assaulted me like the rising tide, but my anger was far greater than the pain I felt.
From the start of the fight, Wheatgrass hadn’t taken a single step.
They attacked while standing still, and had blocked my attacks with ease.
I could feel the massive difference of power deep in my bones.
“To think that I was only able to inflict that much damage…..”
“…..”
“I’ll get through it no matter what. No matter what I have to do, I shall stop you!”
However, it wasn’t as if I didn’t gain anything from my attack.
I was able to cut into Wheatgrass’s shoulder with just the strength of an Awakened and the Butcher’s Sword.
Despite the attack not dealing much damage due to my destroyed arm, they still had taken damage.
With this, I was able to learn that their defensive capability was weak.
However, even though I had learned that their defense was weak, it wouldn’t matter unless I successfully attacked them.
My attempts to attack them continued.
However, the results were the same.
I was able to leave shallow wounds, but I wasn’t able to deal a clean cut.
It seemed that I wouldn’t get anywhere with close quarter combat.
I was thinking of switching over to ranged magic when it happened.
‘I can’t deal any significant damage with close quarter combat. Then…..’
“Hey, why are you healing yourself when you took so little damage?”
“….”
In a split second, their form had recovered fully.
The wounds were only light ones, but still.
However, it seemed that they didn’t use healing spells to recover.
After all, their wounds had recovered without any scars, turning back into their original appearance before the injuries.
The God of Life. It was possible that they had amazing recovery abilities befitting their title of the god of resurrection.
However, why was I thinking otherwise?
It was possible that I had somewhat understood their tricks.
If that’s the case, I should confirm it right away.
“I know I’m a mage…. But for some odd reason, I like close quarter combat better. Let’s go once more!”
“……”
Materializing another sword in my hand once more, I charged at them.
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