After witnessing that Meisha could withstand the primary cannon of the Earth Star's conventional battleships on its own, Muria parted ways with it and moved along a separate route, intent on destroying more Earth Star human battleships. Throughout this process, Muria deliberately concealed his presence, maintaining an air of mystery without revealing his form.
Whenever he rescued survivors from a tribe, the remaining Ikonians never caught a glimpse of him. All they saw was a vast golden light spreading across the sky, the battleships falling, and then the light vanishing.
Muria did this intentionally, aiming to diminish his own presence while enhancing that of his companion and pet, the "Uwumiao King." His goal was for the surviving Ikonians to feel immense gratitude toward the Uwumiao King. This sense of gratitude could easily transform into a primal form of faith and worship, allowing Meisha to harness this newfound power of belief. In time, with enough accumulation and refinement, Meisha could be ready to ascend to godhood.
Once Meisha achieved godhood, everything would change. The world's rules would become more complete—a substantial benefit for the world itself. The "path to godhood," a secret almost universally known among legendary beings in Erathia, was something the beings in this world hadn't even touched.
"The first god... Haha, Uwumiao King, you're in for a treat!" Muria chuckled, thinking about the achievements he envisioned for Meisha.
For beings in this world, godhood was likely the highest attainable achievement. With the limited resources of the Ikonian world, they had no chance of transcending to epic status.
"Hmm?" As Muria ambled through the sky, casually destroying one battleship after another, he looked up to see a massive fireball falling toward the ground from beyond the atmosphere.
A stream of flames separated from the fireball, trailing behind it like a long, fiery tail. The light emitted by the enormous fireball illuminated a portion of the sky.
"Tsk!" Muria was about to sigh but then frowned, rubbing his forehead. "No need to remind me; I'm not blind. I see it, this huge thing. Rest assured, I'll smash it to pieces."
With those words, the pounding in his heart faded, the rhythm reminding him of a warning drum. It was the World Tree—or rather, the world's consciousness—urging him on.
"They're acting like I'm part of the world now," Muria muttered, a bit helpless. "If it's such a problem, why not lift all restrictions and let my true form out? Then I could settle everything in no time!"
His surroundings remained unchanged, and nothing happened. The seals binding his true self, which lay dormant within his reincarnated heart, held firm. The world's consciousness had clearly ignored his suggestion.
"Tch! Troublesome," Muria muttered, extending his hand downward. A splintered, dead branch floated upward, shedding bark along the way, transforming into a spear over six meters long by the time it reached his hand.
Crackling sounds filled the air as the light of Muria's radiant power, enhanced by his unique bloodline, wrapped around the spear, turning it into a spear of light surrounded by golden lightning. Holding his prepared weapon, Muria gazed up at the fireball descending from the sky, adjusted his grip on the lightning-charged spear, and launched it toward the fireball after two quick aiming motions.
A golden streak shot upward, its sheer force creating a visible vacuum trail in the atmosphere—a long, foggy corridor of vapor in the sky.
---
"Warning: Detecting an attack from a superpowered entity below. The entity has thrown a spear!"
In the command room of the Glory-class flagship, this alert, which would typically cause laughter, now elicited only tense, focused stares. None of the crew felt any inclination to laugh; they watched in grim anticipation as the glowing spear approached at high speed.
"Activate the defense systems to maximum capacity! Do not hold back!" General William shouted, his face paling as he watched the spear rocket toward them. He had never expected to face this level of attack in such a primitive world.
"General, all defense systems of the Glory-class ship are now running at full overload!"
"Activate the main cannon targeting system! As soon as the ship withstands this attack, fire the main cannon and blow that creature to bits!"
Boom!
Just as General William considered retaliating against or even killing Muria, the spear struck the Glory's outer energy shield.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still as the golden spear collided with the outer energy shield of the Glory-class battleship. After a second or two of tense stillness, visible white shockwaves rippled outward, scattering clouds across the sky.
"It's holding!"
Seeing that the spear hadn't immediately broken through the shield, several officers and soldiers couldn't contain their premature cheers. In their understanding, physical projectiles typically did the most damage upon initial impact; if they could withstand the first blow, the remaining damage would be less severe.
However, they'd forgotten that this was a supernatural world, where relying on conventional assumptions could prove deadly. Just as they cheered, the six-meter-long spear of light intensified in brightness, expanding to twice its length. An earsplitting crack resounded.
Bang!
The Glory's outermost energy shield shattered, followed by the second and third layers. The spear, whose power surged at the last moment, tore through the ship's three energy shields in succession and struck the hull.
A violent explosion ensued, rocking the 1,200-meter-long battleship. Officers in the command room staggered, struggling to remain on their feet, looking rather disheveled.
"Damn it! If it weren't for our descent, the Glory's defenses would never have been breached!" General William roared in anger when he saw the damage on the screen.
In his view, Muria's attack had succeeded purely due to bad timing; the ship was in a high-speed descent, so many conventional defensive measures couldn't be used. Furthermore, the force of the descent combined with the spear's own power, compounding the strain on the ship's defenses and resulting in this damage.
"Did the main cannon system sustain any damage? If not, lock onto the creature below and blast it to bits!"
"General, you're in luck. Though the ship took a hit, the main cannon system remains intact!" the AI responded in a tone that sounded almost congratulatory.
"Lock onto it!"
"Target locked."
"Prepare to charge the main cannon!"
"Main cannon charging: 1%, 2%… 17%… 56%… 87%!"
"Fire!" General William's gaze was locked onto the monitor, fists clenched as he saw the energy gauge reach 100%, eager to release his frustration along with the cannon blast and obliterate the creature below.
"Executing command: Main cannon firing!"
Boom!
Suspended in the sky and plummeting at high speed, the battleship fired its main cannon without hesitation, aiming at Muria standing in midair. A massive beam of light, nearly ten meters in diameter, shot down like a colossal invisible giant wielding a sword.
"The main cannon of the Glory-class battleship—one of the Earth Star civilization's most powerful strategic weapons!"
Muria gazed up at the descending beam with a calm expression, unfazed. The moment the main cannon locked onto him, he had sensed it.
Warnings pulsed from his body, and the World Tree's reminder echoed in his heart, suggesting he couldn't withstand the cannon with his current form.
"Even if you all think I can't, I believe I can!" Muria said as the beam neared his head. He raised his hand, fingers splayed wide.
A series of divine inscriptions spread from his palm, engraving intricate patterns in the air that formed a profound circular array.
"I didn't spend years studying formations for nothing!" Muria chuckled, conjuring a twenty-meter-diameter formation in his hand. For a master of formations, triumphing over a stronger force was a basic skill.
Just as Muria completed the array, the main cannon's beam struck it, causing the formation to expand rapidly as each divine inscription shone brilliantly.
"Just pure energy with no will attached—trying to kill me with such a low-level attack? It's practically a gift!"
Muria looked up through the formation, his golden eyes shining with unprecedented brightness as he absorbed the energy of the main cannon.
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