"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"
The Thunder Warhammer and the Flaming Battleaxe clashed again and again, producing deafening impacts. The other soldiers on the battlefield could no longer endure it; they scrambled backward in terror. Some fled while clutching their heads, while others simply fell to the ground with blood streaming from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth—because even a tiny aftershock from a battle between gods was not something mortals could withstand.
"Haaaah!!!!"
"BOOOOM—————!"
Duanmu Huai swung his warhammer again. This time, Ares could no longer block the blow and was sent skidding backward.
"What's wrong? That's all you've got?"
Duanmu Huai gripped the warhammer and stared coldly at Ares. Honestly, this Ares looked hilarious to him. Long hair, a full beard—and maybe because he was the God of War, his hair glowed like fire.
How to describe it… The closest comparison Duanmu Huai could think of was—
The Golden-Maned Lion King.
Ares, on the other hand, had lost his earlier arrogance. He gritted his teeth, glaring at Duanmu Huai. If it were just pure strength, he was confident he wouldn't lose. But the strange black flames on that warhammer made him extremely uncomfortable.
Every time their weapons met, Ares felt a chilling force surge from the hammer into his body, suppressing his divine power. This was obviously not ordinary divine energy. If things continued like this, he would definitely be the one to lose!
"This is only the beginning! Let me show you the true power of the God of War!"
As he shouted, Ares clenched his fists and trembled violently. Then Duanmu Huai saw the flesh on Ares's back burst open, and six sharp, flaming, blade-like limbs shot out.
Oh great, so the God of War is actually a damn spider spirit.
"Die!!"
Ares summoned a flaming greatsword and charged again. Duanmu Huai didn't back down; he rushed forward with the warhammer.
"BOOM!!"
The flaming greatsword collided with the hammer. In the next instant, Ares twisted his body, and the blade-like spider limbs stabbed toward Duanmu Huai. Duanmu Huai roared, slammed his hammer downward to knock the sword aside, then grabbed the warhammer and hurled it directly at Ares's spider limbs.
At the same time, abandoning his warhammer, Duanmu Huai lunged forward, closing the distance in one burst. He clenched his fists—light flashed!
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA—————!!!"
With a furious roar, his fists rained down on Ares like a storm!
When Ares saw Duanmu Huai toss aside the warhammer, he actually felt relieved. After all, he thought the biggest threat was that black-flame-covered hammer. To him, that had to be the guy's divine artifact—Greek gods were known for their signature weapons, and losing them usually meant a huge drop in power.
He never imagined that once Duanmu Huai ditched his weapon, he'd charge in and just start beating him senseless with his bare fists!
Ares, already off balance, left a wide opening. Duanmu Huai seized the moment and unleashed a wild barrage of "ora ora" punches. Huge fists, each the size of a cooking pot, smashed into Ares's face and torso like torrential rain, preventing him from regaining balance or defending himself.
What frightened Ares even more was that even without the warhammer, Duanmu Huai's fists still burned with the black flames—and when those punches struck him, he could feel his divine power rapidly weakening!
"N—————!!"
Ares roared in despair, struggling to counterattack. But Duanmu Huai's strength was overwhelming, his speed too great. Ares could only stagger backward repeatedly. Still, he didn't completely lose hope. No one could attack forever. Once this burst ended, he could counterattack and crush this unarmed fool!
Duanmu Huai had no idea what Ares was thinking, nor did he care. He just continued punching while keeping his focus on the system prompt in front of him.
[Star Platinum proficiency 98%...…99%...…100%!]
[Entered Reward Time +1s]
It's here!
"———————!"
Time stopped.
Duanmu Huai abruptly withdrew his fists, drew the chainsaw sword from his back, and—
Swung it down at Ares's face!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
The roaring chainsaw blade cleaved into Ares's skull, cutting downward—splitting his head, neck, and entire torso straight in half.
"N—————!!!"
When Ares regained awareness, his world had already split in two. His body was completely severed, internal organs and blood bursting outward. Even worse, clusters of bright red, orb-like energies poured out of his body like schools of fish—and all of them were sucked into Duanmu Huai.
"N—————!!!!"
Ares raised his hands in desperation. He could feel his divine power draining away entirely. But before he could say anything more, he collapsed—each half of his body falling separately onto the ground.
Massive amounts of divine power burst from his corpse in the form of glowing spheres and shot into Duanmu Huai.
At first, Duanmu Huai froze at the sight of the orbs. Before he could react, they all surged into him, and system notifications flashed rapidly.
[Absorbed Ares's War God Divine Power]
[God of Destruction Level increased to LV6]
[Black Flame Level increased to LV6]
[Minor Divine Power +9]
[Strength +3, Constitution +2, Agility +1, Perception +1, Intelligence -3]
[Obtained War God Priesthood]
[Bonus for Having Followers: All followers gain +10% attributes in battle, own attributes +5%]
"As expected, to level up godhood, you have to slay gods."
Looking at the system messages, Duanmu Huai sighed. He'd killed so many enemies before with barely any leveling. Especially during the battle against the Covenant—he wiped out two star systems of them, gathered a mountain of souls to burn for divine power, and still his godhood never leveled once. Now it was clear: to increase the level of his God of Destruction, he had to kill actual gods.
The War God priesthood was nice, but… didn't this mean he was starting to steal domains from the God of Slaughter?
Duanmu Huai clicked his tongue.
Well, whatever. Steal it then. Now he wouldn't have to worry about the Slaughter God's domain anymore. Back in Mordheim, when facing the Slaughter God's cult, his whole team had guarded the boundary without daring to enter—fighting inside the domain would only empower the Slaughter God. If they weren't careful, they might even summon him. In the end, Duanmu Huai had to use his gravity gauntlet to crush the domain core and dispel it before slaughtering the lunatics.
Now he had the War God domain too—no need to fear anyone.
But that [Intelligence -3] really made him want to curse.
"...…"
Seriously? A stat penalty?!
Was this guy really that stupid?!
Duanmu Huai twitched an eye and looked at the corpse.
For a god, being this dumb—is that okay?!
Forget it. A war god without brains made sense. Besides, there was still Athena, the goddess of wisdom. When he killed her, he'd probably make up the deficit.
Duanmu Huai truly had zero psychological burden when it came to killing Greek gods. Simple reason: there weren't many decent ones among them. From his perspective, these "gods" might be divine in Greece, but anywhere else, they'd just be evil spirits.
Zeus didn't need explanation—the ultimate philanderer, with more sins than anyone.
Hera was a jealous witch who cursed anyone she disliked. Take poor Callisto—after Zeus raped her and she gave birth, Hera discovered it and turned Callisto into a giant bear, ordering others to hunt her. Another time, she destroyed an entire country simply because it shared a name with one of Zeus's lovers. And so on.
And speaking of Callisto, one must mention Artemis. Artemis prized chastity above all. Callisto was her attendant. But because she was raped and thus lost her chastity, Artemis shot her full of arrows and exiled her.
So in other words—you can't punish Zeus, so you bully the victims?
Poseidon was no better—he and his brother were peas in a pod, chasing anything they fancied.
Athena wasn't much cleaner either. Look at Medusa. Medusa had been her most devout follower, even a priestess in her own temple. But because she was too beautiful, Athena grew resentful. Then one day, Poseidon saw Medusa—because he hated Athena, he decided to violate Medusa inside Athena's own temple.
Athena, furious, responded by… cursing Medusa—turning her hair into snakes and her lower body into a serpent.
Her logic: Poseidon acted out of "male instinct" and was "not at fault," while Medusa "tempted gods and defiled the temple," and therefore deserved punishment.
And that wasn't the end—she later sent a hero to kill Medusa. Thus the story of Perseus slaying her.
Basically Greek-myth Snow White, with Athena as the mirror-obsessed evil queen.
And she wasn't done ruining lives. Arachne, a highly skilled weaver, became famous. Athena got jealous, disguised herself as a mortal, challenged her, and lost.
So she threw a tantrum and turned her into a spider.
"Oh, you like weaving? Then weave forever."
From an Eastern perspective, these Greek gods were pretty much all wicked. Killing them was basically doing pest control—slaying demons.
Leaving them alive was a menace. Even by Inquisition standards, gods who wiped out mortals on a whim were pure heresy and should've been purged long ago.
So the question was—where to start? Zeus and Hera definitely had to go. But the quest said destroy an entire pantheon, meaning the Twelve Olympians all had to die?
So was this going to be him playing Bronze Saint, charging through the Twelve Temples, and killing Athena at the end?
"RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!"
Just as Duanmu Huai was deciding whose name to put first on his extermination list, thunder erupted overhead. He looked up to see dark clouds gathering, lightning flashing violently.
Oh, that was definitely Zeus throwing a tantrum.
Sure enough, the moment Duanmu Huai thought that, several bolts of lightning struck the ground around him. Then the earth collapsed into a massive abyss, swallowing him whole.
"———————BOOM!!!"
He didn't know how long he fell before crashing heavily into the ground. Looking up, he found himself in a vast underground world. A river flowed nearby, and across from it were molten lava, stone structures built into the cavern, and lines of souls queuing forward.
So… Zeus threw him straight into the Underworld?
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai sneered and tightened his grip on the warhammer.
Perfect. Saves him the trouble of planning—he could start from hell and kill his way up to the top of Mount Olympus!
(End of chapter)