Chapter 131: Phase Two - The Goddess Embracing the Darkness
The goddess's piercing shriek was a physical force, a shockwave that made the very space around them hum.
She clutched her wounded eye, and a torrent of red-black divine blood flowed through her fingers, down her cheek, and onto the writhing vines below, which sizzled and smoked at its touch. The pain was not just physical. The power of faith and the dark taint within her were at war, a conflict that was tearing at the very root of her soul.
"HOW DARE YOU HARM THIS BODY!!!"
Her roar was no longer just anger, but a hysterical, frenzied madness. That these ants had dared to harm the body of the Goddess of Life... her rage had reached its absolute peak. To dare... to harm her body. These ants... they would all die. And that rage... it finally ignited the last vestiges of her divine nature that had been corrupted by the darkness.
"Now! All-out attack!"
Rhodes did not hesitate. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With the goddess wounded, her power was bound to be wavering.
Olivia spread her wings and, channeling her mana, cast a healing spell on the others. Eirik's wounds began to close. Rhodes and Somme leaped into the air, their swords and axe held high, trying to cut short her enraged roar. A massive magic circle formed at Serie's feet, and she unleashed the highest level of elven magic, aimed at the goddess's bleeding eye.
But just as their attacks were about to land...
"GET! OUT!"
The goddess's head snapped up, and her one remaining eye burned with an unprecedented darkness.
A terrifying pressure, a pressure several times stronger than before, descended upon them.
CRACK!
CRACKLE!
CRACKLE!
The God's Chain, the chains of faith that were binding her, groaned under the sudden surge of her dark divine power. It appeared once more, a web of fine cracks spreading across its surface, its light dimming rapidly.
"No! The binding is weakening!"
Rhodes's heart lurched. He could feel it, the 'Light of Ersten' was at its limit, its pure faith being eroded by her dark divine power. The goddess was breaking free. And the price... she had abandoned the last of her divinity and had given herself over completely to the darkness.
BOOM—!!!
A shockwave of a dark, filthy mud erupted from her. Their attacks were all repelled. The entire space trembled, as if it was about to collapse.
"Tsk," Rhodes gritted his teeth and held Org before him, using its light to brace himself against the shockwave. But a grim look had come over his face. He looked up, at the center of the blast, and his eyes widened. The goddess's form was undergoing a terrifying transformation.
The arm she had been holding to her face fell limply to her side. But that was only the beginning. Her once holy and beautiful body began to melt, her lower half dissolving into a thick, black, ominous mud. Her upper body was still vaguely humanoid, but her skin had turned a sickly, grayish-black, and was covered in a network of cracks. She was no longer a god, but a monster, a creature that had crawled from the deepest, most fetid abyss.
"Ants... must be... destroyed," she hissed, her voice a ragged, mournful sound that echoed through the crumbling space.
Phase Two of the goddess: a god embracing the darkness.
"Is this... a god that has been completely consumed by darkness?"
Olivia looked up, her voice trembling at the blasphemous sight. Nearby, Eirik struggled back to his feet, his chest wound barely healed, the lingering dark corruption still causing him a dull ache.
"Her power... it's stronger," Serie said, wiping the blood from her mouth, her expression more serious than ever.
The dark mana radiating from her was several times stronger than before. And that was with the God's Chain still suppressing her. Without it... that would be the true power of a god, a power that no mortal could ever hope to match. Even now, their defensive magic was like paper before her.
"The chains are about to break!"
Rhodes's eyes were fixed on the golden chains that were now dimming, his heart sinking. The shackles of faith were being battered by her dark divine power. It was only a matter of time. And once they broke... a goddess at her full power, in this terrifying, dark form... the consequences were unimaginable.
"We have to finish her before she breaks free!"
"Got it!" Norne gritted his teeth, his arm still trembling from the force of having channeled Rhodes's magic. The miracle of that first arrow would be difficult to replicate. The faith of Athos was almost depleted. All they could do now was fight.
"DIE!"
The goddess roared, and a tsunami of thick, black vines shot out from her, lashing at them from all directions with a speed and power far greater than before. And this time, a wave of darkness preceded them, a wave that clung to their bodies and slowed their movements, their magic. Even Olivia's holy light was suppressed, its range shrinking dramatically.
"Spread out! Don't take it head-on!" Rhodes commanded, and with a swing of Org, a massive blade of light shot forward and cleaved through one of the thickest vines, the impact making his arm go numb.
Serie dodged a vine and unleashed a torrent of light spears, trying to freeze the goddess, to slow her attack. But the spears were simply swallowed by a barrier of black mud that rose up around her, leaving not a single trace.
"It's no use! Her power is too great! Our normal spells are useless against her!" Serie's heart sank.
And now, the goddess's attention was on Olivia. She was a moment too slow, and a vine shot past their defenses and pierced her wing. The holy feathers were instantly corrupted, and a cold, malicious taint began to spread through her wing, making her stumble.
"Olivia!" Rhodes rushed to her side and blocked the other vines. Fortunately, as a creation of the Goddess of Life, she had some resistance to the corruption.
And it was then that he noticed something strange.
(End of Chapter)
~~~
Get early access to 20+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter