God King Melqart certainly wasn't tired of living.
On the contrary, he was very clearheaded.
At least, he believed himself to be clearheaded enough.
In this Heretic God encounter, he was actually the first to descend to the present world.
As a divine body worshipped by the Phoenicians, he was dissatisfied with his faith being abandoned and wanted to completely sink the Sardinia he had once protected into the sea.
But just as he was getting started, Verethragna, who craved defeat, descended from mythology, and since both Heretic Gods had violent temperaments, they naturally fought a great battle.
The result was that Verethragna's godhood shattered into ten incarnations scattered everywhere, while Melqart himself was severely injured and hid in deep mountains for self-healing.
Being able to fight Verethragna to a standstill showed that his strength was top-tier even among Heretic Gods.
He naturally wouldn't be unaware of the commotion caused by the divine beast boar earlier.
Besides healing his injuries, his greatest energy was actually spent observing Verethragna's condition.
After all, given their mutually devastating situation, whoever recovered from serious injuries first would gain advantageous momentum and be more likely to achieve victory in battle.
Because of this, he didn't miss the timing when Verethragna recovered to full strength.
Nor did he miss how Verethragna was directly defeated in his prime by someone.
Honestly, seeing that a human could kill a Heretic God with pure massive spell techniques while not yet being a Campione was something Melqart absolutely couldn't believe.
But the facts were before his eyes—he personally witnessed Verethragna return to mythology, and personally saw that detestable witch drag Ryuga to the Netherworld.
Obviously, this outrageous human would soon be reborn as a Campione, and his strength would only become stronger.
After Verethragna was defeated, the opponent would inevitably face him.
Realizing this, Melqart's first reaction wasn't to flee, but to fight!
Gods thought differently from humans. For a god king like him, dignity was more important than life, and fleeing would undoubtedly be the most cowardly behavior, which he disdained.
After deciding to fight, the next question was how to achieve victory.
Regarding this point, the crude-on-the-outside-but-careful-inside Melqart learned precious lessons from the tragedy he had witnessed.
"First, absolutely do not underestimate this cunning enemy, and don't give him the chance to prepare spell techniques!"
Thinking of the hundred Saint-domain level techniques he'd seen wrapped around Ryuga, Melqart's scalp tingled.
Honestly, if Verethragna were replaced with him, facing Ryuga in that state, he definitely couldn't last a minute.
In his view, the biggest reason for Verethragna's lightning-fast defeat was being too pedantic.
Facing this level of enemy and still waiting for him to prepare before fighting—wasn't that seeking death?
Learning this lesson, Melqart decided to absolutely not give Ryuga any chance to prepare techniques in advance.
However, this alone wasn't enough to kill the enemy. The opponent wasn't a soft persimmon that could be casually handled, so he must prepare a deadly trump card.
"Second, I must end his life as quickly as possible!"
Considering the opponent's absurdly strong technique talent, Melqart suspected that even if he didn't give the opponent preparation time, once the stalemate lasted a bit longer, the opponent would inevitably be able to deploy more techniques, accumulating advantages bit by bit to maximum.
As a Heretic God, actually fearing a prolonged battle with humans.
This would probably become a joke if spoken aloud, but given Ryuga's previous performance, this concern was necessary.
He must breakthrough the opponent's defenses before the opponent could deploy too many techniques.
Therefore, speed was crucial here.
If the opponent had now been reborn as a Campione, his authorities would almost be impossible to kill Ryuga in a short time through normal combat.
The most suitable tactic was to set traps, prepare the field in advance, allowing his authority's power to explode together in a short time.
After determining this tactic, Melqart immediately began consuming his divine power, using his authorities to set up the battlefield.
The thunder clouds overhead had gathered at some unknown time, dark and oppressive, with powerful heavenly thunder building up in the clouds;
The nearby sea waves also began restless agitation, wave higher than wave, rising like sea mountains;
In the pitch-black caves, tens of millions of locusts held their voices, quietly awaiting orders;
Beneath the thick earth, thousands upon thousands of underworld warriors lay hidden;
As god of sky, sea, harvest, and underworld, God King Melqart's total authorities were definitely not to be underestimated.
If these dangerous powers erupted simultaneously, even Verethragna might not escape such might, and no matter how strong Ryuga was, he would at least suffer heavy damage.
At that point, his hidden greatest trump card could easily eliminate the opponent.
With utmost seriousness, he reviewed the entire battle plan, confirming no problems before Melqart began adjusting his condition.
"Finally, and most importantly... first restore condition to optimal!"
While Ryuga and Erica were talking, Melqart was racing against time to repair his final injuries.
And when he had completely healed his wounds, his warrior's fighting spirit couldn't wait another moment, directly challenging Ryuga.
"Boom!"
After issuing his provocation, a lightning bolt thick as a water barrel struck directly in front of Ryuga.
This was both to anger him and to not leave him a peaceful preparation environment.
"Crude provocation."
Ryuga saw through the opponent's scheme at a glance.
It had to be said, divine lord's methods were truly simple and naive. If dealing with opponents from the mythological era, this scheme might be considered clever, but now it wouldn't even fool a child.
However, even seeing through this, Ryuga still acted as if completely unaware, quickly arriving before the continuously emanating divine might Melqart.
Without any wariness, he stepped onto the battlefield God King Melqart had preset.
Seeing Ryuga appear before him with no defenses, Melqart's heart immediately filled with joy.
Stable!
Calculated versus unaware, fast versus slow, four authorities versus one authority...
Advantage is mine!
To be continued...
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