Chapter 332: BITE DOWN AND HOLD ON!

Watching the Blood-Red Return of the Great Holy Mother, who had come with ill intent, Wu Chang felt no fear—only joy.

They were allies with the Great Holy Mother, temporarily partners; if he alone had been plotting betrayal from the start, wouldn't that make him despicable?

After all, she had just praised his integrity—turning around and stabbing her in the back would be embarrassingly hypocritical.

But the Great Holy Mother had held back and chosen to strike first—so his planned betrayal became passive self-defense, instantly lifting his psychological burden.

With no psychological burden, and standing on the moral high ground, he could act without restraint.

Wu Chang rejoiced inwardly, yet kept a look of stunned confusion on his face, asking:

"Great Holy Mother, what do you mean by this?"

The Great Holy Mother once again assumed the posture of a deity, speaking in a condescending tone:

"For helping me resolve a major problem, I grant you an opportunity: let your Yongguang Sect merge into the Augre Kingdom's State Religion as one of its branches. I will recognize Sister Elin as Archangel."

Wu Chang's expression twisted at the conditions the Great Holy Mother offered Elin—becoming a henchman, no, a guardian deity, guarding the premises while scraping a share of the spoils—wasn't that exactly the deal he'd offered the Sea General before?

He hadn't expected the boomerang to strike himself, turning Elin into the one being recruited.

Before Wu Chang could speak, the Great Holy Mother turned her gaze to him and continued:

"As for you, mortal, after Gilman becomes Pope, you shall succeed him as my Grand Archbishop."

Wu Chang felt the heat in the Great Holy Mother's eyes and was baffled—what was she after?

Had his awakening as the Primordial Seed somehow granted him a succubus talent?

Compared to Elin, the Great Holy Mother did indeed regard Wu Chang more highly—but not because she was charmed; she valued his fortune.

As her vessel on the mortal plane, Elin had been raised under her watchful eye; Elin's Sacred Scar even fed real-time growth data back to her.

She knew Elin's true worth better than anyone—how could a puppet like Elin possibly complete her soul, awaken divinity, and ascend from Seraph to the peak of Power Angel, barely a step from Archangel?

And how could she obtain the Divine Nation Pillar, something even the Great Holy Mother herself had failed to condense after years of cultivation?

The answer was obvious: it was all because of Wu Chang.

This mortal was shrouded in mystery—he, a mere human, had pierced her Pure Battle Armor and wounded her.

He had repeatedly accomplished feats beyond comprehension: locating the Divine Nation Pillar, summoning the Warrior Star Lord.

No matter his methods, they proved his uniqueness.

Therefore, this mortal—she, the Great Holy Mother, claimed him.

"Mortal, tell me your choice."

Wu Chang put on a look of utter incomprehension and said:

"Great Holy Mother, doesn't this violate the Divine Pact we signed? And aren't we allies? Must things turn so hostile?"

The Great Holy Mother smiled smugly and retorted:

"Did the Divine Pact forbid me from doing this?"

Wu Chang said nothing—the pact contained no such restriction; after all, to ensure his own freedom to act, he had deliberately omitted any clause forbidding mutual harm.

Seeing Wu Chang unable to respond, the Great Holy Mother continued:

"Mortal, though you possess talents beyond ordinary mortals, remember: only talents that can be realized are true talents. Never trust others before you have sufficient strength."

Wu Chang shrugged, adopting the air of a man resigned to misfortune, and asked:

"What if we refuse? Great Holy Mother, don't forget how we signed the Divine Pact on Briver Island."

The Great Holy Mother made no motion, yet the Pure Battle Armor—previously lent to Elin and long since dissipated from depleted divine power—suddenly reappeared on Elin's body.

But this time, the Pure Battle Armor no longer protected Elin from harm—it bound her instead.

Elin, having exhausted her divine power to defeat the Deep Lord, had no time to react before the armor seized control of her.

Then the Great Holy Mother pointed upward. Wu Chang looked up and saw a massive luminous wheel hovering above the ship—the symbol of her entering her divine true form.

The Great Holy Mother spoke slowly:

"Elin's divine power is spent, and I have already entered my divine true form—you cannot disrupt me with your tricks. Mortal, tell me: can you still resist me now?"

Wu Chang scratched his head, helplessly saying: "Looks like I have no choice but to surrender—kiss your feet, then."

Before the Great Holy Mother could deliver her victory speech, the State Religion Knights along the ship's edge suddenly panicked, frantically tossing smoldering Boiling Seaweed into the sea.

A foreboding sensation flashed through the Great Holy Mother's mind: "What's happening?"

The Knights on the ship's edge shouted:

"Great Holy Mother! A sea monster is approaching!"

No sooner had the knight spoken than a massive shadow emerged beneath the ship—next moment, the colossal iron vessel shattered under the impact, hurling everyone aboard high into the air.

Amid the exploding mist, the shadow flashed past; when the spray cleared, the sea surface, littered with ship debris, held no trace of Wu Chang or Elin.

They were gone—but the colossal shadow beneath the sea remained, now stirring hungrily toward the knights who had fallen into the water.

The Great Holy Mother grew furious, her face darkening with rage. She drew her longsword, and unextinguished holy flames ignited above her head.

"Once I seize Briver Island and the Divine Nation Pillar, I shall forge special pyres for you, deep-sea heretics."

The colossal shadow that shattered the ship was Wu Chang's True Self Avatar—the Sea Giant.

At this moment, the ability to obliterate the ship in one blow came not from his stacked 480-point strength, but from the talent granted by Dagan's resentment.

At the moment of Dagan's death, his devotion to the Deep Lord caused his bloodied last words to cling to the Great Holy Mother:

【Prevent the foreign deity from seizing Briver Island, so the Deep Lord may awaken when the Stars Return.】

When the Deep Lord awakens at the Stars' Return, Dagan's bloodied last words are fulfilled.

His bloodied last words granted Wu Chang 1 point of Life, 1 point of Will, and 2 points of Inspiration, along with a unique talent of the Fishman race.

"Talent Name: Ship Killer"

"Effect: When attacking vessel-type targets, you ignore all defenses and inflict massive destructive damage."

"Note: What is the sea? What is a ship? That is the question."

The Great Holy Mother's confidence in confronting them rested on her second body—luckily, Wu Chang also had a second body, and his was stronger.

At the same time as smashing the ship, Wu Chang's main body had already teleported Erin back to Briver Island, leaving his True Self behind to play with the Great Holy Mother.

Hearing the Great Holy Mother shouting overhead, the True Self avatar transformed into a five-hundred-meter-tall sea giant, slowly breaking through the sea surface to reveal its form.

Wu Chang, transformed into a sea giant, spoke with a voice like muffled thunder; merely speaking caused the waves to churn, making the fallen members of the State Religion Knight Corps dizzy and blurred.

"Foreign god, are you ready to accept the fury of the deep sea?"

The Great Holy Mother's gaze shifted from looking down at the True Self, to looking level, and finally to looking up.

Feeling the black shadow completely envelop her, the Great Holy Mother's face stiffened, and she felt somewhat numb.

What is this situation?

Is the several-hundred-meter-tall monster before her really a creature that should exist in the Wasteland Realm?

Although she could not sense any divinity from the sea monster before her, the oppressive force brought by its pure flesh and blood still made her heart tremble.

She even doubted whether the Lord of the Deep Sea could defeat the monster before her without using his Divine Kingdom.

Wu Chang swung his arm, smashing it toward the Great Holy Mother; feeling the storm-like fist wind, the Great Holy Mother subconsciously pulled upward to dodge the punch.

But she did not know that Wu Chang's target with this punch was never her, but rather Archbishop Gilman floating on the sea surface.

As one of the masterminds behind the Silent Town dungeon, Gilman was involved in every bad deed; Wu Chang had long found this fellow unpleasant to look at.

Moreover, this fellow had too many schemes; when released by him from the Blind Abyss, he had feigned madness and stupidity to escape his sight, waiting until the battle with the Lord of the Deep Sea ended before using spatial magic to bring the Great Holy Mother back.

Such a fellow cannot be kept alive.

Seeing the giant fist smashing toward him, Gilman immediately constructed a spatial teleportation array, intending to flee.

But just as the spatial teleportation array was about to activate, it suddenly jammed for an instant; it was this instant that prevented him from escaping in time.

Boom!

Archbishop Gilman's body exploded along with the entire sea surface; under 480 points of Strength and the sea giant's massive fist, his body completely merged into the water mist, indistinguishable from it.

Wu Chang withdrew his fist, his heart feeling completely clear and refreshed; satisfying.

He hated it most when villains were not only stronger than him but also more handsome.

If there were a magic mirror now, he would definitely have to ask one question: who is the strongest existence in spatial magic within the Silent Town plane.

Wu Chang was satisfied, but the members of the Ogre State Religion Knight Corps all suffered terribly.

Those in the same area as Gilman need not be mentioned; they all followed Gilman in merging with the sea.

Even those further away were instantly knocked unconscious by the massive sound wave, then slammed into the seabed by the waves.

As for their master, the Great Holy Mother located a thousand meters high in the sky, she could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything.

Viewing Wu Chang's punch from a global perspective, the Great Holy Mother was very clear about its destructive power; she could not block it, nor did she dare to.

The Great Holy Mother looked at the knight sword in her hand, then glanced at the sea giant, thinking to herself that it might be too late to explain now that the Lord of the Deep Sea was not killed by her.

Wu Chang glanced sideways at the Great Holy Mother in the sky, then pointed upward.

The Great Holy Mother paused for a moment, subconsciously looking up, only to see an elbow constantly enlarging in her vision.

The Great Holy Mother's attention was entirely on the sea giant; she had completely failed to notice that Wu Chang, having activated Social Anxiety and Elite Stealth, had already teleported above her head, falling all the way to within less than ten meters of her.

The Great Holy Mother panicked for a moment, but quickly regained her composure.

She was no longer her former self; to deal with Wu Chang's move, she had disregarded the durability of this puppet and entered her True God Form in advance.

Now wearing the complete Pure Armor, she did not believe Wu Chang could still injure her.

Do you understand what it means that the Great Holy Mother is unaffected?

Just as the Great Holy Mother gripped her knight sword, preparing to make this damned mortal recognize the gap before marking him as punishment, she heard a familiar fierce shout.

"Manda!"

And felt a familiar elbow strike against her face.

This damned mortal actually penetrated her Pure Armor in its complete state; how is this possible!

Amidst her shock, the Great Holy Mother felt a slight abnormality: this elbow strike seemed stronger than the previous ones.

When she tried to reach out to wipe away the gushing nosebleed, she discovered her body was completely paralyzed; she could not even lift her arm.

That sensation of paralysis was something even the control immunity effect of the Pure Armor could not resist.

What has this damned mortal done!

Wu Chang guessed the Great Holy Mother's confusion; raising his elbow toward the Great Holy Mother, whose nose was streaming with blood, he revealed a small spike resembling a snake fang on his elbow.

"It is Bite of the Deep Waters; I have added Bite of the Deep Waters to my elbow."

The Abyssal Giant Python, amplified by the Primordial Seed of the Deep Sea, had its snake venom transformed into divine damage; if the target's divinity does not exceed Wu Chang by one major rank, they will be unable to immunize against the deadly poison of Bite of the Deep Waters.

When using the Deep Sea Mutant Transformation, Wu Chang could already be regarded as a demigod, and moreover, a demigod on the verge of becoming a Lower God.

To be a whole major realm higher than him, one must be a Lower God on the verge of ascending to a Middle God; even the current Erin cannot achieve this.

The Great Holy Mother before him was merely a projection; the Middle God abilities she could use did not come from the projection itself, but were smuggled into the Wasteland Realm in advance by bestowing holy marks.

The divinity of a mere projection was insufficient for her to resist Bite of the Deep Waters.

The Great Holy Mother lost control of her body, constantly falling downward.

Directly beneath her, the True Self, whose fist at his waist had already accumulated power via Iaido, shouted toward the falling Great Holy Mother:

"Clench your teeth!"

The True Self leaped from the water surface, launching a rising dragon punch toward the Great Holy Mother.

This punch carried not only 480 points of Strength attribute, not only the God-Blasphemer effect, and the triple charge of Iaido.

It also carried a skill Wu Chang had not used before—"Twin Synchronization."

"Skill Name: Twin Synchronization"

"Skill Rank: B"

"Skill Description: When the user possesses a physical-type clone skill and activates this skill, the user's control over the clone increases significantly. When the user's main body and clone attack a target simultaneously, a combined attack effect is triggered, increasing the damage caused by the two attacks by 50% and concentrating it on one of the attacks to erupt."

The interval between Wu Chang's main body's Mamba Iron Elbow and the True Self's fist attack was short enough to trigger the Twin Synchronization skill.

"This punch deals quadruple damage, Your Divine Majesty of the Great Mother—can you block it?"

True Self asked the hand-shaped red mark on the fist.

Unfortunately, the Great Mother's current state cannot answer him.

And for a long time to come, the Great Mother will be unable to answer him.

When activating the Heretic title, any overflow damage traces back to the source.

At the instant the Great Mother was struck, in the Quiet Town plane, all the projection dolls crafted for her by the Aurgre Church, and all sacred icons containing her aura, exploded simultaneously.

These dolls and icons alone could not absorb the overflow damage from the punch; the remaining force traveled along the Great Mother's aura all the way to the Third Abyss.

Meanwhile, in the Third Abyss, within the Pure Kingdom, the Great Mother, who had been meditating with closed eyes, suddenly opened them, her face still bearing the fear felt by the projection before its demise.

She could not comprehend what fist technique that deep-sea monster had used.

It was merely a plain, unadorned punch, yet it made her soul tremble—let alone the Wasteland Realm, even in the Reason Realm she had never seen such a terrifying fist.

Fortunately, that punch struck only the projection, not her actual body.

She, a Mid-tier Deity, had felt fear from a sea monster of the Wasteland Realm—this filled her with shame and humiliation.

It was all that damned human's fault.

Thinking of that human, she unconsciously touched her nose.

Her followers had once whispered among themselves that if one felt an urge to bleed from the nose upon seeing the opposite sex, it meant one had fallen in love.

But between her and that damned human, it clearly was not that kind of relationship.

The Great Mother shook her head; to dispel the unpleasant memories from the Quiet Town, she needed to move her body, find something to distract herself from what had just happened.

She willed herself to teleport to the center of her kingdom, where her followers were constructing a statue.

The statue towered into the clouds, reaching a height of a thousand meters; every brick of it was forged from the power of faith of her followers.

Eighty percent of the statue was complete; when fully finished, it would become her Kingdom Pillar.

This Kingdom Pillar had once filled her with pride, but after seeing Elin's Kingdom Pillar, she realized Kingdom Pillars could differ greatly.

Compared to Elin's living, seemingly infinitely extending Kingdom Pillar, hers appeared rigid and absurd.

The Great Mother clenched her fist and cursed again: "Damn mortal."

If not for him, even if she couldn't seize Elin's Kingdom Pillar, she could have greatly accelerated the statue's progress.

The deeper the Abyss, the higher the life tier, the stronger the power—but due to Abyss corruption, the power of faith gained becomes less pure.

Conversely, the shallower the Abyss, the purer the souls of her followers, and the greater the faith they provide.

If she could capture the Briver Island and harvest the faith of the entire Quiet Town plane, she could at least raise the statue's progress by ten percent.

No, thinking of the Quiet Town plane's faith made her restless.

She must find a way to manifest another projection and return to seek a chance to turn the tide!

Yes, that's what she'd do!

Just as the Great Mother finalized her plan and was about to act, her eyelid twitched—she sensed danger approaching from the void.

The sense of danger was vague; she could not pinpoint its source, only that she had been locked onto.

She dared not be careless; instantly, she manifested her divine true form and donned her full-state Pure Armor.

She faintly heard a voice beside her ear.

"Bite down hard!"

The next instant, a colossal force struck her body, striking straight at her source with no trace.

The Pure Armor could not resist it; even her divine power could not block it. Under the force, her body was flung backward, carving an arc through the sky before crashing heavily against the nearly completed Kingdom Pillar.

"No! The Great Mother statue is collapsing!"

"Evacuate immediately!"

"Who dares flee? Go repair it now!"

……

Amid the clamor of the statue builders, the Great Mother shoved aside the faith-bricks on her body and crawled, disheveled, from the ruins.

Her face burned red, completely broken; she no longer cared for divine decorum, gritting her teeth:

"Damn mortal, and that sea monster—don't let me catch you!"

If Wu Chang saw the Great Mother now, he would surely recall a saying.

A girl's flushed face speaks louder than a thousand words.

Though Wu Chang could not see the Great Mother within the Pure Kingdom, he was watching in the Quiet Town plane—the legacy she left behind.

The doll possessed by the Great Mother had been shattered by True Self's punch, but some things remained.

Wu Chang stared at the light wheel the Great Mother had dropped, wiping away seawater and grime with a handkerchief.

The Great Mother dropped gold coins.

(End of Chapter)