Chapter 276

Xiamala stumbled at Negrilis's shout, nearly falling to the ground; after rising, Luna deactivated her armor state, floating off Xiamala's body with a shocked expression: "God of Knowledge, where did you hear such an absurd legend?"

"Huh? Not true?" Negrilis blinked, confused—legends naturally came from shared knowledge among believers; it had never seen the Goddess of Redemption.

"Of course not. Such an absurd ability—even the main gods don't have anything this outrageous. But she really can absorb others' attacks; the heavier the injury, the faster her power grows. Don't attack her lightly, or no one will be able to stop her."

"Oh, Ang, don't attack her—especially don't transform." Negrilis immediately turned to warn Ang.

Clearly, Negrilis realized this damage-absorption ability perfectly countered Ang's transformation—if he transformed and punched the Goddess of Redemption into oblivion.

Then, when his transformation ended, she'd recover fully and punch him back with the power she'd absorbed from Luo Ke…

So, if there wasn't a one-hit kill opportunity, transformation was absolutely forbidden.

After warning Ang, Negrilis hurriedly asked: "Then how do we fight her?!"

"Wear her out. She can only absorb lethal damage—non-lethal damage she can't absorb. Keep weakening her, then bind her." Luna finished speaking and leapt back onto Xiamala's back.

Her entire body turned to light, armorizing onto Xiamala as she charged toward the Goddess of Redemption to weaken her.

As she moved, a line of fireballs shot past her in a straight row, striking the Goddess of Redemption's shadowy form—each one exploded, steadily eroding the shadow.

The Goddess of Redemption, who had just been standing tall and elegant, recovering gracefully, immediately clutched her head and turned to flee.

Yes, literally turned and ran—her skirt flared up as she kicked it, sprinting across the water's surface toward the distant sea.

Ang chased after her, continuously summoning fireballs beside him, lining them up to fire.

The Goddess of Redemption ran while dodging, but Ang's gaze locked onto her—fireballs curved through the air in erratic trajectories.

From Ang's side, a famed goddess had suddenly appeared, wielding a divine technique that turned others' attacks into her own power—so powerful, so terrifying—now they were in trouble. How could they fight her? Everyone, think of a plan!

But no one bothered to imagine how the Goddess of Redemption felt from her own perspective.

The Goddess of Redemption's inner monologue went like this: "Light above! God of Undeath! God of Knowledge! Six-Winged Fallen Angel! That's Luna—oh gods, the Archangel knows all our weaknesses! How did she fall?!"

"On the God of Undeath, I sense another divine essence—a dual-bodied god? No, there's also a flame of faith—a trinity? That woman in the gauze dress radiates the aura of faith too—and a dimensional beast? Light above, have I stormed into a heretic's temple?!"

Though she appeared calm, inside she was terrified—she'd only sensed the flicker of ignited faith-fire and come to investigate, assuming it was a weak newborn deity. Who could have imagined she'd crashed straight into a god's nest?

The result of her panic? Two massive attacks from the little angel and the little zombie slammed into her.

She'd barely recovered when the God of Undeath charged forward—a rapid barrage of low-tier magic, fired at an insane frequency.

Her first thought wasn't "The enemy only uses low-tier magic." Her first reaction was: Trouble! The enemy knows my weakness! Run!

Any god who stumbled into a god's nest would react the same—unless they were like Solid-Bone Luo Ke, confident and powerful enough to fight them all alone.

Run? Ang immediately chased after her. She walked on air—he walked on air. She leapt upward—he leapt upward. She dove into the sea—he plunged after her.

Once underwater, the Goddess of Redemption realized she'd chosen the wrong place—Ang moved several times faster than her in water. A bubble surrounded him, and his speed wasn't even slower than in air.

He couldn't use explosive fireballs underwater, so he switched to water arrows.

Trapped and relentlessly pursued, the Goddess of Redemption gritted her teeth, turned to fight—*whoosh! Ang pulled back, keeping distance, continuing to pepper her—wait, this scene felt familiar?

"Tulus! Burn my fields!" Ang remembered—rage surged through him—and the firing speed of his magic increased again.

Since the last time he couldn't suppress the insects and they bit into the Insect God's heart, Ang had consciously increased his firepower—his level-two spells now reached ten per second. Now, spurred by the Goddess of Redemption, his speed surged again—to thirteen per second.

His level-two spells weren't ordinary level-two spells—they were compressed, even upgraded, capable of level-four or even level-six destructive power.

No matter what god she was, if she still operated under physical and energy laws, being struck by thirteen level-four-to-six spells per second meant she'd have to flee in panic.

Before turning to flee, the Goddess of Redemption hurled her Redemption Hammer.

The single-handed hammer was small, but it wasn't comparable to Ang's low-tier magic—it was a divine artifact. A casual flick unleashed divine power.

Where the Redemption Hammer passed, seawater vaporized, forming bubbles and carving a straight, vacuum trail as it shot forward.

This revealed the terrifying nature of divine power: in raw force, the hammer could easily obliterate a mountain peak; its speed was astonishing—like a supersonic shockwave, it exploded into a cone-shaped trace, the tip stabbing straight at Ang.

Ang barely managed to block the hammer with Luo Ke's Hand—but the immense force sent him flying backward like a water arrow, spiraling upward, launched all the way to the sea surface, then continuing into the sky.

Ang held the hammer's head with Luo Ke's Hand, while his Transcendent Hand reached forward to grip the shaft, twisting with all his strength.

The Redemption Hammer instantly flipped—hammerhead behind, handle forward—the forward momentum shattered, and it began spinning wildly.

Ang gripped the hammer tightly with both hands, spun several times, then slowly came to a stop.

Remembering Negrilis's warning, Ang had never used Ultimate Transformation—he was now resisting the Redemption Hammer with his own strength. Luckily, he had Transcendent Hand and Luo Ke's Hand; otherwise, his bones would've shattered long ago.

Despite the chaos, he never transformed—he neutralized the artifact's power with his own strength alone.

After stabilizing, Ang shoved the hammer into the Palace of Rest, then dove back into the sea.

But all he saw was a trail of bubbles—the Goddess of Redemption had vanished.

Ang followed the bubble trail to the large underwater cave within the reef, where the stone ball he'd used to block the entrance now lay to the side.

The cave no longer spewed air—it was full of water. Ang swam in, traveling over ten kilometers, then suddenly felt something wrong—he'd been swimming downward, but now he was ascending; gravity had reversed.

Ang had experience with this—riding dragons between the Palace of Rest and the Holy Heaven, he'd crossed a gravitational midline where gravity flipped direction.

Now that gravity had reversed, the tunnel's end must lead to a massive world—one large enough to alter gravity itself.

Ang didn't go deeper. He returned to the reef and used the stone ball to seal the cave again, then stepped out onto the reef.

As he walked, he continuously cast Soil Loosening spells into the reef, delaying the One-Piece Formation spell—*boom! The entire reef shattered and collapsed, burying the cave and the stone ball beneath tons of rubble.

How do I compensate Alice for destroying her home?

Throughout the journey, Ang kept worrying about this. Back on the sandbar, he found the Sea People gone.

"Where are the Sea People?" Ang asked.

"Over there," Lisa pointed. Then she asked anxiously: "What about the Goddess of Redemption?"

"She ran. I smashed her home and blocked the cave she came through."

When Ang found Alice, before he could speak, she was already kneeling, trembling with emotion: "Lord Ang, please allow us to become your vassal race! Permit us to settle here! We can grow seaweed for you—please, grant us your mercy!"

Arriving on the sandbar and seeing the shallow seabed covered in seaweed, Alice instantly fell in love with the place.

Compared to the cold, dark, desolate depths of the ocean, this shallow-water environment was paradise.

Here there were seaweed meadows, countless fish species in vast schools—food and drink guaranteed, plus sunlight and sandy beaches—it was simply perfect.

Before, this land belonged to the Air People—any Sea People or water monsters who approached were killed. Now, it belonged to Ang. If they became his vassal race and gained his protection, could they settle here?

As for the Sea People's sacred duty to guard the goddess statue? Ever since Alice saw the seaweed entwined around the statue, that tiny spark of duty vanished completely.

Only sixty-odd survivors left—what duty could they still speak of? Even the gods couldn't protect themselves…

Still, Alice feared Ang wouldn't accept them. Sixty-odd Sea People—beyond growing seaweed, they had no value. Would a powerful race like the Air People tolerate such a burden?

"Fine," Ang nodded. He'd been struggling over how to compensate Alice—since they wanted to settle here, giving them a home was the answer.

Huh? Is my master really this easygoing?

With Ang's permission, Alice led her people to settle. Others rushed over—Xiamala hesitated: "My lord, I feel… we should follow her."

If anyone else said "I feel," everyone would scoff—but when Xiamala said "I feel," everyone had to take it seriously.

Negrilis asked: "What do you feel?"

Xiamala frowned: "I can't explain it. When it concerns Lord Ang, I can't sense anything at all—it's beyond my ability. Only once, when Luna's spirit possessed me, did I briefly exceed my limits. Otherwise, I've felt nothing. But the Goddess of Redemption—that newborn deity who stole my faith-energy—she shouldn't be 'newborn.'"

Negrilis's soul trembled: "You mean… the other end of the tunnel might hide the secret of her 'rebirth'? If she can be reborn… what about other gods? The three main gods—God of Light, God of Creation, Supreme God?"

Xiamala's face twisted in distress: "How could I sense any of that? I can't even sense Lord Ang…"

Too powerful beings were beyond her perception—but she could sense herself. She'd felt something good would happen here… but now, it seemed the "good thing" hadn't come.

"Maybe… we should go take a look?" Negrilis hesitated.

Reluctantly, Ang stuffed everyone into his space and set off alone. Though he wanted to keep planting, Negrilis's persuasion forced him to retrace his steps.

"Should've never stepped on it," Ang muttered, for the first time sounding troubled, staring at the collapsed reef.

How easy it was to crush it—how hard it was to dig it out. Underwater, no one else was as agile as him—they could do nothing. He had to do it himself.

One rock, two rocks, three rocks… He kept digging and tossing aside debris. It took half a day before he cleared a path to the cave—then he stared at the stone ball, troubled.

Everyone knows it's easy to shove a ball into a hole—hard to pull it out. And he'd shoved this one in especially tight.

In the end, he destroyed the cave to retrieve the ball—this time, by breaking the cave to get it out, next time he plugs it, it won't be nearly as tight.

Following the tunnel, Ang swam over thirty kilometers, finally emerging from a well.

It was a large well, seven or eight meters in diameter, the water surface over ten meters below the rim. Stone stairs spiraled down the walls, and at the water's edge, a bull-headed woman was filling buckets.

Each time she filled a bucket, she tugged the rope hard, signaling those above to haul it up. As she worked, she shouted loudly: "Hurry up, hurry up! Move faster! Night's coming, wind's coming—if we don't store enough water, no one will have a drop to drink tonight—just drink your own urine!"

"Huh? Why is there a bull-headed woman here? No water at night? Does that mean the wind blows the well water to the other side? Is this the only well?" Negrilis, projecting onto Ang, speculated.

Ang burst out of the water with a splash.

The bull-headed woman screamed, yanked up her skirt, and scrambled up the spiral stairs, shouting: "Water monster! Water monster! Help! Run! Run!"

All the buckets at the well's edge tumbled down. The heads gathered around the rim vanished instantly—only the bull-headed woman's fading cries echoed in the empty well shaft.

Ang rose through the air. Before the bull-headed woman reached the top, Ang had already flown out.

Emerging from the well, Ang saw a magnificent gate—and a structure he recognized instantly.