Chapter 424 - 17: Flood and Godslayer

The giant shadow in the sky was colossally vast, like an island floating in the heavens.

"—WHOOO, WHOOO—!!!"

The Giant Whale, as massive as a mountain range, sang a song that resounded through the heavens. His Breath stirred a great turbulence in the overcast sky. Countless clouds, like waves, were pushed aside by the Torrent of Spiritual Qi erupting from His back, only to condense again in the heights of the dark firmament.

The soft water vapor transformed into hard hail and freezing rain, which then howled down toward the earth.

The main body of this enormous island whale was over seven hundred meters long. Including its tail, its total length was nearly a thousand meters. Its entire body was encased in a thick, crisscrossing shell that emanated a blue-gray fluorescent glow. Three enormous cyan Crystal Stones were embedded in its skull, shining like a crown.

This crown of Crystal Stones radiated a majestic Spiritual Power, potent enough to influence the weather of an entire region. The Spiritual Power gushing from the Giant Whale mingled with the endless, icy rain clouds, spreading from the highest point in the sky and dyeing half the firmament the cerulean blue of the ocean.

"Commander Tier..."

On the ground below, Su Zhou gripped his Divine Blade tightly. He stood amid the downpour of hail and rain, his head tilted back. His gaze pierced through the heavy curtain of the storm as he silently stared up at the colossal beast in the sky—the Giant Beast known as the Water God.

This was the Near-God Power of this world—the power of the Commander Tier.

Just by appearing, it had effortlessly changed the local weather, filling half the sky with lightning and thunder as it poured down freezing rain and frost.

"Gods, that power..."

"What in the world is that Magical Beast?!"

Everyone in Naisel City—whether they were from the City Guard Army, civilians and refugees who hadn’t made it to the shelters, or adventurers who considered themselves worldly from their time in the Maze—was stunned by the Water God’s power. In this Otherworld, where no Near God or Divine Spirit had appeared for a thousand years, no one had ever witnessed such might.

Except for Su Zhou.

Su Zhou was not stunned. In fact, with his Spiritual Vision, he could even tell that something was wrong with the giant island whale in the sky.

’A typical Commander Tier being could never be this large. And while this Water God seems incredibly powerful, it gives me a sense of weakness...’

Gathering his Spiritual Power, Su Zhou formed a translucent shield of purplish-blue Spiritual Light that blocked the falling hail and rain. He frowned, his eyes scanning every detail of the Water God. ’It’s obvious. Its power doesn’t match this enormous body, nor this terrifying weather phenomenon!’

But this was not surprising.

Su Zhou knew very well that the Water God of old must have been far larger and more powerful than He was now. In His prime, He was likely at the Overlord Realm, the same tier as the Celestial Pool Dragon King—an existence capable of suppressing an entire world single-handedly, worthy of being called one of the Immortal Gods. He was once the one and only True God of this Tartadis World!

But the Water God of today was merely a weakened Divine Spirit, revived at the end of the world, during the changing of an Era. After sleeping for an entire Era, and with much of His Divine Power still buried in the Underground Divine Hall, yet to be reclaimed, He now possessed only the strength of a mere Commander Tier—a power that couldn’t even match His own massive body.

Su Zhou could even guess that if the Water God failed to seize the dominant role in the coming Era, He would have no choice but to return to the Maze and continue His slumber. Worse, if He suffered a grievous blow in this struggle, He might not even get the chance to slumber again and would instead dissipate completely.

"But even so, it’s still incredibly powerful..."

Su Zhou muttered to himself, comparing the Giant Beast’s power to his own. "My Spiritual Power is already several times that of a typical Extraordinary High-tier. The Spiritual Power of Garuda’s True Body is about the same as mine in human form—but the Water God’s total Spiritual Power is ten, twenty, maybe even more times greater than mine!"

"Is the gap between the Commander Tier and the Extraordinary Tier really this huge?"

The Giant Whale in the sky did not waste any extra energy to notice the tiny human figure on the ground observing it.

The final message the God, summoned by His follower, had received was not a plea for revenge. The last prayer of the Unicorn People was for the Divine Being to rectify the breach in the Array that the follower himself had caused. They begged Him to personally intervene, control the lake’s waters to flood the Maze, find the ancient Water God Main Temple deep underground, and reclaim His power.

—WHOOO—!

He could not refuse His child’s wish.

And so, the God let out a great cry, causing the endless rain clouds to swirl around His body. As they formed a massive ring of water, they also whipped up a sudden Gale in the highest reaches of the sky.

In that instant, the dark, gloomy clouds churned like a stormy sea, while the God’s cerulean Spiritual Power formed a halo that shone in the sky.

The Water God’s voice shook the heavens and the earth, causing the storm above to become a torrential downpour and the lake on the ground to churn with giant waves dozens of meters high, as if it were an ocean in a hurricane.

Without the slightest hesitation, once the colossal waves had churned to a sufficient height, the Giant Whale manipulated the massive tides of lake water as if they were a part of its own body, directing them toward the rhombus-shaped crack of the Maze.

He could not wait to explore the Maze, find His Great Divine Hall, and reclaim His power. Then, He would once again lead His people to reign over the next Era!

Although all of this seemed to have nothing to do with the nearby Naisel City, the Water God did not waste power attacking it, and the light shield formed by the Elemental Array thus remained completely unharmed.