Myths Reawakened

Wayne suddenly remembered his replica, Bat Demon. Born through Pride’s altar with part of the Seven Deadly Sins, it was a newborn demon with some potential. It had been a year and a half since its birth. It wasn’t even two years old. Were it a human infant, it would still be nursing.

The Bat Demon had been taken away by the Gate of Hell right after its birth. Because it was a reincarnated replica with no internal thoughts, it didn’t even have the most basic sentience, much less an intelligence. It was also not particularly strong...

Aside from its handsome face, it was practically useless. It would be a sheep waiting to be served on the dinner table in Hell, where every inhabitant was a demon.

Wayne suspected that the replica had already died, unless a motherly demon had decided to raise it like a child.

“Forget it. It’s not important. I never expect it to be of any use anyway.”

He looked down at the giant python below and sensed the undeniable energy of a demon. He couldn’t have misjudged.

Hiss—

Solsknar, now a thousand-meter-long black python, opened his maw wide, revealing his sharp, gleaming fangs. Red beams shot out of his crimson eyes toward the sky like searchlights. An obelisk protruded from his mouth, covered in four-colored energy.

This obelisk was completely different from the ones in the Divine Domain. It was bigger and contained more Laws. Under its guidance, the numerous obelisks across the Divine Domain weathered faster, and the endless supply of Laws spread in the world.

Meanwhile, Sett’s thoughts disintegrated along with the collapsing obelisks. Amid rumbling thunder, it sounded like he was roaring in accusation.

Wayne could tell what Sett was raging about even if he had a brain like Seleucia’s. The old god, stuck in his time, still believed that trust existed in the world. Betrayed, he flew into a rage.

Solsknar had revived Sett not to gain a powerful ally, but to fatten him up before slaughtering him. As the proverb goes, You are what you eat. To become extraordinary, he had to eat others!

“Boss, he can devour Laws?!”

Seleucia paled. The new enemy that her faith arranged for her was too powerful. She might not be able to win.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back...”

Her innocence made Wayne too ashamed to live with himself. In a flash, he brought himself to a hundred meters above the black python’s head.

Solsknar held the obelisk in his snake mouth, stretched to an unnatural width. With his thoughts, he stirred the thunderstorm to speak in the language of gale and rumbling currents.

His exclamation shook heaven and earth, echoing endlessly, “This is my ability. I devour everything in the world. Only I could become the goddess’s subordinate god. You’ll never surpass me!”

I’ll admit defeat if you can even catch up with me. I won’t even require you to surpass me. Wayne huffed. “I’m not blind. I can tell that you can devour everything, including Laws. However, can you digest them?”

“That’s not for you to worry about!” Solsknar groused.

“Quite the contrary, it’s for me to worry about.” Wayne looked at the obelisk held in the black python’s mouth. Solsknar’s ability to devour was impressive, almost as good as the Book of Greed.

However, the Book of Greed could digest what it devoured and lit up the corresponding small eyes according to the different Laws. Solsknar, on the other hand, clearly didn’t have the same ability. He couldn’t devour the Laws of Thunder and Storm that he had eaten, which ended up taking the shape of an obelisk in his stomach. Through it, he wielded the power of the two Laws.

He was like a Buddhist master, even growing a bezoar... a Śarīra in his stomach[1].

The way Solsknar devoured Laws was clearly different from the Book of Greed’s. The book was essentially a cheat code, while Solsknar condensed Laws into divine artifacts before using the artifacts to wield the power of the Laws.

Perhaps he would be able to convert the Laws for his own use through his effort, but it definitely wouldn’t be as efficient as the Book of Greed. The cheat could just swallow and assimilate everything.

The Book of Greed perked up. It was getting impatient watching Solsknar wolf down food while it wasn’t even at the table.

Patience. He’s just a waiter. It won’t be too late to eat once he’s served all the food.

Wayne crossed his arms, patiently watching Solsknar make the obelisk bigger and stronger like he was watching a carrier packaging the wares for him. His impression of demons improved even further. He had gotten to where he was today, able to even get on top of a Śār, largely thanks to his demon investors.

Wayne’s composure infuriated Solsknar. He was demonstrating his strongest power, but Wayne not only showed no fright, but even seemed a little dismissive. It was annoying that his posturing failed. It felt like punching a ball of yarn.

“Put away the bravado. If you’re losing, you’re losing. The facts won’t change just because you refuse to admit it,” the lightning roared, as if the entire world was conversing with Wayne.

“If you say so, I should demonstrate my power, too.” Wayne raised his arms, lifting his restriction on the Book of Greed.

In an instant, a frighteningly powerful suction originated from his body. Countless twisted tentacles of thoughts shot out like a detonated cask of gunpowder. Wherever they passed, they plundered anything and everything. All the information of Laws that had been rushing toward Solsknar turned and rushed toward Wayne instead. Moreover, the four elements at the far outer rim of the Divine Domain also rushed toward Wayne in red packaging.

It was like a large-scale fan meeting, and the fans were worried that if they were a little too late, their idol would run away.

“That—”

The storm halted all of a sudden, and the thunder crackled only once before dying down. The red light shooting out of the black python’s eyes dimmed. A powerful fear suddenly seized Solsknar. Wayne’s plundering was faster and stronger. While he was also devouring everything, he had not only devoured the dishes on his table, but even overreached to take from Solsknar’s table.

The obelisk in the black python’s mouth turned into sand. Laws escaped him in large volumes. Solsknar wanted to stop it, but couldn’t.

In Wayne’s words, the Devourer wasn’t the owner of the Laws, but only their carrier, destined to end up transporting the wares for others.

“The Devourer, isn’t it? Nice name. It’s mine from now on.”

Wayne’s eyes glinted as the tentacles of his thoughts extended and swung wildly. Any information or elemental particles he touched ended up pulled into his body. Those he hadn’t caught rushed toward him voluntarily, too. The eagerness shown by both sides made it seem like Wayne was a black hole with infinite gravity.

Seleucia watched silently. It was a spectacular demonstration, but it wasn’t something Seleucia could replicate. Would Wayne please go for an easier method?

Solsknar quickly recovered from his shock. Powerful fear begot powerful killing intent. He swore to erase Wayne’s thoughts completely.

His power was his pride. Seeing Wayne surpassing him scared him. He wanted to ask the Goddess of Darkness who exactly She had prepared the name of the Devourer for.

Gulp!

The black python swallowed the remaining half of the obelisk, worried that more Laws would escape him. His thousand-meter-long body scattered into black mist before recombining into a ten-meter-tall giant of Darkness.

Topless, the giant stood tall and burly, his body strong and metallic, shimmering with a weak, dark glow and radiating black and red currents. His forehead was broad with pronounced brows. On his dignified, frosty face, his eyes gleamed with a dark red light, like two blazing balls of flame.

Looking at the giant, Wayne sensed an indescribable, primitive power in the strong body. It was clearly the evolution path of Sett, the God of Storm and Thunder.

The Devourer could indeed digest the Laws for his own use. It worked flawlessly, only it required a long time. It was basically a bastardized version of the Book of Greed.

Solsknar reconstituted a body with killing intent so thick that it looked almost physical. With the determination to kill Wayne, he summoned black lightning with a wave and charged without hesitation.

His one step conjured devastating black lightning, sending countless currents spreading like a power grid. Dark clouds gathered fast in the sky, forming an impenetrable black veil in an instant. Volatile black and red currents converged from all directions, drawing winding light and shadow on the black veil and illuminating Solsknar.

Wreathed in dark red currents, he manipulated storms and wielded lightning in a violent dance, swinging horizontally at Wayne.

Compressed energy burst out all of a sudden, the black and red light illuminating the entire world. Plasma roared and spread endlessly at incredible speed, stretching from Solsknar’s hand to thousands of kilometers away. The range of his attack was beyond reason.

Following a flash of light, the world groaned, and the tall mountains collapsed. Obelisk after obelisk toppled like cut barley. Powerful wind crushed the land and conjured rolling waves of dust.

The gust flung Wayne into the distance. Comparing his size to his opponent’s, he forewent any of the divine artifacts and instead summoned Seleucia’s lightning spear from her with a wave at the sky.

“Look carefully, Seleucia. This is how you use Extraordinary Extolment!”

Wayne increased in size, the white foam in his body growing nonstop. Twisted tentacles wove into muscles and formed a ten-meter-tall body. Wearing an elemental armor conjured with Storm and Thunder, he raised his hand and made a pushing motion.

His vitality field spread. Forged by his thoughts, the sharp tip of the vitality field shot forward like an arrow. With a thunderous rumble, it knocked Solsknar off his feet.

Unlike the other legendary mage’s false vitality field, Wayne had acquired so much information on Laws that he could fill his vitality field until it became physical. He was one step away from manifesting his Divine Domain.

Boom!!

Solsknar toppled a tall mountain when he landed. Raising his arms and getting to his feet, he swung his spear with swirling black and red currents, using his map-clearing attack once more.

His use of Laws was rudimentary, relying on brute power.

After a deafening rumble, the land was rendered a wasteland, and the dark clouds in the sky fell apart. The diagonal downpour of storm and thunder made it look like the sky was falling.

Two figures wreathed in Storm and Thunder collided. At the intersection of their spears, hurricanes of energy raged, rumbling and howling in the air. The shockwaves ravaged the land and created tsunamis of dust.

Lightning broke apart the dark clouds in the sky before hurricanes scattered them. Seleucia cocked her head as she spectated the fight between the two giants and the way Wayne fought with brute force, thoroughly confused.

Regretfully, she couldn’t see any mastery in the way her faith used Extraordinary Extolment. She had been wielding the weapon in the same way—no, she was actually more skillful with it.

The moment the thought occurred to her, she dismissed it. Her faith was teaching her personally, going so far as to lower his rank. How could she have the thought that he was mediocre at best? She should be more self-aware.

She had only failed to see his mastery because it was too sophisticated. If she was lucky, perhaps she would understand by looking closer.

After a moment, she became lightheaded. “I’m getting more and more lost. It’s too difficult. I’m not as talented as I thought, so I must work harder going forward.”

Boom!!

Waves of dust rose, and a figure flew backward, crashing through the walls of wind. The black and red currents he radiated turned the land into black sludge.

It was Solsknar. As more of his thoughts descended, the effect his vitality domain had on his environment became even more pronounced. He swore to kill Wayne. For that, he had pulled a majority of his thoughts to the mortal realm, almost with no regard for consequences.

The most direct evidence was how Kane’s body had become completely corrupted, unable to take his human form again.

At the same time, his ‘weak’ thoughts had scattered under the crushing energy, bursting like bubbles.

1. Śarīra is a crystal-like object found in the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual master, believed to represent their good karma in life. ☜