What Do You Mean I Have To Comprehend Dao As A Mortal God?

I dove towards the Anomaly, gathering lightning in my fists before trying to smash it into the ground.

The rock around it formed into a shield right before my impact, causing me to smash into the shield instead.

But despite that, I managed to break through it, splitting the shield into two as I continued my descent towards where the Anomaly should have been.

Unfortunately, it seems like the Anomaly had used the shield as a means to slow me down just so that it could move out of the way which made me end up crashing into the ground instead.

I quickly launched myself back into the air just in time to avoid the Anomaly swinging a pillar of rock over where I had been just a moment ago before landing on my feet.

I charged up my fists and punched out my right fist first, shooting a bolt of lightning directly towards the Anomaly.

Predictably, a shield of rock appeared in front of it, blocking my lightning at the expense of being shattered into pieces.

It might have thought it was safe but I had punched my second fist right after that, shooting another bolt of lightning that pierced through the space the broken shield had vacated and struck the Anomaly in the chest.

The chest armour it was wearing was fully shattered from the blow and I was expecting to see flesh underneath the stone but instead, what I got was a white-ish crystalline structure underneath.

I quickly buried my surprise because I realised the Anomaly was still reeling from the blow and I wasn’t going to let my opening go to waste.

I kicked off the ground and shot towards it with my fist pulled back, charging up another lightning before I punched at its head with my full strength.

My fist made contact with the creature’s head and there was a moment where I felt it push back against my knuckle before lightning exploded out from my fist, blasting the head apart into pieces.

As I prepared to leap away from the Anomaly, I suddenly felt something smash into my chest and I was flung back to crash into the wall.

I looked down to see a gaping hole in my shirt where I was struck but there was only a red mark on my chest without any other signs of injury.

When I looked back at the Commander Class Anomaly, I realised that it had shot out a crystal spike from its chest which would have skewered me through the heart if it wasn’t for Dan’s ability.

I’m really going to need to take him out for some drinks after this...

Even without a head, the Anomaly was still alive which made me believe that it never needed the head to begin with... Or that the head shaped thing above its torso wasn’t actually a head.

Slowly, the rock armour around it started to crack before it fell off, revealing that it was actually a floating triangular crystalline entity with floating crustal limbs that looked like it came straight out of some liminal space genre.

That was when I realised something...

That’s not just any crystal... That’s diamond isn’t it?

Great... So does this mean I need to be able to break diamond to kill this thing?

It raised up its floating hand and pointed it at me, shooting several rock bullets in my direction.

I leapt to the side, running along the walls while changing the direction of my gravity to avoid the hail of bullets that were shot at me.

At this point, I figured out that this Anomaly probably had some kind of ability that allowed it to control rocks or maybe the earth.

And the fact that we’re underground and in a tunnel was the perfect place for it to use its abilities.

The only good thing was that it didn’t seem too smart since its usage of the ability was quite limited and it wasn’t that great of a strategist to command the Anomalies effectively either.

My guess is that this Anomaly probably only formed not too long ago or else it would definitely be a more formidable enemy than it currently is.

I’ve heard stories of how Commander Class Anomalies could plan ambushes and traps and even run circles around raid groups in other rifts.

I also realised one other thing...

The different variations of Anomalies here were all made by this Anomaly after we had defeated another variant.

It had pulled back the orc type Anomaly when it realised that it could not beat us so it made them retreat to form into a bigger ’elite’ orc type.

And when that was also beaten, it tried to create one with crystal armour instead.

When that didn’t work either, it fused multiple different orc type Anomalies to create one giant type Anomaly.

And since that also didn’t work because it was too slow, it either tried to make or just deployed the quadrupedal Anomalies that were faster in speed.

It seems like the more we fought against the other Anomalies, the more this one learned and adapted. Had we continued to keep fighting the other Anomalies, it might eventually create an Anomaly that is able to deal with us.

Which means we really have to beat this here and now lest it starts to create even more dangerous Anomalies.

I kicked off the wall and shot myself towards it, aiming to give it another lightning punch just to test out the hardness of its body.

It tried to raise its hand again but I activated Sergei’s ability and materialised a shadow tendril that wrapped around its wrist to stop it.

The shadow quickly dematerialised itself but that split second was enough for me to close the distance and smash my fist into its crystalline body.

There was an earth shattering boom as my fist made contact and I watched it fly off into the mass of Anomalies below, throwing them all over the place.

At that same moment, another hail of bullets and spells came raining down from above and struck the area where the diamond Anomaly had fallen, blasting up a dust cloud that hid it from view.

I took that opportunity to check the rest of the battle and found the Vanguards holding their ground against the advancing Anomalies rather well.

Olivia seemed to have taken over command for now as she rotated the exhausted vanguards as needed and provided support for them when they faltered.

The rest of my Guardians were also fulfilling their role as I watched them strike down the Anomalies that were climbing up the slope effectively.

With that assurance that they could handle themselves, I turned to focus my attention back towards the dust cloud, right on time as the diamond Anomaly shot out from it while boulders were circling around it, the creature flying straight towards me.

Tsk... Seems like my fists aren’t strong enough to break diamond yet...

I wonder if Olivia is able to do it though?

It threw the boulders towards me and I decided to unveil my secret weapon that I brought this time...

My hand went to my waist and I pulled out... My own sword!

That’s right! I came armed this time!!

I used Jia Lian’s ability and covered the blade of my sword with the blueish layer of arcane energy before I slashed it out in front of me.

My sword easily cut through the rocks and I used them as improvised projectiles by kicking them away to bombard the mass of Anomalies that were still trying to march up the slope.

The diamond Anomaly then tried to stab me again with its crystal arm and I slashed my sword at it, hoping that this would allow me to cut it off.

Unfortunately, it seems like diamond was too hard for it as sparks flew and I parried the blow away.

I didn’t let that phase me as quickly switched my grip and attempted a stab at its chest, hoping that if I attacked with enough force, this could actually help me break through it.

My sword struck it in the chest and the Anomaly was sent crashing down onto the floor.

I narrowed my eyes as I found that my sword had managed to sink into the chest of the Anomaly though it was only by less than an inch before it got stuck.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t try to put more weight to push my blade in as it swung its arm and smacked me across the side, sending me flying away to smash into the wall again.

I pulled myself out from the wall and the Anomaly shaped its arms to transform them into swords as well before facing me.

Tsk... So even now, it’s trying to adapt to the battle...

I swung my sword in an arc in front of me before settling into a stance.

Come on then... I’ll kill you with this...