Chapter 608

The number of soldiers on the battle ground seemed far higher than what Davey had seen earlier. It was an unbelievably large army, dozens of times greater than his estimations, with thousands of higher-ranking martial artists. It was unbelievable that such a force had been put together for the purpose of capturing a single person.

And while it was a small number compared to the real military power of both nations, it was still remarkably and unusually huge for targeting just one individual. But the allied force that was capable of toppling a whole nation was reduced to complete chaos because of a sudden and unexpected attack.

-Rawr!!!

The Azure Dragon, Rumble, roared ferociously, soaring into the sky.

Mysterious black mist had appeared out of nowhere, encircling and enveloping the army until it began to swallow the entire area. The blinding black mist itself posed no danger; the touch of death that sprang from within it, however, was lethal.

Boom!!

"Arghhhhhhh!!"

"Hel... Help me!! Ahhhhhhh!!"

Bipedal raptor-like monsters, giant spiders, flesh with protruding tentacles, worms as thick as arms with grimly sharp teeth arranged in dense circular patterns—the sudden invasion of these inexplicable creatures transformed the scene into hell itself.

The Divine Beasts were not idly standing by, either. Rumble struck down with lightning across the whole area shrouded in black mist, while Fire Chicken shot powerful flames, shielding humans from the countless monsters that crawled up from the Abyss. Whitey ferociously leaped, altering the terrain to simplify attack routes. Then there was Rainmaker...

"Ha...."

Rainmaker released a thunderous roar, a formidable sound that had a mysterious allure to attract the monsters' aggression.

But the black mist did not diminish despite the overwhelming power of the Divine Beasts.

Caught off guard by the ambush, the human force fought back without proper tactics, which ended with blood getting spattered on all sides. They were holding out at the moment, but as the battle dragged on, the casualties on their side grew exponentially, and it wasn't certain anymore how much longer they could hold their ground.

To make matters worse, enormous tentacles sprung from within the black mist and charged toward the four Divine Beasts, attempting to stop them without any concern for their own possible destruction.

Their tactic was clear: ignore the low-level humans and prioritize subduing the stronger foes and the Divine Beasts. It was a strategy that only a clever adversary could devise.

"Arghhhhhh!!"

"These bugs latched on to me!! Get them off!!"

The characteristics of these creatures caused terrifying outcomes; they were resistant not only to simple metal weaponry but also to qi.

But the biggest issue was visibility. It was impossible to see through the black mist enveloping the entire place. It left everyone unable to distinguish friends from foes, causing a chaotic melee. Countless were killed by their own allies, and many soldiers died horrific deaths trying to identify the enemy that attacked with no impediment to their vision.Meanwhile, on humans' side, it was impossible to distinguish the monsters and combat them.

Only two generals who were under the influence of Davey's Dark Eyes magic could see clearly within the mist. Such convenient abilities could not be expected from ordinary soldiers lacking expertise in qi.

"What... What should we do?!" Gu Hwan desperately yelled.

Davey contemplated for a second, then said, "Now that it's become a melee, widespread attacks are impossible..."

'It meant we'd have to go in and tear those monsters apart one by one...'

Even that seemed unfeasible. It was as if the enemies were blatantly buying time to hold Davey back. Indeed, not too far away from the pandemonium, a nauseating and revolting power that was typical of the Abyss, was growing. But it remained imperceptible to most soldiers.

It had crossed his mind that they might be summoning something, But even if his suspicion was correct, he was still not sure what exactly was being summoned. The massive blob-looking monsters of the Abyss he had seen during the war with the vampires were definitely dangerous.

'Davey, could you resolve this with that super wide-area buff magic you used at the maritime country?' Perserque telepathically communicated with Davey.

'That level of buff won't work. Those who can handle qi might be able to handle it, but ordinary soldiers would still get killed even if they received that buff. Also, it only lasts for a short time.'

Perserque's face paled at Davey's answer.

'There's another way,' he continued.

'Which is?'

Davey silently extended his hand toward one of the Abyssal monsters floating in the air and cast a healing spell.

Zap!!

Just as he had expected, the spell simply bounced off the monster's skin.

"Of course."

The enemies from the Abyss resisted the buffs. If they had the same physique as the tentacled mass Davey had seen, there was precisely one possible method.

Davey turned to the two panicking generals and instructed firmly, "General Gu Hwan, command the troops and quickly head to the imperial court of Hwan."

The generals' eyes widened with shock. "What do you mean?!"

Their gazes were fixated on Davey.

"Can't you see?! How could we face the foes that even the Divine Beasts struggle against!"

"I will issue the retreat order! There's no time to visit His Majesty now!!"

"There will be no change to the plan," Davey responded.

'Retreating in an orderly manner when they can't see anything in this mist? As if.'

"You idiot! Are you telling all my men to die?!"

"Some probably will, but I will save as many as I can. So don't worry about it."

Amid their shouting, Davey pulled out Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon from the Pocket Plane, unsheathed them, then made them levitate in the air.

"Telekinetic Blade!"

"What... it's the Mind Sword!"

"Impossible!"

The generals were surprised to see the two swords floating in front of Davey, despite the amazing feats that they had witnessed.

'What's necessary to lead to an overwhelming victory in a massive war? Powerful wide-area spells? Extraordinary physical abilities?'

The best option was naturally a spell that enhanced each person's chance of survival. Ordinary magic would be insufficient to bring the allies to a level where they could fight those monsters evenly. So Davey had to account for the strength enhancement, range, and duration of the buff.

Even the superlative buff magic Davey had used in the maritime country to deal with Nyx, the Transcendent 10th Level Holy Spell Proclamation of Holy War, struggled to meet all those criteria. Therefore, a proper wide-area buff was needed.

But there was one big problem with wide-area buffs. They made no distinctions between friend or foe, making them useless in this scenario.

'But just as the Abyss assessed me, I also assessed them.'

Beings of the Abyss resisted and disregarded the rules of this world. Even the statement "living beings die when they are stabbed with a sword" did not quite apply to them. In order to be killed, they had to be stabbed with enough force to ignore their resistance.

An exception was the Taboo's Karma, which ignored all resistance. It was lethal even to the Princess of the Abyss with her basic high resistance.

To leave an effect on enemies with a defense rating of 10, one needed to hit them with an attack with an effect of more than 10.

Certainly, an Abyssal entity's physique was advantageous. But it also had a significant weak point: they resisted both harmful and beneficial effects indiscriminately.

The spell Davey intended to use possessed tremendous effect, strong enough to overcome their resistance and bestow buffs upon them. But what if a massive spell with an effect exceeding 1000 was spread thinly into a thousand instances? Instead of dealing all 1000 at once, what if Davey divided 1000 into individual units of 1 and applied it a thousand times? Naturally, the influence of 1 would be nothing against a being with a defense of 10. In other words, the buff would not apply to the creatures.

To achieve something great, one had to give up some convenience. Instead of casting a highest-tier buff in one go and applying it indiscriminately to friend and foe alike, Davey had to meticulously divide the effect in such a way that it would only be applied to allies.

'That's impossible. Davey, I know you're amazing, but playing fast and loose with high-level magic like that may have some sort of negative consequence on you... Unless...'

'Why would I do that? I have someone to take the pain for me.'

Davey planned to borrow Goddess Freyja's power through the massive stigma on his back. Although the holy power was just an imitation of Goddess Freyja's power, his holy power from the stigma had a very minute yet relevant difference from the typical holy power.

Davey began the preparatory work.

Beside Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon, which were floating in the air, Davey drew the Divine Bow Brunaak and pulled the empty bowstring.

'First, let there be light.'

Whoom!!!

Golden arrows burst forth, weaving a giant web of light.

[Godly Bowmanship]

[Holy Magic Combination]

[Luminous Arrow of the Divine Light]

Thud!!!

As if he had fired a massive cannon, Davey was pushed back by the recoil, and the arrow shot toward the sky, right at the center of the battlefield. The Abyssal beings in its path were torn apart effortlessly.

Boom!!

A peculiar and unordinary light spread, reaching into various parts of the black mist. Then the light particles began to flood the mist with radiance, but the darkness of the mist simply absorbed them. However, while the effect of the light was not very significant, it still made quite a difference.The leftover radiance brought considerable visibility, providing a strategic advantage.

"If you really look at those things, you'll see they are actually insignificant," Davey muttered as if he was trying to hypnotize himself.

They were not the Princess of the Abyss but just common Abyssal beings. Even the stronger ones were nowhere to be seen.

It was evident that these creatures were merely pawns meant to hold Davey back.

He knelt on one knee and began to slowly infuse the Divine Spear Longinus with holy power.

[May the most exalted being, who gazes upon all, observe us.]

A cold yet burning sensation began to spread across Davey's back—a tell-tale sign that the stigma was reacting.

[Let your shepherd light the lantern and guide all your lambs that are in pain.]

He took a short but even breath before he finally opened his eyes slowly.

[Lead your insignificant lambs, bestow your mercy...]

"The prayer is too long," Davey softly complained.

[Let's skip to the chase, bless us with your grace. I'm getting dizzy here.]

They were blasphemous words that would have caused the clergy who served the gods to froth at the mouth. But it did not matter. Davey was not the beloved of the Goddess Freyja; rather, he was only of interest to her as a business partner. This time too, if the Abyss had not caused such turmoil, the Goddess Freyja would not have bothered to help him since they were not on very good terms.

Woong!!

The stigma reacted intensely as holy power burst explosively throughout his body. Refusing to stop there, Blue Ribbon too erupted with the holy power that Davey had accumulated.

As expected, the holy power Davey held was largely depleted. That was why Davey boldly tapped into the Blue Ribbon's savings of holy power. But it was still not enough. It still felt somewhat lacking. Even then, Davey still pushed forward.

It was because he had a unique power that others did not, a power fundamentally different from any other power. It was Davey's title.

[I equip the title of Saint.]

Beep.

For a moment, the status window flashed before Davey's eyes. Although he could not peek into others' minds because he had bound the remnants of Abyssal power within him with Goddess Freyja's power, checking his status window was not a problem.

[Saint]

1st unlocked ability - Amplifies the growth speed of holy power and increases the efficiency of holy power consumption.

2nd unlocked ability - Manifestation of a divinity

Unlocking the first ability by equipping the title was more than enough by itself to boost the efficiency of his holy power. The precarious amount stabilized in an instant, and he didn't need a divine manifestation to achieve it.

"It's either you die, or I run out of steam."

Buzzzzz!!

A colossal radiant magic circle spanning tens or maybe even hundreds of meters formed around Davey and began to rotate.

"Hmph..."

Davey took a short breath and steadied his breathing. Then, using voice amplification magic together with the Roaring Lion Technique of the Shaolin Temple, his voice resonated throughout the entire battleground that was still shrouded by the mist.

"Listen!!!"

Every being within the melee turned their gaze toward Davey. Some had a surprise look, seemingly recognizing him, while others bore complex expressions.

"Hellish hordes that cause unrest in the Lower Realm now covet and encroach upon this land!"

Hundreds of spell circles of varying sizes began to manifest three-dimensionally all around Davey.

"I am behind you all. I have come for you."

Davey let out a massive cluster of holy power, amplifying it by hundreds of times and letting it cover the whole region.

"Your strength, I will bolster; your flesh, I will turn to steel. Do not cower! Annihilate them!"

[10th Level Transcendent Holy Magic]

[Divine Radiance]

It was the most potent buff magic Davey possessed, more powerful than all others. Under the guidance of the Goddess Freyja, this monumental magic then split into thousands of smaller buffs that cascaded down.

The Goddess' favor was akin to a miracle in some ways. And such miracles often laughed in the face of conventional wisdom. What Davey was doing was the manifestation of magic.

Divine Radiance was his most overwhelmingly buff-specialized holy magic. All it did was amplify everything over as wide an area as possible; it did not discriminate between friend and foe. In essence, Divine Radiance was a high-risk, high-return spell. But that high risk disappeared due to the unique characteristics of the Abyssal beings.

"From now on, I will permit no death." After that bold declaration, Davey snapped his fingers lightly. "Isn't it only right to see your families alive when you return? I believe nobody wishes to die unjustly in a foreign land."

The buff permeated into the allied soldiers' bodies and began to take effect.

[Damn... Blue Ribbon feels dizzy!]

Despite the considerable power that was sapped from it, Blue Ribbon did not sound too exhausted.

'I'll pamper you later.'

[Ah, promise!!]

Davey managed to crack a smile at Blue Ribbon's cheerful yell before he turned to Red Ribbon. Spreading Divine Radiance so extensively had exhausted nearly all of Davey's holy power.

The situation had significantly improved, so after borrowing Blue Ribbon's power, it was Red Ribbon's turn.

"What are you doing, aren't you fighting?"

Davey gripped the Red Ribbon and activated his mana. Then on Davey's back, enormous white wings emerged, spanning hundreds of meters. They fluttered like an illusion, intensifying his presence.

'Good, the stage is set!'

Complicated explanations were no longer necessary. It was easy enough to make everybody think he was a being from the Spirit Realm, especially after letting them see the Celestial Maidens earlier.

Davey soared toward the soldiers, who gazed at him as if he was someone holy.

"All forces!!! It is time for vengeance!"

His battle cry boosted the soldiers' morale, and they erupted in a bout of passionate cheers.

"Yes!!!"

"The celestial beings are with us!!"

"It feels like the number of fanatics is rising again," Perserque muttered from a distance as she glanced at Davey.

But Davey, despite having heard Perserque, unabashedly raised Red Ribbon high.

"The wills you wrote before coming here, you'll need to rip them up when you return!"

After all, nothing could be more embarrassing than having your will read.