The Oracle Paths

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The huge demon Belakor, who had just been speared in the shoulder, was lying on the broken stone table, still traumatized by the dreadful blade. He was huffing and puffing, his face drenched in sweat, his tiny white eyes staring at Jake with palpable trepidation.

He now saw this fearless human in a different light! Even in hell, this monster would fit right in! Getting fooled once, he could chalk it up to surprise, but this time he had clearly felt the difference between them.

It wasn't just a question of power, but also of equipment. His hell greatsword had some style, but it was really just an Advanced Aether Artifact. In contrast, this unknown Player had already used two super-powerful weapons. Who knew how many other weapons of this caliber he was hiding in his Space Storage.

Bracing his boot against Belakor's shoulder blade, the Spartan bent over to grab the tip of his spear and used the support to push hard with his leg to extract his weapon from the demon's shoulder. The demon growled silently in pain, but he complied. Once the spear was removed, he stood up without a thank you and twirled his damaged shoulder to test the condition of his joint.

"You were reckless." The Spartan chided him without compassion. "You bring shame to Lost Divinities."

Humiliated, the demon turned red with anger but in the end swallowed his scathing remark and faced the enemy once more.

"It won't happen a second time. I just underestimated him." Belakor declared with a bone-chilling coldness.

A sigh filled with dissatisfaction and contempt sounded from behind his back.

"You still underestimate him. You're all underestimating him. Look ahead."

Belakor who was the epitome of bad faith had the word doubt etched on his face, but when he searched for Jake again his eyes widened in astonishment.

'What what the heck is that?!"

In the brief seconds he had looked away from Jake, Jake had not stopped attacking and neither had his companions. The mangled and bloody carcasses of dozens of Players littered the room, another wall had collapsed, a gaping hole twenty meters in diameter had atomized a portion of the table, and cries of hatred and helplessness mixed together to form a macabre symphony.

Marks from the passage of his Tempest Sword and Aether Sun Core were everywhere. Many of the Players had not been as fortunate as Belakor and their scattered guts and entrails spoke of their cruel end. However, Jake had underestimated their fervor.

When he was chopping another enemy in half, an elderly Player with long white hair had suddenly trapped his arm in an iceberg dozens of meters wide. Two others had bombarded him with diamond-cutting water, forcing him to defend himself with the Aether Sun Core in his other hand.

The steam generated had plunged the giant room into fog and he took advantage of the confusion to smash the two opportunists with the iceberg his arm was stuck on. The problem was that the ice-wielding Player exploited this water vapor to freeze the fog. To avoid being sealed inside, Jake had no choice but to use a Heat Aether Spell to defend himself.

With the help of his Aether Sun Core he managed to dislodge his hand from the iceberg, but not the sword. Pressed for time, he stowed away the ice block in the Faction Vault, his Space Storage not having enough room for it.

Jake then continued to weather group attacks, ambushes, and other treacherous enemy moves, but never forgot to return the favor. His Aether Sun Core burned a dozen Players to a crisp while several others were torn apart by his blazing claws and fangs.

Still, this white-haired Player was persistent and his fearsome Ice Spells kept coming at him out of nowhere with no warning. He dodged as best he could with his inhuman reflexes, but many times he was left scrambling to protect himself with his Aether Sun Core.

Soon he realized that his precious artificial sun was the real target of his opponent. Each successful ice spell significantly cooled the Aether Sun Core. If this continued, the thermonuclear reaction taking place in the core might stop or worse, become unstable. Frightened, he stowed it away without hesitation in his Space Storage to prevent any accident.

At that very moment, Azeus, the barbarian controlling lightning and thunder, was engaged in an intense hand-to-hand duel with Jake. Jake no longer had his Aether Sun Core and Tempest Sword in his hands and the two brutes were currently throwing punches at each other hard enough to knock out a fucking blue whale. At first glance, their physical strength and toughness seemed to be equal, but after several hundred punches and parries exchanged in a few milliseconds, the barbarian's blood-stained, broken arms forced him to retreat.

Having lost the close combat round, Azeus remained inexpressive as if he felt no pain, but a cloak of purple lightning suddenly enveloped him, arcs of electricity as wide as his biceps winding through the air around him like living snakes. His body seemed to merge with the lightning, becoming one with the element, and the next breath he appeared in front of Jake.

Transmuted into electrical energy, Azeus struck forward with both palms together and an electric shock of millions of volts shook Jake's innards. With blood pouring from his lips, Jake let out a roar as he clenched his fists and his body temperature soared in an instant, becoming a supernova man.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast and tough Jake was after his power-up and Bloodline Ignition activation, he couldn't surpass the speed of a lightning bolt, let alone catch it. Only his Myrtharian Eyes could track his movements. The multiple electrocutions he took in such a short time put his constitution and mental strength to the test, but not a hint of panic dampened his lust for battle.

Taking advantage of Azeus' unstoppable assault, his partner Shamash also went on the attack. Erasing his presence, he crossed the huge room in just three steps, then decisively backstabbed Jake. Jake didn't hear him approach or strike. It was only when the sharp pain radiated up his spine that he realized he had been wounded.

"Tch... How hard..." Shamash winced as he vigorously shook his trembling hand.

To launch this surprise attack, he had braved his comrade's lightning cage and his normally meticulously trimmed black hair and beard were now messed up and scorched from their electrocution. He was slightly injured. But like Belakor, Ashun and the others this level of injury was nothing. Even before he retreated and faded into the background, his wounds were already healed.

If Shamash could recover quickly from his wounds, Jake didn't have to feel embarrassed about it either. To resist Azeus' lightning he had long since activated his Silver Stone Skin. He was also deriving a Lightning Rod Aether Spell. Having never done this before, he could not succeed in a few seconds, especially in the middle of a fight.

But that didn't stop him from retaliating with what he already knew. To hinder the movements of Azeus and the other Players he cast an Invisibility Spell, then a series of other spells to erase his presence, suppress the sound of his movements and launch a salvo of plasma bullets with the cadence of a machine gun and surgical precision.

These projectiles were no match for Azeus in this energy state, but the other attackers nearby were riddled with holes. The white-haired expert controlling ice was so focused on his magic that he reacted too late, a coin-width hole appearing between his two eyes.

"Boreas!" A hooded young woman screamed in fright as she saw him collapse.

The old man's head was hurled backwards badly, but after hitting the ground he immediately raised his hand to tell the others that he was fine. The young woman sobbed with joy when she saw that he was okay. When the white-haired Player straightened up, the hole in his forehead was gone, replaced by a snowflake.

Indifferent to their excitement, Jake continued to wreak havoc on their ranks, absolutely tireless despite Azeus's repeated electrocutions and the rain of spells falling on him every second. These Players had rarely faced such a tank. His regeneration and stamina were insane, his strength and speed top notch, and his fighting skills even more demoralizing.

Momentarily out of enemies, Jake arrived at the rock dome erected by Nucnar and with a smirk he bolted inside, the dome opening briefly to let him through. The rock giant at the center of the structure gasped in disbelief when he saw that his defenses had been so easily subdued.

"What's going on Nucnar?" Ashun asked as she nervously jabbed at his foot, the highest limb of the giant she could reach.

"Shut up."

BANG!

The rock formation cracked immediately after with a resounding impact. The second impact was so violent that it caused a mini earthquake, a huge crack splitting the fortress in two. On the third blow, the stone dome exploded and the gigantic figure of Nucnar was thrown dozens of meters into the air letting out a furious roar.

Had Jake not suddenly found himself unable to move his left leg, he would have pressed on with the attack to extend his advantage. Recognizing the fragrance emanating from his leg, he glared in the direction of the beauty hiding under a heap of rock, arms crossed over her to guard her head.

"Do you understand now?" The Spartan repeated to Belakor, "This is no ordinary opponent."

"I understand." The demon capitulated, his thirst for battle quenched. "An enemy like that, you can't underestimate him. Let's give him a run for his money."

Taking a deep breath, he bellowed,

"LOST DIVINITIES! ASSEMBLE!"