Lilyxila had told me to not to let the Divine Voice’s wishes come to fruition. So it was decided: I was gonna confront the Divine Voice. I couldn’t just let it destroy the world as it pleased, regardless of the lives that’d be lost. And I’d never let it lay a hand on any of my friends.
“Don’t get a big head.” The Divine Voice smirked. “I wanted to try and talk things out peacefully if we could…but I have plenty of other options. If you won’t listen, then so be it. I’ll deal with this the same way I always have.”
Its body slowly floated into the air. As I watched it rise, one of its arms suddenly swung down, the tip of its extended pointer finger glowing with light.
What is it? What’s coming? My anticipation swelled as I waited for its attack to come. But I had no idea what it was, and no time to avoid it.
A moment later, what felt like a bolt of lightning shot through my brain, scrambling my thoughts. Powerful nausea rose from deep inside my stomach. My mind went pure white.
“Gg-gaagh…!” When I came to, I was sprawled out across the ground. My head laid on its side, limp. A puddle of saliva had formed below my mouth.
A…psychic attack? If it was, it activated far too quickly for me to react. I had no clue what kind of range the attack had either. What the heck was that?
Suddenly, I remembered something Mia mentioned in her inscription.
“One should expect the Divine Voice to be able to use all skills. Naturally, it was far more powerful than any being I had ever faced before. It also possessed an unknown and debilitating psychic attack skill that pierced through every resistance I had and used it as its primary attack. There is no way to counter it, so one must endure it through sheer mental fortitude.”
If what Mia wrote was correct, then there was no way for me to defend against the Divine Voice’s attack. Evasion, skill buffs, and Resistance Skills wouldn’t help.
If the Divine Voice kept zapping me with that attack, it was over. Even if I matched its stats, there was nothing I could do to counter it.
“M-Master Dragon!” Allo, who’d been watching from a distance, leapt toward me. She ran up to my head and placed a hand on my cheek.
‹G-get back! There’s no telling what the Divine Voice will do to you! Just stay away!› Despite my blurry vision, I managed to lock onto Allo’s form with my eyes and send her a message with Telepathy.
‹Miss Allo!! Everyone, please stay on guard! I’ll handle this!› Treant spoke up, then stood in front of me and released its Tree Spirit Transformation to go back to its original Tyrant Guardian form.
In moments, a massive tree that towered over everyone stood between the Divine Voice and me.
The Divine Voice looked at Treant. Its mouth curled up into an empty smile.
‹Treant, back away! You’re gonna get killed!› I warned, panicking.
“So be it, then. I’ll make you regret turning down my offer. I was planning on using Spirit Servant to fulfill my promise to Lilyxila anyway.”
Spirit Servant? The Divine Voice could use Spirit Servant too?!
‹What’re you planning?! Stop this nonsense!› I shouted.
“Lilyxila thought she could confront me, but it was just an illusion. She worked harder when I let her believe she could outwit me. And she really did believe it! Pathetic, isn’t it? I’m the one who made her think it was possible!” The Divine Voice raised its left hand to the sky. “She really tried her best to beat me. It may not mean much anymore, but still, I have to fulfill my promise to her. I’m the type to put a lot of importance on that sort of thing, you know. I’m not about to make light of her determination. Lilyxila and I, we had an agreement. I told her if she lost the battle for your Sacred Skills, I’d turn my Spirit Servants against the Holy Land of Lialum and raze it to the ground.”
‹Wh…what?!›
Suddenly, part of the reason why Lilyxila was so intent on killing me was crystal clear. The Divine Voice was threatening to destroy her homeland if she didn’t collect the Sacred Skills. Lilyxila really was planning to team up with me. The Divine Voice must not have wanted her to because that’d interfere with its quest to collect all the Sacred Skills.
“Regardless of whatever threats you throw at me, ultimately, I can do whatever I like. You’re just a single creature from this world. Don’t expect to stand a chance against a god like me. I’ll let you in on a little secret, Illusia: You don’t have any other choice.”
A ring of magic sprouted around the Divine Voice. It enveloped it in blinding light, cutting off my view. I covered my face with both paws, then slowly peeked out from behind them.
Wh-what the heck is the Divine Voice summoning?!
“Oooh, ooohh, ooooaaaaaaagh!”
A roar exploded through the foggy landscape like an explosion. It took me a moment to realize that it was a creature’s voice.
Behind the Divine Voice, a figure appeared that was almost twice as long as I was. It was a gigantic, hairy, pitch-black spider with eight twitching legs. Its thorax held three heads—a toad on the left, a cat on the right, and the face of a long-eared man wearing a crown in the center. All of the faces had bright red eyes, opened wide and unfocused. The man’s head in the center was the one screaming, while the other two had eerie smiles plastered on their faces.
“Surprised?” the Divine Voice said. “This is the most powerful Demon King in history, the king among Demon Kings. He is known as the Three-Headed King of Gluttony, Baal. He’s got an…interesting form, don’t you think?”
Two figures stood on either side of Baal. One was a woman, concealed head to toe in thick robes. The other was a large man in full body armor, carrying a greatsword on his shoulder. They looked like ordinary humans, but I felt powerful auras emanating from them both. Were they Spirit Servants too?!
“Rrrrrrrooooooooohhh…”
A loud, low growl rumbled from behind Baal. I scanned the area. After a few moments, a shape began to materialize from the fog. It was an enormous human leg.
I looked up and met the eyes of a giant that towered high above me, crushing trees beneath its feet as it walked.
No way. Is that…another Spirit Servant?
“Well? Every last one of them is a Legendary rank with stats far more impressive than yours. Pretty spectacular, huh?”
The Divine Voice had said Baal was the most powerful Demon King of all time. Does that mean the other three were the strongest hero, saint, and Beast King of all time too?
‹But…but how? That isn’t possible! The Spirit Servant skill can only bind two creatures at a time!›
Not to mention that these guys shouldn’t have been able to maintain their Legendary forms after losing their Sacred Skills! Even as a Spirit Servant, Beelzebub had still possessed the Beast Realm Path skill. The Divine Voice’s four Spirit Servants and their ability to maintain their Legendary rank forms without Sacred Skills was a flagrant violation of this world’s laws.
What in the world did the Divine Voice’s status look like? The fact that Mia actually believed she stood a chance against an opponent this powerful made me think she must have just gone insane with resentment over what it did to her.
“Why’d you assume I’d ever stoop to scuffling around in the dirt with the likes of you? This is nothing more than a fun little sideshow anyway.” The Divine Voice looked around at all of us with a malicious cackle. It almost seemed like it was relishing our reactions. No, not almost; it was enjoying our horrified looks.
“Just one of my Spirit Servants could destroy all of Lialum with ease. And now, thanks to your insubordination, Illusia, I’ve decided to send them out to wipe every single location you’ve ever visited off the map. Oh, would you look at that! Not so cocky now, are we?”
I looked around at each of the Divine Voice’s Spirit Servants one by one.
Even if I couldn’t challenge the Divine Voice directly, I thought I’d at least be able to stir up some trouble for it. But it’s on a whole different level.
“Do you get it now, Illusia? You may be the strongest creature in all the land, but you’re nothing next to me. Let’s see… What was it you said again? That if I don’t listen to you, you’ll waste your own life trying to kill me?” The Divine Voice cackled again. “Go on, say it again. I need a good laugh.”
The four Spirit Servants weren’t moving. Both the armored man and the woman in robes were standing as still as they were when they were first summoned. The mysterious giant’s figure strode around at random in the distance. The giant three-headed spider stared at me, drool dripping from its mouth; but for the moment, there were no signs of it poising to attack.