"I'm... fine." The goddess replied.
"Good." He smiled, then shifted his gaze to Morax. "It's been so many years. Your strength must be formidable now, right?"
"Just enough to manage."
"That's not like you, being so modest. Your name has spread across the land. They revere you as the God of Martial Arts, and the gods you've subdued are countless." Eliog clearly had been keeping a close eye on Morax all along.
"Enough talk!"
Morax had no patience for small talk. In an instant, he drew his spear, unleashing a fierce surge of power, and hurled it directly at Eliog.
"So this is how you greet people?" Eliog raised a hand, conjuring a geo wall to block the strike.
BOOM!!!!!
The moment the spear struck, Eliog and the other gods felt a wave of deadly danger. They retreated at once, and in the next instant, the geo wall exploded, leaving behind a massive crater.
None of them had expected the spear to detonate on impact.
And that wasn't the end.
Morax clapped his hands together. The scattered fragments of rock suddenly stirred to life, shooting toward them like a storm of blades.
Eliog gripped his spear and swung rapidly, sparks flying with each strike as the shards clashed against it.
The other two gods reacted a moment too late, their bodies cut with several shallow wounds before they could defend themselves. That was as far as it went. Regaining their footing, they quickly used their own methods to fend off the rest of the assault.
But their followers weren't nearly as lucky. Many of the gods' subordinates were skewered into hedgehog-like corpses by the flying shards.
They had only just survived Morax's Demon Scale Spear's second wave of fragments when he had already drawn his bow, loosing a massive arrow straight at them.
"Release!"
The enormous arrow, seemingly heavy and unwieldy, split apart under Morax's control, fragmenting into hundreds of smaller arrows in an instant.
A single man had unleashed the suppressive firepower of an entire army.
This time, however, the enemy had learned. Having endured the first barrage, the second wave of arrows was far less effective—every subordinate managed to block them.
"Release again!"
No sooner had the first massive arrow flown than Morax followed up with a second, slender one.
The first arrow split apart into many. The second arrow's effect was different: when activated, it accelerated, gaining overwhelming piercing power.
Hidden among countless ordinary arrows was a single lethal threat. Morax had used this tactic countless times to slay gods.
Eliog, still sweeping his spear to deflect the arrows, suddenly felt a surge of danger. Instinctively, he snapped his head aside as a piercing arrow whistled past, grazing his cheek.
His eyes widened. Turning sharply, he saw one of his followers struck dead by the arrow. And not just one—four or five others fell in quick succession, pierced through by the same deadly shot.
"Impressive, Morax..." Eliog wiped the blood beading on his cheek, his face dark with murderous rage.
"Giant Geo Hand!"
He swung his arm, and a golden light burst forth. From it emerged a massive geo hand, reaching out to seize Morax.
Morax vanished from his spot in an instant, narrowly avoiding the grasp.
Though many years had passed, he remembered Eliog's terrifying strength all too clearly.
If you can dodge, never meet him head-on—that was the trick Morax had used back then to fight him to a draw.
"Attack! Kill him!"
At Eliog's command, the two gods charged at Morax with blinding speed. Behind them surged a horde of monsters, beasts, and powerful familiars by the hundreds.
"Geo Whales!"
Morax slammed his palms together. Immediately, three colossal geo whales emerged from the void, vast enough to darken the skies, and crashed into the battlefield.
"Giant Geo Celestial Beast."
Eliog summoned an equally massive monster, standing upright like a man, towering ten thousand feet high, like a mountain come to life.
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!
The beast appeared and, with a single punch, sent one of Morax's geo whales crashing to the ground.
The whale fell like a collapsing mountain peak, slamming into the earth and raising a storm of yellow dust.
"Tsk..." Morax's brow furrowed.
He flung a geo kite skyward. It soared high before transforming into a colossal spear, plummeting back down and skewering the gigantic geo monster straight through its middle.
Crack...
Crack...
After unleashing the kite, two fresh fractures appeared across the geo shield encasing his body.
Against the endless waves of enemies, Morax was beginning to feel the strain of fighting alone.
If he split his focus to deal with Eliog, his shield would crumble under the monsters' attacks. But if he ignored Eliog, the outcome would be far worse.
For with Eliog's sheer strength, a single strike from him carried the weight of hundreds of blows from the monsters before him.