Chapter 130: Felling the Dragon-Serpent, Shattering the Floating Land!
The greatsword in the human Dragon Slayer's hands erupted with a twilight-like radiance.
Then, a cross-shaped flash tore through the darkened sky, splitting it open with a cruciform gash.
In truth, it was the warrior's impossibly swift slashes—horizontal and vertical—forming intersecting arcs of energy that cleaved through the serpent's massive, sky-blocking body.
Before the first cross-shaped flash could fade, multiple more slashed across the heavens.
In an instant, Jörmungandr's colossal form was dismembered into hundreds of pieces.
Blood gushed out in an instant, veiling the sunlight that had just pierced through the body in a crimson mist.
Gods with particularly keen eyesight would notice the dismembered limbs attempting to reconnect through the coalescing blood mist. Between the wounds, thread-like strands of blood stretched and gradually multiplied, thickening as they did.
One god followed closely behind the Dragon Slayer, his pupils transforming into the shape of lotus flowers.
This god was a Buddha—Shiva. Using his ability, [Right Enlightenment of Alaya Consciousness], he sought to capture Jörmungandr's core.
From the very beginning, he could have seized it, but the core moved far too swiftly, making it impossible to pinpoint its exact location.
Rather than moving, it felt more like instantaneous, erratic teleportation within the body. Under such conditions, delivering a single fatal strike was nearly impossible.
Now, by cleaving Jörmungandr into countless severed pieces, the core was confined to a narrow region.
So, where was it? Where?
Shiva's eyes darted rapidly in search.
He had to find it before Jörmungandr's body fully reconnected!!!
Huh? That's—!!!
There, right in that spot!!!
"Revolve, Six Paths! Six Paths Staff—First Path, Heavenly Path, Nyoirin Kannon—Twelve Heavenly Axe!"
The divine weapon in his hand, the Six Paths Staff, transformed into a battle axe!
With a single fierce swing, a gale powerful enough to rival the highest-level storm in human meteorological records blasted away the bloody mist before him.
And there, in Shiva's line of sight, was his target—a mass of flesh roughly ten times the size of Fenrir.
His lips curled into a ferocious grin.
"Got you!"
The battle axe tore through the air, its passage igniting a brilliant white glow—a phenomenon caused by the extreme heat and friction of its high-speed movement, akin to the flash of burning magnesium.
In the next instant, a smooth fissure split the mass of flesh down the middle, spreading open as the axe drove deeper.
There it was—a fist-sized, black octahedral crystal, the eerie, shifting core.
Just as the blade was a mere centimeter away—
"Wha—?!"
That last centimeter was all that remained, yet the axe refused to advance further.
It wasn't some invisible force holding it back—no, the axe had been caught between razor-sharp fangs. Fenrir, who had vanished from sight, had been lurking nearby, guarding the core.
Shiva's pupils contracted sharply as he finally noticed—the core was embedded in someone's chest.
That someone was Loki.
Loki seemed to have merged with Jörmungandr.
No, correction—not just Jörmungandr. Even Fenrir appeared to have fused with him.
"You were this close, Lord Shiva!"
Loki's mocking voice rang out.
"Indeed, this close!"
Shiva gritted his teeth, pouring every ounce of his strength into his arms as he forced the axe downward.
"HAH!!!"
The strike sent Loki flying, but Shiva's expression darkened.
He hadn't managed to cleave him in two. Worse, Loki had used the momentum to launch himself away.
The bastard was hurtling toward another mass of flesh. Strands of blood stretched between the masses, rapidly weaving into a crimson net to prevent Loki from slipping through the gaps.
If he merged back in, it would be trouble.
And with the bloody mist shrouding everything, the gods below had no idea the core was embedded in Loki.
Damn it, wasn't there anyone who could follow up?
In truth, there was one other who had noticed the core lodged in Loki—the Dragon Slayer.
After dismembering Jörmungandr earlier, he had exhausted his strength and was now plummeting downward.
His body was in terrible shape, his skin marred with crimson fissures, as if he were a piece of metal glowing red-hot, on the verge of cracking apart.
So, there was no hope of relying on him—
Hm? Shiva saw him move. Though inverted in freefall, the man straightened his body, raising his sword overhead—its tip aimed at the ground.
In the next instant—
Light erupted from his blade.
Blinding, overwhelming, as if all the world's radiance had converged upon his sword in that single moment, plunging the surroundings into sudden darkness.
The surging light pierced the earth, split the arena, tore through the air—and severed every serpentine mass in its path.
Under Loki's stunned gaze, the massive beam sword sliced through him—no, evaporated him entirely.
Did this guy still have such power left?
Just as Shiva was about to speak, his pupils contracted sharply—the opponent's soul particles were vanishing at an alarming rate.
In that moment, he understood where the dragon-slaying hero's power had come from.
That power was indeed his last, a final strike that burned everything he had.
And then, like mist, he dissipated into nothingness.
All Shiva could do was cast a complicated glance before surveying the surroundings, watching as the dismembered remains of countless giant serpents, now devoid of regeneration, plummeted to the ground.
At the same time, the serpents' blood poured down like a torrential rain, staining everything below crimson.
It seemed that with the destruction of their core, the blood had lost its lethal toxicity.
Otherwise, such an immense volume of blood would have melted the vast floating island beneath them.
Yet even without melting, the floating island was in a dire state.
That colossal beam slash had pierced straight through it, likely destroying the island's power core in the process.
The island's descent was now inevitable.
For the next match, it seemed they'd have to relocate to another floating island.
And the next round would probably require a longer break.
This arena needed major repairs.
That slash had also split the already strained arena clean in two...