World Keeper

Chapter 686: Balance Breaker

Theon narrowed his eyes in focus as he concentrated purely on restraining the golem deity’s power to his own level. As long as he was able to do that, he believed that this fight would be a simple victory for the other assembled gods. When he saw how the golem continued to look down on everyone, he felt as though it were simple arrogance.

As soon as the others felt that the golem’s power had dropped, their own confidence was bolstered, and they began to release their abilities. They had long since heard about the golem’s protective barrier, and had been prepared to fight against it. Every attack that they launched was one that could traverse space itself to attack the target directly, without allowing his barrier to interfere.

Sure enough, they saw the golem’s body rocked with attack after attack, his divine presence slowly declining. Yet, something seemed off about this. With their combined attack, they should have easily been able to destroy someone on the level of Theon. When their attacks only marginally weakened the golem, they couldn’t help but be alarmed. Especially so when they saw the barely diminished health bar above the golem’s head.

This is bad! He’s still able to draw on the strengths that he has stored with his divinity! The God of Analysis quickly reported the situation, clearly able to tell that the golem deity’s body had reached a frightening level of strength even without the aid of his divine energy.

Normally, this would have been a contradiction, as a god’s body was made of divinity. However, it was because of the golem god’s specific domain that made this possible. His domain of Storage had been reinforced by the strength of countless living creatures, turning him into an unmovable fortress.

Are you done? The golem’s voice echoed through the minds of the gods after he had finished withstanding their first round of attacks. He brought his hand up, clenching his fist as he punched forward. Space seemed to distort and crack before his punch, dark red patches visible as the force swept towards the group of gods.

With a single punch, he distorted the fabric of space and opened a gap to the void, albeit briefly. It was clear the might that his punch contained, blowing back the closest gods to him. Those who were forced to withstand the blast let out silent cries as their divine power was sliced away, their health bars quickly draining over their heads.

Like I said, none of you are worthy to stand before the true god of this world. The golem repeated, before noticing the gods that were remaining further back without trying to flee the spatial field. His mechanical eyes narrowed as he considered the possibility that these people could have unique domains capable of subduing him.

Given that he was unaware of the situation with Sanctum, it was easy for him to mistake the cowardly leeches simply trying to earn free contribution with a hidden trump card. However, his confidence in his own powers did not allow him too much time to consider it. He determined that they were a possible threat, and deemed it fit to remove them before they could unleash any mysterious powers.

Those idling gods had already been scared stiff by the golem’s display of his physical prowess. They were beginning to regret having come for this mission, and some had even directly tried to return to Sanctum by chanting Aurivy’s command. However, thanks to the field set up by the God of the Lost, the command failed to bring them away from the battle. All that it caused was a spike of divine power to draw the golem’s attention.

As the gods who were actually fighting had largely been knocked back by the first attack, they were still recovering when they felt a flash of power pass by them. Before they were able to piece together what was happening, they felt one of the divine energies behind them being snuffed out.

Thessa was the first to react, turning around with her bow in hand. She saw the golem standing while holding the headless body of one of the gods that they had brought with them. Her brow furrowed, and the golem felt numerous impacts piercing through his body. From the force and general shape of the internal damage, he could identify them as arrows, and yet she had not launched any…

His gaze turned towards the halfling goddess staring at him, as if looking with interest. It was clear that the ‘arrows’ that had attacked him contained special powers, and were currently devouring his divine energy at a pace he found startling. While he did not truly see her as a threat, he had to admit that she was more talented than those who had launched attacks on him earlier.

Once more, the golem moved, this time aiming to take the head of the halfling that had grabbed his attention. However, he found his path blocked this time by a cat-eared humanoid carrying a large book as a shield. The golem’s hand stretched out, aiming to tear the ‘shield’ apart when it opened of its own volition.

The word ‘Thievery’ was written on the page that the book opened to, and the golem felt an ominous sensation. He quickly reached out in an attempt to destroy the book, only for the opposing god to reach out at the same time. The two clashed, their hands locking with one another, and neither seemed to gain any ground.

Startled, the golem quickly checked his internal storage, realizing that half of his power containers had been taken in an instant. Having what he felt was his belongings stolen from him in such a blatant manner infuriated the golden god, but this was only the beginning of his problems.

May that which was lost, return from whence it came. A solemn voice communicated through the vast battlefield in space. The golem felt as if it had been deflated, its power containers robbed entirely. More than that… it could feel an emptiness in its chest. The planet that it had brought with him, the world that he had ruled for countless years, had vanished from his possession.

No, those are mine! The golem shouted in a furious tone. However, thankfully, the stolen power had also been taken from the felyn god, leaving them both at fairly equal power once again. The golem’s gears ground furiously as his hands lit up. If you want to take what’s mine… I’ll have to return the favor!

The felyn’s eyes went wide in shock, pulling his hand back as he retreated in haste. However, he could tell that he was already too late. His divine power felt… empty. Although he could maintain his form, it no longer had the true power of a god. His divine will had been stripped away, taking with it his domain.

Now, you will feel despair. The golem communicated, before noticing that the felyn suddenly looked at him with an… almost pitying expression. What made him look like that? Was there a problem with the domain that he had taken?

The golem suddenly found himself feeling anxious for the first time, a sense of dread rising up within him. His eyes darted around the battlefield, seeing the other gods who appeared to be regaining their confidence. More importantly, the power of the arrows that had struck him internally before were still gnawing away at his energy. How would he get out of this encirclement?

This was the side-effect of the domain of Words, which had just been stolen from the felyn. Due to this effect, the felyn was unable to communicate with his own words, whether through speech or writing. If he attempted to do so, the last word he used would always become his temporary domain, until he replaced it with a new word.

Due to the golem’s declaration, his power had just become despair itself, filling the golem with the very dread he planned to inflict on his attackers. Although there were many interpretations of a single domain, that mattered little in this case, for what he stole was the divine will itself. Thus, he took the same interpretation as the original holder.

Seeing the golem beginning to panic, the others glanced among themselves. They could not entirely tell what had happened, only that the golem received a boost of power, before suddenly losing his confidence. Soon, an unfamiliar voice spoke over their communication network. Quickly, you have to kill him before he can say anything else! If he is given the chance to speak, we could be done for!

This voice naturally belonged to the one member of their party to never talk, the felyn whose domain had just been stripped from him. And while it took a moment for the others to register the identity of this voice, they were quick to act on its information.

Golden light flashed, illuminating the bodies of the assembled gods. The heroc God of Light creased his brow in focus as he boosted the others as high as he could, leaving himself with but a sliver of power. In response to this, Thessa lifted her bow, pulling back the string. What I desire is an arrow to shatter a god.

The golden light condensed, forming a long line across her bowstring. When she released the arrow, it vanished from her bow, instead appearing in the chest of the golem. It was not that the arrow travelled quickly, but rather it simply teleported from her bow to its target, half of the arrow bypassing the barrier surrounding the golem.

This arrow, like those she shot before the battle, had the effect of scattering divine energy. However, the ones she had shot before were only ‘lesser’ versions of the current arrow, as she was using them as scattered traps. If the enemy walked along the path of an arrow she had previously fired, she could cause that arrow to appear inside the enemy.

Now that the greater version of that arrow had landed, the golem let out a soundless scream. Its chest caved in, golden dust scattering in the empty space around it. The health bar above its head plummeted as its divinity was scattered, and it found itself unable to mutter a single cry.

However, there was no time to rejoice. Before the attackers were able to relax, a strange distortion broke free of the golem’s chest as it died. This distortion seemed to wrap around space itself, completely occupying the territory where they were fighting. As such, it was no surprise that they were directly thrown into this opening, appearing in an area far away from anything they knew.

“Well… they won, at least?” Ashley asked with an awkward smile, seeing how the gods had been forcibly transported to the golem’s universe. Although the planet had been returned to its original position by Sinclair’s power, the same was not true for the spatial distortion that the golem had obtained.

This was because the planet was artificially created and left there by Tubrock, thus it was considered as having a master. When it was taken from where it had been left, it was then considered to be ‘lost’. The spatial distortion, meanwhile, was a natural phenomena without any form of owner. Without anyone to claim it, it could not truly be considered lost.

As such, after the death of the golem god, it had erupted from his chest, occupying a corner of Deckan’s solar system, and creating a rather direct connection between the solar system and the universe of the golems.

“How long do you think it’ll take them to realize the way back?” Aurivy asked, chuckling to herself. In truth, all they had to do to return was to fly through the distortion once again. However, there was no way for the people involved to know that, having been flung to a strange region of space without any warning.

“Nevermind that.” Ryone shook her head. “How do you think we should divide their contribution?”

This was the more important topic at hand, since it was only a matter of time before those gods returned, and it was their duty to prepare the promised reward. Udona stroked her chin idly, giving it some thought. “I think a quarter of the contribution should go to Theon. Although the enemy didn’t rely fully on the power that Theon stripped away, it was enough to lighten everyone’s load.”

Ryone nodded her head in agreement. “Sinclair should get a good amount as well, having taken away the strength that the golem needed to win. I vote that he receives half of the reward for his contributions.”

Keliope blinked at that. “Half, really? Well… I mean, maybe. What about that archer girl, though? Landing a big hit like that should earn her some points.”

Udona gave a small smile. “It will, but not more than the other two. Although her attacks were powerful, they were only the finishing blow after everyone had weakened him. I believe five percent of the contribution is enough for her. As for the other twenty percent… we’ll split it between the tracker, the wordsmith, the transport, and our communication god. This couldn’t have happened without all of their support.”

“And the other people that just came to watch?” Ashley asked, her face growing dark as she glanced at those who even tried to flee the battle halfway through.

Aurivy simply grinned at that. “Negative points for anyone that was a distraction or tried to flee the battle!”

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