"Master, the situation is already very bad. Why do you need to test me in this situation?" Thorn pleaded, his voice tinged with genuine fear.
He could feel Shenlong’s strength ebbing away, a slow, terrifying drain.
The powerful pressure that Shax had applied was still at work, a testament to the demon’s monstrous talent.
"Not to scare you and all," Shenlong replied, his voice calm as still water, "but my strength is still decreasing. In a minute or so, I will not be his match."
He liked to tease his disciple, but there was also a genuine reason for this.
He wanted the brute-force-loving Thorn to learn how to use his mind, not just his muscles. "Thus, you need to think of the reason, and quick."
Thorn didn’t reply this time. His mind was racing, his newfound Analyser talent working at full capacity, dissecting every shred of information he had on Shax’s terrifying ability.
After a few seconds, he blurted out, "Master, why don’t we just blow him to shreds?"
"It’s possible, but is this the most efficient way?" Shenlong replied casually, his question a gentle prod.
He wanted Thorn to see beyond the obvious, to find the weak point in an opponent’s defense.
Thorn, who relied on brute strength needed to learn to rely on his brain more, to use Shenlong’s blessings.
Thorn fell silent again, his mind frantically searching for a weakness in Shax’s reality-bending talent.
While all this was happening, in a certain God Space, a god’s face was filled with worry as he looked through the eyes of his lifeforms.
He was not idle in the face of this disaster; he had quickly reached out to the God Chat for multiple strategies.
But due to the immense time difference between Godly time and planetary time, before anyone could even answer, half of his lifeforms in the Realm of Advancement were already dead.
He immediately looked through the eyes of one of his remaining lifeforms, hoping to find a strategy to defend against the demons.
But no mortal strategy could tackle the might of a demigod without having a demigod of your own.
He felt a wave of despair wash over him upon the death of so many of his creations, but there was nothing he could do.
The only thing he could do was provide what little strategy he could to stretch the time as much as possible, a desperate measure to save what little was left.
Just as this was happening, he gazed at the demigod Shax through the eyes of an archer on the city wall.
He noticed Shax was looking up at the sky, his face a mask of pure anger.
"Who is this demon talking to?" the god thought, feeling even more despair now, as he feared that another demon had appeared.
He tried to look through the eyes of the watcher in the watchtower of the city. T
hese watchers possessed a very keen perception and sharp eyes, a talent he had given them to protect his people.
From the watcher’s eyes, this God began to form a shape of the flying creature.
It looked like a flying serpent, majestic and imposing.
But upon closer inspection, he immediately thought of a mythical being from his home planet.
"Shenlong?" he whispered in an astonished tone. "Doesn’t that mean it is a demigod of a God?" he surmised, a flicker of hope now shining in his desperate heart.
But he wasn’t able to open the God Chat yet, as even a single second wasted by him would be a thousand second wasted on the Realm of Advancement.
He thought of a plan and descended into his home planet, which made his body now match the planetary time.
He immediately opened the God Chat and typed.
Apolo: "The God with Shenlong as a demigod, can you please help my lifeforms survive this misfortune?"
He attached two images to this message. The first image was of Shenlong, and the other image was of the attacking demons.
He awaited the reply, and soon the chat flooded with thousands upon thousands of messages.
The speed of messages was in thousands per minute, but only for him, who was in his planet.
For others, the chat was a blur because of the multiple replies from the gods.
In the God Space of Sunny, Thea explained the situation.
Apolo’s message appeared on the screen, detailing the plight of his lifeforms and the terrifying power of the demon demigod Shax.
Sunny replied simply, "ok."
He immediately asked Shenlong to finish this battle fast.
Back on the battlefield, Shenlong looked at Thorn, his voice as calm as still water. "I guess your time is up, Thorn," he said, adding, "Master wants to finish this battle fast."
Thorn was currently in a trance, his mind working and analyzing the possible solutions.
He suddenly said, "What if... what if we turn him into a mute?" He then looked at Shenlong, who was currently gliding towards the city.
The demon demigod was now lying on the ground, unable to move.
He was trying to say many things, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out.
The reason was simple: there was no tongue in his mouth.
"Eh! Already finished," Thorn said in an astonished voice.
He had been so engrossed in his analysis that he had completely missed the final, brutal moment.
"Follow up, boy," Shenlong said in a loud but calm voice.
Thorn immediately began to use his S-Grade Body Strengthening and Super Strength talent to bash all the remaining demons in the army.
In just half an hour, the entire demon army was finished by Thorn alone.
The battle was over, and the city was saved.
In the God Chat, Apolo typed a message, thanking Sunny for his help.
Apolo: "Thank you, Lord Cosmos."
The God Chat immediately erupted in a flurry of comments as gods praised Sunny.
"It’s not a big deal," Sunny typed, his words a stark contrast to the flurry of praises, and then, with a flicker of his consciousness, he closed the God Chat.
He was already fed up with the endless praise and flattery from the other Gods.
Their compliments, while meant to be encouraging, felt hollow.
They were celebrating a single battle won, while he was looking at the war ahead.
His mind was already focused on his true goal: making all the Gods stronger with him.
They were too preoccupied with their own planets and spheres of influence to see the larger, more terrifying picture.
The demons would only continue to grow stronger, feeding on the despair of dying lifeforms and the power of fallen Gods.
The victory over Shax was just a temporary reprieve, a small win in a war that was only just beginning.