Ch.291 Living Warrior or Dead Sacrifice
Jörma rose up above the sea with her eyes focused on the winged-man with a blazing 3rd eye. This close, she could tell that it was most definitely an Evil Eye. Her own Evil Eye was throbbing incessantly and sending hunger pangs throughout her mind that urged her to devour the man, or to be more specific his 3rd Eye. However, it wasn’t nearly to the point that she could not control herself.
It would be an interesting height of foolishness if she were to actually attack such an important ally, especially on such a perilous day like this where a storm was announcing the start of dark days. So she only stared at him for a little while before looking up at Gaia.
…
Liyanda’s heart beat rapidly within her chest as her muscles tensed up with the urge to flee or strike. It had been a while since she had felt such danger but facing the predatorial glare of such a terrifying beast, she couldn’t help but freeze.
She wasn’t even the target of the 3-eyed scarlet glare, she was sure that the snake was looking at Pharaoh who was next to her. The strange reaction he had been having to the giant beast had only gotten worse the closer it got. And now, she could practically feel him vibrating through the weird link they themselves shared.
In any case, there was no doubt now. This was definitely Jörma the Devourer, the Beast Empress from Fortissimum and ruler of the unique Snake species. It was called unique because the Snake race could only be found in the Fortissimum Continent. Most other species like the wolves or the eagles could be found in every land, but not the Snake or Dragon race (amongst a few others).
Jörma was huge. Just the part of her body that was revealed above the water was already bigger than everyone else by multiple times. Apparently there were 2 other beings in Fortissimum that were of similar size but they were something called Celestial Beasts, which was something even greater than the Law Beasts. They had ridiculous colossal sizes and unparalleled might, along with runes on their body that not only enhanced their power and defence but also allowed them to absorb Magical Energy, but in exchange they could not shift into Enlightened Forms. They were in the 4th Realm but they were not Enlightened Beasts.
But Jörma was not one of them. She was as big as the alleged Celestial Beasts but she had an Enlightened Form like an Enlightened Beast. Wasn’t that unfair?
Other than that, she had perfectly unblemished dark scales that looked very durable, an imposing hood that blocked out a good portion of the sky, and of course, the famous 3 crimson eyes.
Even after Jörma looked away Liyanda was still reeling, and she could feel that Pharaoh wasn’t doing any better.
…
Pharaoh struggled to focus through the uncanny feeling of danger that was hammering into his body. He hated the feeling. It was utterly humiliating. He has sworn to himself that he would never be prey to anyone else ever again but now, there was nothing that he could say to convince himself that he wasn’t a tasty meal for the Devourer.
From a distance his Eye had felt some excitement amongst the panic, giving him the illusion that he could possibly turn things around or utilise some sort of trick to snatch a victory, but smothered in the Devourers aura, there was nothing to be felt but imminent danger.
It was all he could do to not revert back to his true form and brace himself for some sort of attack. Only his pride and his trust in the Heavenly Sun Flame was what allowed him to act like he was unfazed. Well… He must admit that having Liyanda standing next to him wasn’t bad either, but that was irrelevant.
Whether it was the giant devourer or the golden goddess, neither of them could compare to the Heavenly Sun Flame. And as someone who had the essence of such a being flowing in his body, he had the courage to face anything, even if death was certain.
…
Gaia continued to stare at the Dragons as they gradually calmed themselves down. It was only when things were mostly quiet, only when the few sounds that could be heard were the rush of waves, splatter of rain and rumble of thunder, that she turned her attention to the rest of the gathering.
Today was a very important day and the path to success was very narrow. She could not allow any mistakes.
She did not know why this World was so strange, but just as it was filled with many great opportunities that could not be found elsewhere, there were also many unprecedented horrors that one had to constantly watch out for.
Moreover, the history of this World was so young and nobody had been taught about restraint. There were very few of the so-called unspoken rules here, and most people just did whatever they wanted. In a World like this, such a mentality could easily lead to calamity.
Envy was the biggest example of this problem but he was far from being the only one.
Usually, a society would learn their lesson by surviving tragedies and learning from history, but once again, there was little to no history here. Instead, there were many looming tragedies for the world to learn lessons from.
For Gaia, reincarnating into an era like this in a World like this was both fortunate and unfortunate. She could obtain much in a time like this, like the godhood she had lucked upon, but it was also very, very dangerous. Even for an ex-immortal like her. This World was not to be underestimated. She had learnt that lesson many times and was unwilling to take another.
For that reason, as she opened her mouth to speak, she made sure to use a few techniques that would either aid in charm or aid in mental suggestion. Moreover, she increased the power of her aura, letting the creatures below feel the might of her divinity.
She wasn’t willing to suffer a tragedy with these people just so that they could learn an important lesson. She wanted victory and needed these people here to achieve it. Technically, if everything went to plan they would all win, but whether they won as a living warrior or as a dead sacrifice was up to their own ability.