Ch 185 – A Deal Between Demigods

When seen from outer space, the world of Earth has undergone rapid changes. One can find the clouds in the sky were disorganized and seemingly divided, continents had patches of emerald green, burning red, ocean blue, crackling yellow, and so much more.

It was as if it has undergone a second apocalypse, but this time it was much worse. Plants have overgrown cities, undead beings ranging from zombies to skeletons created lands of death, dark clouds of thunder loomed over mountains, seas of fire spread out over previously lush forests, settlements were flooded, and the ground has fractured and ruptured to an incredible degree that no natural disaster can possibly do.

All throughout the human cities, one can find monsters roaming around like unbridled beasts. From Orcs occupying buildings, to wyverns resting atop skyscrapers, and ginormous mantises whose scythes destroyed everything in sight. Not only that, but one can also find fractures in space open up from time to time as more beasts and monsters rush out in hordes and swarms.

It was truly an apocalyptic sight, a sight that would leave many humans feeling hope and despair. But in this world?

"GO GO GO!" A loud shout was heard, and the monsters in the surrounding area turned their heads towards the sky, and there they saw it.

A large aircraft hovering silently in the sky, with the shuttle opened wide to show a group of humans inside. They wore the same series of armor, consisting of white bodily armor with the golden symbol of the Paragon Guild etched onto their chest. Each of them wielded their own respective weapon, from a ginormous sword to a bow, staves, spears, and such.

They quickly jumped off the aircraft, and energy gathered around their backs as the wind gathered around their body. A boom was heard, and their speed drastically increased to an unprecedented degree.

Seeing the humans approaching, the beasts roared furiously and those who can fly flew up into the sky. As a horde of wyverns and flying monsters approached them, the hunters' eyes flashed with blue light and they grinned.

"You heard Ai, let's do this!" The one wielding the ginormous red sword shouted, and they all nodded their heads.

They dispersed quickly into a wide formation, and the one wielding a bow stretched the bowstring, and wind gathered around the bowstring to form an arrow of wind. Not only that, but the bow itself let out a faint yellow light, and electricity crackled around the green windy arrow.

"Ha!" the woman with the staff shouted and magic gathered around the archer. The aura the arrow held quickly turned dangerous and powerful, and the muscles of the archer bulged outwards as if boundless energy coursed through his entire body.

"<Nature's Wrath: Eye of the Storm!>" With a loud shout, the arrow flew as winds howled like a mighty beast.

As the arrow approached the horde of flying beasts, it expanded rapidly to an astronomical degree. Like a moving tornado of wind and lightning, it dragged the beasts into its strong suction force, crushing them with harsh winds and electrocuting them with terrifying lightning, paralyzing them in place as they struggle to escape the tornado's grasp.

Seeing that, the leader of the group—the hunter with the ginormous red sword, had his eyes glow in awe while muttering: "The Paragon Guild, they truly are powerful."

"Whew, yeah…" The bow wielder said out of breath, beads of sweat fell from his forehead but quickly, a strange mystical force erupted from the armor as his body cooled down and he returned to his peak physical condition in mere moments.

"Even if we are already at S-Rank, killing so many monsters in such an absurd fashion…," The woman with the staff said with glowing eyes while tightening her grasp on her staff.

"And not only that, but the experience gained from killing so many monsters in just so much! This would have taken us months to gain if we were to normally explore S-Rank dungeons which were quite rare to get back then, but now? Wyverns and other powerful beasts roam in hordes, all for us to take for the picking!" The leader continued while clenching his fists, he clearly felt the surge in strength as the mysterious system increased their stats just like a game.

"W-Wait! Look!" The archer called out; his eyes widened in fear as he pointed towards the sky.

They quickly turned their eyes toward the area he was pointing in, and they saw a large crack in space appear in the far distance, shocking them out of their wits as traces of powerful aura seeped out of the rift.

"Z-Z-Z-rank!" The leader cried out in alarm. "Run!"

Without waiting for his call, the other members of the team were already retreating rapidly, creating a vast distance between them and the rift.

As they stared at the distance in fear, they saw a pair of ice-blue wings poke through, and the surrounding area instantly turned blistering cold. Snowflakes fell from the sky, and ice covered the buildings and ground just from the mere presence of the unknown Z-Rank monster.

A loud shrill cry erupted from the rift, and the full body of the monster was shown. Ice blue feathers, hands like wings and legs like a bird's, with a humanoid torso and head, showing a pair of mounds with an ice blue tip.

Its eyes stared fiercely at the group, showing the hostility of the monsters towards human life as if they were the monster's mortal enemy. Without waiting, it opened its mouth and a beam of ice energy erupted from its mouth that shot towards the group at an unprecedently fast speed.

They widened their eyes in fear as the aura of death covered their bodies. Even as S-Ranks, they were hopeless in fending off a Z-Rank being, they were simply ants in its eyes without any chance to fight back.

But just as the beam of ice energy was about to hit them, they heard loud booming laughter erupt in front of them along with an iconic hair akin to a river of blood greeting their awe-inspired eyes.

"Have no fear, for I am here! The Myriad Beast Emperor!" Gal Jum laughed loudly while a barrier of bright orange flames appeared in front of him, blocking the beam of ice energy without any problems.

Erupting from his back, a pair of fiery red wings poke through while the air around him turned hot and the air of life seemed to surround his body. Just one glance alone would show the endless vigor coursing through his figure.

"Now it's my turn to attack!" He grinned menacingly, fierce fiery energy gathered around his right fist and his eyes glowed like flames. His blood-red hair burned brightly like a river of fire, and he pulled back his fist.

"HA!" He shouted loudly, and with a single punch, a sea of flames erupted and greeted the Z-Rank Harpy at an immensely fast speed.

Without being able to respond, the sea of fire consumed the harpy's body, enveloping it inside its harsh heat that in mere moments, a blue streak flew towards Gal Jum's body and the people behind him saw the faint totem of a blue harpy form on Gal Jum's exposed back, where countless other totems can be seen.

'This… This is the power of the Paragon Guild?!'

***

Isaac Deathwill can be seen sitting inside a wide room with multiple other chairs surrounding a round table. Floating atop the round table, he can see floating blue screens and projections of the cities all throughout the world, the hunters, the beasts, the monsters, so much valuable data presented itself to him that would shock many out of their wits.

To have eyes and ears all throughout the world, it shows the fearsome information-gathering capabilities of the Paragon Guild.

Just as he was staring at the projections in the air in front of him, Isaac Deathwill waved his arms and dismissed the projections, changing it into a blank blue screen hovering in the middle of the room just as space warped opposite to him.

There he saw a strange old man, with long white hair and a long white beard. His skin was wrinkled and the vicissitudes of time were clearly shown on his body, and yet his eyes glowed brightly with such brilliance that gave him the air of not a mortal, but an immortal being far beyond the mortal realm.

"The Immortal King of the Immortal Sect, you truly hid yourself from the world for so long. Tell me, how fun has it been using your powerful ability to create your own sect?" Isaac Deathwill leaned forward with a cold smile, and the temperature in the room dropped instantly as if invisible collisions happened in the air.

"Fufufu, it seems like I was correct that you yourself hold the same power as mine. I must say, I'm quite surprised how fast you've built your own Guild, maybe your power is similar to mine?" The Immortal King laughed lightly while sitting down, his eyes were amicable and calm, and the tense atmosphere seemed to have no effect on his mental state.

"Hmm, you truly are quite the mysterious character. You gained your cheat at such an old age, but built up your own powerful sect that dominated China a few years after the start of the apocalypse, and you remained as an S-Rank hunter, withholding the fact that you've been Z-Rank for decades already," Isaac Deathwill commented with a smile, but that smile made the Immortal King pause for a second.

Regaining his calm, he smiled and said: "Good, good. It seems like my decision to join you has not been wrong!"

He waved his hand, and a streak of white light flew from his sleeves and stopped in front of Isaac Deathwill. There, a piece of paper presented itself to him, with the signature of Immortal King written in blood on the bottom of the paper.

Isaac smiled lightly and grabbed the paper while saying: "I'm sure that you'll be pleased by joining the Paragon Guild, Immortal King. But I must trouble you to leave yourself as important matters still await me."

"Oh? What important matters would even trouble the powerful leader of the Paragon Guild?" Immortal King chuckled.

"Well, saving the entire world is kind of a hard thing to do," Isaac responded with a joking tone, which caused the Immortal King to laugh.

"Very well! I must bid my farewell, may our partnership be one of trust and not blood."

As bright white light erupted from his body, the Immortal King disappeared from Isaac's vision and he was left alone once more inside the round table room.

Seeing that he was gone, Isaac lightly grinned while mana coursed through his hand onto the rolled paper, "Of course, our partnership is one of unconditional trust."

Bright gray flames erupted from his palm and covered the paper, and in the next moment, the piece of paper disappeared into nowhere while a malicious light flashed in Isaac's eyes.

***

In the previously grand and holy True World of Angelica, one would be greeted by a heavenly palace the size of multiple mountains stacked on top of each other. Surrounding it were cities and towns formed by angels, with white wings and golden halos atop their heads. If heaven was real, then Angelica's True World was closest to what heaven would be like.

But now, she stared at the huge hole spanning for thousands of kilometers, with the strange unbridled law of chaos corroding her world into destruction. The fluffy clouds were no more, the golden sky had a huge black void on top, and the corrosion continued without stopping.

Even after removing the initial light, the chaos corrosion continued without her being able to stop it. And that was partly due to her being weakened and restricted by Ordo.

"Sigh, this would take me a long time to recover, but I am still a verifiable True God. I can still quickly… Who is there!"

She turned her head, and there she saw it, a humanoid figure of dark purple light silently hovering in the air in the far distance. Instantly, a feeling of danger tackled her mind as she tensed up to see someone unknown appear in her True World.

AN: This chapter has 2070 words.

(November 3, 2022 – 344th day of writing)