NOVEL NEXT chapter 38: Invasion of Heaven
The colossal explosion was actually an alarm set by the gods in the event of an invasion.
The last time the mages attacked, they disrupted her research for a million years.
The God of Fate was quite isolated, only caring about experimenting, so not being able to do what she liked for a million years was traumatic for her.
"It's because of that Rank 10 apple again," she thought.
The Rank 10 apple, which the Protector stole, reappeared when the two rivers merged. It was immediately taken by the gods and transferred to a safe place.
God of Fate was actually looking forward to studying it.
However, this mage invasion was unexpected. An attack by mages would usually create grand disturbances in the river, making it impossible for her not to notice it.
"This is very disturbing that I, the God of Fate, haven't noticed such a huge event! Something is wrong with the River of Time!" she thought.
She then teleported directly to the gathering place of the gods.
Usually, reaching there would take a while, but as this was an emergency, she used a formation key reserved for emergencies and teleported these directly.
...
The gathering place was packed with 111 gods.
Every single god arrived in a few moments. All were rank 9, but most were in the initial stages, with only a few at peak rank 9.
The God of Skies, one of the gods at peak rank 9, said, "The mages released their avatars; they are now in heaven."
Mages never truly enter heaven; they remain on the borders, releasing their avatars.
The God of War asked, "How many?"
The God of Skies said, "173 at rank 9, a thousand at rank 8, and tens of thousands at rank 7."
Many gods' expressions changed.
The God of Secrecy said, "The rank 10 apple has already been recovered and is in the grand collection."
Many nodded.
"Everyone, create an avatar," the God of Connections said.
In this fight, nobody is going to engage in direct combat.
Everyone soon created an avatar, and 111 avatars appeared.
"What about the angels?" the God of Kindness was concerned about the angels.
"They should fight alongside us!" the God of War said.
"No, we will lose many of them in the battle!" the God of Joy said.
Unlike mages, who specialized in magic, most angels relied on their natural talents, so only a few knew how to make avatars as strong as their main bodies.
"Let's take a vote!" the God of Calculations proposed.
The gods who had spoken until now were all members of the Wisdom Council.
The Wisdom Council was composed of the strongest gods. It held legislative power, and any proposal that received the most votes would become a binding law for all gods.
Unless it gets challenged by the Executive Council and struck down by the Gods Council, but that is beside the point.
The vote was tied 5-5.
In a tie vote, the side that the God of Kindness voted with wins. This is an old tradition in heaven.
"Therefore, no angels will help us! This fight just got much more difficult!" the God of Magic said, dissatisfied with the results.
"We are fighting in heaven! With many defending formations in place, it should not be hard to defend," the God of Joy, who voted not to include angels, said.
"Then, should we use the 'secret treasure?'" God of Goodness asked.
"Like always, let's vote," said the God of Calculations.
After the vote, the result was 6-4.
The God of Secrets smiled bitterly but didn't say anything.
All this may have sounded slow, but in reality, it took less than one second.
Soon, the avatars began to teleport to the designated locations.
Angel's avatars also began to move, but most were far weaker than their main bodies.
There was no need for a commander.
Commanders were mainly for unifying an army, unifying in battle strategy, goals, heart, etc. But gods were already unified, so there was no need for a commander.
...
On the mages' side, eight mages were discussing. All of them were at the peak of rank 9.
Dyer Continent was the strongest mage continent but wasn't the only one. Hundreds of mage continents existed, and nine peak rank 9 mages existed among them.
Out of the nine, eight were present.
"Let's move to the gods' gathering place," said Lee, the dean of the Humanoids Academy.
These eight peak rank 9 mages knew each other well, so there wasn't much debate.
Everyone agreed that they should move quickly, so without wasting time, they all started moving towards the first obstacle, a defensive formation.
"Upside down!" Lee cast.
The formation was shaken but stood firm without becoming upside down.
However, as more and more mages cast spells, it soon became overwhelmed and fell apart!
It was a rank 9 formation with both defensive and offensive abilities, but it didn't stop them for long in the face of such a horde of tens of thousands of high-level mages.
Just as that formation collapsed, another appeared in its place. This one resembled a massive building made of white marble.
It was bizarre, somehow being circular and surrounding all the mages. No matter which direction one looked, the building was everywhere.
"This is a fundamental formation; be careful!" Lee shouted.
Fundamental formations utilized one of the fundamental laws indirectly.
This one used the fundamental law of space, so no matter where they looked, the building was peculiarly surrounding them.
"Super Ultra Formation Break," cast by a peak rank 9 mage.
The spell hit the building and disappeared.
"It's using the fundamental law of space to divert attacks! It's a defensive formation," said Lee.
The use of the fundamental laws is limited, so if it uses it to defend, it means it lacks attacking power.
Joel, another peak rank 9 mage and the leader of the Law Academy took out an item. It was a rank 9 magic treasure with a unique brilliance shaped like a dagger.
He pointed the dagger at the building and waved it. A gigantic cut appeared directly on the building!
Lee knew what the treasure was.
It was named 'remote dagger,' a treasure that could use the fundamental law of space to cut faraway places.
No defense can work against it.
Its mechanism is different from teleportation. Teleportation involves traveling through space by jumping; it can be blocked if someone is completely isolated from all directions.
However, this dagger isn't jumping; it simply appears far away without traversing the space.
The cut on the building healed, but as Joel made more and more cuts, it gradually became unable to recover in time.
Lee also took out her treasure, called 'Humanoid Way.' It was shaped like a humanoid body statue, the size of a palm.
It looked harmless, but its power was terrifying. It could create humanoid life! It was not costless, but after saving up for millions of years, Lee now had a lot of reserves.
She waved the 'Humanoid Way' and created a rank 9 mage outside the formation.
He looked like a hybrid of an elf and a human, and as soon as he appeared, he started to attack the formation from the outside. With a combination of inside and outside attacks, the huge building soon crumbled!
"Continue without dispersing," Lee said.
Dispersing in heaven is idiotic, as there are many rank 9 traps.
They can crush any defensive formation when they are together, but even one simple rank 9 formation may trap them if they are alone.
The rank 9 Lee created also joined them.
He is a real person but is only temporary. His existence has a continued cost on the 'Humanoid Way,'
Rank 9 mages carried lower-ranking mages to prevent them from remaining behind.
Soon, they reached another formation, but this one was not empty.
It was staffed with more than 100 gods. It was shaped like a castle.
The God of Magic shouted, "You won't get what you want, so please retreat before inflicting more damage to the world."
Lee looked respectful.
God of Magic was the best when it came to understanding magic in the entire world.
Still, it was a war, so she said, "We want that apple, and we are going to get it, so please stop this bloodshed and give it up," she said.
Technically speaking, not a single drop of blood was shed during this invasion, but it didn't hurt to say it.
"Start," the God of Magic said.
The castle shone and disappeared.
"More fundamental law of space! Why do they have so many formations with the fundamental law of space?" she was surprised by this.
"This spell is strange!" Jorge, another rank 9 mage, said.
"I just lost connection to my main body! This spell can isolate a rank 9 avatar spell!" Joel said.
Lee also noticed this and sighed. "This invasion failed!"
Avatars are closely related to their main body, and the main body provides all their energy. Most avatars cannot even remain conscious if they lose connection with their main body.
Rank 7 and 8 avatars soon dissipated, as they could not remain conscious without their main body.
"That castle can use very advanced space magic! With that there, we cannot do much! Only if Dyer was here!" Lee thought.
Dyer had the 'Source Eye,' which could see the source of everything. It was an extremely useful ability.
With it, they could quickly discover all weaknesses and break all formations.
The 'Source Eye' had no known rival in the entire world!
Soon, rank 9 mages also began to dissipate.
Lee also sighed and voluntarily dissipated herself, along with all her magic treasures.
These magic treasures were also avatars, with the originals still on her main body.
...
The mages outside soon discovered the problem.
"That castle can isolate the avatars. With that there, we cannot win!" Lee said.
With the invasion failing, everyone returned and started researching how to counter that castle.
The first invasion of heaven failed!
...
The gods looked at the void in front of them. It was dark, devoid of anything.
This void was created by one of the abilities of the 'secret treasure.' It was not its ultimate ability that could only be used once, but even so, it was terrifying.
The God of Magic, who was controlling the treasure at the moment, said, "They are gone."
Then, he turned off the treasure, and the void disappeared. No trace of the mages remained.
When the mages first arrived, the gods didn't plan to use the secret treasure immediately, but after the mages broke the 'Endless Palace' formation, they decided to use it.
"We deceived the mages, making them think this castle can do this, but we cannot hide it forever. Let's not use it again," God of Secrets, who opposed using the 'secret treasure,' said.
"The mages will now be hesitant to invade again for a long time, so it's time for us to study that apple and see if we can improve the formations with it," the God of Magic said.
Everyone nodded and soon dispersed.
...
God of Fate also returned and sighed.
"It looked easy! How did they create that void?" Rachel asked.
The God of Fate trusted Rachel but still spoke vaguely, "It was done with a special ability related to the fundamental law of space."
"Now, let us experiment with the river of time!" she said.
"Wait, I have a request!" she said.
"What is it?" she asked curiously.
"I want you to create some pills for body improvement! You're great at research, so please do it!" she pleaded.
Surprised by this request, God of Fate didn't ask anything and simply said, "Sure."
With her knowledge, inventing some pills was easy.
...
Zagronan looked at Iggad, who was playing with his Legos.
"You want me to be the commander of the 7th army?" he asked, surprised.
"That's right! Recently, many nobles are fighting, so I should be careful," he said.
Iggad's army had two main factions: one cannon fodder army and the other elite army.
The elite army consisted of only intelligent demons, while most in the cannon fodder army were unintelligent.
The 1st to 6th armies were elite, while the 7th to 36th armies were cannon fodder.
The intelligent armies were constantly training and were in barracks, but the cannon fodder was just outside the city in what was essentially a prison.
After all, it's impossible to teach order to brainless demons.
"But the 7th is comprised of a few billion brainless demons," Zagronan began to complain.
"What? I'm giving you such a benefit, and you're still complaining?" Iggad asked, surprised.
Being a commander is prestigious, even if it's the commander of idiots.
"Thank you, Lord Iggad!" Zagronan came to himself and bowed.
Even if it's only because of the salary, it's still worth it.
Zagronan left, and Elizabeth arrived.
"Thank you, Baron, for listening to my recommendation!" she said.
Iggad smiled widely and started to make Elizabeth's figure with the Legos.