Powerless

The glass bottle spun through the air and passed directly through the “green sun,” as if the entity were not physical at all, but merely a phantom projection. It plunged unimpeded into the heart of the sphere of light, falling downward.

Miss Valente’s expression suddenly turned stern, and she clenched her fist tightly.

A short, high-pitched incantation spilled from her lips, giving rise to an uncomfortable wave of power in the air. As her fist tightened, an undercurrent expanded outward from her grip, and both glass bottles exploded into a shower of fragments, as if crushed by an invisible hand.

【Arcana, Fist of Wisdom.】

A violent explosion instantly swept through the gorge. A ball of fire detonated inside the green sphere, appearing fierce at first glance, yet compared to the gigantic sphere, it was as insignificant as a routine solar flare upon the sun back home. Moreover, it had no visible effect whatsoever—as if detonating inside a hologram. Not even the mist on the sphere's surface flickered, and the thrashing tentacles around its perimeter remained utterly unaffected, continuing to writhe erratically with nimble speed.

The attack was ineffective?

Lynch and Miss Valente exchanged a look, their expressions growing heavier.

The reaction of the evil god's manifestation was completely unexpected. Every attack felt like striking empty air. In that case, even if he activated Divine Authority, would it truly have any effect?

Divine Authority could only be activated for three minutes. If all his attacks struck nothing but air during those three minutes, he would completely lose the power to resist once time ran out, leaving him entirely at the mercy of others.

Fire flared in Miss Valente’s eyes as well. Her grand scheme to slap an evil god in the face had hit a wall, yet the noble lady had no intention of stopping. With a dark expression, she flicked her wrist, and a pitch-black object appeared in her hand.

It was a thick piece of parchment, ancient and filthy, looking so fragile it might crumble at a touch. Strange symbols and script were drawn across its surface, giving it the appearance of mere garbage. Yet the moment it was drawn out, Lynch’s inspiration sounded a frantic alarm—meaning the mystery filth on this object was at least destruction grade (level three).

【Parchment of Max (4): Experimental records of Max, a high-tier Soul Severer. Join Max on the path to truth, merging into one with its billion rays of radiance.】

“A destruction grade mystery relic capable of replicating activated abilities below rank six. If physical attacks are ineffective against it, then let's see how it likes the power of Authority. Soul Severers and Authority didn't exist in the Second or Third Ages, which is why these bastard evil gods could run rampant. Today, I'll show it what human fury feels like!”

Hss... It seemed the young lady hadn't recklessly rushed in to throw her life away after all; she possessed trump cards to protect herself. Still, a single destruction grade mystery relic likely wouldn't be enough to decisively affect an evil god's avatar, especially when they hadn't even figured out why their attacks were failing in the first place.

As Lynch weighed their strength in his mind, the noble lady glared venomously at the sphere of light. Though a flick of regret and reluctance passed over her face, she gritted her teeth, pulled out a long needle to prick her finger, and pressed a drop of blood onto the parchment.

Something eerie happened. The parchment suddenly sprang to life, wrapping tightly around Miss Valente’s finger. The scroll throbbed and squirmed, greedily sucking her blood until her finger turned pale.

After draining her for a long while, the scroll finally loosened and floated unsupported before Miss Valente. Her body swayed slightly, but she offered a faint smile to Lynch, who had stepped in to support her, before pressing her finger against the parchment once more.

The parchment had shed its ancient, filthy appearance. Glowing characters flickered across its surface, which Miss Valente read one by one as her fingers traced over them. With each symbol she touched, the luminous ink seemed to spring to life, leaping from the paper and imprinting itself onto her fingers with a bright glow.

Soon, all the glowing script on the parchment faded away, and Miss Valente grabbed hold of it, pointing her other hand—now covered in glowing characters—straight at the sphere of light.

【Authority: Stars, Ability: Starlight Burst.】

The authority of the night, a rank six ability: Starlight Burst.

The glowing script on Miss Valente’s hand blazed as brightly as the rising sun, and immediately following it, a flash of light burst from the very center of the giant sphere floating in the gorge.

The moment the light appeared, it reached peak intensity, sweeping across the entire cavern and illuminating every single corner with blinding clarity.

In the next instant, intense, blinding light combined with searing thermal energy washed over the entire cave. Their vision turned completely white before a powerful force struck them, sending them flying backward to slam heavily into the stone wall.

The cavern covered over a thousand square meters, and accounting for the volume of the gorge, its total space was several times larger. Yet under the explosive shockwave of Starlight Burst, the rock walls throughout the cave bore an immense impact, echoing with a violent roar.

To think a mere rank six ability could be so terrifying.

Pinned against the stone wall, neither of them could see anything for a time. Anxiety filled their hearts, fearful that the entire cavern would collapse around them. Only after a full minute passed did the shockwave of the light burst gradually dissipate and their sight slowly return, finally giving them a chance to inspect the results.

The good news was that the cavern hadn't collapsed; despite such a powerful impact, the cave remained eerily unaffected, without even a single loose stone falling, as if no external force could damage it. The bad news was that Mordiggian’s floating avatar remained completely unscathed, not having moved even an inch.

“How is this possible?”

Miss Valente clutched the parchment and cried out, her eyes wide with shock. A rank six Soul Severer ability possessed power far beyond normal human comprehension; unleashed at full strength, it was enough to match a fully armed medium-sized army. How could it fail to knock down even a single rock?

Was it still a lack of firepower?

It wasn't that Miss Valente hadn't considered other reasons. As a scholar, her knowledge of the occult was vastly superior to Lynch's novice understanding. The problem was that no occultist had ever been suicidal enough to study an evil god. Consequently, knowledge regarding evil gods was exceedingly scarce, leaving them without any reference cases whatsoever.

“Fine, then I'll use my absolute last resort.” Miss Valente gripped the parchment tightly, her expression shifting uncertainly. Gritting her teeth like a desperate gambler, she spoke. “Mr. Levive, I have one final option. In theory, this scroll can't be used again until a new ability is recorded. However, if I forcibly drive it into an uncontrolled state, although it will have a severe impact on us, its previously recorded ability can be used one more time in a short window. On top of that, due to the boost from losing control, the authority rank of the ability will rise directly to rank eight, which is normally enough to obliterate an entire city block. If even that can't hurt it, then I have nothing left to say. But to make it go out of control, I'll need your help...”

“Wait a moment.” Lynch’s expression turned somewhat peculiar as he stared toward a dark corner of the cave. “There seems to be something over there.”

“Hm?”

“Right now, we're completely powerless against Mordiggian, and simply increasing firepower might not solve the problem. According to the laws of the occult, any abnormal phenomenon could be a sign. So when the bright light illuminated the cavern earlier, while you were focused on using the mystery relic, I deliberately surveyed our surroundings and caught a flash of light.”

Lynch tugged Miss Valente along as they shuffled sideways along the wall, discovering a natural recess in the corner. Given the cave's current lighting, it would have been impossible to see; the earlier burst of brilliant light had been their only opportunity.

Lynch gestured for her to step back, then thrust his cane inside to poke around. A metallic clink echoed from within, and a small metal box was dragged out.

Exquisitely crafted with a clean surface, it clearly didn't belong to this ancient subterranean city—it hailed from at least the Fifth Age, when ironwork flourished.

The two instinctively glanced at each other, their eyes filled with astonishment.

A modern object in a ten-thousand-year-old ancient city?