The gods naturally paid no heed to Rovi.
But what followed was an unceasing barrage of thunderous blasts.
Boom, boom, boom—
Loaded with the courage of Uruk's people and linked together by Enkidu, Human Cannons rained down from the sky. Vast sheets of flame slammed into Gugalanna's advancing golden hooves, igniting fires throughout the dense cedar forest where roots churned forward.
The Bull of Heaven let out a pained howl. It swayed and staggered, its advancing steps halting.
On the other side, Humbaba of the Cedar Forest was likewise impeded. The rolling, boiling masses of colossal wood let out indescribable screams beneath the cover of flames.
This was pain Gugalanna and Humbaba had never anticipated.
If it had been ordinary artillery fire, even a thousand times denser, it could not have harmed them in the slightest.
But at this moment, the Human Cannons stirred by Gilgamesh, drawn forth by Rovi, and linked by Enkidu—filled with the concepts within every heart in Uruk—represented, to a certain extent, an attack formed from humanity's collective will across this land—
This was a power that even the heavenly gods could not entirely negate.
This was 'humanity' resisting 'heaven' and 'earth.'
"To think they have even accomplished something like this... Those three have completely slipped beyond our control!" Anu's voice was heavy with gravity.
Just as Rovi could sense, the gods' eyes were scattered like stars, appearing high in the sky as they watched and conversed.
"Those who have offended the majesty of the gods—no matter what, they must die!" A clear voice, entirely unlike Anu's lofty and boundless voice that resembled the sky itself, rang out. It was the Venus Goddess's true body speaking.
"It does not matter. So long as two of the three remain, we can still achieve our goal... Once this is over, I will use the shells of the Bull of Heaven and the Cedar Forest to unleash a great flood, cleansing the earth and showing those who resist the gods that the gods cannot be defied!" The voice howled like storm winds and thunder. It belonged to Adad, god of storms and thunder.
They expressed surprise at the mortal world, yet they still did not care.
Because the gods knew that such courage could not last.
This extraordinary Human Cannon barrage could only fire once.
It could only make the Bull of Heaven and the Cedar Forest feel pain and delay their advance. It could not directly inflict grievous wounds.
Yet what the gods knew, Rovi and the others naturally knew as well.
For them, that was enough.
Seeing Gugalanna and Humbaba suffer setbacks, the people of Uruk realized that as long as they united, those beings were not invincible.
Even if their previous courage had faded,
their hearts had gathered as one.
An intangible concept had already unified and manifested at this moment.
It could be used by Rovi!
This was merely the first move on the board.
As the final Human Cannon fell, the massive divine beast and magical beast finally extinguished the flames upon their bodies.
The golden hoof of its right leg rose high again, and its bull horns towering into the clouds drew near once more as though breaking through the cloud layer.
But before Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, could take another step—an unimaginably vast distance to ordinary people—it suddenly froze.
Its eyes, high above the clouds and shining like stars, trembled slightly as though they had seen something terrifying.
It—saw Rovi of the Uruk City-State.
A tremendous bellow rang out at once.
The Bull of Heaven abruptly turned around... and ran.
"???"
Everyone was bewildered, their faces blank with confusion.
But someone quickly remembered what Rovi had done before... remembered how he had once risked everything to kill the Bull of Heaven before it had fully manifested.
It had been traumatized, hadn't it—?
It was strangely pitiful.
But while the Bull of Heaven wanted to flee, someone had no intention of letting it go.
Its raised elephantine leg suddenly wobbled.
Then, as though trapped in mud, its left foot, still planted on the ground, sharply tilted and collapsed.
Beneath it, blackness spread like a tide, its abyssal color flooding outward.
It was the aura of the Underworld that had previously been used to imprison the Bull of Heaven, only to shatter when it fully manifested and broke free.
It had not vanished.
Instead, it had naturally sunk into the earth, and now, under the Goddess of the Underworld's control, it once again became shackles binding the bull's advance.
Deep within the underworld, inside the Underworld Goddess's temple built from the piled ruins of chaotic ages, the golden-haired goddess seated upon the Divine Seat opened her eyes.
Before her, faint blue flames flickered in and out. The souls of all living things that had come here to rest after death responded at this moment to the desire in the heart of the Underworld Goddess who sheltered them.
"I want to help him... the only person who admires and likes me."
At the same time,
he was also the one I liked—
The goddess's expression hardened, no longer bearing its previous gentleness.
The flames of the dead burned even more fiercely.
They provided Ereshkigal with immense power.
And so, the Underworld Goddess could finally reveal her strength.
"Manifest... Kur Kigal Irkalla!" The gale roared. Surging currents of air lifted the Underworld Goddess's crimson robes and golden hair, while howling death rushed toward the sky above the underworld, as if it intended to hurl this dark realm into the mortal world.
Moo!!!
The Bull of Heaven roared. This time, what blocked its advance was no longer the abyss-like Underworld, but black mountains slowly rising from within it.
The mountains of the Underworld crashed upward!
"Ereshkigal, Goddess of the Underworld, how dare you aid those who defy the gods—" Anu's rebuking voice rang in Ereshkigal's ears.
"My sister, why are you doing this..." The Venus Goddess's true body was angry as well.
But Ereshkigal simply shut off the channels through which the gods contacted her.
For countless millennia, they had never once remembered her.
Their contact now was merely because they wanted to use her.
Ereshkigal did not care about them at all.
She only cared about the person who cared about her too!
The Underworld Goddess looked toward the mortal world once more.
The Bull of Heaven was blocked by mountains surging from the Underworld toward the mortal realm, trapped within them.
To the west, the same thing was happening. A brilliant star falling from the heavens directly covered the Cedar Forest amid an enormous, piercing shriek of friction. Humbaba's countless creeping vines were instantly struck and crushed back into the ground.
The goddess manifesting the star, Ishtar's vessel, Ishtar Rin, sat atop the star and let out an impatient cry. "Agh, why do I have to deal with something I'm so bad at!"
Wasn't it because you took a whole pile of my gems...
Rovi chuckled.
"Ishtar, you..." Anu was somewhat enraged and astonished.
"Ah, no, it wasn't me—my incarnation has been interfered with by a human, so I can't control her either. Really, believe me!"
Anu questioned her, and the Venus Goddess explained herself. By now, Ishtar Rin had indeed become an independent individual possessing the Venus Goddess's power.
Ereshkigal used the power of the earth to block the Bull of Heaven's advance, while Ishtar Rin used the stars in the sky to pin down the earth fairy's movement.
The powers of earth and heaven, heaven and earth, collided from both sides.
That opposing collision was undoubtedly arranged beforehand, a part of the plan.
During their meeting last night, Rovi had asked Ereshkigal to stop the Bull of Heaven now, then bribed Ishtar Rin with a hefty sum to hold back the Cedar Forest.
And next—
"It is our turn, humanity's turn, to take the stage!"
Rovi, Gilgamesh, and Enkidu exchanged glances and smiled at one another.
Rovi's smile was filled with anticipation.
Gilgamesh's was wild and confident.
Enkidu's lips curved into a gentle, serene smile.
None of them spoke. They merely reached out, bumped fists, then separated as though sealing an agreement.
Gilgamesh went to the Bull of Heaven.
Enkidu went to the Cedar Forest.
The collision of heaven and earth was missing the 'humanity' in between.
They would fill that gap.
They would draw upon the enormous power born from that collision.
Just as they had done before in the Monster Forest.
They linked with Rovi, who remained where he was.
Then charged into the clouds once more.
Once again... shaking the gods high above the heavens.
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