When You Can't Win, Call the Gods

[Warning, energy remaining: 3%. The system will forcibly shut down in fifteen seconds...]

"Deactivate Overload Mode!" Lynn said without hesitation as he listened to the prompt in his mind.

It had been five full days without a word since the intelligent brain had last shut down. Lynn had no desire to go through that again, and the consecutive battles had already drained nearly ninety percent of the magic power in his body.

Yet despite such a disparity, a smile curled across Lynn's lips, because he had seized the initiative in this battle!

As a forbidden weapon of modern warfare, white phosphorus was terrifying not only because it burned through everything and was difficult to extinguish, but more importantly because of its dreadful toxicity!

That was precisely why he had sent White Dove and Joanne away, and why he had told everyone to hold their breath during the battle—to prevent them from being poisoned to death...

But fighting Antioch was different. The large-scale [White Phosphorus—Fireball Spell] and [Flame Demon Hand] had both been meant to fill this enclosed space with poisonous gas.

The close-quarters combat had been intended to wear down Antioch's stamina, stir the air, and force him to inhale even more of the toxic fumes!

By now, the timing should have been about right. Even a genuine humanoid tyrannosaur would have struggled to last this long...

Just as Lynn had expected, Antioch, hiding within his "turtle shell," had already sensed weakness spreading through his body. His head swam, his vision gradually blurred, and the abundant strength he once possessed seemed to be stripped from him bit by bit.

What kind of witchcraft was this?

In an instant, Antioch thought of the fourth-ring magic known as [Death Harvest], a horrifying spell capable of turning an entire area into a forbidden zone for the living in mere seconds.

But if his opponent were a Great Wizard capable of casting fourth-ring magic, he would have died the moment they crossed blades!

Then it could only be poison!

Antioch immediately thought of that possibility. For example, the third-ring magic [Poisonous Domain] could create a vast cloud of yellowish-green poison mist, with extremely obvious characteristics...

It was clearly too late to cast a divine spell to purge the poison. Lynn would not miss the moment when his enemy was at his weakest, immediately staking every last bit of his remaining magic power!

"[Magic—Barrage]!"

In an instant, thirty-six [Magic Missiles] floated in the air. Lynn even activated Overload Mode for another three seconds, rapidly adjusting their trajectories.

Faced with Antioch's turtle-shell strategy, Lynn had no intention of meeting him head-on. Instead, he chose to use the flexibility of [Magic Missiles] to bypass the troublesome [Divine Barrier], attack from its weak points, and send the Bishop of Nordland Territory straight to hell in one stroke!

After twenty-five years, Antioch once again experienced the sensation of death looming over him!

At this critical juncture between life and death, Antioch instead appeared incomparably calm. He had no doubt that he would perish here today, but before that, there was one final thing he could do—send this young Demon's Follower, already a Three-Ring Wizard, into hell with him!

"Great Lord of Stars, Goddess of Moon, Creator of Earth and Life, your humble servant prays here and offers up his ruined body, begging for the projection of the Supreme Lord to descend upon this place..."

Antioch chanted loudly and devoutly. With every line he spoke, his face aged another year. His skin began to wrinkle, white hair fell from his forehead to the corners of his eyes, and his voice grew lower and raspier...

In his daze, sacred hymns seemed to resound through the sealed underground space, gradually overwhelming Antioch's voice. Before long, the entire cavern began to shake violently.

"Divine... Descent... Technique?" Lynn's soul nearly fled his body as he forced the words through clenched teeth.

After arriving in this other world and learning that the Priests of the church wielded true divine spells, the thing Lynn feared most—the thing he least wanted to face—was the Divine Descent Technique!

Any being worthy of being called a god could never be overestimated. Even a projection incapable of bearing much power could flick him to death with a single finger!

When you can't win, you call the gods... Is that even fair?

Lynn cursed inwardly, launched the [Magic Missiles] whose trajectories had long been set, and leapt without hesitation into the rushing underground river behind him, not even daring to look back and see whether Antioch was dead.

More than thirty [Magic Missiles] followed their predetermined routes, bypassed the sturdy [Divine Barrier], and slammed directly into Antioch, colliding with a mysterious power.

The successive explosions were like the final straw that broke the camel's back. The underground space, having endured countless hardships, rapidly began to come apart!

Massive boulders weighing several tons continuously fell from the ceiling, crashing into the ground and river. Amid billowing smoke and dust, they swallowed everything around them.

By then, Lynn had already been swept into the raging current...

As a landlubber who had spent his life in the central regions of the Federation, Lynn had no experience swimming whatsoever. His nearly depleted magic power and stamina robbed him of any chance to struggle, leaving him only to be dragged downward by the torrent...

Yet Lynn's face showed not the slightest trace of worry. As a data archivist in his previous life, he knew very well how someone who could not swim should survive in a rapid current.

First, he had to remain calm. That was the foundation of everything. Then, he needed to make full use of the water's buoyancy.

The human body was slightly denser than water, but before jumping in, Lynn had taken a deep breath. Then he relaxed his entire body as much as possible, adjusted his center of gravity, and adopted a supine position to increase the area of contact between his body and the water's surface.

That way, as long as he held his breath until he reached a slightly calmer stretch of water, he would naturally float to the surface.

Based on this theory, Lynn calmly assumed the most standard back-floating posture. Though his body slowly sank, he paid it no mind, believing it to be the effect of the current. But as he sank deeper and deeper, a faint sense of panic arose in his heart.

Could it be that his backstroke posture still wasn't standard enough?

"071? What's going on?" Lynn could not help calling out in his mind.

The intelligent brain's prompt sounded the next moment.

[According to Article 32 of Rule Seven in Federation Diving Safety Guidelines, beginners practicing diving must not carry heavy objects, sir...]

Lynn glanced down at the steel longsword hanging from his waist, then sank all the way to the riverbed...

(PS: Thanks to dsf23dd for the 300 Qidian Coins donation. Also, this book will receive its first round of recommendations on Sunday! All kinds of data are very important during the new book period, especially follow-up reads. Please give it your support—many thanks!)