Mockery

Hermes looked exactly like the kind of brute Nick admired.

Nick loved the way Hermes looked.

He loved it so much he wouldn't even give Hermes another choice.

Hand over the Space Ring.

Robbery had been Camel Village's trade for countless years. If their prey handed over their Space Rings, they would sometimes let them go.

Wherever there was fighting, casualties were inevitable. The strong of the Great Earth God Realm never feared a fight, but they weren't blind to the risks, either.

No one wanted to fight for nothing.

Even battle-crazed cultivators who pursued the ultimate fight and sought breakthroughs in battle would usually look for evenly matched opponents.

Who would choose a battle they were certain to lose—or even die in?

"I told you, don't mess with me!"

Hermes said irritably.

There were two High Gods on the other side, and he didn't want to invite trouble. He already had the wealth he'd gained from crossing between planes, and he didn't particularly care if more came his way.

Money didn't interest Hermes much unless it came in an enormous hoard of Earth Crystals.

For now, he had no way to extract Sovereign's Might.

Besides, extracting Sovereign's Might required an enormous amount of currency from the God Realm, and Hermes couldn't rob enough to get it anytime soon.

Improving his strength was more important.

For him, devouring all kinds of miraculous items was the best way to grow stronger.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The metal Phoenix Bird vanished without a trace, and hundreds of Middle Gods appeared, spreading out to surround Hermes.

"Looks like this fight is unavoidable!"

"What's he saying?"

"A fight? Has this guy never seen a High God before or what? He actually wants to fight the boss?"

Achilles Erwin, Seventh Brother of Camel Village and a Wind Element Middle God who had fused two Profound Mysteries, laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

As soon as Achilles finished speaking, the bandits burst into laughter, as if they'd just heard the funniest thing in the Great Earth God Realm.

"Boss!"

He raised his eyebrows at Nick.

The other bandits wouldn't dare.

As a Middle God who had fused two Profound Mysteries, Achilles had earned his place as one of Camel Village's seven leaders through his strength.

In truth, he was third in line.

The leaders ahead of him had all died in battle, which was perfectly normal for a bandit group.

But Nick and Vester were used to calling Achilles Seventh Brother, and they didn't feel like changing it. Besides, Seventh Brother rolled off the tongue.

It even sounded kind of affectionate.

"He actually wants to fight you. You have to give him his chance!"

Achilles taunted.

"You can't even break through the boss's ultimate move. How are you supposed to fight him? Are you going to kneel down and beg the boss to argue with you?"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The bandits of Camel Village had probably grown used to Achilles's sharp tongue, because they all joined in with laughter.

They looked delighted.

In the past, Camel Village had lost men every time they went out to rob people. But ever since Nick became a Five-star God Hunter, robbery had become just a side activity.

Especially when Nick was leading the group.

What danger could there be?

Aside from the occasional unlucky soul who died, Camel Village's numbers stayed steady. They'd even stopped treating robbery as their main business.

Though Vester seemed to be mocking Hermes, he cautiously flew to another position, facing Nick from the opposite side.

He didn't know why Nick had kept the golden-haired giant alive, but a bandit group couldn't afford to lose its combat discipline.

"Boom!"

Hermes hadn't wanted to expose himself.

Even when he killed, he did so in secret. Now, he'd only just taken human form when he ran into this mess.

He couldn't help it.

Golden Threads spread for several thousand meters, no longer serving as inner armor. At the same time, he unleashed his hidden ultimate move, Mist Shadow Heavy.

"Buzz!"

The surrounding space trembled slightly, and the extreme gravity Nick had created in Gravity Space was easily canceled out.

The Gravity Space of the Great Earth Law—who didn't know how to use that?

"Ha!"

With a roar from Hermes, his ultimate move, Mist Shadow Heavy, erupted in an instant.

Like a storm of mist, it swept across the surrounding area for several thousand meters. His massive body darted through Gravity Space as if nothing could restrain him.

Enormous Golden Fist Shadows fell like a meteor shower, streaking across the sky and lighting up the entire heavens of the God Realm.

As expected of the Great Earth Law—it was truly violent and unstoppable. Even an ultimate move like Mist Shadow Heavy erupted in a completely different way.

After all, the ultimate move Mist Shadow Heavy that Hermes had naturally comprehended was supposed to be a method of control and soul defense.

Who would have thought it would erupt like this?

The inner armor formed from Golden Threads wasn't physical defense, either. It was the manifestation of Mist Shadow Heavy's soul defense.

His true body was a Golden Mountain!

As long as his Saint Domain Original Body fused with his Earth Clone, what kind of Material Attack could possibly harm him?

But the soul was different. It was the foundation of every powerful being, and no amount of protection was excessive.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Nick's Gravity Space gradually crumbled beneath Hermes's fists. The space, once as heavy as a mountain, now shattered like fragile glass under punch after punch.

Golden Fist Shadows flew everywhere!

Wherever a Golden Fist Shadow appeared, Hermes's massive figure appeared as well.

Every strike came with a thunderous boom, shaking the hearts of everyone present.

"You wasted my time and wouldn't let me leave. Then you can all die!"

Hundreds of Middle Gods were like helpless leaves in the storm of fists, torn apart mercilessly. Blood and flesh flew as screams rose one after another.

Their divine power and armor seemed utterly insignificant before this terrifying force.

Under the pressure of this extreme gravity, their bodies were as fragile as sheets of paper.

Nick's most prized Gravity Space had vanished.

Everything was under Hermes's control.

An area several thousand meters in diameter was completely enveloped by invisible Golden Threads.

They were impossible to see, but the Golden Fist Shadows filling the sky were visible to the naked eye—and deadly.

Because the bandits of Camel Village would usually witness a sight like this only once.

It would also be the last time.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Another cloud of blood mist burst into the air. The scene was brutally violent and bloody.

Hermes didn't know whether this was the influence of his Golden Mountain True Body. In his previous life, he'd been a mild-mannered person.

Why was he so violent now?

"Ah, how is this possible?"

The hundreds of Middle God bandits who had followed them were dead on the spot. How long had it been since Camel Village had suffered losses like this?

A hundred thousand years? Or a million?

"No! These were all old brothers we'd gathered over countless years. How could this happen?"

Though Achilles and Vester were gravely wounded, defiant light still shone in their eyes.

"There's still a chance. The boss is a Five-star God Hunter. He'll definitely kill this bastard."

Even so, nothing could change the fact that Camel Village had been wiped out.

But as long as they survived—

Camel Village could be rebuilt one day.

"Maybe we really should have gone into a city and built up our business."

With the wealth they'd accumulated over so many years, Camel Village could easily have bought a house in a city's commercial district.

There would have been nothing wrong with changing their business model and going into trade.

But then they could never have made another fundamental breakthrough in strength.

A comfortable environment could only foster increasingly decadent attitudes.

"No, I did nothing wrong!" Nick thought angrily.