Watching Verethragna disappear into motes of light, Su Mo also let out a small sigh of relief.
That was close. Verethragna almost broke through my twentieth layer of defense and reached the final twenty layers of counter-attack spells and the last ten layers of life-saving spells.
That was truly dangerous!
In reality, Verethragna was no weak opponent.
Just as the protagonist of the original story was able to rampage through the Campione! world relying on his Authorities, Verethragna's other incarnations were also absurdly powerful, in addition to his Golden Sword, one of the strongest anti-god special attack weapons.
Whether it was the Bull incarnation representing immense strength or the Phoenix incarnation symbolizing speed, their traits were quite troublesome.
If it were just simple brute force or divine speed, Su Mo could have dealt with them easily. As long as he could determine the fixed output limit, he would have a way to counter it.
Whether by strengthening himself, weakening the enemy, or predicting and evading, there was room to maneuver.
But Verethragna's two incarnations had no fixed values; they were the type that grew stronger against the strong and weaker against the weak.
The true effect of these two incarnations was to be "stronger than the enemy" and "faster than the enemy." In other words, no matter how strong Su Mo's physique was, no matter how much he strengthened himself, Verethragna could always enhance himself to be slightly stronger and slightly faster.
Most techniques were incapable of leveling a conceptual advantage of that magnitude.
Against weaker opponents, these two incarnations weren't very useful, but against strong opponents, they could force a 50/50 situation, providing a clingy, persistent effect.
The protagonist of the original story had relied on this trait to fight powerful enemies and escape danger many times.
Not to mention his other incarnations.
The firepower of the White Stallion, the close-combat skills of the Camel, the explosive power of the Boar, and the lightning of the Ram were all difficult opponents.
The power of Verethragna's individual incarnations was often comparable to the complete Authority of many other Heretic Gods.
Coupled with his martial arts as a war god and his masterful use of his Authorities, Su Mo suspected that if he had been this motivated from the start, he would never have reached a stalemate with the God King Melqart, but would have likely cut him down directly.
As a war god who had once single-handedly challenged a pantheon of gods in mythology without being at a disadvantage, his advantage against other gods was simply too great.
Fortunately, Su Mo was fully prepared, and Verethragna's incarnation information was completely transparent to him.
With targeted countermeasures, the Golden Sword had difficulty dealing with techniques from such a wide array of mythologies, and his other incarnations also had corresponding attribute weaknesses.
In the end, after assessing his opponent's fighting style, he directly used a defensive counter-attack strategy to successfully overwhelm the war god with a sea of techniques.
"He won... that quickly?!"
On the other side, watching Verethragna's third form get completely obliterated, Erica couldn't believe her eyes.
As far as she knew, even for a veteran God-Slayer, successfully hunting a god usually took at least a week. Yet Su Mo clearly hadn't become a God-Slayer yet; he was still a mere human.
And he had accomplished the great deed of slaying a Heretic God head-on in under a minute?
Even the universally acknowledged strongest God-Slayers, Marquis Voban and Luo Hao, probably couldn't achieve something like that, right?
No! It should be said, it was absolutely impossible for them to achieve something like that!
If she had heard correctly, before Verethragna disappeared, he was lamenting that he couldn't even force Su Mo to use his full strength.
Did that mean that even slaying a Heretic God in under a minute was a result achieved while holding back?
Rin Tohsaka: "Guh! So this is a battle between powerhouses?"
Rin Tohsaka: "It's like a scene from mythology! If Lord Su Mo hadn't held back, the entire island probably would have sunk into the Mediterranean!"
Kanae: "I was just thinking about something."
Rin Tohsaka: "What is it?"
Kanae: "An individual who can easily slay gods and achieve many miracles that even Heretic Gods cannot... for us, what's the difference between him and a god?" Kanae asked in a daze.
She wasn't trying to flatter him; she was just expressing what she felt in her heart. If she hadn't joined the chat group and witnessed Su Mo's terrifying growth rate with her own eyes, she really wouldn't see any difference between him and a god.
Hearing Kanae's words, Rin pondered for a few seconds and then shook her head.
Rin Tohsaka: "No, of course there's a difference."
Kanae: "What difference?"
Rin Tohsaka: "A god's power has its limits. Lord Su Mo's speed of getting stronger has no limits."
Rin Tohsaka: "To compare Lord Su Mo to a god is perhaps to belittle him."
In the past, they would never have imagined that the word "god" could one day be considered a derogatory term. But now, after hearing Rin's description, no one voiced any objections.
Madoka: "Rin-oneechan is right!"
Madoka: "After watching the big brother's battle scene, I suddenly feel like magical girls are a bit too weak."
Rin Tohsaka: "Honestly, true."
Rin Tohsaka: "It's for kids, after all!"
Rin, still unaware that magical girls were real, casually agreed with Madoka's opinion.
Seeing this, Su Mo raised an eyebrow, his expression a little strange.
Magical girls are weak?
No, no, no. I don't know about other magical girls, but Madoka's side is definitely not weak. Never mind gods, everyone in the Campione! world combined wouldn't be enough for a single flick of Godoka's finger. Multiversal beings are few and far between, even across all the myriad worlds.
Su Mo: "Don't worry about it. Power isn't the core of a magical girl, and a magical girl's power isn't necessarily weaker than a god's."
Madoka: "Oh, right!"
Madoka: "Thank you for the reminder, Su Mo-oniichan! More than power, hope and love are the real reasons I like magical girls."
As if enlightened, with Su Mo's reminder, Madoka reaffirmed her original intentions.
Just then, Erica thought of something and immediately asked, "Speaking of which, since Lord Su Mo successfully slayed a god, do you feel any urge to sleep?"
"No." Su Mo shook his head, his mind perfectly clear.
"Hmm, according to past information, when a God-Slayer first kills a god, they are usually in a near-death comatose state. Only after waking up do they get reborn as a God-Slayer and gradually master their Authorities... You're the first one to accomplish the great deed of god-slaying completely unharmed, Lord Su Mo. How are you going to become a God-Slayer like this?" Erica was a little lost.
Faced with this unprecedented exception that was Su Mo, past experience seemed completely inapplicable.
Hearing this, Su Mo finally understood what Erica was thinking, and he immediately shook his head.
"No need to worry. The God-Slayer rebirth ritual hasn't started yet. Someone will surely come to summon me soon. We just need to wait a bit."
"Is that so?" Hearing Su Mo's words, Erica felt much more at ease.
As long as it doesn't affect Lord Su Mo becoming a God-Slayer, it's fine... But why is Lord Su Mo so familiar with the process of becoming a God-Slayer?
Before she could ask in detail, Su Mo suddenly stood up.
"The ritual is starting. I'll be going for a bit."
As he spoke, a spatial rift immediately appeared in front of him. Su Mo stepped into it, and his figure vanished instantly.
"This aura... is it a spatial passage to the Netherworld?"
With Su Mo's instructions, Erica wasn't worried, just a little surprised by his destination.
Could it be that the God-Slayer's rebirth ritual is actually conducted in the Netherworld?
In the chat group, hearing their conversation, the others finally remembered that in the Campione! world, killing a god had a special meaning.
Rin Tohsaka: "Speaking of which, Lord Su Mo should be becoming a God-Slayer soon, right?"
Erica: "That's right!"
Erica: "Although what Lord Su Mo did was more of a hunt than a slay, strictly speaking."
The one-word difference carried a completely different meaning.
Rin Tohsaka: "I remember you said, Erica, that a God-Slayer is a nation-destroying existence."
Rin Tohsaka: "Does that mean Lord Su Mo is about to become a Tier 3 powerhouse?"
Erica: "Yes! In fact, in terms of actual combat power, Lord Su Mo is probably already at a Tier 3 level, right?"
Rin Tohsaka: "I know that, of course!"
Rin Tohsaka: "What I wanted to say is, today is only the first day Lord Su Mo has come into contact with mana!"
With a long sigh, the young Rin lamented.
At these words, the entire chat group fell silent.
That's right. It was only the first day he had come into contact with mana, and Su Mo had already gone from a Tier 0 ordinary person to a Tier 3 powerhouse.
Comparing that to the time they had been in the group, the members' expressions immediately became complicated.
Comparisons are odious!