"A Heretic God of this scale is enough to strain the ley line here?"
Looking at the five manifested Heretic Gods, Su Mo pondered for a moment.
Ley lines, which included earth and water veins, could be seen as the planet's blood vessels—the so-called Great Source of magical energy.
The descent of a god was the process of gathering this Great Source and condensing it into divine power.
When a Heretic God returned to myth, their divine power would dissipate into the world, essentially giving it back.
So, on the whole, not considering entropy, the descent of a Heretic God didn't consume extra energy from reality and wouldn't bring any additional changes to the world.
However, even if it didn't consume energy macroscopically, the carrying capacity of the earth's ley lines still had to be considered in the microscopic process.
Right now, the ley line's carrying capacity had clearly reached its limit, to the point where it couldn't support the Wine God's manifestation, forcing him to descend far away and then travel over.
"The awakening of the Last King also seems to cause volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Over time, it can even lead to the end of the world. It seems these phenomena are caused by the excessive extraction of the earth's essence."
Though beings of a god's level usually only displayed nation-destroying power, that was basically a result of being constrained by the scale of energy.
While divine power could be almost endlessly extracted from the planet's ley lines, the rate of refinement was limited, thus limiting the power of their Authorities.
If this restriction could be lifted, as long as the energy supply was sufficient, a nation-destroying god could easily advance to the Tier 4 continent-sinking level, or even directly to the Tier 5 star-bursting level.
Great power works wonders. If one simply wanted to increase their strength, they only needed to raise their own magical energy limit.
For a Godslayer, this was exceptionally difficult to do. No matter how much they cultivated, the total amount of their magical energy rarely saw a significant increase.
For Su Mo, however, this was not the case. Not only was his cultivation speed far superior to that of a Godslayer, but he also had a lot of information beforehand.
In this world, there was a certain piece of equipment that could rapidly strengthen a god or a Godslayer.
"Guinevere's Magical Holy Grail... it might be worth studying when I have the time," Su Mo thought to himself.
Just like the Holy Grail in the Nasuverse, which was powerful enough to boost a Servant to the level of a god, the Magical Holy Grail in the Campione! world contained at least several dozen times the total magical energy of an ordinary Godslayer.
Even the most average Godslayer, with this divine instrument, could gain world-destroying power.
Although the current Su Mo had no urgent need to increase his strength, such a crucial divine instrument was still worth studying.
Besides the massive amount of magical energy, its use in manifesting pseudo-gods would also be quite helpful for Su Mo's research.
While Guinevere was thinking about the new king, Su Mo was also thinking about Guinevere. Though neither of them had good intentions, it had to be said that this was, in a sense, a mutual interest.
---||---
"Hmph! To dare be so disrespectful in the face of us gods, the son of a fool truly deserves to die!"
Seeing Su Mo completely ignore him, Vulcan, the god of fire and the forge, felt his temper flare. Since he had become one of the twelve Olympian gods of Rome, no one had ever dared to slight him so.
The magma beneath his feet surged, shaking the very earth. A giant hammer emerged from the fiery magma, the rising heat distorting the air.
At the same time, a series of divine instruments personally forged by Vulcan, such as the Chariot of the Sun God and the Aegis of Jupiter, also manifested.
Although he didn't have many Authorities, the effects of the divine instruments he forged were in no way inferior.
"Using the name of a sworn enemy to mock me... your sin shall be cleansed here and now!"
The Silver-Armed God King, Nuada, raised his hand slightly, shaping the flowing wind at his fingertips into an incomparably sharp greatsword of storms, its tip pointed at Su Mo.
Unlike Doni's usage, the origin of the Authority of the Severing Silver Arm was actually one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Celtic mythology: The Sword of Light, Claíomh Solais.
Claíomh originally meant "sword," and Solais originally meant "light." Therefore, the essence of this Authority was the Sword of Light that could transform all things in the world into a magic sword, changing its form until it guided one to victory.
Compared to the blade that cuts all things that Doni often used, the power before them was the true form of the magic sword.
At the same time, dark clouds and lightning gathered above Nuada's head—the manifestation of his sky Authority.
The name Nuada itself also meant "cloud-maker." Before losing his arm, he was a god who could manipulate the weather.
At this moment, he mobilized two Authorities at once, his sharp eyes locked firmly on Su Mo.
"The aura of a dragon... Sir Knight, it seems your opponent is me."
Unlike the other two gods, Siegfried chose Artoria as his opponent. As a dragon-slaying hero, he keenly judged that she possessed a strong dragon attribute.
"Wait a moment. When it comes to dragon-slaying, I cannot yield to another!"
Before Artoria could respond, Saint George took a step forward, his eyes fixed on the ahoge-king. Faced with this conflict, Siegfried was slightly silent but showed no intention of backing down.
Like hunters who had set their sights on the same prey, the atmosphere between the two grew slightly tense.
"Hahahaha! What a delightful banquet! Would you all care for a glass of fine wine?"
Seeing the gods on the verge of conflict, the Wine God Dionysus, as if completely neutral, took out a precious divine wine.
"Let us all drink together! First, to celebrate the fall of the blasphemer, and then we shall compete for the glory of the victor!"
Though he appeared incredibly debauched on the surface, with a single sentence, he made the two dragon-slaying heroes, who were on the verge of conflict, let go of their fighting spirit.
Compared to infighting, it was more important to first kill the troublemaking Godslayer.
"Makes sense!"
Saint George thought for two seconds, took a step back, and reached out to take the wine from the Wine God.
For him, a believer in Christianity, this wine was equivalent to the blood of the Son of God. Drinking it would grant him God's blessing.
After downing it in one gulp, he took out a crimson long spear and pointed its tip at Su Mo's shadow.
"O Lord! Protect me! Jesus Christ, protect me! My great enemy is before me!"
After shouting in a pious tone, he activated his own Authority.
"O godless heretic, O demon king who ravages the world!"
"Thou art a dragon!"
Su Mo's previous provocation had been very effective, even overly so.
So much so that not only did it cause five Heretic Gods to descend simultaneously, but it even made the heretical gods, who would most likely have fought among themselves, set aside their differences and unite.
Under the subtle guidance of the Wine God Dionysus, the five Heretic Gods, as if in a race, did not hold back in the slightest, unleashing their full power on the Godslayer before them. To them, Su Mo's previous insult could only be washed away with his bones.
Thus, without waiting for Su Mo's reply, the five Heretic Gods unleashed their strongest attacks on the spot.
"Five against two, the advantage is mine!" the Wine God confidently provided support from the rear, buffing the other Heretic Gods while brewing his final trump card, determined to execute the son of a fool here and now.
The earth trembled, the sea churned, magma surged upwards... A scene like the end of the world appeared before Erica's eyes.
And then—
The five Heretic Gods were all dead.
In less than a minute, the Heretic Gods, who had seemed capable of overturning heaven and earth, of destroying the world, had completely returned to myth.
Watching the gods' bodies dissipate into motes of light, both Erica and Artoria were still in a daze, unable to recover.
"I didn't even have time to make a move..." Artoria, as an attendant, murmured in a trance.
Faced with a lineup of five god-level beings, she had thought that with her newfound strength, she could have helped her Master, at least by holding off one or two of the Heretic Gods. She hadn't expected there to be no room for her to intervene in this battle at all.
The orange-red sword of light flashed faintly. In almost the first instant, the three most aggressive Heretic Gods—Nuada, Siegfried, and Saint George—were instantly defeated, their loss declared.
No matter how strong they were, no matter how powerful their Authorities, as long as they failed the first-level judgment of being unable to handle the divine speed of the Golden Sword, they were not qualified to step onto the battlefield.
In terms of frontal combat power, these three warriors were the most powerful Steel Hero Gods. But in the face of a checkmate mechanic, their bravery was meaningless.
Seeing their side lose three gods in an instant, the Wine God Dionysus immediately transformed into the lightning of his father, Zeus, and released his prepared trump card, Divine Insanity.
By causing all magical energy to go berserk, he interrupted the judgment of the Sword of Victory's spell.
The God of the Forge, Vulcan, on the other hand, after using the Aegis shield to dodge the initial judgment, prudently chose to join forces with the Wine God, attempting to use the power of divine instruments to fight Su Mo.
In a situation where both sides couldn't use their Authorities or magical energy, even if the divine instruments couldn't use divine power, they could still exert their fundamental properties.
If there had been a god of war skilled in close combat between the two, they might have survived a few more seconds with this strategy. Unfortunately, all the gods of war had been defeated in the first round, with no chance to fight.
More importantly, Su Mo hadn't lost his Authorities because of this.
"A good technique, but useless."
Su Mo, who had used the Golden Sword to create a barrier in advance, was completely unaffected by the Wine God's Authority. As long as it was a power related to a god, the Golden Sword could counter it.
If he hadn't known which gods would descend, being ambushed would have been excusable. But knowing Doni's related gods, how could Su Mo have fallen for it?
Thus, like a hot knife through butter, the Golden Sword cut through the Authorities and magical energy of both the Wine God and the Fire God.
At the same time, he did not neglect the Wine God's myth of rebirth and immortality, successfully camping his revival point and then completely slaying him.
The total duration of this battle was nearly a minute, with thirty seconds actually spent waiting for the Wine God to revive. Leaving no loose ends, all five Heretic Gods were executed here.
After the battle, Doni, who had witnessed the entire process, was completely dumbfounded. The effect of watching from the sidelines seemed no different from when he had personally fought. He hadn't seen anything clearly, only feeling Su Mo's overwhelming power.
Is this really a person?
Faced with everyone's shock, Su Mo shook his head nonchalantly and explained, "If the divine power of these five Heretic Gods were concentrated in one person, it might have been a bit troublesome. Scattered, they are still too weak."
"..."
Doni didn't want to speak. This was the first person to complain that a Heretic God was too weak.
Losing to such an opponent, he suddenly felt it wasn't so unacceptable. On the contrary, winning would have been the strange thing.