#523Chapter 523: Gods Are High and Mighty? Fall from the Altar!AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 523: Gods Are High Above? Get Down From Your Pedestal!
Cheng, who was purely and unilaterally venting his emotions, never expected that he would actually spew out a bit of legend.
But from another perspective, being able to spew out a bit of legend with his mouth and become an archenemy of all Yamata no Orochi across multiple planes, it can only be said that Cheng Tian truly hit the nail on the head.
The Great Serpent, had her most cherished and most unwilling-to-be-discovered spot poked by Cheng Tian, and it seemed as though all "Yamata no Orochi" were collectively cursed, so much so that this hatred for Cheng Tian had already broken through dimensional limits and successfully extended to other planes.
Cheng Tian only then realized that the "undying enmity" of individual renown was not the lowest point; it could actually drop even further!
This legend was well-deserved by Cheng Tian, for he had already made it onto the kill list of all Yamata no Orochi in all works.
In fact, if one were to exclude the self-aggrandizing statements attempting to equate her with Gaia, what the Great Serpent said was quite true: her mission was indeed to eliminate humanity... but there were also different grades in the order of elimination.
In her original state, the inheritors of the Three Sacred Treasures families were undoubtedly the T0-level elimination priority, to be eliminated first. Only then would it be the turn of powerful superhumans like Terry, Kaiba, or even Remilia, and finally returning to ordinary, ignorant humans whose destructive desires could not be erased from their bones.
Fantasy creatures like vampires also fell under the category of humans.
Among these, players belonged to the superhuman group, especially those who participated in the siege of Yashiro. All of their auras had already been presented to the Great Serpent's perception.
But for the Great Serpent, who used Gaoniko as an imperfect vessel, the strong will from the leader of the Eight Fists naturally successfully transmitted to the deity they revered, and for deities, occasionally responding to the wishes of their followers was also a way for them to consolidate the strength of their faith.
If red aura were used to mark the kill order, then ordinary humans would be light red, superhumans pure red, and the Three Sacred Treasures blood red.
As for Cheng, who continuously killed Shermie and Chris in front of Gaoniko, and directly drew out a stronger level of hostile rules... his aura was already red to the point of being black.
The intense killing intent that should have originally been borne by the true inheritors of the Three Sacred Treasures, namely Kyo Kusanagi and others, had now appeared on Cheng Tian with a super-invincible double intensity.
In truth, the Great Serpent's original attitude towards humans was no different in essence from a child pouring water and urine into an ant's nest, highlighting a "I destroy you, what does it have to do with you?"
But now, the human aspect in her heart had clearly overshadowed the divine aspect.
The word "hatred" had already become the guiding principle of all actions.
Expressionless, but actually enraged to the point of wanting to destroy everything, the Great Serpent raised her head again.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, and Cheng Tian's brain immediately released a strong sense of crisis as if being pricked by needles, with his mental power instantly enveloping his entire body.
Even without the protective shields of a professional system, mental power users can construct conventional mental shields in this relatively crude manner.
The next second, a pillar of green fire, seemingly drawn directly from natural elemental energy, erupted from beneath Cheng Tian's feet without warning, blasting him directly away—
Rising Fire Pillar (Kagura)! (Flame Pillar)
During the King of Fighters '97 era, none of the Great Serpent's skills actually had standard move names. This actually indicated that these were all just casual attacks from the Great Serpent, and the corresponding move list only contained the Great Serpent's voice during the move.
But for convenience of naming, players across the country spontaneously learned to name them themselves through phonetic transliteration and visual effects, and there was surprisingly consistency between different regions.
It wasn't until the PS2 version of King of Fighters '98 UM in subsequent works, where the Great Serpent, unlockable by completing special challenges, finally received a series of official specific names for her moves, each move almost carrying a strong Japanese deity connotation.
This fire pillar had almost no casting premonition, no casting distance limit, and its near zero-frame execution made it impossible for Cheng Tian to avoid.
But the fact that Cheng Tian was flying backwards, engulfed in flames, also indirectly awakened everyone in the arena.
And the first to act was Elin, who was in the same boat as Cheng Tian in every sense.
Her arrows flew towards the Great Serpent faster than anyone else's.
Without the sound of breaking wind to announce it, the Great Serpent's gaze had already turned towards the direction of the arrow.
For Elin, the Great Serpent naturally gave maximum attention out of hatred for the house and its occupant. Without any additional movement on her body, an invisible barrier unfolded in front of her.
The flying elven arrow disappeared as smoothly as raindrops falling into a pond, but the next second, a natural energy bullet composed entirely of wind elements reflected back towards Elin with double the speed—
Returning the opponent's projectile (Tadashigari)! (Divine Retribution)
The Great Serpent's projectile reflection was undoubtedly the strongest performing existence in King of Fighters '97. Ryuji Yamazaki's "Baigaeshi" was actually a crude inheritance of this move of the Great Serpent.
However, from Elin's action of only shooting a normal arrow, it can be seen that she was actually prepared for the Great Serpent's accelerated reflection, otherwise, it wouldn't have been just this probing arrow, but a direct storm power strike.
Of course, Cheng Tian had already spoiled all the abilities and moves of the Eight Fists and the Great Serpent herself to them early on.
Facing the rapidly reflecting arrow, Elin didn't move, but Bazett, beside her, swayed and met it, striking out with her right fist, shattering the Great Serpent's reflected wave in mid-air.
Mina's original intention to shoot an arrow also stopped, not only because of the wave reflection issue, but also because the power fluctuations exhibited by the Great Serpent felt somewhat strangely familiar to her, as if she had seen something similar in her original world.
The Great Serpent's intention to eliminate humanity was not at all false, so with the O.R.O.R.I. team taking the lead, and Cheng Tian's deconstruction just now giving them a certain degree of disillusionment with the Great Serpent, it became a matter of course for the fighter group to act together.
The fighter group, what they least lacked was courage.
Additionally, with Elin's arrow just now, everyone realized that the Great Serpent had a reflective barrier, so all the long-range attacks they had originally planned to unleash were tacitly held back.
They had to find a way to force this guy down!
But at this moment, the Great Serpent, whose body was like a breathing light, slowly stretched.
Immediately, more than a dozen fire pillars of almost identical size erupted simultaneously from beneath the feet of the top dozen NPC fighters and players in terms of overall combat power!
Just then, the Great Serpent detected a new projectile approaching.
Her consciousness moved with her will, and a new reflective barrier was already in place, but just as the projectile was about to make contact with the barrier, the Great Serpent finally saw what it was.
It was an exquisite spherical object filled with blue liquid.
Then, the sphere shattered prematurely, and a shockwave that even a deity had to endure spread out from the broken sphere. The Great Serpent, instantly feeling her body stiffen, actually lost her ability to float and fell directly from mid-air—
Soul Save! Blue Shock Orb!