Judging by its sheer might alone, this attack was at least three times stronger than the earlier Meteor Rain.
Under such overwhelming power, once their divine power ran dry, death would be unavoidable.
At once, several of the Gods within the bandit group turned resentful eyes toward the Highgod who had just cursed Gross.
In truth, not everyone in a bandit group had joined willingly.
Once someone participated in a robbery and their soul aura was recorded by the Fiends of Fiend Castle, they would be placed on a bounty list. From then on, they would become fugitives forced to hide everywhere they went, unable even to step into a city.
Under such circumstances, only someone with a broken mind would willingly join a bandit group.
The bandits themselves were well aware of this.
Ever since Fiend Castle's influence spread across Hell, bandit groups had suffered devastating blows.
Their soul auras had already been distributed by Fiend Castle. The moment they stepped into a city, countless Fiends would sense them and hunt them down as bounty targets.
Unable to enter cities, the goods they looted could not easily be exchanged for cultivation resources useful to them.
Even more troubling was the fact that they had no new blood.
No one wanted to become a bandit and live like a hunted animal.
To continue growing their forces, bandit groups began turning their attention toward the countless tribes scattered throughout Hell.
They would attack a tribe's god-level experts, capture them, and force them to participate in raids. Once those captives took part in a robbery, their soul auras would also be recorded by Fiend Castle.
At that point, even if they wanted to escape, they no longer could. If they wished to survive, they had no choice but to remain with the bandits.
Some particularly powerful bandit groups even controlled entire tribes.
The tribespeople would secretly enter cities on their behalf, exchanging stolen goods for resources.
And in order to quickly build combat power, bandit leaders never cared about the potential of their subordinates. They simply forced them to refine divine sparks.
Once someone refined a divine spark, their future was essentially cut off.
Even if they later became Highgods, they posed no threat to the bandit leaders.
"...Sigh."
The Earth-element Highgod let out a long sigh.
Divine power surged from his body as the profound truths of the Earth Laws spread outward, linking him directly with the ground beneath his feet.
"Sky-Shattering Fist!"
With a thunderous roar, he punched forward.
The earth trembled violently.
A massive stone fist, dozens of meters wide, burst out of the ground. Moving in perfect unison with the Earth god's punch, it shot upward toward the descending flaming sword.
Boom!
The flaming sword collided with the colossal stone fist.
Fire Laws and Earth Laws clashed violently, producing thunderous explosions.
The sky seemed split into two worlds.
Above the point of impact, blazing flames filled the heavens.
Below it, golden earth energy surged and twisted together like molten stone, refusing to allow even a trace of fire to penetrate.
"Oh?"
Gross's expression turned serious.
These bandits were far from ordinary.
The man who had just attacked possessed strength that rivaled his own.
Fortunately, this escort mission included another Four-Star Fiend besides himself.
Otherwise, Gross might already have ordered the metal lifeform to retreat.
When facing an enemy that could not be defeated, a Fiend's first priority was protecting the client.
If the client suffered losses, Fiend Castle would compensate a portion of the damages.
That was one of the reasons merchants continued to hire Fiends despite the high price.
Just as Gross was thinking this, a shadow flashed beside him.
The escort team's other Four-Star Fiend, Edmond, had arrived.
"How's the situation?" Edmond asked immediately.
At the same time, his divine sense spread outward, examining the bandits.
"Not good," Gross replied, shaking his head without hiding anything.
"They have five Highgods. One of them is at least as strong as I am."
"One of the Water Highgods seems to have become a god by refining a divine spark. He nearly failed to block my greeting attack."
"As for the other three… I can't yet tell how strong they are."
Edmond nodded slowly.
"I should be able to handle one of the remaining three."
"That still leaves two whose strength is unknown."
"If either of them is as strong as the Earth god, we'll be in trouble."
"It's fine," Edmond said calmly.
"There's a God in my squad who's very unusual. I suspect he has strength beyond that of a Three-Star Fiend."
"With him here, this group won't be able to threaten us."
"Oh?"
Gross's eyes lit up.
Thousands of years ago, the idea that a God could rival a Highgod would have been laughed at as the greatest joke imaginable.
But now, it was no longer unheard of.
Even if a Highgod possessed a full set of Highgod artifacts, their advantage over a God was only several dozen times greater.
But if a God managed to fuse multiple profound truths of the Laws, that gap could shrink dramatically.
Some rare prodigies could even surpass Highgods while still Gods.
Clearly, the man named Oakes was one of those rare geniuses.
Thinking about it, the two Four-Star Fiends found it made sense.
The woman named Yagonia was clearly a Highgod.
Yet she always deferred to Oakes, following his lead in everything.
Whether in strength or status, Oakes obviously stood above her.
"In that case… let's have a proper fight!"
"Hahaha!"
With a loud laugh, Gross leapt from the griffin-shaped metal lifeform.
Raising his divine sword high, he became a streak of blazing fire that shot toward the Earth god below.
"Take this!"
Blazing Fire Laws swirled around his blade.
Vast quantities of fire elemental energy gathered around the sword, forming a roaring vortex of flames.
"Explosive Slash!"
Boom!
Seeing Gross launch the attack, Edmond wasted no time.
Turning to the three Highgods behind him, he said, "Let's move."
"I'll handle the bandit leader. You three pay attention."
"One of you deal with the Gods."
"One attack the female Highgod who refined a divine spark."
"One holds off the remaining Highgod."
"If you can't handle it, retreat toward the metal lifeform. Oakes will step in."
"Understood."
The three Highgods nodded immediately.
"Then let's go!"
In an instant, figures streaked across the sky.
The battle erupted in front of the metal lifeform.
Elements clashed.
The Laws intertwined violently.
After handing control of the metal lifeform to another Highgod, Oakes stepped out with Yagonia and stood atop the griffin's back, watching the battle unfold.
"Wow… so this is what a Fiend's life is like?"
Yagonia's eyes sparkled.
Once upon a time, she had dreamed of exactly this.
Traveling through Hell.
Drawing her blade whenever she encountered injustice.
Now, watching the battle with her own eyes, the dream finally felt real.
She had truly left Blackstone Tribe behind and stepped into the wider world.
And all of this had been made possible by the man beside her.
Thinking of that, she turned to look at Oakes.
They had been together for many years.
Even when she had not yet become a god, even when she had been unable to give him children, Oakes had never once changed his attitude toward her.
Lord Locke had only granted her those three divine sparks so she could become a Highgod out of respect for Oakes.
Seeing the bright look in her eyes, however, Oakes misunderstood.
He thought she wanted to rush into battle herself.
Quickly grabbing her hand, he said, "Nia, even though you're a Highgod now, you don't have any Highgod attack artifacts or defensive artifacts."
"It wouldn't be wise for you to fight like this."
"Wait a bit longer. Once I earn enough inkstones to buy you a full set of Highgod artifacts, you can fight whenever you want."
"Alright."
Although Oakes had misunderstood her feelings, Yagonia wasn't upset.
After all, he was right.
Without divine artifacts, she would have no chance against other Highgods. She would only end up being beaten around helplessly.
And Yagonia intended to become a great hero.
There was no way she would allow herself to look so miserable.
Boom!
A deafening explosion suddenly erupted ahead of them.
Looking forward, they saw one of their allied Highgod escorts being blasted backward, his divine body badly damaged as he spat out mouthfuls of blood.
"Nia, wait here for me," Oakes said quickly.
"I'll be right back."
With that, he shot forward toward the pursuing bandit.
A cyan longsword appeared in his hand.
With a single thrust, the blade flashed forward.
Though it seemed like only one strike, dozens of sword shadows appeared around it, flickering like ripples in the wind.
At the same time, a deep humming vibration echoed from the sword shadows, sending waves of soul attacks toward the enemy.
The bandit who had been chasing the injured Highgod stiffened instantly.
The soul attack had struck him before he could react.
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