The Devil’s Cage

Starbeck’s loud and sharp scream instantly attracted the attention of the Gods in the sky.

The Gods frowned in confusion when they saw Starbeck flying up to the sky but they didn’t divert more attention to care about him.

The Gods knew who their real enemy was, so did the Devourer.

The Devourer was more arrogant and disdainful against the petty flying human. At least the Gods took a glance but the Devourer didn’t care.

From how the Devourer perceived Starbeck, a mortal like him couldn’t even be considered as food, he was nothing but a bug.

Such petty bug was only worthy of being rations for its scales.

So, the Devourer didn’t move away, instead, it went according to its original plan: extending its body.

The gigantic body was trapped in that narrow space for too long, a good stretch and relaxing was necessary for it to move.

Then, the Devourer would proceed to consume the Gods!

The killer intent from its heart caused it to hiss.

Sssss!

As though a wide street was spat out from its mouth, its tongue brought up a series of violent wind.

The violent wind was blowing towards the Gods. It was freezing and would send chills down one’s spine, causing one to shiver uncontrollably.

The God of Valiant who was famous for being courageous and aggressive during battle had his divine light shook by the wind, his body was obviously shivering at that instance.

Likewise, the God of War who was always triumphant and competitive didn’t even dare to breathe loudly. He placed all his attention on the Devourer.

Despite the unusual behavior from the two, none of the other Gods dared to mock and laugh at them because they were sharing the same expression.

As Gods, they were clear what kind of existence the Devourer represent and how ridiculously powerful it was. Especially, Thorn, Mercy, and Harvest.

The three of them existed when Naveya was first built, they fully acknowledged how powerful the Devourer was.

In their hearts, the strength of the Devourer was no longer just powerful but it became something horrifying.

If anyone from the three had encountered the Devourer in other places, they might very well turn around and run but in Naveya, they had no place to escape to.

Some of the Gods were different from those “mortal turned Gods”, they could never leave Naveya City as they shared the same existence with the city itself.

Thorn, Mercy, and Harvest exchanged gaze, all of them saw the resolute bearing in each other’s eyes.

“I’ll take the charge!” the God of Mercy said.

The vanguard position originally belonged to the God of Lightning. Not just because the God of Lighting was powerful, it was also because his divine position partially restrained the Devourer.

Now?

Following the appearance of the Devourer, Lightning Temple remained quiet, not even a single priest or deacon came out to have a look.

If the God of Lightning hadn’t fallen without notice, he must be playing his overconfident tricks again, just like 300 years ago.

But no matter what the God of Lightning was doing, the others could wait no longer.

The Devourer would not spare such luxuries to its food.

“I’ll take care of support!” The God of Harvest said.

“I’ll take command then!” The God of Thorn said.

The other Gods nodded in unison, they readied their battle stance, charging up their battle spirits as they waited for God of Thorn’s command.

At the same time, the Devourer was hissing non-stop. It couldn’t really see but its senses allowed him to understand everything in its heart.

Sss, Sss!

It hissed again. Each time it hissed, violent wind followed yet it was absent of the previous killing intent, it sounded more like a heavy mocking smile.

“Fools!”

As the violent wind blew, an exploding voice entered the Gods’ ears.

The Gods’ divine light shook again but the heavy battle intent gathered among the Gods, their light was not as dazzling and colorful as before but it was substantial and heavy enough like the earth itself.

The violent wind stopped, the clouds halted.

Both sides were all set for a fierce battle and it could break out any seconds now.

The flying mimosa plant, Starbeck?

Who would care about a mortal at a crucial time like this?

He had been long forgotten, despite the fact that he was crashing onto the Devourer’s scale.

Right at that moment, an image of a vision flashed over Lady Thorn’s sight. She was baffled by the face covered in light in the vision at first but soon turned into delight.

“Attack!”

Lady Thorn gave the command without a second thought after that.

The God of Mercy laid the spear straight and charged towards the Devourer.

Light gathered on the spear, its charging speed was out of this world as if it was really a comet flying over the sky.

The ferocious light spear precisely hit the Devourer’s head but…

Ding!

Sparks flew off upon contact.

The spear strike with otherworldly speed only left a shallow white mark on the Devourer’s head.

God of Mercy then lunged with a second strike.

Compared to the first one, the second spear strike was even faster.

If the first spear strike was a comet flying over the sky, the second strike was light itself.

The second strike appeared almost instantaneously and was driving precisely at its target.

However, the spear moving at the speed of light was blocked!

Thousands and thousands of giant monstrous mouth overlaid each other and appeared also instantaneously before the Devourer like a shield, blocking the spear of light from the God of Mercy.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Upon contact from the spear, thousands of monstrous mouth exploded together. A visible energy ripple blasted off from the point of contact, splashing in every direction possible.

Wung!

After a deafening vibration went throughout the sky, the clouds above Naveya City vanished instantly.

Under the blue sky, the God of Mercy was panting heavily while new scales grew on the Devourer like mushrooms springing up after the rain.

“The first strike represents mercy and sympathy, the second strike represent annihilation. After all these years, you are still so reckless, arrogant! Did it ever occur to you that your second strike might miss? What a…. Aaaaaargh!”

The Devourer turned a blind eye at the attack from the rest of the Gods. It spilled its mockery only at the God of Mercy but before its mockery could finish, it was interrupted by the sudden pain from its body.

However promptly after that, its cry of pain was overpowered by…

Grrrrr… Woof!

It was obviously growls and barks from a dog!

The Devourer’s body shivered slightly while the attacking Gods were all frozen mid-air by the sudden occurrence.

The sun set at a speed that defied logic but the moon that should have replaced it didn’t come.

The sky turned dark in an instant.

The darkness enveloped the Gods’ divine light; the gigantic body of the Devourer was enveloped by the darkness.

All that was left was tearing noises, chewing noises, and… crying!

“S-So scared!”

“The snake is so b-big!”

“A-afu, bite it!”

The Gods who were frozen in mid-air clenched their teeth, trying to turn their neck to find out what was going on but none of them could achieve the movement that seemed easy during normal times.

The Gods couldn’t, neither could the Devourer.

The almighty senses that benefited it in every possible way didn’t let it “see” what was going on.

It’s gigantic, tenacious and magical body that it took pride in could only wiggle slightly while it was bitten by the thing, more bite wounds appeared on its body as it wriggled.

Only Kieran who was on the ground saw what came out of Starbeck’s waist bag.

A dog head!