The Oracle Paths

At the same time, Ozo, the Bubble Alien separated part of its body, which split into thousands of bubbles that saturated the atmosphere. Like homing missiles, these bubbles raced towards each of the Myrtharian Nerds and their allies and exploded upon contact.

Equally responsive, Shere Khan and Azeus turned into lightning and instantly formed hundreds of zigzagging streaks of electricity that penetrated any remaining bubbles, shattering them before they could reach their targets.

"Azeus... Traitor." Ozo ranted in its whiny childlike voice.

Mufasa, who had been targeted by several of the exploding bubbles, staggered for half a second with a scorched fur, then let out an enraged roar.

ROAARRR!

A funnel-shaped blast of wind spread in a straight line in front of him, blowing away all the enemies in its path. A titanic hydra from Lost Divinities lost three heads to that one attack, but six more grew back a second later. The next moment, the two titans with superhuman strength found themselves engaged in a rampaging battle that precipitated the collapse of the cavern in Nucnar's absence.

In the same manner, Dumbo pointed his trunk forward as if it were a huge cannon. His trunk swelled, then with a thunderous bang discharged a beam of water fast and dense enough to punch a hole in an Advanced Aether Artifact. Within seconds, the combatants were left wading in knee-deep water, and the water level continued to rise rapidly.

Thyohr, the ice mage became even more deadly in these conditions and several Myrtharian Nerds began to slow down, their legs stuck in the ice.

Deimos, Khag' Dagmai and Ozo were not the only senior officers dispatched to Quanoth and with Hade, Lucia and Will busy with their own opponents the other Myrtharian Nerds soon found themselves in trouble.

"Poor things, why are you fighting so futilely. Don't you love me?" An enthralling voice suddenly echoed in the minds of all the fighters, allies and enemies alike.

The magnificent goddess Ashun appeared in the center of the battlefield. For the occasion, she had intentionally torn her already very short dress, rivers of tears running down her beautiful face broken with sadness. With her Oscar-worthy acting, she had managed to embody the perfect balance of innocence, nation-toppling beauty and vulnerability. Men and women could not bring themselves to hate her, let alone attack her.

For a moment, the battle seemed to stop, as if the Myrtharian Nerds had given up fighting, but then a counter-aura cancelled the spell. Two women stood before Ashun, indifferent to her charm: Aisling and her mother, Xaverie.

"Oh my, who would have thought that a woman with such superficial acting would try to charm me?" Xaverie, the buxom demoness with mature charm, giggled coyly as she covered her lips with one hand. Her taunting look betrayed her contempt.

Instead of wearing an armor like the others she wore a sleeveless, low-cut neckline dress of scarlet satin ending at mid-thigh. This one was split on the sides until her waist, revealing a good part of her delicious buttocks. Her outfit was downright slutty, but it did spike the blood pressure of all the males present a notch or two.

Different from her mother, Aisling wore a proper fighting suit and coldly drew her sword, ready to fight. She may have accepted her Succubus lineage, but she was used to fighting like a Dhampir.

"Instead of being jealous, please try to do better than her." Aisling mercilessly belittled her mother. "Otherwise, let's kill her quickly."

Xaverie stiffened as she received this dig, her face turning ugly. Indeed, even by combining their forces they had not managed to completely neutralize Ashun's innate charm. Nevertheless, it was enough for the Myrtharian Nerds to regain their fighting ability.

Seeing that her charm did not work on the two women, a puzzled expression appeared on the goddess' face, her frightened and vulnerable demeanor a distant memory.

"Two Succubi? We have Demons on our side too." She teased, winking at them.

As if waiting for her cue, an overwhelming spiritual aura burst forth from the Lost Divinities' rear guard, a spiritual blast spreading throughout the cavern as it targeted all the Myrtharian Nerds. Asfrid, who was on the alert, gave up her rest and merged her mind with the other Eltarians to intercept it.

The mental clash severely damaged the Spirit Bodies of the nearby Players, forcing them to momentarily retreat with a groan of pain. At that moment, Asfrid finally had time to recognize who it was.

"Astraroth." Xaverie spat out in an icy tone.

He was one of the three Archdemons who once sat on the council of Laudarkvik.

"I'm glad you haven't forgotten about me although I have no idea who that seaweed-haired young woman might be." The handsome demon chuckled as he shot a surprised look at Asfrid who had stopped his spirit attack.

"He's not the only Demon we've recruited." Ashun chuckled. "Come, my good boy! Defend the honor of your sweetheart."

As she began to tear up again, her small face shivering falsely in fright, a repulsive Demogorgon with two heads and taller than a three-story building appeared next to her, forming a crater as it landed. The demonic creature had two pairs of membranous wings, three large black horns, muscles upon muscles, dark skin covered with a strange pestilential lubricant akin to a hippo's skin. This demon was just nightmarish.

"Aggenur? So, you're here too..." Xaverie pouted not hiding her disgust, clearly not thrilled to meet him again.

"Let us deal with this demon." Three Myrmidians joined the two Succubi after defeating their opponents.

The other three were fighting another senior Lost Divinities officer of Ozo's caliber with the help of the three Beskyrians, Skorgeld, Trea and Fo. Crunch was fighting another one or rather he was being beaten up without being able to fight back but he was hanging on with his thick skin.

These three Myrmidians were not just any three. Each of them was the elite of the elite, their style both different and complementary. For having overcome all their trials so far, they had not stolen their place. Ashun's hypnotic charm had barely affected them, and to their cold, jaded gaze, the notion of fear was not in their vocabulary.

"And to whom do I have the honor?" Aggenur growled as he slammed his fists together, generating an impressive shockwave and a rush of wind that lifted Ashun and Xaverie's dresses to their utmost delight.

"Aurum." The first Myrmidian who was the leader of the trio answered laconically.

He was a young, tanned man with golden hair and wearing a shining armor encrusted with precious stones.

As if in response to the Demogorgon's provocation, his fists magically became covered in gold and when he slammed them together, the ground beneath him was covered in diamonds and other precious gems. Stretching out his hand in front of him, the diamond and other gems fused together to form a beautiful, shimmering celestial sword of priceless value.

At the same time, the enemies who had stepped on the diamond floor saw their own weapons and equipment deteriorate by a full tier, losing much of their value. Armor made of magical steel became ordinary rusty iron armor, those wearing gold were left with bronze, artifacts set with precious stones became cheap trinkets.

Conversely, his nearby allies saw their equipment improve by half a tier, but most shocking was that the amount of Aether points in their Oracle Device was now preceded by the "Grade 2" label.