The Annihilator: Killer Of Gods

"Breathtaking. This place never ceases to amaze me despite its many dangers," Karsha said as they gazed at the stunning ice forest. The Crystal Caverns were indeed a beautiful place. The entire area was made of ice, even the trees had the appearance of ice. Although most of the structures that made up the forest were ice, there was still some green vegetation, mostly in the outer area of the cavern.

But from a distance, it looked like a desert of ice with towering structures made purely of ice. Even in the outer area, the temperature was already as low as it could get. Alida, being a being of fire, could only endure by warming her body with fire. Tifa and Dhaka, who had an affinity for ice, felt like they were at home.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

However, Ayarr and Kilian were out of their league. Karsha had to procure some pills from the system for them to warm their bodies to a certain degree. The deeper they went, the less effective the pills became, but at least according to calculations, if they didn't spend too long in the Calamity Zone, they wouldn't freeze into statues.

"Although it will be hard to break through the Calamity Zone this time, the moment I manage to do so, quickly withdraw back to the outer section," Karsha instructed. The shadow guards nodded, and they started heading deeper into the ice desert. The deeper they went, the more it felt like they were moving underground.

The whole place felt gloomy, and Karsha's danger sense quickly started ringing. With his now powerful sense, he was able to pick up on some snakes and quickly dispose of them using the glaive before they could make a move on them. However, no matter how many he killed, the deeper they went, the more danger he felt.

'I don't like this feeling,' Karsha thought the moment they stepped into the Calamity Zone. He felt a deep sense of dread as if imminent doom lurked within the harrowing, freezing depths of the cavern.

"Stay on guard," Karsha warned the shadow guards. He unsheathed his swords and coated them with fire, ready for fire beam attacks at any moment. However, as soon as he activated his fire element, he felt something suppressing it.

The infernal might of the fire element wasn't burning as it should have been. Instead, Karsha felt a strong urge to use his ice element. The deeper they went, the more he felt that his ice element should be used instead. Despite this, Karsha ignored the urge and continued to use fire, which seemed more lethal to the ice serpents.

A few minutes after entering the Calamity Zone, they clashed with seven Tier 6 Great Mutants. Karsha, being the strongest, quickly disposed of two, leaving the rest to his guards. After finishing off the seven serpents, they started moving again.

"Be ready, five more heading our way," Karsha shouted, alerting his guards. A few seconds later, five more Great Mutants appeared. Ayarr took charge this time, leaving a dark blurry silhouette in her wake as she moved. As the snakes appeared, the Corrosive Twin Dagger Karsha had given her spun across her palm. Gripping the handle firmly, she sliced through the gut of the first snake effortlessly.

She vanished and then reappeared beside the second snake, aiming for its neck. However, the snake dodged and swatted its tail at Ayarr's head. Before the tail could strike her, she jumped and somersaulted in mid-air. She lunged at the snake using her momentum from the jump, cutting a deep wound on its back.

The corrosive venom of the dagger immediately took effect, eating away at the snake's health points.

Ayarr didn't even have to attack again. Before long, the snake breathed its last breath. The corrosive nature of the daggers required her to make only a single cut, and the potent venom did the rest. It was incredibly toxic and powerful. The other three snakes were taken care of by Alida and Dhaka.

Alida's fire arrows were just too lethal for the serpents, while Dhaka used his swords, coated with sword aura, to dispose of one with a swift strike.

Karsha, on the other hand, was scanning their surroundings and attacking with his glaive. The glaive was lethal, and almost all the snakes he killed didn't know it was coming until they had been pierced through and through.

Thirty minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and the battle only grew fiercer and more dangerous. Twenty-four Tier 6 snakes surrounded Karsha and his guards. Although Karsha could have used his domain, he refrained, wanting to see the limits of his shadow guards, and he wasn't disappointed.

Ayarr usually needed just two strikes to kill her targets, and that was only if the snakes sensed her presence a few seconds ahead or if she didn't want to rely on the corrosive nature of the dagger. With the dagger she wielded, her attacks were too lethal for the Tier 6 snakes to withstand. Karsha observed that her control over both Wind and Darkness was impeccable.

Her movements were swift and nearly invisible. If it weren't for the plain, deserted area they were in, she would have vanished into the shadows.

Dhaka also surprised Karsha. His sword handling was far better than his own. Dhaka's movements and sword control were more fluid compared to Karsha's crude and brutal swordplay. Maybe it was due to the type of swordplay Karsha used, but Dhaka's style was more elegant and fierce—far fiercer than Karsha's. With his access to sword aura, his attacks were devastatingly lethal for the snakes.

Alida, on the other hand, kept her fire burning as she rained down arrows on her targets. Her movements were swift despite the gear she carried on her back and chest. The arrows were imbued with fire, and thanks to her high affinity for the fire element, they packed an extra punch.

Karsha noticed that the tips of her arrows were always covered in a more intense reddish fire than the rest of the arrows. Thanks to a skill he synthesized for her, she could now create 100 arrows from a single strike, each packed with deadly infernal energy.

Tifa, however, was just toying with her targets. Karsha had given her a skill book that allowed her to summon a hybrid dragon capable of spraying both ice and fire. From what Karsha could tell, she had already mastered the skill to at least an S or maybe even an SS rating. When they ventured deeper into the Calamity Zone, she summoned a colossal dragon about 120 meters long.

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The amount of fire coming out of the behemoth was something even Karsha feared. She was perhaps not even at her limit, as she calmly stood there, shooting ice spears at the snakes that managed to slip past her dragon.

But if there were an award for the most destructive and brutal, Kilian would win it hands down. His colossal shield and incredibly strong body made him a titan on the battlefield. Whenever he attacked, the ground shook, creating deep fissures. Karsha had synthesized a skill that allowed Kilian to create copies of his shield and hurl them at his targets with incredible force.

Initially, Karsha thought the skill was mediocre at best, but seeing Kilian's destructive prowess in action, he realized he had underestimated Kilian's strength.

The skill called [10,000 Shield Strike], allowed Kilian to create nearly a thousand shields at the moment. What made these shields especially lethal was the shield Kilian was currently using—the Mountain Breaker spike shield, a legendary grade shield given to him by Karsha. Though already massive, the projections created were twice the original size, making them even deadlier.

Karsha could only watch as the shields turned the snakes to paste, wasting away precious money.

Karsha swung his swords, sending out rapid-fire attacks and taking the opportunity to practice his Blood Manipulation skills. He even killed most of the injured snakes by exploding their brains. Though he was still far from killing a healthy snake with this method, he knew that with continuous practice, he would eventually master it.

About an hour in, Karsha and the others finally pushed past the innermost area of the Calamity Zone. Aside from Tifa, exhaustion was evident on the faces of the other shadow guards. Karsha looked at the map and could tell they were almost at the location of the Overlord, so he quickly activated the domain.

"I am leaving now. Alida, take them away immediately after the domain deactivates. I will see you guys later," Karsha instructed, gulping down the stamina and health potion Elder Lin had given him. With a swift blink, he disappeared.

"Let's go," Alida said, materializing the flying boat. In the blink of an eye, they were gone from the Calamity Zone, heading back to the outer area.

When Karsha blinked away, he appeared deeper underground. The temperature was more freezing than ever. He quickly started moving deeper. He didn't need the map at this point, mainly because the deeper he went, the more dread he felt. This feeling assured him he was heading in the right direction.

The air grew colder with each step, and the oppressive atmosphere intensified. Karsha's breath formed visible clouds as he moved through the icy corridors. The walls around him glistened with frost, and the silence was almost deafening, broken only by the crunch of his boots on the frozen ground.

"Took you longer than I expected. Welcome to my domain, human. Or should I call you General Karsha Damon?" The snake's voice sent chills down Karsha's spine. The fact that it knew his name and title was deeply unsettling. He felt trapped, but he couldn't make a move yet; he had to hear what the snake had to say.

"I've waited for you for years now. I hope my wait won't be in vain," the snake continued. Karsha sensed something was definitely wrong. The snake, his supposed opponent, seemed to have prior knowledge of him, and it felt like he had been deceived. The snake's next words confirmed his fears.

"What? You really think your little book told you the whole truth?" The snake laughed, its voice echoing through the underground cavern. "Don't lose heart, human. You were meant to come here. Since you're here, why don't I tell you what it meant?"

Karsha remained silent, staring at the snake. In reality, he was reading the message hovering before his vision:

< You are under the suppression of a curse. You must defeat your opponent based on the restrictions set to break the curse. Failure to fulfill this means death. >