As soon as these words were spoken, Kingu's expression immediately darkened. Golden ripples spread across the ground beneath him, and countless blades and spears emerged from the earth.
[Age of Babylon]!
Hundreds of weapons shot out simultaneously, transforming into streams of golden light that rushed toward Alaric!
"Now that's more like it, Kingu!"
Facing the oncoming torrent of weapons, crimson ripples appeared behind Alaric, revealing hollow armaments crackling with arcs of red lightning.
Hundreds of divine strikes streaked through the air, intercepting the onslaught of blades and spears!
Brilliant explosions of light erupted midair, momentarily obscuring Alaric's figure within their radiance.
But this display did nothing to conceal Alaric from Kingu and Gorgon.
Immediately after, countless blades and spears surged upward from the ground, like starlight reversing its flow, encircling Alaric from all directions as if to sever his ability to counterattack with his divine strikes!
And as Kingu made his move, Gorgon—who called herself Tiamat—joined in as well. Her hair writhed wildly, transforming into enormous serpentine tendrils that multiplied endlessly. As they lashed toward Alaric, they unleashed a barrage of terrifyingly dense beams of light from their mouths!
'The Holy Grail's blessing?'
At the moment Gorgon attacked again, Alaric suddenly sensed the aura of the Holy Grail emanating from Gorgon's pristine abdomen.
It was clear that Gorgon was using the power of the Holy Grail to fight!
But wasn't the Holy Grail in Kingu's possession?
Alaric had no time to dwell on it. Behind him, the crimson counterfeit portals rapidly multiplied, unleashing hundreds of divine strikes to intercept the avalanche of blades and spears.
At the same time, Alaric raised his holy spear once more—
"Extracting mana, ten percent!"
Maximum mana extraction under instantaneous activation!
The mana he drew collided with the reserves preloaded in his holy spear, accelerating instantly to their peak!
Boom!
Highly condensed crimson lightning surged forward, drowning Alaric's vision and overwhelming the majority of the attacks launched by both Kingu and Gorgon!
"What?!"
Even Kingu hadn't anticipated that Alaric could instantaneously discharge a mana beam of this magnitude. He immediately extended his hands, forming a grasping motion.
Clatter!
Interwoven silver chains materialized, forming a celestial net that enveloped the roaring crimson lightning.
Using dozens of silver chains as conduits, Kingu unleashed a surge of mana that instantly extinguished the crimson lightning!
The Heaven's Chains, empowered by the Holy Grail, had reached the pinnacle of mana output!
But even though Kingu successfully neutralized the attack, his expression remained grim.
In his clashes with Alaric, Kingu had finally noticed something unusual.
Every time Alaric released his divine strikes, they underwent a strange and inexplicable expansion, allowing them to rival the power of Kingu's [Age of Babylon].
If the expansion were minor, it might be manageable. However, Alaric's divine strikes, imbued with immense mana, expanded into full-scale anti-army or anti-fortress-level Noble Phantasms upon release.
Combined with their near-instantaneous activation, Alaric had essentially become a walking artillery platform, capable of overwhelming nearly anything given enough time!
To counteract this, Kingu had to expend even greater amounts of mana to neutralize or offset the attacks. Despite having the Holy Grail and the earth as sources of mana, this was far from the ideal situation for Kingu.
'I can't give him any more chances to attack!'
Kingu abruptly raised his head, and golden ripples rapidly spread beneath him. Thousands of blades, spears, and swords emerged from the ground and shot skyward in unison!
After two rounds of battle, Kingu had roughly calculated the limitations of Alaric's divine strikes. They were purely mana-based projectiles, individually aimed and fired by Alaric without the aid of auxiliary techniques—a brute-force approach.
This meant that Alaric himself was the limitation, and his upper limits had already become apparent.
Faced with thousands of weapons attacking simultaneously, Alaric couldn't block them all!
Just as Kingu had anticipated, when Alaric saw the incoming torrent of weapons, he immediately commanded his heavenly vessel to create distance. At the same time, countless crimson divine strikes erupted from the void, countering the assault.
"Don't even think about it!"
Kingu smirked, his figure vanishing in a flash of light as he charged directly at Alaric!
Kingu had devised a strategy for dealing with Alaric: he would drag Alaric down from the skies!
As long as Alaric was forced to the ground, and with Gorgon's cooperation, Kingu was confident he could take down Alaric in just a few dozen exchanges!
Seeing Kingu closing in, Alaric prepared to react—but Gorgon's attack arrived first.
Alaric had been on guard earlier, but even with the distance he had created, he couldn't escape the invisible force of her attack.
Gorgon's eyes glowed with a seductive violet light, dazzling like gemstones.
An invisible power, transmitted through her gaze, wrapped around Alaric's body, infiltrating his very bloodstream as if to turn him into stone!
"Petrifying Mystic Eyes, huh—"
As the eerie power coiled around his body, Alaric instantly understood its nature.
Gorgon was none other than Medusa, and the most infamous aspect of Medusa's legend was her petrifying gaze—a power capable of turning anyone who met her eyes into stone.
As the fallen goddess of monsters, Gorgon naturally possessed petrifying Mystic Eyes of the highest caliber!
Even Alaric, with his current level of magic resistance, struggled to fend off their effects.
Without the support of Leyline Mana, Alaric would have had to rely on the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to nullify the petrification effects.
But with his current mana reserves at full capacity, Alaric did not need to worry about the Mystic Eyes!
The dragon blood coursing through Alaric's veins roared like a raging river, emitting a deafening thunder. Empowered by mana, it instantly dispelled the petrifying power coiling around his body!
However, this action delayed Alaric's retreat, allowing Kingu to catch up!
Clang!
Alaric swung his spear in a sweeping motion, which Kingu intercepted barehanded, his fingers slicing through the air like a blade. Their gazes locked once more.
"Humans of the past should never look to the heavens—"
Kingu used the opportunity to close the distance further as the silver chains roared once more.
Clatter!
The Heaven's Chains shot out like a torrent, attempting to ensnare Alaric completely!
As always, Alaric retaliated with divine strikes, aiming to counter the chains. But the moment his divine strikes collided with the silver chains, a burst of emerald mana illuminated the battlefield!
After neutralizing the crimson lightning earlier, Kingu reinforced the chains with an immense amount of mana, enhancing their strength.
Before Alaric could withdraw and destroy the chains, an unexpected development occurred.
The silver chains ignored Alaric entirely, instead targeting the heavenly vessel beside him!
'The heavenly vessel!'
Alaric's sharp gaze quickly registered the vessel being ensnared by the Heaven's Chains. Despite his attempts to empower it with mana, it couldn't break free!
Clatter!
The vessel, now completely bound, was forcibly separated from Alaric by several hundred meters in an instant!
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Without his flying vessel, Alaric began to fall freely, vulnerable to Kingu's relentless assault.
Gorgon, meanwhile, did not relent. Her serpent-like tendrils writhed wildly as they finally reached Alaric's position, unleashing petrifying beams around him!
Boom!!
Alaric, struck by simultaneous attacks, plummeted like a speeding train crashing head-on into him. His descent accelerated rapidly, and he smashed into a crater below with explosive force, sending shockwaves rippling through the ground!