Chapter 255: Divide and conquer

I looked over the gathered gods again, using the brief pause given to me by their surprise and my webs. All the gods. This wasn’t our final fight, but it was certainly decisive. I already had my tactics, and while they travelled here, refined it more.

My webs won’t be enough to win this fight, though I made a fine job putting them over the ground, so in the right moment I could just tense their lines and entrap everyone else at once. They were strong now. I put plenty of EXP into them—but they weren’t inescapable for gods, not in their current amount, at least.

My eyes caught the eye of God of Rogues that stood somewhat away. It was hard to tell if he was still on my side—as much as he ever was—or had fully turned back to join the other gods, even with telepathy; he himself wasn’t fully sure. Either way, it was clear that he didn’t tell them about our little agreement, and the tense glint in his eye told me as clear as his thoughts that he knew what I was going to do next.

I spoke before he could open his mouth. “By the way, since we all gathered here, together… Well, almost all. Either way, I’m sure you will pass the news to the rest… I wanted to tell you how I killed God of Monks. Killed forever.”

My words made the gathered gods, my appreciative audience, stare at me in varying states of shock, disbelief, and anger. God of Rogues had the darkest face of all, but he was smart enough to not let me finish so easily.

He raised his new daggers, slicing a few strands of web around. “He’ll kill us all if we will just stay still and listen!”

“Right! I will also prefer to ask you questions after you burn a little beforehand!” Goddess of Sorcerers immediately agreed and shot a bolt of lightning at me.

I already got an idea that she didn’t need much motivation to start blasting, but it was just the drop the rest needed for their hatred towards me to overthrow their pained curiosity about my means.

In just a moment, I had to dodge and fight for my life again, and against eight opponents at once, which was hard to do, even with my four arms. Fuelled by anger, the gods threw their attacks with more energy than before, and only the almost invisible web of threads around didn’t let them land more than glancing hits which were blocked by my carapace.

The burst of furious energy couldn’t have lasted for long. Hot fury burns out fast and brings out exhaustion. Cold anger simmers and moves you for a long, long time. Lets you persevere when you don’t want to, pushes you to achieve your goals through sweat and blood.

I had a feeling gods long ago forgot about the meaning of doing something until they were falling from exhaustion. And I wasn’t wrong in feeling that I only had to survive through the attack for a little while.

My webs were obliterated, but by that time I got enough breath to speak up again. “God of Monks was betrayed! Betrayed by one of you, someone who’s standing right there!”

Now that made them pause. The seeds of doubt that I suddenly found planted generously in everyone’s heads sprouted even without need for me to say anything else. Everyone immediately began to throw suspicious glances at each other, and I found with glee that the most of them fell on God of Rogues.

Though some looks were merely questioning, God of Rogues’ still thought a lot of bad things about me, and some about himself. ‘I should’ve thrown Devourer to them earlier!’, and other such regrets.

I grinned. This mental torture of his was awfully amusing. He really should’ve thought more when executing his plans. I tortured him—and others—with silence some more, letting them make their own suggestions. They didn’t make me wait for long.

“Was Goddess of Wizards right about you, God of Rogues?” God of Warriors asked, furrowing his thick eyebrows. “It would’ve been convenient for the criminal to hide behind solving the crime, just like she said! And all others who wanted to try their hand in that aren’t here right now.”

“And you just trust Devourer’s word?” Goddess of Sorcerers was one of the few who weren’t thinking on God of Rogues and the only one who never even doubted as far as I could tell. “He’d tell anything to sick us on each other before we tear him apart!”

“Exactly,” God of Rogues, inspired—and oh wow, is that attachment and a hint of care I sensed from him?—by the goddess stepped in his defence. “But your attempt will fail, demon! You know why? Because no matter the tensions between us, and it would be a lie to say that we, gods, are always close friends, we were born to fight against threats to the world like you.”

“He’s right. We can solve this between each other after we deal with you and ask these questions to your soul,” Goddess of Druids supported. Unlike others, she never stopped fighting entirely, in her own subtle way. She even now continued growing her plants, some of them—underground. I knew they will strike as soon as she finds a suitable moment.

I knew from their thoughts that yes, they will have a long, pleasant chat after they finish… but they truly won’t believe my word if I say it now, even if it will be completely true. Still, what was said already didn’t disappear from their mind.

God of Warriors hesitated for a moment before turning his back to God of Rogues, and that gave me an opening to hit him with a wind blade. Goddess of Warlocks shifted a step away from Goddess of Sorcerers, and it was a window I needed to avoid their almost synchronised attack. God of Rogues, intent on silencing me forever if he could, attacked with more recklessness than he could afford.

But the first one to fall was God of Barbarians, who was always reckless. He didn’t expect me to grow a tail out of my back, and he didn’t expect this tail to have a stinger full of deadly venom in its end. A surprise I rarely used lately, but even more valuable because of that in a situation like my current one.

The wound I left on his chest was shallow, and the venom—not strong enough to kill a god—but it weakened him, opening for a swipe that separated his head from the shoulders. I paid for that with a pound of flesh, almost literally, but the gods’ spirits fell a little.

Then fell a lot when I grew a mouth on my stomach to chew on a bit of the fallen god in the middle of a fight. A pure intimidation, but it worked nicely. Scared hands hold weapons less tight, even those that belong to God of Warriors.

It was harder to cut him through all his armour, so I had to bite off his face, ignoring the spear he lodged in my throat. I couldn’t swallow it because of that, and had to pull it out first, but—insignificant details.

It was even easier after that. Those that relied on their magic above their bodies were helpless when I got close enough to bite through their magic shields. Those that relied on their strength had few defences besides attacking.

I got Goddess of Druids—with special relish and a pity I couldn’t give her some of the treatment I gave to her angel—and Goddess of Clerics before they came to a collective decision. Silent this time, except for the messages passed around with magic.

Goddess of Warlocks began to weave a teleportation spell, while the rest gathered around to protect her. Four gods out of eight… I knew I won’t reach them in time, but that barely diminish my glee.

“I won, and you don’t even know thanks to whom!” I laughed, throwing a volley of wind blades just to not raise any suspicions about my telepathic power. Even the knowledge that they knew my hiding spot in Hell and my ability to use magic thanks to the parasite in my head didn’t dim my joy. “Good luck in finding that person! Good luck in finding who lured him to Hell!”

The flash of realisation, the seed of doubt even in Goddess of Sorcerers, who was the most assured in God of Rogues, was just the cherry on top of that night.

Then they disappeared with a sound of air rushing to fill the gap in it, and I was left alone to smile in the dark. The ultimate victory seemed closer than ever. Just four gods and an army of angels away…

Angels. They were going to be a pain. I looked at the destroyed village around and decided that my army, or what was left of it, might be of use against them, at least.