Chapter 74: Celestial Strike
But the celebration was short-lived.
To be precise, it didn’t even last half a minute before the Church personnel immersed themselves in the intense work that followed. Some continued data entry, while others quickly coordinated with Raphael, beginning the planned restoration of control over the world.
“Your Holiness, DX73415 signal, Michael has been contacted!”
“Recall it,” Pope Innocent said calmly.
67,000 kilometers away from Helel, at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point, a large space station hung silently in space.
The “Michael” armed experimental space station.
At this distant location, the planet’s surface magnetic field was negligible, so Michael remained unaffected by the rising magic tide. Before the surge, all satellites had been collected and stored by Michael, then moved to the Lagrange point for protection.
As a specific signal from the planet arrived, the dormant Michael activated its engines and began its descent towards Helel.
About two hours later, Michael had reached geosynchronous orbit.
In Innocent’s words, it meant “God’s will has returned to the world.”
Michael began deploying a large number of “All-Seeing Eye” military surveillance satellites and “Malak” communication base station satellites, distributing them around Helel.
“Your Holiness! The surface has been remapped. Currently, there are 174 cities within the Catholic territory of the Western Continent in crisis due to supernatural creature riots. Among them, 36 are Keter-class high-risk. The detailed distribution is as follows.” A bishop hurried over, handing a document to Innocent.
“Fewer than we anticipated.” Innocent stared at the global distribution map and nodded. “The Dragon Kingdom’s efficiency remains remarkably high. They have already resolved all their supernatural creature riots.”
The cardinals murmured in agreement, knowing that the Dragon Kingdom in the Far East was a unified empire, the emperor’s will reaching every corner. Their efficiency was naturally far greater than the Church’s.
“Let us attend to our own affairs,” Innocent sighed. “Next, we will carry out surgical strikes with space-based neutron bombs on the 36 high-risk cities within the Western Continent’s Catholic territory.”
“The City Lord of Olympia has a separate agreement with me. We will also extend our surgical precision to the Leviathan.”
Olympia.
It was almost three in the morning. The Leviathan’s rampage in Thessaloniki was nearing its end.
Or rather, Thessaloniki was in ruins, like a child’s toppled block city, nothing but debris and devastation.
The Leviathan, in the darkness, let out a long, mournful cry that echoed through the night sky.
Seemingly not yet satiated, it cast its gaze towards the distant Olympus Tree.
Human cities were merely appetizers.
The true feast was, of course, the Eden Tree, a fellow supernatural being. Its mother had birthed it here precisely because of the nearby Eden Tree, which could provide it with the transcendental power needed to reach adulthood.
So the Leviathan abandoned the ruins of Thessaloniki and slowly crawled towards Olympia.
Its breath brought with it strong winds and the churning of water vapor. Those on the treetop could feel the intermittent shifts between southern and northern winds, mixed with drizzle and the salty tang of the sea.
It was a sight to fill any human with despair.
The Arcane Mages’ thunder and fire spells were the first to strike. Despite the vast distance and decreased accuracy, the Leviathan was so massive that most attacks landed.
These spells, powerful enough to paralyze and incinerate knights, exploded like fireworks on the Leviathan’s grayish-blue hide.
The Leviathan continued its slow, tortoise-like crawl, seemingly oblivious to the attacks.
Though its movements were slow, its massive size and long strides brought it closer to Olympia at a visible pace.
Asker looked at the City Lord curiously. If he had a trump card, now was the time to play it.
He wouldn’t wait until the creature actually reached the mountain, would he? Wasn’t he afraid his attack would also damage Olympia? Wait… what if…
He suddenly remembered something from his previous life. Around this time, he was grinding dungeons in the Spartan city-state, when he was suddenly disconnected.
Then, he couldn’t log back in no matter what. Checking the forums, he learned that the Church was setting off fireworks everywhere, sending the players into a frenzy. Those offline rushed to log in and witness the spectacle…
The “fireworks” were space-based neutron bombs, a type of nuclear weapon similar to hydrogen bombs, but with a smaller blast radius and reduced radioactivity.
No way? He looked at Appius. Had he already made a deal with the Church to use neutron bombs against the Leviathan?
As if confirming his suspicions, Appius activated “Spirit Voice” and said:
“All ‘Storm’ Sequence mages, assemble at the forward projection area!”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it resonated clearly in everyone’s ears, as if spoken directly to their souls.
Soon, all the Storm Sequence Arcane Mages gathered, awaiting the City Lord’s instructions.
“Listen to my command! When the order is given, everyone close your eyes immediately. Storm Sequence mages, unleash your full power to the north!” Appius’s next command was even more baffling.
However, the Arcane Mages present were almost all public officials, their fate tied to Olympia. They obediently awaited the order, ready to unleash their Storm spells.
Suddenly, a light flashed in the night sky, as if God had drawn down lightning from the heavens. The momentary brilliance illuminated the entire night.
“Close your eyes!” Appius shouted.
Everyone present hurriedly closed their eyes, and the Storm Sequence mages simultaneously unleashed their full power. The storm they conjured collectively masked the Leviathan’s breath.
Asker was probably the last to close his eyes… In that final instant, he saw clearly what the light was.
A massive ballistic missile, trailing engine flames, hurtling down from outer space.
From the vantage point of the All-Seeing Eye surveillance satellites in space, a mushroom cloud could be seen erupting on the northwestern coastline of the Aegean Sea, a fiery cloud billowing upwards, almost reaching the stratosphere.
The shockwave reached Olympia after a while, held back by the storm conjured by the Arcane Mages, preventing the radioactive dust-filled blast from entering the city.
Directly below the nuclear explosion, the intense heat and shockwave tore through the Leviathan’s thick hide. Even more deadly was the high-energy neutron flux, which rapidly penetrated its flesh and blood, causing immediate necrosis due to genetic collapse wherever it passed, whether bone, muscle, or connective tissue.
The critically wounded Leviathan let out a mournful cry. With its underdeveloped larval intelligence, it couldn’t even comprehend where the attack had come from, only staring blankly at the empty sky with its huge, bleeding eyes.
Then it saw the source of the attack—another flash of light in the night sky.
The second neutron bomb whistled down, this one with a smaller yield, detonating directly above its head.
Unbearable heat, the shockwave, and an invisible, deeply unsettling radiation washed over it again, its tough hide beginning to blacken and ulcerate. The Leviathan turned its massive body, attempting to return to the cool, protective waters of the sea to soothe its burning back.
After crawling a few hundred meters, dizziness overwhelmed its consciousness. The damage was too severe, far exceeding its self-healing abilities. Most of its spinal nerves necrotized, and it lost control of its body.
Finally, the Leviathan lowered its head to the damp ground and died.
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