The air seemed to shake as a sound most akin to an Apache helicopter echoed all around.

  Martin was happy to see that his bound steed had finally decided to arrive. The massive Mana Muncher was a level above any magical creature. The mutated mosquito had not only become absurdly large but had also shifted further away from its base template, gaining multiple heads, all of which were hungering for mana.

  It spoke to the density of the dragon horde above them that Martin couldn't see the world boss, despite knowing it was actively fighting the red-scaled menace. Martin had prepared to make way for his companion when the Archdemon, who had been yapping away, attacked him out of nowhere.

  The attack itself had been brutal, though, thanks to his tough bark-like skin, it wasn't debilitating.

  The poison on the blade would have taken even a god out of commission. It was meant to target the divine processes, doing a forced stop, before hitting the vital organs and turning them to mush. Fortunately, it seemed to be plant-based, meaning that thanks to Martin's Plant Domain, he had an invulnerable defence. However, the fact that there was a plant capable of doing something like that was definitely concerning.

  Martin halfheartedly swiped at the Archdemon behind him, only for his hand to pass harmlessly through the illusion. He had expected as much when the shadow didn't make follow-up attacks and just stood there. It looked like the real Archdemon was currently trying to pin down Celeste. The short blonde woman didn't have much combat capabilities, but it still seemed to him that she was at least holding her own, probably due to the future-sight she had.

  The orkish god reached out his hand, his voice commanding as he spoke. "As your lord, I command you, scatter!"

  He felt divine power seep into his words. Apparently, his Lord of the Wild power wasn't enough, but he didn't mind, as it had the intended effect: scattering the dragons from the sky.

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  Lord of the Wild

  Type: Constant

  Energy usage: N/A

  Full effect: Animals instinctively serve and obey you even to the death, carrying out commands as if they had a human intellect. Magical or intelligent beasts get a saving throw and cannot be commanded to act in a way that seems suicidal to them or completely against their nature.

  The sight of the massive Mana Muncher appeared as its massive wings displaced the air around them. However, the appearance of the giant beast didn't seem to disturb the Archdemon of the Night. Instead, she disengaged Celeste, her movements so powerful that she landed halfway up on a quartz pillar as she sprang back.

  Celeste followed up by targeting the dead god with her entropy attack. It seemed to hit the Archdemon, but apparently, it was immune to the passage of time.

  The Queen of Darkness jumped from the pillar towards the Mana Muncher, where she started to effectively rip it to shreds. Long strikes with a wicked blade that seemed designed to kill gods were wreaking havoc on the Mana Muncher, and despite its many heads, it could not hit her. Each attack it made was deflected by darkness or simply dodged.

  A quick palm strike from the Archdemon sent a boom through the crater, as air was displaced. It almost covered up the sickening crunch of chitin being shattered. The howl of pain from the multi-headed bug was earsplitting, and those animals that hadn't been struck down by the demon were writhing on the ground.

  Martin gave Celeste a look, and the Goddess of Death seemed to simply blink before the animals around them became quiet, taken out of their misery.

  "I am not sure we can take her", Martin said, his cannon aiming at the Queen of the Night and hurling a spherical chunk of steel at the demonic beast. She tried to use the Mana Muncher as a shield, but thanks to Martin's powers, the shot curved nicely around one of those gigantic wings, ensuring that it didn't hit an unintended target.

  For once, it hit the Archdemon, though it left little more than a scratch, making her bored face look down on him in disgust, as she realised that not even the cannonballs could hurt her.

  Celeste looked around, trying to find a solution. She could go right for Raffael Moordet, which might be better than trying to take down the Archdemon, though she had a feeling that if she tried to go for the self-proclaimed god of demons, then Lasandra might have an opening on her.

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  "I think we might need to engage her at the same time to have a chance." Celeste finally said, and Martin gave a curt nod in response.

  Martin grabbed the collar of Celeste's cape, and with a groan of power, a thick root shot from the ground, propelling both Martin and Celeste towards the Mana Muncher. When Celeste saw the damage that had been done to the giant beast, she mended its wounds using her new Health Domain, and while it was still close to getting out of commission, it was no longer suffering.

  The chitin under their feet was as hard as rock, and it felt like they might be in over their heads. They rushed forward, pushing the drow in yellow back from her position. Celeste was forced to use an actual weapon, since her decaying technique didn't seem to be actually effective, while Martin managed to use his canons and guns to barrage the Archdemon with projectiles.

  The spear thrust forward, the drow languidly dodging it as it tried to punch through her head. Celeste instantly knew to dodge, and she felt her increased time dilation help her move to the side, just as the Archdemon's shadow formed into a spike to counterattack. All while Martin unleashed volley upon volley from his weapons, only to be deflected or stopped by Lasandra's hands.

  It was seemingly no use, as Celeste followed up her strike by turning the tip of the spear into a blade, effectively creating a glaive, to swipe at the Queen of Nights. The Archdemon countered by stepping in closer, grasping the shaft of the weapon, and a dark leg escaped the yellow dress, to crash into Celeste's side.

  Celeste had to admit that she was very happy that the game couldn't register pain. Anything else would not only have been deeply inhumane, but she was pretty sure that it would have made her pass out, since she heard the crunch of her ribs and spine being torn apart by the kick. She was sent flying. Her body would have been torn in half had she been mortal. The discomfort the game could generate was definitely up there, but she wasn't blacking out from the intense pain.

  Martin tried to use the Archdemon's attack as a potential opening, but it was of little use, as Lasandra hadn't really left herself open, and if anything, she had found herself in a much better position to dodge and deflect the bullets. The Archdemon was still holding Celeste's glaive, and a smile on her face told the ork that she was toying with them.

  Celeste looked at her stats. Her hand was barely holding on to the base of the wing of the Mana Muncher.

  The attack had effectively taken half of her life in a single strike. The archdemon was much faster than she had let on, and in their first exchange, Celeste had assumed that they were equally matched. It was clear now that nothing could be further from the truth.

  She still had plenty of Energy left, and it was time that she put it to use, though she had to be careful. To instantly kill the archdemon, she needed to hurt her, but so far she hadn't managed to lay a finger on her. That was concerning, and without a doubt, not a coincidence. The fact that she hadn't travelled back in time to aid herself, like she had done when fighting the Black Ilsher, was also concerning. It meant that nobody was there to turn back time when the fight ended.

  There was only really one option left for her that might work. They needed reinforcements, and they needed them fast. She would have to call upon her fellow gods, even if that went against her rule of no teleporting.

  Martin seemed to be much better at holding his own. Despite him being unable to harm the archdemon, he was using his Domains quite effectively, calling in plants to block attacks, or even dousing the drow in pollen, only for her to clearly be stun-locked for a brief second, which in turn allowed him to fire his shoulder cannon at full blast right at her face. While it did leave a scar, it was little more than that, and even the scar seemed to quickly heal.

  Celeste took a deep breath and dropped from the Mana Muncher, her body protesting as she landed on her feet from five stories up, but she ignored it. She repaired any injury with her Health Domain, though the two points of damage she had taken didn't go away.

  She started to run towards Raffael Moordet, who had been fairly quiet. Apparently, he was focused on casting the ritual that would force Esselaia and the Archdemon of the Night to merge. As expected, the drow disengaged Martin to land in front of Celeste, blocking the path to Raffael Moordet. The fury in her eyes showed that she was frustrated that she had been forced to intervene.

  The archdemon's palm strike would probably have taken Celeste's head clean off, had it not been for the second part of the plan. Celeste rolled back her own personal time, burning a point of Energy for the day. She was back where she had landed from the mana muncher, the world held in place, as she started to cast another miracle. She unleashed one of the powers she hadn't picked. Celeste called upon the Power "The Hour of Need".

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  The Hour of Need

  Type: Activated effect

  Energy usage: Dedicated for the day

  Full effect: Up to a dozen allies within a week's journey realized you'd need them there at this time and will arrive this round if they were willing to come. This may induce some problems of causality, but the power allows their arrival regardless.

  She burned a point of Energy for the day to access the power, and then another point to activate it. Instantly, a portal opened behind her, but she felt a strange tug on the power, as if there was something that had latched onto it. Instead of connecting to Jasper and Riez, wherever they were, it connected to something else.

  Celeste tried to shut down the power, but she realised that there was no way to stop it. She had been tricked. Of course, she had, and even in the frozen time she could swear that she saw Raffael Moordet's lip twitch into a wicked grin. He had seen this power before, so of course, he had laid a plan around it. The only question was, what had he done?