This endlessly rotating, deep abyss actually absorbed some of the pollution, curses, and toxins gushing out of the company's typhoon sweeper outside the city's barrier, then changed direction and launched it all at Pazuzu's face in the distance!
Strangely enough, this Pazuzu, who was clearly a wind demon bringing plague and disease, was now being terrified by Hayden's mixing of the pollutants and toxins from the company's typhoon sweeper into the wind. Hayden's actions, however, terrified Pazuzu, leaving it no time to dodge. The filth, transformed into a black gust of wind by Hayden's manipulation, struck Pazuzu squarely in the face, not only sending it flying but also disrupting their magical connection.
After the battle ended, Hayden withdrew his wandering consciousness and stood up, only to feel a dizziness and cold sweat on his back.
He had just engaged in a magical duel with Pazuzu across the wind, and in the end, he could be considered to have won by a small margin. But was such a minor victory truly meaningful?
Yin and Yang flow, life and death change. Hayden just guided and absorbed a small portion of the endless "death" pollution from the typhoon vacuum cleaner outside, and launched it at Pazuzu's face. Even if it was effective, it would at most cause a minor injury. Demons have incredibly strong vitality; such a minor injury would probably heal in a day or two.
Pazuzu yelled that he wanted to cook and eat Hayden, but Hayden literally slapped him in the face with filth. Hayden would have been surprised if he hadn't come after him with his men.
But this great demon possessed extremely sharp eyes. Hayden used his black and white serpent staff to channel and bombard its face with the pollution of "death," unexpectedly winning the first attack. However, Pazuzu was cunning, possessed ample combat experience, and had clearly not used its full strength in its battle with Hayden, and was adept at countering and dispelling attacks. Having suffered the first loss, how could it possibly succeed the second?
In a direct confrontation, Hayden is indeed inferior to this great demon who has survived for thousands of years. Now that Angela must sing all day to maintain her energy cycle, Hayden cannot rely on her for salvation. Even if he transforms into the White Wolf Beast God and faces a fully-fledged Pazuzu, it's unlikely they'll be evenly matched.
So Hayden thought it over and over and felt that the upcoming battle would be really difficult. He was at a loss and looked up at the sky. He could only see that outside the mountain city's barrier, the typhoon was still rubbing against the barrier day and night, and countless pollutants and toxins were falling down like black snow.
This sight reminded Hayden of something strange.
As everyone knows, Phra Phuttha Chin's primary supernatural powers are wind and disease. With such powers, shouldn't he be even stronger in an environment filled with typhoons and pollutants?
Why was it so terrified after being slapped in the face by Hayden's filth?
Thinking about it further, such a demon should be more comfortable living in the most filthy places, so why would it go and rob the valley of the Wind Riding Tribe?
Hayden was so enraged during the fight that he didn't think things through. Now that I think about it carefully, I realize how strange this situation is.
Could it be that this Pazuzu... actually has some hidden weakness that Hayden is unaware of?
135: Hoping the heavenly wind will drive away the plague demon
[So, you've taken in an extra hundred demi-human refugees, and even angered the ancient great demon Pazuzu?]
Even Karen was speechless when she heard Hayden's report over the communications.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you again."
Hayden obediently lowered his head, bracing himself for a scolding from Karen. He had asked her to help the more than one hundred demi-humans of the King Kong tribe obtain legal identities, but when the time came, he actually took in another hundred or so demi-humans from the Wind Riding tribe, and even provoked a powerful and vicious enemy. If someone who normally does something for you heard about this, they would probably get angry immediately.
[Saving lives and doing good deeds, how did you cause any trouble? You did nothing wrong. We must change the world; how can we allow wicked people to run rampant? If we can eliminate evil, it will benefit all living beings even more.]
However, Karen simply shook her head, and said thoughtfully...
[But this matter is indeed a bit troublesome. I was almost able to get the official registration for this new city, but I didn't expect you to go further and provoke an ancient demon.]
She is the daughter of the Peacock King, a war god who has slain evil gods and demons since ancient times. Therefore, Hayden thought that Karen might know some useful information, however—
[It's highly unlikely that a powerful demon capable of surviving from ancient times to the present day could be defeated by a known weakness. If Pazuzu truly possessed such a weakness, it would have died long ago.]
Karen shrugged at Hayden.
Trying to deal with the great demon who has survived to this day using this approach is simply not going to work.
Ancient things are not necessarily powerful. Rather, nine out of ten ancient things have been rendered obsolete by modern innovations. This applies to both biological and technological fields.
On the other hand, things that have survived from ancient times to the present, whether biological or technological, are generally quite capable, and at least they don't have the kind of flaws that would explode at the slightest touch.
Because anything whose weakness would explode if its vulnerability were exposed would have already been exposed by others over such a long period of time.
The great demon that has survived from ancient times to the present is not so simple that it can be dealt with by ingenious strategies or special items—that is precisely why it has survived to this day.
Karen, a worldly-wise deity and daughter of a celestial being, and the Peacock King, a master slayer of gods and demons, understood all too well just how powerful this great demon, still alive today, truly was. It was a pity Karen was now living independently and couldn't go back to her father's database; otherwise, the Peacock King's family might even have kept records of Pazuzu's past battles. But at least she had a mental assessment, knowing roughly the strength of such a great demon.
...In fact, Karen was already considering whether she should make an exception for herself this time.
To be honest, she's usually quite decisive and fearless, but lately her only fear is making a wrong decision and accidentally causing Hayden's death. Even if she can't go home and ask her parents for help (if she really has to rely on her parents to that extent, Karen wouldn't be qualified to prove her ability to forge new paths), if she just goes home to look through some documents, the Peacock King probably won't take it to heart.
As for Hela, needless to say, she's a fun-loving person with absolutely no principles.
"I was fighting it through the wind, and every move and every spell was made with gritted teeth and all my might, because the energy cycle would immediately replenish my magic power. So if every attack spell I just cast had been turned around and hit me, it would have almost killed me, or at least left me half-dead."
Even now, when Hayden recalls the battle, he still feels a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck.
Angela's energy cycle allows Hayden to replenish his magic power with a single breath. Therefore, his full-force attacks naturally involve channeling as much magic power as possible into the same spell each time.
"However, that great demon easily broke my spells while using its supernatural abilities to change them, and at the same time it could still laugh and talk nonsense with me without any burden, as if it were playing around. Obviously, it was not using its full strength. Its supernatural power is probably no weaker than that of a battle god like the Vajrapani God."
"Not to mention that its true form is a demon, not a human. It certainly wasn't fighting at full power in its human form; it must have other, more powerful forms."
No matter how Hayden changed his spells, Pazuzu was always able to easily neutralize them with his supernatural powers, making him a formidable enemy rarely seen in his life.
What if Pazuzu tells Hayden next time that its power increases greatly every time it transforms, and that it can transform twice?
Hayden's face fell when he thought about it.
If you think about it carefully, you'll realize that Pazuzu, who has survived from ancient times to the present as a demon and has been so insane without being killed by the new gods, how could his combat power be lower than that of a standard Vajrapani?
Even on a positive note, Pāzuzu's all-out fighting power is probably at least 1.5 times that of Vajrapāṇīṣa, and perhaps even higher.
If Hayden had any sense left, he should have immediately sought Angela's help against this kind of enemy. However, Angela was currently sitting under the apple tree singing to maintain the barrier against the typhoon vacuum cleaner, and was too busy to deal with Pazuzu herself.
As for Karen, her fighting power is probably sufficient, but it would be too risky to ask her to help in a fight, especially since Hayden can already borrow her divine power.
“Most of my magic was seen by Pazuzu during the battle just now. It is good at using supernatural powers to break magic, and a spell that it has seen is probably useless if used a second time. Thinking back, the only spells I haven’t used in front of it are the transformation of the Beast God and the spell to borrow your divine power to descend.”
At this point, Hayden once again obediently bowed his head to Karen.
"At this critical moment, please save my life, sister."
He was just joking on purpose, and he did manage to make Karen laugh.
Karen smiled slightly and deliberately went along with it, saying, "I saved your life, how are you going to thank me?"
Wow, you're really asking me for a thank-you gift?
Hayden thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered what Karen had said to him in the flower shop basement, and immediately replied, "Of course, I'll give you half of my fortune as an offering!"
Upon hearing this, Karen's face turned red.
Stop joking. What kind of relationship do we have? I don't need you to give me a thank-you gift for something like this.
She quickly looked away, and changed the subject as well.
[However, let me be clear from the start: even with your Beast God transformation and the divine intervention, your fighting power might not be enough. After all, the divine intervention technique isn't performed by me personally. If Pazuzu truly has two more transformation forms, with a fighting power as high as 2 Vajrapani Gods, then even your Beast God transformation and divine intervention won't be enough to defeat it.]
Hayden was also somewhat worried about this, but he couldn't think of a better idea at the moment.
[So I have another idea. Didn't you just say that the ending of your battle with Pazuzu was a bit strange, that he was terrified after being sprayed with pollutant?]
Karen, on the other hand, was a young lady from a wealthy family, and her way of thinking was a bit different. While tapping her hand on the desk, she came up with an idea that left Hayden speechless.
What exactly this idea is, I'll keep you in suspense for now. Anyway, Karen explained her idea in this and that way, and Hayden's eyes widened as he listened, his jaw almost dropping, before he finally said, somewhat speechlessly, "You really are a capitalist's daughter."
So what? Power is neither good nor evil; it's all about how it's used and what it's used for. Systems and order can also be used for good.
Karen disagreed.
[Your personality has improved recently; you're starting to rely on friends, which is a good thing. But actually, if you use the right methods, you can also leverage the power of society and the system, in addition to friends. Otherwise, it's difficult to achieve great things.]
Okay, okay. You are lawful good, and I am chaotic good.
Hayden muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead, recalling the strange occurrence at the end of his battle with Pazuzu.
He had just mixed the pollutants from the company's typhoon sweeper into the wind and launched it, but for some reason, it terrified Pazuzu. Could this industrial pollution from modern arcane magic be Pazuzu's weakness?
No, it shouldn't be. Its weakness is clearly not the pollution toxins; at least, it shouldn't be afraid of even a tiny bit of them. Otherwise, it would have died in the wasteland long ago. How could it have led a group of its followers through the pollution storm and launched a surprise attack on the Windrider Tribe's valley?
The company's typhoon sweeper should be harmful to Pazuzu; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so terrified just now, nor would it have needed to specifically seek shelter. However, its fear wasn't the same as a normal person's. Hayden felt there were still some secrets unsolved, some key questions remaining… but Karen's plan was definitely worth a try. Even if the plan didn't achieve much, it wouldn't have caused Hayden any losses in his normal combat.
"If we follow your plan, this whole thing will really be relying on your power from beginning to end."
However, he couldn't help but make a comment.
So that's what I'm saying.
Karen laughed instead.
What kind of relationship do we have? There's no question of lending or borrowing in this kind of situation.
That being said, the two of them are actually just "friends" now, and there doesn't seem to be any real, definite "relationship" between them.
Both of them knew in their hearts that there were many flaws in this matter, but neither of them said anything, and they tacitly ended the call.
After thinking for a long time, Hayden turned and walked up the mountain.
Within this small, enclosed space, Angela sat leaning against an apple tree, still singing increasingly new songs. Even when she saw Hayden approaching, she didn't stop singing; she simply smiled and waved in greeting.
It's kind of funny, actually. Even though Hayden knew perfectly well that Angela needed to sing under the apple tree to maintain the energy cycle and couldn't possibly beat Pazuzu into a pulp himself, just seeing Angela sitting under the tree singing leisurely made Hayden feel much of his worry and fear dissipate, and instead, a strange sense of confidence welled up inside him.
Not relying on order, nor on his own abilities, but just seeing Angela's leisurely demeanor, Hayden found it hard to feel genuinely afraid—even though this sense of security was actually quite illogical.
Perhaps sensing Hayden's thoughts, Angela smiled slightly and changed the tune of her song, as if she were speaking to Hayden.
"Whether diving into the deep sea or climbing to the summit,"
"Whether in the water or in the air, I will be there."
"The earth cannot cover you, and darkness will not devour you."
"Whether in the depths or in the shadows, I will be there."
"Go, go, my beloved, break the chains!"
"Let the dark winds become a process, a rebirth!"
"To make the pain of the past forever,"
"So that tomorrow will be free from torment and bloodshed!"
Her singing voice filled the heavens, and her tone was filled with a faint pride.
Hayden was stunned for a moment—how did Angela know what he and Karen were up to? But at this point, worrying about Angela's abilities seemed pointless.
“I’m not sure, I’m just guessing, but you probably don’t like Pazuzu very much.”
So Hayden continued, scratching his chin.
“I’m going to destroy Pazuzu. Not because you’ll probably hate that kind of wind demon—in fact, I made up my mind before I even thought about it. But the reason itself is sufficient.”
Angela glanced at Hayden with an inscrutable look, then smiled as if she couldn't help but chuckle.
————————————————————————————
time flies.
Just two days after Hayden and Pazuzu engaged in a magical duel, Pazuzu removed the effects of Hayden's black wind arrow and led its demi-human raiders to attack.
How did it know Hayden was here? Pazuzu has been able to live and run rampant for thousands of years, so of course it has a way of detecting distant places using the supernatural power of wind. Besides, it had just fought Hayden across the wind.
Its subhuman raiders were rather unwilling. After all, they had just seized the valley of the Wind Riding Tribe, had food and drink, prisoners who weren't all dead yet to play with, and a roof over their heads to shelter them from the wind and rain. Why would they want to go out and fight now? However, Pazuzu casually ripped off the heads of two of his subordinates, and the rest became obedient.
The great storm was still raging in the sky, but the demi-humans, having seized the remaining vehicles of the Windrider Tribe, managed to fly through the storm. Pazuzu's subordinates, those demi-human raiders, numbered nearly fifty. While they were far from being as strong as the Great Demon—there was no way they could be!—they still included some battle-hardened veterans, no weaker than ordinary mercenaries.
The demi-human raiders didn't care, but Pazuzu was overjoyed to see the mountain city and the barrier with its own eyes, and to see how the Typhoon Sweeper couldn't get in no matter how hard it tried. This barrier was so powerful that if it could just seize the mountain city and the barrier, it would never have to worry about where to find a place to recuperate again.
Moreover, while the outermost protective barrier of the city's boundary could withstand the rough, slow friction of a typhoon's vacuum cleaner, it wasn't a major problem for Pazuzu. Pazuzu led his subordinates toward the barrier, his hands suddenly transforming into lion's claws. With a single grab, he tore open the light red hexagonal patterns, carving out a path.
However, after digging through the first layer of the barrier and leading his subordinates into the barrier, Pazuzu saw a strange sight.
Pazuzu had assumed that after their previous battle, Hayden would be fully prepared this time, bringing at least a hundred magicians to help. But in reality, he wasn't.
On the second layer of the barrier, on the other side of the tree wall, there was only one person sitting.
"They're finally here?"
Hayden, holding a black and white caduceus staff, sat cross-legged by the tree wall with a calm expression.
At his feet, a magic circle with intricate, light blue geometric patterns appeared on the ground. Around him, dozens, even hundreds, of fireballs, ice balls, and lightning balls floated, ready to be unleashed.
What's going on here?
The answer is actually quite simple. If you have an endless supply of water, but the amount that can be released each time is limited by the size of the pipe, then by simply lifting the pipe and storing the water in another way, you can increase the output during the final attack, right?
So Hayden first conjured a hundred arcane orbs, each equivalent to his full-force attack, each containing the power to freeze rivers, burn mountains, and summon thunderbolts. Then he used mithril to draw magic circles on the ground to fix them in place, keeping them dormant. Although this was incredibly expensive and extremely inefficient, and the effectiveness of the arcane orbs would gradually diminish over time, he still managed to conjure them up in the end.
War is about spending money. This is especially true of the industrialization of modern arcane arts. But Hayden isn't going to cut corners this time.
"welcome."
And his preparations went far beyond that.
Despite his calm demeanor, Hayden's actions and words were filled with clear murderous intent.
"Just die already! [Meteor Explosion]!"