Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 344 - Immunity

“How insolent! What an insolent human! I clearly warned you. This is the land of emperors. No strong being can enter without permission. Ethan Whiskers, you must pay the price for your arrogance.”

Scorpion acknowledged Ethan’s strength but couldn’t tolerate his attitude.

Ding-!

-You have received the quest [Forgotten God, Forgotten Temple]!

-This place was originally Moonforce’s temple. However, as time passed, the god was forgotten, and no one could remember the deity. Restore everything to its original state.

-The goddess Moonforce greatly praises you.

-You have received Moonforce’s blessing!

Shaaaak-.

A powerful chill settled in Ethan’s entire body.

-All your stats increase by +1.

He received a blessing just for accepting the quest.

‘I guess discovering the temple itself has great significance?’

It seemed this old building was indeed Moonforce’s temple. But over time, the fact that it was a temple had been forgotten, and traces of Moonforce had disappeared.

‘This is the largest Moonforce temple I’ve found so far.’

Perhaps the entire Gaister Desert was once under Moonforce’s influence.

‘This is a large-scale quest.’

It meant that if he could transform this temple back into Moonforce’s temple, he could obtain an equally large reward.

‘I don’t know how far I can develop this Moonforce’s Descendant class.’

In other words, even Ethan didn’t know the upper limit of this class.

‘It might be limitless.’

Ethan grinned.

If that was the case, restoring this Moonforce temple, whose identity was unknown to everyone, to its original state was the top priority.

‘Well, I need to modify my strategy a bit.’

Finding the temple and activating it was the primary goal, but now it needed to be adjusted.

‘Activation is a given, but…’

It seemed necessary to revive the symbolic significance of Moonforce that this temple once held.

“To think of other things while standing before me. Very well, let’s see how long that arrogance lasts.”

Thump-. Thump-. Thump-.

Scorpion began to swing its tail.

After attacking Ethan twice earlier, it realized his defense was extremely solid.

If that was the case, there was no need for physical attacks.

Shuuuuuk-.

A mist spread from Scorpion’s tail.

It wasn’t the previous black mist, but a purple one.

‘Poison.’

“It’s already too late. Even if you had distanced yourself the moment you saw it, you couldn’t have avoided the poisoning. To think you’d just stand still.”

Scorpion laughed at Ethan.

“Do the humans of this era have so little combat experience? I had some expectations.”

It was a clear provocation.

“……”

But something was strange.

Despite releasing the poison, Ethan didn’t show the expected reaction of someone who had been poisoned.

Rather, Ethan was calmly waiting for Scorpion’s next move.

“What are you, you bastard.”

He wasn’t pretending to be calm. He truly was relaxed.

“My body is immune to poison.”

Ethan shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s impossible…! This isn’t just any poison! It’s the deadliest of the deadly poisons!”

It was an extreme poison created by mixing numerous poisons, one that couldn’t be easily resisted even with poison resistance.

“Are you saying even this extreme poison doesn’t affect you?”

“As you can see.”

Scorpion suddenly raised its tail and struck the ground.

The sand began to churn like a whirlpool on the sea.

“Fine, a strong one like you might have one or two such abilities. But can you fight properly in this situation? This is a desert. In this land full of sand, those who can’t overcome the sand won’t get any chance.”

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

Scorpion raised its tail high and struck the ground even more violently.

Scorpion was invincible on this sand.

It was also known by epithets like the Lord of Sand or the Sand King.

Swaaaaaaak-!

Suddenly, dust rose, and a sandstorm swept in. As the storm intensified, visibility gradually became blurry due to the sandstorm.

Swaaaak-. Swaaaak-.

The mercenaries trapped in the sandstorm Scorpion had created were greatly confused.

No matter how fierce a sandstorm, if there was someone right next to you, you should be able to see at least a little. But in this sandstorm, they couldn’t see even an inch in front of them.

Its power was so great that even one’s own hand appeared blurry.

“I, I can’t even see what’s right next to me…”

“Ack! How could you step on me!”

This sandstorm wasn’t simply created by raising sand.

It was a kind of magic cast using Scorpion’s unique mana.

Scorpion could see all movements within this sandstorm, but Ethan couldn’t see anything.

“A complex magic circle, huh? A barrier format… layered several times?”

Ethan analyzed Scorpion’s magic with admiration.

“……”

Scorpion didn’t respond to those words.

It must be bluffing. The Ethan it saw earlier used a sword. Even if he had some knowledge of magic, he wouldn’t have enough to penetrate this magic.

Then Ethan must be waiting for it to react.

If it didn’t react at all, Ethan would have no choice but to move first.

Scorpion planned to seize that moment.

Shaaaaaaak-.

Tremendous power gathered at the tip of Scorpion’s tail. It didn’t matter if it openly gathered power since Ethan couldn’t see this side anyway.

But suddenly, Ethan’s neck moved.

Then he gazed exactly in Scorpion’s direction.

“…?”

He definitely shouldn’t be able to see.

“No way.”

Ethan was moving towards Scorpion as if he could see everything.

“Are you saying you can see me in this sandstorm?”

Scorpion’s voice trembled slightly.

However, it didn’t stop preparing its attack.

Shaaaaaaak-!

Scorpion, having gathered powerful mana in its tail, lowered its stance and rushed towards Ethan.

And at that moment.

Their eyes met.

“!”

Scorpion, who was about to stab with its tail using the momentum of its charge, forcibly twisted its body to kill its speed.

“You, you…!”

“Why did you stop your attack?”

“In this sandstorm, you can see me?”

“I can see you clearly.”

Ethan’s eyes shone.

As long as he had the highly skilled Eye of Horus, something like a sandstorm was meaningless.

Moreover, Ethan had excellent magic dispelling abilities, so there was no way such a vision-obscuring magic would work on him.

“……”

Not only the poison but even this sandstorm didn’t work.

But Scorpion swung its tail strongly in that place.

Kuguuguuguugung-!

There was still one weapon left.

“No matter how great you are, it doesn’t matter. That’s only on land. Yes, I admit it. You nullified my poison and sandstorm. But my true power isn’t in those things. I’ll use my full strength.”

“Wh-what!?”

The sand surged like waves.

Scorpion began to furiously strike the sand with its tail.

“Ground compaction.”

Kwang-! Kwang-!

Scorpion raised huge waves. It was both a wave and an earthquake. Everyone except Scorpion fell down.

Even Ethan lost his balance for a moment at this attack.

Scorpion didn’t miss that opportunity and attempted another attack.

It gathered power in its tail, trying to penetrate Ethan in one go.

At that moment, Ethan stepped back slightly and summoned something.

“Tror!”

Suddenly, the shaking sand rose high.

Kungung- Kugugugugung-!

Eventually, the sand clumped together and transformed into a being as massive as Scorpion.

“Th-this is…”

Scorpion knew very well what Ethan had summoned. As the ruler of sand, it couldn’t not know that being.

The master of all lands.

It was the Spirit King of the Earth.

The summoned Tror looked down at Scorpion from high above.

Even Scorpion was overwhelmed before Tror.

Though called the ruler of sand, this sand ultimately lies on the earth. It’s no different from being under Tror, who rules all lands.

In terms of compatibility, Scorpion was infinitely below Tror.

“I have descended upon summons. Do you need assistance?”

“Stop this earthquake, please.”

“Understood.”

Immediately, the earthquake stopped.

Scorpion gritted its teeth and looked back and forth between Ethan and Tror.

To think none of its attacks worked.

How unfair this was.

“Spirit King! Do you think this makes sense?!”

“Why are you asking me that?”

Tror clicked his tongue while looking at Scorpion.

“I’ve been through a lot too. So think of it as fate.”

“What do you mean you’ve been through a lot…?”

They should be bound by a contract relationship.

Something about his words seemed odd.

“That’s all you need to know.”

Tror spread his arms and plunged his hands into the sand.

Now, even if Scorpion tried to compact the ground, it would no longer have any meaning.

This was because the authority of Tror, the Spirit King of the Earth, was a step above Scorpion’s.

Having completed his task, Tror disappeared.

Swaaaaaaak-.

Both the sandstorm and the earthquake stopped.

Scorpion, with all its options blocked, opened its mouth dejectedly.

“The poison doesn’t work.”

Scorpion said.

“The sandstorm doesn’t work.”

Even the ground compaction, its most powerful move, didn’t work.

Among all the opponents Scorpion had experienced so far, there had never been one so completely its natural enemy.

“By what means did you contract with Tror, the Spirit King of the Earth? A human contracted with a Spirit King…”

This was the first time it had felt such helplessness.

Ethan took a step closer to such a Scorpion.

“Anything else?”

As Ethan asked expectantly, Scorpion raised its tail sharply.

“Damn it!”

It shouted as if spitting out the words.

“This desert is my land! On this sand, not even a king’s knight could defeat me!”

Swaaaaaaak-!

Scorpion began to swing its tail like mad.

Kkaang-! Kkaang-! Kkaang-!

Ethan lightly swung his Frost Sword to deflect Scorpion’s tail.

Although he was clearly deflecting it lightly, strong pain was transmitted to Scorpion’s tail.

Usually, it wouldn’t take damage from ordinary attacks due to its hard exoskeleton. The fact that it felt pain meant that Ethan’s swordsmanship was penetrating through the exoskeleton to the inside.

Ethan was completely above Scorpion.

Now, all Scorpion could do was engage in physical combat.

Kkaang-!

Ethan swung his sword and cleanly cut off the incoming tail.

Seo-geok!

Scorpion, with its tail cut off, howled.

“This is what happens when you limit yourself to just the desert.”

Ethan had prepared to fight at full capacity no matter where he was.

“I consider wherever I stand to be my land.”

Ethan swung his sword again and split Scorpion in half.

“That’s why you lost.”