IBHJ Chapter 927

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Damage numbers flashed above Tiamat's head as the adventurers attacked. But as a Level 9 boss, her defense was immense. The adventurers couldn't even scratch her, their damage barely reaching four digits. Even Enkidu, from one of the game's top guilds, could only manage five-digit hits. Impressive, but a mere pinprick compared to Tiamat's nine-digit health bar. As Morrigan had warned, clearing a hidden map like this might be beyond even the top guild, let alone a handful of players.

Tiamat turned her head slightly, her gaze sweeping over her attackers with a chilling indifference. With a gentle wave of her slender hand, the water planet orbiting her flashed with a metallic sound, like the ringing of a thousand bells. A stream of pale blue frost erupted from the planet, sweeping over the group of adventurers like a glacial wave. With a series of sickening cracks, those caught in the blast were instantly frozen solid, their bodies encased in a shimmering blue ice.

Another wave of Tiamat's hand, and the nearby Saturn glowed brightly, its rings spinning with a dizzying speed. A terrifying power surged from the planet, causing the ground to rumble and split open. Several adventurers, unable to escape the sudden upheaval, fell screaming into the gaping chasms that opened beneath their feet.

Then, the Mars surrounding Tiamat seemed to ignite, its surface expanding and glowing with an intense heat. It transformed into a red giant, unleashing a ring of fire that engulfed the battlefield with Tiamat at its center.

Boom! Boom!

Explosions ripped through the landscape, turning everything in their path into scorched earth. The air filled with smoke and ash as the adventurers desperately tried to find cover from the inferno.

The adventurers' HP plummeted from the massive AOE attack. Even Enkidu and Morrigan lost more than half their health. Only Shirou, shrouded in Evil Blossom, managed to fully withstand the blast.

"As expected, you're the most troublesome child," Tiamat said, turning her gaze towards Shirou, her strange, bright eyes locking onto him.

This Connection Point was a game world. Both UO·Heaven's Corpse and Tiamat were bound by the game's data logic to some extent. But Shirou's black mud could completely ignore it.

Tiamat recognized that, compared to Enkidu and Morrigan, Shirou and his [Evil] were the most troublesome to deal with. But then again, it would be strange if the inheritor of that civilization wasn't troublesome.

A thought flashed through Tiamat's mind, and a glint passed through her eyes. Suddenly, Uranus unleashed a barrage of scattered flower petals, raining down on him in a deadly shower.

"Be careful, King of Knights!" Enkidu shouted.

However, faced with the barrage of scattered petals, Shirou remained completely calm. A glint passed through his eyes, and with a thought, a metallic sound rang out. Evil Blossom, the cursed mud hidden in the shadows, rushed out, spreading into a massive net that caught all the flower petals moving faster than bullets.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The petals that fell into the mud net made a sound like corrosion, their beautiful forms dissolving and withering away under the potent cursing power of the Vortex contained within Evil Blossom.

"Unbelievable, what kind of item is that?" the adventurers gasped.

"It can actually block the Mother Goddess's power..." Enkidu was equally astonished. According to Gilgamesh, this mud was the other half of Eternal King, the Noble Phantasm of the Eternal King. But what kind of legend could give rise to a Noble Phantasm that even Mother Goddess's divinity couldn't overcome?

While Evil Blossom casually corroded and destroyed Tiamat's attack, Shirou wasted no time in retaliating. He drew two holy swords, their blades gleaming with a righteous aura. With a double metallic clang, the swords lit up with dazzling light, illuminating the battlefield with their brilliance.

He stomped his foot, propelling himself high into the air. As he descended towards Tiamat, he slashed at her with both blades, channeling a surge of magical energy into them. The air crackled as the swords sliced through the air, leaving trails of light in their wake.

Yet, faced with these two swords, Tiamat merely extended her white palm, her fingers outstretched. With a casual flick of her wrist, she stopped the swords in their tracks, her hand absorbing the impact of the blow with seemingly no effort.

As expected, the swords' effect didn't trigger. But this was all part of his plan. The holy swords were just a feint; the true killing move was something else!

Crack, crack, crack!

Deep black mud tides surged from the ground, forming sharp pillars like a giant maw from the abyss, attempting to swallow Tiamat whole. The pervasive malice emanating from the mud was like a rising tide of pure evil, a tangible force that threatened to consume everything it touched.

Even Tiamat, with her immense power, couldn't ignore it. She shook off his holy swords and summoned Uranus once again. With a metallic clang, the planet emitted strange ripples, projecting a rainbow-colored protective shield that radiated an overwhelming divine will.

The next moment, the black fangs pierced towards the shield, their cursed tips dripping with the corrosive power of the Vortex.

In a blinding flash, the surging malice of Evil Blossom and the overwhelming divine will of Tiamat's shield collided.

Boom! Boom!

The surrounding space fractured under the strain, revealing the cracks between reality.

Success! The corner of his mouth turned up. Tiamat's reaction was exactly what he had anticipated. Even Evil Blossom being blocked was part of his plan. If Tiamat had dodged, it would have been a miscalculation, but defense and resistance played directly into his hands.

A glint of cunning flashed in his eyes. With a subtle mental command, the mud spikes that Tiamat had blocked with Uranus's power suddenly softened, transforming into viscous mud that clung to her rainbow-colored shield like a parasitic organism.

Then...

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The mud seeped into her shield.

Drip, drip.

Black, muddy water dripped from the shield, falling onto Tiamat's face, accompanied by the sizzling sound of corrosion. White smoke rose from her skin as the mud began to eat away at her flesh.

"This is..." Tiamat touched her face and looked up at the mud clinging to her shield.

"I have to apologize in advance," Shirou said, a smile playing on his lips.

He knew that even with the two holy swords, the game world's rules dictated that he, a mere Level 2 newbie, couldn't possibly defeat Tiamat, let alone capture her and learn about the Vortex. Only a true Holy Sword User could unleash the full power of those blades. But that didn't matter because he had something even more broken than holy swords.

The mud that had absorbed the cursing power of the Dark Vortex was no longer ordinary black mud. It possessed the ability to corrode and assimilate. Not even gods were immune to Evil Blossom's curse, as seen in the Fourth Holy Grail War when [All the World's Evil] had corrupted and dominated the Servants it altered.

But Evil Blossom's current power far surpassed [All the World's Evil]. Even gods could hardly escape its corrupting influence.

He wouldn't use this ability lightly to twist others' wills, and had sealed it away. But against the immensely powerful Tiamat, he had no choice. Even she, once corrupted, would fall under the control of Evil Blossom.

The mud tide completely engulfed Tiamat, swallowing her whole.

"I- I can't believe it!" Enkidu stared in shock at Tiamat, who was consumed by the mud. "That Noble Phantasm... that Noble Phantasm can even corrode the Mother Goddess! How could such a Noble Phantasm exist...?"

The sight was too much for Enkidu to comprehend.

That was Tiamat, Tiamat the Goddess of Beginning who created the world! The primordial mother defeated only by the combined might of Sumerian divinity!

Yet now, she was defeated by this mud.

This was just one of Eternal King's Noble Phantasms!

The adventurers were equally stunned. They didn't know Tiamat's true identity, but her power was undeniable. And now she had been swallowed by that mud.

All eyes turned to Shirou, shock mingled with a silent question: If Evil Flower possessed such power, why had he needed to hand out the God's Brain?

Ignoring the stunned crowd, Shirou's gaze remained fixed on Tiamat, his expression tense. He knew the power of Evil Blossom well, but his cautious nature wouldn't let him relax until the result was certain.

"I see, so this was your plan," Tiamat's voice came from within the black mud.

Hearing this, his heart sank. It didn't corrode her?

Even the evolved black mud couldn't corrode Tiamat?

With a resounding boom, Tiamat erupted with a terrifying display of divine will. Immense magical energy blazed around her like a raging inferno, generating a fierce wind pressure that sliced through space, stripping away the clinging mud from her body and blowing it away like scattered leaves.

As the smoke cleared, her elegant figure was revealed once more, unblemished and radiating an aura of power.