Hero of Darkness

Chapter 979 Cornered and Neutralized

In a remarkable turn of events, Kahn had orchestrated a series of calculated moves that culminated in the takedown of all the saint guardians at the very last moment, thanks to a well-executed surprise attack. However, this wasn't a matter of sheer luck; every move had been meticulously planned.

There was a specific reason why Marcus had summoned only the five saints and had refrained from summoning any other undead or skeletal monsters, as a standard Necromancer might. The key lay in the fact that the higher-ranked the undead, the more and denser energy they required. By summoning the saints, Marcus had already taxed his reserves to the limit, leaving him with minimal energy to spare for additional creatures.

Rathnaar, the Conqueror, was the expert on dealing with a Necromancer Hero, and he had shared a crucial piece of knowledge with Kahn when he outlined the strategy. This insight revolved around the first significant weakness of the Necromancy Divine Ability.

The crux of the matter was that if a Necromancer Hero summoned creatures or undead entities comparable to High Lords, or individuals akin to Grandmasters or Semi-Saints, the ability was highly manageable. In such cases, all that was required was a sufficient reserve of mana, something a 6th stage saint like Marcus had in abundance. With an ample supply of mana, the Necromancer Hero could conjure millions of undead entities to overwhelm and eliminate the Hero's Party.

However, the dynamic shifted when it came to beings of legendary or mythical stature, such as Saints. These entities, when summoned as undeads, lacked the possession of their own World Energy. This fundamental distinction marked the line between a proper living saint and an undead saint in Vantrea's lore.

Beings of such high caliber, when summoned as undeads, depended entirely on an external source for their World Energy to access their saintly skills and abilities. The direct and immediate source of this energy was, unsurprisingly, the caster, which, in this context, was the Necromancer Hero. This vulnerability presented a crucial opening in any battle against a Necromancer Hero, as it offered a means to disrupt their control and the abilities of the summoned undeads, creating a critical weakness that could be exploited.

After summoning them, Marcus Brutus was the sole source of the guardians' strength and without his own world energy, they couldn't use a single skill.

This was also the main reason why Marcus Brutus hadn't actually fought the battle by himself from the very beginning after he summoned the saint guardians and used a protection barrier to defend himself as he disappeared into nothingness in front of their eyes.

This whole time, as the saint guardians fought Maximus, it was he who provided them world energy through their innate link between the Necromancer and summons. This was also the reason why he chose to hide since he was in a vulnerable state due to his mistake of summoning all of them at the same time.

And then, Rathnaar revealed the 2nd biggest flaw that he himself found and used back when he fought a chosen Hero with Necromancer Divine Ability when he was alive.

[Once you kill all the summoned creatures and saints used by a Necromancer Hero, the Divine Ability somehow shuts down and goes into a Reset Mode.

However, it is nearly impossible to execute because the numbers are often too high and killing them all at once is without a second of delay is something unachievable by many.]

This was what Rathnaar told Kahn from the memories. And afterward, he told Kahn how to use his own skills to achieve that feat when he planned to neutralize the Necromancer Divine Ability.

Kahn following his orders, used his Cosmic Replicas that appeared as normal doppelgangers and hid in the shadows of the other Hero's Party members when they made the plan under that icy dome as they hid away from the battlefield.

But the biggest advantage they had here was provided to them by none other than Marcus Brutus himself.

Due to his own arrogance and the fact that Maximus had vexed him, he summoned his strongest summons at that moment aka the other guardians who were saints.

This approach forced him to go into hiding and made him vulnerable, opening the door for Kahn to utilize the 2nd weakness of the divine ability.

Again, the Goddess of Luck had favored Kahn who had the cosmic replica skill at this point and all of these copies were just exactly him in different bodies, completely interlinked and sharing the same consciousness.

When Kahn told his plan to others, they all called it a 'suicide plan', and rightfully so.

Since Marcus had ordered his summons to capture and torture the Hero's Party members, it was evident that if they presented themselves to the guardians, the first thing they would do was to capture them.

And after Maximus killed Sylvana again on his own, it left only 4 guardians that they needed to target.

Hence, it was Borat, Conan, Speki and Rolakan who intentionally revealed themselves as Kahn hid in their shadows while erasing his entire existence using the cosmic replicas.

One could say that Kahn achieving the 3rd enlightenment in the Space Law was a godsend achievement that helped him in this situation because even a 6th stage saint like Marcus Brutus failed to sense his replicas since they used the cosmic aether and not mana or world energy like normal doppelgangers.

And finally, as the members were captured, it was Kahn who executed them all at close range using Dimensional Cut with absolutely perfect timing with unfathomable precision.

To Marcus Brutus, the 7th Hero of Nature… Maximus was the biggest threat so he had neglected Kahn completely and that slight ignorance now caused the Last Guardian to cough up an ample amount of blood as his Necromancer Divine Ability was temporarily rendered useless.

[Don't worry. He won't be able to use that Divine Ability for at least 24 Hours.

Although this ability protects him from suffering many types of backlashes and consequences on his own body… what we targeted here was not the ability itself but his core.] revealed Kahn.

[So by using his own world energy that he supplied to his saint summons, we damaged his core by cutting off the connection abruptly when he was in a vulnerable state?] asked Kahn.

[Correct. And no matter how good and overpowered a Divine Ability is… It cannot subvert the direct damage to the user's core.

That is why killing all the summons at the exact same moment was important. His core could simply not handle such a shock that came from all the links he had with the summoned entities.

That is exactly how I defeated a Necromancer Hero in my time.] declared Rathnaar proudly.

[Wait… I have to ask. How did you or what kind of skills did you use back then during your battle?] questioned Kahn curiously since he had no idea how Rathnaar became the man he was and what kind of powers he possessed.

To this day, Kahn only knew that the former Peak Saint of Vantrea was a Swordsman by class but what element he used and what kind of skill he had… Kahn had no idea.

And to his query, Rathnaar replied calmly…

[I don't remember. Did you forget that those memories are sealed with the other half of my soul?] responded Rathnaar satirically.

Kahn rolled his eyes in annoyance and now focused on the injured Hero.

Swoosh!

His cosmic replicas disappeared and now he jumped down and joined the others.

Maximus too had deactivated Izanami's Champion divine ability and regrouped with them as they marched towards Marcus Brutus who was rendered helpless since the damage to his core had temporarily cut of his access to world energy as his saint powers.

"Atreus, we know you can use doppelgangers but what kind of invisible skill that was… the one you used to cut their heads off?" asked Speki, the fire summoner peacock-kin.

To him, Atreus replied sternly…

"I can tell you. But then I'll have to kill you." 

Gulp!

Speki's countenance turned horrified, remembering the times when Atreus literally cooked his arms and legs and ate them in front of him.

"Forget that I asked." 

In just a few minutes, they covered the 5 kilometers gap between themselves and Brutus.

Woosh!

Woosh!

And unlike the previous situation…

It was the 7th Hero of Nature who was surrounded by his enemies from all sides.

"Any last words?" asked Maximus as the mages from the party cast barriers and formations, binding Marcus in inescapable magical chains while the melee class activated their offensive skills to kill him the moment he made any suspicious moves.

"You… How did you know?

That killing them all at once will neutralize my divine ability?"

Instead of responding to Maximus, Brutus looked at Atreus with a wrathful countenance and asked with a pissed-off expression…

"I don't know. Maybe a ghost of some powerful venerable immortal whispered it in my ears." replied Kahn as he shrugged off his arms casually.

This was something even Maximus was curious about but did not put too much importance on it since they were now one step closer to their main goal.

"This ends now. Make your final prayers if you believe in any god." declared Maximus as he put his greatsword on Brutus' neck.

"Hah! Looks like you still haven't realized. This isn't just some random place." said the last guardian and the very following moment…

BOOM!!

A massive surge of black aura erupted and all the magical formations and chains on his body shattered like glass as the Hero's Party members were thrown off far away in different directions.

In the sky, the two moons suddenly turned black like an eclipse as two massive red formations appeared on their surface.

"This place is Hell. More accurately…" declared the Necromancer Hero with pride and a sinister voice…

"THIS IS MY HELL!!"