Chapter 1598: The Benevolent Outer Goddess
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"Taking a break already?!"
"Tch!"
Quick Hare deftly dodged another deadly blow, but the Corrupted Zodiacron’s fleshy arm pursued her, transforming into dozens of long tentacles that moved almost as swiftly as she did.
"I need more momentum to penetrate that armor, but he won’t let me run as much as I need to!"
As Quick Hare reached her limits, Maria observed her struggles and quickly sent her party to assist, confronting the powerful Hive Soldiers and the remaining dozen Corrupted Zodiacrons.
Meanwhile, three separate armies, each with over a hundred Hive Drones, surged into the corridor from three different directions.
Maria regarded them with a cold gaze, knowing she had no time to waste on these weaklings and deciding to end them swiftly.
"I will finish you all quickly before the Queen’s daughter emerges."
Maria could already hear the powerful footsteps of the Hive Queen’s daughter, her Aura of Mana and Psychic Power immense, overflowing from the spaceship.
Perhaps she could offer a decent fight, and Maria anticipated testing her skills further.
But first...
"{Cosmic Mourner’s Wail}"
Maria’s appearance transformed once more, shifting swiftly from her human form to a smaller version of her current race, her most recent evolution.
Her hair became tentacle-like, her eyes remained eternally closed while weeping, a crimson eye adorned her forehead, and she wore a dress woven of black tears, accompanied by horns of white flames and a veil of darkness.
She clasped her hands together, opened her mouth, and let out a soft cry.
"Aaaahh..."
Darkness.
The Aliens saw only darkness as they heard that faint wail.
Then, everything ended.
TRUUUM!
The darkness compressed around them, its soundwaves shaking their bodies and causing them to explode into pieces.
Within seconds, over three hundred aliens were eradicated.
Maria was still exploring the full extent of her powers. Even during her battle in the Nightmare Void Dimension, she couldn’t unleash her abilities to their fullest.
"Hm, not bad, and just in time."
As her family began clashing with the Hive Soldiers and Corrupted Zodiacrons, Maria saw the massive door separating this area from the meeting hall torn open.
A pair of armored claws ripped it apart in an instant!
CRAAASH!
The Hive Queen’s daughter emerged through the hole her claws created, her face a mix of confusion and surprise, anger simmering as she sensed the mysterious power that had just surged.
"WHO...! JUST WHO DARES DISRUPT THE PEACE OF MY COLONY?!"
Her voice thundered with immense power, blending Mana and Psychic Power, shaking the minds of her own children and allies, the Corrupted Zodiacrons.
Maria, however, remained largely unaffected, perhaps entirely unscathed.
The Hive Queen’s daughter noticed, of course.
This small woman, with her even stranger appearance.
"What...! You are...?! An outsider like us?! Do you come from the Outer Void?"
"Oh? Me? No, no, I am from Yggdrasil. Now, you said something intriguing. The Outer Void? Is that where aliens like you originate?"
"Alien...? You are an alien too, fool! Look at yourself! What in the world are you?!"
"Prettier than you, that’s for sure. But I don’t think that’s hard to achieve..."
"SILENCE!"
The Hive Queen’s Daughter roared, swinging her massive scythes downward, unleashing barrages of cutting, energy-based attacks. Combining Mana and Psychic Power, they formed a deadly force that caught Maria off guard.
"{Slicing Psychobarrage}!"
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The slashing attacks targeted Maria from above, below, right, and left, converging into a cube of slicing energies that enveloped her, attempting to obliterate her completely.
BOOOM!
"Heh, despite that intimidating appearance, were you as frail as you seem?"
The Hive Queen’s Daughter smirked, watching the explosion engulf Maria, her form vanishing amid the purple and pink flames fueled by Mana and Psychic Power.
"That could have hurt me."
"...?!"
To the alien’s shock, Maria emerged unscathed from the explosion, her third eye glaring while her other two eyes remained closed, weeping black tears.
"Perhaps... when I was S Rank."
"Unscathed?! What sort of nonsense...?! DIE ALREADY!"
The alien charged, swinging her scythes at Maria, unleashing dozens of slicing barrages of purple and pink energy. The attacks tore through her own spaceship, splitting entire rooms below and causing the structure to tremble with cracks spreading everywhere.
RUMBLE!
Yet, as rubble fell from the ceiling, Maria stood unscathed. She wasn’t intangible, nor did the attacks miss her. Each blow struck, but a strange energy nullified all damage, absorbing it.
"Enough. It’s my turn now."
Maria smiled, vanishing in a black blink and reappearing above the Hive Queen’s Daughter’s head, perched atop her.
"A-Ah!"
The alien gasped as her claws lunged to crush Maria.
And yet...
"{Starlit Isolation}"
TRUUUM!
Darkness and shadows engulfed them, isolating them from the outside world in an endless realm of black void.
"Where...?! Where is this?!"
The Hive Queen’s Daughter glared at Maria with disbelief, only to meet Maria’s pitying expression.
Whenever Maria unleashed her true form, her personality shifted slightly, embodying Sorrow and Pity. She became a being who mourned for all.
"Oh, you poor thing. I will end your life quickly. I cannot bear to see you scared."
"Who are you pitying, you monster?!"
The alien screamed, attacking Maria with her scythes, only for Maria to dissolve into the darkness, startling the Hive Queen’s Daughter.
"What...?! Where...! Where are you?! Let me tell you, I also possess Psychic Powers!"
Her head glowed with pink and purple light as she unleashed her Psychic Power, expanding her own Domain to challenge Maria’s.
And yet...
FLASH!
Thousands of white stars appeared across the darkness, glowing brightly and converging around her.
"It’s not working?!"
Nothing worked—her attacks, her psychic abilities.
All useless.
The gap in their levels was simply...
Too vast.
"Aaahh! Aaagghhh!"
She tried to escape, to resist the technique, but the stars consumed her body, compressing with the darkness to crush and tear her apart.
"M-Mother...! Mother, save me! Help meeeeee!"
She called for her mother, but no one could hear her in the depths of Maria’s dark void.
"Don’t worry, you poor child. I am a benevolent goddess. You will serve me for eternity... after death."
"Aaaaaaahhhhh!"
The Hive Queen’s Daughter screamed in agony, her body drained of life force, her soul nearly shattered. Maria held back from going all out.
This being couldn’t withstand a single hit from her new Skills.
"It’s so hard to keep a corpse intact with my new abilities... her body and soul are barely sufficient."
Maria waved her hand, shadows and nether enveloping the Hive Queen’s Daughter’s corpse, forming a cocoon of death.
From it, she emerged anew, reborn in death, with phantasmal and nightmarish energies surging from her body, having undergone an evolution.
"Welcome to my army. You will serve me well. Now go, kill your brethren and turn them into Undead. My power is too vast, and they would die too easily if I fought them directly."
"I shall, master."
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