The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1288

Chapter 1286
The Battle of the Former Pillar Gods

In the ancient legends of various nations, there was a tale that if a person traveled to a certain place, they could enter the underworld.
There was also a saying that if one reached a sufficiently high place—such as a tall tower or a high mountain peak—they could see the gods in the sky.
This was a remnant of the time when the Material Realm and the Dream Realm were connected.
And now, at this moment, in this place.
The lost spectacle of the past has reappeared, and the Material Realm and the Dream Realm have once again intertwined. A new “Twin Mirror” has been briefly created, or summoned to this location, connecting the inside and outside of the gate, unlocking the sealed lock.
—This is a great endeavor that reaches the heavens.

“Roar—”
In a gap between the Silver Crown Dragon’s struggle with Calamity Red, as it brushed past the giant mirror that vertically sliced the sea, it suddenly exhaled a breath of white dragon’s breath.
It was like a spinning white cannonball, engulfed in a compressed, all-freezing wind, shot from the mirror on the left into the Material Realm on the right!
—Ice Storm!
After penetrating the mirror, although its volume was greatly reduced, it successfully reached the Material Realm!
Through this momentarily opened passage, the Dream Realm deity projected its power directly into the Material Realm, bypassing the Veil of Balance!
Although a portion of its power was still diluted when transmitting through the “mirror,” and although the Silver Crown Dragon was not in good condition, even having lost its position as a Pillar God, and though the Silver Crown Dragon was the weakest Pillar God when it held the position… this was still an attack launched by the Silver Crown Dragon!
As the ice ball’s power was diluted, the force compressing it was also diluted.
Thus, the shrunken ice ball expanded and swelled in the blink of an eye.
As it spun towards the towering waves like a sea wall, the endless cold wind it carried instantly froze the surging seawater, coating it in a thick layer of frost.
While spinning at high speed, it continuously unleashed infinite cold wind and countless ice cones in all directions.
Yet, it did not shrink; instead, it rapidly inflated, grew larger, and continuously emanated ever more terrifying cold air. As it approached, it even turn ed the buildings around it, solidified by Eivass’s Preservation Technique and unharmed by the Abyss Heavenly Envoy’s tsunami attack, into dust.
As if crushed by some invisible pressure—wherever it passed, a clear and abrupt white mark was left in the two-colored world of dim yellow and deep blue!
When it approached the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, it had already become immensely large.
The ice ball bit heavily into the giant whale’s body, instantly freezing and shattering the whale’s liquid-formed body!
The giant whale let out a heaven-shattering cry of pain and slowly sank into the equally frozen sea cliff.
Under the Silver Crown Dragon’s attack, which was not significantly weakened by the Veil of Balance, the Abyss Heavenly Envoy was finally injured for the first time!
This was a special mechanic that was not even present in the past Battle of Punishing Heaven.
In the past, the connection to the Supreme Heaven was merely with the Giant King, and the opposition to the Giant King was no more than the Knight of the Round Table led by Lancelot. At that time, the mirror was reflected in the sky, the battle between the White Dragon and the Red Bear echoed the battle of mortal knights challenging giants… If the Supreme Heaven had the chance to interfere with the Material Realm, with its personality, it would have likely crushed the knights directly.
After all, Arthur and the Calamity Dragon of the past had not fully sacrificed themselves… the passage was opened, but only partially. And it was only now that this Ritual was truly completed.
This was an extension of the Shepherd’s Method—the words above were also secret incantations recorded in the Shepherd’s Secret Scrolls.
This was the act of shepherding oneself to the Twin Mirror, thereby awakening the gates and windows.
Now, the anchor holding the Holy Sword was still Lancelot, though he had already achieved the position of a Heavenly Envoy.
And in the Material Realm, he no longer faced the Giant King… but a descended Heavenly Envoy.
Fortunately, with the support of the Silver Crown Dragon, it was not too desperate—
However, this single attack was far from enough to defeat the Abyss Heavenly Envoy.
The giant whale let out an enraged roar, its massive body composed of deep blue tentacles instantly turned a terrifying black-red; and the whale’s original head transformed into crystal, becoming a beautiful iridescent color.
In the past Battle of Punishing Heaven, Amber watched from the side; now, Eivass was observing this scene from within the giant whale.
Of course, he knew that this was the true form of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy—the enraged state it displayed after its life had dropped below half!
The transparent tentacles, which had been like deep blue translucent jelly, now solidified.
They were not filled with muscle, but with the blood of former Pillar Gods—or rather, with liquid forbidden power.
Its surface was no longer smooth and reflective, but covered with thick, rough scales like dragon scales. It looked less like tentacles and more like giant serpents.
In the Game, the Abyss Heavenly Envoy’s tentacles would attack with greatly increased frequency after entering this state.
And it would start using feints—meaning each attack could be either a real move or a feint. For each round of tentacle attacks, nine attack range indicators would appear simultaneously, eight of which would dissipate after half a second… This was likely meant to simulate and describe that “the Abyss Heavenly Envoy’s attacks became more agile and unpredictable.”
Additionally, the Abyss Heavenly Envoy would introduce new mechanics—players needed to use “counter-attacks” to use the Sin Thorns shields provided by field NPCs to collide with the tentacles. Each tentacle knocked off would result in one fewer afterimage appearing next time. After all eight afterimages were knocked off, the next collision would directly bring a tentacle down onto the field.
It would no longer strike from the edges but would launch two types of high-frequency random attacks towards the nearest enemy from the center of the field. Furthermore, if it was not defeated within the time limit, it would become a living monster and capture the nearest player, who could only be rescued by others depleting its health. Otherwise, if the player was not rescued within a certain period, they would have their mind controlled.
—In the Game, players only had to contend with “one” animated tentacle, and before bringing it down, they only had to deal with nine tentacles simultaneously.
However, in reality, the tentacles controlled by the Abyss Heavenly Envoy were far more than hundreds, or even thousands!
Thus, the Abyss Heavenly Envoy unleashed its tentacles, launching a fierce counterattack towards the Silver Crown Dragon!
This was a battle between former Pillar Gods!
It was an attack that even the Knight Heavenly Envoy and the Geometric Heavenly could not face head-on.
In the suddenly pervasive gray mist, they were suddenly hidden, as if they had turned into nothingness.
And the countless black-red tentacles transformed into sharp and grotesque spears, directly covering the location where they were, piercing towards the Silver Crown Dragon in the Dream Realm!
The Silver Crown Dragon suddenly accelerated, its flight speed becoming extremely fast.
Like an aerial battle, countless black-red sharp spears followed behind it, constantly tracking its position—
And through agile rolls and sharp-angled maneuvers, the Silver Crown Dragon caused the space to its left to spin at a dizzying speed. It was like watching a fighter pilot’s dogfighting maneuvers from a first-person perspective.
As it suddenly disappeared into the gray mist, those countless closely following tentacles instantly pierced the Red Dragon that was fighting with it!
—It had actually guided the Abyss Heavenly Envoy’s furious counterattack directly onto Calamity Red!
And for the rather mindless Abyss Heavenly Envoy, Calamity Red and the Silver Crown Dragon were one entity. Just as Eivass and it were also one entity.
Therefore, the Abyss Heavenly Envoy had no awareness of “I attacked the wrong person” and unhesitatingly launched a storm of combo attacks on Calamity Red!