The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 978

Chapter 977
Ouroboros and the Infinite

Roaring through the sky.
Shaking the earth.
Amidst the thunderous collision of dual Paradises Lost, all surrounding spells were continuously suppressed.
Even the magical firmament above, serving as cameras and screens, became distorted.
The sky-curtain first showed significant lag, then began to tear. As gold and purple continued to clash, the image became increasingly twisted and distorted—until the entire firmament shattered completely!
—That deep, dark purple “night curtain” was torn apart, and the sky returned to its pure azure.
The entire Star Antinomy fell into chaos… Those who were watching this god-slaying battle could no longer obtain the latest progress from the “live broadcast.”
Even if the spell could have held on, it wouldn’t have mattered—because even the “directors” by the roadside had been killed!
Not a single light blade flew towards them, yet the mere aftershocks of the explosion were enough to destroy them completely. Paradise Lost’s damage was even greater to phantoms without flesh and blood; and succubi, who relied heavily on teleportation, were unable to escape via teleportation after Paradise Lost caused severe interference with surrounding spells!
In a sense, they died at the hands of a Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
Cardinal Galatea watched this scene.
Her gem-forged eyes displayed clear emotion.
Having once been a creature with scales, she had naturally heard of this legendary spell called “The Ultimate.”
—Paradise Lost.
She still… remembered that the spell’s original name was not this.
It was named thus because it was the “taboo of taboos.”
The “latter half” of Paradise Lost used an extremely precious… bewitched and consumed Heavenly Envoy Fragment as its spell core.
Through the metamorphic cycle of the six elements, mana elements were constantly transformed into other elements within the ring behind it. While transforming, the scattered power was used to strengthen itself, allowing the weightless mana to accelerate continuously—until the input stopped. The more mana invested, the faster the halo behind it would spin. Its theoretical speed limit could reach infinity.
Then, the mana accelerated to its limit could be unleashed.
It could be any attribute, or it could be the “attribute-less” state where the six elements reached equilibrium. The spell energy would be shaped into the sharpest, most efficient attack mode—a piercing needle. There was no need to construct any complex spell matrix; the mana, accelerated to its limit and thus hyperactivated, was inherently destructive.
But this was not why it became a taboo.
It was because the theoretical upper limit of this spell’s configuration was “infinite”!
To allow it to reach, or approach, its limit, Lucifer, the Lord of the Sky-Piercing Tower, integrated six hundred and sixty-six classic spell configurations, enabling it to dismantle all derivative spells based on these six hundred and sixty-six fundamental spell configurations and automatically absorb their mana to fill itself. This was the “first half” of the spell.
Merely preparing this spell could continuously destroy all surrounding spells, absorbing souls and draining life force; and this spell could be charged almost infinitely… If this spell were unleashed when fully prepared, its power would be enough to destroy everything.
If this spell were used within the Sky-Piercing Tower, it would cause great chaos in the tower by disturbing a large number of fundamental spells.
Therefore, this spell ultimately became an untransmissible taboo. Let alone using it—even attempting to study, or record it, would result in expulsion from the Sky-Piercing Tower. And since the Sky-Piercing Tower was considered a “blessed land” by the winged ones, the taboo spell’s final name ironically became “the consequence of attempting to use it”—that is, “Paradise Lost.”
When Eivass used this spell within the Sky-Piercing Tower before, she hadn’t fully reacted; and Eivass’s automatically released Paradise Lost did not draw mana from the outside.
After all, in her era, Paradise Lost was already just a legend.
Cardinal Galatea in those days was merely an apprentice, and naturally did not have the honor of witnessing this spell firsthand.
Now, the anomaly caused by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy disturbing all spells during preparation immediately made Cardinal Galatea understand its essence—and recall those past events:
This spell that ended all had another forgotten name…
That was its true name, the true name given to it by “Lucifer,” who developed this spell.
“…【Ouroboros Ring】.”
Galatea murmured softly.
—A tribute to his precious friendship, and to the person who proposed the inspiration for this spell, provided the Heavenly Envoy Fragment as the spell’s core, and completed the latter half of the spell.
A creature with scales, wearing a monocle, with long golden hair, always smiling calmly.
His name was—Ouroboros.
Ouroboros, relying on this jointly developed taboo spell, slew an Earthly Heavenly Envoy in one blow and seized his authority… thus ascending to godhood.
He stepped onto the Transcendent Path with the core of this spell and obtained the Law of Metamorphosis.
His divine title upon becoming a god was Ring Heavenly Envoy—Heavenly Envoy of the Ouroboros, Heavenly Envoy of the Infinite!
That is, “Ouroboros Ring”!
While he could have advanced with the Heavenly Envoy Fragment he possessed, he chose to construct it into a taboo spell and hunt another Heavenly Envoy.
Because power cannot give birth to power, but knowledge can replicate knowledge.
All of this was to share this power with Lucifer—this was the beginning of their friendship. It was the time when the cooperation between the scaled ones and the winged ones was most intimate, and the entire world was at peace because of it. Galatea also had the opportunity to enter the Sky-Piercing Tower to study spells because of this.
With the peace between the scaled ones and the winged ones, all wars in the entire world eventually ceased. Under the brilliant Great Sun, the world began to march towards a new era—
At the same time, the birth of this outstanding spell made the mages of the Sky-Piercing Tower begin to doubt their own talents.
For in the face of “Paradise Lost,” all spells were powerless. They could not even maintain their own structure, meaning “Paradise Lost” possessed a special configuration that surpassed ordinary spells. It was a “corner of evident truth.”
If a person witnesses the truth, they cannot bear to find themselves treading on foolish ground.
Thus, the mages attempted to develop new spells that surpassed the six hundred and sixty-six fundamental configurations, or spells with the same standing as Paradise Lost. But they never succeeded.
In the face of Paradise Lost, the mages were ashamed to register all new spells they developed.
Therefore, it became the “Last Spell” of the Sky-Piercing Tower.
—Undoubtedly, this was a spell powerful enough to slay gods. Because it had actually been used to slay gods.
Not the incarnated Heavenly Envoys drawn down by the Ouroboros Ring ritual, but the true gods who walked the Material Realm during the Second Sun era, before the Severance of Heaven and Earth!
Because of this, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy dared not be careless. Let alone now, even if he were still wearing “Taurus,” he was not sure it could truly block the attack of Paradise Lost.
The attack of Paradise Lost could strip elemental resistance!
Not “ignore,” nor “penetrate,” but strip!
Just as fire element cannot be harmed by flames, nor rock monsters be petrified… after being hit by Paradise Lost, even flames themselves could be burned!
But fortunately… Paradise Lost could only be used once within seven days. Using this spell was also a huge burden on the caster themselves… because the caster’s own life, soul, and mana would be completely absorbed and annihilated, and only the “Seven-Day Binding” could protect and conceal them.
If Paradise Lost were used a second time, it would cause irreversible damage to oneself!
Therefore, as long as they survived this one time, it would be enough—
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy precisely controlled each purple light stream, making it collide with Eivass’s spell streams, not daring to miss a single blow.
Although suffering one hit would not kill him. But under this almost “infinite” bombardment, even one hit could cause a chain reaction that might be fatal!
As long as one hit was taken, a large number of flaws could be exposed. Following that, would come all the subsequent attacks.
Although he could not move while maintaining Paradise Lost, fortunately no other spells could get close—even approaching them would cause them to disintegrate on their own; and all physical strikes would be completely disintegrated in the face of the energy torrent accelerated to its limit.
Ground, bricks, walls, rock layers, forests…
Whether gold or purple, any substance that was affected would turn entirely gold or purple and then silently dissolve into nothingness.
Not an explosion, nor burning, but direct dissolution into light.
Their spells shared the same origin, and the number of attacks they could unleash was exactly the same—six hundred and sixty-six strikes!
This meant that if he hit the opponent once, the opponent would also hit him once; if he blocked one strike from the opponent, it would negate one strike for both.
However, Eivass’s attack logic was different from the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s.
Eivass attacked, but did not defend!
He made no attempt to block any of the attacks from the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, investing all his light streams into offense!
Eivass’s tactical intention was very clear—I won’t block any attack anyway.
—If you don’t block all your attacks, then we both die together!
It was like two motorcycles accelerating to their limits on a single-plank bridge and crashing head-on—if no one yielded, they would both crash and die; if someone chose to retreat and drive their motorcycle into the river, the other would smoothly pass the bridge, while the former would suffer losses.
In the end, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy still hesitated.
He didn’t think it would be an honor to trade blows with the mere Ouroboros, nor did he think it was worth it.
Thus, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy could only try his best to control precisely and intercept Eivass’s every attack. This inevitably consumed a great deal of energy and extra mana… He was like the person who drove his car into the river.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Amber began to revive his fallen teammates one by one—
Although he was at a distance from the battlefield… interference from Paradise Lost caused his spell to succeed only after three attempts.
Amber took a jewel from his amber bracelet, melted it, and pressed it against the Grand Guardian’s mangled corpse. The melted amber, the color of olive oil, gradually spread over him; the corpse, with its eyes wide open in death, was gradually melted by the amber fluid, turning a deep brown, looking like an unpainted wax figure.
Saint Joan helped him with the resurrection ritual—when the wax figure was condensed, Saint Joan would use Illuminate Spell to inject life force into the wax figure.
The next moment, the Grand Guardian’s “wax figure” suddenly moved.
He suddenly reached out and tore the wax figure apart. Then he quickly crushed the wax figure covering his face, panting heavily as if he were suffocating—
He climbed out of it completely unharmed!