Overpowered Wizard-Chapter Ch59: Unholy Practices

No Paragon Worlds for this next wave. Instead, one humanoid dragon hitched a ride on the vessel.

The moment it upshifted into Fourth Ignition, Naomi and Foodie responded the same. Zarian waited three seconds for the enemy to die, but after that, he and Bianca coordinated to join the attack. It took sixteen seconds for the lone dragon man to fall and get turned into a small pill by Naomi. She flicked it into her mouth and swallowed, fueling her Demonic Cultivator Class.

“Is it me or does everybody other than Gilbert have a consumption style approach or some sort of big consumption move?” Zarian asked.

“That’s because Gil’s a big ol’ provider to all us gluttons,” Bianca said.

“He has good flesh for eating, yes.” Foodie nodded.

“Hey, Gil, can I turn most of you into a pill! It’s part of my religion!” Naomi yelled.

Gilbert nursed a beer for five seconds before calmly saying, “No.”

“PLEASE!”

“No.”

“You’re no fun!”

Zarian shook his head before sending a private message down. “Hey, man, you’re falling behind on levels.”

“Let me know when they get higher and become more worth a damn. I got something that’ll catch me up. Could use a bit of that boost, too, y’know?”

“I don’t know. What boost are you talking about, dear Gilbert?”

“Y’know! That boost!”

“Which boost?”

Gilbert groaned. “The g-mode boost!”

“G-spot?”

“G-MODE, DAMMIT!”

“OH!! GODMODE! You wish to be a GOD, huh, GILBERT?! What’s next? Being idolized?!”

Gilbert tossed aside his beer mug, reached over the bar, and went for the entire keg.

Zarian laughed as he turned to the next challenge wave and saw two humanoid dragons that would likely use Aura Ignition. He got going before they drew close, blasting them back with Fifty Percent Darkness, killing one while the other was missing parts of themselves by the time they used Fourth Ignition.

Naomi turned that one into another pill to consume.

The next few waves were the same but with an increasing number of fourth-ignition enemies. They ignited far earlier, too, forcing Zarian and Bianca to pepper them during their approach before Foodie and Naomi fought them like Super Saiyans.

The duo came away battered but stronger, especially with Naomi eating pill after pill. Foodie was still digesting the suicide worlds and couldn’t stuff down anymore for a while. By the time she had room for more, the challenges hit them with an evil variety created by the darkest of minds.

Paragon Worlds with spell casters uniting their magic for cosmic beams. Suicide paragon bombs. Fourth igniters. And a variety of dragons with strange dimensional and warp-like effects that challenged Zarian’s abyssal powers, slowing his ability to summon reinforcements.

At this point, there weren’t many new tricks the Floridians could show off. They entered the real grind.

Hannah blocked the beams. Naomi displaced the suicide worlds. Foodie fought off multiple fourth-ignited dragons while Zarian helped with snap-shot beams of darkness. Bianca covered the surrounding space with slash after slash after slash that tore at space and reality, messing with time itself, stretching the moment out longer to the benefit of the Floridians.

Their enemies slowed down from the temporal shifts as a byproduct to Bianca’s busted-as-hell powers. It should’ve been enough to break the Floridians free from the wave, but this one was far thicker and longer than normal.

More of the enemy and their resources appeared, pouring down on the Floridians consistently. Zarian focused more on sniping and nuking while Foodie fought harder with Naomi’s assistance. Hannah took on the bulk of negating suicide worlds and massive world beam attacks. Bianca was the first to fold, needing a break because of her high-power output being too much for her to keep up. That put a tremendous strain on all of them.

“Aight, I can feel it.” Gilbert sighed, still at the bar area. “Hit me with godmode.”

Zarian smiled as he sacrificed fifty percent of his darkness.

The enemies died in droves, rapidly, horrifically. The debuffs were the tip of the iceberg. Then there with the special magic viruses, bacteria, tumors, and other biological hazardous effects Gilbert could spread to wreak havoc on his victims. At these levels, nobody geared their profile to defend from that stuff because they should be above such things, and they usually were with all of their stats.

But Gilbert on godmode didn’t only apply immensely crippling debuffs to stats, he infused their enemies with something akin to the themes of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but supersize. On the flip side, the Floridians received the greatest buffs they’d ever felt. And once Gilbert came down from godmode, those buffs lingered, and they would do so for a long while.

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The Godsent Soldier shuddered. “Still feels weird. More beer is in order.”

“Wow,” Naomi said, looking back at the empty space that had been filled with endless enemies a moment ago.

“I should’ve asked to make him my disciple,” Foodie grumped.

“Too late! That’s my disciple! Can’t take him,” Zarian hissed playfully.

“How are you doing after all of those sacrifices?” Bianca asked.

“It’s not like I can’t recover, it’s just that I can feel the strain on my own soul bit by bit. So, let’s get to God Land faster.” Zarian chuckled. “We don’t want to know what happens if my soul breaks.”

“As much as I am curious about what would happen, I’d like to test that in a controlled setting,” Hannah said from the command center. “Anyway, I’m just finished with my analysis of the rules. Once the next wave hits, we’re cheesing this. I can use your help, of course, Zarian.”

True to her words, Hannah made herself the server admin, the moderator, the person with the keys against the next wave. Zarian had an easier time propping her system manipulation once she gave him the blueprints and the pain-points he could solve that she couldn’t.

With his support, she pre-exploded the suicide worlds. She twisted the world-sized collective spells into harmless bright lights filled with absorbable fuel that benefited her and Bianca, the latter especially.

The Beyond Light let out a whoop as she diced up worlds and enemies in small pieces with a flex of her awesome might. Those who survived Bianca ended up easy pickings for the others. And anyone who survived that got left behind to get eaten by Para.

The hardest part was dealing with the increasing number of enemies with Fourth Ignition. That was concerning for the present and the future. Yet, Foodie and Naomi were locked in on defeating their counterparts fast and efficiently. It was like the dynamic duo were running their own gauntlet within a gauntlet to sharpen their ultimate martial art.

Other than that, nothing new appeared, so they leaned into the grind, and it was a long and thorough one. Days became weeks, weeks became months, and by the time they were nearing Level 400, the latest wave felt like a nonstop slog that forced Zarian to use godmode on Hannah, Bianca, and Gilbert in rapid succession.

Yet, they found no end in sight.

“Is this what Ariana has been doing this whole time?! Making an endless army?!” Gilbert yelled, the man sounding mentally and spiritually drained. They’d been squeezing all of his supportive powers out of him for a while now, forcing him to go nonstop.

I didn’t want to do this yet, Zarian thought wearily. But I’m going to have to push above fifty percent.

They were flagging. Hannah was wearing down. Bianca was losing herself. Foodie and Naomi’s Fourth Ignition was sparking wildly, like they were going to blow up at any moment.

Zarian was carrying everybody with all of his powers, unraveling the trickiest enemy abilities, sending forth his abyssal legions in a relentless outpour, and playing point-defense with his darkness. His sorceries were focused on system magic – some dragons were also system manipulators and had to be stopped immediately before they could cause too much damage.

Zarian felt stretched thin. Level 400 felt close yet out of reach. It was then that Para finally struck, slithering onto their vessel too fast for anyone to stop her. She reached Zarian, her teeth flashing, and just when Zarian thought he had to kill his daughter once and for all, Para stopped short of eating him.

“Dad,” she called, half-choking on a sob. “I need your help. I’ve eaten too much of him by accident. His soul is ragged, and I think he’s going to be gone. Please, I don’t want to lose Slim!”

Ah. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

Finally.

“Say no more. I got you, kid.” Zarian sighed with relief. There was no time better than this to push his limits further. “Sixty Percent Darkness Unlocked.”

There was something different about crossing over the fifty percent line. The growth rate of his darkness became more exponential, more so than Zarian had predicted. The stranger part was that this was bigger than when his rampage had happened. Sixty Percent Darkness could eat that version of his uncontrolled darkness, at least at the start before the uncontrollable one expanded.

Ah, of course, I’m stronger than before, Zarian realized as he swiped away the remaining foes of the last wave. It was like swiping his hand across crumbs. Worlds. Dragons. Legions of fanatics. Enemies with Fourth Ignition. Most, if not all, died.

The ones with Fourth Ignition were the most likely to survive. That was fine. With some finesse, Zarian broke them down and tossed heaps of them in Foodie and Naomi’s direction to feed them.

Once the surrounding space was made safer, Zarian cleared his throat. “Everyone, Para needs help. Are you willing to help her?”

“Get inside the ship, Para,” Hannah ordered.

“I’ll be there,” Gilbert said.

“I think Foodie and I can help a lot, too. Zarian and Naomi would have to watch the fort,” Bianca said.

Naomi shrugged. “Works for me.”

“Go on, Para. They’ll help you,” Zarian encouraged.

Hesitant, she reshaped herself into her usual humanoid form. Slim was reduced to nothing but a tiny lump somewhere in there.

“I was terrible,” Para murmured. “How can you bring yourself to accept me back?”

“Well, we’re going to hold you accountable for being terrible. You’re going to work your ass off and help us.” Pause. “But other than that, I love you, Para. I always have and always will. We’re family. And while you were lost, I was waiting. Now all my patience is going to pay off.”

She hugged him before darting inside of the ship. As they crossed over the cosmic line that separated Level 300 worlds from Level 400 worlds, Zarian covered the vessel in his darkness and took a seat in a throne made of the stuff.

Naomi parked herself on the armrest and combed her fingers through his hair. Closing his eyes, Zarian watched with his magic senses as Hannah, Gilbert, Bianca, and Foodie gathered around Para, who was laying back on a table.

Hannah drew the remnants of Slim’s profile that hadn’t been fully assimilated into Para yet. Gilbert helped Slim regrow himself out of Para’s flesh while Bianca held Para’s hand and talked reassuringly to her. Foodie worked her own magic to reverse Para’s digestion of Slim’s soul – this was one of the rare cases where Foodie’s Eldritch Archchef Class showed off that she could reverse consumption itself.

Then in a strange and uncanny twist that was a mockery of life, they raised a reborn lad out of Para. The boy’s name was now Slim Darkrun. Not a full Ultra God yet, but destined to be one for sure.

“I have a grandkid now,” Zarian said, opening his physical eyes.

“All before you knocked me and Ruvaria up, huh?” Naomi shook her head playfully. “What are we supposed to do with you?”

He shrugged. He had no idea. He’d thought this would be a reunion. He didn’t think he would get a grandkid out of this.

“Okay, I need to hit Level 400 and get my next class pronto. Then I can deliver the baby somewhere safe,” Bianca declared.

“Uh, what happened?” Slim asked in a teeny, whiny voice.

“You want a beer, kid? You look like you need a beer,” Gilbert said, eye twitching. How much more could the faithful man take of their unholy practices.

Slim shuddered. “Why are all of you so big?” He twisted a little and looked up at the closest face looming over him. “Um, milady, why are you holding me in your arms like this? It’s making me … sleepy.”

Para was smiling from ear to ear as she watched Slim yawned cutely with his fuzzy snout before falling asleep. Zarian had never seen Para so happy. The insane anger was gone, and while she was still hungry, she wasn’t insanely hungry anymore. Instead, she was mostly filled with bliss.

He looked up at Naomi.

The Demonic Cultivator waggled her eyebrows down at him.

“After all of this. But not too soon,” he murmured.

“I know.” She bent down and kissed him before pulling back and refocusing on what came next.