Chapter Ninety-Two: The Requirements for Becoming the Boss

Without the slightest hesitation, Iron Pillar swung a backhand punch straight into Dehua’s face.

In an instant, Dehua’s features caved inward with a sickening crunch. His head began to spin a full three hundred and sixty degrees before settling back into place.

At that point, Iron Pillar was completely certain that these two were not human at all. If they had been, a twist like that would have killed them long ago.

But what happened next left him utterly dumbfounded.

Both men broke into grotesquely exaggerated smiles, came up beside Iron Pillar, and began circling around him.

As they went, they kept chanting under their breath.

“You are a strange creature! You are a strange creature!”

Watching their movements, Iron Pillar felt a chill creep down his spine.

This was far too bizarre. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have been frightened senseless.

“You two are the strange creatures!”

With a sudden burst, Iron Pillar sprang forward, kicking Dehua to the ground. Then he swung his other hand into Steel Ball’s body, knocking them both flat before unleashing a brutal beating.

He did not use the energy of a spirit controller, but he did use every ounce of strength he had. Each blow landed solidly, with no mercy held back.

Only after he felt he had pummeled them enough did he rub his knuckles and mutter, “Strange creatures, huh? I’ll show you strange creatures.”

Then Dehua, sprawled on the ground, let out a pained cry. “You... why are you hitting me?”

Steel Ball also rolled around on the floor. “It hurts! Have you gone crazy?”

Seeing the two of them return to normal, Iron Pillar curled his lip. “You both just went mad. You kept insisting you were strange creatures.”

At that, Steel Ball exploded. “Strange creatures? What kind of nonsense is that? How could a living person just turn into a strange creature? Besides, we’re spirit controllers.”

Just as Iron Pillar was about to say more, a voice rang out.

“Yes, how could someone simply turn into a strange creature?”

Following the sound, they looked into the distant darkness, where a silhouette was slowly taking shape.

It was a man with an eagle’s head. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s, and his entire body was covered in feathers like those of a bird of prey. A dreadful aura poured off him in thick waves.

Yet beyond that terror, there was something else as well.

As A-grade spirit controllers, the three of them knew that special presence well: divinity.

Perhaps others would not recognize that form, but as people from the Sunset Kingdom, they knew it all too clearly.

It was exactly the likeness of the sun god of their legends.

That was the identity of the figure before them.

“You... you are a god?”

“A god? What a wonderful title.” The eagle-headed man smiled. “But do you still think I am one now?”

None of the three spoke. They did not even dare breathe too loudly, for the presence before them was simply too overwhelming.

And because of their earlier exertions, their energy reserves were nearly exhausted. If they fought this being now, defeat would be certain.

“I was indeed once a god, a mighty god who could grant life to all things.”

As he spoke, the statues around them stirred back to life and slowly began to close in, surrounding the three of them.

“I was also a god of compassion. In order to help your human race, I did not hesitate to give up all my power and descend to this plane, sealing myself within this desert temple.”

No sooner had he finished than he suddenly turned a fierce glare on the bewildered trio. “But I waited here for a full thousand years! Damn it all, it was the time that was wrong! I thought it would only be ten days or so! I never imagined I would be waiting for a thousand years!”

“After the return of the occult age, whenever someone crossed the desert, fear would rise in them without control, and that fear would be forcibly absorbed by me. Only then did I realize why all the other nature gods had sided with the dark camp.

“So humans had never treated nature as their home at all. They had always feared it deeply!

“At first I resisted desperately, unwilling to absorb those terror-filled emotions again even if it meant burning through vast amounts of power. But little by little, I began to absorb them, sometimes passively, sometimes by choice. And do you know what happened?”

He twisted his neck, leaned his face close to theirs, and asked.

The three swallowed hard. “What happened?”

“Your human fear is absolutely delicious! Hahahaha!”

As he spoke, he burst into deranged laughter.

Well now, that was the very definition of eating one’s words.

That laugh was enough to frighten the three of them half to death. They exchanged glances and understood each other’s thoughts at once.

This fellow had clearly gone completely insane.

Then again, who would not lose their mind after being alone in one place for a thousand years?

“So that’s why you betrayed them?”

“Betrayed them?” Those words seemed to provoke the desert god. He immediately leaned in until his face was inches from Iron Pillar’s. “Explain that. What do you mean, betrayed?”

Iron Pillar fell silent.

“Ever since then, I began creating fear, deliberately feeding on human terror, until the dreadful energy within me surpassed even my divine power, and I became what you see before you.”

The light around them suddenly flared to life. Only then did the three finally see the desert god clearly.

He truly did have the body of a man and the head of an eagle, his frame still cloaked in the feathers of a predator. But beneath those feathers were face after face, each one warped with terror.

“I have now... completely become a strange creature!”

At those words, the hearts of the three plummeted.

“If you’ve already become a strange creature, then why not just kill the three of us?”

Even now, Iron Pillar forced himself to remain calm, his mind racing.

“Heh heh heh.” The desert god let out a twisted chuckle. “Because I need a human agent.”

“A human agent!”

All three were stunned.

A human agent was an immensely powerful position.

And for one simple reason: a human agent could wield a god’s power directly, giving them strength far beyond that of others at the same level.

There were very few known agents, but each was famed far and wide, their legends woven through every corner of the world.

To gain such formidable power without striving for it, and without bearing the curse of a spirit controller, would be a lie to say was not enviable.

Not just enviable, but infuriatingly so.

And now such an opportunity stood right before them... Any person would be tempted.

Perhaps seeing what was in their hearts, the desert god extended a hand. “I can make all three of you my agents at once, dividing equally the divine power I still have in this plane. How about it?”

“Your power is only terrifyingly strong at A-grade, not even reaching S-grade. If we split it three ways, what would be left?”

“That’s a fair point.” The desert god seemed to agree with Iron Pillar. “The energy in this plane really is limited. Otherwise I’d be violating the rules of the other gods.”

For a moment, the desert god fell into painful reflection. Several minutes later, he looked up again.

“This is simple. Doesn’t a god choosing an agent usually give them a trial? In that case, I’ll give you one too. Whoever completes it will become my agent.”

“What trial?”

“Heh heh heh. If you want to become my agent, you must have the resolve to betray all mankind. So... let’s begin by killing the other two among you!”