The spider deity, the iron bull deity, the flame slime-human—these guys are all level 13.

  And none of them came alone; each has a big posse of similar deities trailing behind.

  These deities might be weaker, but their bodies are made of the same stuff—clearly from the same clan.

  Or, more bluntly, they’re probably their offspring.

  The chaos world’s been around a while now, and native deities have built up all sorts of factions. The old-school pack animals have evolved into what they call families now.

  At first glance, pack deities and these so-called families seem the same.

  But in reality, there’s a huge difference.

  Pack deities might have a leader calling shots, but the members are still kinda equal-ish.

  The families Oliver’s facing now? They’re all about the patriarch. The smaller deities are basically slaves.

  When danger hits, these little guys get sacrificed without a second thought. Lose them, and the patriarch can just whip up a bunch more through some weird trick—fast.

  It massively boosts the patriarch’s survival odds, making the strong stronger. As for the weak’s lives? Nobody gives a damn. That’s the chaos world—brutal as hell, way worse than any natural jungle.

  Of course, besides these family deities, there are solo players too—ones from the water palace, like that level 9 wolf-head deity Oliver ran into before.

  But a guy like that? He’s just a small fry here, not worth mentioning. He’s stuck in a corner, cautiously watching the big dogs like Oliver duke it out, hoping to snag some scraps.

  “Three Chaos Embers—this guy found them so easily. I’m betting he’s got some special trick. Instead of killing this snake, why not control him? Make him our Chaos Ember-hunting slave!”

  The metal bull deity shakes its shiny head, mulling it over.

  His idea gets a quick thumbs-up from the others.

  Even the flame slime-human—who was yelling about claiming the three embers first—nods along.

  Truth is, it clocked Oliver the second he hit the fire sea.

  And in such a short time, this snake snagged three Chaos Embers? That’s no fluke!

  Even as a native of this Primordial Fire Sea, it’s never scored embers that fast.

  “This guy’s huge—he’s no pushover. Controlling him would be sweet, but I’d rather we go all out. Don’t hold back and let him slip away.”

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  The spider deity chimes in.

  The others nod too—Oliver’s vibe screams strong. Can’t underestimate him.

  Still, these deities are dead certain they can beat—or even kill—him.

  They’ve got numbers on their side, after all.

  Same level 13, but they’ve got four or five of them, plus a ton of little helpers. No way this snake’s tougher than all of them combined, right?

  “This guy’s flesh must taste amazing—I can’t wait! Whether we kill him or enslave him, it’s a huge win!”

  The metal bull deity says, hyped up.

  “Hahaha, same here!”

  The gang of deities closes in on Oliver.

  “Heh, a bunch of trash think they can take me down?”

  Oliver laughs, voice ice-cold. They see him as prey, but doesn’t he see them the same way?

  He needs to level up to take on the water giant.

  All these level 13 deities? Their energy’s more than enough to push him up a tier.

  “Die!”

  The deity mob roars and charges him.

  “Law of Fire!”

  The flame slime-human strikes first, spitting a single word. Instantly, a sky full of fire sea erupts, a massive fire law blasting at Oliver, like it’s gonna burn his snake body to ash.

  This ain’t regular fire—it’s chaos alien fire. Even deity bodies struggle to shrug it off.

  “Rune of Slowness!”

  The spider deity moves too. Its giant mandibles spew a net—half-real, half-illusory—dropping right over Oliver.

  It’s packing a rare rune: the Rune of Slowness!

  Oliver feels it hit—his body’s like it’s stuck in a swamp, every move sluggish and tough.

  “Chaos Metal Slash!”

  The metal bull deity’s attack lands right after. Master of the metal primal rune, it conjures a storm of sharp metal weapons outta nowhere—slashing, stabbing at Oliver. The space feels like it’s drowning in razor-edged metal.

  A tidal wave of steel, shredding everything!

  Gotta admit, these guys’ attacks are nasty—and there’s a hint of teamwork in there.

  The flame slime-human’s fire ocean’s huge—weakening Oliver, blocking his attacks and escape routes.

  The spider deity’s slowness law zeroes in on him, locking down his strength.

  Then the metal bull’s attack—pure power, ready to rip him apart.

  And it’s not just those three.

  The other deities jump in too. In a flash, Oliver’s swamped by a mess of laws and runes.

  Countless runes flare with blinding light.

  The chaos space shakes hard—like a thousand volcanoes blowing up, like ten thousand Earths exploding!

  Terrifying, horrifying!

  Weaker deities watching from afar catch a glimpse and feel pure shock and dread.

  No kidding—this level of fight’s insane.

  No wonder the flame slime-human and crew are so sure they can kill this snake.

  Who could tank a combo attack like that?!

  But here’s the kicker—against all that, Oliver’s massive body doesn’t budge. His eyes still carry a faint smirk.

  “Trash is trash. Even lumped together, it’s just a bigger trash heap.”

  Oliver tosses out casually. Runes start lighting up across his body.

  Slowness rune?

  Sure, it’s strong.

  But Oliver’s got too many primal runes inside him. They flare up and wipe out the binding force like it’s nothing!