“Aaagh… No, this can’t be!” Arachnethos lets out a piercing scream. His nearly 5-million-kilometer body starts melting under the corrosion of Darkness and Death runes.

  He scrambles to resist, but it’s no use. Casting Triple Fate already burned most of his power—he’s got nothing left to throw up more Fate runes. Without Fate to shield him, Oliver’s Death and Darkness are straight-up lethal poison to him.

  This massive spider, big enough to blot out everything, gets torched by Oliver in a few breaths and slashes, burning to a crisp. In no time, all that’s left is a clump of high-density chaos energy crystals, scattered in the chaos. These crystals, besides being packed with rich chaos energy, carry a faint whiff of Fate—clearly loaded with pure Fate primal runes.

  Oliver gulps them down, saving them for later to digest and master. Soon, he’ll wield Fate runes too. Truth is, for most deities, even getting crystals with primal runes, cracking their secrets is crazy tough. They can’t just master multiple runes quick like Oliver.

  Lots of deities, from birth to death, count themselves lucky to master or get good with one primal rune. Oliver’s different ‘cause of the Book of the Chaos Era. It showed him all 144,000 primal runes, giving him a natural affinity for them, mastering them way faster than other deities. The Book of the Chaos Era, an SSS-tier item, brings Oliver perks that might seem subtle but are absolutely game-changing!

  Besides the chaos crystals, there’s a pouch-like thing—probably holding all of Arachnethos’s loot. No doubt, it’s some kind of storage gear. Oliver’s belly is his storage space—just swallow and done. Other deities might not have that trick, so storage gear’s super popular in the chaos, worth a ton.

  Right now, outside the water palace, every deity’s frozen in dead silence. They’re gawking, barely believing their eyes. That’s Arachnethos—a legendary deity, dubbed the Fate War God, the Fate Hunter. His strength was even crazier than the stories.

  When he used his Fate rune to summon past and future projections, forming Triple Fate, every deity felt raw awe and fear. Against an Arachnethos like that, even escaping was a pipe dream. But now? This snake just took him out like it was nothing.

  Key thing is, these deities can’t even figure out how Oliver did it. It’s like Arachnethos’s Fate rune power just… stopped working. That’s terrifying. The unknown’s the scariest part—‘cause they’ve got no clue how to defend against that move if they ever face Oliver.

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  “Damn, this snake’s that strong?” Tempestriax and Thalassorath both instinctively back up, edging toward the water palace. They’re sweating bullets now. If that spider hadn’t shown up, they’d be the ones fighting Oliver! Meaning, they’d probably be dead right now.

  Hilarious—they thought they could take this snake out easy. But Arachnethos, way stronger than them, got crushed by this snake without a chance to fight back. Yup, no chance. Sure, the fight sounds long when you describe it, but the real clash? Didn’t last long at all.

  And despite Arachnethos throwing out a bunch of killer moves, from start to finish, the snake didn’t take a single hit. He handled that spider like it was a breeze! That’s freaking scary!

  While the two are mulling it over, Oliver turns, his giant snake eyes locking onto them.

  “If I remember right, you two were out to kill me too, yeah? On behalf of your water palace?” Oliver says calmly, his voice laced with danger.

  “This…” Thalassorath’s body shakes, his voice dripping with fear. He’s got no idea how to answer.

  Boom!

  A terrifying beam of light shoots out from the water palace.

  Storm war god Tempestriax gets caught in it, screaming bloody murder. The next second, his body blows apart, gone in a puff! All that’s left is a clump of chaos crystals laced with Wind primal runes, floating in midair.

  Then, a tidal roar erupts from the water palace. A terrifying giant, 7 million kilometers tall, steps out slow. This giant’s unreal—7 million kilometers, even bigger than the spider. No wonder they call him a giant.

  The second he appears, every deity feels instinctual fear. Some are already on the ground, trembling.

  “Sorry, big snake Stark. My subordinate disrespected you. I’ve killed him as an apology,” Giant Aegir says calmly.

  Storm war god Tempestriax, a level 14 powerhouse, got wiped out by a single water beam from this guy. Not just ‘cause Aegir’s level 17—it’s ‘cause Tempestriax’s soul was bound to the giant, his slave. Killing him was way easier than taking out a normal level 14 deity.

  “Oh? An apology with just this chaos crystal? That’s nowhere near enough, is it?” Oliver opens his jaws, swallowing the Wind rune crystal whole, then keeps talking.

  His goal at the water palace hasn’t changed. Oliver needs a crystal with Water primal runes—or something else packed with water power. Only then can his gem space, or rather World Egg, keep growing!

  “Not enough?” Giant Aegir’s voice dips low, feeling this snake’s getting greedy. But after a pause, he asks, “What do you want? Let’s hear it.”

  “I need something with the essence of water—like this guy’s origin crystal.” Oliver eyes Thalassorath.

  His gaze and words make the guy quake, panicking as he looks to his dad, Aegir. “No, Father, don’t hand me over—this guy’s too terrifying…”

  “Shut up!” Aegir snaps coldly, his eyes on Oliver.

  “Thalassorath’s my son. I’m not killing him. You want water essence? Is this enough?” As he speaks, Aegir reaches into his chest and pulls out a glowing orb of water, tossing it to Oliver.

  The orb’s brimming with intense water vibes.

  Oliver takes one look and is stoked! This thing’s exactly what his gem space needs!