Da da da da da, a series of dense sounds like a typewriter rang out. In that instant, Ares didn't hesitate to take a heavy blow from Melqart with his back, and with this thompson submachine gun, he emptied all the bullets in the drum at a firing rate of one hundred and twenty rounds per minute.
Facing the submachine gun's spray, Melqart neither dodged nor avoided. A look of disdain appeared on his face. After his Pursuit and Exile delivered a heavy blow to Ares, he even stood still, puffing out his chest, allowing Ares to fire all the bullets from the drum before casually sweeping Ares away with a single strike.
Having endured the attack from the God King's weapon, the thompson submachine gun in Ares's hand shattered into pieces, but he himself was unharmed. After a nimble flip, he landed steadily not far from Melqart.
He raised his head, looking at Melqart with a half-smile, while the God King of Canaanite Mythology spoke to himself, "There are truly all sorts of strange things in this world. I have never seen such a shameless fellow as you. You possess the power of a god, yet lack the dignity of a god. Why do you rely on such childish toys? Your fists are clearly more destructive than any weapon!...Hmm, what are you laughing at?"
"Nothing," Ares replied with a chuckle. "I just remembered something happy."
Melqart thought he was about to utter some vulgar words to provoke him again, and immediately mustered his spell power, preparing to use brute force to make Ares choke on his profanity. But the next moment, Ares said:
"I remember, in this world, as the God King of Canaanite Mythology, you seem to have a deep connection with Heracles, the God of Strength in greek mythology, don't you?"
"You know about this too?"
Melqart replied disdainfully:
"The shameless Greeks plagiarized my legend and introduced it to Greece. There, my form changed, and then their so-called hero god, Heracles, was born."
"Wow, that's quite a coincidence." Ares sighed, "Actually, I have a pretty good relationship with him, we're like brothers. He does whatever I tell him to do, he even helped me pour foot-washing water when we were kids... Of course, that's all nonsense. What I actually want to say is, you should know how Heracles died in mythology, right?"
"Of course I know. He died because of a woman's foolishness. To save his wife, he shot the centaur who tried to abduct her with an arrow tainted with Hydra's venom. However, his wife suspected his infidelity and therefore gave him a garment stained with the centaur's blood to wear. Hydra's venom, through the centaur's blood, infected Heracles. Finally, unable to bear the pain, he self-immolated."
Melqart said mockingly:
"How tragic! If it were I, with more wisdom, such a thing would absolutely not happen."
"That's not necessarily true." Ares chuckled, "Actually, the bullets I just fired at you also contain Hydra's poison."
Thump! Thump! Thud!
"What did you say!"
Melqart was truly a bit flustered now. He wasn't afraid of dying in battle; for Gods of Disobedience like them, Death was merely a return to the mythological world. However, being tainted with Hydra's potent venom wasn't as simple as mere Death. From the description in greek mythology, it was more like a painful curse for gods, one that made them unable to live or die.
Even figures with strong resolve like Chiron and Heracles couldn't endure such torment. In mythology, Heracles used Hydra's arrow to shoot Hades once, and it made the God of the Underworld scream in pain. Melqart certainly didn't want to experience that level of excruciating agony.
But now it was too late to say anything. To display his power, he had just taken Ares's hundred-round Thompson Ripple Walk without even looking, even actively puffing out his chest. All those bullets had their warheads magically enhanced by Ares, so piercing his divine body's skin was not difficult. Now, these warheads were still embedded in Melqart's tough muscles.
"I didn't lie to you." Ares looked at Melqart with an innocent expression and said, "Do my pure eyes look like someone who would lie?"
He certainly wasn't lying this time, because the moment Ares's words fell, Melqart felt an abnormality beginning to appear in the places where he had been shot on his chest.
First came an itch, making Melqart irresistibly want to scratch vigorously. But when he put down the Pursuit in his hand and scratched his chest, he couldn't help but scratch harder and harder, eventually tearing his own chest skin and flesh.
The bullet heads that were originally embedded in his flesh were dug out by his hands, falling one by one onto the ground. However, the powerful regenerative ability and immortality possessed by a god quickly healed the wounds on his body. When Melqart's chest returned to normal, the itching sensation within him still hadn't subsided; the toxin had already spread throughout his entire body.
After the itching, a burning numbness followed, along with full-body twitching and excruciating pain like spasms. Even someone with Melqart's strong willpower couldn't help but cry out in pain. What was even more terrifying was that under the torment of this itching, numbness, and severe pain, Melqart's own strength and spell power were rapidly draining away.
He was weakening. As a god originating from the same source as Heracles, Hydra's potent venom was like a double-plus special attack to him; he simply could not immune himself to its effects.
"This is a potent poison I extracted from my maid not long ago. It's very fresh and very delicious, you must savor it carefully." Ares looked at the giant man who was half-kneeling in pain, then came before him, picked up the wooden club "Pursuit" that he had thrown on the ground, "Don't blame me for being despicable. If we were to continue fighting, whether this island sinks or not is one thing, but the people in that small county next to it would definitely die without a single survivor. So, I could only be a little arrogant and came up with a way for you to die silently."
Melqart knelt on the ground, panting heavily, and said with great difficulty, "You calculated me, insidious warrior. Did I finally lose to your strategy?"
"No, it would be the same with any other god." Ares thought for a moment, then swung Melqart's large club in a circle and said, "You lost to your arrogance as a god. This would be the same for any god. Alas, I originally intended to use this to ambush that little brat of a war god, but his resurrected incarnation is too troublesome; it can't be a one-hit kill, and I'm unfamiliar with the place, so I can't find him. Therefore, I had no choice but to choose you, the lucky guest. But it doesn't matter, you two are both my prey anyway."
"I, am your prey?" Melqart murmured, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Haha, hahahaha, I never thought, I never thought that I, who prided myself as the strongest dragon hunter, would one day become someone else's prey? Look at my miserable state, about to be defeated. It's truly interesting, truly interesting!"
He sat up with force, then glared at Ares in front of him and roared, "What are you waiting for! Give me the final blow now!"
"Alright!" Ares nodded, then twirled the "Pursuit" in his hand, and with the posture of a batter hitting a baseball, he mustered all his strength and slammed it hard onto Melqart's head.
Bang!
After an explosive sound, Melqart's head shattered with a visible shockwave, but the God King had not yet died. He stared with wide eyes directly at Ares, shouting loudly:
"Ares, if that is truly your name! Then remember, do not die before we meet again. Next time, you will surely be my prey—wait! I haven't finished!"
"Wait for what, a hammer! What if you have the power of resurrection?" Ares said, while relentlessly raising Pursuit and smashing it forcefully onto Melqart's head until the God King's skull was completely flattened. Only after seeing him disappear did he stop, leaning on the club and panting.
At this moment, Melqart, who had met his complete Death, also gradually disappeared as points of light. His consciousness was swept into the mythological world, returning to mythology. However, his spell power and authority, at the moment of their dissipation, were captured by a circle of ritual formations that erupted from Ares's body, and then injected into this clone of Ares.
God King Melqart, hunt successful!