Chapter 949: Great Earth God

The Dwarf Great Earth God had a highly impressive name. It was called, ‘Everest’.

“You’re not thinking that I’m like that punk in the Illusion God’s Palace that only knows how to hide in shoes, right? Let me tell you, I’m a true god, and that punk was unfit to hold the title. Heck, that punk doesn’t even have the right to give me any shoes.”

Although Everest was short of stature, it had more than made up for it with its proud attitude. It had totally dismissed the god that resided in the Illusion God’s Palace.

Everest then asked, “Do you know what truly separates mortals from gods?”

Li Yi waved the Orange Quality Bow in his hand. “Power.”

“Wrong, it’s Change.”

Everest pointed its scepter at Li Yi, and the yellow Divine Power of Earth engulfed his body, instantly turning him into a mudman.

His flesh and bones had vanished, and he was now fully composed of earth…

“We have something that exceeds even Power, and it allows us to fully change the substance of an object. That is where the difference between gods and mortals lie.”

Li Yi attempted to move his body, but the mud that composed his body began to fall. Furthermore, his HP had also decreased, which made him rethink his actions.

Li Yi feared that he would be sent to the heavens by the time Everest had finished speaking his nonsense if he were to forcefully move his body.

With a point of Everest’s scepter, the Divine Power of Earth began to recede from Li Yi’s body, returning Li Yi to his original state.

“Crossing swords with a god is akin to challenging our authority. Mortal, although you possess power, do you truly think that you wield enough power to challenge the gods?”

Li Yi remained silent. Since he had no idea whether Everest was a friend or foe, he had determined that remaining silent was the best option.

From Everest’s earlier show of power, it was clear that the battle that awaited him would not be easy. As such, he decided to observe the situation further.

“No matter how much power you possess, what use is it? Do you truly wish to challenge me?”

Woosh!

Two virtual panels had appeared before Li Yi. He was given two choices, the first, was to defeat the Great Earth God, Everest through strength alone, and the other was to use his intellect to force Everest into submission.

Li Yi understood what this meant.

If he chose the first option, it went without saying that he would need to do battle with the Great Earth God. However, if he were to choose the second option, — the one where he was required to use his smarts to pass the stage— he could avoid doing battle with the Great Earth God.

After tasting the Great Earth God’s power first-hand, Li Yi chose the second option with no hesitation.

‘I’ll use my intellect to defeat him[1]!’

Everest gave a light-hearted smile as it waved the scepter in its hand. With that, a map of the Pantheon Continent appeared in front of Li Yi.

“Do you know which is the tallest mountain in the Pantheon Continent?”

Ding!

A notification rang out, and Li Yi inherently understood. This was the first question to the test of intelligence!

Li Yi stared at Everest’s Scepter, and even after he had furrowed his brows for quite some time, he still could not come up with an answer.

It was not that he did not know the answer, but rather, the answer was way too obvious. The tallest mountain in the Pantheon Continent was Blade Peak, and this answer was common knowledge to all.

The scepter in Everest’s hand began to flicker. “You have only 10 more seconds to provide an answer.”

“F*ck!”

Due to the lack of time, Li Yi could no longer think of anything else. He blurted out, “Blade Peak!”

Everest shook its head. “Wrong, Blade Peak is the shortest mountain in the Pantheon Continent!”

With a wave of its scepter, the projection of Mount Pantheon that had originally pierced the clouds began to shrink, turning into a mere sandbag within seconds…

As the Great Earth God, adjusting the height of Blade Peak was an effortless task for Everest.

“…”

‘F*ck you, you son of a b*tch! So, this is how you’re going to play…’

Everest posed another question, “Do you know which river is the longest within the Pantheon Continent?”

Li Yi scrunched his brows. While he did know the answer, he feared that upon providing the right answer, it would yield the same results as the previous question.

“You have 10 more seconds to give me an answer.”

‘Sh*t, here he goes again.’

“The longest river in the Pantheon Continent is decided by you.”

Upon hearing the answer, Everest momentarily flinched, before laughing out loud. “Hahaha…”

Everest asked another question, “So, do you know which god is the strongest among the Pantheon?”

“The R… You’re the strongest,” Li Yi had originally wanted to answer with the Ruler of Gods, but upon recalling the Dwarf’s opening statement, he had a change of heart and modified his answer.

“Hahahaha…” Everest once again broke out in laughter.

Without even a single hint whether he was correct or not, Li Yi had no clue whether his answer had satisfied the Dwarf.

“Do you know…” Halfway through its sentence, Everest paused. After lapsing momentarily into thought, it erected a boundary with its scepter and enclosed Li Yi and itself within it.

Everest took on a serious expression. “Ahem, do you know who the most beautiful god is?”

Li Yi was stunned.

‘Huh, so the gods can experience the seven emotions and six desires as well, eh.’

“The God-Queen, Carulla…” Li Yi spoke slowly and observed Everest’s reaction through his eyes. When he noticed Everest shaking its head, he immediately did a 180 on his sentence. “… The God-Queen, Carulla, might be pretty, but she can’t be considered the prettiest. Hmm, the Evil God and the Hunter Goddess both look much prettier than her…”

A clear expression of displeasure appeared on Everest’s face. “I’m asking you who’s the most beautiful! I’m not asking for you to rate them! You only have 10 more seconds to give me an answer.”

‘So, all three of them are wrong?’

Upon seeing Everest’s reaction, Li Yi’s heart sank.

As they say, the best ideas come during moments of desperation. While Li Yi was scrambling his brain for answers, he accidentally spotted a female Dwarf figure engraved on the wall behind Everest. This had instantly sparked an idea within his mind.

Since Everest was a dwarf, its taste in beauty was different from normal humans. From this point of view, Everest’s object of beauty should instead be a female Dwarf.

‘A Dwarf and a goddess…’

“The Invention God, Durarame.”

After giving it plenty of thought, there was only one Dwarven goddess. She was the primary god of all Dwarves, and there were scriptures and sculptures of her littered throughout the Pantheon Continent. Anywhere Dwarves exist, there would also be Durarame.

Everest stared in shock at Li Yi, and it remained silent for a long time…

It looked as if it had entered a state of dazedness.

“Hah, I knew it! My taste in beauty can never be wrong! Durarame is indeed the most beautiful goddess within the Pantheon. She’s also the most beautiful woman alive, hahaha…”

Everest exploded with laughter. Li Yi could tell that he had given an extremely pleasing answer.

The only Dwarven god that Li Yi knew of was Durarame, and no one else. Li Yi’s answer had been a complete and total guess.

“In order to approach my beloved Durarame, I have changed my face and also my name. In order to obtain the heart of my beloved Durarame, I, the Great Earth God, Everest, am willing to throw aside my divinity!”

Probably due to his overly strong emotions, while Everest was proclaiming his love to Durarame, the boundary he had erected had lost its power and vanished.

“Great Earth God, your shameless words have been heard by all the gods of Mount Pantheon. Durarame has fainted due to your proclamation, and I, the God-Queen shall mete out punishment on you!”

A rainbow-filled light slammed down from the heavens, pulverizing Everest’s head.

Bam!

“Woof…woof…woof…”

The proud and mighty god that had claimed itself to be the strongest a moment ago had now been reduced to a little dalmatian…

With that, the doors located at the back of the palace slowly swung open.

Li Yi had cleared the stage…

…

[1] Author uses ‘it’ when describing Everest in the third person, and ‘him’ when describing in the first person.