The Extra Can't be A Hero

Chapter 308: The New Pantheon (4)

Knodalon's death was not marked by thunder or collapsing skies, but by something far more profound… a silent rupture that rippled through every living thing.

Across continents and oceans, beasts froze mid-hunt, mid-flight, mid-roar. A tremor stirred within their veins, deep in the marrow where their bloodlines slept. For a fleeting instant, their hearts beat in perfect unison, resonating with a presence that had governed them since antiquity.

And then… it vanished.

The foreign energy that had coiled around their bloodlines as an invisible serpent receded.

No… not receded. It was torn away.

For countless generations, that unseen force had bound them, shaping their growth, dictating their limits, capping their potential. It had masqueraded as instinct, as fate, as the natural ceiling of their kind.

Now, as Knodalon's will dissolved into nothingness, those shackles shattered.

Beasts felt it first as pain, a burning surge racing through arteries and nerves.

Then came clarity.

Their blood no longer flowed with submission, but with possibility. The ancient wolves of the tundra lifted their heads and howled—not in mourning, but in awakening.

Serpents coiled tighter as dormant mutations stirred beneath their scales.

Leviathans in the abyss churned the seas as their colossal forms began subtle, unprecedented transformations.

Even the lowliest creatures, those once fated to remain fodder in the hierarchy of nature, felt their instincts shift. There was no longer an invisible ceiling pressing down upon their evolution. Their bloodlines were no longer enslaved.

And within that newfound freedom lay something terrifying.

They could grow. Not merely stronger… but different.

They could evolve… into a higher being.

Humans, though unbound from the beast bloodlines, were not immune to the change.

Mages in their towers paused mid-incantation as the mana in the air grew startlingly clear—like muddy water settling into pristine clarity. The ambient energy that once felt heavy and resistant now flowed with startling obedience.

Spells required less effort. Circulation paths felt smoother. Bottlenecks that had plagued cultivators for decades loosened like rusted gates finally oiled.

The road to ascension, once a brutal climb against an invisible current, no longer felt insurmountable.

It was as if the heavens themselves had exhaled.

Yet while beasts rejoiced and humans sensed opportunity, there were beings for whom Knodalon's death was not liberation… but loss.

In the Necropolis of the Gods, the brethren who had once ruled the ancient world alongside him stirred. They felt the moment of his erasure like a limb severed from their own bodies… none more so than the last Titan to have seen him alive.

"Knodalon… has died?"

Xiphos, the Metal Titan, echoed in pure disbelief. It had only been a few days since he'd last seen the Beast Titan, and yet, his existence had already been wiped clean from the records of the planet.

"How… is this possible?! There aren't any living Dragon Progenitors left!"

Like Knodalon, Xiphos truly believed that with the Dragons now extinct, there was no entity capable of challenging the Titan's return. The Titan King and the Herald had warned them before, but Xiphos didn't make much of the warning. The only reason why he remained in the Necropolis and didn't join the rest of the Titans in reclaiming the world was that he wished to serve his king.

But alas… his loyalty might have been what saved his life.

"So, it's happened…"

At that time, the colossal stone doors of the Necropolis creaked open as a black-haired primordial man walked through them. They weren't moved by physical force or magic, as if the laws of the world were bent to the man's liking. Yet, even with all that power… the man still heaved a defeated sigh.

"I can't say I didn't warn him, but… they're much stronger than I'd expected."

"Agos… are you saying a human killed Knodalon?"

"What else?" Agos, the Titan King, wrapped his arms behind his back and shook his head. "More precisely, the humans who had forcibly separated our divinities from our souls."

"W-What?! They were the ones responsible for that?! How did they learn how to do that?!"

"I'm not sure…"

Even after meditating for days on how to restore their divinities into their souls, the Titan King couldn't figure out how Yue had separated them in the first place. But he did realise one pivotal detail… the identity of the person who orchestrated this entire scheme.

"Yval… The Golden Dragon Progenitor, who was the undertaker for the Necropolis… must have aided this human. My guess is she's hiding within her inner realm to recuperate from her wounds. Hah, the years have truly taken a toll on us. To think that the times had advanced this quickly."

Agos chuckled somewhat in admiration of what Yue and Yval had accomplished.

Even the Titans and ancient Dragons had no idea how they could separate divinities and transfer them from one individual to another. But Yue had accomplished the impossible.

"Then… Knodalon is truly dead?"

"Without a doubt," Agos spoke grimly. "My guess is that the human who killed him is harvesting his divinity as we speak. And then… that human will become the new divine."

"Then I shall stop them!!!"

Xiphos exploded with metallic fury. The glaciers beneath his feet cracked as the metal golem as it declared vengeance. The might of the ancient Titan made the sky crackle and the seas rumble. But unfortunately, before the Metal Titan could rush to confront his brother's murderer, the Titan King stopped him with a snap.

"Don't be hasty, Xiphos. If you go alone, you'll be serving yourself on a silver platter."

"Then are we going to sit back and do nothing?!"

Xiphos questioned his king's orders. Although he and Knodalon didn't see eye to eye on many things, they were brethren… brothers, no less. There was no way he was going to let his brother's murderer go free.

"No, calm yourself. We don't yet know what they're capable of."

"Isn't this the perfect time then? Fighting Knodalon must have weakened them tremendously. If they're absorbing his divinity now, it means that they're vulnerable to an attack!"

Xiphos's logic was sound. Knodalon may have been a moron, but he was a primordial deity. No matter how watered down his powers have become, there was no way that they could defeat him without a cost. And not only that, Yue was currently absorbing the Beast Titan's divinity and was in her most vulnerable state.

And more crucially… if they allowed her to fully absorb Knodalon's divinity, Yue would become a being that not even they could hope to defeat in the future.

But Xiphos was forgetting one crucial thing.

"The human who absorbed Knodalon's divinity isn't alone."

At that moment, a lethargic voice drifted into the chamber—soft, hoarse, yet impossibly clear.

Both Xiphos and Agos turned toward the gates that had once been sealed by the ancient Dragons. The colossal doors now stood ajar, their sigils dim and fractured. From the shadows beyond, a lone figure emerged.

A tanned woman with cascading blue hair stepped forward, her movements uneven, each limp deliberate yet heavy with exhaustion. A strip of white cloth was bound over her eyes, the fabric stained faintly at the edges, as though it had absorbed centuries of unseen tears.

At first glance, she appeared frail, broken even, like a relic that had endured too many wars.

But Xiphos did not see weakness.

He saw divine might. The air around her trembled faintly, life essence coiling and dispersing with every breath she took. The stones beneath her feet seemed subtly restored where she stepped, hairline cracks knitting together in silent reverence.

Even blindfolded, her presence radiated awareness.

It was the Herald.

After centuries—no, millennia—of wandering the scarred continents and forgotten realms of the planet, searching tirelessly for a method to restore what had been lost… the former Titan of Life had finally fulfilled her vow.

She had defied extinction itself, gathering remnants of divinity, piecing together fractured souls, and stitching hope into a dying era. She had resurrected her beloved brethren. And in doing so, she had burned away nearly everything that once made her invincible.

To Agos, Agnosia had done more than enough. She deserved to sleep—truly sleep—until the Titans reclaimed dominion over the planet they once ruled. Only then, when the foundations of their dominion were restored, would he awaken her from her self-imposed slumber.

Or at least… that was the plan.

One of their own had fallen. The delicate equilibrium among the Titans had fractured once more, and the loss of a single pillar reverberated through their already unstable resurgence.

They no longer possessed the luxury of patience or pride.

They needed strength.

They needed foresight.

They needed her.

And though her body limped and her eyes remained covered in darkness, the Herald of Life had returned to answer a call she should never have had to hear again.

"Agnosia! You should be resting!"

Xiphos wanted to run to her side and forcibly bring her back to her resting chambers, but he was stopped by her intimidating presence.

"I should be resting? When Knodalon died?"

"No… Yes, but…"

"Don't worry too much, Xiphos. I was the one who roused Agnosia from her slumber." The Titan King waved his arm and silenced the Metal Titan. "But don't worry. She won't be fighting. Agnosia will only be providing us information that we're sorely lacking."

Agos reassured Xiphos, but his words weren't just meant for the Metal Titan. It was also for Agnosia, and more importantly… himself.

He didn't wish to burden the weakened Agnosia any longer, but at the same time, he couldn't afford to lose any more Titans because of his overattachment to the Herald.

"Don't worry about me," Agnosia smiled weakly. "I won't push myself unless I absolutely have to."

The Herald's weak smile slowly faded until she continued grimly: "Yue Elune. That's the name of the human who killed Knodalon. There's no doubt about it."

"Yue Elune…"

"But, even if we attack her now, we won't be able to do anything to her."

"Why's that?"

"Her partner… Amon Solaris will be protecting her."

The Herald paused before giving the Titan King a firm look.

"I'm afraid… Amon Solaris has reached unfathomable heights for a human. It's safe to say, he's the most powerful existence on the planet now… second only to our King."

"..."

The Titan King didn't disagree. Even from far away, he could vaguely sense the presence guarding Yue as she absorbed the Beast Titan's divinity. It felt like a sharp blade directed at his neck, and if he ever tried to attempt to harm Yue, Amon's blade wouldn't hesitate to strike back.

"A monster indeed."

"But other than those two… the rest of the humans likely pose no threat to us."

"So what are you proposing?"

The Herald paused before letting out a heavy sigh.

"For us to have any chance against them, we must do the unthinkable… we must overwhelm them with numbers."

"... what?"

Xiphos could hardly believe what he was hearing. The mighty Titans, beings of absolute strength that it took multiple Dragon Progenitors to take down just one of them, had to join forces against mere humans?

"That's the only way… Else, we're doomed to die."

"..."

"Agos… Perhaps you could take Amon alone, but… You may never walk out the same."

"I see… How interesting…"

The Titan King stifled a laugh before fully bellowing out.

"To think that we, the mighty Titans, would have to be the weaker side! HAHAHAH, this is truly… amusing."

"Agos?"

"No, I understand." Agos waved his arm before staring right at the Herald.

"Then let us devise the plan that would kill the new gods."