When Linley woke up from his coma, he found himself in a divine realm, seated on a divine throne. The air was filled with the murmur of prayers, surrounding him yet too indistinct to make out.
"What happened to me?" Linley asked, bewildered.
"You were gravely injured, nearly at death's door," the system responded calmly.
"Was it that serious?" Linley asked, not feeling any obvious discomfort.
"Luckily, your new skill kicked in and saved your life," the system explained.
"New skill? You mean Dragon Slayer?" Linley asked, puzzled, since his enemies were angels and cardinals, not dragons.
"Not that one, I mean accelerated healing," the system corrected. "You consumed a part of that priest."
Linley recalled that he had indeed bitten off half of a priest's body but didn't fully swallow it. The priest had used his body to summon an angel, and Linley had killed the angel with a dragon tooth.
"You ingested a large amount of the Holiness Priest's blood, which healed your holy light injuries during digestion. Otherwise, you'd be dead," the system added.
So that's how accelerated healing works. Does that mean if I eat my fill before every battle, I can keep recovering health?
"It's not that simple. Ordinary food doesn't have much energy, so the health recovery is limited. This time you consumed high-level priest blood, which is why the effect was so significant," the system explained.
So in future battles, if I see an injured enemy and suck their blood, wouldn't that make me like a vampire? Is it because vampires have this rapid healing ability that they love to suck blood?
"Does this count as a defeat? Will I lose experience points?" Linley questioned.
"You just won't gain any experience points. Actually, defeat isn't entirely a bad thing for you. Victory strengthens the body, while defeat trains the mind. As long as you develop an indomitable will, you can withstand greater power," the system replied.
Linley nodded. Indeed, just like playing a game, continuous victories only indicate that the game is too easy. Occasional defeats are necessary to hone skills. Especially in high-difficulty games, dying is commonplace, and only by dying many times can one learn the game's techniques.
Unfortunately, this isn't a game where you can restart after dying. Otherwise, Linley could challenge again and again, and maybe after dying hundreds of times, he could counter-kill the cardinal... But that's almost impossible. The gap between him and the cardinal is too great. This isn't a game where you can find shortcuts or use cheats, and the cardinal isn't a boss that only follows programmed actions.
No matter how advanced the AI in games is, it can only make judgments based on limited conditions and can't compare to real people. The cardinal's intelligence is higher than that of ordinary people, and he can take reasonable actions based on various situations. Rather than calling this a game, it's more like electronic sports.
In this competition, the gap between Linley and the cardinal is too vast. Linley is still a novice, while the cardinal is fully armed, casually using ultimate moves that Linley can't counter.
The biggest difference between Linley's current situation and playing a game is that games are designed to be played, so players can clear them by following the steps. Even in very difficult games or those with insufficient in-game hints, one can find strategies online or watch videos to learn how to clear them.
But Linley's situation is different. He must find a feasible path on his own, and whether this path leads to victory or achieves his goals, Linley is completely uncertain.
What should I do now? Should I head back to Dionysus Island first? It might lead the enemies back, making Dionysus Island too dangerous. The island is full of true believers of Dionysus. If discovered, they would be killed or, at best, sold into slavery.
Even if Linley returns to the island, he can't confront the Cardinal or contend with the powerful Roman fleet. Pandora has already been captured by the Romans. As a follower of Dionysus, Linley must find a way to save her.
However, planning a rescue mission has become a thorny issue. Linley examined his resources and skills, realizing that compared to the Cardinal, his power was far inferior, making direct confrontation impossible.
Maybe try a covert infiltration? Like disguising himself as a Roman soldier to sneak into the fleet, but this plan seems almost impossible. Linley doesn't understand Latin, only Greek, and he can't learn a new language quickly. His appearance is also very distinctive, completely different from Romans or Greeks.
His dragon leather armor can transform him, but it only turns him into a dragon, which would draw even more attention. The system hinted that he had the advantage of being a deity, but didn't give any specific guidance.
"What exactly should I do?" Linley asked.
"Please explore on your own," the system said seriously.
As a deity, he indeed possesses the ability to use divine spells, but Linley could not cast a single one. Compared to other immortals, he had pitifully few followers. Most of his followers had already converted, and many of the remaining ones didn't even know Dionysus had been replaced by him, so they couldn't provide divine power.
Divine power can be converted into godly power in the divine realm, but holy light can counteract godly power. Moreover, most parts of the divine realm were sealed off, leaving Linley with almost no advantages.
Could it be talking about items? Linley has a fallen angel's feather, which can create a desecration aura to suppress godly power. He had used it in a church to suppress the power of the temple bride, but the aura's range was only a few dozen meters, whereas his distance from the Cardinal was far beyond a hundred meters.
One possible strategy is to risk approaching the Cardinal and activate the desecration aura to kill him. Without the Cardinal, other priests might not easily use the divine spell to part the sea. But even if he successfully kills the Cardinal, it might summon an even more powerful being, such as an angel.
Although there are no permanently stationed angels in this world, whenever a priest dies, an angel is briefly summoned. If Linley can swiftly kill the Cardinal and immediately retreat, waiting for the angel to leave the mortal realm before returning, he might have a chance to defeat the other enemies one by one.