I Reborn as a God Within a Statue, And You Ask Me to Enslave All Gods?-Chapter 89 --The Great Encirclement of the Dark Gods

And yet, due to that mysterious entity behind the scenes, they hadn’t perished. It really was just a so-called exchange tournament.

This left Owen rather surprised. According to his earlier expectations, most of the gods participating in this exchange tournament would have been mercilessly slaughtered due to their lack of strength.

"If that being wanted to eliminate the weaker gods, it wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble. Now, I really can’t figure out what It’s thinking..."

Countless thoughts flickered through Owen’s mind.

Boom!

At that moment, from the third layer of clouds above them, a thunderous rumble echoed out like muffled thunder. Then, dazzling rays of light poured down from the sky, like a cascade of rainbows.

These radiant lights swiftly transformed into glowing orbs, each one inscribed with text—various test categories.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, these glowing spheres bounced chaotically within a confined space, like a slot machine that had just been activated, the differently colored orbs flickering randomly.

Unlike the last round, which was determined by a vote among all the gods, this test seemed entirely randomized.

The gods present all fell silent.

In the previous two rounds, most of the gods had performed poorly in terms of scores and points.

Now, this third test was their only chance to climb the rankings.

Even those who had secured a relatively good position in the first two rounds kept their eyes glued to the bouncing orbs.

Though they currently held a sizable advantage, it wasn’t unshakable. A single mistake in this third round could cost them their lead!

As for those gods who hadn’t even reached the level of 1-Star Ancient God, they no longer held any hope.

Though they knew little about the entity behind the scenes, the first two tests had made it abundantly clear—low-ranked gods stood no chance of pulling off a surprise comeback.

They had no hope of standing out now. Their best bet was to keep calm and be good spectators.

After all, witnessing some high-ranking gods in action could benefit them in the future.

At the very least, recognizing the top ten thousand gods here might help them form connections during the Divine War or other encounters in the future.

Some nameless gods, frustrated beyond words, secretly prayed that the upcoming trial would be so difficult that it would trip up most participants. That way, their own failures wouldn’t look as bad.

Under the intense and varied gazes of the crowd, the bouncing light orbs gradually slowed down. A blood-red orb emerged from the center of the space and floated before everyone.

[Adaptive Crisis]

Seeing the words appear on the orb, Owen narrowed his eyes with interest.

Only moments of life-or-death truly qualified as a crisis.

To test something like Adaptive Crisis here... now that was intriguing.

While the other gods were still stunned, the blood-red orb suddenly radiated blinding light and enveloped everyone within it.

In the next instant—

Owen found himself transported to a mysterious space. Glancing around at the surrounding savage dark gods, his mouth twitched.

So this was Adaptive Crisis?

Brutal, straightforward, and completely unembellished!

After a single glance, Owen counted over fifty dark gods around him!

These dark gods came in all sorts of grotesque forms, like human bodies merged with otherworldly creatures through some horrific transformation.

One resembled a bipedal spider, with eight arms, each arm ending in a head, emanating an intense aura of malice that whispered to one’s most primal desires.

Another had hair replaced by writhing black tentacles, standing upside down, each tendril sharp as a blade, enough to make anyone’s heart skip a beat.

Yet another had a single eye in the front and one in the back—both massive, taking up nearly half their bodies. A single glance at them twisted vision, like staring into a funhouse mirror.

All these dark gods shared a wordless aberration, like parasites that had infested human bodies from beyond the stars. Though their forms differed, they were equally grotesque.

Most crucially, each one of them was at the Tier-5 Beginner level!

Forty-five Tier-5 Beginner dark gods.

And beyond them, standing in the shadows at the very back, were five dark gods at Tier-5 Peak.

They lay lazily on the ground, utterly relaxed, clearly seeing no need to waste energy on such a weak opponent.

With this many dark gods gathered, calling it a life-and-death crisis was no exaggeration.

Even a 1-Star Ancient God, giving everything they had, would only be capable of defeating a Tier-5 Beginner.

Now, with so many enemies—and five Tier-5 Peak ones waiting in reserve—there was no way a 1-Star Ancient God could survive.

Once the battle began, if they all attacked together, no 1-Star Ancient God could survive even a single blow!

[In the face of a great encirclement by dark gods, at the brink of life and death—how will you respond?]

The system prompt flashed before Owen’s eyes.

At the same time, a realization surfaced within his mind.

If he wanted to earn a high score in this round, he had to survive as long as possible in this life-threatening scenario.

The longer he lived, the higher his score would be.

For most gods, the options were limited: fight to the death, beg for mercy, bluff, offer treasures...

Any method that helped them survive was valid.

But Owen wasn’t thinking about stalling or surviving—he was wondering:

What kind of score and rewards would I get for wiping out all the dark gods here?

To eliminate the dark gods present!

That was the first thought that came to Owen’s mind.

After all, when the system explained the rules, it had also mentioned that the divine points used during the exchange tournament would be returned to each god afterward.

The main focus of the tournament was to test their individual abilities.

Once Owen understood this, all his worries disappeared.

If the divine points spent during this round weren’t refunded, he might’ve looked for another solution. But now? No hesitation at all!

With his current combat power and reserve of over ten thousand divine points, these dark gods were just lambs to the slaughter!

A 2-Star Ancient God’s combat power far exceeded that of a 1-Star—be it beginner or peak.

When it came to true life-and-death combat, he had no fear.

Just as Owen reached his decision, the dark gods surrounding him all turned to stare at the newly arrived prey.

Their crimson eyes burned with hunger and greed, like starving wolves catching the scent of blood.

"A god! And a human god, no less... how long has it been since we last fed? The taste of blood... of order... I can barely remember it..."

"Eat him! Eat him!"

In an instant, the dark gods erupted in frenzy, cheering wildly, their turbulent elemental energies surging in great waves.

These dark gods only existed because they had devoured and corrupted human gods. After the human gods fell, their bodies were twisted and turned into dark god abominations.

But because of that, they could no longer find new human gods to devour—only lowly awakeners. Yet their taste was dull and could only temporarily satisfy the craving.

That repressed hunger had been growing like a sealed volcano, becoming more and more uncontrollable.

Now, seeing a true human god appear before them, their craving exploded to unprecedented levels!

Devouring a human god wouldn’t just satisfy their hunger—it would let them absorb his god mark and continue evolving into even more terrifying forms.

Consumed by this greed, the dark gods all charged at Owen like a tidal wave of death.

As they rushed forward, Owen took a deep breath and decided to test the 2-Star god skill he had recently acquired after his breakthrough.

A 2-Star god skill required at least 300 divine points to activate—something Owen had never been willing to use before.

But now? This was the perfect time to unleash it and see its true power!

In an instant, Owen brought his hands together in front of him and slowly closed his eyes. Bright divine points surged out from within him, orbiting his body like stars before quickly expanding outward, merging into the earth itself...