I Reborn as a God Within a Statue, And You Ask Me to Enslave All Gods?-Chapter 165 --Conquering the Eighth-Tier Region

The howling wind swept across the battlefield, as countless shards of ice, forged into deadly icicles, surged from within the snowy realm like a raging tide. Each spike glistened with the frigid aura of a winter that could freeze entire mountains and rivers. As they tore through the sky, the icicles intertwined midair, weaving into colossal serpentine forms—dragons of ice, howling in fury, spreading across the heavens like a stormfront.

These ice dragons were massive, each one radiating a bone-chilling madness. The moment they emerged from the snow realm, they resembled streaks of white pigment bursting from a shattered frame, flowing freely through the void. Wherever they passed, they painted the skies with a cold, deathly white.

Order and elements alike were frozen solid in an instant. It was as though the snowy realm had begun to devour the very fabric of space-time. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Even Owen’s magma—compressed to its absolute limit—began to tremble and unravel under the impact. Violent eruptions once roared in his molten domain, but now, cracks formed under the onslaught of the icy dragons, and the boiling heat began to fade, vanishing in waves.

The flame, previously pushed to its most extreme concentration, was reduced to scattered embers. Before the wrath of the ice dragons, it crumbled instantly!

"So... this is her true strength?" Owen muttered, his eyes wide with growing seriousness. "No wonder even the ranked names on the Killing Leaderboard couldn’t defeat her. This combat power... it’s suffocating!"

The dragons, massive and snarling, filled Owen’s vision as they surged closer. His heart grew heavy.

He had already been channeling his god skill to its fullest, forming magma to directly counter the cold. But the moment the girl fought seriously, his flame was shattered as though it belonged to another dimension—utterly inferior.

"A girl this far beyond mortal limits, in a region with such unique mechanics... it’s likely that no one else could defeat her."

He paused for a beat, then smiled grimly. "Of course... no one but me!"

As the words left his mouth, divine radiance erupted from Owen’s body like a starlight explosion against the darkness. Countless wisps of golden mist surged outward, like boiling oil flooding across the shattered magma.

SZZZZHH!

The surface of the magma, which had been crusted over with a thin film of frost and was about to collapse, suddenly roared back to life. The golden mist revived it, and under the suppression of the cold, it boiled anew—brighter, hotter, wilder!

Scorching heat blazed skyward, forming invisible waves that distorted the air around him. The oppressive atmosphere of the special region only intensified the heat’s ferocity, forming blisters in space itself.

The ice dragons charging at Owen halted midair as if sensing a sudden danger. One turned sharply—

—but a massive hand of molten flame emerged from the lava, seizing the dragon mid-flight. With five fingers clenched tight, the enormous ice creature was compressed and dissolved into steaming mist.

The first dragon had been destroyed.

The others paused momentarily in shock, then roared in collective rage. One by one, they opened their savage, crystal-jawed maws and unleashed their icy breath. Frosty dragonfire poured across the field, engulfing the lava-forged hand in a blizzard of energy. The collision of extremes created a deafening screech.

In moments, jagged ice crystals formed from the very void, layering like scales around the flaming hand, trying to freeze it completely.

Owen’s expression darkened. His Divine Vessel roared to life, its internal power igniting like oil on fire. Blazing heat spread across his form, merging with the magma around him until he seemed to become a conduit of volcanic fury.

Then came more lava hands—giant, blazing fists of destruction tearing through the void, each one clashing with the rampaging ice dragons.

One by one, the dragons and the fire met in a relentless exchange, destroying each other in magnificent bursts of flame and frost.

But every strike came at a cost.

Owen’s divine points were being consumed at a horrifying rate, devoured by the continuous demand of battle.

The girl—his opponent—had grown increasingly ephemeral, her form flickering in and out of existence as her energy waned.

And then, with a final, earth-shattering impact, her figure vanished completely.

She was gone!

As the last remnants of her snowy form dissolved into mist, Owen finally exhaled in relief.

After a long and exhausting standoff, he had emerged victorious.

The outcome had been within his calculations, yes, but the sheer intensity of the fight still left him physically and mentally drained.

He had defeated the Ice Maiden, and now the entire eighth-tier region belonged to him.

What this meant, he wasn’t entirely sure—yet.

But given the difficulty of claiming it, the rewards had to be extraordinary. After all, even the deadliest contenders from the Killing Leaderboard had chosen to stake a claim in this tier.

As Owen stood there catching his breath, the shattered void around him began to ripple and fade like an illusion. The scenery dissolved, revealing a solitary stone pillar standing before him. Glowing letters began to etch themselves upon its surface.

Owen raised an eyebrow, intrigued. He stepped forward to read.

...

At the same moment, far away in Wraith City.

The moment the Ice Maiden vanished, five ancient beings looked toward the eighth-tier region.

The glass-like glow that had previously covered only half the zone now expanded in an instant, bathing the entire region in radiant light.

It was conquered.

The eighth-tier region had been taken!

Titan stared at it, stunned. His expression was a mixture of disbelief and awe.

He had thought of Owen as little more than a handsome upstart—not someone capable of challenging the legends.

And yet, he had succeeded.

"That guy’s just... good-looking," Titan mumbled. "But there’s nothing else special about him, right? How the hell did he do it? That was the eighth-tier region!"

"That third figure... she was someone who had brought despair to countless challengers," another whispered.

Titan had witnessed the battle from start to finish. But even so, the outcome felt surreal.

Around him, the other beings voiced their shock.

"Was that his true strength? He actually defeated her!"

"To take down someone like her at that age... his talent must be beyond anything we’ve ever seen. His potential is limitless!"

"With a god like him emerging... could this mark the beginning of humanity’s rise?"

"Maybe this is it. Maybe the era of gods led by humans has truly begun..."

"But talent alone doesn’t mean battle strength. And the time left for his growth... it’s not that long."

"True. I wonder... when that time comes, just how far will he have grown?"

Each of the five old souls looked deeply shaken. They had never expected Owen, whom they had dismissed, to overcome a challenge even they could not surmount.

It was a gulf they had believed insurmountable.

And now he had crossed it.

He might one day surpass all of them.

"Do you think... he’ll try to claim the ninth-tier region next?" Titan suddenly asked, his voice tense.

The others went silent.

Owen was no longer someone they could overlook. His current power already rivaled their own—it was just a matter of time before he caught up.

Their gazes locked, and they saw the same fear reflected in one another’s eyes.

"The ninth-tier region..."

It was a place none of them had dared touch, even after all these years. They couldn’t even defeat the eighth-tier—what hope did they have for the ninth?

It was legendary. A myth. As far as they knew, no living being had ever conquered it. Few had even tried.

...

Back at the eighth-tier stone pillar.

Owen read the inscriptions, and a flicker of excitement crossed his face.

He had expected some form of reward—but the magnitude of what he now saw exceeded even his wildest expectations.

As he gazed at the glowing words, the stone flared with golden light. The letters shone brighter, clearer, and more divine than before.

"Eighth-Tier Region: Realm of Immortality."

"Congratulations. You have conquered this domain. From this moment on, you are the Lord of the Realm of Immortality."

"You have earned the right to challenge the ninth-tier region. The trial will begin in three years."

"You are now authorized to sell the ’Key of Immortality’ once again."

"You have received two divine artifacts. Due to insufficient Godhood rank, you cannot yet unlock them."

"The Realm of Immortality will now absorb the souls of ten top-tier human prodigies every month. You may choose to reincarnate them into your own territory."

"Your god skill is now empowered by the Realm of Immortality. Its might is doubled."

"Your devotees may now inscribe the Eternal Life Array. Within the array, their recovery and combat abilities will be greatly enhanced."

"You have gained the human faith from the Immortal Plane. You may travel there and bring those humans into your domain."

"You are now blessed by the Realm of Immortality. Your Divine Eye, Light Shield, and Cloaking abilities will all scale with your Godhood rank."

The words went on and on, packed with privilege after privilege. Owen could barely absorb it all.

His eyes gleamed. His heart raced.

So this was why the ancient beings had fixated on these upper-tier regions. The benefits were... overwhelming.

The eighth-tier rewards alone were beyond anything he could have imagined.