Thea coordinated with Superman's freeze breath, switching from Meteor Storm to ice-based spells: Sleet Storm, Hailstorm, and large-area spells like Ice Cloud, Blizzard, and Ice Tornado.
Their efficiency was remarkable. The small county spanning over ten thousand square kilometers, dominated by brown and black tones, was now painted with a touch of stark white. The frost caused the temperature in this rotting, death-filled city to plummet dozens of degrees. The walking corpses, already hindered in movement, now struggled even more without the Rot's support flowing through them.
The entity lurking deep beneath the city could no longer restrain itself. It had to stop the destruction. Set, the Storm God, now the self-proclaimed Rot King—its entire body composed of rotting flesh and white bones, its throat devoid of living tissue—could only speak through the damaged organs of countless corrupted humans, transmitting its voice.
"Who are you... Kneel before the supreme Rot King. Offer up your bodies. I will grant you infinite power. Oh? You've even brought the avatars of the Green and the Red? It seems you have no intention of surrendering!" All the rotting humans spoke in unison, their voices sounding like tearing cloth—utterly grating. The words made Thea want to laugh.
A blind fool. This creature hadn't even recognized that she was a god. It probably couldn't even distinguish between New Gods and Old Gods. Perhaps only such an idiot would be seduced by the Rot, abandoning divine dignity to become a pawn.
That's right—despite calling itself the Rot King, this thing was nothing within the Rot's hierarchy. It wasn't much more important than the rotting humans. It had once been a deity, even just a local god, but look how far it had fallen. Thea felt sorry for it.
More laughable still, it wanted to recruit them, but immediately abandoned the idea after seeing Swamp Thing and Animal Man. What a foolish, ridiculous creature.
However, since it mentioned Swamp Thing, Thea naturally had to give others a chance to shine. She nodded slightly, signaling Swamp Thing and Animal Man to go extract information first. Maybe this fool would spill everything about the mastermind with a slip of the tongue.
Never overestimate villains' intelligence. They loved to monologue, terrified that heroes wouldn't understand their schemes. They rarely started fighting until they'd explained everything!
"Set, today marks your doom. The Parliament of Trees has sentenced you to death. Your crimes cannot be forgiven!" Swamp Thing proclaimed with righteous fervor.
"The Red's judgment is about to fall upon you, monster. You will repent in hell for the deaths of the living!" Animal Man declared with equal conviction.
The declarations drew only mocking laughter from the villain. "You threaten me? Threaten a god? How long have you been avatars of the Green and Red? How could you understand the profound truths contained in those powers? I'll strip the flesh from your bones!"
As all the rotting humans spoke simultaneously, a throne built from various bones slowly rose from the city center. A five-meter-tall skeletal giant sat upon it, draped in rotting flesh—human and animal both. Its head wasn't human-shaped but resembled some insect. Two bloody sockets where eyes should be gazed at them with interest.
"This is my domain, the Rot's territory. How foolish of you to challenge me here!" The skeletal giant, Set, used the rotting crowd to transmit cold laughter.
"Speak! Why have you disregarded the balance of nature to wage this war? Who's pulling your strings?" Swamp Thing asked, following the script Thea and Batman had prepared for him.
"I am the Rot King! If I wish it, I can conquer everything! Listen well—I speak to you through the winds of death. I am the Storm God, the Rot Lord. Whether frozen wastes or barren deserts, the dead lands I rule span the world. No one commands me. Do you understand, you green freak?" This time, the Storm God didn't use the rotting crowd to transmit its message but channeled its voice through the wind itself, speaking in ethereal tones.
Thea sighed. This creature's delusions of grandeur were beyond saving. Clearly just a pawn, yet pretending to be the big boss.
She held up two fingers, making a "two" gesture. Swamp Thing understood—time for the second script. "You... you're that powerful! I can't feel my connection to the Green!"
Their backup plan was to feign weakness and trick the enemy into revealing more details. Unfortunately, Dr. Holland's acting skills left much to be desired. Luckily, he was currently a plant collective without facial expressions, and his opponent was brainless, so Swamp Thing's wooden recitation satisfied the creature immensely.
"Haha! This is nothing—just an insignificant fraction of my power! But you're not bad. Your understanding of the Green rivals my subordinate Anton Arcane's understanding of the Rot. Though you're far beneath me, you can take pride in that!"
The skeletal giant spoke with smug satisfaction. As it continued, it finally noticed something wrong. These people showed no fear or panic whatsoever.
Actually, Thea and the others were having a quiet conversation. Batman had questioned Abby about her family history and immediately recognized the name's significance. "Anton Arcane is Abby's uncle. He's highly likely to be the mastermind."
Thea's memory of the Rotworld storyline was hazy. She vaguely recalled the final battle being against Abby's father or uncle. This was probably Anton Arcane.
"Kneel, you insignificant worms! You've survived this long only because your status is too lowly to warrant my personal attention. Now your arrogance has cost you your one chance at life. I am angry, and I will punish you!" Their disregard thoroughly enraged the Storm God.
This brainless fool channeled divine power, and a heat-radiating sandstorm formed in its hands, growing larger by the moment.
"I shall punish you in an unprecedented manner. I will bury you here in this land of death, deep beneath, but not let you die immediately. Only this will satisfy me!" The minor deity grew more excited as it spoke. The tornado it controlled gradually extended to dozens of meters in height.
The heroes still weren't worried. The tornado only looked frightening—the actual wind speed wasn't that fast. Any of them could dodge it if they wanted.
Batman and the other two couldn't contribute much combat power. Superman looked at Thea, as if to ask: You or me?
"I'll handle it. This idiot is an embarrassment to all gods." Thea stepped forward two paces, looking at this creature that talked big but had pathetically weak combat power yet remained completely oblivious.