Becoming Enkidu in DxD

Chapter 406: Ishtar Meets the Lahmu!

Boom—

Flash—

High in the sky, a bolt of golden light streaked through the air, obliterating a single Lahmu in an instant.

However, taking down one or two was like trying to empty the ocean with a cup; their numbers were simply too massive.

"What on earth are these things? Where did they even come from?"

Ishtar was in a foul mood today. These grotesque monsters had appeared out of nowhere, and in a mere half-day, they had already swarmed across a vast portion of Mesopotamia.

Wherever these creatures went, life followed with a scream and then silence. Neither animals nor humans were spared. They were, quite literally, living murder machines.

As the protector goddess of Uruk, Ishtar might be arrogant, but she still harbored a sense of duty toward humanity. Especially now, fused with a human girl, her will leaned more toward the side of mortals than she would care to admit.

Watching so many humans being slaughtered eventually spurred her into action. She began her hunt, systematically purging the Lahmu, but the efficiency of a single goddess was proving to be frustratingly low.

"Human?"

At that moment, a voice filled with eerie confusion rang out.

Ishtar turned her head to see a Lahmu standing nearby, tilting its head in a disturbing, jerky motion. It looked at the goddess who had been hunting its kin with genuine bewilderment.

It sensed a human aura within Ishtar's body, yet it felt hollow—an ephemeral presence that seemed to vanish if one looked too closely.

"I am no human. I am the Goddess Venus of all Mesopotamia, the Mistress of the Heavens—the great Ishtar-sama."

"God? Enemy of Mother. Kill."

The air whistled as the creature lunged. Swoosh... Swoosh... Swooosh!

The moment it heard the word "God," the Lahmu's killing intent overflowed. It didn't hesitate for a second. Moving like a giant, nimble spider, it blurred across the terrain toward Ishtar.

"A surprise attack? You really don't take this goddess seriously, do you?"

Boom—

With a thunderous blast of magical energy, the Lahmu was reduced to dust.

Ishtar stood tall, like a proud peacock, thoroughly satisfied with her own power. These unknown monsters were nothing more than a nuisance to her.

Click... click... click...

Suddenly, the sound of sharp appendages piercing the earth echoed from every direction.

Ishtar's face went pale. Surrounding her, an overwhelming number of Lahmu were emerging. Like a rising tide of nightmares, they began to close in on her position with terrifying speed.

The Lahmu did not hunt alone; they moved as a collective, a singular, predatory wave.

"What kind of monsters are these? They're everywhere, like cockroaches!"

As the "Mistress of the Heavens," flying was second nature to her. She summoned Maanna, her massive Boat of Heaven, leaped onto its frame, and shot into the air. She put distance between herself and the crawling swarm below.

At this stage, the Lahmu had not yet evolved the ability to fly. For the moment, they couldn't touch her.

"Kill, kill, kill them all..."

"Slaughter, how fun..."

"Hehehe..."

The number of Lahmu gathering below continued to swell, and Ishtar's expression darkened. Even for a goddess, facing a horde of this scale was a daunting task.

While she was a goddess, her current existence was that of a summoned being. Her Mana was finite. Under normal circumstances, she hoarded her energy, refusing to release it unless absolutely necessary.

This included her True Name Release. While unleashing her Noble Phantasm felt incredible in the moment, the recovery process was a nightmare. In a Mesopotamia this dangerous, keeping enough strength for self-defense was a basic rule of survival.

"This won't work. There are more of them every second. I should retreat for now. Even for me, cleaning up this many would be a massive headache."

Could she win? Of course. This scale was merely an appetizer for a goddess of her caliber. But for "this" Ishtar, it was a logistical disaster.

Pushing Maanna to its limits, Ishtar sped away.

"Fly... Sky... Evolution..."

Below, one of the Lahmu paused, its alien mind churning. Finally, it found the answer it sought.

It needed the power of flight. To possess a pair of wings—for the children of Tiamat, the concept of Self-Modification was a memory etched into their very genes. They were, after all, born from a process of constant creation and adaptation.

Crack—

The first Lahmu began to undergo a gruesome transformation. A pair of deep purple-black wings tore through its back, and its entire physique shifted drastically.

The Bel-Lahmu was born. And it wasn't an isolated case.

As the first Bel-Lahmu took form, the others seemed to trigger the same evolutionary blueprint. Like a virus, the change radiated through the swarm. One by one, the Lahmu completed their evolution.

From the deep sea to the land, and from the land, they evolved to conquer the skies. This rate of adaptation was nothing short of unbelievable.

"Kill the human."

"Slaughter..."

"Hehehe..."

This time, Ishtar was in for some serious trouble.

She looked back, still feeling a trace of confidence. After all, she was the Mistress of the Heavens. But in the next second, the entire swarm of Lahmu flapped their new wings and took to the sky.

Swoosh... Swoosh... Swoosh...

A dark cloud of flying Lahmu filled the horizon. It was a sight that would strike terror into the heart of any observer.

"Hm? What's that?"

Ishtar felt a shift in the air pressure behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, and her heart nearly skipped a beat. A massive swarm of Lahmu was gaining on her.

Experience told her these monsters wouldn't let their prey go easily. And right now, she was the only target in sight.

"Fine then. The sky is my domain! You want to fight me in the air? You're delusional!"

The Lahmu were accelerating, their speed increasing by the second. Ishtar felt a prickle of genuine worry—was she going crazy, or were these things actually matching her pace? They were starting to close the gap.

She fired bolts of Mana from her fingertips, creating explosions in the air that looked like morbid fireworks. Several Lahmu were vaporized in the blasts.

"So annoying! If I could use my full power, I'd make you all a part of history right now!"

By "part of history," she meant erasing them from existence entirely.

Similar scenes were playing out across Mesopotamia. The difference was that others weren't goddesses; for them, facing the Lahmu meant nothing but a lingering sense of helplessness as the end approached.

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