Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1372 "The God of Death"

Having already heard from Azik that the corpse of the "Phoenix Ancestor" was hidden by Death in the deepest part of the Underworld, Fors wasn't too surprised, but he still raised his own questions:
"Isn't this tantamount to keeping the corpse of your greatest enemy by your side?"

As far as she knew, the last two "God Wars" ended in defeat, with the bodies of the fallen gods completely collapsing and disintegrating, and countless extraordinary properties scattered across the earth. In particular, when the "God of War" died at the hands of the Goddess of Night, a meteor shower struck the entire Northern Continent. Many high-level properties formed seals that caused widespread casualties, shrouding certain places in the light of dusk. Any living being that entered these places would rapidly age and die, and they have not been completely cleaned up to this day.

Numerous pieces of evidence suggest that even if a deity dies and their extraordinary characteristics are taken away, they still have the opportunity to be resurrected.

If that's the case, why would Salinger, who inherited the title of "Grim Reaper," hide Greta's body deep within the Underworld? Mr. Azik said it was to better control the Underworld and access the leaked Source, but this could have been done elsewhere, not within his "headquarters"...

"Extraordinary beings in the realm of death will never reject powerful corpses that they can control, and my father was no exception."

"Moreover, the establishment of the Underworld does not rely solely on the power of the 'Death God' pathway. It was not easy for my father to control this world. Although the extraordinary characteristics and authority of the 'Gate' in Greygarley's body have been expelled, it still possesses the corresponding status, equivalent to a key to control the Underworld."

"Of course, He probably has other purposes as well, such as controlling a tributary of the 'River of Eternal Darkness' and conducting some research that no one knows about..."

Azik spoke slowly, walking toward the nearest pale green flame on the riverbank. Fors and Renette followed closely behind, and soon discovered that the light came from a strange golden statue, or rather, a "street lamp" made of gold.

It is shaped like a human, kneeling with its hands tied behind its back, its waist arched backward, and a black wick in its mouth. The light that illuminates the banks of the River Styx comes from the wick, burning quietly as if it will never go out.

Like a punished sinner... Could all those lights be golden statues like this? If they were pure gold, each one would weigh at least several hundred kilograms, equivalent to tens of thousands of pounds... Fors subconsciously calculated how much a golden street lamp was worth, before realizing that she couldn't and dared not bring the guiding lights of the underworld back to reality, not even if she were an angel.

Azik then approached the kneeling golden statue and continued speaking beside the cold, pale flames:
"Following the guiding light, you will continue to advance into the depths of the underworld, passing through layers of worlds representing different sins and punishments, until you finally reach the palace of the Grim Reaper."

“But through the teleportation of the ‘Planets Walkers,’ we can travel directly through these worlds to the deepest part.”

I understand. Just like Mr. "World" during his time in the Forsaken Land, I was a tool... no, a tool person.

Fors muttered to herself, but quite consciously stretched out her hands, allowing Azik and Renette to touch them, thus becoming a mystical unit with her. Then, guided by this "Death Archon" who was familiar with the environment of the underworld, she quickly traversed the dark world, passing golden statues and abandoned buildings that had collapsed for who knows how long, leaving pale traces in the dark wasteland that sloped down to the lower reaches.

Soon, the three figures appeared at the edge of the wasteland.

The place was no longer as dark as when they had crossed the River Styx; instead, it was shrouded in a complete pallor. The monotonous color covered the wilderness beneath their feet, the sky above, and a huge complex of buildings in front of them, which brought a dim light.

The gently sloping, solid ground stops here, gradually sinking deeper into a bottomless void, an area almost the size of Backlund. Majestic palaces, towering towers, and aerial corridors connecting these structures almost completely fill this sunken area, with the lower part reaching into the void and the upper part mostly collapsed, leaving only ruins.

The few remaining intact buildings are the tower and side hall near the edge of the void where Fors and the others are located. The only well-preserved buildings in the core area are the magnificent main hall and the obelisks surrounding it.

The dark river, said to traverse all the different levels of the underworld, was cascading down from the sky, falling like a waterfall behind the palace, as if flowing directly into the bottomless void.

Following the direction of the River Styx, Fors noticed a giant bird of exaggerated size lying on the top of the main hall. It occupied almost the entire palace, which spanned hundreds of meters, and its outstretched wings almost touched the towers surrounding the main hall. Its body was either burning with pale flames or exposing its rotting skin.

Just looking at the giant bird made Fors feel even colder, as if the negative effects of the golden mask were accelerating her transformation into an undead creature, and she felt an urge to kneel before the giant bird.

Fortunately, the strange feeling was not strong. She quickly came to her senses and realized that this was not a palace complex that could be created by human hands. It was the original temple of "Death God" Salinger, and the giant bird that looked dead was "Progenitor of the Phoenix" Greta Garley.

But this didn't feel like the "Phoenix" corpse being collected and studied by the "Grim Reaper" at all. Instead, it felt like Greta Garley had taken over the main hall of Salinger and destroyed everything around her... Fors' inner spirituality gave her a reminder. She turned her head to look at Azik, who was staring wistfully at the palace that was half floating and half sinking into the void, and raised her question.

Azik withdrew his gaze and answered softly:
"The father's palace did not originally sink into the void. Although the complex was still being excavated downwards to get as close to the underground as possible to death, the bottom was still solid earth, and that was the place where Greta's body was imprisoned and stored."

"But after the fall of Death, this phoenix progenitor broke free of his restraints, destroyed the entire palace, killed all of Father's followers and descendants who were still deep in the underworld, and turned this place into a true 'Pale Kingdom'."

"This is also why the dead have been unable to return here for thousands of years, and why no extraordinary being with the Death God's path has dared to venture deep into the underworld."

Wait, break free from the restraints?
Fors paused, then looked at the corpse of the phoenix, whose wingspan was probably hundreds of meters, and found that its eyes were closed, showing no intention of "resurrection." Only then did he cautiously ask:
"The previous Grim Reaper has been resurrected?"

“No, it’s just a corpse transformation. As an ancient god who once contained the uniqueness of the ‘God of Death,’ when the current God of Death falls, He will regain a certain degree of authority over death. It’s not surprising that the corpse will undergo some changes.” Azik’s words reassured Fors, but the next sentence made her heart tighten again, “But there is indeed something strange about the Phoenix’s corpse, as if some kind of ‘rebirth’ power is acting on Him…”

At the same time, Renette, who was staring fearlessly at Greygardy's corpse with bloodshot eyes, also said:

"He is not completely dead, but in a deep sleep, a sleep from which he is almost unable to wake up."

As a "Bound One" Sequence 1, proficient in curses, possessing certain undead characteristics and not affected by the suppression of the "Death God" from a higher position to a lower position, Renette's words made the other two take her seriously. They looked at Gregarley's corpse across the pale wilderness and the black void, and soon made a new discovery.

Between the enormous, pale-flaming corpse of the phoenix and the golden-inlaid palace dome, there was a giant egg with a black surface but also with pale flames constantly leaping up. It was about one meter in diameter, a size never heard of before, but compared to Greygardy's size, it was as small as a quail egg.

Those are... bird eggs? Phoenix eggs?
Fors's first thought was that this former ancient god had somehow made his zombified self lay a bird egg as a vessel for resurrection. But then he thought it was unlikely. If Greta Garley hadn't completely died and still had the power to give birth to offspring and create clones, "Death God" Salinger would have prevented such a problem long ago.

But the power of "new life"... she thought of the possibility Renette had mentioned, and the knowledge and experiences stored in her mind were quickly retrieved, leading her to a sudden realization:
"Is it the 'Fallen Mother Goddess'?"

While wandering through the stars, she saw a planet that worshipped the "Great Mother," also known as the Fallen Mother Goddess. The civilization that ruled this planet was ruled by the three divine children born from the union of the ancient planet with the planet itself, and their descendants. The inhabitants of this planet worshipped mothers and reproductive organs to an extreme degree, which overlapped with the belief in the "Earth Mother Goddess." However, it had the most important symbol of "new life" that Earth did not possess.

This is what makes the "Great Mother" unique, unlike the two paths through which She was torn to earth.

The other two angels present, though lacking Fors's knowledge, were aware of the existence of Outer Gods and understood the concept of the "Fallen Mother Goddess." Upon hearing this, their expressions turned serious. Azik stared at the bird egg for a long time, then said, as if guessing:
"If that's the case, then Greta Garley might have been corrupted to some extent before her fall. Otherwise, it's impossible for the underworld, representing death, to be invaded by the power of 'new life' without leaving any trace." Before her fall... that was during the Third or even Second Era. Was the "Phoenix Ancestor" corrupted by the Outer Gods in that barbaric and dark age? But that should have been when the barrier of the original Creator was at its strongest... and Her state remained undetected until now, when the barrier has weakened, and she has been influenced by the "Fallen Mother Goddess" again, beginning a certain degree of resurrection?

Fors's gaze moved across the phoenix's corpse, finally settling on its left claw, which had obvious signs of breakage and whose end was nowhere to be seen.

By the way, Greygardy also holds the power over the "Gate". As a "native being" within the barrier, she has the ability to leave this planet, travel to the stars, and return safely... Could it be that while wandering the stars and searching for a way to open the underworld, the Phoenix Ancestor was corrupted by the "Fallen Mother Goddess"?

The same contamination was passed on to the King of Angels when Bethel Abraham, together with Salinger, killed the severely wounded Greta and took away the uniqueness and characteristics of the "gate" pathway within her.
Of course, this contamination was extremely subtle, perhaps only useful for location purposes, and therefore went unnoticed by Bethel at the time. It wasn't until He ventured back into the starry sky to acquire more knowledge of astronomy, geography, and folklore in preparation for His ascension to godhood that He was finally targeted by the "Fallen Mother Goddess" and truly corrupted...

The remaining contamination within Greygarley's body was rendered useless and forgotten. Even when Amon asked this pillar-level Ancient to remove all the contamination from the barrier during the "Vortex" project, no one paid attention. Until recently, it was reactivated for some reason, causing the zombified Greygarley to be affected by "rebirth" and give birth to a black bird egg.

Fors quickly pieced together many clues in his mind and nodded affirmatively at Azik's guess. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly noticed a staggering figure wandering along the edge where the wilderness met the void.

She suppressed the urge to teleport over and check, and instead gazed into the distance. She could barely make out that it was a rotting, swollen corpse with only the left half of its hand and foot remaining, and its neck empty. Under the pale light emanating from the earth, sky, and palace complex, it seemed to be dying completely, but it retained the last vestige of life, crawling forward on its hands and feet, slowly making its way towards the aerial corridor leading to the palace buildings.

That was half of Giddas's body, which it seemed to be trying to get closer to the corpse of the progenitor of the phoenix, or perhaps that giant black egg.

But as the half-corpse got closer to the palace, the pale deathly power grew stronger, slowing its movements. At this rate, it would be impossible for it to enter the temple and reach the core complex even when the apocalypse arrived.

It really is deep in the underworld… How did it manage to crawl to this place using only half its body? No, how could a corpse move on its own? Is this also an effect of “rebirth”? The corruption of that fallen mother goddess shouldn’t have been reactivated so recently… Fors was overjoyed; she hadn’t expected to find her target so soon after entering the depths of the underworld. She looked around and saw that her two companions, who shared the same goal, had also noticed Giddar’s corpse, so she whispered:
"Get that part of the body first, then proceed with the subsequent exploration."

She worried that getting closer to the temple of death might cause some kind of accident, which was not uncommon in star exploration and travel, so she decided to suppress her curiosity and complete the task assigned to her by the "Queen" first.

After Azik and Renette nodded, Fors stretched out a hand, fingers spread, towards "Giddas" in the distance, and activated her recording ability, stealing the distance between herself and the other party.

The half-corpse, oozing pus and swollen all over, immediately came from the edge of the void to the three of them. Before it could turn back towards the "Ancestor of the Phoenix," it was put into the space that Fors had created.

Azik, who hadn't had time to control the necromancer, and Renette, who was about to possess it and jump into the body bag, both looked at the "planeswalker," as if wondering why she was so skilled.

If you've ever had the experience of racing against time to collect local specialties during interstellar wars, you'll feel the same way I have... Fors muttered to himself, then turned his gaze to Greta Garley atop the magnificent main hall in the void.

Just then, the phoenix ancestor, whose entire body was pressed against the dome of the main hall, suddenly opened its eyes.

His eyes were several sizes larger than the giant egg beneath him, and now they emitted an eerie bronze light, containing countless layers of illusory doors, reminding Forl of the coat of arms of the Abraham family.

Or rather, the inspiration for Abraham's coat of arms came from this.

At the same time, the entire kingdom, bathed in pale light, began to tremble. The palace buildings, which had not yet completely collapsed, continued to shed huge stones, gradually sinking into the void below. Meanwhile, a terrifying aura of utter stillness surged from the main hall to the surrounding area, freezing Fors, Azik, and Renette in place.

Among them, Azik, the "Death Archon," was the most deeply affected. In that instant, he seemed to return to the moment when his father, who held the power of death, was angry in the Fourth Epoch. His tall body began to tremble, as if he was about to kneel down and prostrate himself before the "Phoenix Ancestor."

Wearing a golden mask and also affected by the Grim Reaper pathway, Fors is similar, but she is not an undead in essence; she is merely in the process of being transformed and still possesses a certain degree of autonomy.

Fors, with her extensive travel experience, had a contingency plan for encountering a high-ranking "Grim Reaper" and being suppressed or even controlled. Without hesitation, she removed the mask that protected her from the corruption of the underworld, regained her freedom, and her eyes flashed with a sun-like brilliance, her whole body immediately enveloped in a blazing golden light.

This is the high-level "purification" ability of the "Sun" pathway. It can resist the erosion of the underworld for a short time without much problem. Only now does she have the leisure to look at the body of Gregory, whose eyes have opened and whose body is covered in pale flames.

Whether it was a zombie transformation or a true resurrection, the Phoenix Ancestor struggled to its feet with its remaining right claw. Its feathered wings, hundreds of meters long, spread out from the top of the temple. The pale sky cracked like glass, and inside the cracks was an unfathomable dark void. Even the Styx River, which cascaded down from the sky like a waterfall, avoided this god of death, as if in fear of His authority.

Fors was equally terrified. She didn't know why Greygarley, who had been in the depths of the underworld for thousands of years, had "turned into a zombie" today, but she knew it was time for her to play the role of a "tool" and lead her teammates to retreat.

Having some authority over "location," it wouldn't be easy for her to teleport into the unfamiliar underworld, but it would be very simple for her to leave and return to the familiar reality. She could even tear open a portal with her bare hands and take Azik, who was in a state of shock, and Renette, who had somehow grown to a huge size, with her.

Anyway, we've already got our hands on Giddas's body, and while Greta's condition is unclear, it's basically confirmed to be related to the Fallen Mother Goddess. We can report to Miss Queen and then figure out what to do next.

But just as she grabbed Mr. Azik, whose body was hissing and emitting thick smoke in the purifying light, which also partially freed him from the suppression of Greygarley's rank, and tried to grab Renette's skirt with her other hand, the latter had already turned into a huge rag doll wrapped in an elaborate long dress and entwined with evil vines.

This is His complete mythological creature form, a unique form that the "Bound One" pathway exhibits depending on the object of reliance chosen during His sainthood. Naturally mythological creatures like Sear, who have not experienced this process, will appear as withered giant trees with magnified extraordinary characteristics.

The doll, towering tens of meters tall and far beyond Fors's teleportation capabilities, looked at Greta, who was stretching out her wings and gazing in their direction, and spoke in a loud but still clear voice:

"He is just a phantom with a personhood but no power."

"And it's ugly."

PS: Thank you to "书叉叉" and "书友20190607193221368" for their generous donations as Alliance Masters! (づ￣ 3￣)づ~☆

　Thank you to "书叉叉" and "书友20190607193221368" for the generous donations! (づ￣ 3￣)づ~☆

　　
　
(End of this chapter)