Throne of the North.

Chapter 780 A Corner of the Divine Kingdom, New Followers

The ravens of Mikragard have waited for many years, hoping that half of the gods' authority would one day return.

The first exception they discovered was that Ryan arrived before the divine authority.

The second disheartening fact was that they suddenly discovered that the half of their gods' authority used for survival and revival seemed to have been devoured.

As a result, Kledal didn't communicate with Ryan for a long time.

The three-masted raven ship headed back towards the Blue Sea Islands. Well, there shouldn't be any Blue Sea Islands anymore now. Ryan could see clearly that those island behemoths had all exploded between their tentacles, a spectacular sight.

The site that was once home to the Blue Sea Islands is now filled with boats of all sizes, carrying villagers and their belongings.

On the raven ship, Freya and the others had returned from the dimensional gate, their eyes gleaming with excitement. As they approached the small boats, they jumped off. Ryan heard Freya excitedly shouting words like 'land' and 'mountains' to the others.

Several raven landed on the ship's mast, discussing their next destination.

The Blue Sea Islands are gone, and they need a new place to settle down. Neither these ordinary villagers nor they themselves can stay in the water for long.

Ryan's hearing was naturally excellent, and the crows made no attempt to hide anything; judging from their conversation, they seemed to have already decided on their destination.

They had already planned their escape route before this battle even began.

“The northern winter in Mikragard has briefly come back to life. Even though Kelke’s mind is dulled, he should have sensed it. At this point, he will no longer insist on the differences in our ideologies.”

"Furthermore, he also needs to be told that the divine authority was devoured, that the guy had audaciously fused the blood of the divine kingdom into his own soul, and that he knows what that means."

“In fact, if possible, I would prefer all the ravens of Mikragard to unite, for perhaps the great being we are facing is more terrifying than we imagine.”

The projection located in the chaotic and dark sea of ​​Mikragard is merely a projection of a great being, yet even a fraction of that projection's power has forced the Blue Sea Islands to sacrifice years of accumulated resources.

They couldn't imagine what kind of energy would be unleashed if the projection were fully deployed.

Ryan, wanting to know more about the great being, naturally approached him; his power was not something these ravens could ignore.

"Perhaps you should see my sincerity."

"I am not the projection of that great being in this world."

The crows had no further doubts about this.

Even if Ryan is a legend, he is still among the mortals, and in the eyes of the gods, he is nothing more than a slightly larger ant. If he is with that great being, then the only connection is between believers and the Lord. However, believers are absolutely and under no circumstances willing to lay a hand on the one they serve.

If a believer doesn't kneel down the moment they sense the presence, it means they aren't devout enough.

“Stranger, we are willing to believe in you and offer you more information about Him.”

Kledal addressed Ryan, then said something that surprised even Ryan.

"But regarding this great being, even if it is a projection of Him, the most important thing we need to tell you is—it's best not to know any more about Him."

Every great being is special, like Surtur. Based on what Ryan knows about Him, even if mortals curse Surtur behind his back, it shouldn't be a big deal. But if you are someone who possesses the origin of extraordinary power related to destruction, flame explosion, and other systems, you probably wouldn't even have the strength to struggle in front of Surtur.

Similarly, other deities, with their respective powers, will also bring about changes in certain rules.

According to Kredal, the more we learn about this great being, the closer we get to some terrible consequences?

Ryan had no doubt.

But he also had to know that, with his eyes fixed on Wu Ya, he hoped the other party would give him an explanation.

"Alright, stranger, since you want to know, I won't hide it from you anymore."

"First of all, regarding His existence, none of us, or rather, none of the wizards in Mikragard, know His name."

"Perhaps I once knew, but I chose to forget. The magic of forgetting made me actively forget His name. The reason for this is that if I remembered, I would subconsciously call out to Him, and calling out to Him would bring His descent."

"His projection appeared in Mikragard because of a certain call."

"Secondly, as we have already told you, all the wizards of Mikragard preserve themselves within the bodies of ravens. They share a common purpose: to await the world's brief revival during the 'winter' and to welcome back the divine essence of this world's great being."

"The ultimate goal is to allow the great beings to return, and for Mikragard to truly awaken from its 'winter' and enter the spring of renewal. At the very least, it must hold on until the season of renewal arrives."

"Because in that case, all of us ravens will enter the great divine kingdom of the gods, and obtain true immortality, as well as some kind of identity power that we ourselves cannot understand."

"This is a promise from the gods to us."

"As for the projection of that great being, His purpose is also very simple: He wants to devour this world, devour all the ravens, that is, devour the god-like body and consume the half of authority He left behind."

"He currently exists in the depths of a shadowy sea, where even sunlight cannot penetrate."

“We never imagined that He had already obtained a portion of the origin of the Mikragard world and the authority of the gods.”

"Knowledge and wisdom have led us astray."

“But we already have a chance of winning. There are many places in Mikragard similar to the Blue Sea Islands. The ravens occupy the ‘storm’ on the sea surface, and the boiling magical energy is our confidence.”

"His projection is beneath the sea. We fly in the sky in the form of raven because we are afraid that he will appear and hunt us down."

Kledal looked at Ryan, trying to give him some confidence.

In his view, this stranger was still just a mortal, and such a person had a strong sense of awe and fear of the existence of gods. It was almost impossible for him to draw his sword against such a great being.

The fact that he didn't immediately kneel down and beg for divine mercy already showed them Ryan's 'sincerity'. As for his earlier actions, they didn't believe that Ryan had realized that those tentacles were part of a god.

The ravens of this world, of course, were unaware of the titles of the blasphemous nobles of the Norris continent.

They were giving Ryan the confidence to draw his sword.

“You need not be afraid, because what we are facing is not a truly great being, but a projection of Him, not Himself. You can understand it as a corner of His divine kingdom.”

“The Kingdom of God is a whole, a nation, so His projection is an ‘enclave’ outside the Kingdom of God. We are not trying to attack the gods.”

Ryan blinked. He wasn't afraid, but hearing that the projection belonged to a corner of the divine realm still felt novel, and—exciting.

He was thankful that in Mikragard, there was no true dragon god or dragon spirit like Nidhogg, nor were there countless dragon races.

Is it just a corner of the divine kingdom, and some messy, twisted flesh and souls of its followers?
With a large number of powerful ravens assisting him, Ryan didn't care about the half-divine authority awaiting its return. He trusted his own spiritual power panel.

The spiritual panel has never made a mistake. The interdimensional portals it opens connect to worlds where great beings have died or are on the verge of death, and are beyond saving.

Therefore, even though he had heard the crows say so many times that they hoped to find the aura of a great being in him, this visitor from another world, Ryan always believed that the crows would not be able to wait any longer.

Yes, Ryan has gradually figured out why the crows like Kledar would so openly tell him so many ancient secrets of this world.
It even involves great beings.

Clearly, in the final legend of this world, in the living 'prophecy,' only the so-called half of the authority may return, not some otherworldly noble.

Ryan unilaterally speculated that these ravens believed he possessed the stripped half of divine authority and hoped to awaken the hidden or concealed half of that authority through words.

Isn't this ridiculous? If they really had it, would these ravenous creatures have to pull it out? The spiritual panel would have already devoured it.

"This war was easier than I had imagined."

Ryan said this, his smile undiminished.

He doesn't need to summon Surtur anymore; if all goes well, his spiritual panel will be able to make a big splash this time.

Although Kledar and the other ravens did not show any confusion about Ryan's response, they still sensed a lack of understanding. Their knowledge and wisdom were insufficient for them to analyze the subtle differences in Ryan's smile.

"But everyone, have you ever wondered why that projection of a deity from the deep sea possesses the authority of the gods of the Mikragard world?"

"From what you've said, this seems like an impossible thing."

Ryan asked, and after seeing the power of these witch crows, he lost his awe once again.

Their extraordinary power, especially in the realm of magic, is at best a case of quantity over quality, or ants overwhelming an elephant. Well, their own strength can be described as being at the elephant level.

The wise men fell silent for a moment before speaking:
"In the transmission of knowledge, we can analyze some of the results."

"First, His authority does not come from this world itself, otherwise He would have become the master of the sea long ago."

As they said this, Kledar and the other crows glanced at Liv, who was imprisoned on the ship not far away.

Clearly, the authority they speak of resides in Liv, not in the projection of that deity.

"Secondly, His authority does not come from the raven. We have not sensed any news of the fall of any wizard, so He did not devour the raven that can fly in the magical energy of the sky."

This world is very special. Great beings possess knowledge and storms, and are the embodiment of power and wisdom. Even these ravens are absolutely rational and could not possibly fall into the mouth of that projection by accident.

"Third, He did not fall into slumber, so He certainly did not participate in the panplanetary war of the gods, and therefore His authority did not come from the Lord who was only half the original source of the primordial chaos in the war."

After eliminating three answers, only one remains.

"Are you saying that this authority comes from the other half of the origin that has left this world?"

Ryan had guessed the outcome. Looking at these witch crows, shouldn't they be in despair?
The crows did not.

"Yes, stranger, we understand why you do not possess that half of the divine authority."

"It is very likely that an accident occurred when the gods stripped half of their power and essence from this world."

"However, we can be certain that He did not obtain the entirety of that half."

"Otherwise, we would have been eaten by Him long ago."

accident.

All the outcomes that have occurred are now explained by the word "unexpected".

Ryan had a general idea of ​​what was going on, so he asked one last question:
"Then you need to tell me what your chances of winning this war are."

"After we met Keck, we learned that he was the most insane wizard, a blasphemous wizard."

The raven ship still had a long way to go at sea, and the outcome would depend on meeting the other wizard.

During this time, Ryan also had another matter to attend to.

The ravens stood on the mast with their eyes closed. No one knew what tricks they used, but they didn't see a single one of the ravens that served as their mounts and assistants.

Ryan approached Liv, smiling as he looked at the purple-haired woman before him.

Despite all the interactions with wizards, none of it was as valuable to Ryan as Liv.

"What? Do you still have enough wealth to trade?"

"If you didn't, everything you have now would belong to me."

Liv blinked, and actually thought about it for a long time before saying with certainty:
“That’s it. What I traded with Him was enough wealth, but He failed to fulfill the agreement, so I couldn’t complete the trade. Without the trade, I couldn’t get enough wealth from Him.”

It's a vicious cycle, and everything is based on the premise that the tentacles won the previous battle.

But if those tentacles win, Liv will lose everything, and naturally the divine projection won't have to pay any compensation.

So... this was a trap He deliberately set for Liv, most likely to devour Liv's power through a transaction.

The only exception is that, due to Liv's special status, her rank is equal to that of the divine projection, so the transaction must be literally fair.

He is a projection of the divine, a scrap of the divine kingdom, and Liv is merely a symbol of the world's revival, a child of God.

The relative fairness allowed Liv to save her life after losing that battle.

"So, you are now my sailor, Ms. Liv."

Ryan extended his hand in an invitation. After thinking it over, Liv had already accepted her current status and did not hesitate to place her hand in Ryan's palm.

"I will earn enough money for you until I can regain my freedom."

Liv spoke very seriously, as if she would meticulously calculate every single gold coin.

(End of this chapter)