Heart of the Castle

Chapter 301 The Death of the Earth, the Rebellion of the Bishop

Li Wei was taken aback by Beria's appearance, because the old man's face turned pale, his eyes were wide open, and the corners of his eyes burst out with bright blood, which was simply a harbinger of an imminent stroke. "Your Excellency, Vice Archbishop, please don't be so excited." The young knight asked cautiously, for fear of making the old man more excited, "What do you mean by conversion?",

The old man Beria took a deep breath and calmed himself down a bit, "Sorry, Mrs. Levi Ston, I was too excited just now." He sat back on the chair with a bitter taste on his face , "Conversion... is the target of changing beliefs. Now that His Majesty Bechymos has regained his freedom, my lord Caggino... must have fallen." He closed his eyes with a sigh, and cloudy liquid dripped from the corners of his eyes.

"So, can you tell us about Bechymos? As far as you know." Levi asked curiously.

"Is this a test of my theological knowledge? Lord Levi Ston." Beria opened his eyes and glanced at Levi, then slowly began to talk. "As far as I know, His Majesty Behemoth is not very willing to submit to the Monarch of the Far Mountain, because he is no different from God Kagino, both were born in the body of a primordial dragon, and both are born with the divine power to manipulate the earth. It is a divine life that is capable. However, God Kagino successfully ignited the divine fire in the end, and His Majesty Behemoth can only choose between falling and surrendering."

"Did Behemoth choose the latter?"

"Obviously so, otherwise I am afraid that there would be no earth elemental monarch now." Beria's expression was gloomy, and the voice in his mouth had a bitter taste: "In front of the long life of these great beings, the momentary Surrender doesn't mean anything, although I don't know whether the god Kagino is falling or falling into a deep sleep, but since what happened in the Temple of the Earth 15 years ago, we have never had a god from a distant mountain monarch. oracle."

"Your Excellency, Vice Archbishop, since it has not been determined whether the God of Cardinal has fallen, why do you want to change your belief?" Li Wei carefully stripped the contempt from his tone, but still looked at the old man. Show some emotion. "You are still the deputy archbishop admired by everyone in the Earth Temple, and you still have powerful magical power."

"Great magical power? Lord Levi Ston, you are right, this power is indeed powerful, but I would rather not have it now." Deputy Archbishop Beria said, rolling up his sleeves, revealing Show Li Wei the skinny arm. "Here, Lord Levi Ston, use your special ability to look at my arm, what do you see?"

That arm showed a strong khaki color in the field of vision of the probing technique, almost like amber or other gemstones containing a lot of earth power. Both the blood vessels and muscles were eroded by the excessive power, and gradually changed into a kind of Something between flesh and rock.

This is simply not a human arm!
Li Wei felt chills in his heart, and the expression on his face became stiff. "Your Excellency, Vice Archbishop Beria, your arm..."

"This is the consequence of losing the gods. The uncontrollable divine power of the earth is eroding my life." The old man Beria put down his sleeves with a wry smile, covering that terrible arm. "Although I haven't lost the ability to cast divine spells, every time I cast them, the rate of erosion will be accelerated, and the more powerful the divine spells, the more obvious it will be. Sometimes I even envy those low-level priests and priests, because they Although I have lost the ability to cast divine spells, I am not threatened by this slow death."

Li Wei wanted to say something to comfort the old man, but he could only smile bitterly in the end.

"Lord Levi Ston, do you know why I am so excited now?" Beria put his hands on his stomach, his expression slowly returned to calm, "What I need is a god that I can believe in, whether it is Be it true gods or false gods, I just want to live now, to live..." Beria's voice suddenly choked up, "Lord Levi Ston, do you know how old I am?"

"90 years old?" Li Wei was stunned for a moment, and carefully guessed a number that he thought was very reasonable, but unexpectedly, Beria let out a bleak laugh.Then stretched out a bony hand to caress his wrinkled face. "That's right, this is what I look like now! 90 years old, 90 years old, Mr. Levi Stern, you won't exceed this year, right?"

Li Wei nodded and said, "After next month, I will be 16 years old."

"It's an age full of dreams and vitality." Beria said with a somewhat envious smile, "I seem to remember that I also had such a time, 40 years ago."

"40 years ago?" Li Wei doubted his ears. It is not surprising that the vice archbishop in front of him seems to be over a hundred years old. Forty years may be a slip of the tongue, right?

Beria nodded affirmatively, "40 years ago, that's right, Lord Levi Ston, this year marks the sixth year since I came to the world. As for the dead Bishop Bomano, he is only younger than I'm two years younger, but it looks like we're a teenager, right?"

"Is it because of the erosion of divine power?" Li Wei speculated with some anxiety.

"That's right, it's the erosion of divine power. There is no magic spell or medicine that can alleviate this kind of damage. Before that, the only way to slow down this erosion is the same as I said just now. You need to gain more beliefs. OK. But if you want to gain more faith, you need to cast more powerful divine spells, so the rate of erosion intensifies, forming an unsolvable vicious circle." Beria's expression became more and more distorted as he spoke. Gloomy, every wrinkle is like bitter wine soaked in years.

"Perhaps you have wondered why Bishop Bomano insisted on fighting you to the end even in such an obviously unfavorable situation after the Temple of Storms appeared?" Beria stretched out his haggard hand covered with khaki spots. , and made a helpless gesture, "Because he has no choice but to open up a new parish in the north, and he has no way to slow down the coming of death."

"So that's how it is." Li Wei sighed and said, "So he must find a way to get rid of me, at least to destroy the reputation of miracles, so that he can become the only beneficiary of the people of this land's belief in the God of the Earth. "Speaking of this, Li Wei couldn't help shaking his head vigorously, and murmured in disbelief: "This is completely blasphemy! How could he have such guts?"

"When a person is about to die, even a coward will show the courage not to lose to anyone in order to fight for a chance of survival. When the God of Caggio can still listen to our prayers and give us oracles , People like Bomano can also sacrifice bravely like a saint, but now... my Lord has died forever, and this is the time for every believer in Caggino to make a choice."

Beria closed the old lips, and looked at Li Wei quietly with a pair of eyes that seemed to be burning with khaki flames. The young knight could even feel the pressure brought by those eyes, which were as heavy as a stone. "Now is the time for you to make a choice, His Excellency Vice Archbishop Beria, do you mean this?"

Beria nodded stiffly, and his neck made a creaking sound, like a rusty bearing. "That's right, making a choice... to give up the beliefs I've kept for most of my life... it's painful, very painful, but... the choice is always inevitable, as it is now, and it will be the same in the future, I know..." His voice was only The rest of the raving, eyes filled with muddy tears.

However, the old man's will was exceptionally strong, and he quickly recovered from this depression, "Lord Levi Ston, no matter who you are under His Majesty Behemoth, whether you are a favored person or a voter, please On my behalf to convey to His Majesty Behemoth, I am willing to give up my belief in the Lord of the distant mountains, the God of Caggino, and instead believe in His Majesty Behemoth, the Lord of Elemental Elements."

Li Wei frowned slightly, but before he could say anything to refuse, Beria raised his hand to signal him to wait a moment, and then continued his words.

"As a faithful witness, I can rely on my prestige in the Earth Temple to gather enough people for His Majesty Behemoth to establish a small church. All members are fully educated by priests and are pious. I believe in Your Majesty. All the power of the church can be completely handed over to you, Lord Levi Ston, I don’t need to occupy any position in the new church, as long as His Majesty Behemoth is willing to protect me and allow me to It is enough to spend your old age peacefully, and your soul will not be lost in the eternal night kingdom of the Sleeping Guide."

"One... one what? Church?" Li Wei was so horrified that he could hardly finish his sentence. "Your Excellency, Vice Archbishop, do you know what you are talking about?"

"Of course I know that this is a complete betrayal of the Earth Temple." The old man Beria admitted frankly.

"It's not just the Temple of the Earth!" Li Wei said in a low voice, "Bechymos is not a permitted belief. If anyone in other temples finds out, you will be ruined and burned at the stake!"

"That just warms up my old bones. Besides, no one will know the existence of this church. We just established a branch of the Earth Temple in the Northland, didn't we?" Beria said with a smile, "Okay Already, Lord Levi Ston... Oh, no, Lord Favored One, please allow me to leave this old bone, because the night is already deep, and you should take some time to think about it."

After saying this, Vice Archbishop Beria got up to leave. Li Wei hesitantly sent him to the door, his lips moved, but he remained silent.It wasn't until seeing the old man's back that was about to disappear into the shadow of the corridor that Li Wei stopped him.

"If I said..." the young knight swallowed nervously, "The so-called His Majesty Bechymos doesn't actually exist, would you believe it?"

The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise, but soon he smiled knowingly, "It's very rare, young people can be so delicate and cautious." Then he shook his head back, with a reserved expression on his face. "Whether you admit the existence of His Majesty or not, I believe it anyway."

(End of this chapter)