The Holy Grail War Blessed by the Gods

It is not surprising that Quetzal Koyatl ruled here; he had come back to rule the land again.

But the king would not rule every city under his control. Quetzalcoatl descended upon Eridu, where her temple was built.

Although Ur is not a small city, it is still some distance away, and those left in the city are all unenlightened and have lost their fighting spirit.

These people aren't very useful. You can just leave them here and nothing will happen, but there's no need to manage them carefully.

In Elidu, those who still possessed fighting spirit and determination were used as important living sacrifices to train in preparation for the upcoming battle.

Leaving this place to the leopard people for management will save us some trouble.

But for Manshu, it was undoubtedly a detour and a waste of time.

Since it's managed by that leopard, I might as well just have him take me there. No wonder she was able to propose this plan; after all, it's her job. But she didn't reveal the real key points.

"Yes, she controls the area around this city, including those who try to escape. She will intercept them first, and only outstanding warriors will experience true fear."

"I understand. I have no further questions. You can continue with your work."

So Manju had nothing more to say, and the priest nodded and left, leaving Manju alone in the room at the top of the tower.

There were no statues of gods in the room, so it didn't look like a place for worshipping gods; rather, it resembled a bedroom.

Manshu didn't quite understand the layout, but he found it a bit strange and didn't bother to change the arrangement.

Although even the craftsmen have changed their ways, and the gods no longer respond to this tower temple, its original purpose remains unchanged.

Although it's a god that hasn't been used yet, who knows when it might be needed? There's no need to do anything unnecessary out of thin air.

Manshu rested there and spent the day peacefully without making any further noise, which allowed him to recharge.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking and the sun had not yet risen, the leopard appeared in the sky when Venus, the planet of dawn, first appeared.

The gods in Aztec mythology are quite bizarre in many ways, or rather, they are excessively complex.

Quetzalcoatl is the god of wind, also regarded as the god of water, considered the morning star, and seen as the god of dawn.

She is sometimes regarded as the sun's adversary, as the sun can only rise when she disappears, due to her Venusian status.

In the Aztec mythology world, stars represent the night sky, and the night sky and the sun are in opposition.

Just like the birth myth of the Aztec race god Vizilopochtli, the unborn Vizilopochtli was persecuted by his hundreds of brothers and sisters who were the stars and moon gods, and these gods hunted down Vizilopochtli's mother.

Vizilopochtli was born with weapons and armor, and on Serpent Mountain, he killed all the gods who were chasing him.

This is the struggle between day and night in Aztec mythology; the star god and the moon god were killed before the arrival of day.

(9) But at the same time, Quetzalcoatl is also regarded as the sun god, which is quite self-contradictory.

Furthermore, Quetzalcoatl is also regarded as the god of wind and the messenger of rain, and is sometimes worshipped as a rain god.

However, as the god of Venus, Quetzalcoatl was also seen as an enemy of rain and a bringer of drought.

The gods of Central America often embody contradictory aspects; people hold a skeptical and distrustful attitude towards them, yet they also feel gratitude towards them.

4 However, at dawn, even though it was already the time of Quetzalcoatl, the leopard-men came to the temple to take away the living sacrifices offered that day.

(iii) However, the leopard-man who had just entered the temple was a little puzzled. Looking at the person lying asleep on the bed, he quickly walked forward and took a deep breath through his nose.

"I can't tell, meow. Tescatlipoca's magic is too powerful. I can't tell if it's him or not."

The Leopard Woman naturally remembered Manshu's story, but with Manshu concealing his presence, she couldn't find Tescatlipoca's aura and could only wonder if the person in front of her was him.

⑤ Chapter 132 The Temple

The leopard woman didn't seem to have much to consider. After a brief period of hesitation, she chose to give up thinking and decided to follow the normal procedure, so that no matter what happened, it wouldn't concern her.

The process of transporting the living sacrifices was not so friendly. The leopard man simply grabbed the sacrifice lying on the bed with one hand, threw it into a container woven from plant branches on his back, and then ran towards Elidu.

This isn't much of a treat. When it comes to transporting living sacrifices, there's no need to make him comfortable. Just getting him to Elidu alive is enough.

Therefore, the woven containers have no extra parts, not even any cushioning, making them quite uncomfortable.

At this point, even pretending to be asleep is unlikely to continue. One can only struggle to get up with a worried look on one's face to avoid having one's upper body constantly being whipped by the container walls while still below.

The leopard man runs through the jungle with speed, leaping and bounding between trees, enough to make one's stomach churn in just a few minutes.

All we can say is that the leopard man will ensure that the person he's carrying won't die, but whether they'll be conscious enough to reach Elidu is another matter entirely.

This is precisely the trial a warrior should undergo; this dual magic, affecting both body and mind, can transform a person into a warrior more quickly.

Anyway, it's unlikely that he'll die. Even if he really dies, when he arrives in Elidu, the master there also possesses the power to resurrect the dead.

Manju stripped away all of that stuff first, then used magic to disguise his face, putting on a listless appearance.

The leopard-man is quite adapted to the jungle environment and moves at a fairly fast speed.

Traveling through the jungle at normal speed, it would take about half a day to get from Ur to Elidu, mainly because the jungle environment is not very friendly to sensitivity.

The leopard-man arrived in front of Elidu in about two hours.

"Alright, we're here, meow! Ellidu is just behind this dense forest wall. Your physical condition is not bad, you're still awake. You're a good living sacrifice."

Even here, one can already sense the rich divine aura emanating from not far away; that is none other than the aura of Quetzal Koyatl.

In his perception, Quetzal Koyatl was not far ahead, and it seemed that she had not traveled and was still staying in Elidu.

At this time, Kuiwuzhar Koyatluhr had not yet chosen to go to Uruk every day to take away 100 people as sacrifices; this would probably happen in about another month.

With Nippur now a paradise for monsters, and the monster goddess Gorgon having foretold its final demise, Quetzalcoatl will only leave Elidu daily at that time.

Therefore, it is unlikely that Quetzalcoatl would have a chance to properly explore the land ahead at this time. At most, there might be such a time when the three goddesses hold a meeting.

However, the three goddesses had just met not long ago, and it was hard to say when their next meeting would be, nor was there any need to wait.

Even if I don't have a chance to fully examine the situation this time, I will always come back here in the future.

"..."

Manshu completely ignored the leopard man, acting listless and as if he hadn't heard what the leopard man was saying at all.

"Hmm, it seems she's just putting on a brave face. She's not unconscious, but she's also out of her mind, meow."

Having reached this conclusion, the leopard-woman said nothing more. She was only surprised by the guy behind her. If it weren't for Tescatlipok, it would be quite remarkable that she could hold on without fainting.

But if there's no response, then it's pointless, since we're only 20 meters away from Elidu.

Only a wall of trees separated the city of Elidu from the outside world. Elidu was a large city, after all, it was the place where the monarchy first descended.

Although Erie has declined in status due to environmental changes and river modifications, it still retains its former glory and prosperity.

This city is not much different from Ur, except that because the dense forest originally extended from here, this city has been more severely encroached upon by the forest.

The city looks like it grew out of the forest rather than the forest invading it, because the trees are really lush.

The only regret might be not having the chance to see the towers and temples that were once built in the ancient city of Elidu.

The city god of Eridu is Enki, the water god, and the tower temples of Eridu are also extremely ancient. Enki rose to power here. In ancient times, before the concept of Sumer was born and before the advent of writing, the tower temples of this city had already begun to appear.

Before the emergence of civilization, two cultural societies existed in the Near East: the Khalaf culture of Upper Mesopotamia and the Ubaid culture of Lower Mesopotamia. These two cultures emerged around 6000 BC.

Around 5000 BC, the Eubaid culture covered the Kharavarian culture and became the main social form in Mesopotamia.

The site of Eridu is an extremely important site of the Ubaid culture, a city that existed from the Stone Age until the sixth century BC.

Beneath the tower temple of Enki lie layers of architectural ruins, remnants of temples built in earlier times, the lowest of which dates back to before 5000 BC.

Unfortunately, the tower temple dedicated to Enki can no longer be seen in this city. Instead, there is a pyramid temple that doesn't quite blend in with the surrounding architectural style, although it can still be considered a tower temple in terms of structure.

Pyramid-shaped structures, which are built layer upon layer from bottom to top, are relatively easy to construct and quite stable. Therefore, it is quite normal for similar structures to appear in various civilizations.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that early civilizations were indeed capable of creating such structures. Multi-tiered platform buildings were quite useful if there were important sacrificial needs.

The temples and towers of Mesopotamia, the pyramids of Mesoamerica, and the pyramids of Egypt are all examples of such architecture from prehistoric civilizations, and some relics in China also exist in this style.

Three-tiered sacrificial sites have appeared in cities during the Shijiahe Culture period, while earlier Neolithic city sites in the middle and late Neolithic period of the middle Yangtze River, such as Chengtoushan Ancient City, are similar to those in Sumer, where cities were built around sacrificial buildings.

The towering pyramid standing behind the residential area of ​​Elidu is Quetzalcoatl's own temple, and its distinctly American-style pyramid further attests to its identity.

That pyramid was likely built based on the Kukulkan Pyramid, constructed by the ancient Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Of course, it should be said that it was indeed Quetzalcoatl's own temple.

However, that was a late Preclassic period Mayan architecture, which is more than 2000 years ago, making it one of the earlier Mayan pyramids.

Compared to the largest pyramids in Central America, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of Cholula, which are 66 meters tall, the Pyramid of Kukulkan is only half the size of the Pyramid of the Sun, about 30 meters tall.

It was a nine-tiered circular altar built of earth and stone, 29 meters high, with each side about 55 meters wide and a circumference of about 250 meters. The highest tier was a square altar temple that was 6 meters high.

The pyramid is surrounded by 91 steps, making a total of 364 steps. Adding the altar at the top, there are 365 steps, which is the 365 days of a year.

The astronomy of the Maya goes without saying; they left behind numbers representing the laws of celestial movement in their architecture, incorporating sacred numbers into their buildings.

This place was originally the site of the temple of Enki. Quetzalcoatl, who came here, used his divine power and his own laws to reconstruct the temple below and transform it into his own temple.

So it's a pity that we couldn't see that ancient and magnificent pyramid temple, but having the opportunity to see the Mayan pyramid temple without having to go to the Americas is another kind of gain.

The pyramid temple and the city look quite similar; the jungle has invaded the temple, or rather, the jungle extends outward from the temple.

Lush greenery is scattered irregularly on the steps of the pyramid temple and in every part of every level, giving the gray and white stone temple a touch of green.

However, the leopard people were not going to the pyramids. There was no need to throw the sacrificial offerings into the temple. The area in front of the temple was the residential area, where all the sacrificial offerings and the people who originally lived there lived.

However, besides the pyramid temple of Quetzalcoatl, there is something even more impressive in Elidu, something that attracts more attention than the Mayan pyramids that stand on the ground and are completely different from the surrounding architecture.

A massive battle axe was driven into the ground behind the pyramid temple. The axe looked even larger than the temple of Quetzalcoatl. Although it was driven into the ground at an angle, the upward-sloping handle still appeared to be taller than the pyramid.

That battle axe is the Axe of Marduk. In the story here, Marduk used the battle axe to slit the throat of Tiamat and kill her.

That battle axe was the weapon used to kill Tiamat, so it undoubtedly possesses a special attack against Tiamat and is a weapon that can be used in this singularity.

The only drawback of this weapon is its excessively large size; it looks to be at least forty or fifty meters long, making it impossible for a normal person to use it properly.

Even if one possessed immense strength to pull this axe from the ground and swing it, hitting a person with it would be quite difficult.

It's probably only effective against relatively large enemies; using it against humanoid enemies would likely depend on luck. (9)

The enemies in this singularity are indeed quite large, so they can certainly be useful, and Manju also possesses the power of the god Marduk. (iv)

Manju sensed that he could indeed use the weapon. Although he didn't possess the complete power of Marduk, only a portion of his authority integrated into his spirit origin, he could still wield some of the power of the Marduk Axe.

If Manjushri were to wield this battle axe, he wouldn't merely be able to utilize its surface strength and weight, but would be able to unleash some of the great power belonging to the god Marduk.

Of course, that's a story for later. Right now, the focus is still on Quetzalcoatl; Marduk's Axe wouldn't be very effective against him. (3)

The leopard-man left Manshu among the living sacrifices from Ur, the city that had previously come to Elidu, intending for this group to teach the newcomers what to do. He himself did not stay there any longer, but returned to the jungle. (v)

The leopard-woman wouldn't gain much from her labor here, so she simply went through the motions and returned to the jungle. 6

Only in the jungle can one earn a little extra money. Although the news that this dense forest is a place of no return has spread, occasionally, unlucky souls still wander into this forest and never emerge again.