Witch Redemption

Thirdly, in order to maintain the operation of the entire Lanno Kingdom, the system implemented by this country is similar to "militarism". It has an aggressiveness that has made all intelligent races tremble with fear throughout history, and once caused bloodshed in the surrounding countries.

Based on this series of information, Li Lan had already determined that this ancient country was not something to be trifled with at all, and that this Moonlight Ancient God was more like an evil god in the traditional sense, rather than a legitimate and benevolent god.

"It's just a bit strange, how exactly did such a powerful nation end up being destroyed?"

Many historical records do not provide detailed accounts, only mentioning that one day, the sky suddenly shattered, evil descended once more, and the first batch of dead gods transformed into terrifying pillar gods, about to destroy the world.

In order to protect themselves, the Ancient God of Moonlight united with all the gods of the Moon Sea to fight against the forty-second pillar god, Vipa. Unfortunately, they were ultimately no match for him. Overnight, the Moon Sea completely disappeared, and all the gods perished. Only the Ancient God of Moonlight used his last strength to seal the pillar god and, dragging his heavily wounded body, fled back to the temple where the current Rune tribe is located.

What happened next sent chills down Li Lan's spine: the once invincible Moonlight Ancient God was dismembered by a large number of his followers...

"This is too strange. The historical records don't mention how serious the Moon Goddess's injuries were. And given her absolute high-pressure tactics and terrifying desire for control, there's no way this could have happened, right?"

Back when they were on the border of the British Empire, Li Lan had come across the memories of an ancient goddess, the Feather Goddess. She was a truly benevolent goddess who had given everything for her people. Even when betrayed, her people never committed such a mad act of dismemberment.

At that time, if Yu Shen really wanted to resist, she would definitely still have the strength to spare. However, she also knew that she was no longer able to protect these humans, so she might as well use her own life to fulfill their wishes.

However, this Moon God is different. Judging from his behavior in the early stages, he is definitely not the kind of god who would sacrifice himself for his followers. How could he die without any resistance? Furthermore, weren't there a large number of Moon Knights at the time? Why didn't these Moon Knights come to the rescue?

This may have been a horrific murder, and the intelligent race that committed it must have harbored deep hatred for the Moon God.

"Or perhaps those Moon Knights were the ones Celine Bellman mentioned earlier who were restoring the divine court, and the one who killed the god was the current United Duchy of Ries. In any case, what happened back then was far more complicated than I imagined. Getting rid of this ancient god with such a strong desire for control was harder than climbing to heaven."

However, even so, the Moon Goddess still died.

Li Lan suspected that this god might have chosen suicide, that is, to simply turn the tables and die without resistance at the hands of those orcs. Moreover, there might even be traitors among the Moon Knights, who colluded from within and without to cause this arrogant god to die so quickly.

"That's a little scary!"

It's really a bit scary. Just by simply flipping through these documents that record events from 10,000 years ago, Li Lan felt a chill run down her spine.

No wonder the pig-headed orcs were at the bottom of the caste system, because there were so many undead of pig-headed origin in that era. Their simple minds led them to unconditionally believe in everything the Old God of the Moon, and naturally they would never betray the god.

The other high-ranking orcs were different. They were not only brave, but also dared to take risks, challenge the powerful, and even plot against the Moon God, and in the end, they succeeded.

"Now that the Great Desert of Rune has become the Moon Sea, if I want to go to the western continent, I will have to go deep into the United Duchy of Ries. Judging from this history, the orcs at the top of the caste system are definitely not fools. I have to be more careful."

...... ...... ......

Not only was Li Lan flipping through these ancient documents, but the black-haired Yu Hui, the blond-haired Yu Hui, and Leviathan beside her were also curiously flipping through them.

History can be a dry subject, but if you want to trace history for a specific purpose, you're no different from a detective, and it often sparks a strong interest.

Right now, Black-haired Feathered Radiance and Leviathan, these two pleasure-seeking true gods, are just like that. Black-haired Feathered Radiance enjoys watching the despicable acts of intelligent beings and derives pleasure from their complex emotions, while Leviathan is curious about how her ancient creation, the unclean goddess, was ultimately tricked.

Due to a number of factors, these two guys really enjoyed reading it.

When he had almost finished reading, the black-haired Yu Hui exclaimed, "Intelligent beings are truly fascinating! They dare to scheme against even the highest gods. This audacity, this will, this greed—that's what I admire most! This process is far more interesting than the puppet from before! Hehehe!"

Hearing the eerie, cackling laughter of the black-haired Yu Hui, Li Lan knew that the puppet she mentioned was a reference to something, so she couldn't help but ask, "Were there many gods like the Moonlight Ancient God in ancient times?"

"Of course, you don't actually think all the ancient gods were benevolent, do you? How could that be?"

Black-haired Yu Hui immediately denied it.

Indeed, just look at the world today; most places are pitch black. This lawless land has been passed down from ancient times to the present.

If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. The gods who are high above are not necessarily good people. They are loyal to their extraterrestrial creators, treat all their believers harshly, act recklessly, control everything in the world with the most ruthless means, and even plot and scheme to satisfy their own desires.

Of course, there are also truly benevolent deities, such as the ancient Feather God, the Goddess of Dawn, the Goddess of the Underworld, and the Goddess of Space. However, they make up a very small percentage of the population, and many of them were among the first to die. After their deaths, their kingdoms and all their followers were quickly destroyed, leaving nothing behind and being completely obliterated in history.

"This is not what I imagined."

Li Lan was truly stunned. He hadn't considered this issue before, but today, after finally understanding it through these documents, he felt extremely uncomfortable.

“你想象中的是啥？人间仙境？高高在上的神祇平等对待万物？”黑发羽辉欠揍地啧了一口，“这不是白日做梦？你养了一堆的猪，然后去跟你的猪平起平坐？然后为你的猪牺牲一切？哈哈哈，怎么可能？智慧生物有智慧，而上古诸神也是有的，甚至更加变本加厉。”

Wisdom brings not only knowledge, but also selfish desires on many other levels!

This desire is not simply a physiological or psychological desire, but a deeper pursuit.

Ultimately, the gods who are high and mighty in the eyes of mortals are no different from mortals in front of a true immortal god like Black-haired Feather Glow, and are even uglier!

"If that's the case, the ancient times were probably much darker than they are now?"

Li Lan couldn't imagine that oppressive era. She thought the world was crazy enough now, but he was told that it was even more intense 10,000 years ago.

"Nonsense, you witches should be grateful that you live in an era where intelligent beings rule the world. If it were the gods of the past, your fate would have been much worse."

At first, he thought that the evil of the Moonlight Ancient God was just an isolated case, but it turned out that it was not an isolated case. Rather, it was the ancient Feather God and the Space Goddess that Li Lan had learned about that were isolated cases. This contrast left him bewildered for a long time.

'Servant, I'm in a good mood today. Would you like to share my judgment with you?'

Yu Hui, with her black hair, smiled broadly. Ever since she won several dollars from Li Lan that night, she had been constantly trying to extort money from this witch in preparation for traveling back to that world in the future.

Li Lan has known this guy for over a year, how could she not know his true nature? He's definitely trying to extort something again!

What do you want?

"Money, money from your world!"

"make a deal!"

After some haggling, Li Lan decided to spend three yuan to buy information from Hei Fa Yu Hui.

He had a strong premonition that if this guy were to actually return to Earth in the future and find out that he had been tricked by Li Lan, he might just sit on the ground and wail loudly.

Thinking about it, there's actually a strange... cough, how could it be guilt? It's pleasure! Just like snatching a lollipop from a naughty kid! Pleasure!

Li Lan's smile was unusually unnatural, making the black-haired Yu Hui feel uneasy.

"The Moon Goddess is not the kind of person who can be easily slaughtered. She is very smart and knows that what the true god wanted at that time was to eliminate all the gods in the world. This order is absolute. If she does not withdraw at that time, then we, the avatars of the creator, will take action directly or indirectly to send her on her way."

Black-haired Yu Hui's judgment was resounding: "How do you think someone like this could be so easily killed by a group of orcs?"

“I think so too. She shouldn’t have died so rhythmically. She should have at least put up some resistance.” Li Lan did indeed sense something was off about it.

"However, for an ambitious god, she would certainly not be willing to die like this. In addition, the creator behind her must also support her. So it is very likely that she shattered all her souls and then entrusted these soul fragments to all the undead in advance."

Normally, all intelligent beings have a lifespan of only a hundred years before they awaken their true nature, and their souls dissipate upon death.

However, everything changed after they accepted the power of the Moon God.

Fragments of the Moon Goddess's soul were implanted into these intelligent beings who worshipped her. On the one hand, she could completely control their lives, granting them endless cycles of reincarnation; on the other hand, she also endowed them with invincible power.

It can be said that every immortal who can regain a physical body through the "Knight's Oath" must be a demigod-level being, unimaginably powerful.

"So, are we suggesting that our current actions are...?"

Li Lan was taken aback, wondering if she was really that unlucky.

"What you've done is help Bangusen, this powerful figure, to collect the soul fragments of the Moon God. As for what you mentioned before, whether this ancient god is plotting against you, perhaps that's really possible."

Thinking about it carefully, Li Lan had kept a very low profile after arriving at the Rune tribe. However, through Celine Bellman, she learned that they had been targeted from the beginning and had been tricked into going to the Rune Desert. In the end, they were teleported to this place and had no choice but to accept Bangusen's commission.

There must be someone secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes, and maybe this Bangusen is one of them!

"Don't worry, this scheme may have started ten thousand years ago after they learned of the witch's existence. However, so much has changed in ten thousand years, this guy certainly couldn't have calculated it so precisely, so it might just be a general prophecy. As for now, let him collect the information. Anyway, you and your descendants need to gain experience, and you can't beat this Bangusen, so what else can you do?"

"Aren't you all still here?" Li Lan said helplessly.

"No way! If a fight really breaks out, I want you to immediately recall Yu Hui back to the grimoire." If the blond Yu Hui, as the host, is recalled, then the black-haired Yu Hui will also fall into a deep sleep.

"No... I... I'm too weak..." Leviathan cowered to one side, his aggrieved expression making it hard to refuse.

"..." Faced with such distinctive legs, Li Lan was puzzled for a long time, "...you've got guts!"

I'll just have to put up with it. Anyway, it really is as they said, there's no chance of winning, so we can only take it one step at a time.

On second thought, Bangusen deliberately sent so many documents to let Li Lan know what the ancient Lanno Kingdom was really like. Could it be that...?

"Is the traitor in Moon Knight's ranks at the very top? How is that possible?"

Chapter 47 Ten Months of Progress

Ten months have passed since then.

Because of this long-running "Knight's Oath" ceremony, Li Lan has been training with the witch Violet, Anne, and Sophia, fighting against these undead every day.

Thanks to this ceremony, the three witches' combat experience has increased to a terrifying level over the past ten months, and now each of them can stand alone.

It's all thanks to Li Lan's presence. If it were just the three witches, they would have died countless times already. After all, these undead are not only incredibly powerful, but their weapons and attacks are also imbued with the curses of the ancient gods. One wrong move and they could be defeated.

Fortunately, with Priest Li Lan as a strong support, coupled with the "Soul Soothing" skill, the strongest auxiliary skill against witches, they managed to get to where they are today without any major incidents.

To some extent, these three witches were indeed Li Lan's "guinea pigs." If it weren't for them, Li Lan wouldn't have had so many opportunities to explore the secrets of the witches' bodies.

A witch's body can enter a state of "divinization" and "demigodification," both of which are related to the level of the magic book and the witch's own injuries. The higher the level, the more unstable the witch's body becomes, with a high probability of mental breakdown and subsequent berserk behavior. Injuries act as a catalyst for this madness; the more severe the injury, the easier it is to enter a mutated state.

Fortunately, these three witches have experienced numerous life-and-death situations, which have tempered their will. Therefore, they rarely undergo mutations now. Occasionally, when they are truly at their wits' end, they can even undergo partial mutations, that is, use a controllable mutation called "demigodhood" to fight.

By this point, their grimoires had reached level thirty-five after a long battle. On the cover of the golden grimoire, many intricate patterns had developed tiny, rainbow-like colors, suggesting that they might eventually advance to the Dawn Grimoire that Mira had mentioned before, becoming even stronger.

"After reaching level 30 in the magic book, is it possible that only one new job skill will be added every ten levels?"

This is the information Li Lan obtained from these three witches. It's a bit of a pity that Li Lan hasn't made much progress in the past ten months; the level of his magic book has remained at level 30.

He did indeed notice that the so-called "deification" was probably the key to the witch's advancement to the Dawn Magic Book and breaking through the barrier of strength.

Although it's a bit of a regret, Li Lan is still looking for ways to change the current situation, and she does have some ideas.

The first thing to rule out is following the same path as Ann Gnath and trying to obtain the divine essence of an ancient god. The second thing to rule out is using the two true creators, Black-haired Feather Radiance and Leviathan, to mentally corrupt him, driving him insane while also disrupting his physical stability and causing mutations.

No matter how you look at it, both paths are dead ends, so Li Lan didn't rush in the end.

Anyway, his followers are still gaining experience and have reached level 36. Even if things don't go well, he can still focus on training these servants and stick with the big boss.

"The mutation of a witch is not a good thing. Even in the 'demigod' state, excessive use will have powerful side effects, and in severe cases, it may permanently lose one's self."

This is the price of using such inhuman power. In Li Lan's view, this inhuman mutation is obviously a negative state for a witch.

Because of this concern, after learning about the situation of the three witches, he repeatedly instructed them to restrain themselves and never use their powers lightly unless absolutely necessary.

...... ...... ......

People always change.

Although the past ten months have been an incredibly agonizing time for Violet, Anne, and Sophia, with them facing various life-or-death crises every day, this sense of fulfillment is the first happiness they have experienced since they came to this world.

Because of the witch Roman Hydra, who supported them and helped them overcome difficulties many times.

This kindness elevated their respect and love for this senior to the extreme; to put it bluntly, "From a long time ago, we have been Senior Luo Men's loyal lapdogs!"

That's how people are, and that's how they should be. They should never take other people's kindness and favors for granted, and they should never take without giving back.

The three witches were eager to repay their senior, but unfortunately, for the first time they felt that they were still so weak and could not help their senior in any way.

This really made them feel a little discouraged.