Monsters: Evolving from Titans to Ancient Gods.

but…

Rick looked up at the sky, which was once again shrouded in dark clouds, feeling as if a heavy stone was pressing on his heart. The return of the dark clouds and gloom was much faster than he had expected; the sun, after all, did not belong to this world.

After a long while, Mara brought Rick to the mountain and stopped in front of it. His gaze extended, and his elven power, following his will, transformed the mountain before him.

The exposed rock strata, weathered at an accelerated rate of millions of times, outlined the silhouette of a massive building, with stone pillars, each tens of meters in diameter, supporting the exceptionally magnificent rudimentary structure.

Wisps of sand and dust transformed into large, yellowish hands, painting various simple murals as embellishments on the main body of the building. A massive gate, hundreds of meters long, stood tall, and the interior of the mountain was hollowed out, transforming it into a spacious area.

Wild murals were carved everywhere, and huge stone pillars were decorated with enormous horns. Many species that Rick had never heard of before were so clearly displayed before his eyes, attracting his attention.

Rick stared at the mountain in front of him as it rapidly transformed into an architectural style he had never seen before, and stood there dumbfounded for a long time, unable to come back to his senses.

However, Rick couldn't understand why the building had to be built to such an enormous size, to the point that it was completely impractical.

But with a flash of golden light, his doubts were answered.

Mara, who had been standing beside him, gradually expanded into a gigantic silhouette enveloped in golden light, sitting on a throne at the far end of the vast space.

His face gradually became hazy, as if shrouded in mist. His figure was as majestic as a mountain, sitting on the throne, radiating golden light. His mere existence exuded a sense of peace.

"Is this His true form?"

Young Rick looked up at the being who had saved him, his eyes reflecting His image, and his eyes gradually turned golden.

Gradually, Rick saw bloodstained faces in Mara's eyes, the vengeful spirits of humans flickering in the flames of rage, whispers mingling with the chilling wind, but Rick felt no fear, only a deep sorrow rising within him.

Rick knew that those were the souls of humans who, under the power of the god of vengeance, had traveled a great distance to return to Mara's side, awaiting their vengeance.

The young child hesitated for a moment, but finally mustered up the courage to ask the deity, "If those dead humans have returned to your side, will they have a chance to come back to life?"

Will they be able to return to their families?

The boy's clear voice, carried by the breeze, echoed in the empty hall, seemingly containing an indescribable expectation, his eyes sparkling with hope.

But the cruelty of the world is laid bare before young children.

"People must learn to face parting, Rick."

Mara is currently deconstructing the authority of life, but he still has the capacity to provide answers to this child.

"I can only bring the souls of the dead to my side and give them the power of revenge, so that they can return the harm to humanity's enemies."

This world view does not have the concept of resurrection. Once a quest creature dies, it will return to the Elf Corridor, with no possibility of resurrection.

Even in the original storyline, although the God of Games, who obtained the omnipotent authority of the Star Cup, was able to reshape the universe, he still had no way to resurrect the two people who helped him to be born.

Rick was stunned by what he heard, lowered his head slightly, and accepted this cruel fact.

Mara looked at him and added another sentence.

"Not only can I not be resurrected, but I can only collect the souls of humans who died after my birth. Humans who died before that have already returned to the Elf Corridor."

Rick remained silent upon hearing this.

“However…” Mara changed the subject and whispered, “From now on, if any human wants to see their deceased family members, I can grant that wish.”

Upon hearing this, Rick paused for a moment, then laughed. At least this way, future generations of humans would have enough time to face the loss of their loved ones.

...

Several days later, the world had completely returned to its original state. Black clouds covered the sky, and as the storm raged, the remains of the dead fell everywhere, like a never-ending black blizzard.

The black and gray matter spread rampantly, but it could not affect the newly established settlement in the slightest.

In the distance, the lush vegetation has already begun to resemble a forest within a few days, with various plants and fungi thriving in this desolate world.

This forest was like a fragrant cake, attracting a small number of ordinary creatures during the insignificant gap in the necromancy storm.

King Kong leaned against a tree, the familiar surroundings allowing him to relax his tense nerves after a long time, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Although it can no longer return to its former place, at least it has found a safe place to rest in this world now, without having to worry about dying at any moment.

Rick stood at the edge of the forest, carrying the lantern bestowed upon him by the gods. Golden flames of vengeance burned in the transparent container, illuminating the desolate world like a lighthouse and guiding the way for the first humans to arrive.

In the past, he would never have done something so reckless, but now, being in human settlements, he was no longer afraid.

During this time, he learned how to manipulate spirit power and gained a certain level of combat ability. With the gods behind him, he had no reason to be afraid.

Just half a day ago, Rick learned from Mara that the first human tribe had arrived and asked him to bring a lantern to guide the way.

Rick was puzzled by this, as he had originally thought that Mara would directly use the power of the gods to transfer people from other tribes to this place.

But He did not do that. Instead, He let the humans walk here on their own. Although Rick didn’t quite understand why, he figured Mara must have had His reasons for doing so.

Under Rick's focused gaze, wisps of fire gradually emerged from the hazy black and gray distance. The tiny lights converged into a long dragon, slowly moving towards the forest.

In an instant, Rick felt that the lantern he was holding seemed to resonate with something, expanding in an instant, and the distant lights flickered in sync.

It was this action that confirmed to him that the other party was human, and that the flames were not torches, but flames from the same Mara.

As the long dragon drew closer, Rick began to see human figures gradually appearing, the indistinct figures concealing their bodies within cloaks as they moved slowly forward.

This is a standard procedure for human migration. Even powerful lower-level species would not venture out during a storm of spirit corpses. Only humans would take such a risk and take the opportunity to migrate in groups, thus avoiding danger from other races.

The human figures gradually became clearer, and the distance between the two sides was less than ten meters.

It was at this moment that Rick realized that this group did not have a lantern like his own, but rather many figures that seemed to be made of bones and flames mixed in with the group.

They exuded a chilling aura unique to the dead, standing scattered to protect the humans.

Rick could clearly see that many humans were deliberately sobbing beside the cold, shadowy figure.

"Are these the vengeful spirits that have returned from the dead?" Rick muttered to himself, lost in thought.

This was the first time he had ever seen the spirits that Mara had spoken of returning from the dead. And those scattered around them were, unsurprisingly, their families.

Rick shook his head, clearing his mind, and walked out of the forest to face the group of humans.

But just as he stepped out of the forest, the group of people opposite him froze when they saw him.

"Richard?!"

Immediately afterwards, a worried voice rang out, and a petite black figure stepped out from the crowd, ran to Rick's side, and pulled the stunned man back into the forest.

“Kron?” Rick recognized the figure in front of him. She was the child of the tribal chief who had adopted him after his tribe was destroyed.

After a moment of stunned silence, Rick looked behind him, realizing that this group of humans was the very tribe he had spent some time with.

After shaking off the black ash from his body, Kron reached out to check Rick's body, and only after seeing that he was not injured did he hug him tightly.

"Where have you been?!"

After regaining his senses, Kron's father felt a wave of dizziness and immediately punched Rick in the head, shouting, "We all thought you were dead!"

He was very unhappy with Rick's unauthorized departure, his face darkening, which made Rick avoid eye contact.

But Rick quickly remembered his mission, so he pushed Kron aside and shouted to the crowd with a stern face, "Follow me, Lord Mara is just ahead. It's safe here. You don't need to wander around anymore."

After leaving those words, Rick didn't give the old man another chance to lecture him. He turned around, picked up his lantern, and walked back into the depths of the forest.

Behind him, the crowd that was gradually entering the forest did not hesitate and followed. When they saw the lantern in Rick's hand, they understood a lot.

Just as all the humans entered the forest, the vengeful spirit, forged from bones and flames, slowly disappeared outside the forest, leaving their families bewildered, thinking that their loved ones had left them again.

But soon, Rick, who had noticed all this, hurriedly explained to them that it was safe here now, which was why they had disappeared like this. They had returned to God's side, and there would be a chance for them to meet again.

After hearing Rick's explanation, the crowd gradually regained their composure and followed Rick again.

Soon, the group arrived at the magnificent palace, which was as tall as a mountain. After crossing a great distance, they could see the imposing figure shrouded in a hazy light.

With just one glance, they felt at ease, as if their very souls were telling them that these were deities closely connected to humanity.

Tears welled in their eyes as they reflected on the countless calamities humanity had suffered throughout the long years without gods and spirits.

No one can say for sure how much effort and luck they've put in to persevere until now.

They instinctively wanted to kneel down, but were stopped by an invisible force. The god did not want humans to kneel before Him. He simply raised his hand, and golden flames burned on their bodies, transforming them. Elven corridors appeared on their bodies.

The process was exceptionally rapid and painless. They only felt a blur before their eyes discovered something new within their bodies, and the elven power they had never felt before gradually appeared before their eyes.

Chapter 173 Sixteen Races and Higher-Dimensional Beings

As time went on, more and more humans came to this human settlement.

The population here has grown from a few dozen people to more than 12,000, a hundredfold increase.

During this time, they were protected by vengeful spirits transformed from the dead humans of their original tribes as they came here, and they were not without attacks.

Vampires, orcs, and demons have all attacked migrating tribes, but the vast majority were killed there by the vengeful spirits.

In addition, two other races even provided some assistance to human migration, preventing further attacks.

The Dragon Spirit race is a race born from the remains of gods, possessing power comparable to that of gods, and ranking fourth among the fifteen races.

For reasons unknown, this powerful race chose to help the human race, preventing the marine species from attacking humans who were crossing the continent and helping them cross the sea.

Many races around the world were astonished by this, and they could not understand why the powerful dragon spirits would help humans.

Besides the dragon spirits, another race that helped humanity was something no other race could have imagined.

The Skywings, these beautiful-looking weapons that often kill enemies with amusement and constantly reap heads, have participated in acts of helping humanity.

This is an order from the strongest war god—Altshu. He doesn't care about humans, but he cares about that newborn god. The new god's power even surpasses that of the strongest dragon, the final dragon, who was killed by the war god.

Therefore, after the God of War learned that humanity could help the new gods increase their power, he ordered his creations to help humanity.

He craves powerful opponents; the stronger the newborn God of Revenge, the better. Even if He is likely to die in the battle against the God of Revenge, it will be something to celebrate for Him.

He does not crave the strongest; He only desires a battle of equal strength, even if it costs him his life.

Therefore, He chose to help the God of Vengeance increase His own power.

Although the Skywings showed little interest in humans, whom they had never paid attention to before, they still faithfully carried out the task under the Creator's command.

The Skywings' strategy was simple and brutal: they slaughtered several groups of orcs along human migration routes, leaving no survivors.

They didn't want to make things too complicated. Since only hungry lower races would prey on humans, they would kill all the lower races on the road, and then no orcs would target humans.

As for whether the orcs on those routes lack food, and whether they will risk their lives to attack humans?

The Skywing races said they didn't care about the matter; killing them all would be easier.

And so, the incredibly efficient Skywing race did just that, causing rivers of blood to flow across the continent.

Of course, part of the reason might also be that they had a urge to kill people and simply wanted to collect heads.