Shadow of the Evil God

Cesar felt himself going blind as he advanced through the increasingly numerous corridors of books. He could no longer discern the corners of the corridors, his entire field of vision filled with the kaleidoscopic array of book spines. Even the divisions of the shelves disappeared; it was like a three-dimensional maze constructed entirely of books.

Who would take this kind of book maze as their dream?

Suddenly, Cesar felt like he was being observed. It was an indescribable feeling, like suddenly realizing a pair of eyes were moving among the books beside him, watching him through the imperceptible gaps. He vaguely realized that the owner of the dream might have been following him all the way from the other side of the wall of books, maintaining a silent gaze.

The paper puppet did not lead him to find the owner of the dream, the paper puppet was just taking him on a detour.

Cesar took a step to the side and reached through the stacks, his fingers hovering just before a blue eye, barely touching it. He hadn't paid much attention to the body then, but now it seemed Sister Mira was quite short, not much taller than Fils, and her hair was cropped close. She stood on the other side of the wall of books, wrapped in a thick felt like a winter girl. Having exposed the monk's actions, Cesar remained silent, waiting for her explanation.

But Sister Mira had no intention of speaking. She simply tilted her head towards the distance, took a step forward as if she was sure that he could understand, and motioned for him to follow.

Perhaps people whose age and appearance didn't match each other had their own quirks, or perhaps Sister Mira was taciturn and didn't want to say anything that didn't need to be said. Regardless, Cesar had many questions about this person. The two of them walked through the wall of books and finally met in a square library.

"Why are you here?" Cesar asked her.

The creature fell silent, as if unsure how to respond. Or was it just her slow thinking? Cesar began to back off. Dreams nested within dreams. If something unexpected happened in reality, he couldn't guarantee the dog would wake him immediately. Beneath the fur hood, her face looked like a glass doll, delicate yet lifeless. Compared to the corpse, her skin was only a shade less pale. However, the fur-trimmed boots and coat were soft and luxurious.

As for Cesar, he was now wearing a tattered knight's armor, and he brought the dirt on his body into the wilderness.

"Books can be burned, but the ink remains inexhaustible, lingering forever in the hearts of those who read them," Brother Mira suddenly spoke. "The library owner told me this a long time ago. Although I later discovered his intentions weren't entirely well-intentioned, it's true. Another sage said, 'Life is finite, but the pursuit of knowledge is endless.' I've tried to use my life, which can no longer progress, to explore where time ends. Therefore, I've read nearly every book and manuscript I've handled. If anyone wishes to find lost documents, they can come to me for help."

Her sudden tirade made Cesar stunned for a moment, "No, I mean the wasteland..."

"As for the wasteland, it's because Diana said the passage of time here is uncertain. She claimed that if the timing was right, she could read every book in every category of this library in a single night in reality. I wanted to know if what she said was true, so I accepted her suggestion and broke into your residence. Although not much time has passed in reality, judging by the subjective passage of time, she has been reading all kinds of books in my dream for over a year."

"Really?" he managed.

Before Cesar could react, or rather, before he could process the meaning of her words, she continued her long speech.

"You appear to be still intact," Brother Mira said. "Diana would be very happy, and I would be happy for you too, Cesar. The alderman's mansion in Sodoris was once a place of desire, but now it has become a place for sharing knowledge and truth. I hope there will be more places like this, because I still remember the joy I felt when I first browsed ancient documents. I was only seven years old at that time, and I had just become the library owner's assistant. You know, it took me many years to go from assistant to administrator, but unfortunately, that library has sunk into the sea along with our original land."

He grasped the key words: "Are you one of the first people to cross the ocean?"

"Of course, my master is the real dragon that failed to grow up. At that time, he was called Zawulong, and he looked like an old man. But that old man was an old man when I was born, and he is still the same after I have grown up.

The old man. Years slipped by, and I felt as if he would never die. But I didn't care much about his secrets. I spent my time reading—and I guess no one else read like me, because everyone I knew later became a leader in various places, some even initiated far-reaching social movements.

Cesar forced a polite smile. He felt that her endless nagging shouldn't be directed at her, but at a wrinkled old woman. He took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and then said, "I'm not your grandson, Brother Mira. Can we explain things more simply and clearly?"

"Is it clearer? ... If it is, then to ensure my memory never fades, I devised a study plan for myself, using magic to complement my reading to store all obscure knowledge within my soul. I read book after book, from the dawn of knowledge all the way to the present day. Finally, after I had read everything I could, I discovered that Zablong had disappeared. It seemed he had trained a group of apprentices who caused great harm in the outside world, then vanished, abandoning the library. Of all people, I alone have achieved nothing, merely contemplating endless books and knowledge in the silent depths of history."

"No, what I mean by simple and clear is... Do you understand what simple and clear means, Brother Mira?"

"What a remarkable experience, Lady Mira," the puppet muttered behind the monk, and Cesar couldn't help but glance sideways. He wondered if the puppets had heard her story so many times that their ears had become calloused. Perhaps no matter how many times they heard it, they would always respond with the same words.

Is this the path of the lonely old man?—making paper puppets of his descendants, talking to them, and receiving only approving responses?

Chapter 295 You Write the Introduction

"Don't you think that it is your own consciousness that emerges from the paper doll, Brother Mira?" Cesar questioned her.

"No, they are some... my impressions of the past," Brother Mira said, "because after I gradually woke up, I found that everyone was dead. From then on, looking back many years, I actually did not have the conditions and qualifications to take over the library. Whether it was my skills, experience, social skills, or ambitions, they were all far from ideal. But when I was able to take over, I became the most suitable candidate. I waited for so long, but I knew nothing except waiting. Compared to my teens, nothing has changed, except that everyone is dead. As for all that useless knowledge..."

"Useless knowledge?"

"In fact, a lot of knowledge is meaningless to me. I just store it in my soul. At first, it oppressed me and made me breathless, but I forced myself to sort through the piles of books and build this mental library according to my own principles. This is why you are here, Cesar. I don't know if it took me decades or hundreds of years to recall and build the initial structure, but it has continued to extend outward without crushing me, all because of these principles."

Cesar suddenly realized that Sister Mira's answer was precisely the same question he had originally posed: why he was there. She had extracted all the semantics from his question, and then, in turn, addressed all the possible meanings. She addressed every detail he had considered and every detail he hadn't considered, resolving his doubts in the most thorough way possible.

After this, there is no need for this question to exist anymore.

Cesar realized that this deep library might be Sister Mira's mind itself, its paths complex and difficult to navigate. She sought any explanation by indexing it within her deep mind, which would reveal a series of books encompassing every explanation she could offer. Then, she would lay them out in full view.

"It sounds like Diana is very interested in your life," he said. "She said she wants to read every book in this place?"

Sister Mira paused, and Cesar knew that she was searching deep within his soul again.

"Compared to the length of life," she said, "what is more difficult is actually to keep the original idea with you, day after day, year after year. In fact, the original idea will always fade away, and later on, what you have should be called old habits. I once got lost in endless piles of books, and reading was the old habit that made me lost. When I woke up from my loss, I found that I had to take over an empty library. I realized that I might not be able to maintain those precious ancient books. Zawulong was supposed to recruit another group of people to repair the place, but..."

"A disaster has occurred?"

"So, you've heard of those magical groups with their own political ambitions," Brother Mira said. "I have reason to believe that several of the most influential ones involved apprentices trained by Zavulon. When they were still around, I spent all my time reading. When I read the books about them, I realized they had already become history."

"How long is the history? Is it a plague of ideas, or is it the corruption of the land?"

"The history of the plague of thought dates back far too long. Back then, let alone the dawn of knowledge, the darkness of knowledge hadn't even reached its deepest point. I remember a young man visiting my library—I think it was a book he handed to me, saying it was his father's suicide note. So I took the note and read about a man's later life, repenting for the corrupt sins of the land and committing suicide. While flipping through the book, I saw my own name. Following the handwriting, I found a record of him observing me in the library when he was young."

"Uh, observing your records?"

"I was reading at the time. I think I was, because I was almost always reading. The man wrote that Miss Mira was sitting in the window seat in the library, overlooking... I didn't think I was overlooking anything. Rhine, what did he say I was overlooking?"

"He said you were overlooking the garden, Lady Mira," said Paper Puppet Rhine.

Brother Mira nodded in agreement. "Yes, it was very close to the garden, but when I think about it, all I remember is the smell, the texture, and the glow of the sunlight on the pages."

"You mean, you didn't notice Zablong's apprentice coming and going in the library at all, and you only found out about this person after reading the suicide note?" Cesar asked her.

"You're right," she said. "I didn't need to deny it. I had forgotten everything else. I wasn't even sure if the man's suicide note was a fabrication."

"Because you haven't done anything else and haven't seen anyone else, you wouldn't doubt anyone who made up a story claiming to be your classmate?"

"Although I'm embarrassed, I only remember a few people I knew before I got lost. After that, it was like I suddenly woke up from a dream and found that everything was different from what it was back then."

Cesar couldn't understand how Sister Mira could do such a thing. Perhaps she wasn't even human. After a long silence, he said, "This kind of unspoken love is hard to let go. Don't you feel a little melancholy when you think about it?"

"I don't know the sadness

"I don't know what it's like," she said. "However, that person's suicide note did contain some unrealistic expectations. I spent many years memorizing every book in the entire library. After that, I was eager to repair all the damaged books, but when the decay spread to the library garden, I realized that everything was irreversible. I had planned to die with all the books that could no longer be saved, but then one day, a strange little girl came up to me. She looked at me, surprised, and said that I was still waiting in the abandoned place."

"Who do you think that strange little girl is, Brother Mira?"

"It was Zablong. There was no other explanation. At that time, I realized that Zablong has many different images. It has a different image at every stage of history: old, child, young, and so on. The common feature is that time does not pass on it. She told me that the ship would leave soon, and if I still wanted to pass on knowledge, I could go to the north and declare my identity."

"Are you afraid of Zablong? I remember you were very close, just a few steps away from the jungle, but you chose to take a detour to avoid its endless stretch of the library."

"Diana often mentioned you to me, saying that the far-reaching impact of many decisions will gradually become apparent. This applies precisely to Zavulon. I didn't understand what was happening at first, but later, after I investigated the conspirators of various magical groups, I discovered that Zavulon's students all participated with great ideals and played an indispensable role. It's not so much that I'm afraid of it, but rather that I lack the confidence to manage it alone."

"In that case, do you think you might as well go find someone who has seen it, like us, and discuss the matter of Zawulung with us?"

"That's true," Brother Mira said. "If I hadn't lost myself in the book, I might have become a sinful mage, eventually ending my life with a huge sense of guilt, buried at the bottom of the sea along with the sinking plates."

"I've been worried about what the library owner and Artinia said," Cesar said. "After hearing what you said about Zaburon, I'm even more worried."

"I haven't been through it all," she said. "I've only experienced the learning and pursuit of knowledge. As for Zavulon using his apprentices to commit crimes, I was just a bystander. I personally hope that if the princess has truly done something wrong, you will be the most persistent in redeeming her and do your best to make up for the irreparable. Once a crack appears in the soul, crazy visions will seep in. If you only think of saving someone after they've been completely changed, it will be too late."

Cesar shook his head. "You clearly haven't experienced anything, yet you keep spouting nonsense."

Rhine, the paper puppet, departed. It looked like he had more work to do, though it essentially consisted of labeling the endless tomes in Brother Mira's memory. Cesar saw the candlestick fall to the ground and had to pick it up and hold it himself. Brother Mira unfolded a manuscript by candlelight, the parchment creaking.

"This library records the lives of many, many people." She looked at the parchment manuscript and said, "I believe that my analysis of people is no worse than that of those who experienced it firsthand. The lives of so many deceased people are intertwined, and their analysis is no less convincing than that of a single living person. I heard Diana say that you believe everything should be based on your own life experience, but I don't think there's any reason why analysis is worse than personal experience. You're just trying to find a reason for your existence."

"If I were the one with the love that I couldn't express, I would let it be born out of ecstatic desire, instead of standing at a distance and watching like a fool, and only remembering to write a suicide note to express my past when I was about to die."

Brother Mira raised an eyebrow slightly. "I heard from Diana that you are a person who has no moral principles when it comes to love. Is this a manifestation of that, Cesar?"

"Diana also read a lot of love stories when she was a child. Did she feel that her own personal experience was not as good as psychological analysis of the characters in the stories?"

"Perhaps it's just that people like you haven't been recorded in books beforehand, so she couldn't analyze the response first, so she had to try it herself." Brother Mira said, "Once I record your speech and bind it into a book, people will understand your rhetoric and think of ways to respond."

"Are you serious, Brother?"

"I could have you write the introduction yourself."

Chapter 296: The Edge of the Abyss

......

The morning light rose, a pale gray. Cesar emerged from the cave and climbed to the edge of the ridge, steep as a knife's edge. Spring had faded, summer was approaching, and many days before, the heat of Gural Fortress had been unbearable, but the plateau near the sheltered abyss had shown no sign of warmth.

It was not until the sun rose above his head that he felt some warmth.

Although he was guiding the corpse-eaters' pursuit, he avoided approaching densely populated villages, forcing him to travel through the mountains all day. Every two or three days, he would find a secluded cave to rest for a while, thus satiating himself for the many days of long journeys ahead. Looking behind him, he could still sense the traces of the corpse-eaters' hunting party. While the mountain paths were difficult for humans to navigate, they presented no threat to their flesh puppets.

Cesar would lead this hunting party around densely populated areas and around Clefas's growing cavalry, ensuring their combat capabilities were intact. The route he chose was not only a complex and difficult mountain pass, but also a marching route that could be used for interspersed tactics. However, the marchers would not be humans, let alone his own army.

He had had similar thoughts ever since he got the map from Legosius. He knew that this hunting party wasn't the entire Corpse Eater army. They had combat capabilities and could easily wipe out Clefas's small scouting force, but they would be hard-pressed to withstand a large-scale army coordinated by mages, artillery, and heavy cavalry.

Since Cesar intended to exploit them, he would do so to the fullest. He would lead this hunting force through the weak points of the Clifas army's defenses and reach behind their lines. This way, he could maximize the use of the corpse-eaters—destroying Clifas's strongholds along the way with immense devastation. Furthermore, they could continue their journey after wreaking havoc, forcing them to other strongholds through difficult terrain impassable to human armies.

If such a destructive army with exaggerated marching capabilities wasn't used to its full potential, Cesar's role as bait would be in vain. The so-called bait didn't mean fleeing like a headless fly, but rather guiding the darkness behind him to maximize military damage.

Many days had passed since Cesar's initial encounter with the scouts. Cleface must have known about the disappearance of several other scouts. Consequently, he would have dispatched a sizeable force to investigate, no longer a scouting force, but a force of elite soldiers capable of combat. If Cesar could lead the corpse eaters to avoid this force, he could find the gap left by the lack of manpower.

By then, not to mention cutting off the lines and connections between the Clifas army, it would not be a problem to destroy a series of important strongholds on the imperial front.

He continued his trek until noon. As far as he could see, the mountain was incredibly steep, with many near-vertical cliffs rising and falling. It was almost as if he had climbed as he had walked. Glancing down from the cliffs, he spotted the glint of armor. Upon closer inspection, he saw an Imperial supply transport moving slowly along the mountain path.

Honestly, the soldiers below were no different from corpses. The corpse eaters had been chasing him in the deserted mountains for so long that they were desperate for blood and food.

Cesar continued his trek. Save for his meager sleep, he traversed the mountains relentlessly, oblivious to the rising and setting sun and the shifting sky. Experienced with long journeys across the wilderness, this task presented no challenge. His route became increasingly clear. He would first head southwest to the edge of the Sheltering Abyss, then, over the most challenging terrain, turn north and traverse the entire mountain range. Other routes risked being blocked by a large army, but this one was impossible.

Cliface must have known that the Corpse Eaters could traverse extremely complex terrain, but he also knew that they had received no theoretical military training. The old general naturally wouldn't have imagined that someone who understood this would choose the most suitable marching route and use their special existence to guide the Corpse Eaters' hunting troops to execute complex tactics.

The recent logistics convoy had confirmed Cesar's suspicions, proving that Cleface was dispatching a large force to block the roads and investigate any unidentified enemy. The tighter Cleface's frontier blockades became, the more vulnerable the strongholds behind them would become. Naturally, if the Corpse Eaters somehow managed to bypass the blockade and emerge from behind...

In a sense, this was a matter of reciprocity. Since Clifas had disrupted the northern front of Gural Fortress, further shortening its preparation and repair time, he should have accepted similar incidents. Otherwise, the old man would have been too complacent.

All of this seemed well-thought-out, but if one looked closely, perhaps it was just self-consolation during his escape. After suppressing his fatigue through many thoughts, his tense mood finally eased a little from the endless escape.

A few days later, Cesar was looking out over the mountains, searching for a path, when he realized he was standing on the edge of a sheltered abyss. Between the dry bushes and old trees still clinging to last year's dead leaves, he saw a well-worn path that seemed to lead directly to the top of the mountain.

The ridge near the abyss appeared hazy black in the wind, looking desolate and terrifying, as if it was not in the human world, but in the depths of the wilderness. The whistling cold wind tore at his cloak and penetrated his body through the gaps in his armor, feeling like being pricked by needles.

A bottomless abyss that shouldn't exist in reality. The abyss was filled with mist, and it was clear that there was no land or water below. Just like the sky above, it was a boundless nothingness.

Cesar followed the path trodden by an unknown presence, crossing a rocky plateau. Gravel kept rolling down into the abyss, its rumbling sound growing increasingly distant. The road ahead, hidden among the bushes, twisted and turned, and incredibly narrow. Walking on it felt like rising from the mountain ridge and slowly floating over the side of a bottomless abyss. He felt like he was dreaming, dreaming of flying. If a person realizes they are dreaming, realizes they have no wings and cannot fly, they will feel an inexplicable fear, losing the ability to fly and falling into the endless void.

He reached out and brushed his hand across a rock, feeling a trace of a sword mark. His brow furrowed slightly. It felt so familiar, like his father's sword mark. No, perhaps it was his father's sword mark. Iskrig often journeyed north from the Endless Grasslands to the borders of the Sheltering Abyss, like a king who had lost everything, gazing upon the land he once held.

No, that's not right, not his father, her father...

Chapter 297 It’s hard for me to say, Master

......

As night fell, Cesar thought Iskrig's ridge path had been trampled to pieces by the flesh golems of the corpse-eaters, but before he could mourn it, he found the cave where Iskrig had spent the night in the mountains.

He had never found such a good place to stay the night since his escape. He saw a stone bed made of animal skins, dusty but soft and comfortable. He also saw a longbow for hunting. Gouzi had taken it out for a walk and soon returned with an eagle.

Truth be told, the mountains were difficult to navigate, with few animals and no edible plants. Only birds of prey occasionally soared through the sky. Hunting with a sword was impossible, even for the Faceless. Now, with the longbow left by Ajeh's father, Cesar finally enjoyed a rare treat of fresh animal meat.

If he were to meet Iskrig, Cesar would thank him for the good roads, tools, and beds he had left behind during his travels. If the corpse eaters destroyed everything along the way, Cesar might have to start all over again and repair everything to restore it to its original appearance.

Cesar slept for about a quarter of an hour. On the other side of the moor, Diana was still studying religious doctrines. He did not want to disturb her, so he was forced to listen to Brother Mila's long speech for a quarter of an hour. Due to mental fatigue, most of the content of the long speech disappeared after he woke up, dissolving in his mind, just like people cannot remember their dreams at night.

He seemed to mention the issue of Isri's head, but Sister Mira advised him not to untie the bundle without permission, nor to let her head come even a fraction of the way of the invisible assassin's blade. Once Isri saw Cesar, her body would recognize it as Cesar, and once her head left the secret stone, her body would find its location, write all the information in a letter, and submit it to the temple, which would then pass it on to Clephas.

In this way, many of his plans will be revealed.

However, once the war was over, Cesar would be able to have a heart-to-heart talk with his overly naughty niece. He couldn't help but look forward to it, and even considered what kind of box he could make for her head so that he could carry it with him.

No matter whether there was anything important or not, he could open the box and ask her what methods the Headless Horseman Isley had recently planned to save his head.

That would definitely add a lot of fun to his life.

Cesar struggled against a hazy sleep for a while, lost in thought for a long time. He knew it was time to move, but no matter what, he didn't want to. Perhaps it was because he hadn't slept on such a soft bed in a long time. Before, he had to make do with stones, but now he could lie on warm animal skins. Outside the cave, it seemed to be raining, a soft, drizzling sound that felt like mist. The cold, heavy rain made him even less willing to get up.

He reluctantly raised his hand, wanting to ask Gouzi to pull him up, but he felt her drifting into the animal hide blanket like smoke, one hand descending along his chest. He could feel the slight chill of her fingers, and when she felt her slowly groping and touching his lower abdomen, he couldn't help but shudder.

She pressed her face against his chest, her pink tongue swirling a few times along the front of his chest, sending a tingling sensation through his chest. Then she opened her mouth and took it in, looking up at his expression as she began to suck. Only when he gasped did she open her soft lips and run her tongue down his chest. Finally, she bit the leg of his trousers, gently tugging them up to his leg. Then she opened her mouth and took it in, swallowing with a nerve-wracking eagerness.

"You could have pulled me up the normal way."

Despite this, Cesar placed his hand on the dog's head and took a deep breath. Her lips were still so warm, and the snake felt like it had drunk too much wine, ready to melt in her mouth. Her convex throat wrapped around the snake's head, her soft lips wrapped around its tail, sucking rapidly back and forth. Her soft tongue curled from the head down, swirling and licking every scale, leaving a soft and greasy feeling that made it impossible to fall asleep.

After a long moment, she released the snake from her mouth and sat with her back to him. Her round, perky buttocks were white, soft, and beautiful, completely unlike his dusty, grimy appearance. The cleavage, with its gentle glow, was quite eye-catching. She gripped the saliva-soaked snake between her soft buttocks and gently twisted it, bringing him instant satisfaction.

The dog's buttocks were perfectly shaped and impeccable to the touch. The snake's mere sliding across them was a deeply satisfying experience. As it glided, the snake's head suddenly paused, sliding across her smooth skin until it encountered two soft lips. Those lips immediately slid open like grease, welcoming it inside with a delightful, moist feeling.

Cesar moved slightly, and felt the snake's head part them, sinking into one, then sliding out the other side, its entire body gliding through her soft embrace. He exhaled again, reached out and grasped her buttocks, pulling them apart. Suddenly, between her round, perky buttocks, he saw the blossoming flower. The two petals were soft and delicious, not only red and tender, but also stained with a clear liquid. No wonder it slipped through.

He raised his hand and patted her buttocks. Her white buttocks trembled and turned pink. A large amount of water dripped between the petals. She raised her buttocks and put them into his hand. The small hole in the middle twitched slightly and slid down.

It actually touched the snake's head, swallowing a small portion immediately. The sudden, unusually soft touch made his body numb, and his fingers almost lost their grip. It wrapped around his snake's head and swallowed it in, like a surprisingly elastic cherry mouth, expanding more than a circle in the blink of an eye.

"I wouldn't normally go this route." Cesar rubbed her hips gently with his fingers. "Although you're fine, I'm afraid after what I've experienced, I might be tempted to try this method on a human..."

"No matter what, you should try it, Master." The dog tilted his head back, "You don't need to worry about this, right, Master? That's something that ordinary humans need to worry about. Please hold me tight, and go deeper, yes, deeper..."

He pushed harder, his hips tensing, feeling the elasticity grow more delicious the further he pushed forward. Circles of soft flesh gently expanded, growing larger and larger, yet he always held it tightly, the temperature growing increasingly intense. As he pushed all the way in and then pulled it out, the circles of soft flesh gradually tightened again, slowly releasing it, the texture of the flesh becoming crystal clear in his eyes.

Cesar grasped the dog's slender waist, guiding her upwards, then lowered her to the bottom, hearing her let out a sweet, delicate moan. The small hole encasing the snake's head instantly opened, stretched to its full size, swallowing the entire restless snake. He held her waist, watching her hips move with her back to him, and rapidly raised and lowered himself, the back-and-forth pressure increasing his sensation.

Her curvaceous upper body gradually tilted back, and the object erected on her chest swayed continuously, the amplitude gradually increasing, casting a bright white glow on her skin, which made her slender waist look even more charming. Outside the cave, the cold wind howled, and the dark abyss reached into the void. But inside the cave, a ridiculous scene was unfolding.

As the dog's movements grew more urgent, Cesar embraced her from behind, grasping her ripe peach firmly, his fingers pressing against the vibrant red nub at the top. He felt it swaying in his hands, almost impossible to grasp. The soft flesh on either side flowed through his fingers like water, emitting a strange luster. The nub playfully played with his fingers, first caving in, then slipping from his fingertips without warning, then rising tremblingly yet flexibly.

He pinched it, and immediately a stream of sweet juice came out.