Shadow of the Evil God

"That's a very euphemistic thing to say. I thought you were going to say you would kill me even at the cost of your own life," said Cesar.

"You're just a ladder that's leading to Thane's downfall. Even if it's too long, you're still just a ladder. Only by gradually severing this ladder from the benefits you've brought to Noyen can my wish be gradually realized. Cleface has already promised to include the handling of Noyen in the planned plan, Cesar. All you can do is take these beasts and try to buy time for your pitiful fortress."

Cesar savored the quiet hatred in her words. "So you're still going to march on the Noien army? Well, I hope Clefas can fulfill your promise and pull Thane from his shell, as long as you don't pass through the Gural Fortress I'm guarding. But I think that road across the grassland is too far to be a detour, right?"

"You are a particularly troublesome stone."

"Of course I know that," Cesar tapped her chin with his fingers. "From the first day we met in Anglan, you've already brought enough people to kill me, right? Yet, the scenes back then were so horrific, and you still wanted to continue with your plan?"

"If I feel powerless and terrified, it only proves that what I have fought for and paid for is still not enough, and the opportunity I have seized is not crucial enough."

"So even if I tear you apart in prison, I can't stop you?" Cesar shook his head. "Do you know what you are like, Isley? You are like a ghost that can't die, but all you can do is hit me on the head with a spoon. Even if you hit me for a hundred years, you will only make me upset."

"The results will prove everything, Cesar. The army of Cleface will come to hunt you and your mad beast. Not only the monks of the Temple of Sagaros, but also the people of the Sanctuary. Just as you led the mad corpse eaters to hinder Cleface, everyone who is hindered by you will be led by me to hunt you."

"Thank you for telling me, my dear niece, but I guess you're hoping to see fear or worry on my face?" Cesar said. This guy's thoughts were becoming increasingly easy to understand. "Let's change the subject, Isley," he said. "Since you've also noticed something's wrong with this house, based on your knowledge, do you have any thoughts or opinions?"

Isli didn't say anything. Her silence reminded Cesar of those second sons and daughters in aristocratic families who had a hard life.

Before Cesar could start the conversation, the woman hurried over, quickly shut the door, lifted the wooden latch, and then pasted a series of intricately patterned papers on the door that looked like magical writings of the Kuna people.

"It looks like danger is coming, Isri," Cesar said, "and it's a danger from the last era. As uncle and nephew, don't you think we should temporarily put aside our grudges and work together? You know, I never had any intention of killing you. Facing a shadow that transcends time, we should put aside our personal grudges within time."

Her eyes suddenly widened. If it weren't for her strict etiquette, her face might have distorted, like a candle-shaped face melting in the flames. Her etiquette helped prevent the candle from melting. But her emotions were still ignited by him, deformed by the burning anger.

Seeing her alone, Cesar had assumed she wouldn't dare to fight him, but he was wrong. This guy's actions matched his words. Her actions were driven more by emotion than by judgment. In the blink of an eye, she had unsheathed her longsword, a gift from the Temple, its texture and detail identical to the long scimitar carried by Gouzi.

The dog immediately rushed towards the sword, and the sharp blades of the temple struck each other in the house, making a thunderous echo. But at this moment, Cesar's attention shifted from her

A low sigh came from outside the house, seeping through the crack of the door, like a dark tide flooding across the floor, drowning everyone with an irrational sense of fear.

Cesar wanted to say that he couldn't describe the sudden fear, but that was not the case. He could, because he had felt it in the underground mines of Neuen.

Lately, he and Legosius have been getting along so naturally that he has forgotten what the White Nightmare was like.

The woman ran around desperately, like a madman, plastering spells of unknown purpose all over the walls. She grabbed one that looked like it was drawn in blood, raised it with all her might, and slammed it against the door latch, as if trying to carve it into the wood. A dark mist seeped in through the crack in the door, and from this point, it looked like thousands of tiny, terrifying tentacles were peering and extending, searching for the living creatures within.

"It's too fast! It shouldn't have come so quickly!" the woman shouted to the old man on the bed, "What's going on? This is not what we agreed on!"

The old man just stared at her without saying a word, but Cesar heard an adult male voice coming from outside the house, which seemed to be the woman's husband's voice. The voice said, "You closed the door too tightly, Miriel."

Perhaps because she was holding the Temple's sharp blade, Isri was completely unaffected by the White Nightmare's fear. It seemed the Temple's invisible assassins were also adept at fighting the White Nightmare. The dog had no soul, unaffected by external emotions, so it didn't matter to him. The two continued to clash swords, slicing vast arcs of light that either killed or wounded anyone. Cesar was certain that, in sheer swordplay, he was no match for them.

Lately he has been increasingly dissatisfied with his poor swordsmanship.

As Isri's eyes widened, Cesar raised his index finger to her lips, silencing her. He then closed the cloth bundle, wrapped it around her head again and again, finally tying it into a secure knot and attaching it to the belt around his armor. Isri, nearly frantic, leaped headless at him. She looked like a seasoned assassin, ready to chop him down into a headless knight.

He sat there motionless, waiting until the dog pounced in front of him and pushed Islig away. Then he walked to the door and paid attention to the white nightmare outside the house and the talisman on the door.

The room was dark now, lit only by the slow flickering of the hearthfire, though it was much fainter than before. The terror spread by the White Nightmare seemed to devour the light. However, there were also White Nightmares like Legosius, who deliberately emitted a moonlit glow in order to portray their own divinity. "The white demon you mentioned," Cesar said, "is right outside the door. Shouldn't it be in the Kuna temple?"

Miriel shook her head. "That's just the Kuna people's own rule, but the White Nightmare... they have their own will. It might want to resolve this matter on its own. I prepared the spell to resist it."

"Didn't your husband ever think that he would die first when he went out hunting?"

Before she could answer, the voice rang out again, "Soyin, don't hide in the house and cry alone. You are still a child. There is no need to keep insisting that you can sacrifice yourself for others. Don't you think Miriel just wants to see you die and wants your brother to escape alone? Come and open the door, Soyin. Young and brave hunters like you are more worthy of living. - Come and open the door, and then you can leave."

Cesar heard that the White Nightmare had peeled off the soul of Miriel's husband, revealing the truth deep in his mind, and then displayed this heavy truth.

Without a doubt, it was crushing everyone in this room in its own way. A mother who selfishly chose between her daughter and her son, a sister who knew she had to be sacrificed but huddled in the mezzanine, crying alone, and a brother who was still naive. Even Cesar knew how to crush everyone in this room, let alone the white nightmare outside the door.

"We should go up, everyone." Miriel ignored the words that Bai Yan said through her husband. "The talismans I prepared are all affixed to the ladder. The main house can't hold it back for long. Once we get up there, even if it gets in, it can only watch from inside the house."

"Don't you really know where we come from, Miriel?" Cesar asked her.

Miriel shook her head. "An old Kuna priest said someone could save my child, but I don't know how. I'm just... I'm just waiting."

A prayer from the past to the future? Is this really something that magic can do?

Chapter 302: The Evil Creature Disguised as a Human

The house trembled, the terror of the White Nightmare seeping through the cracks in the door. The spells, like leaves in a storm, were blown high from branches, ready to fall. Stones of the wall were falling and shattering from the walls. If the house had windows, they would have been shattered by now. Peering through the cracks, it was pitch black, and Cesar felt that the crippling darkness and fear had enveloped the entire house.

"If you can save this child, I hope he can become your adopted son—let him forget everything in the past, and forget us too," Miriel said. She held the bewildered little boy in one hand, and with the other she was helping the elderly man, who was moving slowly on the bed, to his feet. Cesar noticed that she kept her head down as she spoke, not looking at anyone, and didn't mention either her adoptive father or mother.

In other words, both he and Isri would think she was talking about them.

Cesar realized that Miriel had said the same things as Isri, describing her situation, but the words were half-truths, perhaps even different in their delivery. She was a clever woman, but she misplaced her words and used them at the wrong time. She thought a little deception would better achieve her goals, that she could avoid making a choice. She thought that by being ambiguous, she could give the child to the one who survived.

In fact, it only makes people suspicious.

The latch was cracking, and the crack in the door gradually expanded from a tiny gap to a twisted arc. The dark fear seeped in like grease, bringing with it a damp and sticky chill - like congestion seeping from beneath the skin of this world.

Cesar smelled a bitter odor that threatened to seep into his heart. He watched as the invisible darkness gradually took on substance, forming strands of silk that twisted and tangled in the air, creating a vast array of black spirals that spread and expanded to every corner of the house. They seemed to fill the entire space.

"Go up as quickly as possible," he shouted. "Everything can wait!" He drew his sword and stood in the doorway, the blade reflecting the dimming light of the fire.

At this moment, the best option was to merge with Ajeh's consciousness, just as Cesar had done before. This would make resisting the White Nightmare a breeze. However, if he revealed his ferocious bestiality, he wouldn't even have the house torn down, let alone confront Miriel about the Kuna priestess who had bestowed the spell upon her. Once everyone was buried beneath the stone pile, he would have no choice but to converse with the corpses.

The room was wide enough for a human, but too narrow for him. He had to stoop to get through the door just now, and if he showed his bestiality later, his head would probably pierce the roof and stick out from the thatch and rubble.

Miriel led the old man and child back toward the wooden ladder. By then, the latch was nearly broken, and the door made an unpleasant sound of creaking and shattering. Gouzi and Isri each took a step back, each holding the sharp blades granted by the Temple. A single stroke would cause the black threads to shatter. However, given their relationship, the thought that they could defeat the Nightmare together was simply a fantasy.

Not drawing her sword and pointing it at the enemy was already a stretch, and as for recklessly resisting the evil monster ahead while ignoring the threat behind her, that was simply impossible. While Isri wasn't a threat when alone, she was adept at exploiting the environment and taking advantage of opportunities. The White Nightmare was undoubtedly a situation where she could exploit her opponent's influence. The fact that she could track him down showed her intelligence, and the contempt in her words and the vigilance in her actions were not inconsistent.

They kept their distance, each choosing a side of the wooden table, and gradually retreated around the pile of debris in the house toward the wooden stairs. Isley arrived first, and she jumped up and entered the ceiling covered with talismans.

At that moment, before the door of the house shattered, Cesar sensed something strange. Without a second thought, he swung his sword. The White Nightmare's claws were barely a finger's length from his forehead. The sensation of his soul being siphoned away was indescribable. He felt as if his consciousness was converging at his forehead and flowing outward, nearly killing him. However, he still swung his sword with all his might.

The siphon snapped, and it instantly appeared at the doorway, seemingly able to move freely through the darkness it had spread. The hollow darkness on its face was as familiar as ever. It could easily fill a human being, let alone a soul. If it wanted to devour a head, perhaps it would be as easy as chewing an apple. It was now filling the house with an increasingly dense darkness. It was a physical terror, a poison to the soul, saturating the human body and driving them inevitably into madness.

As the darkness encroached on the wooden beams above, Cesar heard the sharp chirping of spells, right there in the ceiling. It must be filled with various protective spells, but so what?

In the end, you can only hide for a while.

The Nightmare ate at the written spells like a plane shaving wood; sooner or later it would soak through them all, turning them into a wall of waste paper.

A talisman suddenly shattered, a powerful burst of light emanating, tinting everything a pale white. Though the terrifying darkness of the White Nightmare was slightly forced back, the blinding light blinded Cesar, leaving him dizzy. Back in Neuen, he'd tricked Firth into blinding someone with a powerful flash of light, seizing the opportunity to kill him with a hammer. Was this a tit-for-tat?

He danced with his sword in the darkness, and Gouzi leaned on his back, swinging his sword to block the claws of the White Nightmare. He felt it appear behind him, and then in front of him. He swung his sword a few times, splitting the wooden table into pieces, and then it retreated.

As the White Nightmare and him circled the house, appearing here and there like shadows, the ceiling remained unresponsive. Instead, the White Nightmare hesitated. Did it sense the path of his soul during the siphoning?

Cesar took the opportunity to step back, reaching for the wooden ladder. "Give me a hand!" he called out. A pair of hands reached down in response. Not Miriel's, stained with ash, but a pair of leather hunting gloves. They didn't look like the hands of the old man or the little boy. Without giving it any thought, he reached out to grab hold and use the leverage to ascend. The moment they touched the ceiling, a series of spells shattered, far more powerful than they had been when they encountered the White Nightmare. The blazing light nearly illuminated the entire house.

He realized something was wrong—he and the White Nightmare both originated from Analik. Regarding Miriel's spell, it was actually no different from his, except that he was sitting inside and the White Nightmare was standing outside.

"He's a monster disguised as a human!" Miriel screamed. "Quick, ladder!"

Cesar expected Miriel to yell at the person on the ceiling to let go, but instead, he felt the figure holding his hand sway above him, their body tilting, and they fell. No, Miriel had pushed them down. Just as he caught the person with his right arm, he felt a sharp pain radiating from the wooden ladder, as if he had grasped thorns, and he couldn't help but let go. The person he had just caught also fell to the ground and fainted.

There was a clicking sound, and he saw Miriel pull up the wooden ladder leading to the ceiling, and then the attic board slammed shut.

This is really...

"If you hand over your offerings on the ground to me, then I will recognize the friendship between you and me." Bai Yan suddenly spoke.

Chapter 303: Absurdity and Cruelty

"I don't need illusory friendships." Cesar shook his head nonchalantly, "I don't need to hand over the blood food that has fallen into my hands."

"So, what I'm seeing now is not a story of salvation, but a hunt for souls and flesh and blood?" Bai Yan asked him back.

"I enjoy emotions greater than fear, and more complex than that," he said, adopting the voice of Legotius, "just as you enjoy blood offerings. I mean no disparagement, but you who huddle in the temple are like dogs tied to a fence, except that you and the dogs swallow different food."

"So, you haven't had enough fun yet?"

Cesar nodded in agreement. "I'm still experiencing it. I'm experiencing it. I hope to experience many different flavors in many ways, just as I cut off my niece's head and pinned it to my belt yesterday, and today I'm preparing to find another girl to raise. When this girl's mission is completed, I will look for the next one, and you will only be immersed in your eternal fear."

"Our era will eventually arrive," White Nightmare said, "and you will eventually join us."

"No, I don't care about the changes of the era, I don't care about anything, I only care about my heart's desire. If you try to get in my way, I will kill you."

The room fell silent, even more eerie now. Cesar had said so much, but it was actually all Legosius's words. He couldn't guess what they were thinking; he was simply interpreting Legosius's own words. He'd taken words from one being he couldn't understand, and relayed them to another he couldn't understand. The word order might have changed, but the meaning remained the same. If the Nightmare was convinced, then it wasn't Cesar who had convinced it, but Legosius.

As for what thoughts were running through its soul, what it wanted to do, what it longed for, Cesar had no idea. He patted the dog's shoulder, and she understood, stretching her cheeks, a slight crack appeared, then closed again. Seeing this, White Nightmare became even more certain of his existence and his position.

After a long while, White Nightmare's voice finally rang out, "The sacrifice is yours, human. I have no intention of sharing my life with you, but the human above you fled completely when you confronted him. If I turn around now and go hunt those poor creatures in the rainy night, you'd better not show up again, and don't get in my way when I leave."

"I can't get in your way," Cesar said. This was true; it was the house itself that separated the ages; he hadn't quite reached the past. If he went out, he would only be stepping on the soil of his own time.

The nightmare dissipated like a mist, as if it had never been there. Only broken furniture, shattered floorboards and rubble from the interior walls remained, and the stone house perched precariously on the edge of the abyss. The figure wearing hunting gloves lay on the ground. She looked small, a young girl, wearing a hunter's leather coat, as stained as her mother's dress. Her thick brown hair cascaded down her back, the same color as her mother's. When she sat up, holding her forehead, Cesar saw a pair of piercing brown eyes.

She must have felt the stranger's gaze on her, the very creature disguised as a human, as her mother had called it. Cesar wanted to say her face didn't waver, but it did, though she suppressed it so well it was barely noticeable. He could see in her eyes that the memory of this night would linger in her mind for years, replaying it as if it had happened yesterday, perhaps until she grew old and faded.

"You've saved your life," Cesar said to her. "You heard what I just said, didn't you?"

She looked at him and nodded slightly, but said nothing.

"Mirel didn't show any hesitation when she pushed you down just now. If I were you, I would chase after her, see where she left off, and then run in the opposite direction. You can do whatever you want."

"At that moment, each of us was filled with fear," she murmured.

"That's indeed a reason," Cesar said, "but I think there are some things that can't be justified. Your sacrifice won't buy anything. It will only leave behind those who have forgotten you and those who want you dead. After those who want you dead pass away, all that remains is complete oblivion."

"Are you going to adopt me as your daughter?"

Cesar hesitated. "I might not be able to... Well, I can go out with you for a while. If everything goes well, we can talk about this again."

"Soyin," she introduced herself. "Before I leave, I want to finish the unfinished dinner. You don't have to eat this not-so-good-looking food with me if you don't want to."

Cesar remained silent, watching Soin tidy up at the stove. After a long moment, she finally brought out a wooden bowl filled with porridge and a wooden spoon. Perhaps because he had been watching, she brought another bowl of porridge. He took it and ate a few mouthfuls, feeling sawdust stuck in his teeth. By the time Cesar put down the bowl, she had already packed her belongings and was walking over, carrying her bag and bow. She was dressed in a gray-black cloak, and Cesar asked if he could hold his hand as he left.

Although he didn't understand why, Soin agreed. Cesar followed the girl toward the door. For a moment, he felt as if the world around him was intertwined, overlapping like a distorted illusion. She turned and looked back, seemingly unaware of Cesar's presence. He then shook her hand, and she returned it thoughtfully.

They climbed the cliff

Cesar turned back, surprised to see the dog, who existed in one era but not in another. After reaching the ridge, Soin paused, turned back, and gazed for a long time at her only home. The stone house stood as steady as before, the smoke from the porridge still lingering from the chimney.

A long time had passed since Miriel's escape. Soin spotted footprints on the rocks and seemed to want to pursue them. Cesar shook her hand in encouragement. He didn't forgive Miriel, for during his confrontation with the White Nightmare, she had not only ignored him but hadn't even reached out to help him. However, he didn't harbor any hatred for Miriel either. A terrified mother, lost in the terror of the White Nightmare, facing endless darkness alone on the edge of the abyss for so many years, would inevitably become psychologically distorted.

She wasn't worth any of his emotions.

To him, Miriel was just a harmless passer-by in his life, not even worth leaving a record. The only one who should express hatred or other emotions was the young hunter named Soin.

Cesar followed Soin forward and discovered that Miriel's flight direction was exactly the direction he had intended to lead the corpse eaters. As a hunter who grew up on the edge of the abyss, she was much more familiar with the many remote and steep trails than he was. They climbed down the steep ridge and soon reached a gentle slope.

The road gradually became flatter, and they no longer needed to hold onto the cliffs to stumble along. The forest stretched out beside them, and the gurgling streams echoed in their ears. Everything seemed full of life, as if the abyss and the white nightmare were just a dream.

Of course, the presence of this young woman trudging onward proved that Cesar wasn't dreaming. For the next few hours, Cesar journeyed through the intertwined worlds, seeing the dog appear and disappear, and watching the tracks of wild animals gradually blend in with those of Miriel and the others. Soyin didn't spot the White Nightmare, but she did find the tracks of boots. She said the tracks had initially come from another direction, but when they overlapped with Miriel and the others', the two tracks immediately merged.

Soyin quickened his pace.

Cesar had no idea of ​​the living conditions of her time, as available historical records exclusively described the glorious civilization of the Kuna people, glossing over the tribes of the Flan's ancestors in passing, as if the past were too painful to recall. In Flan's accounts, the tribal histories resembled epic legends, containing only a few heroic deeds and fragmented revelations, with little description of the lifestyle and cultural beliefs of the time.

He felt the pervasive fear again, and then he heard crazy roars and screams from the depths of the forest.

Yet, the screams that followed the White Nightmare weren't from Miriel, nor from her children. It wasn't their voices. It was a cacophony of fierce, clashing roars. Cesar had often heard similar roars in the mercenary camps. Even ordinary farmers wouldn't have such a gruff voice. Neither her son nor the old man could have made such a sound.

Soin pulled Cesar forward, step by step, until they reached the top of a hillside, where they gazed down from beneath the shelter of the rocks. Once they reached the summit, Cesar saw the screaming figure, as well as Miriel and her child. Of course, without Isri, if she didn't establish a connection with her past through soul contact, the next step would be a farewell forever.

The White Nightmare spread its wings beneath the moonlight, and the screams of more than a dozen ragged bandits ceased. With faces twisted with fear, they stood frozen in place, awaiting the Nightmare's eternal imprisonment. Those ferocious men, bloody and scarred, were like puppets or foam beneath its fingertips, crumbling at its touch. Flesh and soul crumbled, cascading into the dark void at the center of its face.

Suoyin just stood there and watched, because all her blood relatives were dead, but the absurd thing was that they did not die because of the White Nightmare, but because of the bandits roaming in the mountains.

Those spells against evil were like real paper, or rather, a pile of waste paper, completely useless in front of the bandits wielding axes and clubs. The boy, holding Miriel's waist, was hit on the head with a stick and was bleeding profusely. Miriel herself lay on the side like a broken rag doll.

The rope wrapped around her throat had left black bruises, and her dress was half-ripped off, but not completely torn. It seemed that just as she was about to be defiled, the White Nightmare suddenly appeared, ending this absurd and cruel farce. It was unclear whether it waited until the cannibalism was complete before appearing in an orderly manner, or if it had arrived just now, but everything was over, and nothing could be said to have meant anything.

The soul that should have been trapped in the White Nightmare died absurdly at the hands of the bandits. The hatred that should have been remembered, those ferocious bandits also died at the fingertips of the White Nightmare. Both hatred and love became meaningless in the absurdity of reality.

Silence gradually descended upon the surroundings. Only Soin sat there speechless, gazing at the incomprehensible scene below, watching the bandits vanish into thin air at the White Nightmare's fingertips. When all was done, the ancient White Nightmare bowed to the hand Soin held—the almost imperceptible Cesar from another era—expressing its cruel sense of humor before vanishing.

Cesar lowered his head. "Now that everything is over, Soyin, where are you going?"

she shook her head,

Just as she had cried when she was waiting for death on the roof, tears silently streamed down her cheeks, and the longbow she was holding tightly in her hand suddenly fell and fell into the grass. Cesar held her shoulders and comforted her for a long time until she fell asleep in the woods, as if she hadn't slept for many days.

Chapter 304: Son of a Monster

......

Cesar still didn't understand. He didn't understand how such an unimaginably grand spell could happen in such a place and be used for such a purpose.

After seeing Miriel, her children, and the elderly all dead in the forest, Soin felt something, he didn't know, but he felt doubt, confusion, and mystery. So many mist-like feelings surrounded him that even his gaze at Soin was filled with inquiry.

Miriel's death at the hands of bandits was truly a twist of fate, or, of course, a travesty of reality. The difference between the two accounts lies solely in one's worldview. Cesar could tell she most likely came from a noble family, but he didn't know why she and her husband fled to the edge of the abyss, hiding their identities. In short, he could understand that she had used her identity to obtain some talismans to combat the White Nightmare.

The problem was, a house that allowed people to travel into the past and future, this kind of spell didn't need to be cast for her. The price it would have to pay would be unimaginably exaggerated. Cesar believed that using a small portion of it to cast a normal spell would not only be enough to resist the White Nightmare's attacks, but even kill it.

It was a coincidence, a manifestation of the absurdity of reality. Cesar initially convinced himself so, but the more he thought about it, the harder it became to agree. Neither the long history of Ajeh's father, Iskellig, nor the unique nature of the abyss's edge could be fully explained. Miriel seemed more like a medium for a deeper purpose, but if he continued to investigate, Cesar saw only a fog.

Miriel had been dead for a long time by then, and the old man, who seemed to know so much, had passed away with her without even saying a word. Death had sealed everything, and had also sealed in his throat all the questions he wanted to ask. If there was anyone he could ask, it was undoubtedly Esklig.

That old guy who seemed to have amnesia.

For now, it seemed that Soyn was the rope that allowed him to peer into the past. Cesar couldn't guarantee that if he let go, the unstable ancient times he saw wouldn't disappear along with her. So, he decided to tie their hands together with the rope first, supporting her on his left arm, lest he lose control and let everything in the past vanish like a dream.