Shadow of the Evil God

A powerful light emerged from a huge swirling cloud, descending from the sky and sweeping across the corridor they had previously passed through, causing all the floors and walls along the way to collapse and disintegrate, and the light of the empty stars was completely obscured by the molten fire.

Cesar didn't know how far he had retreated, but the man was walking on the furnace fire. The molten fire and fierce light were also devouring everything in the corridor, already with an extinction posture, swallowing up the infinite corridor. If this man hadn't been unable to reach reality and had to rely on a puppet-like body, he would definitely be dead - or rather, if this man had met him in the wasteland, he would have only needed a light leap to grasp him in the palm of his hand.

It's like humans catching mice in the basement of a castle. Once they catch them, they can beat them to pieces with a stick.

"I will remember you, Cesar, for your resistance and for all the filth you created!"

Cesar saw the man holding a scepter high, drawing an unprecedentedly powerful light from the Eye of the Crucible. His eyes also shone with a dazzling light like the sun, and cracks appeared on his body, clearly unable to withstand the pressure. From these cracks burst forth waves of scorching heat. He was seething, and the swirling cloud formed by the Eye of the Crucible piercing the city was also seething. The swirling cloud had gone from slowly rotating to whirling, its complex shapes constantly shifting, like a volcano about to erupt. The giant eye descended, becoming clearer and clearer, and more and more—

"Bend down, Cesar," Thorin whispered, his voice close to his ear, above the all-encompassing roar. "Now, when the eyes descend, bend down, or I might pierce you too. Afterward, take my amulet."

He knew the moment had arrived, so he crouched low, feeling a beam of brilliant starlight sweep past him from behind, piercing through the swirling clouds that obscured everything. It was an arrow, but it was surrounded by boundless azure starlight, like a falling star, and it left a long, lingering wake.

The shrieking sound reached the sky, and then there was a loud bang. The vortex cloud suddenly collapsed and scattered in the majestic momentum, and fragments of starlight also fell towards the mountains in all directions, which was deafening.

Cesar crouched in the corridor, unable to believe what he was seeing. The man, watching the scepter and sword, whose light had gone out, fell silent. His scepter was now extinguished, a mere metal cane. The sword that had cut through the corridor had also collapsed, leaving only a broken blade on the hilt, no longer than a man's wrist.

He lunged forward like a rocket, piercing the man's burning body, causing cracks to rapidly widen and become irreparable. Just as he was about to turn his sword, he saw over a dozen mighty fountains of blood rushing towards him, and he quickly dove to the side. The foul blood, emanating from nowhere, pierced the man's body, sending him plummeting from the sky.

Cesar glanced down and saw that a large group of flesh and blood puppets had already climbed up the city buildings, and a tide of hybrid beastmen surged over the ground, one after another besieging the monks.

That person then reacted.

With a powerful swing of the scepter, a flesh puppet's skull was smashed to pieces like a watermelon. However, multiple spears stained with rotten blood had already been hurled from the corpse-eater's hands, piercing its body. More hybrid beastmen rushed towards it, completely unconcerned about life and death. Simultaneously, a large number of flesh puppets opened their maws, and a series of overlapping blood-red lights obscured its body, crushing the road behind it and even crushing an invisible assassin, leaving only half of his body in the wasteland.

The endless corridor vanished, and Cesar stumbled, falling back into the corridor he had been in. He breathed a long sigh and pulled his dog from the hollow shell of a black-armored knight statue. He watched as she transformed from a lifeless pile of pale limbs into a human form. Then he looked back, searching for any trace of Soin's presence, but saw none.

He thought, if he had remained in that matrix that isolated everything, perhaps he would have vanished by now, perhaps even arriving completely with Soyin in history. He would no longer belong to the present, but to the past, to a vanished era. If he had no other concerns, he would surely embrace her with hope and journey with her to the depths of history.

But he didn't. He even pulled the dog out of the broken statue first, then turned around and looked at where she had been.

Once upon a time, Soyin was like a part of him, but now, with the arrow shot out and pierced the Eye of the Furnace, she was gone forever in this era.

César approached Soler's statue. The twinkling stars in its eyes were gone, but a faint light shone around its neck, like a halo. He reached out and grasped it, delicately removing it. It was a tiny, crystal-like arrow, a delicate and magnificent deep blue.

amulet......

He put away the amulet and began to walk back. He wanted to think about how this group of corpse eaters was so large that they could actually surround and destroy a group of monks and the body of the man without the Eye of the Forge, but he couldn't help but think vaguely about Soyin and how she would walk alone in the mountains.

Their connection had always been tenuous. Cesar now more or less realized that this ancient, intertwined spell might be the decisive factor in Soleil's ascension to deity. The spell, finally completed today, long after Soleil's death, then resonated in the past, giving her the opportunity to approach a deceased god and inherit his power.

The significance of the looping became clear at this moment. The Eye of the Furnace would pursue Soyn's existence, perhaps hoping to seize that opportunity. That being sought to abolish her very existence, everything she possessed. Now, the spell was complete, and the looping of time was sealed. Everything was perfect, except for him, lost in the haze of time and history, filled with wistful memories.

Thinking back now, Soyin was chosen by an unknown being to undertake a bizarre mission. Like everyone else, she should have flown like a river through the course of time, rushing toward the sea. But she was forced to turn back midway, transforming into drizzling rain that fell into the dryness of history. This is how many things were able to continue.

The Age of Gods, which fell into eternal stillness, was the end of her transformation into drizzling rain.

As he watched the horde of corpse-eaters overwhelm the monks, Cesar tried to turn his thoughts back to the urgent reality, but the memory of Thorin's disappearance always lingered in his mind. He took a step forward, and it swallowed his soul like the darkness of night swallowing the mountains, setting off a huge and despairing black wave.

There is a saying that the living can never defeat the dead. If Phils knew about this, she would poke his eyes with her fingers day and night. Diana would also sigh and shake her head at him, saying that a mortal who is involved in the path of God will toss and turn like an idiot.

So Diana sighed and placed her hand on his, resting her fingertips on the star-studded crystal arrow. "How do you feel, Cesar, being tormented by ancient magic?" she asked.

He moved his lower lip. "So, tell me, which of the ancient spells cast upon us is more powerful?"

Diana raised her eyebrows. "There's no need to decide who's better, right? Of course, if you ask me, I'm the main force of my magic, and you're just a small cog in yours, so there's no doubt that mine is more powerful."

"You are such a comforter."

"Come," she said softly, "it's time to get up and do what we must do. Our princess is probably already doing something she doesn't even realize the consequences of."

"Is there still time to do anything?"

"It's too late to stop it, so we can only take it one step at a time."

"Then you can comfort her while I spank her with the stick so she doesn't cry."

Chapter 326 Let the Old Man Figure It Out His Own Way

Cesar picked up Diana and placed her on his shoulders. She tapped his helmet with her fingers and said, "This is a rare sight, Cesar. This is the shoulder where a dead god once sat. If we could remove this piece of iron, we could place it in the center of the temple for people to worship."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"It's up to you," Diana said nonchalantly. "Also, the scale of the ghouls down there is incredibly exaggerated. I think it's even larger than the one in their lair. If they were just hunting you, they wouldn't need such a large group. The more they invest here, the weaker the lair will be."

"If they continue north, they can circle around to the west of the Sanctuary Abyss," said Cesar.

"Perhaps their tribe isn't harmonious? For example, there's a disagreement between the leader and the tribe members, or the tribe itself is showing signs of disintegration... But no matter what, we must leave as soon as possible before that entity's possession completely disintegrates."

"But if this group of corpse eaters really traveled from the west of the abyss to Noyen..."

"Send a letter," Diana said. "Just tell them we've at least stopped their nest and decimated most of their colony. Let the old man figure out the rest."

.......

Blood-red clouds were descending, a thick fog engulfing the outer city of Gural Fortress and the Imperial army's positions outside. Flesh puppets and massive hybrid beastmen raced forward under the fog's cover. Some charged through the outer city's well-trodden streets, intent on overcoming the lines guarding the inner city gates, while others charged through the shattered fields outside the city, clearly aiming to attack both directions.

At this moment, an exceptionally thick line of molten fire covered the edge of the inner city. A crimson wall of fire shot up into the sky, carrying a large amount of rock with it into the air. It carved a scar within the molten line that tore through the earth. Then, a section of the wall at the edge of the inner city collapsed, disintegrating into a huge cloud of smoke and rubble.

This was obviously done intentionally by the Hesai school.

As Diana had said, if an entire school of magic were allowed to enter the battlefield, the city walls and bastions would become meaningless. Furthermore, a spell of this magnitude, beyond expectations, must have been cast by their own master. Time was running out; a fateful outcome was necessary.

Before the fog had completely dissipated, Altinya led her troops out of the east city gate, roaring. They circled around the other side of the nest and cut into the flank of the Imperial position, launching multiple sharp arrow arrays.

Numerous flesh golems clung to the towers of their lair, hurling fragments of flesh and blood at the Imperial positions. The mages of the School of Hesai responded by intensifying their molten flames. Walls of flame shattered the Beastmen's path, a series of geometric polygons traced out by flames. Vast crimson clouds of burning rose from the mages' positions, countering the cursed blood mist. Like a volcanic eruption, they hurled massive balls of molten fire upward, hurling them in the direction of the Beastmen's charge.

The molten fireballs, swirling with lava and molten streams, tore down upon the ground, devouring vast swathes of living flesh and blood, lifting coal-blackened corpses into the air, causing them to disintegrate and rise in a charred, stinking black mist. The roar of spells soared to the heavens, but the entire canyon seemed to tremble as an unimaginable number of hybrid beastmen emerged from the corpse-eater's lair. Twisted flesh and a riot of color converged into a massive tide of beasts. Shamans cast protective spells on the fleeing flesh puppets to counter the molten fireballs, disintegrating them into scattered sparks and severing the molten flames.

In the Imperial position, the cavalry had already formed up, the pikemen were marching forward, and the cannons and musketeers began to roar in unison. Everything they had done was ready to attack the horde of beastmen.

Sensing the gap created by the shifting formation, Artinia shouted loudly, leading her troops further into the fog. They charged forward, spurring their horses on with the thrusts of their boots, accelerating their gallop. Once they had a clear view of the enemy's flank, they unleashed a volley of musketry, causing widespread screams and death. Then, lowering their bodies, holding their lances, they charged at a furious gallop into the soldiers' positions, thrown into disarray by the musketry.

She requested that the musketry volleys be unleashed only when they were close enough to see the enemy's faces.

The Imperial commanders had clearly focused their attention on the Beastmen, and hadn't anticipated the possibility of someone leading troops out of the city, using the unnatural fog as a cover to charge their flanks. The vast majority of the Imperial army was already engaged in direct combat with the Beastmen, and the musketeers and thin layer of pikemen on the flanks barely offered any effective resistance before they were already falling apart.

Warhorses neighed, spears snapped, and riders, overrunning, were thrown into the air by their frightened steeds. The clash of blades echoed across the battlefield. At this point in the chaotic battle, unless the enemy commanders were intent on harming their own men, it was impossible for them to unleash spells and artillery fire on them. Altinia split shields with her heavy sword, shattering faces, then dove to avoid the spear thrusts. She crouched low to the ground and sprinted forward, ducking her sword to sever the legs of a series of spearmen who held their spears high to resist the cavalry.

Because the east side was being harassed, the charging beastmen also found a gap in the imperial army's formation and rushed along the chaos on the east side. She heard an imperial officer shouting to hold the front position and not to look back, so she raised the battle flag and ordered the muskets to fire in unison, further breaking their eastern defense line. At the same time,

A large number of Imperial troops were closing in from behind to flank her. The brutal hand-to-hand combat was becoming increasingly intense. Due to her interference, someone who thought he was in control of the situation had lost his composure, and the Beastmen also rushed through the trench and flooded the front-line Imperial positions like a tide.

Humans and beastmen were huddled together, and more and more spells and artillery fire could not reach the front line and could only pour into the rear.

......

The conflict between blood and fire, curses and burning made it seem like doomsday was descending above their heads. The mixed fog was so low that it seemed within reach, completely obscuring the sun, turning everything into unpredictable colors of blood and crimson.

From the hills, Trisius watched as his kin led a charge into the flank. The combined force of the Beastmen's charge forced the left wing of the army back, and the officers' shouts were futile. He was forced to dispatch troops from the rear to support them. It wasn't that he hadn't considered the need to protect the flank; the Beastmen were all gathered in their lair, their movements clearly visible. In such a situation, how could anyone leave the city and risk their lives—or even cooperate with the Beastmen to disrupt their position?

"The mages acted on their own, Your Highness," Laelius said. "The threat posed by the Hisai School to the fortress may have surpassed that of the Beastmen. If Your Highness didn't consider this place a savior, and didn't regard the recent destruction as a minor incident while exterminating the Beastmen, everything would make sense."

Chapter 327: The Invasion of the Abyss

"Even so," Trisius shook his head and said, "Even so, she was too reckless about life and death. Since she is going to be my wife, I will never allow such a thing to happen again. How can I make her understand that the value of our lives is different from that of others?"

"Our men are following her cavalry," Laelius told me. "They've been following Her Highness Artinia all the way. They'll soon link up with our flank."

"You mean they can turn the tables on us?"

"They will arrive faster than the troops we dispatch from the rear."

Trisius nodded in agreement and instructed the men of the temple to send a message to Brother Keith, asking him to work closely with the Kingdom Knights of Olidan to quickly resolve the chaos caused by Altinia. "Bind her alive and bring her to my tent," he ordered. "As long as I capture her and she obeys me after the city falls, old Clefas will no longer be able to use her to threaten my position."

He turned, intending to survey the battlefield, only to find a scarlet-robed mage leading his school's slaves into the logistics camp. The old man walked hurriedly, his face anxious, while the slaves beside him were covered in blood. Some even glowed with a molten glow, their skin cracked like charred charcoal.

"You are acting on your own initiative?" Trisius shouted at the wizard to stop.

The old wizard didn't even turn around, just glanced at him sideways and asked, "What did you say, Your Highness?"

"I said you took it upon yourself to destroy the outer city of the fortress, angering the defenders inside. Now they are rushing towards our army without caring about the Beastmen's race!"

The old wizard shook his head and frowned, as if expressing regret for his short-sightedness.

"Maybe there were some at first, but not now, Your Highness," he said. "Our people have seen mages from the Yestren School and even people from the Great Temple of Hiel—the High Priest and his knights. Does the Temple of Sagaros provide this level of support? No! All men and beasts must be destroyed. If we lose this battle, we can retreat and wait for your brothers to prepare for the next expedition, but your army will be utterly destroyed. Do you understand, Your Highness? Think carefully."

Trisius was extremely shocked by the rudeness and even threats that were hardly concealed in the old bastard's words. Before he could react, the man had rushed into the camp with his slaves and returned to the army with the materials needed for their mysterious ceremony.

Trisius looked toward the fortress, only to see a bloody mist of corpse-eaters obscuring everything. There was no sign of any other schools or great temples. The corpse-eaters' suppression of Gural Fortress was complete and resolute, leaving the peasants and mercenaries within the city completely defenseless. The princess even led the fortress's most elite troops out of the city. Were reinforcements truly arriving?

However, now that things have come to this, and since Altinya herself has left the fortress, he can accept it if the mages want to further intensify the scale of the spell and cause greater destruction.

No matter how much damage was done to the fortress, ending this war was the most important thing. The scale of the hybrid beastmen was astonishing, a raging tide. He didn't need to imagine how many people the corpse eaters had abducted and converted with Heanria's connivance and disregard.

Trisius heard the mages' chants grow ever louder, and saw the stagnant burning cloud expand rapidly, pouring out an even more violent torrent of molten fire, washing away the Beastman shamans' protective spells. As the chants continued under the protection of the Imperial army, and as the spell materials they provided became increasingly depleted, many mages, looking at the flames that had become like human skin, their eyes and mouths radiated a piercing red light.

Many of their school slaves were also already ablaze, striding forward like charred puppets covered in flames, growling dully as they turned the beastmen who rushed towards the position into ashes.

Being a slave to a wizard is truly miserable.

......

The supporting troops behind the cavalry, skipping the kneeling surrender, defected with incredible speed. Altiniya attempted a counterattack, but was unable to break through the encircling net. Soon, the cavalrymen around her, who had been fighting with such confidence, also began to waver.

The situation took a sudden turn for the worse, with attacks coming from all directions. First, the Hisai School held off the fiercest of the Beastmen's charge. Then, the initially chaotic pikemen and musketeers regrouped, and then the Imperial forces attacked from behind. Finally, cavalry, drawn from the rear of the Imperial army, poured in. Soon, a frenzy mingled with fear, swept through the ranks, and legions of soldiers scrambled away from her, for she was the enemy's most obvious target.

Although Altinia had no hope of victory, she did her utmost to disrupt the Empire's formation, creating a considerable advantage, but she still couldn't dissuade these people from surrendering and submitting. Not even a hint of hesitation could be seen. The corrupt Knights of the Kingdom were one thing, but even Brother Keith, claiming that everything was for her future, delivered her a fatal blow with such an excuse.

It was hard to imagine how much charm Clifford had over him to make him act like this.

Altinya swung her heavy sword again, trying to clear a path, but her voice was soon drowned out by the chaotic roar. She herself was surrounded by the forest of spears. The soldiers she brought with her retreated.

No matter which direction she looked, the soldiers there would retreat with either guilty or mocking looks. Some soldiers didn't even want to respond to her voice or her gaze, and cowered and disappeared into the enemy's formation.

Some in the Imperial camp shouted at her to pay the price, but officers would always restrain the angry soldiers, demanding they stop discussing the royal family's disputes. Elderly Brother Keith laughed and embraced the monks who had rushed over. He expressed his admiration for Prince Trisius, whom Clefas had personally nurtured, and hoped that the prince would treat Altinia, whom he had watched grow up, with kindness.

"Now, capture her," the old monk nodded. "Our princess won't kneel easily. That's why we must give her the most complete defeat."

This is exactly what Clifford hopes for.

In her mind, the battlefield suddenly vanished, the clash of weapons ceased to be audible, and everything suddenly returned to the palace politics she hated most—a feeling of powerlessness! No matter how much she wanted, no matter how talented she was, she could never overcome the predetermined power distribution. Palace politics meant that everyone had to take their place and play their part. Anyone who dared to overstep their bounds would pay the price.

Even in a place like this...

This place, and the people in it, they all...

......

Cesar looked in amazement at the hills where he was, and at the armored knight in front of him.

"Long time no see, Cesar?"

"Legosius..." he hissed.

"I should apologize for cutting off your teleportation spell," White Nightmare first performed a chivalrous salute to Diana, then smiled at Cesar with his tanned face, "However, using a teleportation spell to cross a long distance is bound to bring a certain degree of danger if an undercurrent is occurring. In order to preserve our friendship, I need you to stop here, just for a moment."

"What is your relationship with Zavulon? What is your relationship with the advice he gave to Artiniya?"

"In this world," Legosius said, "there's nothing more worthy of observation than true dragons—you've undoubtedly guessed this. The most precious of these are those that haven't yet reached maturity, but no one dares to test them. Excluding them, the most worthy of observation are naturally the royal family of the Kasar Empire. The invasion of the abyss brings great disaster to living beings, but it cannot disturb the true dragons trapped in eternal slumber. This raises a question worth pondering."

Diana hesitated. "You mean, what would happen if the shattered dragon dreams of the royal family of the Kasar Empire were invaded by the abyss? Would the abyss invade the dreaming dragon itself because the fragments of the dream were invaded..."

"Excellent." Legosius clapped his hands. "I knew you were a pure mage, Diana. You are not one of those short-sighted fools of Istrias. You have inherited ideals from another land. This kind of fundamental research is worth exploring, isn't it?"

"You should go find someone else," Diana said, staring at it.

"We have indeed searched for it in history," Legosius said. He rode to Cesar's side, greeted the dog, and observed her reaction with interest, as if he had noticed something unusual. "But our preparations were insufficient, the moment of the Abyss invasion had not yet arrived, and the Sanctuary was too cautious about the royal descendants. It wasn't until the war broke out, the empire collapsed, and the Abyss of Sanctuary began to show signs of changing times that we had the opportunity to complete our investigation," he said.

"I don't need an explanation," Cesar said. "I know you were the one who instigated the darkness in Artinia's heart. If you still want to wander the world under the guise of a knight, you'd better give me the method to save her."

White Nightmare turned and gazed into the distance, the direction precisely pointed: the direction of the Sheltering Abyss. "Look, Cesar, do you see the darkness pouring out of the lowlands? At this very moment, a bloody war is raging, and the fierce magical confrontation is exacerbating the fragility of reality—like adding more and more stones to a piece of cloth, causing it to sink lower and lower. The abyss's invasion is not only flowing along the geographical lowlands, but also flowing into the vast pit created by the magic."

Diana pressed her knuckles to her lips. "You mean it accumulated into a lake?"

Cesar thought for a moment. "Does the lake mean we can create deeper magical pits to drain the abyss's invasion?"

Chapter 328 You are a little baby

"The magical confrontation has already caused a dramatic subsidence. The abyssal invasion is bound to accumulate into a lake, which will not dissipate for a long time. I can assure you that her life is safe, but I can't guarantee anything else. If someone sinks to the bottom of the swamp, even if she doesn't suffocate to death, it will be difficult for her to climb out on her own."

"What do you expect me to do, Legotius?" Cesar asked it.

"You can assume she's simply trapped there, unharmed. You can slowly figure out how to create a larger magical pit, diverting the flow between the two pits. Once the darkness has drained away, you can go and rescue her. Alternatively, you can assume the longer she stays, the more susceptible she'll be to corruption, and you'll be eager to rush into the darkness to save her, risking your own life, of course. But you can also ignore all of this and let her pay the price for her choice. After all, it was she who triggered the invasion of the abyss, killing everyone there. Is that right?"

"You're such a spectator," Cesar said. "Do you think everyone is just an actor on the stage?"

Legotius rode up to him, lifted his helmet, and placed its empty, blind eye against his face, observing him for a moment. At first, its expression seemed a mask carved from stone, then it forced itself into a confident smile, but it remained unchanged. It reached out and patted his shoulder, looking like a wandering knight.

"You don't need to ask me things you already know, Cesar. Although I am an interested observer, will this affect our friendship? You know it won't. The only way it can change is if you accept the crown I give you and become my master, but you didn't, so our friendship will last forever. Isn't this a miracle?"

"So how much does the princess's affairs have to do with you?"

"Although not all of it, I did give her the map with the dark tide marked on it," it said nonchalantly. "After all, I only promised not to harm you, didn't I? I only promised not to harm you, Cesar."

......

Just as Artinia had expected, Trisius had her brought to the tent. His command and tactics were reminiscent of Clephas's. However, old Clephas wouldn't have made such a tactical error, wouldn't have relaxed his flank defense just because he couldn't see. He was overly aggressive in his tactics. It was obvious that he'd been incredibly excited recently, and with someone like her, she could easily find his weaknesses and deliver a fatal blow.