Chapter 10: The Twilight of the Gods! Please follow for updates

Dimensional Space.

This place remains a void of cosmic stars; in the endless darkness, only a massive nebula that looks like a feather hangs in the distance.

After Deng Ken's consciousness returns, he has no physical form here.

Before his eyes is still the projection screen under the "God's Eye" view. He can see the leader of the guards, Ka Tusi, waiting below the inn, while the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, quietly pours herself a cup of tea, as if she knows everything that happened next door and is silently waiting for Deng Ken's choice.

The monster hunter, Qiao Zhi, is in the town purchasing supplies—all rather cheap daily necessities. Judging by his appearance, he intends to leave this place shortly.

Deng Ken's intent shifts.

The projection screen before him immediately begins to change.

——"Retire into seclusion?"

Still the familiar screen.

A line of text gradually emerges.

——"Retire 【End Training】: You will sever the link with your human vessel and will no longer be able to enter the reality plane through this vessel. The human vessel will replicate a personality based on your current character and experiences; it will no longer be able to gain additional ability improvements."

"Dimensional Space will switch to 'Observer Mode.' Your consciousness will temporarily fall into a deep sleep until energy is fully restored to capture the next compatible human vessel."

——"Causality Law 【Training Settlement】:

Branch One: You accepted Ka Tusi's invitation and joined the army of the Aetius family. Soon, relying on your extraordinary strength, you gained the attention of the Aetius family and were adopted as a son, granted the surname Aetius. You quickly made a name for yourself on the empire's borders, repeatedly distinguishing yourself in the war against the Germanic barbarians. You assisted in suppressing the rebellion of the Franks and forced back the invasion of the Saxons.

But the empire was already in its twilight; neither you nor the Aetius family could turn the tide. With the Huns' renewed incursions, the barbarian invasion of the empire grew increasingly fierce.

The Scourge of God is dismembering the entire empire.

Half a year later, you were struck by several arrows in battle against the Huns and were forced to retreat to the rear to recuperate, but this injury left your body with incurable hidden ailments.

Three months later, you were besieged by barbarian rebels in Lower Germania; you slew over ten men in battle before dying of exhaustion.

You left your name in history as an adopted son of the Aetius family, considered by historians to be one of the most battle-hardened adopted sons under the Roman Protector 'Aetius'."

Hmm?

The Last Roman—Aetius?

Deng Ken tries his best to recall, but he knows very little. This man seems to be the last famous general of the late empire, but his end was to be murdered by the emperor.

The emperors of the empire changed quite frequently: first supported by the army, then assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, later barbarians became emperors, only to be poisoned, commit suicide, or be deposed. In any case, the emperors took turns sitting on the throne. If it weren't for the naturalized barbarians integrating into the empire, it would have collapsed long ago.

The Scourge of God?

Deng Ken knows this one: the emperor of the Hunnic Empire, Attila. It's in history textbooks. A large part of the barbarian invasion was caused by the Huns migrating to the Eurasian continent, indirectly leading to the empire's destruction.

"However, this is clearly a parallel world. It's unclear if the historical trajectory will deviate."

Without a doubt.

This ending is much better than the last one; at least he wasn't a beggar, but rather a grassroots general of the empire. Dying on the battlefield is much better than dying of illness on the street.

"What about Branch Two?"

"Why is the causality law deduction so much slower than the last one? Is it because of supernatural powers?"

Deng Ken waits for a while.

Only then does the causality law settlement for Branch Two appear on the projection screen before him.

"Branch Two: You agreed to accompany the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, to the British Isles. Beyond the vast territories of the empire, the dark forces of the old era still linger. You encountered many legendary monsters, and with the help of the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, you slew trolls, ghouls, half-giants, sirens, and other supernatural creatures.

Gradually, you possessed your own legend on the British Isles.

You became friends with the legendary wizard Merlin, witnessed the birth and growth of King Arthur, and gained the love of the Raven Queen, Te Lisi. The ultimate pleasure she brought you made you gradually lose interest in other women.

But witches can almost never bear offspring. After entering middle age, you were bewitched by the Lady of the Lake and gradually distanced yourself from the Raven Queen, Te Lisi.

In order to find the tranquil realm prophesied to shelter their kind through the dark age, the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, began to plan the exploration of the world beyond the sea. She built a large ship on the British Isles and took the witches who followed her to travel overseas in search of the 'Bingdao' you spoke of.

At the final moment, you awakened to the realization that your true soulmate was Te Lisi, who had weathered countless crises and faced numerous dangers with you. You ultimately abandoned everything and boarded that ocean-going ship.

After experiencing dangers.

You luckily escaped the pursuit of the Kraken and found Bingdao, which had not yet been colonized or discovered.

But here dwelt terrifying monsters that had settled here during the mythic age to avoid humans. You encountered the greatest crisis in history: a primeval dragon. The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, died in battle to protect you.

In the final battle, you discovered that your sharp sword and the arrows you shot could not pierce the dragon's scales at all.

Only then did you realize that you were just an ordinary person with a little bit of martial prowess.

All along, it was the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, who had been silently sheltering you. The legends and prestige you possessed were all because Te Lisi attributed all the glory to you, forging your legendary story on the British Isles.

You were just an ordinary person.

Under the dragon's scorching breath, you embraced your lover's body and turned to ash in the raging flames."

Dimensional Space.

Deng Ken is suddenly stunned.

Speechless for a long time.

He looks at this second ending derived from the causality law, unable to recover for a long time.

Just then, the projection screen changes again.

"Causality Law interferes with the Root Law!"

"The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, injects her final magic into your soul. Your soul is transcending the laws of reality!"

"Your human vessel leaves a legend in the real world, becoming an important figure in the legends of King Arthur. You are rumored to be King Arthur's second mentor, teaching him archery and mounted shooting in his youth, and in the legends concerning Bingdao, you are regarded as the first human to challenge the dragon."

"Your human vessel merges with the world's laws and ascends to become a Lower-Tier Heroic Spirit!"

——Monster Hunter Deng Ken! 【No. 1 Human Vessel】 【Lower-Tier Heroic Spirit】 【Witch's Love】 (Can be transformed into a cross-dimensional avatar form, entering all captured reality planes through summoning rituals.)

Characters are jumping.

——"Retire into seclusion?"

——"After retiring, the causality law deduction will assimilate with the laws of reality, and the No. 1 human vessel will enter the Dimensional Space in the avatar form of a 'Lower-Tier Heroic Spirit'."

No!

Deng Ken refuses without hesitation.

Although this ending is better than the last one, he absolutely cannot accept it.

According to his understanding of Dimensional Space, after he severs the link with the human vessel, the vessel cannot improve its strength at such an astonishing speed. The second causality law ending clearly shows that the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, was always working in the shadows; a mortal who was only at the level of a standard knight could never defeat so many supernatural monsters, let alone possess his own legendary story on the British Isles.

Of all the endings produced by the causality law, this is the only one where Deng Ken lived past middle age.

More importantly, this ending happened to encounter the most dangerous enemies, yet he remained safe and sound until they found Bingdao and encountered the dragon dwelling there.

Deng Ken realizes after a moment of thought that this ending was because the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, was protecting him the whole time.

Even the key element of the human vessel ascending to a Lower-Tier Heroic Spirit was Te Lisi injecting her final magic into his soul.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, perished.

Monster Hunter Deng Ken survives as a Heroic Spirit.

This is the Witch's Love.

Deng Ken really wants to smoke a cigarette now; his head is buzzing, and he can't help but sigh softly: "We haven't even held hands yet."

"How did we end up falling in love?"

Neither is a good ending.

Deng Ken now understands that unless his strength reaches a certain level, in this turbulent era, once he chooses to sever the link with the human vessel, the vessel is highly likely to meet a bad end.

After he disconnects from the human vessel, its abilities will no longer improve by leaps and bounds; it will retain his current strength. His melee combat is equivalent to a skilled infantryman, his archery is equal to a forest hunter, and his riding and mounted shooting are about the same as a nomadic horse archer. In all aspects, he is quite capable, counting as a character with balanced martial prowess. Such a person could serve as a minor general in the imperial army and could potentially be promoted if he seizes the opportunity, but under the grand trend of the empire's collapse, it is almost impossible to live out one's life peacefully.

Rome has been sacked time and time again, and the entire European map has been reduced to chaos; almost no one can meet a good end.

Deng Ken already has the answer in his heart.

He pushes open the door, sees Ka Tusi being supported in the inn lobby, and then, without hesitation, knocks on the door next door. Gazing at the veiled Raven Queen, Te Lisi, he says slowly: "I will escort you to the British Isles."

"But you must give me a large sum of money!"

Need more money!

Even if we lived and died together in the causality law deduction, so what? That was just a personality replicating my character and experiences!

Still need more money!!!

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, reveals a hint of surprise, her pair of emerald-blue gemstone eyes like crescent moons. She decides decisively: "Very well."

Deng Ken's strength is very strong.

At least under the blessing of the God's Eye view, the strength he displays completely exceeds the combat skills he currently possesses. Even the monster hunter, Qiao Zhi, is quite wary of him; after all, Deng Ken killed 19 enemies in three days, all of whom were real military soldiers. On an ancient battlefield, slaying one armored soldier is enough to be promoted through military merit.

Once the God's Eye view is activated, the faint murderous aura beneath Deng Ken's cold and handsome face has long since intimidated the others in the group.

Below the inn, the guard leader, Ka Tusi, sees Deng Ken talking to the witch, and a look of disappointment cannot help but appear on his face. After all, such a fierce warrior, if he joined the army, would definitely be able to achieve great things; his bravery and strength alone would be enough to inspire others.

But Deng Ken knows his own limits; without the God's Eye view, he is only slightly stronger than a skilled veteran.

Joining the army now is not a good choice at all.

According to his personality, being a self-reliant lord of a separatist territory is more comfortable than being mixed up in the corrupt imperial bureaucratic system.

The one who sticks his head out now is the one who dies.

Looking at ancient Chinese history, few of those who emerged first at the end of a dynasty lasted until the end.

The guard leader, Ka Tusi, has people support him as he leaves. Before leaving, he takes a deep look at the witch. There is another reason the caravan is taking her along; after all, the Aetius family still has some connection with the priests who served the gods of the old era.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi's lineage served Trivia hundreds of years ago, which is one of the aliases of Diana, one of the twelve main gods of Rome, equivalent to a face of a deity.

The empire's polytheism is integrative.

Taking Diana as an example, she did not originate in Rome; she is the Nemi goddess, "Diana in the Woods," a great nature goddess worshipped in the forests near Lake Nemi.

Diana was initially just a forest goddess in Rome, but she later annexed Luna, another Roman moon goddess, thus becoming Rome's primary moon goddess.

Romans liked to use Roman gods to annex foreign gods with similar divine offices. Around the 5th or 6th century BC, the worship of Diana came into contact with the ancient Greeks. By the Roman era, Diana annexed the Greek goddess Artemis, and thus was also regarded as the goddess of the hunt, plants, and beasts.

At the same time, Diana also annexed the Greek goddess Hecate and the Carthaginian goddess of heaven, Caelestis.

The empire's polytheism was a process of constant expansion.

When the empire conquered the European continent, it began to absorb Greek religion and Greek mythology. Greek gods like Castor, Pollux, and Apollo became Roman deities and merged with each other. After Rome suffered a crushing defeat in the second war with Carthage, in order to get rid of Carthage's influence, it also introduced the Great Mother Cybele, worshipped by the people of Asia Minor, into Roman religion according to an "oracle."

In addition, the Persian deity Mithras and the Egyptian main gods Osiris and Isis also became objects of worship for the Romans.

The deities of those conquered peoples were generally absorbed into the Roman Pantheon.

This is the origin of the initial "Pantheon."

This point is somewhat similar to the people of the Celestial Empire; gods can be used once taken, and anything usable is absorbed as part of us.

Now the Pantheon has been closed, and no sacrifices are allowed. Ever since Catholicism became the state religion of the empire, the priests who once served the gods have disappeared one by one, and some have even been judged as evil witches.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi's lineage originates from here. Those who possess supernatural powers are more likely to worship gods; after all, they cannot understand where their magic comes from.

It is also because of this relationship that the forest banshee sought her help and called her "Priestess."

If it were still the period of polytheistic belief.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, would not be living in seclusion and exile; she would likely be the chief priestess of the goddess Diana, with a very high social status, equivalent to an archbishop of the church.

Hecate's alias, Trioditis, was translated into Latin as Trivia.

This is the origin of the Raven Queen, Te Lisi. Their branch serves the face of the Roman goddess Diana after she devoured the goddess Hecate. Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft and death, so this branch of priests of Trivia was cruelly suppressed by the church.

Perhaps in the Middle Ages, some witches who were burned at the stake might have awakened magic later, or learned and mastered witchcraft through certain means.

But before the empire was destroyed, many wizards were the inheritance of the priests of the gods during the polytheistic period.

Or to put it more bluntly.

If gods really existed in this world, then the Pantheon combined would not be enough to fight God alone. In the end, secular society completely replaced "polytheism" with "monotheism."

Those priestly systems that had been passed down for thousands of years and had existed since the ancient Greek era were all branded with the name of "heresy."

The ancient Olympic Games.

Held every four years since 776 BC, they lasted for 1170 years until they were banned by the Roman emperor in 394 AD.

That year.

The ancient Olympic Games were banned, the doors of the Pantheon were closed, the sacrificial fire was extinguished, polytheism completely became history, and the priests who once served the gods also ushered in the end of their era.

The Inquisition was quietly established.

Just as the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, said—"The era that belonged to us has ended..."

The twilight of the gods.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, only wanted to find a kingdom that could shelter her kind. She glimpsed the future through prophecy and foresaw that "monotheism" would unify the faith of the European continent.

This is the clash between faith and theocracy above royal power.

God won.

……………… ===== CHAPTER 11 =====