Chapter 34

Under the moonlight.

There was a wooden bridge on the shore. The five guardian fairies took the initiative to stand up to welcome Deng Ken's arrival, while the Lady of the Lake on the boat docked the small boat and smiled, reaching out to pull him ashore.

Deng Ken looked at everything nearby curiously and said softly, "Thank you."

From his god's-eye view.

After passing through the mist and entering Avalon, his body also turned into a semi-transparent, hazy state, a bit like the Valkyrie he had encountered before, very close to the state of a spirit body. However, after he truly stepped onto the land of Avalon, the human body in the projection interface became clear again.

Thetis smiled and led the way in front, with the five fairies following behind. On the road, fairies brought fresh fruit, and Deng Ken picked one up and tasted it; the taste was very sweet.

The fairy walking in front smiled and said, "Welcome to Avalon."

"Noble guest from afar."

"You can rest here for a while; tomorrow I will send you away from this land of the afterlife."

Is it really just inviting me to take a look around?

Deng Ken's attention was all on those Avalon fairies. They were all three-star silver-gray marked units, and the fairies and spirits nearby were all one-star silver-gray, with strength much weaker than he had expected.

"Is it because Celtic mythology has become very weak?"

Deng Ken zoomed in on the map and saw a beautiful island without a single hostile unit; they were all blue markers. On the edge of the forest, there were two-star silver-gray targets, marked as "Green Knight."

Celtic mythology wasn't destroyed by the Church, but was replaced by the early Roman gods.

The core area of early Celtic mythology was Gao Lu. After the rise of the Roman Empire, the Druid faith gradually became history, and the Celts were forced to migrate to other places. They were already quite scattered and were a primitive faith that hadn't formed a complete pantheon, and later they basically concentrated on the island of Britain.

After Julius Caesar conquered the province of Britain, the faith of the indigenous people only had everything related to Avalon left, and many primitive gods were destroyed.

"It seems they are very weak now, without even a proper god."

The strength of these fairies guarding Avalon was probably just that of secondary goddesses in ancient Greek mythology, the level of Nymph fairies. Nymphs are spirits transformed from nature and generally appear in the image of beautiful young girls; they serve those more powerful main gods.

"A pantheon that hasn't been completely destroyed yet, but can only linger on its last breath."

Deng Ken wanted to see what they were planning to do, so he followed the six fairies into an area that looked like a Druid circle.

There were no buildings on this island, and the residents were pitifully few, as if it were a twilight god-kingdom of the afterlife.

A melodious melody sounded.

There were fairies flying in mid-air, very much like the kind described in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They were called little fairies or little elves; in the Druid faith, they belonged to the spiritual incarnation of nature.

The fairy Thetis invited Deng Ken to sit in the main seat, and then the six beautiful fairies sat around him.

Dozens of fairies brought all kinds of food, mainly melons, fruits, and vegetables, but there was also rich meat. Then he saw many little fairies dancing, and fairies who looked like bards performing, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively and active.

A group of fairies flying around, looking a bit like flower fairies, brought wine glasses. Accompanied by a rich floral fragrance, the amber liquid was intoxicating.

The six fairies stood up and raised their glasses. The leader, Thetis, smiled and said, "Lord Deng Ken."

"Please taste the mead of Avalon."

"This is a rare fine wine in the world."

Deng Ken swallowed. He did smell the wine; he wasn't fond of wine himself, but the fragrance was truly tempting, making people restless.

He drank a cup.

Deng Ken felt like he was drinking fine wine; honey, floral fragrance, and mixed wine flavor made his whole body feel comfortable. After seeing him drink it all in one gulp, the fairies around him were suddenly happy and danced around Deng Ken's figure.

This scene made him feel like he was dreaming in Wonderland.

The six Avalon fairies didn't say anything else, as if they were holding a grand banquet and had invited Deng Ken to attend.

A joyful atmosphere gradually permeated.

Before he knew it, Deng Ken had already drunk many cups, and even his vision seemed slightly dazed.

Thetis on the side clapped her hands.

Soon, a Green Knight walked out of the forest, holding a gorgeous battle bow in his hands, kneeling on one knee and presenting it to Deng Ken.

—"Bow of Nodens 【Mythical Curio】 【Holy Relic】: The bow and arrow used by Nodens, the god of hunting in Celtic mythology, possesses incredible supernatural power. Although Celtic mythology has gradually declined and the god of hunting has long since perished, the battle bow He left behind still possesses very strong power. Characteristics: Magic-breaking, Rapid, Rapid-fire, Armor-piercing. Special Ability - Wind Arrow."

—"Wind Arrow 【Special Ability】: At the cost of consuming mana, condense an invisible wind arrow."

Hiss!

What does this mean?

After seeing the Bow of Nodens before him, Deng Ken's wine sobered up quite a bit.

Inside the Druid circle.

The six Avalon fairies looked at each other, stood up slowly, and bowed to Deng Ken. The leader, Thetis, said sincerely, "We sisters see that you don't seem to have a handy battle bow."

"So we thought of inviting you to come and hand this battle bow over to you."

A gift?

So valuable?

Deng Ken looked hesitant and reached out to pick up the Bow of Nodens. As soon as he touched it, he felt its extraordinariness, because it actually resonated with the mana in Deng Ken's body.

This weapon was very strong and could probably rival the Church's holy relics.

Deng Ken pondered, "You want to give it to me?"

The six Avalon fairies nodded slightly; it didn't look like they were just putting on a show.

This thing is a bit hot to handle!

It's good, alright.

But accepting this heavy gift definitely meant having to pay something.

Deng Ken stared at the leader, Thetis, and said in a deep voice, "Then what price do I have to pay?"

Hearing his words, the six Avalon fairies shook their heads slowly. The leader, Thetis, bowed slightly, and the other five fairies followed suit. Deng Ken turned to avoid the bow, not accepting the courtesy, while Thetis said faintly, "Avalon in the mist is gradually dying."

"If in the future you feel this gift is useful, please protect our heritage in the real world."

"So that it won't completely perish in history."

The Church's faith had already spread to the island of Britain, and it wouldn't be long before Scandinavia had believers of the Church. The island of Britain had also been hit very hard. In the early days, there were Roman gods brought by the Empire, later there were missionaries from the Church, and now the Saxon invasion had brought the faith of the Nordic pantheon.

It could be said that Celtic mythology had been beaten by various pantheon camps in turn. In the England region, it was estimated that only Avalon still retained a certain degree of legend.

So that's what it was.

Deng Ken felt much more relaxed after hearing this. He had escorted the Raven Queen, Triss, across most of Europe and had long since had inextricable ties with polytheism.

If you have many debts, you don't feel the weight; instead, it's nothing much.

After seeing Deng Ken pick up the battle bow, the six Avalon fairies couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and the fairies around them couldn't help but cheer with joy. Soon, more fine wine and delicacies were served, bards sang, and a joyful atmosphere reappeared.

Deng Ken looked at the fairies in front of him and suddenly asked, "I'm not the first mortal to come to Avalon, am I?"

The fairies looked hesitant when they heard this.

Deng Ken signaled them not to be nervous, raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp, and guessed, "Who else has been here?"

"Gaius Julius Caesar?!"

"Right?"

After the Empire conquered Britain, it still retained part of the Celtic faith. It wasn't hard to guess that Avalon had once bowed to Caesar, which was why the ancient Roman pantheon had shown mercy, and the Druid heritage had slowly taken root here.

The many fairies were silent for a moment, and Thetis said softly, "Caesar did indeed come here."

The doubts in Deng Ken's heart were resolved a little more.

It seems that the mythological creatures of the Middle Ages must also rely on the real world, and their survival in this world is determined by reality.

After a night of singing and drinking, Deng Ken was drunk before he knew it.

He didn't know when, but he had already entered his human body. He only felt surrounded by beautiful women, soft jade and warm fragrance, entangled in powder and jade arms, as if he had fallen into a beautiful dream, intoxicated and not knowing where to return, only feeling that this moment was as beautiful and happy as a palace in heaven.

When he woke up, he had already returned to reality. The morning light appeared on the horizon, without a trace of a hangover; he felt as if it were an illusory dream.

—Bow of Nodens.

When he held the strange battle bow beside him, he realized that all this was not a dream, but this legendary battle bow no longer had the strange faint light it had in Avalon; it looked like a relatively exquisite aristocratic bow.

"How can this still be a god... it has fallen to the point of being similar to the fairies and ghosts in Eastern legends who ask mortals for help..."

Deng Ken pulled up his pants and felt it wasn't a loss.

The Avalon fairies had placed such a heavy bet on him that they really thought highly of him. Since Caesar could protect the survival of the Avalon faith, he had to try it no matter what.

"It seems the Church has really pushed the other pantheon camps into a corner!"

Deng Ken thought of King Uther slaughtering wizards in the Kingdom of Camelot; he mainly killed the traditional Celtic priests. The Avalon fairies didn't ask the indigenous people for help, but instead placed their heavy bets on him, an outsider. He really didn't know how disappointed they were in the indigenous people of Britain.

King Arthur also seemed to have obtained treasures from Avalon. It was estimated that the guardian fairies of Avalon had placed their heavy bets on King Arthur at the time and hadn't considered King Uther at all.

Deng Ken picked up the Bow of Nodens, and the mana in his body surged, only to be drained completely in an instant.

—Wind Arrow!

A breeze appeared in the forest, and then an invisible arrow condensed on the battle bow. It was invisible to the naked eye; only the god's-eye view could see the outline. It just condensed and drained Deng Ken's mana bar, and then the arrow pierced the air, hitting a tree trunk more than ten meters away, leaving a two-centimeter-deep hole in it.

"No."

"Is my mana bar not even enough to fire one arrow?"

The mana in Deng Ken's body was drained completely. He finally understood that not only him, but all supernatural units, whether they were witches or priests, were all suppressed to death by the laws of reality.

Under these circumstances, even if mythological creatures descended into reality, they would be heavily suppressed.

Time passed silently.

When Deng Ken returned to Devon Town again, he discovered that the barbarian soldiers stationed here had already withdrawn.

"What's going on?"

"Did they just give up occupying this place?"

Deng Ken thought the enemy would send reinforcements or transfer top experts among the barbarians to deal with him, but he didn't expect them to be so decisive. After looting Devon Town again, all the barbarian soldiers withdrew from this land.

They moved to the next town stronghold with open terrain and deployed heavy troops to guard it, and also transferred a batch of elite forest hunters.

Devon Town had a total of two or three hundred garrison troops. Deng Ken had killed more than thirty in two days and decapitated Blood-Axe Nidron.

The enemy couldn't bear the harassment and simply retreated to a place that was easier to defend.

However, as time passed, the legends about Deng Ken after their retreat also spread rapidly on the island of Britain, especially after it was known that he had shot the King of the Kingdom of Kent, the speed of this legend's spread became even more astonishing.

It wasn't just the Britons who were spreading it; the Saxons, Angles, Jutes, and many other Germanic barbarian branches were all spreading it, and it was even spreading to the European continent.

That was one of the kings of the Germanic barbarians, and he had just died violently like that.

A very subtle point.

Many outrageous rumors began to change after spreading and fermenting. Deng Ken's identity gradually became linked to the legendary Avalon. Some said he was an elven ranger from Avalon, and others said he was a mortal favored by the Avalon fairies, a helper invited from the European continent to help the Britons deal with the invading barbarians.

A large number of rumors continued to evolve, but they were always linked to Avalon in the mist, so the existence of Avalon was also frequently mentioned by people as Deng Ken was praised.

Until one day.

The remaining Druid faith on the island of Britain, the Celtic priests, began to publicly acknowledge that the person who shot the King of Kent had a deep relationship with Avalon. At this moment, myth shone into reality, and the Britons were indignant and high-spirited, as if they had witnessed the birth of a legend with their own eyes.

Of course, Deng Ken didn't know about these things at the moment; he was busy receiving the refugee legion that Anya had transported from the Gao Lu region.

The first batch was two hundred people in total.

Led by Kveto, they were mainly young and strong people from the refugee stronghold. The weapons and armor they were equipped with were on par with the Imperial border guards, and a small number of elites were equipped with the scale armor of the field army. It was unknown if it was because of the blessing of the equipment, but Kveto was now also a one-star unit, marked as "Private Legion Commander."

The Raven Queen, Triss, showed joy when she saw Deng Ken, but when she walked to his side, she couldn't help but show a trace of doubt. She sniffed and said softly, "Have you met the Lady of the Lake here?"

Deng Ken nodded frankly.

The Raven Queen, Triss, stared at him for a moment, her gaze falling on the battle bow behind him, her expression shocked as she said, "Bow of Nodens?"

It seemed she recognized this battle bow.

Deng Ken took off the battle bow and handed it to her. The Raven Queen, Triss, touched it gently and sighed faintly, "I didn't expect them to actually give you this bow."

The Church was rising rapidly, and it wasn't just her who was having a hard time.

The Raven Queen, Triss, returned the Bow of Nodens to Deng Ken and said as if casually, "Since they gave it to you, then keep it well."

"If you need anything, go to Anya. The Lady of the Lake is not as simple as you think."

"They are the primitive spirits of the Age of All Souls."

The Druid faith only became much gentler after being assimilated by Roman and Greek culture; early Celtic mythology was very fond of human blood sacrifice.

Back then, the Empire set up a province on the island of Britain, directly suppressing many indigenous tribes, cutting down mountains and breaking temples, destroying sanctuaries, and interrupting sacrifices. It was unknown how many true and false gods of Celtic mythology had been eliminated.

The fairies of Avalon.

They were the survivors of that era. After the Empire ruled the province of Britain, their image slowly transformed into an image similar to the Nymph fairies in ancient Greek mythology.

And before that, they were goddesses in Celtic mythology who enjoyed blood sacrifice.

Deng Ken didn't know these things, but after listening to the Raven Queen, Triss's words, he couldn't help but nod thoughtfully.

It seems that gods can also be destroyed.

This is also normal; the supreme gods of the past dynasties in Eastern mythology also changed constantly with the times.

………………