Chapter 616: Death

"Hoo-yah."

Rod watched from afar the phantom image of Mystra appearing in the sky, and sneakily winked at her.

But, unfortunately.

The phantom image here was perhaps only a self-running spell, or perhaps there were simply too many onlookers gathered around, so she paid Rod no attention at all.

As Lei Guang's sudden flash flared and died, she once again merged into the Weave's canopy, and vanished along with the Weave itself.

The halfling Lily walked over and nudged the clothing on the ground, which was covered in bone ash.

She said, puzzled: "What got into this guy all of a sudden? Why would he be so determined to challenge the Goddess of Magic's prohibition?"

The battle site was some distance from them, so they hadn't noticed that Rod was the first to use psionics.

Saying this,

she gazed reverently at the sky.

"Still, killing a ninth-tier mage in a single strike with no effort at all — apotheosis really isn't just empty talk."

Tally came bouncing and leaping over, and threw herself straight onto Rod's neck.

First she nuzzled his face affectionately.

Then, with a look of lingering fright, she leaned in and whispered: "Master, please don't use your psionic spells here. That Goddess of Magic has zapped people right in front of us twice in a row. I bet she's deliberately warning or targeting us. Let's go home and slaughter that mind flayer, so it won't cause trouble."

Rod pried her off.

This girl's eyes were glowing pink.

After speaking she blew a breath toward his face — sickeningly sweet — and kept rubbing against him with her chest.

Looking at the steady stream of converted Origin Force supplied by 【Paradox Motive】, Rod immediately knew the succubus had gotten herself worked up watching him fight.

The tooth fairy Rosalia was badly wounded.

She nodded gratefully at Rod.

Then she limped over to the ashes of the Chuan Ci Fa mage Vincent, and viciously stomped on them, grinding back and forth.

"Dying so easily — that was too good for you."

Rod didn't bother with her; letting her vent wasn't a bad thing.

From his spell pouch, he handed the girls some healing potions brewed by the arachne Watching Yuna.

"You all rest here first. I'm going to help Hela."

Watching Yuna possessed the innate spiritual art 【Magical Elixir Talent】, and after several points of investment it had reached +11; the magical potions she brewed were more effective than anything on the market.

Having said that,

Rod turned his head, ready to go help.

"No need."

Hela's languid voice drifted from afar, drawing closer.

In a parabolic arc through the half-air, she fluttered as she descended, her scorpion tail hooked around the elderly Cardinal Archbishop David, whose four limbs had been severed.

Rod knew her habit of disliking contact with the ground.

He happened to extend his palm and catch those snow-white feet, which hadn't so much as a speck of ash clinging to them.

Even carrying an old man, she still felt as light as nothing.

Hela gave Rod a satisfied look.

She flung David — his face covered in vomit and blood — to the ground, then shifted her posture and sat herself on Rod's shoulder once more.

Her snow-white, warm, plump thighs even squeezed Rod's face together as if bestowing a blessing.

Although being afraid a ninth-tier would fall over was a rather foolish thing.

Rod still instinctively grabbed her ankles on both sides, steadying her and keeping her balanced. He didn't know why, but this move made Hela giggle nonstop.

"You-you lot, cannot resist the New World's march forward."

Cardinal Archbishop David spat out a great mouthful of blood with a "wah," and said, trembling.

Rod pointed upward:

"Mystra is far more powerful than you imagine."

Lily pinched him secretly, her face reverent, and whispered: "You can't speak the goddess's name directly, Rod — you need to be more careful!"

"Oh."

Hela, herself a powerful ninth-tier, also agreed: "After all, she is the first deity. We don't know her disposition. Addressing her by name directly isn't respectful."

This one, just like Tally, was also a restless sort.

Saying this, she slipped her scorpion tail into the back of Rod's clothes and kneaded his spine, vertebra by vertebra.

He didn't know what kind of massage technique this was, but Rod actually felt a tingling numbness, and a hot fire kindle in his lower abdomen.

"False gods cannot withstand the true gods of the other planes! Their return is an inevitable outcome! From ancient times to now, they have left clear traces upon the continent!"

Cardinal Archbishop David's face suddenly flushed red, overcome with agitation.

"That's your doomsday rhetoric for fooling the common folk. Do you think we'll believe it?"

Rod spread his hands.

"No! You will believe it, Rod! Once you come into contact with the First Era relic beneath Shi Ying Town, you'll know all of this is true! The true gods have existed from ancient times until now!"

Speaking of which,

Rod immediately recalled using 【Origin Tracing Form】 to seek the memories of Windwall Forest.

Fabio had once said that the First Era was an era where evil gods abounded and outer gods descended.

"What exactly was the situation in the First Era?"

He had asked this same question of Mystra, the Goddess of Magic, but she had actually said that something was obscuring her divination spells.

Even though she wasn't particularly skilled at it, and was bound hand and foot by the invasion of the Weave's canopy and the other planes.

But after all, it was the Magic Goddess's prophecy technique—being able to conceal it at all is already absurd.

Cardinal Davide spat out another great mouthful of blood, and a distinct trace of grey decay faintly appeared in his clouded pupils.

"No one will know, no one will know. Once it is opened, all true gods will be revealed."

He said.

His head lolled to one side, and he was dead.

Rod was speechless.

He hated riddle-makers, especially riddle-makers who followed all sorts of religious sects.

Forget it.

Exploring the secrets of the First Epoch might be too far-fetched; better to focus on the matters at hand.

Rod glanced at the Shadow Hunter Wind's captain, Eve—she sat heavily wounded on the ground, gasping as she pressed against the piercing wound in her abdomen.

"How do you plan to wrap this up?"

The conscription squad was nearly wiped out—that's not a good sign.

It might even drag Shi Ying Town down with it.

But whether the Yige Sect's plan to castrate all human emotions would be made public once it got out was still anyone's guess.

Eve pondered for a moment: "'The conscription squad set out to suppress the Campbell family; Cardinal Davide led from the front and perished together with the evil.' How about that?"

She still didn't know about the Yige Sect's plan.

She paused.

Then added: "But we have no way of catching everyone in the labyrinth—that's a big problem."

"Don't worry about that; not a single person here will get away."

Rod's toe kicked aside the weeds, revealing the pinkish earth floor thick with resentment.

Nolin would take over this labyrinth and seal off all exits—that had already been arranged in advance, so there was no need to worry.

"No."

The pale-faced Grand Captain Carter walked over slowly from not far away, having already wrapped the severed cross-section of his arm in his tattered cloak.

He handed the wooden box containing the new disease strain in his hand to Rod, his face set with resolve.

"I want to expose and make public the Yige Sect's evil plan."

"Are you sure?"

"But the Yige Sect controls almost all of Brilliant Light City, and my family has asked Captain Eve to announce my death directly. I will turn to the more secretive underground and fight the Yige Sect to the end."

(End of chapter)