They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 376 Xia Gai's Past Sorrows
"Did those plague doctors go so far as to summon something like this in order to deal with me?"
But His power is not complete; without the presence of your National Health Commission, what He summoned was merely this inferior angel.

"Ugh——"

The Angel of Life rolled its eyes. It was not the type that was good at attacking. Rather than attacking, Jamildon was better at hovering in the sky. Its light automatically suppressed the enemy, paralyzing them and rendering them unable to move.

But this is, after all, a mythical creature summoned by the combined efforts of countless plague healers and disordered beings; it is more than enough to suppress the Plague Knight.

Ria glanced at the mythical creature in the sky, then shifted his gaze to the Plague Knight. Countless tentacles quickly emerged from the shadows and surrounded Him, while those tentacles, lying close to the ground, automatically drew a new sacrificial circle.

Without a moment's delay, the young man recited the prayer that Atlachnakja had given him the instant the ritual was completed.

The Connecting Path in the Immortal Dream

The Spider Mother Who Wanders Through Reincarnation

[The Weaver of Reality and Illusion]

When we call out the name of our nightmares

The day of destruction for Black and Red will eventually come.

When Ria recited the incantation, he used the ancient spider language, which made the Plague Knight stare at him in great surprise. A moment later, the Plague Knight heard Ria say what he would say next.

In the name of trade, I offer you this plague as a sacrifice—

The gavel has fallen, and the transaction is deemed valid.

The golden pupils on the youth's body opened one after another, and golden light shimmered on those dark tentacles, as bright as stars.

[The party being traded: Atlaknakia, the Spider God]

[Party in the transaction: Lord of Trade, Ria Kercha]

[Trade Item: Plague]

[Signed by: Divine]

[Review Result: Approved]

As those golden eyes watched, the sacrificial array on the ground gradually began to display some new, obscure symbols.

As those symbols appeared, the Plague Knight felt his vision being constantly stripped away, and before long, a hideous spider image appeared in his mind.

The hair of the humanoid spider, covered in black fur, fell to the ground, its eyes behind the hair filled with doubt and hostility.

"Lia Kercha, how dare you play me like this!?"

He roared in anger, and almost immediately regained his mobility, drawing his longbow taut and firing an arrow at the creature in front of him.

In an instant, the spider creature roared, its fur moved without wind, and its eight eyes emitted an eerie light. Countless spider women approached the Plague Knight, tearing at him, but were almost instantly thrown aside.

The surviving Spider Witches lay on their backs, waving their eight limbs. Atlaknakia angrily spat out venomous silk threads at the Plague Knight, then dragged one end of the silk threads toward the cave exit at a speed incomprehensible to ordinary people.

"Atlak, we've all been deceived by God! He just wants us to kill each other! He's using you!"

"Of course I know about this problem, but so what? Do you think I'd help you more than a godhood?"

"You're also preparing for the Great Judgment Day, how dare you oppose me?"

"That's just a prophecy. If it comes true, then whatever I do today will also come true, so you should save your energy."

"You think you can defeat me? You, a mere Great Old One hiding in the Dream Realm, afraid to show your face in reality, think you can defeat me!?"

Atlas was annoyed by the questioning of the plague, but he knew that the other party was trying to provoke him, so he did not stop at all.

“I never thought I could kill you on my own, but you can’t kill me either. According to God’s plan, your reaction is within His expectations.”

"So what exactly are you all plotting?"

"Relax, you're not just facing me anymore—"

Atlach suddenly stopped at the edge of a cliff. The plague thought He was going to throw it off the cliff, but there stood a person.

The man was wearing a linen shawl over his upper body, his waist was bare, and his skin was darker than that of ordinary Endernes people. His appearance also had features that did not belong to the Endernes people, but rather resembled those of the people of the ancient kingdom of Bakri in the desert.

The man had a long, white bone flute hanging from his waist, held a sharp bone spear in his hand, and was adorned with heavy gold ornaments on his forehead, neck, and ears. His half-length, messy hair was tied up haphazardly, with the ends hanging down to one shoulder.

On the other shoulder of the man was a strange beetle the size of a pigeon, which Plague immediately recognized as the Xia Gai Demon Insect.

“Nice to meet you, Your Excellency Knight. My name is Serge Hephisgetu, and this child’s name is Shane Hephisgetu.”

The plague seemed to have forgotten what it was supposed to say. Its voice was strange: "Hephaestus... Am I some kind of person that everyone should hate, that even you want to get involved?"
And the aura emanating from you…

"Haha, you finally asked this question! Finally someone asked! That's right, that's right, I am the current Black Pharaoh. I killed the previous Black Pharaoh and seized his authority!"

He spoke with great pride, as if killing himself was a glorious achievement.

The next second, he took out the item he had snatched from the original Black Pharaoh; the prism crystal emitted a withered yellow color.

"My Lord Faceless happened to be looking for a Hephaestus who was available to help Him kill the plague, and I happened to be available, so I came here. But I have just been granted new authority, and I still dare not kill you..."

You are the Plague Knight, revered by millions. What right do I have to disrespect you? Just standing before you makes me tremble with fear.

"That's what Serge said," he said, but his face showed no fear, only a mocking expression.

Suddenly, he grasped the prism.

"So to give myself courage, I definitely need help."

As he spoke, he casually tossed the shimmering, unorthodox 38-sided crystal toward the cliff behind him, as if it were some kind of trash.

The next second, dark clouds gathered in the sky, blotting out the sun, while terrifying murmurs echoed from below the cliff.

[Offer sacrifices, offer sacrifices to me—give me offerings!]

"Don't be in such a hurry, the offerings are right there."

Sherger pointed to the Plague Knight bound by silk threads, while the voice from the bottom of the cliff remained silent for a long time, seemingly contemplating the value of the sacrifice.

A moment later, a huge black creature with bat wings and eyes split into three parts took to the air, then suddenly folded its wings and landed beside Sherger, drool dripping from its mouth. "It's been a long time, my other incarnation, the Noodle Eater."

[It has indeed been a long time. Is this a dream world?]

Night Demon clearly didn't like being called "Noodle Eater".

I never imagined we'd meet again here.

My seal should be broken by a learned, wise, and courageous human being. Then, I will take over his body and awaken completely—

How did you manage to break the seal?

"Don't you think I am knowledgeable, wise, and brave?"

【…】

The Night Demon fell silent, a rare occurrence. He couldn't deny this viewpoint, after all, the person in front of him, Sherger, was also part of him. Did He have to admit that he was foolish?
“Listen to me, Sir Knight, we never do anything without certainty, and Faceless clearly knows this too, so before He arrives here, we'll have some fun with you.”

"I advise you not to have any bad intentions. There are plenty of Nyarlathotep here, which are basically our followers. If you anger us and they show up, you'll be in big trouble."

Sherger was clearly stalling for time, and the Plague realized this as well. It turned its gaze to the Xia Gai demon insect, its tone clearly showing disgust.

"And what about it? When did you get involved with this beast? What are you planning to do?"

Serge was clearly dissatisfied with the attitude toward the plague: "Shane is now my close friend, and I will not allow you to curse it."

"Friend, what kind of friend would you make with something like this?"
Normally, when we see something like this, we should kill it on the spot, or even find its lair and exterminate the entire species.

"Really? I'm the one who's always lived in the Barkley Desert and been their neighbor, so how come you seem to know them better than I do?"

Sherger patted Shane on the head, and Shane turned his antennae.

Many years ago, Shane and his clan Shagai originally worshipped a supreme deity at the top of the pyramid... an incarnation of that deity. No one dared to directly worship that deity's true form, otherwise they would bring misfortune and annihilation.

But He was too high and too powerful to be conceived, and His followers were still countless, although most of them died violent deaths, and the groups that did not die violent deaths disappeared into the vast universe not long afterward.

Realizing this, the Xia Gai clan chose to believe in His incarnation and hoped that He would one day notice them and descend in person.

Then one day, a major event occurred in their clan.

The summoning gate made a sound; their piety had moved the gods, and the summoning was about to succeed, it would succeed soon. The being had already extended a tentacle in response to them.

"Long live the Lord!!! Praise be to the sublime and great Sovereign!!!"

The Xia Gai demon insects excitedly crawled towards the door.

At this moment, a large group of Hephaestus surrounded them, killed the avatar, erased the summoning gate, then demolished the pyramid where they lived, killed the elders and high priests, and even trampled the insect eggs to pieces.

Some Hephaestus even found a glass plate and pressed their insect eggs underneath it, with a group of clones gathering together to watch the "crackling" sound as the eggs were crushed by the glass, a scene of decompression.

Their smiling, blood-stained faces became a source of childhood trauma for young Shane.

Now, the remaining Xia Gai demon insects became homeless and pitiful creatures in the desert, hated by everyone. Perhaps this just fulfilled the prophecy that believing in that god would bring misfortune and disaster.

They have lost their threat, but they are still unwilling to give up and want to make a comeback. However, it is easy to talk about this, but it is too difficult to actually do it.

The natives and supernatural beings fought and killed them whenever they saw them, once driving the Xia Gai tribe to the brink of extinction. They were once considered sacred objects in the eyes of the royal family, and all the pharaohs and queens of the past had to treat them with utmost respect.

But now, crawling through the desert, even roadside scarabs dare to come up and snatch their dung balls... no, sand balls.

Shain felt very wronged. Before it became Hephaestus's new incarnation, its grandfather told it that it was now the rare hope of the entire tribe and bore the future of saving the tribe.

Grandpa said that the world belongs to the young insects, who are the flowers of the desert, the future of the planet, and the foundation of extraordinary beings.

It has let down its grandfather, its clan chief, and even more so, the embodiment of faith that was killed before it even showed itself.

It is no longer qualified to call itself the Xia Gai Demon Insect.

"So now, I am Shane Hephaestus!"

Xia En raised its antennae. What was the point of being Xia Gai? Everything that was happening now made it feel that life was wonderful.

The Plague Knight found it all quite bizarre, but he didn't say much. He simply turned to look at his white skeletal horse, which was bound by silk threads and kept far away from him, and then looked at Atlaknakia.

"You should know that poisons have no effect on me."

"Spider silk is naturally poisonous, and unless I deliberately restrain myself, there's nothing I can do about it, but the problem is I don't want to deliberately restrain myself."

Atlak continued his weaving, while Sherger picked up his spear and walked toward the plague, followed by a dark mass of night demons that looked quite imposing.

As it approached, the plague struggled, but the more it struggled, the tighter the spider silk tightened.

Atlas Nakya is almost constantly weaving his net, which is so tight that once prey is caught, there is no chance of escape.

"Don't waste your time. If we kill you, we'll have to deal with the other cursed seals. Tsk, the lackey of the Radiant Sun is even more disgusting than Him."

How dare you criticize others?

The plague scoffed.

"It's clear you're genuinely concerned about Godhood, paving the way for Him at every turn, but He doesn't appreciate it. You never see this kind of attitude from you when it comes to anything else."

“You are fond of chaos, but you are actually very impatient and extremely disgusted by anything beyond your control. Except for Ria Kelcha, you almost sacrificed your true form, Nyarlathotep, for him.”

"What, you all like him that much?"

"How could a foolish lackey understand what we're going to do? And do you really think you can see right through us?"

Sherger drew his flute from his waist and brought it to his lips, but upon seeing the bone flute, the knight's laughter abruptly ceased.

"Everything we do has a purpose, but isn't that obvious? Who would do something thankless?"

Everything we do is like an investment; of course, we expect a greater return in the future. Those who only know how to plunder and plunder need not speculate about us anymore, after all, you won't live to witness the moment we reap the rewards.

As he spoke, Sherger blew his bone flute, and the sharp, piercing sound instantly echoed in the air.

(End of this chapter)