Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 284 Military Strength Advantage
"Here, time is your enemy."

The sounds emanating from the deepest part of the temple continued, and the scenery on both sides of the passageway was constantly changing.

"The tomb... wasn't originally like this."

Vivian felt a sense of suffocation, and even speaking became extremely difficult. Everything happening around her was far beyond her comprehension. The tomb that was originally used to bury the heroic spirits of the Garlog Dynasty had long been submerged in liquid gold, leaving only a single corridor leading to the deeper part of the temple.

The molten gold emitted a scalding temperature, which made Vivian's heart leap into her throat.

Perhaps the ground beneath their feet will disappear in the next second, and they will all fall into that scalding liquid gold.

Cynthia also looked serious.

Before this, the Golden King had never displayed such power before his subjects. A strong sense of unease spread through her heart. The changes in the temple stemmed from time; the "past" was being severely disturbed. The Golden King's power was affecting an even earlier time, dating back to before the tomb was built, to the years before the Galog dynasty was established.

An enemy capable of traversing timelines at will and manipulating time at will.

Cynthia glanced at Ethan furtively; he walked forward with an unperturbed expression, seemingly unaffected by the ever-changing timeline.

She could only place all her hopes on this man who recognized ancient writing and seemed to come from the same place as the King of Gold.

At the end of the road was an altar, and the familiar figure was facing away from them, towards the prototype magic circle drawn on the altar.

"Come, let's witness this important moment together."

The voice beneath the mask was soft, yet it reached their ears clearly.

He held a yellowed parchment in his hand, which he melted into liquid gold in front of the three men as they arrived, letting it flow onto the ground.

"This is a reward for you. Without your help, I'm afraid I would have had a hard time finding Merlin's legacy."

Without turning his head, the figure said, "It's a pity he never dreamed that the person who came to follow the guidance would be a 'time traveler'."

What was written on that piece of paper?

Ethan's curious question amused the King of Gold. He could hardly imagine how thick-skinned someone had to be to ask such a question in front of an enemy.

"It's just some stuff about us and the guild."

"A list."

Ethan observed with great interest the liquid that had turned into liquid gold and flowed into the altar's magic circle. As a famous detective, he had already vaguely deduced what had happened. "'Merlin' is just a nickname, as is 'King of Gold.' I guess this list contains your true identities."

Ethan remained silent in response.

He saw the King of Gold clench his fist, which was the best answer to his guess.

Merlin's wish was to leave this hellish place. For this, he was willing to turn against his guild and travel thousands of miles to this plane to collect clues about the Old Gods. He firmly believed that the Old Gods were the last barrier to this world. Unfortunately, he died before his theory could be realized.

No one understood the guild's power better than Merlin, yet at the end of his life, he placed all his hopes on the player who triggered the "hidden quest."

"Aren't you surprised? If even he failed, what can a mere 'ordinary player' possibly do?"

Ethan has been thinking about these issues a lot these days.

Whether it's the method used to enter the year 407 or the guidance left by Merlin, it shows that he never had any expectations of the players who triggered these hidden quests in terms of "power". In Merlin's vision, those who came to follow these clues were not even as good as the soldiers in the capital, let alone the investigators from the guild in battle.

Upon hearing this, the King of Gold finally turned around.

He disliked Ethan; it was a terrible first impression because the talkative young man reminded him of Merlin, even their manner of speaking and demeanor were like two peas in a pod.

Smart people aren't always well-liked.

"What ability is something that even the most powerful guild founders yearn for but cannot obtain, yet 'players' can easily possess?"

The answer is not difficult to arrive at: "The answer is the 'logout' function."

In Merlin's vision, sooner or later people would flock here as players, so he didn't need to ask players to be enemies of the guilds. What he wanted to leave behind was information beyond the boxes.

“As long as they conduct investigations in the world ‘outside the box,’ even if the guild has the ability to control time or space, they cannot stop them.”

But this raises another question: "But why is Merlin so sure that the players outside the 'box' can find out about you?"

He clearly knew more inside information, including the reason for the "time travel". Unlike him, who was unlucky enough to die suddenly in a daze, Merlin and the other guild founders were likely not accidentally transported to this place. They were like pioneers who had a considerable amount of information before entering this world.

Perhaps they only entered this place through their consciousness, while their bodies are still preserved in some device outside the box.

"Looks like you've been brainwashed by him too..."

The King of Gold patiently waited for Ethan to finish recounting all his guesses before laughing mockingly, "What really intrigues me is why you would trust someone you've never met so completely? Perhaps he's lying to you, or maybe he was wrong from the start?"

They were among the first to hear of Merlin's theories, all of which were castles in the air, as were the theories of the Old Gods and the "edge of the world."

“You should have seen his manuscripts.”

Until the very end, Merlin firmly believed that the Old Gods guarded the edge of this world, and that as long as they could break through that final boundary, their consciousness could awaken in the world outside the "box." "But he shouldn't have left any experience of failure there, right? Before coming to this plane, he had failed seven times, each time bringing irreversible disasters to his plane, triggering tsunamis that submerged the entire continent, or destroying an entire civilization with an erupting volcano... These are all 'feats' that Merlin once performed."

The King of Gold raised his voice, his emotions becoming somewhat agitated. It was not hard to see that he and Merlin had a long-standing grudge, and even though the other had been dead for a long time, he could not hold it against him. "Why have you come before me? If you think I am a bad person, then Merlin's actions are a thousand times more evil than mine, and this time is no exception."

Seeing that Ethan did not refute, he continued, "'The Edge of the World' is just another unproven conjecture, and in order to verify his theory, he decided to release the sealed Old Gods. What if he fails again? What if this is not the boundary leading to the outside of the 'box'?"

Cynthia's face was ashen; she was clearly influenced by the Golden King.

This fact is explicitly mentioned in Merlin's own manuscripts.

To verify the theory's correctness, he planned to break the seal of the Old Gods and release those indescribable things. She was well aware of the consequences of doing so: even if Merlin's theory was proven correct and he returned to the "box" through the boundary, this plane would be destroyed in the Old Gods' wrath.

Perhaps just like a continent swallowed by a tsunami, or a city destroyed by a volcano, Merlin never cared about the lives of others.

The Golden King is an incorrigible scoundrel, but Merlin is definitely no better.

This is a lesson Cynthia has learned over the years since joining the guild—everyone who climbs to a high position in the guild is like this; all glory is built on the sacrifices and suffering of others.

"At the very least, I will ensure the survival of the inhabitants of the Golden Country."

A voice, almost sinister, came from beneath the golden mask: "And what about you? Are you still going to defend Merlin and make an enemy of me for his sake?"

As the King of Gold's emotions shifted, liquid gold poured down like a waterfall from above Ethan and his companions.

The three were forced to take a few steps forward, venturing into the circular platform where the altar was located. Looking back, the path they had come from was now submerged in scalding liquid gold, and everywhere they looked was bubbling liquid like lava.

The magic circle behind the Golden King emitted a blinding light.

"Watch out!" Noticing the scalding liquid gold splashing towards the three of them, Cynthia quickly grabbed Vivian and escorted her to safety.

She was well aware of the consequences of being touched by this liquid gold—in the Golden Kingdom, this was a form of torture specifically prepared for those "hopeless" opponents. This molten gold was more like a virus; even a tiny bit would cause the body to be rapidly assimilated and melt into the same liquid.

Under the manipulation of the King of Gold, those who are melted down are the opponents and will be reshaped into other objects.

There has always been a saying in the council that the artifacts wielded by the Golden King were transformed from the souls of his opponents.

Their identities are similar to Cynthia's; they may be heroes from some other plane or even gods in the eyes of people. After being reforged in gold, their souls and powers will forever be at the service of the Gold King.

It's getting hotter and hotter around here.

Liquid gold splashed onto the ground, beginning to rob them of their footholds at a visible speed.

Cynthia was overwhelmed, darting through the constantly melting space. She plucked the bowstring, but the silvery-white arrows turned into liquid and fell to the ground before they could even touch the Golden King.

Even energy without a physical form cannot escape the fate of being assimilated.

"Cynthia, your story can now come to an end."

The King of Gold looked at the figure still moving about. In his opinion, this could barely be considered a magnificent swan song. He had already thought of a new identity for Cynthia. "How about I turn you into your favorite bowstring? In the future, you will also do your duty and wipe out the enemies of the Golden Kingdom for me."

As she spoke, all footholds disappeared, and Cynthia drew ever closer to the Golden King. She had to rely on energy to keep her body stable in mid-air. For a mid-level god, this should not have been a difficult task, but the space she was in became extremely unstable over time, as if she were inside the belly of a giant beast, with everything around her being a corrosive liquid.

The King of Gold remained standing atop the altar steps throughout, calmly watching Cynthia as she fled through the crevices of liquid gold.

This triggered her worst memories.

Before the Old Gods, their resistance, just as it is now, cannot stir up any waves.

Several more arrows missed their mark. Forced by the liquid gold, she had already reached the steps of the altar. The King of Gold simply faced her with his arms outstretched, like an elder welcoming a lost child home.

She had to drop the bowstring; the longbow, imbued with energy, was assimilated the instant it touched the liquid gold.

That seemed to foreshadow her fate.

But Cynthia did not retreat; she went straight to meet the Golden King.

This time, even the air was assimilated.

She felt a strange sensation under her feet, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see liquid gold spreading upwards along her ankle.

The Golden King opened his arms, silently welcoming the new artifact forged by a mid-level god as it landed in his hands.

In the blink of an eye, he took a step back to the right, and an imperceptible cyan energy pierced through his heart. However, no wound was left at the point of penetration. The part that was hit seemed to be caught in a time vortex, becoming blurred and indistinct until a moment later when the cyan energy completely disappeared and he returned to normal.

The spread of liquid gold paused for a moment.

"Ethan, why won't you let me get rid of this nuisance first?"

The King of Gold asked calmly, "You should know the consequences of being distracted in battle."

In just over ten seconds, only the altar itself remained deep within the temple.

Ethan and Cynthia stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up at the figure that was looking down at them from above.

"This is a strange mechanism."

Ethan ignored the King of Gold and whispered a reminder to Cynthia.

In those ten seconds of observation, he understood that the mechanism was simple and easy to understand—the real threat was not the liquid gold spreading like magma. The King of Gold had cleverly used an illusion; the real transformative effect was the energy that spread continuously outwards from him.

This mechanism can be simply understood as "instant death will be triggered as soon as energy is touched".

Furthermore, the wind element attack was another power related to time, making the Golden King almost an untouchable being.

If this were a game, the designer who created such a monstrous creature would definitely be heavily criticized by players, right?

The key to victory lies in how to avoid those subtle energies.

"I'm talking to you!"

A furious roar came from beneath the golden mask; clearly, the Golden King could not tolerate being ignored.

The answer to this crucial question was quickly found.

As it turns out, the designer did not leave any room for challengers to hide when designing this dung monster. Overwhelming energy surged down the stairs like a tidal wave, leaving not a single gap.

Cynthia's pupils dilated; compared to the minor disturbances just now, the surging energy this time had expanded to the point that she could see it with her own eyes.

She watched the golden waves fall towards them, becoming the only existence in this space-time.

Until, the dazzling gold was tinged with a jarring scarlet.

The waves slowed down until they were completely stopped in mid-air, followed by a chill that touched the very soul.

"Looks like someone taught you."

The Golden King's voice rang out once more from behind the crimson ice, "Is that Merlin? He mentioned the method of power struggle in the manuscript?"

The frozen energy trembled violently.

As cracks appeared, the crimson ice continued to peel away, and the figure of the Golden King once again emerged from the broken holes in the ice. "I'll give you a compliment; to have mastered ice elemental magic to this extent—"

The arrogant voice abruptly stopped, and after a clap of thunder, his body was thrown by immense force and fell straight into the liquid gold beneath the altar.

Two figures appeared and disappeared above the altar.

"This is……"

Cynthia cried out.

She had never seen the King of Gold so disheveled, kicked down from a great height.

"This is a gang-up tactic."

Ethan calmly began to explain to Cynthia.

(End of this chapter)