Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 285 The Goddess Speaks

Bubbles churned continuously in the liquid gold; the King of Gold had vanished without a trace since falling into that pool of gold.

My nose is broken.

The King of Gold couldn't remember the last time he had felt pain, but what surprised him more than the injury from the direct hit was the way Ethan had struck him.

He heard the roar of the lightning element and activated his power immediately. Logically, he should have easily dodged this sneak attack as before, but this time, the power of spacetime could not save him from harm.

This was some kind of magic he didn't know, one that even Merlin had never been able to perform in his lifetime.

The power over time and space comes from the goddess. Logically, as long as they are under the goddess's protection, nothing in this world can harm them!

"You—you actually hit him! Whew—!"

Cynthia's eyes widened, and she gasped for breath.

She had waited too long for this moment, and at one point even thought it would never happen. She was still immersed in the astonishment of the King of Gold falling into the pool of gold.

For the first time, she felt that perhaps "gods" were not so far away after all. Although the Golden King and other guild leaders never claimed to be gods, in the eyes of the beings in the plane they ruled, they were beings comparable to gods. Every word they spoke was destiny, and no matter how much they struggled and cried, they could not change their predetermined trajectory.

And now, that high and mighty ruler who controlled everything has been overthrown from his throne.

The situation had reversed; they were now on high ground, looking down at the golden pool.

After a brief silence, the golden pool beneath our feet stirred once more, and an even more powerful energy once again filled the entire space. A colossal object formed from liquid gold and energy burst forth from the golden pool.

"So that's what Yoda meant."

After staring at that face, which seemed to be distorted by anger, for a long time, Ethan suddenly realized.

As the subject who had followed the Golden King the longest, Yoda seemed to regard him as a coward deep in his heart, saying that he always avoided the risk of making enemies of equal strength, and even in the war against Merlin, he waited until the victory was already decided before showing himself.

"What did you find?"

Cynthia hurriedly asked Ethan.

In reality, she didn't know what had just happened or why the Golden King's ability to manipulate time and space had suddenly failed. However, she was quite certain that if it were anyone she knew, even a Knight Lord or the Goddess of Life, they would have been instantly overwhelmed by the Golden King's energy.

When the King of Gold used the same trick again, she still failed to see through the flaw.

"It seems like he only has this one skill."

Ethan chirped softly.

He even seriously doubted whether this could be considered a skill, because it seemed that the Golden King was simply unleashing his immense energy without restraint. However, due to the overwhelming power of his abilities and mechanics, most people were helpless in the face of this almost F2A-style attack.

But since it's the same old trick, it's bound to end up with the same result.

The highly aggressive energy was once again blocked by the crimson ice. As the two different powers were locked in a stalemate, Thunder re-entered the battlefield. This time, however, Thunder's momentum was much stronger than before. It was no longer a probing attack. The flashing lightning transformed into a pillar of light that stretched across the temple in mid-air.

"Watch out, he's trying to escape again!"

Cynthia observed the golden giant's figure gradually fading into nothingness. It was precisely because of this extreme mystery that assassinating the Golden King had always been an impossible task.

No matter how the attack was launched, or how thorough the preparations were, under the blessing of the goddess, none could touch the King of Gold.

Time seemed to jump, and her mind went blank for a moment. The next instant, a heart-wrenching scream brought Cynthia back to reality. The scene unfolding before her eyes was almost unbelievable—a huge, penetrating wound had clearly been blasted into the chest of the golden giant by lightning.

Liquid gold gushed out like blood, and the enormous body, deprived of its energy supply, plunged into the pool of gold once more.

Without a doubt, the goddess's power was activated.

Time jumped, and the golden giant's body vanished into nothingness, but why did Ethan's spell work again?

Is it possible...

Has Ethan broken the goddess's blessing?

But he just mentioned that the Golden King is a "mechanical monster", and the Goddess's blessing is essentially giving the Golden King an invincible damage-free mechanism.

"The principle is very simple: the 'emptiness' effect is a visual result of him temporarily hiding in different times."

Ethan shared his thoughts.

This is why no matter what kind of attack it was, it was ineffective. When the power was activated, the plane in which the Golden King and the attacker were located was displaced, and all the spells that seemed to pass through his body hit the air.

"You mean you also have the same ability, so you can make the attack travel to other 'times' where he is?"

"No, I do not have such powerful abilities as they do."

Ethan shook his head. He wasn't some marine biologist who always wore a hat, and he couldn't just cheat his way into copying someone else's power by saying, "Looks like it's the same type of ability as mine," when fighting an enemy.

He simply used a more opportunistic approach.

"The answer is to catch the moment he returns to this plane."

Cynthia and Vivian were speechless for a moment. They had to admit that Ethan's explanation was easy to understand, but it omitted the most crucial detail—how to capture that critical moment.

Each time jump causes a break in thought, and Cynthia is no exception.

As the King of Gold said, time is their enemy, and the initiative is always in the hands of the other side.

"He told me."

……

?

She hasn't even asked yet!
Cynthia paused, the words that were already on the tip of her tongue getting stuck in her throat by Ethan's reply. She hadn't said anything, yet Ethan had already answered before she could even form a thought in her mind, as if he had already prepared the answer.

In an instant, a startling guess popped into her mind.

"Yes, it's what you think."

Ethan answered her once again.

Like everyone else, he couldn't avoid the mental blank caused by the time jump, but fortunately, the Golden King revealed his thoughts before activating his powers.

Listening to the other person's thoughts, if used properly, is equivalent to glimpsing the "future".

The King of Gold transformed the tomb into a temple by disrupting the timeline, which achieved the exact opposite effect.

Just moments ago, as the golden giant plummeted, Ethan overheard another thought from the Golden King: "Only a fool would risk their life in a place like this!"

This means that the Golden King had made plans long before their arrival, so that he would have another option if he were to fall into a disadvantageous situation in the battle.

Ethan was not pleased with the hit. The attack had only dispersed the energy gathered by the Golden King and might not have seriously injured him. Afterward, the Golden King quickly changed tactics and hid in the golden pool, never showing himself again.

This aligns with Yoda's description of the Golden King.

In the year 407, the Golden King beheaded Merlin, but before that, Merlin's heart had already been pierced by a cursed spear, and he had lost the blessing of the goddess. The Golden King was merely delivering the final blow.

This is typical of the Golden King; he has never even faced Merlin in direct combat.

However, all the descriptions lacked a crucial piece of information.

Where did that spear come from?
And how can one break the goddess's blessing?
That might be the "second-line preparation" that the Golden King made before coming to this plane.

At this moment, the temple was completely silent. The lightning element could no longer detect any information about the Golden King. After the giant fell into the pool of gold, there was no more movement. The liquid gold in the pool no longer churned and bubbled, and the scalding temperature disappeared due to the arrival of the ice element.

The King of Gold was as quiet as if he were dead.

Or rather, he wanted everyone present to believe he was dead.

Ethan suddenly remembered something and said, "Vivian, repeat Merlin's last words again."

"Don't be blinded by illusions; they are traps woven by time. Follow the tracks of the wheels, and the treasure is hidden there."

Although she had some doubts, Vivian did as she was told.

Before this, she had focused all her attention on deciphering the last sentence, thus concluding that Merlin's secret treasure was hidden in the royal tomb. As it turned out, she was right; Merlin had indeed hidden the treasure there, but unfortunately, the Golden King got there first.

The young king mentioned that these words were told to him privately by his father before his death, and he had kept this secret in his heart until Ethan and the others arrived, never mentioning it to anyone.

The moment they encountered the King of Gold, he uttered a similar statement.

—Here, time is your enemy.

……

Was this really a message Merlin left for them?
Or was what the previous king of the Garlog dynasty heard truly what Merlin meant?

The King of Gold could easily alter the structure of royal tombs, and leaving behind a false message by going back in time was even easier.

With that in mind, Ethan immediately climbed the stone steps. If this was a false message left by the Golden King, it meant that he hoped to meet them here.

The King of Gold had ample time to gradually transform the royal tombs into his ideal form.

During the battle, the liquid gold nearly destroyed the entire platform, but the altar at the center remained completely unaffected.

Upon ascending the stone steps, Ethan almost immediately noticed the unusual features of the altar.

Each symbol of the magic circle was outlined by golden light, with flowing liquid gold outlining its shape. However, unlike the scorching and turbulent energy beneath the altar, the energy attached to the circular magic circle was extremely stable.

Humble, hopeful, and yet fearful.

Ethan easily discerned the emotions contained within these energies.

The arrogant King of Gold, before the goddess he worshipped, displayed a completely humble attitude.

"I did not change Merlin's last words."

A faint whisper echoed from the altar: "After all, that would interfere with the course of history, but that's the charm of language. Just a slight change in the emphasis of a sentence can lead to a completely different understanding."

—Do not alter the course of history in any way.

This is the meaning Merlin wanted to convey in the first half of his speech.

When a predetermined fate is altered in a way that the goddess does not wish to see, it will bring unimaginable disaster.

"It's a real shame that Merlin couldn't tell the elderly king everything he knew, which led to misunderstandings."

Despite this, the King of Gold spoke with a gloating tone, "After all, he knows 'players' very well. They are the group that most likes to try to change their fate. But you can't blame them. Once they have the ability to resurrect, they become unscrupulous. This is a common trait of humans."

The ground beneath their feet trembled, and the circular magic circle beneath them seemed to be summoned by something, as if something was tearing open a rift in space and time.

The King of Gold silently observed the changes on the altar.

He never cared about winning or losing a battle.

Only the survivors will have the last laugh, and he didn't need to fight Ethan to the death from the beginning. All he had to do was bring this destabilizing factor here.

“I also know you, and I know what you have done in the Empire.”

Faced with the Garlog dynasty, which was in a similar predicament to the Empire, and the unruly soldiers running rampant in the capital, he believed that Ethan would definitely go against Merlin's wishes.

The location of the teleportation, everyone you meet here, and every event you experience are all pre-planned, and all of this is arranged for the same purpose.

"Don't you understand yet? From the night you arrived here, the ending was already decided!"

Goddess,
Driven by selfish desires, he recklessly disrupted the timeline and even colluded with Merlin. There is probably no one in this world more heinous than him!
The King of Gold prayed in his heart, and the will hidden in another dimension answered his prayer.

The shaking beneath my feet grew stronger, and cracks began to appear in the air.

Before that being that is about to break through the plane and invade this world, all barriers and obstacles are as fragile as cicada wings.

“Ee—”

Cynthia's voice abruptly stopped, and she remained frozen in that open mouth position, her movements forever frozen in time. Vivian beside her was the same; their eyes lost their light, their consciousness seemingly annihilated by endless time.

When the first hole appeared in space, the flow of time came to a complete halt.

In a daze, Ethan saw a nimble figure leap out of the hole.

Soft and clean white fur, and big, bright red eyes.

He sat gracefully on the ground, tilting his head and looking up at him.

"Meow~"

That's what the goddess said.

(End of this chapter)