Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 158 I Saw a Snake

According to the records of Silver City, the goddess of harvest is the queen of giants.

And the Sun remembers that Ember said that the true name of the Goddess of Harvest is Omibella, which is something that Silver City did not record.

Judging from their respective histories, the Goddess of Harvest and the Earth Mother should have no connection whatsoever. After all, one was the queen of the Giant King during the Second Age, while the other was one of the seven great gods of the Northern Continent.

Even Derrick himself wouldn't confuse the two, yet Ember is clearly confusing them, which can only mean one thing—

Whether it was Alger the Hanged Man, Audrey the Justice, Fors and Hugh, or even Klein the Fool, at this moment, only one thought remained in their minds:

"In Yu Jin's eyes, the Goddess of Harvest was equivalent to the Earth Mother!"

"One of the Seven Gods, the Earth Mother, is none other than Omibella, the former Queen of Giants in the Second Age!"

The information inadvertently revealed by this ember stirred up waves in the hearts of many members of the Tarot Club, leaving them unable to calm down for a long time. A deity who has lived from the Second Age to the present, who has risen from angel to god to the position of true god, is like ancient history stepping into reality, blurring the lines between history and the present, reality and illusion.

Furthermore, if the Earth Mother is the Queen of Giants from the Second Age, then are the Seven Gods, or rather, the six gods excluding the Lord of Steam and Machines, all deities who survived from the Second Age?

The moment the thought arose, everyone felt a sense of blasphemy and trembled with fear of the divine power. But amidst the trembling, the thoughts in their minds grew increasingly blasphemous; they began comparing the images of the six gods with those of the ancient gods, trying to find a correspondence.

No wonder.

"The Hanged Man," Alger muttered to himself, "No wonder the Fussac Empire sided with the Kingdom of Feneport in that War of Betrayal more than six hundred years ago. Was it because both sides worshipped giants?"

Upon hearing this, Audrey immediately realized that the Giant Queen was undoubtedly a giant. And in the mural, the only normal figure depicted as the "God of War" was also a giant! Given that they were all gods of the giant race, it's no wonder that throughout history, the nations that worshipped them maintained a high degree of consistency.

Audrey felt her thoughts becoming increasingly blasphemous, yet her initial trembling and fear transformed into a growing boldness. She knew, of course, that such blasphemous thinking was wrong, but the hidden knowledge she had encountered made it impossible for her to stop contemplating it.

Moreover, she wasn't the only one with the same blasphemous thoughts; what she could think of, others could think of as well. When it comes to blasphemy against the gods, none of us here can escape it!

Klein took a deep breath and calmly analyzed the situation in his mind:

"Among the six gods, there shouldn't be any ancient gods still existing in the world. After all, according to the records of Silver City, the ancient gods have all had their authority revoked by the 'Creator,' and they are undoubtedly dead. The six gods that exist now should all be subordinate gods from the Second Era. Although they are not ancient gods, this is still quite astonishing."

Audrey frowned and thought to herself:

"But the question is, why would the six gods unite against the 'Creator'? Could it be...?"

Audrey was shocked, because according to the records of Silver City, the Creator had reclaimed all authority, that is, 'extraordinary characteristics'. And for a god of the Second Era to become a Sequence 0 deity, they must possess corresponding 'authority'! In other words, the six gods joining forces against the Creator was likely an attempt to seize authority from him!

Audrey was startled by her own guess and glanced guiltily at the others. Then she noticed that Mr. Hanged Man was also looking at the others, as if they both had the same guess and were both feeling guilty.

"No, that shouldn't be the case."

Audrey took a deep breath and quickly refuted her conjecture, not only because the idea was blasphemous, but also because of the power dynamics. The Creator possessed all authority, and the six gods who were merely subordinates at the time were simply not capable of killing the Creator. There must be a deeper reason behind this.

"Mr. Sun"

Alger, the "Hanged Man," suddenly spoke up, "That mural might be the key to breaking the deadlock. You can try to destroy it, but don't let your chief suspect you."

"Mr. 'The Hanged Man' seems a bit guilty. Is he trying to change the subject to prevent others from continuing down this line of thought? Does that mean Mr. 'The Hanged Man's' faith is more devout than mine?"

Audrey keenly sensed the abruptness of the Hanged Man's change of topic and immediately guessed his reason. At the same time, the young woman felt a pang of sadness; she had once been so devout in her faith in the goddess, but now, whenever she thought of her, her mind was filled with blasphemous thoughts related to her!

Why, why did it turn out like this?!

"Okay, thank you for reminding me, Mr. Hanged Man. You are always so kind and enthusiastic. And Mr. Lover, Ms. Justice, Ms. Magician, Ms. Judge, Mr. World, you are all equally kind."

Kindness? Enthusiasm?

The Sun's naiveté left the Hanged Man momentarily speechless, as he was simply trying to change the subject.

Klein was also eager to change the subject, as he was afraid of attracting the attention of those individuals. After all, this wasn't the first time the Gray Mist had been invaded; first by the Goddess, then by the Eternal Sun, and not long ago by Amon.

This means that the gray fog is not as indestructible as he thought, but rather could be invaded by gods! Although their conversation here shouldn't be overheard, it's better to be safe than sorry! His mind was just filled with blasphemous thoughts about goddesses. If the goddess found out, he might be torn to pieces.

Klein felt guilty and thought he should do something to completely end the topic.

So, the 'Fool,' seated in his high-backed chair, leisurely adjusted his posture, tapped the edge of the weathered long table lightly with his fingers, and chuckled softly:

"Redemption Rose".

"Redemption Rose?"

What is the key to getting out of this predicament? That's right, the name is in a corner of a mural above the temple! "The Sun" Derrick seemed to understand something, and "The Hanged Man" immediately began to enthusiastically help "The Sun" discuss how to solve his current predicament.

The topic was successfully shifted from blasphemy against the gods to discussing how to help Derrick escape his predicament. Well, that was the real issue; the blasphemy against the gods was completely off-topic.

Soon, after this matter came to a close, the Tarot gathering resumed as usual. After Audrey and the others each contributed several pages of Roselle's diary to "The Fool," the Tarot Society tacitly chose to remain silent, handing the time over to "The Fool."

In Miss Audrey's diary, "The Fool" saw Russell, who was about to become a demigod, and his obsession with building Gundams. He also saw his incredible experience of seducing countless women and almost getting analed. This made Klein's lips curl up slightly—and it was definitely not out of schadenfreude!

Then, he calmly looked at the last entry on the last page of his diary:

"On April 26th, Zarathustra came over for a visit, and I deliberately took the opportunity to ask him, 'What is a miracle?'"

He asked me in return, "What do you think?"

"I think there is only one kind of miracle in my heart, and that is the wonder of civilization, such as the Twilight Palace of the Fussac Empire, the former residence of the Giant King Ormir."

Zarathustra finally gave a positive answer.

He said: What is a miracle?

"To come back from the dead is a miracle!"

Klein remained silent for a long time, then murmured to himself:

"A miracle!"

Zarathustra is undoubtedly a Diviner, and at least a Sequence 2 High Angel, and the Sequence 2 of the Diviner is the Miracle Master! Zarathustra explicitly states that "resurrection is a miracle," which means that "resurrection" is probably a high-sequence ability of the Diviner, and may even be the extraordinary ability of the Sequence 2 "Miracle Master."

The reason he possessed such a miracle before becoming an Extraordinary being was most likely related to the mysterious space above the gray fog. These weren't particularly astonishing discoveries, as Klein had suspected it long ago. After all, he didn't believe he had the ability to 'resurrect'; such an ability could only originate from the gray fog.

"But it's a miracle."

Klein glanced at the embers, his lips twitching slightly. "Zarathustra would never have imagined that miracles can actually be bought cheaply in bulk."

Klein knew very well that the 'miracles' he possessed were not unlimited; there was definitely a limit to the number of times they could be used. But for Ember, the miracles he possessed were almost limitless! For example, Ember's ring of sacrifice was itself a miracle, and the similar miracles he wielded were...

There are many other examples. For instance, the similarly effective "Farewell Tears" can be used indefinitely as long as you have enough mana.

However, besides the miracle of being brought back from the dead, the gray fog held an even greater significance for Klein.

Clay tossed his gaze from Roselle's diary, his anticipation growing stronger as he ascended to a high-sequence powerhouse, completing the radiant staircase deep within the gray fog, and discovering what lay hidden in that obscured place. Perhaps he could find the reason for his transmigration there, and the way home!

Suppressing his excitement, Klein continued reading the next page of Russell's diary:

"On April 21st, I saw the abyss."

Klein's excitement surged once more. He had seen similar sentences before in Russell's diary entries! However, those entries ended abruptly with that sentence, while this page began with it!

Perhaps later copyers mistakenly combined the two pages. Regardless, this means Klein now has the opportunity to witness the truth of history! Filled with excitement, Klein continued reading:

"I saw the abyss, I saw the fall of the gods."

Klein's expression changed slightly. What exactly had Emperor Roselle gone through?! Klein dared not imagine, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity and couldn't help but continue reading.

"On April 22nd, we will prepare to enter there and explore the abyss."

"On April 23, we followed the dark ocean, through the liquid-like fog, and arrived at the mountain that looked like a monster. Behind it was an endless black fog that seemed to cover a continent."

However, if you look down at the bottom of the mountain, it seems to have no end, no limit. I jokingly told Edwards at the time that if I jumped off the cliff here, I might never reach the ground, but I would be falling forever.

Upon seeing this, Klein almost raised an eyebrow, finding it hard to believe that Rosell would dare to organize his knights and sailors to explore the border region after discovering the abyss. However, up to this point, it had all been normal exploration, which, while suicidal, was still within the realm of possibility.

"On April 24th, we descended the mountain, attempting to venture deeper. The thick, black fog was icy and slippery, seemingly capable of permeating flesh and soul. Haha, fortunately, some items on the Black Throne effectively resisted this corrosion, otherwise I suspect that my Apocalypse Knights and I would have become members of the Farron Dance Troupe."

"It's very quiet here, and we haven't found anything."

"On April 25th, we saw the demons, but all that remained of them were their rotting corpses. Behind the jagged black rocks, beneath the mud that could hardly be called a road, in various places, some normal and some unimaginable, lay different demon corpses. It was as if they had all met the same end at the same moment."

"April 26th, either corpses or silence, there is no end in sight."

"The items on the Black Throne are beginning to show signs of corrosion."

"I have rarely felt afraid in recent years, but here, the unknown fear is like an invisible hand, tightly gripping my heart."

"We must leave! We must return! We cannot stay any longer!"

"I saw a serpent, a serpent from heaven! It descended into the abyss, and it devoured God, it devoured the God of the abyss!"

Klein's pupils constricted sharply. A snake had eaten a god?! What kind of snake could possibly devour a god? No! That was no ordinary snake; it was very likely another true god, merely in the body of a snake. Just like the eight ancient gods of the Second Age, none of them were human, were they?

The problem is that neither the Northern Continent nor the Forsaken Lands seem to record any serpentine deities in their ancient texts, not even among the gods. Surely serpents can't be degenerate dragons, can they?

Moreover, it is clearly written in the diary of Emperor Roselle that the serpent came from beyond the heavens! This suggests that he may have personally witnessed a giant serpent engaging in a great battle with the gods of the abyss before him, and ultimately devouring them.

Judging from Roselle's diary, the last few sentences are somewhat incoherent, indicating that Roselle must have been very flustered at the time. The handwriting is also quite messy, with some traces clearly showing that his hand was trembling when he wrote it.

This page of Russell's diary is probably not a copy, but part of his real diary!

"The starry sky looks dangerous!"

Klein's eyelids twitched. 'Mr. Door' was also in the heavens, and couldn't find his way back. The members of the Abraham family were also suffering from delirium because of this. But logically, a being like 'Mr. Door,' whose power was close to that of a god, shouldn't be unable to find his way back. It was more likely that he was being entangled by something.

And now another serpent from outer space has arrived, devouring even the gods without a word! Although we don't know who the gods of the abyss are, they are, after all, genuine gods, certainly no less powerful than the seven righteous gods worshipped in the Northern Continent! The fact that even gods can be devoured means that the dangers hidden in the starry sky are probably no less than those in reality!

(End of this chapter)