The Infinite Dragon God Cannot Find Silence

While the people of this era were indeed fierce and unruly, it did not mean that they could remain completely indifferent to those who had the freedom to control their own lives and deaths.

Are the gods trying to make humans pray and beg them when they encounter famine?

Or perhaps, through the encroachment of Fenbaba on nature, it slows down the rate of human growth?

Indeed... these things are possible. Even Uruk, which is protected by the power of Orpheus, has been affected to some extent, resulting in some deaths, not to mention other city-states.

Humanity will rely more on deities—a phenomenon that is quite likely to occur after facing calamities.

Then, because of the demise of Humbaba, the wrath of nature subsided—which could also be interpreted as the gods receiving the prayer and ceasing their tyranny.

Even if the two of them defeated the culprit, Finbaba, only the people of Uruk would know, and at most it would spread to a few surrounding city-states... and even then, it would only be in the form of rumors.

Even with such rumors, people would still believe that Orpheus, the chosen king, and Enkidu, the weapon of the gods, must have been instructed by the gods to do so.

Did we win against nature, only to lose to the deity that represents nature? How ironic and laughable…

However, even after outlining the general possibilities, Enkidu still had some doubts.

Although a series of actions could very well lead to a result favorable to the gods, Enkidu still believed, as before, that the gods' actions were too hasty—or rather, too perceptive.

Humanity possesses immense potential, and sooner or later it will develop to the point where even the powers of the gods become meaningless—the gods have discovered this, are aware of their own stagnation and the potential of humanity, and therefore have sent forth a king who possesses divinity, stands on the side of the gods, yet rules over humanity.

That was the 'wedge' driven from the sky into the earth, Orpheus.

As mentioned earlier, Orpheus never fulfilled any such obligation, but the time interval between the gods creating Enkidu to counterbalance Orpheus and taking further action, namely Humbaba's side, was far too short.

It's hard to imagine that gods who are oblivious to time would be so impatient.

If the gods were to confirm that Orpheus would not fulfill his duties, perhaps that could explain it... but in reality, even Enkidu couldn't confirm it.

As for whether gods could see into Orpheus's mind, Enkidu thought it was impossible. She didn't know how strong Orpheus was, but she was certain that even if there were some god-king level mind reader, they would not be able to see through Orpheus's thoughts without her noticing at all.

No—perhaps it's because Orpheus was simply too powerful, and thus escaped the control of the gods?

This is somewhat far-fetched... because even Enkidu himself didn't know what Orpheus's true strength was, or even what his true form was, let alone the gods.

It should be noted that, as a weapon of the gods, Enkidu's own perception is actually much stronger than that of many gods who are merely 'natural incarnations'.

And with the arrogance of a god, how could they assume that the other party could threaten them without even knowing their strength? That's utterly ridiculous.

...On another note, why would those gods choose an entity of unknown origin as a starting point?

While Enkidu was deep in thought, he didn't notice that on the other side, Orpheus's right eye was flashing with an extremely faint silver light, and he murmured a word in a questioning and rather soft voice.

"...Human...reason?"

Chapter 17 Ishtar

"...Human...reason?"

After whispering the word, Orpheus snapped out of her reverie and blinked in confusion.

Just now, some fleeting images suddenly appeared before my eyes, and then this word flashed through my mind.

Although I couldn't recognize most of those clips and they didn't leave a deep impression, there was one...

...The ruins of Uruk?

Orpheus wouldn't mistake the similar street scenes that Enkidu had taken him out to see before.

Will Uruk be destroyed?

Has Uruk really become like this now?

Or is it the future?

Enkidu is already somewhat saddened by what just happened. What if she were to see the destruction of Uruk?

Thinking of this, Orpheus stood up.

"What's wrong, Orpheus?"

"...No, it's nothing."

Shaking his head, Orpheus sat down again.

Almost as soon as she had the thought of checking on Uruk's safety, the image of Uruk still being alright flashed before her eyes, and a voice in her mind assured her that Uruk would be fine in the short term.

A clairvoyant...?

Orpheus, who had some knowledge of magic, was aware of this ability.

However, it seems there's something different...

"Hey, Orpheus, what's that in your hand...?"

At that moment, Enkidu suddenly leaned his head closer.

Although she didn't really want to bother Orpheus at this time...

But this fire stick felt a bit too powerful to her... so she had no choice but to ask her about it while Orpheus was suddenly coming to her senses.

“Ea”.

Orpheus's reply was concise and to the point.

"Ea? Is that... the name of the stick?"

Orpheus nodded.

"Is...is that so?"

"Hmm, it's probably a sword used to split the heavens... that's the idea."

"Huh? That's amazing... Orpheus got something good."

Enkidu smiled and patted Orpheus's head, genuinely happy for her.

"Um……"

Orpheus nodded, his main focus still on pondering the scene he had just witnessed.

At that moment, Enkidu suddenly stood up.

"?"

Enkidu smiled at Orpheus's questioning gaze.

“Ophis has received such good things, we should celebrate… I’ll go and prepare some more food.”

Before he could even finish speaking and before Orpheus could respond, Enkidu skipped away.

"..."

Enkidu wouldn't kill animals just because she wants to eat them, so all she's prepared are those apples... what are they going to use to celebrate?

However, Orpheus didn't pay much attention to that and continued to immerse himself in his own thoughts.

But this didn't last long either.

"Yahoo───"

Just as Orpheus was snapping back to reality by the sound, a figure tackled him to the ground.

"Wow, I thought so when I saw it from afar, and now that I'm up close it's so cute!!!"

The newcomer buried Orpheus in his ample frontal armor and rubbed against him without any restraint.

Despite taking a direct hit from the face, Orpheus's expression remained largely unchanged; he simply kicked the woman off him.

"Oh dear..."

"who is it?"

Ignoring the other's cries of pain, Orpheus looked at the woman in front of him.

Normally, she probably wouldn't pay any attention to people, but having just witnessed the destruction of Uruk, Orpheus began to pay more attention to what was happening around her.

Judging from her appearance alone, she was probably a young woman around 20 years old, with long, flowing blonde hair and alluring red eyes.

She was wearing suggestive clothing that was worse than nothing, with silk sleeves on her left arm and right foot, and bare feet in over-the-knee socks (?), which added another layer of suggestiveness to her outfit.

If it weren't for the sacred crown on the other person's head and the various extremely noble ornaments on their body, Orpheus would probably have thought that the other person was some kind of prostitute.

Of course, in addition to this, there is also the divinity that emanates from the other party like the sun, and the powerful force contained within their body.

"Hum..."

Ignoring her own earlier wails, the woman sat up in a duck-like position, touching her lips with her index finger. Every movement—even actions that would be considered quite ungraceful on others—exuded a strong allure on her.

"Remember this well, my name is Ishtar, and I am one of the great gods!"

………………

Ishtar, head held high, waited for a long time without receiving a response, so she had no choice but to look ahead again... At this moment, Orpheus had already sat down under a tree some distance away from Ishtar, staring blankly into space.

Ishtar's eyebrows twitched a few times.

She did indeed possess the ability to bewitch others, making them appear listless and idiotic, but while Orpheus's eyes were equally lifeless, her gaze was completely elsewhere...

"Tsk, I knew you had a very low reaction to the outside world, but I didn't expect it to be this extreme..."

At this moment, a few ripples appeared on Ishtar's body and flickered a few times.

"...It seems that I can't hold out in the mortal realm like this for long..."

The world is gradually denying the existence of gods...

This is also why a god who is extremely arrogant and lacks a sense of crisis would send in a wedge.

"cut……"

Looking at Orpheus, who seemed completely unmoved by reason, Ishtar curled her lip.

The gods had recently become impatient with the inaction of this prelude, so they sent down their goddess, who possessed a powerful allure that appealed to both men and women, to seduce the other party.

Of course, he promised her many benefits.

However... this was impossible to succeed, Ishtar understood as soon as she saw Orpheus and was kicked away by him.

Unlike Enkidu's inherent skill of 'Understanding the King of Heroes EX', Ishtar is able to understand Orpheus's characteristics to a certain extent because the other party is quite similar to herself in some sense.

(From the original work, it can be seen that Enkidu has low emotional intelligence, but he can understand Gilgamesh, who no one else can.)

Both the dragon and the god are egocentric.