The Infinite Dragon God Cannot Find Silence

However, another messenger quickly took over.

“A large jungle has suddenly appeared in the south. In accordance with the king’s command not to act rashly, we have not yet explored it. Please make the decision, Your Majesty!”

Unfortunately, it didn't bring good news.

The next moment, Orpheus's eyes narrowed.

It seems... there's no time for her to think about this new information.

A blue magic cannon shot ripped through the sky, heading straight for Uruk!

Chapter 37: The Reappearance of Ishtar

The blue light cannon, carrying enough energy to blast a hole in the city wall, blasted directly towards Orpheus.

Before Orpheus could make any move, a silver light shot out from her sleeve and transformed into a silver shield in mid-air.

The beam of light struck the shield and was deflected, landing on the ground outside Uruk.

Only then did Orpheus slowly look in the direction from which the light cannon had come.

There, a scantily clad 'girl' sat on a crescent-shaped aircraft, smiling and waving at her.

After tilting his head and thinking for half a second, Orpheus retaliated with a massive magic cannon with a radius of one meter.

"Hey, hey, hey, is this how you welcome me after all this time?"

“Only a month... and Ishtar taught me this way of greeting.”

"...I've always felt that you're actually a bit cunning, haven't I?"

Ishtar grumbled, her face full of exasperation.

"illusion."

With a blank expression, Orpheus responded indifferently.

"King Orpheus, you just said...this is Ishtar...the goddess Inanna?"

The priestess girl, Hiduri, standing to the side, looked at the guardian deity of Uruk with some surprise.

The other person's attire was as revealing as ever, except that their originally blonde hair had turned black, while their eye color remained unchanged... Finally, their body had shrunk considerably!

Especially the pair installed in the front...

Although goddesses can actually change their appearance at will... Ishtar is the goddess of beauty, and generally keeps her body at the most beautiful age for humans.

...Well, the perception of when a person's appearance is at its peak varies from person to person. Many people think it's in their early twenties, some think it's during their teenage years between fourteen and eighteen...and some people might prefer those under ten, while there are quite a few middle-aged enthusiasts, and some even think it's in their seventies or eighties.

Even so, in most people's minds, a person's peak is in their twenties, so goddesses also prefer to keep their appearance fixed at this age.

Besides, the change in hair color was also quite strange... However, Siduri was only slightly surprised, because the senior priests who had tried to keep up with the goddess's thinking had all become mentally unstable in the end, so she had long given up thinking about it.

Hiduri's surprise lasted only a moment, but it was still keenly noticed by Ishtar.

"Oh, this is our priestess. But what's with that look? Are you surprised by this body? Well, although this body isn't as voluptuous and attractive as before, her appearance is still top-notch, so this goddess isn't unwilling to accept her."

"Ish...Ishtar, I wasn't sure when I saw you before...but, it really is you?"

Orpheus, who had originally intended to call her Ishtar, suddenly remembered that as part of the deal, she should address her as Ishtar.

Ishtar narrowed her eyes at Orpheus's question.

"Oh? I have to return that to you. Back then, I didn't understand why you wanted me to do that kind of thing, and even now I'm still not entirely sure... Now that you've said this... you really can see the future?"

"..."

Orpheus did not respond.

"However, now that I'm here against you, you still asked me for help back then... This means that what you saw was also limited. Didn't you see that 'I' would be your enemy back then? Or did you know that I would agree to help you in the future, even though you saw that 'I' would be your enemy now?"

Ishtar laughed with a wicked sense of humor.

"So, can our little Orpheus see whether I'll go to that southern land and take back my powers?"

"It's impossible."

Orpheus let out a small sigh.

She really couldn't do anything about this particularly troublesome goddess when she couldn't ignore her.

“Ishtar is a Servant; no matter how close she gets to the original, she can never reach the level of the original.”

Orpheus had already figured it out; this Ishtar appeared in the human world in a similar way to how she summoned heroic spirits, except that she seemed to need to possess a human body to do so, and her appearance changed for the same reason.

Although Ishtar's current strength is quite close to that of the original body, she ultimately does not possess 100% of the original body's abilities. The powers set up by the original body are not so easily dispelled by the clone.

At least, it will give Orpheus time to stop it.

"Tch, how boring."

Seeing that Orpheus had no reaction, Ishtar pursed her lips helplessly.

"Ishtar, why would you do such a thing?"

After thinking for a moment, Orpheus finally asked the question that had been bothering him.

She originally thought that this catastrophe was caused by the gods wanting to punish humanity for turning away from them, but... Ishtar was not a god who resented humanity.

Conversely, although Ishtar is quite contradictory in both her composition and emotions, her fundamental love for humanity is undeniable.

She has no reason to destroy humanity.

...Although that's what they say, Orpheus also knows that gods don't need reasons to do things.

To do as one pleases—that is God.

"Huh? That's an incredibly stupid question. Do the gods need any reason to punish humanity? Instead, don't you think it would be quite interesting to witness whether humanity can survive or perish?"

Sure enough, Ishtar casually tossed her twin black hair and responded nonchalantly.

But as soon as she finished speaking, she sensed that something was wrong.

Looking down, dozens of various weapons that could make her feel threatened emerged from the golden ripples, pointing neatly at her location.

"In that case, please leave."

Along with the indifferent voices, a torrential rain of weapons surged forth.

"Hey, hey, hey, is it normal for you to start a fight over nothing? Shouldn't you at least say a few words first? Wait a minute!!"

Orpheus didn't quite understand where this idea came from.

She only does what is necessary, and clearly, there is no need to chat with someone after confirming they are an enemy.

Although Ishtar may seem foolish, she actually possesses the wisdom of an elder due to her immeasurable age, so it won't be easy to get information out of her...

"You're probably not the only one... Is anyone with you?"

With a "what's the harm in trying?" attitude, Orpheus asked the question while releasing the treasure.

"what?"

Ishtar was still maneuvering her celestial vessel to dodge the constantly flying Noble Phantasms when she instinctively spoke up in response.

"Aren't they just those two snakes that look sinister and like to make funny faces..."

Ishtar suddenly stopped halfway through her speech.

"Ughhhhh, this is so annoying! You just wait and see, I'll be back!!!"

Then, after saying those words, she boarded the celestial boat and departed.

Orpheus tilted his head.

Really... I said it out loud...

Chapter 38 Resisting Fate?

After Ishtar left, Orpheus stood there pondering.

This time, Ishtar, who was summoned by a deity, not only shrank in size, but also seemed to have undergone some changes in personality, and... it felt like her intelligence had also decreased slightly.

This is probably due to the influence of the host body.

Although the information she just blurted out wasn't very clear, it did give Orpheus a direction.

Besides Ishtar, the opposing god has two other entities... This matches the information Inori gave us back then.

Moreover, it should be related to 'snake' in essence.

Although Ishtar only revealed a small part of the information, it was actually crucial.

Snakes...

This should be good news for Orpheus. As the highest-ranking of the dragons and serpents, the ouroboros can exert a certain degree of suppression over beings like the serpent goddess...

Moreover, once you know that the opponent is a 'snake', you can make specific preparations in that direction.

Even if you don't know the other person's true identity, there are some things you can restrain yourself by just knowing the concept.

However, the real enemies to be dealt with are not those two serpent goddesses.

Orpheus sighed.

While it's true that this foolish goddess might blunder on such a crucial issue, she's not really stupid enough to reveal the most critical information...

Perhaps because the level of one's rank resisted the detection of fate, although Orpheus had previously glimpsed the future... as long as it directly involved the fate of the gods, the amount of information would be quite limited. This was also the reason why Orpheus could not be completely certain at the beginning whether the other party was Ishtar.

one way or another……

Including herself, the 'snake' fears the 'steel'—this is an almost immutable rule.

Since ancient times, dragons and snakes have mostly been enemies of mankind, and heroes are often bestowed with treasures by the gods, wielding steel weapons to slay dragons and snakes.

Even so... we still need heroes who can wield 'steel'...

Originally, the one who best fits this criterion in this era should be Gilgamesh...

Well, Orpheus doesn't use the Second Law... and this inexplicable situation really makes one wonder if there are other parallel worlds connected to this current timeline.

Slaying monsters requires more than just unparalleled martial arts or strength; wisdom is also an indispensable element, which is why the berserk Hercules was also ruled out.

Incidentally, luck is also a very important, or even the most important, factor, which is why it is usually heroes wielding steel swords who slay dragons, while those wielding spears are extremely rare.