The Infinite Dragon God Cannot Find Silence

Orpheus activated his perception again, somewhat puzzled.

The result remains the same.

It was already strange that this place didn't even have a security guard, and now it seems...

There wasn't a single living person in this temple.

Orpheus, whose body was originally composed of energy particles, reappeared in the central square of the temple.

Looking at the layers upon layers of corpses, Orpheus paused for a moment, then bent down to examine one of the priestesses dressed in the attire of this era.

If you only look at it with your naked eye, it's as if the body is just asleep, and you have no idea that the body has lost its life.

Has the soul been taken away?

"What are your thoughts after seeing this scene?"

At that moment, a very familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind Orpheus.

Chapter 46 Ereshkigal

"What are your thoughts after seeing this scene?"

"Are you... Ishtar...?"

The voice that kept shouting in her ear every now and then was so familiar that Orpheus recognized it almost without thinking.

However, something still felt off.

The guy behind me seemed to be a little more composed...

Well, just a little bit.

Most importantly, the intense sense of death and darkness was completely different from, and arguably the opposite of, the feeling Ishtar usually evoked.

Looking back, sure enough, it was a girl who was both familiar and unfamiliar.

In terms of appearance, she does resemble Ishtar, but her hair color and clothing are completely different.

Her original black hair turned back to its original gold color, and her clothing was no longer so revealing, nor was it an outfit purely for showing off her 'beauty'. Instead, it was a combination of a black dress and a red cape.

Hmm... it's still quite revealing.

This is the same body that Ishtar possesses.

Orpheus was quite certain of this, because the body still retained the 'scent' of Uruk.

Well, to be specific, it's Orpheus's own flavor.

The goddess's constitution is immune to most scents, but Orpheus's strength level is slightly higher, so it's normal that a small amount of his aura would linger on the goddess he fought.

Even though it was confirmed that it was the same body, Orpheus was certain that it was not the same god.

One is 'yang' and the other is 'yin', they are completely different. Perhaps such characteristics appear in some gods, but Ishtar is not one of them.

"Oh, I can tell the difference at a glance."

The girl, who appeared to be Ishtar, chuckled softly.

"Not Ishtar... Ereshkigal?"

After frowning and thinking for about three seconds, Orpheus roughly confirmed the identity of the person in front of him.

This is not a difficult question. Ereshkigal is Ishtar's sister, and the two are twin goddesses. This fact may not be passed down in later generations, but it is not a secret in this era.

In addition, there were reports about the deaths of these witches and about the city of Kuta.

After Orpheus examined these witches, it was confirmed that their souls had been extracted, suggesting that there is a significant chance that the same situation exists in Kuta City.

The guardian deity of Kuta City is Ereshkigal—the goddess of the underworld.

Harvesting souls is the specialty of the god of the underworld.

Combined with that face that looks exactly like Ishtar's, it's pretty much a reasonable guess.

Of course, it's not something that can be confirmed 100%.

However, the girl on the other end of the line readily gave an affirmative answer.

"Ugh, I was recognized in an instant. It's really no fun."

After muttering a few words, Ereshkigal's expression turned serious.

“That’s right, I am the manager of death, the mistress of the underworld, the one who tramples the spiritual peaks, and one of the pillars of the ‘Three Goddess Alliance’—Ereshkigal.”

The Three Goddesses Alliance...?

Orpheus astutely grasped the meaning of the term from the other person's words.

"So, you still haven't answered my question. What are your thoughts on seeing this scene?"

"What are your thoughts?"

Orpheus glanced around at the lifeless bodies of the witches and tilted his head.

"Feelings are meaningless."

It's not wrong, but it's meaningless.

This is actually Orpheus's view on the actions of the gods up to this point.

What they did seemed completely meaningless on the surface.

Slaughtering people, destroying cities, and annihilating nations.

And what happens after that? Humanity is destroyed, and they themselves gain nothing. At most, they can enjoy the thrill of a powerful figure slaughtering children.

Orpheus had always thought that this was simply a god's way of punishing humanity, or even that he wanted to perish together with humanity after he was sealed away.

However, upon meeting Ishtar, Orpheus discovered that she had no such intentions whatsoever.

Perhaps because the summoning itself was somewhat incomplete, she was even unclear about the fact that the world of gods and humans had been separated.

Or rather, it seems that the overall IQ has been significantly lowered.

After comparing them, Orpheus thought it might be because most of her intelligence had been transferred to the other goddess in front of her.

In short, although it is impossible to confirm whether the other two... or perhaps the three in front of us, are the same, Orpheus will not change his overall assessment that it is meaningless.

The same applies to the hundreds of corpses lying at her feet.

"That's right, it's pointless."

Ereshkigal's expression turned cold, his tone filled with complex emotions.

"In your view, we gods never need any meaning in our actions; we just do what we want to do. Therefore, to humankind, gods are unreasonable and merciless."

At this point, Ereshkigal stared directly into Orpheus's eyes, meeting her gaze.

"That's why I can't accept you, King Orpheus of Uruk. I can't accept your decision to end the Age of Gods!"

"is it?"

Orpheus's answer carried a hint of indifference.

The egoism of the gods is irrelevant to her; since the other party cannot accept her, then she has no choice but to fight them.

"That's right, you overestimate humanity."

However, what the other party said next made her a little confused.

"They're not even human, so how can you be so sure they can face an era without gods without any preparation?"

A slight smile appeared on his lips as Ereshkigal mocked without any restraint.

"Humans are not as weak as the gods think."

After a moment of silence, Orpheus finally spoke.

Normally, she wouldn't even bother with this situation.

As the saying goes, if you can take action, don't talk nonsense. Considering the identity of the enemy, she should have just blasted her face with a magic cannon long ago.

However, after hearing what the other person said, Orpheus had a strange feeling.

I must explain my thoughts to her.

As for the fact that the other party could see through her inhumanity at a glance, she didn't care. Anyway, it wasn't actually that difficult to do; anyone with a little knowledge could easily see it.

"In the eyes of the gods, humans may be as fragile as ceramics, but I believe that human resilience far surpasses that of the arrogant and inflexible gods."

"Is that so? Is this the result of your observations, the prologue?"

The mockery on Ereshkigal's face lessened considerably, but it still didn't disappear.

"If you, the human king, put it that way, then perhaps it really is so. But even so, what reason do you, who are not human, have to help humans?"

Orpheus remained silent for two seconds before answering.

"...I love humanity, and that reason alone is enough."

"Ha...with that borrowed 'love'?"

This time, Ereshkigal truly laughed out loud.

"Ridiculous, utterly arrogant! Who do you think you are? How can mere borrowed emotions possibly contend with the unchanging will of us gods, with the unwavering faith of us gods?"

With undisguised contempt in his tone, Ereshkigal questioned him in this way.

Chapter 47 The Evil of Man, the Good of God

Rumble────

The shrine where the priestess used to meticulously maintain every part of the building and every plant in order to serve the gods is no more.

Instead, there were ruins everywhere.

"Did the attack even avoid those dead witches? I really don't understand the point."

Ereshkigal slowly stood up from his somewhat disheveled state, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"I'll cripple you and make you return the soul you stole."

Orpheus stood on the roof of the ruins, several purple magic circles floating behind him, facing Ereshkigal.