Goddess Kaleidoscope

At that moment, Lud saw Hydra standing to the side and suddenly remembered something he hadn't used in a long time: the Book of Ashes.

This thing was originally made by Lud to fool the lizardmen, but those demi-human cultists were really something else. A tribe of more than two thousand people were all fanatical believers, and they even managed to sacrifice the giant serpent Hydra that they had worshipped for hundreds of years through deception.

It's important to understand that sacrificing living beings is the highest-level religious ritual, and depending on the intelligence and strength of the offering, it can generate a large amount of faith. Hydra happens to possess high intelligence and is also a top-tier monster lord, so this single sacrifice effectively transformed the Book of Ashes into a "quasi-divine artifact."

So Lude couldn't help but wonder if he could do the same thing and "sacrifice" Leopold into the book as well?

Although this guy is a madman with a heart of stone, the knowledge he possesses is priceless. If it could be used for good, such as advancing conventional medicine in this world, it could indeed benefit society.

What Ludwig had to do was supervise this madman and make him contribute his knowledge to atone for the mistakes he had made.

End of this chapter

The news that the Mil Mine had been destroyed by a mysterious force caused a great uproar in Yanmu City the very next day.

Most ordinary people don't know what's in the Mil Mine, and they might not even be able to tell you where it is in Yanmu City. They think it's just an ordinary mine, so they have no idea why it was attacked.

Those in the know, while gloating, were also somewhat shocked. After all, the Mil Mine was a vital asset of the Brotherhood, an underground organization with immense power in Flamewood City. Even the city lord treated their elders with deference. Attacking the mine was tantamount to defying the powerful!

However, the attackers succeeded. The mine was razed to the ground, and hundreds of guards and "(drug-making) workers" perished. Even Leopold, who was stationed there, vanished without a trace.

When the news reached the city, the entire Black Hand Brotherhood was shocked, and the remaining four elders had to hold an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

They were having a run of bad luck lately; within two months, two elders known for their individual strength had died, leaving the remaining members living in fear. Even the most oblivious among them could see that their Brotherhood was being targeted.

However, the imminent crisis failed to unite the Brotherhood's leadership. Several elders harbored their own agendas, and the next-level senior councilors also had their own ulterior motives, resulting in ongoing arguments during the meetings.

Such a chaotic situation has led some members to miss the days when the old president was still around, at least there was someone with influence to take charge.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lud and his men, returning victorious, were assessing their gains from the battle.

In the battle at the mine, Ludwig completely destroyed the Brotherhood's narcotics workshop, burning it to the ground and even blasting down the mine shafts, leaving the Brotherhood with no way to rebuild.

They also captured Elder Leopold alive, and Ludwig used a sacrificial circle to offer him to the Book of Ashes. The old mage's body turned to ashes in an instant, and then his image appeared on the pages of the book.

Upon witnessing this scene, Hydra was overcome with PTSD, her face turning deathly pale, and she stood there trembling uncontrollably.

As the second "character" to enter the Book of Ashes, Rudd naturally wouldn't let him enjoy the same treatment as a Hydra.

While the Snake Girl was ultimately a beast and did indeed eat humans, she primarily consumed adventurers who entered her territory and tributes offered by the lizardmen. Her primary motivation was survival, making her susceptible to education and taming. Leopold, on the other hand, acted purely for his own selfish gain, and the only appropriate punishment for him was retribution.

So after "acquiring" Leopold, Ludd immediately wrote some "supplementary settings" on the spot.

It's worth noting that the modification of the Book of Ashes seems to be a privilege unique to Rudd; no one else, regardless of the method used, could leave their mark on the pages. It seems the book treats Rudd, who wrote it, as a figure similar to a father or master.

However, the modifications that Lud can make are limited to what the Book of Ashes can do at this stage. Once the added content exceeds its capabilities, the writing will appear light gray to indicate that it cannot do it.

Considering that the Book of Ashes currently has limited capabilities, the new content added by Rudd is not complicated. He simply categorized the "Illustrated Catalog" and added a few new illustrations.

Ludwig had previously asked Hydra what it was like to be in the book.

After recalling the events, the snake girl described the place as a boundless wilderness, surrounded only by herself and the dim yellow color of the book pages. She couldn't distinguish between heaven and earth, or the four directions, and staying there for a long time would make one feel despair.

But Lud has the ability to add new items to this world. Whatever he draws or writes on the pages of a book with his quill pen, that will appear in the world inside. He can even change the form of a Hydra at will, and erasing it only requires an eraser.

At that time, Hydra looked up at Lud from the book as if he were looking up at an omnipotent true god. That fear and awe were deeply imprinted in the depths of Hydra's soul.

In light of this, Ludd specially drew background illustrations for the pages containing Hydra and Leopold: the former a cabin by a forest lake, and the latter a gloomy and terrifying castle with a sign above the large iron gate that read "Arkham Asylum".

Ludd even wrote a scene specifically for this mental hospital that housed villains. After finishing it, he turned to the page about Leopold, and there was a picture of Leopold being forcibly dragged into the mental hospital by two burly black male caregivers, his wide eyes filled with terror.

Any more villains caught in the future will be stuffed into this place.

After settling Leopold into a "proper" situation, Ludd put away the Book of Ashes, letting the guy enjoy some therapy at the asylum first. He would communicate with him slowly after dealing with the Brotherhood of the Black Hand.

Since this guy has been conducting human experiments for decades, killing him would be too lenient and a waste. The knowledge he has accumulated over the years could be applied to legitimate medical fields.

In the following days, Lud ordered the Heroic Spirit Squad to continue their attacks, targeting Brotherhood locations, especially those where Divine Wine was stored. The Brotherhood's Divine Wine reserves soon became critically low.

Meanwhile, some members of the Brotherhood discovered that the Navarro family's narcotics lab remained unscathed. While this could be attributed to the family's heavily guarded and impregnable estate, the fact that even their meeting place was untouched was somewhat intriguing.

It wasn't a particularly sophisticated framing tactic, but because it did involve the interests of the vast majority of people, the Navarro family became the target of public criticism and condemnation.

Ultimately, it all comes down to money. Divine Liquor is a cornerstone of the Black Hand Brotherhood's business; they rely on it for both missionary work and making money. If those so-called "believers" knew that Divine Liquor was gone, they might very well rebel, which would severely damage the Brotherhood's income and core base.

But now the Mir mine has been vandalized by people from who-knows-where, who also smashed more than a dozen meeting places, specifically targeting their wine jars, causing many "gangs" to be severely short of supplies.

So all of these people were eyeing the Navarro family with bated breath, hoping that they would share some of their supplies to tide them over, considering that they were all part of the Brotherhood.

End of this chapter

I originally planned to write at least two chapters today, but I feel like my train of thought is going wrong. I'm having a serious writer's block. I keep writing and deleting, deleting and rewriting. The number of scrapped drafts I counted in the black room has already exceeded five thousand words. But since I got up at two o'clock this morning, a full twenty hours have passed, and I still haven't written a single chapter.

So today I mean I'm really not going to make it. My mental state is getting worse and worse, and if I don't sleep soon I really won't be able to hold on.

End of this chapter

The discontinuation of the supply of holy wine was a huge blow to the Brotherhood, as it was not only an important source of income for them, but also their greatest asset for underground missionary work.

Ever since the previous generation of the Navarro family developed the Divine Liquor more than 30 years ago, the missionary work of the Brotherhood of the Black Hand has become completely dependent on this drug without anyone realizing it. It can be said that the addictive nature is manifested in both the dealers and the users.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Brotherhood today has no other way of proselytizing. Without the aid of the holy wine, it would be difficult to attract new believers, let alone maintain the existing old believers.

Ultimately, the Black Hand Brotherhood's followers, who rely on selling the "divine liquor," are not truly devoted to the god of thieves. Instead, after drinking the liquor at their meeting place, they are guided by the Brotherhood's instructors to pray like madmen in a state of delirium and confusion. Once the effects of the liquor wear off and their minds clear, they forget everything.

Therefore, once the divine wine is gone, this distorted system of harvesting faith will collapse, and it will not be a simple weakening, but a complete severance!

The elders all knew that collecting faith was of paramount importance; it was the top priority given to them by the God of Thieves.

Therefore, the remaining Navarro workshop had to hastily increase production, but the problem was that even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice. The Mil mine was not only the largest drug-making workshop in the entire Brotherhood, but also an important raw material production base. If a new source of supply could not be found, the stockpiled raw materials would soon be exhausted.

As the Black Hand Brotherhood descended into chaos, deep beneath the cathedral of the Church of Light in the city, in a secret chamber, the stone coffin in the center of the room slowly opened, lights suddenly illuminated the four walls, and then a naked woman crawled out of the coffin.

This tall, fit woman has wheat-colored skin and long, silver-gray hair that reaches the ground.

If Ludd were here, he would be surprised to find that this woman and Hume were practically identical.

Not quite similar, but exactly the same!

This woman is Hume's alternate form, the false god of thieves worshipped by the Brotherhood of the Black Hand. Because gods cannot create their own exclusive "divine realm" before breaking through to the middle of the fourth tier, they must build a sufficiently secretive lair in the mortal world, hiding it from the mortals below.

The False God of Thieves was hiding right below the Holy Church of Light in Yanmu City. No one would have imagined that an evil god would be hiding here.

The fake thief god who crawled out of the stone coffin looked as if he had just woken up. He looked down at his body blankly, as if he felt that something was not right, and his eyes revealed a very puzzled expression.

"Strange? Why is there no change... Could it be that we failed?"

The fake thief was puzzled. She remembered that she was on the verge of a breakthrough before the "coffin was closed". So, following the advice of a senior who had taken good care of her, she used the hibernation mode to make a final sprint.

If nothing unexpected had happened, when she awoke again, she should have already broken through to the fourth level and become a mid-level god, and transformed from an alien entity into a legitimate one, replacing a poor wretch whose hand was chopped off by the God of War, and becoming the true "God of Thieves, Hume".

But the expected changes did not occur, so the fake thief closed her eyes and sensed it briefly. She was shocked to find that although the total amount of faith source had increased several times compared to before she fell asleep, the bond between herself and it had been inexplicably weakened, which gave her a vague sense of unease.

Just as she was wondering what was going on, the stone door on one side of the secret chamber suddenly opened, and a man in black robes walked in. Upon seeing him, the fake thief immediately bowed respectfully.

"Senior...it seems my breakthrough has failed!"

“I know that while you were asleep, someone mixed a lot of ‘sand’ into the source of the God of Thieves’ faith. Your ability to accept it decreased, and naturally, the breakthrough failed.”

"Huh? Who's so amazing?"

"He is a missionary who does not believe in God at all. That kid's methods are very clever. He added a new interpretation to the God of Thieves and then instilled this understanding into the nearly one million residents of Yanmu City. The resulting massive amount of faith is enough to affect the source of the God of Thieves' faith and thus interfere with your breakthrough."

Why would he do that?

"That's to help your 'sister,' of course."

"..."

The man in black then gave the fake Thief a brief overview of the situation with the Black Hand Brotherhood. She listened in astonishment, thinking to herself that she had only been bedridden for less than two months, yet so much had happened outside. And the one posing such a threat to her was actually a mere mortal like Cricket?

Seemingly sensing the fake Thief God's doubts, the man in black robes then dropped another bombshell that shocked her even more.

“That missionary possesses the primordial fire, which is much larger and more intense than the little spark in your hand that is about to go out.”

"Then where exactly is this missionary?"

"It's in the city, but I don't recommend a direct assault. That kid has several third-tier gods with him, and the strongest one is about to break through to the fourth tier, just like you. I'm not good at fighting, so it's hard for me to help you."

After listening to the black-robed man's explanation, the fake thief fell silent. The other party's arrival was sudden and the timing was extremely awkward, grabbing her leg just before she was about to complete the leap.

Moreover, the opponent wasn't alone; she had a group of lower-level gods of the third tier assisting her. If she had broken through, it would have been fine, but the problem was that she had failed to break through, which was incredibly awkward.

After pondering for a long time without coming up with a good solution, the fake thief could only turn to his trusted "senior" for help.

"Senior, is there any way we can... win that missionary over to our side?"

“That’s probably difficult, because from what I know, that kid not only has the primordial fire, but he also knows how to create gods. The gods around him were all created by himself, so they all follow his lead. He probably wouldn’t want to become your subordinate, unless… the other way around.”

"in turn?"

"Yes, you volunteered to become his subordinate."

"..."

The black-robed man's words plunged the fake thief into silence, his conflicted expression clearly showing his unwillingness. In the fake thief's view, although he was an anomaly born from a difference in beliefs, he was still a god, and was about to be officially recognized. Asking him to condescend to serve as a mortal's subordinate was something he would naturally not do willingly.

After pondering for a long time, the fake thief shook her head; she simply could not accept this absurd suggestion.

"Senior, is there no other way?"

"There are other ways, but the difficulty... is probably a bit too great."

End of this chapter

So far, Ludd's plan has been going smoothly. The Brotherhood is in chaos, and Hume sensed the guy's presence two days ago. Although it was only for a moment and he couldn't pinpoint the location, he could tell that the other party was in a hurry.

"Since she's in a hurry, let's increase the intensity!"

Thus, under Lud's orders, the Heroic Spirit Squad, under the alias "Night Angel Phantom Thieves," began to make high-profile attacks. Every night, they raided the Brotherhood's strongholds, and if they encountered a crime scene, they would not hesitate to come to the rescue, acting as chivalrous knights in the sinful city of Flamewood.

The sudden appearance of the phantom thief group quickly became a hot topic in Yanmu City, because these young ladies specialized in fighting bad guys and all had amazing figures, thus enjoying an excellent reputation among the general public.