Goddess Kaleidoscope

This made Lud realize that the "other world" he was currently exploring probably had many differences from Earth that he was unaware of.

The group continued deeper and soon arrived at a large metal gate with the words "Danger Ahead" written in huge red letters on it, indicating that the creatures in the great cave were probably not friendly.

Before entering the cave, Lude had the goddesses in the group sense their powers and found that their divine power was suppressed to varying degrees. Hume and the third sister, both fourth-tier gods, were in the most serious condition, having weakened to the level of third-tier gods. The eldest and second sisters were in slightly better condition, not suppressed to the point of dropping in rank. Conna, on the other hand, was feeling sleepy.

The only one present who was unaffected was Nidhogg, since the dragons' power originated from themselves.

Lud's situation was somewhat special. He could sense that his "link" with the goddesses was being interfered with, and when using divine magic, he would experience a subtle "lag," as if his network was too slow, causing a delay in casting his skills.

At the same time, the primordial fire within his body became noticeably more active, and his body temperature rose by at least one or two degrees. However, he did not experience the discomfort associated with a fever; instead, he became very energetic.

This made Lude feel uneasy, but also a little bit of anticipation. He wondered what new changes might happen when he actually entered the Land of Fire.

Because Lud didn't want to violently break down the sealed door and let the dangerous creatures inside the cave escape, the group spent a little effort to find a way to open the door and then closed it after passing through.

The moment Lude entered the gate, he could clearly feel that the humidity and temperature had risen significantly, and a strong but not pungent musty smell hit him.

Hume, who had visited once, told Rudd that the underground cavern was basically a world of mushrooms, and that most of the plants and animals there were poisonous, warning Rudd not to be careless just because he had divine magic.

After passing through a natural cave, Lude finally saw the legendary underground world—a cavern so huge that it defied most people's imagination. The cave walls were covered with large patches of fluorescent moss and many strange fungi whose names he did not know. The vertical height between the top and bottom of the cave was estimated to be over a thousand meters.

The group paused to admire the strange and magnificent scenery inside the cave when a slimy creature, seemingly some kind of giant worm, suddenly emerged from the nearby shadows. Ignoring the dragon's might emanating from Nidhogg, it approached the group directly.

Upon seeing this, Hume immediately showed a look of disgust.

"Damn it! How did we run into this freak again?"

"What's this?"

"A mutated mud monster from the ground. This thing is a living being, but probably because it has no brain, it is not affected by the dragon's pressure."

"Is it very strong?"

"Very weak, but disgusting."

The wriggling mutant sludge monster looked as big as a grave mound, and its movement speed was slower than an adult walking. However, Lud soon discovered that a large, dark mass of them had emerged and surrounded them.

Hume stopped several of his companions who wanted to fight, advising them to avoid engaging in combat with subterranean creatures, especially the mud monster in front of them. While weak, this thing would self-destruct when attacked, scattering itself everywhere and emitting a stench so overwhelming it would make you question your existence.

Seeing that Hume's serious expression meant he wasn't joking, everyone thought that if it could give a goddess such a psychological trauma, it must really smell bad!

So Nidhogg transformed into a dragon and carried everyone into the air.

"Where are you flying to?"

“Following the airflow, the wind is your guide in the cave.”

Over the next few days, the group traversed cave after cave, venturing deeper into the earth. While the underground landscape was both beautiful and bizarre, Lud was not there for tourism; seeing so many poisonous creatures would only bore him.

On the twelfth day underground, Lud estimated that he had gone thousands of kilometers underground. Gradually, he began to be able to sense the land of the fire seed, while the goddesses in the group were constantly weakening. But strangely, this weakening did not make everyone feel uncomfortable, because their divine power had not disappeared, it was just that they could not use it.

At this point, Nidhogg's role becomes apparent. As the ultimate creature at the top of the food chain in this world, the combat power of an adult dragon is almost comparable to that of a third-tier lower god, and it is not affected by the Fire Seed Land.

Finally, on the fifteenth day of their expedition, Lud and his party arrived at the "entrance" to the Land of Fire.

Before Ludwig appeared a massive stone wall. The three sisters tentatively tapped it with the attacks they had brought, unable to determine its material. It seemed fragile, yet even Nidhogg's dragon breath couldn't damage it in the slightest.

The so-called "entrance" is a crack in this huge stone wall. The crack is filled with a black substance, and no one present except Lud can make any real contact with it. If you reach out and touch it, you can clearly feel an irresistible repulsive force.

"This is the entrance to the Land of Fire. From now on, you'll have to rely on yourself."

Standing before the entrance, Hume's expression was somewhat complicated. If it weren't for the commission from the Holy Lord Carius, she would have been quite hesitant to let Ludwig go in alone, because she knew nothing about what lay inside. It might be safe, but there could also be some unknown dangers.

The old astrologer went in and only stayed for half a day. When he came out, he was in a daze, as if he were sleepwalking. When asked to talk about what he had seen inside, the old man stammered for a long time and only said some incoherent nonsense, as if he had lost his mind.

Despite Hume's seemingly indifferent demeanor, after so many years together, and with Rudd having given her a second chance at life, it was inevitable that she would develop feelings for him. In fact, she cared deeply about Rudd and was afraid that he might encounter some misfortune if he went into the Land of Fire alone.

Ludger himself didn't care, and was even looking forward to it.

Regarding the Land of Fire, Ludd initially heard from Hume that only "the unbelievers" who did not believe in any god could enter, but the concept of what constituted an unbeliever seemed somewhat vague.

Strictly speaking, Ludwig was not without faith, but the faith he held was not in those ethereal gods.

Regardless, Lud had just tried it himself. The Land of Fire did not reject him or others' black matter. He reached out and gently touched it, and it burrowed in. It seemed to be just a thin film, with a texture as smooth and warm as water.

After resting for a night outside the entrance to the Rhinoceros, Lud the next day, amidst the worried gazes of his companions, squeezed through the crack and entered the Land of Fire.

The moment he passed through the black matter, everything before Lude's eyes turned completely red, as if he had entered a pure red world. At the same time, he could clearly feel the primal fire within his body stirring and becoming extremely active.

Counting the days, it has been almost eight years since Lud obtained this flame. Although it is not too obvious compared to the beginning, it is indeed getting weaker and weaker, and the range of faith amplification has also shrunk.

Upon entering the Land of Fire, the primordial fire within him was like a furnace being fueled with dry wood, burning even more fiercely than before.

Lu De thought to himself that if that was the case, he would have to come here every few years to recharge and ensure that his little flame could always be kept in the best condition.

Amidst the fiery red glow, Lude cautiously made his way forward, slowly taking over a hundred steps. Finally, the red light dissipated, and some outlines appeared around him, gradually becoming clearer.

When Lud finally saw his surroundings clearly, he was surprised to find that this land of fire was actually a sea of ​​red flowers that stretched as far as the eye could see, and that he was on a long white brick path that extended beyond his sight, both in front and behind him.

After a brief moment of disorientation, Lud realized that this land of fire buried deep beneath the earth was probably not in the same space as the main plane, but rather similar to the subspace divine realm created by high-level gods to avoid rejection by the world, but it should be more advanced.

Walking along this seemingly endless path, the concepts of time and space become blurred. Lude took out his pocket watch to check, only to find that the hands had stopped.

This made Lude wonder to himself whether the three sisters used magic when making the watch, or something else entirely.

Since he couldn't use the pocket watch, Lu De started counting in his head. He kept walking forward, the red flower fields on both sides blending perfectly with the red sky and the horizon. Only the white path under his feet remained clear, but after walking for more than an hour, he still couldn't see the end.

Sensing something was wrong, Lud stopped in his tracks. The restless primal fire within him seemed to be trying to remind him, so Lud stood still, closed his eyes, and tried to perceive his surroundings through meditation. Then, he suddenly realized something even more amiss.

Why can I still see this sea of ​​flowers and the white path even with my eyes closed? Have my eyelids become transparent?

In an instant, Lude understood something, and with a thought, his mind immediately resonated with the restless primal fire.

Lude felt a burst of golden light erupt from the fiery red, then his body lost its balance. As if awakened from a nightmare, he struggled to sit up from a pile of golden fallen leaves.

"Holy crap! What's going on?"

Startled awake, Lud looked around again. The red flower sea and white path were gone, replaced by a ground covered with golden leaves and a withered giant tree leaning against him.

Looking at the new scenery around him, Lud was surprised. He silently reached out and touched his heart, only to find that the fire in his heart was still burning.

Standing beneath the withered giant tree, Lud did not wander off rashly. He tried to use divine magic and found that it was indeed usable, but it had absolutely no effect. The divine power was directly dissipated by the power of the Fire Seed Land the moment it was released.

However, apart from the divine spells being nullified, Lud felt no other discomfort. In fact, due to the agitation of the primal fire within his body, he himself became inexplicably excited.

Overall, I feel very energetic!

Lude circled the giant tree, examining it closely. The trunk was astonishingly large, estimated to be over a hundred meters in diameter, and it would take five minutes to walk around it. However, Lude did not find anything noteworthy at the base of the trunk, so he looked up at the canopy that blocked out the sky.

Although the giant tree was withered and not a single leaf could be seen, the numerous branches that made up its crown were so dense that they reminded one of a neural network diagram. With the thought of "let's go up and take a look," Lude took out his climbing gear from his backpack and began climbing towards the top. Even if there was nothing up there, at least it would be high enough to offer a panoramic view of the surroundings.

It took Lud several hours to finally reach the top of the tree, which was hundreds of meters high. To Lud's surprise, after climbing for so long, he was neither red-faced nor out of breath. He not only felt no fatigue, but he also did not feel the slightest bit of thirst.

Standing on a branch in the tree canopy, Lude looked around. Apart from the ground within the canopy's coverage area, which was covered with a dense, bottomless carpet of golden leaves, all that stretched into the distance was an endless expanse of white sand. As for the sky above, it was nothing but an indescribable, chaotic void.

Surrounded by such a fantastical scene, Lude vaguely realized that, like the previous sea of ​​red flowers, he was probably still dreaming. And there was a line in the old astrologer's notes: "Reality is hidden beneath layers of illusion."

Ludwig didn't understand it at the time, but now that he's actually there, he can finally barely comprehend it.

No wonder Hume said that the old man was acting strangely when he came out of the land of fire, and in the memories left to him by little Ludwig, his master also seemed crazy after returning from his travels. It seems that this multi-layered dream has caused him mental problems.

Of course! The old guy's XP formation has nothing to do with this.

Based on the scattered fragments in the notes and the current situation, Lud deduced that this land of fire was probably not a place to enter casually. Being a believer was only a basic requirement; after entering, one had to pass through layers of tests before one could see the true primordial fire.

However, compared to the old astrologer, Lud had an advantage: he already possessed a primordial fire within him, making it easier for him to pass this dream test. From the moment he entered the Land of the Fire Seed, the primordial fire within him had been unusually restless, as if trying to warn him.

Having figured this out, Lud simply sat cross-legged in the treetop, trying to perceive the world with his heart rather than his eyes. And the primordial fire seemed to be responding to him, the restlessness gradually synchronizing with his heartbeat.

However, just as Lud was beginning to sense something, a strange sensation suddenly struck, interrupting Lud's perception.

Lude instinctively turned his head sharply. The strange feeling was like a strong gaze. Although it did not disappear immediately, he could not pinpoint its exact location for a while, as if it were playing hide-and-seek with him.

Clearly, there was something else here besides Rudd. Rudd immediately thought of the rat-man god who had been "forced" in by the combined power of the gods. Three hundred years was probably not enough time for a being so powerful that even the Holy Lord of Light, Carius, was wary of it to completely disappear.

However, this is the land of fire after all, and the power of the gods will be completely suppressed here. No matter how strong that rat-man god is outside, now that he has entered, he should be no different from a mortal.

After pondering for a moment, Lude did not make any rash moves. He pretended not to care and closed his eyes again, but focused his attention on his hearing, carefully listening to every sound and movement around him.

The treetops were silent and still. Rudd held his breath and focused, and soon he heard a rustling sound.

Seeing that Lud didn't make any big moves, the spy mistakenly thought that he hadn't been discovered yet, so he stopped jumping around and even dared to sneak over, finally stopping a short distance behind him.

With his back to the spy, Lude had already quietly placed one hand on the hilt of the dagger at his waist, but the spy just watched silently, showing no intention of making a move.

The stalemate lasted for about ten minutes. Lu De thought to himself that he couldn't just keep going like this. If the other party was really a rat-man god, He had already been imprisoned in this place for more than three hundred years. If it came down to a simple test of patience, Lu De was afraid that his mortal body and one life wouldn't be enough to outlast the other party. So he tentatively spoke up.

"Since you're here, how about we come down and have a chat?"

"..."

Hearing Lud speak suddenly, the spy seemed startled and retreated a great distance. After a while, seeing that Lud did not move, he crept back and finally jumped down, landing directly in front of Lud.

Realizing that the other party was already close and did not show any hostility, Lud opened his eyes. He saw a dark figure squatting in front of him, with a layer of wispy black mist swirling around its body, making it difficult for Lud to see its exact outline.

Lude hesitated for a moment, then tentatively greeted him.

"Hello."

"Li...Li...you...howling..."

Listening to the other person's stammering greeting, which was barely understandable, Lu De thought to himself that this was indeed the reaction of someone who had been locked up for too long without anyone to talk to.

However, to determine whether the other party was genuinely communicating with him or simply parroting his pronunciation, Lud gave a brief self-introduction. The black creature understood, pointed at him with a withered paw, and called himself "Dai".

After hearing this, Lu De decided to call the other person "Dumb".

If nothing unexpected happens, Ah Dai should be the legendary Ratman God. The Ratmen sacrificed tens of millions of lives to create Him, endowing Him with unparalleled divine power. But in the end, they tried to control this god and turn Him into a weapon, ultimately suffering a complete defeat.

However, based on Lud's understanding, gods born through blood sacrifice are not in a normal mental state.

Because a god's initial personality is influenced by his early followers, unless all the millions of beings sacrificed are of noble character and willingly give up everything, this rat-man god will inevitably be driven into a hysterical madman by the overwhelming negative emotions.

However, apart from being a bit silly, Ah Dai in front of him didn't seem to do anything too crazy, which made Lu De a little curious. Could this be related to the characteristics of the Fire Seed Land?

The human and the god stared at each other intently atop the giant tree. Rudd couldn't tell what Ah Dai was thinking, or perhaps he wasn't thinking anything at all. After a moment's thought, Rudd decided to try a tentative exchange first.

Do you... have a name?

"name……?"

"Yes, my name is Lud. What's yours? What's your name?"