Goddess Kaleidoscope

Ludwig had previously spoken with Nidhogg, who had fought the giant serpent, and they learned that the last time they fought over a hundred years ago was not in the ancient city, but in a deep lake near it.

Nidhogg's disadvantage was that he didn't know much magic, while the giant serpent deliberately stirred up the water and then ambushed him from below the surface. Nidhogg was almost dragged into the water by it.

However, Lud did not share this information with Narad, and they were unaware that the lizardman tribe worshipped such a terrifying thing!

Because of the giant snake's interference, the special operations team was temporarily scattered. Under the cover of his disciples, Narad temporarily escaped the giant snake's pursuit and hid in a nearby building.

Narad's face was extremely pale. Besides feeling embarrassed by the failed operation, he was also pained because he had accidentally inhaled a small amount of poison gas. Even a tiny bit caused him intense, burning pain in his respiratory tract and lungs. He quickly drank a bottle of "Evelina's Tears" and felt much better.

Looking at the empty medicine bottle in his hand, Narad couldn't help but recall the scene he had just witnessed. Lud's astonishing rapid-fire use of divine spells had truly frightened him. Although they were all just low-level defensive divine spells, he had used seven or eight of them in a row.

As a "veteran in the profession" who joined the Cult of the God of War at a young age and served as a priest for nearly twenty years, Narad has a deep understanding of the gods' "stinginess".

Although divine arts use power bestowed by the gods, they have very strict limits on the number of uses. You cannot achieve a breakthrough in strength through your own cultivation; you can only hope to win the favor of the gods and have them agree to increase your "usage limit."

But Narad knew that there were some special people in this world who were favored by the gods and could obtain more power from them, or even use divine power without restriction.

Such people are one in ten thousand, and most of them are leaders of top sects, such as the Supreme High Priest of the War God Sect, the Grand Pope of the Holy Light Sect, and the Four Holy Maidens of the Four Seasons Goddess Sect.

Various religious sects have a special title for them: "Chosen Ones," meaning representatives chosen by God.

Narad is still unsure whether Lud is the Chosen One, but even if he isn't, he's definitely a bishop or higher figure in the Medicine God Cult.

The fact that such a powerful figure deliberately showed weakness and concealed his abilities in front of me is terrifying to even think about, as if he were ready to betray me at any moment.

"Where is Rudd? Where is Priest Rudd?"

"Our mentor isn't with us; it seems he got separated from us."

"Damn it! Today is really unlucky."

The special operations team of more than 150 people had no choice but to scatter and flee in order to survive. Fortunately, the mountain city was quite large, so there were many places to hide. However, the scattered team could only fight on their own at this moment.

"Master, what should we do now?"

Narad looked around and saw that there were less than twenty people left with him: six knights, two priests, four adventurers whose names he didn't know, and a militia member who was a self-defense force member.

With this small force, Narad knew they couldn't stand up to the terrifying giant serpent head-on, but his competitive spirit made him unwilling to slink away in disgrace and return to the village with a shameful defeat.

After thinking it over, Narad decided to avoid the giant snake, which he couldn't defeat, and instead take a detour back to kill the old lizardman who had summoned the giant snake.

Once they take care of this guy, they can turn the tables!

End of this chapter

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lud and another group of adventurers hid in another building in the city. Outside, they could hear the loud noise of the giant snake moving and the various kinds of curses from the other side.

Nidhogg was right; this eight-headed serpent was indeed venomous in every sense of the word!

"Your Excellency, what should we do?"

"If it doesn't work out, let's retreat first. It will be even more difficult to leave once it's broad daylight outside."

The raid turned out so badly that all the adventurers present were considering retreating. Some, seeing that there were no members of the War God Cult present, began to complain about the guys who had spearheaded the formation of the Valiant Army, saying that they hadn't even done the most basic preliminary reconnaissance before hastily launching an expedition, as if they were deliberately leading them to their deaths.

These adventurers only wanted wealth and fame, but it was not worth risking their lives for nothing. After all, risking one's life is not the same as courting death.

Just as everyone was at a loss, a figure suddenly slipped in from outside. It was Hume, who had tried to jump and kill the old lizard earlier but almost jumped right into the snake's mouth.

Seeing that the guy had escaped unharmed, Lude quickly stepped forward and asked with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"It's nothing, I just feel a little nauseous."

Hume rubbed his nose; his complexion wasn't too good.

Her divine body was impervious to potent poisons, and conventional methods could kill her, but that didn't mean her nose could automatically filter out foul odors. Therefore, Hume, who was facing the giant serpent's gaping maw at the time, was almost knocked unconscious by its "fresh" breath; just thinking about it now makes him nauseous.

"What's the situation outside?"

"This is bad. That snake is still chasing us. With our strength alone, we probably won't be able to fight it, unless..."

Hume glanced at the adventurers not far away. Although he didn't finish his sentence, Ludd understood what he meant: to summon their ultimate trump card—"Red-Eyes Black Dragon" Nidhogg!

Despite Nidhogg's defeat in his first battle against the serpent, he was only a young man by dragon standards at the time, not yet reaching the peak of his dragon life.

Now, at five hundred years old, Nidhogg is in his prime, and his strength and experience have significantly improved compared to his younger days.

More importantly, now that this guy has a wife, going up against the giant snake again won't be a one-man show, but a doubles fight between husband and wife.

Summoning Nidhogg is simple; all Ludwig has to do is take out the dragon scales he always carries and rub them against the ground a couple of times. But Nidhogg doesn't arrive instantly. At his flying speed, it will take at least forty minutes for him to get here, and if he's delayed by something else, it might take even longer.

It's worth mentioning that Ludwig had once thought of having Nidhogg stay nearby, but the guy refused on the spot, saying he was worried about his two sons being left at home as "left-behind children."

Ludwig thought about it and didn't press the issue. After all, their relationship with Nidhogg was simply one of friendship, not a superior-subordinate one. He really couldn't ask for too much, lest he offend the other party.

However, Lud thought about it and realized that even without calling in foreign players, they weren't completely without options.

If they can't defeat the eight-headed giant snake, surely they can defeat the lizardmen?

Rud, who personally wrote the Book of Ashes, knew that the giant serpent was currently in a state called "Demon Slave" because it had been sacrificed and had become a usable summonable creature in the Book of Ashes.

While becoming a summoned creature means losing freedom, there are also advantages.

Because the summoned creatures are godlike spirits, theoretically, as long as the book exists, they cannot be truly killed. Regarding this concept, Lude referenced works like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon when writing the book, and these functions actually came true because of the lizardmen's faith.

It must be said that although the lizardmen are not exactly good people, their sheer volume of faith production makes them ideal believers for all major religious sects.

So Ludwig thought about it and decided to do two things at once: on the one hand, he would use the dragon scales to call Nidhogg, and on the other hand, he would also take action himself, instead of hiding in the ruins and waiting for reinforcements to come to the rescue.

After taking a headcount, including the Hydrangea Blade squad, there were a total of twenty-three people in the house. Thanks to Lude's timely treatment, everyone was ready to fight.

Lud told everyone his plan: they could first try to lure the giant snake away, and then take advantage of the opening to launch a surprise attack on the lizardmen and behead the old lizardman who was holding the Book of Ashes.

Having witnessed firsthand how this deceptive book truly possessed incredible power in the hands of the lizardmen, Lud now harbors the idea of ​​reclaiming it, and has even gained some inspiration from the process.

The adventurers present were initially hesitant, but Lud quickly pointed out that this lizardman tribe had been developing for many years and should be quite wealthy. Moreover, the book in the old lizardman's hand was clearly some kind of divine artifact, its value probably immeasurable.

So, under Rudd's influence, the adventurers present gradually let greed overcome their will to survive and decided to do it!

According to their observation, the giant snake was being lured towards the outskirts of the city by other adventurers, which inadvertently created an opportunity for them.

During his escape, Hume accidentally discovered a sewer entrance that seemed to lead to the inner city.

After a brief preparation, the group followed Hume out of the house and quickly made their way through a winding alley towards the inner city.

The sky above was already beginning to lighten, and the roars and curses of the giant snake echoed throughout the ancient city.

The group soon arrived at the moat of the inner city. Because the lizardmen had no idea how to maintain a human city, this section of the river was severely silted up. In addition, it was the dry season, so a large area of ​​the riverbed was exposed. Not far away, a sewer entrance could be seen.

"I'll lead the way, you guys follow."

Hume led the way, walking at the very front of the procession.

The others, unaware that this dark-skinned woman was actually a deity, were naturally unwilling to back down when they saw how brave a woman was, so they all followed closely without being urged.

Although the sewer smelled terrible, with a rancid odor, the air flowed from the outside in, so it was still breathable.

Hume, leading the way, followed the wind's path, twisting and turning, and soon reached the end of the sewer, where the scenery suddenly opened up before him.

Lud, who was following closely behind, stepped forward and was surprised to find that what was in front of him was a city built in a huge cave.

"Dungeon?"

"It's a city of dwarves. I think I remember where this is."

Looking at the underground city before him, Hume was reminded of some ancient memories.

End of this chapter

Once upon a time, the dwarves were a large race whose population was no less than that of humans, and they were even more united than humans.

Before the War of the Gods broke out, the eight dwarven kingdoms had accomplished an astonishing feat: they merged into the Dwarven Federation, with the federation's supreme leader rotating among the eight royal families, instantly becoming the world's strongest nation at the time.

However, this period of prosperity was short-lived. Less than twenty years after the establishment of the Dwarf Federation, a brutal war of gods broke out. At that time, the dwarves mainly worshipped the Earth Goddess and the Fire God, both of whom were aligned with Hume.

However, although the gods were divided into two major camps, in reality, on the mortal realm, it was a complete free-for-all among various races and nations. Most people were using the name of the gods to settle old scores and new grudges with their enemies.

And so, the Dwarf Federation, the world's number one superpower, went to war with the world's number two Ratman Empire, and the fighting was incredibly fierce.

The dwarves held the upper hand in the early and middle stages of the war, but suddenly became the enemy of the world after the ratmen's god-making plan was exposed. In order to survive, the ratmen no longer cared about their international reputation and secretly released a terrible super plague into the dwarves' land.

This disastrous move led to the collapse of the Dwarf Federation, with its population decimating to less than one-tenth. Adding to this, the God of Fire was defeated and stripped of his divine position by the Holy Lord of Light, who was then merely the Sun God. The Earth Goddess also betrayed them, becoming a pragmatic and shrewd ruler. Thus, the Dwarf race declined and is now reduced to a vassal state of humanity.

Hume told Ludwig that she had visited this dwarven city more than three hundred years ago and even settled there for a time. The city was called Saranetto, which means "unbreakable anvil" in the dwarven language. It was once a very famous workshop city of the Dwarven Federation, situated on a huge mine.

At its peak, this place was home to millions of dwarves, making it both a large, easily defensible fortress and a super-production factory with astonishing output, thus becoming the primary target of the Skaven.

"I never expected it to be here."

As his memories were gradually awakened, Hume began to recall many things.

Inside the enormous cave, the visibility was surprisingly good, all thanks to a very magical luminescent moss. This plant was introduced by dwarves and has survived tenaciously to this day, not only covering the entire cave ceiling and surrounding rock walls, but also covering most of the city.

Using the light from the glowing moss, several archers with exceptional eyesight spotted some lizardmen moving about in a building not far away. They appeared to be elderly, weak, women, and children who had previously fled there in panic.

So they followed a dilapidated plank road to see if they could find the old lizardman with the Book of Ashes. If they were not mistaken, he should be the high priest of this tribe.

After approaching the lizardman group, the group did not rush to attack, but instead found a tall building to observe.

There were several hundred lizardmen who had taken refuge underground. Most of them were elderly, weak, sick, or disabled and lacked fighting ability, as well as some undamaged eggs, but the old lizardman was nowhere to be seen.

These lizardmen gathered in a square for refuge, all of them looking terrified.

At that moment, a small squad of lizardmen warriors ran over and, without saying a word, dragged out some of the elderly and wounded, driving them upstairs.

Seeing this, Lud guessed that the old lizardman had to keep sacrificing in order to maintain the spirit-like giant serpent, so he planned to sacrifice the old and weak who were no longer of much use to the tribe, using their lives as offerings to the giant serpent.

These old lizardmen and the wounded numbered more than thirty. They seemed to know their fate and did not try to resist. Instead, they calmly said goodbye to their loved ones and then silently followed the soldiers away.

"It seems that the old lizardman is still up there."

Staring in the direction where the victims had gone, Ludd saw a wide, winding staircase leading upwards. Around him, he could see many viaducts with tracks. Hume whispered to Ludd that self-propelled minecarts could run on those.

"Self-propelled minecarts?"

"A kind of alchemical tool, a minecart that can run back and forth along the track by itself without being pushed, used for transporting people and goods. There were so many of them here back then! It's a pity that they were lost along with many other skills after the collapse of the Dwarf Federation."

Upon hearing Hume's account, Ludd thought to himself that the world's overall regression was indeed more exaggerated than he had previously imagined.