People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Terra is a god, a fact he already knew from Ernst when they first met.

He wasn't too surprised by this; in fact, he seemed much calmer than Ernst had imagined.

In Levy's words: "I am a scientist and a materialist. If there really is an omniscient and omnipotent God in the world, what I would do is not to deny Him, but to seek answers from Him to the questions that countless comrades have been painstakingly pursuing."

"Of course, if, as you say, the gods of Terra are not omniscient and omnipotent, but rather more powerful beings, then I would be even less inclined to deny it. Humans have seen creatures stronger than themselves before. We cannot defeat a cheetah in speed, nor can we match the strength of a lion, and in terms of intelligence, we have only just emerged from ignorance. What's so strange about the existence of creatures more powerful than us in the world?"

"Besides, I've even experienced time travel, so why would I need to worry about my ability to handle this little thing?"

However, despite the jokes and banter, Levi still had high hopes for the true power of the gods (behemoths).

With Jeragand's blessed steel body, there was no choice but to select it now.

I wonder if the Balrog will like this gift?

Chapter 189 Welcoming Team

Trimont, Columbia. The eve of the Balrog Plan.

The Flame Demon had been waiting for this day for a long time.

As a royal court demon, he once had a legendary life.

Others are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but he is slightly different from them; he was born with a silver spear in his mouth.

At that time, the Sarkaz were in decline. Kazdel was built and destroyed, and the combined forces of the gods and the first men pressed forward step by step, gradually compressing the once vast Kazdel into a small corner of the land.

But the powerful gods were relentless, attempting to completely destroy the Sarkaz's nerve center—the Demon King and the Royal Court. A massive allied army marched in and approached Kazdel, and the Demon King at that time chose the same path as countless other Demon Kings.

"Fuck you!"

The final result is self-evident.

The Sarkaz were indeed powerful, and the power of the Ten Kings' Courts was not to be underestimated, but the gods and ancestors of that time were by no means inferior. Blood Demons could manipulate blood and cause blood tides, while Elves could manipulate water and use water as their weapon. Stonewing Demons could summon the power of the earth, raise dust and sand, and awaken colossi, while Feathered Serpents could soar through the sky, causing howling winds that covered the earth.

When soldiers come, generals will block them; when water comes, earth will dam it. The strength of the Sarkaz lies in the fact that while the people of the gods and the people of the ancestors can stand head to head, the number of the people of the gods and the people of the ancestors is far beyond what the Sarkaz, who occupy only the city of Kazdel, can compare to.

Moreover, the Ten Royal Courts were not united. The Demon King at that time came from the court of the Cyclops, and having already foreseen the outcome of the war, he displayed extreme pessimism from the very beginning.

With such a defeatist leader, the Sarkaz court was significantly divided. Radicals like the Blood Demon and Banshees demanded a desperate defense of Kazdel, demanding they suck the blood of the invaders and corrupt their race. Meanwhile, the Cyclops, aligned with their own Demon Lord, and the lich, who valued his life and didn't want to be too involved in the war, chose to withdraw.

The allied forces eventually breached Kazdel once again without any suspense, and as the saying goes, a country in chaos has its loyal ministers!

At that very moment, the then-ruler of the Flame Demon Royal Court, the Grand Marshal of Kazdel's army, took the initiative to assume the responsibility of covering the retreat of the Demon King and the Sarkaz's evacuation forces, blocking the allied forces that had breached the city and were about to pursue them!

Just how powerful was the Lord of the Flame Demon? At that time, a green-haired man named Phil, who wished to remain anonymous, once commented as follows:

"He wielded flames, turning the battlefield into a purgatory. His magic was not as refined and elegant as the banshee's, nor as bloody and terrifying as the blood demon's, but it was awe-inspiring and vast, sweeping everything away and causing the allied forces to retreat."

"He set everything ablaze, from the grass and trees to the earth, from the gods to their magic, even the void itself was burning for his flames. He single-handedly held off several of the allied commanders until he finally died from exhaustion."

What a magnificent scene it was! Even today, thousands of years later, the great battle remains vivid in the Flame Demon's mind, as if it were yesterday.

And he, the Flame Demon, was once a soldier under the command of the Flame Demon King's Court!

Ahem, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Although he's not the ruler of the royal court, he's by no means an ordinary Sarkaz. As a soldier selected to be part of the Balrog Lord's personal guard, the Balrog possesses formidable combat power!

Back in the day, he was a warrior who could stand alone, standing alongside many Balrogs to block the Allied Forces. The flames he roared once set the air ablaze and exploded, and the heatwaves he unleashed caused the feathered serpents to flutter and fly wildly!

Unfortunately, everyone was only focused on the Flame Demon King who fought to his last breath, and no one cared about the royal guards who also died on that battlefield.

Just like now, those Colombians, who can't even be called divine people, are descendants of the ancestors without any bloodline power. They've been pointing fingers at their own fragments for so long, but haven't even thought to ask his name.

His name was Safar. He once single-handedly repelled an attack by five feathered serpents, only to fall to the gleaming spear of a golden pegasus. On that battlefield, each member of the Balrog Royal Guard faced at least ten times their number of enemies. But the Colombians who wanted to turn him into a weapon didn't care about any of that.

They only care about themselves!

Of course, once Safar is truly resurrected, he might understand that Colombians may not actually be as arrogant as he imagines.

The reason no one asked Safar's name was simply because most of the Sarkaz these days don't even have a "name".

In the millennia-long bloody war, the Sarkaz went from guarding the world, to guarding a country, to guarding a city, to guarding a village, a group of people, a culture, until finally, they guarded nothing, not even their own name.

How many Sarkaz still remember the name "Tikatsu"?

Perhaps it was precisely because she realized that if the fighting continued, the Sarkaz might not even be able to protect the name "Sarkaz" that Theresa made a complete 180-degree turn, choosing to reconcile with the current malicious world despite the incomprehension of most Sarkaz and even the division and hatred between Theresis and the Royal Court.

This is immense courage, and in the future, people will use a quote from the narrator of the phenomenal novel *Ers* to describe this spirit—

"There is only one kind of heroism in the world: to see the truth of life and still love it."

Having seen the truth of the world, tasted its malice, and experienced genuine injustice and discrimination, I still love life, love the Sarkaz, and love this land.

Of course, this is a story.

Safar has waited far too long for this day.

Although he is now just a fragment of consciousness, with large gaps and incomplete memories, and although his strength has changed from burning mountains and boiling seas to the limited range and average power of "Guoba, breathing fire", none of this is a problem!

Those Colombian scientists, powerless and weak, dared to try to turn the Flame Demon into a weapon!

Although it's tasteless, since they couldn't fight thousands of years ago, they'll fight again thousands of years later! Since they can't beat their ancestors, at least they can bully their descendants!

It's not how strong you are, it's how well you can survive!

In this respect, the Sarkaz, with their wondrous "dead soul form," far surpass those gods who turn to ash upon death!

Safar is ready. Tomorrow, once he has officially shed the little girl's frail body and taken over the mech, he will begin his revenge!

First, use your power—which can melt everything, even Originium Arts—to burn away any magical restrictions that might exist on the mech. Then, quickly burn away those hateful scientists, escape this laboratory, and finally, burn ...

He wasn't worried that the Colombians would have a way to deal with him, and he hadn't been sitting there idly all this time.

Thanks to the scientist named Levi, whose amazing technology awakened his consciousness ahead of time, although he was initially half-asleep and very weak, and even lost the battle for control of his body to the little girl named Ifrit, he still saw and heard a lot of information about Colombia through Ifrit's eyes and ears.

This city is full of scientists like Levy, people with these professions who spend their days holed up in this building called the Laboratory, so their combat effectiveness can't be that great.

In this country, the divine beings are almost extinct, with only a handful of active ancestors remaining. This means that a scenario like that of a thousand years ago, where powerful divine beings wielding strong magic formed an alliance to fight against him, is virtually impossible!

In this way, no one can stop him!

He wins for sure!

.........

At the same time, in the Defense Section office.

Saria looked at Levi, who had delivered the final list, then glanced at the list in her hand and sighed.

"I can let go of the fact that Ernst was the winning bidder, since the robot he sent did pass the tests and meet the requirements."

"But to be honest, was it necessary for so many people to go? This is an experiment, not a performance."

It can be.

Levy thought to himself.

He has received news from Ernst that tomorrow, Colombian Vice President Wilson will arrive in Trimont, and the first company he will visit is Rhine Life.

Rhine Lab had not received any prior information, and Seria seemed to know nothing about it.

Without a doubt, this was definitely the work of my fellow villager.

The reason why Vice President Wilson specifically chose this time to come is self-evident.

Despite Saria's current troubled expression, Levi could already imagine the scene when Wilson arrived and ran into the military representatives... tsk tsk tsk.

Let Saria have her headache.

He silently apologized to the dedicated acting commander, and Levy, without batting an eye, emphasized:

"This is the necessary candidate."

Seeing Levi's serious expression, Saria could only nod.

"alright."

Although there were a lot of people, those at the top were indeed all connected to the Flame Demon Project to some extent, so they couldn't really be called "unrelated people".

Having achieved his goal, Levy finally managed a smile.

He extended his hand, shook hands with Saria, and offered his blessings:

"Wishing you a successful experiment tomorrow."

Saria did not refuse the handshake, but still kept a straight face and reminded her:

"Hopefully so, but please don't let your guard down."

Levi nodded, and after a brief exchange, confirming that there was nothing else, he turned and left the office.

Saria glanced at the time; it was almost eleven o'clock, the earliest she had left work in a while.

"Get some rest, you'll be busy tomorrow."

Saria offered herself a word of comfort, then felt a wave of weariness as she thought about the press conference that might be held after the experiment tomorrow, as well as the product briefing and negotiation meeting with military representatives.

Christensen, you're such a hands-off boss, having a great time in Sherag. When the hell are you coming back?

With a sigh, Saria also left the office.

Perhaps she was too tired, because she forgot to turn off the desk lamp when she left.

Under the light of the desk lamp, several names were clearly visible on Levy's list of invited visitors.

[Acting Commander: Saria]

[Project Leader: Levy]

[Deputy Project Leader: Ahrendts Parves]

[Base body provided by: Miloqi Mingdeng]

My friend: Ernst Siwaish (and his subordinates)

These are just invited guests.

Chapter 190 Tracy: Is it possible for Wendigo to be in Sherag?

Tremont, Columbia.

Infiltrating this city is no easy feat. While Colombia's discrimination against the Zacaz is not as blatant as in other countries, but rather carries a chilling undertone of "tolerance," this tolerance is deceptive.

Relaxing legal channels for entry into Colombia also means stricter scrutiny of illegal channels. It's well known that those who can enter Colombia legally, even those from the Zacaz family, are at least somewhat well-off. The truly impoverished, infected, and the working class, even if they arrive in this supposedly most tolerant country full of hope, will be unhesitatingly turned away.

Thus, those who stay in Colombia praise the country's equality and freedom, while those who despise the country's double standards and hypocrisy all come from outside Colombia, thus creating a widespread survivor bias.

"Those who slander Colombia must have received gold pounds from the Grand Duke of Victoria! Otherwise, even if they were just here for a short trip, walking the streets of Colombia, they would feel how much this country respects its people!"

These people are unaware that their so-called "tourism" or "strolling around the streets" is a luxury for those who can't even cross the threshold of Colombia. And thanks to Colombia's persistent propaganda, even if they knew the plight of outsiders, they could only sigh, "It's because these people aren't working hard enough. If they just tried a little harder, maybe they could change their fate and get into Colombia!"

Therese had grown tired of such tedious talk, and by now he had even lost the desire to debate with these people.

Sitting in the smuggler's truck, he had grown accustomed to the complaints of the people hidden in the cramped cargo compartment, and tired of the resentful expressions on their sallow and emaciated faces.

They are too weak. It's a good thing they aren't Sarkaz, otherwise they wouldn't even have the right to live.

Of course, this shouldn't be taken too seriously, since Theresis wasn't the only Sarkaz in that cramped carriage.

Squeezed next to Theresis was another Sarkaz. He had a hideous scar on his face, but he didn't have a trace of a warrior's aura. One of his eyes was covered with a white film, clearly blind, and his other eye had been constantly scrutinizing the people around him ever since he entered the carriage.

He had barely sat down in the carriage when the other stowaways began to jeer. Therese knew what they meant; according to custom, those who entered the carriage later also had to share their stories for everyone to laugh at.

Using other people's painful past as a source of pleasure is the only pastime people have on a boring journey.

Therese didn't do anything so pointless; when he got on the bus, several stowaways were making a fuss.

But when the others boarded, Therese was the only one left in the carriage.

The smugglers don't care about such things. The quality of smugglers is generally not very high. It's common for them to fight over arguments in the train carriages. If everyone were more civilized and capable, they would have entered Colombia through normal channels long ago. Since they're all on this train, they're all birds of a feather. If they're not as skilled and get beaten to death or injured and thrown off the train, they can only blame their bad luck.

Besides, the smuggler had already taken the money when they got on the bus. He was only responsible for driving the bus into Colombia. Who cared what happened on the bus?

As long as you don't damage the car, it's fine; if you do, you'll have to pay for it.

Under the barrage of questions and threats from the crowd, the scarred Sarkaz man finally had no choice but to begin his story.

According to him, he was born in Ursus. Although he was a Sarkaz and was born in that terrible country, he was very lucky. He was neither forced to work in the black mines nor infected with Oripathy. He could be considered a winner in life among the Sarkaz.

"Not only that, my ancestors served under Captain Bozocasti!"

Scarface Sarkaz raised his voice with a hint of pride, scanning the crowd in the cramped carriage, but he didn't receive any expressions of admiration from the others.