novelGod Quest
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Chapter 205: God Quest
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
"It is better to be a naïve idiot than it is to be Emordilorcan."—Roland Mist.
There was no such quote in this world until I arrived. From a certain standpoint, Emordilorcan should even thank me for helping him be remembered by history.
Cough, I should get back to the point. When Aylos appeared before me, my first thought was that she had learned the truth about the incident in Auland and was now here for revenge.
My fear, however, turned out to be for naught. It transpired that after the Wind Elemental God Camdian received my invitation letter, he brought another Elemental Goddess who also had a deep grudge against Emordilorcan in order to increase our chances of victory.
"Back in the day, Emordilorcan joined the group assault against Sidunwar. If it wasn't for his Earth Seal that blocked the water veins that connected to the ocean, my husband Sidunwar wouldn't have perished in that battle."
Her light-seeming words contained bone-piercing hatred, and her crystal-like eyes were filled with a grudge that had not dissipated but had instead only increased over the years.
In a way, Emordilorcan was truly amazing. At the very least, I didn't have the confidence to live so well after angering so many people.
[No, according to the System's calculations, there are far more that hate you. There is at least ten times the number of pitiful people that have suffered due to you compared to Emordilorcan. The number of your enemies, in both number and strength, can't be surpassed by anyone in this world. In fact, I have been wondering if I should give you the title 'Public Enemy #1. ']
"Shut up! Nobody will think that you're mute if you don't talk... Sorry, sorry, I wasn't talking about you!"
I hurriedly apologized to Aylos, who had a shocked expression.
In a way, this was my first ever meeting with Aylos. After all, it was definitely overboard to tell her to shut up when she was talking about the reason for her deep grudge and her husband's pitiful death.
Fortunately for me, perhaps it was expected of Aylos as the Water Elemental Goddess, but she seemed to have a very "good temper." She only smiled and seemed to completely ignore my outburst.
Since we all had the same goal, it was only natural that our discussion would be quite successful. This time, in order to truly kill off Emordilorcan once and for all, our invading team could be considered rather extravagant.
Although my team didn't consist of many—there were only seven members, in fact—even the weakest among us was at the Legend rank. Margaret, Adam, and Amelia—my three strongest veteran SemiGod supporters—had all arrived, and they were the main forces for this battle. Eaglestorm, Beifeng, and Reyne—these three legends could be nothing more than our helpers, and it was also a good chance for them to improve themselves.
This was the strongest team that I could field that wouldn't affect the normal day-to-day operations of the Northlands. As for taking Princess Reyne from East Mist? To be honest, Kelly and the others took care of most of the paperwork; Reyne was nothing more than a rubber stamper.
As for our reinforcements, I was only originally counting on Camdian to join us. After all, he harbored a deep hatred for Emordilorcan, and everyone knew the basic logic of 'removing a problem at its roots, ' but I didn't expect the Water Elemental Goddess to join us as well. After all, from what I recalled, we did have some small conflicts with her, and she should have been rather busy.
"The battle in Auland? That's a matter between the seafolk and the humans. I've already done all that was necessary for me to do. That Queen of Storms does remember you quite clearly, though; after all, you killed three of her beloved pets and even created that monster with their bodies. As long as she has some free time, she'll definitely directly take revenge upon you."
Aylos' words were quite believable. As for the Queen of Storm's reaction, it was just as I expected. As per my understanding of the Ancient Elemental Gods after much contact with them, I realized that they indeed lacked interest in the Holy War; they had experienced it multiple times already.
While the benefits could be great, the risks were greater. Without enough benefits to be gained, it would be impossible to have those sly old foxes fight with their all and risk their lives.
For example, what attracted Emordilorcan to fight to his fullest for the beastmen was the role of 'Guardian God of the Beastmen' that had been left empty for such a long time. If the Earth Elemental Dimensional Door had successfully connected the Earth Elemental Plane to the mortal plane, Emordilorcan could have obtained the Divine Obligations of 'Guardian God of the Beastmen' as well as 'Guardian God of the Northlands. ' This would make him a True God and rapidly increase his power.
However, it was evident that the Water Elemental Goddess would be unable to obtain any of these conditions in Auland.
"The Storm Queen's always been on guard against me, so she couldn't possibly allow more of the seafolk to become my believers, and nor do I have any need to fight for her with all my might. For me, revenge is the most important thing of all, and the conflict between you and the Storm Queen has nothing to do with me. Moreover. if you return my husband's possession to me, I can agree to a request of yours as long as it isn't overboard; I can also help you mediate this conflict."
Aylos displayed a rather sincere expression. To her, the Ocean Bottle itself wasn't important; it was a memory of her late husband.
"Possession? Oh, that bottle!"
Hearing this, I immediately looked in Camdian's direction. I had only brought it out that one time in the underground labyrinth in order to seal the Earth Elemental God. It seemed that this guy had rather sharp eyes.
Camdian simply shrugged and exhibited a rather casual expression."Sidunwar, who controlled the seven seas, had a similar status to the God of Holy Light for you humans. It's impossible for me to not recognize his God Equipment, even if the divine power contained within it has almost completely disappeared."
I hesitated for a moment, not because I was unwilling to part with that God Equipment since it had only minimal divine power remaining and its practical usage was practically nil. The reason for my hesitation was because it was a part of my mega high-level quest.
[Congratulations to my host for triggering a Legend-rank God Quest: Revival of the Ancient Sea God]
[The Ancient Sea God Sidunwar was the strongest God of his time. At his pinnacle, there were multiple Main God-level existences under his faction. Back then, the Queen of the Storms was just a rookie who couldn't even fit into the ranks. Although he was crazy to challenge the Order Goddess Astrya and is now dead, thanks to fate and coincidence his God Equipment, which contains his secrets and inheritance, is now in your hands. It has even been activated by divine power from the same source. Perhaps, in this dusk before Armageddon when many Gods are now active, the power of the Ancient Sea God can be revived. ]
This God Quest was truly ridiculous and had three parts to it. The first step required me to gather sea-related divine power to feed Sidunwar's Ocean Bottle so that it could evolve into a SemiGod Equipment. The final reward was an astonishing 100, 000 Fate Points, with zero punishment involved if I fail.
With my understanding of this System of mine that loved to set pitfalls for me, the larger the reward, the more difficult the quest would be. With such munificent rewards, the final level of this quest would probably be unimaginably difficult.
Recently, various bothersome things had been on my plate all at once, so I had set this quest aside.
"On one hand is an incredibly difficult quest that I may be unable to complete even if I try my utmost, while on my other hand are tangible benefits that I can receive immediately. I already have too many bothersome things to deal with, and this particular bother isn't too important to take care of. Let's just forget it."
And, so, I personally handed the Ocean Bottle to Aylos. She received it from me and clutched it to her chest with an expression filled with nostalgia and sadness.
"... Thank you. If only Sidunwar was willing to listen to me, he wouldn't have ended like—wait, what!?"
Just as she said only half of what she intended, Aylos suddenly stopped in shock. All that nostalgia and sadness vanished completely, to be replaced with astonishment on that pretty face of hers.
"How is this possible! There's actually still his Divine Spirit contained within here, and it's in the midst of reviving? How is this possible? Sidunwar can still revive? My husband still has a hope of reviving?"
I'd never seen anyone's expressions change so rapidly. From sadness to surprise, from surprise to delight, and in the very next second, her delight turned to despair!
"NO! Sidunwar! I can feel your Divine Spirit disappearing; what's happening!? Your Divine Spirit was clearly stable just earlier; why is it beginning to disappear!?"
Everyone else also had expressions of shock. Although the existences known as Gods were just like cockroaches, incredibly difficult to truly kill off, for a God who had died so incredibly long ago to still have the possibility of revival was completely outside of everyone's realm of understanding. And just when he had the hope of revival, it started vanishing, which was even more incomprehensible.
Hearing Aylos's cry, I was momentarily surprised before I immediately grabbed the Ocean's Bottle from her hands. The moment it returned to me, the Divine Spirit contained within the Ocean's Bottle indeed began to stabilize.
It was obvious that Sidunwar's life was currently being maintained by my System. So, when the Ocean's Bottle no longer belonged to me, the System lost its power to maintain his life, causing the Divine Spirit to naturally start dissipating on its own. After all, this God Quest's main goal in the end was to revive this mega-veteran God from long ago.
Aylos was about to reflexively grab the Ocean's Bottle back from me, but she discovered the return of Sidunwar's Divine Spirit and realized that it somehow had to do with me.
Although she didn't understand how I did it, it was an indisputable fact that was right in front of her. For a Divine Spirit that was already beginning to disappear to stabilize again was completely against the common sense of this world.
"How did you do it? This is impossible!"
I hesitated for a moment before making another decision that was actually rather easy to make... There actually wasn't anything to hesitate about, as the Ocean Bottle would certainly remain by my side judging from the current situation. I was hesitating about whether or not to laugh loudly three times and say, "Your husband's life is in my hands. If you want him to live, then obey me." Or whether I should whisper into her ear with a perverted smile, saying, "Madam, your husband can no longer be without me; be mine as well."
Fine then, these sudden flashes of inspiration were unable to be spoken out loud since there were too many spectators. I was afraid of getting beaten up.
"This is my personal secret. I think I'm perhaps the only one in the entire world who can maintain his Divine Spirit and revive him."
Alright, I was doing my best to appear calm and steady, but my lips were arching upward and betraying my smugness. This was basically a heaven-sent gift; as long as Aylos wanted to revive her husband, I basically had another ace card fighter in my ranks.
Yep, just a fighter, nothing like forcing her into some pornographic videos or anything like that. I hate that the most; those thinking dirty thoughts should all go do some self-reflection.
Aylos' expression was rapidly changing. As a veteran whose age could be calculated in centuries rather than years, she would, of course, know what it meant to be under someone else's thumb.
The atmosphere instantly became chilly.
At such a time, I needed assistance in sealing the deal. After I was done playing the part of the bad cop, I needed someone to play the part of the good cop, which was why I glanced behind me.
"Cough, Milady Aylos, please rest assured; we don't have any extravagant requests. We would like to revive His Lordship Sidunwar as well, but there's still some difficulty involved, such as needing sea-related divine power to strengthen his Divine Spirit, and the current Sea Gods are all so strong to the point where we don't dare antagonize them..."
From a certain standpoint, Reyne was an excellent descendant of the Mist as well as my apprentice. She had a sharp mind and was also shameless, able to infer the critical parts by herself just from the knowledge that I needed the Ocean Bottle to increase its sea-related divine power and Divine Obligation. She managed to hit Aylos right where she was the weakest.
Aylos' face kept flickering between cyan and white, and even her elemental body was now shining. Although her expression still seemed icy on the surface, her overly wild emotions almost caused her to reveal her true appearance.
"Say it; just tell me what conditions you have."
I exchanged glances with Reyne, and both of us smiled. This was no longer even a negotiation—this was a lamb offering herself up to be slaughtered.
"Relax; we're easy to deal with. You only need to..."
When I told her my condition, Aylos' expression was filled with surprise. She wasn't surprised that my condition was too strict; she was surprised because it was too easy.
I smiled when I saw her expression noticeably relax.
"Let's take it slowly. She was so tense just now; how could we possibly take her for all she's worth? Since the critical bait is in my hands, I'm not afraid of this fish getting off the hook. If I force her too much from the very start, it's easy to make her resent us, so let's use something simple first to get her used to it. Once she's fallen into the habit of obeying my orders, she won't be able to get free anymore. Hehehe!"
"Hehehe!"
My secret smile overlapped with Reyne's. We merely exchanged smiles and all of the above was communicated nonverbally.
Meanwhile, behind my back, everyone else was having another discussion.
"It's all over; Reyne has been corrupted by Roland as well." Margaret had a helpless expression on her face. One Roland was annoying enough to deal with, and Elisa, who he taught, was also incredibly difficult to deal with. Adding in a Reyne, who was becoming more black-bellied every day, it was something that would indeed make her feel helpless.
"... That might not be the case. At the very least, I've never seen a single descendant of the Mist that's a normal person. Just look at Glina and Karwenz. Roland probably just activated Reyne's inner potential! That entire family has the bloodline of perverts." Amelia gave an even more vicious conclusion.
Adam nodded vigorously as he watched Reyne and Roland flash evil smiles in unison, and he recalled how he had suffered due to Roland in the past.
I wasn't in a hurry to go fight Emordilorcan to the death. Apart from having to gather information about this place, there were many things that I still needed to do in this Earth Elemental Plane that was far away from the mortal plane and thus the sights of the Gods.
This Holy War and battle had taught me a deep lesson I'd never forget. Especially with Karwenz, Emordilorcan, and Felix's appearances—all these God-level, powerful existences kept sounding the warning alarm in my mind.
High-level combat ability had far too much influence on the overall combat situation. Every time one of them acted, it could just about turn the entire situation around, and in the past, Emperor Yongye's forbidden spells would always be able to overturn any combat situation, but the current me...
"I'm so weak; it's so pathetic how weak I am!"
Yep, I was so weak. It was almost two years now since I had obtained this double Diamond Bloodline, but I had just reached the Silver rank, and I only had a shallow understanding of my bloodline's power and job class abilities. Perhaps this would be an incredible achievement for anyone else, but I considered it a failure.
"Most of my attention has been preoccupied with other matters. Walking a tightrope every time, I'll fall off eventually, and who knows what will happen in the future. I don't have that much free time, so I need to quickly improve my power rank."
Of course, to me, my rank was never a real issue, as true combat ability only had a partial connection to rank. But increasing my rank would bring about foundational changes, and my opponents would only become stronger and stronger in the future.
"Normal methods can't be counted on. In that case, let's use some trickery. Life and death and endless reincarnation?! Hehe! That might not always be the case!"
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