Chapter 54: Big News
When Eagle said this, the surroundings immediately fell silent, with only the low sound of wind blowing across the plain, stirring up a cloud of dust.
At this moment, both men stood in the large pit created by the battle between the warrior and Loranda. The city guards, following Joshua’s signal, did not approach but instead organized and prepared the merchant camp that had been destroyed by the aftermath of the two Gold-rank experts’ fight. The paladin lying nearby had a head that was still violently shaking internally, and it would take some time for him to wake up.
Both Joshua, who had heard the term “Evil God,” and the old Pope, who had uttered it, fell into deep thought, their expressions grave.
This was not something they could take lightly, for these were Evil Gods—the most terrifying monsters wandering through the endless void, capable of destroying entire worlds.
Even the mere name should serve as a warning.
“Haha, I got carried away and started thinking about some past events.”
Subconsciously stroking his beard, Eagle—since he had manifested as an avatar here—found his hand passing through empty air as the projection, purely condensed from Holy Light, missed its mark. The arm made of energy passed through the white beard formed by light, but he paid it no mind and continued speaking slowly: “I heard you’ve already been to the other side of the space-time passage, the main body of the sealed land?”
“That’s right, about half a year ago now.”
The fact that Joshua had traveled to another world was known to almost all high-ranking members of the Empire, let alone His Holiness the Pope of the Church of the Seven Gods.
However, many people did not understand what the other side of the seal truly meant. They probably thought it was just another world filled with countless dangerous magical beasts. Joshua was hesitating about whether he should share his experiences—such as the Ultimate Wild God, the mutation of the Azure Orb, and the existence of the Steel Serpent—since Eagle, as the Pope of the Church of the Seven Gods, surely knew many secrets. Some information that even the system was vague about, he might be able to clarify.
But before Joshua could finish his deliberation, the old Pope nodded and then began speaking slowly, as if to himself: “The other side of the space-time passage should be like other chaotic regions—the wreckage of a world destroyed by an Evil God.”
He spoke very slowly, as if recalling memories. At this moment, Eagle’s expression seemed somewhat nostalgic: “That place is extremely dangerous. Countless Chaos Monsters attack endlessly, and due to the Evil God’s corruption, there is not a single place or resource to resupply across the entire continent. After fighting until our ammunition and supplies were exhausted, to survive, I had to eat the flesh of those monsters and drink their blood… It was truly a grueling adventure.”
After speaking, Eagle turned his head and looked directly at Joshua with his golden eyes. He nodded slightly in admiration: “I have also been to the other side of space and time, and I have witnessed the terror of the Evil Gods firsthand. That was thirty-two years ago, when I was thirty-three years old, and I barely managed to accomplish it. And you, at twenty-two, have done better than I did back then, when I had the support of the Church and barely managed to hold on until my return.”
“Joshua, your talent is the most formidable I have ever seen. Even your Empire’s Emperor, the Heaven-Enlightened Dragon Knight Israel, was far inferior to you in his youth. With a successor like you, I can safely tell you some secrets about the Evil Gods.”
The voice, carrying an ethereal echo, narrated slowly, while Joshua narrowed his eyes and became serious.
He knew that the secrets Eagle was about to reveal would be crucial, and he could not afford to miss a single word.
After a moment of contemplation, the old Pope began to speak slowly, revealing secrets that were only shared among a few guardians of order, secrets that even high-ranking members of the Church might not know: “Perhaps you already know that the birth of an Evil God originates from the painful destruction of a world. It is the chaos formed after the reversal of the First Flame, and also the final wail of a civilization.”
Joshua recalled what the Steel Serpent had told him about the birth of the [Famine] Evil God, and upon reflection, he nodded in agreement.
Seeing the warrior nod, Eagle continued his narration. He waved his right hand, forming a curtain of Holy Light, on which text began to appear, accompanied by explanations: “The source of an Evil God’s power is the process of its civilization and world’s destruction, and this is also the shackle that binds them—each Evil God must meet specific conditions to invade another world.”
As he spoke, a massive, twisted shadow appeared on the Holy Light curtain, with numerous textual analyses and explanations:
“The Evil God that destroyed the world on the other side of the space-time passage in the Northern Lands is named [Famine]. Its original world was destroyed by eons of lonely drifting and isolation, destroyed by the deep despair of having all resources exhausted while still finding no future to seek. The worlds it can invade are only those that know of the existence of its original world and have the ability to explore the void of the Starry Sky.”
At this point, Joshua finally understood the reason. He and the old Pope spoke simultaneously: “As long as the information about its existence is sealed off, it cannot invade a world that knows nothing about it.”
Seeing that the warrior had grasped this point, Eagle smiled approvingly and continued, as the light curtain moved to a second twisted shadow: “The [Plague] Evil God that destroyed the Plague Lands in the Western Mountains, the world on the other side of the space-time passage—this is the world I explored in my youth. The original world of this Evil God was destroyed by a worldwide plague caused by countless corpses and magic during the century-long war. The winter and infectious diseases brought by countless destructive radiation-forbidden curse magic annihilated all life. Its condition for invasion is a devastating world war and a great plague; only during such a period can it invade our world.”
When the old Pope spoke of this Evil God, his expression was very serious: “Generally speaking, it cannot invade a healthy world. But if another Evil God successfully invades, then [Plague] will inevitably follow.”
“And in fact, there was a third Evil God that once invaded our world.”
The Holy Light curtain moved to the last twisted shadow. Strangely enough, this shadow gradually became clear, and what was revealed before Joshua’s eyes was a dense Black Forest.
Just as the warrior was about to ask in confusion, Eagle began to explain: “During the Lost Three Hundred Years, a total of three Evil Gods invaded, along with many scattered Void Lords and Abyss Sovereigns who also attacked our world. But under the resistance of the Sage, the Saints, and the human coalition of that time, they all failed. This unknown Evil God even fell in our world… The Black Forest, which covers nearly one-third of the continent and destroyed the most prosperous central region of the continent during the Era of Radiance, is the result of that war and the location of the Evil God’s corpse.”
“The Black Forest… is not a natural phenomenon?”
Joshua murmured to himself: “Indeed, that characteristic of being filled with a desire for destruction and targeting only humans does not seem like a naturally occurring phenomenon.”
“That’s right. Something like the Black Forest should not exist at all.”
When the old Pope spoke, he did not sound like a man in his sixties or seventies. His speech was clear and very swift: “Joshua, the reason I tell you this is that Evil Gods have the ability to invade in chains. It is possible that while we are resisting one Evil God, the conditions for another Evil God’s invasion are being met. This is a problem we must avoid, and the best method is to eliminate all possibilities of invasion. Your dragon-slaying this time was very well done.”
Joshua immediately reacted: “Mad Dragon Plague, Dragon Calamity, plague, and a war on a worldwide scale—this is the handiwork of the [Plague] Evil God!” (To be continued.)