# Chapter 66: Evil God - Calamity
The Era of Radiance was the most prosperous age of all civilizations on the Mycroft Continent. Not only humans, but also elves, dwarves, trolls, and centaurs had developed brilliant civilizations on the continent at that time. The vast land was filled with thriving races, and the flourishing flame of civilization shone brightly enough to illuminate other worlds.
According to what the Forest Soul said, not counting humans, the elves alone had already developed solar ships capable of sailing through the endless void. Powered by energy generated from elemental annihilation, these ships could sail eternally like the sun, exploring the multiverse. In the human world, spacetime gates leading to various worlds were countless, and knowledge about other dimensions had even become an academic discipline requiring specialized study.
They built cities on the moon, sailed toward the sun, explored its mysteries—everything in the world was thriving and prospering.
But when prosperity reaches its peak, decline begins. Everything started from this point. On the eve of disaster's arrival, four races—humans, elves, dwarves, and the fairies dwelling in the illusory world—joined forces to conduct a grand magical ritual. They opened a demiplane within the void, a plane connected to all the worlds that Mycroft World could reach at that time. The four strongest races on the continent intended to use this demiplane as a transfer station to explore and colonize various valuable otherworlds.
This demiplane was named the [Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground]. The Sage personally named it, and the powerful beings of other races bestowed their blessings one by one. Sacred inscriptions were carved and placed at the center of the sacrificial ground.
This was truly the most prosperous time. The flame of civilization burned fiercely, and humanity's gaze no longer focused on a single continent or world, but on the entire multiverse. There had never been a more prideful era than that.
But just as a prophecy said:
—The ignorant open the gate of the end, and the death calamity of all things approaches.
They had connected too many spacetime passages, so many that they couldn't even count them. Amidst the revelry (kuanghuan) of the ritual's success, they opened a door that should never have been opened.
[The Gate of the Abyss]
The Abyss was not an unfamiliar world. The existence of demons had long been known to the various races. Although it was indeed a terrifying and depraved (duoluo) chaotic world, no one truly feared it. There were even professions like demon warlocks that utilized demonic power.
Given the level of human civilization at that time, resisting an Abyssal invasion would have been completely unproblematic. But this Gate of the Abyss that was opened was different from the spacetime passages demons had used for invasions in the past.
It connected to every layer of the Abyss.
How many layers does the Abyss have? No one knows. So the number of demons that surged through this time was also unknown to anyone. Even though most of the spacetime passages collapsed from the overload, a truly endless tide of monsters still poured forth. Worse still, some evil and terrifying existence sleeping in the depths of the Abyss awakened from its near-eternal slumber. This twisted and maddening existence dragged all the powerful beings present into the depths of the Abyss, where a great battle ensued.
Having lost their strongest members, the various races fought desperately against the tide of demons. The war was extremely brutal (canlie), with corpses covering the entire continent. To end the endless enemies, some powerful beings sacrificed themselves to destroy the Gate of the Abyss in the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground. But the demon army had already opened seven enormous teleportation (chuansong) gates on the Mycroft Continent itself.
Even when the Sage and the powerful beings of the various races returned from the depths of the Abyss, they couldn't change the situation. Because of this war between worlds, countless chaotic entities wandering in the void gathered like sharks smelling blood. The Sage had to fight against several Evil Gods; otherwise, before he could sweep away the demons, the world would be completely destroyed by the Evil Gods.
Thus, the once prosperous world was reduced to ruins.
Speaking of this, Joshua remembered the expression of the Forest Soul at that time.
Within the orb of light formed by countless faces appearing and disappearing, 'they' all showed the same expression—calm containing sorrow, sorrow containing anger.
He recalled the illusion that the Forest Soul, showing such an expression, had made him see.
A dusky sky, obscured by countless dark clouds. These were not naturally occurring clouds, but blood clouds formed from the slaughter (sisha) of countless demons and alchemical puppets in the sky. Rain mixed with turbid blood and machine oil (jiyou) fell upon the earth. A deathly stillness (siji) gray light diffused from behind the clouds, enveloping (longzhao) the entire world. Countless corpses covered the ground, their end nowhere in sight.
The air was filled with the stench of sulfur. Gray-white smoke rose from the soil mixed with corpses. The world was polluted to the extreme. Every possibility of life's existence was completely erased. Even breathing would infect one with deadly poison.
The war against demons and chaos caused mountains to collapse and plains to sink. In what was once the south of the world, now the Far South and Far Sea regions—the homeland of the elves—a continent was slowly sinking. This was the result of a battle between some great existence and an Evil God. A terrifying (kongbu) and twisted (niugu) will swept across the outer layers of the world, revealing the essence of chaos and darkness, eroding (qinshi) the world deeper. Countless people died in an instant.
"We don't know what happened next."
The Forest Soul had said this at that time, its tone slow and heavy: "Because of the destruction of our homeland continent, a portion of the elves left Mycroft World. They fled the final battlefield and came here."
"And I protected them, coming here together."
There was a hint of shame in these words—the shame of one who fled from battle—but also the naturalness (lisuodangran) of one who was the protector of their race.
"So this is the origin of this world's elves? Then what exactly is the origin of the stone golems?"
Although he had some guesses about many pieces of information, Joshua had no time to concern himself with those matters now. The warrior asked this will, frowning with confusion: "Those mindless puppets—what exactly is controlling them?"
"Haven't those elves already told you the answer long ago?"
The Forest Soul asked back in confusion: "Just like meteorites, heavy rain, drought, earthquakes, and tsunamis, the stone golems themselves are part of 'Calamity'."
"Calamity? How can puppets be calamity... Wait, the Calamity you're talking about..."
Initially completely unable to understand what the other was saying, the warrior suddenly realized—just as sometimes famine is not [Famine], plague is not [Plague], the word calamity might not simply refer to natural disasters, but to a more terrifying existence.
Slowly nodding, the orb of light confirmed Joshua's guess. The ethereal echo vibrated: "Naturally, behind the stone golems is that chaotic deity. You may call it the Evil God [Calamity], or use a more fitting ancient name."
"The Ancient God [Ten Plagues Great Star]."
On Black's back, the group continued advancing into the distance. At the edge of their field of vision (shiye), they could vaguely see a towering mountain peak. Around this peak, there was no depressing cloud haze, but a faint cyan light. In its vicinity, there was not a single trace of stone golems.
On the dragon's back, while resting with crossed legs, Loranda raised a question about what the warrior had said earlier: "Joshua, you and I both know that the names of Evil Gods are closely related to their power. The Plague Evil God controls the spread of disease, the Famine Evil God has the power to lay waste to worlds. Based on the previous situation, if this world is facing an invasion by the Calamity Evil God, I can believe it. But..."
He paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about how to phrase his words. After a while, the paladin said seriously: "Since the stone golems descended on this world, various disasters have indeed increased. Recently, there have been several volcanic eruptions, major earthquakes, snow disasters, and floods—enough to prove the reality of the Calamity Evil God's power. But the stone golems are indeed just puppets. They have nothing to do with calamity."
He still had doubts about the origin of the stone golems.
"The origin of the stone golems isn't really important. The Famine Evil God uses desolate gods (huangshen) transformed from crystal insects as vessels, and the Calamity Evil God might also use puppets to carry its power. The form of its kin (juanshu) has no research value; they are merely tools in the Evil God's hands."
Shaking his head, Joshua explained calmly. He narrowed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought: "The Revelation Array in the sky is the main body (benti) of the Calamity Evil God. This means that the Calamity Evil God itself might be that super-large-scale (chaodaxing) composite magic array, and the stone golems are its fingers affecting the world."
"According to what the Forest Soul said, the Calamity Evil God is different from other Evil Gods. It is an existence with an exceptionally long history, even worshipped by some worlds. It is like true calamity—as long as one can withstand the Ten Plagues, whether successful or not, the Evil God will leave this world."
"So it's called the Ten Plagues Great Star..."
Ying sat beside the warrior, her eyes filled with confusion. The girl couldn't understand too complicated matters, but she could grasp this sentence. Hugging her knees, leaning against Joshua's side, she murmured: "I wonder which plague we're on now."
"Who knows. There are so many calamities in this world."
Joshua shrugged. He extended his fist, placed it before his eyes, then clenched it tightly: "But this makes things much more interesting... Now, our enemies are not only tangible puppets, but also the intangible 'Calamity'."
He smiled and said: "This is truly a battle that ordinary people cannot experience."
"Then where are we going next?"
Loranda was still somewhat confused. After all, he hadn't communicated with the Forest Soul, and the warrior couldn't possibly recount all the information. The paladin asked in confusion: "This Forest Soul you keep mentioning—what exactly is it? Why does it know so much information that even the Church of the Seven Gods doesn't have?"
After all, the Church of the Seven Gods had inherited part of the legacy of the Era of Radiance. Their understanding of the Lost Three Hundred Years period surpassed that of most people in this world. Yet now, an existence that understood that era even better had suddenly appeared.
"The Forest Soul... you'll know soon enough."
Without directly responding to Loranda's question, Joshua turned his head to look at the distant mountain range. His crimson eyes reflected that trace of cyan light: "As for where we're going—to the place that can change the current situation."
"The sacred land of this world's elves—the Origin Mountain Range."