Chapter 24: Oger
When this two-headed, towering humanoid figure appeared within the white crystal barrier, all the surrounding mist, and even the churning black sea of fog on the ground, simultaneously ceased all movement and began to slowly contract toward Him.
It was as if flowing water had instantly frozen into black ice. The divine calamity mist, composed of thoughts, had transformed from an ownerless dream into a solidified thought form with a dominant will, as if it had suddenly gained a skeleton.
On one side of the Avenue of Truth, Nostradamus let out a soft exclamation of surprise. He could naturally see the change in the mist and the meaning behind it. The white-haired old mage cautiously raised his staff, releasing a detection spell, then furrowed his brow and muttered to himself with some confusion: "The chaotic thoughts are beginning to unify. Although the space-time coordinates within are still unpredictable, compared to the pure chaos from before, this is more like the result of some kind of mental concealment."
"What has Joshua done?"
Beside him, the High Sister also sensed the anomaly occurring within.
Sa Ya was the instructor of the Second Combat Monk Order of the Greyden Monastery. This might not sound like an imposing title, but in reality, anyone in the know, no matter how much they disliked the Church, would show the most basic respect for the name Greyden Monastery.
Setting aside past achievements, take the most recent example: the combat monk order that ambushed the mad dragon's flying forces in the southern far seas and nearly annihilated them was the First Monk Order, directly subordinate to it.
This monk order, which never interfered in human nations and only targeted high-level magical beasts and the Black Forest's black tide, had made tremendous contributions to the Black Forest expansion plans of the Far South Kingdom and several nations in the Western Mountains. Moreover, whenever a black tide appeared that local forces could not stop, they would unhesitatingly go to stop it. Therefore, all human nations treated them with exceptional favor.
For Sa Ya to serve as the instructor of the Second Monk Order at such a young age, in her twenties, meant her talent and strength were undoubtedly formidable. Nostradamus, being proficient in space-time sorcery, could easily discern the essential changes within the black mist. The young sister, though not as powerful as the old mage, could use her divine arts expertise and her own talent to perceive the divine fluctuations behind the mist.
"Appeared... a divine existence?"
Her eyes were covered by a black blindfold, but Sa Ya's talent gave her vision broader than ordinary people's. The High Sister could 'see' the flow of energy, could 'see' the colors of thoughts and life.
Anger was red, calmness was blue, despair was black, joy was green. The life of an ordinary human was a dim gray light; the stronger they were, the brighter the light. The busy city guards around were a dim orange, indicating they were not very strong and were somewhat tense or excited. Nostradamus was a dazzling blue light, meaning he was currently thinking calmly.
And in the center of the Imperial Capital, at the Morlai Palace, there was a golden light mass like the sun. This light was shining around the Avenue of Truth, meaning that His Majesty the Emperor, though not personally present, was constantly observing the situation and would act immediately if anything went wrong.
But the light beneath the Royal Mage Association was even more peculiar than those.
In front of the dazzling deep blue light mass representing Joshua, there was a chaotic halo of an indescribable color. It seemed translucent, as if it didn't exist at all. Sa Ya knew this represented divine power. Her ability was completely ineffective against deities, and divine power holders could also partially resist it. Joshua also had something similar on him, but it was incomparable to this existence.
—Perhaps the being within the Erebus Box had already been released.
Thinking of this possibility, Sa Ya surprisingly had no particular reaction.
Joshua, who was facing it directly, was extremely calm, not flustered in the slightest. There was no need for her to be nervous prematurely. Moreover, that ancient divine being had been sealed in the box for at least a thousand years; its power must have been worn down to the bare minimum. Plus, she herself was a Gold-rank Holy Word Mentor, confident she could protect herself even if something unexpected happened—at least the sister already knew the characteristics of the black mist and was confident she wouldn't fall into the same trap as Robzek.
"Oh? They... they seem to be communicating?"
These thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, only a few seconds in reality, but Sa Ya was surprised to find that the light mass representing Joshua had already made contact with that indistinct divine being, yet there was no energy flow indicating combat.
Royal Mage Association, Second Underground Laboratory.
"A brief awakening... how nostalgic."
A rough voice echoed throughout the laboratory. As the black mist converged and compressed, behind the white crystal barrier, a two-headed giant humanoid appeared in Joshua's vision. It spoke slowly: "I never thought that after my passing, I would once again feel the breath of my homeland."
This was a two-headed giant, over ten meters tall, like an iron tower. It had blue skin, covered in countless dense black runes and totems that shimmered with a mysterious light. Its limbs seemed forged from steel, containing the power to tear apart dragons with bare hands.
The giant's hands had only four fingers, but each finger was as thick and long as half a person. Now, it shifted its gaze to Joshua.
And at that moment, all the black mist in the laboratory was absorbed by the two-headed giant, allowing the warrior to clearly see its face.
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Joshua, who had been calmly observing all the changes from the beginning, opened his eyes wide in surprise.
In his eyes, of the two-headed giant's two heads, only one was real. The other was merely a black silhouette; the condensed mist formed the rough shape of a head but lacked any detail.
The other head, though normal, was somewhat unexpected to the warrior.
It was an aged face, with features similar to a human's, but with two huge fangs in its mouth. The giant had white hair, and wrinkles crisscrossed its blue skin. Though its face was full of majestic authority, it was completely at odds with its robust physique.
A pair of dark-golden eyes, full of wisdom, gazed at Joshua. It slowly examined the warrior, and the warrior was also carefully observing it. Then, the giant spoke: "Human, was it you who awakened me?"
After saying this, it didn't wait for Joshua's reply but turned to look around, sensing the surrounding aura. Joshua also paid no attention to its question, instead carefully searching his memory for whether he had encountered a similar being in his previous life.
"A two-headed ogre?"
He muttered softly to himself, but his heart was full of doubt. The warrior had originally thought that the God of Despair and Fortune was just an obscure deity he happened not to know about, but now the giant's image proved that this was indeed an existence that had never appeared in his previous life.
Because on the Continent of Strife, the species of ogre simply did not exist.
On the Mycroft Continent, there were many alien races. Whether dwarves and elves were aliens or human subspecies had never been determined by scholars in his previous life, but there were definitely dozens of confirmed alien races. However, none of these aliens matched the image of ogres from other novels and movies.
Not only that, common races like lizardmen, centaurs, and harpies also did not exist at all on the Continent of Strife. The official setting explanation was that they had been exterminated by other races long before the players arrived, leaving only their remains and ruins. In reality, players had indeed found evidence of the past existence of centaurs and harpies in the Tartarus Highlands and the Sleeping Forest.
Joshua never cared about such news, so he didn't know if any ogre ruins had been discovered. But now, it seemed that at least the empire of this world had indeed found an ogre ruin and unearthed the relics of their god.
"Ogre? Are you talking about me?"
Hearing Joshua's muttering, the two-headed giant turned around and said with amusement: "Human, what are you talking about? Although we look rather fierce, we don't eat people. Apart from high-level magical beasts, intelligent life does not eat intelligent life."
"How many years has it been?" Saying this, it couldn't help but shake its head: "Has the current world even forgotten the Oger?"