Chapter 28: What a Pity
The mist had completely dissipated.
The black sea of fog that had surged like a nightmare moments ago seemed as if it had never existed, dissolving into nothingness, leaving only a corroded street behind.
The exclamations of the city guards and church knights nearby had not yet fully subsided. Although they had witnessed the disappearance of the two-headed giant, they did not understand why. The powerful fluctuations of energy still shook their hearts. Only a few mages realized that the two-headed giant from earlier was merely an illusion with no substance, and now it had completely vanished.
Joshua, however, simply shrugged and said softly, "Farewell, Ougner."
The passing of a deity was no different from that of an ordinary person—silent and unnoticed.
Just as he was about to take a step and walk toward the old mage and the others, the warrior suddenly realized that his body did not feel the weakness that came from temporarily losing his divinity.
On his bones, mysterious runes still flowed, absorbing energy from the surroundings and continuously strengthening themselves. A stream of pure divine power from an external source silently replenished the divinity he had lent to Ougner earlier.
As a result, not only would he not suffer from weakness due to lending out his divinity, but he had actually gained some benefit. The warrior could even sense that he could vaguely make a judgment about his own future luck or misfortune in the unseen. This was likely a small gift left behind by Ougner.
"...Truly a generous deity."
After a pause, Joshua could only let out this sigh.
He waved at Ying and Lin from a distance, then set aside the distracting thoughts in his mind and continued walking toward the other side of Truth Avenue. Along the way, loose sand and dust made a creaking sound under his feet. The decayed street would clearly need to be rebuilt. For the residents living here, this was truly an unforeseen disaster.
As he passed the spot where the two-headed giant had disappeared, the warrior suddenly noticed a glint of reflected light from the corner of his eye.
He naturally stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at the source of the reflection.
A strange, transparent crystal.
"What is this? An energy crystal?"
Frowning, Joshua slowly walked toward the crystal and picked it up.
The moment he picked it up, a violent surge of energy exploded like lightning in the warrior's palm.
It was a terrifying force almost equivalent to a Thunderbolt spell, enough to completely reduce an ordinary house to rubble. On a battlefield, it could blast any human within a ten-meter radius into fragments—at the very least, cripple them.
But that was all. For a Silver-rank warrior, such a spell might be troublesome; they could withstand one strike but definitely not a second. For a Gold-rank warrior, who acted as a super meat grinder on the battlefield, a simple precaution with their protective battle qi would be enough to resist it.
And Joshua was now an Ultimate-rank warrior, a level capable of serving as a legion commander and guarding an entire province. Although he had not fought since his advancement, his strength was genuine. Whether it was an energy surge comparable to a Thunderbolt spell or even a rain of falling fire and molten lava washing over the ground, he could take it all without changing his expression.
The moment the thought arose, black-red battle qi enveloped the explosive energy, containing it completely without any leakage. Joshua grabbed the strange crystal, which seemed to have no weight, squinted his eyes in thought for a moment, and then gave it a slight squeeze.
Crack. A crisp sound.
"Oh?"
This time, he was genuinely surprised. Joshua raised an eyebrow, his tone tinged with astonishment: "Didn't break? That tough?"
The force of that squeeze had compressed the lightning within the crystal back into its interior. Although it seemed like a gentle pinch, the strength was enough to flatten steel into paper. If it were an ordinary energy crystal, it would have shattered into dust due to structural collapse. But this translucent crystal remained completely intact, as if nothing had happened.
Joshua began to grow curious. Something that could withstand his grip was certainly no ordinary item. Moreover, this crystal had been found at the spot where Ougner had disappeared. Could it be a remnant left behind by that deity?
He had never heard of such a thing.
To outsiders, only a few seconds had passed. The warrior had merely bent down to pick something up and then clenched his fist slightly. Only powerful experts like the old mage and Saya could detect that Joshua had just been attacked in an instant.
The High Sister was still recounting the series of events after Robzek had fainted to the newly awakened Robzek. Nostradamus, however, had no mind to explain to his old friend Muir. Of course, the old mage knew that such a level of energy explosion was nothing more than a gentle breeze to the warrior, but this sudden situation made him alert. He feared that the incident caused by the Erebus Box was not yet over.
After instructing Vera to take care of his mentor, the old mage quickly walked toward Joshua. Ying and Lin followed behind him, their light footsteps carrying them toward their master.
But at that moment, Joshua opened his system.
"Identify."
[Tentative · Mysterious Crystal]
[...Item identification in progress... Mythological knowledge check failed, Divine knowledge check successful, Special knowledge check successful.]
[Identification Report: Restless Divinity · Special Divine Artifact]
[Mythology: Legend has it that deities possess immortal lives. Even death is merely a brief slumber for them; they will awaken again when the time is right. But evidence shows that deities can also die in the truest sense. This restless divinity is one of the various remnants they leave behind.]
[Divine Artifact: Restless Divinity, as the name suggests, is a cluster of ownerless and unusually restless divine power. It generally appears at the site of a deity's fall. These items are the most core and hardest-to-dissolve concentrations of power from the fallen deity. Because they are too pure and too condensed, this power is completely unusable. Any contact will provoke its counterattack, the intensity of which depends on the state of the deceased deity in life. Perhaps a clever person could analyze some knowledge about the deity from the divine power within, but the power itself is utterly impossible to utilize.]
[Special: Divinity is originally formless and intangible, a collection of certain concepts, almost impossible to materialize. But perhaps because the death of a deity is itself an incredible event, some deities leave behind these special restless crystals after their fall. Aside from attacking anyone who touches them, these crystals are utterly useless. However, for certain deities or those approaching the realm of deities, observing these special crystals might bring unique benefits.]
[Summary: A transparent crystal containing divine power. Though it appears ordinary and seemingly useless, it is actually a kind of divine artifact, especially for certain special individuals.]
"A divine crystal left behind by Ougner..."
Standing up and raising his head, Joshua held the crystal in his hand and looked at Nostradamus, who was approaching quickly. A persistent thought lingered in his mind, but he couldn't pinpoint its source. Frowning, the warrior murmured softly, "Strange. This feeling."
"Joshua, are you alright?"
The old mage hadn't even stopped walking yet when he called out somewhat urgently from a distance.
"Not bad. A bit hungry."
Lost in thought about the idea flickering in his mind, the warrior's reply was rather perfunctory. But Nostradamus took it seriously. He immediately turned to instruct the mages standing far away to prepare food. Ying and Lin silently returned to Joshua's side.
After giving his instructions, the old mage carefully examined the warrior. Finding that he was indeed unharmed and his spirit unchanged, he let out a sigh of relief. The earlier black mist had been too strange. Even he was unwilling to act rashly without thorough investigation. The old mage had initially wanted to refuse Joshua's request to explore, but in the end, he had relented.
In truth, the moment he agreed, Nostradamus had felt a twinge of regret. As a traditional mage, he believed that such unknown situations required extensive study and extreme caution. But the warrior's performance had indeed exceeded everyone's expectations. The black mist that had rendered even a powerhouse like Robzek unconscious seemed to fear him, actively clearing a path for him. Joshua had advanced unimpeded to the lowest level of the association, resolved the issue with the Erebus Box, and caused the black mist to dissipate.
Although the two-headed giant with its formidable aura from earlier was a mystery, Nostradamus had a guess. After all, the Erebus Box had been excavated from a sacrificial site as a sacred relic of an ancient race. And those clearly dominant two-headed skeletons, aside from their size, bore a striking resemblance to the two-headed giant's form.
But now was not the time to dwell on that. Glancing at the sky, it was deep into the night. Nostradamus shook his head. "I'll have to report this to Israel tomorrow. Even though he's been watching the whole time, we still need to go through the motions. Joshua, you've rendered great service again. This time, the entire Imperial Royal Mage Association owes you a favor..."
"I see!"
While casually ruffling Ying and Lin's hair, Joshua, who had been deep in thought, suddenly brightened at the mention of Israel, His Majesty the Emperor. He finally understood what that persistent thought in his mind was.
Ignoring the rest of the old mage's words, his mind began to race, recalling the information he knew from both his past life and the present.
Israel Diamond, Emperor of the Northern Empire, died at the end of 839 or the beginning of 840 of the Falling Star Era. Because the initial news was suppressed by the imperial family, the exact time was unclear, but the margin of error was no more than two months.
This emperor had suddenly passed away in the prime of his middle age, plunging the entire empire into tremendous turmoil. The loss of a Legendary-rank powerhouse was not only a massive blow to the empire's high-end combat strength but also stirred ulterior motives in many factions. Without a clear will, the various princes and princesses, backed by their respective supporters, began vying for the throne.
The civil war among the seven princes and princesses caused losses far exceeding those of the previous war with the orcs. The empire's territories in the Black Forest, expanded during the Great Exploration Era, were already unstable. Under these circumstances, they degenerated into semi-independent regions. The Northern Empire regressed to a state from ten years ago, or even worse.
The subsequent plot had been recounted many times. What Joshua cared about most now was why a Legendary powerhouse had suddenly died in the prime of his life.
That was a Legendary powerhouse—a deity walking among mortals. In ancient times, they were even demigods capable of summoning wind and rain. Their power could shatter the barriers of worlds and freely traverse the void. If such a being were to die suddenly, Joshua would be the first to refuse to believe it.
But earlier, in the Holy Emblem Hall, the warrior had detected hidden injuries on Israel that were damaging the very source of his life.
These hidden injuries were a deficit caused by burning too much life force before achieving Legendary status, mixed with certain wounds inflicted by enemies. They would continuously drain the injured person's life force, and even a Legendary powerhouse was no exception. Sprouts from the Tree of Life had a small chance of healing such injuries, but it seemed Israel had not succeeded.
Even so, it was unlikely that Israel would die from this in five or six years. After all, he was a Legendary powerhouse, renowned for his robust physique as a Dragon Knight. He could easily drag it out for another ten or twenty years. But now, Joshua roughly understood the reason for his sudden death.
It was this divine crystal in his hand.
If Joshua had not transmigrated and everything followed the original plot of his past life, the chaos in the Royal Mage Association would have been suppressed immediately by a decisive Nostradamus and Israel. As a Legendary-level existence, he would naturally not be troubled by the Divine Calamity Mist and would detect the anomaly of the Erebus Box. Perhaps this emperor had even communicated with the God of Despair and Fortune, just as Joshua had.
However, this emperor was not as free from desires as Joshua. Even if he did not wish to become a deity, he would want to know how to heal his own injuries.
And Ougner was, after all, just Ougner—the deity of ogres in other novels from his past life. It was unlikely that he knew any profound solutions. The only answer was likely to teach the emperor how to cultivate divinity, allowing him to become a being with divinity sooner, thereby healing his hidden injuries.
But... cultivating divinity was not as simple as it sounded. In some cases, it was even more terrifying than the hidden injuries that drained life force.
Glancing at the old mage, who was sighing softly while looking in the direction of Morlai Palace, Joshua fell into thought.
Perhaps he could find a way to help this emperor, who in later generations was said to have died young?
As for why Joshua wanted to help, the reason was actually very simple. It wasn't for his own benefit, nor for the empire's people to avoid suffering from civil war, nor even to gain an additional Legendary—or even higher-level—ally for the future fight against the Abyss.
The warrior hadn't thought about such complicated things at all.
"I haven't fought him at full strength yet."
Muttering softly to himself, Joshua shook his head. "Dying so early—what a pity."