# 852
# Chapter 853: The Ancient King
Lin Qiye had just taken two steps when a figure appeared behind him and patted his shoulder.
"Dean." Merlin smiled as he looked at Lin Qiye. "Are you going to find that tyrant?"
Lin Qiye nodded. "Yes, why?"
Merlin shrugged, reaching out and grasping at the void. A small magic array unfurled in his palm, and after a moment, a bronze-colored dark cyan fragment landed in his hand, which he offered to Lin Qiye.
"Bring this with you." Merlin said slowly. "It might be helpful to you."
Lin Qiye took the bronze fragment and examined it carefully in his palm. This piece was about half the size of his palm, and from its outer contours, it appeared to be broken off from some kind of circular badge, comprising roughly a third of the original badge. The surface was interlaced with complex and mysterious patterns, appearing both primitive and filled with the气息 of a distant era.
"This is..." Lin Qiye looked at Merlin in confusion.
"This is a fragment I found while traveling the world during those ancient times, from the ruins of the Kingdom of Uruk. It might be related to that one."
"Lord Merlin, do you know something about Gilgamesh?"
"More or less." Merlin smiled. "To explore the essence of the world and pursue truth and knowledge, one must possess extensive experience and wisdom. I personally traveled to those ancient civilized ruins that once existed in the world but ultimately returned to dust, and from them, I discovered some secrets unknown to others... That one, and his Kingdom of Uruk, were also among my subjects of study."
Hearing this, Lin Qiye's eyes lit up slightly.
He had gone to find Gilgamesh precisely to learn about the past from his words and deduce the cause of his illness. Since Merlin knew Gilgamesh's history, it would naturally save him the trouble of slowly摸索ing.
Lin Qiye immediately sat back down on the small stool across from Merlin.
"Lord Merlin, if you have time, please tell me about Gilgamesh." Lin Qiye said seriously. "After the Mist descended, Great Xia's records of ancient Uruk mythology were very vague, and I couldn't extract important information from them."
Merlin smiled. "Some things involve the secrets of gods, so of course, historical records wouldn't contain them..."
Merlin reached out and gently traced shapes in the void. After a moment, a magic array automatically unfurled, and streams of light and shadow flowed across it, weaving into different scenes.
The first scene showed an ancient and magnificent city-state, standing on the wilderness like a pearl in the wilderness, gleaming with the brilliance of civilization and wisdom.
"Around the 27th century BCE, an unprecedented powerhouse emerged from the ancient Kingdom of Uruk—the legendary King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. Possessing two-thirds divine blood, he possessed strength and wisdom beyond the mortal world and successfully became the fifth king of the Kingdom of Uruk.
He was a tyrant unlike anything in Uruk's history. Under his tyranny, the entire kingdom existed in an environment of high pressure, but equally, due to his absolute control over the kingdom and extraordinary wisdom, Uruk's national power also rose at an astonishing speed."
Merlin manipulated the magic array, and the scene shifted. Above that ancient city-state, two figures slowly descended, looking down upon the Kingdom of Uruk.
"Gilgamesh had made this kingdom the most powerful force on land, Uruk's fortune rose like a towering pillar, shaking the foundations of nearby divine nations, so they sent two heavenly gods to descend to the mortal realm under the pretense of removing this tyrant for the sake of the people, but in truth, they wanted to chop away at Uruk's national fortune."
"Chop away national fortune?" Upon hearing these three words, Lin Qiye asked疑惑ly, "Can national fortune really be chopped?"
"Of course. National fortune is the key to a nation's continued prosperity. Generally, truly ancient and powerful nations all have means to protect their national fortune, but the Kingdom of Uruk at that time didn't have such means..."
The scene on Merlin's magic array shifted again. Within that ancient city-state, a young man draped in royal robes had eyes sharp as swords. In the worship of all living beings, he ascended to heaven with a single step, gripping a golden sword, and engaged those two gods in battle.
"To protect Uruk's national fortune, Gilgamesh, as a half-god, withstood two heavenly gods and barely emerged victorious." Merlin paused, then continued, "But before those two heavenly gods departed, they left words: on the day Gilgamesh died of old age, that would be when Uruk's national fortune would be chopped...
Gilgamesh was merely a half-god. Though his combat prowess was staggering, his lifespan was no different from mortals. One day, he would grow old and die. Without the protection of this tyrant, Gilgamesh, Uruk could only become fish meat at the mercy of the divine nations."
In the phantom of the magic array, Gilgamesh, wounded from battle with the two heavenly gods, sat weakly on his throne, his gaze fixed on the sky beyond the palace, as if contemplating something.
"Later, Gilgamesh embarked on the path of pursuing immortality." Merlin's fingertip gently勾d, and the magic array quickly flashed through image after image. "He climbed to the peaks of mountains to search for celestial herbs, descended to the depths of seas to explore secret treasures, but ultimately found no method of immortality.
He could only rely on divine medicine to barely sustain his life, but he eventually reached the end of his lifespan."
In the phantom, the magnificent and luxurious palace was empty. The elderly and aged Gilgamesh sat alone on his throne, his wrinkled hands tightly gripping the Royal Scepter stabbed into the armrest of the throne, his eyes死死地盯着 the sky beyond the palace, as if on guard against something.
But ultimately, as his life burned to its limit, he still lost his breath...
He died, but did not close those eyes. Those angry, unwilling eyes still stared at that sky that loomed above all living beings. This lonely and unyielding king, until the very last moment of his life, was still guarding his city.
"After his death, the two heavenly gods arrived as promised. Just as they mocked Gilgamesh's death and decay, the Royal Scepter in his hand flew out automatically, and in an instant, it slashed off the head of one of the heavenly gods...
That was the final thing this king of the city did for this city.
After losing one heavenly god, the other was greatly alarmed, thinking this was a trap left by Gilgamesh, and immediately left the mortal realm... It wasn't until much later that the divine nation sent someone to descend again, chopping away Uruk's national fortune.
In the end, the Kingdom of Uruk was still obliterated in the long river of history."
As Merlin's words fell, the phantoms in the magic array also disappeared. Lin Qiye sat quietly before him, falling into silence.