White Frost Had Already Descended!

Ailin, who had just found the exit, was stunned when she heard this.

No one worships the gods because the gods have fallen...

This reason was both logically clear and utterly ridiculous. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond and could only continue on his way.

"Bang!"

An invisible, transparent telekinetic force enlarged a small hole on the side of the golem's waist, just large enough for two people to walk around while bending over.

Ailin withdrew his right hand, waved it to shake off the dust kicked up by the Alde Sign, then, supporting himself against the cave wall, went in first.

The scene behind the golem was completely different from what they had seen when they first arrived.

The cave walls were covered with dents from heavy hammer blows, broken dark green vines appeared every few meters, along with black scorch marks, molten iron, and frozen crystals...

Two furrows, each a meter deep, were plowed into the ground, resembling rural field ridges, leading directly to the cave at the very end.

The dim flames flickered silently, completely undisturbed.

Ailin had some doubts: was Geralt Morlu really being imprisoned here?

Ida Emin, holding onto the earthen wall, crawled out of the narrow opening.

"Is it because of... humans?" Ailin reached out to help the elven Sorceress out of the cave, watching her brush off the dust from her pale yellow dress.

It's a mystery how she managed to engage in such a fierce battle with the golem while wearing such inconvenient combat clothing.

"Thank you," Ada Emin waved her staff, a gust of wind blowing away the dirt on her and Ailin's clothes, and said, "But not because of humans. The Mountain Folk came to this world more than two thousand years before the ancestors of humans."

"The older the god, the more powerful he is. Humanity's new gods are no match for the gods of the Ain-Siddi clan."

"And didn't you notice?"

"Aside from the Cliff Cult, which reveres force and despises non-human races, most of the human gods are not very offensive. Meritellie is a 'mother,' and Freya also reveres childbirth, love, beauty, and abundance..."

"Besides these, there are no other well-known gods among humankind..."

Aida Emin paused and chanted a few incantations.

The hard stones turned into soil, filling the furrows plowed by the golem and smoothing out a path that was easy to walk on.

Ailin was stunned when he saw this.

Such a long ridge, with the volume of fossilized mud, is enough to build a small fortress, requiring countless magical powers.

The slight contempt that had arisen in his heart after destroying the golem vanished instantly.

The warlock's strengths and weaknesses are too obvious. If Ida Emin were given enough space and time, and without having to worry about Ailin's existence, she could probably destroy not only a mere golem, but even a human city.

However, Thomas Maurice probably designed this "cage" for this reason, after all, he was also a sorcerer.

She stomped her right foot on the solid ground, nodded in satisfaction, and continued her preface as she walked forward:

"Ailin, you're not that old, so you probably won't find this strange."

"But anyone with some knowledge of theology can see that this is very abnormal."

"Intelligent life's need for faith is limitless. Anything they can see, from mountains and rivers to lakes and rivers, from the earth and the ocean, from the sun, moon, clouds and stars to flowers, birds, insects and fish, can become the divine office of gods."

"There are even commerce, forging, textiles, winemaking, and art created by intelligent life itself..."

"The gods of the Mountain Folk were once as numerous as stars in the Milky Way, and the dwarves also had their own vast pantheon of gods..."

"Why is it that humanity, which now occupies the entire world, has only a handful of gods?"

Ailin was taken aback by what he heard.

Although he had met Meritellie, to be honest, the level of a god was still too far away for him.

The Witcher was neither a priest nor a theologian of Cowburg, so he hadn't really thought about this question.

However, after hearing what Ada Emin said, the human gods in the Witcher world, which were originally taken for granted and were in perfect harmony, suddenly seemed particularly strange.

"Why?" he couldn't help but ask.

Ida Emin looked at him, smiled, and said softly:

"Because most of the gods of mankind are preordained."

"Huh?" The elven Sorceress's words were so shocking that Ailin couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

Ida Emin seemed pleased with his reaction, a slight smile playing on her lips, and continued:

"From clay idols to igniting divine fire, many of humanity's deities— Meritellie, Freya, and even Cliff —were guided step by step to the altar by the Mountain Folk."

"Of course, this does not include deities who are too aggressive."

"Cliff's original teachings also advocated honor and self-control, using extremely strict precepts to eliminate one's own distractions and weaknesses, and to fight against evil."

"Homicide against non-human races, including Ion Siddi and dwarves, only began to emerge slowly after the Great Mutation."

"It is the change in doctrine that arises from the gods adapting to believers and the secular world."

"In addition..."

"Because of the original close relationship between the Mountain Folk and humans, the gods of Ain Siddi are also the gods of humans."

"At that time, most humans were even more devout than the Mountain Folk themselves..."

Ailin listened, stunned, and instinctively wanted to refute.

Because he had read some epics and biographies that could be considered history in the Northern Continent, none of them mentioned the origin of human gods that Aida Emin spoke of.

It did not appear in the original novel or game of the previous life.

However, after opening his mouth, Ailin thought for a moment and realized that the secret of human gods originating from the arrangement of the elves was something that human rulers were trying to cover up by various means, so how could they possibly let it be passed down?

The current state of human faith is exactly as Ida Emin described.

Moreover, this aligns with the history he knows.

How could El Siddy, who shares the same race as the Wild Hunt's Aion El, who wantonly invades many worlds and launches plunder and war, be as silly and cute as the one in known history?

A race that clearly held the upper hand inexplicably rose to the top of the continent's power because its members who had intermarried with humans were overthrown and successfully replaced by the subjugated human race.

How outrageous!

It's important to understand that the Witcher world isn't a magic-free world, but rather Mortal World that currently has low or medium magic, and perhaps once had high magic.

Here, in the age of elven rule, strength, especially magical power, rather than the number of people, was the foundation of world domination.

And the ruler of the entire continent, Ion Siddi, must have a powerful, strongest, and most numerous group of sorcerers.

How can we lose?

in addition...

There really is a God in this world!

A pantheon that has been developing for at least two thousand years, versus a race that has only been in this world for a hundred or two hundred years...

How could humans possibly compare?

What Ada Emin described was a method of controlling vassal races through both marriage and faith, which truly resembled the Aion Wooddod clan that traversed and fought across numerous worlds.

Cold-blooded, stealthy, and highly efficient.

And with this thought, Ailin became even more interested in the "truth" that Ada Emin spoke of.

Ian Siddi's history is certainly not closely related to a witcher's business or the improvement of his strength, but it is of great significance to a Child of Miracle has traveled from another world.

The ancestors of the Mountain Folk, the Ion Woodod clan, left their homeland and traveled to various worlds to escape the White Frost.

When it comes to this continent, who probably knows White Frost the best...?

It was not any human being, not even Meritellie, not any human god, but Ion Siddi, and their long-fallen gods.

After thinking it over, Ailin did not refute, but instead noticed a word in Ida Emin's words.

"Is the Great Mutation the reason for the fall of your gods, the gods of Ian Siddi?" Ailin asked, following Ida Emin's footsteps.

"That's right," Ada Emin nodded slightly, her eyes deep in thought. "The anomaly occurred 473 years ago, on the last day of the Soul Moon, which was the day before the winter solstice."

"On that day, the Sun God of the Mountain Folk did not respond to the High Priest's prayer. The High Priest did not think there was a problem, because the gods do not respond to believers at all times."

"But at dusk, a solar eclipse appeared over the palaces of all the Mountain Folk."

"That was no ordinary solar eclipse."

"Before the winter solstice arrives, the temperature suddenly drops to freezing point, and the activity of free elements in the air is suddenly halved at the moment of the solar eclipse."

"When the whole world was completely shrouded in darkness, the activity of the elements dropped to an unprecedented extreme, as if the world had suddenly lost its elements and magic."

"Only then did the priests realize that this was not an accident, but the beginning of a disaster."

Ada Emin paused, and seeing that Ailin was listening very attentively, she continued:

"The palaces in the cities were in chaos, and the priests prayed fervently, hoping to receive even a few words from the gods."

"But on that day, all the gods of the Mountain Folk fell completely silent."

"Then in the second week, the palace of the Sun God and the statue of the god collapsed with a crash, and the broken pieces were covered with a chilling frost."

"The High Priest froze to death in the prayer room, and the remaining priests suffered severe blows because of their positions and the extent of their piety."

"In the third month, the Moon God, the Winter Queen, and then summer, autumn and spring, the most ancient Gods of Seasons all followed in the footsteps of the Sun God. The holy statue collapsed, the high priest froze to death, and the remaining priests were severely injured."

"On the very day the statue of the Daughter of Spring collapsed, the Mountain Folk could no longer suppress the unrest within their borders. First, there were the dwarves, with whom they were already at odds, and then the few goblins and halflings..."

"In the fourth year, the demonic tide subsided, and the Mountain Folk finally suppressed the rebellion in the country. The fall of the Lake Goddess and the Mountain God once again opened the prelude to the fall of the gods."

"What followed was Ragnarok, which lasted for nearly three hundred years. In the beginning, almost every year we could hear the sound of holy statues breaking and the screams of priests."

"The entire Ain Siddi clan was in a state of disarray, and every priest lived in constant fear, afraid that they would be the next to freeze to death."

"The Mountain Folk tried countless methods, but to no avail."

"Under terrifying pressure, suicides began to occur in Ian Siddi."

"Some followed their faith in the gods and died, some were grieving the loss of their loved ones, but many more were desperate people who could see no future or hope."

"Then, a few years later, humanity rebelled..."

Ada Emin paused, then took a deep breath.

At that moment, Ailin couldn't help but take a deep breath, and when he touched his forehead, he found it covered in cold sweat.

The elven Sorceress's voice was calm and devoid of any emotion.

But he heard the deepest terror in those simple words.

What utter despair!

They could only watch as the supreme gods they once worshipped fell silently one by one, as war broke out and rebellions arose.

In the blink of an eye, due to some mysterious and terrifying irresistible force, the powerful race was irreversibly plunged into the abyss.

Even if you put yourself in Ailin's shoes, you can't say for sure what he would choose.

When I first transmigrated here, the School of the Wolf had a bleak future, but although the enemies were powerful, they were all mortals, so there was at least hope of turning the situation around.

And what about the elves?

At that time, all that seemed to remain for them was a deep, unending despair.

"Humans seized the moment when the Mountain Folk were most vulnerable, turned their swords against their lords, teachers, parents and brothers, and then swept through several cities in quick succession."

"They also encountered strong resistance, but when the high priest of the God of War froze to death on the battlefield in the midst of the battle, no Mountain Folk could stop humanity anymore."

"Then the fall of the gods began to slow, but it continued."

"Finally, after Laurelin's crushing defeat at Shaer Lavhed, the Mountain Folk also completely lost their Sea Goddess, losing their last deity."

"Humans have completely occupied the entire continent."

After recounting the brief yet long history of the Mountain Folk's decline, Ada Emin and Ailin both fell silent.

The weight of history became tangible at this moment, pressing heavily on the hearts of the two people.

This wasn't because Ailin felt empathy, but because he suddenly realized something—

Ragnarok is not over yet.

"Child of Miracle," Ada Emin suddenly spoke as they reached the corner where they had seen the golem, "Do you know why the prophecy of Ithlinne Egri Ap Aevynne, the prophecy of Ian Siddi, has been passed down in the human world to this day, and has spread throughout the entire continent?"

Ailin paused, then instinctively asked, "Why?"

"Because Ithlinne is the priestess of the God of Prophecy, and the only priestess who delivers divine pronouncements..."

"Could it be..." Ailin exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right," Ada Emin nodded, "That oracle was a prophecy."

"More precisely..."

"The prophetic poem of Ithlinne Egri Epp Aevynne is the only last words left by the God of Prophecy, after the Great Mutation, by the entire Mountain Folk."

"Child of Miracle, you should now know what I truly want to say..."

The elven Sorceress stopped and turned to gaze at him with her youthful yet weathered eyes, which seemed to hold the weight of millennia of history:

"The Child of Miracle..."

"White Frost is not the delusion of a mad elf, and..."

"He has already arrived!"