Miss Hebe is Slaughtering Her Way Out of the Lostbelt!

For example, the "Ennead" and the "Nine Sages."

The original Ennead consisted of nine great gods led by Ra, including such well-known deities as Osiris, Isis, and Set.

They should have been the objects of worship for Egyptians of this era, yet now the names of the Ennead had become wholly associated with all manner of natural disasters.

For instance, the "Osiris Plague," which descended silently and claimed all life without distinction; or the "Breath of Set," which had previously dehydrated Hebe like a Trisolaran.

Replacing the Ennead's ecological niche were the "Nine Sages" extended from Red King Ozymandias. They were regarded as certain aspects of the Red King and were worshipped and followed by the Egyptians of this age.

For example, "Ozymandias," "Hermanubis," "Apep"...

These names should have been their Hellenized names after the establishment of the Ptolemaic dynasty, yet they had appeared here eighteen hundred years early.

Then there were the "arts" taught by the schools represented by the Nine Sages. These had continued uninterrupted through the Rose War Lostbelt and even into the mysterious realm of later Albion.

Yet while much had been preserved, even more had been lost, and with the passage of generations, it had become utterly unrecognizable.

Hebe sprang up from the low bed and paced back and forth through the room, her thoughts flashing rapidly.

There must be things buried away that no one knows about, Hebe thought. If I want to uncover these secrets, I have to climb higher. Becoming a priest of the temple is far from enough.

She recalled what the old man had said during the day: there were still many vacant seats among the Nine Sages, and the seat of Hermanubis had changed hands three times in ten years.

And Ozymandias himself seemed to have no objection to this.

If that's the case, why can't I become Hermanubis?

Since there was practically no limit to the number of times she could tackle a Lostbelt, Hebe could use this opportunity to repeatedly investigate its secrets, study the knowledge of its many schools, acquire the necessary power, and, through simulation after simulation, seize the course of history firmly in her hands.

Then she could start another simulation from the beginning and become Hermanubis, one of the Nine Sages.

Or, more radically, become one of the three vacant kings... Thoth, King of Ibis.

Memphis's End

A single lamp broke through the dense night.

Beside the low table where the lamp rested, the white-robed girl frowned as she struggled to read the words on the Papyrus Scroll, her lips moving faintly from time to time as though silently reciting its contents.

A full seven years had passed.

Hebe had long since set foot upon the path again and become an apprentice of the Dawning rank.

This time, she had attained a path subordinate to Winter's Tenets. According to the naming conventions of the Temple of Thoth, it was called the "Priest Path."

Advancing from Dawning to Daylight required opportunity, practice, and faith in one's desire for reverence. Hebe knew that those nobles and priests would not allow her to climb any higher, so after several attempts, she gave up on advancing and turned instead to studying the secret arts passed down by the various schools.

Of those, she had mastered the most arts from the Hermanubis School, secretly learning every ritual that was permitted to be taught.

As for the other schools, Hebe had learned only the mechanics of the Ram School and the illumination arts of the Ibis School. She could only familiarize herself with the rest; she had yet to master them.

If only Curtis hadn't advanced so quickly...

Curtis had advanced to become the current Saint Bennu two years ago, drastically reducing the time she and Hebe could meet. Perhaps they could only run into each other once a year.

Over those seven years, Hebe had not neglected building relationships either.

Aside from Curtis, who had already thought favorably of her, she had made many other friends. For instance, the current Hermanubis, who loved telling bad jokes and playing cards; or a certain woman who could clearly have inherited Shesepenhe, yet had refused twice and spent every day either fighting or drinking... Though Hebe's friendships with these people were not particularly deep, they were already enough.

Enough for her to win them over—or replace them—in her next simulation.

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

The Papyrus Scroll kept sliding past beneath her fingers, while Hebe's thoughts flowed silently onward.

Although she had not left the Temple of Thoth since then, thanks to those relationships, she would not miss much of what happened in Memphis.

Ever since Curtis inherited the seat of Saint Bennu, Hebe had been able to sense the atmosphere around her gradually becoming tense and cold, as though something momentous was brewing.

To that end, she had used every means at her disposal to break through the restrictions, trying to master those secret rituals that were not taught to outsiders.

For instance, the scroll in Hebe's hands was the Sun-Journeying Tower Gate Book, universally acknowledged within the Hermanubis School as first in both "might" and "majesty."

This scripture encompassed the entire framework of the Hermanubis School. Its rituals were performed through silent reading, secret contemplation, and imagination. It was exceedingly obscure, yet also exquisitely subtle.

In the voice of the sun, it expounded on the relationship between kings, sages, and nations. Using the construction and destruction of a "tower" as a metaphor, it interpreted a conclusion: "All things shall ultimately fall into silence."

The Papyrus Scroll Hebe held was merely a copy, yet even so, this knowledge possessed power.

She had spent a year and a half studying it every night, silently reading this scripture, and had finally achieved success.

In other words, she now possessed the qualifications to become Hermanubis.

After resting for a while, Hebe picked up the scripture again, her lips moving.

"I stand upon the reverse side of time, yet I can still see."

"Ah! This man halts, yet turns without end."

"My lost heart, too, cannot be seen, Amun!"

She was clearly only reciting it in silence, yet a gust of wind suddenly began to rise within the room.

Hebe concentrated, feeling a faint coolness bloom across the tip of her tongue, then blew at the oil lamp on the table.

Whoosh!

The oil lamp went out in an instant, yet the light became gentle and swiftly spread throughout the entire room.

Hebe rose, took the Papyrus Scroll in hand, and draped an outer robe over herself.

As she did so, the soft glow filling the room fell upon her robe in an instant, like a gentle evening sunset.

This was a secret incantation Hebe had derived from The Sun-Journeying Tower Gate Book. It could borrow the power of light and briefly bestow protection, shielding the recipient from disturbance across the dimensions of time and space.

Without a word, Hebe walked out the door.

The Temple of Thoth was silent, as though it had sunk into a shadow devoid of thought or awareness.

Hebe's robe gave off a faint glow. As she walked barefoot through the Temple of Thoth's long corridors, specks of phosphorescence drifted down before her, clearing the way.

The path that was ordinarily not so long now seemed endless. Only when Hebe's robe gradually returned to normal did she finally reach the outside of the Temple of Thoth.

Outside the temple stood a dense crowd of "people."

Their features could not be made out in the night, and their bodies seemed unnaturally tall and strange. When Hebe emerged, they all turned around in unison, their horribly decayed faces facing her.

Hebe spread open the Papyrus Scroll in her hands, and once again, her lips moved.

"I, one with nothing to do, am at ease."

"Time slips through the cracks, slowly and gradually."

She passed through those decayed classmates. As the robe that had lost its divine power brushed past them, it made ripping, tearing sounds before turning into strips of rotting cloth.

The effect of this incantation was to make the caster ignored by the dead and the undead.

At times, Hebe chanted softly; at others, she recited silently in her heart. The Papyrus Scroll in her hands gradually became brittle and shriveled, rapidly crumbling as though it had been left baking beneath the sun for decades.

After walking several hundred meters, only a short section of the Papyrus Scroll remained.

That little was no longer enough to let Hebe continue onward, so she went to a nearby platform and sat down.

At that moment, clouds were gathering in the dark night sky like surging ocean tides.

The clouds revolved around the three pyramids of Memphis as their center, spinning like a vortex.

Above the largest, the Khufu Pyramid, a far broader platform could vaguely be seen, held aloft by a cyan-blue curtain of light.

The metal platform looked like an inverted pyramid.

The light grew ever more blazing, yet all of Memphis seemed dead, showing no reaction whatsoever.

Whether priests, Temu-tiger Nobles, or commoners, all of them had silently merged into the night, becoming dead people with decayed faces.

Among the Calamity of the Ennead, the disaster known as the Osiris Plague had long since descended upon Memphis without a sound.

At the same time, the tearing sounds grew more intense. The Papyrus Scroll Hebe held suddenly lifted into the air, while scorching, dry winds blew in from every direction.

The hot wind known as the Breath of Set had also arrived.

A sorrowful, despairing wail rang out from the sky above the Khufu Pyramid.

"We were wrong! We were wrong! We failed!"

Creak, creak, creak!

Along with that voice came a chilling sound of chewing. Within the thick clouds, an enormous "sphere" emerged.

The sphere was decorated in gold and red, yet its entire body emitted a ghastly white light. However, that light remained blocked within the clouds, unable to fully shine upon the land of Memphis.

After struggling several times, the sphere slowly turned around. It was an eyeball covered in wounds.

Yet in Hebe's eyes, the sphere looked more like... a skull.

The instant that thought arose in her mind, the sphere descended slightly from the clouds, and a bone-white spine extended out from the darkness below.

It truly was a skeleton!

Its legs wrapped around the pyramid, while its hands continually scooped flesh and blood out of the clouds.

That unidentifiable flesh and blood turned into vivid red muscles and blood vessels as soon as it landed on its body, yet there was no skin.

It was like a person who had been flayed alive.

Hebe spread her hands. The last remaining scraps of the Papyrus Scroll had already turned to ashes and scattered away.

She realized that she was very likely the last living person in Memphis.

But in the next instant, two figures appeared before her.

"There's still a living person?" one voice said.

"No, she is about to die. This is the limit of her lifespan. I have seen it," the other voice replied.

Hebe opened her eyes again.

The scorching hot wind ravaged all the prosperity of Memphis. Amid the yellow sand filling the sky, two cloaked women stopped speaking and turned their gazes toward Hebe.

Hebe tried her best to make them out, but the sandstorm grew fiercer and fiercer. She could not distinguish any details, only tell that there was quite a difference in height between the two women.

"You are a priest of Hermanubis," the taller woman said. "In that case, I have the duty to grant you undisturbed peace..."

"Then I'm truly grateful."

Hebe sat cross-legged, placing her hands on her knees. She forced out a dry smile. "May I ask for the names of you two?"

The taller woman's outstretched hand froze.

With her other hand, she lifted off her flat hood, revealing moonlight-pale hair and a pair of golden ornaments atop her head like rabbit ears.

Those eyes were the eternal color of gold.

"My name is Anubis," she said. "Before I cast aside my mortal nature, I once ruled Upper and Lower Egypt under the name Nitocris."

Her palm settled steadily against Hebe's forehead.

Hebe's vision immediately began to blur, and from far away, another somewhat playful voice reached her ears.

"My name is Junapekape Sakhet Hatshepsut... I was also a Pharaoh who ruled Egypt for a short time. Ah, she can't hear me anymore..."

Current Progress: 25%

Ten-Mile Slope Sword God (Please Bookmark)

"You died."

"You encountered the 'Osiris Plague,' 'Breath of Set,' 'Geb's Labor Pains,' and 'Blood of Isis' among the Calamity of the Ennead!"

"Nitocris personally brought you peace."

"Calculating..."

"Current Lostbelt—Golden Truth Dream: Lost Sand Sea Kingdom. Current Progress: 25%."

"Achievements:

Nine Calamities Upon the Head—You faced multiple forms of the 'Calamity of the Ennead' and repeatedly avoided deaths caused by calamity through your own efforts.

Priest—You mastered every ritual and incantation of the Hermanubis school, then went on to learn six secret rites, including the 'Shrine Invocation Song,' 'Silent Secret Papyrus Scripture,' and 'The Sun-Journeying Tower Gate Book'... You even received Hermanubis's personal praise.

Erudite and Talented—Not only did you master the knowledge of your own school, but you also learned the various secrets of other schools. All of ancient Egypt's hidden teachings had nowhere to hide before your eyes.

Remembering—You witnessed Memphis's end and learned how ancient Egyptian civilization met its final fate, buried beneath sand overnight."