Nodens

"Reach Endemic Plague Village before tomorrow morning... It's a level 40 grinding zone. Let me check the guide first."

"The main monster is the level 42 Rat-ified Ghoul. Each one gives 500 Experience Points, and after dying, it bursts open and splits into 3 to 12 Ghoul Rats. Each Ratsy gives 25 Experience Points and spreads plague poison mist when it dies."

"The poison mist isn't very friendly to melee fighters. It's better suited for high-level mages who've learned AoE. But we have the Saint with us this time. Anyway, I don't plan on sleeping. I'm going to grind hard for seventy-two hours and try to farm 5 million Experience Points, reaching level 30 in one go."

Amulet Owl opened the quest system and introduced it to the livestream audience.

He had already reached level ten and successfully changed classes into a Novice Divine Scholar, becoming a distinguished transcendent.

In the first playthrough—what people online now collectively called Despair Expedition—players who wanted to change into a divine arts class had to wait until level 30, then advance in Iron Wall City from their memories.

The class was Scroll Divine Arts User. Its defining trait was the sheer number of divine arts it could learn, but before casting them, one had to memorize the divine art, prepare materials, arrange scrolls, and so on.

But Amulet Owl's current Novice Divine Scholar had not existed in the first playthrough. It was a legitimate divine arts class.

Its patron deity was the "Creator God," and its learnable skills included the three schools of "Healing," "Punishment," and "Enhancement."

Although its skill variety was somewhat lacking, its numbers were truly beautiful.

And they were instant-cast!

Meanwhile, outside the warehouse.

Li Yuan walked up to the girl, who had nowhere left to retreat, and asked coldly:

"Why did you come here?"

"I... I was worried that you might be in danger taking the subway alone, Senior, so Lord Kachu and I came to check on you." Red Falcon's voice grew quieter and quieter. She hugged the motionless teddy bear doll to her chest, using Lord Kachu to block Senior Li Yuan's terrifying gaze.

"And now?" Li Yuan sighed. "Satisfied?"

Red Falcon instinctively nodded, then quickly shook her head.

She secretly glanced at the scene behind the rolling shutter again. Inside stood a dazed Beast-Ear Race woman, a strange fellow muttering to himself, and an elf and a human lying on the floor in the corner.

It felt... suspicious enough that there was no point even commenting on it...

Just as she gathered the courage to ask whether Senior Li Yuan had come to take down a criminal hideout, an unfamiliar man suddenly walked up behind her.

Li Li came to stand beside the two little shorties. He first glanced at the leveled-up Li Yuan, then stared at the young girl clutching the teddy bear doll for quite a while.

"Are you friend or foe?" he asked.

"I... I..." Red Falcon, who was still only a middle school student, flushed bright red.

She had grown up in a girls' school famous for professionally cultivating "young ladies." Aside from the balding principal and her father, whom she rarely saw, she had barely interacted with any other men.

"Not talking?"

Li Li sneered and blocked the girl's route of escape with his body.

Facing someone who only knew how to hide behind women, Li Li thought to himself, What a coincidence. Me too.

Only after Aer from inside the warehouse came to stand beside him did Li Li step forward, seize the teddy bear doll from the girl's hands, and snatch it away.

He sent his consciousness into the doll and learned some preliminary information about it.

Name: Nodens

Race: Elder God

Class: Mascot

Level: 205

Rank: True God

Traits: Lingering Breath, Lord of Dreams

Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 5, Endurance 2, Intelligence 1125500, Perception 2, Charisma 1

Nodens, an Elder God from the Cthulhu Mythos, was a deity from a Mod.

How had this guy gotten mixed up with Magical Girls?

Li Li was puzzled. He lifted the teddy bear doll before his eyes and examined it curiously.

"Wugaga!"

The teddy bear doll suddenly came to life and struggled violently. "Let go of me! You rude bastard!"

Nodens had originally intended to keep pretending to be a doll. His body was stuffed full of cotton, so even if someone tore him apart, they would not find anything.

But the instant that man touched him, Nodens discovered in horror that his divinity, which he had concealed all this time, had nowhere to hide before the man.

The gods in this world who stood on humanity's side had basically all gone mad.

As for the few who had hidden away beforehand, they were insignificant small fry. Their ranks could not possibly have been this high.

So this guy had to be an evil god!

Nodens wanted Xiao Hong to run, but he also knew it would be futile.

He planned to self-destruct, only to discover that everything he possessed had been completely suppressed by the large hand pressing down on his head.

"You want me to let you go? Fine."

Li Li tightened his grip, deforming the teddy bear's head.

"But first, you have to answer my questions."

Before learning the other party's background, Li Li did not dare let go.

Although within the God Banning Barrier, gods were fragile knockoffs that shattered at a touch.

This was still a high-ranking Elder God. Only while they remained in physical contact did he dare guarantee his own safety.

"I don't even know who you are!" The teddy bear doll flailed its limbs wildly, kicking Li Li's wrist with its little cotton-stuffed legs, as though that could inflict any real damage on him.

"You really want to know who I am?" Li Li's expression darkened as he said frankly, "Then you won't be leaving."

Li Li still remembered the contents of the Cthulhu Mythos Mod.

It was nothing more than the addition of several Cthulhu gods that could be worshipped, a few races like Deep Ones, and a new victory condition. Mechanically, it was still rather restrained.

Their trait was that they would not personally enter the fray. They would only grant mental Buffs to any civilization that learned of their existence, following the path of "cultural victory."

This "Great Abyssal Lord," Nodens, was one of the few benevolent gods in that DLC.

Judging from his status panel, this guy had probably not been corrupted, but he had lost nearly all the traits that belonged to him. Other than his intelligence, his attributes had also become those of a teddy bear doll.

Li Li guessed that before his true body had been destroyed, he had hidden inside this teddy bear doll, allowing him to survive in Lingering Breath until now.

"No, no, I don't want to know anymore!" The teddy bear doll immediately changed its attitude.

"I am the Creator God of this world." Li Li did not give him the chance to refuse and introduced himself. "Although I have never revealed myself, you should know my name."

The teddy bear doll's restless little legs immediately stopped moving.

"You're Lilith?" he asked in astonishment.

"It's Li Li, no 'lith.'" Li Li's face darkened.

"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Lilith is the Creator God!"

The teddy bear doll started throwing another tantrum.

He unzipped the zipper on his back, took out a phone, unlocked the screen, and displayed it to the onlookers.

"This is the real Creator God. Only a great—emphasis on great—being as all-embracing as Lilith could create our world. She is my old—"

Li Li immediately covered the teddy bear doll's mouth. Amid its muffled whimpers, he said with a smile, "Very good. You have only one chance now. Tell me exactly what happened in this world, or I wouldn't mind tasting an Elder God."

But it was already too late.

Among the onlookers, aside from the already-transformed Red Falcon and Aer, who was suppressing her with one hand, there were also several players who had been around the warehouse earlier.

They had already seen what was on the teddy bear doll's phone.

It was a mobile game character dressed very scantily, with one part of her body larger than her head. At a glance, anyone could tell she was definitely not hardcore pandering to otaku.

Lilith.