The Obstacle to Civilization

Last time, he had wanted to kill his son. This time, did he want to kill me?

Xu Zhi's expression was complicated and surprised, yet he quickly calmed down. It seemed outrageously bold, yet it was only natural.

He looked at Gilgamesh, the so-called Hero King. The last time he had stood on the brink of death, after coming back to life, he had personally killed his beloved son. Now, facing death for the second time, he actually intended to raise his sword against the one who had bestowed upon him the three treasures of civilization.

Perhaps Xu Zhi should have realized from the beginning what it meant when, among a group of trembling Insect Apes, he chose a brave young one who dared to roar and question a colossal giant towering ten thousand zhang high.

He had a fearless heart. Of course he would dare to raise his sword against Xu Zhi.

It was simply his nature.

Xu Zhi said calmly, "Gilgamesh, this is my final warning. Stop your atrocities. This is savagery, not civilization. What you do next will make you pay the most terrible price in the world!"

"No price is heavier than death."

Gilgamesh slowly opened his crimson eyes, as though he had returned to his younger days. The long-lost passion and madness of his youth appeared on his face. "Just as I once went forth to slay the Fenba Giant Beast with the resolve to die, today I will slay the Wisdom Giant Beast, steal his civilization, seize his power, and achieve true immortality."

"I will lead my people to challenge you!"

His muscles bulged all over his body, his snow-white skin like that of a god from Norse mythology. With a thunderous roar, he shouted, "This is the first clash between civilization and civilization!! One intelligent civilization challenges another, one-of-a-kind Wisdom Giant Beast. Wisdom Giant Beast, you may once have guided our civilization, but now you stand in the way of our progress."

He raised his longsword high. The gale whipped his wild silver-white hair as he stood there arrogant and unrestrained.

"I will use the strength of the entire nation—"

Clang! Clang! Clang!!

The deep, distant tolling of stone bells rang out, and the entire Uruk Royal City erupted into action.

Hundreds of thousands of assembled troops surged forth from every corner of the city, forming dense, orderly ranks.

Xu Zhi watched this scene and sighed. "More than a decade ago, at some point unknown to me, Gilgamesh had already prepared to strike at the Wisdom Giant Beast. Every citizen was a soldier. Today was merely meant to lure me here. If I refused his terms, he would lead his people to kill me."

Both brave and cunning—viewed from that angle, he truly was a great tyrant.

Mesopotamian Plain, Ur Plain Giant City.

Ishtar stood calmly before the palace. Though she was an immense distance away, she could still see the giant standing beside the royal city, towering into the clouds, his face emerging from the Cloud Layer with a sacred white radiance.

"What a towering, magnificent perfect life-form."

Ishtar was shaken, but her pupils narrowed slightly. "It is time to act. If not for seeking allies, with His Majesty Gilgamesh's tyrannical and overbearing nature, how could he possibly give the precious Blood of Power to others? From the very beginning, he had been searching for helpers for this very moment."

Tap, tap!

With a light leap, she flipped onto the back of an Ala Giant Beast, put on a black felt hat, and brandished a black stone hammer forged from giant beast bones.

"Mother! Grandmother! Great-grandmother!"

Countless men and women on the plain seemed to want to speak, yet stopped themselves.

"Is Zha Er'en still alive?" Ishtar suddenly turned her head.

A young man revealed a bitter expression. "Grandmother, Father is bedridden. He is about to die of old age."

"My son, wait for me, Ishtar, Queen of the Grasslands, to return and extend your life!"

A trace of grief flashed through Ishtar's eyes. Gazing at the giant reaching into the clouds in the distance, she was filled with longing. "I am not Gilgamesh. I cannot personally kill my own son. I cannot bear to watch my son and grandchildren die of old age before my eyes, one after another. I want more Blood of Power, even the blood of the Wisdom Giant Beast. Perhaps that is the Blood of Eternal Life."

"March."

She fiercely struck the Ala Giant Beast beneath her, displaying the courage and bearing of a barbarian of the grasslands as she led the most elite barbarian cavalry into battle.

"History will remember this great moment. In the 175th year of the Sumerian Dynasty, the Sumerians will slay the Wisdom Giant Beast and return after drinking the Blood of Eternal Life!!!"

The Divine Tree near the royal capital.

This vast ancient tree, once piercing the heavens and used to test the three treasures of civilization, had been abandoned for a long time. Yet now, an Enkidu Forest Giant City had been built upon it, flourishing in prosperity.

The Supreme Treehouse, on a tree trunk outside the balcony.

Enkidu leaned on a wooden cane and quietly watched the shocking sight of the terrifying giant piercing the clouds in the distance. Several disciples stood silently behind him.

"Teacher, it is time to depart. We promised the king, so we should honor that promise."

Someone softly reminded him from behind.

"No. We will defy the order. Our Enkidu Forest Giant City will choose to do nothing." Enkidu sighed. Even from so far away, merely looking toward the royal city left his heart struggling beneath the giant's terrifying pressure.

"Has Teacher become afraid?" one blunt disciple could not help asking. "The three great royal cities, the three strongest kings of Sumerian civilization, are joining forces. Even the legendary Wisdom Giant Beast may not be unbeatable."

"No, it is not fear. I do not fear death. I fear abandoning something more important than life." Enkidu said softly, "My civilization and wisdom prevent me from slaughtering the Wisdom Giant Beast who bestowed civilization upon us and saved our race, like some savage beast. Without gratitude and righteousness, we would be no different from animals. My disciples, tell me! Are we to become barbarians now?"

The disciples said nothing.

Their teacher was one of the three strongest leaders of the royal cities, the great Forest Hero King who had survived by receiving the Blood of Power. Yet—

"I defied the royal order and refused to join the battle. My crime is unforgivable. Cut off my head."

Enkidu looked toward Utanapishtim, his most capable disciple beside him. "If His Majesty the King wins, take my head to the royal hall. I am guilty of defying his order. With His Majesty's tyrannical rule, I was doomed to die anyway. This was my decision alone. Please ask His Majesty not to implicate the royal city."

"If the Wisdom Giant Beast wins, then take my head and offer it to the Wisdom Giant Beast. Beg the great giant for forgiveness. Let the Wisdom Giant Beast know that we still have true inheritors of civilization among us, that we are not wholly barbaric. Beg him not to utterly exterminate our race and leave us a thread of hope."

"Teacher..."

Utanapishtim, the disciple Enkidu trusted most, remained silent as he looked at this great sage of Sumerian civilization.

"Kill me." Enkidu stood on the outer balcony of the Supreme Treehouse, calmly spreading his arms.

After a moment of silence, Utanapishtim steeled his heart. Blood blossomed.

Splurt! Utanapishtim cut off his teacher's head.

Enkidu, the Forest King and one of the strongest heroes of Sumerian civilization, offered no resistance before his death.

Utanapishtim looked at the familiar, peaceful face on his teacher's severed head and silently wrapped it in animal hide. Suddenly, his heart ached. Vaguely, he knew that something incomparably important in his life had slowly shattered.

The sky trembled.

"Fire!"

Countless black-red arrows and spears, like sharp thorns, pierced the dense clouds overhead and shot toward the terrifying Wisdom Giant Beast.

The earth wailed as it began to quake.

Countless elite soldiers, tiny as ants, charged toward the sole of the shoe. Countless stone houses and buildings in the city collapsed with a roar, one after another, like toy fortresses made of building blocks constantly crumbling apart.

Civilians and women fled in panic. Screams, sobs, frantic roars, dying cries, explosions, beastly howls, and mad laughter—countless sounds twisted together.

The mighty Uruk Royal City had completely become a bloody battlefield.